DaveOKC Posted September 6, 2020 #1 Share Posted September 6, 2020 About 2 months ago HAL announced the sale of 4 ships and cancellations of their upcoming cruises. I had one for late August, 2021. This cruise is still showing up in my account for some reason. Are others finding the same thing? The reason I want to see it eliminated is that I am awaiting transferring FCC from it to a new cruise, which they will not do until the August cruise is "officially" cancelled HAL says. Of course this seems stupid to me. I told my PCC that I will not book another cruise with HAL until this is resolved, as I am afraid that this would just confuse the FCC issue (HAL already messed it up it the first place by transferring it to the August cruise). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigi1977 Posted September 6, 2020 #2 Share Posted September 6, 2020 Our November 2020 Hawaii cruise is still showing up in our bookings even though it was cancelled by HAL. My PCC said it will until my FCC have been lifted and ‘rebuilt’. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamsno Posted September 6, 2020 #3 Share Posted September 6, 2020 My three cancelled cruises still appeared on my account and were deleted over many weeks and then months as each refund was processed. Just keep an eye on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semibeater Posted September 6, 2020 #4 Share Posted September 6, 2020 There are a lot of people in the same (sic) boat that were sailing on sold ships this fall. (Veendam) I used FCC to pay for them and they show as "other credits". I was-expecting to see the FCC applied to a cruise booked next summer at some point. Maybe after the date passes for sold ship cruises? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CineGraphic Posted September 6, 2020 #5 Share Posted September 6, 2020 On the Princess board I read that folks who were working with a PVP, (their version of a personal cruise consultant), were able to extend the deposit due dates for new bookings for 60 days until the FCCs from cancelled sailings were issued. In some cases, they were able to extend it for an additional 60 days when the FCCs still hadn't come through. Remember, if you insist on not booking until your FCCs are in order, you stand a good chance of losing that favorite cabin/location you prefer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Mary229 Posted September 6, 2020 #6 Share Posted September 6, 2020 No, no, no. Call them. I had my FCC immediately credited to a new cruise. I had my new cruise picked out and made the reservation the very day the other was cancelled. Yes, both show still but that is a website issue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavArch64 Posted September 6, 2020 #7 Share Posted September 6, 2020 We had bookings for both Amsterdam and Rotterdam (VI), with FCD's as well as additional partial payments. I was just told by an agent and her lead agent that all funds on these bookings are "frozen" until the reduced staff can "get to them", which could take a few months. We requested "release" of the funds on July 15, the date that the ships were sold. It is now 53 days later. We have a new booking on Rotterdam (VII), the T/A W/B, and would like to use one of the FCD's, and possibly the other "frozen" funds. The incredible answer from the lead agent was "NO, WE CAN'T DO THAT". I am stunned. This is pathetic. HAL (Gus) had better "fix this" .... no service company should be unable to use a guest's existing funds to execute a guest's reasonable request for future services within a reasonable time of such request. What do all of you think about this? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavArch64 Posted September 6, 2020 #8 Share Posted September 6, 2020 One more thing ... I offered to write to Gus if that would help. I was told by the lead agent that such a letter would be useless. All mail is scanned and put into an email queue by guest services, and would take a few weeks, at best, to get to anyone, least of all Gus. If this is the way a 4 star Mariner is treated, I give up. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveOKC Posted September 6, 2020 Author #9 Share Posted September 6, 2020 (edited) 10 minutes ago, NavArch64 said: We had bookings for both Amsterdam and Rotterdam (VI), with FCD's as well as additional partial payments. I was just told by an agent and her lead agent that all funds on these bookings are "frozen" until the reduced staff can "get to them", which could take a few months. We requested "release" of the funds on July 15, the date that the ships were sold. It is now 53 days later. We have a new booking on Rotterdam (VII), the T/A W/B, and would like to use one of the FCD's, and possibly the other "frozen" funds. The incredible answer from the lead agent was "NO, WE CAN'T DO THAT". I am stunned. This is pathetic. HAL (Gus) had better "fix this" .... no service company should be unable to use a guest's existing funds to execute a guest's reasonable request for future services within a reasonable time of such request. What do all of you think about this? Similar to my experience and I hate it! Fix the issue NOW so we can all know what the deal is. Number of Stars makes little difference I am afraid (5 here). Edited September 6, 2020 by DaveOKC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Gail & Marty sailing away Posted September 6, 2020 #10 Share Posted September 6, 2020 54 minutes ago, DaveOKC said: Similar to my experience and I hate it! Fix the issue NOW so we can all know what the deal is. Number of Stars makes little difference I am afraid (5 here). Us as well 12 we have 3 voyages cancelled this year, and 9 voyages cancelled from December 26 to May. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0bnxshs Posted September 6, 2020 #11 Share Posted September 6, 2020 I've not experienced any of these issues. HAL canceled our Westerdam cruise to Antarctica and SA in November 2020, my TA told them to provide FCCs which were posted within 2 days of cancellation and I used those FCCs to book the Rotterdam VII Baltic and TA cruises immediately without issue. The FCCs from that cruise have been applied to the new cruise but the canceled Westie cruise still shows up in "My Bookings" on the HAL site, which I simply ignore. Hope your issues clear up soon. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted September 6, 2020 #12 Share Posted September 6, 2020 My cruises were cancelled right away under “my bookings” once I cancelled. I wonder if the TA’s with access to the POLAR system make a difference? I have no idea, honestly. Everything has been refunded except my FCC. Now that I have cruise booked, it is being escalated at my TA’s request and she says it should be there in 10 days. Lots of time since our cruise isn’t until November next year 😉 But, I’d like to see it there just the same. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Mary229 Posted September 6, 2020 #13 Share Posted September 6, 2020 1 minute ago, kazu said: My cruises were cancelled right away under “my bookings” once I cancelled. I wonder if the TA’s with access to the POLAR system make a difference? I have no idea, honestly. Everything has been refunded except my FCC. Now that I have cruise booked, it is being escalated at my TA’s request and she says it should be there in 10 days. Lots of time since our cruise isn’t until November next year 😉 But, I’d like to see it there just the same. My agent told me the same thing. My reservation was fully accessible and my cabin reserved. It took about a week for the accounting to catch up with the booking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted September 6, 2020 #14 Share Posted September 6, 2020 Just now, Mary229 said: My agent told me the same thing. My reservation was fully accessible and my cabin reserved. It took about a week for the accounting to catch up with the booking. Good news. Thank you 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavArch64 Posted September 6, 2020 #15 Share Posted September 6, 2020 After reading some of the posts above, it seems that if you have a very good TA, they can "cut through" the HAL BS. If you deal directly with HAL as a knowledgeable, loyal, and experienced guest, you get treated poorly, as illogical as that may seem to us. I guess that the logic to HAL is to respond to and support the TA's ... the heck with the individual guests. OK ... so be it, I suppose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0bnxshs Posted September 6, 2020 #16 Share Posted September 6, 2020 (edited) 39 minutes ago, NavArch64 said: After reading some of the posts above, it seems that if you have a very good TA, they can "cut through" the HAL BS. If you deal directly with HAL as a knowledgeable, loyal, and experienced guest, you get treated poorly, as illogical as that may seem to us. I guess that the logic to HAL is to respond to and support the TA's ... the heck with the individual guests. OK ... so be it, I suppose. Actually, the TA who I had the canceled cruise booked with, only informed HAL that I wanted FCCs rather than a refund for the canceled cruise. It took 2 days for the FCCs to show in my account. I called HAL directly and booked the Baltic and TA cruise using those FCCs, which was done immediately with no lag in FCCs being applied. The only unfinished business is removing the canceled cruise from "My Bookings" in my account, which they can do at their leisure. I can't say I've ever had trouble with HAL agents or the work they do. I do wish everyone had a similar experience as mine. Edited September 6, 2020 by 0bnxshs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFO Peter Posted September 6, 2020 #17 Share Posted September 6, 2020 I just booked two cruises on the Rotterdam using HAL agent. I told her that I had two cancelled cruises and lots of FCC from March and still waiting for it to post. She said will put a note on my booking that I do not need to do deposit. I just did the transfer form to move it to my TA. So maybe if you start booking with HAL and have FCC pending you may not have to do deposit. Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavArch64 Posted September 6, 2020 #18 Share Posted September 6, 2020 A positive note ... that is correct. No additional deposit on my Rotterdam (VII) T/A W/B required. Just no movement of funds in "My Bookings" account. Maybe I am too impatient to get the funds side in order ... but most companies in any business in the U.S or the E.U. can do a bit better than HAL. 53 days seems like enough time to get it right. They are the ones who made this more complicated with FCD's, FCC's, OBC's and SHC's. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Mary229 Posted September 6, 2020 #19 Share Posted September 6, 2020 In defense of HAL agents first they are working remotely so they don’t necessarily get all of the latest updates and don’t have the luxury of group knowledge, you know, usually they can turn to someone in the office or flag their super for a quick answer to a difficult situation. Secondly I am sure they are simply shell shocked. I was speaking to one the other day and after the business at hand we chatted. I work online now, I used to be 50% online and we started talking about how people don’t see you as a person just a machine. Say what you want to HAL management but give those agents a break, here and on the phone. I am sure they occasionally read these fora so let’s be nice. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavArch64 Posted September 6, 2020 #20 Share Posted September 6, 2020 Oh, I forgot one more silly nuance ... "My Bookings" for the T/A W/B shows Ryndam as the ship, not Rotterdam (VII). That's funny. Why can't an IT guy/gal in the HQ city of Microsoft change the ship name as appropriate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0bnxshs Posted September 6, 2020 #21 Share Posted September 6, 2020 13 minutes ago, NavArch64 said: Oh, I forgot one more silly nuance ... "My Bookings" for the T/A W/B shows Ryndam as the ship, not Rotterdam (VII). That's funny. Why can't an IT guy/gal in the HQ city of Microsoft change the ship name as appropriate. Interestingly, "My Bookings" doesn't show a ship name for any of the 3 bookings I have there. Nor does the resulting pages when I click on "Manage Cruise" or "Manage Payments" show a ship name anyplace except for a small thumbnail picture that says "SHIP: ms Rotterdam" in small characters above the the number of days before departure. Are you on the October 10, 2021 TA cruise on Rotterdam? We have a nice roll call going for that cruise and the Baltic before it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavArch64 Posted September 6, 2020 #22 Share Posted September 6, 2020 Yes ... we are booked on the Oct 10 '21 MS Rotterdam (VII) T/A W/B. We will join the Roll Call when this is a GO. We have sailed on 4 S-class, 4 R-class, 4 Vista-class, 2 Signature-class and 2 Pinnacle-class so far. Always fun to experience the new ship in the fleet. We were on Koningsdam v3 to Istanbul ... most enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavArch64 Posted September 6, 2020 #23 Share Posted September 6, 2020 A note to Mary229 ... you are right. It is not the agent's fault ... they are doing the best they can under the circumstances. It is the overall management of this very difficult set of circumstances. I fault the accounting dept, the IT dept., the resolutions dept. and the guest services dept. And, of course, it all comes back to the brand CEO ... Gus is new, .... , but he is ultimately responsible for getting this fixed. What is most annoying, is that he is "protected" from any communication with us. the loyal HAL guests. I view this as a basic failure in Management 101 ... take care of your customers. HAL is failing in this ...read all of the threads ... the brand gets an F in customer service. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0bnxshs Posted September 6, 2020 #24 Share Posted September 6, 2020 25 minutes ago, NavArch64 said: Yes ... we are booked on the Oct 10 '21 MS Rotterdam (VII) T/A W/B. We will join the Roll Call when this is a GO. We have sailed on 4 S-class, 4 R-class, 4 Vista-class, 2 Signature-class and 2 Pinnacle-class so far. Always fun to experience the new ship in the fleet. We were on Koningsdam v3 to Istanbul ... most enjoyable. Great! We'll look for you over there at some point in time. We already have a few private tours set up, a possible Downton Abbey Tea and slot pull being organized. Maybe it won't go but the planning is filling in the time for now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfish Posted September 6, 2020 #25 Share Posted September 6, 2020 3 hours ago, kazu said: My cruises were cancelled right away under “my bookings” once I cancelled. I wonder if the TA’s with access to the POLAR system make a difference? I have no idea, honestly. Everything has been refunded except my FCC. Now that I have cruise booked, it is being escalated at my TA’s request and she says it should be there in 10 days. Lots of time since our cruise isn’t until November next year 😉 But, I’d like to see it there just the same. Do not hold your breath on getting it in 10 days. My PCC says she did that twice, the last time 47 days ago and still nothing. It has been 171 days waiting for the FCC from the cruise I cancelled in March. I tried doing the chat on the HAL web page to check on it, but got an impatient agent who told me to try being more patient and then left the chat rather abruptly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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