Carnival shareholder OBC

[tv24]

This week we had a very quick turnaround on our application for shareholder OBC.  Maybe they have a new person working in the California office?

[Bigmike911]

As soon as I made my final payments for September, I sent a letter by snail mail to Santa Clarita, and with in a week, my T/A sent me updated confirmations with my Stockholder OBC showing. Well done, Cunard. 

[Underwatr]

Are (US) people receiving confirmations from Cunard, or their travel agents?

 

One issue for me is the lack of acknowledgement and necessity to follow up with my travel agent (I'm ok touching base with my low-frills online TA, but I think Cunard should acknowledge receipt of the documentation).

[esrs]

Underwatr, we received an updated booking confirmation directly from Cunard (we booked directly, no TA).  It did not specifically mention that it was in response to our OBC request, but when we scrutinized it closely the only change was the increased OBC.

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, Underwatr said:

Are (US) people receiving confirmations from Cunard, or their travel agents?

 

One issue for me is the lack of acknowledgement and necessity to follow up with my travel agent (I'm ok touching base with my low-frills online TA, but I think Cunard should acknowledge receipt of the documentation).

 

No confirmation directly from Cunard for the shareholder benefit request I mailed last month for our upcoming July voyage booked through a US online travel agent.

[tv24]

Our home is in the US.  We always have to ask our TA for confirmation as we never receive any info on this OBC directly from Cunard, even though we have asked for it.

[MCC retired]

5 hours ago, Underwatr said:

Are (US) people receiving confirmations from Cunard, or their travel agents?

 

One issue for me is the lack of acknowledgement and necessity to follow up with my travel agent (I'm ok touching base with my low-frills online TA, but I think Cunard should acknowledge receipt of the documentation).

You don’t even have to involve your TA when submitting for a Shareholder OBC at all.

You just send in the request yourself 😉

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, MCC retired said:

You don’t even have to involve your TA when submitting for a Shareholder OBC at all.

You just send in the request yourself 😉

 

Agreed. I think that's what many of us are doing in the US. We either fax or mail the shareholder benefit request ourselves directly to Cunard in California even though we have booked with a travel agent.

 

The niggle is that when we do so, we receive no acknowledgement from Cunard that the OBC has been applied to our booking. That acknowledgment apparently goes to the travel agent even though the travel agent did not submit the request on our behalf.

 

Some travel agents may be diligent in forwarding that information on to their customers, but none of the big-name online travel agents that I've dealt with in the past have ever done so for our bookings with them.

Edited June 26, 2019 by bluemarble

[Underwatr]

5 hours ago, MCC retired said:

You don’t even have to involve your TA when submitting for a Shareholder OBC at all.

You just send in the request yourself 😉

Oh, I agree. The issue arises if you want confirmation that the OBC request was received and applied. Unlike others (HAL), Cunard doesn't acknowledge your request, making you rely on your TA to catch it and inform you, or confirm in response to your request for follow-up.

[BobBranst]

On 6/26/2019 at 12:37 PM, bluemarble said:

 

Some travel agents may be diligent in forwarding that information on to their customers, but none of the big-name online travel agents that I've dealt with in the past have ever done so for our bookings with them.

 

I'm sure there are some on-line travel agents that are excellent, but we prefer to deal with a TA the old fashioned way (on telephone and email).   We have had the same TA, who is in Chicago, for over 9 years and are on a first name basis.  We always receive OBC and other financial notifications the same day as they receive the information.  

We even get calls (both of us) on our birthdays and when money saving deals or upgrades come along after we have booked.   If we run into any problems while traveling, we call him and it's taken care of ASAP.

Edited June 27, 2019 by BobBranst

[imacruizer]

On 3/28/2019 at 7:58 PM, bluemarble said:

 

Is this the same shareholder benefit request form that Cunard emailed you? I had forgotten all about it, but this form for US shareholder benefit requests was attached to an earlier thread from September/October 2017 titled "Shareholder Credit".

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=330288 111.34 kB · 72 downloads

 

I haven't used a form for previous shareholder benefit requests (just a cover letter containing the requested information), but if Cunard would prefer us to use this form and this is still the correct form, I'll use it for future requests.

Bluemarble, thanks for posting the link to the shareholder benefit request form.  We filled it out and mailed it (along with our proof of stock ownership) to the California address two weeks ago.  Today, I contacted our TA to make sure it had been received.  She sent an updated booking showing that the shareholder benefit is now included in our OBC.  So our experience using the form and mailing it to California was successful.  I agree with others that it would be extremely helpful if Cunard would send an email showing that they received the form.