Bar & Restaurant Discount 3 Star Mariner Question

[SFO Peter]

Hi Fellow Cruisers.

 

We are new Three Star Mariners. Does anyone know if the 25 percent discount for HAL Three Star Mariners apply to bar tabs in the public areas? We hang out in the Piano Bar and drink lots of Perrier. Also I gather that the 25 percent does apply to all of the Specialty Restaurant charges. Thanks for a reply.

[taxmantoo]

From the HAL Mariner website...

A 25% discount on specialty restaurant surcharges, wine packages†, beverages in the Explorations Café† and all mini-bar purchases

No mention of bar drinks of any kind. Beverages in the Explorations Cafe are limited to tea, coffee, etc.

I suppose you could always pour out of the mini-bar and bring it out to a bar, but I will refrain from commenting on that practice.

[sail7seas]

The three and four star mariner discounts do not apply to regular bar tabs.

[kazu]

everyone is on the money here. you get 25% off your wine packages, the Pinnacle Grill and/or specialty restaurants and the mini bar (which isn't a bad deal). Bars are regular price - you can save a bit by buying the beverage card. congrats on hitting the three stars :)

[jtl513]

Also the shop discount does not apply to eveything:

•A 10% discount on Holland America Line logo clothing sold in onboard shops (may exclude already discounted merchandise)

[rrizgod]

they should offer some sort of bar discount for 3 or 4 star mariners.

 

Maybe a 5% discount on the drink cards.

 

Lets face it, overall the 3-4 star rewards aren't that great.

[sail7seas]

The Mariner program caps out at 200 days which really is not all that huge a number for HAL. There are a great many people who have way more days than that. On many cruises, something around 80% of the guests are Mariners. They don't have to offer much more in order to keep us coming back.

 

IMO what they HAVE to offer in order to keep our business is great service, beautiful, clean ships, good dining experiences and at least some recognition of 'high number of day' Mariners. There have to be some benefits to repeaters but seems they are getting lots of us to return with just what they now offer.

 

I'd love to see some free Internet minutes for very high Mariners. It would have to be for not too large a group IMO as the internet on the ships is already very slow. Too many free minutes is bound to make it slower and, therefore, near to useless.

 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

I know the 3 and 4 star discounts aren't worth much. When this new program came in -- those of us who have hundreds of days -- didn't get much.

 

As a 4 star Mariner we do get the 50% discount off the speciality restaurants -- but each time we prebook them we have to fight for our discount once we have attended the speciality restaurant. Getting tired of doing that.

 

Also we are not much on drinking wines -- so the 50% off on the wine package is worthless to us.

 

There is nothing we are interested in HAL's logo stuff -- so -- no good for us.

[sail7seas]

We like wine with dinner but don't like the Navigator Package offerings so we don't get any benefit from a discount for that package. We order the wines we want and get no discount. Would be nice if we could get a discount on wines of our choice. :)

 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

they should offer some sort of bar discount for 3 or 4 star mariners.

 

Maybe a 5% discount on the drink cards.

 

Lets face it, overall the 3-4 star rewards aren't that great.

 

Actually there is a discount on the Beverage Cards -- if you use the entire card.

5% off the $50 card because you only pay $45 for it.

10% off the $100 card because you only pay $90 for it.

[sail7seas]

That is a discount to everyone......... not an extra three or four star Mariner discount.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That's true.

[bepsf]

As a 4 star Mariner we do get the 50% discount off the speciality restaurants -- but each time we prebook them we have to fight for our discount once we have attended the speciality restaurant. Getting tired of doing that.

 

This is interesting:

So I pre-booked Pinnacle dinner yesterday for our upcoming cruise as I wanted to be certain to get a table on a certain night.

Now I see that I would be entitled to 25% ($5) off those dinners...

...so is this something I should concern myself with now, or so I need to deal with this aboard ship?

And if I'm getting Pinnacle comped by my TA - would the excess dinner that I don't use simply apply to my shipboard account?

[Krazy Kruizers]

We had problems both on the Ryndam in October and the Nieuw Amsterdam in Nov/Dec.

We always ask for a copy of our bill about 4 days and at the end of the first segment. We had prebooked the Pinnacle on tge Ryndam for the last night of each cruise. On Sunday morning I asked for a copy of our bill -- sure enough -- no credit for the previous evening's dinner. The concierge got it corrected right away. We had the same thing happen at the end of the second cruise so the last morning of the cruise we had them adjust our bill. They were very willing to do so.

But on the Nieuw Amsterdam -- this was not the case. On Sunday we asked for a copy of the first week's bill -- no credit for the Pinnacle -- showed it to the concierges -- they went to the purser's office and it was declared that the first week's bills were closed at 11 PM the night before and we should have spoken up before then -- WHAT?? This was nonsense. So they would not adjust our bill. We then went and made a a reservation for the Tamarind for the last night of the second cruise and cancelled the Pinnacle to avoid that problem.

I don't know if you will have any problems or not. But we even had the same problems last year on the Zuiderdam.

Other people don't seem to encounter this problem.

I don't know why we do.

[RuthC]

So I pre-booked Pinnacle dinner yesterday for our upcoming cruise as I wanted to be certain to get a table on a certain night.

Now I see that I would be entitled to 25% ($5) off those dinners...

...so is this something I should concern myself with now, or so I need to deal with this aboard ship?

Brian, you should have been charged the full $20 immediately, then the $5 rebate will be credited to your account the night following your dinner. I do always ask about it when I am dining, but have never had the Mariner's discount not applied correctly---just as they promised me it would.

So, ask, trust---then verify. ;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

We ask before we leave the Pinnacle -- new Pinnacle manger on Nieuw Amsterdam -- acts like she knows NOTHING!!

 

We didn't even see her for the first 4 or 5 days!!

[sail7seas]

I don't understand why they don't adjust the website that when a three or four star mariner makes a Pinnacle booking they aren't charge the proper amount to begin with. We have to log in and clearly they have our log in indicating Mariner status so why doesn't the proper amount come up when we make the booking? This is an easy fix IMO

 

[RuthC]

We ask before we leave the Pinnacle -- new Pinnacle manger on Nieuw Amsterdam -- acts like she knows NOTHING!!

You certainly do seem to have the worst luck on so many scores, KK.

What a shame.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I know -- DH is ready to give up cruising -- he and I are getting tired of fighting for shipboard credit -- discounts on restaurants -- and many other items that may be small to some people -- but as his health gets worse -- is important to him knowing that we have no idea when we can no longer cruise.

[sail7seas]

I'm always sorry when I read of one unpleasant thing or another you enounter on the ships and I'm especially sorry to hear you may have to stop cruising. It could be any of us.

I sincerely wish you and DH the best and hope his health stabalizes and you can enjoy many more wonderful HAL cruises.

[m steve]

we received credits for booked as well as prepaid dining discounts on our bill. We also received credit for purchases on clothing in the shop but not for the bathrobes we ordered . Should we have gotten credit for those as well?

[jtl513]

5% off the $50 card because you only pay $45 for it.

 

10% off the $100 card because you only pay $90 for it.

That's 10% in both cases.

 

I don't understand why they don't adjust the website that when a three or four star mariner makes a Pinnacle booking they aren't charge the proper amount to begin with.

They promised some time ago that this change was coming ... but it hasn't happened yet. I agree this should be an easy fix.

 

From FAQ's:

Q: If I qualify for a discount on a pre-purchased online item, when will I receive appropriate discount credit?

A: Your discount credit will be registered when you are on board and will be reflected as a credit on your onboard folio. (Our online purchasing system soon will allow discounts on select items to be credited at time of pre-purchase. Please check back for current status.)

 

We also received credit for purchases on clothing in the shop but not for the bathrobes we ordered . Should we have gotten credit for those as well?

Not unless they have the HAL logo on them. :)

[sail7seas]

They promised some time ago that this change was coming ... but it hasn't happened yet. I agree this should be an easy fix.

 

From FAQ's:

Q: If I qualify for a discount on a pre-purchased online item, when will I receive appropriate discount credit?

A: Your discount credit will be registered when you are on board and will be reflected as a credit on your onboard folio. (Our online purchasing system soon will allow discounts on select items to be credited at time of pre-purchase. Please check back for current status.) <snip>

 

 

 

 

I made three Pinnacle bookings on line for our upcoming Noordam cruise and was charged the higher amount so the 'fix' has not yet been done.

[rrizgod]

Actually there is a discount on the Beverage Cards -- if you use the entire card.

 

5% off the $50 card because you only pay $45 for it.

 

10% off the $100 card because you only pay $90 for it.

 

come on dude, dont you think i already know that?

 

I'm talking about on top of the discount of buying the card.

[CJcruzer]

This is interesting:

 

So I pre-booked Pinnacle dinner yesterday for our upcoming cruise as I wanted to be certain to get a table on a certain night.

Now I see that I would be entitled to 25% ($5) off those dinners...

...so is this something I should concern myself with now, or so I need to deal with this aboard ship?

And if I'm getting Pinnacle comped by my TA - would the excess dinner that I don't use simply apply to my shipboard account?

 

Brian: I had this same question as my children wanted to pay for Pinnacle dinner(s) as an added gift for Christmas.

 

When I called HAL I was told all gifts or comped Pinnacle dinners, wine packages or anything entitled to Mariner discount WOULD be sold to the buyers at regular rate AND the difference in pricing for Mariners WOULD NOT BE refunded as money OR shipboard credit....Basically I was told that they should just put down shipboard credit, and when we book our Pinnacle Grill dinners or buy our wine package - we will then be paying the discounted (25% off as 3* Mariners) --- gifts and comps do not qualify for the discount, only the Mariners themselves paying for the service that they qualify for a discount.

 

So why should my son pay $20 per person for a dinner whereas for the exact same dinner/service I would pay only $15 per person!! Therefore they put down shipboard credit on our sailing.....As far as comps, I guess since you are not paying the money, it shouldn't matter what the supplier is paying (that's HAL's explanation to me)....