Holland America Loyalty Program Guide & Perks Overview

A frequent cruiser and love points? The Holland America Loyalty Program, or Mariner Society offers multiple ways to earn points and includes free dinners, discounts on drinks, laundry service and more.

I love points and I love a discount – especially if you can get them on something you were already spending money on anyways. After all my years cruising – I started cruising about 25 years ago – I’ve always enjoyed the perks you can get through cruise line loyalty programs.

The Holland America Loyalty program offers opportunity to earn points and gain perks and rewards through what you already would have spent and your cruise days that you sail. Some of these perks are better than others – the free laundry and priority embarkation for tendering are always favorites – but they all offer some value.

What is Holland America’s Loyalty program?

Holland America loyalty program is their rewards program. You can earn points by days sailed, onboard spending and more. The more points the more rewards!

What is Holland America’s loyalty program called?

It is called the Mariner Society. The Mariner Society is divided up into star levels, from one star all the way up to five star.

Each level includes different perks that increase with your loyalty to the cruise line. There is also one secret level called the President’s Club. You start earning points on your very first cruise and as you cruise more and spend more your level will go up – as will the perks and benefits.

What are the loyalty levels of Holland America?

The loyalty levels are referred to by stars, one star is the lowest level and five star is the highest regular level. The bonus, non-advertised level is the Presidents Club.

What ways are there to earn points?

There are three ways to earn points, or cruise days. Each additional point or cruise day helps get you closer to moving to the next star level which in turn will mean additional benefits.

1. One point, or cruise day, for each day you cruise
2. Double points if you’re staying in a suite
3. You can earn a cruise day for each $300 that you spend onboard

There’s some exclusions to this and definitely a couple terms and conditions.

Cruise Days

Nearly everyone will receive cruise days for option number 1 – one point for each day sailed – unless you are sailing on some unpublished vendor, employee, charity, and some other cruises at the cruise lines discretion.

Suite Bonus

Nearly everyone staying in suites will earn double points, unless you are on an employee space availability cruise and in a suite or if you are in a suite as a complimentary or promotional upgrade, then you aren’t eligible.

Onboard Spending Bonus

And, most folks that spend enough will earn through the Onboard Spending Bonus. The big exclusions to this are that the bonus will only go to the first and second guests in the cabin and those sailing on cruises that were prizes, charity, some employee bookings, and familiarization cruises are not eligible. You also do not earn credit for money spent in the casino, on future cruise deposits, cash advances, and associated fees.

The onboard spending bonus points cannot exceed the number of days of your cruise. If you are onboard a 7 day cruise, you cannot receive more than 7 bonus days for the onboard spending.

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What benefits are there in Holland America’s loyalty program?

The benefits you get with the loyalty program, or for being part of the “Mariner Society” depends on which level Mariner status you’ve achieved. The higher the level, or the more stars you have, the more benefits you will get as part of the loyalty program. Each level up gets to keep the benefits of the levels before it. Here’s a breakdown by each level. There are some terms and conditions that go with these, and you can see a full run-down of those here.

⭐ 1 Star Mariner Benefits

• Mariner Early Booking Bonus (up to $400 Onboard Credit – see further information on this below)
• Collectible Gift
• Mariner Cocktail voucher – basically a free drink coupon to use during the cruise
• 50% discount on cruise fares for 3rd/4th guests (only select sailings)

⭐⭐ 2 Star Mariner Benefits

All the benefits of one star, plus:

• a complimentary photo of the ship
• 10% discount on Holland America Line logo apparel from the shops (not including already discounted items)

⭐⭐⭐ 3 Star Mariner Benefits

All the benefits of two star (so also the benefits of one star), plus:

• Discount on select spa treatments
• Mariner Society Welcome onboard reception (this is typically on the first day of the cruise but sometimes changes)

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Star Mariner Benefits

4 Star Mariner benefits, or perks from the loyalty program are known to be where they start getting good! This is because it includes two very coveted items – priority tendering and free laundry. Here’s a rundown of all the perks of being a 4 star member as part of Holland America’s loyalty program:

• all of the perks of 3, 2, and 1 star plus:
• complimentary laundry and pressing service!
• 50% discount on Sommelier Suite wine packages (there are some exclusions to this though)
• 50% discount on specialty restaurant surcharges at Pinnacle, Canaletto, and Tamarind as well as some specialty coffees.
• 50% off mini-bar purchases
• Complimentary regional wine tasting
• Priority check-in, tendering, and disembarkation
• Free cruise-fares for 3rd/4th guests on select sailings
  • read that last one again – free cruise fares for 3rd/4th guests!
• 15% discount on select Holland America Line logo apparel
• 25% discount on Rudi’s Sel de Mer

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Star Mariner Benefits

Five star is still a step above the four star loyalty program benefits. It is everything included in all the previous levels, plus:

• Two complimentary dinners in Canaletto, Pinnacle, or Tamarind (surcharge only, meaning you still have to pay gratuity)
• One Complimentary Day-Pass to the Greenhouse Spa and Salon Thermal Suite
• Up to $30 credit towards an internet package

What is the Presidents Club?

This club is not advertised on Holland America’s website. You can search but it’s not there, but it absolutely exists.

The Presidents Club is the secret top level of Holland America’s Mariner Society. You have to have sailed 1,400 days and those days are actual sailing days – not days from cruise credit or for staying in a suite or anything like that and you have to be invited to join.

There isn’t much information online to research this, but from my experience working onboard there are not many President’s Club members. On a regular seven night cruise you likely won’t find any – maybe one or two per season. President’s Club members tend to sail on the long voyages and you could easily find 10-20 on a World Cruise or Grand Voyage. You’ll find them on Legendary Voyages, too.

My first encounter with a woman who was known to be the “President of the President’s Club”, was on a Legendary Voyage sailing in the South Pacific. Since then after sailing on quite a few Grand Voyages and World Cruises I’ve met many President’s Club members.

There are some perks to being part of the President’s Club – I’m not privvy to the full list of perks, but the rumor is these guests have a special contact number for the corporate office. They will have a special induction dinner, receive a letter from the president of Holland America Line, of course receive all of the perks of all other membership levels as well.

And, I can also say that when they are onboard the team makes sure they are treated quite royally. There is a list sent out to certain supervisors letting the crew know who these President’s Club guests are and to go out of their way to make sure they are treated well. Their room cards onboard will feature a red, white, and blue theme on the base color bar.

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Mariner Early Booking Bonus

This is a relatively new perk to be added to the Holland America loyalty program. This gives you the opportunity, after sailing with Holland America for just one cruise, to get onboard credit of up to $400 if you book within 90 days of a season opening.

There’s lot of ways to get extra onboard credit – like being an AARP member, an educator, active, retired or veteran military, or owning Carnival shares. One of the best ones is definitely the Mariner Early Booking Bonus though.

FAQ’s

Do Holland America loyalty points expire?

No! This is one of the great things about this program, you keep accruing them for life. Holland America can also assist in looking up past cruises to get you credit for them. Onboard spending and suite bonuses are only eligible on cruises from 2009 onwards.

What are the loyalty Mariner Society medallions and lapel pins?

The Mariner Society offers certain additional benefits to those very loyal guests. These include medallions and lapel pins.

Medallions are given to those guests that have sailed 100 days, 300 days, 500 days, and 700 days. They are offered in different colors depending on how many days sailed. Bronze for 100, Silver for 300, Gold for 500, and Platinum for 700. These are awarded based on cruise days and not bonus cruise day credits like from onboard spending or staying in a suite.

Lapel pins will be awarded for achieving each loyalty level from 2 star and up.

Does Holland America match loyalty status?

They do not match loyalty status with other cruise lines. They may match your casino status which could make you eligible for a free cruise. Take a look at Ocean Players Club and fill out the form to see.

There is also a chance if you have certain top tiers of hotel loyalty programs that you could do a “match status” between hotel brands (like Caesars in Vegas) to then have the “casino status” required to be eligible for a free cruise for instance. All of this is totally separate from Holland America’s Loyalty Program or Mariner Society though.

In Conclusion: Holland America Loyalty Program

Holland America’s loyalty program offers some great incentives. They may not be enough to prompt you to have complete brand loyalty, but they are certainly excellent bonuses if you are already cruising with Holland America.

There are also some great options to gain points and move through the Mariner levels fairly quickly if you are a high spender and stay in suites regularly. You could be at free laundry and free third and forth guests before you know it!

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