Thank You from HAL......... Nice!

[SandRaven]

We received this Thank You email after booking our upcoming Caribbean cruise through a dot-com travel agency, the same one we used to book our last two cruises. :)

 

<IMG We are so pleased that you have selected Holland America Line for your upcoming Caribbean cruise. Part of the pleasure of travel is in the planning and anticipation of the enjoyment to come. In addition to consulting with your travel professional at Vacations to Go, we invite you to explore the links in this email as you plan the details of your cruise.

 

 

Reminder: Please take care of your passport, visa and immunization requirements early. The rules have changed for American citizens traveling outside the U.S. Click on the Documentation link above for the most current information.

Learn about your cruise destination and the details of your ship

— our Online Cinema offers snapshots, videos and 360-degree views of staterooms, onboard services, dining options, activities, destinations, interactive maps and online brochures.

Plan your onboard activities

— there is so much to explore, from ship Art Tour podcasts to relaxing in the Greenhouse Spa or taking a class in the Culinary Arts Center.

[/url]

Order onboard gifts and amenities

— there is so much to do, from Art Tour podcasts to classes in the Culinary Arts Center. Enjoy easy online booking to order cruise gifts: that special bottle of wine, flowers or reservations for that intimate Pinnacle Grill evening to spoil you and your companions.

Plan your shore activities

— make your vacation even more memorable with award-winning shore excursions that range from easygoing activities to high adventure, book easily online up to 10 days prior to your cruise. We recommend you book early for the best selection and availability.

We hope that this information will add to your excitement about your upcoming cruise. Thank you again for choosing Holland America Line. The officers and crew of ms Zuiderdam look forward to welcoming you onboard.

Kind Regards,

Holland America Line

[SandRaven]

It's definitely a nice touch! It's not reserved for the elite, or a certain passenger class; believe me, I've never had a suite. ;)

 

If you give your email address to your travel agent or HAL when you book, odds are you're going to get one of these thank you emails.

 

If your email address does not accompany your booking, you may not receive these emails, even if the cruise line has you on a distribution list for special offers.

 

Also, these emails are notorious for getting tagged as SPAM.

[HeatherInFlorida]

I only cruise HAL so have no idea if other lines send out such e-mails. That is why I asked.

 

In terms of my question, 'what it was about' was simply my question. Do other cruise lines do it? That is 'what it is about' for me.

 

I can't speak 'what it is about' for someone else.

 

I have no idea if it is arbitrary or what it is. I seriously doubt any of us know the rhyme or reason of the ins and outs of any corporation with which we have no employment connection/inside knowledge. I don't feel qualified to judge what is arbitrary or planned in what HAL does. Speaking just for myself, of course.

 

Asked and answered then from my experience only ... sorry not to your satisfaction. I wasn't going to respond, thought I'd leave it to others, but since you asked again it's clearly important to you.

 

It is obviously arbitrary since some people get it, some people don't, some people have cruised a gizillion times, some people haven't and whether they get one of these emails or not has nothing to do it. Therefore it's arbitrary. One does not need to judge that ... it is simply so.

 

All of this may be interesting or important to you. It's not to me.

[ugminer]

I got my first "Thank You for choosing us" for our Nov cruise today. Maybe it's sent on a time before cruise basis:confused: Deb

[peaches from georgia]

We haven't cruised another cruiseline in a long time, so I have no idea what they do. I will say Celebrity continues to send us brochures and all kinds of mail on a regular basis and we haven't cruised with them in at least 10 yrs. From HAL- nothing ever.

 

My gripe with HAL is that computer contact with Mariners is as lousy as their ability to run their website efficiently. There is a good cross-section of HAL cruisers on this board and you can see that some people are given constant stroking and others get nothing. How hard is it to develop a computer program that changes email addresses of customers on a consistent timetable, so that everyone who has contacted them and cruised within a certain time period receives some kind of contact. That's not rocket science in today's computer world. If HAL was doing this it might take awhile to get to everyone, but no one would continue to receive contact over and over as their address would drop off the HAL email system so that others get added. This obviously is not happening. Some people receive thanks for booking, thanks for cruising, every Mariner magazine and brochure, and even birthday cards! Others can't even get a snail or email brochure of cruise booking sales or new itineraries. Sorry, very poor customer service.

[earl_m]

I have always recieved pamplets,flyers and e-mail ads, but never to my knowledge I have recieve a thank you note

[Golfette]

When we booked our 1st HAL cruise directly with HAL back in May, we received it.

 

Also during the past year or two, we've received similar communications from various golf resorts, etc. we've vacationed at. Apparently, it is another marketing tool and we don't look at it as anything other than that. As regards the golf resorts, it seems to come whether or not you have registered complaints or praise in complete obliviousness of your actual experience.

[Sunshine91]

We received the "thank you for booking" e-mail earlier this year after we booked our cabin on E-dam's inaugural. At the very bottom of the note, even HAL refers to the ship that way, instead of her full name of Eurodam. :rolleyes:

 

I seem to remember John getting the "happy birthday" e-mail back in June. I sure was hoping there was a little onboard credit tucked in that one! :D

 

It seemed like we didn't get the Mariner mag for a few years, but then I sent HAL an e-mail & called. Now I get the e-mail notice & about a week later we get the hard copy in the mail. We also receive the promos in the mail, but they come rather sporadically. It seems like I get e-mail notices of specials & sales for other Carnival-owned lines more frequently than than I do HAL, but perhaps that's because there are just a lot of them - & I only pay attention to HAL. :)

[boards]

We received a thank you note from Hal after our cruise on the Amsterdam in fall of 2006 to NZ & Australia. We used the OBC for our next in May of 2008. We were a bit surprised by it.