LAFFNVEGAS

Looking forward to hearing about everythong from you Keith!! Glad you are back on board!

It should be automatic when you book a new cruise, existing cruises are not considered new cruises. So for the most part you most likely will be denied when attempting to have it added to an existing booking. But if you book a new cruise under your Mariner number it should automatially populate based on the category and length of the cruise.

I am one to agree they could pull one or two ships from Alaska. They have in the past had more ships in Europe. But I think with air pricing and air problems people are not as brave to venture there. This is the first year that Princess decided to keep ships going through the summer to Hawaii on the Emerald Princess. These have been sold out very early. I think that would be a great option for HAL especially for ships like Volendam or Zaandam that they tend to have a harder time filling. Hawaii weather does not change much in the summer. I also think they could do the California Coastals with the stop in Mexico year round, possibly alternate it with going to Hawaii. Doing the 7 day regular Mexico would be hot but actually not drastically PV tends to be more tropical like Hawaii.

No, you did not misread it which is why my guess is that extra $50.00 is definitely not from AARP SBC. There might have been something else. Are you booked with a Travel Agency, that Agency may have just added Group amenities to your reservation.

I had my husbands card number verified on Monday just after the annoucement, I have been a member of AARP for 19 years which is how long it shows I also have the Hartford car insurance through AARP. It verified immiediately after doing it. Later that day I called HAL I was told then it would be for New bookings ONLY. I recalled again on Wednesday and Thursday, I did not bother yesterday or today since the answer has continued to be the same. I have no idea how others are getting this but there are many also stating the same as me they are not getting the SBC. I was told by last Rep that even rebooking it would not apply since I was previously booked for that voyage.

It would not be due to the AARP because a 14 day would have a minimum of $100.00 based on stateroom category. I have 3 cruises booked first one in 5 weeks, then December and a 14 day Japan in March of 2025, none of mine have any additional SBC. I have personally called several times now to get the SBC added on existing full fare reservations and they will not add them. But they do tell me that the availability of AARP is added to my husbands Mariner number if we would like to reserve a new voyage.

You definitely cannot purchase yourself the Crew Incentive, it is not available to do that on their website with a gift card, to add it pre cruise you must call into Guest Services but the way they have Guest Services set up not everyone can access the box to process the Gift Cards. Some who work for guest servcies are at a call cent outside the US, they do not have access. You basically have to ask for the Gift Card department, the hold time is long but it definitely can be done.

Yes, they can be used toward HIA when it is included with your cruise price, Yes they can be used toward Crew Appreciation and Yes they can be used for Shore Excursions. I am witness to all of the above being done just this week. I myself pre paid my Crew Appreciation using HAL gift cards purchased through AARP, Now was it an easy task...No but you have to get to the correct department that has the ability for the little pull down box that allows payment by Gift Cards. U have of several people that recently aid off cruises that had the HIA with the cruise price and no porblem paying the cruise in full with HAL Gift cards, Unless something changed since yesterday afternoon there is definitely no roblem in using them.

Not listed here is Canaletto, I believe their price recently went up. But I had a weird occurance happen, I had booked Canaletto a several weeks ago but decided I wanted to move the night we were going. It was wide open with every slot time available for when we wanted to go. I called HAL's Guest Services and was told I had to cancel and rebook and a new much higher price. I was shocked, I told them I would just wait to move it once on board. Has this happened to any one else? My guess is with these new prices if you had paid and need to move to a different night the same thing will happen.

Oh if only they would grandfather in the Double points for suites lol I would have been 5 star shortly after 2009 instead of just now reaching it for my December cruise. 😉 It truly would be impossible to add the AARP to every booking already booked, and it is hard to get through to an agent now, can you imagine if they opened it up to every current booking and the very large percentage of people that would be AARP members. The phone lines would be crazy. HAL partnered with AARP to bring in NEW bookings, while I do believe that to a certain extent giving ship board credit helps to encourage on board spending I do not see HAL giving away that much ship board credit.

If you must arrive the day of the cruise fly into Hanada NOT Narita, Not only is Narita much further away there is also risk of lots of traffic which is common. Hanada is actually very close to Yokohama and there are back roads not freeways that gets them to Yokohama pier fairly quick. By all means sign up for HAL Transfers. Flights in and out of Narita tend to me cheaper so for pricing you could fly home from Narita but by all means arrive in Hanada. Plus going through Immigration is also a bit easier than narita from what I have read.Two different cruises I arrived in Hanada and flew out of Narita.

I called twice yesterday and once today and was told all three times that it is for new bookings only. Not sure how some are getting it added to existing. I have a cruise in less than 6 weeks and another in December all paid in full. I do have one for 2025 but the price has gone up plus would lose some ship board credit from the promo it is booked under so definitely not worth canceling.

Beautiful Sunny Day in Juneau!! Hope it is like that 6 weeks from today 😄 Thanks Leanne for the reminder!!

Once an AARP number is used it can not be used for anyone else, that is why it is not going through for you wife.

I too was approved immediately, but I did call and being told by a HAL Rep that has been there for a while that like Military and Teacher Credit it will only be good for NEW Bookings ONLY after the verification. Now the other thing that is aword to the wise, If you are a couple that have ajoint AARP account and you also have military credit and CCL stock credit you may not want to register it under the person that has the extra credit. Very recently Princess changed it that if you have Military Credit you also cannot get the CCL Stock credit, but if a couple in the same room one can have the Military credit and one can have the CCL stock credit. I suspect HAL will soon switch over to this mode of paying credits. I generally apply for the stock credit since my name is first on the stock but for this I registered my husband's name and Mariner number we do not have military credit. SUCCESS! YOU'VE BEEN VERIFIED We verified your eligibility for the special offer you requested. Find a Cruise Please allow 2 days before booking to receive your AARP member onboard credit offer. SheerID handles verification only. Now that you've been approved, please direct all questions about the promotion terms to Holland America Line customer service.

With buying AARP HAL Gift cards you will only get 1% credit with the HAL Credit card. Gift cards for Holland America purchased through AARP and or the web site Holland America refers you to to purchase gift cards you are not purchasing them from Holland America. As others have said there are far better Travel Credit cards available that give you so much more. Capital One Venture and Chase Sapphire are two of the best. I got rid of my HAL credit card about 12 years ago.

Sadly any change made to a reservation such as category is based on what is the current promotion is. If you were only changing cabins within the same category then no problem but changing categories is basially like making a new booking and the $1.00 deposit promotion is no longer available.

In the past have had both Delta and America and even at the airport they would not allow to upgrade even if available. As I stated before the airline does not see the price paid by Flight Ease so has no way to price it for you. My last several personal flights I just bought first class from Flight Ease up front so I would not have to play the game later but I know of others first hand that were able to. I think it has been more frequent that it is harder to upgrade once you have booked regular economy with Flight Ease because of the pricing code used.

Unfortunately depending on how Flight Ease booked you and especially if flying to Europe no matter the airline you may not be able to pick you seats. It is becoming more and more common that that option is not available as well as once it is ticketed the airline also will not allow it. This is most common with British Airways, Air Canada and any European airline. But it can also happen with United, American and Delta. Yes many have been able to select seats but do not be surprised that come close to the flight or day of the flight you seats totally change.

Have you confirmed if it is ticketed, even a 11 days out, it might now be. I have also seen where depending on the Rate Code FE booked under it may not be eligible for doing an upgrade Paid or not. This close to the flight FW is not going to help upgrade you with out charging you a big penalty. Unfortunately it has always been that way depending on the code they booked it under. It is a hit or miss. One time I had it and the upsell offer from the Airline went right through, another time it showed on the app but would not go through and I was told it was how FE booked it. I even tried at the airport and they would not budge even though there were FC seats available and I was willing to pay. The airline claims depending on this code they cannot see the price of the ticket so there was no way for me to pay the difference.

How far away is your cruise? if it is this weekend I would just show up earlier but if you are a few weeks out then do not worry, you will get several more updates and different times. Definitely not worth wasting you time calling HAL since the Reps will not help.Best to skip that frustration.

There she is, definitely coming in a bit later than last week.

Thanks Leanne!! I will have to remember to stop by, hopefully will catch her coming in.

It appears Several Travel Agencies are offering a Special Promotion for the month of June with very good pricing. Prices in some cases for the SB and SC being lower than prices were this year with lots of perks. It is very possibly this is just that week that everyone wanted to book. There could also be a small Group that yes they all booked the Neptune for this sailing. There are not nearly as many Neptune Suites as the Vista Class so they can sell quickly if the price is right. You can always ask to be placed on a Wait List putting a few $100.00 down to hold it that would be refundable. It is a very good chance you would clear a Wait List.

Hmmm that interesting because I do know of people that had canceled and used gifts cards from Carnival, Princess and HAL that the amount was reapplied to the gift cards so that statement does contradict transactions I have witnessed. HAL will also assist you in finding your previous used Gift card if credit was refunded there. There was a lot of this happening after covid. I do see the statement that funds cannot be added, which means it is not a loadable gift card but when a refund occurs I believe that process is different and the money are in fact returned to that gift card. Also as a side note if cruise is canceled prior to penalty and gift cards are used HAL will just transfer to a new booking, I personally have done that.