Specialty Dining reservations HAL Excursion booking and payment

[PaperSniper4]

1. Am I correct that I could book specialty dining prior to boarding, perhaps about 6 months before sailing?

   Am I also correct that if I book prior to boarding, my credit card will be charged for that meal, NOT my OBC?

 

  I have a bit of OBC and want to use that instead of paying in cash now, so I'll wail until I board.

 

2. For excursions, on Princess prior to sailing I could elect to either pay with a credit card or my OBC. Can someone verify that is the same option HAL offers?

 

Thanks.

 

 Doug

 

 

[kazu]

7 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

1. Am I correct that I could book specialty dining prior to boarding, perhaps about 6 months before sailing?

   Am I also correct that if I book prior to boarding, my credit card will be charged for that meal, NOT my OBC?

 

  I have a bit of OBC and want to use that instead of paying in cash now, so I'll wail until I board.

 

2. For excursions, on Princess prior to sailing I could elect to either pay with a credit card or my OBC. Can someone verify that is the same option HAL offers?

 

Thanks.

 

 Doug

 

 

 

You have it correct.  If you pre-book specialty dining then it is charged to your credit card.  We are 6 months from sailing and I’m still waiting for our specialty dining to open up.

 

HAL does not offer the same as Princess.  OBC is for use on board - not prior - at least, not currently.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

3 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

1. Am I correct that I could book specialty dining prior to boarding, perhaps about 6 months before sailing?

   Am I also correct that if I book prior to boarding, my credit card will be charged for that meal, NOT my OBC?

 

  I have a bit of OBC and want to use that instead of paying in cash now, so I'll wail until I board.

 

2. For excursions, on Princess prior to sailing I could elect to either pay with a credit card or my OBC. Can someone verify that is the same option HAL offers?

 

Thanks.

 

 Doug

 

 

I am 146 days from our cruise and still cannot book Dining. I called several weeks ago because in the past it was closer to 6 month one could reserve Specialty dining. They told me the reserving specialty dining was not once it became less than 90 days. That was the wording they used. If you have Have it All you can use that credit for booking specialty Dining as well as your Shore Excursion Credit can be used for booking that. But any other ship board credit cannot. It i for purchased made while on board while on the ship.

[Banditswife]

I wish HAl would allow pre cruise use of OBC, but sadly they do not.  Carnival does & as posted here Princess also does.  

[PaperSniper4]

On 4/10/2023 at 4:32 PM, Banditswife said:

I wish HAl would allow pre cruise use of OBC, but sadly they do not.  Carnival does & as posted here Princess also does.  

Actually Princess doesn't allow the use of OBC for specialty dining prior to boarding. At least that is my experience and that of several others on the Princess forum. Princess does allow the use of the OBC for tours, but I understand it's a bit complicated to book that way prior to sailing.

 

Are you saying that HAL does not allow the use of HIA OBC to book tours <and specialty dining>  prior to sailing? Ouch. That would mean we'd have to try to spend all our OBC in the shops again like we did on our last Princess cruise! I don't want to use my credit card for pre-booking tours or dining, not with the amount of OBC I have. I know, I'm "lucky" to have any OBC....😉

 

 Doug

[Cruise Suzy]

9 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Are you saying that HAL does not allow the use of HIA OBC to book tours <and specialty dining>  prior to sailing?

 

HIA dining and shore excursion credits can be used prior to sailing. OBC of any kind cannot.

[PaperSniper4]

27 minutes ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

HIA dining and shore excursion credits can be used prior to sailing. OBC of any kind cannot.

Thanks very much.

So my wife and I each have a $100 "Shore Excursion Discount" OBC, we CAN use it to look a HAL excursion prior to sailing? That would be nice.

 

And the HIA "1 Night Specialty Dining" CAN also we used to book prior to sailing?

 

That above in italics is what is printed on our cruise invoice. Booking pre-cruise would avoid the hassle of trying to book excursions and specialty dining the day of departure! Of course, reading here and elsewhere I have no idea WHEN I could book pre-cruise!😉

 

Gosh, that would be wonderful! Our other OBC (Stockholder, Military) can be used once onboard for the shops, additional dining and excursions....and of course to help pay our gratuities that are not covered by the HIA promotion.

 

 Doug

Edited April 12, 2023 by PaperSniper4

[Sea42]

5 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

So my wife and I each have a $100 "Shore Excursion Discount" OBC, we CAN use it to look a HAL excursion prior to sailing? That would be nice.

 

And the HIA "1 Night Specialty Dining" CAN also we used to book prior to sailing?

Correct.

[PaperSniper4]

Just now, Sea42 said:

Correct.

Great! That's good news! So the HIA promotion is doubly good because it gives us the opportunity to book dining and excursions using the HIA credit/discount before others can use their "regular" OBC. That's an interesting way of doing it, and a bennie for me in this case.

 

 Doug

[Banditswife]

57 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Are you saying that HAL does not allow the use of HIA OBC to book tours <and specialty dining>  prior to sailing? Ouch. That would mean we'd have to try to spend all our OBC in the shops again like we did on our last Princess cruise! I don't want to use my credit card for pre-booking tours or dining, not with the amount of OBC I have. I know, I'm "lucky" to have any OBC....😉

 

 Doug

HAL does allow use of HIA credits prior to boarding, just not regular OBC.

[PaperSniper4]

20 minutes ago, Banditswife said:

HAL does allow use of HIA credits prior to boarding, just not regular OBC.

Roger that, thanks for that reply. Sounds like a good deal to me.

 

 Doug

[cruiseaholic78]

16 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

 

 

That above in italics is what is printed on our cruise invoice. Booking pre-cruise would avoid the hassle of trying to book excursions and specialty dining the day of departure! Of course, reading here and elsewhere I have no idea WHEN I could book pre-cruise!😉

 

 

 Doug

The OBC you want to spend on board for extra excursions and dining can be booked from the cabin on your TV. Lounge on the bed choose your accounts and book, no queuing necessary.

Happy planning

Rosalyn

[where-to-next]

Can I just confirm that surplus OBC at the end of the cruise can go towards paying gratuities?

[oakridger]

Yes.  Crew Incentive will be subtracted from OBC that is available.

 

~Nancy

[where-to-next]

Thanks Nancy

[PaperSniper4]

4 hours ago, oakridger said:

Yes.  Crew Incentive will be subtracted from OBC that is available.

 

~Nancy

But would the "excursion discount" be applied to crew incentives if that "discount" were not used for a ship's excursion?  It does not sound like it from what I've read on this board. I ask because on other cruise lines lately an "excursion credit" could be used for anything, grats included. Weird how every cruise line seems to do things just a little differently to keep us on our toes, eh?😉

 

 Doug

[Cruise Suzy]

13 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

But would the "excursion discount" be applied to crew incentives if that "discount" were not used for a ship's excursion? 

 

Shore excursion credits from the HIA can be used only for shore excursions. Use it or lose it.

[terrydtx]

On 4/10/2023 at 2:45 PM, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I am 146 days from our cruise and still cannot book Dining. I called several weeks ago because in the past it was closer to 6 month one could reserve Specialty dining. They told me the reserving specialty dining was not once it became less than 90 days. That was the wording they used. If you have Have it All you can use that credit for booking specialty Dining as well as your Shore Excursion Credit can be used for booking that. But any other ship board credit cannot. It i for purchased made while on board while on the ship.

We are 205 days out from our Nov. 4 Koingsdam cruise and cannot yet reserve our specialty restaurants with our HIA dining credits We got the same 90 days out answer from HAL, I do not remember pre cruise SR bookings that close to sailings in the past with HAL.

[Sea42]

5 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We are 205 days out from our Nov. 4 Koingsdam cruise and cannot yet reserve our specialty restaurants with our HIA dining credits We got the same 90 days out answer from HAL, I do not remember pre cruise SR bookings that close to sailings in the past with HAL.

Specialty dinning became available for booking for our May N.S. cruise in the beginning of January.

[PaperSniper4]

9 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

Shore excursion credits from the HIA can be used only for shore excursions. Use it or lose it.

Roger that, thanks.

[oakridger]

26 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Roger that, thanks.

 

There are two "pots" of money in the HIA.  "Credits" and "OBC" (Onboard Credit) As the others have said, the credits are for dining and shore excursions only.  If you get OBC in your HIA, as sometimes happens, then it can be used for spending on the ship for anything. (Maybe not Medical Center?).

 

You are right that each line has different terminology for lots of things, so you need to do your research!

Heck, even on the same cruise line the terminology changes!!  For example, different HIA promotions have different inclusions.  Some have Crew Appreciation and/or OBC and some don't include either!

🤷‍♀️

 

Glad you have it straightened out and have a great trip!

 

~Nancy

[PaperSniper4]

Nancy said "There are two "pots" of money in the HIA............."

 

The terminology makes more sense (to me) now for HAL. Cruise lines are getting smarter (or maybe just more inventive?)  in their post-COVID financial life I suppose. They know some folks will not take a ship's excursion, so any "excursion credit/discount" they offer as an inducement to book will go unused. I've noticed that with all the lines on which we're cruised, including our last one on the Ruby from Galveston. However, the Ruby "allowed" our "excursion only credit" to actually be used for anything purchased while on board. We take few excursions so that was nice. Well, for my wife anyway, she got yet another pair of sun glasses! 😉However, some Princess cruisers on other ships found they could not do that, and that excursion credit went unclaimed and could not be refunded.

 

On our upcoming HAL cruise in October 2023, we have already looked at the excursions on Holland's web page. Although we can't be sure those same ones will be available for booking on our cruise, at least we have an idea where to "spend" our Excursion Credit. Maybe that is a blessing in disguise, as like I said, we rarely take excursions, ship or off the ship, anymore. Heck, we might even enjoy what we're chosen!

 

 Doug