Using Holland Gift Cards

[MomentsNotice]

3 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Hi - just to clarify, I didn't split the payment myself online, I called into Reservations and they did it. The only time consuming part, was reading each number while they entered them, including CC number at the end for the final amount. But I didn't hear any frustration of the system not working or them putting me on hold to get assistance. 

Yes, it is frustrating.

 

 

 

Do you remember if the credit card was initially charged the full amount of the wifi but then when it left pending in your credit card account it modified amount to be the difference that the gift cards did not cover? (In my case package costs $320, rep applied 3 $100 gift cards, it showed her $20 balance for which I gave her a visa. But in credit card account my visa pending indicates a $320 charge and the receipt she emailed me indicates $320 charged to my visa ending in...1234. No gift card payment indicated on receipt)

 

  Initially I thought perhaps a human has to actually apply the gift card amount to the charge to subtract their value and then when the visa charge drops from pending to actual charge, it would only be for $20.  But my rep said she asked her manager and splitting charges is even not possible. 

[Haljo1935]

6 minutes ago, MomentsNotice said:

 

Do you remember if the credit card was initially charged the full amount of the wifi but then when it left pending in your credit card account it modified amount to be the difference that the gift cards did not cover? (In my case package costs $320, rep applied 3 $100 gift cards, it showed her $20 balance for which I gave her a visa. But in credit card account my visa pending indicates a $320 charge and the receipt she emailed me indicates $320 charged to my visa ending in...1234. No gift card payment indicated on receipt)

 

  Initially I thought perhaps a human has to actually apply the gift card amount to the charge to subtract their value and then when the visa charge drops from pending to actual charge, it would only be for $20.  But my rep said she asked her manager and splitting charges is even not possible. 

No, I did not have a pending (or final) charge to CC for the total amount. I gave the agent the gift card and pins one number at a time, she'd ask how much I wanted to put on that card then we'd move to the next card.

At the end before we ended the call, she briefly put me on hold for something then when she came back, I logged out and back in and was able to see each of the payments w/the correct amount. I also got a notification from bank of a charge on CC in the correct amount. I think the hold was her sending me an updated booking confirmation as it came while we were still on the phone and she said she'd sent me an updated one, so would I please check.

This is also how it worked in Nov for another booking when I had a TA except I called the TA, not HAL, to do the payments and they did put me on hold for a while as they had to do the payments w/HAL (my understanding is they can't enter payments directly into the HAL system & have to call to have that done).

Seems it doesn't have to be this complicated. Or inconsistent in processes.

[MomentsNotice]

2 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

No, I did not have a pending (or final) charge to CC for the total amount. I gave the agent the gift card and pins one number at a time, she'd ask how much I wanted to put on that card then we'd move to the next card.

At the end before we ended the call, she briefly put me on hold for something then when she came back, I logged out and back in and was able to see each of the payments w/the correct amount. I also got a notification from bank of a charge on CC in the correct amount. I think the hold was her sending me an updated booking confirmation as it came while we were still on the phone and she said she'd sent me an updated one, so would I please check.

This is also how it worked in Nov for another booking when I had a TA except I called the TA, not HAL, to do the payments and they did put me on hold for a while as they had to do the payments w/HAL (my understanding is they can't enter payments directly into the HAL system & have to call to have that done).

Seems it doesn't have to be this complicated. Or inconsistent in processes.

I went through identical process today with a rep. Dont know the problem but manager said can't split charges for wifi so perhaps that is new. Before purchasing gift card there is fine print that says the gift cards are valid for onboard credit or payment of cruise. Doesn't mention using cards for pre-cruise purchase of wifi (or beverage package, excursions, etc). So perhaps that is problem. 

 

I'm going to try it again Tuesday when the standard staff is in house and if that doesn't work I'll buy a $20 gift card to round out my purchase and if that doesn't work I give up!

[Mary229]

The only difference between HaL gift cards and AARP is that you can choose a specific amount for HAL cards on their website.  Once I needed $13 and some small cents and was able to buy a gift card on the HAL website for that exact amount 

[Big Dawg CC]

I paid $319.99 for wifi prior to boarding using a $500 gift card with no issue.  Used the balance for OBC and for the remaining odd amount, I had to call to process payment.

 

For partial pays toward fare balance, used to be able to do partial pay online, but now, it just does not work.  So, I now always have to call HAL when it is time to partially pay cruise fare with gift cards.

[glorialagos]

So is it possible to add the gift cards for OBC before sailing?  I could call or have my TA do it.  I had planned to print off my gift card info and take it to the guest service desk after boarding but would love to avoid that line.  It will be my first experience using gift cards.

 

Thanks.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

7 hours ago, Big Dawg CC said:

I paid $319.99 for wifi prior to boarding using a $500 gift card with no issue.  Used the balance for OBC and for the remaining odd amount, I had to call to process payment.

 

For partial pays toward fare balance, used to be able to do partial pay online, but now, it just does not work.  So, I now always have to call HAL when it is time to partially pay cruise fare with gift cards.

I do the same thing.

[Real NHDOC]

2 hours ago, glorialagos said:

So is it possible to add the gift cards for OBC before sailing?  I could call or have my TA do it.  I had planned to print off my gift card info and take it to the guest service desk after boarding but would love to avoid that line.  It will be my first experience using gift cards.

 

Thanks.

FWIW you can have gift card balances added as credits to your onboard account at any point during the cruise so just wait until there’s no line and have it done then. It gets applied instantly and if you still have any credit left at the end of the cruise they apply it as a credit to the card you have on file. 
 

You can have OBC added before the cruise but only in certain dollar increments so inevitably you may land up with some small balance left on the gift card doing it that way. 

Edited January 15 by Real NHDOC