AARP Credit on 2025 Cruise (be sure to verify credit received)

[MomentsNotice]

After a follow up email I received this response today:

 

Thank you for your continued correspondence with Holland America Line with regards to the AARP on board credit for your upcoming  sailing. 

 

We apologize this issue still hasn't been resolved. the update we received is by the end of this week. Please check back with us Monday. We appreciate your patience while we work to resolve this issue and we sincerely regret any frustration this situation may have caused. Once this is fixed we can apply the onboard credit to your clients booking.

 

If you require additional assistance, please contact us at 800-426-0327 or visit us online at www.hollandamerica.com. We look forward to welcoming you onboard in the near future!

[nich3cats]

If you have an all inclusive fare can you still get an OBC for being an AARP member?

[remarcm]

1 hour ago, nich3cats said:

If you have an all inclusive fare can you still get an OBC for being an AARP member?

I was able to. As noted by others this is a mess. I made a reservation the first day the AARP offer came out. At that time the reply said to wait 2 business days before making the cruise reservation. I had my TA wait 2 days before making the reservation. The OBC never appeared. I cancelled that and I applied again. This time the reply said wait at least 3 days to make a cruise reservation. TA waited but OBC still didn't appear. She called Thursday and had to escalate to Resolution Dept. Today the OBC appeared. This is a HIA 2025 Alaska cruise.

 

[Hogladyrider]

I had to get a supervisor involved to get mine added to my bookings...took 2 phone calls but SUCCESS.  Seems like the situation has gotten worse ILO better.

 

My guess is this program won't last much longer.

[TAW1963]

I took advantage of the $1 deposits today and booked a fall 2025 transatlantic on the Nieuw Statendam.  I first booked an obstructed view veranda and then call ship inventory and added Club Orange to get the upgrade to an aft-facing veranda. When I first received an email with a booking confirmation, after I first booked the obstructed view cabin, low and behold my AARP OBC automatically showed up without me having to waste time calling to try and get it.  Perhaps all the stars lined up, but it worked seamlessly this time.   I sure hope they get things worked out so that it works this way for everyone and customers don't have to waste time calling and harassing them for it.

[tw67]

2 minutes ago, TAW1963 said:

I took advantage of the $1 deposits today and booked a fall 2025 transatlantic on the Nieuw Statendam.  I first booked an obstructed view veranda and then call ship inventory and added Club Orange to get the upgrade to an aft-facing veranda. When I first received an email with a booking confirmation, after I first booked the obstructed view cabin, low and behold my AARP OBC automatically showed up without me having to waste time calling to try and get it.  Perhaps all the stars lined up, but it worked seamlessly this time.   I sure hope they get things worked out so that it works this way for everyone and customers don't have to waste time calling and harassing them for it.

Are you doing the November 2025 transatlantic?  If so, I started a roll call for it already!  

[TAW1963]

7 minutes ago, tw67 said:

Are you doing the November 2025 transatlantic?  If so, I started a roll call for it already!  

We sure are.  Thanks for starting it and for letting me know.  I look forward to meeting you!

[glorialagos]

Just reporting back that finally my AARP credit has been applied.  It took over 3 weeks and I followed up with 3 phone calls and an email.  Surprisingly, I did a mock booking for 2025 and the AARP credit automatically came up.  I thought it would have to be renewed each year so was surprised that it showed up for a 2025 booking.

 

Hopefully they are getting the kinks out and it will be smoother from now on.

[Hogladyrider]

15 minutes ago, glorialagos said:

Just reporting back that finally my AARP credit has been applied.  It took over 3 weeks and I followed up with 3 phone calls and an email.  Surprisingly, I did a mock booking for 2025 and the AARP credit automatically came up.  I thought it would have to be renewed each year so was surprised that it showed up for a 2025 booking.

 

Hopefully they are getting the kinks out and it will be smoother from now on.

Congratulations it is amazing how we have become a society where we must always follow up to make sure we receive what we are due!

I believe I got ours approved for 2025 because our AARP is paid up thru 2028.

[Ken the cruiser]

On 9/9/2023 at 2:53 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks. We're going to give HAL a few weeks to get their process in sync before we do anything else.

We contacted our TA today and here’s what they said.

 

We have confirmed the addition of the benefits to your profile.

However only one benefit can be applied to a booking per person so one of you has AARP and the other Military for a total of $300 obc.

 

Yay!! Hopefully it will be automatic after this. 😁

[mcrcruiser]

I am not going ro read every messaage on this subject  .All I can tell people is that when this HAL VP came up with this promotion with AARP ,he was appealing to older people who have AARP cards & have the where with  all that can afford  HAL cruises . 

 Now if HAL "cheapens" or " ,makes it so hard " to get this dam credit it will ultimately back fire  .  Who really wants to beg this company  for some thing that they should honor .The way it was presented was show  us you are a AARP  member & go book your cruise with the  AAARP on board credit 

 

  Now ,the other day I phoned HAL got a very nice rep but asked to speak with her supervisor because I roo was getting this  dlack about you can;t get it now  LOL  ,so i simply said well I can then cancel 2 cruises ,wow the credit came through  .I truly hate to threaten cancellations but ,it really got under my skin . 

 All these  rules & regulations leave sour grapes   

 

 Wquestion for HAL --would you rather not gibe these credits you promise or would toy prefer we do not book the cruises with your cruise line ??

Edited September 16, 2023 by mcrcruiser

[mcrcruiser]

The HAL   crap makes me very angry , We understood why they had to raise prices but cetainly don't cheapen your product because that is a very very fast way to loose customer  base & or support 

Edited September 16, 2023 by mcrcruiser

[mcrcruiser]

14 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We contacted our TA today and here’s what they said.

 

We have confirmed the addition of the benefits to your profile.

However only one benefit can be applied to a booking per person so one of you has AARP and the other Military for a total of $300 obc.

 

Yay!! Hopefully it will be automatic after this. 😁

Unfortunately nothing is automatic with this cruise line  .Now that they are struggling with the carnival corp high debt ,they think saving several hundred dollars will get them there , We got news for Carnival corp , loose  your customer base & that will cost you more in the long run .  

 

We have sailed all over the world with many cruise lines . After covid this nick picking stuff same up . People don't like nick picking 

  

 

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by mcrcruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

5 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Unfortunately nothing is auromaticwith this cruise line  .Now that they are stuggling with the cArnival corp high debt ,they think saving several hunfred sollars will get them there , We got news for Carbival corp , ;oose  your customer base & vthat will cost you more in the long run .  

 

We habe saileall over the world with many cruise lines . After covid this nick picking stuff same up . People don't like nick picking 

To be honest, we're good. Each cruise line has their own rules of engagement associated with the various promotional packages they offer. The trick is to try to learn what they are and then have a good TA to work with to apply the rules effectively. But I have to admit, we were surprised by the AARP promotion, especially when you can also use the 10% discounted AARP gift cards to help pay for your cruise fare. HAL is the only cruise line I'm aware of that offers both of these AARP-related perks.

[mcrcruiser]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

To be honest, we're good. Each cruise line has their own rules of engagement associated with the various promotional packages they offer. The trick is to try to learn what they are and then have a good TA to work with to apply the rules effectively. But I have to admit, we were surprised by the AARP promotion, especially when you can also use the 10% discounted AARP gift cards to help pay for your cruise fare. HAL is the only cruise line I'm aware of that offers both of these AARP-related perks.

You can get the AARP discount  gift cards  for other cruise lines  ..not the  AARP promo ,that is a  HAL only  .The AATP  promotion was established by a HAL VP ro get more business booked . Well just think that you see this & think hey that is a good deal & book a cruise for 2025 & then they tell you no you can not get that $200 . My first reaction cancel & maybe cancel more .I personally do not like bait & switch deals   .It comes across that way with all the tiny print . IMO just plain bad business tactics .don't we all have enough of this stuff already happening 

[Ken the cruiser]

12 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

You can get the AARP discount  gift cards  for other cruise lines  ..not the  AARP promo ,that is a  HAL only  .The AATP  promotion was established by a HAL VP ro get more business booked . Well just think that you see this & think hey that is a good deal & book a cruise for 2025 & then they tell you no you can not get that $200 . My first reaction cancel & maybe cancel more .I personally do not like bait & switch deals   .It comes across that way with all the tiny print . IMO just plain bad business tactics .don't we all have enough of this stuff already happening 

If I might ask, how long has the AARP promotion been in place. From everything I’ve reading here on CC, it hasn’t been all that long, and it sounds like some IT tweaking has been in the works for the last few weeks to make this new promotion work more seamlessly when booking a new cruise.
 

But I have to say, we didn’t start looking at HAL cruises again because of this AARP promotion. It was actually a combination of the perks and some awesome itineraries. For example, aft-facing balcony cabins are quite fairly priced when compared to some of the other cruise lines, such as PCL, NCL, and X, we cruise with. Then when we also add the Mariner Society “first 90 days” early booking perk, the HIA early booking bonus perk, the Military Appreciation perk, and being able to apply the 10% AARP discounted gift cards to the cruise fare in addition to being able to book some awesome 3-5 week itineraries, it just made sense to give HAL another look. But I will also note, it also helped being 4* Mariners as we do enjoy that free laundry perk that comes along with that loyalty level! 😁

[mcrcruiser]

6 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I might ask, how long has the AARP promotion been in place. From everything I’ve reading here on CC, it hasn’t been all that long, and it sounds like some IT tweaking has been in the works for the last few weeks to make this new promotion work more seamlessly when booking a new cruise.
 

But I have to say, we didn’t start looking at HAL cruises again because of this AARP promotion. It was actually a combination of the perks and some awesome itineraries. For example, aft-facing balcony cabins are quite fairly priced when compared to some of the other cruise lines, such as PCL, NCL, and X, we cruise with. Then when we also add the Mariner Society “first 90 days” early booking perk, the HIA early booking bonus perk, the Military Appreciation perk, and being able to apply the 10% AARP discounted gift cards to the cruise fare in addition to being able to book some awesome 3-5 week itineraries, it just made sense to give HAL another look. But I will also note, it also helped being 4* Mariners as we do enjoy that free laundry perk that comes along with that loyalty level! 😁

We agree that   all that you noted .What  bothered   me was the way  HAL   applied   the AARP  bonus  after the fact of using the AARP promotion to attract  new business .Imo it twas not handled   properly  Too confusing on what cruises  you could get it applied .  All they needed to do is apply it to all new bookings  after the promo was introduced to those holding AARP current acct cards . These types of things happen endlessly with HAK when they have prnituins .They use big letters to attract people in their adds then you need to read all the fine small print  .THese are vacations & they make people do flips to get a cruise peoperly booked when there are promotions . One day we hope that HAL inderstand that not every  one can afford a Beptune suite with all the perks included 

 

 We have cruised the world with  Celebrity mostly ,then RCL ,PRincess & more recently HAL . We are close to 4 star  .one or 2 more cruises  normal lengths will get us there  /Elite Plys with X ,Doamonf Plus with RCL & can;t rember our level at Princess . When we first cruised we went on Carnival doe several cruises  .We cruise HAL  mainly because they sail cruises from San  Diego which is 28 miles door to door . My DW can no lomger fly as she has a inner ear problem which devekoped recently , Ig HAL offered a R/T to New Zwaland  from SD we book it in a heart beat , When  they has the Maasdam in the fleet  ,it saoled a R/T from SD to south America  .

We thought of foing the Panama Canal which we have done full transiuts ywice with  X  ,however ,it is hard t to get a transit bacj to SD  in a couple of weeks spread 

[Will_Dieterich]

My cruise is next month.  I had previous emailed them about this and they said back in September that there were computer issues they were working on link this.  Emailed yesterday and within a few hours got a reply that I had my AARP credit applied and sent me a full out with all the OBC and purchases I had already made.

So everything is working now.

[sunviking90]

Has anyone booked a cruise with an online TA and had the AARP OBC applied. I’m just wondering if this is something I should call and talk to an agent about or if it would be automatic on the booking? I’ve already attached my AARP on HAL and had it verified.

[tw67]

1 hour ago, sunviking90 said:

Has anyone booked a cruise with an online TA and had the AARP OBC applied. I’m just wondering if this is something I should call and talk to an agent about or if it would be automatic on the booking? I’ve already attached my AARP on HAL and had it verified.

Yes I booked a cruise with my TA and it was applied. I think my TA called them to make sure it was applied.