Reimbursement of per diem from HAL after testing positive

[Gray Lady]

14 hours ago, CafeBruno said:

I submitted my paperwork for Covid expense reimbursement and per diem in late June. HAL finally responded in early September saying that it had been approved and the check would be sent to me in 8-12 more weeks. Its now been 10 weeks from then, and 5 months since I submitted my paperwork and still no check. But they did post my FCC's 2 weeks ago, 4 1/2 months after my paperwork. 

To me, this is just unacceptable. They want your money 90 days prior to sailing, but are in no hurry to return it to you when warranted. Total lack of customer service and appreciation, in my opinion.

[Lauren Spray]

I agree!

[Tigrou]

18 hours ago, WriterOnDeck said:

I was quarantined on the cruise I am still on. I got out on 10/30. I asked at guest services today about the procedure, and she said check my account at hollandamerica.com (not on Navigator, but on the web site). When I logged into my Mariner account there, under My Profile, then Future Cruise Credits, the appropriate FCC showed up. I have no idea how long it has been there. You might check there if you haven't.

I've been checking regularly since getting home on 25 Sep 22, on my account on the website, but nothing has shown up yet.

 

[Tigrou]

19 hours ago, Lauren Spray said:

Maybe if enough people complain, it will move the needle and we will see some results.

 

Thanks everyone for your responses

But it's pretty much impossible to complain.  You said yourself that phoning got you nowhere.  And emailing just gets the auto-response.

 

I'm just thankful it's only FCC they haven't issued rather than actual money as other posters are owed.

 

[eggemon]

Somewhat similar story to others... We were quarantined in the middle of a July land-sea tour - at the end of the land portion and just before we got to the ship - and we are now almost 4 months later with no reimbursement (except for our excursions, which happened almost immediately with no effort on our part). This is partly our fault for not pursuing it with appropriate vigor, but it is still a bit frustrating that HAL has been holding our $$$ for a long time (getting close to 3 years, actually, since we were originally scheduled for July 2020). I *hope* we will see some reimbursement/credit at some point - and pretty sure we won't be cruising again until we do.

[Gray Lady]

I called HAL about our shore excursions from June that have not been refunded to us. They had to open another claim (we sent in our reimbursement form beginning of September). Apparently no one had bothered with the shore excursion part. Now it has to be approved by shore excursion management. When, who knows! Our claim for hotel and per diem has been approved, but no email sent to us yet letting us know when to expect payment. I told them we didn’t want to get attorneys involved and expected a quick outcome. I will give HAL until after Thanksgiving and then may have to get an attorney involved. They are sitting on our money using the interest for themselves. Obviously, retaining customers is not a priority. I always judge a company by the way they treat their customers when something goes wrong. This shows their integrity and will earn my loyalty and goodwill…..or not.

[Lauren Spray]

Good for you that you finally got some action on your claim.

 

[birdie16]

We are currently on the Niew Amsterdam and the doctor put us on a 5 day isolation. We even have to change our own sheets… all because we did the right thing! I’m sure we got Covid from someone on our first week of the cruise…I sat next to a guy in the theater that started coughing so bad he had to leave. How many people pretend they are well to avoid isolation? We are still waiting in our cabin for the letter they said they would deliver explaining how this works. We were also told we have to stay in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale Sunday. I have no idea if I’m supposed to get my own Uber and reserve the room. A little communication would go a long way.

 

We cancelled our Alaska cruise this past summer because we were worried about Covid. I guess I should have transferred that worry to this cruise as well.

[Gray Lady]

3 hours ago, birdie16 said:

We are currently on the Niew Amsterdam and the doctor put us on a 5 day isolation. We even have to change our own sheets… all because we did the right thing! I’m sure we got Covid from someone on our first week of the cruise…I sat next to a guy in the theater that started coughing so bad he had to leave. How many people pretend they are well to avoid isolation? We are still waiting in our cabin for the letter they said they would deliver explaining how this works. We were also told we have to stay in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale Sunday. I have no idea if I’m supposed to get my own Uber and reserve the room. A little communication would go a long way.

 

We cancelled our Alaska cruise this past summer because we were worried about Covid. I guess I should have transferred that worry to this cruise as well.

I am so sorry to hear about your situation. I have come to two conclusions: HAL is terrible at communication which makes your isolation/quarantine worse than it needs to be AND most people are selfish and will not do what they should. Everyone else pays the price. You did the right thing and hopefully it will be paid back to you someday. May you recover quickly and have no lasting symptoms. Please let us know how things go for you. Sending positive thoughts…..

[Lauren Spray]

Get well soon.

[birdie16]

13 hours ago, Gray Lady said:

I am so sorry to hear about your situation. I have come to two conclusions: HAL is terrible at communication which makes your isolation/quarantine worse than it needs to be AND most people are selfish and will not do what they should. Everyone else pays the price. You did the right thing and hopefully it will be paid back to you someday. May you recover quickly and have no lasting symptoms. Please let us know how things go for you. Sending positive thoughts…..

Thank you. I had my second test and it was negative. I have been released to enjoy my cruise…not! My husband is still in isolation. How safe is that? I can walk around the ship spreading my husbands Covid germs? We were given the choice, he could be moved out of our nice balcony cabin into an isolation cabin, or I can stay with him and be tested every two days. I’m not leaving my husband! Looking at our ports from our balcony is not our idea of a cruise.  We are missing the pools, hot tubs, spa, dining rooms, entertainment..basically our vacation. 
 

I personally believe it’s too soon to cruise yet. 

[Gray Lady]

1 hour ago, birdie16 said:

Thank you. I had my second test and it was negative. I have been released to enjoy my cruise…not! My husband is still in isolation. How safe is that? I can walk around the ship spreading my husbands Covid germs? We were given the choice, he could be moved out of our nice balcony cabin into an isolation cabin, or I can stay with him and be tested every two days. I’m not leaving my husband! Looking at our ports from our balcony is not our idea of a cruise.  We are missing the pools, hot tubs, spa, dining rooms, entertainment..basically our vacation. 
 

I personally believe it’s too soon to cruise yet. 

I am so, so sorry! I caught COVID because they made me quarantine in the same hotel room as my hubby. It took about 3 days for me to test positive. In hindsight, it was a small price to pay to stay with him. We both had mild symptoms. At least you have a balcony (we didn’t) and can look out at the ocean and ports. We looked out at a Home Depot parking lot ( we can laugh about it now). I have cousins who caught COVID on a cruise this past month and had to isolate the entire time. Not a fun way to enjoy a vacation and spend your travel dollars. Has HAL given you the letter explaining how things work or communicated that to you yet?

[birdie16]

10 minutes ago, Gray Lady said:

I am so, so sorry! I caught COVID because they made me quarantine in the same hotel room as my hubby. It took about 3 days for me to test positive. In hindsight, it was a small price to pay to stay with him. We both had mild symptoms. At least you have a balcony (we didn’t) and can look out at the ocean and ports. We looked out at a Home Depot parking lot ( we can laugh about it now). I have cousins who caught COVID on a cruise this past month and had to isolate the entire time. Not a fun way to enjoy a vacation and spend your travel dollars. Has HAL given you the letter explaining how things work or communicated that to you yet?

Thank you. Yes, they gave us the letter, but so far not many if their procedures are being observed. We are supposed to have a stand outside our door to place our room service…that hasn't happened. The poor room service people are not even aware they can’t come in our cabin. We put on our masks and tell them not to come in. We are supposed to be getting bottled water…that hasn’t happened. No big deal, we have been asking for ice water with our room service. 
 

They call each day to see how we are doing, so I can’t fault them for that. 

[HAL4NOW]

43 minutes ago, birdie16 said:

We are supposed to be getting bottled water…that hasn’t happened. No big deal, we have been asking for ice water with our room service. 

We were able to order soda without any extra charges. We did not have HIA.

The staff did their best, under the circumstances. 

[Tigrou]

4 hours ago, birdie16 said:

Thank you. Yes, they gave us the letter, but so far not many if their procedures are being observed. We are supposed to have a stand outside our door to place our room service…that hasn't happened. The poor room service people are not even aware they can’t come in our cabin. We put on our masks and tell them not to come in. We are supposed to be getting bottled water…that hasn’t happened. No big deal, we have been asking for ice water with our room service. 
 

They call each day to see how we are doing, so I can’t fault them for that. 

On Rotterdam in September I started my isolation early morning on a Wednesday and didn't get the letter until late afternoon on Friday.  Turns out it wasn't worth the paper it was printed on, pretty much none of what it said would happen was actually done.   I didn't get a single welfare call in the 4 days of isolation despite them knowing that I was travelling alone.  Although for the first 2 days I wasn't hungry I knew I needed to eat, but it proved difficult to order even the simplest of things from room service.  What I did get came on huge, heavy trays and like you there was no table or anything outside the door.  I had to put the tray on the floor, open the door, kneel down and wedge myself against it to keep it open while sliding the tray out into the corridor.

[Tigrou]

4 hours ago, HAL4NOW said:

We were able to order soda without any extra charges. We did not have HIA.

The staff did their best, under the circumstances. 

You were fortunate.  Not only didn't I get the bottled water mentioned in the letter, when I asked for pineapple juice I was refused.

[Lauren Spray]

Nobody bothered to call us either the whole time, room service insisted on coming in to deliver the trays even though we met them at the door and tried to take the tray from them, but HAL made sure we were hustled off the ship before the other guests, put on a bus and whisked directly to the airport.  Adios, amigos.

 

So glad we weren't on the ship that recently docked in Sydney, Australia with 800 cases on board.  Thankful for small things.

 

 

 

 

[Gray Lady]

Reimbursements for our excursions finally arrived on our credit card! Now we are waiting for quarantine hotel and per diem check to arrive. 

[kapitch]

Unfortunately, our experience won't make anyone feel better.  We tested positive on May 1, 2022, submitted reimbursement paperwork on May 3, finally received an email of approval on July 11, but did not receive a check until after we departed on our next cruise early October.  So, the moral to the story is to plan on, not 6 to 8 weeks, but 6 to 8 months to actually receive a check.  Not sure about excursion refunds or FCC.

[syesmar]

@Gray Ladyglad you got the shore excursions expenses back; hopefully your other funds will come in soon. It’s so unfortunate that customers have to follow up repeatedly just to get reimbursement.

Wishing you the best!

[Gray Lady]

We finally received our check for reimbursement for our quarantine hotel AND per diem meals. It took six months and lots of phone calls, but we have been paid everything we were owed. Thank goodness! Makes for a Merry Christmas.

[Suzy Bell]

Happy to hear that you were fully reimbursed.

In mid September my husband and I had a quarantine situation on board Nieuw Statendam which continued for another week after disembarking.

It took almost 2 months for the FCC to appear in my Mariner account. Our insurance provider paid for some of our expenses, now waiting for HAL to respond to the claim we submitted for the balance.

 

Merry Christmas.

[CafeBruno]

Tomorrow will mark 6 months since I submitted my Covid expenses to HAL. They emailed me in early September and told me my reimbursement was approved and to expect a check in the mail in 2 to 3 months (past that now). 2 weeks ago I got hold of them by phone and told me they had no idea when I would actually get my reimbursement check, and that it was in the hands of the 3rd party payor HAL is using. So frustrating!!  I guess its time to start emailing Gus Antorcha's office about it 

[trk_koa]

Still waiting for FCC for my Covid isolation on our October 1 Alaska cruise. I’ve called about it twice now. Both times I was told that they need documentation from Eurodam and they have requested the information from the ship without a response. 
 

I’m not sure what more I can do, but keep calling to bug them about it. 

[Gray Lady]

2 hours ago, CafeBruno said:

Tomorrow will mark 6 months since I submitted my Covid expenses to HAL. They emailed me in early September and told me my reimbursement was approved and to expect a check in the mail in 2 to 3 months (past that now). 2 weeks ago I got hold of them by phone and told me they had no idea when I would actually get my reimbursement check, and that it was in the hands of the 3rd party payor HAL is using. So frustrating!!  I guess its time to start emailing Gus Antorcha's office about it 

We never received an email telling us our claim was approved. They told me when I called that it was, but couldn’t tell me when we would receive it. We submitted our claim in September, but that was after we waited to received our AON reimbursement. I called HAL at least 7 times about it. Have you used the magic phrase that you may have to get your attorney involved? If I remember correctly, you contacted COVID in Fairbanks? We were there about the same time, only we were pre-cruise and you were post-cruise??