Questions about reserving things online ahead of cruise

[consmarci]

Hello. We will be on Nieuw Statendam in March. We'd like to book tours/spa/internet ahead of time. Does anyone know if there is a deadline to book before the cruise ie. a certain number of days ahead before the discount (premium internet) is gone? We'd like to make sure we test negative before we use our credit card on these. If we were to book ahead and had to cancel because of Covid, how quickly is the credit card refunded of all of the purchases?

 

Is it true that we can no longer bring cans of soda onboard? But, you can bring cans of water? (I didn't know they made canned water)

 

Thanks for helping a HAL newbie.

[jayhawk66]

Most items have to be booked not later than three days before sailing. I don’t know how long before a refund is made if you have to cancel. Perhaps someone with recent experience can answer. You are correct, no sodas can be brought on board but a certain number and size of canned or boxed water can be. 

 

 

 

 

[PSR]

Not sure about the spa/internet refunds, but shorex bookings are returned very quickly. In fact, when people are going to cancel a cruise, usually they cancel the shorex first and you get it back even faster (2-3 days, usually). HAL cancelled our Jan. 17th cruise due to a (false, it turns out) positive pier test. I got the shorex back to my CC in about 3 days. Still waiting for dining rez and Club Orange rez refunds, though.

[REM2]

We booked spa appointments ahead of our December cruise then I had to cancel and rebook one to a different time. The refund for the cancellation came through on the credit card quickly. The spa prices were less expensive when booked prior to boarding, just FYI. I didn't realize that prior to this cruise. 

[Caribbean Chris]

On 2/1/2022 at 6:57 PM, PSR said:

Not sure about the spa/internet refunds, but shorex bookings are returned very quickly. In fact, when people are going to cancel a cruise, usually they cancel the shorex first and you get it back even faster (2-3 days, usually). HAL cancelled our Jan. 17th cruise due to a (false, it turns out) positive pier test. I got the shorex back to my CC in about 3 days. Still waiting for dining rez and Club Orange rez refunds, though.

 

When we cancelled the same cruise due to a death in the family, we received the dining and shore ex refunds quickly. But the Club Orange payment was added to our cruise fare  and not treated in the same way as shore ex etc. The CO payment we made by credit card (the day we called HAL to add it) was added to the deposit. We filed a claim for that with the air, tax, etc., payments (and are waiting for reinstatement of the FCC used from our cancelled 2020 Hawaii cruise).

 

[PSR]

11 hours ago, Caribbean Chris said:

 

When we cancelled the same cruise due to a death in the family, we received the dining and shore ex refunds quickly. But the Club Orange payment was added to our cruise fare  and not treated in the same way as shore ex etc. The CO payment we made by credit card (the day we called HAL to add it) was added to the deposit. We filed a claim for that with the air, tax, etc., payments (and are waiting for reinstatement of the FCC used from our cancelled 2020 Hawaii cruise).

 

Hmmm...I was hoping the CO fee would be returned to a credit card, not subject to the fare rules. They should mention that when you book the CO--that it is not refundable separately from the fare. We are supposed to get FCC for the fare (which we are challenging). When you mention "filing a claim" above, do you mean using the form that HAL sends to get them to cover things not covered by your insurance?

[Caribbean Chris]

8 hours ago, PSR said:

Hmmm...I was hoping the CO fee would be returned to a credit card, not subject to the fare rules. They should mention that when you book the CO--that it is not refundable separately from the fare. We are supposed to get FCC for the fare (which we are challenging). When you mention "filing a claim" above, do you mean using the form that HAL sends to get them to cover things not covered by your insurance?

 

No, we had non-HAL trip cancellation coverage with our travel insurance, which covered cancellation due to death of a relative. Our final statement from the TA after cancellation showed the balance of everything that was not paid for by the (to-be-reinstated) FCC from 2020 which we had used for most of the trip cost.

 

I think HAL treats a Club Orange transaction as an upgrade to your original cruise fare, But who knows? you could see your CO payment refunded separately, 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Caribbean Chris