HAL refunds unused OBC, nice surprise!

[susiesan]

Just got off the Veendam on Sept. 19. On the final cabin statement I had $21.87 of OBC that wasn't used. I had missed HAL crediting back $50 of port taxes earlier in the week and didn't know I had the extra money to spend. I thought I had used up all the OBC but had a credit balance at the end.

 

In looking at my credit card statement I see HAL credited $21.87 back to my credit card. I have never had a cruise line refund unused OBC. Is this typical of HAL? The OBC came from HAL and my TA, not prepaid by me.

[CruiserBruce]

As commonly discussed here, unused OBC that is your money- not granted by HAL, will be refunded. However, if the OBC is a "gift" from HAL, like the Stock owners OBC, or the FCD OBC, it will not be refunded.

Edited September 23, 2015 by CruiserBruce

[DaveOKC]

Just got off the Veendam on Sept. 19. On the final cabin statement I had $21.87 of OBC that wasn't used. I had missed HAL crediting back $50 of port taxes earlier in the week and didn't know I had the extra money to spend. I thought I had used up all the OBC but had a credit balance at the end.

 

In looking at my credit card statement I see HAL credited $21.87 back to my credit card. I have never had a cruise line refund unused OBC. Is this typical of HAL? The OBC came from HAL and my TA, not prepaid by me.

 

Could the $21.87 be from the $50 of port charges? Both are normally on your cabin statement.

[susiesan]

As commonly discussed here, unused OBC that is your money- not granted by HAL, will be refunded. However, if the OBC is a "gift" from HAL, like the Stock owners OBC, or the FCD OBC, it will not be refunded.

 

And yet it was.

[CruiserBruce]

It sounds like you got port charges back. Port charges are your money, part of your cruise fare.

[cruz chic]

And yet it was.

 

Likely because of the port tax. I sure wouldn't want people to count on credits from all obcs. That is not correct.

[catl331]

The OBC came from HAL and my TA, not prepaid by me.

The part that came from your TA is the same as if you (or friends or family) had purchased it. That type is used last.

[susiesan]

It sounds like you got port charges back. Port charges are your money, part of your cruise fare.

 

That may be it. There was no indication which port was involved or why the taxes were refunded. We did not skip a port.

[SilvertoGold]

A nice welcome home surprise!!

 

So.................hope you are planning to write a review! That would be a welcome home treat for the boards!!

[susiesan]

A nice welcome home surprise!!

 

So.................hope you are planning to write a review! That would be a welcome home treat for the boards!!

 

I may write a review but the HAL faithful won't like it and will jump all over me for expressing my opinion. I'll state the onboard experience was overall average compared to the 40 others I have taken on many many different cruise lines. The Canada itinerary and ports were great. The size of the Veendam is good but I prefer a smaller ship. The passenger demographic was way too old for me and I'm 61. Food was just okay, edible. I had fun and an enjoyable cruise but I won't be rushing back to HAL in the near future.

[SilvertoGold]

I may write a review but the HAL faithful won't like it and will jump all over me for expressing my opinion. I'll state the onboard experience was overall average compared to the 40 others I have taken on many many different cruise lines. The Canada itinerary and ports were great. The size of the Veendam is good but I prefer a smaller ship. The passenger demographic was way too old for me and I'm 61. Food was just okay, edible. I had fun and an enjoyable cruise but I won't be rushing back to HAL in the near future.

 

Sorry to hear this, but I won't be one of the possible ones to jump all over you!

 

I like a balanced and reasoned review, which is what I expect from you, considering your past posts on this board.

 

Glad you had fun and an enjoyable cruise, though!

[luvcruisn']

As commonly discussed here, unused OBC that is your money- not granted by HAL, will be refunded. However, if the OBC is a "gift" from HAL, like the Stock owners OBC, or the FCD OBC, it will not be refunded.

 

On my last cruise in 2014, some of us asked the front desk staff about this, and were first told that there was no stock credit refund. One lady even contacted her travel agent to check it out. Later on, the front desk staff told us that we could get a refund up to the amount of the stock credit, if there was a balance left on our account. I had a stock credit of $250, as it was a 16 day cruise. I used up most of it, but was refunded the unused amount to my credit card. We didn't ask about the FCD OBC, as we had already used that up in daily hotel charges.

 

On another cruise, I was told by the front desk that I couldn't get a stock OBC refund, so I took it out of my account by paying the 3% cash advance fee. As the credit was $50, for a short cruise, I only lost $1.50 by doing it this way, which was better than letting HAL keep the money.

Edited September 23, 2015 by luvcruisn'

[take us away]

That may be it. There was no indication which port was involved or why the taxes were refunded. We did not skip a port.

 

Port policies and dockage fees change frequently so looks like you were at a port that had a discounted dockage fee from what was your original port fees and taxes that was included with your fare. Congratulations!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad you got refund -- no matter how it came or how it happened.

[Fouremco]

That may be it. There was no indication which port was involved or why the taxes were refunded. We did not skip a port.

On the Maasdam last week we tendered in PEI instead of the scheduled docking. We were refunded $24.17 each. Were your ports all as originally scheduled?

[Kenito]

I may write a review but the HAL faithful won't like it and will jump all over me for expressing my opinion. I'll state the onboard experience was overall average compared to the 40 others I have taken on many many different cruise lines. The Canada itinerary and ports were great. The size of the Veendam is good but I prefer a smaller ship. The passenger demographic was way too old for me and I'm 61. Food was just okay, edible. I had fun and an enjoyable cruise but I won't be rushing back to HAL in the near future.

 

Yes, I won't jump on you either, fair and honest opinions are fair and honest. I like people who see all sides and then report reasonably.

 

One of my 'reasonable' issues is a dollar for dollar comparison. If I pay $200 a day, I expect more than when I pay $100 a day.

 

Happy sailings!

[SilvertoGold]

Yes, I won't jump on you either, fair and honest opinions are fair and honest. I like people who see all sides and then report reasonably.

 

One of my 'reasonable' issues is a dollar for dollar comparison. If I pay $200 a day, I expect more than when I pay $100 a day.

 

Happy sailings!

 

That works, if you mean for identical accommodation.

[Jean1946]

We were told by the front office if we did not use all of our OBC that it would just disappear. So, when we left we had a little over $10 left and lo and behold, we did get a credit for that. We also got the #24.17 X 2 for port charges.

[0bnxshs]

I may write a review but the HAL faithful won't like it and will jump all over me for expressing my opinion. I'll state the onboard experience was overall average compared to the 40 others I have taken on many many different cruise lines. The Canada itinerary and ports were great. The size of the Veendam is good but I prefer a smaller ship. The passenger demographic was way too old for me and I'm 61. Food was just okay, edible. I had fun and an enjoyable cruise but I won't be rushing back to HAL in the near future.

 

I certainly appreciate your mini-review and would read more should you decide to write a full review. :)

[Fouremco]

A slight deviation from the OP:

 

Has anyone ever asked for cash back rather than the usual credit to your credit card? With the Canadian dollar as it is, I though afterwards that I would have been better off asking the purser's office for the USD refund in cash for future use.

[Kenito]

That works, if you mean for identical accommodation.

 

Sure, I take your point. But if you pay $100 on Carnival and $200 on Celebrity for "identical" category room... chances are you will find Celebrity superior.

 

Happy to be sailing as often as I can, which is not near enough!

[richwmn]

A slight deviation from the OP:

 

Has anyone ever asked for cash back rather than the usual credit to your credit card? With the Canadian dollar as it is, I though afterwards that I would have been better off asking the purser's office for the USD refund in cash for future use.

 

I always clear my account at the Front Office and get cash back. Only drawback is that there are no more charges after you settle your account.

[Fouremco]

I always clear my account at the Front Office and get cash back. Only drawback is that there are no more charges after you settle your account.

Thanks. I don't always have a credit, but it's good to know that the cash option exists.

[aussiedisneyfan]

A slight deviation from the OP:

 

Has anyone ever asked for cash back rather than the usual credit to your credit card? With the Canadian dollar as it is, I though afterwards that I would have been better off asking the purser's office for the USD refund in cash for future use.

 

This is my plan on an upcoming RCL cruise. For us Aussies, we can buy OBC at a rate of .77usd whilst the floating rate of the day is around .69usd. So I have loaded more obc than I will need and will cash out on the last night and then use the usd for my next US trip. It has been widely discussed on the AU boards and RCL are allowing the cashout.

[cruisinjudy]

Our 14 day Alaska i August had a lot of onboard credit. Our big flight excursion got canceled due to the weather so we ended up not using all of our credit. This was the first tie this has happened and we did get over $100 back on our credit card statement.