Double Shipboard Credit

I received a letter from HAL offering double shipboard credit because of purchasing a Future Cruise Credit on my last HAL sailing. It said "Book By May 31, 2011 and Enjoy Double Shipboard Credit". Nowhere on the letter does it say not valid on previous bookings. Believe me I had to turn on extra lights and get out the magnifying glass to read all the fine print. There were only three provisions for the offer. First was that the booking had to be made by May 31st, second that you included your Mariner # at the time of the booking and third that the sailing be one of those featured in the letter. I qualified under all three so I contacted my travel agent and gave her the information. The HAL representative she spoke to said she didn't believe our sailing was included in the offer so my TA asked me to fax her a copy of the letter. Since I don't have access to a fax machine I copied the letter and mailed it to her. When she received the letter she called HAL again and this time the problem was the offer was valid beginning May 15th and I had made the reservation on May 13th. My TA pleaded my case but was told "NO". As you can see by my signature this is not my first cruise but about my 35th. This will be my 4th on Holland America and although I prefer Princess HAL is my second favorite and my first choice for Alaska. I have contacted HAL directly but can't say I'm expecting much satisfaction. Had they never sent me this letter there would be no issue. I can't imagine it makes good business sense to alienate a potential customer for fifty dollars. I have had such good advise from these boards that I thought for once I would share my story for what it is worth. Should I ever hear back from HAL I will let everyone know.

Sorry for your disappointmet but, bluntly put, you don't meet the rules.

What should be the cut off? Three days prior to the announced start date of the offer, four days, ten days?

One of those disappointments in life but HAL set out certain parameters that need to be met and you 'just miss it' by only a few days.

Hopefully next time, you will qualify.

:) You could always book Another cruise in addition to what you have and be sure to meet the qualifications. :)

I haven't received it, but I don't have to worry about qualifying since I booked several months ago for one and last month or so for another.

I totally understand there are rules, but sometimes I wonder. There doesn't seem to be any benefit for the client that books well in advance (other than room selection).

That's just the way it goes, I'm afraid :rolleyes:

why not book another cruise between those dates?

why not book another cruise between those dates?

Well he may not have any more future cruise deposits.

But I have a questions about the dates? You said you booked May 13th and the promotion started May 15th :confused:

Did you mean April?

If it was April 13th you booked and Yes I was told the promotion started on April 15th, I can understand why they would not let you but you could always cancel and rebook as long as you are not under penalty ;)

I also had this situation come up just this week but the booking was made April 29th and client recieved this promotion in the mail a day later so I was able to get it applied. I will say that it is not combinable with any Cruise Night/Cruise week promotions (receiveing that wonderful On Board Value Coupon Book :rolleyes: :D ) but it is combinable with Groups and Group amenities.

We also got that mailing, perhaps because we made a Future Cruise Deposit nearly 2 years ago and have yet to book another HAL sailing.

What did surprise me ... apparently the category A thru BC on the S and R class ships now are listed for the same OBC as deluxe and superior suites on the Signature and Vista class. In the past, those cabins were considered merely as verandahs for purposes of the Future Cruise Deposit OBC. So, when we do book, we'll be looking at a slightly larger OBC.

I also have this letter, NO where do I see that cruises have to be booked after 15 May. I see five places where it states that one must be booked by May 31, 2011, but nothing about cruises needing to be booked after any date.

As it is now 6 May here, and 7 May on the other side of the International Date Line, I don't see how any currently booked cruise could have been done on 13 May. :confused:

The cruise we were considering is listed. We're now booked. I did have to scan the letter and e-mail it to our TA, but everything is good with our booking. :D

you are right and I booked April 13th and not May as I said in my post. HAL answered my email and said because of contractual agreements they could only discuss this with my TA. Of course if they had read the mail they would have seen where I went through her first. Oh well there are other cruises and other cruiselines but this will probably be my last with HAL.

We asked our TA to quote on a cruise that qualifies for the double OBC offer. As it turned out, her agency also had group amenities ($50 pp OBC and PG dinner) on that particular sailing. When we went to book, her $50 pp OBC disappeared when she applied the double OBC offer from HAL. That surprised me.

The fine print says that the double OBC cannot be combined with other HAL shipboard credit offers. Does that also include other OBC from your TA? I'd be interested to know if anyone has encountered a similar situation. Thanks!

All I can say is that I am evious. We never got such a letter. Booked a cruise and have no idea if it fell within the paramteter. Oh well, so be it. :rolleyes:

We got this letter too. Our TA was able to combine their OBC offer with HAL's.

We never got the letter, but it explains the OBC amounts that appeared on our invoice from HAL when we booked on board a couple of weeks ago with future cruise credits for a December cruise!

As for booking in advance -- there are other perks. I priced the Amazon for both November, 2011 and November, 2012. Turns out the 2012 price was over $1000 less for the same cabin category with the early booking price.

I suspect that it matters how far in advance you book. Apparently 18 months out is far enough to get a great deal -- six months in advance less so. This cruise, however, does not qualify for the double on board credits.

I have never understood how OBCs work, but for the most part I'd have to say they have been pleasant surprises. On our last cruise we boarded expecting $100.00 in OBC and when the bill came they gave us $250.00. Even though I pay the bill, DW got $50.00 more than me!!:confused:

What I do understand is that OBCs are part of the sales pitch and that HAL puts them out there to facilitate full booking. If advance sales are not quite up to where HAL would like them to be at a particular point in time, HAL starts throwing out little perks to get those folks sitting on the 'to cruise or not to cruise' fence to commit to a booking. And it is fairly effective. We have two more booked already this year, and are being severly tempted to squeeze in another.:o

we never got any letters either.

I never got a letter either.

FWIW, we had something similar happen. (Booked through FCC on one ship, and then a few months later on a GV, that same cruise was given extra OBC if booked through the FCC on the GV.) We just didn't fit the qualifications so we lost out on a big chunk of SBC. However, we didn't want to start over because we had the stateroom we wanted as well as other minor perks by booking when we did.

Anytime you book a cruise very early, you have the advantage of getting just what you want. At the same time you take a chance on losing out on later deals for the same cruise and just have to weigh the consequences of keeping your reservation or starting over.

using OBC deposits and only got the single credit. I'll call my TA about it. I didn't get a letter as well.

The letter came with an attachment list of cruises that qualified. It was printed on both sides, tons of cruises, categories were: 7-21 day Europe, 7-19 day Alaska, 7 or 10 day Canada & New England, 14 day Panama Canal, 7 to 14 day Caribbean and Bermuda, 30 day Hawaii, Tahiti & Marquesas, 13-30 day South America, 14-17 holiday cruises. If you have a particular cruise you'd like to know if it's on the list, post it and I will tell you. Some dates go out into 2012.

My gf didn't get the letter but she had a FCC that she gave HAL on her January cruise. So she called HAL and learned she qualified for the double SBC's so she booked the same cruise as I did. So even if you didn't get the letter, if you have a FCC and the cruise you want to book is on the list, HAL will give the double SBCs. At least, that was her experience.

Oh well there are other cruises and other cruiselines but this will probably be my last with HAL.

Please, please, don't let this incident put a damper on your cruise experience. Don't give up on the OBCs. And thank you for posting this information, it made me go check my cruise confirmations.

The first booking HAL offered us a $50 pp OBC, but the confirmation is for $100.pp. On the second, HAL didn't offer anything, but the confirmation gave us $150.00. I'm guessing that HAL allows the TA some wiggle room with these perks to encourage future bookings.

One can only hope that you too will be pleasantly surprised.

The letter came with an attachment list of cruises that qualified. It was printed on both sides, tons of cruises, categories were: 7-21 day Europe, 7-19 day Alaska, 7 or 10 day Canada & New England, 14 day Panama Canal, 7 to 14 day Caribbean and Bermuda, 30 day Hawaii, Tahiti & Marquesas, 13-30 day South America, 14-17 holiday cruises. If you have a particular cruise you'd like to know if it's on the list, post it and I will tell you. Some dates go out into 2012.

I remember receiving that letter after our last March cruise. At the time we were not supposed to book an other cruise but we just did yesterday (may 31st) ! We used a FCC. I had forgotten about the letter, but after reading this post I wonder If I qualify for double OBC ... is the March 18th 2012 Westerdam on the list of qualifying cruises ?

It's the first time we use a FCC. Is there a place on Holland web site where one can see the OBC given by HAL ? We booked throught an online TA who also gave us OBC. I know the OBC given by the TA doesn't show on HAL website but I wonder about OBC from HAL....

It sure would be nice to double the OBC given by HAL !

Thank you !

We used a FCC. I had forgotten about the letter, but after reading this post I wonder If I qualify for double OBC ... is the March 18th 2012 Westerdam on the list of qualifying cruises?

We're booked on a different cruise that is also eligible and our TA didn't have a clue about this offer, even though the agency is a big producer for HAL. And HAL wasn't much help in sorting it out. Apparently, it's not a general offer but targeted to specific past pax who purchased FCD some time ago. We needed to produce the actual offer letter and then we got the double OBC.

I just purchased Future Cruise deposit on our cruise last week, it will be interesting to see if I receive one of these offers to book and double the SBC. But I will have a question for HAL if I book and get the Doubled SBC what happens if I need to move that sailing to another date would I still get he double Ship Board Credit?

I suspect the double OBC offer is a targeted rather than an across-the-board offer. In our case, we are holding a nearly 2-yr old Future Cruise Deposit ... with no HAL cruise currently booked.

I just purchased Future Cruise deposit on our cruise last week, it will be interesting to see if I receive one of these offers to book and double the SBC. But I will have a question for HAL if I book and get the Doubled SBC what happens if I need to move that sailing to another date would I still get he double Ship Board Credit?

If the offer you get is similar to the one we got, only certain cruises qualified and you had to book within a certain window of time (by May 31st). So if you wanted to change your first booking to different cruise on the list and do it within the small time window of the offer, I suppose you would still get the double SBC. I believe the letter was a PR motivational action to get the people to use very old FCC's. In my case, it was set to expire in 10/12. However, my gf just bought a FCC in 01/11 and when she learned we had booked a cruise, she called HAL to find out if they qualified for the double SBC and was told yes.