10% bonus on Holland America Gift cards

[SUESEABE]

@bdd123 The link takes you to the purchase of Holland America Cruise Line Gift Card as well as the purchase of other cruise line gift cards at 10% discount. 

[crystalspin]

7 hours ago, bdd123 said:

That link doesn't take me to anything related to Holland america

You would sign in or register for a free account, then click AARP Rewards, scroll down and select "View All Rewards" then scroll to find Holland America.

[macpiper]

Can you use these cards to pay off your already booked/deposited cruise?

 

Have not made final payment yet and this sounds like a good "discount" opportunity.

[Djb4CC]

1 minute ago, macpiper said:

Can you use these cards to pay off your already booked/deposited cruise?

 

Have not made final payment yet and this sounds like a good "discount" opportunity.

I can only speak about the HAL purchased cards (not the AARP ones mentioned).  
Yes you can use these card to pay for cruise fare, as long as the cruise is priced in US dollars (my booking are done in Canadian dollars).  

[macpiper]

5 minutes ago, Djb4CC said:

I can only speak about the HAL purchased cards (not the AARP ones mentioned).  
Yes you can use these card to pay for cruise fare, as long as the cruise is priced in US dollars (my booking are done in Canadian dollars).  

You are right in clarifying which card since this thread took a left turn re AARP.

I was asking about the original HAL gift card promotion that is currently available until Dec. 13.

 

Thanks!

[iflyrc5]

5 minutes ago, macpiper said:

You are right in clarifying which card since this thread took a left turn re AARP.

I was asking about the original HAL gift card promotion that is currently available until Dec. 13.

 

Thanks!

You can use both the jAARP and HAL give cards to pay for your cruise - did it for our upcoming cruise in Jan/Feb

 

[mcrcruiser]

we are o the Dec 10 m2022 cruise on Koningsdam  .Can we buy the gift cards    in future sales to use toward a new cruise  & does this offer expire on Dec 13th from HAL ?

 TIA

[LMaxwell]

Can I purchase and bring a gift card onboard and load onto my account at guest services to deplete the gift card first before going to my credit card? 

 

If so; what happens if I do not fully deplete the gift card?  Example: $175 of onboard charges vs a $250 card.  Can I get back the $75 overage as cash at either A: guest services or B: casino by charging slot machine to my room?  If yes; is there a fee to do this transaction? 

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

Can I purchase and bring a gift card onboard and load onto my account at guest services to deplete the gift card first before going to my credit card? 

 

If so; what happens if I do not fully deplete the gift card?  Example: $175 of onboard charges vs a $250 card.  Can I get back the $75 overage as cash at either A: guest services or B: casino by charging slot machine to my room?  If yes; is there a fee to do this transaction? 

Yes you can and yes you will receive back any unused funds.  What I did last night is simply buy OBC for my next cruise.  Again if I don’t use it then I will get a refund.  This is also a good way around the prepaid crew payment issue.  That is you can’t prepay crew tips online with a gift card but by using my gift card to buy OBC my crew tips will be deducted from the OBC 

[iflyrc5]

5 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

Can I purchase and bring a gift card onboard and load onto my account at guest services to deplete the gift card first before going to my credit card? 

 

If so; what happens if I do not fully deplete the gift card?  Example: $175 of onboard charges vs a $250 card.  Can I get back the $75 overage as cash at either A: guest services or B: casino by charging slot machine to my room?  If yes; is there a fee to do this transaction? 

It is my understanding that if you don't use all the $250 and it will be refunded to that gift card and can be used later.

[mcrcruiser]

Here is a brand new wrinkle   .today Dec 4,2022  I typed into the form to buy a $600 gift card from Holland America  with my Chase Freedom Credit card . my credit is sterling  . chase declines the transaction  .i called & find out from their fraud department that there are lots of fraudulent gift card transactions  , so i asked that Holland America they can't recognize . apparently they broad based their decision on all chase credit cards buying  gift cards . They said that No credit can be placed back on any credit card when it comes to gift cards 

 

 We booked a new cruise & I have it on hold , We will be on Koningsdam  Dec 10th ,on Dec 11th I will go to future cruise sales to complete the booking with a $600 deposit but ,I will ask that I buy a gift card from HAL to use toward that   deposit  & keep the $60  bonus  on the gift card for future use 

 

 Candidly  I still can't believe that Chase fraud dept told me the above scenario . How about other credit card companies ?? 

 

 Now I hope that I won't have problems on the ship in future cruise sales 😉

 

  

[Djb4CC]

6 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

chase declines the transaction  .i called & find out from their fraud department that there are lots of fraudulent gift card transactions  , so i asked that Holland America they can't recognize . apparently they broad based their decision on all chase credit cards buying  gift cards .

Can’t comment on why Chase would do this, but note that the billing does not show up as HAL on the gift card purchases as they use a third party to manage the sales.

 

My card is charged as “EGIFT CARD888 267 0447”.  There is nothing that I can see on my online or paper statements (previous purchase) that would indicate the vendor the gift card is for.

[crystalspin]

6 minutes ago, Djb4CC said:

My card is charged as “EGIFT CARD888 267 0447”.  There is nothing that I can see on my online or paper statements (previous purchase) that would indicate the vendor the gift card is for.

That would indicate that, like the AARP cards, they are not going to be recognized as cruise or travel expenses as far as my Chase Sapphire CC. Thanks for the information; we will pay outright with credit card for the protection. As far as OBC/excursions etc, it probably isn't worth the trouble to pursue the 10% bonus...

 

I do remember that when I bought HAL gift cards in October, every field had to be typed in, no auto-fill!

[mcrcruiser]

9 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

That would indicate that, like the AARP cards, they are not going to be recognized as cruise or travel expenses as far as my Chase Sapphire CC. Thanks for the information; we will pay outright with credit card for the protection. As far as OBC/excursions etc, it probably isn't worth the trouble to pursue the 10% bonus...

 

I do remember that when I bought HAL gift cards in October, every field had to be typed in, no auto-fill!

Seems from what the Chase Fraud Dept told me is that ALL gift card purchases are suspect  . I am not trying it again on my computer but when we are on Koningsdam we will  ask future cruise sales to place that order for us so we can give them the $600  cruise deposit for the Panama Canal cruise I have on hold  to make  the cruise properly  booked 

 I made hard copies to show HAL people on the ship the problems 

[mcrcruiser]

24 minutes ago, Djb4CC said:

Can’t comment on why Chase would do this, but note that the billing does not show up as HAL on the gift card purchases as they use a third party to manage the sales.

 

My card is charged as “EGIFT CARD888 267 0447”.  There is nothing that I can see on my online or paper statements (previous purchase) that would indicate the vendor the gift card is for.

 Interesting  .Seems to me HAL be better off supporting it with their idrntity

[airboss1998]

On 12/1/2022 at 10:33 PM, Red Haired Lady said:

Not sure which Chase card you have. My Chase Sapphire Preferred Guide to Benefits says a portion of the trip must be charged to the account. I have paid about 60 percent on the card and 40 percent using gift cards. YMMV.

 

Ditto.  We did the deposit on our most recent cruise, and paid the rest with gift cards.  According to Chase Sapphire Reserve terms it covers the trip.  Of course, one never knows until you try to collect the claim.

 

[airboss1998]

4 hours ago, crystalspin said:

That would indicate that, like the AARP cards, they are not going to be recognized as cruise or travel expenses as far as my Chase Sapphire CC. Thanks for the information; we will pay outright with credit card for the protection. As far as OBC/excursions etc, it probably isn't worth the trouble to pursue the 10% bonus...

 

I do remember that when I bought HAL gift cards in October, every field had to be typed in, no auto-fill!

 

Good point.  It looks like the AARP deal is .1% better, but you also lose the extra travel Ultimate Reward points.  Guess I'll buy the gift cards from HAL before Jan 13.

[mcrcruiser]

12 hours ago, airboss1998 said:

 

Good point.  It looks like the AARP deal is .1% better, but you also lose the extra travel Ultimate Reward points.  Guess I'll buy the gift cards from HAL before Jan 13.

The deadline is Dec 13th  not Jan 13th  . 

[HALcruiser2001]

21 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

Here is a brand new wrinkle   .today Dec 4,2022  I typed into the form to buy a $600 gift card from Holland America  with my Chase Freedom Credit card . my credit is sterling  . chase declines the transaction  .i called & find out from their fraud department that there are lots of fraudulent gift card transactions  , so i asked that Holland America they can't recognize . apparently they broad based their decision on all chase credit cards buying  gift cards . They said that No credit can be placed back on any credit card when it comes to gift cards 

 

 We booked a new cruise & I have it on hold , We will be on Koningsdam  Dec 10th ,on Dec 11th I will go to future cruise sales to complete the booking with a $600 deposit but ,I will ask that I buy a gift card from HAL to use toward that   deposit  & keep the $60  bonus  on the gift card for future use 

 

 Candidly  I still can't believe that Chase fraud dept told me the above scenario . How about other credit card companies ?? 

 

 Now I hope that I won't have problems on the ship in future cruise sales 😉

 

  

I have had this happen with chase.  I tried to purchase something 2times.  Then called and they let the transaction through.

[airboss1998]

12 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

The deadline is Dec 13th  not Jan 13th  . 

Yeah, thanks, fat fingered it.  Have it on calendar for DECEMBER 12.

[NCTribeFan]

On 12/4/2022 at 11:28 AM, Mary229 said:

Yes you can and yes you will receive back any unused funds.  What I did last night is simply buy OBC for my next cruise.  Again if I don’t use it then I will get a refund.  This is also a good way around the prepaid crew payment issue.  That is you can’t prepay crew tips online with a gift card but by using my gift card to buy OBC my crew tips will be deducted from the OBC 

Mary, where/how did you purchase the OBC?  Did you go online and do that or can you purchase somewhere on the ship?

 

I'll probably purchase from AARP (if I have any points; they may have expired).

[Mary229]

Just now, NCTribeFan said:

Mary, where/how did you purchase the OBC?  Did you go online and do that or can you purchase somewhere on the ship?

 

I'll probably purchase from AARP (if I have any points; they may have expired).

I went to manage my cruise, packages and one offering is called shipboard credit.  That is the OBC

[sailingdutchy]

 

Where can I see if there also is an extra 10% for us Canadians who would like to purchase a giftcard for upcoming cruises . I have been on the HAL website quite a bit but have not seen it advertised yet .

Can anybody tell me about this ?

Tony 

[Native Floridian 26]

On 12/4/2022 at 10:27 AM, Djb4CC said:

I can only speak about the HAL purchased cards (not the AARP ones mentioned).  
Yes you can use these card to pay for cruise fare, as long as the cruise is priced in US dollars (my booking are done in Canadian dollars).  

What if you are booked through a travel agency?  Can you still use the gift cards toward final payment?

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, Native Floridian 26 said:

What if you are booked through a travel agency?  Can you still use the gift cards toward final payment?

Yes