Anything Special for becoming a 5 STAR Mariner

[wesport]

We have 489 mariner credits and will be taking an 11 day Caribbean cruise to reach  500.  Normally when we reach a new level, you get the pin in the blue velvet bag.  Not much advantage to becoming 5 star other than a free dinner at the Pinnacle on our next cruise.  Should we just expect to get a new pin in the bag, or something different than all the other levels?  

[SilvertoGold]

Per person:

 

Two complimentary Pinnacle dinners 

One complimentary Cooking Class

One complimentary Greenhouse Spa pass for one day

$30 US discount on any Internet package

 

You will be eligible for the 5 Star rewards on the cruise after you reach 500 cruise credits.

 

Congratulations and enjoy!

Edited February 14, 2019 by SilvertoGold

[Krazy Kruizers]

You may or may not get the pens on this upcoming cruise.  Each ship does something different.

[OlsSalt]

What about those with over 1000 cruise credits?  Just the joys of the expenditures. 

[kazu]

28 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

Per person:

 

Two complimentary Pinnacle dinners 

One complimentary Cooking Class

One complimentary Greenhouse Spa pass for one day

$30 US discount on any Internet package

 

You will be eligible for the 5 Star rewards on the cruise after you reach 500 cruise credits.

 

Congratulations and enjoy!

Very good synopisis. 

 

since it's leaving the fleet in July it only matters for a very few months but Prinsendam doesn't have the Spa pass.  Instead you get 3 PG dinners.

 

The benefits are great if you don't have to fight too hard 😉 

[SilvertoGold]

3 hours ago, kazu said:

Very good synopisis. 

 

since it's leaving the fleet in July it only matters for a very few months but Prinsendam doesn't have the Spa pass.  Instead you get 3 PG dinners.

 

The benefits are great if you don't have to fight too hard 😉 

 

Luckily I didn't have to "fight too hard" for 3 of the 4 complimentary Pinnacle Dinners on the last B-B cruise. I had to tell them each time they charged 50% instead of $0, they would puzzle over it and then fix it.

 

This is why I will not pre-book:  I really don't want to have to explain about prepaying and how I need them to give me the prepayment in credit on the shipboard account:  that might be just too much for them to deal with and more of a headache for me.

 

HAL uses an excellent system for discounts for the Explorations Cafe.  I think that system could easily be used in the specialty restaurants.

[SilvertoGold]

3 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

What about those with over 1000 cruise credits?  Just the joys of the expenditures. 

 

What would you suggest in rewards?  I am interested in what HAL might have left between 5 star and Pres Club to give away.

[Vict0riann]

42 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

 

What would you suggest in rewards?  I am interested in what HAL might have left between 5 star and Pres Club to give away.

Free internet would be great!

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

I agree with not pre-booking too many specialty dinners. I usually just pre-book one and then sign up for the others when I board. It is amazing to me that after all these years with the Star Mariner program they have not figured out how to do crediting automatically. Although like many things it varies by ship and the expertise of the Pinnacle Grill Manager.

[DaveOKC]

13 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

What about those with over 1000 cruise credits?  Just the joys of the expenditures. 

They should add something, even if its not a new level.  Once you hit 5 Star, IMO, there is less incentive to stay with HAL.  In our case, I really want to finish off to 5 Star (only need a couple of more cruises), just in case they change the requirements in the future.  After that, we might start experimenting with a new line from time to time (MSC honors our HAL Status for example).

[rjbean4]

22 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

What about those with over 1000 cruise credits?  Just the joys of the expenditures. 

Cruise day credits are unfortunately just a number. Its a combination of actual cruising days and the extra days that you earn from  on board spending and if you are in a cabin category that gives you the extra days. When it comes to earning pins and medallions and the extras we get along with them is based on actual cruising days. After someone earns a 700 day platinum there is nothing in between till reaching presidents club which I think is about 1,400 days. Once again all based on actual cruising days.

Edited February 15, 2019 by rjbean4

[SilvertoGold]

10 hours ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

I agree with not pre-booking too many specialty dinners. I usually just pre-book one and then sign up for the others when I board. It is amazing to me that after all these years with the Star Mariner program they have not figured out how to do crediting automatically. Although like many things it varies by ship and the expertise of the Pinnacle Grill Manager.

 

On our last cruise the Front Desk told me any changes to charges had to be "approved".  I did see the Pinnacle Manager talking to a "clerk" (accounting department) who seemed to be the one who made the actual change (=correction) to our account.  So, I find it is a puzzle who is actually responsible for the mess HAL is making with regularity with the 5 star complimentary dinners.

 

I note that for Sel, Tamarind, Canaletto, there is never a problem with the 50% discount.

[Hlitner]

20 hours ago, SilvertoGold said:

 

What would you suggest in rewards?  I am interested in what HAL might have left between 5 star and Pres Club to give away.

We have very high status on multiple cruise lines (including 5 Star with HAL) and HAL's benefits leave much to be desired when compared to some of the competition.  This is especially true in the area of Internet.  In fact, HAL is the only cruise line where we have decent status that does not give any free Internet.  On other lines our Internet benefit ranges from free unlimited to many free hours to some nice discounts.  And some other lines offer Internet at far lower prices then HAL.  Consider that we recently spent 21 days on MSC (Yacht Club) where $168 got us unlimited high speed Internet (2 devices) for the entire 3 weeks.  And the Internet service was so good that we could even stream video, Facetime, etc.

 

Hank

[kazu]

10 hours ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

I agree with not pre-booking too many specialty dinners. I usually just pre-book one and then sign up for the others when I board. 

 

20 hours ago, SilvertoGold said:

 

 

This is why I will not pre-book:  I really don't want to have to explain about prepaying and how I need them to give me the prepayment in credit on the shipboard account:  that might be just too much for them to deal with and more of a headache for me.

 

 

 

Not pre-booking sounds like a great idea but.....last cruise on the same ship we are sailing on, there were a LOT of upset 5* Mariners as there were just no reservations available (unless they wanted to eat at 9pm on a couple of nights).  I kid you not.

 

It was the same last time we were on board on this ship too.  I realize it can be very dependent on the demographics on a ship and even Explore4 dinners, but the PG was completely sold out by day 2 (even those few 9 pm times).

 

Since I am going back on the same ship and the PG can be very popular and we are dining with friends, I’d rather make sure they are secured.  So, we have pre-booked.  We always do if there are specific occasions, dates or times we want.

 

On the Westerdam, when we walked out, we simply asked the PG manager to apply our 5* benefits to that dinner and it was done.  I don’t understand why it can’t happen this way on all the ships.  5* has been around long enough.