Cancel and rebook same sailing?

[mtd716]

Being experienced cruisers but new to HAL, now that I am reading this forum I realize that I would have done a few things differently if only I had known:

 

- Didn't know about Club Orange, so we didn't book a lower category that would allow us to take advantage of within-category upgrade (not worth it to us to add CO onto our existing fare as we're already at max budget, but would very much like to "downgrade" to the lowest fare in category, then add CO to get the benefits for essentially net zero additional cost)

- Missed out on AARP credit, which was announced a week after we booked (and which I can't add to an existing booking)

- Inadvertently put the deposit on the wrong credit card that doesn't include any travel insurance benefits (rookie mistake - I knew better, but we haven't cruised since pre-Covid and I just wasn't thinking. Even if I use the preferred card for remaining balance, I don't think travel insurance benefits would apply if I didn't use the card for the full payment)

 

Between all of these things, I kind of want to cancel the entire booking and just start over with a new booking for the same sailing, while the Have It All Early Booking Bonus is also still in effect. Will HAL permit me to do this?

 

Edited August 16, 2023 by mtd716
typos

[Holly g]

Can you tell me what credit card includes travel insurance benefits? Thanks

[LAFFNVEGAS]

5 minutes ago, mtd716 said:

Being experienced cruisers but new to HAL, now that I am reading this forum I realize that I would have done a few things differently if only I had known:

 

- Didn't know about Club Orange, so we didn't book a lower category that would allow us to take advantage of within-category upgrade (not worth it to us to add CO onto our existing fare as we're already at max budget, but would very much like to "downgrade" to the lowest fare in category, then add CO to get the benefits for essentially net zero additional cost)

- Missed out on AARP credit, which was announced a week after we booked (and which I can't add to an existing booking)

- Inadvertently put the deposit on the wrong credit card that doesn't include any travel insurance benefits (rookie mistake - I knew better, but we haven't cruised since pre-Covid and I just wasn't thinking. Even if I use the preferred card for remaining balance, I don't think travel insurance benefits would apply if I didn't use the card for the full payment)

 

Between all of these things, I kind of want to cancel the entire booking and just start over with a new booking for the same sailing, while the Have It All Early Booking Bonus is also still in effect. Will HAL permit me to do this?

 

 It makes perfect sense for all the reason you listed as long as the pricing has not increased. Make sure you have already registered your AARP card before rebooking. Hopefully the department that handles the Club Orange does not see you were previously booked. Just saying they can get funny about this but you should be OK especially since you have several reason such as using a different credit card.

To answer Holly g's question there are several cards that provide Travel Insurance. I have one which is the Citi/Advantage Executive Card, that they just upped the fees but as of July 23, 2025 now covers Travel Insurance. The coverage is actually quite good but does have to be deposited with that card so none of my current booked cruises will qualify.

[Mary229]

Also check that club orange is actually available on your cruise.  They do limit it to a certain number of guests and it is not available on all cruises 

[cruisetravlr]

Some other perks that may be available to you are the Military, Healthcare, First Responder, Teacher or Educator OBC. To get the military OBC, you have to be verified prior to booking. I am not sure about the others. Thanks to the wonderful Cruise Critic audience, I found out about these.

[AFNavigator]

Since you referenced the AARP on board credit, another AARP cost savings is buying Holland America gift cards from AARP.  It's essentially a way to get up to 10% off your cruise booking.

 

Assuming AARP's deal hasn't changed, you can purchase up to 5 HAL gift cards per month from AARP at a 10% discount from face value.  The cards are offered in $100 and $500 face values.  You pay $90 and $450 per card, respectively.  These can be applied to not only your cruise booking but also can be applied towards buying onboard credit (or paying your onboard bill).

 

These AARP-sold cards are a better deal than the periodically-offered HAL bonus card deal.  When running their bonus card offer (maybe once a year), HAL gives you a 10% bonus card when you buy a gift card from HAL.  The catch is the bonus card is only valid for 1 year.  The AARP-sold HAL gift cards do not have an expiration date.

Edited August 16, 2023 by AFNavigator
added content

[Sea Hag]

I also booked our first HAL cruise without knowing about CO. When I found out about it, I called and the guy on the phone managed it all for me. He downgraded the cabin I had, added CO, and put us in the cabin I wanted. Same booking number. Your mileage may vary, since it very well might make a difference who you get on the phone.

[AFNavigator]

1 minute ago, Sea Hag said:

I also booked our first HAL cruise without knowing about CO. When I found out about it, I called and the guy on the phone managed it all for me. He downgraded the cabin I had, added CO, and put us in the cabin I wanted. Same booking number. Your mileage may vary, since it very well might make a difference who you get on the phone.

We did the same thing on our last booking.  It ended up saving us $60 for our preferred V-category cabin after deducting the Club Orange cost.  Basically got club Orange for free and saved $60.

[mtd716]

Thank you, everyone. I will give HAL a call tomorrow to see if Club Orange is even available for my sailing, and then make some decisions from there.

 

4 hours ago, Holly g said:

Can you tell me what credit card includes travel insurance benefits? Thanks

 

We have Chase Sapphire Reserve. There is a hefty annual fee, but for me that more than pays for itself with the travel benefits.

[YourWorldWithBill]

4 hours ago, Holly g said:

Can you tell me what credit card includes travel insurance benefits? Thanks

The American Express Platinum card also covers travel insurance, and I pay an additional $64 each cruise for a huge additional medical coverage. As @mtd716said about the Chase card, the insurance and other benefits thrown in pay for the cost of the card. 

[Holly g]

17 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

The American Express Platinum card also covers travel insurance, and I pay an additional $64 each cruise for a huge additional medical coverage. As @mtd716said about the Chase card, the insurance and other benefits thrown in pay for the cost of the card. 

Thank you

[Dancing Shoes]

Chase Freedom offers travel insurance.

[mtd716]

Hi everyone, I wanted to follow up with my outcome after following some of the advice shared here, in case it's helpful for others who may have similar questions in the future.

 

TL;DR version:

Every one of my questions resolved nicely to my satisfaction and I did NOT have to cancel and rebook after all.

 

Long version:

First, I did some research on the travel insurance benefits for my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. I found the benefits guide online and it turns out that every single one of the travel benefits states that the benefits apply as long as I charge "all or a portion" or "any portion" of the trip to my card. This seemed promising, but I also called Chase to verify. They confirmed that even though I didn't put the deposit on the card, we'll still be eligible for the travel insurance benefits if I put some or all of the remaining balance on the card. First problem solved! I've also downloaded and saved the benefits guide to my trip folder for documentation.

 

Next, I reached out to HAL via their website chat to inquire about adding AARP onboard credit.

The answer, as I expected, was no, since I verified AFTER making the booking.

 

I also asked whether I could downgrade my booking to category VH (yes, saving $220/person), and then add Club Orange and select within-category cabin upgrade (yes, at CO cost of $175/person). Kind of a no-brainer to pay less and end up with a better cabin AND CO benefits. However, before making a final decision, I wanted to discuss with my husband since you have to pay for CO upfront.

 

About an hour later I called HAL (rather than using online chat again) to initiate the downgrade and CO purchase. I am so glad I waited and did this over the phone, because two things happened to my benefit.

 

1. Downgrading to category VH ended up saving us $260/person (vs. the $220 quoted by the online chat person). So after downgrading (-$260/person) and then adding CO (+$175/person), we ended up $170 ahead in total.

 

2. I decided to ask again about the AARP onboard credit even though I knew the answer was no. To my surprise, he looked into it, and apparently in the process of mucking around in the booking to downgrade our cabin and then add CO/corresponding cabin upgrade, it had already triggered applying the AARP credit. Sure enough, on the updated confirmation I received via email, we now have a $100 OBC that wasn't there before. I'm still puzzled about why this happened since from everything I've read that should not be the case, but I will not look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

Moral of the story: Talking to a live person on the phone was worth the extra effort.

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by mtd716

[YourWorldWithBill]

2 hours ago, mtd716 said:

Moral of the story: Talking to a live person on the phone was worth the extra effort.

 

Great advice! In reading some questions here I often wonder why people don't call to ask; most of the time at HAL they make a real effort to get the correct answer. I guess the challenge is that sometimes things don't go as expected. Happens to me, but not too often, fortunately.

[Haljo1935]

14 hours ago, mtd716 said:

...2. I decided to ask again about the AARP onboard credit even though I knew the answer was no. To my surprise, he looked into it, and apparently in the process of mucking around in the booking to downgrade our cabin and then add CO/corresponding cabin upgrade, it had already triggered applying the AARP credit. Sure enough, on the updated confirmation I received via email, we now have a $100 OBC that wasn't there before. I'm still puzzled about why this happened since from everything I've read that should not be the case, but I will not look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

Congrats @mtd716 on getting what you wanted by adding CO!

Getting AARP on the rebook is not baffling - your membership was verified before you booked as the one w/CO is considered a new booking; they actually cancel the other one and create a new one when they downgrade you. Outcome would have been different if you were simply adding CO.

Job well done - safe travels,  enjoy your cruise!

[Babr]

16 hours ago, mtd716 said:

Hi everyone, I wanted to follow up with my outcome after following some of the advice shared here, in case it's helpful for others who may have similar questions in the future.

 

TL;DR version:

Every one of my questions resolved nicely to my satisfaction and I did NOT have to cancel and rebook after all.

 

Long version:

First, I did some research on the travel insurance benefits for my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. I found the benefits guide online and it turns out that every single one of the travel benefits states that the benefits apply as long as I charge "all or a portion" or "any portion" of the trip to my card. This seemed promising, but I also called Chase to verify. They confirmed that even though I didn't put the deposit on the card, we'll still be eligible for the travel insurance benefits if I put some or all of the remaining balance on the card. First problem solved! I've also downloaded and saved the benefits guide to my trip folder for documentation.

 

Next, I reached out to HAL via their website chat to inquire about adding AARP onboard credit.

The answer, as I expected, was no, since I verified AFTER making the booking.

 

I also asked whether I could downgrade my booking to category VH (yes, saving $220/person), and then add Club Orange and select within-category cabin upgrade (yes, at CO cost of $175/person). Kind of a no-brainer to pay less and end up with a better cabin AND CO benefits. However, before making a final decision, I wanted to discuss with my husband since you have to pay for CO upfront.

 

About an hour later I called HAL (rather than using online chat again) to initiate the downgrade and CO purchase. I am so glad I waited and did this over the phone, because two things happened to my benefit.

 

1. Downgrading to category VH ended up saving us $260/person (vs. the $220 quoted by the online chat person). So after downgrading (-$260/person) and then adding CO (+$175/person), we ended up $170 ahead in total.

 

2. I decided to ask again about the AARP onboard credit even though I knew the answer was no. To my surprise, he looked into it, and apparently in the process of mucking around in the booking to downgrade our cabin and then add CO/corresponding cabin upgrade, it had already triggered applying the AARP credit. Sure enough, on the updated confirmation I received via email, we now have a $100 OBC that wasn't there before. I'm still puzzled about why this happened since from everything I've read that should not be the case, but I will not look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

Moral of the story: Talking to a live person on the phone was worth the extra effort.

 

 

Now that you’ve downloaded the benefits guide, take the time to read it carefully. Be sure you understand the pre-existing conditions exclusion because it applies to non-traveling family members as well as you and your traveling companion. The look-back period is 60 days prior to initial deposit, so everyone needs to have a clear medical history during that time.

 

Also check your primary medical coverage to see how it works when you are out of country.

[mtd716]

5 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Congrats @mtd716 on getting what you wanted by adding CO!

Getting AARP on the rebook is not baffling - your membership was verified before you booked as the one w/CO is considered a new booking; they actually cancel the other one and create a new one when they downgrade you. Outcome would have been different if you were simply adding CO.

Job well done - safe travels,  enjoy your cruise!

 

So it sounds like it was the downgrade that triggered it, and that if I had only added CO without also downgrading at the same time, I would NOT have received the AARP OCB. That is good to know, thank you!

[Haljo1935]

6 hours ago, mtd716 said:

 

So it sounds like it was the downgrade that triggered it, and that if I had only added CO without also downgrading at the same time, I would NOT have received the AARP OCB. That is good to know, thank you!

That is absolutely correct! Mystery solved, congrats and enjoy the OBC!!