Hogladyrider

So I thought I would provide an update to my previous post wherein I mentioned I had to cancel a cruise mostly paid with HAL gift cards from AARP. It was a LONG 10 day wait but all has been resolved. HAL transferred funds to pay off an upcoming cruise we have booked in April 2025 and refunded a portion back to my CC and then $3500 back onto the original HAL gift cards. This an example of why it is so important to hold onto the original HAL gift card#s and PINS. I keep a spread sheet of all my cruises and payments etc. Now I can reapply those gift cards to our Alaska cruises in 2025 when final payment gets closer. Happy Saturday everyone.

@richwmn Rich thanks for your daily posts, it has been most enjoyable following along. Until next time......

@Jamman54...geesh I am a little late to this party, but I am here. Darn work got in the way, but someone's gotta pay for the upcoming cruises. The BEST car I ever owned was a Honda Element! So pet friendly, easy to clean and LOW maintenance. I like the color of yours, mine was cranberry.

Yes and typing in all those numbers and pin is time consuming and each time the answer is $0 balance!

Excellent points and let me share my current situation with HAL and gift cards. We had 4 cruises booked and we decided to cancel one. It was a 14 day Mexican holiday cruise that I had paid $3500 on CC and $3500 on HAL gift cards on. I only owed $1600 before final payment. We contacted our TA to request the cancel and transfer of funds to the other 3 cruises we have booked for 2025. HAL would only transfer the funds to ONE cruise and refund the balance. Problem for me arises as the cruise they transferred the funds to only had a balance due of $2900. That leaves me a $4k credit. HAL had no problems making the transfer but here it is a week later and I still have not received any of my credits due. It just does not make sense to me even from an accounting standpoint because all I am going to do is call my TA and have the HAL gift card credits applied to the other 3 cruises booked with HAL. In the mean time it is MY responsibility to track all this.....stressful to say the least. I will be second thinking gift cards in the future for sure.

I found it very interesting that her background was in new media on TV!

Thank you!

@richwmn...I am curious, when did Kristen the Cruise Director join your ship? She was the CD on our Koningsdam cruise in January of this year. I enjoyed her talks and her background is interesting that she now works on a ship.

@Travelicious WOW what a way to kick off your cruise adventure! Action packed for sure. I'd need a sea day or two to recover. Enjoying following your travels.

@Saint Greg....FINALLY some good reading material! Safe travels and have a FANTASTIC cruise!

@BermudaBound2014...we love sea days for sure! We often stay on the ship when in port as well depending on the port. We had this cruise you were on booked originally and I hesitated when I could not find water activities (guess I did not look in the right places). Plus I was hesitant that 35 days away might be a lot so we switched to 18 days San Diego to Hawaii the cruise before yours. NOPE 18 days was not too much. We had a great time!

WOW...thank you thank you for this report. We are water folks as well. Now I know we would love this cruise. When I tried researching, via reading fellow cruisers posts, I thought "naw not for us" but you have changed my mind 100%. We would rather be in the water! One of the many things we do love about cruising is just looking out from the ship at the horizon and how vast and huge the ocean is....wonders upon wonders.

Thanks for your reply, makes sense. Original deposit was on CC $3,500 after that I used $3,500 in HAL gift cards, each in the amount of $500. When I cancelled the cruise I was hoping to transfer the $7k out among my other 3 cruises I have booked however HAL would only apply the credit to one other cruise and refund the balance, which will be approximately $4k.

Good morning Dailyites and thank you for all the lovely reports. Thought and prayers to all in need, and I think that includes ALL of us! I read this thread every morning with my coffee. I so enjoy each and every posting. I do have a question and I know this is the correct place to find many good answers. Those seasoned cruisers do you book directly with the cruise line or do you use a TA? I follow many live cruise reports and while we are not wealthy enough to do a World Cruise we do love our cruising. Branching out to other lines now that we are retired and we love HAL has been an experience. One cruise I booked via online pricing and while it all worked out, I was not pleased with the customer service I received. I could never get in touch with the person to answer my questions. I look forward to everyone's opinions and I will value each one.

Question regarding a cancellation going back onto a gift card. Original gift card purchase amount was $500. Credit due for cancellation is well over $1K....I have been advised this credit will go back onto the original gift card. Is this possible to put that much credit $$ back onto a gift card? I do retain all the gift card #s and pins etc. TIA