iflyrc5

You have to get on the Hal site and get verified for the teacher benefit. Same for the AARP. My wife was the teacher and we both have AARP - after verified then our Travel Agent got the OBC added. Also, don't forget the AARP gift cards that can be used for payment and on board expenses - you purchase them at a 10% discount under the AARP rewards program.

I put together a spread sheet with all the numbers and PINs and email it to my TA and he takes it from there. Have done this twice and will be doing it again next month for final payment for our next cruise on the Volendam

This is the response I received from the Mariner Society folks. We thank you for your correspondence with Holland America Line regarding the Mariner Society embarkation lunch. We understand that the embarkation luncheon was a popular activity with many of our guests. We apologize for any disappointment this has caused; however, the embarkation lunch has been discontinued as of March 1, 2024. We thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Our guest’s comments and concerns are important to us. We have forwarded your email to our management team for consideration. Please let us know if you have any questions. We hope to welcome you back onboard with us soon. Kind Regards, Garrett Mariner Society Holland America Line 800-547-9139 206-626-7359 Monday-Friday 8:00am – 5:00pm PST Savor the Journey If enough people ask for it to come back including talking to the General Hotel Manager when on the ships and also listing this in the post cruise survey maybe we can get HAL to bring it back.

I sent an email to this address mariner_society@hollandamerica.com

We were on the Rotterdam from Jan 14 - Feb 25 and the Bill Board on Board with the one piano was packed almost every night when we left the World Stage at 10:15pm

The second piano was removed in late January and the remaining one moved to the center of the enclosed area.

I found the annual plan was better for us than purchasing individual policies for each trip during the year.

Have you looked into one of the annual plans that cover all you travels for a full year.

I just got off 42 days on the Rotterdam and put in about 100 of walking and over my 900 days on DAM ships I am sure that I have 2000+ miles. I have found that about 95% of the walkers go counter clockwise which is the same direction that races are run in the Olympics. On the Pinnacle ships with the narrow walking decks and 8 blind corners it is not good to have people walking in opposite directions. One days last week I nearly ran into the same lady 4 times at blind corners. She was the only one going clockwise. Also, when HAL does the "Walk for the Cause" it is always done counter clockwise. I wish they would put up signs for the direction to walk. As others have said the main issue is groups walking 3 or 4 abreast or a single person walking in the middle on Pinnacle ships.

They do that some cruises so the crew does not lose an hour of sleep for several nights in a row.

Looking forward to your review. We are long time cruisers with over 900 days on DAM ships. We were on from Jan 14 through Feb 25 - 4 different cruises on the Rotterdam - and we could see a significant difference in the groups on each segment. We were on the Rotterdam for the same time period in 2023 and had a great time then too. The 2 Panama Canal segments (12 days each) had guests that seemed more "travelers" and interested in the sites and cultural of our ports. The two 9 day segments had large family/friend groups and were more of the "party" folks. Overall we had a great time on the Rotterdam. Looking forward to your insights and impressions.

There were no changes to the seating - they just removed the piano

We are on board now - 7:30pm and 9:30pm

We a 5 star and have done 12 cruises (Nieuw Statendam, Rotterdam (twice), Eurodam, Nieuw Amsterdam) since the Covid pause - they now apparently now only have the Medal awards ceremony for Silver medal and above.

The Rotterdam is now a single piano - the second one was removed today when were in Ft Lauderdale and the remaining one has been moved and is now facing almost directly aft. BTW - a new Rolling Stones Rock group joined the ship today. They were doing their sound checks this afternoon after sail-away.

Yes - we have 4 cruises B2B under 2 booking numbers - I have to use the website for anything related to the second booking number

Tonight she said she lives in Texas now so maybe a Texas drawl.

I don't remember her name but she has long blond hair and a southern US accent

We are currently on the Rotterdam and the Bill Board on Board only has one performer instead of the 2 people playing and singing. According to our Cruise and Travel director HAL is going back to the "Piano Bar" format with just the one person and a crowd sing along style. So far is seems to be very popular on the Rotterdam. I assume at some point they will remove the second piano and reconfigure the area. I just hope at the next drydock they close off the stairway coming down from the casino so we won't keep getting the smoke smell down on the Music walk.

I have seen people on the various HAL FB pages asking questions and wondering if HAL monitors social. I can tell from personal experience today that they do for sure monitor as least some postings. A couple of days ago on one of the HAL FB forums someone was asking about the times that the pools are open on the Rotterdam. Since we are currently on the Rotterdam and I had the daily program on the desk I checked and the times were listed as 9am to 9pm. I posted that information and also stated that I had noticed them being available earlier than 9am. Today I got a note from Guest Services - It stated. "We would like to update you regarding your feedback via Social Media. Please be advised that the pool hours have bee adjusted which is now reflected on the Daily Program and the Navigator". I think that is amazing that in less than 48 hours HAL has monitored Social Media and corrected an issue. GREAT JOB to the HAL team member that is doing this!

The Navigator will show is when you are on board

We were on the NS for 42 days in 2022, NA for 28 days in 2022, Rotterdam for 42 days in 2023, Eurodam for for 28 days in 2023 and are now on the Rotterdam again and we have had a priest saying daily Mass on all of these cruises. About 10 years ago on a HAL cruise we did not have a priest for 24 day cruise because the priest that was supposed to come got sick and a replacement could not be found because of Visa was needed to be on the cruise.

I used this process to get my 5 year old Samsung phone to load the app = but then started having other issues with the phone so got a new one.

I have done the same thing - I have had better but they are good.

We did this same thing in October on the Eurodam. It took just a couple minutes at the Excursions desk.