Anyone else having trouble using on-line checkin??

[ekuhlman]

I have been trying for several days to use the On-line check in for our upcoming cruise.

Each time, I get the first page completed (emergency notifcation, passport number, etc.) and when I click on "proceed", a message says I've taken too long and must start over. Hogwash.

I called HAL's reps and one woman offered to put my information in for me. She encountered the same problem. She had no idea there was a problem or when it might be fixed.

An email sent to HAL was replied to with "we are aware of the problem and we are working on it. But don't worry, you can always print the form out manually and submit it when you embark on the ship." Hogwash (again).

 

If they know there is a problem with people trying to check in on-line, then for heavens sake place a message or note there that states that. Don't keep forcing people to continue to fill out the same information over and and over again only to find out that it still doesnn't work. Gads!

 

As far as I'm concerned , this is an important feature. I'd like a little better answer to the problem than "we know it's a problem and we are working on it." Somebody in tech services should be getting their a** chewed out for this one.

And there certainly should be a message on HAL's page explaining the problem.

Sorry to be so outspoken, but this is a service that I expect HAL to provide, and they seem to be all too indifferent to it.

 

Ed

[jtl513]

I've had mine filled out for quite a while, but just out of curiosity I went and "changed" an item ... and had no problem. Maybe you could try entering just a few things, exiting, and then opening again for editing. :confused:

[ekuhlman]

I've had mine filled out for quite a while, but just out of curiosity I went and "changed" an item ... and had no problem. Maybe you could try entering just a few things, exiting, and then opening again for editing. :confused:

 

Hmmm, thanks for the advice, but I've tried that. I think this problem only started happening about 10 days ago. I believe once you've got your information "into the system"... it's OK, and like you said, you can change it.

But it's getting it in there the first time that now seems to be the problem.

[Assateague Island Princes]

I just did our on-line check in today. Got to the point where you put in your credit card info and then took some time getting my card number in, when I pressed the proceed button, I got a message saying they could not process my form at this time - try again. Grrrr! So I immediately went back on, and this time - sailed thru with no problems whatsoever. My advice would be just to keep on trying, and repeat over and over "I'm going on a cruise, I'm going on a cruise". Hopefully that will work. Good luck in your mission! Persistance seems to be the order of the day.

[gotsand]

I just checked mine, it is all working ok. Try tomorrow. A few weeks ago mine had problems. I go to my online booking everyday trying to see what cabin I have been assigned.

[kcheevious]

I booked a guarantee and wanted to see if I had been assigned a room yet. I got the same error for about five days in a row. It worked again for me a couple of days ago, though ... crazy web site.

:(

[yiddishkopf]

I've tried twice to do the on line check in -- once, after filling out everything, the site said "cannot proceed" and once it kept taking me back to the first page.

 

If you succeed in the on line check in. please double or triple check everything. I found in reviewing the form, before attempting to check in, that although I had checked USA in one box, it showed Albania!

[Cruising-along]

Hadn't done ours yet, and wasn't going to try yet, after reading these posts. Then I thought what the heck, and tried this morning.

 

It made me go through all the steps (passport info, contact info, flight info, page after page, and THEN told me it couldn't be processed and to try again later. :mad:

 

At least I have time before the cruise, so I won't try again for awhile.

[vbmom87]

I have logged onto the online checkin numerous times in the last week, and have not encountered any problems. An error had been made on the boarding pass, and it took numerous emails to finally get it corrected.

[Sea Island Lady]

I completed my own and for both of my parents. My sister completed hers too, all with-in the last week. At the same time, my brother tried to complete his and kept encountering the same timed-out message. :rolleyes:

 

I'll have to go check and see if he was ever successful!

[Cruising-along]

I completed my own and for both of my parents. My sister completed hers too, all with-in the last week. At the same time, my brother tried to complete his and kept encountering the same timed-out message. :rolleyes:

 

I'll have to go check and see if he was ever successful!

 

I'd almost rather get the timed-out message than going all the way to the end and then being told to try again.

[ekuhlman]

As it turns out, the reason I couldn't get checked-in online had nothing to do with the "bogus" on screen message that told me I took too much time filling out the form and that the page "timed out". The problem, according to a very pleasant HAL representative, turned out to be that HAL does not view my account as "Paid in Full". She could not (or would not) however disclose the amount or circumstances of the account status.

This, of course disturbs me, since the other couple and I each paid the appropriate amounts at the proper times, and his on-line check-in processed flawlessly. Both of our checks cleared the banks sometime ago. The HAL rep said that I needed to contact my TA directly to resolve the problem. Unfortunately, she is on vacation until Tuesday.

As far as I'm concerned, this discrepency needs to be addressed and corrected immediately, but the travel agency said I must wait for my specific TA to come back from vacation to investigate the problem. My final payment was due on March 12th and was made on Feb 28th.

According to the documents supplied by my TA, I am fully paid up for my booking, so I am anxious to see what the "glitch" is here.

This is not the first time I've had issues with our travel agency, and I suspect it may not be the last. I am so glad that I did not wait until the last minute to do the on-line check in.

As far as I'm concerned, this discrepency needs to be addressed and corrected immediately, but the travel agency said I must wait for my specific TA to come back from vacation to investigate the problem.

 

I guess I get a little hyper at times like these... but there are certain things that I feel should just be done right the first time. If HAL thinks that my booking is not fully paid, why would they have not notified my TA about that LONG before now? I think there is something else going on here, and I'm anxious to find out what it is.

In the meantime, if my booking gets cancelled and I lose my stateroom, etc. over this, I will not be a happy camper..... or in this case, boater.

[Sea Island Lady]

ekuhlman - That's really odd! I am sorry you have to wait so long to find a solution. :(

 

My brother was finally able to complete his online check-in by clearing his cache (cookies). He did time out once, but the info was saved this time.

 

Evidently, HAL accounting does make mistakes.:rolleyes: My sister received her VISA bill and had two charges on her statement from HAL! One was for her correct final payment amount and the other was from a weird $1,147.56. :rolleyes: I emailed my TA (who was leaving the next day for a cruise) and she was able to figure out that HAL had charged my sisters card for something that they were suppose to charge on someone else's card. :eek:

[1cruiselvr]

Every company has a manager of a dept or owner. I would insist on speaking to either to resolve this problem immediately. It's nuts that they expect for you to wait until YOUR travel agent returns from a vacation and not very good customer relations in my book. I don't blame you for being worried. This kind of news breeds paranoia. Happy Sailing!

[boards]

Our TA usually and has filled out the on-line check-in for us. We don't even have to print in she does. I have the form and it is ready. Thanks to our TA.

[jtl513]

... but the travel agency said I must wait for my specific TA to come back from vacation to investigate the problem.

 

This is not the first time I've had issues with our travel agency, and I suspect it may not be the last.

It would definitely would be the last time for me! :eek:

[Sea Island Lady]

Our TA usually and has filled out the on-line check-in for us. We don't even have to print in she does. I have the form and it is ready. Thanks to our TA.

Your TA has your passport numbers, knows who your contact person is (and phone #) and your airline info, etc.? :eek:

 

Speaking of airline info., I have a question...

 

When we are embarking the ship, and not flying back home immediately (we will be going to Rome for two days), how do we answer the question "Are you departing by plane?"? I checked "no" because we are not going straight to the airport from the cruise. Is this correct?

[pms4104]

Just wondering if your check was payable to HAL or to your T/A. If the latter, that could be the source of your issue.

[Sea Island Lady]

Did the OP say that he paid with a check? :eek: I hope not! You should never pay with a check.

[ekuhlman]

Just wondering if your check was payable to HAL or to your T/A. If the latter, that could be the source of your issue.

 

The checks were made out to the Travel Agency... not HAL.

So you may be right... HAL may not have ever received the correct funds. Although by this time they would surely have cancelled our booking.

 

Ahhhh, the trials and tribulations of Cruiseing the Seven Seas.

 

We'll get it straightened out... but it really bothers me that every problem that has arisen, I'm the one that has discovered it and investigated it... NOT the TA.

Me thinks the TA should give HAL their commission back, and pay it to me. :)

[pms4104]

The checks were made out to the Travel Agency... not HAL.

So you may be right... HAL may not have ever received the correct funds. Although by this time they would surely have cancelled our booking.

 

Ahhhh, the trials and tribulations of Cruiseing the Seven Seas.

 

We'll get it straightened out... but it really bothers me that every problem that has arisen, I'm the one that has discovered it and investigated it... NOT the TA.

Me thinks the TA should give HAL their commission back, and pay it to me. :)

Indeed, your T/A needs to take care of this short-payment ASAP.

 

I may be a complete wacko skeptic ... but I always make sure that our credit card charge for deposit and for final payment is for HAL and definitely not to the T/A. I've seen too many stories about fraud and/or T/A financial instability in which they use one person's current deposit or payment to cover another client's payments due sooner than yours. Eventually, it all catches up and their agency falls like a house of cards. Maybe I read too much, huh?

[pms4104]

Did the OP say that he paid with a check? :eek: I hope not! You should never pay with a check.

Mentioned in post #12 tho not in the thread-starter.

[Sea Island Lady]

I agree with camp637!

[ekuhlman]

Turns out that after insisting that the travel agency resolve the problem of an additional $12.73 tax placed on my account AFTER I made final payment, they did just that. They were going to simply send HAL a check through the mail and wait until HAL processed it before I could do the on-line check-in.

It was nice of the TA to take care of the $12.73 since no one could figure out where it came from, or why it was not applied to the other couple going with us.

 

Anyway, with that problem now out ot the way, I still could NOT process my on-line check in. I continued to get the dreaded message that too much time had elapsed while on the site and that I would have to start again. This was beginning to get ridiculous, and I could feel my bllod pressure rising (actually, it was already ridiculaous). I called HAL (once again) and spoke with a very pleasant customer service rep who listened to my story, and tried to enter the information herself... with the same results. However, instead of just saying "we are having trouble with our web site and people are working on the problem", she actually was proactive and tried to solve the problem. She was away from the phone for a goof 15 minutes, but when she returned, she explained that for some reason, SOME bookings were in a "locked" status because of the $70 fuel adjustment credit. She had a technical person release the lock, and "lo and behold", I was able to complete our on-line registration and print out our boarding passes.

I was so elated that I asked to speak to her supervisor and spent a good 5 minutes on the phone with him applauding this persons persistence and determinaton to get to the bottom of an irritating problem. I asked him to give her a big hug for me, take her out to luch, and give her a big raise... non of which I suspect he did.

She was able, however, to save me from many more hours of headaches, because my TA had just about had enough of me trying to get this resolved through them.

Anyway... looks like we're good to go, and I hope I don't have to call the TA with any more requests before or during the trip.

[Sea Island Lady]

Glad to hear it!

 

Now, I just hope we get our OBC (for fuel refund) as promised.:rolleyes:

 

I received my email about the refund a couple of days ago.

 

As you know, Carnival Corporation & plc, under an agreement with the Florida Attorney General's Office, recently announced a voluntary refund of the company's fuel supplement. Because you initially booked your cruise prior to November 7, 2007, and you are sailing with Holland America Line between the dates of April 5, 2008, and June 23, 2008, you are entitled to receive an on-board credit equal to the amount of your Fuel Supplement Refund! (If you have any questions regarding your cruise billing or eligibility for this on-board credit, please contact your travel professional directly.)