Yes or No? Combining Repeater Programs?

No. Suppose a 5 star hotel and Motel 6 were under the same corporate ownership. Would you want the people who have earned points at Motel 6 to get to stay at your 5 star hotel for free?

 

DO?N

I'm not familiar with Motel 6. What's wrong with them that you wouldn't want them in your hotel?

I'm Platinum Medallion on HAL and Five Star so I have earned the days the 'hard way' as RuthC mentions. :) I've sailed Princess about 6 cruises and have no idea if that is any level with them and one cruise on Carnival (sort of) so there is little for me to gain. I have no wish to sail any of the other Carnival Brands at the moment but was interested in others' opinions.

I don't sail HAL because of the benefits of being Five Star as a number of them came from being in a Suite which I already get so they are a duplication or 'water down' of the suite amenities we pay for anyway.

I think it could get very complicated and cause resentment if people could travel freely between all the Carnival Brands and expect whatever are equivalent of the total day level they earned elsewhere.

We are wildly indifferent about how HAL (or any other cruise line, for that matter) runs its loyalty/rewards program, as that is not the reason we choose to cruise with HAL ... But thanks for starting this thread as we do enjoy seeing other CCers' views on this subject.

How does one secure those benefits? Provide your past guest number from another line under the corporate umbrella when booking?

Email the Mariner Society with your number on the other cruise line. They will email you back your Mariner number very quickly. After that, when you log on to HAL, it will show your name and that you are a one star Mariner.

But to combine more substantial benefits? That would only serve to dilute the benefits those of us who worked our way up the hard way earned. Our benefits are already diluted somewhat by counting the "Bonus" days, where someone can actually get credit of 3 days for every day sailed.

 

If I want perqs on other lines, let me start at the beginning and earn them.

Celebrity and RCI have a near-reciprocal system in place that starts at the Celebrity Select or RCI Platinum levels. Not once did I ever feel like my loyalty status was ever diluted because of this system. I'm not sure why anyone would feel that way. As long as people still get their benefits, why should they care who else gets them? :confused:

No. Suppose a 5 star hotel and Motel 6 were under the same corporate ownership. Would you want the people who have earned points at Motel 6 to get to stay at your 5 star hotel for free?

But under that system, far less points are earned for a stay at a Motel 6 compared to a stay at the 5 star hotel.

As long as people still get their benefits, why should they care who else gets them? :confused:

Your premise already doesn't hold true on HAL.

I have trouble getting my "free" spa day sometimes, and getting my "free" Pinnacle dinners at a suitable time.

This idea would add even more people to the demand. This is one time when "the more the merrier" does not apply.

This idea would add even more people to the demand. This is one time when "the more the merrier" does not apply.

The only way it would add more people to the demand in a significant way is if people from all the other Carnival Corp lines gravitate only to HAL, while nobody who normally cruises HAL decides to try other lines. I don't think that would happen. On average and in theory, just as many HAL cruisers would try other lines. The biggest exchange would probably be between HAL and Princess. While the people vying for that free dinner might be a mix of cruisers from other lines, the numbers should still be the same.

When RCI and Celebrity initiated their system, I noticed no added numbers in the loyalty lounges, even with it being a mix of people from both cruise lines. For every Celebrity cruiser trying RCI, it seemd a RCI cruiser was trying Celebrity.

But as for that free dinner in Pinnacle, I'm about to embark my 3rd HAL cruise and I'm still 1 Star. On every one of my HAL cruises, including this one upcoming, I was given a free Pinnacle dinner. I don't know why that is, but I have. So, the logjam in Pinnacle isn't just about senior loyalty members.

Your premise already doesn't hold true on HAL.

I have trouble getting my "free" spa day sometimes, and getting my "free" Pinnacle dinners at a suitable time.

 

This idea would add even more people to the demand. This is one time when "the more the merrier" does not apply.

I agree, Ruth.

But I wonder how Carnival Corp would work a combined program. An all new, all-lines program might have to be diluted considering all the potential pax on any given line who would, then, qualify for more rewards on each cruise, as you note.

As to HAL, with the cutbacks everyone talks about (Collector's cruise cutbacks, for one example), this added burden of even more pax who require rewards would not be received well by the ships, I can imagine.

...Do you think the Carnival Family of Ships should combine their Repeater Cruiser Program and give credit for all days sailed on each cruise line for the program on all the cruise lines?...

I think it would be really great if some of the loyalty credits were to be available on other Carnival lines. After all, they’re all part of the same organization.

I don’t understand the philosophy that says “I did something to get my rewards and I am sure going to see to it that everyone else has to do at least as much to get their rewards.” I don’t agree with this at all. Let anyone who has sailed with any Carnival line be able to enjoy some of the benefits. And I don’t think there are too many folks on this board that have more time on HAL ships than do Karen and I.

If Princess or Cunard have a cruise that seems interesting to us, it would be just a bit more of an added incentive to do it, instead of our going on a RCI or Norwegian cruises.

I also need to disagree with those who assert “it would be soooo complicated.” It could be made relatively simple. For example, one possibility would be to say half of the days someone has sailed on any Carnival line ship (actual days sailed, not HAL cruise credit days,) would count towards credits on any other Carnival line. The computers could handle this easily. So on a HAL ship for example, a cruiser’s total Mariner days would include their total HAL Mariner cruise credit days plus half of the days sailed on any other Carnival line ship. On other Carnival line ships, the situation could be similar.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Scott & Karen

Thanks, Scott and Karen

This is what I am looking for: some ideas on how CC would set up a comprehensive program. That is an interesting plan.

There are, of course, many possibilities, all of which would put more burden on HAL ships' officers and crew who really do not seem to deliver the Mariner program all that well, as is.

You may disagree but you are in the President's Club category and I can bet the ships' officers and crew, especially on WCs and Grands, do a good job of it for you. So few truly elite pax, so easy to handle. Add a lot more pax at any level and things might not turn out too well and this is a question mark and concern for some of us.

We are wildly indifferent about how HAL (or any other cruise line, for that matter) runs its loyalty/rewards program, as that is not the reason we choose to cruise with HAL ... But thanks for starting this thread as we do enjoy seeing other CCers' views on this subject.

After seeing all the posts against the idea of combining all of the Carnival Family loyalty/rewards programs (with some CCers apparently viewing it as a zero-sum game), we have changed our minds - we would now vote against such a proposal ... IMO those who "earned" their HAL stars the "hard way" should not have to share the honor (and the benefits) with those who didn't. We will continue cruising with HAL regardless of which way Carnival Corporation chooses to go with this ...

No. Suppose a 5 star hotel and Motel 6 were under the same corporate ownership. Would you want the people who have earned points at Motel 6 to get to stay at your 5 star hotel for free?

 

DO?N

Across our many years of adventure we have stayed at many 5 star properties and a few Hotel 6's. So yes, we would be happy to share a 5 star property with people like us. There is nothing exceptional about us, we are average people. Clean, well mannered, respectful. What implies otherwise?

Across our many years of adventure we have stayed at many 5 star properties and a few Hotel 6's. So yes, we would be happy to share a 5 star property with people like us. There is nothing exceptional about us, we are average people. Clean, well mannered, respectful. What implies otherwise?

You might be the exception. I myself have stayed at many more Motel 6's than 5 star, simply because of the cost. Most Motel 6's run in the range of $39-79 per night. 5 star is going to cost you $200-400 at least per night. So big difference in money spent. Any program would have to go by money spent, not nights stay.

But it's a moot point for me, I don't join Reward programs (airline, hotel or cruiseline). Anything you gain, you are paying for anyway in my book. I want the freedom to stay where and when I want to.

As to OPs question on Carnival family loyalty programs, I could care less either way. I have 1 Princess cruise, 2 HAL cruises, 2 NCL cruises, 1 RCCL cruise and 1 Celebrity, and I don't plan any future cruises. As stated, I don't even think about Rewards or Perks when I'm booking travel.

Combining plans would be great for us, since we have sailed on many lines 5 or more times but only a couple more than 10, would consider more cruises under umbrella of carnival if perks were better, 7 hal cruises and about same on Costa and 4 Princess and 1 Carnival. I get points on any Hilton hotel be in Hilton or Embassy or Doubletree etc should be same here> I am elite on Celeberity only because I am diamond on RCCL

Combining plans would be great for us, since we have sailed on many lines 5 or more times but only a couple more than 10, would consider more cruises under umbrella of carnival if perks were better, 7 hal cruises and about same on Costa and 4 Princess and 1 Carnival. I get points on any Hilton hotel be in Hilton or Embassy or Doubletree etc should be same here

One comes from accumulating points which you can exchange for an award like a night in a hotel or a flight; those points are a virtual currency which you spend for the award. The points awarded by Hilton for staying in any Hilton group hotel are in this category.

The other comes simply from your status in the scheme, which you earn by being a repeat customer; and it doesn't involve you paying for the perk in any way.

As things stand, HAL doesn't do anything in the first category.

In the second category, cruise lines are unusual because they don't give status on the basis of how much custom you give them each year, but only by the amount of your lifetime custom. This is why the status perks are so modest. The lines could be much more generous if status depended on how many cruises you did last year. If that was the way that cruise lines' schemes worked, you'd probably see some pretty spectacular perks for those who (for example) do four cruises a year, every year.

If the cruise lines' lifetime status schemes were widened to include all lines in a group, people would earn this lifetime status much more easily and much more quickly. And the result is inevitable: the perks would be reduced for everyone and/or the good perks made available only to ever more rarified tiers at the very top of the pyramid.

The difference between airline alliances (where your frequent flyer status translates from one airline in the alliance to all of them) and cruise lines is that you don't have to keep earning your status on cruise lines. Once you have your fourth star it's yours for life. But your frequent flyer status is--generally--only as good as your last year's flying (though some carriers do have lifetime status after you rack up a million miles or so).

In order to preserve the value for money proposition of loyalty programs, combining earning power is going to have one of two effects: either the qualification levels are going to have to go up; or the benefits are going to have to come down.

There is an alternative, however: split your program into lifetime and earn-it-to-keep-it components, much the same way the medallions and stars are separately tracked.

You could put all of the non-cash privileges into a lifetime program: All copper medallions get priority check-in, priority embarkation/debarkation/tendering, priority reservations for specialty dining and shore excursions, etc. Then you can put all the perks that involve foregone revenue (free laundry, wine package discounts, free/reduced specialty dining etc.) into a program where stars reflect the number of cruise nights in the last X years. Because this status depends upon ongoing spending, it is then a better business case for the cruise line to make those benefits valuable.

I think it would be really great if some of the loyalty credits were to be available on other Carnival lines. After all, they’re all part of the same organization.

 

I don’t understand the philosophy that says “I did something to get my rewards and I am sure going to see to it that everyone else has to do at least as much to get their rewards.” I don’t agree with this at all. Let anyone who has sailed with any Carnival line be able to enjoy some of the benefits. And I don’t think there are too many folks on this board that have more time on HAL ships than do Karen and I.

 

If Princess or Cunard have a cruise that seems interesting to us, it would be just a bit more of an added incentive to do it, instead of our going on a RCI or Norwegian cruises.

 

I also need to disagree with those who assert “it would be soooo complicated.” It could be made relatively simple. For example, one possibility would be to say half of the days someone has sailed on any Carnival line ship (actual days sailed, not HAL cruise credit days,) would count towards credits on any other Carnival line. The computers could handle this easily. So on a HAL ship for example, a cruiser’s total Mariner days would include their total HAL Mariner cruise credit days plus half of the days sailed on any other Carnival line ship. On other Carnival line ships, the situation could be similar.

 

Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

Scott & Karen

Like this idea a great deal. Computers should be able to figure it out. Just had a mess going on RCCL where I (the parents) tried to verify that our grown daughter was on 3 cruises in the late 80's. I certainly did not feel the love nor the gratitude for my business when they asked "Do you know how many people try to pull this kind of stunt?" Somehow all the good I felt from the "status" of a loyalty member went Kaput! How does the loyalty club make points by calling a person a liar straight out. Comes we did have the proof needed. I can see how feelings would be hurt if claimed cruises could not be honored. I also know they have so much private information on me in marketing bases that they could find out what they need if the company looked for it. If they can't find it, perhaps they should call the Chinese hackers or the Russians. They have the information at their fingertips!:D:eek:

Like this idea a great deal. Computers should be able to figure it out. Just had a mess going on RCCL where I (the parents) tried to verify that our grown daughter was on 3 cruises in the late 80's. I certainly did not feel the love nor the gratitude for my business when they asked "Do you know how many people try to pull this kind of stunt?" Somehow all the good I felt from the "status" of a loyalty member went Kaput! How does the loyalty club make points by calling a person a liar straight out. Comes we did have the proof needed. I can see how feelings would be hurt if claimed cruises could not be honored. I also know they have so much private information on me in marketing bases that they could find out what they need if the company looked for it. If they can't find it, perhaps they should call the Chinese hackers or the Russians. They have the information at their fingertips!:D:eek:

Wow - if I got that kind of response I would let their boss know and then never travel on them again, if I did not receive a satisfactory response.