AARP OBC for new bookings

[cruiserqueen75]

Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong.  Joined AARP in October 2023 to be able to apply $200 OBC for new bookings. Filled out form and "Got Verified (their terminology).  Could not apply because my cruise was said to be a special rate.  Now I want to book a new cruise in May.  Checked my status and got this notice "Verification Limit Exceeded.  Looks like you've already redeemed or attempted to redeem this offer."  It was my understanding once you were verified it was good for one year and no limitations were listed on number of cruises.  Calling AARP and Holland America was extremely time consuming and I could not receive an answer as to how to proceed.  They kept transferring me, HAL's chat did not answer, and got no one who knew about this offer.  They thought I wqs referring to gift cards -- I told them NO -- it is the AARP offer. Anyone have any guidance on what I am doing wrong?

 

[crystalspin]

You need to reach a supervisor at HAL and have them "Manually Apply" your credit(s). Their term. Call your PCC or HAL help (sic) line. Not AARP, once you have your Shear verification they are out of the loop. AFAIK.

[cruiserqueen75]

Thank you Crystal.  Do you know why it says Verification Limit Exceeded.  No one can explain that.  

[crystalspin]

9 minutes ago, cruiserqueen75 said:

Thank you Crystal.  Do you know why it says Verification Limit Exceeded.  No one can explain that.  

All I can guess is poorly written code!

[Mandalay1903]

1 hour ago, crystalspin said:

You need to reach a supervisor at HAL and have them "Manually Apply" your credit(s). Their term. Call your PCC or HAL help (sic) line. Not AARP, once you have your Shear verification they are out of the loop. AFAIK.

Is there a yearly limit to the number of bookings that OBCs can be applied for a verified AARP member? Or is there no limit? My PCC and supervisor says only one per year.

[regnig]

Well I got it credited to both cruises on my B2B. The second one had to be manually applied by a HAL supervisor.

[crystalspin]

1 hour ago, Mandalay1903 said:

Is there a yearly limit to the number of bookings that OBCs can be applied for a verified AARP member? Or is there no limit? My PCC and supervisor says only one per year.

A "pricing specialist" just applied numbers 3-4-and-5 to my bookings for 2024! So rather than *any* supervisor, ask for someone in Pricing.

[Midwest Sunseeker]

On 11/28/2023 at 7:48 PM, crystalspin said:

A "pricing specialist" just applied numbers 3-4-and-5 to my bookings for 2024! So rather than *any* supervisor, ask for someone in Pricing.

I don't understand the process for getting this OBC.  I have tried to search and find the process without results.  Did you call the regular HAL 800 number and ask for pricing or did you email a request like you do for Shareholder credit?  I am confused on what I do after I fill out the verification form on the HAL website.  Thank you for your help.

[crystalspin]

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/cruise-deals/community-appreciation-cruise-offers/aarp-member-benefit-offer

 

You should get an email confirmation from SheerID. It will have a button to click to make a new booking. (IOW, You are supposed to have done the confirmation before making the booking.) My confirmation says to wait two days before clicking the button. I did not use the button! What I did was forward the confirmation to my PCC; assume you could do the same with a TA... 

 

As far as the three that were just applied -- I had not remembered to have them applied on making the bookings (with my PCC), actually I assumed I would have to apply again to prove active membership in AARP for booking in October of 2024 -- I was re-faring those bookings to take advantage of the Cyber Sale and was connected to the Pricing Specialist (my PCC is out of the office). I mentioned my OBC, she said you have no OBC, I remembered it was AARP and not applied for... she could see my SheerID confirmation in my records and volunteered to apply them! THAT is good service!

 

How did or will you make your booking?

[Midwest Sunseeker]

I booked using the HAL 800 number last Saturday night.  Very confusing time.  They hung up on me twice and then after going through the whole process they told me to call back the next day, first thing Sunday, and they would confirm a cabin # and I could pay.  I just called again and talked to a nice man that said I should use the Holland AARP verification link and then wait 72 and my OBC would appear on my booking.  That sounds to good to be true,  but I will wait till Monday and call and ask them if it has appeared and to send me a printed copy.  Does anyone know how I could see OBC  myself without calling?  Does OBC show  on Navigator or the Website?

[LAFFNVEGAS]

My experience even though my AARP card was verified in June when this program started is that even as of a few days ago one must have HAL Manually apply the credit, I have never seen it automatically appear. Military Credit is the only one that occasionally appears automatically. The biggest problem is the MIS communication from those that work in the Call Center. Because they know it has to be applied and do not want to call a Supervisor you get told all kinds of things that are not true.

As of a few days ago I was told that AARP did have to be applied manually by a supervisor and they do not have it set to be automatic. The AARP does not have a limit of number of cruises per year. That is just another excuse given by the Call Center. 

[crystalspin]

1 hour ago, Midwest Sunseeker said:

I booked using the HAL 800 number last Saturday night.  ...I just called again and talked to a nice man that said I should use the Holland AARP verification link and then wait 72 and my OBC would appear on my booking.  That sounds to good to be true,  but I will wait till Monday and call and ask them if it has appeared and to send me a printed copy.  Does anyone know how I could see OBC  myself without calling?  Does OBC show  on Navigator or the Website?

Weekend time does not count in the 72 hours. Booking on the weekend probably was not the best thing either! But that's done. AARP OBC showing up without asking has not happened for me. Well, I didn't actually ASK the Pricing Specialist to apply it, she volunteered (!). But I did reference that I would be getting it.

 

Any OBC will probably not show on website; you need to request a new email confirmation -- it will be a PDF attachment down at the bottom -- save it to your computer; you can print it anytime before your cruise. It should show in Navigator once you're on the ship or maybe a day or two early (someone correct me!). You want to make sure the Navigator/onboard account agrees with the confirmation email.

[Midwest Sunseeker]

11 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Weekend time does not count in the 72 hours. Booking on the weekend probably was not the best thing either! But that's done. AARP OBC showing up without asking has not happened for me. Well, I didn't actually ASK the Pricing Specialist to apply it, she volunteered (!). But I did reference that I would be getting it.

 

Any OBC will probably not show on website; you need to request a new email confirmation -- it will be a PDF attachment down at the bottom -- save it to your computer; you can print it anytime before your cruise. It should show in Navigator once you're on the ship or maybe a day or two early (someone correct me!). You want to make sure the Navigator/onboard account agrees with the confirmation email.

Thanks for the thoughts.   I will call again next week and ask. 

[regnig]

Well I'm now thoroughly confused, not that that is a new thing for me. Earlier today I did a mock booking to see if a certain stateroom was available. When I got to the page showing the cost there was a message, bottom left side of screen stating "Your AARP OBC has been applied".  Since I already have a B2B2B booked with the AARP applied to all segments this would have been the 4th cruise in 2024 where it was applied. Go figure?????😵

Edited December 1, 2023 by regnig
grammer

[crystalspin]

2 hours ago, regnig said:

When I got to the page showing the cost there was a message, bottom left side of screen stating "Your AARP OBC has been applied".  Since I already have a B2B2B booked with the AARP applied to all segments this would have been the 4th cruise in 2024 where it was applied. Go figure?????😵

To me this is saying it is working as it should! I have one long cruise and a B2B2B in 2024, and one in 2025, all with the AARP OBC applied. The B2B2B only just got the AARP applied this week, several months after booking. I had figured that was because it was too far in the future and they needed to be certain I was still a member -- yes I forgot I had the 2025 already credited. 

 

The Pricing Specialist that took care of my re-faring under the Cyber Sale offered to apply the remaining AARP!

[BermudaBound2014]

6 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

 

As of a few days ago I was told that AARP did have to be applied manually by a supervisor and they do not have it set to be automatic. 

Except I booked two cruises for 2025 during the last $1 deposit. I booked directly on the web (no pcc). Strangely, the aarp obc was automatically applied to both cruises without me asking. Much to my surprise, When I transferred both to a TA the AARP obc stuck. 
 

There is NO consistency.

[sunviking90]

1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Except I booked two cruises for 2025 during the last $1 deposit. I booked directly on the web (no pcc). Strangely, the aarp obc was automatically applied to both cruises without me asking. Much to my surprise, When I transferred both to a TA the AARP obc stuck. 
 

There is NO consistency.

There really isn’t. Onboard now and when I went through a mock booking the AARP automatically shows up, but I went down to actually book a cruise with the future cruise agent and he could not get my AARP to attach. I used a TA for this cruise, so I had it credited to her and I’ll have her chase it down when we get home.

[Haljo1935]

On 11/28/2023 at 11:31 PM, cruiserqueen75 said:

Thank you Crystal.  Do you know why it says Verification Limit Exceeded.  No one can explain that.  

You're receiving that message because you've already been verified for the current period (whatever that timeframe is). If you were to apply for military verification more than once, you'd get the same message.

Your profile already reflects your AARP status on HALs side - you just need to call and ask them to manually add the OBC as @crystalspin said. Once they do, you'll need an updated invoice to see the OBC - it will not show in the booking.

[Midwest Sunseeker]

On 11/30/2023 at 3:38 PM, Midwest Sunseeker said:

I booked using the HAL 800 number last Saturday night.  Very confusing time.  They hung up on me twice and then after going through the whole process they told me to call back the next day, first thing Sunday, and they would confirm a cabin # and I could pay.  I just called again and talked to a nice man that said I should use the Holland AARP verification link and then wait 72 and my OBC would appear on my booking.  That sounds to good to be true,  but I will wait till Monday and call and ask them if it has appeared and to send me a printed copy.  Does anyone know how I could see OBC  myself without calling?  Does OBC show  on Navigator or the Website?

I called again today and was confirmed both on the phone and by Email that the AARP $100 OBC was on my booking.  Thank you everyone for your help. 

[Bill B]

I emailed HAL to request AARP OBC be added to a booking made before I joined AARP (along with room and dining changes). I just received a new booking confirmation showing all three changes... pretty good service!

[Haljo1935]

52 minutes ago, Bill B said:

I emailed HAL to request AARP OBC be added to a booking made before I joined AARP (along with room and dining changes). I just received a new booking confirmation showing all three changes... pretty good service!

Congrats! Safe travels, enjoy your cruise. 

Good to read HAL is honoring their promotions w/less pushback.

[Bill B]

11 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Good to read HAL is honoring their promotions w/less pushback.

 

They didn't have to honor the the AARP OBC but they did.

 

Doin so makes sense though because I could have cancelled, got by deposit refunded and rebooked with the same, HAVE IT ALL - EARLY BOOKING BONUS promo and got the AARP OBC.

[Haljo1935]

1 minute ago, Bill B said:

 

They didn't have to honor the the AARP OBC but they did.

 

Doin so makes sense though because I could have cancelled, got by deposit refunded and rebooked with the same, HAVE IT ALL - EARLY BOOKING BONUS promo and got the AARP OBC.

Agree.