No tiles? and Mariner perks

[SeaMatesNYC]

The Cunard program certainly sounds more robust than the Mariner perks though most anything would. Not sure about the 150 threshold though on HAL. With the high number of repeating Mariners there's a good chance a ship could have a high number of passengers with 150 days or more. That could make the perks a bit of a problem as the number of people taking advantage could be very high.

 

As to the other posting on the relative worth of the pins and tiles. Well, got to say they were fun at first and now we don't pay much attention to them. My coffee cup is sitting on my Volendam I tile right now so we do use them. :)

 

Sure, they could play with the tiers and adjust the count to fit. Cunard has four, if memory serves, gold, silver, platinum, diamond. Things get added as you move up, like more internet time, etc. Lack of such on HAL does not keep me away, but it sure does not bring up any feeling of being "appreciated" when the subject of "Mariners" comes up, at least for me.

[Randyk47]

Totally agree. As I posted before we don't cruise HAL or not cruise some other line because of the frequent cruiser perks. Would it be nice? Sure. On the other hand, it's not like frequent flier perks, just by the fact we travel frequently for business those are important to us and we are attracted to the airlines that give us the best perks.

[jtl513]

We really didn't care since the tiles just go into a drawer and we have never used the previous bags.

In the future, please leave the tiles in a nightstand drawer on the ship. Some people (such as me) would be very happy to find them there. :)

[Loreto]

We were just on the Veendam and received tiles. The lunch was by far the worst meal on board though.

 

Sorry I missed the roll call. Randy posted the info after we departed, otherwise I would have been there! We got our tiles and 100 Day medallions. The luncheon was excellent, and Captain Albert sat at our table.:) It was great to ask him questions...he actually mentioned that they listen to what is being said on Cruise Critic Boards...but I never mentioned that I was a member. He said they plan to have the Oosterdam sail the Sea of Cortez, which is fantastic news and my favorite destination!:D

 

 

Karen

[sail7seas]

I do like SeaMates and use the canvas totes for errands instead of constantly getting more plastic bags. I keep several HAL totes in my car at all times.

 

[MightyQuinn]

In the future, please leave the tiles in a nightstand drawer on the ship. Some people (such as me) would be very happy to find them there. :)

Hee hee - that's exactly what we do with our tiles! It's not that we don't appreciate them, it's just that we're not big on collecting them. Several years ago, we moved house & disposed of a ton of stuff we had hoarded for years. A bunch of HAL mariner tiles went to Sally Ann & since then, we haven't brought another home. We stash them in a cabin drawer & assume somebody finds them. :D:D

[MrsMuir]

Copper 10-8, I couldn't find any HAL items on that website. The tiles mean a great deal to me! I have one by my laptop for a coaster and place the others around the house. Every time I see one it lifts my spirits. I also love the plates! Our local nautical antique store had several of them, and I eventually cleaned them out. We have a HAL windsock on our back porch; there's a HAL pocket calculator in my purse...It just helps to see that logo during the day, especially when we have no cruises booked.

 

Mrs Muir

[sammiedawg]

Someone had a good idea to use the HAL bags for grocery shopping, I have already thrown mine out.

I maintain younger cruisers have little to no interest in collecting stuff like tiles, pins. We did a HAL Europe cruise with our teenage kids and we have done several Princess cruises with our kids. They were thrilled with the free internet on Princess, we had enough minutes everyone could get on line at no extra charge.

I did not tell them about the pins/tiles, I don't think they would have been impressed.

Times change, generations change.

And I'm getting older myelf, I am not putting down older people!

[Copper10-8]

Copper 10-8, I couldn't find any HAL items on that website. The tiles mean a great deal to me! I have one by my laptop for a coaster and place the others around the house. Every time I see one it lifts my spirits. I also love the plates! Our local nautical antique store had several of them, and I eventually cleaned them out. We have a HAL windsock on our back porch; there's a HAL pocket calculator in my purse...It just helps to see that logo during the day, especially when we have no cruises booked.

 

Mrs Muir

 

Not sure if you know but here's the entire HAL 'tegel' (tile) collection:

http://www.hollandamerica.com/marinerSociety/Main.action;jsessionid=6F36ADEF0AE53AED11BC637211500927.www1-hal

[mrskmirolla]

I have all of MY HAL tiles in a wall safe

 

 

and they are insured by "LLoyds Of London"

 

 

Oh my gosh and to think I have them displayed on out headboard to see each and dream:o I sure hope they are safe:D

Kathy

[jtl513]

Not sure if you know but here's the entire HAL 'tegel' (tile) collection:

http://www.hollandamerica.com/marinerSociety/Main.action;jsessionid=6F36ADEF0AE53AED11BC637211500927.www1-hal

... then click the Tiles tab. ;)

[c-cruise]

We got tiles on our short 3 day Oosterdam cruise in Sept. even though we weren't supposed to (only on 7 day and longer cruises). Just asked the concierge and she was happy to get a couple out for us. On our Westerdam cruise in March they only gave out 1 per cabin as they were running low.

 

They aren't that big of a deal to us, but they are a fun reminder of cruises past and an interesting conversation starter when we have guests over.

 

The bags on the other hand we find to be useless. Too small for the beach, too small for groceries. Not sure why we hang on to those things, but we do :D

[luv2cruise450]

We just disembarked the Noordam last Friday and we got our tiles at the Mariners Brunch (the invitation stated that if you did not plan on attending to let the front desk know and your tiles would be delivered to your stateroom). The ship was pretty much full and there were 1200+ Mariners on board...so they had to do 3 brunches/lunches to accomodate all the Mariners!!

We don't cruise for the tiles...but they are nice reminders of the HAL cruises we have taken. And we were on the Ryndam in April and we also got tiles then too. We do cruise on other lines...and have enjoyed them all but we always come back to HAL and not because of any Mariner perks.

Happy sailing!!

[sail7seas]

Copper 10-8, I couldn't find any HAL items on that website. The tiles mean a great deal to me! I have one by my laptop for a coaster and place the others around the house. Every time I see one it lifts my spirits. I also love the plates! Our local nautical antique store had several of them, and I eventually cleaned them out. We have a HAL windsock on our back porch; there's a HAL pocket calculator in my purse...It just helps to see that logo during the day, especially when we have no cruises booked.

 

Mrs Muir

 

 

I agree, Mrs. Muir. :)

 

My favorite Logo and I love seeing it around my house and DH has it on some things in his office. Gives him a lift if he's having a 'rough day'. ;)

[Boytjie]

The bags on the other hand we find to be useless. Too small for the beach, too small for groceries. Not sure why we hang on to those things, but we do :D

 

Maybe you want to leave future bags in the bed side drawer too for others that do like using them. ;)

[airlink diva]

I just returned a week ago from my 14 day cruise on the Maasdam and I didn't received a tile either. I did get the standard tote bag the first night of my cruise.

I did received a thank you e-mail from HAL about my cruise the other day, but I will e-mail about the tile. While my collection is small compared to others, I still like to add to it.

I e-mail Holland America and imformed them that I just returned from a cruise and did not receive a tile.

Holland America was quick to reply and stated that they were temporary out of stock during my cruise and would send me one out once they were back in stock.

When I got home from work Monday, I had a small package from Holland America. I received the tile with the young Dutch girl looking out to the Rottendam. There was a small note telling me that they were sorry that I was just receiving my tile and thank me for sailing.

I had a good ending on this one and Holland America did a good job on this!!

[Regal Eagle]

The Mariner program is going to be revised and enhanced for 2009. I predict we will see levels and perks similar to the Princess and Cunard reward programs.

[Deb C.]

I was on the same cruise as Airlink Diva. I got my tile with my pin along with my brunch invitation in my cabin early in the cruise.

There were 700 Mariners on that sailing. They had to have 2 days of brunches in order to get all of them served (no reservations needed--just show up).

Sounds like different ships do it differently and even on the same ship same sailing can be different. Go figure!!!

[kryos]

On our recent Ryndam cruise - Nov 1 - there were no tiles given to Mariners! We really missed this. I called the Front Office and was told that tiles are no longer available becuase the factory making them is out of business.

That's strange. We got tiles on my Hawaii/South Pacific cruise that disembarked on October 25.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[AirGorilla]

As has been stated here many times in the past, HAL doesn't need to give all sorts of incentive to have repeaters return again and again to HAL ships. They have the highest rate of repeaters in the industry

 

That's mighty interesting. I would like to see the stats on this, as well as for Celebrity, Crystal, Cunard and a few others. Do you have a resource where I could research this subject?

 

Thanks, and happy sailing --

 

AG

[sail7seas]

HAL has 6 million living Mariners.

 

It is well acknowledged throughout the industry that HAL has the highest percentage of returning guests.

 

It is rare for us to be on a cruise when there are not at least 70% of the guests aboard being Mariners.

 

[ASIWISH]

We were on the Nov. 1st Eurodam cruise, and we did recieve our tiles!

 

We didn't expect that.... LOVED THEM!

[AirGorilla]

HAL has 6 million living Mariners.

 

It is well acknowledged throughout the industry that HAL has the highest percentage of returning guests.

 

It is rare for us to be on a cruise when there are not at least 70% of the guests aboard being Mariners.

 

 

Thanks for the reply, but does "well acknowledged" have some kind of source that someone (like me) can access somewhere? Curious about how the different lines compare on this matter.

 

Thanks,

AG

[jschm27]

They may have a higher rate of repeat business but they probably also have a higher rate of deceased passengers.

 

Ooooooh! I always thought that mining, commercial fishing, and timber cutting were the most dangerous occupations. I didn't realize that cruising on HAL was that dangerous! :D

 

John

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

We were on the Ryndam cruise November 11th and did receive tiles at the Mariner Luncheon. However, they were not on the table as they had been a few times in the past. They were rather hastily given to us at the end of the lunch by a server who said "souvenir". I don't know if others received theirs as we left early.

 

Barbara