HAL Personal Cruise Consultant

[elmac40]

Hi

Just being curious.  I have been sailing with HAL for about 10 years and am a 4 star mariner. When booking my cruises I book them myself on the HAL website.

 

I recently received an email from a personal cruise consultant at HAL wishing me Bon Voyage for my forthcoming cruise.  It also states "As your Personal Cruise Consultant, I am here to assist you with all your reservation needs, providing specialised service and sharing insider tips and recommendations with you. This is a complimentary, one-on-one service for you. In the future, I will be available to assist you with your reservations from start to finish."

 

Is this a new offering or is it offered to everyone?

 

Thanks

[crystalspin]

14 minutes ago, elmac40 said:

Is this a new offering or is it offered to everyone?

If you book yourself with HAL, you were already assigned a PCC -- check in or below the blue banner in any promotional ad emails. So, everyone who doesn't use a travel agent/agency, I guess.

[Moriah]

I had this exact same experience!! I also am 4 star, and I just book on the website or with whoever happens to answer the phone at HAL... until I was told "Here's your PCC" - that just happened a couple of weeks ago.  So... I called him, and he had already rebooked my upcoming cruise with more OBC and I've talked to him several times - he's very responsive and seems much more knowledgeable than the people at the regular HAL call center, so I'm happy to have him.  Years ago people used to rave about their PCCs... I never had one back then, but I feel the one I have now is like those "old timers..."

Edited April 16 by Moriah

[SeaMatesNYC]

11 minutes ago, Moriah said:

he had already rebooked my upcoming cruise with more OBC

What?  Does this not seem strange to you?  He was altering  your booking before you even made contact?  Did you ask him where this extra OBC came from?  And why it was not attached from the get go?  
 

(P.S., I am not a travel agent.)

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, elmac40 said:

Is this a new offering or is it offered to everyone?

It is par for the course in North America, but I have not come across it in UK/EU.  Out of interest was it a UK contact phone number or dot CO dot UK email address?

I also have booked directly and used the UK office for telephone contact until the recent change.  Now the UK number goes to a call centre somewhere out in far east/Asia, so I call the Rotterdam office.

[elmac40]

11 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

It is par for the course in North America, but I have not come across it in UK/EU.  Out of interest was it a UK contact phone number or dot CO dot UK email address?

I also have booked directly and used the UK office for telephone contact until the recent change.  Now the UK number goes to a call centre somewhere out in far east/Asia, so I call the Rotterdam office.

Hi

 

its a UK telephone number and uk email. She’s been very helpful with a question had.  👍

[VMax1700]

1 minute ago, elmac40 said:

Hi

 

its a UK telephone number and uk email. She’s been very helpful with a question had.  👍

Interesting!  Perhaps, following the re organisation they have repurposed some of the  staff to directly support UK customers.

[Moriah]

1 hour ago, SeaMatesNYC said:

What?  Does this not seem strange to you?  He was altering  your booking before you even made contact?  Did you ask him where this extra OBC came from?  And why it was not attached from the get go?  
 

(P.S., I am not a travel agent.)

Hm... altered?  Yes, he explained where it came from - he had done his job and found me the best current deal for the cruise I wanted, and it included some OBC.  Why it was not "attached" before I'm sure is because when I booked myself online I neglected to get myself the best deal 🙂  No, it doesn't seem "strange"... I thought it was great!

BTW I'm in the US.

Edited April 16 by Moriah

[SeaMatesNYC]

17 minutes ago, Moriah said:

Hm... altered?  Yes, he explained where it came from - he had done his job and found me the best current deal for the cruise I wanted, and it included some OBC.  Why it was not "attached" before I'm sure is because when I booked myself online I neglected to get myself the best deal 🙂  No, it doesn't seem "strange"... I thought it was great!

BTW I'm in the US.

Good. I’m glad it worked for you and you were able to get more benefits.

[CruiseMob]

Years ago I had a good one. Unfortunately the one that is now assigned to me is terrible. She's flat out lied to me, and ignores email questions. I wish I knew how to get reassigned to someone else.

[Eric from San Diego]

3 hours ago, elmac40 said:

Hi

Just being curious.  I have been sailing with HAL for about 10 years and am a 4 star mariner. When booking my cruises I book them myself on the HAL website.

 

I recently received an email from a personal cruise consultant at HAL wishing me Bon Voyage for my forthcoming cruise.  It also states "As your Personal Cruise Consultant, I am here to assist you with all your reservation needs, providing specialised service and sharing insider tips and recommendations with you. This is a complimentary, one-on-one service for you. In the future, I will be available to assist you with your reservations from start to finish."

 

Is this a new offering or is it offered to everyone?

 

Thanks

 

I can't say if it happens to everybody, but if you want HAL to fuss over you, book a Have It All, gamble at the casino, take a lot of excursions, use the spa, eat in Specialty restaurants.   HAL does everything it can to get the people with a high level of onboard spending to come back.   That's where they make their profits.   

[0106]

1 hour ago, CruiseMob said:

I wish I knew how to get reassigned to someone else.

Call the PCC number, don’t put in your PCC’s extension, ask to speak to a supervisor, ask to be reassigned.

[CruiseMob]

23 minutes ago, 0106 said:

Call the PCC number, don’t put in your PCC’s extension, ask to speak to a supervisor, ask to be reassigned.

Oh, that should work thanks. Don't know why I didn't think of that.

[crystalspin]

1 hour ago, Eric from San Diego said:

HAL does everything it can to get the people with a high level of onboard spending to come back.   That's where they make their profits.   

"HAL does everything" except let two people book a quad cabin, when they are going to spend more after booking than some family of four with the 5-year-old in the bunk and a pre-teen on the sofa bed.

[POA1]

1 hour ago, crystalspin said:

"HAL does everything" except let two people book a quad cabin, when they are going to spend more after booking than some family of four with the 5-year-old in the bunk and a pre-teen on the sofa bed.

I'd look at the sailing and the time of year. If you are doing one of the 17-21 repositioning cruises from Alaska to Fort Lauderdale or vice-versa, I'd be confident that I wouldn't be bumped. It's not a school holiday and it's a long cruise.

 

On the other hand, I would hesitate to book a quad on a week long cruise during Christmas in the Caribbean or school break for Alaska in the summer.

[crystalspin]

3 hours ago, POA1 said:

I'd look at the sailing and the time of year.

It is the Voyage of the Vikings, 35-days but dead of Summer Break 2025. Accepting the change from Observation to Navigation deck saved us $2000, which softened the blow.

[BobbiSox]

There are some really good PC people and some not so good. I have a good one. She always returns my calls and is very helpful in all matters and gets me great deals that I would never have heard of otherwise. I had to 'fire' some of the first few over the years. Don't know if I am allowed to post her name; her initials are KO.

[Ferry_Watcher]

We also were assigned a PCC.  She was able to get us the AARP OBC on both our booked cruises, so that was wonderful.

 

I chatted with her while she was doing some research for me, and I found out that she has worked for HAL for decades, lived in the Seattle area (use to work at the HAL headquarters before the pandemic), and was recently recognized at a HAL company event for her exceptional service. (This recognition had just happened, so she was still basking in the joy of it, but was still shy/modest about it).

 

While I usually do my own bookings, I/we decided to use her services going forward.  I also found out that it helps the PCC even more if they are the ones who book the cruise at the time of the deposit. 

[YourWorldWithBill]

On 4/16/2024 at 8:38 PM, CruiseMob said:

Oh, that should work thanks. Don't know why I didn't think of that.

You've probably already tried that, but if not: if the person who answers offers to take a message for a supervisor, tell them you'll hold, and just wait. Safer that way.

[CruiseMob]

4 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

You've probably already tried that, but if not: if the person who answers offers to take a message for a supervisor, tell them you'll hold, and just wait. Safer that way.

Thanks!