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Club Orange Press Release November 12


Caribbean Chris
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Captain Albert's blog on the outfitting underway for the Nieuw Statendam made reference to a press release yesterday about Club Orange.

Here's the press release text:

 

SEATTLE, Nov. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Holland America Line is introducing the unique Club Orange program that provides exclusive benefits and amenities to guests looking to elevate their cruise experience. From a private dining venue to priority services and a dedicated concierge hotline, Club Orange allows guests to opt in to extra privileges that are available to a limited number of guests on each cruise.

Club Orange will be included for guests in Neptune and Pinnacle Suite categories, and the program will be available to purchase for a small number of non-suite staterooms on each sailing.  The program is slated to launch on Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam in December 2018, with a rollout to the rest of the fleet in 2019.

"Club Orange allows guests to add extra premium benefits and luxury amenities to their cruise for a great value," said Orlando Ashford, president of Holland America Line. "One of the reasons people choose Holland America Line is because of the quality of what we offer — the best food at sea, the most authentic live entertainment and our award-winning service — and Club Orange is another way for guests to enhance their cruise experience."

The name Club Orange pays homage to Holland America Line's rich Dutch heritage. The company was founded in the Netherlands more than 145 years ago and it's the color of the Dutch Royal Family, which hails from the House of Orange.

Private Dining

Aboard Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam, the Culinary Arts Center dining venue is being transformed into an exclusive Club Orange restaurant that will be open every day for breakfast and dinner. The complimentary venue will serve the same menu featured in Pinnacle Grill (breakfast) and the Dining Room (dinner) and also include additional daily dishes exclusive to the Club Orange restaurant. When Club Orange is introduced on other ships of the fleet in 2019, a dedicated section of the Dining Room will be set-aside for the exclusive use of Club Orange guests for breakfast and dinner. Reservations in the private dining venue are not required but welcome.

Priority Access

Amenities that come with the exclusive Club Orange program include priority check-in and disembarkation, priority tender service and priority alternative restaurant reservations made on board. Club Orange guests also have a dedicated line at Guest Services and the EXC Tours shore excursion desk, as well as a dedicated concierge hotline on board for dining reservations, shore excursion assistance, general questions and support.

Additional benefits to Club Orange include an enhanced in-stateroom à la carte breakfast dining menu with complimentary premium selections such as steak and eggs or smoked salmon Benedict, a welcome glass of sparkling wine at dinner on embarkation day, premium bathrobe for use in stateroom (and available for purchase and monogramming), and an exclusive Club Orange tote bag.

The cost of Club Orange is $50 per person per day, and the first and second guest in the same stateroom are both required to purchase the program. Club Orange is included for third and fourth guests in the same stateroom. Club Orange must be purchased prior to cruise departure and is not available for purchase on board.

Once a guest has booked their cruise, they or their travel advisor can add Club Orange by contacting Holland America line Ship Inventory at 1-888-628-8107 or 206-626-7381.

 

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I want to express my extreme dissatisfaction with this Orange Club concept! 4 and 5 star Mariners and Suite guests should all be really upset. They are taking perks that Mariners have sailed on dozens of cruises to qualify for and are giving it to anyone who pays $50 a day (for example - front of the line for tenders!) In addition, they are putting the Suite guests together with these $50 guests for breakfast and dinner. Right now they will serve the same breakfast as Pinnacle, and as this program rolls out to the entire fleet in 2019, they will take a section of the main dining room and reserve it for Suite and Orange Club people. (and I can see the writing on the wall, where they will close Pinnacle to Suites altogether, using low turnout as the justification). Great if you are a first-time cruiser in an inside cabin, but what an insult to long-time Mariners! Other cruise lines reward Suite passengers with their exclusive restaurant and open bar. On Holland, they are kicking the Suite guests down a notch and taking away their exclusive perks. Shame on you HAL! I have called and expressed my opinion. I strongly suggest you do the same :classic_angry:.

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2 hours ago, twodjs said:

I want to express my extreme dissatisfaction with this Orange Club concept! 4 and 5 star Mariners and Suite guests should all be really upset. They are taking perks that Mariners have sailed on dozens of cruises to qualify for and are giving it to anyone who pays $50 a day (for example - front of the line for tenders!) In addition, they are putting the Suite guests together with these $50 guests for breakfast and dinner. Right now they will serve the same breakfast as Pinnacle, and as this program rolls out to the entire fleet in 2019, they will take a section of the main dining room and reserve it for Suite and Orange Club people. (and I can see the writing on the wall, where they will close Pinnacle to Suites altogether, using low turnout as the justification). Great if you are a first-time cruiser in an inside cabin, but what an insult to long-time Mariners! Other cruise lines reward Suite passengers with their exclusive restaurant and open bar. On Holland, they are kicking the Suite guests down a notch and taking away their exclusive perks. Shame on you HAL! I have called and expressed my opinion. I strongly suggest you do the same :classic_angry:.

We had this separate seating at breakfast concept for Diamond members on Royal Caribbean.   It was very nice.  We had a separate line for the Diamonds and up.

 

But I agree, we paid a lot for our 4  star benefits, and I hate to see this happen.   I doubt people will be wanting to pay extra for much longer than 7 days.  Why not just pay for a suite and get all those great benefits including double Mariner credit.

 

I heard of a man on Royal Caribbean that booked grand suites for a month to get the concierge lounge, then after he made Diamond, he downgraded to Junior Suites since he got the Diamond Lounge.

Edited by knittinggirl
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I wonder how this would work at Dinner?  I assume it would be all Open dining?  If so, that would take away the fun of meeting new people for a week or two at the same dining time and making some good friends.

 

Not sure I like this idea.

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As a 5 Star Mariner, I am not sure that this Club Orange concept is in the best interests of HAL's frequent guests.

 

My opinion:  it is another example of the "ship within a ship" concept for guests. i.e MSC's Yacht Club, Princess' Club Class, Cunard's Grill Classes.

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20 minutes ago, Son of a son of a ... said:

We booked an AFB Vista Suite on the Nieuw Statendam for a 7 day cruise.  If we purchase the Orange Club for two of us, then we might as well pay another $45 on top of what we would spend on the Club and book a Signature Suite.  

 

Signature Suites are nice for the extra space but passengers would not be eligible for Club Orange. It’s only included for Neptune and Pinnacle Suites, which are also the suites that have access to the Neptune Lounge, free laundry, etc.

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6 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

As a 5 Star Mariner, I am not sure that this Club Orange concept is in the best interests of HAL's frequent guests.

 

My opinion:  it is another example of the "ship within a ship" concept for guests. i.e MSC's Yacht Club, Princess' Club Class, Cunard's Grill Classes.

 

Add to that list Celebrity, which introduced the private suite dining room Luminae and suite Lounge Michael’s Club a few years ago. With the new ship, the Edge, they are taking it further with a “Retreat” on the top deck forward for suite passengers with separate suite-only sun deck space, pool, pool bar.

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38 minutes ago, Cruzin with BQ & CQ said:

The price is pretty step, but it may hold future marketing ideas. How about: choose between a signature beverage package or a cruise long pass to the Orange Club. The Orange Club basically costs HAL nothing, so it it is very lucrative to them. Just saying....

 

However, there is a capacity limit to a restaurant -  versus no such issue with a beverage package. They have already said that there will be a “small number” of non-suite Club Orange packages sold prior to each sailing, but not on board.

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Well, if pax want to pay 50 pp per day for not all that much, it is fine with me.  Frankly I would buy the Signature Bev Package for similar pricing long before this new Club offering.

 

Whether this toasts the 4 and 5 star benefits remains to be seen.  Maybe HAL will have to rejig the whole Mariner program.  

 

 

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5 hours ago, twodjs said:

I want to express my extreme dissatisfaction with this Orange Club concept! 4 and 5 star Mariners and Suite guests should all be really upset. They are taking perks that Mariners have sailed on dozens of cruises to qualify for and are giving it to anyone who pays $50 a day (for example - front of the line for tenders!) In addition, they are putting the Suite guests together with these $50 guests for breakfast and dinner. Right now they will serve the same breakfast as Pinnacle, and as this program rolls out to the entire fleet in 2019, they will take a section of the main dining room and reserve it for Suite and Orange Club people. (and I can see the writing on the wall, where they will close Pinnacle to Suites altogether, using low turnout as the justification). Great if you are a first-time cruiser in an inside cabin, but what an insult to long-time Mariners! Other cruise lines reward Suite passengers with their exclusive restaurant and open bar. On Holland, they are kicking the Suite guests down a notch and taking away their exclusive perks. Shame on you HAL! I have called and expressed my opinion. I strongly suggest you do the same :classic_angry:.

Have you made contact with the HAL Mariner Society folks yet about your dissatisfaction?  I emailed them yesterday.  Easy to do via the HAL website - no response yet.

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IMHO all the mainstream cruise lines have been hoist on their own petard with their loyalty programs – there are now far too many at the top levels.  This makes some benefits impossible to continue [e.g. Celebrity's Elite cocktail hour no longer fits in any venue].  They have also realized that giving such benefits to those who, while very loyal, always sail in low-cost cabins is not cost effective.  So the marketing attention has shifted to the high-rent suites and there is a battle going on to win that business.  Celebrity is well ahead of any CCL line on this.  Princess tried a 'lite' version with their Club Class section of the MDR.  This is apparently HAL's similar 'lite' approach [for suites] with the innovation that anybody can buy their way in.  Looking at HAL prices on a few cruises, it does look appealing:  a Vista Suite is all the room we need, and if we can add these top amenities it should still cost less than a Neptune Suite.  [But there is also a political issue:  can I get my Irish wife to join 'Club Orange'? :classic_ohmy:]

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My point, that some are missing, is that HAL is TAKING AWAY benefits from Suite guests and DILUTING the value of perks Mariners have strived for many years to achieve. Why not kick sand in our faces while you're at it, HAL!

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So for $50 per day (or a suite guest) you get (sticking to the food enhancements):

  • In Pinnacle class ships - Breakfast and Dinner in the America's Test Kitchen area (also known as the fish bowl)
  • In other ships you get to have dinner in a segregated area of the MDR, also kind of fish bowl like
  • The dinner menu is the same as the MDR with a special dish or two.

 

Notice they never mention that the breakfast in the Pinnacle will continue.  So for suite guests they may go from a nice sedate Pinnacle breakfast to either the MDR or the Fish Bowl.   Think I am siding with twodjs and think this is short-sighted effort to gain revenue and dilute suite amenities

Edited by sfocruiser
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14 minutes ago, sfocruiser said:

So for $50 per day (or a suite guest) you get (sticking to the food enhancements):

  • In Pinnacle class ships - Breakfast and Dinner in the America's Test Kitchen area (also known as the fish bowl)
  • In other ships you get to have dinner in a segregated area of the MDR, also kind of fish bowl like
  • The dinner menu is the same as the MDR with a special dish or two.

 

Notice they never mention that the breakfast in the Pinnacle will continue.  So for suite guests they may go from a nice sedate Pinnacle breakfast to either the MDR or the Fish Bowl.   Think I am siding with twodjs and think this is short-sighted effort to gain revenue and dilute suite amenities

I agree that this seems to be just another way to grab some $$ from lower priced cabin occupants. For us (DW and & I) the value for the $50ppd is just not there. We enjoy eating in the MDR via Open Seating, as it allows us the opportunity to meet and interact with new people every night. If it happens that we hit it off with some, then maybe we will start scheduling dinners together as the cruise goes on. 

 

As for breakfast, we've never had it in the MDR or Pinnacle, as neither of us are morning people. On most mornings we are struggling to get ready to go ashore and trying to eat most of our room service breakfast. On days we don't have shore outings, its sleep in time, generally well past breakfast time. 

 

For the non-Food items, we get most of that as 4-stars, so that is even less value to us. Priority line at Guest Services, no thanks, if the line is long, I'll come back at a later time. I've always been able to find  a time when Guest Services has no line or only 1 or 2 people being served. 

 

 

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31 minutes ago, sfocruiser said:

So for $50 per day (or a suite guest) you get (sticking to the food enhancements):

  • In Pinnacle class ships - Breakfast and Dinner in the America's Test Kitchen area (also known as the fish bowl)
  • In other ships you get to have dinner in a segregated area of the MDR, also kind of fish bowl like
  • The dinner menu is the same as the MDR with a special dish or two.

 

Notice they never mention that the breakfast in the Pinnacle will continue.  So for suite guests they may go from a nice sedate Pinnacle breakfast to either the MDR or the Fish Bowl.   Think I am siding with twodjs and think this is short-sighted effort to gain revenue and dilute suite amenities

 

You're right about the "fish bowl".  I had thought they would move Club Orange over to the other side of the passageway, so it would have the windows, and they could make it private, like the Neptune Lounge, but Captain Albert's blog shows it as being just like the CAC on Koningsdam, with glass walls.  So they will either have to curtain it all off, and lose sight of the windows, or leave it open so everyone can look in.  

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20 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

As a 5 Star Mariner, I am not sure that this Club Orange concept is in the best interests of HAL's frequent guests.

 

My opinion:  it is another example of the "ship within a ship" concept for guests. i.e MSC's Yacht Club, Princess' Club Class, Cunard's Grill Classes.

I agree with you. 

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This is absolutely terrible. We were just on the Zuiderdam and disembarked on Nov. 4th. We did some new bookings while on board and then the emails came for this Club Orange for our upcoming 18 days on the Nieuw Statendam. When we look at it as 5 Star Mariners and 700 day Platinum medallion holders they should really be making this available complementary to more people like us who have spent the time and money to reach these levels. We already get some of these Club Orange perks and now if we want Club Orange we have to pay for them. $50 a day is a lot per person and when just one person in a cabin can't  have it. Yeah its a real insult to all of us that have a very high number of days and we are always in a form of a suite cabin weather its a Signature or a Vista as these categories should be included too. For us we will never pay the $50 for this. Its like when the price of the clam shells at HMC doubled for the same thing and we have been there on some occasions that the time we get there is less. We stopped reserving one and my mom doesn't even go ashore there any more and when I do its just to go for a walk. Also when we were just there on the Zuiderdam there were empty cabanas as people were not spending the money on them.

Edited by rjbean4
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We've had the Elite Breakfast on Celebrity a few times, and at least once, the service was terrible.   They stopped us about halfway to the door during troop out.   On Princess, they have a separate line for Suites/Elites, and sometimes they remove the line, while other times we have a long wait because they don't notice us.

 

I got the impression that they'd limit the number of club orange.

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