Onboard free cruise promotion made our day!

[robotpony]

On our August Alaska cruise we found a free cruise voucher in our stateroom mail slot. We were, of course, skeptical as HA posts a lot of smaller vouchers in the mail slot that don't amount to much (especially for Spa services, diamond shops, etc.). We read the terms and conditions and talked it over with the future cruise office, which we had booked an appointment with already. There was a large selection of cruises to choose from and we tentatively booked a 2023 Iberian coast cruise!

 

The offer covered an inside cabin, which was fine by us. We added the HIA drink package and paid the $100 refundable deposit. All-in, with taxes, HIA, and crew tips, the cruise will cost more than 50% less than our typical cruise. Had we forgone the drink package, It would have been well under $1000 for two people on an 11 day cruise. Boy did that make our day!

 

If anyone is curious, we were able to transfer the cruise to our local travel agent so that we could start planning flights and hotels in Copenhagen and Rome.

 

 

[daisy-mae]

Thanks for the heads up. We will be sure to take a careful inventory of all the vouchers we receive on our upcoming cruise before consigning them to the round file.

 

🙂

[CruiserBruce]

deleted

[oaktreerb]

Good for you!  I get really frustrated when the Casino crowd boasts about their free cruise offers!  It’s about time the rest of us were offered an incentive!  

[Florida_gal_50]

4 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

Good for you!  I get really frustrated when the Casino crowd boasts about their free cruise offers!  It’s about time the rest of us were offered an incentive!  

There actually was another thread a while ago with people  stating they were getting free cruises (not related to the casino).  Frankly I wish they would just give no free cruises out a lower the cost of cruise unilaterally.  For those that feel they are so low already 🙄 they can offer to pay a higher fare.  This wouldn’t put such a bee in my bonnet if they would stop things like charging for extra apps in the pinnacle then giving cruises away to other to finance operations.

[DaveOKC]

15 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

There actually was another thread a while ago with people  stating they were getting free cruises (not related to the casino).  Frankly I wish they would just give no free cruises out a lower the cost of cruise unilaterally.  For those that feel they are so low already 🙄 they can offer to pay a higher fare.  This wouldn’t put such a bee in my bonnet if they would stop things like charging for extra apps in the pinnacle then giving cruises away to other to finance operations.

Some of the cruises are now so inexpensive that they are almost free.  I just looked at one for early Dec and the net cost versus a "free" casino cruise was about the same (on the casino deal you cannot use most "perks").  I decided to book without the free cabin offer!

 

[Florida_gal_50]

29 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Some of the cruises are now so inexpensive that they are almost free.  I just looked at one for early Dec and the net cost versus a "free" casino cruise was about the same (on the casino deal you cannot use most "perks").  I decided to book without the free cabin offer!

 

Unfortunately I can’t find any deals like that.  My next cruise is $5000 plus for 2 weeks for a balcony, not a suite.  Like I said this is why I get a bee in my bonnet about the suggestion that cruise prices should be raised or making the pinnacle $200 a pop.  

[robotpony]

3 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

Good for you!  I get really frustrated when the Casino crowd boasts about their free cruise offers!  It’s about time the rest of us were offered an incentive!  

 

2 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Unfortunately I can’t find any deals like that.  My next cruise is $5000 plus for 2 weeks for a balcony, not a suite.

 

From the staff members I spoke with, this was a special promotion to drive sales post-pandemic, and not a normal incentive. There was a good amount of chaos in the booking offices and they mentioned that they weren't even aware until a few days before.

 

I couldn't get confirmation, talking to some travel agents on the cruise they suggested that specific guests were provided these to encourage them to continue cruising with HA, so I assume we were just super lucky. We likely would have booked something in that season, but something closer to home (Quebec to Boston maybe), rather than fly to Europe. We're happy for the incentive, and it definitely adds points in the HA column of travel.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Congrats!!

[jimmy2x]

We are in are in at $11,100 for 21 days on Rotterdam in February not including insurance. Cat VS stern deck 6. Booked last January. Pretty much incudes drinks (15/day) gratuities,  $625 onboard credit, 3 excursions, and WI-FI. May not be the best deal, but we are happy with it. 

[albingirl]

Well, I could be encouaged to continue to sail with HAL, too, with a free cruise.  Haha, I'll take that one to the bank.

[idiebabe]

Congrats! 😀

 

My Daughter and Family cruised with us for the first time on Eurodam for a 7 Night Alaska the end of May.  She just received two Offers.  One was a free Inside with great variety of Cruises for 2023 including Europe and the other was a free Oceanview for 2022 and some early 2023 Cruises.  She received her Offers via  email.

[funntheson]

My mother-in-law cruised with us a few years ago. I took care of all the planning, payments, etc. We had two staterooms. Since then, she has received multiple free cruise offers by email (My email, her name and #). I haven't received any. It has nothing to do with the casino, because we all played a few slots and nothing else. It has been frustrating. I have called and messaged HAL to find out why, but nobody can answer. 

[DaveOKC]

2 minutes ago, funntheson said:

My mother-in-law cruised with us a few years ago. I took care of all the planning, payments, etc. We had two staterooms. Since then, she has received multiple free cruise offers by email (My email, her name and #). I haven't received any. It has nothing to do with the casino, because we all played a few slots and nothing else. It has been frustrating. I have called and messaged HAL to find out why, but nobody can answer. 

Maybe she snuck into the casino when you were not looking!  Or played Bingo.

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by DaveOKC

[taba]

50 minutes ago, idiebabe said:

Congrats! 😀

 

My Daughter and Family cruised with us for the first time on Eurodam for a 7 Night Alaska the end of May.  She just received two Offers.  One was a free Inside with great variety of Cruises for 2023 including Europe and the other was a free Oceanview for 2022 and some early 2023 Cruises.  She received her Offers via  email.

I usually receive casino offers,  my better half normally doesn't receive any offers. Last week, she received the free inside stateroom offer for summer 2023, but I didn't. So we booked with her name on the resrvation first. We also upgraded, to a larger balcony stateroom. I am still receiving casino offer, but not this one. It was worth checking with her account.