HAL now offering onboard future cruises for $100 pp deposit

[HeatherInFlorida]

While on our 12/2 to 12/12 cruise it certainly wasn't in effect yet. She wanted an $1800 deposit right then and there for a 17 day cruise in December 2007.

 

Even worse, I wanted to book a cruise for 2008 that hadn't opened for booking yet and I wanted a specific cabin. In order for them just to notify me when booking opens, she asked for $200 which I gave her. I have since called and retrieved my $$$. I've heard since then that these notifications don't always work too well and I'll be darned if they're going to hold my $200 just for giving me a call (with no guarantee of getting that cabin). Obviously I was caught up in the moment:D .

 

From what Lisa writes, this is a new policy and I think it's excellent. With that low a deposit, I would book onboard in an instant.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Mary Ellen, I think the problem here was that unfortunately the desk on the HAL ship do not have that type of authority to authorize this. What I do is make sure with my TA before we ever leave that all ship board credit is in place. I sometimes have her give me a print out, by doing this I have never had anything not be correct. Just yesterday I spoke with my TA and she said that the Oosterdam $25 PP ship board credit for shorten ports was already showing along with my CCL credit. Because this was a group cruise I decided on prior to when we were on a cruise and I did not want to wait to book this for fear of not getting cabin 5187 we booked it direct thru our TA setting up the Group Cruise. But my other three cruises for next year were all booked on board as well as all four from last year.

[Mary Ellen]

What I do is make sure with my TA before we ever leave that all ship board credit is in place.

I had faxed the flyer to the CC TA months before the cruise and I was assured that the credit was in place.

 

If the front desk doesn't have the authority, not a problem - I can deal with that if she had said that up front. What really burned me was the incredibly condenscending attitude, like she was talking to a 3 or 4-yr old, as she slowly (so someone with limited intellect could follow) pointed to the $50 credit on DH''s statement and then to the $50 credit on mine and carefully explaining that they DID add up to $100. We're not talking differential calculus here, but BASIC addition.

 

I'm not so upset about the lost $100 (or I would have been all over Seattle after we returned) but her attitude(s). No one should be treated like that. I just returned from a trip to Disney World with my mother where we had some 'interesting' experiences/troubles. Disney absolutely shone even when the problems weren't theirs - but my mother's. Attitude makes all the difference and the woman's at the Zaandam's front desk

stunk.