Great Response from Contact us @ HAL

[VMax1700]

We did not receive a copy of our final onboard account, when we disembarked in Civitavecchia recently.  Two B2B cruises, which had shown as one account onboard.

So, sent a request to HAL for a copy of the bill this evening at 7.04 pm Irish time.  Used the 'Contact Us' page on the website and the drop down menu for 'Onboard Bill Questions/Request a Copy'.  Well, 58 minutes later, at 8.02 pm Irish time, I received a copy of the bill.  Both parts of the cruise, too.

Impressive!

 

[taxmantoo]

10 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

We did not receive a copy of our final onboard account, when we disembarked in Civitavecchia recently.  Two B2B cruises, which had shown as one account onboard.

So, sent a request to HAL for a copy of the bill this evening at 7.04 pm Irish time.  Used the 'Contact Us' page on the website and the drop down menu for 'Onboard Bill Questions/Request a Copy'.  Well, 58 minutes later, at 8.02 pm Irish time, I received a copy of the bill.  Both parts of the cruise, too.

Impressive!

 

Very nice.  It would be equally nice if they were so quick in reimbursing us when they owe us money.  Sometimes takes days or weeks to get reimbursed for Mariner discounts when specialty dinners are pre-purchased at full price before a cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That is great they responded so quickly.

 

At least something is working in Seattle.

[avian777]

56 minutes ago, taxmantoo said:

...  Sometimes takes days or weeks to get reimbursed for Mariner discounts when specialty dinners are pre-purchased at full price before a cruise.

 

Just curious - Are you saying "days or weeks" after the cruise is over or "days or weeks" after the date you made the reservations?  We have never had similar experience in all our years of cruising on HAL - in fact, all of our Mariner discounts for specialty dinners purchased at full price before the cruise are credited to our onboard account before the cruise is over.  Is it possible that converting to Canadian $ causes delays?

[taxmantoo]

21 minutes ago, avian777 said:

 

Just curious - Are you saying "days or weeks" after the cruise is over or "days or weeks" after the date you made the reservations?  We have never had similar experience in all our years of cruising on HAL - in fact, all of our Mariner discounts for specialty dinners purchased at full price before the cruise are credited to our onboard account before the cruise is over.  Is it possible that converting to Canadian $ causes delays?

We pay everything onboard in USD, whether purchased before or during the cruise.  We never get (or expect too get) the credit before we board. We seem to have a problem obtaining the 5-star discount every time we pre-purchase specialty dinners.  We have had delays of a few days after the actual dinner onboard after several visits to Guest Services and several weeks after the cruise once back at home, if not resolved onboard.  We continue booking anyways in order to get the time slot we want but run against resistance once on the ship more often than not.

 

I have discussed this with a few Hotel Directors onboard and in correspondence with Seattle and they assure me every time that they are working on  a system that would factor in the Mariner discount at purchase time.  That has been going on for over 5 years 🙄  I am certain an entry-level computer programmer could fix the problem in a few days (i.e. the cost is "x", you are a 5-star Mariner, your discount is "y", the net cost to your credit card will be "z" ... a few lines of code and everybody would be happy).  

Edited April 26, 2019 by taxmantoo

[Copper10-8]

Good stuff Colin, thanks!

[avian777]

7 hours ago, taxmantoo said:

We pay everything onboard in USD, whether purchased before or during the cruise.  We never get (or expect too get) the credit before we board. We seem to have a problem obtaining the 5-star discount every time we pre-purchase specialty dinners.  We have had delays of a few days after the actual dinner onboard after several visits to Guest Services and several weeks after the cruise once back at home, if not resolved onboard.  We continue booking anyways in order to get the time slot we want but run against resistance once on the ship more often than not.

 

I have discussed this with a few Hotel Directors onboard and in correspondence with Seattle and they assure me every time that they are working on  a system that would factor in the Mariner discount at purchase time.  That has been going on for over 5 years 🙄  I am certain an entry-level computer programmer could fix the problem in a few days (i.e. the cost is "x", you are a 5-star Mariner, your discount is "y", the net cost to your credit card will be "z" ... a few lines of code and everybody would be happy).  

Thanks for your response.  And sorry that you have experienced delays in getting credit for your Mariner discount.  We must be the luckiest HAL cruisers of all, as we have NEVER experienced these or similar delays.  Hopefully HAL will resolve this matter t your satisfaction soon.

[VMax1700]

15 hours ago, taxmantoo said:

Very nice.  It would be equally nice if they were so quick in reimbursing us when they owe us money.  Sometimes takes days or weeks to get reimbursed for Mariner discounts when specialty dinners are pre-purchased at full price before a cruise.

 

It is disappointing when totally avoidable situations like this arise.  A couple of lines of code.......

On Koningsdam transatlantic voyage recently they introduced an 'Indonesian Rijsttafel' evening in Tamarind.  We queried the mariner discount and were told that it would apply.  At the end of the meal we were asked for our keycard to charge the fee ($30 p.p.) and we were surprised and delighted to see that the 'ticket' we received did indeed show the 'Loyalty' discount.

[taxmantoo]

9 hours ago, avian777 said:

Thanks for your response.  And sorry that you have experienced delays in getting credit for your Mariner discount.  We must be the luckiest HAL cruisers of all, as we have NEVER experienced these or similar delays.  Hopefully HAL will resolve this matter t your satisfaction soon.

We consider ourselves pretty lucky also as this is really the only issue we continually have with HAL.  Other than that, we are are happy customers and go with the flow 🙂

[MAVIP]

On 4/26/2019 at 9:27 PM, taxmantoo said:

Very nice.  It would be equally nice if they were so quick in reimbursing us when they owe us money.  Sometimes takes days or weeks to get reimbursed for Mariner discounts when specialty dinners are pre-purchased at full price before a cruise.

That is the reason that I decided do not pre-purchase wine packages and specialty dinners any more. I "hate" asking for it on board. I understand HAL works on it to deduct the Mariner % in the future when we pre-purchase.

[DaveOKC]

19 hours ago, MAVIP said:

That is the reason that I decided do not pre-purchase wine packages and specialty dinners any more. I "hate" asking for it on board. I understand HAL works on it to deduct the Mariner % in the future when we pre-purchase.

I agree - just purchase the specialty dinners and wine package (unless you REALLY want a specific day/time for the dinner).  As to the wine packages, purchasing onboard at your first dinner means that your wine steward gets some sort of extra credit for the sale and they seem to appreciate it when you wait to purchase. 

[MAVIP]

10 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

I agree - just purchase the specialty dinners and wine package (unless you REALLY want a specific day/time for the dinner).  As to the wine packages, purchasing onboard at your first dinner means that your wine steward gets some sort of extra credit for the sale and they seem to appreciate it when you wait to purchase. 

Thanks for the tip about the extra for the wine steward. Always a nice start. And never make the mistake to order specialty restaurants packages as the Mariner % will not be applied on those. 🙂 or 😞 .

[Tampa Girl]

On 4/26/2019 at 3:27 PM, taxmantoo said:

Very nice.  It would be equally nice if they were so quick in reimbursing us when they owe us money.  Sometimes takes days or weeks to get reimbursed for Mariner discounts when specialty dinners are pre-purchased at full price before a cruise.

 

We were told that ours would show up as a credit in our onboard account, and they did.  Did you check your bill carefully?

[taxmantoo]

1 minute ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

We were told that ours would show up as a credit in our onboard account, and they did.  Did you check your bill carefully?

Yes, checked bill and it eventually showed up.  What I have a problem with is having to stand in line and wait and then finally get to talk to someone at Guest Services and have to basically beg for something that is rightfully ours and should have been applied to the initial purchase.  And sometimes, we have had to do this 3-4- times before the credit is applied.

[T8NCruise]

On 4/27/2019 at 6:35 AM, taxmantoo said:

We consider ourselves pretty lucky also as this is really the only issue we continually have with HAL.  Other than that, we are are happy customers and go with the flow 🙂

 

Us too.  The only issue, but they lie - oh how they lie!  It's always "the night accountants will correct it" but you have to keep going back.  Who wants to spend their vacation continually having to sort the staff mistakes?

[CM1984]

On 4/26/2019 at 3:14 PM, VMax1700 said:

We did not receive a copy of our final onboard account, when we disembarked in Civitavecchia recently.  Two B2B cruises, which had shown as one account onboard.

So, sent a request to HAL for a copy of the bill this evening at 7.04 pm Irish time.  Used the 'Contact Us' page on the website and the drop down menu for 'Onboard Bill Questions/Request a Copy'.  Well, 58 minutes later, at 8.02 pm Irish time, I received a copy of the bill.  Both parts of the cruise, too.

Impressive!

 

 

That is wonderful!  I contacted them as well upon our return home, same request, needed a copy of our bill.

 

I emailed them on April 15, I received the usual email that they received my request, but that's it.  I'm thinking I should email them again since your response was so quick.

[VMax1700]

22 hours ago, CM1984 said:

 

That is wonderful!  I contacted them as well upon our return home, same request, needed a copy of our bill.

 

I emailed them on April 15, I received the usual email that they received my request, but that's it.  I'm thinking I should email them again since your response was so quick.

 

I think you should email them again - don't forget to mention the 'tracking number' - two weeks without any contact is a bit much!

[CM1984]

21 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

 

I think you should email them again - don't forget to mention the 'tracking number' - two weeks without any contact is a bit much!

 

Thanks VMax1700 - I did send my original email again yesterday and they sent my Final Statement this morning with an apology.  I guess it just got set aside.  Thanks for your Thread, too bad the subjects get skewed in to other conversations.  It's kinda hard to keep up with what was originally posted!