Can i pay...

[MisterMatthew]

Can i pay how i want to pay?  Let me elaborate..   Okay, let's say there is a cruise that is 22 months away.  And, my total cost is $3000.00.

 

Am i allowed to make small installments.

 

How strict are things?  

 

I ask because the idea of having a $724 payment is more daunting to me.  Not being a wealthy person---i would like to know my options.

 

CAN I do payments at random times?  Some payments larger than others and such.  I am hopeful that i can do something that is "less" structured.

 

Do you follow me?

 

Life's expenses can certainly be random.  I hope someone can relate!

 

HAPPY 4TH

-----MisterMatthew

[LAFFNVEGAS]

3 minutes ago, MisterMatthew said:

Can i pay how i want to pay?  Let me elaborate..   Okay, let's say there is a cruise that is 22 months away.  And, my total cost is $3000.00.

 

Am i allowed to make small installments.

 

How strict are things?  

 

I ask because the idea of having a $724 payment is more daunting to me.  Not being a wealthy person---i would like to know my options.

 

CAN I do payments at random times?  Some payments larger than others and such.  I am hopeful that i can do something that is "less" structured.

 

Do you follow me?

 

Life's expenses can certainly be random.  I hope someone can relate!

 

HAPPY 4TH

-----MisterMatthew

Happy 4th Mister Matthew, You will be required to make the minimum deposit when booking but after that up till the day prior to penalties starting you can make as many small payments as you like. Another way to save is to purchase AARP HAL Gift Cards, I purchase an amount each month to apply on my upcoming HAL cruises. The gifts cards that are under Rewards on AARP saves you 10% discount. A $500 gift card will cost you $450.00. Or a $100.00 gift card will cost $90.00. 

[POA1]

As long as you pay in full by final payment date, you can pay however you want. You would just make your payments in the amount you desire on the HAL site. You can also call in to pay, but that assumes you like both smaller payments and waiting on hold. 😄

[MisterMatthew]

1 minute ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Happy 4th Mister Matthew, You will be required to make the minimum deposit when booking but after that up till the day prior to penalties starting you can make as many small payments as you like. Another way to save is to purchase AARP HAL Gift Cards, I purchase an amount each month to apply on my upcoming HAL cruises. The gifts cards that are under Rewards on AARP saves you 10% discount. A $500 gift card will cost you $450.00. Or a $100.00 gift card will cost $90.00. 

Yowza.

Love the info. And, your quick response!

 

-----MisterMatthew

[lissie]

I never pay bills to large corps in advance. If you want to budget it why not setup a designated saving account - and pay that. You still have your money and you may get some interest. Things happen and getting money back is harder than not giving it in the first place 

 

[dobiemom]

8 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Happy 4th Mister Matthew, You will be required to make the minimum deposit when booking but after that up till the day prior to penalties starting you can make as many small payments as you like. Another way to save is to purchase AARP HAL Gift Cards, I purchase an amount each month to apply on my upcoming HAL cruises. The gifts cards that are under Rewards on AARP saves you 10% discount. A $500 gift card will cost you $450.00. Or a $100.00 gift card will cost $90.00. 

BTW @MisterMatthew you don’t need to be an AARP member to purchase gift cards, but you do need so sign up for the free rewards program. 

[MisterMatthew]

Very interesting.

 

[erdufylla]

1 hour ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Another way to save is to purchase AARP HAL Gift Cards, I purchase an amount each month to apply on my upcoming HAL cruises. The gifts cards that are under Rewards on AARP saves you 10% discount. A $500 gift card will cost you $450.00. Or a $100.00 gift card will cost $90.00.

Be aware that if you pay by gift card, and you have to cancel the trip, it sounds like travel insurance doesn’t usually cover/reimburse amounts paid by gift card. (I’ve never dealt with this myself, so this info is based on reading through some other CC threads on the topic.)

[LAFFNVEGAS]

1 minute ago, erdufylla said:

Be aware that if you pay by gift card, and you have to cancel the trip, it sounds like travel insurance doesn’t usually cover/reimburse amounts paid by gift card. (I’ve never dealt with this myself, so this info is based on reading through some other CC threads on the topic.)

While this is true, the gift cards do not have a time limit they will still be good 10 years from now, they can be used for Any HAL cruise, as well as you can also sell them if you find you will never ever cruise again. The Gift cards are not assigned to the person who purchased them,. The only thing is to make sure you you keep a copy of the gift card, I have an Apple phone so I place them in my Apple Wallet as well as I also do a screen shot of the gift card and keep them in my pictures. I do not delete till I have completed the cruise.

[BermudaBound2014]

8 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

While this is true, the gift cards do not have a time limit they will still be good 10 years from now, they can be used for Any HAL cruise, as well as you can also sell them if you find you will never ever cruise again. The Gift cards are not assigned to the person who purchased them,. The only thing is to make sure you you keep a copy of the gift card, I have an Apple phone so I place them in my Apple Wallet as well as I also do a screen shot of the gift card and keep them in my pictures. I do not delete till I have completed the cruise.

 

It is my understanding that if you cancel after final payment (when a penalty would be incurred) the only way to get refunded is thru some type of insurance. Insurance doesn't recognize the gift cards. So, any booking made thru gift cards would be lost money after final payment.

 

I only use gift cards for things that would be refundable should I cancel within the penalty period (gratuities, shore excurstions, etc..). 

[MisterMatthew]

Hmm.

 

I have more to think about.

 

----MisterMatthew

[MisterMatthew]

Let me add another facet.

 

Can i make "these" small payments (and, make a small deposit) even if i choose an exact stateroom number?

 

---MisterMatthew

[BermudaBound2014]

1 minute ago, MisterMatthew said:

Let me add another facet.

 

Can i make "these" small payments (and, make a small deposit) even if i choose an exact stateroom number?

 

---MisterMatthew

 

yes. HAL will take a payment of $5 if that's what you want to pay. If you booked with a travel agent you will have to make the payment thru them. If you booked with HAL you can just do it online. 

[cbr663]

You must make the minimum deposit required at the time of the booking.  HAL does though offer promos on deposits and sometimes deposits can be quite low and other times not so much.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

It is my understanding that if you cancel after final payment (when a penalty would be incurred) the only way to get refunded is thru some type of insurance. Insurance doesn't recognize the gift cards. So, any booking made thru gift cards would be lost money after final payment.

 

I only use gift cards for things that would be refundable should I cancel within the penalty period (gratuities, shore excurstions, etc..). 

This is ONLY correct if NOT using HAL's insurance, I have asked this question and if using HAL's insurance with the Cancel for Any Reason the credit goes back to the original card you used to pay for the cruise 80% of the fare if you purchased Standard and 90% if you purchased Platinum CPP. You are reimbursed all taxes paid. If you purchased Insurance through say Allianz or some other travel protection that is where you may run into some problems because your credit card used to purchase these Gift cards were not paid to Holland America directly but if you can get the breakdown of the payments from Holland America I have heard of a few cases that were infact reimbursed but it takes a bit more work as it does with most travel insurance policies. But if using HAL Cruise Protection Plan it is much easier.

[BermudaBound2014]

5 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

This is ONLY correct if NOT using HAL's insurance, I have asked this question and if using HAL's insurance with the Cancel for Any Reason the credit goes back to the original card you used to pay for the cruise 80% of the fare if you purchased Standard and 90% if you purchased Platinum CPP. You are reimbursed all taxes paid. If you purchased Insurance through say Allianz or some other travel protection that is where you may run into some problems because your credit card used to purchase these Gift cards were not paid to Holland America directly but if you can get the breakdown of the payments from Holland America I have heard of a few cases that were infact reimbursed but it takes a bit more work as it does with most travel insurance policies. But if using HAL Cruise Protection Plan it is much easier.

 

Interesting. Thank you. 

 

This line is found in the terms and conditions from HAL. If gift cards can not be reloaded, how would they refund the monies? This makes me question my decision to use gift cards for refundable items. 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/legal-privacy/gift-card-terms-and-conditions.html

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

45 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Interesting. Thank you. 

 

This line is found in the terms and conditions from HAL. If gift cards can not be reloaded, how would they refund the monies? This makes me question my decision to use gift cards for refundable items. 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/legal-privacy/gift-card-terms-and-conditions.html

 

Hmmm that interesting because I do know of people that had canceled and used gifts cards from Carnival, Princess and HAL that the amount was reapplied to the gift cards so that statement does contradict transactions I have witnessed. HAL will also assist you in finding your previous used Gift card if credit was refunded there. There was a lot of this happening after covid. I do see the statement that funds cannot be added, which means it is not a loadable gift card but when a refund occurs I believe that process is different and the money are in fact returned to that gift card.

Also as a side note if cruise is canceled prior to penalty and gift cards are used HAL will just transfer to a new booking, I personally have done that. 

[BermudaBound2014]

@LAFFNVEGAS thanks again 🙂

 

There is a phone number on the gift card page. I think I will call just to get clarification on how I’m using the cards. I tend to use cautions with Gift cards, especially when buying discount gift cards from a third party. 

Edited July 5, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[MisterMatthew]

 

I am catching up, and reading the replies now.

 

(Sorry.  On my 10th hour of Uber)

 

Great replies by the way!

 

-----MisterMatthew

[WriterOnDeck]

13 hours ago, POA1 said:

You would just make your payments in the amount you desire on the HAL site. You can also call in to pay, but that assumes you like both smaller payments and waiting on hold. 😄

This is only if you book through HAL. If you book through a travel agent, you can't make payments through the HAL site, but through the travel agent. There are many benefits in booking through a travel agent, like perhaps additional onboard credit, but if prepayment is desired, make sure the agent can and will do little payments.

 

I, too, support the idea of setting the money aside rather than keep paying it to HAL.

[rodndonna]

11 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Interesting. Thank you. 

 

This line is found in the terms and conditions from HAL. If gift cards can not be reloaded, how would they refund the monies? This makes me question my decision to use gift cards for refundable items. 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/legal-privacy/gift-card-terms-and-conditions.html

 

 

I wonder if that was a change over the last 2 years. We bought a ton of gift cards come out of Covid and had lots of bookings/cancels when things were still in flux and they always went back to gift cards, Sometimes the same gift card, sometimes a different gift card .. 

 

The last 2 HAL issued gift cards we used (June 2022 and Oct 2022) had a fairly large balance and we were told at guest services we could apply them to our account, and whatever was not used would just get reimbursed to our Credit Card on file. I was dubious, but that is what happened both times at the end of the cruise.

 

Perhaps, the refunding and tracking of cards was too much effort (I think they changed companies along the way as well).

 

No experience since then as HAL has not repeated the 10% bonus gift cards in quite some time 🙄

[BermudaBound2014]

14 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

I wonder if that was a change over the last 2 years. We bought a ton of gift cards come out of Covid and had lots of bookings/cancels when things were still in flux and they always went back to gift cards, Sometimes the same gift card, sometimes a different gift card .. 

 

The last 2 HAL issued gift cards we used (June 2022 and Oct 2022) had a fairly large balance and we were told at guest services we could apply them to our account, and whatever was not used would just get reimbursed to our Credit Card on file. I was dubious, but that is what happened both times at the end of the cruise.

 

Perhaps, the refunding and tracking of cards was too much effort (I think they changed companies along the way as well).

 

No experience since then as HAL has not repeated the 10% bonus gift cards in quite some time 🙄

Buying the gift cards direct from HAL may make the process smoother. I buy from AARP with the constant 10% offer.
 

I’ll call and see what they say. I’ll ask if the language is new too. Not sure we can trust the call center, but I’ll try. 

[rodndonna]

12 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Buying the gift cards direct from HAL may make the process smoother. I buy from AARP with the constant 10% offer.
 

I’ll call and see what they say. I’ll ask if the language is new too. Not sure we can trust the call center, but I’ll try. 

 

Envious of you Americans and you "A"ARP - we Canadians with access to "C"ARP don't have those gift cards. I keep trying every few months though!  (-;

[syesmar]

14 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

…Insurance doesn't recognize the gift cards. So, any booking made thru gift cards would be lost money after final payment...

I’ve never purchased HAL’s insurance, but I do always purchase an independent travel policy. The last several cruises my Nationwide policy was one crafted for cruise ship passengers. (Note: I have not sailed since the pandemic began). If I read my policy correctly, any necessary refund would have been based on my Invoice Total with HAL, airlines, hotels, etc., not method of payment (as long as it was non-refundable).

[BermudaBound2014]

41 minutes ago, syesmar said:

I’ve never purchased HAL’s insurance, but I do always purchase an independent travel policy. The last several cruises my Nationwide policy was one crafted for cruise ship passengers. (Note: I have not sailed since the pandemic began). If I read my policy correctly, any necessary refund would have been based on my Invoice Total with HAL, airlines, hotels, etc., not method of payment (as long as it was non-refundable).

 

 Here is the language in your policy. I would want very specific clarification. This comes directly from Nationwide Cruise insurance page. My understanding from research (and what an insurance agent told me) is that insurance policies reimburse payments, but a gift certificate is not considered a payment. I would love to be wrong. 

 

 

Found on page 6 here: file:///C:/Users/12485/Downloads/NWC3r16_cert_DefaultFulfillment.pdf

 

When I spoke to my insurance agent, I was using AARP gift certificates in the scenario. Perhaps buying gift cards directly from HAL is different. 

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by BermudaBound2014