Mariner's - Westerdam

[Krazy Kruizers]

I was just reading a thread where someone said that on their recent cruise on the Westerdam, instead of getting the tiles for being Mariner's they were given a book on the history of the Westerdam.

What have other Mariner's gotten on this ship? Tiles? Book?

[WindyCity]

We got both the book and the tiles

[thulewx]

I'm pretty sure the book is a momento for those on the inaugural voyages of the Westerdam - 1st year only? :confused:

[TedC]

We were on the Westerdam in May RT Venice and again in November for the repositioning from Barcelona to FLL and received tiles both time but no book.

[Esme]

My friends who came back from the Christmas cruise are long time Mariners and they got the book, 2 plates (dinner size) and 2 tiles 6"x6" - larger than usual ones. My friend showed them to me last night and they are lovely. Tile says "The Inaugural - MS Westerdam 2004 - Holland American Line. The plate had the same printing.

[mcduck]

I wonder if what you got depends on how many days you have accumulated as a Mariner. We received two copies in our cabin, one for each of us, and my daughter also got one in her cabin. The tile or plate instead of one of the books would have been great. They showed up the same night as the Mariners reception that we accidentally missed.

[Esme]

I wonder if what you got depends on how many days you have accumulated as a Mariner. We received two copies in our cabin, one for each of us, and my daughter also got one in her cabin. The tile or plate instead of one of the books would have been great. They showed up the same night as the Mariners reception that we accidentally missed.

I do know that my friends have sailed with HAL for nearly 450 days, so maybe this is why they got the plates and tiles. Will have to ask her. Yes, it is too bad that you got 3 books instead of at least one or 2 plates and tiles.

[bellbuggyx@aol.com]

I was just reading a thread where someone said that on their recent cruise on the Westerdam, instead of getting the tiles for being Mariner's they were given a book on the history of the Westerdam.

What have other Mariner's gotten on this ship? Tiles? Book?

I cruised the last cruise of the inaugural season and received a tile - nothing else. On each of five past inaugural cruises I have received a nice upscale bag, a blue delft plate, a book of the history of the ship and a pin except the Zuiderdam. The travel agents received the "goodies" from that launching and those who actually took the cruise got a ceramic replica of the ship. However, I was without luggage on the Westerdam for 2 1/2 days. No one on the ship acknowledged my luggage was missing, even after I contacted the hotel manager. Received no offer of a personal hygiene kit, credit to purchase a change of clothes aboard or offer of overnight laundry service. The only thing they were concerned about was did I really have 444 days at sea and was I going to attend the Mariner's Party. My cabin steward left a lot to be desired. I had stained linen on my bed more than once and the best food (both selection and tempertature) was in the Lido Bistro at lunch.

[cruisinjudy]

We received tiles, of which one broke on the way home. I thought it was strange that we had lunch on the Oosterdam and received plate and book, but paid for a cruise the inaugural year and only got tiles. There seems to be no consistency.

[mcduck]

Esme - We are HAL rookies with only 22 days with them, so that may be why we got the books. Two were fine as my daughter has her own copy, but why they would leave my wife and I two is strange. If they had just left the two of us one book in the room, we would not have thought anything of it. (Though I am sure there are those that would have complained about that!).

We prefer the book to the tile that we received on the Amsterdam.

[the2ofus]

Bellbuggy, if the ceramic replica of the ship was the same as I saw in the gift shop on our 12/12 cruise, you didn't miss anything. The replica was not at all accurate in representing the new Westerdam.

On our cruise we received the book, two inaugural year tiles and the usual canvas bag (one of those). DH and I both have more than 75 days on HAL.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks everyone for responding.

It will be curious as to what we will get.

We were on the 5th and 6th cruises of the Zaandam in 2000 and all we got were the tiles and the books - no plates - inaugural year for her.

And as many of you know, we have quite a few cruises on HAL.

[mcduck]

I followed up on a suggestion from bobpatj to contact the Mariner's Society about the books, and why we received three copies. I heard back from them in a couple of days and the answer was that in a break from the tile tradition they decided to offer special gifts for the Christmas Cruise based on the number of days sailed, as follows:

300 and up - Inauguaral Plate
100 - 299 - Inaugeral Tile
Less than 100 =-Westerdam book.

They did acknowledge that it made little sense to leave us three copies of the same book and are sending two regular Marine tiles. They made this offer even though I did not ask for anything other than an explaination as to who received what. Another example of HAL going above and beyound.

Thanks for the suggestion bobpatj, as we not only got an explaination, but the tiles as an unexpected bonus!

[sandij]

We have never sailed on Hal before but were invited to a brunch and received both the tile and the book. We are now booked on the Westerdam, was very impressed by that brunch.

[joemarg]

We were recently on the Westerdam Transatlantic crossing. It was out first time on HAL. We really enjoyed the ship but I was quite disappointed that I didn't get a tile. I didn't know about the plates or the book. I thought it would have been a nice idea if everyone on the cruise received a tile - after all it was the inaugral. And I did notice that mcduck contacted the mariner's society and they told him that if you had sailed less than 100 days you would receive a book (we sailed for 17 days!). Guess I should have complained to the front desk when I was on the ship. Oh well - I will know better on my next cruise.

[momqat]

We were on the Westerdam New Year's sailing and didn't receive a thing... and have just under 50 days. Two days after the Mariners' reception, I went to the front office to inquire about the tile and was told they had "run out" of them. How does a ship not know how many Mariners are on a sailing... Was told they would mail the tiles to my husband, daughter and son-in-law and me, but nothing at all was said about a book, etc.

Thanks for the info re the Mariners Society. I guess I will give them a call...

[lcruiser]

Hi KrazyKruisers,
On the 3 day HMC presidents cruise, we received the book, plate, tiles and magnetic mini tiles. It was a great surprise.

By now you must be on your BB, hope you are having fun. Please have a dirnk for us landlubbers......

[bkreader]

Just off the 5-day Westerdam Bahamas, got the tile and the book. We were in a C category. I only had one previous HAL cruise.