Shareholders OBC is rejected if you use a travel agent

[MountainToTheSea]

We applied for our OBC for our upcoming 21 day cruise. We were just declined because we used a travel agent. Just heads up to everyone…no sense in owning the stock if you use a TA! 

[jpc763]

I have used third parties several times with no issues 

[BirdTravels]

Hmmm... my reservations list a travel agent, and we always get our shareholder money. 

[dobiemom]

I’ve used my TA for years and have always got my shareholder OBC. 

Edited October 5, 2023 by dobiemom

[IAcruising]

 

Can you copy and paste the wording of the denial?  This doesn't sound right.

 

[Giladj]

Doing a B2B2B on the Star starting in October. Booked with my normal TA and got my shareholder OBC with no issues. The date of the OBC award was early September, Interested if NCL has a new rule change that benefits only them. I will sell my stock if this is true. I only own it for the OBC.

[FredZiffle]

I always use a TA and have always received my stockholders benefit, including one I received last month for a cruise this December.

[TQuila]

We always use a TA, and have always gotten our shareholder money, including on our upcoming cruise, which they added the OBC for just a few weeks back. I once got pushback from someone who said I needed to apply for it closer to the cruise, but when I replied back,  someone who actually knew the rules responded and I got my OBC. I would try again, because this is NOT a rule.

[Sundiego]

We always book through a TA and have never had an issue receiving the shareholder OBC. Only issue I've had was receiving insufficient OBC on longer cruises but that has been quickly corrected by emailing shareholder services.

 

 

[RocketMan275]

10 hours ago, MountainToTheSea said:

We applied for our OBC for our upcoming 21 day cruise. We were just declined because we used a travel agent. Just heads up to everyone…no sense in owning the stock if you use a TA! 

You can apply for shareholder OBC directly to NCL.  You don't have to go through your TA.

[hawkeyetlse]

In the past booking through a TA has never been a reason for NCL to automatically refuse the shareholder benefit, and I doubt that it is suddenly the case now. But lots of fares are ineligible for the benefit, and when you go through a travel agent, you might be booking one of these fares without knowing it.

 

These are the exclusions listed in the fine print:

"excludes Reduced Rate programs (e.g. employee rates, interline, friends /family rates, vendor rates, cruises taken via cruise credit certificate, or free cruises earned through Oceania Cruises loyalty benefits), and travel agent rates, and charters"

 

Technically "travel agent rates" can mean any rate you pay through a travel agent, but again, up to now, this has not been a blanket exclusion for NCL. Without more details from the OP (who may not actually know all the details of the rate their TA booked for them), it's not possible to know exactly why their shareholder request was denied.

[mking8288]

FWIW, we're on our Escape cruise last month and were approved back in July for $100 OBC, fine & amenity confirmation and/or email sent (DW's account)   Listed in MyNCL account and fortunately, printed that out & took it with us as part of the printed documents.  It was not shown or credited onboard and by Day 3, went to spoke to Guest Services & a case # opened, sent copies of the printout to Miami - straightened it out or what not, credited us by the next afternoon - Guest Services called & left a voice mail also with the update/success ... check the MyNCL App for onboard charges/credits daily (also due to skipped ports & issued refundable OBC, etc.)  All good.

 

Catching this "alert" - logged into MyNCL and sure enough, not seeing the OBC now (anymore) - email from ShareholderBenefit at NCL was added to our upcoming reservation (next month) back in mid July.   Call center is busy and did a quick online chat - here's what the agent keyed in ... 

 

 I do not see your benefits. Due to contractual relations, we have to refer you back to your travel agent for this. We are not able to access your reservation. I am sorry for any trouble. 

 

For those of you using TA and have upcoming cruises and booked via TA (or not) with shareholder OBC issued/posted already - best to log in and check, will be interesting to see if this is another I.T. issue or what, a new restrictions - for our convenience, of course.  Annoyed at this ... 

Edited October 5, 2023 by mking8288

[AlexandNessa]

I literally just got my shareholder credit this week and i went through a 3rd party TA.

[Ken the cruiser]

12 hours ago, MountainToTheSea said:

We applied for our OBC for our upcoming 21 day cruise. We were just declined because we used a travel agent. Just heads up to everyone…no sense in owning the stock if you use a TA! 

Just curious. Did your TA submit your shareholder benefit request for you, or did you submit it using the following procedure provided at this link?

 

Shareholder Benefits :: Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH) (nclhltd.com)

[MountainToTheSea]

We submitted it ourselves. Our travel agent has been no help so far. Yes that is the link we used.

[Ken the cruiser]

6 minutes ago, MountainToTheSea said:

We submitted it ourselves. Our travel agent has been no help so far. Yes that is the link we used.

Then I would submit it again and hopefully you’ll get a more knowledgeable person handling the response this time.

[MountainToTheSea]

I called NCL, they said shareholders OBC is capacity controlled ?? And they don't have to give it to us.

That's the second reason for declining it. This is really not right.

 

[Travelicious]

All seems in order on my 3 cruises, all booked through TAs.

[MountainToTheSea]

Here is the wording. I tried NCL and they won't discuss it with me since I booked through a travel agent.

We paid $5600 for the cruise which at the time was the amount on the NCL site. I have reached out to our TA again. This morning she said she couldn't help, I had to call NCL. Hopefully she will try and help.

 

Thank you for contacting Norwegian Cruise Line. We have reviewed your request and unfortunately, the shareholder benefit excludes Reduced Rate programs (e.g. employee rates, interline, flexnet, friends /family rates, vendor rates, cruises taken via cruise credit certificate, or free cruises earned through Oceania Cruises loyalty benefits). Therefore, we are unable to apply the onboard credit to this reservation. You can review the terms & conditions at the bottom of the following page:
https://www.nclhltd.com/investors/shareholder-benefits.
 
Best regards,
Norwegian Cruise Line

[ontheweb]

48 minutes ago, MountainToTheSea said:

I called NCL, they said shareholders OBC is capacity controlled ?? And they don't have to give it to us.

That's the second reason for declining it. This is really not right.

 

I think sometimes they just make things up.

[Ken the cruiser]

6 minutes ago, MountainToTheSea said:

Here is the wording. I tried NCL and they won't discuss it with me since I booked through a travel agent.

We paid $5600 for the cruise which at the time was the amount on the NCL site. I have reached out to our TA again. This morning she said she couldn't help, I had to call NCL. Hopefully she will try and help.

 

Thank you for contacting Norwegian Cruise Line. We have reviewed your request and unfortunately, the shareholder benefit excludes Reduced Rate programs (e.g. employee rates, interline, flexnet, friends /family rates, vendor rates, cruises taken via cruise credit certificate, or free cruises earned through Oceania Cruises loyalty benefits). Therefore, we are unable to apply the onboard credit to this reservation. You can review the terms & conditions at the bottom of the following page:
https://www.nclhltd.com/investors/shareholder-benefits.
 
Best regards,
Norwegian Cruise Line

I was just quietly thinking that might be the issue. If I might ask, what type of discounted booking do you have? Maybe there is a special "Reduced Rate" Promotion Code present in your latest confirmation that's raising flags?

Edited October 5, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

I think sometimes they just make things up.

Yeah.  Like this.  Capacity controlled? 🤣

[MountainToTheSea]

Ken, maybe there is one I don't know about. I am hoping my travel agent can get this sorted...But it is helpful knowing other have used travel agents, so that should not be the problem..I appreciate the

replies from everyone.

[Capitan Obvious]

It can be an easy thing to overlook, but as a shareholder you are an owner of the company. So when you talk about NCL, remember you are "they".

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, MountainToTheSea said:

Ken, maybe there is one I don't know about. I am hoping my travel agent can get this sorted...But it is helpful knowing other have used travel agents, so that should not be the problem..I appreciate the

replies from everyone.

 

Your travel agent doesn't need to sort anything out, they already know and understand the issue. Your booking is not done at the full rate, but at a discounted rate that isn't eligible for OBC. Some TAs do this for extra profit...you just got caught up in in.

 

As an example, lets say on a particular cruise a cabin is $1,000 and pays a $100 commission to the TA. (or you can book direct with NCL for the same $1,000 price). The TA can purchase a block of cabins, which NCL sells to them for say $850 each. The TA books you into one of the cabins at the published $1,000 price, but now gets to pocket $150 instead of $100 because of the block. This gives the TA an opportunity to earn more by filling up their entire block. You are, essentially, a group booking without the group. In this case, your special rate makes you ineligible for the OBC.

[Xyla]

51 minutes ago, MountainToTheSea said:

Ken, maybe there is one I don't know about. I am hoping my travel agent can get this sorted...But it is helpful knowing other have used travel agents, so that should not be the problem..I appreciate the

replies from everyone.

Have your TA get them on the line and do a 3 way call including you so you can all discuss the situation. 

I just got my shareholder benefit applied a week or two ago and am using a TA so can confirm along with the others that using a TA is not the issue, it's something about your particular reservation. Hope you get it sorted out!