zelker

39 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Yikes!   I have a question though.  Serious question - Why didn’t you stay in Germany to have the surgery and recoup enough to travel? I had a friend have a severe hospitalization in France and her option was to stay or take the evacuation course of action. She chose to stay.   

We weren't in Germany, we were in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

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)

4 hours ago, alwaysfrantic said:

My TA was quite curt that I was not getting it applied to existing reservations.  I’d read here others were having success.   
 

did you book directly with HAL?

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.

7 minutes ago, Big Dawg CC said:

Here's a new one.  After a few emails, I was able to get my PCC at HAL to apply the OBC to my existing Nov 2023 cruise.  He was not able, however, to apply to my 3 additional bookings as, he said, I need to requalify annually, and once I do so in 2024, I should email him and he will apply to my two existing 2024 bookings.  When I requalify in 2025, he will add to the existing 2025 booking.  I've got that in writing from him, so good with that.  Seems like an interpretation of the clause "new bookings per year with revalidation required annually." referenced by @Real NHDOC

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.  🙄

1 minute ago, ghstudio said:

How long ago did you book those cruises??
 

Some last year, some this year.

57 minutes ago, Real NHDOC said:

Booked four new cruises and was told that the AARP perk is only applicable to one booking per year! 

 

It doesn't say anything like that anywhere and I know other people have said they got it on multiple bookings.  This is SO typical of HAL.  Everything is always dependent on who you ask and nobody has been properly trained.  My TA claims she escalated it up the chain but I am going to call now and get to the bottom of it.  If it's a once a year benefit then it should say so clearly in the offer.  It specifically says "Offer good for new bookings only" not one new booking. 

 

"Bookings" is plural and so it should apply to all new bookings...period.

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.

13 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

Was that through direct comms with Holland (PCC) or your TA?

 

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.  🙂 

1 hour ago, bapaleg said:

Are any of the optional ones worth taking instead of the included ones

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.

1 hour ago, bapaleg said:

 Can you tell me about Panama Canal and excursions. We are doing it later this year. Thx

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.

1 minute ago, Haljo1935 said:

And it is per state room so it should only reflect ... account - both husband and wife wouldn't see it in their accounts.

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

deleted 

Just now, Roz said:

 

I just applied and I was required to send a copy of my AARP membership card to a company called SheerID.  What did I do wrong?  I'm waiting on the confirmation email.

Did you just sign up for AARP?

19 minutes ago, ktbraun said:

Just wondering where you would see the $50.00 OBC added to your account?  

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

20 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Do you have separate accounts numbers     AARP  ??

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.  😄

7 hours ago, Azulann said:

Yes, that is great bread. Ate it also in Stockholm and Copenhagen  before and after our Scenic Scandinavian Cruise.

My uncle was a Danish baker in MN and Eugene, Oregon. He made that kind of dense dark bread. He called it pumpernickel. Best bread for open face sandwiches.  Cannot find in my  city 

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

2 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

New AARP member? Been a member for years.

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

28 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Yes, I did, thanks. Grrr

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?

11 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

What grocery card? I've been trying since about 8am central to buy HAL gift cards and for several hours am getting a message TBE AARP site is not responding. Ugh

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 -

5 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Everywhere I'm reading (including the PointsGuy article), it is stated or implied it is for new bookings. @LAFFNVEGAS's screen shot says "wait 2 days before booking" for example.

 

Too bad I changed a booking to a longer booking last week as that should have qualified as a new booking (AND it costed us $600 in OBC).

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 ....

11 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

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.

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.

3 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Got it approved immediately for myself, but having trouble getting it approved for my wife.  The AARP accounts have the same number and the HAL bookings are in her Marnier number.

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?