Loyalty program - free cruise

[CLOU]

This may have been addressed before but I cannot find the thread.  We are actually nearing the 140 day benchmark to earn a free seven day cruise.  While it is likely two more cruises away, I am already planning the next one, so it is at least close enough to dream about. I have a couple questions.  First, how does Seabourn determine what level suite to provide?  Logic would tell me it would be the level you sailed the most, but that may not be true.  Also, somewhere in the back of my mind I thought I recalled that you could take a longer cruise and receive a credit.  Is this correct?  If so, does this only apply to cruises that also have a separate 7 day bookable segment, so Seabourn know how much of a credit to give?

[DC Traveler244]

I can answer only the first part of your question:  Seabourn bases the suite level for an award cruise on the suite level you sailed the most.  

[raphael360]

1 hour ago, CLOU said:

This may have been addressed before but I cannot find the thread.  We are actually nearing the 140 day benchmark to earn a free seven day cruise.  While it is likely two more cruises away, I am already planning the next one, so it is at least close enough to dream about. I have a couple questions.  First, how does Seabourn determine what level suite to provide?  Logic would tell me it would be the level you sailed the most, but that may not be true.  Also, somewhere in the back of my mind I thought I recalled that you could take a longer cruise and receive a credit.  Is this correct?  If so, does this only apply to cruises that also have a separate 7 day bookable segment, so Seabourn know how much of a credit to give?

Answer is yes based on your past travel history and yes it’s more or less a credit towards any length cruise. We took our first 7 day credit little over a year ago. 

[2SailingNomads]

Yes you can apply the "free" number of days to a longer cruise.  We  applied our 14 day "free" towards a 21 day Antarctica cruise and paid for the 7 nights pro-rated. 

[SKP946]

10 hours ago, CLOU said:

First, how does Seabourn determine what level suite to provide?  Logic would tell me it would be the level you sailed the most, but that may not be true.

 

Correct assumption; however Seabourn like to try and knock you down a level or two for your complimentary cruise (there was a discussion about this recently on the FB Seabourn Sailors site). They tried it with us when we qualified but our TA managed to talk them around.

We are in a similar situation as you with only one more cruise to qualify for our next complimentary cruise.

Edited July 13, 2019 by SKP946

[CLOU]

Thanks for he info. I still have a couple of years but it is finally close enough to actually be realistic to think about. If Seabourn uses your average suite level it would be hard to give us anything but a v3, since that is what we have always booked, with the exception of two upgrades. I am not sure if you can choose any seven day cruise or how they determine the amount of credit to give you, but I can worry about that when I actually hit the milestone.

[2SailingNomads]

You can choose any cruise you desire, assuming availability exists in that category, and you will get 7 days complimentary.  If the selected cruise is more than 7 days you will pay the per diem for the additional days.  And they do use the suite type that you paid for the most number of days you have sailed to qualify.  It is not a dollar credit, it is a per night credit.

[tsavorite]

The issue that tends to complicate things a bit is when a proportion of your days were on the ‘little sisters’. When I attained the milestone, 50% of my cruises were on the little ships, and the room classifications were lower than their equivalents on the Odyssey class. It was still a very big discount , and allowed us to do 22 days in Alaska - all the way up to Seward and back. Of course, this issue is becoming less common as time elapses.

[2SailingNomads]

Interesting how that could come into play (and I and some others wonder how it will work w/ the Expedition ships).  Since the Little Sisters did not have real veranda suites - the French Balcony was, IMO a waste after booking it on our first cruise - I supposed everything could be considered an ocean view.  When we redeemed our 250 days we had about 13% of them on the little sisters so based on the philosophy of you get the level you predominately paid for it would not have been an issue.  How did they handle your case?

[tsavorite]

The average rate worked out to V1/V2, whereas we always book V5 on the Odyssey class.  But as we were going for a reduction on a much longer cruise, we just agreed what they would subtract from the total - which was still a very good saving.

[sippinglady]

The Expedition ships are very expensive- is it realistic to believe milestone credit of free cruises can be applied when booking the new ships?

[texanaust]

2 hours ago, sippinglady said:

The Expedition ships are very expensive- is it realistic to believe milestone credit of free cruises can be applied when booking the new ships?

I don't see why not.  Seabourn wants its best customers to try their new ships. 

[markham]

I assume that you will get the value of a 14 day cruise after 250 days but not a 14 day cruise. That's the way it works now when the example is an average spend of X when the cruise you want to book is priced at a much higher per day level than what you had spent for your past 250 days. You would pay the difference.

 

Of course, if the new expedition ships are near sold out for several months there will be little opportunity to book them with your Club benefit and I assume here it is first-come, first-served.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[raphael360]

On 7/15/2019 at 8:41 PM, sippinglady said:

The Expedition ships are very expensive- is it realistic to believe milestone credit of free cruises can be applied when booking the new ships?

That is actually a very good question - thank you. I never thought about using our milestone credits on the Expedition ships. 

[kowhairob]

On 7/17/2019 at 10:28 PM, raphael360 said:

That is actually a very good question - thank you. I never thought about using our milestone credits on the Expedition ships. 

Thats actually very very exciting to think that you can redeem your free nights on the expedition boat . 

[ibnoland]

You don’t actually redeem nights, you redeem the monetary value of a cruise of 7 or 14 days in the category suite you normally book. So if you have normally booked a less expensive cruise in the past, you will not get a week or two on a more expensive cruise, unless you pay a little more. It’s still very nice, though. We just did it.

[dalliowner]

Where does it say the monetary value, I understand the cabin will be what you normally book but it clearly says 7 day or 14 day cruise.

MILESTONE AWARDS

Seabourn’s complimentary Milestone Cruise Awards will continue to represent the richest loyalty rewards in cruising. Each day you sail with Seabourn earns you one Sailed Day, and these days count toward your Milestone Awards. Seabourn Club Milestone Awards feature a complimentary cruise of up to 7 days when your Club account reaches 140 Redeemable Sailed Days, or a complimentary cruise of up to 14 days when 250 Redeemable Sailed Days is reached.

[markham]

The answer is “ up to “. Which is fair.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[galeforce9]

5 minutes ago, markham said:

The answer is “ up to “. Which is fair.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

But perhaps unfairly portrayed as a 7 day cruise. 

[markham]

Not at all!

 

”up to 14... when 250...”.

 

Clear enough, to me at least.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!