Does Mariners Society still exist?

[sail7seas]

I have heard/read no mention of Gerald Bernhoft in a very long time.  The  Director is a fabulous gentleman and I hope all is as well with him as can be  during these difficult times for cruise lines.

 

I no longer receive my Mainers'  gift magazine for being a loyal Mariner.  🙂   Certainly no Mariners magazine in longer than I can remember..

 

Anyone?    get their  food and wine  magazine    or which ever they chose?

 

Edited October 7, 2020 by sail7seas

[MISTER 67]

3 minutes ago, sail7seas said:

I have heard/read no mention of Gerald Bernhoft in a very long time.  The  Director is a fabulous gentleman and I hope all is as well with him as can be  during these difficult times for cruise lines.

 

I no longer receive my Mainers'  gift magazine for being a loyal Mariner.  🙂   Certainly no Mariners magazine in longer than I can remember..

 

Anyone?    get their  food and wine  magazine    or which ever they chose?

 

Probably cost cutting measures, with no income it's hard running a company with business as usual.

[sail7seas]

Yes   but how are we to know if they plan (hope) to ever  'welcome  us back aboardone of their blue hulled beauties?  It costs nothing to send e-mails.  letting us know some senior staff has been able to wait out this nightmare.

 

 

 

[sail7seas]

How about an abbreviated version of Mainers magazine sent  as  e-mail?  Let some of their formerly 'most loyal'  guests know  that  HAL still exists?   ..  in one form or another

 

 I Never even think to go to what was once their website.

Does   that still exist?

 

Edited October 7, 2020 by sail7seas

[Love2cruise77]

Here's a link to the website:

 

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

[rkacruiser]

38 minutes ago, sail7seas said:

I have heard/read no mention of Gerald Bernhoft in a very long time.  The  Director is a fabulous gentleman and I hope all is as well with him as can be  during these difficult times for cruise lines.

 

I no longer receive my Mainers'  gift magazine for being a loyal Mariner.  🙂   Certainly no Mariners magazine in longer than I can remember..

 

Anyone?    get their  food and wine  magazine    or which ever they chose?

 

 

I haven't heard from any CCL brand cruise company by e-mail or snail mail for most of 2020.  Unfortunately, I am now starting to get "stuff" from Oceania and Regent that I don't want!  As for Food and Wine, it seemed when my Mariner Society related subscription was about to end, I would begin getting renewal requests that required me to pay for a continuing of the subscription.  Not interested in doing so and the magazine stopped.  

[bcummin]

The Holland America blog seems to be alive and well.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/

Barbara

[sail7seas]

Me, too.  🙂

 

I have heard nothing from Princess(we did about 5-6 cruises with them but that was long ago).

 

I continue to receive way too many costly mailings from Oceania and Regent though  I have never shown them    any interest

[sail7seas]

40 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I haven't heard from any CCL brand cruise company by e-mail or snail mail for most of 2020.  Unfortunately, I am now starting to get "stuff" from Oceania and Regent that I don't want!  As for Food and Wine, it seemed when my Mariner Society related subscription was about to end, I would begin getting renewal requests that required me to pay for a continuing of the subscription.  Not interested in doing so and the magazine stopped.  

 

 

Same for me. they sent a renewal card and price for me to deal with.   Nooo.   I was not interested

 

[Been There, Planning That]

1 hour ago, sail7seas said:

 

 

Anyone?    get their  food and wine  magazine    or which ever they chose?

 

 

No, only sent 'opportunities' to renew with payment.

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, sail7seas said:

 

 

Same for me. they sent a renewal card and price for me to deal with.   Nooo.   I was not interested

 

 

Food and Wine, I enjoyed browsing through.  Paying for it?  No.  I found the publication called Wine Spectator much more interesting and subscribed to that for quite some time.  Finally stopped that subscription as well as others.  In my opinion, many are like a wonderful publication-National Geographic-but, there are not enough hours in the day to read all of these interesting publications that appear in my mailbox.  

[sail7seas]

2 hours ago, Been There, Planning That said:

 

No, only sent 'opportunities' to renew with payment.

 

 

 

While we are  'at it':    I have sailed something around 100 HAL cruises and have heard zip, zero, nothing from any of 'emmm.  '    since who knows when?  !   😏   shrug    oh well..........

 

Hey  HAL

 

we aren't  feeling the love

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by sail7seas

[Himself]

I suspect yhr Mariner society is alive and well.

[Lady Chew]

I would never pay for a subscription to Food & Wine, but I have renewed it a few times through HAL.  I don't pay a lot of attention to the timing, but when I've realized I haven't seen an issue in a few months, I've  gone into my Mariner account and renewed.  I think I've done this 3 or 4 times in the last 5 years ... 

[sandiego1]

I get frequent emails from HAL with info about cruises, a recipe, and a photo for "where in the world am I" type question. I probably get them about once per week.

[sail7seas]

1 hour ago, sandiego1 said:

I get frequent emails from HAL with info about cruises, a recipe, and a photo for "where in the world am I" type question. I probably get them about once per week.

 

 

Maybe you'd like to share?

 

 

Seems Hal cannot locate my addresses (e -mail, snail mail.....

 

Anyone else hear from HAL from time to time?

 

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by sail7seas

[whogo]

The last Mariner magazine, Winter 2020, featured a message from Orlando Ashford and promoted spring and summer cruises, none of which sailed. A spring edition would have promoted more sailings that never materialized.

 

The sustainability article suggested "10 easy things Holland America Line guests can do to pitch in and help our drive towards environmental sustainability" including: "4. Keep your verandah doors closed when you’re not in your stateroom."

 

The online edition did not have any advertisements. Not me, I don't miss the Mariner magazine a bit. No point to a loyalty program when ships are not sailing. It is a great equalizer, with not ships sailing everyone from zero to five star gets the same benefits: none.

 

[Hlitner]

I guess the Mariner Society has little meaning or use when there are no cruises :(.  I will admit to being somewhat depressed about our own cruise situation (which is similar to many others).  We have had 3 cruises (including a 30 day HAL) cancelled this year and a 4th moved to a 2021 date at our request since that cruise was also likely to be cancelled.  We have another 30 day HAL cruise booked for next April and I am already depressed with the thought that it will likely be cancelled by HAL.  I will admit that making an early January final payment on that cruise causes me to hesitate since one wonders how long it would take to get a refund if and when that cruise is cancelled.  The thought of having 10s of thousands of dollars sitting with cruise lines for however long they please is not my idea of a good investment.   Prior to 2020 we had taken far more then 100 cruises over many decades and had only cancelled one reservation (death in the immediate family).  And then comes COVID!  ARGH!

 

Thinking out loud "I want my old cruise life back"  but I am cognizant that this will likely never happen.  I do believe that COVID will change the cruise life for the foreseeable future.  Like most cruise lovers we will try to adjust to whatever changes occur,  but I wonder if our extensive cruise life will now change to extensive land-based life.  DW and I can easily adjust to more independent land travel (we enjoy this as much as cruising) although I will admit to adoring the lazy cruise life.  Independent travel does require more planning (and work) then a cruise and I have trouble motivating myself to spend the many hours planning long independent trips.   So I guess we will soon start looking at European apartment rentals for some future trips.  

 

(Still thinking out loud) I now need to spend time booking hotels in Japan (for a 2 week pre-cruise independent trip in April) with the knowledge that the time and energy finding the right places and working out the logistics will likely be an exericse in futility (assuming HAL cancels that cruise).  We did all the same work for a Westy cruise last April and then I had to painfully cancel every darn reservation.  

 

Ok, so that is it....I am done feeling sorry for myself (at least for tonight) and will go to sleep dreaming about future lazy sea days.

 

Hank

[DeeDee Groff]

For me, you have the best posts, Hank:  I thoroughly enjoy each and every one, and I can identify with most, if not all, your posts!

 

 

[wander]

1. Mailings from HAL.  I have received several future cruise "deals" since COVID appeared.

 

2. Re: - Food and Wine.  Yes, I have received it at no additional fee every year since the option first occurred.  However, I too get an"offer" from Food and Wine directly to get my own subscription just before the "expiration" of my free Hal year.  I never return the information but each year the magazine starts up very soon.   I get the "free" subscription year after year this way.

[0bnxshs]

12 hours ago, sail7seas said:

Me, too.  🙂

 

I have heard nothing from Princess(we did about 5-6 cruises with them but that was long ago).

 

I continue to receive way too many costly mailings from Oceania and Regent though  I have never shown them    any interest

While I don't get much from HAL beyond the HAL@HOME emails (which I do generally enjoy and seem to come weekly), Princess has been sending me updates about return to cruising including one this morning outlining the steps they plan to take, including testing before travel.  Princess seems to be far more forthcoming than HAL about how they plan to return.

 

It seems strange that we all seem to receive different things from the various lines.  But, email does cost money; it's not just some guy sitting at a computer typing away and adding email addresses.... although it might be given how HAL seems to be reticent to communicate much.

[Hlitner]

There has been one good thing to come out of all this COVID stuff.  Prior to COVID we would receive 3 copies of everything from Viking and Viking would send us stuff (times 3) every day.  I could almost fill a garbage can with just the Viking junk and when we would return from a long HAL cruise we would usually have an entire bin full of Viking brochures (3 copies of each).  Since COVID the Viking brochures have finally slowed down and we now only get 1/2 of a mail bin per week.  For those that might wonder why we don't ask Viking to stop (we have not cruised on that River line for more then 15 years) we used to get 2 copies of everything and did try to get them to stop.  The result was that we started to get 3 copies. :(.

 

 

Hank

[indokiwi]

Isn't the Culinary Arts Center presented by Food and Wine Magazine now America's Test Kitchen at Sea? That would mean HAL no longer has that sponsorship, right?  I mean, it's so easy to get free magazines though - we get Better Homes and Gardens just for going to the local Home Show.  

[T8NCruise]

17 hours ago, sail7seas said:

How about an abbreviated version of Mainers magazine sent  as  e-mail?  Let some of their formerly 'most loyal'  guests know  that  HAL still exists?   ..  in one form or another

 

 I Never even think to go to what was once their website.

Does   that still exist?

 

I'm sure there are thousands of "most loyal" guests and, as one of them, - no, not had a single item either by email or snail mail since Covid hit.  But I don't really care, I'm quite happy not getting inundated with "stuff".  I can go online and get any info I want or need.

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I guess the Mariner Society has little meaning or use when there are no cruises :(.  I will admit to being somewhat depressed about our own cruise situation (which is similar to many others).  We have had 3 cruises (including a 30 day HAL) cancelled this year and a 4th moved to a 2021 date at our request since that cruise was also likely to be cancelled.  We have another 30 day HAL cruise booked for next April and I am already depressed with the thought that it will likely be cancelled by HAL.  I will admit that making an early January final payment on that cruise causes me to hesitate since one wonders how long it would take to get a refund if and when that cruise is cancelled.  The thought of having 10s of thousands of dollars sitting with cruise lines for however long they please is not my idea of a good investment.   Prior to 2020 we had taken far more then 100 cruises over many decades and had only cancelled one reservation (death in the immediate family).  And then comes COVID!  ARGH!

 

Thinking out loud "I want my old cruise life back"  but I am cognizant that this will likely never happen.  I do believe that COVID will change the cruise life for the foreseeable future.  Like most cruise lovers we will try to adjust to whatever changes occur,  but I wonder if our extensive cruise life will now change to extensive land-based life.  DW and I can easily adjust to more independent land travel (we enjoy this as much as cruising) although I will admit to adoring the lazy cruise life.  Independent travel does require more planning (and work) then a cruise and I have trouble motivating myself to spend the many hours planning long independent trips.   So I guess we will soon start looking at European apartment rentals for some future trips.  

 

(Still thinking out loud) I now need to spend time booking hotels in Japan (for a 2 week pre-cruise independent trip in April) with the knowledge that the time and energy finding the right places and working out the logistics will likely be an exericse in futility (assuming HAL cancels that cruise).  We did all the same work for a Westy cruise last April and then I had to painfully cancel every darn reservation.  

 

Ok, so that is it....I am done feeling sorry for myself (at least for tonight) and will go to sleep dreaming about future lazy sea days.

 

Hank

Have you ever considered writing a travel book? You have extensive travel experience and write very well.