9/19 luncheon on Amsterdam

[wander]

I just got home from having a PR lunch on the Amsterdam in Seattle. First I must say the event was First Class except that after 4-1/2 hours we had to get off. First came Mimosas in the show lounge, with 2nds and 3rds ... easily available. Then we had a lovely lunch in the dining room with free flowing red and white wine. (No, they did not leave bottles on the table.) Meal - Tomato bisque soup, green salad with a lobster tail (shelled), either Salmon or Rack of Lamb chops (3), both of which folks at our table loved. Neapolitan for dessert.

In the Show Lounge Stein Kruse and the woman who replaced Margaret as responsible for administration of the Mariner Program spoke. One topic - the new Mariner Program.

The main "new" information from the formal talk was that folks boarding the Amsterdam today would have a booklet (picture shown) in their cabin describing the new program and the new "perks" (my word) that would be available on the ship starting today. They will be on each ship as the program is introduced until the mass mailing has gone out. We also learned that within the next few weeks they will start mailing the information to individual Mariners.

After the formal presentation there was plenty of opportunity to ask more questions of appropriate individuals. What else did I learn?

I AM VINDICATED!!! Some of you may remember my comments on the main thread about the changes that I questioned about the use of the word "published" program and suspected the use of that word meant something? Well, it did!!!! (As Blue Whale also found out and reported.) After my comments several of the regular posters soundly dismissed me, saying things such as "The Program ends at 200 days, we all agree on that." Well, as I said, the use of the term "published" program did mean something, and additional goodies will frequently await those with more days, but they will vary by cruise and opportunity. (From friends with over 700 days, I think these "unpublished" activities have been around for some time.)

The talks included slides to convince us how wonderful the World and the Grand Cruises are and some other HAL updates that were of no particular significance to me.

We disembarked by 2:30 pm, sadly leaving a wonderful ship. It was fun seeing all the folks boarding the ship for its last 7 day round trip to Alaska, they were having such fun discovering the ship.

I thought of the folks like Karen who will be boarding next weekend for their looong cruise to the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand. I hope you all have a WONDERFUL cruise.

[brucory]

The lunch sounds like a great way to see the Amsterdam and catch up on the news!!! Thanks for reporting in!!

[wander]

Glad to report - it was a wonderful day inside the ship - raining outside.

[Cqis]

Now you have my interest. My curiosity has perked. I await my Mariner's gifts.

Cely

[wander]

Cqui,

Depending on what you "await", on some cruises there may not be any. I would expect things like a party or meal for those with over a certain number of days. I would think of "gifts" as objects - I do not know about those, maybe.

I guess my point is, HAL values their high days cruisers too much to ignore them. "Extras" already exist for those with many, many days, extras that most of us do not even know about. (Well, maybe through CC or a friend who qualifies we learn of them, like "The President's Club".) Until I was on a HAL cruise to Alaska where I had the 3rd highest number of days cruising with HAL (around 300), I never knew of the special events the highest cruise day folks went to on HAL cruises, and this was just a 7 day cruise. (On Princess last month the top 40 highest day cruisers (based on Princess cruising days) got invited to a very special event. I only knew of it because I was invited. Again this was an Alaska cruise with many newbies.)

From what I learned today, such special events will continue. From what I heard today, what will actually be done after 4 star status is fluid, based on what I do not know.

[Brad1185]

The lunch sounds great

[lorekauf]

Originally Posted by wander

I never knew of the special events the highest cruise day folks went to on HAL cruises, and this was just a 7 day cruise. (On Princess last month the top 40 highest day cruisers (based on Princess cruising days) got invited to a very special event. I only knew of it because I was invited. Again this was an Alaska cruise with many newbies.)

Would you mind sharing what they/you considered a very special event? I hear this lingo a fair bit but I find what some people may think is very special "may" not be as special to me. Thx for the info.

[Barocl]

We are not PC club yet (Platimun),but must have missed out on plenty of extras because except for the VIP party invite I can't think of any. If you know of these extras please inform us so we can look for them. Tks. Take care.

[wander]

Lorekauf and Baroci,

Lorekauf, I hear you when you commented on what 'special' means to various people. So true.

I am not ignoring your questions but rather choosing not to answer it with specifics. First, it has been more fun to get a surprise invitation than to look forward to one that never comes. Our first VIP party invitation was a real thrill as we did not even know such existed. On the World Cruise our # of days means nothing, and we get nothing beyond the WC extras available to all non-suite passengers. On several 7 - 17 day cruises we got invitations to some special events beyond the VIP party. On several 65 or so day cruises we did not even merit an invitation to the VIP party, too many higher day cruisers. We know they had them because friends were invited (many, many more days).

[RevNeal]

Thank you, wander. I'm sorry you felt dismissed in your earlier post regarding "published" and "unpublished" perks. As I said then, I had no question -- even before it was announced that HAL would be keeping the 300, 500, and 700 Day Medallions -- that many/most of the unpublished, unofficial "perks" would continue: the parties, the dinners with the Hotel Manager and Captain in the Pinnacle, the drinks in officers country, the special receptions with full open and complementary bar, etc. I would have been surprised had those numerous, "under the table" social perks had been discontinued.

The reinstating of the upper-level Medallion awards has solved most of the concerns that we had that HAL was totally disregarding its longtime cruisers with high-day counts.

Again, thanks for the report and I'm sorry you were feeling slighted. Sometimes we allow our pessimism to get the better of us; it's become very easy to expect the worst, what with all the cuts in service that we've seen lately.

[OhioLair]

Originally Posted by RevNeal

Thank you, wander. I'm sorry you felt dismissed in your earlier post regarding "published" and "unpublished" perks. As I said then, I had no question -- even before it was announced that HAL would be keeping the 300, 500, and 700 Day Medallions -- that many/most of the unpublished, unofficial "perks" would continue: the parties, the dinners with the Hotel Manager and Captain in the Pinnacle, the drinks in officers country, the special receptions with full open and complementary bar, etc. I would have been surprised had those numerous, "under the table" social perks had been discontinued.

The reinstating of the upper-level Medallion awards has solved most of the concerns that we had that HAL was totally disregarding its longtime cruisers with high-day counts.

Again, thanks for the report and I'm sorry you were feeling slighted. Sometimes we allow our pessimism to get the better of us; it's become very easy to expect the worst, what with all the cuts in service that we've seen lately.

Touche, well said Neal!


Have a HAL of a good time, go on a cruise!

Statendam Panama Canal Oct 09
Eurodam Innaugural 20 days Baltic summer 08
Oosterdam Alaska summer 07
Noordam (best so far) Eastern Med Summer 06
NCL Caribbean summer 05
Windjammer, Mexico/Caribbean summer 1998
Carnival Festival, Caribbean summer 1980!

[Krazy Kruizers]

With well over 500 days -- I too am curious what extras we long time cruisers are supposed to have been getting.

[lorekauf]

Originally Posted by wander

Lorekauf and Baroci,

Lorekauf, I hear you when you commented on what 'special' means to various people. So true.

I am not ignoring your questions but rather choosing not to answer it with specifics. First, it has been more fun to get a surprise invitation than to look forward to one that never comes. Our first VIP party invitation was a real thrill as we did not even know such existed. On the World Cruise our # of days means nothing, and we get nothing beyond the WC extras available to all non-suite passengers. On several 7 - 17 day cruises we got invitations to some special events beyond the VIP party. On several 65 or so day cruises we did not even merit an invitation to the VIP party, too many higher day cruisers. We know they had them because friends were invited (many, many more days).

Ok....thank you...I respect that. I was so excited when I got invited to a HAL VIP party on one of my cruises. When I got there it looked like half the ship was there. Didn't feel like it was too special then. Another time I got invited to a Mariner brunch then got called to say I wasn't invited to that one because I would be invited to the "special" one. It was the same...just one week later. When I hear the word special it makes me think of these things.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Originally Posted by wander

Lorekauf and Baroci,

Lorekauf, I hear you when you commented on what 'special' means to various people. So true.

I am not ignoring your questions but rather choosing not to answer it with specifics. First, it has been more fun to get a surprise invitation than to look forward to one that never comes. Our first VIP party invitation was a real thrill as we did not even know such existed. On the World Cruise our # of days means nothing, and we get nothing beyond the WC extras available to all non-suite passengers. On several 7 - 17 day cruises we got invitations to some special events beyond the VIP party. On several 65 or so day cruises we did not even merit an invitation to the VIP party, too many higher day cruisers. We know they had them because friends were invited (many, many more days).

Have been on quite a few 10, 14, 19, 21 and 23 day cruises -- only invite -- VIP party.

[wander]

Rev. Neal,

Thank you for your comments. Overtime I have really appreciated you information and insights into the HAL experience. Thank you and please keep them up.

Krazy Kruizers,

I think Rev. Neal covered some examples very nicely.

On most of my cruises the past few years I have only been invited to the VIP party as well. I suspect that this will be true for my future cruises as well, unless I specialize in 7 day Alaska cruises. Far fewer dedicated, long time cruisers on those. I also suspect that different Captains and Hotel Managers do things differently in this regard.

[kakalina]

On our last 30 day Tahiti/Hawaii cruise we had an amazing invite. DH and myself and Rita (Kryos) were invited to a private dinner in the PG with the HotMan, his wife, the culinary manager and his wife. It was the most amazing dinner I've ever been to.

There was a waiter for each and every one of us. If you took a sip of water it was instantly refilled. The wine flowed like Manna from heaven, there was a different one for each course.

We have never dined with such attention to detail. There were after dinner brandies and then we went to the black and white ball together.

It was an amazing and unforgettable evening. We received our 300 day medals and Rita her 100 day medal on that cruise. This was part of why Rita said it was the "absolute best cruise of her life".

[Kween Karen]

Glad to hear you had such a nice lunch and impression on the Amsterdam. Made me smile of course.....since I will board her now in just 6 days!! No extra perks for me.....but I will keep working toward it!!! This is just a beginning!

[MightyQuinn]

Originally Posted by kakalina

It was an amazing and unforgettable evening. We received our 300 day medals and Rita her 100 day medal on that cruise. This was part of why Rita said it was the "absolute best cruise of her life".

Kakalina, I'm so happy you got to share such an incredibly special evening with Kryos. Now you have such great memories forever.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Originally Posted by RevNeal

Thank you, wander. I'm sorry you felt dismissed in your earlier post regarding "published" and "unpublished" perks. As I said then, I had no question -- even before it was announced that HAL would be keeping the 300, 500, and 700 Day Medallions -- that many/most of the unpublished, unofficial "perks" would continue: the parties what kind of parties??, the dinners with the Hotel Manager and Captain in the Pinnacle Interesting, the drinks in officers country never been there, the special receptions with full open and complementary bar whatever they are, etc. I would have been surprised had those numerous, "under the table" social perks had been discontinued.

.

Thanks for the information.

[rkacruiser]

Thanks for the information, wander! I certainly wish I lived close enough to a port to be invited to such an affair. I have been unsuccessful in trying to get the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the Mississippi, Ohio, and Miami Rivers sufficiently in order to allow Dayton to become a Homeport for a HAL ship.