Is HAL looking to disappoint Have it All Passengers

[shack]

7 hours ago, WriterOnDeck said:

This is a pet peeve for me. Apparently HAL's entire shorex programming limits a passenger on a collector voyage (B2B with a single booking number) to booking shorex and maybe dinners in advance. You can book for both segments before the cruise, but once you start the first segment, you are blocked from booking on the second until it starts. Even the shorex team cannot book you.

 

You would think a company would want to make it easier for you to spend money with it.

 

Last fall on the Westerdam I had waited to book my NZ shorex (second segment) until on board because I had a crazy amount of OBC. When I couldn't, I went only and booked private tours. Thus a loss of revenue for HAL.

 

I chatted with the shorex manager on my current cruise about this issue, because I have four B2Bs (2 booking #s) for this summer. He agreed it is frustrating for them as well. It just doesn't seem fair that people who booked only what is your second segment can by buying shorex but you cannot if you already are on the ship.

 

HAL should prioritize its IT work to fix this problem and enable it to make more money.

 

(steps off soapbox)

 

Well that just removed HAL B2B from MY bucket list.

[HappyInVan]

It must be obvious that no-one's home in HQ. Unfortunately, senior management continues to draw wages and bonus.

 

Back on topic, this thread has thrown a lot of light on HAL's current disregard for its customers. Some cruise have been heavily booked with HIA+$1 pax. Bound to be disappointment for some with regards to EXC and specialty dining.

 

HIA is something that I would avoid in the future.

[WriterOnDeck]

17 minutes ago, shack said:

 

Well that just removed HAL B2B from MY bucket list.

I wouldn't let it do that. Just book all your HAL shorex before you start the cruise and you will be fine!

[KroozNut]

20 minutes ago, HappyInVan said:

HIA is something that I would avoid in the future.

Please feel free to do that. Meantime, we'll continue to enjoy them whenever they are offered for one of our bookings. 🙂

[shack]

4 minutes ago, WriterOnDeck said:

I wouldn't let it do that. Just book all your HAL shorex before you start the cruise and you will be fine!

 

Did that this time. 

 

Not doing it again. 

 

Back to Viking Ocean for us.  Only taking this NE/CAN Zaandam for the itinerary and we enjoyed HAL in Alaska with friends pre-pandemic.  Probably more about the friends than the cruise.  The problem with HAL is CCL as I'm guessing it is with Cunard and Seabourn.

 

I'm having no more of it - even as a Mariner 2*.  Viking and Virgin are kicking all of their butts at price points that aren't much different when you consider up-charges for dining, thermal suite, bev packages, excursions, etc.

 

One man's opinion (26 cruises all over the world on a dozen lines.)

[Zanne208]

On 1/28/2023 at 6:19 AM, Ipeeinthepools said:

Apparently you and I are smarter than the average bear.  Many people didn’t book ahead and are now disappointed.  It’s the same message for anyone hoping to use OBC to book specialty restaurants, go straight to the booking desk as soon as you board.

We had already booked our dining,  paid for our excursions prior to purchasing the Have It All.  I called Holland before purchasing the HIA, they told me we just go to the desk once in board and they will credit our dinners and excursions.   Said they do it all the time.   Guess they say at corporate it's no problem because they aren't on the ship having to do it. 

[Haljo1935]

As recently as Oct and Dec, I have requested credit once onboard for something I prepaid prior to embarking and had ZERO issues. Simply let them give me OBC (it automatically posts as Refundable OBC) and at the end of the trip either have it refunded to CC or cash it out. This has worked for spa, excursions and dining. All requests need to be made with the appropriate desk (ie excursions at Excursion desk...) not at Guest Services. I did this on Nieuw. Amsterdam, Nieuw Statendam and Koningsdam, worked flawlessly.

Have also made Pinnacle reservations using HIA by simply calling rather than doing it online. They applied to HIA credit and it shows as "redeemed" in the booking. Did that last summer (2022) for Dec 2022 & Feb 2023 cruises without issue.

Agree passengers simply trying to use what they've paid for earned shouldn't have to jump though hoops or be disappointed, but sometimes we just have to find a way to make it all work. I'm not looking to make a vacation a stressful ordeal...

And agree that plans/schedules/things change and there needs to room to accommodate those changes so capacity control should certainly be in play. Especially as ships are once again at capacity.

[Haljo1935]

8 hours ago, WriterOnDeck said:

This is a pet peeve for me. Apparently HAL's entire shorex programming limits a passenger on a collector voyage (B2B with a single booking number) to booking shorex and maybe dinners in advance. You can book for both segments before the cruise, but once you start the first segment, you are blocked from booking on the second until it starts. Even the shorex team cannot book you.

 

You would think a company would want to make it easier for you to spend money with it.

 

Last fall on the Westerdam I had waited to book my NZ shorex (second segment) until on board because I had a crazy amount of OBC. When I couldn't, I went only and booked private tours. Thus a loss of revenue for HAL.

 

I chatted with the shorex manager on my current cruise about this issue, because I have four B2Bs (2 booking #s) for this summer. He agreed it is frustrating for them as well. It just doesn't seem fair that people who booked only what is your second segment can by buying shorex but you cannot if you already are on the ship.

 

HAL should prioritize its IT work to fix this problem and enable it to make more money.

 

(steps off soapbox)

Frustratingly, you can't book 2nd week excursions on the app but you can still do it online. With that said, I have 2 separate booking numbers for all my B2B even though they get linked. I booked 2nd week "stuff" during week 1 in Oct and Dec and plan on doing it again next week. Fingers crossed it still works. Again, extremely annoying but booking online does work. And even if you don't have an internet package, you can access HAL website from the app.

[Haljo1935]

On 1/29/2023 at 9:18 AM, Florida_gal_50 said:

Well there sure are a lot of threads saying people are getting cabins for free that don’t ever go to the casino.  If it was one or two I could see it. Surely there aren’t that many people that stretch the truth.

I know with 1000% certainty a person can receive many many free cabin offers from the CCL family (HAL included) without ever spending a penny in one of the casinos on any of their ships. I also know with same level of certainty the offers continue even after multiple offers have been accepted, bookings made and cruises completed still without parting with a penny in a casino.

So, while I agree that sometimes people may not give the full story, I agree with Florida_gal_50 that on this topic may people may not be stretching the truth.

I also believe we'll see these type of offers being made to these type of passengers reducing as cruise lines attempt to bring stability and profitability to their books. 

[Zanne208]

55 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

As recently as Oct and Dec, I have requested credit once onboard for something I prepaid prior to embarking and had ZERO issues. Simply let them give me OBC (it automatically posts as Refundable OBC) and at the end of the trip either have it refunded to CC or cash it out. This has worked for spa, excursions and dining. All requests need to be made with the appropriate desk (ie excursions at Excursion desk...) not at Guest Services. I did this on Nieuw. Amsterdam, Nieuw Statendam and Koningsdam, worked flawlessly.

Have also made Pinnacle reservations using HIA by simply calling rather than doing it online. They applied to HIA credit and it shows as "redeemed" in the booking. Did that last summer (2022) for Dec 2022 & Feb 2023 cruises without issue.

Agree passengers simply trying to use what they've paid for earned shouldn't have to jump though hoops or be disappointed, but sometimes we just have to find a way to make it all work. I'm not looking to make a vacation a stressful ordeal...

And agree that plans/schedules/things change and there needs to room to accommodate those changes so capacity control should certainly be in play. Especially as ships are once again at capacity.

@Haljo1935- thanks for saving us time in line at guest services, never crossed my mind to go to the excursion desk for that portion of it.   Your info is much appreciated 😁

[NMTraveller]

On 1/27/2023 at 7:01 PM, Ipeeinthepools said:

I’m currently on the Rotterdam and the hostess booking Specialty Restaurants is frustrated.  We are just finishing Day 3 on the Rotterdam and the hostess bookings all of the Specialty Restaurants is frustrated.  The Specialty Restaurants are nearly completely booked with people. Booking Have it All packages before they board and others that are cash paying customers.  The reality is that people show up to book a restaurant from the Have it all promotion or someone with a lot of OBC can’t book restaurants because there isn’t any room.  It seems like HAL has over promised the specialty dining under Have it All and is disappointing a lot of passengers that hope to book once onboard.

How do you like the ship and HAL?

[NMTraveller]

On 1/29/2023 at 6:08 AM, Florida_gal_50 said:

What you say about the casino freebies may be true for some.  I’ve seen many, many posts saying they spent very little money in the casino.  I’ve also seen numerous posts of people getting free cruises that have never spent a dime in there.

I get the offers and I have not spent a penny in the casino.

[Dutchman48]

6 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

To be honest, I think that is only fair. Why should someone on an earlier cruise be able to book stuff on a cruise that they are not on yet? Why should they have preference over people only taking a single one-week cruise? All cruisers should be treated the same until Day One arrives.

I would agree with you all people should be booked fairly, but we are not on a collector.

If I am blocked out of booking anything on the second leg once the cruise starts that and people booked on the second leg by itself can, how is that fair. 

As an example on a recent 28 day collector that was made up of 2 14 day back-to-back segments once my 28 day cruise started I could only book the first 14 days not anything on the second half. That gave those booked only on the second half a 14 day window to book online witch was taken away from me.

Being fair would allow both of us to be able to book anytime as long as there is availability, either online or via the app.

 

 

[Ipeeinthepools]

4 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

How do you like the ship and HAL?

I may never go back to Celebrity.  The Rotterdam is a beautiful new ship and all of the crew are very friendly.  I’ll probably try to stick with the new Pinnacle class ships.  However much of the crew seems very new and inexperienced.  I think Celebrity’s stage shows are much better but we very seldom go to shows after Covid.  The Music Walk is very nice and Celebrity doesn’t have anything like it.  The buffet is much nicer and is served by crew .  The NY deli and Dive in burgers are head shoulders better than the Mast Grill.  I do miss the Solarium.  I’ve only eaten in Club Orange and the specialty restaurants so the jury is still out on the MDR.   I find the food at dinner to be much better than what is currently offered on Celebrity.  
 

We ended up on this ship because of recommendations by some friends and the longer itineraries offered by HAL. We spend a lot of time on the balcony so the E-class ships are not a good fit for us.  However the passengers do seem to be much older and that does take some adjustment.  

[Ipeeinthepools]

8 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

To go back to the original complaint about booking the specialty restaurants, I have no memory of seeing the special dinners listed when I made my booking on the website. I just looked back at the daily programs for my recent cruise, and the hours for Pinnacle are listed every day, but there's no mention of a special dinner. Don't they show those in the daily program? Or is it possible that so many people had HIA on my cruise that they didn't do the special nights in Pinnacle?

It probably wasn’t advertised, the date of the special dinner was probably blocked out so you could not make reservations until very close to the cruise.  The Rotterdam still has not completed the menu for Valentine’s Day so it’s difficult to advertise.

[Damcruiser]

3 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

I may never go back to Celebrity.  The Rotterdam is a beautiful new ship and all of the crew are very friendly.  I’ll probably try to stick with the new Pinnacle class ships.

Nice to see your handle on this site.  We found our experience on the N Statendam similar to yours.  As  long time Celebrity cruisers, we have the same issues with their over the edge design.  Over the last six months we have enjoyed HAL's approach for over 10 weeks.  Life on board has issues on both lines but the irritants with Celebrity are worse.

We found the passenger mix on N Statendam more diverse and no older than X.

[Sea42]

13 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

To go back to the original complaint about booking the specialty restaurants, I have no memory of seeing the special dinners listed when I made my booking on the website. I just looked back at the daily programs for my recent cruise, and the hours for Pinnacle are listed every day, but there's no mention of a special dinner. Don't they show those in the daily program? Or is it possible that so many people had HIA on my cruise that they didn't do the special nights in Pinnacle?

The special dinners are not offered on every cruise. Ours is a 14 day cruise (not offered as 2, 7 day) and they were listed with the other dinning options

[WriterOnDeck]

14 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Frustratingly, you can't book 2nd week excursions on the app but you can still do it online. With that said, I have 2 separate booking numbers for all my B2B even though they get linked. I booked 2nd week "stuff" during week 1 in Oct and Dec and plan on doing it again next week. Fingers crossed it still works. Again, extremely annoying but booking online does work. And even if you don't have an internet package, you can access HAL website from the app.

You could do that because each segment had a different booking number. My travel agent checks the pricing, and I almost always get a good discount for booking a collectors (one booking number for 2 segments). It more than makes up getting CCL OBC and other 5* benefits that are by booking number, not segments. I understand that. It's just the shorex booking that frustrates me.

[Haljo1935]

6 hours ago, WriterOnDeck said:

You could do that because each segment had a different booking number. My travel agent checks the pricing, and I almost always get a good discount for booking a collectors (one booking number for 2 segments). It more than makes up getting CCL OBC and other 5* benefits that are by booking number, not segments. I understand that. It's just the shorex booking that frustrates me.

Can you advise on benefits of booking as Collectors vs B2B? I've never had a FCC suggest that when booking on board and would like to know if I should consider doing that - we do a few B2B each year and I certainly don't want to miss out.

[crystalspin]

2 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Can you advise on benefits of booking as Collectors vs B2B? I've never had a FCC suggest that when booking on board and would like to know if I should consider doing that - we do a few B2B each year and I certainly don't want to miss out.

Not all B2B cruises are "published" (eligible) as Collectors. For example my recent B2B -- new years including the Sea of Cortez, plus 7-day Mexican Riviera -- was not. However, people on the 7-day could book as one cruise if they continued on to Hawaii. Sometimes the savings with a Collectors is worth it (my PCC checked for me but no). When you have stockholder OBC, it can go either way -- we got $100 each for the 9-day and the 7-day, but a 16-day would have been $250. However, our two bookings were linked in the Navigator, and some people have gotten the combined Stock Holder benefit even with two booking numbers!

[westcoastcruiser]

We booked our HIA cruise as a 21 day segment, one booking number, while others booked a 10 day and/or 11 day.  When I tried to book a tour for the second leg while on board I was told I had  to wait until it began.  The tour showed only two remaining spots left so this was a concern.  Makes no sense.  

[Ipeeinthepools]

14 minutes ago, westcoastcruiser said:

We booked our HIA cruise as a 21 day segment, one booking number, while others booked a 10 day and/or 11 day.  When I tried to book a tour for the second leg while on board I was told I had  to wait until it began.  The tour showed only two remaining spots left so this was a concern.  Makes no sense.  

Seems like a built in way to guarantee customer dissatisfaction 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Ipeeinthepools

[AtleeH]

On 1/28/2023 at 2:50 PM, ger_77 said:

And just to throw a loop into this conversation, when booking online, go ahead and do so, but bring along a copy of the reservation with you.  We had booked the Canaletto for a specific evening to celebrate our friend's birthday, but when we got onboard, nothing appeared on the Navigator app.  We went to the Canaletto station and they knew nothing about the reservation.  I pulled out my trusty paper copy, showed them the confirmation and was able to get the pre-ordered date and time.  Sometimes you can trust technology, sometimes you can't.

 

Amen to having good old paper back for confirmation.  I've already printed out copies confirming our specialty dining, shore excursions, the entire finalized Booking Confirmation, and cruise insurance purchase.

 

I want to limit any issues on board.

[KroozNut]

1 hour ago, AtleeH said:

 

Amen to having good old paper back for confirmation.  I've already printed out copies confirming our specialty dining, shore excursions, the entire finalized Booking Confirmation, and cruise insurance purchase.

 

I want to limit any issues on board.

 

Personally, I would call that overkill and a waste of paper and printer ink. We have all the documents you listed electronically, and readily available on our phone. Have never had any issues at check-in, or onboard.

But of course, whatever makes you comfortable.. 😉

[3rdGenCunarder]

18 minutes ago, KroozNut said:

 

Personally, I would call that overkill and a waste of paper and printer ink. We have all the documents you listed electronically, and readily available on our phone. Have never had any issues at check-in, or onboard.

But of course, whatever makes you comfortable.. 😉

 

I'll sacrifice a bit of a tree to be sure I can get things done quickly. I had a problem with OBC on QM2 last fall. I had not remembered to take paper copies of that info. Looking at my phone wasn't enough. They asked, "Can you forward the email to us?" No I couldn't, because we had several sea days and the wifi was unreliable. And what if I hadn't bought the wifi package? It took multiple visits to the front desk because I didn't have a paper to wave under their noses.