OBC for teachers and first responders - who is included?

[Hllb]

51 minutes ago, gregma60 said:

Mine showed up on the hollandamerica.com website, logged in, went to "My Account", went to "Future Cruise Credits".  At the very bottom was this:

 

Onboard Credits
Onboard credits are excluded from the total balance displayed at the top. These credits can be used to purchase services on the ship. Only onboard credit that is not tied to a promotion shows here. The amount displayed is the maximum available and based on trip length.
AVAILABLE
ID            AMOUNT BOOK BY SAIL BY            STATUS
12345     $100        N/A            Dec 30 2024     AVAILABLE 

 

This was my Military OBC.  It showed up automatically about 2 days after I "Qualified".

 

-gregma

Thank you! I found that spot and wondered if it would show up there

[gregma60]

2 minutes ago, Hllb said:

Thank you! I found that spot and wondered if it would show up there

My pleasure!

 

-gregma

[Coloradohawk]

Thanks for the ‘heads up’. Applied yesterday, got approved, and it showed up today.  Never knew retired teachers could get this benefit.  

[renee00]

Mine showed up already too! That was fast. I assume now that it's tied to my account that it will just be available the next time I cruise?

[Aitchgeye]

On 3/22/2023 at 1:35 AM, Noesja said:

Looks like this program is only valid in the US. I guess HAL appreciates teachers not so much in the Netherlands 😬

It's the same with price drops, no compensation for Dutch nationals.

Also, HAL does not  acknowledge educators who work in other countries, like Australia.  Maybe HAL do not have processes to validate our teacher registration details, or maybe we are too small of a customer base for them to care otherwise.

Helena

[Hllb]

My husband’s showed up today as well. It wasn’t there yesterday afternoon so took close to 48 hours to show

[pmjnh]

On 3/21/2023 at 12:30 PM, IamHungry said:

I just got it verified. Hopefully it will apply to the booking that I have already booked. Or should I contact my TA? Also can this be combined with Stock holder OBC?

I just got approved and my TA is following through with HAL to apply it to my recent booking . 

[Primus]

My husband and I were both approved for the educator discount.  It appears only one credit can be used per sailing.  His credit was automatically applied to our June 2023 sailing and my account now shows $100 onboard credit available to be used by a sail date of Dec 30, 2024.

[Hllb]

33 minutes ago, Primus said:

My husband and I were both approved for the educator discount.  It appears only one credit can be used per sailing.  His credit was automatically applied to our June 2023 sailing and my account now shows $100 onboard credit available to be used by a sail date of Dec 30, 2024.

How can you tell it was applied to a sailing? I see the credit on my husband's account with a to be used by date. Do I have to do something else to get it applied to our cruise?

[TiogaCruiser]

10 hours ago, Coloradohawk said:

Thanks for the ‘heads up’. Applied yesterday, got approved, and it showed up today.  Never knew retired teachers could get this benefit.  

I find it interesting that it applies to retired military and retired teachers, yet nothing is said about retired Healthcare Workers (MD, DO, RN)

[FreesiaE]

Thank you for this info! I easily obtained OBC with no need to submit a school email, paystub, etc. Took me 30 seconds!

[Coloradohawk]

1 hour ago, TiogaCruiser said:

I find it interesting that it applies to retired military and retired teachers, yet nothing is said about retired Healthcare Workers (MD, DO, RN)

Think they should.

[pmjnh]

3 hours ago, TiogaCruiser said:

I find it interesting that it applies to retired military and retired teachers, yet nothing is said about retired Healthcare Workers (MD, DO, RN)

Or retired police!  As far as healthcare workers, I agree...however if a retired RN worked in a school as a school nurse they are eligible as well.

 

[campbean41]

To have the OBC applied to an upcoming booking, call the Reservation Department at 877-724-5425. I did this today and although I was put on hold for about 10 minutes while the person called the Resolutions Department, I received via email an updated booking confirmation showing the additional OBC added for my November 2023 trip.

[cruisetravlr]

The OBC does apply to healthcare workers.  See the attached link:

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/deals/healthcare-firstresponder-appreciation-offer.html

 

This will take you to the healthcare or first responder verification form.

[Hllb]

16 minutes ago, campbean41 said:

To have the OBC applied to an upcoming booking, call the Reservation Department at 877-724-5425. I did this today and although I was put on hold for about 10 minutes while the person called the Resolutions Department, I received via email an updated booking confirmation showing the additional OBC added for my November 2023 trip.

They're currently telling me it can't be done, but waiting to see if they can resolve it.

[pmjnh]

5 minutes ago, cruisetravlr said:

The OBC does apply to healthcare workers.  See the attached link:

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/deals/healthcare-firstresponder-appreciation-offer.html

 

This will take you to the healthcare or first responder verification form.

 

I do not believe it includes retired healthcare workers. 

[campbean41]

1 minute ago, Hllb said:

They're currently telling me it can't be done, but waiting to see if they can resolve it.

My HAL personal cruise consultant said she couldn't help me so I engaged with the chat on the HAL website and they told me it had to be done through the reservations department, then gave me the number. I would try again and just be patient and persistent. 

[Hllb]

3 minutes ago, campbean41 said:

My HAL personal cruise consultant said she couldn't help me so I engaged with the chat on the HAL website and they told me it had to be done through the reservations department, then gave me the number. I would try again and just be patient and persistent. 

They're currently talking to a supervisor so I'm on hold....

[campbean41]

Just now, Hllb said:

They're currently talking to a supervisor so I'm on hold....

I talked to Divine on the chat and Sam from the reservation department, if that helps.

[Cruisepucks]

Good afternoon,

 

Glad to read that so many people are taking advantage of this benefit and getting their educator OBCs approved. I just applied today and also got approved. We are hoping this gets automatically applied to our existing booking.

 

1. Could anyone let us know, please, if we have to go through the application/verification process for every future cruise, or does the verification stay in the HAL system? 

 

2. If HAL does keep this information on file, do we need to ask (or have our TA ask) for the OBC to be applied each time we book a cruise?

 

Thanks in advance for your help with this.

 

Travel safely.

 

[Hllb]

After more than 50 minutes on the phone, they assure me there is NO WAY to apply this to an existing booking and those of you who were able to are either very confused or lying. I don't have anymore fight in me today....

[Hllb]

34 minutes ago, Cruisepucks said:

Good afternoon,

 

Glad to read that so many people are taking advantage of this benefit and getting their educator OBCs approved. I just applied today and also got approved. We are hoping this gets automatically applied to our existing booking.

 

1. Could anyone let us know, please, if we have to go through the application/verification process for every future cruise, or does the verification stay in the HAL system? 

 

2. If HAL does keep this information on file, do we need to ask (or have our TA ask) for the OBC to be applied each time we book a cruise?

 

Thanks in advance for your help with this.

 

Travel safely.

 

I believe it's only available once per year, not per cruise. Not sure if you have to reapply each year, but probably?

[campbean41]

10 minutes ago, Hllb said:

After more than 50 minutes on the phone, they assure me there is NO WAY to apply this to an existing booking and those of you who were able to are either very confused or lying. I don't have anymore fight in me today....

I'm so sorry to hear this. I would try again when you have the patience and energy another day. 

[Hllb]

3 minutes ago, campbean41 said:

I'm so sorry to hear this. I would try again when you have the patience and energy another day. 

I may be out of patience permanently after dealing with AARP today too. At least HAL was nice about it.