Mary229

8 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

 

We had two choices.  Full refund, and then recharge the card if and when another stateroom became available,  or have them keep the money for when/if one became available.  We thought it easier than going back and forth on CC transactions.  Also thought if they had our money, they would be more motivated to hunt for another stateroom.

 

 

We had to be moved from one stateroom to another on two 10 day B2B cruises, but the staterooms were identical. The room steward hung the closet things on a rack and rolled them over to the other side of the ship.  We had to pack up all of the rest.  Of course, it was not neatly.  I took everything out of the drawers still folded and stacked in order of where they were in stateroom #1 drawers.  Moving the bathroom thing were the worse part.  Did not take too long, though. 

I would want to have a say where my things go in the new stateroom since it would be a different layout.

I keep telling everyone, forget those short cruises.  I want to go for at least 30 or I don’t want to go😂

13 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

Lucky you!  I honestly do not think that after putting all of our belongings away in one stateroom that I could muster up the gumption to move again the next day.  But with 13 more nights ahead, I might be willing.

They do it all!  Everything.  We went to lunch and moved into our new cabin with everything in place.  Of course we had emptied out our safe. 

3 minutes ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

I agree, but the one thing that puzzles me is why HAL is holding onto the upsell money instead of just refunding it

They are slow to process all refunds. There is another thread about onboard spending account errors and that is likely also just slow paying 

2 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

They might hold it against us!!! 😀

I had a situation close to you. I was on a casino rate and they kept offering me upgrades - daily. I would call and they would say never mind, you don’t qualify.  This went on for two full weeks everyday.  When I got onboard I asked again.  The next morning they offered me the choice between 3 much better rooms at no cost.  Just saying 

3 hours ago, Steerpike58 said:

I kept notes/screen shots. It's a 14-day Iceland cruise, from Rotterdam, but - it's for single occupancy so the rate is basically double the typical 'double occupancy' quote (which gets doubled at the end, for two).  I've since been looking at lots of cruises, and the premium for choosing your own room seems to vary wildly, I believe depending on what range of 'other' rooms exist in inventory.  So, for example, if there's only a few rooms left, and those rooms are at the bottom level of the category, the price difference is zero. But if you started out with, say, obstructed view', then go 'choose your own room', the difference jumps up because the range of rooms shown isn't restricted to obstructed view rooms only.  Thats my current theory! 

 

I agree with you.  It is not a normal situation, it is their dynamic pricing software  taking over and obviously it has some issues.   

The one I looked at over the weekend went from $1999 per person interior to near $6000 per person the next morning and had the same issue you are noting.  I should have booked at first glance😉

4 hours ago, Joebucks said:

We've done it a few times, and it was overall enjoyable. Most of the time, we don't travel in a group. When we do, there's a few things I stand by:

 

- Do not stay in the same room, when possible. I absolutely loathe cramming a bunch of people in one room. For any of its perceived benefits, it's overall less enjoyable. 

 

- Not having to commit to the same plans. We'll do a few things together. However, this is what we're doing. You can come if you want. You can do something else if you want. Plan the important stuff in advance and communicate early.

Oh no.  I would never stay in the same room. We do family cruises and try to find a sailing that suits all budgets.  When we travel with friends we would only ask people who travel in the same budget class we generally do.  We sail and stay mid premium and would not ask a dedicated luxury devotee nor  a super budget conscious person to travel with us.  Many people are flexible including us but some do like their luxuries and some like their savings   My level is never more than 2 in a room

@VMax1700  thanks for another top notch cruise log.  

1 hour ago, Real NHDOC said:

This is a misrepresentation of their policy.  Their policy is to ban people who file disputes that aren't valid disputes.  That's a lot different than banning people for using the dispute process to resolve a real dispute.

 

I have had to resort to disputes a couple of times with HAL, mostly after Covid cancellations.  My disputes were deemed to be justified and I continue to sail on HAL. 

Others have not been so fortunate 

33 minutes ago, NotLikeBelleRosen,IHope said:

I'm confident if I put together a spreadsheet with what they have and what it should be, it will be cleared up. Either they see the error of their ways or they can point out mine. Disheartening to hear that guest relations is good for robo-response but no follow up. We shall see.

I have had trouble deciphering my account on the ship and that is exactly what I did.  You also need to check for any credits to those gift cards.  It is a mess and no two ships credit the same way.  Some do an in-house transaction, some credit everything to the card on file and some credit back to the gift card.  A true mess!

My disputed amount was found on a gift card🤷‍♀️

34 minutes ago, NotLikeBelleRosen,IHope said:

Did not use a HAL PCC and, unfortunately, I had refundable OBC and a few gift cards on my account so credit card dispute won't apply. I do appreciate your input, though.

CCL (the corporation) has a policy of banning anyone who does a credit card dispute.  Sometimes the onboard statement is rather confusing .  Perhaps you need to have another pair of eyes look it over. 

28 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

Wow, that seems expensive for a 14 day, OV, with no inclusions.

Our 22 day, South America w/Antarctica (2025) is that price, all in. It is for a veranda cabin and includes gratuities, WiFi, drinks and 3 specialty dinners. We also were able to choose our cabin.

What itinerary is this?

It looks like a mistake at least the HIA is wrong.  HIA is $55 or $1210 per person for 22 days.  I did notice some of the cruises going to Iceland went up tremendously over the weekend as the demand to see two eruptions is incredible and people are trying any means possible to get there 

On 4/15/2024 at 7:21 PM, leaveitallbehind said:

We travel both ways and they are equally enjoyable to us. We have cruised with several couples at once as well as well as with one or two couples together.  But we have one couple that we cruise with rather frequently (in fact we met them on a cruise a number of years ago and became good friends on land as well). When we occasionally have different interests in port they do their thing and we do ours.  But we always get together for dinner and our evening activities. The rest of the time we cruise by ourselves. We have four cruises planned (three booked) between now and October '25, two with them and two alone.

Same here.  We also travel on land journeys with couples. For land journeys which do require close daily quarters we add the rule “every person gets one day to complain, once you register any complaint that is your one and only day - so choose wisely”. Remarkably there are hardly any complaints 😉

I am sorry that happened but it does sound like an honest mistake.   I hope you enjoy the cruise 

12 minutes ago, SeaMatesNYC said:

What exactly do you believe “their arrangements” to be?  Is the agency buying it, but in no way taking it into consideration when your TA gives it to you?  If it does not impact your TA’s commission then the agency is absorbing the financial effect. Either way, it’s a reduction in the total profitability of the enterprise.
 

You of course are well within your rights to not ask for a discount. Leaves more for the rest of us, I suppose. And the discounts I am receiving are unsolicited, and I assume are available to anyone willing to create an account and become a “member” of this travel agency.
 

The one I use shows a cash discount, another provides the same amount in OBC, and the “big box” gives store credit.  But with HIA plus, I don’t have a use for thousands more OBC, even for a longer cruise and I don’t shop that much at the big box.
 

I am amused by the moral tone taken by a number of posters herein who seem to believe seeking a discount is somehow dirty or ethically unseemly. To each his/her own. 

The point is you can pick the agent of your choice and not rely on them discounting to get the same or better prices if you know all of the possible discounts already available.  The big box stores are doing just that then divvying up those discounts to a broader group.  If you want, as the OP, wants a full service TA then there is another way

1 hour ago, shippmates said:

I am not sure how many are confused how agents make their commission.  They are paid a percentage on the cruise fare and travel insurance if purchased through the cruise line.  They do not make commission on port charges, taxes, shore excursions, drink packages or any added charges.  So if your cruise has an all inclusive price of $2500, it is possible the cruise fare is only $2000.  It is possible the agent would make $200 before the agency they work for takes there share.  An agency could end up with $150.00 for that one booking.  

I agree 10 days is too long to get your booking confirmation, as they are received with in an hour of booking.

Agreed.  People are thinking their agents are making a fortune.  It really isn’t that much.  I always tackle it from perks.  It costs the cruise line nothing to give you a dinner at the Pinnacle Grill but it costs money to get discounts.  

Not all agencies provide the HAL confirmation letter.  They simply provide their invoice 

22 minutes ago, Wehwalt said:

I would think HAL would go where the greater amount of revenue is, given the amount of debt they owe.

Any business needs to always be mindful of irritating loyal customers.   If the crow’s nest was truly commandeered for the length of the cruise that would be called irritating the loyal base.  Sure HAL could do this on a 7 day mass market cruise, it may not create any new loyal customers but their dedicated base maybe wouldn’t be there.  Hal is a mass market cruise on the 7 day voyage to many locales and they will do everything that CCL, RCCL and NCL do

Also remember you can pay with AARP gift cards for a 10% discount. 

1 minute ago, Iamthesea said:

 

Can complaints be made on the app from home before taking a cruise?

No nor after, only while on voyage.  You can also give commendations and kudos.  Currently the crew is eager to receive a special mention through the app 

2 minutes ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

Lastly, we were loyal to La Quinta for about a decade, starting around 2010, before the Wyndham acquisition

I so agree.  Being in the southwest we used them often buy

tWyndham let them run down to the point where they are a hard pass for us.  

1 minute ago, SeaMatesNYC said:

No, they’ve wanted it, but sometimes credits have dropped off.  Not sure why and they have to call to get things reapplied that “fell off”. Additional bonus type things beyond the onboard booking bonus that were tied to Mariner number. Should go seamlessly, but I’ve found sometimes don’t, perhaps due to input error onboard?

My last onboard booking had to be redone but I caught the errors while still on ship and was able to make the corrections.  I agree keep a careful eye on things especially when an error can lose a significant OBC

1 minute ago, SeaMatesNYC said:

And find someone who can cope with taking in an onboard booking and ensure everything’s transferred correctly. And still gives you a discount (especially then since you and the Future Cruise Consultant did the heavy lifting!).

There should be an automatic transfer unless you the customer spectates you don’t want it transferred.  Have you had an agent not want the onboard booking.?

Did you ever talk to La Quinta?  You do get a second bite at the apple, so if you can work it out with them you still have a chance to overturn the charge. 
 

If Barclays treated you badly stay away from all of their credit cards.  HAL doesn’t administer the card ,the bank does.

I had a similar problem with another bank, I closed the account once it was straightened out and never used that bank again. 

As to discounts there truly are no discounts.  Learning a cruise lines in and outs is the best way to get a good deal.  Know your Mariner benefits.  Be keen to snap up an early booking bonus, many only agencies snap those up and offer them later to clients giving the appearance that they are giving you a big OBC. You could have had that same OBC if you had booked early.  Always get a refundable deposit so you can refare if prices drop.  Your agent should have access to software that tracks changes and that software is more robust than what consumers have available.

so my advice is find someone who is attentive and you like and who likes you and let the prices fall in place.  Make sure that person has good cruise experience and that they regularly keep up their training.  Don’t focus on price 

44 minutes ago, TRLD said:

So where have I defended Park West?

I will let you reread your own responses as I just did.