Excursion shipboard credit?

[CJcruzer]

on HAL anniversary sale, it mentions shipboard credit for shore excursions ( to be only used for onboard booking) - how does that really work? How do they differentiate the OBC from future cruise deposit OBC, or shareholder OBC ?

 

I thought I had read someone mention on CC that it might be able to be used as "regular" OBC once onboard. I have no idea how, or if, HAL will be distinguishing various types of OBC. In the rare instance I book ship excursions, I do so online from home. I never leave things to "chance" that a tour i really want may be filled - therefore i do not book onboard. I would like to use the "shore excursion OBC" towards other amenities - wine package, spa, internet, etc.

 

Anyone have any official explanation from HAL or know from experience if these monies can be applied elsewhere to onboard spending?

 

Carol

Edited May 21, 2015 by CJcruzer

[kazu]

on HAL anniversary sale, it mentions shipboard credit for shore excursions ( to be only used for onboard booking) - how does that really work? How do they differentiate the OBC from future cruise deposit OBC, or shareholder OBC ?

 

I thought I had read someone mention on CC that it might be able to be used as "regular" OBC once onboard. I have no idea how, or if, HAL will be distinguishing various types of OBC. In the rare instance I book ship excursions, I do so online from home. I never leave things to "chance" that a tour i really want may be filled - therefore i do not book onboard. I would like to use the "shore excursion OBC" towards other amenities - wine package, spa, internet, etc.

 

Anyone have any official explanation from HAL or know from experience if these monies can be applied elsewhere to onboard spending?

 

Carol

 

When this appeared for my cruise I called HAL and was told it could only be used for excursions booked on board. Now, call me a doubting Thomas if you want, but, having my doubts, I called my TA who I consider knowledgeable about this stuff.

 

She stated that it definitely could only be used for excursions booked on board and that if it was not it would be lost. Apparently they are keeping track and although some may slip through the cracks, most will not.

 

I agree, it makes no sense to risk waiting to book a shore excursion that you care about until you are onboard. Traditionally, we do not do a lot of HAL ships' tours, but the ones we do, we want and book well before we cruise. So, for us, with the limitations, the offer had little value.

[DaveOKC]

As normal, we (and a number of others on this board) have been told by our HAL Personal Cruise Consultant (PCC) that while HAL originally had intended for this OBC to be just for shore excursions, they finally figured out that monitoring this would be impossible, so we can use it for any shipboard expenses.

 

In my case, I will be using most of it for shore excursions, but using some for a wine package, etc. Its up to you to decide how to handle this as I do not think anyone can give you a definitive answer (unless you get it in writing from HAL).

 

DaveOKC

[obriendan]

We’ve booked a cruise with the $400 per person Shore Excursion credit. Here is a quote from our TA's invoice:

 

"Anniversary Sale Shore Excursion Credit Offer Details: Shore excursion credit for suites on cruises 11+ days in length is US$400 per person (US$800 per stateroom). Credit cannot be used to purchase or reserve shore excursions in advance (must be done onboard.). You must book at least one shore excursion. The remainder of the funds may be used toward any onboard purchase. Unused credits are non-transferable and non-refundable."

 

So you must reserve at least one shore excursion after you board but the remainder may be used as regular OBC.

 

Dan

[summer slope]

My TA checked, as well, and was told it would be lumped in with our other OBC. I had her ask since I had already reserved and paid for the excursions I wanted to take.

[CJcruzer]

We’ve booked a cruise with the $400 per person Shore Excursion credit. Here is a quote from our TA's invoice:

 

"Anniversary Sale Shore Excursion Credit Offer Details: Shore excursion credit for suites on cruises 11+ days in length is US$400 per person (US$800 per stateroom). Credit cannot be used to purchase or reserve shore excursions in advance (must be done onboard.). You must book at least one shore excursion. The remainder of the funds may be used toward any onboard purchase. Unused credits are non-transferable and non-refundable."

 

So you must reserve at least one shore excursion after you board but the remainder may be used as regular OBC.

 

Dan

 

perfect, thanks so much, that is the answer I was looking/hoping for! I am not booked in a suite, but the offer also applies for oceanview at $200 per person.

 

Carol

[3rdGenCunarder]

We’ve booked a cruise with the $400 per person Shore Excursion credit. Here is a quote from our TA's invoice:

 

"Anniversary Sale Shore Excursion Credit Offer Details: Shore excursion credit for suites on cruises 11+ days in length is US$400 per person (US$800 per stateroom). Credit cannot be used to purchase or reserve shore excursions in advance (must be done onboard.). You must book at least one shore excursion. The remainder of the funds may be used toward any onboard purchase. Unused credits are non-transferable and non-refundable."

 

So you must reserve at least one shore excursion after you board but the remainder may be used as regular OBC.

 

Dan

 

We have that credit, too. My TA said she didn't think they could keep it separate, so I wasn't sure what would happen. We're doing a New England cruise, all ports we've been to before, so normally we'd just wander around. This may make us try something farther afield, maybe Lunenburg.

 

When is your cruise? Please report back and tell us if the one-excursion thing turns out to be true.

Edited May 21, 2015 by 3rdGenCunarder

[Bailey & Sophie]

When this appeared for my cruise I called HAL and was told it could only be used for excursions booked on board. Now, call me a doubting Thomas if you want, but, having my doubts, I called my TA who I consider knowledgeable about this stuff.

 

She stated that it definitely could only be used for excursions booked on board and that if it was not it would be lost. Apparently they are keeping track and although some may slip through the cracks, most will not.

 

I agree, it makes no sense to risk waiting to book a shore excursion that you care about until you are onboard. Traditionally, we do not do a lot of HAL ships' tours, but the ones we do, we want and book well before we cruise. So, for us, with the limitations, the offer had little value.

We always book excursions before we go, just so I can get the ones I want. After boarding, can you cancel an excursion and then book using the credit? Would this work?

[3rdGenCunarder]

We always book excursions before we go, just so I can get the ones I want. After boarding, can you cancel an excursion and then book using the credit? Would this work?

 

It might, if you were outside the book/cancel deadline. But if it's full or nearly full, when you rebook, you'd be behind other people who had already booked onboard.

 

Since our cruise is all ports we've been to before, we'll take the risk of booking when we're onboard. There's no tour we're particularly worried about getting.

[summer slope]

It will be interesting to hear from the first cruise earning this credit. How was the OBC placed on their account, what they could actually use it for.

[Scrapnana]

I booked a cruise on Westerdam about three weeks ago. The future cruise consultant told me that I would get $400 credit for excursions but really I could use it for anything onboard. On all the paperwork I have received (on the ship and from my TA since I have been home) the amount shows as just "onboard credit" - nothing is said about excursions.

Edited May 21, 2015 by Scrapnana

[CJcruzer]

another question popped up-

 

I had been pricing 2 different cruises, both eligible for the anniversary sale promo/shore excursion shipboard credit,

 

on the first (which I have since eliminated) i could get the $200 pp OBC booking an obstructed outside / for the price of an inside.

 

On the itinerary i chose, it did not show up on pricing - my TA said he thought it was applicable on only cat. FF upwards....

 

he is going to check this out for me...but this makes no sense! Another HAL computer glitch!

 

By the way, the 16 day and 17 day canary. island cruise this coming December are priced identical.. AND when you put Canary island into the search function, it only shows the December holiday sailing and April 2016. the Canary Island early December cruise shows up under. mediterranean.

 

Again, makes no sense whatsoever!:confused:

 

Carol

[DaveOKC]

another question popped up-

 

I had been pricing 2 different cruises, both eligible for the anniversary sale promo/shore excursion shipboard credit,

 

on the first (which I have since eliminated) i could get the $200 pp OBC booking an obstructed outside / for the price of an inside.

 

On the itinerary i chose, it did not show up on pricing - my TA said he thought it was applicable on only cat. FF upwards....

 

he is going to check this out for me...but this makes no sense! Another HAL computer glitch!

 

By the way, the 16 day and 17 day canary. island cruise this coming December are priced identical.. AND when you put Canary island into the search function, it only shows the December holiday sailing and April 2016. the Canary Island early December cruise shows up under. mediterranean.

 

Again, makes no sense whatsoever!:confused:

 

Carol

 

I have experienced before where the promo was good on a cruise but only for certain categories (even though the ad said otherwise). I was told that they limit the number of cabins per sailing per category - do not know if I believe this or not.

[grayjay]

I have experienced before where the promo was good on a cruise but only for certain categories (even though the ad said otherwise). I was told that they limit the number of cabins per sailing per category - do not know if I believe this or not.

 

That's what happened to us! Even though the ad said "Anniversary Sale" etc. for Oceanviews and Balcony cabins we were told that the balcony category we had chosen (VC which is quite high actually) didn't count for the promo , just higher-priced cabin categories.