Holland America Line Privileges

[mek]

Just one more example of how low HAL is sinking (pun intended). If you are not interesting in this deal we can sell you a great Picasso Original (Giclee) which is only number 499 or 500 Originals. Unreal that HAL has gone along with this kind of rubbish.

 

Hank

 

Oh, don't even get me started on the giclee's that Park West sells. I really can't believe people pay thousands of $'s for what is basically a print on canvas with a few blobs of paint here and there.

[imgagesmom]

Oh and our free gift was a holland lanyard room card holder

[iancal]

Travel clubs and on board art auctions fall into the same category for us.

 

Better to try your luck in the casino...the odds are better.

[Caribbean Chris]

I ran into a couple people at breakfast on my last cruise that were singing the praises of this program. If I remember correctly there was a level at around $600 per year and one around $800. My memory may not be great because I had zero interest in it. They thought it was a great deal because they buy so much stuff online. She was talking about buying a fridge online. Personally I like to view big appliances before I buy them. I felt I was listening to a sales pitch right there during breakfast :D.

 

Maybe you were. Something as sleazy as this "privileges" thing sounds is almost sure to reward people for sucking in their friends or acquaintances.

 

Timeshare sales is an apt comparison. I'm very, very fond of HAL and appalled that they are doing this on board the ships. They really are stooping to a new low to make a buck off a theoretically captive audience.

Edited January 2, 2017 by Caribbean Chris

[iancal]

We don't bother with art auctions. We are not interested in vacation clubs or time shares. We spend very limited amounts of money in the casino.

 

I suspect all of these are very profitable for HAL and for others. I really have no issue with then if it keeps the fares lower. We can easily avoid all three.

 

Let's face it, there are lots of land based opportunities to get scammed or ripped off. Potential victims will fall prey to them land or sea.

[Winsmom11]

I received an email today on this because I'm leaving on Thursday for a cruise Friday. Email just indicates to see HAL privileges concierge and also get a free gift.

[iancal]

Scratch the gift. It is a hook to get you to attend a vacation club type presentation.

[dogo88]

After reading the post here I am truly amazed. First, many posters were curious as to what the "free gift" was. Why would that matter? Since common sense should tell you that no one will give you a "free gift" that has some value or usefulness with nothing expected in return.

 

But the other mind boggling item to me is those that actually bought in and after putting down their money have some promise of a vacation. No one who bought in has come forward and posted if there were ever able to go to these promised vacations.

 

We have not been invited to these performances. But if we do get one I can tell you that this would be a major knock on our cruise planning to include HAL anymore. I don't plan on going on a cruise and have to tolerate carnival sideshow hawkers trying to get me to spend my money.

 

Dan

[Hlitner]

We figure the next HAL promotion will be a phone call offering us a Free 7 day HAL cruise if we pay the $8000 shipping and handling fee!

 

Hank

[iancal]

We have never taken any of those 'free offers' They always turn out to be too expensive by half.

[RocketMan275]

After reading the post here I am truly amazed. First, many posters were curious as to what the "free gift" was. Why would that matter? Since common sense should tell you that no one will give you a "free gift" that has some value or usefulness with nothing expected in return.

 

But the other mind boggling item to me is those that actually bought in and after putting down their money have some promise of a vacation. No one who bought in has come forward and posted if there were ever able to go to these promised vacations.

 

We have not been invited to these performances. But if we do get one I can tell you that this would be a major knock on our cruise planning to include HAL anymore. I don't plan on going on a cruise and have to tolerate carnival sideshow hawkers trying to get me to spend my money.

 

Dan

 

HAL Privileges is just one of the multiple companies that ICE uses to market it's products. All use essentially the same marketing approach but under different names. Most are headquartered at the same address in Scottsdale, AZ. Some major companies with good reputations are associated with this conglomerate including USAA, Army MWR, Sears, etc. The point is, you may be doing business with one of these without knowing it.

 

I do know one couple who books their cruises with one of these affiliates. They are quite happy with the experience. We've discussed the 'issues' of these companies and all they have to say is that one needs to know what they're getting into but that it works well for them. They have used the resort vacation package and were happy with it. I would consider them to be 'value oriented' but experienced. He is a retired marketing professional.

 

There are all sorts of "sideshow hawkers" doing business on every cruise line. There are 'hawkers' associated with the spa. The cruise line is 'hawking' drink packages, shore excursions, specialty restaurants, future cruises, bingo, etc.

Edited January 4, 2017 by RocketMan275

[CruiseUtah]

We sailed on the Westerdam over Christmas and attended the presentation on the Holland America Privileges program. We followed up with a one-on-one meeting with one of their consultants. After reviewing the options, we decided to sign-up for the $4,995 Privileges program (top level). We have 10 tens to review the documents and cancel. We are now on day 5 and have been doing a lot of research and question asking.

 

While $4,995 sounds like a lot of money, we do get $3,750 in future cruise credits on HAL and Princess, and they can be used with any fare type (including Flash fares) and can be booked through any travel agency. The credits are placed on a debit card, so in essence it just becomes a form of payment type.

 

The $3,750 never expires provided you stay in the program. After the first year, you have to pay $99 annually.

 

I consider ourselves "in the hole" by $1,245 currently. We received two certificates -- each good for a 7 night resort stay. One has to be used in Mexico, the other all over the world. In checking the online availability, it appears the inventory they have is unused timeshare inventory, although there were a few hotels showing up. They claim the value of each certificate is "up to" $3,500. Certs expire after 18 months. I did find a

few places with availability that might be appealing to us, but we are still evaluating. The timeshares appear to be through RCI and do not appear to include upscale timeshares such as Marriott, Four Seasons, etc. The jury is still out on this benefit.

 

We were told we become VIP status with Holland America. Was told this is different than our Mariner status. I'm still trying to find out what "VIP status" really means with HAL. I've read it can mean different things at different times. I tried calling HAL executive offices today to get more information about the Privileges program, but the HAL operator didn't have any information on who at HAL manages the program. I then sent an email to Carnival Corp (HAL's parent) and am waiting an answer.

 

If you travel a lot and stay in hotels, this might be a good way to earn cruise credits. The online hotel pricing they have shows how many cruise credits you earn with a hotel booking. Seems to be between 10% and 30%.

They claim they will price match hotel rates.

 

Tomorrow I'm going to call International Cruise and Excursion Gallery (ICE)

in Arizona and attempt to speak to someone in management about the program.

 

Our family tends to use a lot of hotels, so this may be a good way to earn cruise credits. But I also want to speak with someone in management at HAL about the program and the VIP benefits.

 

The ultimate decision on whether we cancel or stay in the program will probably depend on what we determine the value of the two resort certs, and whether we can use them for a good resort at a desirable time of year.

 

By the way, we received two selfie sticks as our "present". The people onboard were friendly and professional and there was no hard sell.

 

I will provide updates as I learn more.

[alwaysfrantic]

If you earn cruise credits for hotels then you can't participate in hotel loyalty programs, it seems. Being platinum or diamond in an individual chain likely gives me more benefits at the hotel level than earning a cruise point per dollar spent.

[dogo88]

We sailed on the Westerdam over Christmas and attended the presentation on the Holland America Privileges program. We followed up with a one-on-one meeting with one of their consultants. After reviewing the options, we decided to sign-up for the $4,995 Privileges program (top level). We have 10 tens to review the documents and cancel. We are now on day 5 and have been doing a lot of research and question asking.

 

While $4,995 sounds like a lot of money, we do get $3,750 in future cruise credits on HAL and Princess, and they can be used with any fare type (including Flash fares) and can be booked through any travel agency. The credits are placed on a debit card, so in essence it just becomes a form of payment type.

 

The $3,750 never expires provided you stay in the program. After the first year, you have to pay $99 annually.

 

I consider ourselves "in the hole" by $1,245 currently. We received two certificates -- each good for a 7 night resort stay. One has to be used in Mexico, the other all over the world. In checking the online availability, it appears the inventory they have is unused timeshare inventory, although there were a few hotels showing up. They claim the value of each certificate is "up to" $3,500. Certs expire after 18 months. I did find a

few places with availability that might be appealing to us, but we are still evaluating. The timeshares appear to be through RCI and do not appear to include upscale timeshares such as Marriott, Four Seasons, etc. The jury is still out on this benefit.

 

We were told we become VIP status with Holland America. Was told this is different than our Mariner status. I'm still trying to find out what "VIP status" really means with HAL. I've read it can mean different things at different times. I tried calling HAL executive offices today to get more information about the Privileges program, but the HAL operator didn't have any information on who at HAL manages the program. I then sent an email to Carnival Corp (HAL's parent) and am waiting an answer.

 

If you travel a lot and stay in hotels, this might be a good way to earn cruise credits. The online hotel pricing they have shows how many cruise credits you earn with a hotel booking. Seems to be between 10% and 30%.

They claim they will price match hotel rates.

 

Tomorrow I'm going to call International Cruise and Excursion Gallery (ICE)

in Arizona and attempt to speak to someone in management about the program.

 

Our family tends to use a lot of hotels, so this may be a good way to earn cruise credits. But I also want to speak with someone in management at HAL about the program and the VIP benefits.

 

The ultimate decision on whether we cancel or stay in the program will probably depend on what we determine the value of the two resort certs, and whether we can use them for a good resort at a desirable time of year.

 

By the way, we received two selfie sticks as our "present". The people onboard were friendly and professional and there was no hard sell.

 

I will provide updates as I learn more.

 

Fair enough, but it looks like you need to do a lot of due diligence to be sure you at least break even. Having a couple of vacation credits to locations or dates that I don't want to use, are not much of a benefit to me.

 

Dan

[CruiseUtah]

While I haven't yet tested it, according to a phone conversation I had yesterday with an agent at ICE (the operator of HAL Privileges), they

claim that they book hotels as a travel agency and earn travel agency commissions.

 

If this is the case, then hotel frequent guest amenities (upgrades, breakfasts, etc) as well as point earning would still apply.

 

Example -- Marriott lets its Marriott Rewards guests earn points and get level-based amenities when booking direct or through a travel agency. They do

not allow these benefits/points if you book through a company such as

expedia, travelocity, hotels.com, etc.

 

Again, I haven't tested it, but based on my 25+ years in the travel industry, I believe what ICE is saying is true in terms of hotel bookings.

 

ICE also operates a program for USAA, which I am also a member. The

USAA program has no fees to join. It appears that they offer the same "surplus" timeshare inventory at a relatively low cost, but you pay with $$ and not HAL privileges points.

 

Right now we are leaning towards cancelling our HAL privileges membership.

[IndyDenise]

I hope it's easy to cancel and you don't have to jump through hoops.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[iancal]

A friend of ours had a vacation club that had 'free' stays at certain resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean.

 

The rub was that although they could stay for 'free', they had to purchase the meal component at these all inclusive resorts. When we checked, the cost of the meal component from the club was the same price that anyone could buy a week at the AI...hotel and meals inclusive. So, it was no deal. In some cases it was actually higher.

 

Hopefully this will be better.

[DFD1]

For a company with a proud tradition of more than 100 years to fall under the management of hucksters who put this sort of nonsense off on their passengers is a disgrace.

 

I'm beginning to agree that the motley mob who runs Carnival at the moment is finally starting to carve up and throw away what is left of the HAL that so many of us have come to appreciate and enjoy over many years.

 

HAL's future is not bright unless the management is turned upside down.

[mek]

A friend of ours had a vacation club that had 'free' stays at certain resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean.

 

The rub was that although they could stay for 'free', they had to purchase the meal component at these all inclusive resorts. When we checked, the cost of the meal component from the club was the same price that anyone could buy a week at the AI...hotel and meals inclusive. So, it was no deal. In some cases it was actually higher.

 

Hopefully this will be better.

 

It has almost always been my experience that upon further investigation, there are always hidden or sometimes not so hidden extra charges that make these deals not so great.

[Hlitner]

If you have ever flown into Puerto Vallarta, you would know that after you retrieve your luggage you must walk through a room which is lined (both sides) with time share sales folks. Those of us who know and love PV call this room the "shark tank." More then one of those Time Share companies is owned by RCI...the company mentioned here by another poster. One can generally purchase RCI Time Shares on the "secondary market" for a huge discount on the prices charged by the RCI sales folks. Yes, there are some people that love their timeshare/vacation club deals. But we have only ever met one...and he is part of our own family :(. Just about everyone else we know who bought into this market..eventually sold out at a big loss...including one couple who actually gave away their Timeshare ownership for Free.

 

Now, we learn that HAL will host their own version of the "shark tank" which might rival Park West for cruiser's dollars. Neither of these options are what we expect on a Premium Cruise Line (which is what many HAL lovers used to call this company). How sad. Between timeshares, art actions, clothing sales, etc. HAL will being to be more of a Carnival Midway...then the elegant cruise experience we used to expect from HAL.

 

Hank

Edited January 6, 2017 by Hlitner

[iancal]

The only way a timeshare purchase works today is to buy a unit on the secondary market.

 

We attended a presentation in Daytona beach three years ago. The price was 15K. We said no, and then there was a push to sell us one of those vacation club scams. No again. This was our first timeshare presentation.

 

When we got back to our condo we looked the units up on the secondary market. Priced at 3-5K. I did a little reading. New timeshare sales and marketing fees apparently eat up fifty percent of the retail cost the buy. Makes sense. The 15K they were asking from me had a max retail asset value of $7,500 and a realizable value of 3-5K on the resale market.

 

 

Big commissions, big pressure,etc. Came out with a $100 for our trouble. It was an interesting experience for me since I have had a career in executive sales/sales management, services sale/managment. DW did not like it.

Edited January 6, 2017 by iancal

[Mickanata]

We were invited to find out more about this program (aka HALP) on a Eurodam cruise (Jan. 14-21, 2017).

The documentation provided on the program was extremely sparse and simply indicated that that this is a Holland America rewards program that enables members to earn “unlimited cruise credits” that can be redeemed for a cruise with any Carnival Corp. cruise line. We were told that credits were earned by booking hotels, buying merchandise on-line and purchasing a variety of vacation packages, restaurant meals, wine and entertainment.

 

In the one-on-one presentation we were told that one can only join this program on the ship. (I’m not sure if this is true or not.) We were also told number of other things that I subsequently found to be incorrect.

 

What little promotional material is available is designed to make you believe this is a Holland America loyalty program. It isn’t. I asked directly who was operating the program and was told Carnival Corp. This is untrue. It is, as has already been noted, run by International Cruise and Excursion Gallery (ICEG). The small print on the bottom of the promotional card states: “For complete terms and conditions please visit www.hollandamericaprivileges.com. Additional terms and conditions may apply.” Well, if you visit that web site there is no information available unless you log in i.e. you must have joined the program to find out what the terms and conditions are.

The program claims that you can earn credits of up to 60% cash back the cost of hotels etc booked through the program. The examples of hotel rates shown to me were comparable to those available through Trip Advisor or Trivago and the cash credits were indicated as being 30-60%. With the promised initial $650 credit and the amount we spend each year on vacations (plus, of course, the promised two resort vacations) it looked like we could easily recover our $1995 membership fee in the first year. But, on closer examination, this just does not add up. What travel agent can afford to return 30-60% of your hotel cost to you, particularly when you are booking at an already discounted rate?

 

I managed to get a copy of the contract - four and a half closely-typed pages. It’s complicated and does little to clarify exactly what you are getting for your money. It does, however, clarify the relationship of the program to HA. HALP. It states:

“The program is not owned or operated by Holland America Company. Rather, HALP has a limited license from HA Company to market and sell Memberships aboard select World’s Leading Cruise Lines itineraries and to use HA Company’s trademarks, trade names, service marks and other intellectual property in connection with Rewards Offering, sale and operation of the Program. These licenses are for a limited duration and may not extend for the entire term of this agreement or Buyer’s Membership.” And “None of HALP’s representatives involved in describing, marketing and selling the Program or Buyer, preparing this agreement, or operating the Program are representatives, employees or agents of Holland America Company.”

This may or may not be a worthwhile program – I can’t tell from the documentation available. What I can see though from a close reading of the contract, is that there are many risks including the risk that membership rewards can be changed or devalued at the discretion of ICEG or even that you may lose your membership (and any benefits) completely.

 

I think if this was really such a good deal they would provide clear documentation stating what they are offering. Instead, they are limiting the info about the program until you have signed up (and paid up).

Caveat emptor: if something looks too good to be true ……

[RocketMan275]

In the one-on-one presentation we were told that one can only join this program on the ship. (I’m not sure if this is true or not.) We were also told number of other things that I subsequently found to be incorrect.

 

It's been my experience that any time you're offered a deal that you have only a limited time to accept, you're best move is to decline immediately. If it's a good deal, why not let you join anytime?

[Chennai]

We signed up on a recent cruise for privileges. It is a good deal if you do land travel and want 'rebates' on hotels. The program offers lowest rates for hotels world-wide and then gives you cruise credits for some of the money you spend. It varies with the hotel and the sites, but seems to be a good program. We signed up for the prime membership: cost $5000 but gives you 3750 or so back in cruise credit that can be used for future sailings, as well as 2 different resort packages, one in Hawaii and one in Mexico Supposedly a great value, but very hard to book and the amount you get 'free' is not what they have promised. However, it is still a good value. When we booked a hotel for a future trip in Europe we did get the best price available, and will get a small amount back in cruise credit that will provide more money for us to book a cruise. Easy to use. The purchasing of the store items is ridiculous, though -- just high end products at exaggerated prices, and then a large discount added to your cruise credit account. It will get more lucrative I hope, later as they expand. The yearly fee of $100 is after the first year that you purchase. There are 3 plans, but the most lucrative is the prime one. Just make sure you are still a member after the twelve months so that you can use your points.

[dalenjen]

Thanks Dave for all the details(the best explanation) I just got the email from Holland about this for my and my wifes cruise this coming friday on the Oosterdam promissing a free gift. Not sure why Carnival Corp would create such a sketchy sounding program