Purchasing and using gift cards while aboard

[craftygrandma]

I used my cards to pre purchase beverage and OBC before the cruise.  

[silversneakers]

1 hour ago, AFNavigator said:

The AARP deal is actually marginally better than HAL's $50 bonus card per $500 card purchase.  Let's say you buy $4,500 through AARP to get $5,000 face value.  If you invest the same $4,500 in HAL's 10% bonus offer (if they offer that deal again), you would get $450 in bonus cards for a total of $4,950, $50 less than through AARP.

During the COVID shutdown, HAL had a short time offer of $100 bonus per $500 purchase...now that was a good deal!

I thought I read somewhere that if cancel your cruise, the HAL "bonus" cards are not refundable but correct me if I'm wrong.

[AFNavigator]

39 minutes ago, silversneakers said:

I thought I read somewhere that if cancel your cruise, the HAL "bonus" cards are not refundable but correct me if I'm wrong.

I believe it has been stated previously that neither the basic nor the HAL bonus cards are refundable.  They just get restored as gift cards for future use.  The catch on the HAL bonus cards is they have an expiration date.

Depending on your cancellation reason though, it is possible HAL might refund via Future Cruise Credit rather than refunding as a gift card.

[silversneakers]

1 hour ago, AFNavigator said:

I believe it has been stated previously that neither the basic nor the HAL bonus cards are refundable.  They just get restored as gift cards for future use.  The catch on the HAL bonus cards is they have an expiration date.

Depending on your cancellation reason though, it is possible HAL might refund via Future Cruise Credit rather than refunding as a gift card.

Thx

[IPB4IGO]

10 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

Note that it seemed to take forever at Guest Services to get them applied.  It appeared that only a couple of the folks working the desk had the needed info to do the redemption and had to wait for someone else (who was helping another passenger) to take care of it.  And then you have to sign a bunch of times.  More paper waste.

That's exactly why I asked if they could be applied to OBC online while aboard. 

 

So far, no one seems to have experience doing that.

[rodndonna]

14 minutes ago, IPB4IGO said:

That's exactly why I asked if they could be applied to OBC online while aboard. 

 

So far, no one seems to have experience doing that.

 

We did. We applied our HAL gift card and it became a credit on our account (was almost instant) Remaining credit at the end of the cruise (surprisingly) was credited to our credit card on file. This was a June 11 cruise so recent.

[IPB4IGO]

3 hours ago, rodndonna said:

 

We did. We applied our HAL gift card and it became a credit on our account (was almost instant) Remaining credit at the end of the cruise (surprisingly) was credited to our credit card on file. This was a June 11 cruise so recent.

Thank you!