Change to Shareholder Policy Credit Email

[bob278]

This is a service business. If enough people write in, there is a good chance they will listen. We need more people to let their feelings known.

I wrote, too because it never hurts. But the key word is business. As long as they are confident that it will save money, I don't think any amount of writing will help. But on the other hand, no amount of writing will hurt.

 

Even though the members of Cruise Critic are all repeat cruisers, we are a pretty small percentage of the overall customer base. Remember that Cruise Critic members cruise on a LOT of lines, not just RCL and Celebrity so that dilutes the number of people who care.

[grandsix]

I sent an email expressing my displeasure with this policy change to Investor Relations as well. Why would any of us who are stock holders ever purchase a future cruise credit while on board again if there is no added benefit? NCL gives you OBC to be used right on the cruise you are currently on. At least that is SOME return for a future cruise credit investment.

 

You are absolutely right. The problem is the people at RCL headquarters seem to be clueless and do not understand that these negative changes effect their most loyal customers.

[Bobocasey]

I think that this new policy will bite them on the butt!!!! I am sure some bean counter in the front office came up with this bright idea to try and save some money!!! Well I think in the long run it will cost them more. There is no advantage to booking a future cruise will on the current if they amount of obc is equal to the amount given for stock ownership and they can't be combined. I know for sure that we will be looking at the cost and the different itineraries of other cruise lines. In the period of tight money one has to be a WISE Consumer.

[grandsix]

I think that this new policy will bite them on the butt!!!! I am sure some bean counter in the front office came up with this bright idea to try and save some money!!! Well I think in the long run it will cost them more. There is no advantage to booking a future cruise will on the current if they amount of obc is equal to the amount given for stock ownership and they can't be combined. I know for sure that we will be looking at the cost and the different itineraries of other cruise lines. In the period of tight money one has to be a WISE Consumer.

 

Well said. We hope RCL HQ is reading this.

[hajekfam]

In our case, it will end up costing them more - we usually use our onboard credits (investor, booking onboard) to try a new (to us) spa offering or do something onboard that we normally wouldn't spend the money to do. If we like it, we would do it again - at our expense. Without the credit, we won't do it at all.

[dutchess43]

Well I for one will not be purchasing any future cruises on board. I think it stinks that if you are a loyal cuiser that they will not allow you to combine the X coupons with the shareholder benefits. Once again shafting the loyal X cruiser it's bad enough that the Captain's benefits are some of the worse for elite members now this. At this time with the economy in the toilet & new big ships need filling up those cabins this is poor planning on RCI's part. It seems Carnival corp had learned their lesson & resinded their lack of combining coupons with the shareholders OBC.

[pamkev]

I always thought a business was suppose to do things to keep us stockholders happy so money keeps flowing in, isn't that what they say when they make changes we are doing this to make our stockholders happy. Aren't we stockholders, are we happy I don't think so!:mad:

[hajekfam]

Well I for one will not be purchasing any future cruises on board. I think it stinks that if you are a loyal cuiser that they will not allow you to combine the X coupons with the shareholder benefits. Once again shafting the loyal X cruiser it's bad enough that the Captain's benefits are some of the worse for elite members now this. At this time with the economy in the toilet & new big ships need filling up those cabins this is poor planning on RCI's part. It seems Carnival corp had learned their lesson & resinded their lack of combining coupons with the shareholders OBC.

 

The Captains club coupons are not a big deal - they went back to only being valid for bookings that were made during a specific time period and the values are actually less than those that were issued back when they were also good for a cruise listed on the coupon that was previously booked.

[grandsix]

The Captains club coupons are not a big deal - they went back to only being valid for bookings that were made during a specific time period and the values are actually less than those that were issued back when they were also good for a cruise listed on the coupon that was previously booked.

 

We believe your opinion is the minority. Not being able to combine captains club coupons IS a big deal. Most will agree, take aways from employees or customers is not a good idea.

[bob278]

If this was the only "takeaway", it probably wouldn't be such a big deal. Let's face it. If I am spending $5,000 - 6,000 on a cruise, $100 - $150 isn't much. But take $150 from the OBC, add the 3% fee to get money in the casino TO USE FOR GAMBLING, charges for shuttles into ports and all the other things that have either gone up or cost now but used to be free and you have several hundred dollars of new expense.

 

But the vast majority of stockholders don't cruise (or have such relatively small amounts of stock) that the promise of increased profits will carry more weight than our displeasure. Only by demonstrated losses that can be shown to be because of the change can we hope to get it back. I doubt if there is a lot of fear that I will vote my 100 shares against all the board of directors when one institution that owns 50,000 likes the move.

 

I mentioned in my e-mail to RCL that I am far more willing now to consider another cruise line than I have ever been in the past. It wasn't a threat to leave, just that I might try someone else. And if I do, there's $5,000 they'll never see, even if I do come back.

[critterchick]

I usually book directly with Celebrity or RCCL and then transfer to my T/A of choice. As the OBC incentive shows up as a gift card after I board, I can't imagine how that can be impacted. However, I now will have no incentive to let them sit with my $900 for a length of time.

 

The OBC that your TA purchases for you from the line will not be affected. You can still combine that with the shareholder credit.:)

 

I feel sorry for the Future Cruise Consultants onboard. I suspect that most shareholders won't bother booking onboard any more because the shareholder credit is always at least equal to the onboard booking credit, better on the longer cruises. Especially on X or Azamara, where the OBC is based on the price of the cruise, not its length.

[jspirit]

I was told by Linda this week that any OBC from my TA is combineable with the shareholder's OBC.

[hajekfam]

In other words the investor relations credit is not combinable with Celebrity/Royal Caribbean credits given out free by them (provided that you do specific things - book onboard, book during a special sale, etc.) but it is combinable with purchased credits whether they are purchased by a travel agent, a friend or relative, yourself, or your credit card.

[hajekfam]

We believe your opinion is the minority. Not being able to combine captains club coupons IS a big deal. Most will agree, take aways from employees or customers is not a good idea.

Almost always by the time a captains club coupon comes out for a sailing that I interested in, I have already booked it as I tend to book early to get the specific cabin I want and the lowest price.

The part that really bothers me is the fact that the shareholder credit is not combinable with the booking onboard credit - at least since they now offer a "future cruise" booking - cruise to be decided later. When you had to specify a specific cruise, we almost never booked onboard - we tend to book the day bookings open in order to secure a specific cabin.

[cruising teacher]

From the way I understand as long as you have a confirmed booking and have applied for the credit before Oct 15th you can do both, if anyone finds out differently please post and let us know.

 

Pam

:) On Monday I will be emailing for 5 cruises that I have booked with Celebrity. I will be confirming $950 Shareholder credit. As a sidenote, I also own Carnival Stock. When choosing future cruises, I definitely will be choosing the best deal. We like Hal and Celebrity equally so do the math.

[hajekfam]

The OBC that your TA purchases for you from the line will not be affected. You can still combine that with the shareholder credit.:)

 

I feel sorry for the Future Cruise Consultants onboard. I suspect that most shareholders won't bother booking onboard any more because the shareholder credit is always at least equal to the onboard booking credit, better on the longer cruises. Especially on X or Azamara, where the OBC is based on the price of the cruise, not its length.

The booking onboard credit can be more or way less than the shareholder credit - depending on the price of the cruise- at least on Celebrity where the booking onboard credit is cruise fare based instead of cruise length based.

 

Booking Onboard Credit

On Board Credit Amount………… For Cruisefare from

$50 per stateroom………………….$1 to $2499

$100 per stateroom…………...…...$2500 to $3999

$150 per stateroom………………..$4000 to $5999

$200 per stateroom………………..$6000 to $7499

$300 per stateroom………………..$7500+

Cruisefare which determines On Board Credit amount does not include taxes & fees or any additional options. On Board Credits are valid only for your own new individual reservations made onboard.

 

Shareholder credit

$250 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 14 or more nights.

$200 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 10 to 13 nights.

$100 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 6 to 9 nights.

$50 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 5 nights or less.

Applicable on any Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises or Azamara Cruises Sailings. (excludes Celebrity Xpeditions)

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

I must say this comes as a surprise, and is very disappointing news. The big takeaway I get from this is.... for shareholders, it will officially make no sense to book a Cruise onboard (after 10/15), unless you are spending a great deal of money on your Cruise. I am not a big fan of the Celebrity Passages program, so I will just stick with the Shareholder Credit. No doubt, this is a cost-cutting measure.

 

From an economic standpoint, I can understand Celebrity's decision, but this must be weighed against how unhappy this will make some passengers. I suspect that Celebrity will get a great deal of negative feedback on this.

 

While I am not defending Celebrity, the problem is.... the economy stinks, the Cruise lines share prices are falling rapidly, and it looks like cost-cutting is going to the the mantra for the forseeable future. Everyone is going to be in cutback mode, and major corporations are no exception.

 

Though this is pretty unhappy news, I worry about what else may be cut back next.

[FinelyCruising]

Andy - Do they cancel sailings like the airlines cancelled flights to keep their heads above water? Sail only partially full at what percentage? You tell me what happens next....a credit give back may be a small price to pay to be able to sail at all on a booked date. Do I like it? No. But I'm not alone.

[SandyR5]

Hi - Busy reading this thread because we recently...before the price went down, down, down :confused: ...bought our 100 shares of RCL. We have two cruises booked and I want to receive the shareholders credit and the onboard credit. I tried e-mailing them the info with my brokerage statement attached and it wouldn't go through. Can someone give me the correct e-mail address. I did fax it to them instead and I asked them to confirm that they received it, but I still would like the correct e-mail address. Thanks. :rolleyes:

[Coco Creek]

Andy - Do they cancel sailings like the airlines cancelled flights to keep their heads above water? Sail only partially full at what percentage? You tell me what happens next....a credit give back may be a small price to pay to be able to sail at all on a booked date. Do I like it? No. But I'm not alone.

 

Airlines costs are highy fixed. An incremental flights costs basically the fuel and not much else. The crew is paid whether or not the airplane flies or not based on their union contracts.

 

Cruise lines--I do not really know. The incremental costs on a cruise include the waiters and stateroom staff who almost entirely paid by tips. Entertainment workers are incremental costs who can let go without heavy expenses. Food is an incremental cost. At some point, it is profitable to sale and it is profitable to sell the remaining staterooms at whatever price you a cruise line can get.

[bob278]

Hi - Busy reading this thread because we recently...before the price went down, down, down :confused: ...bought our 100 shares of RCL. We have two cruises booked and I want to receive the shareholders credit and the onboard credit. I tried e-mailing them the info with my brokerage statement attached and it wouldn't go through. Can someone give me the correct e-mail address. I did fax it to them instead and I asked them to confirm that they received it, but I still would like the correct e-mail address. Thanks. :rolleyes:

The address I've used is: ShareholderBenefit@rccl.com

[Andy]

Andy - Do they cancel sailings like the airlines cancelled flights to keep their heads above water? Sail only partially full at what percentage? You tell me what happens next....a credit give back may be a small price to pay to be able to sail at all on a booked date. Do I like it? No. But I'm not alone.

 

Hi FinelyCruising !

 

I agree with Coco Creek's last post. That I know of, Cruise lines have not canceled sailings due to low demand. A Cruise ship sitting empty, would be a financial disaster. Fortunately, I do not believe that we in that bad of an economy where that will be happening anytime soon. One great thing about Cruise ships, is they are floating hotels. If one region isnt selling, they can move the ship elsewhere.... as in the case of Mercury for Winter 2009. I have a strong feeling that most every Cruise line will be redeploying more ships around, over the next year or two.

 

I feel that it is the Cruise lines goal to fill the ship, as what they may lose on the Cruise Fare, they probably feel they will make it back on additional cost items... such as drinks, spa, casino, excursions etc.

 

Even though the economy is not in great shape, I'd sure rather own a Cruise line over an airline any day of the week !

[Brad1185]

The sickening part is Celebrity closed that announcement with "enjoy your cruise"

[Peregrina651]

I always thought a business was suppose to do things to keep us stockholders happy so money keeps flowing in, isn't that what they say when they make changes we are doing this to make our stockholders happy. Aren't we stockholders, are we happy I don't think so!:mad:

There are stockholders and there are stockholders --and we aren't the ones they are trying to keep happy.

 

Sixty-five percent of the RCCL stock is held by institutions and mutual funds, who count their holdings in tens of millions of dollars. These are the people to be kept happy.

 

 

 

[pamkev]

There are stockholders and there are stockholders --and we aren't the ones they are trying to keep happy.

 

Sixty-five percent of the RCCL stock is held by institutions and mutual funds, who count their holdings in tens of millions of dollars. These are the people to be kept happy.

 

 

 

 

 

I know, I was just venting after all this bailout happenings this week. It would be nice if they for once would listen to us common folk.:(