Just Out Of Curiosity, Would You. . .

[kakalina]

Here's my thought, bear with me and use your imagination. You have received you 300 day ( or 100 ) medal. You receive an invitation to join the exclusive "Captain's Club" which would entitle you to many things. Say, bridge tours, dinner with the Captain, private club parties, a dinner in the PG. Along those lines. OK, ya with me so far :) ? At the bottom of this invitation it reads this can all be yours for yearly dues of the nominal cost of $200.00.

 

Bet you never thought I'd get it out. Would you do it? Any interest in joining something similiar?

 

I thought it would be interesting to see how everyone felt about this. So have fun with it.

[cruz chic]

Doesn't do much for me.......

[sail7seas]

It would depend if some of the amenities included in the package are things we do/get as Suite guests. If they were redundant items, then No, of course not.

 

I'd have to see what things were included in order to decide. I'm not totally opposed to the concept. Actually, it's a rather interesting idea........

 

Did one of your sources mention such a thing to you? :D

 

 

[Sailorgirlseattle]

Nope.

[hammybee]

I have absolutely no interest in dining with the captain or attending VIP parties, regardless if there is a cost or not. I have yet to stand in a line to shake hands with the Captain nor have I attended a Mariner reception.

 

Conversely, my DH would chomp at the bit to hob nob with the captain on the bridge and would probably pay for it, too. You can find me in the Lido, hanging out with Virgil, watching the sea. ;)

[sterling36]

I am new to HAL, so let me see if I got this right,

before I would even get the invite I would have to have 300+ or 100+ days after which I could pay $200 a year for the honor?

 

No I don't think so...

 

~Lilly

[hammybee]

Dupe

[Mary Ellen]

They would have to offer a heck of a lot more for $200 (was that pp??) a year for us to even consider signing up.

 

bridge tours - we've done that

dinner with the Captain - not something that we get worked up over, the only time we were happy to eat with the Captain was a lunch when he came and sat with us.

private club parties - the VIP party has been nice, but we aren't very outgoing so we just talked between ourselves and wondered why we were there. ;)

a dinner in the PG - we can eat in the PG for a lot less that $200 - and DH hasn't been that happy with his last 3 dinners there. I probably couldn't get him to go again (unless we were dining with people we enjoy).

[Copper10-8]

Nope!;)

[Bill S]

HAL's Mariner recognition program at the present time is just that, "recognition", and not much else, IMO. So, we would not be interested in paying more dollars above and beyond the cost of a cruise for essentially just more proposed recognition (except for the proposed PG dinner). But $200 per year for a "free" meal in the PG would not be worth it to us.

Now, if you threw in "guaranteed dining choice (traditional or open) and time", and lowered the fee in half, we might be interested. :rolleyes: HAL should be offering that choice for free anyway to high-day Mariners. It wouldn't cost them a dime to do that, again, IMO.

[sail7seas]

:) That gets us right back to the things that Suite guests pay for now. We pay more to get more and among those things we get is guaranteed dining time of choice. So, if I pay for it with my suite and I am also a 500 day Mariner...... I'm only using one table and eating one dinner each night so I've paid for something I would have gotten included in Mariner Program.

 

That is why I continually say the only way I see it as 'working' for a high day Mariner who books Suites is for Cash. Make it a certain amount off when we book or a certain amount OnBoardCredit according to how many days we have.

 

But I am getting away from OP's question. She wants to know what we would buy.

 

[O2B@C]

Me either. None of the perks you listed interests me - except maybe dinner in the PG, which I can get for a lot less if I want it. Plus, I don't think I'll be cruising often enough, at least for a while, to pay $200 every year for any set of perks. (Gotta accommodate DH's preferences too, so half our limited vacation time/$ will go to other sorts of trips.)

 

Now here's a set of perks that I would consider paying $100 a year for:

 

- Free thermal suite access one day per cruise

- 100 free Internet minutes per cruise

- Guaranteed choice of dining arrangement

- One coffee or soda card per cruise

 

These perks wouldn't cost HAL much, and would be really meaningful to me.

[cruz chic]

Now here's a set of perks that I would consider paying $100 a year for:

 

- Free thermal suite access one day per cruise

- 100 free Internet minutes per cruise

- Guaranteed choice of dining arrangement

- One coffee or soda card per cruise

 

These perks wouldn't cost HAL much, and would be really meaningful to me.

 

I'd bite at that for $100

[Rhea58]

This will seriously dig up a hornet's nest but for the life of me, I cannot

understand WHY people yearn for these medals. One year I got a certificate (for so many days I believe) & I round-filed before leaving the

ship. All this says to me is that one gets to wear a tacky medal proving that one has spent scads of money to achieve this dubious distinction.

 

Don't get me wrong - I am a diehard HAL fan...spending any amount

of money for perks that do not speak to me is not in the cards. I much

prefer to choose PG, spa, etc. and pay for them as I go. And, since

cruising is not my only choice for trips, the annual fee would go to waste

since I may not sail each year since I prefer Europe by air. I suspect that I am in the minority and most medal earners prefer cruising as their main choice of travel.

 

As a single cruiser, I could see using it - if I were offered dinner seating w/a lecturer or someone of interest to ensure lively conversion as a

benefactor subsitute - LOL!

[midgecruiser]

Seems kind of creepy......

[Vic The Parrot]

Why should I pay extra for some of that when it's complimentary on Cunard?

 

If that's what HAL has in mind for it's loyal passengers, they can shove it. :rolleyes:

[RuthC]

$200 more for what you listed? No, thank you.

[kakalina]

No Sails, I just got to thinking about some of the things I've seen people mention here and there. I was curious what folks might be willing to pay for in this manner. HAL has nothing at all to do with the meanderings of my ofttimes limited mind.

Hammydear: Virgil says he'll have a table and a drink ready for you.

[Tricia724]

For some reason, this reminds me of that old joke about the baby who was so ugly his mother had to tie a pork chop around his neck to get the dog to play with him.

 

Paying a fee to join a club for the sole purpose of getting some extra attention or invitations to exclusive activities sounds a little pathetic to me. Now if this "membership" included something meaningful like discounts on cruises or upgrades on cabins, then it might have some merit, but I don't think I want to pay somebody to play with me.

[ger_77]

No. That medal would have already been the most expensive piece of jewelry I owned and I can't think of why I'd pay them an annual fee to give me "perks" that I wouldn't use. Just my 2 cents worth!

 

RuthC: could you please email me? I have a question for you; the address is ger underscore 77 at yahoo dot com Just put Cruise Critic in the subject line - thanks.

 

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[Vic The Parrot]

No. That medal would have already been the most expensive piece of jewelry I owned and I can't think of why I'd pay them an annual fee to give me "perks" that I wouldn't use. Just my 2 cents worth!

 

 

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

 

 

 

That's how I feel about that clunky piece of metal.

 

All my loyalty for that ... not to mention a bruise on my chest after wearing that stupid thing for the night. :rolleyes: ;)

[SeaRay48]

No Thanks. I would pay $200.00 a year to get on the short list for an upgrade to a suite. Better yet would be a significant discount for suites only offered to 100 + HAL cruisers.

[Spender Nui]

No, and I don't make political contributions either.

[bobpatj]

No, but I do look forward to getting our 300 day medals! :D

[SDHALFAN]

Well, it looks like I'm voting with the majority for a change. Not a chance in heck would I fork over another $200.00 for any of that stuff - been there, done that anyway and feel no need to repeat any of the scenarios since I can't honestly think of one that was memorable.

 

Well, come to think of it: the first Grand Voyage Dinner aboard the ms Rotterdam VI's innaugural GWV when I sat next to the Captain, who was quite the charmer and very witty; however, the reason it really stands out in my memory is because it just happened to be on my birthday.:D

 

Valerie:)