Favorite ship to get that "medal"?

[Krazy Kruizers]

I am wondering how many of you actually book certain ships when you know that you will be receiving a medal -- 100 day -- 300 day -- 500 day -- 700 day.

I am guessing that some of you do book certain ships since you know that you will be invited to dine with the captain in celebration of your achievement.

[kakalina]

We will be receiving our 300 day medals next month on the Statendam. The Statendam was our very first HAL ship and has some wonderful memories. We chose the ship because of the itinerary however.

 

We wanted to do the Hawaii/Tahiti 35 day cruise again and at a different time of year. The Statendam was the only ship doing this cruise.

 

It is the best kind of serendipity that she was our first ship.

[cle1]

I am wondering how many of you actually book certain ships when you know that you will be receiving a medal -- 100 day -- 300 day -- 500 day -- 700 day.

I am guessing that some of you do book certain ships since you know that you will be invited to dine with the captain in celebration of your achievement.

 

You get invited to dine with the Captain? Didn't know.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Most definitely we would take into consideration what ship we would sail receiving our Mariner Medal and we did for our first knowing it would be on the Oosterdam with lots of our CC friends which is also the ship where we sailed the days most to earn that medal. But most certainly had nothing to do with Dining with the Captain:D since we have never been invited to dine with the Captain and most likely never will. We only cruise 7 day cruises and they do not do that type of thing on 7 day cruises. So that would never have crossed our minds unless your are talking about being seated next to the Captain at the Mariner's Brunch.

[AWED23]

:cool: Both Silver and Gold were awarded aboard Prinsendam By Capt. Turner and Frits Ghener the Hotel Mgr.....Our favorite ship afloat. Platinum will come in 2010 all things being equal aboard the "Most elegant Prinsendam".:)

[RedmondCruiser]

On our next cruise we will recieve our silver medal for 300 days ( not yet booked ). The ship and the captain will not be a reason for booking the cruise. It will be based on the time of year and the itinerary.

I don't anticipate ever being asked to the captains table so I'll just have to fall back on Mrs Astors famous comment. "I don't dine with the crew"

[Krazy Kruizers]

You get invited to dine with the Captain? Didn't know.

 

Some people do. It's all about who you know.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I was just wondering as I know someone from this site did cancel one cruise knowing that they wouldn't get the "royal" treatment on the one ship compared to what they would get on their favorite ship.

And then I noticed last week that someone else has booked a cruise on their favorite ship inorder to receive their medals with their favorite captain and ship.

As for us -- no special ship or treatment when we got our 100 day medals. No special ship or treatment when we got our 300 day medals.

For 500 days -- it will be by itinerary -- no favorite captain or ship -- so we know we won't be treated any differently than anyone else getting a medal. Although I would something else other than a warm glass of wine at the awards ceremony. ;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

On our next cruise we will recieve our silver medal for 300 days ( not yet booked ). The ship and the captain will not be a reason for booking the cruise. It will be based on the time of year and the itinerary.

 

I don't anticipate ever being asked to the captains table so I'll just have to fall back on Mrs Astors famous comment. "I don't dine with the crew"

 

I hope that you put down a deposit on a future cruise so that you can get some shipboard credit.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We will be receiving our 300 day medals next month on the Statendam. The Statendam was our very first HAL ship and has some wonderful memories. We chose the ship because of the itinerary however.

 

We wanted to do the Hawaii/Tahiti 35 day cruise again and at a different time of year. The Statendam was the only ship doing this cruise.

 

It is the best kind of serendipity that she was our first ship.

 

An early congratulations on getting to 300 days!!

[JimVrhovac]

We went out of our way to schedule this day on the Veendam as Albert and his ship are the one we travel on the most....

 

Does not get us special treatment but we do not expect it....

 

Ruth & Jim

[LAFFNVEGAS]

We went out of our way to schedule this day on the Veendam as Albert and his ship are the one we travel on the most....

 

Does not get us special treatment but we do not expect it....

 

Ruth & Jim

Jim, I think that is great that you and Ruth with get your 500 day on the Veendam. I totally understand that. :) The Veendam has been a very special ship to the two of you. Same as the Oosterdam has been special to us. I just hope that by the time we ever get to to our 300 days she will still be in the fleet and they bring her back cruising out of the US :D Although it will take us at least 8 to 10 year (maybe more:o ) to get to the 300 days since we may have a few other cruises in between booked with another cruise line;)

[RuthC]

My next medallion will be given to me on whatever ship I happen to be sailing at the time. I certainly won't be choosing a ship to have it awarded on, though.

I've never heard of anyone getting to dine with the Captain simply because their medallion was being awarded. There may be many reasons one gets to dine with the Captain, but there's never a guarantee for anyone that they will get chosen.

There are "hosted" tables at the Mariners' luncheon, but my understanding is that people are selected for those based on how many days they have sailed. It's possible to be awarded a medallion, yet still be low enough on the "days sailed" count that you don't get to the Captain's table that day.

[Jade13]

We will be receiving our 300 day medals next month on the Statendam. The Statendam was our very first HAL ship and has some wonderful memories. We chose the ship because of the itinerary however.

 

We wanted to do the Hawaii/Tahiti 35 day cruise again and at a different time of year. The Statendam was the only ship doing this cruise.

 

It is the best kind of serendipity that she was our first ship.

 

That's amazing that you are young and retired (under age 60) and have so many days on HAL.

[Mary Ellen]

We did recently receive medallions. Yes, some thought did go into planning the cruise, but not at all because of a specific ship. At the time we booked we had NO idea who the Capt./Hotel Manager were going to be. I do have more days than DH, yet we wanted a cruise where we would both receive them. [That reminds me, I need to find out from Adele about that cruise the waiter remembered her - and DH - being on. He may have more days than I thought. ;) ] The timing worked out so we were sailing with a number of our CC friends. Thus, we did have an inordinate amount of cheering and applause. :D The Captain and Hotel Manager seemed to be quite surprised and joked about us bringing a lot of family with us (:eek: :eek: :eek: been there, done that, NOT doing that again). Nope, just dear friends with whom we greatly enjoy sailing. :D MUCH more important than a specific ship.

[jhannah]

It wouldn't matter to me which ship I was on when getting a medal. I wouldn't try to book a particular ship for this purpose. But I certainly understand how some will have an affinity for one ship or the other and want their recognition to be on that vessel.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Most definitely we would take into consideration what ship we would sail receiving our Mariner Medal and we did for our first knowing it would be on the Oosterdam with lots of our CC friends which is also the ship where we sailed the days most to earn that medal. But most certainly had nothing to do with Dining with the Captain:D since we have never been invited to dine with the Captain and most likely never will. We only cruise 7 day cruises and they do not do that type of thing on 7 day cruises. So that would never have crossed our minds unless your are talking about being seated next to the Captain at the Mariner's Brunch.

 

YES Lisa -- there are people who have gotten their 100 day medals AND had sailed on the same ship numerous times AND were invited to dine with the captain!!

I have know of several here -- but have been advised not to mention names.:mad:

[Krazy Kruizers]

We went out of our way to schedule this day on the Veendam as Albert and his ship are the one we travel on the most....

 

Does not get us special treatment but we do not expect it....

 

Ruth & Jim

 

 

If my math is correct -- you should NOT get your 500 day medal on your November cruise:

Right now you have 477 days.

477 plus a 15 day Eurodam cruise on Oct and a 7 day cruise on November 16 only adds up to 499 days????

[JimVrhovac]

I know it is only 499 but I am going to ask for some latitude and get it on the Veendam with Captain Albert.

 

We talked about it during the April cruise and it should not be a problem...

 

Ruth & Jim

[Copper10-8]

We'll be receiving our silver/300-day medal in November on Veendam however we didn't pick the ship nor the captain for that reason. It just happened to turn out that way (I actually miscounted and initially thought we'd be getting that bad boy on Eurodam but we were short by three days).

Now the fact that Capt. Schoonderbeek will be driving Veendam during that cruise (I'm a big fan of his blog), the fact that our very first HAL cruise back fifteen years ago also left from Tampa, Fl and the fact that Veendam was the last ship we were able to sail on with my mum and dad back in 1998, those are all added bonuses.:)

[SDHALFAN]

My husband and I were awarded our 100-day medallions by (then) Captain Douwes aboard the Veendam. We picked the cruise for the itinerary having no idea who the Captain would be. I'm glad it was Captain Douwes, he is a most personable man and we had a lot of fun chatting with him. Weren't invited to dine with him though!

 

I got my 300-day medallion last year aboard the Amsterdam. Again I chose the ship for the itinerary which is just as well as none of us 300-dayers were awarded our medallions - they were just shoved unceremoniously into our mailboxes with an invitation to show up for a group photograph.:D

 

My husband and I were invited to dine with two Captains (Captain Djik, now retired; and Captain Gunderson). We were also invited to dine with a Chief Officer one time - Henk Kjier, who is now a fully-fledged Captain with HAL. None of these invitations had anything whatsoever to do with being awarded medallions or with how many days we had sailed. I was also invited to dine with the Chief Officer last year on my cruise but had to decline since I was suffering from a cold and didn't want to infect everyone else at the table. I honestly do not know how some people are chosen to dine with the Captain or Chief Officer and some are not.

 

Valerie:)

 

p.s. By the way, I believe that Mrs. Astor's quote was "I do not dine with the hired help".:D

[cruisinjudy]

We go tour hundred day in February on Ryndam, which does happen to be our most sailed ship, but did not get invited to dine with the captain. The closest we have come was to have an officer dine at our table on all formal nights. On Celebrity we have been invited to the captain's table twice, but it was hosted by an officer.

[PathfinderEss]

Wow, I guess I'm really bad, I don't even remember what ship we got our 100 day medallion on. So I guess I won't be planning a special cruise for our 300 if we ever get there. Never had dinner with the captain on Hal, but have done that several times on Celebrity, like Cruisinjudy.

[JimVrhovac]

HAL verified today that we actually have 478 cruised days so the Veendam will be 500 days by the end of the cruise.

 

I hope this satisfies certain members of the cruise critic audience

 

Ruth & Jim

[2bout2c]

Normally I wouldn't plan the ship to receive my metal, but I did this year. I was on the first 13days of the Eurodam. I thought it would be special to receive my 500 day on that trip. So I had to book a 7day in the spring so my 500days would happen then. So with the gifts everyone got, I also got an extra one, a gold metal.