Thank You Mariner Society

[DaveOKC]

On 8/26/2019 at 4:08 PM, summer slope said:

When we got our medallion there was a man there that had 1625 days, I think. 

We met a nice couple while waiting to board in Seattle last month.  They had 3900 actual DAYS and of course were Presidential level.  They seemed to know most of the crew and officers.

 

 

[catl331]

1 hour ago, DaveOKC said:

They had 3900 actual DAYS

More than 10 years and at least $1.5M if you include travel to/from ports and hotels! Staggering!

Edited October 12, 2019 by catl331

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 hours ago, catl331 said:

More than 10 years and at least $1.5M if you include travel to/from ports and hotels! Staggering!

 

Guess I need to buy lottery tickets. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 8/26/2019 at 6:37 PM, sail7seas said:

   Wow..

 

 

Does he live on th e ship?  I think there ' might'  be one or two persons who live aboard ..

 

🙂  Maybe I should  give that idea some serious  consideration?   Yikes !  Now there's a profound decision to make.  I wonder if a permanent 'live  aboard'  gets mariner days? 

 

 

 

 

 

It  would have to be Maasdam or Noordam.

While there truly are other ships I like very much,  those two are my favorites and were for my late dh as well.

 

There was a woman who lived on board QE2 for many years. When her husband died, she decided she no longer needed to be in a house. Looking at the price of assisted living or a "senior community," she realized it was about the cost of living on the ship. Small inside cabin, IIRC, but she had the run of the ship. 

[rothbury]

I can't help but read some of these posts and smile.  DW & I took our fist HAL cruise in 1982 on the Statendam from NY to Bermuda.  We have sailed exclusively with HAL ever since.  We recently earned 3 stars and have yet to reach the first medallion level.  It's not important to us what level we reach.  We cruise for the enjoyment of the cruise.  Not all of us have the time or money to cruise more than once every couple of years and then only as our time would permit.  I don't fault any of you for what star level or medallion level you are but think for a minute how fortunate you have been to have those experiences.  

[sail7seas]

Now as a widow, I am extremely grateful  my late DH and I had the good sense to 'feed our love for travel and and chose at a r elatively early age to travel as  much  we could. He was a professioinal in private practice and could  lony leave home  a cetain umber of  weeks per year.  We fillled   all of those weeks withlots of air travel,  tons of cruising .  NOW I know we were wise.   He sometimes said maybe we should  wait until  'he'   retired  b ut I woul not hear of it and he agrred.    To my great sorrow, he did not live to retire.  i AM SO GRATEFU we lived whlie he live.d  .  We went, we saw, we met  became friends with  some amazing  prople.

 

 

sail.noordam@gmail.com

 

 

Edited October 12, 2019 by sail7seas

[canadianbear]

2 minutes ago, sail7seas said:

Now as a widow, I am extremely grateful  my late DH and I had he good sense to 'feed our love for travel and and chose at a  elatively early age to trael as cuhas  we could. He was a professioinal in private practice and could  l ony leave a cetain umber of  weeks per year.  We filleed all of those weeks withlots of air travel,  tons of cruising .  NOW I know we were wise.   He sometimes said maybe we should  wait until I retireb ut i woul not hear of it and he agrreed.    To my great sorrow, he did not live to retire.  i AM SO GRATEFU we lived whie he live.d  .

 

 

 

 

Lovely post and is a reminder to all to live life while you have it as you never know what tomorrow may bring.  

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, sail7seas said:

Now as a widow, I am extremely grateful  my late DH and I had the good sense to 'feed our love for travel and and chose at a r elatively early age to travel as  much  we could. He was a professioinal in private practice and could  lony leave home  a cetain umber of  weeks per year.  We fillled   all of those weeks withlots of air travel,  tons of cruising .  NOW I know we were wise.   He sometimes said maybe we should  wait until  'he'   retired  b ut I woul not hear of it and he agrred.    To my great sorrow, he did not live to retire.  i AM SO GRATEFU we lived whlie he live.d  .  We went, we saw, we met  became friends with  some amazing  prople.

 

 

sail.noordam@gmail.com

 

 

 

Sail, I echo what canadianbear posted in response to your thoughts.  Live life to the fullest as one can do and be as kind and as generous to others that one can be is my philosophy of life.

 

Like you have found, cruising has provided me with friends whom I would never have known and still provides these valued contacts with people on my most recent cruises.

[Hlitner]

Ok, so DW and I are contrarians.  When we take our next HAL cruise we will not bring along our Medallions, pins, or any such stuff.  To be honest I have no clue if we even keep that stuff (DW takes care of that Department) or if DW simply tossed all of the cruise memorabilia out in the trash. We do not see any need to advertise that we have more then 1 day on HAL or any other line.  If that is what it takes to impress some fellow passengers, then they are folks we would prefer to avoid.  As to the Mariners lunch (arguably the one place where having a medallion around your neck is not too tacky), we normally see those as the perfect time to have lunch in the Lido since it is a lot easier to find a table :). 

 

I would love to see Chef Rudi come up with a very special gourmet lunch menu for the Mariner luncheons... but alas, the menus have never been a strong suit of those luncheons.   If they served pasta with truffles, Osteria Caviar, or even a proper grilled Reuben with a half pound of the finest corned beef...then you would find me waiting in line for that luncheon :).  

 

Just had another thought.  Do you think that HAL will soon start selling Medallions and Pins as part of the Club Orange program?

 

Hank

[sail7seas]

16 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Ok, so DW and I are contrarians.  When we take our next HAL cruise we will not bring along our Medallions, pins, or any such stuff.  To be honest I have no clue if we even keep that stuff (DW takes care of that Department) or if DW simply tossed all of the cruise memorabilia out in the trash. We do not see any need to advertise that we have more then 1 day on HAL or any other line.  If that is what it takes to impress some fellow passengers, then they are folks we would prefer to avoid.  As to the Mariners lunch (arguably the one place where having a medallion around your neck is not too tacky), we normally see those as the perfect time to have lunch in the Lido since it is a lot easier to find a table :). 

 

I would love to see Chef Rudi come up with a very special gourmet lunch menu for the Mariner luncheons... but alas, the menus have never been a strong suit of those luncheons.   If they served pasta with truffles, Osteria Caviar, or even a proper grilled Reuben with a half pound of the finest corned beef...then you would find me waiting in line for that luncheon :).  

 

 

 

 

I learned very early in life that none of us know what awaits us and/or   when.  My father died Very young as did my sister and some other relatives.  I knew,  to not ' wait for 'later.  Do it now, while you can.

  For some of us, 'later doesn't come.   Some people give  that concrept lipserviec but little serious thought.

 

 

My dh  was a very healthy man  and then he wasn't.  No, he did not die from cancer.

 

[Aquahound]

On 8/25/2019 at 6:50 PM, sail7seas said:

 

I still cannot figure out what happens to this {Star Mariner} Program after  eing a five star for years already, still sailing, getting more 'worthless   day credits'.  There is no future to a program that has already  maxed out.

 

Does anyone know o f additions or substantial continuation plans?  Days I   earn    now have  no value.   after Five stars, then w hat?  Stop sailing?  hmmmm,  nice way to treat their most loyal guests.

 

 

Nice way to treat their most loyal guests?  I'm not sure what you mean by that.  Reaping the benefits of being a 5 Star Mariner on every single one of your cruises isn't enough?  Surely, that's not what you actually mean.  Why in the world would you stop sailing?

[Hlitner]

39 minutes ago, sail7seas said:

 

 

 

 

I learned very early in life that none of us know what awaits us and/or   when.  My father died Very young as did my sister and some other relatives.  I knew,  to not ' wait for 'later.  Do it now, while you can.

  For some of us, 'later doesn't come.   Some people give  that concrept lipserviec but little serious thought.

 

 

My dh  was a very healthy man  and then he wasn't.  No, he did not die from cancer.

 

That is a very nice message.   But what on earth does it have to do with wearing medallions on ships.  The only reason anyone would wear one of those things is to say to others, "SEE ME, I HAVE LOTS OF HAL CRUISES."  Nobody is wearing those things around their neck because they are attractive necklaces :).   Perhaps there are lots of folks who need to say, "SEE ME, I HAVE LOTS OF HAL CRUISES" but some of us prefer to be a bit more low key.   But if wearing that kind of "jewelry" makes you feel good then go for it and enjoy.

 

Hank

[rkacruiser]

57 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Ok, so DW and I are contrarians.  When we take our next HAL cruise we will not bring along our Medallions, pins, or any such stuff.  To be honest I have no clue if we even keep that stuff (DW takes care of that Department) or if DW simply tossed all of the cruise memorabilia out in the trash. We do not see any need to advertise that we have more then 1 day on HAL or any other line.  If that is what it takes to impress some fellow passengers, then they are folks we would prefer to avoid.  As to the Mariners lunch (arguably the one place where having a medallion around your neck is not too tacky), we normally see those as the perfect time to have lunch in the Lido since it is a lot easier to find a table :). 

 

I would love to see Chef Rudi come up with a very special gourmet lunch menu for the Mariner luncheons... but alas, the menus have never been a strong suit of those luncheons.   If they served pasta with truffles, Osteria Caviar, or even a proper grilled Reuben with a half pound of the finest corned beef...then you would find me waiting in line for that luncheon :).  

 

Just had another thought.  Do you think that HAL will soon start selling Medallions and Pins as part of the Club Orange program?

 

Hank

 

Mariner Luncheons?  My opinion is that the menu has improved.  Gourmet?  No.

 

Medallions?  I don't bring mine anymore.  They are too heavy and when flying, that can become an issue.  Do I appreciate being recognized at the Mariner Reception/Luncheon as a 5 Star Mariner?  Yes, I do.  Do I "broadcast" to others whom I meet on my cruise that I am such?  Absolutely not!  It's going to take a direct question from a fellow guest as to how many cruises I have enjoyed before I say anything about the number or my Mariner Society status.

 

There has been some discussion on this Message Board over the years that the Mariner Society ought to institute "another Mariner Society Level" beyond the 5 Star Mariner level.  The gap between 5 Star and President's Club is huge.  What that level of cruise days sailed ought to be nor what additional benefits might be offered, I have nothing to suggest at this time.

 

Does my HAL Mariner Status influence whether I book a HAL cruise?  No!  The perks that I am due with Elite Status on Princess are just as attractive.

[AncientWanderer]

9 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

That is a very nice message.   But what on earth does it have to do with wearing medallions on ships.  The only reason anyone would wear one of those things is to say to others, "SEE ME, I HAVE LOTS OF HAL CRUISES."  Nobody is wearing those things around their neck because they are attractive necklaces :).   Perhaps there are lots of folks who need to say, "SEE ME, I HAVE LOTS OF HAL CRUISES" but some of us prefer to be a bit more low key.   But if wearing that kind of "jewelry" makes you feel good then go for it and enjoy.

 

Hank

 

No...not the only reason.  I try to remember to pack our medallions and we slip them on when we attend the medallion ceremony -- as a sign of respect for the program, for our hosts and for the new medallion recipients.  I'm someone who really tries hard to be inconspicuous, but we do this anyhow.

[kazu]

We have  not packed our medallions but once and we never wore them.

 

We are lowly silver but don’t pack them and feel no need to wear them.

We enjoy the medallion ceremony and cheering the new recipients but it’s one piece of jewelry we don’t pack.  Each to their own 😄. As long as we are all happy on our cruises, it’s all good 🙂 

[rucrazy]

the only time we wore our medallions were the day we received them.  We removed them after the luncheon. Now we have them in a shadow box frame in the family room.

[sail7seas]

56 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

Nice way to treat their most loyal guests?  I'm not sure what you mean by that.  Reaping the benefits of being a 5 Star Mariner on every single one of your cruises isn't enough?  Surely, that's not what you actually mean.  Why in the world would you stop sailing?

 

 

MANY  (too many)  of the 5 star mariner  benefits duplicate those amenities

22 minutes ago, AncientWanderer said:

 

No...not the only reason.  I try to remember to pack our medallions and we slip them on when we attend the medallion ceremony -- as a sign of respect for the program, for our hosts and for the new medallion recipients.  I'm someone who really tries hard to be inconspicuous, but we do this anyhow.

ies we pay for in the Neptune Suite fare.  That is very irritating.     THAT is what I mean.

 

 

. 

 

Talk about a    RiP   OFF   IMO.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2019 by sail7seas

[Hlitner]

I guess it is all about trade-offs and what folks see as important.  We are soon off on a 25 day Princess cruise where DW and I will be given 1000 free Internet minutes and some other amenities for having a lot less cruise days then we have on HAL.  On the other hand, Princess is not going to give us Medallions.  I would happily trade all our Medallions for some free Internet.  That being said, DW finally told me (after I read her this thread) that she did throw away all our Medallions, Pins, and everything else that was in a drawer of old cruise line memorabilia.  What really annoys me is that our old Orient Cruise lines Pins are missing.  Those were classic and even had diamonds (faux).

 

Hank

[Caribbean Chris]

We were surprised to get the invitation to the medallion ceremony back in April on Nieuw Statendam - hadn’t paid much attention to passing the 100 day mark.

It was a nice event to attend and actually see the captain in a smaller venue, compared to some of the impersonal Mariner Luncheons with hundreds of people.

 

The Mariner hostess even presented my service dog with a medallion which the dog wore with dignity.

[AncientWanderer]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

I guess it is all about trade-offs and what folks see as important.  We are soon off on a 25 day Princess cruise where DW and I will be given 1000 free Internet minutes and some other amenities for having a lot less cruise days then we have on HAL.  On the other hand, Princess is not going to give us Medallions.  I would happily trade all our Medallions for some free Internet.  That being said, DW finally told me (after I read her this thread) that she did throw away all our Medallions, Pins, and everything else that was in a drawer of old cruise line memorabilia.  What really annoys me is that our old Orient Cruise lines Pins are missing.  Those were classic and even had diamonds (faux).

 

Hank

 

Well, now, there is a touch of sentiment there, Hank.

 

But anyhow, would I trade my medallion for one of those nice cloth tote bags they used to distribute? Possibly.  But the way I look at it is that we travelers try to respect the culture of any place we visit -- and that respect extends to the cruise line.  The award ceremonies with the officers and captain present are a part of the culture of HAL.  Each cruise line has its own culture, from what I've observed.  Might as well enjoy the differences.   And, heck, we complain as niceties go away.  The award ceremonies could go the way of the flowers, and we'd all feel some sense of loss, I think.

[Hlitner]

24 minutes ago, AncientWanderer said:

 

Well, now, there is a touch of sentiment there, Hank.

 

But anyhow, would I trade my medallion for one of those nice cloth tote bags they used to distribute? Possibly.  But the way I look at it is that we travelers try to respect the culture of any place we visit -- and that respect extends to the cruise line.  The award ceremonies with the officers and captain present are a part of the culture of HAL.  Each cruise line has its own culture, from what I've observed.  Might as well enjoy the differences.   And, heck, we complain as niceties go away.  The award ceremonies could go the way of the flowers, and we'd all feel some sense of loss, I think.

I hear ya!  And we still have several of those old tote bags :).  But I think the best totes we got were on Grand cruises.  They had heavy duty zippers and DW always takes one on our trips.   I am being very honest in that we would not miss the award ceremony (we only went when the host/hostess applied polite pressure because we were getting an award).  We have been on cruises with over 1000 Mariners and I do not recall more then about 30 souls at the awards ceremonies once you eliminated those who got awards.  I would not feel any sense of loss with the elimination of the award ceremony, the Medallions or the Pins...if they would just give us some free Internet!

 

But we do agree with you that niceties have meaning.  And on HAL it could be very special.  The first time we took the Grand Med cruise, Captain Gundersen said, at his welcome aboard speech, that he was going to have every 4-5* Mariner to his cabin for a cocktail party.  But there were about 350 of us on that voyage.  Captain "Halle" kept his word although it took him nearly 2 months of small parties!  We all knew that this kind of thing only happened on HAL and it was quite special.  As you said, it was about the culture of HAL and it used to be very special.  Now it feels like a group of old soldiers trying to hang on to some memories....but it no longer feels special.

 

 

Hank

[Sue from Canada]

On 8/22/2019 at 4:36 PM, ger_77 said:

I always bring ours and put them in my jewellery pouch in my carry-on bag.  I figure we've earned them, why not wear them to the Mariner's Luncheon.  Like others, I've often told people they are the most expensive pieces of jewellery we own, and they contain the most amazing memories.

 

Smooth Sailing! 🙂🙂🙂

Well, I guess I'll go get my silver medallion and put in with my other jewellery for next month.

[ski ww]

We wear our pins when we dine in the MDR

[kazu]

8 hours ago, Caribbean Chris said:

We were surprised to get the invitation to the medallion ceremony back in April on Nieuw Statendam - hadn’t paid much attention to passing the 100 day mark.

It was a nice event to attend and actually see the captain in a smaller venue, compared to some of the impersonal Mariner Luncheons with hundreds of people.

 

The Mariner hostess even presented my service dog with a medallion which the dog wore with dignity.

 

 

Awww - that is really nice and such a cute pic 🙂 

[DaveOKC]

16 hours ago, rucrazy said:

the only time we wore our medallions were the day we received them.  We removed them after the luncheon. Now we have them in a shadow box frame in the family room.

We did the exact same thing!