Hi Folks,

We are aboard the Crystal Symphony and have been having trouble getting our onboard cruise credits from American Express Platinum. I did pay the $500 deposit with my gold card which we were wait listed on but paid the entire balance with my Platinum card. Now Crystal is saying that I had to pay for the cruise with the Centurion card to get anything more than the $100 credit. I printed out the priviledges page for the Platinum card and brought it just in case and it apparently makes no difference to either Crystal or AMEX because they will not give me the credits that are printed in the advertising.

Supposedly had we paid for the entire cruise we would have gotten $300 onbard credit and $250 excursion credit. The Amex travel agent that booked it told use up front that we wouldn't get the whole $250 excursion credit, only $100, which was find even though it seemed like a big penalty for booking the deposit with the gold card.....but that we would be the whole $300 onboard credit.

If anyone has any advice please let me know. I've spent a lot of time at the Crystal reception desk trying to sort this out with no luck.

Thanks,

KarenM :eek:

Ngaire summed up how the program works and here is a link to the details:

Click here for AMEX Details

Hope this helps you, Karen.

Karen, just wondering - the gold card that you used to pay the deposit - was it an American Express gold card or a Visa/MasterCard gold card?

Dena

We use our Platinum Card to book our 3-4 Crystal Cruises each year. Until recently we also used the Amex Platinum Travel Services travel agency (we have changed agencies). Prior to 2006, when we traveled on Crystal and used the Platinum card for the ENTIRE expenditure, we got the $300 per stateroom, $250 per person (if Amex had a group on board); and $100 for an excursion ($250 if the cruise was booked after 1/1/06 only). The difference between the $100 and $250 is not the card; it is when the contract date for the new on board credit went into effect with Crystal. The travel agent we used told us that things were changing. We would no longer get both the $400 or $550 (Pl $300 plus excursion) and the $500 per stateroom for the group. One or the other. She did say that people paying with the Gold Card MIGHT be able to get that group on board credit (I do not know if your cruise is classified as a G375 group cruise). I do not know if that is only for people who use Amex PTS (travel agency). My advice would be to see the chief accountant on the Symphony (I believe she starts her day at 3 p.m.) and ask her to email the Los Angeles office (they will contact your travel agent and get back to the chief accountant) and ask what you are entitled to for your cruise. The front desk people are not knowledgeable in this regard.

Hi everyone, we are home after a very long flight from Venice.

Dena, we paid the $500 initial deposit to waitlist with the AMEX gold small biz corporate card.

Judith, I got your email and thanks for all the information and advice. I spent 5 of the 7 days on the cruise dealing with this on a daily basis. I was really shocked that when I presented Crystal with the printout from the AMEX Platinum Benefits website regarding what Amex offered for Crystal cruises, they still baulked. In the end we finally got the credits posted to our account on May 24th, the day before we disembarked. I emailed the Amex travel agent I booked through before I posted what happened in LTC and I think she took care of it but not sure since I didn't get an email response from her.

I was really to the point that I was going to expose this scam to the cruise forums so started by posting here. The internet access on the ship was pretty expensive so we decided I would do what I could in the 1/2 hour access but wasn't going to run up a big internet bill to add insult to injury. I ran out of time before I could post it to the CC forum.

I have to say that the cruise was very nice. The food ran from very good to excellent and the entertainment was much better than I expected. They even did a really good job on some of the excrusions we took. It's a shame as a new first time cruiser with them that they decided to try and screw things up because it didn't leave a very good impression of AMEX or Crystal. I subscribed to the Platinum card based on comments from many people's comments on this forum and was very surprised at their lack of care and concern for members. I guess it's all about the bottom line for Amex and Crystal, and early on it smelled of false advertising or bait and switch tactics. I decided I wasn't going to let them get away with this on general principles.

Amex Platinum also screwed up the hotel in Munich, they booked it for the night we were flying, only to arrive and find out they had charged us as a no show. I really didn't need that news after flying all night and hardly any sleep. I have to say that it's partly my fault on the hotel as I looked at the confirmation they emailed and didn't catch the date difference. That is not resolved yet, called Amex Platnium from Munich and they said they would check into it but no email from them yet, will call in the morning. We may be stuck paying for 2 nights instead of one, ouch!

Thanks for your help Judith, didn't mean to get you in the middle of this mess.

KarenM

No problem. It happened to me on my last two cruises and the head accountant on board had the LA office contact the Plat agency for me and our credits were placed on our account. Since I never had a problem with the on board credits for the previous 13 cruises in four years with Crystal, I tend to think it is the fact that the Platinum card changed their rules for 2006, not anything with Crystal.

Karen, So sorry to hear about the AmEx mess.

Has anyone had any problem with RSSC recently getting the $300 per cabin credit? We own the AmEx Platinum only to get the $300 credit but never use it. As long as you pay your deposit, balance due etc. with ANY AmEx (we use Starwood AmEx) you get the $300 credit and we've never had any problem.

Karen, glad you still had a good time on your cruise!

It might be Travel Agent! I remember Ngaire saying you had to do some kind of registration that the credit isn't automatic.

Per my TA, this has nothing to do with any of the cruise lines that the AMEX platinum card gives a certain credit. It's my understanding that AMEX changed the benefits for 06 and they are only allowing a certain amount of credit vs any seperate shipboard credits the cruise line offers independently. On my last crystal cruise in 05, we didn't automatically receieve our platinum shipboard credit but the person at the front desk go in touch with my TA and it was taken care of within a couple of days.

Nancy

My number is on file with Ngaire, even though I always pay with a different card. Never had a problem & always had letter about the credit when embarking.

Maybe Ngaire will respond - I just told one im my group to use the Plat as she'd get the $300

Changes for 2006 Amex Plat and Crystal.

(1) For Crystal, PTS (amex Plat card agency) also gives a shore excursion credit along with the $300 for using the Platinum card. They upped it to $250 per stateroom from $100 for 2006. When we didn't get the higher amount, they told me that it started if you had booked in 2006, not just for a 2006 cruise, so that since we booked in 2005, we didn't get the extra amount.

(2) In addition, in the past when we booked through PTS and there was a PTS-sponsored group (G375) on board, we were added to the group and we got $250 per person in addition to the $300 and the shore excursion credit. Now they are saying that a Platinum Card holder using PTS can get one of the other -- the $300 + shore excursion $250 or the $250 per person for a G375 group not both.

Our on board credit problems for the last two cruises:
(1) For our cruise four months ago, we finally got our Plat on board credit ($300) after I spoke to the chief accountant. It had fallen through the cracks -- they said someone didn't code it properly with Amex.

(2)The second time we had the problem (last month), the extra on board credit offer was in the PTS mailing from Amex and was for our booking a certain cruise within a certain time frame. We did that, and Amex marketing dropped the ball on that one, but I had the letter to prove it, and the chief accountant got it for us.

As I said, my problem wasn't with our agent, it was the agency. We are no longer booking with them. I sure wish Ngaire booked Crystal.

I am going to move this over to the main forum so Ngaire will see it.