Reimbursement for Prepaying Specialty restaurants

[dmcfad2]

We are 5 star and we get two free dinners at the specialty restaurants. Because the earlier dining times on our upcoming cruise were all being taken, I decided to book them ahead of time, pay with my credit card and try to get reimbursed onboard. Has anyone had an experience with this? Is it going to be a big hassle?  FYI, we will be on the N Statendam.

 

Edited December 3, 2022 by dmcfad2

[Florida_gal_50]

28 minutes ago, dmcfad2 said:

We are 5 star and we get two free dinners at the specialty restaurants. Because the earlier dining times on our upcoming cruise were all being taken, I decided to book them ahead of time, pay with my credit card and try to get reimbursed onboard. Has anyone had an experience with this? Is it going to be a big hassle?  FYI, we will be on the N Statendam.

 

Be sure to take a copy of the website that says you can have the pinnacle, tamarind or Canaletto.  One week on the koningsdam it was no issue.  The next week I said I wanted to use my 5 star in the Canaletto but they charged me anyway.  The manager at the front desk told me it was for the pinnacle only 🙄.  When I showed her on the hal website she told me that was old information.  Right.  I worked it out with the Canaletto in the end.  Good luck!

[CurlerRob]

35 minutes ago, dmcfad2 said:

We are 5 star and we get two free dinners at the specialty restaurants. Because the earlier dining times on our upcoming cruise were all being taken, I decided to book them ahead of time, pay with my credit card and try to get reimbursed onboard. Has anyone had an experience with this? Is it going to be a big hassle?  FYI, we will be on the N Statendam.

 

 

I have had two different experiences - at times, my prepaid dinners were automatically refunded a few days after attending. Other times, nothing happened, and I had to discuss it with guest services to get it cleared up. Fortunately, I have not run into the issue that @Florida_gal_50 reported.

 

Just watch your onboard account to see if it clears by itself. 🍺🥌

[REOVA]

Once you get off ship, good luck. Need to clear it up before disembarkment. Still waiting to hear from HAL but going through credit card company for refund since emails are not being responded to (except the auto - "will respond in 48 hours")

[dmcfad2]

46 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

 

I have had two different experiences - at times, my prepaid dinners were automatically refunded a few days after attending. Other times, nothing happened, and I had to discuss it with guest services to get it cleared up. Fortunately, I have not run into the issue that @Florida_gal_50 reported.

 

Just watch your onboard account to see if it clears by itself. 🍺🥌

Thank you. I will keep an eye on my account. One problem I might have is that I booked one of them on the last night of the cruise. Probably not the smartest thing to do. Did you say anything to the waiter or maitre d when you sat down for dinner or after dinner before you left the restaurant?

[dmcfad2]

57 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Be sure to take a copy of the website that says you can have the pinnacle, tamarind or Canaletto.  One week on the koningsdam it was no issue.  The next week I said I wanted to use my 5 star in the Canaletto but they charged me anyway.  The manager at the front desk told me it was for the pinnacle only 🙄.  When I showed her on the hal website she told me that was old information.  Right.  I worked it out with the Canaletto in the end.  Good luck!

Good idea.Thank you.

[dmcfad2]

49 minutes ago, REOVA said:

Once you get off ship, good luck. Need to clear it up before disembarkment. Still waiting to hear from HAL but going through credit card company for refund since emails are not being responded to (except the auto - "will respond in 48 hours")

Well, since one of the bookings is the last night of the cruise, I may have the same problem. 

[CurlerRob]

2 minutes ago, dmcfad2 said:

Thank you. I will keep an eye on my account. One problem I might have is that I booked one of them on the last night of the cruise. Probably not the smartest thing to do. Did you say anything to the waiter or maitre d when you sat down for dinner or after dinner before you left the restaurant?

Never mentioned it to the staff. Maitre d might be worth it. 🍺🥌

[REOVA]

5 minutes ago, dmcfad2 said:

Well, since one of the bookings is the last night of the cruise, I may have the same problem. 

When you go to dinner make sure matre d' marks it as comp Mariner dinner and then check onboard statement later at night. 

[dmcfad2]

1 hour ago, CurlerRob said:

Never mentioned it to the staff. Maitre d might be worth it. 🍺🥌

One more question. When they refunded you, did they refund it back to your credit card or did it show as a credit on your onboard statement? I have the Have It All, plus crew appreciation included and onboard credit of $775.  I just started thinking that I may not even have any charges on my statement with all the perks I have, so how would I get that money back?  Will it show as refundable onboard credit? Do you understand what I mean? It’s so confusing. I probably won’t book ahead of time again. LOL

[REOVA]

5 minutes ago, dmcfad2 said:

One more question. When they refunded you, did they refund it back to your credit card or did it show as a credit on your onboard statement? I have the Have It All, plus crew appreciation included and onboard credit of $775.  I just started thinking that I may not even have any charges on my statement with all the perks I have, so how would I get that money back?  Will it show as refundable onboard credit? Do you understand what I mean? It’s so confusing. I probably won’t book ahead of time again. LOL

With your HIA did it include 2 dinners? If so you would have been able to select those to apply to dinner, plus you have 2 dinners for 5*. Your statement has 1) refundable section which will be where any refunds on the credit card would show from prepaid items and you get that back on card at end of cruise. (I ask for cash at Guest Services so it doesn't go on credit card and lose points). 2) non refundable credits would be OBC from HIA or HAL that you need to use or lose. So check if the dinners were HIA (which won't be charged on statement) or applied to your prepaid dinners (that should be credited back to you). 

[dmcfad2]

9 minutes ago, REOVA said:

With your HIA did it include 2 dinners? If so you would have been able to select those to apply to dinner, plus you have 2 dinners for 5*. Your statement has 1) refundable section which will be where any refunds on the credit card would show from prepaid items and you get that back on card at end of cruise. (I ask for cash at Guest Services so it doesn't go on credit card and lose points). 2) non refundable credits would be OBC from HIA or HAL that you need to use or lose. So check if the dinners were HIA (which won't be charged on statement) or applied to your prepaid dinners (that should be credited back to you). 

Thank you so much! You’ve made it so easy to understand. I already had booked the 2 free HIA dinners, so the other two I paid for upfront which are refundable for being 5*.(Then I also prepaid a third dinner at Pinnacle, so I should get half of that one back as my loyalty discount.) I appreciate your help!

[CurlerRob]

7 hours ago, dmcfad2 said:

One more question. When they refunded you, did they refund it back to your credit card or did it show as a credit on your onboard statement? I have the Have It All, plus crew appreciation included and onboard credit of $775.  I just started thinking that I may not even have any charges on my statement with all the perks I have, so how would I get that money back?  Will it show as refundable onboard credit? Do you understand what I mean? It’s so confusing. I probably won’t book ahead of time again. LOL

REOVA's answer is more complete - my refunds were to my onboard account, but I never noticed whether they were in the refundable or not category - as I had onboard spending that was larger than my credits. (In the days before all the promotions!) 🍺🥌

[Florida_gal_50]

8 hours ago, REOVA said:

With your HIA did it include 2 dinners? If so you would have been able to select those to apply to dinner, plus you have 2 dinners for 5*. Your statement has 1) refundable section which will be where any refunds on the credit card would show from prepaid items and you get that back on card at end of cruise. (I ask for cash at Guest Services so it doesn't go on credit card and lose points). 2) non refundable credits would be OBC from HIA or HAL that you need to use or lose. So check if the dinners were HIA (which won't be charged on statement) or applied to your prepaid dinners (that should be credited back to you). 

So you can ask for cash if you have refundable obc?  I never knew that.  I’ll definitely have to keep that in mind.  Thanks.

[SilvertoGold]

25 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

So you can ask for cash if you have refundable obc?  I never knew that.  I’ll definitely have to keep that in mind.  Thanks.

Absolutely if you want USD

[Florida_gal_50]

Just now, SilvertoGold said:

Absolutely if you want USD

I love usd.  I wish I’d get paid in it 😛.  Sometimes I’m short of cash so it would be useful.  That said I don’t have many credit balances.

[DaveOKC]

On the Eurodam I have had issues with getting my 2 free 5 Star dinners handled correctly.  In both the Pinnacle and Tamarind I was charged 50% instead of being free.  In all 4 cases (over 2 cruises) I had to get it corrected, even though I told them upfront when making the reservation AND again when being seated!