Pre-booked excursions: Did you get a Cruise Day Credit?

[Wayfairers]

I have gotten mixed answers from HAL and from cruisers on this question and hope to hear experiences from people who have done this. If I book excursions with HAL before boarding the ship, do that count toward my cruise day credit? (Not sure I am using the correct terminology, so correct me if I am wrong - I am talking about the cruise day you get credited for every $300 spent on board)

[POA1]

Yes, you do.

[sail7seas]

Any purchases you make prior to boarding are added to your Mariners cruise day credits. If you prepay for excursions, beverage card, alternative restaurant reservations,,,, all are credited same as though you made the purchase on board.

[Wayfairers]

Have you actually done this and received the credits?

[sail7seas]

Yes.

[jtl513]

Have you actually done this and received the credits?

Yes and yes.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Yes

We always pre-book excursions, specialty restaurants, alcohol and Beverage cards for our cruises.

And yes - for every $300 we spend on pre-booked items as well as what we spend on the ship -- we get a "day" credit.

[Wayfairers]

Thank you guys so much. I had someone from the Mariners group at HAL tell me you had to book excursions on board to get the day credit, but another HAL person told me the opposite. So good to hear from people I have talked to on CC that have actually pre booked and received credit. Thanks again.

 

I just booked my excursions.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad we were able to help you.

Also glad that you have pre-booked your excursions. Sometimes some of them sell out before the ship sails. Now you won't be disappointed.

[cruz chic]

Thank you guys so much. I had someone from the Mariners group at HAL tell me you had to book excursions on board to get the day credit, but another HAL person told me the opposite. So good to hear from people I have talked to on CC that have actually pre booked and received credit. Thanks again.

 

I just booked my excursions.

 

It's too bad that they give out so much incorrect information. I'd hate to see someone missed out on pre booking because of getting this incorrect information. Just to add you will not see these credits posted until after you finish your cruise.

Edited December 22, 2015 by cruz chic

[sail7seas]

Happy we were able to help.

Hope you have a great cruise. :)

[jtl513]

One caveat though: if you pre-pay for excursions for others on the same cruise, they get the spending credit because it's tied to the 'folio' for the cabin, not the credit card of the payer. At least that's the way it worked for me on two different ships four years apart. :)

Edited December 22, 2015 by jtl513

[Wayfairers]

I found a couple of discussions on here addressing that when I was searching to see if my question had been previously answered. That would be great for the ones getting paid for, but not quite fair for those doing the paying. Too bad they don't let the payer choose who gets the credits.

[sail7seas]

It follows the model the airlines established.

 

If a corporation sends an employee on a business trip, the company pays for the air tickets/hotel but the employee gets the FF miles.

 

[DaveOKC]

I found a couple of discussions on here addressing that when I was searching to see if my question had been previously answered. That would be great for the ones getting paid for, but not quite fair for those doing the paying. Too bad they don't let the payer choose who gets the credits.

 

Yes, that would be nice, but can you imagine all the extra paperwork and hassles involved? Remember, the Vista ships have 2000 passengers, many on weekly cruises. Trying to keep up with all of that is tough enough now for them (or so it seems), adding more to it would not be good.

[crystalspin]

This is new and intriguing to me. Is there a site online that you can check your "days"? and also what about the levels for stars?

 

Have cruised Hawaii, Alaska, South America, and 26-day TA/med on HAL. Somewhere in there they reset the clock so we are only 2*. But we have spent hundreds on ShoreEx and in-room bar setup... even without counting what we paid for our "guests" (both of our moms, on different cruises).

Edited December 23, 2015 by crystalspin

[Crew News]

This is new and intriguing to me. Is there a site online that you can check your "days"? and also what about the levels for stars?

 

Have cruised Hawaii, Alaska, South America, and 26-day TA/med on HAL. Somewhere in there they reset the clock so we are only 2*. But we have spent hundreds on ShoreEx and in-room bar setup... even without counting what we paid for our "guests" (both of our moms, on different cruises).

 

Go to the HAL website, login, and click on "My Mariner Status on the left of the screen.

[jtl513]

This is new and intriguing to me. Is there a site online that you can check your "days"? and also what about the levels for stars

 

Go to the HAL website, login, and click on "My Mariner Status on the left of the screen.

And if the list of cruises you see there is incorrect (something is missing) you can send the Mariner Society as much specific info as you have about the cruise and if they can verify it they will give you credit for it.

[TiogaCruiser]

This is new and intriguing to me. Is there a site online that you can check your "days"? and also what about the levels for stars?

 

Have cruised Hawaii, Alaska, South America, and 26-day TA/med on HAL. Somewhere in there they reset the clock so we are only 2*. But we have spent hundreds on ShoreEx and in-room bar setup... even without counting what we paid for our "guests" (both of our moms, on different cruises).

 

You should get credit for the actual days sailed. The credit for spending started with the program, so no retroactive credits were given for them. I think it started around 2009 ??? Can someone fill in the correct date please?

[ellieanne]

I find it depends. Sometimes I get the credit for pre-purchased excursions/extras; sometimes I do not.

 

On my last cruise I got cruise-spending credit "days" for the pre-purchased beverage card, but not the excursions or the mani/pedi. Other times I have gotten credit for all pre-purchased spending, and still others I have gotten credit for nothing.

 

I'm not sure how it's determined. I know that each time I paid for everything on my credit card, so it's not because it's linked to another account.

[crystalspin]

Hi, I went and looked, and I have "days" credit for our June 2009 sailing, but the spending and suite credit spaces show "N/A" (and not "0" as the suite spaces do for later sailings). No mention of the earlier cruise to Hawaii which at about 17 days would put us well into 3*s even without spending credits.

 

Oh well, not a big deal. I don't know what 3*s would do that 2*s don't! and I don't sail HAL for the loyalty program.

 

We did get half-as-many 'days' from on-board spending as days we sailed on the last two cruises! (I don't know if that is good or bad!)

[cruz chic]

I find it depends. Sometimes I get the credit for pre-purchased excursions/extras; sometimes I do not.

 

On my last cruise I got cruise-spending credit "days" for the pre-purchased beverage card, but not the excursions or the mani/pedi. Other times I have gotten credit for all pre-purchased spending, and still others I have gotten credit for nothing.

 

I'm not sure how it's determined. I know that each time I paid for everything on my credit card, so it's not because it's linked to another account.

You should be phoning Hal then. I've gotten credit for all my pre-purchased items.

[jtl513]

I think it started around 2009 ??? Can someone fill in the correct date please?

It was phased in from Sep 18 to Oct 18 2009. Ten ships started between 9/18 and 9/27, and the last four between Oct 10 and 18. At first they didn't give credit for land days on AK cruise-tours, but later they added those too. Also at first they did NOT give the 3* 25% or or 4* 50% discount for pre-booked things, only those booked actually on-board, but that changed quickly.

 

Hi, I went and looked, and I have "days" credit for our June 2009 sailing, but the spending and suite credit spaces show "N/A" (and not "0" as the suite spaces do for later sailings). No mention of the earlier cruise to Hawaii which at about 17 days would put us well into 3*s even without spending credits.

 

Oh well, not a big deal. I don't know what 3*s would do that 2*s don't! and I don't sail HAL for the loyalty program.

Your June 2009 cruise was about 4 months before the program started.

 

Email the Mariner's society with as much detail about your HI cruise as you can and they may be able to verify and give you credit for it. The biggest bennie of 3* is a 25% discount on specialty restaurants, wine packages, and mini-bar purchases.

 

Go HERE and see what each level gets.

Edited December 23, 2015 by jtl513

[jtl513]

The link I gave just above downloads a pdf file, and it may not work on older versions of the Internet Explorer browser. If all you get is the spinning circle for more than 5 seconds, try the Firefox or Chrome browsers.

Edited December 23, 2015 by jtl513

[jtl513]

You should be phoning Hal then. I've gotten credit for all my pre-purchased items.

On our last cruise I'm pretty sure that I didn't get credit for pre-booked Tamarind reservations, but that's a first for me.