Impressed by HAL

[Canadaclyde]

While on the 2023 world cruise, I had to quarantine for 6 days due to the gastro issue. Once I was released I asked the Front Desk if I would be receiving FCC for those days, similar to that given to people isolated due to Covid. My reasoning was that the Medical office told me the cause of the sickness was attributed to the fruits and vegetables being served onboard; and that Norovirus has been ruled out. This was told to me three days into my quarantine. I still had to quarantine until I was 24 hours symptom free; hence another 3 days in my cabin. This did not make sense to me because my illness wasn't transmissible, hence I thought I should be released. After checking with Head Office, I was told that I would not get anything. I decided not to make an issue of this while onboard because I just wanted to enjoy the cruise, and not fight a battle. When I completed the survey after the cruise ended, I mentioned that I felt I should receive FCC. I didn't get a response to my survey. However, the good news is that a week ago, I noticed that my HAL account had been credited with a nice amount of unexpected FCC. The bad part was that it had to be used by 31 May 2024. Having paid for our 2024 world cruise due on 1 June, I couldn't apply it to that, and I didn't want to book another cruise just to use up the FCC. I contacted my travel agent and asked her to speak with HAL to see if I could at least get unrefundable OBC or apply it to our flights. The other possibility was that it could be applied to a cruise we've booked for 2025. HAL did even better! HAL applied the FCC to our 2024 world cruise, and I will receive the refund on my credit card.

 

I am impressed that HAL did this. I could find nothing in writing that said HAL would give FCC to people quarantined due to issues other than Covid. Hence, they weren't obligated to give me FCC. However, they made good out of a bad situation, that went beyond the written guarantee. Thank you HAL!  And also thanks to my travel agent!  

 

[Banditswife]

Awesome on your FCC.  I often wonder how they handle covid, norovirus & other quarantines.  Maybe they could have applied it as OBC on your 2024 world cruise.  

[Alberta Quilter]

I'm surprised there was any doubt on HAL's part.  Several years ago, long before Covid, I got noro on a cruise.  I was only isolated for a day or two and received FCC for that time.  Like you, I had to be symptom free for 24 hours so I think my total time was about 36 hours only.

 

Glad you're able to apply it to the 2024 cruise and get a refund!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I am glad it worked out.

[mightycruisequeen]

So glad that HAL came through for you!

 

[Canadaclyde]

We were pretty happy about it too!. Since I had initially been told that I wouldn't receive any compensation, I figured that was that. It left a little bitterness that would crop up now and then. And then HAL surprised us by applying FCC to our already-paid for cruise. We are now even more excited about our 2024 cruise.

[terrydtx]

We had a similar situation but with Covid on our Oosterdam cruise last August. My wife came down with Covid 5 days before our cruise ended and she had to be in isolation for the 5 days and then Italy required her to isolate for 3 more days in Venice. When I asked onboard the Oosterdam about a credit for the missed days of the cruise and hotel costs on land, I got no answers that made any sense and were contradictory of each other. One guest service representative suggested we file a claim with our travel insurance. Since we had travel insurance through our TA's agency we filed with them for the missed 5 days and all of our expenses on land. The insurance paid us for both my wife's and my last 5 days of the cruise and both of our rooms in Venice plus meals. Since we were in a Signature suite the last 5 days of the cruise for both of us was a nice sum of money. On Jan 31st this year we got an email from HAL saying we were getting a FCC for the wife's missed 5 days and our hotle costs in Venice, but it had to be used by Jan 31, 2024. We totally unexpected to get this credit, but since we already had  cruises on Celebrity booked for this September and next January, we decided to book the 7 day Koingsdam California coastal cruise in November. The FCC was enough to pay for both of us in an Aft facing verandah cabin with HIA. We were so impressed with HAL over the totally unexpected FCC that we have since then booked a Volendam Canada/NE cruise in August 2024 in a Vista Suite. Also my Sister and BIL and my cousin and his wife have now booked this cruise with us, which would not have happened had HAL not been so generous with the FCC for us.

[Haljo1935]

THANK YOU @Canadaclyde for sharing your experience and posting about it for others to read. Frequently, cruisers are so quick to post about all the things they think HAL has done wrong, but far too little about when they get it right. 😎

[bennybear]

Nice when they go above and beyond.  You can’t buy the goodwill being treated fairly generates.  

[shippmates]

Terrytdx What did your travel insurance say when you informed that the cruise line finally reimbursed you for your expenses?  That happened to me and we had to return the money back to the travel insurance since keeping that money would be insurance fraud.  Maybe your insurance is different that what we had but the insurance should only have reimbursed us for the the cruise line did not.  Hope you enjoy all your cruises as they sound great.

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, shippmates said:

Terrytdx What did your travel insurance say when you informed that the cruise line finally reimbursed you for your expenses?  That happened to me, and we had to return the money back to the travel insurance since keeping that money would be insurance fraud.  Maybe your insurance is different that what we had but the insurance should only have reimbursed us for the cruise line did not.  Hope you enjoy all your cruises as they sound great.

We buy our travel insurance through our TA's company, and I asked her about this. Since we were not issued a cash refund and only an FCC that may or may not get used, we did not have to reimburse the insurance company. If we had not booked the Nov. HAL cruise this FCC would have expired in January unused because we had no other cruise, we could have booked. No telling how many FCC's issued by cruise lines every get redeemed. As I said we never expected to get the FCC nor did we ask for one, it was issued in January out of the blue by HAL. We were on the Oosterdam in August so the FCC was issued over 5 months after the cruise.