Booking Restaurant Reservations on Line

[dag144]

I booked three evenings in the Pinnacle for an upcoming trip.  I had to put these booking on my credit card and they are "pending" on the card.  I have three free dinners for two in this cruise (I know poor me because I'll get even fatter!).  My question is will the bookings, charges, and credits get ironed out in my on board account?  I think so, but forewarned is for armed.  Thanks for any advice, help etc.

[RuthC]

28 minutes ago, dag144 said:

My question is will the bookings, charges, and credits get ironed out in my on board account? 

They should, but if I were you, I would pay close attention, and stay on top of it.

I usually get my pre-paid, and free, Pinnacle dinners charged and refunded correctly, but sometimes not. It has happened that I was refunded half the charge when it should have been free, so another trip to the Front Desk.

[dag144]

Thank you Ruth for your advice.  I think that I should have waited until boarding to make the reservations.  Had a problem with the drink package which took me the front and and the bar mgr. too many times.  I have everything on my phone and will bring a copy of the the dinner bookings with me.

 

Once again many thinks!

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have also had a few problems getting refunds for the pre booked dinners when we want them to be the freebees.

[dag144]

I called HAL and got several conflicting answers.  After I talked with customer service, I decided to cancel the dinners and re-book on the ship.  Customer Service is currently having trouble with their computer system and will notify me when the cancellation and credit is made, when they de-bug their system.  In the interim I disputed the charge with my credit card company.  Never Again?!!!

[bEwAbG]

Why would you dispute the charge with the credit card company?  You're not supposed to do that until you've given the business a chance to fix the issue, which they said they were doing.

[dag144]

According to Customer Service HAL has a computer glitch which  does not allow the customer service agent to cancel these reservations and refund the charges.  She is not sure when this will be problem will be corrected much less addressed.  She will notify the ship of these cancellations, but given my experience with getting problems corrected with the front desk I though it best to make sure that I do not have to pay the $210.00 in question.

 

I told the customer service rep. that I would put a dispute in with my credit card company.  She had no objections.  If and when the $210.00 is addressed to my satisfaction, I most definitely will cancel my dispute. 

[bEwAbG]

The dispute process is meant for fraudulent activity or errors that the merchant will not correct.  When you file a dispute, you may see a credit on your credit card bill pretty immediately, but the credit card company also goes directly to the merchant and asks them to explain what's going on.  The merchant also gets hit with extra fees associated with the fact that you opened a dispute.  So, if the merchant is already working on a resolution for you, then they're now doing twice the work towards the same resolution & having to pay for the pleasure while you're getting a bad reputation with the merchant because it's an extra burden on them.  The process is meant to be a last resort.

 

In your specific case, I'd call HAL back and ask to speak to a supervisor to address where your refund is rather than relying on one customer service rep's word.  Simply notifying the ship of the cancellations is not the right answer.  She was supposed to issue a refund when you cancel.  It wouldn't be the first time someone blamed a "glitch" on something they didn't know how to do.

 

 

[dag144]

Nonsense!  The rep knew exactly the problem and was working in good faith to resolve it.  Good news.  Got an e-mail from HAL stating that the $210.00 has been credited back to my account.  I immediately cancelled the dispute.  Remember the old adage "The Lord helps those who help themselves".  In this case the problem was not my making, and I chose not to pursue a resolution while on the cruise which leaves in a couple of days. 

[bEwAbG]

So if you knew they were working on it in good faith, then you misused the dispute procedure with your credit card.  This is not a matter of opinion.  Google "chargeback misuse" and read away.  You should also read your credit card agreement where  you will see that they expect you to let the merchant resolve your dispute before you contact them.

[zentraveler]

I think this is a good thread to ask this:  I do not get any complimentary dinners for our cruise. I see that when I pre-book a specialty dinner that I need to charge it and accept the "terms", however when I read the terms it only addresses cancelling excursions. If we change our minds and want to cancel our dinner is it automatically refunded? And time period for cancelling?

[RuthC]

41 minutes ago, zentraveler said:

I do not get any complimentary dinners for our cruise. I see that when I pre-book a specialty dinner that I need to charge it and accept the "terms", however when I read the terms it only addresses cancelling excursions. If we change our minds and want to cancel our dinner is it automatically refunded?

Yes. But do check your statement to be sure it was refunded properly.

[zentraveler]

6 minutes ago, RuthC said:

Yes. But do check your statement to be sure it was refunded properly.

 

Any idea of time frame? 24 hours? Does it matter or can you do it right up to dinner time.  Sounds like it might be easier just to wait unless there is enough demand for Tamarind, for example, to make booking ahead useful. 

[RuthC]

1 hour ago, zentraveler said:

Any idea of time frame? 24 hours?

The adjustment is supposed to be made by the Night Auditor, so the next day it should show up on your account. Just check the Navigator function on the computer to see if it's there.

[zentraveler]

16 minutes ago, RuthC said:

The adjustment is supposed to be made by the Night Auditor, so the next day it should show up on your account. Just check the Navigator function on the computer to see if it's there.

 

16 minutes ago, RuthC said:

The adjustment is supposed to be made by the Night Auditor, so the next day it should show up on your account. Just check the Navigator function on the computer to see if it's there.

 

Sorry; my question was ambiguous. I meant will the special restaurants have a cancellation window like hotels do, to be refundable or is it right up to dinner time?

[kazu]

14 hours ago, zentraveler said:

 

 

Sorry; my question was ambiguous. I meant will the special restaurants have a cancellation window like hotels do, to be refundable or is it right up to dinner time?

 

They like 24 hours notice to cancel IME.

 

 

[old mike]

On 4/10/2019 at 10:23 AM, dag144 said:

According to Customer Service HAL has a computer glitch which  does not allow the customer service agent to cancel these reservations and refund the charges.  She is not sure when this will be problem will be corrected much less addressed.  She will notify the ship of these cancellations, but given my experience with getting problems corrected with the front desk I though it best to make sure that I do not have to pay the $210.00 in question.

 

I told the customer service rep. that I would put a dispute in with my credit card company.  She had no objections.  If and when the $210.00 is addressed to my satisfaction, I most definitely will cancel my dispute. 

 

The above sounds like the same "Glitch excuse" that we were told was the reason for our experience on our fall Vancouver to Singapore B2B on the Westerdam. We were on board for about two months and it was the very last night before our account was finally fixed to reflect the credits for our 4 star discounts on pre-purchased items. We were in a Neptune suite so had the services of the concierge, but by the end of the cruise I was fed up with having to show them  hard copies of our pre-purchased alcohol , specialty restaurant meals and excursions not just to receive the owed discount credits but sometimes to actually receive the items in question?

 

  The final kick in the teeth was that  I  again had to produce  my credit card records to prove to HAL that when pre-purchased items were included we had earned 45 days of credit for on-board spending and not the 3 days they had given us. The whole experience detracted from our enjoyment of the cruise.

 

HAL has had over 6 months to fix computer glitchs since we sailed out of Vancouver last fall.

 

I have zero trust in the HAL accounting and IT departments, and I do mean ZERO. Check your on board account carefully, keep your own records  and be prepared to have to have to argue to get what you are owed. We will never pre-purchase anything for our future HAL cruises  our money will stay in our interest earning account until we receive our final on board invoice. 

If they don't clean up their act soon our upcoming fall cruise will be our last with HAL.

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by old mike
grammar

[TAD2005]

We booked 4 different dinners on the 28 day Eurodam cruise March 9 to April 6.  We prepaid them online before the cruise.   When we boarded, and I checked my account on the Navigator, I saw all of the 50% 4-star mariner credits on my folio on the first day of the cruise.  See below.   Never had to argue with anybody.

 

3/9/2019    Promo Credits(Not Valid For Casino Or Cash)    ($400.00)
3/9/2019    Promo Credits(Not Valid For Casino Or Cash)    ($400.00)
3/9/2019    Internet Cafe    $259.99
3/9/2019    Loyalty    ($17.50)
3/9/2019    Loyalty    ($17.50)
3/9/2019    Loyalty    ($17.50)
3/9/2019    Loyalty    ($17.50)
3/9/2019    Loyalty    ($10.00)
3/9/2019    Loyalty    ($12.50)
3/9/2019    Loyalty    ($12.50)
3/9/2019    Loyalty    ($12.50)
3/9/2019    Loyalty    ($12.50)

[RuthC]

22 minutes ago, TAD2005 said:

We booked 4 different dinners on the 28 day Eurodam cruise March 9 to April 6.  We prepaid them online before the cruise.   When we boarded, and I checked my account on the Navigator, I saw all of the 50% 4-star mariner credits on my folio on the first day of the cruise.  See below.   Never had to argue with anybody.

In my experience, HAL gets the 50% 4* Mariner discount correct (at least most of the time). It's the 5* Mariner discount of a full refund of the pre-paid price that they don't handle well at all. Consistently I am given only 50% off my dinners which are supposed to be 'free'. It generally takes two trips to the Front Desk to get it corrected properly.

[kazu]

5 minutes ago, RuthC said:

In my experience, HAL gets the 50% 4* Mariner discount correct (at least most of the time). It's the 5* Mariner discount of a full refund of the pre-paid price that they don't handle well at all. Consistently I am given only 50% off my dinners which are supposed to be 'free'. It generally takes two trips to the Front Desk to get it corrected properly.

 

Ruth’s experience echoes mine.

 

Thankfully, the P’dam got it right the first time on my past cruise although I did have to say I wasn’t prepared to wait until I get off to see it 😉

 

Westerdam did it right 100% on my first 5* cruise.  Just a smile to the Pg manager with a “please apply our 5* privileges” and it was all done.

 

Other than that, it has taken more than 2 trips on some occasions for me to get our benefits.