Question on FCC: Double OBC if book within 60 days of cruise?

[Sun&Sand52]

Just off the NA on Saturday.  Enjoyed our cruise so we purchased a FCC so we would have some OBC for the next cruise.  I remember hearing somewhere that if you book your next cruise within 60 days of your last one you get double onboard credit.  Is this true?  I have not received any information from HAL about this. Thanks in advance for any advice!

[richwmn]

23 minutes ago, margar said:

Just off the NA on Saturday.  Enjoyed our cruise so we purchased a FCC so we would have some OBC for the next cruise.  I remember hearing somewhere that if you book your next cruise within 60 days of your last one you get double onboard credit.  Is this true?  I have not received any information from HAL about this. Thanks in advance for any advice!

short answer is yes.

Long answer is that HAL sends some guests an email shortly after their cruise offering a "Welcome Back" bonus which is equal to the bonus for using the Future Cruise Deposit, in essence doubling the bonus. Your booking agent can apply the credit even if you don't get the email if you book within 60 days (or so) of leaving the ship.

Additional information - when the program first started the onboard Future Cruise Consultant wasn't able to apply the "Welcome Back" bonus and those booking on board only got the bonus for that. This made it to your advantage to book after departure. That was later changed.

 

Edited November 5, 2019 by richwmn

[DaveOKC]

Here is what I got and you can just use the promo ZPM and get it without the email (I have done it several times).

 

ENJOY YOUR MARINER SOCIETY^® SHIPBOARD CREDIT BONUS!^*

Book by June 25, 2019 , and receive Shipboard Credit (U.S. dollars) according to the table below:

LENGTH OF ITINERARY	INTERIOR STATEROOM	OCEAN-VIEW STATEROOM	VERANDAH STATEROOM	SUITE
3 – 10 days	$25	$25	$50	$50
11 – 21 days	$50	$50	$75	$100
22 – 50 days	$100	$100	$150	$150
51+ days	$150	$150	$200	$200

To take advantage of this Mariner benefit, call your Travel Professional or Holland America Line at 1-866-920-2332 (mention Promo code ZPM & ZPN).

Edited November 5, 2019 by DaveOKC

[Sun&Sand52]

Thanks!  That is great news!!  I will check my email again, as maybe I missed something from HAL.

[richwmn]

Just now, margar said:

Thanks!  That is great news!!  I will check my email again, as maybe I missed something from HAL.

You don't have to get the email, the codes ZPN & ZPM work as long as you are within the time frame. Also, the email is not immediate, it may take several days before they send it, if they even do.

[MAVIP]

Who has the same experience as I have today: HAL (The Netherlands) tells me our 11 days cruise is a 10 night cruise and for that reason the FCD (and Welcome back) of 3-10 days will be applied.  Days is the word on their promotion and forms we always received and used. 

 

[DaveOKC]

Strange.   The FCD does say days (not nights).  Where are you seeing "11 days" in the promotion and forms for a 10 night cruise?  Here in the US a cruise covering 10 nights is always advertised as 10 days.  Is the 11 days your calculation?

 

The way I look at it is that we board no earlier than 11:30 AM on the first day and have to be off the ship by 10 AM on the last day.  Total time on board for my 10 night cruise is thus less than 240 hours (10 days).  Another example, on a week long cruise on a route that HAL repeats all season long (like Alaska) runs from Saturday (for example) to Saturday.  Obviously that is 7 days not 8 as it is exactly one week.

 

 

 

 

[MAVIP]

13 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Strange.   The FCD does say days (not nights).  Where are you seeing "11 days" in the promotion and forms for a 10 night cruise?  Here in the US a cruise covering 10 nights is always advertised as 10 days.  Is the 11 days your calculation?

 

On the HAL forms passengers use on board for the payment of a FCD 3-10 days, 11-21 days, 22-50 days etc are mentioned. On websites of a lot of different travel agencies over here , the cruise we booked are advertised as: 11 days, with no exception.  At least in our country I always notice that the day of departure and the day of arrival are calculated both in the total number of days of a holiday.   I never had this "issue" before as our former HAL cruises always were f.e. 12 days, 14 days and often within the "22 to 50 days" .  And HAL advertises our cruise as "10 nights" and wishes to apply the OBC of $ 25 plus the $ 25 welcome back bonus per person.   Of course I agree with your "hours on board" calculation. 

 

 

 

 

 

[DaveOKC]

3 minutes ago, MAVIP said:

 

 I figured as much - different countries different advertising approaches.  Quite confusing IMO.  It pains me to see companies basically using false advertising (I spent 40 years in retail and had to deal with misleading advertising from above).

 

[MAVIP]

22 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

 I figured as much - different countries different advertising approaches.  Quite confusing IMO.  It pains me to see companies basically using false advertising (I spent 40 years in retail and had to deal with misleading advertising from above).

 

Exactly. Thanks for your replies. I am waiting for the reply of HAL NL. 

[RuthC]

4 hours ago, MAVIP said:

Days is the word on their promotion and forms we always received and used. 

The day you board is your 'Day 1'. The day you disembark is the next group of passengers' 'Day 1'; it does not count in your calculation. 
So, using the example above, your 7-day cruise that starts on Saturday has day 7 on Friday. The next day, which I believe you are thinking of as 'day 8', is not day 8 for you; it is day 1 for someone else. 

[MAVIP]

10 minutes ago, RuthC said:

The day you board is your 'Day 1'. The day you disembark is the next group of passengers' 'Day 1'; it does not count in your calculation. 
So, using the example above, your 7-day cruise that starts on Saturday has day 7 on Friday. The next day, which I believe you are thinking of as 'day 8', is not day 8 for you; it is day 1 for someone else. 

Of course I agree with your kind of calculation too. But  I agree also fully with DaveOKC: "different countries different advertising approaches.  Quite confusing IMO.  It pains me to see companies basically using false advertising".  All TA over here advertise with 11 days for a 10 night cruise. And it is the same for package holidays etc etc.

[RuthC]

11 minutes ago, MAVIP said:

Of course I agree with your kind of calculation too. But  I agree also fully with DaveOKC: "different countries different advertising approaches.  Quite confusing IMO.  It pains me to see companies basically using false advertising".  All TA over here advertise with 11 days for a 10 night cruise. And it is the same for package holidays etc etc.

Then that is on the advertisers, not necessarily HAL. 

On a 7-day cruise, you can board in time for lunch---your first meal. On the last day, you get breakfast---your last meal. So, counting up, you have opportunity for 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, 7 dinners. That's still 7 days. 

[MAVIP]

Maybe, you never know,  someday de TA's change the way in which they advertise. 

[VMax1700]

@MAVIP

The FCC states 'Days' and HAL's own website states the length of each cruise in 'Days'.

On HAL's website a cruise of 11 Days duration will have 11 nights onboard! e.g. Eurodam Panama Canal Sunfarer 11 Day cruise. Embarks January 4th 2020 Disembarks January 15th 2020.  That is 11 nights onboard!

Check your cruise length of HAL's website and send it to HAL NL, or are you counting a 10 Day cruise as actually being 11 days because you are counting embarkation day and disembarking day?

 

 

[MAVIP]

16 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

@MAVIP, or are you counting a 10 Day cruise as actually being 11 days because you are counting embarkation day and disembarking day?

Yes, that is/was the "problem". On the website here it is a cruise of 10 nights and all TA websites I saw (before and after booking) say 11 days for the same cruise. It is usual over here for touroperators etc. to take day of departure and arrival into account.  I never had this little "problem" before as number of days of earlier cruises never were on the margin/brink of the HAL lists.

Anyway, thanks for your reaction.  And in their answer HAL noticed the difference with the travel agents publications and offered a nice solution.   Anyway,  even a remaining difference would not have influenced the holidaypresent we offered children and grandchildren.  And the TA's need to change their way of advertising.  

16 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

 

 

[VMax1700]

2 hours ago, MAVIP said:

offered a nice solution

👍

[VMax1700]

2 hours ago, MAVIP said:

the TA's need to change their way of advertising.

 

Another EU directive?  🤔😭

Yes, you have a valid point.  It is easy enough to view the different ways of counting days/night as being correct depending on your viewpoint.  

You are a very generous parent/grandparent.  

Hope all enjoy their cruise. 

 

[MAVIP]

11 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

 

Another EU directive?  🤔😭

Yes, you have a valid point.  It is easy enough to view the different ways of counting days/night as being correct depending on your viewpoint.  

You are a very generous parent/grandparent.  

Hope all enjoy their cruise. 

 

Not EU (LOL), dutch consumer organisation would be enough if they wish to pay attention to this aspect of advertising by touroperators and travelagents.  I have no idea how it is handled in other european countries. Do you? 

And I really hope they will enjoy the cruise as I will do my utmost to find attractive excursions for ages between 10 and 79 yrs 🙂 

[TAD2005]

If you check into a hotel at 3:00 pm on Friday and check out of that hotel at noon on Saturday, would you be comfortable with the hotel charging you for 2 days stay ??    And it doesn't matter if that hotel is in the US, Europe, or floating on the ocean.   The hotel and cruise industry  counts the number of nights.   Marketing may like to stretch the point by claiming the checkout day is an extra day, but they do that for people who divide the cruise price by the number of days.  By adding an extra day in the tally, it reduces the cost per day of the cruise, and makes it more attractive.