Mariner Magazine -- Hello Dolly!

Maybe you've had your Mariner Magazine for a while ... but I just got mine today. How neat to get over to page 20 and see a picture of Dolly Smith aboard the Prinsendam with Captain Gundersen. The caption notes that she's a multi-time world cruiser. It would have been nice to know exactly how many she's been on.

And for those who are solidly convinced HAL is an old people's line, there's a shot on page 21 of a fairly young couple receiving their 100-day medals ... along with their teenage daughter! (Yes, the daughter was getting one, too.)

The main thing that struck me about the At A Glance schedule that includes 2006 there will be 8 ships (count 'em ... eight) in Alaska during the summer season, 3 of them vistas.

We meet Dolly on the Amazon cruise. She has something like 4,600 days. That's Platium Plus.

. . . see a picture of Dolly Smith aboard the Prinsendam with Captain Gundersen. QUOTE]

 

Jim, was that the older woman on our trip? susan.

WE took our first HAL cruise in Feb on the Oosterdam. I was expecting an "older crowd" but that was NOT the case. We saw all ages. I would have guessed the largest age group to be 40-50's and many younger families.

HMMMMM!!!

Just another Mariner magazine we didn't get!

We didn't get ours yet either, but the postal system in Denver is usually a few days behind everyone else...

We DID get a Mariner's letter from Stein Kruse offering savings on nine select voyages - as low as $100 per day and some very nice cruises...

We are going to be looking closely at Ryndam 1/6/06, 16-day San Diego to Tampa for $6300 pp for a Deluxe Verandah Suite for my Mom & Dad - a Verandah Suite starts at $3600 per person - not too bad at all! :)

They even provided a special 800 phone number for TA's to use in order to book - something I've never seen before.

Glad Dolly's picture is in the Mariner News. She is a delightful person and full of energy...just ask RuthC. She sat with us at the Captain's Table on the 2003 34-day Transatlantic Rotterdam cruise and we thoroughly enjoyed her company. Ruth may be able to tell you how many World Cruises she has been on.

How long after becoming a Mariner before you start getting the magazine?

Haven't seen the Mariner Magazine, but sure do hope I get it. I'd love to read that article. Dolly was my roomie for the 33-day trans-Atlantic in '03. Many's the night I was toddling on in at 2:00 A.M. to find she was still out partying.

She's full of energy and interesting stories. It was an honor to share a cabin with her.

Dolly wouldn't tell exactly how many days or World Cruises she had under her belt, but I did count at least three World Cruise baggage straps around her luggage.

We got our Mariners' Magazine a few days ago. I hate to jinx us, but since complaining a few times to Mariners' Society, we know seem to consistently receive it. I enjoy reading it and especially enjoyed the photos. It's fun when you know (recognize) some of the people.

The main thing that struck me about the At A Glance schedule that includes 2006 there will be 8 ships (count 'em ... eight) in Alaska during the summer season, 3 of them vistas.

__________________

Yes, that's right.........and NO SHIPS in the Caribbean. Couldn't they leave one there for the sun lovers? For those of us who have no desire to go to Alaska anytime in the near future???!!! Grrr......

We have written HAL and called the Mariner's several times over the past couple of years - the last one we got was in the spring of 2004.

We haven't had a Mariner Magazine for ages either. However, a friends of ours does get one and passes it on to me. I wonder if he gets one because he has no access to the Internet. I am forever getting offers and info via e-mail but would love to get a hard copy. I'll e-mail Mariner Services to see if they will put me on their list\??? Sounds like, from other posts, this doesn't happen????

In addition to my previous post, this is what is on the Mariner Society page on the HAL website. So why are we not receiving the Mariner.

Mariner Society members receive

• Preferred pricing on many Holland America Line cruises
  
• Mariner bag tags and buttons to identify you as a member of the Mariner Society during embarkation
  
• An invitation to the Mariner Society champagne reception and awards party, hosted by the Captain
  
• Lapel pins and medallions acknowledging your Holland America Line cruise history
  
• A special collectable gift in your cabin one evening
  
• A complimentary subscription to Mariner, a full-color magazine featuring news and Mariner Society savings for our most frequent guests.
  

I feel lucky we also got our Mariner Magazine yesterday. I thought it was a great issue. I liked that they had those picture especially with Dolly. When we were waiting to get into the show room for the last Mariner's reception there sere several standing there talking to the CD about Dolly. There were a few there that had been on cruises with her. I loved hearing the stories.:)

The main thing that struck me about the At A Glance schedule that includes 2006 there will be 8 ships (count 'em ... eight) in Alaska during the summer season, 3 of them vistas.

Jim, yes this was the first thing I looked at. I also see they are taking the Amsterdam over to Europe. It does look like the only ships that will be doing the 7 day out of Seattle will be the Oosterdam which we will have just gotten off of in October and the Zaandam that we plan to take over Thanksgiving in 2006. So if we want to do a roundtrip 7 day to Alaska in 2006 no matter what we will be repeating B2B ships. We may just skip Alaska for 2006 and take the Volendam out of Tampa in Spring of 2006.

I feel so envious when I read about the Mariner Magazine. For some reason we are at the wrong side of the 'pond' and are not entitled to receive it. HAL won't even allow us to sign up for their e-mails!!!

DH & I were hoping that our 100 day award last year might have helped but sadly not. :(

I will continue to get my HAL info fix from the lovely folks on these boards !!!

Katie, that is really too bad. I cannot believe they would not even email you Mariner offers.

I feel so envious when I read about the Mariner Magazine. For some reason we are at the wrong side of the 'pond' and are not entitled to receive it. HAL won't even allow us to sign up for their e-mails!!!

 

DH & I were hoping that our 100 day award last year might have helped but sadly not. :(

 

I will continue to get my HAL info fix from the lovely folks on these boards !!!

 

 

Katie.....

Are you obliged to book your cruises through a TA in the UK? If you wished, would they allow you to book directly with a HAL cruise consultant?

If you must book through a UK TA, that may (?) be a reason they do not sent you notices of specials. It would be very annoying to you (at the least) to know of a special offer that the UK TA would not/could not honor.

If you were to read of a special price here on the BB, could you take advantage the discounted fare?

Hello Lisa and S7S

As you can imagine, it most certainly is somewhat frustrating that we are treated differently !!!

We have not used agents in the UK for many years now. Unfortunately, for reasons I do not understand, the vast majority of our agents know very little about the HAL product in general. I have lost count of the number of times my request for a HAL brochure has been met with a confused expression. This is normally followed by a scurry into a back room and a comment of 'we can probably order you one!!!' :confused:

There has never been any difficulty using agents in the US and we have recently booked our next sailing through a well know 'on-line' cruise agency in the US. If I have any queries or bookings (i.e. cabanas etc), I simply call Seattle direct. I have always found them to be very helpful.

Interesting enough, there are hardly any HAL ships calling at UK ports this year. This doesn't really impact on us as we always fly over to the US or Canada anyway.

Have fun.

This is really interesting. We used to get the Mariner, but we haven't seen one in months. Oddly, we used to get one addressed to my MIL (who lives in New Zealand), instead of one addressed to my husband or myself. We had 2 separate cabins, both booked by DH, and it baffled me that we'd get something addressed to her instead of to the person who made the booking. Of course, now we get nothing.

When are you supposed to get the bag tags and buttons? They didn't come with our docs... I'm guessing if they didn't come with the docs that they probably are not coming at all. Ideas?

Thanks!!!

In addition to my previous post, this is what is on the Mariner Society page on the HAL website. So why are we not receiving the Mariner.

 

 

 

Mariner Society members receive

• Preferred pricing on many Holland America Line cruises
  
• Mariner bag tags and buttons to identify you as a member of the Mariner Society during embarkation
  
• An invitation to the Mariner Society champagne reception and awards party, hosted by the Captain
  
• Lapel pins and medallions acknowledging your Holland America Line cruise history
  
• A special collectable gift in your cabin one evening
  
• A complimentary subscription to Mariner, a full-color magazine featuring news and Mariner Society savings for our most frequent guests.
  

The Mariners buttons and luggage tags come with the documents. We never have used the tags and I hardly ever see them on any else's bags. Years ago, they used to provide 'expedited' delivery of the luggage to your cabin but they no longer mean anything as there are way too many Mariners. For many HAL cruises, there are something like 75-80% Mariners on the ships.

The buttons also have no significance other than perhaps as a souvenir.

If you want them, you can call Alumni Programs at 800-547-9139 and request them.

It may be a good idea to call just to verify they have you in their computer as a Mariner. Have your Mariner number available when you call. You could request they put you on the 'mail list' during the same call.

We used to get the tags and buttons but haven't lately. We didn't actually use them during the cruise, I liked them to put in my scrapbook but that is all. I don't really miss them. But I would like the Mariner Magazine. I'll be checking into it.

I called HAL Mariner Services today. A very nice lady went through alot of effort to return my call - I guess I wasn't too clear on my phone number in the VM and she had to go through the list of BEP's in SF to find me (amazingly there's more than one!)

...Anyway they didn't have me down for my second cruise for some reason - so now they have the correct number of days for me and hopefully I'll be receiving my Mariner's Magazine!

Katie--

I guess HAL is considered an "US Market" line - one will get the same response from TA's here in the states when we mention P&O, Aida, MSC, etc...

Perhaps if someone has access to a scanner, it would be nice to run a PDF of the Dolly article for Katie and e-mail her???

I've consistently been getting all HAL mailings for awhile and always look forward to my Mariner Magazine.

I had never received anything by mail from HAL, but constantly got their emails. Finally I emailed them and asked why not????

They emailed me back saying that according to their system I had requested I not receive anything by postal mail. I had never requested such a thing so it might just be a glitch in their system when you're signed up for their email notices. They promptly fixed it for me and all is well.

So those who aren't getting their Mariners, etc., why not try the Mariner email address on their website. It worked for me.:D

Thank you; I'll give them a call. It is not a big issue, but I do tend to keep and collect things. A button or tag might go nicely in the photo album... They should already have the Mariner numbers, though. I got them from the HAL website :)

The buttons also have no significance other than perhaps as a souvenir.If you want them, you can call Alumni Programs at 800-547-9139 and request them.It may be a good idea to call just to verify they have you in their computer as a Mariner. Have your Mariner number available when you call. You could request they put you on the 'mail list' during the same call.