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Presidents Club. It is by invitation after you have 1400 days on HAL ships. We know several people that are president club members. The top member who we know has over 3500 days on HAL ships. We are getting there with 904 days but don't think we will live long enough to make 1400.

We have had my wife's teacher credit and our AARP credit applied to multiple cruises in a year. My TA took care of it - no problem

We did then 77 day Grand South America on the Volendam in 2020 - We are booked for 24 days this fall and also booked on the 45 day. So yes we like the Volendam!

You have to get on the Hal site and get verified for the teacher benefit. Same for the AARP. My wife was the teacher and we both have AARP - after verified then our Travel Agent got the OBC added. Also, don't forget the AARP gift cards that can be used for payment and on board expenses - you purchase them at a 10% discount under the AARP rewards program.

I put together a spread sheet with all the numbers and PINs and email it to my TA and he takes it from there. Have done this twice and will be doing it again next month for final payment for our next cruise on the Volendam

This is the response I received from the Mariner Society folks. We thank you for your correspondence with Holland America Line regarding the Mariner Society embarkation lunch. We understand that the embarkation luncheon was a popular activity with many of our guests. We apologize for any disappointment this has caused; however, the embarkation lunch has been discontinued as of March 1, 2024. We thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Our guest’s comments and concerns are important to us. We have forwarded your email to our management team for consideration. Please let us know if you have any questions. We hope to welcome you back onboard with us soon. Kind Regards, Garrett Mariner Society Holland America Line 800-547-9139 206-626-7359 Monday-Friday 8:00am – 5:00pm PST Savor the Journey If enough people ask for it to come back including talking to the General Hotel Manager when on the ships and also listing this in the post cruise survey maybe we can get HAL to bring it back.

I sent an email to this address mariner_society@hollandamerica.com

We were on the Rotterdam from Jan 14 - Feb 25 and the Bill Board on Board with the one piano was packed almost every night when we left the World Stage at 10:15pm

The second piano was removed in late January and the remaining one moved to the center of the enclosed area.

I found the annual plan was better for us than purchasing individual policies for each trip during the year.

Have you looked into one of the annual plans that cover all you travels for a full year.

I just got off 42 days on the Rotterdam and put in about 100 of walking and over my 900 days on DAM ships I am sure that I have 2000+ miles. I have found that about 95% of the walkers go counter clockwise which is the same direction that races are run in the Olympics. On the Pinnacle ships with the narrow walking decks and 8 blind corners it is not good to have people walking in opposite directions. One days last week I nearly ran into the same lady 4 times at blind corners. She was the only one going clockwise. Also, when HAL does the "Walk for the Cause" it is always done counter clockwise. I wish they would put up signs for the direction to walk. As others have said the main issue is groups walking 3 or 4 abreast or a single person walking in the middle on Pinnacle ships.

They do that some cruises so the crew does not lose an hour of sleep for several nights in a row.

Looking forward to your review. We are long time cruisers with over 900 days on DAM ships. We were on from Jan 14 through Feb 25 - 4 different cruises on the Rotterdam - and we could see a significant difference in the groups on each segment. We were on the Rotterdam for the same time period in 2023 and had a great time then too. The 2 Panama Canal segments (12 days each) had guests that seemed more "travelers" and interested in the sites and cultural of our ports. The two 9 day segments had large family/friend groups and were more of the "party" folks. Overall we had a great time on the Rotterdam. Looking forward to your insights and impressions.

There were no changes to the seating - they just removed the piano