Carnival Shareholder Benefit

[Italy52]

2 minutes ago, Floopyzebra said:

@Italy52 Here is a link which I used this morning to register my husband for military OBC. Just follow the instructions, it's really easy. You will need his service records and proof of discharge even if he is retired.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/deals/military-appreciation-offer.html

Great!  Thanks so much.  I do have all his information so I will send it off today.

[Floopyzebra]

Just now, Italy52 said:

Great!  Thanks so much.  I do have all his information so I will send it off today.

@Italy52 You are very welcome and if you click on the following link, you will find the answer to your 2nd question which you asked the other poster previously about combining OBC.

https://www.cruisehive.com/princess-cruises-makes-a-policy-change-on-benefits/104399

[Italy52]

2 minutes ago, Floopyzebra said:

@Italy52 You are very welcome and if you click on the following link, you will find the answer to your 2nd question which you asked the other poster previously about combining OBC.

https://www.cruisehive.com/princess-cruises-makes-a-policy-change-on-benefits/104399

Thanks for the link.  I know about the Princess policy of not combining both OBC.  What I am questioning is does HAL allow both military and CCL to be combined for OBC.  I didn't see anything in the link referencing that (unless I missed it).

[Floopyzebra]

12 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

Thanks for the link.  I know about the Princess policy of not combining both OBC.  What I am questioning is does HAL allow both military and CCL to be combined for OBC.  I didn't see anything in the link referencing that (unless I missed it).

@Italy52 To be honest, I don't know the answer to that question. I'm trying to find out myself, but I'm sure I read somewhere today that even though Princess had stopped it HAL was still doing it. However, I cannot find where I read that, but I will keep looking and post back if I find the answer. Unfortunately for us, my husband is the Military Vet and we also put the shares in his name too. We can change the shares to my name, but it's a bit of a faff to do it.

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by Floopyzebra

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, Italy52 said:

Thanks for the link.  I know about the Princess policy of not combining both OBC.  What I am questioning is does HAL allow both military and CCL to be combined for OBC.  I didn't see anything in the link referencing that (unless I missed it).

Yes they do allow stacking.  I have CCL, sis has first responder.  I think first responder is only good once a year, CCL for every qualifying cruise 

[Floopyzebra]

@Italy52 I have just had a chat with a Holland America person on the HAL website. It appears that both Military & Shareholder Benefits will be combined, even if they are in the same person's name. My husband is the Military Vet and also a Shareholder, so he will get both. I have posted the conversation below.
 

Edited September 5, 2023 by Floopyzebra

[Italy52]

@Floopyzebra thank you so much for checking, very kind of you to do that.

[Floopyzebra]

13 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

@Floopyzebra thank you so much for checking, very kind of you to do that.

@Italy52 No worries, I needed to know myself, so if it helps others then that's great.

[Italy52]

@Floopyzebra.  Ok, so I just went to the link that you provided and entered the basic information as requested.  Then, I got an immediate message stating the following:  Success!  You've Been Verified."

No other information such as a DD214 was requested.  Will that come later?  Also, how does HAL know what reservation to apply the military credit to?  Do they just look up my husband's Mariner number and then just apply it to that?

[Floopyzebra]

12 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

@Floopyzebra.  Ok, so I just went to the link that you provided and entered the basic information as requested.  Then, I got an immediate message stating the following:  Success!  You've Been Verified."

No other information such as a DD214 was requested.  Will that come later?  Also, how does HAL know what reservation to apply the military credit to?  Do they just look up my husband's Mariner number and then just apply it to that?

@Italy52 That did not happen for me. I completed the basic information, IE: Mariner Number, Satus Branch of Service etc., then it said veryfying and had a 20 second countdown, after the 20 second countdown there was a message on the page which said "wait here on this page whilst it is veryfying." I waited and then the page refreshed and said documents required to prove service with an upload documents button. I uploaded the documents and sent them and then waited and then it said Success!  You've Been Verified." I then had an email saying

Congratulations!     We have verified your eligibility on this special offer you requested.   That was it. It did not give any more information, just left me wondering what to do next, that's one reason why I initiated the chat with HAL. We are in the UK and my husband's service was with UK Armed Forces, so if you are in either the U.S.A. or Canada perhaps it is different for you??? In answer to your question on how do they know what reservation to apply it to yes they go on the Mariner number as far as I can ascertain. It's not a very good system really as it kind of leaves you hanging.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Floopyzebra

[Italy52]

@Floopyzebra I had my husband check his email as his Mariner number was used for the benefit request and a different email was sent to him:

 

Congratulations!

We have verified your eligibility on this special offer you requested.   Same as yours.  However, there was no request for additional information.  Wonder if that is because he has already been verified with Princess and that info was in the system.  In any case, I think I will place a chat with HAL.  Thanks for all your help, I appreciate all your help.

[Floopyzebra]

9 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

@Floopyzebra I had my husband check his email as his Mariner number was used for the benefit request and a different email was sent to him:

 

Congratulations!

We have verified your eligibility on this special offer you requested.   Same as yours.  However, there was no request for additional information.  Wonder if that is because he has already been verified with Princess and that info was in the system.  In any case, I think I will place a chat with HAL.  Thanks for all your help, I appreciate all your help.

@Italy52 The person I chatted with told me that it would be applied within 48-72 hours of being verified. (See the the last line of my chat script.) We have a cruise booked for November 26th, but this is our very first cruise with HAL. So probably if you have cruised with them before that might be why your husband is already verifed. As I said, it's not a great system, it leaves people wondering what is going on.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Floopyzebra

[Italy52]

@Floopyzebra.  Just finished talking with a HAL representative and she informed me that it would take approximately 72 hours for processing.  She also told me that I have to have my travel agent call into HAL to have the credit applied to the booking.  I questioned her about our Carnival credit and she explained that HAL could apply that direct but that the military was a little different and I had to go through my travel agent to get that applied.  So, I will give it a little extra time and call my travel agent on Monday and have them chat with HAL.

[Banditswife]

So, if my husband was "verified" veteran last year for a cruise, do we have to send in the request for each cruise?  

We have the 100 shares too, but since most of our cruises are casino offers, I doubt they will honor the shareholder OBC, but worth a try.

[Mary229]

5 minutes ago, Banditswife said:

So, if my husband was "verified" veteran last year for a cruise, do we have to send in the request for each cruise?  

We have the 100 shares too, but since most of our cruises are casino offers, I doubt they will honor the shareholder OBC, but worth a try.

Always try.  We get tiny discounts on some cruise (5-20%) and they do give us the CCL OBC. For the $99 variety casino cruise they do not. It doesn’t stop me from asking.  The AARP OBC offer specifically says no casino, again, I try anyway.  It is just a “no”, no harm in that 

[Haljo1935]

@Banditswife @Floopyzebra @Italy52 my experience aligns w/ @Mary229 - Shareholder OBC not combinable w/certain lower fares, but I always submit and let them tell me no. They usually do, but occasionally they say yes.

DH Military OBC we have to call every time; if I have a TA, I have them do it, I call HAL if I booked direct. We submit once each year.  We did not submit any documentation when we submitted via SheerID - it approved him through their system based off his SS, DOB, branch and discharge date. My understanding is it only asks for additional documentation if they can't make a match. I sent DD214 to TA since I didn't know if he has access to see SheerID approvals.

Once you're comfortable you've satisfied the  48-72 hour waiting period (whatever that timeframe they told you), you can call HAL and have them send updated invoices for each booking. It won't break down the OBC by type, but it will show which name it was put under and how much they gave you. They'll send you an invoice for the ones you booked direct and they'll send it to your TA for any they have.

[Floopyzebra]

13 hours ago, Italy52 said:

@Floopyzebra.  Just finished talking with a HAL representative and she informed me that it would take approximately 72 hours for processing.  She also told me that I have to have my travel agent call into HAL to have the credit applied to the booking.  I questioned her about our Carnival credit and she explained that HAL could apply that direct but that the military was a little different and I had to go through my travel agent to get that applied.  So, I will give it a little extra time and call my travel agent on Monday and have them chat with HAL.

@Italy52  Thanks for the info, I will also call my TA about the Military OBC and wait until Monday. My account with HAL is seriously messed up anyways. We have a crusie booked, but my husbands Mariner number is incorrect, so have to get that fixed.

[Sea42]

I thought the Military OBC was only available for new bookings only. Is that not the case?

[Floopyzebra]

2 hours ago, Sea42 said:

I thought the Military OBC was only available for new bookings only. Is that not the case?

@Sea42  Well, you got me, I have no clue at all. It's the blind leading the blind here I'm afraid. Everyone is trying to find out what's what, so if you find anything concrete, it would be appreciated if you can psot it here as HAL don't make anything easy when it comes to Military OBC. 🙂

[richwmn]

41 minutes ago, Floopyzebra said:

@Sea42  Well, you got me, I have no clue at all. It's the blind leading the blind here I'm afraid. Everyone is trying to find out what's what, so if you find anything concrete, it would be appreciated if you can psot it here as HAL don't make anything easy when it comes to Military OBC. 🙂

As the benefit reads it applies only to bookings made after you have been approved. However, when they first announced the benefit they did allow it to be added to existing bookings. I don't know if that is still the case.

[Floopyzebra]

6 minutes ago, richwmn said:

As the benefit reads it applies only to bookings made after you have been approved. However, when they first announced the benefit they did allow it to be added to existing bookings. I don't know if that is still the case.

@richwmn Thanks for your post. You have said, "as the benefit reads it applies only to bookings made after you have been approved." I would really appreciate it please if you can tell me where to find that information. Many thanks 🙂

[Italy52]

Thanks everyone for all your responses to my questions, I appreciate it.  It looks like we will have to cancel this cruise as my husband suffered a medical incident this morning that will take some testing.  I would rather the doctors take their time to find out what is going on rather than rush things just so we can get the "all clear" for a cruise that is a few months away. 

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful time on their cruise.

[Floopyzebra]

10 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

Thanks everyone for all your responses to my questions, I appreciate it.  It looks like we will have to cancel this cruise as my husband suffered a medical incident this morning that will take some testing.  I would rather the doctors take their time to find out what is going on rather than rush things just so we can get the "all clear" for a cruise that is a few months away. 

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful time on their cruise.

@Italy52 Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about your husband. I hope he gets better soon. Love and hugs xx

[Italy52]

@Floopyzebra, thank you for your kind thoughts, I appreciate it.  Hope all your OBC credit issues work out in your favor.

[richwmn]

16 minutes ago, Floopyzebra said:

@richwmn Thanks for your post. You have said, "as the benefit reads it applies only to bookings made after you have been approved." I would really appreciate it please if you can tell me where to find that information. Many thanks 🙂

Choose from more than 500 itineraries and receive an Onboard Credit of US$100 per stateroom when you book a new cruise with Holland America Line.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/cruise-deals/community-appreciation-cruise-offers/military-appreciation-offer

 

or you can go to the Holland America home page, all the way to the bottom, click on Community Appreciation Offers, then click on Military