Shareholders OBC is rejected if you use a travel agent

[Zignewt]

1 hour ago, news70 said:

sorry to hear that, this must be new, I had a 10 day one in Aug got approved in late July  it's booked under NCFLX SPECIAL RATE with ACV 

My invoice shows Rate Code: ALL4CHO.  I don't see anything on my invoice re the flex net rate.

  

This does not seem right that they can now suddenly arbitrarily deny the SH benefit that others have received in the past.  

[julig22]

6 minutes ago, Zignewt said:

My invoice shows Rate Code: ALL4CHO.  I don't see anything on my invoice re the flex net rate.

  

This does not seem right that they can now suddenly arbitrarily deny the SH benefit that others have received in the past.  

Not actually arbitrarily denying anything, if it is, as suggested, that the booking is under a special rate.  That clause has always been there AFAIK. Maybe they are paying more attention to details.  In theory, as a solo, I'm only supposed to get half credit, yet most times I get the full $100.  On the rare occasion that I only get half credit, I take what they give me and move on, since I know it's actually the correct amount.

ALL4CHO has absolutely nothing to do with rate codes. It indicates you chose all 4 FAS options. There would be additional codes on the NCL invoice. Ask your TA for a copy.

[dbrown84]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

Not actually arbitrarily denying anything, if it is, as suggested, that the booking is under a special rate.  That clause has always been there AFAIK. Maybe they are paying more attention to details.  In theory, as a solo, I'm only supposed to get half credit, yet most times I get the full $100.  On the rare occasion that I only get half credit, I take what they give me and move on, since I know it's actually the correct amount.

ALL4CHO has absolutely nothing to do with rate codes. It indicates you chose all 4 FAS options. There would be additional codes on the NCL invoice. Ask your TA for a copy.

you are supposed to get $100.  there is no rule that solos are to get half

[mking8288]

55 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

you are supposed to get $100.  there is no rule that solos are to get half

FWIW, our $100 NR-OBC were originally posted to our Nov cruise in mid July, with $50 for DW (pax #1) and myself (pax #2) the 2nd $50, as it has been the case for us over the years.  It disappeared & when Shareholder Relations readded that $100, no questions asked nor explained what happened ... $100 assigned to DW as pax #1 ... it's from her brokerage account.  Either way, doesn't matter as we settled our onboard balance with BOA joint account.  Perhaps, another one of NCL's IT thing and subtle changes that's insignificant to most but matter to others, a handful or otherwise - just something to be mindful of & check again. 

 

Wasn't there chats a while ago about solos sailing under certain conditions only given 50% of the OBC, don't quote me on this but I seem to remember some spirited discussions.  

[dbrown84]

4 hours ago, mking8288 said:

FWIW, our $100 NR-OBC were originally posted to our Nov cruise in mid July, with $50 for DW (pax #1) and myself (pax #2) the 2nd $50, as it has been the case for us over the years.  It disappeared & when Shareholder Relations readded that $100, no questions asked nor explained what happened ... $100 assigned to DW as pax #1 ... it's from her brokerage account.  Either way, doesn't matter as we settled our onboard balance with BOA joint account.  Perhaps, another one of NCL's IT thing and subtle changes that's insignificant to most but matter to others, a handful or otherwise - just something to be mindful of & check again. 

 

Wasn't there chats a while ago about solos sailing under certain conditions only given 50% of the OBC, don't quote me on this but I seem to remember some spirited discussions.  

I don't remember seeing those posts.  As far as I know, it's always $100.  You're right, when there are two passengers, they will split it up between pax 1 and 2.  But when you're solo, it's $100 to the solo pax.  And I should correct myself....it's $100 for certain cruise lengths, I believe 7-13 days or so.  You get more if it's longer.  But it's $50 for below 5 days, I believe.  So that could have been that it was a short cruise, not that it was a solo.

[julig22]

8 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

I don't remember seeing those posts.  As far as I know, it's always $100.  You're right, when there are two passengers, they will split it up between pax 1 and 2.  But when you're solo, it's $100 to the solo pax.  And I should correct myself....it's $100 for certain cruise lengths, I believe 7-13 days or so.  You get more if it's longer.  But it's $50 for below 5 days, I believe.  So that could have been that it was a short cruise, not that it was a solo.

Gosh, silly me to get it all wrong - NOT.  I do know the difference between a short cruise and a longer one. And I do read the terms and conditions.

For your reading pleasure:

 

Have I been on a 5-day cruise and gotten $50 OBC - yep.

Have I been on a longer cruise as a solo and paid full price and gotten $100 OBC - yep

Have I been on a longer cruise as a solo with a reduced solo supplement and gotten $100 OBC - yep

Have I been on a longer cruise as a solo with a reduced solo supplement and gotten $50 OBC - yep.

 

And here is the communication I got from NCL when I only got $50:

[dbrown84]

1 minute ago, julig22 said:

Gosh, silly me to get it all wrong - NOT.  I do know the difference between a short cruise and a longer one. And I do read the terms and conditions.

For your reading pleasure:

 

Have I been on a 5-day cruise and gotten $50 OBC - yep.

Have I been on a longer cruise as a solo and paid full price and gotten $100 OBC - yep

Have I been on a longer cruise as a solo with a reduced solo supplement and gotten $100 OBC - yep

Have I been on a longer cruise as a solo with a reduced solo supplement and gotten $50 OBC - yep.

 

And here is the communication I got from NCL when I only got $50:

LOL LOL lOL.  way to point out something that has nothing to do with the discussion.  enjoy the rest of your weekend.  LOL

[SoloAlaska]

1 hour ago, dbrown84 said:

LOL LOL lOL.  way to point out something that has nothing to do with the discussion.  enjoy the rest of your weekend.  LOL

Certain rate codes give you less or no perk of being a shareholder. I’d say that’s the exact conversation that’s happening. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

Tough crowd.  I appreciate your valuable inputs @julig22

[dbrown84]

30 minutes ago, SoloAlaska said:

Certain rate codes give you less or no perk of being a shareholder. I’d say that’s the exact conversation that’s happening. 

is that what you'd say....

[SoloAlaska]

5 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

is that what you'd say....

I’m not saying it’s right or wrong. Communication isn’t clear and obviously not accurate at times. 

[Buford T Justiice]

I think the OP needs to go back to the Travel agent and say "you booked me using some half-@zzed code and you need to need to make it right by coughing up $100...

[ontheweb]

10 hours ago, Buford T Justiice said:

I think the OP needs to go back to the Travel agent and say "you booked me using some half-@zzed code and you need to need to make it right by coughing up $100...

Or ask what benefit if any was received by using that code to book the cruise.

[ngrund]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Or ask what benefit if any was received by using that code to book the cruise.

More profit for the TA (or actually consolidator, which apparently is why the shareholder OBC was not granted)

[CaptainSailPants]

Just booked 3 cabins with my usual TA ( Alaska ) . All three cabins have a person with 100+ shares ( My adult kids ). We all have the 100$  OBC .  This went through last week .  Never a problem . 

[CaptainSailPants]

4 minutes ago, CaptainSailPants said:

Just booked 3 cabins with my usual TA ( Alaska ) . All three cabins have a person with 100+ shares ( My adult kids ). We all have the 100$  OBC .  This went through last week .  Never a problem . 

P.S.  We almost always have it listed as an amenity . Not in the perk listing but as a purchased item with a  single $100 

posted as paid ..   

[cruiser2015]

On 10/5/2023 at 2:44 PM, 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

Stating that I do not know what some of those listed exception are, I do NOT see "group rates" as one of them. Yes, it does indicate that it may be a partial list; but group is a pretty big category to not shown in their examples.

 

In a possibly related scenario, I recently had an issue setting up a discount under the NCL Military Appreciation Program. I seem to remember seeing the same "exclusions" as noted here. I am booked through a TA. The only issue there was that NCL required that the TA call NCL to "authorize" NCL to apply the discount. For your issue, I'd keep hounding NCL (and perhaps your TA) about this. Also, when contacting NCL, if you get a negative reply, ask for a supervisor. Customer services responses have been know to vary with different contacts.  

[MountainToTheSea]

Thank you. I did ask for a supervisor and NCL would not let me talk to one because I used a TA. My TA basically said we got perks from them so I should be happy and they will not do anything. I am going to try and call NCL again. Since we paid The $5600 for our cruise which was about the NCL price we should get the shareholder credit. I would like NCL to explain it to me at the least.

[dbrown84]

12 minutes ago, MountainToTheSea said:

Thank you. I did ask for a supervisor and NCL would not let me talk to one because I used a TA. My TA basically said we got perks from them so I should be happy and they will not do anything. I am going to try and call NCL again. Since we paid The $5600 for our cruise which was about the NCL price we should get the shareholder credit. I would like NCL to explain it to me at the least.

WOW.  pretty rude reply from the TA.  I take it it's too late to cancel with that TA

[zgscl]

3 hours ago, MountainToTheSea said:

Thank you. I did ask for a supervisor and NCL would not let me talk to one because I used a TA. My TA basically said we got perks from them so I should be happy and they will not do anything. I am going to try and call NCL again. Since we paid The $5600 for our cruise which was about the NCL price we should get the shareholder credit. I would like NCL to explain it to me at the least.

You definitely need a better TA! A good TA is wonderful, but there are a lot out there that are happy to take your booking and then basically do nothing for you after that. 

 

I wonder if they booked into a group - it is quite possible there are other perks or discounts you got which could be worth more than the shareholder credit, but if that is the case they should be able to explain the value of these rather than saying "oh well, too bad." 

 

3 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

WOW.  pretty rude reply from the TA.  I take it it's too late to cancel with that TA

Totally agree! I would not book again through such a TA. 

[cruiser2015]

3 hours ago, MountainToTheSea said:

Thank you. I did ask for a supervisor and NCL would not let me talk to one because I used a TA. My TA basically said we got perks from them so I should be happy and they will not do anything. I am going to try and call NCL again. Since we paid The $5600 for our cruise which was about the NCL price we should get the shareholder credit. I would like NCL to explain it to me at the least.

I didn't say in my previous post why I made the suggestions about calling. When I first asked my TA to contact NCL (as instructed by an NCL agent), my TA called them with me on hold. She came back and told me that NCL refused the credit as we were past the final payment date. So, I called NCL again, told the agent what transpired and was informed that the standard policy was to use the 120 day cutoff, but exceptions have already been made and that as my cruise date was still far off (over 100 days) enough that I would get my credit as long as the TA called. When I asked how to prevent the last cycle of calls from repeating, she said to tell my TA to ask for a supervisor. I do not know what that conversation was like (again with me on hold), but 10 minutes later I had my $591 credit.

That's why I recommended fighting on.

Good luck.

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

WOW.  pretty rude reply from the TA.  I take it it's too late to cancel with that TA

The TA would have to give up the booking, which I am sure is not happening. However, that should be the last time that TA is used.

 

Sometimes it is too bad that we cannot name TAs. (Note this is not a criticism of the CC rules, just an observation,)

[zgscl]

16 hours ago, ontheweb said:

The TA would have to give up the booking, which I am sure is not happening. However, that should be the last time that TA is used.

 

Sometimes it is too bad that we cannot name TAs. (Note this is not a criticism of the CC rules, just an observation,)

The TA really should be able to explain the other benefits of the rate that were booked, or make it right. It is totally possible they saved or got more perks than $100 on a group booking. Or perhaps there is a way to re-fare to a rate that would allow the shareholder benefit. Very poor showing by the TA to just say "you should just be happy." 

 

Totally agree, that there are some wonderful TAs out there - and it would be great to be abel to share their information. But I also totally get why they don't want the community to to be taken over by TAs scouting for business. 

[RocketMan275]

8 hours ago, zgscl said:

Totally agree, that there are some wonderful TAs out there - and it would be great to be abel to share their information. But I also totally get why they don't want the community to to be taken over by TAs scouting for business. 

Nice excuse but I doubt that is the reason.   

[BirdTravels]

8 hours ago, zgscl said:

The TA really should be able to explain the other benefits of the rate that were booked, or make it right. It is totally possible they saved or got more perks than $100 on a group booking. Or perhaps there is a way to re-fare to a rate that would allow the shareholder benefit. Very poor showing by the TA to just say "you should just be happy." 

 

Totally agree, that there are some wonderful TAs out there - and it would be great to be abel to share their information. But I also totally get why they don't want the community to to be taken over by TAs scouting for business. 

From the context of the OP post

 

1) The TA told them of the benefits of booking with the TA and they took those perks. 
 

2) “you should be happy” sounds like a reaction to an irate, unprofessional conversation. After which the OP has burned any bridge of getting help. 
 

Some TAs give onboard perks. Some give OBC. Some also give cash back in store gift cards. All are going to be more than the $100 shareholder credit. 
 

All I hear is a lot of victim noises without the full story. 
 

You should expect that a TA will use a discounted fare. Why would you expect anything less.