OBC

[crystalspin]

7 hours ago, pghflyer said:

I did notice all of the non-AARP community OBC offers (educator, military, healthcare) say only good for select 2023/ 2024 cruises in their T&Cs.....so not sure if these are ongoing programs and if you would get any benefit for 2025/2026/+ sailings.........

Those programs, like the Carnival StockHolder Benefit, will probably (almost certainly) be re-approved at the stockholders' meeting in I believe April, for the fiscal year starting end of July. Note, that will be for mid-24/mid-25 sailings, with 2026 waiting for the NEXT board meeting.

 

My observation is that these items are rubber-stamped.

[richwmn]

43 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Those programs, like the Carnival StockHolder Benefit, will probably (almost certainly) be re-approved at the stockholders' meeting in I believe April, for the fiscal year starting end of July. Note, that will be for mid-24/mid-25 sailings, with 2026 waiting for the NEXT board meeting.

 

My observation is that these items are rubber-stamped.

The stockholder benefit is the only one that will be or needs to be approved at the stockholder meeting. That benefit is provided by Carnival Corp, not HAL. The others are approved / negotiated by HAL itself and can run for whatever time frame HAL and any sponsor (AARP) decides.

 

[POA1]

No one ever mentions my favorite, University of Washington alumni sports season ticket holders. I went to school on the east coast, so this does not apply to me. Not even close.

 

I just admire this for the sheer, narrow focus of it.

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/cruise-deals/community-appreciation-cruise-offers/uw-alumni-community-appreciation-offer

[Will_Dieterich]

One other things.

There is no way of seeing your OBC before you get on the ship.  To make sure all is good write them a few weeks before hand to reservations_submit@hollandamerica.com

 

Tell them you want your OBC and give them name, mariner ID, booking number, ship and voyage.  It will take around a day to get a mail back of your total amount.

[crystalspin]

1 hour ago, Will_Dieterich said:

There is no way of seeing your OBC before you get on the ship.  To make sure all is good write them a few weeks

Or you could just have your PCC or TA generate a new Booking Confirmation, where the OBC shows clearly.

[oakridger]

@Will_Dieterich  The OBC Looks like this on the HAL Booking Confirmation mentioned above by @crystalspin

 

Edited March 8 by oakridger

[pghflyer]

That must be from a HAL PCC as I would expect every TA looks different (mine does).  Regardless, good points.  We verified our AARP first and waited our 3 business days per the email before booking, and it did appear when our agent booked our cruise. The discount also appeared on the Holland website in My Profile under Future Cruise Credits at the bottom in the Onboard Credits section.  What is weird is we then verified our healthcare status which says to only wait 1 day before booking (we found it late). I contacted reservations_submit@hollandamerica.com to verify if it applied and they told me to wait 5 business days and then "contact your travel agent to have your booking updated."  

 

Now when I look in my profile (described above), my AARP discount indicator shows but not my Healthcare discount indicator. When I look in my wife's profile, her AARP discount indicator disappeared for a few days (after submitting the Healthcare), but now today her Healthcare indicator appeared (but AARP still gone). Not sure what any of that means ha ha.

[*Miss G*]

5 hours ago, pghflyer said:

 

Now when I look in my profile (described above), my AARP discount indicator shows but not my Healthcare discount indicator. When I look in my wife's profile, her AARP discount indicator disappeared for a few days (after submitting the Healthcare), but now today her Healthcare indicator appeared (but AARP still gone). Not sure what any of that means ha ha.

 

Only one AARP discount and one Healthcare discount is allowed per booking.  That may be why you only see one of each.

 

Also, your TA will receive the HAL Booking Confirmation that @oakridger has posted an example of.  You can request from your TA that they forward a copy to you, if you wish.  I can’t recall who on this board does this, but maybe they will see your post and respond.  I use a PCC so I receive the same as @oakridger.

[pghflyer]

Thanks. I did ask my agent to confirm and send me an updated version of their booking confirmation, and they said it does indicate we got both AARP and Healthcare, despite of however it looks in our accounts.  Now I just have to buy some stock to add the shareholder OBC on there too (worth $250 for our sailing)....hope all this stacking doesn't topple over! 🙂

[oakridger]

My TA sends me both the HAL Booking Confirmation and their agency booking confirmation letters.  I always want to see both so I can check for accuracy and have everything in writing.

 

~Nancy

[Haljo1935]

36 minutes ago, oakridger said:

My TA sends me both the HAL Booking Confirmation and their agency booking confirmation letters.  I always want to see both so I can check for accuracy and have everything in writing.

 

~Nancy

Same - I want to see both. You'll also verify your dining preference and bed configuration are correct on these confirmations.

[richwmn]

I installed the stockperks app back in January and loaded an image of my statement with account number mostly blacked out, along with anything else I didn't think they needed (the same things I used to black out to fax/email). After seeing the post yesterday that OBC had been authorized until Dec 31st, I logged into stockperks yesterday and requested OBC for a September cruise. I received an email a few minutes ago that it was approved. I didn't have to load a current statement.

 

[pghflyer]

All this talk about the shareholder OBC "authorization" by the board is news to me. I have often submitted my shareholder OBC years in advance with no problem on every cruise line with these programs. In fact, I was considering submitting for my 2026 cruise in the upcoming months - has anyone actually had their submissions denied because the program was waiting to be "re-authorized" at the next annual meeting?

[LAX]

On 3/8/2024 at 10:32 AM, pghflyer said:

Thanks. I did ask my agent to confirm and send me an updated version of their booking confirmation, and they said it does indicate we got both AARP and Healthcare, despite of however it looks in our accounts.  Now I just have to buy some stock to add the shareholder OBC on there too (worth $250 for our sailing)....hope all this stacking doesn't topple over! 🙂

So, you are able to stack AARP and another community appreciation offer (healthcare, military, educator) on the same booking? Plus, you and your spouse are able to each receive both offers for that booking (ie: OBCx4)? That would be nice and tempt me to join AARP before booking.

 

LAX

 

 

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, LAX said:

So, you are able to stack AARP and another community appreciation offer (healthcare, military, educator) on the same booking? Plus, you and your spouse are able to each receive both offers for that booking (ie: OBCx4)? That would be nice and tempt me to join AARP before booking.

 

LAX

 

 

You can stack types of OBC, but some awards are limited per cabin, not per person, so you both cannot receive. AARP and Shareholder, for example, are limited per cabin.

[pghflyer]

AARP is per CABIN, as is the Healthcare. So it didn't really matter if my spouse had them. At this point for my 2026 sailing, I have confirmed and have on my booking as coming from HAL - Early Booking Bonus OBC, AARP OBC, and Healthcare OBC.  I will hopefully be able to add shareholder at some point between now and sailing too.

 

I think I last renewed AARP at $45 for 6 years, so getting a $200 OBC (10+ Day Balcony) for that investment is an incredible return.

[LAX]

15 hours ago, pghflyer said:

AARP is per CABIN, as is the Healthcare. So it didn't really matter if my spouse had them. At this point for my 2026 sailing, I have confirmed and have on my booking as coming from HAL - Early Booking Bonus OBC, AARP OBC, and Healthcare OBC.  I will hopefully be able to add shareholder at some point between now and sailing too.

 

I think I last renewed AARP at $45 for 6 years, so getting a $200 OBC (10+ Day Balcony) for that investment is an incredible return.

Thanks for the clarification. I guess I misunderstood your previous post. By the way, the AARP OBC does not require it to be applied as initial booking, correct? It can be requested after it has been booked like shareholder and military/healthcare/educator OBC, right?

 

LAX

 

[oakridger]

Here are the terms and conditions for the AARP OBC.  It says it's for new bookings only, but my TA actually got it added to my existing booking.  Can't hurt to ask!

 

 

 

Exclusive AARP Member Offer | Holland America Line

 

[RobTheGob]

On 3/11/2024 at 9:45 PM, LAX said:

Thanks for the clarification. I guess I misunderstood your previous post. By the way, the AARP OBC does not require it to be applied as initial booking, correct? It can be requested after it has been booked like shareholder and military/healthcare/educator OBC, right?

 

LAX

 

 

We’ve not actually requested the AARP OBC to be added for our recently booked cruise - but I’m hoping it can be at some point. The large AARP thread indicated that HAL can add it, even if the booking was done by a TA - but success was kind of hit & miss, depending on the HAL rep you talk to. 

[LAX]

So, I was reading a different thread and someone mentioned that the community appreciation offers require submitting request within 24 hrs of booking. It sounds like most people reported requesting them weeks, if not months later. Is there such strict timeline?

 

Also, do you need to be verified prior to booking? I have read AARP does, but what about others?

 

LAX

 

[POA1]

2 hours ago, LAX said:

So, I was reading a different thread and someone mentioned that the community appreciation offers require submitting request within 24 hrs of booking. It sounds like most people reported requesting them weeks, if not months later. Is there such strict timeline?

 

Also, do you need to be verified prior to booking? I have read AARP does, but what about others?

 

LAX

 

Technically, yes. They all need to be verified ahead of time because they're good on future bookings. Military verification is once and done. The others need to be done manually.

 

You might get lucky, but then you may be denied if you verified after booking. It's not exactly a long, arduous process. You should be able to get it done online with minimal fuss. From what Understand, the educator credit might require additional documentation if you retired, particularly if the school is no longer there.