Too Good to be True? OBC

[Ellen495]

51 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I'm curious about the source of the $2,000 OBC if you don't mind sharing. Did it come from the TA you mentioned above or from HAL or is it a combination from both sources? If any of it came from your TA, I wasn't aware a TA would be able to post OBC to your shipboard account until right before you boarded?

I don't mind at all. My suite came with 1600 OBC and my daughter's cabin came with 400. The OBC came from HAL when I booked.

[Ken the cruiser]

25 minutes ago, Ellen495 said:

I don't mind at all. My suite came with 1600 OBC and my daughter's cabin came with 400. The OBC came from HAL when I booked.

Wow! Good job!! Did you get it through some special HAL promotion? The best we could ever accrue from HAL was $250 OBC for shareholder benefits for a 14+ day cruise, $600 OBC for booking a future cruise onboard and maybe $400 OBC via some HAL promotion such as Explore 4 for booking a suite, for a total of $1250. Hopefully, you also receive some great discounts from your TA to go along with that OBC.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[Ellen495]

14 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Wow! Good job!! Did you get it through some special HAL promotion? The best we could ever accrue from HAL was $250 OBC for shareholder benefits for a 14+ day cruise, $600 OBC for booking a future cruise onboard and maybe $400 OBC via some HAL promotion such as Explore 4 for booking a suite, for a total of $1250. Hopefully, you also receive some great discounts from your TA to go along with that OBC.

Actually I booked it myself online. I guess it was a promotion through HAL since I booked it  a year in advance - no clue if it's a good deal or not........ I never cruised before so I didn't know differently,  but I wonder if I would have gotten a better deal through the agent. This agent actually asked to take over the cruise after I booked it and I stupidly agreed thinking he would be helpful with other things. As it turns out,  I booked my own air, my own helicopter and now I'm waiting for him to get the train tickets back after the Dyea Dave tour that I booked myself. At first he told me that there were no train tickets (it's true that on the train website they don't go on Tuesdays and Wednesdays). It took me one email to find out that you have to call them yourself. He said he'd do that, but he hasn't done so yet. 

[Ellen495]

So I went online and looked around and the cabin type we chose (Neptune alt) is best price through HAL that I can find. Plus I got the OBC and free gratuities. I guess I got a good deal. Regardless we will have fun. Darn TA is getting the big commission for doing nothing. 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, Ellen495 said:

So I went online and looked around and the cabin type we chose (Neptune alt) is best price through HAL that I can find. Plus I got the OBC and free gratuities. I guess I got a good deal. Regardless we will have fun. Darn TA is getting the big commission for doing nothing. 

Hey, it sounds like you folks got a great deal with all that OBC and free gratuities plus free laundry, breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill, access to the Neptune Lounge and priority everything since you booked a Neptune Suite! As far as picking a good TA, sometimes it takes a few mediocre ones before you find a good one. One suggestion for next time, make sure a travel agency gives you at least 8-10% back in perks before you transfer your next cruise to them.

[Ellen495]

13 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Hey, it sounds like you folks got a great deal with all that OBC and free gratuities plus free laundry, breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill, access to the Neptune Lounge and priority everything since you booked a Neptune Suite! As far as picking a good TA, sometimes it takes a few mediocre ones before you find a good one. One suggestion for next time, make sure a travel agency gives you at least 8-10% back in perks before you transfer your next cruise to them.

I'm curious what perks you might mean. He got nothing! He said he'd book our flights for us without charging us his usual 50 dollar fee but we ended up booking them ourselves. Can I transfer him back off? I'm just so annoyed that he's done nothing to help.

[*Miss G*]

Holy smokes.  A $50 fee!!!!  Contact Holland America and explain your situation.  At this point I would be worried that things could get worse.  There is a way to remove the booking from an untrustworthy source.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, Ellen495 said:

I'm curious what perks you might mean. He got nothing! He said he'd book our flights for us without charging us his usual 50 dollar fee but we ended up booking them ourselves. Can I transfer him back off? I'm just so annoyed that he's done nothing to help.

The TA we finally found that we like after a few missteps with other ones gives us the following perks:

 

HAL - 10% cruise fare discount

Oceania - 11% rebate check

Princess - 10% cruise fare discount

Celebrity - 10% nonrefundable OBC

Silversea - 10% rebate check

RCCL - 8% nonrefundable OBC

 

There are many CC threads on the subject of PCC versus TA, so you many want to check some of those out to find out ways to find a TA that fits your needs. Since we are not allowed on CC to pass along the name of our TA, I can't tell you ours. But, I can suggest if you go to the bottom of either Celebrity or Oceania's web page, you'll see a "Find a Travel Advisor" or you can check out some of the TAs that advertise here on CC. Just to let you know, the first TA we ever contacted in our local area about 8 years ago told us she charges $50 to book a cruise for us. Obviously, we said no thank you and continued our search.

 

As far reversing the booking back to HAL, I would definitely call the HAL 1-800 number to see what your options are. In any event enjoy your cruise as you're going to have a great time either way!!