Holland America Line Launches Onboard Credit Offer for AARP Members

[Mary229]

43 minutes ago, Reagan0712 said:

Just read through all ten pages, and though I may have missed it, I didn’t see my question.

 

Does anyone know if this AARP OBC will be applied in addition to the Carnival Stock OBC or is it one or the other?

My AARP lapsed and I’ve been debating whether or not to renew. This plus the gift cards are pushing me toward renewal.

Yes they are combinable. 

[Haljo1935]

20 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

No, you did not misread it which is why my guess is that extra $50.00 is definitely not from AARP SBC. There might have been something else. Are you booked with a Travel Agency, that Agency may have just added Group amenities to your reservation.

Highly doubt the $50 is AARP OBC or if it is that amount will change once applied to a cruise, just as OBC received for purchasing FCD onboard changes when applied to an actual booking. Since the amount of OBC you will receive depends on the length of cruise and category stateroom, you wouldn't see $100 or $200 today as the system wouldn't know if you intend to book 7 day inside or 14 day balcony, for example, which determines the final amount of OBC yoh would receive.

And it is per state room so it should only reflect u Dec 1 account - both husband and wife wouldn't see it in their accounts.

[zelker]

1 minute ago, Haljo1935 said:

And it is per state room so it should only reflect ... account - both husband and wife wouldn't see it in their accounts.

DH and I each have $50 OBC showing under our respective Mariner accounts.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

1 minute ago, zelker said:

DH and I each have $50 OBC showing under our respective Mariner accounts.

So far only me not DW😀

[League3056]

I have been an AARP member for a year, and instantly got verified on the first day (July 24) when the promo was announced. The $50 shows up in my Mariner account online. I called today to see about applying it and waited on hold forever while the rep herself waited to talk to someone from the resolutions department. While we were waiting for the resolutions team, she asked me literally 4-5 times the same question over and over about *when exactly* I applied for the credit and *on what day* did I get the approval. I kept having to repeat July 24, as soon as the promo was announced. It really seemed like they were trying to deny or approve based on that info.

 

So I was surprised when they said no dice due to already having the $100 educator OBC applied to my booking (which I hadn't even known about - I'd applied for that one too, got verified, but never saw it in my Mariner account. I guess it just applied automatically. Interestingly, that's another case where people have been told that the Educator OBC is only for newly-booked cruises, not existing bookings, but it applied to my existing booking automatically) 

 

What's frustrating is reading that the Educator OBC + AARP should be combinable. Now, obviously people are having lots of issues getting it to apply to existing bookings, but I did apply and get approved on the first day of the promo, before they changed the T&Cs, so I figured I might have a chance.

 

No biggie, it's only $50, but just another data point for the thread. 

[Red Haired Lady]

I also had $50 appear on my Mariner account onlline.  But now it is gone.  Wondering where it went. Maybe it was applied to one of my existing cruises, but since I book through a TA I cannot access this info on the HAL website. Has this happened to anyone else?

[joke2020]

I also had the $40 posted and then it disappeared.  I called my TA and he looked into it and found that Holland applied it to the cruise I had just booked the day before.  I got $200 OBC.  

 

[joke2020]

Oops.  $50 was posted.

 

[Nickelpenny]

1 hour ago, Red Haired Lady said:

I also had $50 appear on my Mariner account onlline.  But now it is gone.  Wondering where it went. Maybe it was applied to one of my existing cruises, but since I book through a TA I cannot access this info on the HAL website. Has this happened to anyone else?

I had it also and now it is gone.  I then noticed that my Hawaiian cruise in Nov had $200 more of OBC than I knew I had on my statement.  This was yesterday and I have never seen OBC on my payment page before.  The OBC doesn't show up today.  So, who knows.  Maybe I have it for the Nov cruise???  I guess I will know when I board???

[electro]

On 7/24/2023 at 9:44 PM, Nickelpenny said:

Log into the HAL website and then go to Cruise Deals.  It is way at the bottom.  Here is a direct link:  https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/deals/aarp-member-benefit-offer.html 

This is not on the Canadian version of the HAL site. If you click on this link it will default to the Canadian page after about 10 sec. If you click on the "verify my aarp membership" before it switches to the Canadian site, you will be able to register your aarp number.

[electro]

On 7/25/2023 at 6:26 PM, mowogo said:

I’m 38 and joined for the gift card deal.  10% off is 10% off, especially with the other deals.  

Can you post a link to the gift card offer?

Thanks

 

[mcoprof]

1 hour ago, electro said:

Can you post a link to the gift card offer?

Thanks

 

https://community.aarp.org/t5/Redemption/Three-Exciting-New-AARP-Rewards-Cruise-Line-Gift-Cards/m-p/2448318

 

need to be logged in to your (own) account.

 

 

 

[pmjnh]

I finally got confirmation from Holland that my AARP OBC was finally applied to my previously booked sailing.  The $50 that was on my mariner account like so many others has since disappeared. Holland would only allow one (aarp or educator) aarp was a better deal.

[alwaysfrantic]

On 7/27/2023 at 9:35 PM, Haljo1935 said:

Straight from the terms @boze9999 posted: Per Stateroom (not per person), must resubmit for verification each year, and new bookings only.

If you have credit sitting in your account, you can call HAL and ask them to apply it to a booking - I've done that. When I've called in for something, I've also had them say "you have $xx OBC available, do you want me to apply it?"

I have the available credit in account but my very Quick travel agent said only new bookings; couldn’t be applied

[zelker]

Was able to get the AARP OBC applied to all 6 of our previously booked cruises (12-23 through 4-25).  At first she tried to tell me that it was only applicable to one cruise per year but when I told her I didn't think there was any limit on it, she checked with a supervisor who confirmed it can be used multiple times per year.  YAY!!!

 

Also, as others have mentioned, the "mystery" $50 OBC on each of our Mariner accounts disappeared once they started applying AARP OBC to bookings.  

 

Moral to the story for others that haven't had any luck - be persistent.  It took me three phones calls over 2 weeks to get this resolved but it worked and was worth my time to get $1,100 in OBC (between the 6 cruises) that we didn't have previously.  🙂 

[CNSJ]

41 minutes ago, zelker said:

Was able to get the AARP OBC applied to all 6 of our previously booked cruises

Was that through direct comms with Holland (PCC) or your TA?

 

[zelker]

13 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

Was that through direct comms with Holland (PCC) or your TA?

 

I don't have a PCC but I did work directly with HAL to get this accomplished, then they sent the new confirmations to my TA who then updated all our invoices and sent me new ones which reflect the additional OBC.  I was actually surprised they applied them to our 2025 cruises since we're supposed to "renew" our AARP info annually with HAL but they did it.

[JC13]

I registered and used my mariner account number.  I was able to received OBC of $100.00 on my new booking.  I did not have to attach a copy of my AARP card, I just entered the card numbers. 

[maggiev]

On 7/24/2023 at 9:57 PM, Mtn2Sea said:

I started the signup process this afternoon and was required to show my AARP card.  Very quickly I was told my first name did not match.  Holland America has always required me to use my first name.  However, I go by my middle name, which my AARP card shows.  To correct the “problem”, the website asked me to upload my card showing my first name.  No other options were given.  Of course, I don’t have such a card.  I finally found a link that would let me give an explanation if I was having trouble signing up.  I got an auto response that their reps respond in one to two days.  Fingers crossed.

@Mtn2Seapleasecknow this is NOT a Holland nor AARP glitch.  YOU use different names(on official sites) this issue is on you 

[Haljo1935]

On 7/24/2023 at 8:57 PM, Mtn2Sea said:

I started the signup process this afternoon and was required to show my AARP card.  Very quickly I was told my first name did not match.  Holland America has always required me to use my first name.  However, I go by my middle name, which my AARP card shows.  To correct the “problem”, the website asked me to upload my card showing my first name.  No other options were given.  Of course, I don’t have such a card...

I also use my middle name name which is on my AARP card. I clicked the "edit" (might actually be "update" - it'sgot a pencil icon) button which allowed me to change my name so it matches my HAL (and passport & DL) profile. I uploaded that card after making the change. I had an approval email in minutes.

Once the OBC posted to my bookings, I changed AARP back to reflect the name I use in everyday "real" life.

It seriously took me longer to enter this comment on how to do it than it took to actually change my name in AARP.

That is an option if you don't get the results you're hoping for.

[Mtn2Sea]

33 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

I also use my middle name name which is on my AARP card. I clicked the "edit" (might actually be "update" - it'sgot a pencil icon) button which allowed me to change my name so it matches my HAL (and passport & DL) profile. I uploaded that card after making the change. I had an approval email in minutes.

Once the OBC posted to my bookings, I changed AARP back to reflect the name I use in everyday "real" life.

It seriously took me longer to enter this comment on how to do it than it took to actually change my name in AARP.

That is an option if you don't get the results you're hoping for.

Thanks for the suggestion.  I did get a very prompt response from SheerID Verification asking that I send a copy of a government ID that showed my full name.  I sent them a copy of my driver’s license (with most of the number redacted) and shortly thereafter I had my approval.

[Haljo1935]

45 minutes ago, Mtn2Sea said:

Thanks for the suggestion.  I did get a very prompt response from SheerID Verification asking that I send a copy of a government ID that showed my full name.  I sent them a copy of my driver’s license (with most of the number redacted) and shortly thereafter I had my approval.

I've learned in the recent past w/rollout of Real ID and other identity related things, that "full legal name" is here to stay, so I've started changing things as needed. I've used my middle name 40+ years, so I don't even think about it when I put it down as my name. Even my bank uses my middle name, but if I get "free $$" I'll not use it when asked not to. 🤭🙄Funny thing is my name is too long and doesn't fit in HALs system causing the last couple letters to drop off. So even my full name doesn't match what they have.🤔

[H2Osign]

I applied and was verified for the AARP OBC.  I notified my agent a few days later that 4 star and above have been getting their OBC on current bookings.  It took her a few days to get around to it, but she did get me an additional $200 OBC on our 28 day AK cruise for next year.  I have a different agent for our 42 day Asia cruise, who will check into this for that cruise.  It starts late December, 2024.  

 

On a side bar, Resolutions Dept came through for me, with regards to the refer a friend program.  No fault of ours, actually it was the agent, that this was not applied to our last cruise.  Bounced around on phone until I was connected to the correct department, and they made the exception and applied to next cruise.

[NCTribeFan]

4* and above?  I guess I missed that somewhere in the 11 pages of this thread.

 

I'm just 3* so are you saying I cannot get it applied to existing bookings?  That doesn't seem right.  What should an AARP OBC have to do with Mariner status?  You're either a member of both or you aren't?

 

Guess I'll contact my PCC and ask about having it applied to my two 2024 sailings.

 

Also seems I never got the referral OBC, either.  I'll ask about that, too.

[alwaysfrantic]

A $50 available credit did show in my account after verification which I assumed to be the AARP.  Yet today it has disappeared.  Anyone else?