How My Hyatt Globalist Status Scored Me a Free Cruise

UPDATE: The status match opportunity between World of Hyatt and MGM Rewards ended on September 30, 2023.

Holland America has introduced a status match offer that may give you an opportunity to score a free cruise if you hold elite status with a casino’s loyalty program.

Certain individuals who have matched their hotel elite status (such as Hyatt’s Explorist or Globalist elite tiers) to casino loyalty programs (such as Caesars Rewards and MGM Rewards) and have then submitted a match request to the Holland America Line Match Program are being targeted with a free cruise (excluding taxes and port fees) along with free money to play at the cruise line’s casino, as first reported by FrequentMiler.

I already have an entire year of travel planned, but I have Globalist status with Hyatt and MGM Rewards Gold status (earned from a status match between the 2), so I was curious about my luck.

I decided to submit a screenshot of my MGM Rewards status to Holland America’s status match program and see if I could score a free cruise.

Let’s see how I fared.

Matching Hotel Elite Status to Casino Loyalty Programs

For starters, let’s quickly go over how you can leverage hotel elite status — whether from actual stays or because you have a certain credit card — to “match” that hotel elite status to the elite tier of another program.

For instance, if you’re a World of Hyatt Globalist, you can transfer your status to MGM Rewards and receive Gold status with the casino/hotel program. Then, you may be eligible to leverage your newly acquired MGM Rewards Gold status to a cruise line’s status match program, such as Holland America’s.

If you appear to be devoted to a specific casino loyalty program, a competing casino loyalty program — such as a cruise line’s casino program — would want your business since they presume you spend money at casinos (even if you don’t gamble) and want to entice you into spending money with their cruise line.

Hot Tip: If you want to learn more about status matches, take a look at our ultimate guide to hotel loyalty program status matches and challenges!

Submitting My Status Match Request

You never know how long these status match offers will last, so I scurried over to the Holland America Status Match Program page and began to fill out my personal information. If you plan to test your luck, I suggest you submit your information as soon as you can.

Once I filled out the form, it was time to upload my proof of elite status with a competing casino loyalty program to Holland America. I went over to the MGM Rewards website, logged in, and grabbed a screenshot of my Gold elite status.

I returned to the Holland America Status Match page and uploaded the screenshot as a JPEG and added the words, “Status Match Request” in the accompanied “Your Message” text box.

Upon clicking “Submit,” I received a message with a ticket number and a note that my submission was received and I would hear back within 1 to 2 business days of my status match request.

Hot Tip: Curious about cruising with Holland America Cruise Line? Read our Holland America guide with information on the cruise line’s ships, departure ports, private island, and more. 

What Was the Outcome of My Status Match Request?

After submitting my match request, I received a response in less than 1 hour. It should be noted that a response might still take up to 2 days.

I got some good news: I was sent a free cruise offer. Details of this offer included a complimentary interior cabin and $100 Freeplay with drinks for 2 in the casino. This offer is valid for sailings in 2023 on the following Holland America itineraries: Alaska, Mexico, the Caribbean, Coastal, and Canada/New England. This offer needs to be redeemed within 60 days or it expires.

It’s important to remember that even though I got an offer for a free cruise, I likely will still have to pay hundreds in taxes and fees, which makes the offer slightly less appealing.

Cruise Cost

Since you’re still responsible for taxes and port fees, I wanted to calculate my out-of-pocket expenses while comparing Holland America cruise itineraries.

Searching for cruise itineraries from my home ports of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, I came across some reasonably priced itineraries with moderate taxes and fees.

Here is a 5-day Eastern Caribbean itinerary in March departing from Fort Lauderdale on Holland America. The taxes, fees, and port expenses come out to a reasonable $169 for an inside cabin booking, which would be my out-of-pocket expense.

On the following 7-day Tropical Caribbean cruise itinerary, I would need to pay $195 out of pocket for an inside cabin on this Holland America ship.

The offer provides no limitation on how short or long a cruise itinerary can be. Therefore, if you were to book a 21-day Southern Caribbean Seafarer/Wayfarer itinerary with your loved one, you would pay just $400 in taxes, fees, and port expenses for yourself.

Since the room is based on double occupancy, you’d have to still cover your loved one’s fare, but this would save you close to $2,000 on your own cabin fare.

Final Thoughts

Having elite status with your favorite hotel chain certainly has its perks. Thanks to my Globalist status with World of Hyatt, I was able to use my elite status to leverage a free cruise by matching hotel status to a casino loyalty program and then matching that again with a cruise line’s casino loyalty program.

This attractive offer requires little upfront effort and it took me just a few minutes to submit my status match request to Holland America. If you have hotel elite status, you’ll want to consider matching into a casino loyalty program and then show proof of your status to Holland America in hopes of getting a free cruise!