Booking 5 star dining freebies without paying - not have it all

[Florida_gal_50]

I few weeks ago a poster mentioned they were able to book their 5 star freebies ahead of the cruise without paying by calling the mariner society.  I'd never heard anyone else mention it besides this poster.  I decided to call today and the person told me that it's not available.  Has anyone been successful in doing this?  I realize you get freebies with HIA but I'm not speaking about that.  I also realize you can book and pay but I'm not talking about that either.  Thanks.

[RedneckBob]

Consider the poster lucky. I tried several times but never happened. Always prepay for restaurants and then spend entire length of cruise to get credit. I consider it part of cruising 😀

[Florida_gal_50]

1 minute ago, RedneckBob said:

Consider the poster lucky. I tried several times but never happened. Always prepay for restaurants and then spend entire length of cruise to get credit. I consider it part of cruising 😀

Yeah, I get tired of fighting for discounts so I only book a couple.  I know people will say they've never had to fight for it.  I'm speaking only for myself.

[jettaleea]

We just wait and book once we're on the ship. Even then we have to be careful we don't get charged.

[1ANGELCAT]

I’m the poster who did this. It was prior to Covid . Maybe, things have changed.

[Florida_gal_50]

4 hours ago, jettaleea said:

We just wait and book once we're on the ship. Even then we have to be careful we don't get charged.

That’s the truth.  I will do that.  I’m a little worried because my cruise seems to be almost sold out.  It’s going to be an adjustment to the last couple of cruises that were around 50 percent.

 

Thanks everyone. 

[zgscl]

12 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Yeah, I get tired of fighting for discounts so I only book a couple.  I know people will say they've never had to fight for it.  I'm speaking only for myself.

I feel like this is a Koningsdam thing. On all of my other ships (except a 1 night on Eurodam) it has all been posted by accounting mid cruise, or even on the first night. Every time on Koningsdam I have to have the Neptune concierge pester accounting. I get back onboard Monday so I might keep quiet and see what happens until the end of the cruise. They really need to update their systems so mariner discounts are applied at the time of booking. Or do what they do with spa bookings and just credit the purchase to your account and then apply the charge at the time of service with the appropriate discounts reflected. 

[mcrcruiser]

I recently booked several speciality restaurants on line into my booking & I did not pay in advance for those bookings nor would  I .I want my Mariner  discounts  . HAK's prices are high enough ,we Mariners deserve our discount breaks  LOL😁

[Florida_gal_50]

5 hours ago, zgscl said:

I feel like this is a Koningsdam thing. On all of my other ships (except a 1 night on Eurodam) it has all been posted by accounting mid cruise, or even on the first night. Every time on Koningsdam I have to have the Neptune concierge pester accounting. I get back onboard Monday so I might keep quiet and see what happens until the end of the cruise. They really need to update their systems so mariner discounts are applied at the time of booking. Or do what they do with spa bookings and just credit the purchase to your account and then apply the charge at the time of service with the appropriate discounts reflected. 

I agree, it’s a koningsdam thing for the most part.  I’ve had very few problems on other hal ships.  I’ll be interested to see if the accounting system has improved in the last several months.  I hope you have a wonderful cruise.  

Edited October 22, 2022 by Florida_gal_50

[sfocruiser]

19 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Yeah, I get tired of fighting for discounts so I only book a couple.  I know people will say they've never had to fight for it.  I'm speaking only for myself.

 

We’ve only prepaid our 5* dinners on Holiday cruises and in every case it’s resulted in several trips to the front desk.