A Bit Peeved with Holland America.....

[Crew News]

7 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

Wow .... you explained that very nicely!  I had no idea that HAL did this.  

I so appreciate your quick response.  

 

For more information, go to the HAL website.  Unlike other cruise lines, the few extra dollars you spend on HAL excursions count not only as insurance that the ship will not leave without you but also build your Mariner Star status.

[johnmik1]

9 hours ago, Roz said:

I recently did back-to-back cruises on the Nieuw Amsterdam from April 28, 2019 through May 11, 2019.  Although my cruise days were posted correctly, I didn’t get any credit for onboard spending of $619.97.  I had to scan my Final Statement and convert email confirmations of pre-purchased tours into PDFs.  I don't see how they could have overlooked this.  I just emailed the documentation so we'll see what happens.

Roz

In our 5 HAL cruises,they made mistakes 3 times.Twice we were in suites and they totally missed the double credits and screwed up the onboard spending twice.They also added a charge post cruise for the internet package that we had clearly paid for while on the cruise.It's remarkable that HAL always made the mistakes in their favor.Just one of the many reasons that we no longer sail on HAL.

[jhannah]

My onboard spending from the coastal leg has posted okay. Hope yours comes soon.

[sailinglisa]

5 hours ago, Crew News said:

 

You earn one Mariner Day for each increment of $300 of spending (excludes casino) while on board.  This includes online HAL purchases before the cruise.  HAL is generous and rounds up to the next $300 increment.  Suites get double the normal credit days creditied (7 days in a suite earn 14 Mariner Days).  As you accumulate days, you can earn discounts on Specialty Restaurant dinners.  At the highest level of 5* Mariner (500 day credits), you receive free laundry and two free Pinnacle Grill dinners, among other benefits.

 

HAL excursions also count to earning Mariner Days while private excursions do not.

 

Hope this helps your understanding.

 Does this include spending in the on board shops and the spa?

[fatcat04]

6 minutes ago, sailinglisa said:

 Does this include spending in the on board shops and the spa?

Yes.

[sailinglisa]

Thanks!

[I like vacation]

5 hours ago, Crew News said:

 

You earn one Mariner Day for each increment of $300 of spending (excludes casino) while on board.  This includes online HAL purchases before the cruise.  HAL is generous and rounds up to the next $300 increment.  Suites get double the normal credit days creditied (7 days in a suite earn 14 Mariner Days).  As you accumulate days, you can earn discounts on Specialty Restaurant dinners.  At the highest level of 5* Mariner (500 day credits), you receive free laundry and two free Pinnacle Grill dinners, among other benefits.

 

HAL excursions also count to earning Mariner Days while private excursions do not.

 

Hope this helps your understanding.

 

You receive free laundry at the 4* Mariner level.  You have to wait until 5* to get the two free Pinnacle Grill DInners.

[0bnxshs]

21 hours ago, Taters said:

What is the Mariner Society phone number?  They did not give me my Suite bonus credits for my 16 night transatlantic on Zuiderdam in April/May.  I emailed them 3 weeks ago and haven't heard back from them.

 

Thanks!

As I look back at my emails, it took over 4 weeks to hear back from my email contact with the MS. 

 

Also notable to those mentioning suite bonus credits, they only will be added if you booked a suite up front and don't get credited if you upgrade on an offer.  I learned that lesson the hard way some ways back.

 

From the website....

 

Call the Mariner Society at 1‐800‐547‐9139 (outside of the U.S. call 206-626-7359
ext. 8353).

 

 

[Roz]

19 hours ago, jhannah said:

My onboard spending from the coastal leg has posted okay. Hope yours comes soon.

 

Jim,

 

Just checked, and it's still showing zero onboard spending credits.  Same thing happened to Frank on our cruise.  The fact that yours posted today is a good sign.  Say hello to Mrs. Hannah for me.

 

Roz

[Taters]

52 minutes ago, 0bnxshs said:

As I look back at my emails, it took over 4 weeks to hear back from my email contact with the MS. 

 

Also notable to those mentioning suite bonus credits, they only will be added if you booked a suite up front and don't get credited if you upgrade on an offer.  I learned that lesson the hard way some ways back.

 

From the website....

 

Call the Mariner Society at 1‐800‐547‐9139 (outside of the U.S. call 206-626-7359
ext. 8353).

 

 

Actually, I did upgrade from a verandah to a signature suite on my last cruise - same as the cruise before that.  I got my suite credits for the one before, and I expect to get them for this latest one, too.  I'd be interested to see HAL's policy on this.  The only thing I've read about it is that suites get an extra credit per sailing day.

 

Edited to say thank you for the number!

Edited May 29, 2019 by Taters

[0bnxshs]

16 hours ago, Taters said:

Actually, I did upgrade from a verandah to a signature suite on my last cruise - same as the cruise before that.  I got my suite credits for the one before, and I expect to get them for this latest one, too.  I'd be interested to see HAL's policy on this.  The only thing I've read about it is that suites get an extra credit per sailing day.

 

Edited to say thank you for the number!

 

You are welcome for the number, it's handy to have.

 

Perhaps you got away with something with the suite upgrade (more power to you! ).  FAQs for Mariner Society include this note:

 

• Suite Bonus Earn double Cruise Day credits when you pay a published fare for a spacious suite or penthouse on your next cruise. For example, a guest who pays published fare for suite accommodations for a 10-day cruise earns 20 Cruise Day credits.

[Taters]

5 hours ago, 0bnxshs said:

 

You are welcome for the number, it's handy to have.

 

Perhaps you got away with something with the suite upgrade (more power to you! ).  FAQs for Mariner Society include this note:

 

• Suite Bonus Earn double Cruise Day credits when you pay a published fare for a spacious suite or penthouse on your next cruise. For example, a guest who pays published fare for suite accommodations for a 10-day cruise earns 20 Cruise Day credits.

I did pay the published fare.  It just happened to be lower than the verandah cabin that I originally booked.  They also gave me a few other things, like a dinner at the Pinnacle and a future cruise credit.  I called HAL and asked for the switch once I saw that the price for the SS had dropped significantly.  They did not simply upgrade me at their convenience.

[0bnxshs]

17 hours ago, Taters said:

I did pay the published fare.  It just happened to be lower than the verandah cabin that I originally booked.  They also gave me a few other things, like a dinner at the Pinnacle and a future cruise credit.  I called HAL and asked for the switch once I saw that the price for the SS had dropped significantly.  They did not simply upgrade me at their convenience.

 

Then no question you earned the suite bonus days.  I was providing the information you'd requested regarding HAL's policy on suite bonus days.   We've done the same as you (ask and sometimes you shall receive!), been offered below published cost upsells and taken a few of those and also received complimentary upgrades on occasion too.  It's just good to know the policy on how suite credits are awarded.

[Roz]

Here is my non-update - just checked and I still haven't been credited with days for onboard spending.  Grrr....

 

Roz

[kentuckycruiser]

Does the room service charge count towards the $300? Ours was $64 a day this past week! Of course, it was also a nice surprise to get a $180 credit for excess port/taxes on the last day.

[*Miss G*]

24 minutes ago, kentuckycruiser said:

Does the room service charge count towards the $300? Ours was $64 a day this past week! Of course, it was also a nice surprise to get a $180 credit for excess port/taxes on the last day.

 

Yes.

[sail7seas]

On 5/28/2019 at 10:42 AM, Roz said:

I recently did back-to-back cruises on the Nieuw Amsterdam from April 28, 2019 through May 11, 2019.  Although my cruise days were posted correctly, I didn’t get any credit for onboard spending of $619.97.  I had to scan my Final Statement and convert email confirmations of pre-purchased tours into PDFs.  I don't see how they could have overlooked this.  I just emailed the documentation so we'll see what happens.

Roz

 

 

I cannot imagine why they could

not get t hose documents other than making you send them.   I would not know how to send them...  NOt 'OUR' JOB

 

Sorry that happened to  you   but thank  you for posting it here.  I have not checked to see if my recently completed  b-to-b's are posted to my  Mariners account yet.   I'll be sure to check tomorrow.

 

Please let ud know of those in Seattle office can get your account credited properly.

 

 

sail.noordam@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2019 by sail7seas

[DaveOKC]

4 hours ago, kentuckycruiser said:

Does the room service charge count towards the $300? Ours was $64 a day this past week! Of course, it was also a nice surprise to get a $180 credit for excess port/taxes on the last day.

How about if you have prepaid (by HAL) gratuities?  Do you still earn days for them?  On my next cruise it is about $425 for the two of us, so about 1 1/2  days if they do.

 

 

[I like vacation]

4 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

How about if you have prepaid (by HAL) gratuities?  Do you still earn days for them?  On my next cruise it is about $425 for the two of us, so about 1 1/2  days if they do.

 

 

Can't imagine you would earn points for something you didn't pay for.  However, if HAL would like to give me points for the included SBP on next years cruise that is valued close to $2100, I'll take the extra 7 Mariner points. 

[purduemom1]

We are HAL newbies so just learning the ropes. A few days ago I checked our accounts and discovered that we weren’t given any credits for our 7 night cruise and our onboard spending. I spoke with a Mariner Society rep who could see our account but said neither of our Mariner numbers were associated with our cruise! She researched it and called me back to say that our credits had posted to two entirely different Mariner numbers.  Couldn’t explain how this could happen but she deleted the second numbers and posted our credits to our original account numbers.  This took only a few hours to remedy but I still wonder how this could happen in the first place. We were assigned  Mariner numbers with our cruise docs so it really makes no sense to me.  

 

At this point I actually have very little faith in HAL. One in our party has a dairy allergy and even though HA was informed prior yo boarding and it was discussed with the head chef shortly after boarding, the dairy allergy became a gluten intolerance in HAL records! It took 5 days to get this remedied. Each day, we were promised that it had been taken care of and the next day we would discover nothing had changed. In the case of a food allergy, there is no room for mistakes like this.

[Fouremco]

11 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

How about if you have prepaid (by HAL) gratuities?  Do you still earn days for them?  On my next cruise it is about $425 for the two of us, so about 1 1/2  days if they do.

 

 

 

7 hours ago, I like vacation said:

Can't imagine you would earn points for something you didn't pay for.  However, if HAL would like to give me points for the included SBP on next years cruise that is valued close to $2100, I'll take the extra 7 Mariner points. 

Ah, but you do pay for it. Compare booking prices with and without the perks and you'll see that you pay for the gratuities, beverage packages or whatever, just not directly. Another issue to factor into your decision whether or not to book with the frequent promotional offers.

[Alberta Quilter]

12 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

How about if you have prepaid (by HAL) gratuities?  Do you still earn days for them?  On my next cruise it is about $425 for the two of us, so about 1 1/2  days if they do.

 

 

I believe you do, based on my experience.  On our Sep/18 cruise, we earned a significant amount of cruise day credits and we had prepaid gratuities.  On our onboard account, HAL shows the charge and then credits it.  I believe (but I know others have disagreed with me on this) that HAL bases their calculations for cruise day credits only on the debits to the account.  It's the only way that I can come up with how we received so many cruise day credits.

[I like vacation]

16 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

 

Ah, but you do pay for it. Compare booking prices with and without the perks and you'll see that you pay for the gratuities, beverage packages or whatever, just not directly. Another issue to factor into your decision whether or not to book with the frequent promotional offers.

This is not always true.  I had two cruises booked last year before the Cyber Sale (November) promo of free gratuities.  After my TA called HAL, I received the free gratuities for both cruises with no increase in fare.

[DaveOKC]

9 minutes ago, I like vacation said:

This is not always true.  I had two cruises booked last year before the Cyber Sale (November) promo of free gratuities.  After my TA called HAL, I received the free gratuities for both cruises with no increase in fare.

I have experienced this as well.  I think what happens is that HAL adjusts the fares at the same time to account for how full the sailing is.   Thus, you cannot exactly predict the impact on the fares - each cruise is different.  

[Fouremco]

6 hours ago, I like vacation said:

This is not always true.  I had two cruises booked last year before the Cyber Sale (November) promo of free gratuities.  After my TA called HAL, I received the free gratuities for both cruises with no increase in fare.

 

6 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

I have experienced this as well.  I think what happens is that HAL adjusts the fares at the same time to account for how full the sailing is.   Thus, you cannot exactly predict the impact on the fares - each cruise is different.  

You're both right, I should have said "Ah, but you frequently do pay for it." For my last two HAL bookings, both made in non-promo periods soon after they became available, thus enabling us to get our cabin choice, I considered refaring to take advantage of new promos. In both cases, however, the higher fares were more than the original fares plus the cost of the perks purchased separately. As Dave said, there are lots of variables and each cruise is different.