Identifying "suites" earning double Mariner Society credit

[GSP-parents]

I seek suggestions on how to search for the least cost cabins (i.e., suites) that will earn two Mariner Society credits per day.

 

We earned double credits for a “vista suite” on the Maasdam.  The Maasdam cabin was basically a balcony room.  Do all HAL balcony rooms qualify as a type of “suites?”  I am guessing not.

 

Most cruise booking websites let you search for inside, oceanview, balcony or suites.  In trying to identify low cost cabins that earn double credit, if I limit my search to so-called “suites”, I may not pick up balcony rooms that HAL classes as vista suites.  However, I fear that if I broaden my search to balcony room, I may get results that HAL does not consider as a vista or junior suite.

 

Thanks for your help.

[taxmantoo]

A Vista Suite is a suite and will show if you select "suite" as your search criteria.  Any room identified as a "suite" on HAL's website or literature qualifies for double points and if it doesn't specify "suite" then it doesn't.

Edited April 19, 2019 by taxmantoo

[Alberta Quilter]

On the smaller ships, such as Maasdam, all balcony cabins are Vista or higher suites.  If you search for a suite on the HAL website, then, as taxmantoo says, you'll get a suite which will earn double credits.

Edited April 19, 2019 by Alberta Quilter

[catl331]

Cabins called Pinnacle, Neptune, Signature, and Vista are Suites. Anything else is not. So on the Vista and Signature classes of ships, the lowest "suite" is a Signature (SS, SY, SZ) while on the other ship classes, Vista is the lowest suite.

Edited April 19, 2019 by catl331

[GSP-parents]

Is there a way to sort by price the "Vista Suite" prices on HAL's website.  I do not know of any easy way so I use other cruise websites.

 

Some cruise wholesaler websites classify the Maasdam vista suite as a "balcony" room and not as a "suite."   

[DaveOKC]

The two newest ships (Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam) have 4 levels of suites, while the others only 3, so you might look into the Vista suites on these (just remember that they are not larger than the balcony cabins however).

 

Personally, I think that the Signature suites on HAL offer a very good "value" given the size and price.  Plus, it seems that almost every time we book one of these we get an upsell to a Neptune suite (it seems like HAL built too many of these  in the 4 Vista and bit larger (Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam) ships.

 

 

[catl331]

6 minutes ago, GSP-parents said:

Is there a way to sort by price the "Vista Suite" prices on HAL's website. 

The higher in the alphabet, the higher the price. On the oldest 7 ships, that's A highest down to BC lowest. On the two newest 2 ships it's AS down to BC.

Edited April 19, 2019 by catl331

[GSP-parents]

DaveOKC, as someone told me it is all about real estate.  How much you want to spend for how much space.  I can't think of Signature or Neptune suites.  But I salute you.

 

I am a value cruiser; often going for lowly inside cabins.  But I do like accumulating frequent cruiser credits on different lines.  My query is how to find the least cost vista suite cruises that will get me the bonus points.

 

For instance, how would you search for the lowest priced vista suites in a 6 to 13 night round trip cruise during the first six months of 2020 from a U.S. port?

 

 

[Fouremco]

28 minutes ago, GSP-parents said:

For instance, how would you search for the lowest priced vista suites in a 6 to 13 night round trip cruise during the first six months of 2020 from a U.S. port?

I'm not sure that there's any easy way of doing that, on HAL's website or any other. I think that you'd have to use your search parameters to find all of the matching cruises, then slog your way through each to determine the lowest priced Vista Suite. Yours is an unconventional approach, and I doubt that any website accommodates searching in a quicker manner, but I've not tried all the websites out there and if there is a better/quicker way, I'm sure that I'll be corrected.  Of course, prices fluctuate as we all know, so the cheapest Vista Suite today meeting your search parameters may not be the cheapest a week or a month from now.

 

Personally, we find that Vista Suites really aren't worth the additional price over a good balcony cabin. We have booked them when the price was close, but generally don't find the double days worth it. It's cheaper in our estimation to pay for internet, laundry or whatever while getting to the next level more slowly than it is paying the extra dollars for the Vista Suite and getting there more quickly.

[TAD2005]

You are correct.  On ships like the Maasdam and Rotterdam, the Vista Suites are just slightly larger (longer) veranda cabins.   If you physically moved a Vista Suite off of the Maasdam and placed it on the Westerdam, it would be classified as a veranda cabin.   Some of the "R Class" ships have modified Ocean View cabins with sliding glass doors leading out to the Promenade Deck.  They are called Lanai cabins and a little more expensive than Ocean View, but do not qualify for double sailing day credits.   They also are considered as Ocean view cabins for the purpose of calculating the level of OBC you may get.

[oaktreerb]

If you want points look at the Alaska cruisetours.  If you choose a 9 to 20 day cruisetour (for example) as part of a cruise booked in a Vista Suite, SS, or NS you will receive double points for the 9 to 20 days of the  cruisetour.  If you book in a regular cabin you get only 9 to 20 not doubled.  We became 4* faster because we took cruise tours and benefitted from those points.

[ScottC4746]

10 hours ago, GSP-parents said:

I seek suggestions on how to search for the least cost cabins (i.e., suites) that will earn two Mariner Society credits per day.

 

We earned double credits for a “vista suite” on the Maasdam.  The Maasdam cabin was basically a balcony room.  Do all HAL balcony rooms qualify as a type of “suites?”  I am guessing not.

 

Most cruise booking websites let you search for inside, oceanview, balcony or suites.  In trying to identify low cost cabins that earn double credit, if I limit my search to so-called “suites”, I may not pick up balcony rooms that HAL classes as vista suites.  However, I fear that if I broaden my search to balcony room, I may get results that HAL does not consider as a vista or junior suite.

 

Thanks for your help.

I was told if you are booked an anything ending in suite you get them bonus.  If you were upgraded into anything ended in suite you do not.

[tv24]

We usually travel in a Neptune suite, so I guess we accumulate double points.  My question is what you get for this?  So far all I see is an invitation to a big Mariner luncheon.  No other perks for high Mariner status.  Maybe I am missing something?

[catl331]

5 hours ago, ScottC4746 said:

I was told if you are booked an anything ending in suite you get them bonus.  If you were upgraded into anything ended in suite you do not.

UNLESS you paid a full "published fare" for the upgrade. 

 

13 minutes ago, tv24 said:

No other perks for high Mariner status.  Maybe I am missing something?

At 3-star you get 25% discounts on some things, and at 4-star you get 50% discounts, free laundry, and priority boarding. But since you book a Neptune you get the laundry and priority anyway.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/mariner-society.html

Edited April 20, 2019 by catl331

[DaveOKC]

24 minutes ago, catl331 said:

UNLESS you paid a full "published fare" for the upgrade. 

 

At 3-star you get 25% discounts on some things, and at 4-star you get 50% discounts, free laundry, and priority boarding. But since you book a Neptune you get the laundry and priority anyway.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/mariner-society.html

 

Once you get to 4 Star, there is less of incentive to book Neptunes, thus some people move down to Signature Suites (you do lose the Pinnacle Grill breakfasts and the Neptune Lounge however).  We were just in a Neptune through an upsell and I have to say that the "value" of it vs the Signature is not worth the normal price difference IMO. 

 

Our cabin was fairly close to the Lounge, but we found that we did not use it as often (coffee maker in our cabin plus the food/snacks offerings really have been reduced).  The Welcome Aboard reception for Neptunes was terrible IMO (less than 10 people showed up and only wine served - far less impressive than in most past cruises).  The cabins are 25% (or so) larger than the Signatures and that is nice, but not a big deal IMO as they still have plenty of space.  Bathrooms in both categories are nice.

 

HAL really does need to improve the Neptune package IMO, or more and more people will be selecting the Signatures (were available), once they reach 4 Star.  Case in point - on most of our cruises (where we book Signatures) we have been offered some very attractive upsell offers ($99 for a week recently), due to the Neptunes not selling well (on ours 25-30% were not assigned 30 days prior to sailing).  Either that, or HAL should lower the pricing of the Neptunes to be closer to the Signatures (often they are double).  Just my opinions of course........

[tv24]

Thanks for all this info.  We will probably get to 4-star status pretty soon and then might consider getting a Signature Suite instead of Neptune.  But at this point we really like the large scale of the Neptune because we spend a lot of time in our stateroom.  I admit that the other perks of Neptune are not fabulous (the Neptune lounge and the breakfasts in Pinnacle;  we do love our free laundry)  We are boarding the Noordam tomorrow on a sold-out ship  so we anticipate hanging out in our stateroom to avoid the crowds.

[lastlook]

If you're considering one of HAL's "Land/Sea" Alaska trips, you will receive double Mariner points for the land portion as well as the cruise portion if you book a suite.  We booked a Signature Suite for their longest Land/Sea combination a couple of years ago and received double points for the entire 20 day trip even though the cruise portion was only 7 days.

[ScottC4746]

1 hour ago, catl331 said:

At 3-star you get  priority boarding. 

So that is group A boarding like we had when we had the NS?

[DaveOKC]

2 minutes ago, ScottC4746 said:

So that is group A boarding like we had when we had the NS?

Its 4 Star or higher to get Priority boarding (like your A pass) and all A cards go in at once.  However, in some ports they do board the Neptunes before the 4 or 5 Stars (just saw this in LA (San Pedro in January).  No big difference IMO.

[lastlook]

Just to clarify, 3* does not get you Priority Boarding, but booking a Neptune Suite, does.  Once you reach 4*, you will receive Priority Boarding for any cabin booked.

 

[catl331]

38 minutes ago, ScottC4746 said:

  2 hours ago, catl331 said:

At 3-star you get  priority boarding. 

You misquoted me. Read post #14 again.

 

Edited April 20, 2019 by catl331

[Tampa Girl]

18 hours ago, GSP-parents said:

I seek suggestions on how to search for the least cost cabins (i.e., suites) that will earn two Mariner Society credits per day.

 

We earned double credits for a “vista suite” on the Maasdam.  The Maasdam cabin was basically a balcony room.  Do all HAL balcony rooms qualify as a type of “suites?”  I am guessing not.

 

Most cruise booking websites let you search for inside, oceanview, balcony or suites.  In trying to identify low cost cabins that earn double credit, if I limit my search to so-called “suites”, I may not pick up balcony rooms that HAL classes as vista suites.  However, I fear that if I broaden my search to balcony room, I may get results that HAL does not consider as a vista or junior suite.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

If you know that you will be sailing HAL, wouldn't it be easier to just use the HAL website once  you have narrowed down your choice of cruises?  The website clearly shows which cabins are suites.  I understand the confusion at most cruise booking websites, but if you know your ship, you can easily tell which cabins are actual "suites" versus simply balconies.

[boards]

9 hours ago, ScottC4746 said:

I was told if you are booked an anything ending in suite you get them bonus.  If you were upgraded into anything ended in suite you do not.

That's right, we have been upgraded twice (which we paid a small charge extra), but did not get the bonus points.  We knew that at the time it happened though.

[Tampa Girl]

20 hours ago, boards said:

That's right, we have been upgraded twice (which we paid a small charge extra), but did not get the bonus points.  We knew that at the time it happened though.

 

I thought that if you were "up sold" into a suite, you would get the points?  No?  I realize that merely being upgraded would not suffice.

[catl331]

23 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

I thought that if you were "up sold" into a suite, you would get the points?  No?  I realize that merely being upgraded would not suffice.

Only if you pay a "published fare". That is, if the price for the original booking plus the differential equals the going suite price: the published fare. Most upsells only pay just a part of that difference.

 

• Suite Bonus Earn double Cruise Day credits when you pay a published fare for a spacious suite or penthouse on your next cruise. For example, a guest who pays published fare for suite accommodations for a 10-day cruise earns 20 Cruise Day credits.

Edited April 21, 2019 by catl331