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Heard changes to Loyalty Program to be announced @ 2018 prez cuise - rumours???


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When did Serenade convert to a SL?

 

 

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Oops John, remember....D+ do not have access to SL...unless in full suite. ;)

 

Though since Serenade has a CL..not a DL...I think that is what you meant. Go give Bella a cookie and get a fresh coffee. :D:cool:

CL, sorry. D+ were in there for our Baltics cruise prior. Same thing happened on Mariner repo

 

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Slightly off topic but as a D+, I've spent thousands of dollars and yet the Suite people, who could be first time cruisers, get the prime lounge chairs at the pool deck. Where's the loyalty for that perk? Many days I've seen those chairs go unused and want to jump into one. Just saying....

 

The SUITE perks are NOT loyalty perks - Completely Different.

Suit perks are paid for when you book your cabin (or at final payment;p)! The Loyalty perks are free - no, you did not pay for them with aaaaall your thousands of dollars - you paid for CRUISES.

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The SUITE perks are NOT loyalty perks - Completely Different.

Suit perks are paid for when you book your cabin (or at final payment;p)! The Loyalty perks are free - no, you did not pay for them with aaaaall your thousands of dollars - you paid for CRUISES.

Royal Caribbean is a business, not Santa Claus, and I do not think anything that Royal Caribbean provides is "free". The cost of loyalty perks is just a small part of the cost of all the cruises one sails on in order to earn them. While C&A points are not fungible like some airline miles are, they do have a real cost to Royal for the complimentary drinks that are provided to people with 80 points or more and for the more expensive meals in Coastal Kitchen that are provided in certain ships for people with 700 points or more.

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Royal Caribbean is a business, not Santa Claus, and I do not think anything that Royal Caribbean provides is "free". The cost of loyalty perks is just a small part of the cost of all the cruises one sails on in order to earn them. While C&A points are not fungible like some airline miles are, they do have a real cost to Royal for the complimentary drinks that are provided to people with 80 points or more and for the more expensive meals in Coastal Kitchen that are provided in certain ships for people with 700 points or more.

 

 

 

You bring up a good point. Wouldn’t you then think that if the perks are not free and based on number of cruises to obtain those points, wouldn’t it make more sense to at least rate them in the cost of the cabin towards those points? Base points of $ spent?

 

It’s true that Suites get double points but so does a single in an inside cabin.

 

 

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Royal Caribbean is a business, not Santa Claus, and I do not think anything that Royal Caribbean provides is "free". The cost of loyalty perks is just a small part of the cost of all the cruises one sails on in order to earn them. While C&A points are not fungible like some airline miles are, they do have a real cost to Royal for the complimentary drinks that are provided to people with 80 points or more and for the more expensive meals in Coastal Kitchen that are provided in certain ships for people with 700 points or more.

Fungible - learned a new word today. thanks!

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I wasn't talking about Casino Royale perks in that post. Just regular C&A.

Land based casinos offer a lot more than casino royale. The machines are usually looser. And where I play the blackjack rules are more player friendly.

 

My point was that RCL does emulate other programs whether they are apples to apples or not. So I would not assume because their C&A loyalty is not like the airlines/hotels does not mean they would not consider some of those program options. Just like they are doing with their Casino Royale program.

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Airlines are required to account for outstanding frequent flyer miles on their balance sheets. They usually report the liability based on the marginal cost of free travel that those points can purchase.

 

I wonder if Royal reports the liability associated with C&A points on their balance sheet? Somehow I doubt it because in order to take advantage of the C&A program you need to book a cruise which means revenue to the cruise line, not a liability. That is why Royal will never make your C&A level expire. They may reduce the value of benefits but the program itself brings in much more revenue than it costs them.

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You bring up a good point. Wouldn’t you then think that if the perks are not free and based on number of cruises to obtain those points, wouldn’t it make more sense to at least rate them in the cost of the cabin towards those points? Base points of $ spent?

 

It’s true that Suites get double points but so does a single in an inside cabin.

 

 

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1 point inside cabin.

2 points window cabin.

3 points balcony cabin.

4 points JS.

5 points GS and above.

This would be a fair way to judge both loyalty and cash spent on cabins.

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My point was that RCL does emulate other programs whether they are apples to apples or not. So I would not assume because their C&A loyalty is not like the airlines/hotels does not mean they would not consider some of those program options. Just like they are doing with their Casino Royale program.
My 2 main cruise lines are RC and P&O.

RC loyalty program is fantastic.

P&O entertainment is fantastic for us as Brits.

RC gets our main business because of D+ benefits.

Take them away those benefits and P&O will get most of our business.

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Airlines are required to account for outstanding frequent flyer miles on their balance sheets. They usually report the liability based on the marginal cost of free travel that those points can purchase.

 

I wonder if Royal reports the liability associated with C&A points on their balance sheet? Somehow I doubt it because in order to take advantage of the C&A program you need to book a cruise which means revenue to the cruise line, not a liability. That is why Royal will never make your C&A level expire. They may reduce the value of benefits but the program itself brings in much more revenue than it costs them.

Great post and very relevant.
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1 point inside cabin.

2 points window cabin.

3 points balcony cabin.

4 points JS.

5 points GS and above.

This would be a fair way to judge both loyalty and cash spent on cabins.

 

 

 

I think they would also increase the points required to gain status levels.

 

Typically, a GS seems to be 2/3 more then a balcony. So maybe a full Suite higher than 5?

 

 

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My 2 main cruise lines are RC and P&O.

RC loyalty program is fantastic.

P&O entertainment is fantastic for us as Brits.

RC gets our main business because of D+ benefits.

Take them away those benefits and P&O will get most of our business.

 

 

 

I’ve heard P&O also eliminating onboard daily tips. Might make them a lot more popular with the UK cruisers.

 

 

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1 point inside cabin.

2 points window cabin.

3 points balcony cabin.

4 points JS.

5 points GS and above.

This would be a fair way to judge both loyalty and cash spent on cabins.

Love your point system up to GS but this year and next year ships out of Southampton have no GS accessible cabins.

Maybe accessible JS cabins should have 5 points, just a thought.

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Airlines are required to account for outstanding frequent flyer miles on their balance sheets. They usually report the liability based on the marginal cost of free travel that those points can purchase.

 

I wonder if Royal reports the liability associated with C&A points on their balance sheet? Somehow I doubt it because in order to take advantage of the C&A program you need to book a cruise which means revenue to the cruise line, not a liability. That is why Royal will never make your C&A level expire. They may reduce the value of benefits but the program itself brings in much more revenue than it costs them.

 

You do not think the fact that most high tier members seem not to spend too many dollars onboard is a concern to Royal?

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On the current Serenade TA, D+ are banned from the SL. I hear it's the only space not crowded. Safari open as overflow

 

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So, on our current cruise, Radiance of the Seas sailing from Seward to Vancouver. First night in the Diamond Lounge the concierge (who is a stickler for rules) made quite the speech about the rules, and he stated without equivocation that it is fleet wide policy that there are no overflow lounges any more, you can get a drink in the DL and leave, but they would not be opening up any overflow lounges any ship fleetwide. Which, of course, was contradicted by your current Serenade cruise. I laugh. It was the first day and the DL was very full, at that time. It has not been crowded at all since. After about an hour we switched to the nearby CL, it is a nicer lounge with a bar and a lot more room it is never full and being twice the size feels more comfortable. There are some 15 Pinnacles on board 100 Diamond and about 30 D+. That said, some D+ folks felt the CL was snobby, I don’t agree, and think the CL concierge has a much more of a positive persona. But that is probably because I didn’t hear the big speech about all of the rules for 10 minutes the first night.

 

JC

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I’ve heard P&O also eliminating onboard daily tips. Might make them a lot more popular with the UK cruisers.

 

 

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Yes from the end of May 2019 but many passengers are stopping autogratuities now.

I was among a few who emailed and spoke to P&O Guest Relations at corporate 3 months ago asking them to include tips in the cruise price so everyone contributed towards gratuities not just a few of us.

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Love your point system up to GS but this year and next year ships out of Southampton have no GS accessible cabins.

Maybe accessible JS cabins should have 5 points, just a thought.

Yes that would be an option for JS accessible cabins.

and maybe then make GS 6 points.

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So, on our current cruise, Radiance of the Seas sailing from Seward to Vancouver. First night in the Diamond Lounge the concierge (who is a stickler for rules) made quite the speech about the rules, and he stated without equivocation that it is fleet wide policy that there are no overflow lounges any more, you can get a drink in the DL and leave, but they would not be opening up any overflow lounges any ship fleetwide. Which, of course, was contradicted by your current Serenade cruise. I laugh. It was the first day and the DL was very full, at that time. It has not been crowded at all since. After about an hour we switched to the nearby CL, it is a nicer lounge with a bar and a lot more room it is never full and being twice the size feels more comfortable. There are some 15 Pinnacles on board 100 Diamond and about 30 D+. That said, some D+ folks felt the CL was snobby, I don’t agree, and think the CL concierge has a much more of a positive persona. But that is probably because I didn’t hear the big speech about all of the rules for 10 minutes the first night.

 

JC

The DL is supposed to be a loyalty lounge to relax in and not a classroom to be lectured too.

We were on Independence for 5 nights from May 28th 2018 and the Olive and Twist lounge was cordoned off every night as a DL overflow.

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So, on our current cruise, Radiance of the Seas sailing from Seward to Vancouver. First night in the Diamond Lounge the concierge (who is a stickler for rules) made quite the speech about the rules, and he stated without equivocation that it is fleet wide policy that there are no overflow lounges any more, you can get a drink in the DL and leave, but they would not be opening up any overflow lounges any ship fleetwide. Which, of course, was contradicted by your current Serenade cruise. I laugh. It was the first day and the DL was very full, at that time. It has not been crowded at all since. After about an hour we switched to the nearby CL, it is a nicer lounge with a bar and a lot more room it is never full and being twice the size feels more comfortable. There are some 15 Pinnacles on board 100 Diamond and about 30 D+. That said, some D+ folks felt the CL was snobby, I don’t agree, and think the CL concierge has a much more of a positive persona. But that is probably because I didn’t hear the big speech about all of the rules for 10 minutes the first night.

 

JC

 

Quite often you get someone onboard that thinks they know everything. I hope you tip him or her accordingly.

We were on the Navigator Nov 2016. And did the galley tour. The Chef that escorted us was asked a question by a cruiser about what night lobster tails would be served. The chef told him Royal had done away with lobster tails 6 months earlier. He didn't like it when I chimed in that we were on the Allure the week before and had lobster tails. I then said Royal must have sold the Allure to Carnival.

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