zelker

Pay attention to what @Babr posted above and make sure you understand what your insurance covers (this includes insurance through the cruise lines). In October of 2016, I fractured my femur in Tenerife (Canary Islands) literally 100 yards from the gangway (getting dark, terrible lighting, uneven asphalt surface). Unbeknownst to us, our insurance (BC/BS) would only cover to get us to the closest hospital that could take care of me ... turns out, that was the little local hospital. Say WHAT??!!?? There was no way I was having surgery in a second world country (hospital didn't have potable water or screens on the windows, there was limited A/C, and almost none of the staff spoke English and we speak no Spanish, food was worse than gas station premade food, sanitary procedures often left a lot to be desired ... you get the picture). With the help of a "friend of a friend" who was an EMT in Florida and worked with several global companies to repatriate people around the world, we flew home on a private air ambulance that flew from Germany to pick us up from the Canaries and flew us to the hospital 5 minutes from our home in Colorado where I had a 4 hr surgery, months of rehab, and an amazing outcome. There was no way I could fly on a commercial flight because my leg was in traction and I had to be flat on my back (yes, really good drugs were involved). Cost out of pocket - $100,000!! And we had to have family wire the money to Florida so he could wire it to the company in Germany before they'd even leave the ground. I had an EMT and a doctor with me the entire flight who stayed with me until I was released to the ER here. Was it worth it? Absolutely!! Lesson learned the (VERY) hard way - we no longer travel without MedjetAssist.

R & P, Speaking of old friends, guess who just booked the February cruise with you guys!! Going to try again, but THIS time, without getting Covid. So will we find you in the hot tub by the aft pool at sailaway? 😆 Barb & John (couldn’t find your email address, mine is barb dot h at comcast dot net)

Booked online with HAL, then transferred to my TA. I dealt with HAL directly about the OBC rather than get my TA involved. When I called, I pressed 2 (for guest), then 1 (for existing booking), then 6 (for help with something else) ... don't know if that helped or not. YMMV.

Interesting. Our existing bookings spanned December of 2023 through March of 2025 and they applied them to all of them at the same time. If it's one thing HAL is consistent about, it's their inconsistency. 🙄

Some last year, some this year.

Ran into the same thing last week. I told the HAL rep that I knew that wasn't the case so she checked with a supervisor, came back on the phone and said that I was right, no limit. Was then applied to all 6 of our previously booked cruises going into 2025.

I don't have a PCC but I did work directly with HAL to get this accomplished, then they sent the new confirmations to my TA who then updated all our invoices and sent me new ones which reflect the additional OBC. I was actually surprised they applied them to our 2025 cruises since we're supposed to "renew" our AARP info annually with HAL but they did it.

Was able to get the AARP OBC applied to all 6 of our previously booked cruises (12-23 through 4-25). At first she tried to tell me that it was only applicable to one cruise per year but when I told her I didn't think there was any limit on it, she checked with a supervisor who confirmed it can be used multiple times per year. YAY!!! Also, as others have mentioned, the "mystery" $50 OBC on each of our Mariner accounts disappeared once they started applying AARP OBC to bookings. Moral to the story for others that haven't had any luck - be persistent. It took me three phones calls over 2 weeks to get this resolved but it worked and was worth my time to get $1,100 in OBC (between the 6 cruises) that we didn't have previously. 🙂

This really isn't the right place to discuss specific cruises or tours but I'll answer this question and then suggest you either post a new thread or look at the port info on CC. So we only did one optional tour - went to Columbia's National Aviary in Cartagena. Not the worst excursion we've ever done but certainly not the best. It was about an hour bus ride to/from the port which was mostly boring views and traffic, especially on the way back. We've been to Cartagena before so wanted to do something different but when we got back to the port, we walked around their animal/bird enclosure area for an hour and enjoyed it (for free!) almost as much and you can get up close and personal with everything there. In Puntarenas, we did a private tour with our favorite guide.

What would you like to know? We been through the Canal I think 6 times now (only once on Viking). And as far as excursions, you can get a good idea of what they offer by looking on Viking's website.

DH and I each have $50 OBC showing under our respective Mariner accounts.

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Did you just sign up for AARP?

On your HAL account, go to My Profile, then Future Cruise Credits, then scroll down to Onboard Credits

Nope, we’re both on one AARP account. Did you verify each of you separately on HAL?

And because we all know things are anything but consistent with HAL ... we each have the $50 "mystery" OBC. 😄

Assuming there are Jewish delis in St. Paul, suggest looking there as pumpernickel rye is usually a staple.

My bad. It's Mary229 that's new. So then makes no sense that you can't log in.

I just tried logging in ... no issue. Have belonged for many years though so don't know if you're having issues being a new member?

Did you try clearing your Cookies?

Wording regarding the AARP OBC offer on HAL's site has been updated at the bottom of the page - Offer is for new bookings only. Offer is available on select voyages. Offer excludes Grand World Voyages. Offer and/or its terms may be modified or withdrawn without prior notice. Other restrictions and exclusions may apply. Ships’ Registry: The Netherlands.

Hi, Elizabeth. I think the "wait 2 days before booking" has to do with the AARP info getting migrated into one's Mariner account. NOWHERE does it state that it's only applicable to new bookings and the woman I talked to at HAL this morning didn't tell me I couldn't apply it to our existing bookings, just that she had been told to tell me to give it a few days to get in our Mariner accounts, then call back, give them our Mariner numbers, and ask them to apply it to all our bookings. So we'll see ....

Both of us are on the same AARP account (with the same number) and have been for years, and I had no trouble using it for mine and then immediately using it for John's.

Not sure why, Dave. We have the same scenario (bookings originally made under my Mariner #, we share the AARP account) and had no problem submitting mine first and immediately did John's after and it worked fine. If it still doesn't work, maybe log into your AARP account to make sure you both show up on the same account?

I bet that's it!! Too new to be verified immediately through the system.