The New Ai voice for Incoming Phone Calls

[mcrcruiser]

We have had it with this Ai  . This ia  new wrinkle for this cruise line ro aggravate customers & potential customers . Candidly , one mohjy think we werev entering into some secret  level of this cruise line  lol 

 

Additionally ,HAL thinks that your matiner number contrils your on board credits  .It vdid not happen . We booked a ^7 000 plus cruise & the AARP $200 credit never showed  up .

 

 So here we go again  .Is HAL cruise line alwatas right or are they wrong some of the times ??

 

 

[Hlitner]

I will answer your questions with advice, which we have offered for years.  Why anyone would deal directly with HAL (or one of their clerks called PCCs) is beyond my reasoning.  Not only do you let yourself in for frustration (i.e. your post) but you are also paying 7-10% more for each and every cruise.  You can some issues by simply finding yourself a decent high volume discount cruise agency where you will get a professional to deal with HAL (and other lines) and save and also save a chunk of money.  

 

So when you say "here we go again" that is simply an unforced error (on your part) because you choose to deal direct.  That also goes to the old saying about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

 

Hank

[J&Dhighdesert]

I have booked several cruises in the last two months.  I decided to check if I has received credit.  I should receive credit for being a teacher as well as AARP.   I had not been credited with either one.  Customer service was of no help.  She gave me a number for resolutions.  Before I called, I did a fake booking and both credits showed up.  Talked to a nice guy in Boston.  I received my teacher credit, but he couldn’t find my AARP listing.  I told him it was on my fake booking.  He couldn’t find this information.  He would send the details to someone else. I even went on HAL’s page for credits.  It said I had already redeemed my AARP information.  Haven’t got up the courage to tackle this again, but I will.

[ShipWalker]

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

...We booked a ^7 000 plus cruise & the AARP $200 credit never showed  up ...

This must explain the unexplained extra $200 I found today in my OBC that is above and beyond my AARP dollars.  THANKS!

[mcrcruiser]

Wow what a annoying  extra step to speak to a HAL representative . It can't get the spelling of my name correctly   nor that we have 4 future bookings with HAL 

What is your experperience with this bew Ai ?

[Haljo1935]

It has not been easy. Today, it confirmed my number, said it found multiple bookings tied to my number and asked me to confirm my name. After a few attempts, it finally said it could not find my name and asked for the booking number (why didn'tit just for bookingnumber up front?).

It found my booking number then it asked for my name again. I thought "oh geez, here we go again." But it then miraculously found me. My name had not changed.

I'm sure they'll work the kinks out🙄

[mcrcruiser]

36 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

It has not been easy. Today, it confirmed my number, said it found multiple bookings tied to my number and asked me to confirm my name. After a few attempts, it finally said it could not find my name and asked for the booking number (why didn'tit just for bookingnumber up front?).

It found my booking number then it asked for my name again. I thought "oh geez, here we go again." But it then miraculously found me. My name had not changed.

I'm sure they'll work the kinks out🙄

I wpuldn't bet on that HAL mamangement will work the kinks out because it costs a lot of money to have those types fix it / Mc donalds uses Ai but ,it is if superior quality. Another aggravating move imo  or should O say another layer that was not  needed / The more GAL does things like this & vfrom time t time a bad web site , the ;ess I feel I want to spend  our money  vacationing with them  .. Plus other issues that impact the handicap at the SD port . HAL blamrs the Pier on the problem that they can;t prioitise handicap  people & the pier blames HAL . We live ina wonderful world these days, not /

[KAKcruiser]

It is absolutely ridiculous for a major company like Holland America to answer their phone with this nonsense.  When I called, the automated service told me I had ten cruises booked.  I only have one. 

[mcrcruiser]

9 hours ago, KAKcruiser said:

It is absolutely ridiculous for a major company like Holland America to answer their phone with this nonsense.  When I called, the automated service told me I had ten cruises booked.  I only have one. 

As far as I see it  this artificial  intelligence that HAL  placed  it so low end that it makes errors & candidly is aggravating

[Mary229]

Since you are having difficulty you really should get a good agent and who cares if you get $100 less in OBC.  A good agent is worth paying for. @Hlitner seems very pleased with his and claims to get superior deals.

 

 The cruise lines will only go further down this automated path, the only regression to the past will be people flocking back to travel agents. 
 

as my old mechanic said. Cheap, good, fast - pick two

Edited October 18, 2023 by Mary229

[Hlitner]

26 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Since you are having difficulty you really should get a good agent and who cares if you get $100 less in OBC.  A good agent is worth paying for. @Hlitner seems very pleased with his and claims to get superior deals.

 

 The cruise lines will only go further down this automated path, the only regression to the past will be people flocking back to travel agents. 
 

as my old mechanic said. Cheap, good, fast - pick two

Mary, Just to keep the record clear, we do not claim to get superior deals vs other cruise agencies/agents.  The two agencies we currently use are both excellent, give us terrific service, and generally offer generous OBCs and/or other perks (like pre-paid gratuities).  This is a relatively common practice among the various reputable agencies, although there are some variation between agencies.  

 

Besides saving money (on HAL this would generally be 7-10%) using a decent agent means we do not need to spend our time dealing with a cruise line, being put on hold, and even getting non-answers to our questions.  For us, booking means a few clicks of the mouse, and any related issues are simply a matter of a short e-mail.  Are other issue is that we cruise on many different cruise lines (just came off Explora Journeys and have upcoming bookings with Princess, Oceania, Silverseas and Seabourn) and find it convenient to deal with one or two agents rather than each specific cruise line.

 

Both of our favorite cruise agents (in two different agencies) have a lot of experience (33 years and 12 years respectfully) as well as various industry continuing ed certificates (such as CTA, MCC, etc).  You do not generally get this kind of experience (and breadth of knowledge) by dealing with a clerk at one specific cruise line.

 

As always, we suggest that folks shop around among reputable high volume agencies to find the folks that give them some level of comfort as well as decent OBCs and other perks.  For us, since we cruise a lot, the savings do amount to thousands of dollars per year vs booking direct with lines.

 

Hank

[mcrcruiser]

37 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Since you are having difficulty you really should get a good agent and who cares if you get $100 less in OBC.  A good agent is worth paying for. @Hlitner seems very pleased with his and claims to get superior deals.

 

 The cruise lines will only go further down this automated path, the only regression to the past will be people flocking back to travel agents. 
 

as my old mechanic said. Cheap, good, fast - pick two

   Mary  there use to be at one time travel agents who had the time & cared for the trveler . I deal with many TAs to test each one & they have been in business a long time . The problem came whencthe pandemic hit ,many  of these good TAs    had to find other employment   .The time that the cruise ships were idltt was 16 momths & then tome to gear up more months of selays . This caused a large degree of sales TAs to leave & not come back just like the many who once worked the cruise ships & found business or employment back home in Indonesia ie

The resut is now you have warm bidies as order takers especially since the demand for cruises are hihger than pre pandemic because of the pent up demand 

This all makes sense to me 

 If a person finds a really great sales TA then holf onto them  because there just isn't a lot od them left

[AV8rix]

But if you have a PCC (I've been lucky and have had the same AWESOME one for 13 years) you can just call the PCC line directly.  They have not changed their answering message, just telling you to key in the extension number of your PCC.  So for those of us fortunate enough to have a PCC there is absolutely no reason to EVER call the main HAL line.

[mcrcruiser]

12 minutes ago, AV8rix said:

But if you have a PCC (I've been lucky and have had the same AWESOME one for 13 years) you can just call the PCC line directly.  They have not changed their answering message, just telling you to key in the extension number of your PCC.  So for those of us fortunate enough to have a PCC there is absolutely no reason to EVER call the main HAL line.

 Good for you just that the oOBC from a TA never gets on those cruises booked with a HAL PCC 

[Blackduck59]

So on the topic of "Ai" as opposed to "AI" the auto answer phone tree is everywhere. Even some small businesses have that annoying little "if you want (insert appropriate department) press whatever number; with some by the time you get through the whole list you can't remember which number best suits your enquiry. This "technology" if you can call it that is not "AI"

Myself and others have long said use a good TA (I assume this is okay as the OP has mentioned it in this thread). What makes a good TA you ask? And how do you find one? A good TA will work WITH you, they don't work FOR you. You can't expect them to answer your call on the first ring or reply to your voice mail 5 seconds after you leave it. If something is time sensitive be sure to mention that in your message. A good TA will get back to you within a few hours and if you asked the right questions in your message they may even have the answers. If you communicate by email or text it is good if the person you are communicating with can read the message and understand the content.

[shadow 123]

On 10/16/2023 at 8:22 PM, mcrcruiser said:

We have had it with this Ai  . This ia  new wrinkle for this cruise line ro aggravate customers & potential customers . Candidly , one mohjy think we werev entering into some secret  level of this cruise line  lol 

 

Additionally ,HAL thinks that your matiner number contrils your on board credits  .It vdid not happen . We booked a ^7 000 plus cruise & the AARP $200 credit never showed  up .

 

 So here we go again  .Is HAL cruise line alwatas right or are they wrong some of the times ??

 

 

They're getting worse

[shadow 123]

21 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

It has not been easy. Today, it confirmed my number, said it found multiple bookings tied to my number and asked me to confirm my name. After a few attempts, it finally said it could not find my name and asked for the booking number (why didn'tit just for bookingnumber up front?).

It found my booking number then it asked for my name again. I thought "oh geez, here we go again." But it then miraculously found me. My name had not changed.

I'm sure they'll work the kinks out🙄

What a mess. I ended up canceling 3 of my cruises the 2024 and 2025. No 1 knows what they're doing

[Blackduck59]

7 minutes ago, shadow 123 said:

What a mess. I ended up canceling 3 of my cruises the 2024 and 2025. No 1 knows what they're doing

You really had no other choice than cancel these cruises because of an automated phone system? Perhaps you wanted to cancel anyway? No way an automated phone causes me to cancel a vacation I really wanted.

[ShipWalker]

The A1 said I had 10 bookings when I called the other day to make an AARP gift card payment. I know of only one cruise we are taking. I wonder if the other 9 are already paid for?

Edited October 19, 2023 by ShipWalker

[crystalspin]

10 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

 Good for you just that the oOBC from a TA never gets on those cruises booked with a HAL PCC 

I get Early Booking Bonus, Mariner OBC (where eligible), AARP, and stock owners OBC. And competent help with my bookings, with my PCC who somehow made it through the lockdown.

[mcrcruiser]

It would certainly benefit HAL  marketing or CCL marketing to read their customer &  prospective customer comments both positives & the negatives  . However , I havwe spoken to resolution specialists who turn out to be no more than glorified  gofers 

[shadow 123]

13 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

You really had no other choice than cancel these cruises because of an automated phone system? Perhaps you wanted to cancel anyway? No way an automated phone causes me to cancel a vacation I really wanted.

Please don't tell me why I do what I do. I'm well aware of what I do. I canceled because of the way Holland America is doing their business now. No 1 knows what they're doing. I'm a 75 year old person and I don't have time to spend an hour on the phone with a representative that is clueless. I'm sure they're well meaning but they're not trained properly. The new vectoring system was just the icing.

[POA1]

Comcast (Xfinity) has IVR sitting in front of the customer service center. Our DVR pooped the bed and I needed a replacement. I tried the normal approach and got nowhere. Then, I unleashed an exceptional tirade of clinical profanity. (That's where you aren't using foul language, but the medically accurate terms.) Although satisfying, the rant didn't get me through.

 

What worked? "Cancel" and "Fraud." My HAL account is not yet subject to IVR, but I am kind of looking forward to the experience.

 

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by POA1
Press 1 for hold music

[leerathje]

Wow....If I had all the problems with booking directly or dealing with non-existent PCCs, I would go with an independent TA, or one that works for a smaller chain.  You may not get hundreds of $$ in OBC, but gosh, they can not be worse than half of what I hear on this site.  If nothing else, they are there to solve your problems...missing excursions, negotiate if there's a price drop, etc. Unless you have a GOOD PCC, (and even then, there's no extra OBC just for booking thrown in w/PCC), I see no reason to book through HAL.

 

L.

 

[KAKcruiser]

My problem is that I have never found a TA who will solve my problems.  Rather than negotiate for a price drop, they tell me it can't be done. If better perks come along, they say it can't be added.  Then I have no recourse because the TA controls my reservation. I would rather put up with the bother of dealing directly with HAL.  At least I have control of my reservation and figure with enough effort I can resolve the issue.