Hal Gift Card Promotion

[Ready2go11]

For the record (see paste from HAL website) and for example, if you purchase a $500 gift card, you will receive a $50 bonus promo card as your 10% “offer.”  You are not getting 10% off your purchase and paying $450 for the $500 gift card.
 

Not the same as the AARP option when you get 10% discount on purchase based on prior post. You only get the bonus card when you make a gift card purchase in increments of $250 or $500. The promo cards expire 6/30/23 as previously noted. The actual purchased gift card does not have an expiration date. 
 

Still a deal, especially for those who do not have access to AARP, but good to know the conditions and plan your purchase based on how much you might need for final payment considering the bonus card. 
 

from HAL website 

Terms & Conditions

Gift Card Sale (“Offer”): Purchase a US$250 or a US$500 in Holland America Line Gift Cards in a single transaction and receive 10% on a promotional ("bonus") gift card. There is no limit on the number of gift cards a guest can purchase. Some purchase limits may be imposed for fraud prevention reasons. Bonus gift cards are applied on gift card purchases of US$250 or US$500 increments only.

 

Offer is applicable to orders placed from April 19, 2022, 6:00 AM PST to May 8, 2022, 11:59 PM PST, while supplies last. Holland America Line reserves the right to terminate this promotion at any time. Offer ends on May 8, 2022.

 

All gift card purchases and bonus gift cards will be denominated in USD. The promotional gift card will be delivered to the recipient as a digital gift card only. No promo code is needed, and a promotional gift card will be automatically applied to the qualifying transaction. The bonus gift card expires on 6/30/2023.

 

Gift cards may be used for purchases on board Holland America Line vessels or applied as payment to a Holland America Line cruise booking. This card may not be redeemed for cash, unless required by law. Purchases made on bonus gift cards are non-refundable after 6/30/2023. Bonus gift cards are non-transferrable after 6/30/2023. Holland America Line does not accept responsibility for cards lost, damaged or stolen, or any unauthorized use of cards. Unauthorized resale prohibited. Complete gift card terms and conditions are available at hollandamerica.com/giftcard terms. Acceptance and/or use of this card constitutes acceptance of these terms and conditions, which may change at any time.

[SUESEABE]

@Red Haired Lady The AARP cards are a 10% discount. They have been available for several months. The Carnival gift cards have been on for at least 3 years that I know of. You must be a member to purchase the Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity gift card.  You don't need to be a member to purchase the Holland America or Princess gift cards. They are all digital and have no expiration noted.I still have some Carnival ones from 3 years ago and no expiration date given. The site says limited time offer and I assume they mean that they will sell them until they run out🤔 Only downside is that you can only purchase max of 5 cards per month.

[Anne614]

Would you be able to apply it to crew gratuities?

[f1jon]

I'm wondering how it works when you are on a cruise. If I have several "digital" gift cards ( I figure I'll have twenty-one, $25 digital cards) what form of proof do you need to present to the customer service desk in order to have them posted to ones onboard account?

[Ready2go11]

Ugh… on a larger purchase, it is not ideal for them to give them all to you in $25 increments. 

 

I opened a few of my $25 cards and it says to show the web page on your mobile device or click on the button to display on your mobile device (both would require Internet access to open the e- card from your email. The third option is to print them out and show them. 
 

From these three options I presume the person you are presenting it to would then have to key in the card number that displays and the PIN included. 
 

Since Internet is not always reliable on board (if you apply to these a shipboard account while on a cruise) i would take a screenshot or photo of the display of the card including the account number and PIN and save to my photos to show the person I am presenting it to. 
 

I guess you would have to read off the card number and PIN to someone on the phone to make a payment pre cruise. 

 

[roxybear135]

How long does it typically take to receive the bonus card?  We have a cruise in about 2 months and I would love to be able to get a few cards to use for the beverage package and laundry.

[Ready2go11]

I chose the email delivery option and had the gift card and bonus cards within 5 minutes of completing the order. I received one email that was a receipt only; a second email that contained the purchased cards and a third email that had all the bonus cards with links attached to click and view the cards. 

[FlaMariner]

10 hours ago, f1jon said:

I'm wondering how it works when you are on a cruise. If I have several "digital" gift cards ( I figure I'll have twenty-one, $25 digital cards) what form of proof do you need to present to the customer service desk in order to have them posted to ones onboard account?

 

In December, I took the gift card info printed off to the guest services and they clicked some numbers in their computer and boom....credit applied to onboard account.  Simple.

 

Nothing needed other than the print out of the gift card info.  

 

If you have a lot, perhaps ask if the'd be ok making you copies and then you leave them a copy to apply later.

 

You will know by viewing your onboard account if it has been applied. 

 

 

 

[goldie099]

14 hours ago, rodndonna said:

 

I've sent an email to the supplier of the cards to ask.

 

We have purchased and used them as we do our bookings in US dollars. They may be just trying to simplify by removing from Canadian site since it automatically would also book you in Canadian dollars and the cards are then not valid against those booking fares. 

No, that's not it, because I can purchase gift cards for HAL and they are in US dollars, as everything (other than the cruise fare) is paid in USD. We just don't seem to see the promo (yet). Sure, we wouldn't be able to apply them to pay off our remaining balances, but we should be able to use them for excursions, beverage packages, wifi, etc.

[Red Haired Lady]

13 hours ago, SUESEABE said:

@Red Haired Lady The AARP cards are a 10% discount. They have been available for several months. The Carnival gift cards have been on for at least 3 years that I know of. You must be a member to purchase the Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity gift card.  You don't need to be a member to purchase the Holland America or Princess gift cards. They are all digital and have no expiration noted.I still have some Carnival ones from 3 years ago and no expiration date given. The site says limited time offer and I assume they mean that they will sell them until they run out🤔 Only downside is that you can only purchase max of 5 cards per month.

Thanks so much for this info regarding the AARP purchases of HAL gift cards.  How long does it take to get the digital confirmation and gift card number when purchasing thru AARP?  Also, does the purchase show up on your credit card as AARP or Holland America?  (My cancellation travel insurance is thru my credit card) 

 

(I realize this is a bit off-topic, but still regarding HAL gift cards. Don't mean to hijack this thread)

[Lido - Lanai]

43 minutes ago, Red Haired Lady said:

Thanks so much for this info regarding the AARP purchases of HAL gift cards.  How long does it take to get the digital confirmation and gift card number when purchasing thru AARP?  Also, does the purchase show up on your credit card as AARP or Holland America?  (My cancellation travel insurance is thru my credit card) 

 

(I realize this is a bit off-topic, but still regarding HAL gift cards. Don't mean to hijack this thread)

I purchased gift cards from AARP today..... received email with cards within five minutes of placing my online order. Charge showed up on my credit card as "AARP Rewards".

[LAFFNVEGAS]

3 hours ago, Lido - Lanai said:

I purchased gift cards from AARP today..... received email with cards within five minutes of placing my online order. Charge showed up on my credit card as "AARP Rewards".

I had no idea about the AARP Gift Cards, I am going to do the same, it beats having some cards that expire, but since AARP has a limite per month I will probably top off from HAL with the remaining amount I need for Final Payment on my upcoming Rotterdam cruise.

[rodndonna]

6 hours ago, goldie099 said:

No, that's not it, because I can purchase gift cards for HAL and they are in US dollars, as everything (other than the cruise fare) is paid in USD. We just don't seem to see the promo (yet). Sure, we wouldn't be able to apply them to pay off our remaining balances, but we should be able to use them for excursions, beverage packages, wifi, etc.

 

I realize they can still be used for cruises booked in Canadian dollars for the onboard expenses in US dollars, what I was thinking is that they are not 'marketing' them to the Canadian market and hence we don't see them on the website. I know in the past, there were a number of people (non US) that felt a bit put off that they couldn't use then to pay towards their cruise if booked in non US$.

 

I received a reply from the gift card company about buying them from Canada, but they did not understand my question and just confirmed it is only US$ based. As I don't see a way to buy them online as I have in the past, I will just try calling in and  still hopefully able to buy them.

 

EDIT: My husband just checked on his phone and using a U.S. VPN,  and he can see the sale. So, the ad does seem to be blocked for non-U.S. connections. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by rodndonna

[daisy-mae]

34 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

 

 

EDIT: My husband just checked on his phone and using a U.S. VPN,  and he can see the sale. So, the ad does seem to be blocked for non-U.S. connections. 

Thanks for the update. No need for me to continue to question my sanity 🙂

 

[philjh]

Does anyone know if these gift cards were to be purchased with a Costco Citi Visa card, would the 3% Travel Cash Reward be applied or would it be only the general 1% Cash Reward? 

Does the gift card purchase show up on the credit card statement as a Holland America purchase or as their cash card second party seller, buyatab.com purchase? 

Thanks!

[rodndonna]

15 minutes ago, philjh said:

Does the gift card purchase show up on the credit card statement as a Holland America purchase or as their cash card second party seller, buyatab.com purchase? 

Thanks!

 

Last GC promotion, they showed us as "Holland America Line", so I expect the same for these (it seems like the same 3rd party from what I recall)

[FlaMariner]

14 minutes ago, philjh said:

Does the gift card purchase show up on the credit card statement as a Holland America purchase or as their cash card second party seller, buyatab.com purchase? 

 

I just went back and looked at my credit card statement.  When I bought Holland America Line gift cards on the HAL website back in August 2020 (during the height of the unpleasantness) they are listed on my statement as HOLLAND AMERICA LINE 877-932-4259.

 

I take that to mean they are "sold" by Holland America Line and thus should qualify for the higher cash back reward for travel purchases. 

 

(No guarantee given or implied....just my info & experience but we are going to buy a boat load of the gift cards and see this as a no brainer)

 

[Nodakboiler]

These do NOT come up as HAL but buyatab so doubtful eligible for  additional points

[Lido - Lanai]

I purchased a gift card on the HAL site yesterday..... my online Amex credit card account is showing the charge as "ONLINE E-GIFT BUYATAB (web.buyatab.com)"

 

[rodndonna]

46 minutes ago, Nodakboiler said:

These do NOT come up as HAL but buyatab so doubtful eligible for  additional points

 

Did you buy this issue? I checked my statement from when I purchased last year and they were HAL. May have changed though ...

[Nancy&Frank]

Is there a limit as to how much one can apply to balance for cruise payment ? 
(i.e. if I owe $6000. For a cruise can I use $6000. worth of cruise gift cards) ?

[SKCruiser007]

23 minutes ago, Nancy&Frank said:

Is there a limit as to how much one can apply to balance for cruise payment ? 
(i.e. if I owe $6000. For a cruise can I use $6000. worth of cruise gift cards) ?

I used $5400 worth of gift cards today, no problem. There is a limit of $10,000 per day that you can purchase.

[Nancy&Frank]

2 minutes ago, SKCruiser007 said:

I used $5400 worth of gift cards today, no problem. There is a limit of $10,000 per day that you can purchase.

Thank you for your quick response 🙂

[goldie099]

17 hours ago, rodndonna said:

 

 

EDIT: My husband just checked on his phone and using a U.S. VPN,  and he can see the sale. So, the ad does seem to be blocked for non-U.S. connections. 

So I guess all I need to do is try a VPN, and I should be good to purchase (if it works)! Kind of silly, to be honest. I can understand not being able to apply the USD card to a CAD booking. But everything else we pay for is in USD, so we should be eligible for the gift card discount.

[rodndonna]

33 minutes ago, goldie099 said:

So I guess all I need to do is try a VPN, and I should be good to purchase (if it works)! Kind of silly, to be honest. I can understand not being able to apply the USD card to a CAD booking. But everything else we pay for is in USD, so we should be eligible for the gift card discount.

 

I fully expect you can just also just call to purchase them. The U.S. VPN thing was a way to test the theory that the promotion ad was being clocked from Canadian IP's , which would just a marketing thing.

 

We ran in to the same issue with Marella (TUI) cruise line which is UK based cruise line  about 3 years ago when they starting Geo-blocking Canadian IP's. We can still book Marella, we just can't view or book through their site anymore directly anymore.