Unused shore excursion credit

[NH Cruise Lover]

I was on the phone with HAL and was told that unused shore excursion credits could be converted to onboard credit. Has anyone done this?

[Mary229]

That is news and welcome news.  This must be recent.  I always ended up using the end of cruise transfer to use up my credits 

[Haljo1935]

Vist Shore Ex desk onboard the ship.

[Pickalily, Wilts]

 

Interesting.  Does this refer to the per person 'allowance' under the HIA offer?  Or.......?

Last time (in May) we were told that it was a case of 'use it or lose it'.

[kazu]

10 minutes ago, Pickalily, Wilts said:

 

Interesting.  Does this refer to the per person 'allowance' under the HIA offer?  Or.......?

Last time (in May) we were told that it was a case of 'use it or lose it'.

 

I believe the OP is referencing the shore excursion credit with HIA.

 

It was my understanding it was “use it or lose it” too.  It would be great if that has changed.

[julia]

1 hour ago, NH Cruise Lover said:

I was on the phone with HAL and was told that unused shore excursion credits could be converted to onboard credit. Has anyone done this?

Hahahahahahaaaaaaa! 🤣

 

Oh, sorry. Just because they SAID IT, doesn't mean it's TRUE.  Please report back here if this actually happens, as it's never been the case.

[oakridger]

In November I didn't use it and I lost it.  It would be fantastic if they changed the rules to convert to OBC!!!

 

Anyone onboard any ships currently who can confirm??  I asked @gregma60 who is onboard Volendam in Alaska is now if they could check for us.  I'll let you know if they post the answer.

 

~Nancy

Edited August 27, 2023 by oakridger

[Ipeeinthepools]

Now that I think about it, when I had a HIA-purchased shore excursion canceled, it showed up as non-refundable OBC on my statement.  I purchased other shore excursions, so I never tested the system.  It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

 

It will be interesting to hear the final answer on this one because the most screwed-up area on-board a HAL ship is getting refunds from things I cancel on-board.  They only get processed correctly to my account about half the time.  The other half the time require trips to guest services to get the credit for the refund.

[colin v]

OP never mentioned HIA.

 

As much as this groups loves to state how wrong the telephone customer service agents are when they provide wrong info about anything on a daily basis, it amazes me how quickly we forget and then twist this into something that is now possibly true when there was no mention of HIA and the info came from notoriously wrong telephone agents.

 

Do you actually believe they will refund HIA shore excursion credits that are unused? How about if you don’t drink any drinks on 1 or more days?  Unused HIA specialty dining?

All that said, I would LOVE to be wrong. 
 

 

 

 

 

[Ipeeinthepools]

2 minutes ago, colin v said:

OP never mentioned HIA.

 

As much as this groups loves to state how wrong the telephone customer service agents are when they provide wrong info about anything on a daily basis, it amazes me how quickly we forget and then twist this into something that is now possibly true when there was no mention of HIA and the info came from notoriously wrong telephone agents.

 

Do you actually believe they will refund HIA shore excursion credits that are unused? How about if you don’t drink any drinks on 1 or more days?  Unused HIA specialty dining?

All that said, I would LOVE to be wrong. 
 

 

 

 

 

 The OP used the term "shore excursion credits".   I'm not sure where "shore excursion credits" come from unless it's from the HIA.  There may be some other ways but HIA is now the primary source for "shore excursion credits."

 

Unlike the drinks in the HIA, the shore excursion credits have a specific dollar value.  When I cancelled shore excursions purchased with shore excursion credit it showed up in y statement as non-refundable OBC.  I'm not sure if I could have used it for anything else.

 

Just out of curiosity have you ever cancelled a shore excursion purchased with HIA credit?

 

 

[Sea42]

I had HAL cancel a shore excursion I was booked on with a HIA credit and it was available to use again but it was not on my OB account as a credit.

 

[colin v]

1 minute ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

Just out of curiosity have you ever cancelled a shore excursion purchased with HIA credit?

I’ve had them cancelled for me and they go on as non refundable OBC.

 

You can cancel a pre-purchased shore excursion and receive that value back as refundable. I’ve done that too. In fact I’ve had one cancelled that was half HIA credit, half cash. It went back as 2 line items one refundable and one non refundable. 

 

You skipped over specialty dining. Those have a dollar value.  Would those be expected to be refunded? 
 

 

[Ipeeinthepools]

26 minutes ago, colin v said:

I’ve had them cancelled for me and they go on as non refundable OBC.

 

You can cancel a pre-purchased shore excursion and receive that value back as refundable. I’ve done that too. In fact I’ve had one cancelled that was half HIA credit, half cash. It went back as 2 line items one refundable and one non refundable. 

 

You skipped over specialty dining. Those have a dollar value.  Would those be expected to be refunded? 
 

 

 

Actually dining credits are a little different, they specify a meal in a specific specialty dining room.  If the price changes you still get a free meal.  A refund of a HIA meal never goes to non-refundable OBC.

 

I actually don't expect to get any of it back in OBC that can be used for other items.  I'm not sure if there was another tag attached to those specific funds so they could be used for anything else..  I didn't try to test the system, I just purchased another excursion.  It would be interesting to know the official answer.

[NH Cruise Lover]

I was talking about  unused HIA shore excursion credits. The telephone agent said to go to guest services and they would give me onboard credit for the unused HIA shore excursion credits.

I too found this hard to believe.

 I’m going to call Holland again on Monday and see what answer I get this time.

[Ipeeinthepools]

3 hours ago, colin v said:

OP never mentioned HIA. ....

 

 

All that said, I would LOVE to be wrong. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, you were wrong.  The OP was talking about shore excursion credits.

 

29 minutes ago, NH Cruise Lover said:

I was talking about  unused HIA shore excursion credits. The telephone agent said to go to guest services and they would give me onboard credit for the unused HIA shore excursion credits.

I too found this hard to believe.

 I’m going to call Holland again on Monday and see what answer I get this time.

 

[Mary229]

3 hours ago, Sea42 said:

I had HAL cancel a shore excursion I was booked on with a HIA credit and it was available to use again but it was not on my OB account as a credit.

 

This is my experience 

[oakridger]

This is what @gregma60 was told on the Volendam today.....

 

"So far I haven't been able to get a common answer.  The neptune lounge consierge said more than likely they would.  A lady at the excursion desk said no. 

 

-gregma "

 

I really appreciate that they tried to find out for us but unfortunately, as all too often happens the answers are not consistent.  Dang!  A lot of people would like to know the true policy!

 

~Nancy

 

 

[kazu]

The way I interpreted that was if the shore excursions desk said no, it could not be done.   

[Seasick Sailor]

Our situation is my husband needs an accessible shore excursion and there are not many available. We will be on Rotterdam 53 days from end of November. We do have excursion credits and even if we don't have it turned over to OBC, at least let the excursion credits from DH go to me so I can use them. Last year we were unable to do that. Maybe this year they may be more helpful..

[RD64]

The Excursion credits are processed by the shore excursion department. I had an issue about the credit not being applied - front desk could do nothing about it. I had to go through the shore excursion desk.

 

on a secondary note, I had two credits for specialty dining - I used one. The second one was not used, but showed up on my folio as having been processed. No $$$ was returned - nor expected - for the unused portion.

[Haljo1935]

1 minute ago, RD64 said:

The Excursion credits are processed by the shore excursion department. I had an issue about the credit not being applied - front desk could do nothing about it. I had to go through the shore excursion desk.

Yes, all things excursion related do have to go through Shore Ex desk.

[POA1]

The t&c indicate that all the components of the HIA are non-refundable. Otherwise people would be demanding credit for days they didn't use the internet or all the unconsumed drinks.

 

Heck, on HIA+ you can have unlimited non-alcoholic beverages. You could get an infinite amount back on those. 🤑