16 March 2010; At Sea.

Today was one of the highlights of our cruise. Mariner’s day. On regular cruises it is normally part of the activities of the last day of the cruise but on a Grand Voyage a complete day is used to focus on the milestone in days that each guest has achieved. As the Prinsendam has the highest repeater rate of the whole fleet and HAL has the highest repeater rate in the cruise business, almost everybody
onboard is a Mariner. Certainly after 70 days. So we spend some time and effort on these achievements. The company is forever trying to improve the service and the privileges that come with the number of days and recently we went to a new system of Stars (denoting the number of days up and until 200) and the old system of medals for those over the 200. The new setup can be compared to the frequent flyer system that is in use by the air lines. The more days that you make; the more perks that you get.

It is too much to go into details about what each star signifies that information can be found on the Hal website but by the time you achieve the 4 Star Status there are some quite interesting things that you are entitled to. For two star, three star and four star status a service pin is issued and when over the 200 days, the four star stays but then the medals for 300, 500 and 700 days are added. 700 days is nearly two years of full time cruising but there are guests who are way beyond that. This cruise we have two ladies onboard, one with 1024 days, and one with 1004 days. Mind boggling achievements and there are loyal customers out there who have an even higher count. When you are over the 700 days, there are no medals to be given anymore, so the ship solved it this time with a nice bouquet of flowers.

In the past we used to have only a meeting in the show lounge with a drink and the presentation but that has been modified now to a Mariner lunch. The problem is, if you have so many mariners onboard, they do not fit in the dining room in one sitting. Thus we had to do two sittings and the award ceremony in the middle. It would be the first time ever that a cruise guest stayed away from a free meal, so even the 11 am brunch was very well attended. It is custom that as many officers join in to host tables but we do not have enough of them onboard to host each table in the dining room. Thus it goes by the day count and as a result I had the privilege to have the two (1000+) ladies at my table. Luckily I can proudly say that I am also a Mariner with 65 days of cruising with HAL, so I was entitled to be at the lunch as well.

From left: 30 year employee Mr. Arief Komarudin Dining Room Steward; 15 year employee Mr. Soufhian, Linen Keeper; 15 year Employee Mr. Eduardo Ramos Patino, Engine Mechanic.

Apart from the guests I also had the honor to acknowledge a few long serving crew members. We had the linen keeper from the Laundry Mr. Soufhian who has 15 years service with the company. Mr. Eduardo Ramos Patino, Engine mechanic also 15 years with the company and Mr. Arief Komarudin, dining room steward 30 years with the company. It is amazing how many crew members we have, who have dedicated their entire life to Holland America and who are very often instrumental in helping sons, daughters and other family and relatives in finding their way to our ships as well. To acknowledge this the company has a service award system, of 5, 10,15,20,25 years with service pins. 30 years gives a logo ring, 35 years a mantle piece clock, 40 years a watch and 45 years a hanging clock. Thus Mr. Komarudin received his ring today in front of all our medal guests. It is difficult to find a venue to properly recognize crew members with high service years, so I made an executive decision to do those over 15 years on the stage during Mariners day. For the lesser years I use a crew party or a get together with their near colleagues.

That took care of most of the day and as there were a few other parties later in the day as well, it was party time all around. As I mentioned yesterday, who says that cruising is boring……

Tomorrow we are visiting the prisons on Devil’s Island, one of our more unusual calls of this cruise. The prisoners did have a hard time there and a lot never finished their jail time, due to the bad climate. The weather looks good for tomorrow, so it is going to be very warm. I will arrive at sunrise, to give the deck department ample time to set up the tender service, as there is no dock that we can go alongside.