Called HAL myself to confirm about Promos and Ship Board Credit

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Well, with all the talk about shipboard credits and promos I decided to call HAL myself to see if we were in fact getting the right credits. Don't get me wrong I have an absolutely wonderful TA but I just wanted to see if 1. Would they talk to me about my booking and 2. Just to confirm what I do have. Since I currently have 2 cruises booked and are thinking about booking a 3rd for October 2005. When I called HAL they were extremely friendly. They wanted to know if I had my booking number, I did not and she said that was no problem she looked it up by my name. I asked first about our Ryndam cruise with this cruise I am only getting a $25.00 per person credit. The HAL rep said that I was booked under a special tour booked by our Travel Agent which was correct. She stated we were not able to use any promo credits but that the price we had for S Suite was considerably lower than any promos they could offer. She said she saw we were getting a $25.00 per person credit but that was being paid by our TA. She then noted that we had another cruise booked for March 2005. She said we were already getting a Shipboard credit under a Promo (forgot which number she said) of $50.00 per person which I did know we were getting. I told her we were considering changing to a S or SS would that change the credit? She said no that would remain the same it would only go up if we went to a 10 or 14 day cruise.

I then asked if there were any promos if we considered booking a cruise for October 2005? She said at this time there were none but to check back in January or February there should be one then and if I booked before it could possibly be added. Unfortutely, I did not catch this very helpful HAL rep's name. She had no problem giving me information and did not act like I should of been going thru my TA. This was all comforting to know that I can call them when I can't get a hold of my TA but then I have never had a problem getting a hold of my TA.

 

Sometimes it is good just to confirm what you are actually getting and feel good about what you have done.:)

[Vic The Parrot]

Is there a cut off date as to getting the onboard credit?

 

I'm thinking of booking something for later this year.

[tommy]

We booked direct with Holland,a b2b in Oct. The Agent from Holland told us of the promo when we gave our deposit 25 dollars per person for each week,no problem. TOM

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Is there a cut off date as to getting the onboard credit?

 

I'm thinking of booking something for later this year.

Vic, I would call HAL, I found them to be extremely helpful even if you booked thru a TA. I was expecting them to say I needed to contact my TA but they did not. I know that certainly was not the case with RCL on our very first cruise. They did not want to talk to me, I had to go thru the TA which I did not know because I had won the contest it was with an out of state TA, now that I think of it they may have been a Internet TA but that was March of 2002. At that time neither were helpful, fortuately we loved the cruise so we were hooked.:D

[drdaddy]

For you guys who were able to speak to HAL directly even though you booked through a TA, what telephone did you use? That seems to make a difference. When I was trying to get our promo credit, the first one wouldn't even speak to me at all, the second was a sweetheart (and arranged it, btw), and the third only gave me a bit of info after I cajoled her and asked how come some HAL reps do and some don't. She wouldn't even tell me how much, just that there was one on my account!

 

So, I think it depends on which department you get. There does seem to be a few telephone numbers to try but I haven't figured out which one is best, yet.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I have usually had better luck not using the 800 or 866 area code. I call direct to the Corp. Headquarters at 206-281-3535 The first person that answers is just a receptionist but then they have always connected me with a very helpful person. She was able to find and verify every bit of our booked information.