Oosterdam Mariner's Question

[lenhub]

Did anyone receive the ceramic coasters of the Oosterdam that are usually left in your cabin near the end of the cruise? This is one of the tiny perks my wife and I enjoy and we did not get a set this cruise (Feb2 to Feb 11 to Mexico). Just wondering.

[sail7seas]

Call Seattle to the Mariner's Society (800-547-9139) and I think they will do their best to get a tile sent to you. Sometimes the steward makes a mistake and forgets to leave one for every Mariner. I agree......we really like getting and collecting the tiles.

 

[lenhub]

Thanks, we'll do that and see what happens.

[GTVCRUISER]

I got mine on the Jan. 21 , 2006 cruise

[shonuf]

Did anyone receive the ceramic coasters of the Oosterdam that are usually left in your cabin near the end of the cruise? This is one of the tiny perks my wife and I enjoy and we did not get a set this cruise (Feb2 to Feb 11 to Mexico). Just wondering.

 

Nope, not on the Jan 28 sailing either.

 

Thanks sail7seas for the number, I'll call tomorrow about mine. Hadn't even thought about it. I did notice the tote bags are a lesser quality fabric than in the past.

[herb]

My mother will be joining us on the Oosterdam. She has cruised twice before with HAL, but it was some time ago when my father was still alive. (I would say a good 10 years ago)

She has no idea what the names of the ships were, she calls them "Holland America".

- My eyes are rolling -

Luckily I did see one of the tiles in the kitchen, with Ryndam on it.

 

Just wondering if there are any perks now that this would be her 3rd cruise on HAL, other than a repeaters party? She has no Mariners card with a membership # and hasn't saved any HAL mail. Should I call HAL, is it worth it?

[grannynurse]

Your mom does not need any kind of card. Communicate with your TA and have him/her list your mom as a mariner on the booking and retrieve her number. You should all get the mariner discount as you're sailing together.

There are really no advantages to mariner status. Yes, we get a discount, sometimes other discounts are bigger and better. You receive an invitataion to the Mariner party and usually get "tags and buttons" with your documents.

 

Most of HAL's clientele are Mariners, so no big deal, Awards are given in the form of pins and medallions depending on the cumulative number of days on board HAL ships. The first level is 25 days, second 50, third 100 day medallion.

 

BTW, can you explain the reasons for the sniping on this board? I just saw a post about cruise police, what's going on?

 

I've just recently started seeing your name on the board. I noticed you first signed on in 2000. I thought I'd been here pretty regularly since 2003, I guess I just overlooked your previous posts.

Grannynurse

[herb]

Communicate with your TA and have him/her list your mom as a mariner on the booking and retrieve her number.

 

Thanks for the advice, I will call HAL and see if they can "find" her in their computer system. I don't think she'll care, I just thought it might be nice for her to be recognized as a repeat HAL cruiser.

BTW, can you explain the reasons for the sniping on this board? I just saw a post about cruise police, what's going on?

It was in response to an old thread that the poster must have just read and wanted to respond to. Since the post referred to was quite some time ago, I guess that poster wanted to make sure I read the comment.

 

I've just recently started seeing your name on the board. I noticed you first signed on in 2000. I thought I'd been here pretty regularly since 2003, I guess I just overlooked your previous posts.

Grannynurse

You probably didn't notice me here at the HAL boards until recently since our Jan. cruise is our first cruise with HAL. We do have a Scandinavia cruise booked with Princess for this coming summer, but there's really not much info/chat etc. on the Sea Princess and/or Baltic Ports as there is about the Holland America cruise which we'll be taking next Jan. (See signature :) )

[shonuf]

lenhub,

 

I just got off the phone with the Mariner's Society and they said they'd put them in the mail today. If you call, be sure to have your Mariner number and booking number handy.

 

Thanks for starting this thread and jogging my memory.

[lenhub]

My wife called the Mariner's Office today and they said they would send the tiles right out. They also commented that this has been a "frequent problem with that ship (Oosterdam)". They also asked if we had a Mariner's Party, which we did. May be the stewards aren't as familiar with the tiles on a newer ship? Anyway we'll get them eventually.

 

I know it's minor but we like them and use them as coasters in our living room.:)