Getting a Free Holland America Cruise Offer Via MGM Gold in the Eleventh Hour

Well, comrades, as the saying goes, better late than never. Like many of you, I’ve been fascinated by the “free cruise” fever that hit our community over the last few years. Nancy has done a stellar job at taking advantage of all the match opportunities from different cruise lines. And of course, Nick from Frequent Miler blog has turned it into an art form

As strange as it sounds, I have not pursued any free-ish cruises until now. My husband doesn’t like Royal Caribbean or Carnival, and several other cruise lines require a physical visit to a casino to do the match. That’s not something we would ever do for various reasons. I was also under the impression that you have to join a cruise gambling club of sorts before even attempting a match.

One more thing. Since we usually book two cabins, it means we would still have substantial out-of-pocket costs in the end. Unfortunately, only my husband has MGM Gold status, and it’s about to expire at the end of this month. Since Hyatt and MGM are no longer partners, the matching merry-go-round has come to a screeching halt. Permanently.

Anyway, I was looking at various opportunities and one in particular caught my eye. My husband and I love Holland America and I wrote a trip report on our cruise to Panama canal in 2022 Since we’ve sailed on this line a number of times, I really didn’t have any hope of getting a free cruise offer. Still, I visited the Holland America status match page, input my information and attached a screenshot of my husband’s MGM Gold status. I didn’t have to join any gambling club or anything like that. Btw, I was able to find the image of his card on MGM Rewards app. The website doesn’t have it for some reason.

Holland America actually asked for  screenshots of the front and back of the card, but I couldn’t find the latter. Either way, I didn’t have much hope, so attached what I had. And the next day my husband got a free cruise offer. We got the same type that Nancy received a few months ago:

Offer Type HALMatch 1: Complimentary Interior Cabin + $100 Freeplay with Drinks for two (2) while playing in the casino.

The email also contained the cruise certificate number. We don’t plan on using the gambling credit, it’s all about the free cruise.

It didn’t show any dates or specific sailings, but gave me the number to call. I wasn’t sure if they would require my husband to get on the phone, since the offer is technically attached to his name. But the rep didn’t have any issues discussing it with me.

What I found out

1) I was told that we have until April 8th 2025 to book our free cruise

We also have to sail by that date. The long booking window was surprising, and I called again just to make sure. The second agent also told me we have until April 8th 2025 to decide. I’ve emailed the rep who sent me the offer and asked to clarify it one last time, but haven’t yet heard back. Will update the post when I do.

2) Holland America requires a $100 deposit per person and it’s non-refundable

The agent did say we would get it back in the form of onboard credit that we can use towards tips. But the bottom line is, if you can’t go on a cruise for some reason, you lose that money.

3) You can upgrade to an oceanview, but the fee is also non-refundable

The rate will depend on the sailing, I was given a quote of $99 extra per person. That’s not bad.

4) You can add a 3rd/4th passenger for an extra fee

My understanding is this fee as well as port charges are refundable, but you might want to double check. We are looking at booking this cabin for my MIL and kids, and then using Chase UR points to book a separate cabin for me and my husband later on.
To be clear, we will have to book the inside room in his name and I’ll add my MIL to my reservation. We will simply swap cabins.

I was told that in order to  fit three people, we also have to pay a surcharge of $60 per person for the first two guests, and $479 total for the third guest for the 7-night sailing I’m interested in. YMMV

5) You can’t look up the eligible sailings online

When I called the first time, the rep said that only certain sailings are eligible for this offer, and he couldn’t tell me exactly which ones. He did say he had some codes, and proceeded to list them. After about twenty or so, I told him we could stop. Out of curiosity, I Googled some codes, and Alaska cruises came up. You might be able to sail in Europe and other parts of the world, so doesn’t hurt to ask.

I can say that many Caribbean cruises are part of the promotion, and that’s the type I’m interested in. I was told the cruise can be up to 11 nights, but the dates are likely limited. Christmas and New Year’s  sailings will likely be a no-go, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Some recent data points indicate that the cruise can be up to 14 nights.

What I plan to do with this offer

I’m still mulling it over. The problem is, we have a ton booked in 2024, and my husband has only so many vacation days. We could potentially try to cruise over Thanksgiving week, but it would not be ideal. My preference is the spring break of 2025. Unfortunately, our school board will not be releasing a school calendar for the next year until May. The spring break in our district has fallen on the same week for about a decade now. But with our luck that may change this year.

I was quoted $1,259 total for three people in the inside stateroom. Keep in mind that $300 would be refunded as onboard credit. It’s not a bad deal for a weeklong cruise on our favorite line. I also really love the itinerary, which is another selling point. Last but not least, my kids are begging to go on a cruise again, and I was actually looking into it for 2025. So why not get a big discount while we are at it, right?

No, it’s not free, but it’s a very good deal for a cruise we actually want to take. I was happy to read that Holland America is installing Starlink on all of its ships, so this will hopefully solve the internet issues we had on our last cruise. My husband has to be reachable due to the nature of his job (IT). That was honestly my only complaint during our Panama cruise.

Readers, please share your data points for this offer!