How to get 3 Captain's Club points?

[TeaBag]

1 hour ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

"The worst problem with being Elite Plus is even thinking about trying another mass-market cruise line as we get no perks at all."

 

Not exactly.  Other cruiselines will match your status.  I think the worst part of being Elite+ is the vast distance between that and Zenith.

So true.  Why the HUGE gap?

[hcat]

Book the cheapest and shortest early  shore excursion and then ask to be dropped off in town......

 

We never tender anymore in the bigger ports.  Not worth the hassle.

[Charles4515]

2 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Free drinks in the evening is nice, but what about the rest of the day? 😀

 

Just got back from 11 days and the drinks were watered down. The wine they brought was ick..The specialty coffee tasted like regular coffee with steamed milk. The priority this or that not much priority anymore as the suites and others who get it now have more priority.

 

It was worth being Elite Plus for the internet discount and the free laundry but not the other stuff. Priority tendering to Cayman was worth it. I would not book an extra cruise though for any of the benefits. 

Edited December 21, 2019 by Charles4515

[DrKoob]

3 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

"The worst problem with being Elite Plus is even thinking about trying another mass-market cruise line as we get no perks at all."

 

Not exactly.  Other cruiselines will match your status.  I think the worst part of being Elite+ is the vast distance between that and Zenith.

 

SOME other cruise lines may match status but only once so you can try them. We asked on HAL and they said no because we had already sailed them. 

 

And I have never heard of them matching straight across. Even RCL puts us Elite Plus as only Diamond (not Diamond Plus or whatever RCL calls it).

 

Jim

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

Book the cheapest and shortest early  shore excursion and then ask to be dropped off in town......

 

We never tender anymore in the bigger ports.  Not worth the hassle.

 

If we hadn't tendered we would have missed the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the main reason we took a 14 night British Isles cruise.

[HappyCruiserettu]

1 minute ago, DrKoob said:

 

If we hadn't tendered we would have missed the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the main reason we took a 14 night British Isles cruise.

How was the Tattoo? It's on my list.

[DrKoob]

Just now, HappyCruiserettu said:

How was the Tattoo? It's on my list.

 

It was awesome. We had perfect weather and we had superb seats. The only drawback was the very long tender ride. There is no place to dock anywhere because of shallow water and the shallows go out a very long way. So the tender ride was more than 40 minutes. After the Tattoo, some people did not get back on the ship until after 1:00 am. Waited in line for the tenders from 11:30 on. 

 

The entire cruise (at that time) was superb. Our itinerary included St. Peter's Port in the Guernsey Islands and Lerwick in the Shetland Islands which it doesn't now. We started in Amsterdam, did a day in Cork, then Dublin, Liverpool, Belfast and after Lerwick, Inverness. After an overnight in Edinburgh we had a day in Brugge and then back to Amsterdam. We rank it as one of the best of our 28 cruises. 

 

Go do it! You will love it.

 

Jim

[Straughn]

4 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

"The worst problem with being Elite Plus is even thinking about trying another mass-market cruise line as we get no perks at all."

 

Not exactly.  Other cruiselines will match your status.  I think the worst part of being Elite+ is the vast distance between that and Zenith.

Which cruise lines match status?

[grandgeezer]

4 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

"The worst problem with being Elite Plus is even thinking about trying another mass-market cruise line as we get no perks at all."

 

Not exactly.  Other cruiselines will match your status.  I think the worst part of being Elite+ is the vast distance between that and Zenith.

The only cruise line that will give you a match is MSC and it’s not an exact match. We are Elie Plus on Celebrity which made us Black on MSC. I don’t think any perk is available on both. We think the Celebrity perks are better but the Yacht Club experience easily trumps anything Celebrity has to offer.

[Northern Aurora]

7 hours ago, Shadow9612 said:

........🙂

 

I seem to recall reading that if you earn a new CC status on part 1 of a B2B, then that new status level is honoured on part 2 of the B2B, but I don't have personal experience with this.

 

 

 

We also have personal experience.  We moved from Elite+ to Zenith at the end of the second leg of a B2B2B.  We were Zenith on the third leg, and the Captain's Club hostess knew she had a couple who would be moving into the Zenith loyalty level when we met her on the first leg of the B2B2B.  When we introduced ourselves she told us she recognized our names.

[HappyCruiserettu]

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

 

It was awesome. We had perfect weather and we had superb seats. The only drawback was the very long tender ride. There is no place to dock anywhere because of shallow water and the shallows go out a very long way. So the tender ride was more than 40 minutes. After the Tattoo, some people did not get back on the ship until after 1:00 am. Waited in line for the tenders from 11:30 on.

 

Jim

Jim, Thanks for the information. I love Edinburgh, and the Tattoo is definitely on my list. I hope to take that cruise sometime soon. Are you saying it no longer includes Guernsey? That's also on my list.

 

[DrKoob]

Just now, HappyCruiserettu said:

Jim, Thanks for the information. I love Edinburgh, and the Tattoo is definitely on my list. I hope to take that cruise sometime soon. Are you saying it no longer includes Guernsey? That's also on my list.

 

 

The year after we did it in 2016, they cut the cruise from 15 nights to 12 and eliminated Guernsey, Lerwick and Brugge. Sad. We had already been to Brugge but St. Peter’s Port and Lerwick were two our favorites. Not sure what they are doing now. I know that our cruise was the second year they did it and the ship was sold out. I organized some busses to take our Cruise Critic roll call from the tender port to the Tattoo and back (wound up being three busses and 145 people). The next year X had a hard time selling the cruise out at 12 days. Not sure what they are doing now. If you are at all interested, I do a complete report whenever I go someplace and you can find that here: CLICK HERE with all my pics of the Tattoo and more.

 

Jim

[hrhdhd]

5 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Free drinks in the evening is nice, but what about the rest of the day? 😀

 

Admittedly, I am not a heavy drinker, but I get a drink during Elite happy hour and request a couple of Diet Cokes or one DC and a bottle of water for the next day. Works well when I don't have a drink package.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

2 hours ago, DrKoob said:

 

SOME other cruise lines may match status but only once so you can try them. We asked on HAL and they said no because we had already sailed them. 

 

And I have never heard of them matching straight across. Even RCL puts us Elite Plus as only Diamond (not Diamond Plus or whatever RCL calls it).

 

Jim

 

MSC Voyagers Club matched my Elite+ status with their Diamond status, which is their highest tier.  Elite+ is not Celebrity's highest tier, so this was an improvement.  I'm still Diamond on MSC.  I've been that status for about four years.  The interesting quirk in their program which applies to everyone (whether you matched in or earned it by cruising) is that you must cruise once every three years to maintain your status, whatever it is.  Otherwise, all your points go away and you start over again.

Edited December 22, 2019 by Happy Cruiser 6143

[davekathy]

1 hour ago, Straughn said:

Which cruise lines match status?

I know Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Azamara and MSC do.  

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

28 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

 

The year after we did it in 2016, they cut the cruise from 15 nights to 12 and eliminated Guernsey, Lerwick and Brugge. Sad. We had already been to Brugge but St. Peter’s Port and Lerwick were two our favorites. Not sure what they are doing now. I know that our cruise was the second year they did it and the ship was sold out. I organized some busses to take our Cruise Critic roll call from the tender port to the Tattoo and back (wound up being three busses and 145 people). The next year X had a hard time selling the cruise out at 12 days. Not sure what they are doing now. If you are at all interested, I do a complete report whenever I go someplace and you can find that here: CLICK HERE with all my pics of the Tattoo and more.

 

Jim

 

Celebrity seems to have done away with their 14- and 15-night cruises except for the Panama Canal.  And one to Iceland/Greenland next year.  I think they're pitching to the market they'd like to have instead of the one they actually have which enjoys longer cruises.  Putting together B2Bs isn't the same thing as a 14-night cruise.  The menu repeats and lots of times so do the ports.  My favorite was the 14-night southern Caribbean.  Did that one three times before they discontinued it.

[DrKoob]

46 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

Celebrity seems to have done away with their 14- and 15-night cruises except for the Panama Canal.  And one to Iceland/Greenland next year.  I think they're pitching to the market they'd like to have instead of the one they actually have which enjoys longer cruises.  Putting together B2Bs isn't the same thing as a 14-night cruise.  The menu repeats and lots of times so do the ports.  My favorite was the 14-night southern Caribbean.  Did that one three times before they discontinued it.

 

I couldn't have said it better myself. It's one of the reasons we are looking at other cruise lines now. We have a Galapagos trip on Flora coming up as well as a 12 day on Reflection but after that, we are pretty much moving on from X. They are "pitching to the market they'd like to have" and we aren't them. As a long time marketing person, I get that but I miss the old X. Our favorite cruises were on Galaxy, Century and Infinity. We have decided to give Viking Ocean a try. Other than the absence of formal nights (which we miss) Viking sounds like the cruise line we miss. They treat you like an adult. No kids, no casinos, no photographers, bring as much wine or beer or liquor as you want on the ship. Free shore excursions and so much more. I know they are more expensive than X but the trade offs and the inclusions are worth it to us. And they still have 14, 15, 22 and 24 day cruises. Our first one in October is a 21day from Rome to Istanbul. 

 

Jim

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

I know Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Azamara and MSC do.  

 

No they don't. If you are Elite Plus on Celebrity, you are only Diamond on RCL. Same with Azamara. If you are Zenith on X, you are still Diamond on RCL. I can't speak to MSC as I have never sailed with them.

[davekathy]

11 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

 

No they don't. If you are Elite Plus on Celebrity, you are only Diamond on RCL. Same with Azamara. If you are Zenith on X, you are still Diamond on RCL. I can't speak to MSC as I have never sailed with them.

Yes I know that from experience. I took Straughns question to mean what cruise lines do reciprocal tier matching.  If I thought Straughn was asking up to what tier level does each cruise line match I would have explained it exactly as you did. 

[drakes2]

6 hours ago, davekathy said:

I know Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Azamara and MSC do.  

I'm elite on celebrity and diamond on royal. Will be taking my granddsughter on a march break cruise on the oasis. Apparently they load 3 drinks per day onto your card which is good from 5 to 7 pm.  Are there any other perks that you get? The 3 drinks must be consumed in the diamond lounge which just happens to be a few cabins away from mine on deck 12.   Can my granddaughter go with me if she wants a soda?

[blackshirt]

6 hours ago, drakes2 said:

I'm elite on celebrity and diamond on royal. Will be taking my granddsughter on a march break cruise on the oasis. Apparently they load 3 drinks per day onto your card which is good from 5 to 7 pm.  Are there any other perks that you get? The 3 drinks must be consumed in the diamond lounge which just happens to be a few cabins away from mine on deck 12.   Can my granddaughter go with me if she wants a soda?

The 3 drinks are good at almost any bar, it is unlimited drinks in the Diamond lounge. Also the time frame is 3 1/2 hours, either 4:30-8 or 5-8:30. Non Diamonds are not allowed in the D lounge. Diamond does get other perks, the big ones being one 24 hour period of Internet and a free photo.

[davekathy]

8 hours ago, drakes2 said:

I'm elite on celebrity and diamond on royal. Will be taking my granddsughter on a march break cruise on the oasis. Apparently they load 3 drinks per day onto your card which is good from 5 to 7 pm.  Are there any other perks that you get? The 3 drinks must be consumed in the diamond lounge which just happens to be a few cabins away from mine on deck 12.   Can my granddaughter go with me if she wants a soda?

Your granddaughter can go with you in the DL only if she lives with you (same home address). Unlike Celebrity who allows guest just staying in the same stateroom to go to the evening CC HH. As "blackshirt" pointed out the C&A HH runs 3.5 hours each evening (including the first evening unlike Celebrity) for unlimited drinks and a buffet style set up for snacks (hot and cold) in the DL.  You can get the three C&A HH drinks that are loaded on your Sea Pass card at any bar, dining venues and theater as long as it's within the 3.5 C&A HH time frame. The DL is a dedicated lounge open 24 hours a day for diamond, diamond + and pinnacles. The C&A HH drinks are only in the evening. Like Celebrity you will receive a detailed letter in your cabin outlining all your onboard C&A perks and benefits for diamond. One note on the 24 hours of free internet that "blackshirt" mentioned. The 24 hours of internet is continuous. So once you log on, the clock starts and doesn't stop until the 24 hour period is up. Celebrity's CC internet for elites is a much better perk. 

Edited December 22, 2019 by davekathy

[capsplace]

On 12/21/2019 at 2:52 AM, happy cruzer said:

Can reach elite tier with 3 more points.  Next cruise is 12 nights.  Is there a way to get the 3 points added during the cruise?  Any ideas.  Thanks.

Go see the CC Host and ask very nicely if they'll upgrade you to Elite for the next cruise since you are only 3 points away and will achieve Elite within a couple of days of that 12 day cruise.  Just might work!

[Moby Jones]

19 minutes ago, capsplace said:

Go see the CC Host and ask very nicely if they'll upgrade you to Elite for the next cruise since you are only 3 points away and will achieve Elite within a couple of days of that 12 day cruise.  Just might work!

 

Not in a million years. That would rubbish the whole integrity and prestige (for want of a better word) of the whole program. You'll find that the captains club staff are very strict about this. 

[cruisestitch]

"Go see the CC Host and ask very nicely if they'll upgrade you to Elite for the next cruise since you are only 3 points away and will achieve Elite within a couple of days of that 12 day cruise.  Just might work!"

 

You will just waste your time and the host's time.  Don't bother.