HAL Gift Cards

[RobinKY]

I get reward points for purchasing gift cards at my grocer.  I am going on HAL Eurodam next week to Alaska.  I went into my account yesterday to purchase some water and beer for the room and prepay gratuities. The total was $316 so I got a HAL gift card for $300.  The website would not allow me to use the gift card toward the gratuities ($238).  I will have $220 left on the gift card.  Can I apply that to my account while on board and apply it to gratuities and any other charges?  I believe I did that for Carnival a number of years ago.  It seems like they are limiting use of the gift card to force you to spend on discretionary items.

 

This is my first HAL cruise and I have not been impressed with their website, app and booking process.  Both times I called, the rep gave me wrong or outdated information.  

[richwmn]

You can go to Guest Services on the ship and apply the Gift Card to your OBC. That will allow it to be used for Gratuities and other purchases.

 

[RobinKY]

1 hour ago, richwmn said:

You can go to Guest Services on the ship and apply the Gift Card to your OBC. That will allow it to be used for Gratuities and other purchases.

 

Thanks, I just don't understand why you can use it for grats online.   I think some companies design their systems/apps intentionally to make using gift cards more difficult and they make money on gift card "breakage"

[TAW1963]

17 minutes ago, RobinKY said:

Thanks, I just don't understand why you can use it for grats online.   I think some companies design their systems/apps intentionally to make using gift cards more difficult and they make money on gift card "breakage"

There is another way to essentially do it online.  HAL allows you to buy on-board credit (OBC) online in various increments using gift cards.   I recently sailed on the Westerdam to Alaska.  I wanted to use gift cards to pay for part of the crew appreciation (gratuities), so I purchased an OBC of $100 with a gift card online prior to sailing.   Once onboard, it was ultimately used for the gratuities.

[RobinKY]

4 minutes ago, TAW1963 said:

There is another way to essentially do it online.  HAL allows you to buy on-board credit (OBC) online in various increments using gift cards.   Once onboard, it was ultimately used for the gratuities.

Thank you, I was just looking at the OBC and thought about using gift card for that.  I will probably just do that vs risk misplacing the gift card by the time I get on the ship.  

[dobiemom]

I used HAL gift cards last month to pay off my cruise. My TA did it, I gave her the numbers and PIN. I don’t think you can do this online. 

[Roz]

@dobiemom, I did the same thing last month. 😉

[TAW1963]

10 hours ago, dobiemom said:

I used HAL gift cards last month to pay off my cruise. My TA did it, I gave her the numbers and PIN. I don’t think you can do this online. 

Unless it changed in the last couple of months, I was able to pay off my recent cruise (two weeks ago) using HAL gift cards online.  You can use HAL to pay for the cruise fare online, you just cannot use HAL gift cards for crew appreciation nor the HAL cancelation protection plans.  I do not use a TA, but I would doubt that they would be able to apply the HAL gift cards to the crew appreciation or cancellation protection plans.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

That's a good deal I which My supermarket offered that ( Publix)

[richwmn]

Locally, the grocery store that sells Gift Card is Kroger. On most days you get two points for every dollar you spend on Gift Cards, but at least once a month you get four points. Thus, a $500 gift card gives you 2000 points, enough to save $1.00 per gallon twice (up to 35 gallons). I fill my car and gas cans at the same time to come very close to the 35 gallon limit.

 

Kroger Corp owns many stores that may offer the same deal.

 

The Kroger Co. operates grocery retail stores under the following banners: Supermarkets -- Kroger, Ralphs, Dillons, Smith's, King Soopers, Fry's, QFC, City Market, Owen's, Jay C, Pay Less, Baker's, Gerbes, Harris Teeter, Pick 'n Save, Metro Market, Mariano's. Multi-department stores -- Fred Meyer.

[rcrabb1513]

FYI - I bought the HAL gift cards through AARP and got a 10% discount, i.e. a $500 card was $450.  I needed 2 more cards to cover the HAL cruises booked for 2025 and the discount was reduced to 8%.

[shadow 123]

On 6/3/2024 at 10:35 AM, rcrabb1513 said:

FYI - I bought the HAL gift cards through AARP and got a 10% discount, i.e. a $500 card was $450.  I needed 2 more cards to cover the HAL cruises booked for 2025 and the discount was reduced to 8%.

I don't understand. You can get 5 $500 gift cards a month from AARP and get the 10% discount. 

Where you trying to order a sixth one?

[WannaSea]

17 minutes ago, shadow 123 said:

I don't understand. You can get 5 $500 gift cards a month from AARP and get the 10% discount. 

Where you trying to order a sixth one?

The AARP discount on HAL gift cards was recently changed from 10% to 8%.

[rcrabb1513]

2 hours ago, shadow 123 said:

I don't understand. You can get 5 $500 gift cards a month from AARP and get the 10% discount. 

Where you trying to order a sixth one?

We needed more GCs to cover multiple cruises in 2025.

[jlawrence01]

On 6/1/2024 at 5:50 AM, RobinKY said:

I get reward points for purchasing gift cards at my grocer.  I am going on HAL Eurodam next week to Alaska.  I went into my account yesterday to purchase some water and beer for the room and prepay gratuities. The total was $316 so I got a HAL gift card for $300.  The website would not allow me to use the gift card toward the gratuities ($238).  I will have $220 left on the gift card.  Can I apply that to my account while on board and apply it to gratuities and any other charges?  I believe I did that for Carnival a number of years ago.  It seems like they are limiting use of the gift card to force you to spend on discretionary items.

 

 

 

For HAL, I would recommend that you head to customer service (best late at night), hand the clerk your gift card(S) and have them apply it to your account.  At the end of the cruise, any leftover funds will be applied to your credit card.  And yes, it is good for gratuities.

 

I will give you one warning about Kroger gift cards.  Do NOT go to a Kroger affiliated store trying to buy thousands in gift cards on your credit card.  More likely than not, even if you have a large credit limit, they likely will be declined. (This even includes using  your Kroger credit cards.)   You are better off going to Kroger's gift card ONLINE and buying them there.  You will get your cards in 3-5 minutes so you can print them off.  Also, you still get the 2-4x gas points promotions if they are available.

 

We pay for all of our HAL, Carnival, and Princess cruises as well as Southwest and Delta flights using gift cards.  It is better to stagger the purchases throughout the year so you can use the gas points before they expire.

 

 

[BermudaBound2014]

7 hours ago, shadow 123 said:

I don't understand. You can get 5 $500 gift cards a month from AARP and get the 10% discount. 

 

Not any longer. You only get 8% now. 

[shadow 123]

1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Not any longer. You only get 8% now. 

I guess nothing should surprise me anymore.

[BermudaBound2014]

14 minutes ago, shadow 123 said:

I guess nothing should surprise me anymore.

 

It's a pretty recent change. Princess is also only 8% now. 

[Mary229]

10 hours ago, shadow 123 said:

I guess nothing should surprise me anymore.

If you need more gift cards open another member account.  As I recall I was offered a buy one get one when I bought my membership.  My spouse’s account cost nothing more 

[shadow 123]

55 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

If you need more gift cards open another member account.  As I recall I was offered a buy one get one when I bought my membership.  My spouse’s account cost nothing more 

My husband and I are both members. Does that mean I can use his name to order more gift cards in a month ? Sorry but I confused easy At the stage.

[Mary229]

12 minutes ago, shadow 123 said:

My husband and I are both members. Does that mean I can use his name to order more gift cards in a month ? Sorry but I confused easy At the stage.

Yes, each person gets 5 a month

[RobinKY]

13 hours ago, jlawrence01 said:

 

I will give you one warning about Kroger gift cards.  Do NOT go to a Kroger affiliated store trying to buy thousands in gift cards on your credit card.  More likely than not, even if you have a large credit limit, they likely will be declined. (This even includes using  your Kroger credit cards.)   You are better off going to Kroger's gift card ONLINE and buying them there.  You will get your cards in 3-5 minutes so you can print them off.  Also, you still get the 2-4x gas points promotions if they are available.

 

We pay for all of our HAL, Carnival, and Princess cruises as well as Southwest and Delta flights using gift cards.  It is better to stagger the purchases throughout the year so you can use the gas points before they expire.

 

 

My Kroger credit card did get declined the first time I tried to purchase multiple $500 gift cards.  The last few times large gift card purchases have gone through no problem.

When booking this HAL cruise, I got $1,500 of gift cards but you're right, it's best to stagger them to maximize fuel points

[Will_Dieterich]

 

On 6/3/2024 at 7:32 PM, TAW1963 said:

Unless it changed in the last couple of months, I was able to pay off my recent cruise (two weeks ago) using HAL gift cards online.  You can use HAL to pay for the cruise fare online, you just cannot use HAL gift cards for crew appreciation nor the HAL cancelation protection plans.  I do not use a TA, but I would doubt that they would be able to apply the HAL gift cards to the crew appreciation or cancellation protection plans.

 

Not directly but there are two ways you can.

1) On the web site purchase OBC using the gift cards.  It will be used for gratuity once the non-refundable OBC is used up.

2) While on board take the gift card number and pin down to customer services and they convert it to refundable OBC again can be used for gratuity.

 

On the topic of gift card, I cannot purchase the AARP card even as an AARP member because of they don't offer them to people outside the USA, if you have an amazon prime membership and credit card purchase them from amazon(max of $500 per card, no limit on cards) and the 5% cash back gets applied.

Just remember if you are planning to use credit card protections to make sure you pay enough to the TA or cruise line in order to get the protections.

[TAW1963]

1 hour ago, Will_Dieterich said:

 

 

Not directly but there are two ways you can.

1) On the web site purchase OBC using the gift cards.  It will be used for gratuity once the non-refundable OBC is used up.

2) While on board take the gift card number and pin down to customer services and they convert it to refundable OBC again can be used for gratuity.

 

On the topic of gift card, I cannot purchase the AARP card even as an AARP member because of they don't offer them to people outside the USA, if you have an amazon prime membership and credit card purchase them from amazon(max of $500 per card, no limit on cards) and the 5% cash back gets applied.

Just remember if you are planning to use credit card protections to make sure you pay enough to the TA or cruise line in order to get the protections.

Perhaps you missed my first post, for I mentioned your suggestion (1)in my post above (post #4) about prepurchasing OBC online with HAL gift cards, for the OP was questioning the limitations, regarding HAL gift cards, on what can be purchased online at the HAL website.   I don't think that either (1) or (2) from your suggestions will work for purchasing cancellation protection plans with gift cards.

Edited June 7 by TAW1963

[iflyrc5]

On 6/5/2024 at 8:18 AM, shadow 123 said:

My husband and I are both members. Does that mean I can use his name to order more gift cards in a month ? Sorry but I confused easy At the stage.

Yes - my wife and I are both members and each of us can get 5 each month.