Late Seating Dining, Pickleball, & Educator OBC

[CH_ca]

Hi everyone, I have some questions I hope some of the seasoned Mariners can help. 🙂

 

1) Late Seating Dining:

    I've looked at some recent online sample daily activities of HAL cruises. It looks like a lot of nice activities are happening between 8-9pm (like some Music Walk performance, Chocolate Surprise, some game shows...) not that we want to go to every single one of them. We always like to dine late (Late seating at 8pm). It didn't seem to be a problem when we used to sail on HAL pre-pandemic. Does it mean we'll be missing a lot of actions because of that?

 

2) Pickleball:

    - How long is the court available for pickleball when it's on?

    - Is it on everyday or just certain days?

    - Are there many people participating?

    - How long do you have to wait to play?

 

3) Educator OBC:

    - Can you see your Educator OBC on your online account after you verified your status? If not, how can you confirm you have gotten it?

    - How long does it take for it to reflect?

    - If you're also a shareholder, are you allowed to have both Educators OBC and Shareholder OBC?

 

Thank you in advance.

[oakridger]

I can only address #1.  Chocolate surprise is only once per 7 night cruise as far as I know.  I wouldn't change my preferred dining time for it.  It's really just more chocolate desserts.  Lots of other desserts on board all day.  Music walk has more than one set per evening show.  Finish dinner then head to Music Walk.  Game shows may or may not even be on any particular cruise and possibly at different times of the day.  

 

So basically, all this to say that none of those activities would make me switch from my preferred late dining times.  If you really are not wanting to miss anything than you could have "As You Wish" Dining instead and just eat dinner whenever you want.

 

~Nancy

[CH_ca]

Thanks Nancy! From the sound of it, those activities don't seem too "not to be missed". I will stick to my late seating then because I prefer to have the same server every night. 😃

[StLouisCruisers]

We often dine late and I find Chocolate Surprise is about 9:30 pm so there's time to get there if you dine at 8 pm.  Can't answer your dual OBC question and unlike some other cruise lines, HAL doesn't make it easy to know when your credits have been applied.  You either have to ask your TA to find out, or ask for a confirmation email when you send off for it.

[Cruise tech]

For Pickleball:

 

    - How long is the court available for pickleball when it's on?

Typically when sailing they have instruction classes at 9am and 4pm. Tournaments at 10am. Up to 4-8 people can sign up for one hour slots at guest services the day prior at guest services. Usually time slots are 9-4 or 12-4

 

    - Is it on everyday or just certain days?

Everyday usually

 

    - Are there many people participating?

Depends on the cruise but always people to play with

 

    - How long do you have to wait to play?

You can sign up for a time slot in advance to Limit the wait time. 

 

Hope that helps. 

[CH_ca]

7 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

We often dine late and I find Chocolate Surprise is about 9:30 pm so there's time to get there if you dine at 8 pm.  Can't answer your dual OBC question and unlike some other cruise lines, HAL doesn't make it easy to know when your credits have been applied.  You either have to ask your TA to find out, or ask for a confirmation email when you send off for it.

 

I called HAL about 8 days after verification and they said OBC not reflected yet. It takes 2-3 weeks to process. But fellow members here say they got it in 24-48 hours. I can give my TA a call but I doubt they will be of any help since they're kind of a no-frill TA 😄

[CH_ca]

5 hours ago, Cruise tech said:

For Pickleball:

 

    - How long is the court available for pickleball when it's on?

Typically when sailing they have instruction classes at 9am and 4pm. Tournaments at 10am. Up to 4-8 people can sign up for one hour slots at guest services the day prior at guest services. Usually time slots are 9-4 or 12-4

 

    - Is it on everyday or just certain days?

Everyday usually

 

    - Are there many people participating?

Depends on the cruise but always people to play with

 

    - How long do you have to wait to play?

You can sign up for a time slot in advance to Limit the wait time. 

 

Hope that helps. 

 

That really helps! Thanks! Can't wait! 🎾🤩

[Divi]

You can have the educator’s obc as well as the shareholder’s obc

[RD64]

4 hours ago, CH_ca said:

 

I called HAL about 8 days after verification and they said OBC not reflected yet. It takes 2-3 weeks to process. But fellow members here say they got it in 24-48 hours. I can give my TA a call but I doubt they will be of any help since they're kind of a no-frill TA 😄

Yup - less than 24 hours to get approved. It is more of a hassle if your educational institution is not among those listed. As people keep adding to the database, this should be less of an issue.

[CH_ca]

5 hours ago, RD64 said:

Yup - less than 24 hours to get approved. It is more of a hassle if your educational institution is not among those listed. As people keep adding to the database, this should be less of an issue.

There has been an email confirmation about the verification right away. But the OBC is still not on the account online from what I saw and what the HAL people said at their end 8 days after. 🤷‍♂️

[Cruise Suzy]

5 hours ago, CH_ca said:

But the OBC is still not on the account online from what I saw

OBC does not appear online. It only shows on your confirmation receipt. After receiving notice of OBS being applies, ask your TA to print a new confirmation - or make a small payment to automatically get a new confirmation.