Windstar Loyalty Program (Yacht Club)

Having been a loyal Windstar cruiser since 1987 (41 cruises) I am puzzled why Windstar never created a loyalty reward program similar to the other cruise lines...offering free laundry or category upgrades etc. Today, Windstar announced a modest expansion of benefits for all repeat passengers, but in my opinion, it falls short by not offering more rewards to passengers based on the number of actual sailings a passenger takes on Windstar.

Windstar has been under many owners since 1986, and the previous records of passengers sailings may be incomplete. However, During the time Windstar was owned by Holland America, Windstar sailings were credited to Holland America Mariner Rewards Loyalty Program. All Windstar passengers needed to do was to submit written proof of the specific Windstar sailings. I think Windstar might increase their business by implementing something like this now with their ships and affiliated properties.

Having been a loyal Windstar cruiser since 1987 (41 cruises) I am puzzled why Windstar never created a loyalty reward program similar to the other cruise lines...offering free laundry or category upgrades etc. Today, Windstar announced a modest expansion of benefits for all repeat passengers, but in my opinion, it falls short by not offering more rewards to passengers based on the number of actual sailings a passenger takes on Windstar.

Windstar has been under many owners since 1986, and the previous records of passengers sailings may be incomplete. However, During the time Windstar was owned by Holland America, Windstar sailings were credited to Holland America Mariner Rewards Loyalty Program. All Windstar passengers needed to do was to submit written proof of the specific Windstar sailings. I think Windstar might increase their business by implementing [ATTACH]358804[/ATTACH]something like this now with their ships and affiliated properties.

On our last Windstar cruise, we received a 5% "Alumni Discount". On Crystal, we get a 2.5% "Crystal Society Savings", plus a 2.5% "Onboard Booking Discount". Seems pretty similar to me. Crystal does offer a free cruise after you complete 25 cruises with them, as well as some on board credits after 5 cruises.

You get the 5% discount, a special reception onboard and likely a dinner with the staff, sometimes the captain and sometimes one of the managers. The main benefit of that is that the wine is free, and upon occasion like one memorable meal with the captain (well, actually we don't remember much after the main course) it will flow.

We also received a rather massive upgrade on one itin. It came about 3 weeks out, and I'm thinking they'd sold out cabins in our grade and were moving repeat customers up to be able to sell more cabins in the lower classes. Kind of like what the airlines call an "operational upgrade."

Having been a loyal Windstar cruiser since 1987 (41 cruises) I am puzzled why Windstar never created a loyalty reward program similar to the other cruise lines...offering free laundry or category upgrades etc. Today, Windstar announced a modest expansion of benefits for all repeat passengers, but in my opinion, it falls short by not offering more rewards to passengers based on the number of actual sailings a passenger takes on Windstar.

Windstar has been under many owners since 1986, and the previous records of passengers sailings may be incomplete. However, During the time Windstar was owned by Holland America, Windstar sailings were credited to Holland America Mariner Rewards Loyalty Program. All Windstar passengers needed to do was to submit written proof of the specific Windstar sailings. I think Windstar might increase their business by implementing [ATTACH]358804[/ATTACH]something like this now with their ships and affiliated properties.

Thanks for the Crystal perks comparison which is tied to the number of previous cruises. I think that would definitely appeal to Windstar longtime repeat passengers. Offering other rewards ( like free laundry, automatic category upgrades) based on certain thresholds of sea days a passenger earns on Windstar would help.

Given their huge percentage of repeat cruisers - I'd guess 90% or more from what we've seen, they don't really need incentives to lure us back. This may reflect the lack of interest.

While I never really refuse the benefits of these programs, the only loyalty benefit that really matters to me is a string of great memories.

Roy

I'd love them to offer cruises in $CAN:). Since 2012 (our first cruise with WS), the $CA has lost 35% of it's value VS $US:mad:. A $2000US cruise would now cost me $2700US (X2). But, with an average of about 10 canadians on board each of my cruises, I doubt the number (3%) is sufficient enough to justify the time and effort to implement this.

Cheers,