Have It All ( early booking bonus promotion) confusion

[RileyFox]

There is a large group of us going on a 7day cruise.  We all bought the early booking bonus for an additional $450.00 each.
1) We all thought this meant that we could use the fine dining option EVERY night, but now we think it means only ONE night.
2) We all thought this meant that all gratuities were covered but now we think we will need to tip at all meals.   
3) There is all so confusion about the drink package included in the "have it all package"
 

I know that Holland American has recently changed their "Have It All" package,  Could someone please clarify this new package. If this is all true we want to cancel the HAVE IT ALL package,

We have already put down a $700 deposit.  Can we cancel our Have It ALL package for a full $450 refund?   
Thanks
Riley Fox 

[CruiserBruce]

No, it's not specialty dining every night. It's one night. No, you don't need to tip every night. Only if you wish to tip extra. You probably  have the Elite Beverage Package, it should be clearly defined. 

 

HIA has NEVER been specialty restaurants every night. Tips are covered in some versions,  not covered in others.

 

I have heard the HIA is non refundable, but not an expert on that.

[oakridger]

@RileyFox I highly recommend you enlist a good travel agent or at the least a good HAL Personal Cruise Consultant (PCC).  Most, if not all, of your questions will be answered by one of them.  You will have a much better cruise experience if you understand what the process is.

 

Good luck!

 

~Nancy

[terrydtx]

We have the early booking HIA for our Volendam cruise next week. By "Fine Dining" I assume you mean specialty restaurants. HAL considers the Main Dining Room, included for all passengers to be fine dining. The specialty restaurant HIA is for one night on a 7 day cruise. The premium drinks HIA includes all alcohol and non alcohol drinks like specialty coffees up to $15 in cost including wines by the glass. Your mini bar, drinks from room service or drinks off the ship at a private island are not included Gratuities for drinks are included. For any drink over $15 you pay the difference plus 18% gratuity, a $16 drink would cost you $1.18 extra. The premium Wi-Fi is also included as is the daily crew appreciation charge. The only gratuities you would have would be for any specialty restaurant outside of the 1 included one and other non-included services like the spa or bottles of wine not included in HIA. Gratuities for the main dining room and your room attendant, and bar tenders are included in the daily charge as part of the early booking HIA.  You can always tip extra to your room attendant or waiters if they do an exceptional job for you. You also have a $100pp credit for shore excursions If you will use all of the HIA and add them up it is a good deal for some, specially if you have more than 2 or 3 drinks a day.

Edited August 15 by terrydtx

[cbr663]

Here's the link to the HIA Early Booking Bonus Promotion.  I understand that reading the fine print is not enjoyable, yet, as HAL does change the terms for HIA, reading the terms and conditions prior to booking can be helpful:

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/ca/cruise-deals/have-it-all-early-booking-bonus?ICID=INTHWEB202405028NKRKXT397

 

In a nutshell:

1.  Speciality dining for 7 day cruise is one night in select restaurants,

2.  You do not need to pay gratuities at meals,

3.  It includes the Elite Beverage Package.  

 

Details are in the link above in the terms and conditions.

[RileyFox]

Thank you TERRYDTX,
Based on this I do not think we will have crew appreciation charges, nor tips added our bill. 

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

Your mini bar, drinks from room service or drinks off the ship at a private island are not included Gratuities

 

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

The only gratuities you would have would be for any specialty restaurant outside of the 1 included one and other non-included services like the spa or bottles of wine not included

 

[pengu1n]

If you tell us which ship you're on, people could give more specific help on the dining.

 

Each ship will have a lido buffet, open much of the day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late snacks. No reservations available for that. Pick your food from a serving line, not much is self serve, but you carry your food, get your own drinks. Dress code is no swimming suits.

 

Some ships have a New York Pizza  with extended hours and I think most have a Dive-In (burgers, hotdogs) open mid-day. There's also room service.

 

The Main Dining Room is open for breakfast, sometimes for lunch (sometimes closed when in port), and dinner, times more limited than the buffet. You can get reservations for dinner, which may be a good idea for large group. You may have been assigned early or late seating or open dining. If you have early or late seating, there will be a specific time you need to go to the dining room. You order from a menu and waiters wait on you. Dress code is a little more formal, i.e. no holey jeans. You might want to read up on that on the website. This is included in your cruise fare but there are a few things on the menu with an upcharge, like lobster.

 

Specialty Dining are the restaurants that have an upcharge, 1 meal was included in the HIA. I think the gratuity was already charged to you as part of the HIA. You will need reservations which you can make once you are onboard but make it a priority. Many people make their reservations online months before boarding. That will be complicated because you've prepaid, but the online reservations doesn't understand that. You would have to pay then be reimbursed. I have not done that so can't explain it well. The specialty restaurants are Pinnacle Grill, Canaletto, Tamarind, Nami Sushi. These vary depending on the ship.

 

If you download the Navigator app on your phone, you can see the menus for the restaurants. That might help you decide which restaurant to book. There's also deckplans, a countdown until your cruise, and FAQ.

[RileyFox]

Thank you! we are doing HAL Rotterdam May 24 2025 to see the fjords. 

[shippmates]

RileyFox you will love the fjords.  The scenery is amazing.  Please make sure you do the skylift rides up the mountains.  I also did one that got me close enough to see the ice on the water.  Make sure you have a camera or a good camera on your phone for photos.  Rotterdam is a beautiful ship.

[atexsix]

15 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We have the early booking HIA for our Volendam cruise next week. By "Fine Dining" I assume you mean specialty restaurants. HAL considers the Main Dining Room, included for all passengers to be fine dining. The specialty restaurant HIA is for one night on a 7 day cruise. The premium drinks HIA includes all alcohol and non alcohol drinks like specialty coffees up to $15 in cost including wines by the glass. Your mini bar, drinks from room service or drinks off the ship at a private island are not included Gratuities for drinks are included. For any drink over $15 you pay the difference plus 18% gratuity, a $16 drink would cost you $1.18 extra. The premium Wi-Fi is also included as is the daily crew appreciation charge. The only gratuities you would have would be for any specialty restaurant outside of the 1 included one and other non-included services like the spa or bottles of wine not included in HIA. Gratuities for the main dining room and your room attendant, and bar tenders are included in the daily charge as part of the early booking HIA.  You can always tip extra to your room attendant or waiters if they do an exceptional job for you. You also have a $100pp credit for shore excursions If you will use all of the HIA and add them up it is a good deal for some, specially if you have more than 2 or 3 drinks a day.

Good grief!  That IS confusing.  Feel like I need a Ph.D. to remember all that.  

[terrydtx]

6 hours ago, atexsix said:

Good grief!  That IS confusing.  Feel like I need a Ph.D. to remember all that.  

This is the OP's first ever cruise and he has many questions. I tried to make it as clear as possible for him. On another thread he was confused because he thought he had to pay extra for the MDR 'Fine" dinning every night. I remember my first cruise in the 1990's and I wish I had been on CC to find out what to expect. 

[atexsix]

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

This is the OP's first ever cruise and he has many questions. I tried to make it as clear as possible for him. On another thread he was confused because he thought he had to pay extra for the MDR 'Fine" dinning every night. I remember my first cruise in the 1990's and I wish I had been on CC to find out what to expect. 

Of course.  My commentary is always meant to be tongue and cheek.  I don't think anything I said could be conveyed as critical of the OP.  There was another thread where somebody similarly made a statement such as yourself because of again, tongue and cheek replies.  

 

It's no secret that a lot of rooms on cruise critic have a lot less activity than in past years.  Some of us are trying to keep the conversations going so that the HAL forum at least stays fresh and relevant so that future OP's have a place to go to get their questions answered.