What can P&O do better going forward ?

[Dermotsgirl]

57 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Absolutely agree. On board spend is a vital part of cruise line profitability. Why encourage those cruisers who spend very little.

In fact, perks should be limited to those with limited number of cruises, as these new cruisers will spend more than the "old  salts". 

In that case, they would need stop calling it a loyalty scheme and describe it as a reward scheme 

[terrierjohn]

8 minutes ago, kalos said:

Same here ,we have to be careful what we wish for ,yes we have been on a ship 

with £300 spend each and as we left the ship I think our bill for the cruise was around 

£18.00 mark. Great for us but not good for P&O was it ? Some people ask for more 

perks ,more onboard spend ,they want more for less but someone has to pay for it .

Just an idea but maybe if P&O increased their loyalty scheme that would be better 

all round .The more you cruise with them the bigger discount that applies for everyone.

It's all well and good wanting loads of OBC and every other perk we can think of plus 

a silly tacky pin which I will never wear . Regardless of how many cruises some of  us 

have under our belt with P&O ,people who are new to cruising also like value for money 

and why not . It's not just about us or the newcomers P&O need to make money as well,

not just £18 from a couple who spent well .We loved it but someone somewhere was 

paying for that cruise .

However Kalos, your OBC was either because you overpaid for a suite, or had been built into your price, so it was really your money anyway.

[kalos]

20 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

However Kalos, your OBC was either because you overpaid for a suite, or had been built into your price, so it was really your money anyway.

At the time John we looked at other Ships doing the same crossing of the Atlantic and it was

cheaper than the others ,that was before any loyalty discount but I do take your point, I just think P&O could do better for everyone . 

Edited June 30, 2021 by kalos

[wowzz]

The Princess loyalty scheme has just been tweaked. From some of the comments on the Princess board, you would think the sky has fallen in. People who state that they have one drink a night, only go a speciality restaurant when it is a free perk, take their own water on board etc, are now complaining that they have to pay 50% of the normal fee for WiFi.

I wonder how much loyal customers actually contribute to the bottom line?

[wowzz]

34 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

In that case, they would need stop calling it a loyalty scheme and describe it as a reward scheme 

No problem with that. Or call it a cash back scheme.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Absolutely agree. On board spend is a vital part of cruise line profitability. Why encourage those cruisers who spend very little.

In fact, perks should be limited to those with limited number of cruises, as these new cruisers will spend more than the "old  salts". 

Some do some don't.

It depends what sort of onboard experience you want.

For us old hands of 54 cruises :-

We always book balcony or higher grade cabin.

We have always tipped the recommended sum and a lot more.

We do ships excursions.

We buy products in the shops.

We Go to ships speciality restaurants regularly.

We Never bring wine or spirits on board and buy drinks in the bars.

We buy ships photos.

Graham.

[grapau27]

8 minutes ago, wowzz said:

The Princess loyalty scheme has just been tweaked. From some of the comments on the Princess board, you would think the sky has fallen in. People who state that they have one drink a night, only go a speciality restaurant when it is a free perk, take their own water on board etc, are now complaining that they have to pay 50% of the normal fee for WiFi.

I wonder how much loyal customers actually contribute to the bottom line?

If a loyal customer sails 20+ times with 1 cruise company I'm sure they will have contributed to the ships bottom line.

When you have a captive audience like the ship does money will be spent onboard.

Graham.

[kalos]

Some good points everyone but how could we improve P&O for everyone ? 

How do P&O sell themselves to lets say a set of Grandparents who are just 

taking their very first cruise with a couple of grandkids for a treat . How do 

you sell it to them ? It's no good me telling them I get "xyz" perks and this 

could be them in years to come . Years ago I sailed with Thomson and there

was no perks but what they did have was a fantastic show team who even put 

on afternoon plays in the theatre and a show every night followed by a fantastic supper

laid on every night .All this was for everyone and as a newcomer got me wanting more.

As I asked .."What can P&O do better going forward ? " Maybe a show in the afternoon 

would be something for everyone they could do.

 

 

 

Edited June 30, 2021 by kalos

[Cathygh]

2 hours ago, davecttr said:

It might be controversial but I think they should include onboard spend in determining loyalty benefits. Research, I believe by Princess, has shown that the average onboard spend decreases as the number of cruises taken increases. So those couples you meet who have completed many dozen cruises and don't spend anything on board are not good for the company bottom line so why are they been awarded for that? Or maybe don't have any significant loyalty programme at all. 😈

That's an interesting piece of research. I wonder why they spend less? Are they the customers who love the ship and don't need/want to spend money? Are they on a budget? Or are they bored with the same shops and menus in the speciality restaurants? 

 

[Eglesbrech]

11 minutes ago, kalos said:

Some good points everyone but how could we improve P&O for everyone ? 

How do P&O sell themselves to lets say a set of Grandparents who are just 

taking their very first cruise with a couple of grandkids for a treat . How do 

you sell it to them ? It's no good me telling them I get "xyz" perks and this 

could be them in years to come . Years ago I sailed with Thomson and there

was no perks but what they did have was a fantastic show team who even put 

on afternoon plays in the theatre and a show every night followed by a fantastic supper

laid on every night .All this was for everyone and as a newcomer got me wanting more.

As I asked .."What can P&O do better going forward ? " Maybe a show in the afternoon 

would be something for everyone they could do.

 

 

 

I used to love those afternoon plays on Thomson, a good way to get into the shade for an hour. When we were onboard they always seems to do really amusing farces. The amorous prawn comes to mind as one.

 

Thomson did have loyalty perks in the first couple of years of sailing then dropped it quickly when it became clear people would rebook without them.
 

I wonder how many people would actually stop sailing with their favourite line just because the loyalty scheme disappeared, few I would imagine (personally you they can keep my oversized fluffy slippers). P&O have changed the goalpost several times over the years making reaching the top level harder and harder but I doubt it stopped anyone booking just the same.

 

Perhaps the money used on these “loyalty’ schemes could go towards more diverse entertainment or improving the food offerings (decent cheese would be a good start).

 

 

 

 

 

[Bobblehat71]

7 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

That's an interesting piece of research. I wonder why they spend less? Are they the customers who love the ship and don't need/want to spend money? Are they on a budget? Or are they bored with the same shops and menus in the speciality restaurants? 

 

 

IMO a lot of those who spend very little onboard are the same people who take multiple cruises every year. If your retired and have no restrictions on your time then I guess its a choice between having one expensive cruise or multiple cheaper cruises.eg. not spending onboard.  These multiple cruises also get you more loyalty rewards which can mean you spend even less onboard. 

The P&O loyalty scheme does look woeful when compared to the likes of RCL ,however I guess you get what you pay for. 

[crompton21]

I quite like the cheese (just saying)

[bee-ess]

2 minutes ago, Bobblehat71 said:

 

IMO a lot of those who spend very little onboard are the same people who take multiple cruises every year. If your retired and have no restrictions on your time then I guess its a choice between having one expensive cruise or multiple cheaper cruises.eg. not spending onboard.  These multiple cruises also get you more loyalty rewards which can mean you spend even less onboard. 

The P&O loyalty scheme does look woeful when compared to the likes of RCL ,however I guess you get what you pay for. 

I like the 10% off the bill but negated by having to use up OBC to get it. I seem to remember P&O said they were going to overhaul the loyalty scheme about 3 years ago(?) but it didn't happen. Frankly though the 10% off the bill is the only thing worth having on it.

[Angel57]

3 minutes ago, Bobblehat71 said:

 

IMO a lot of those who spend very little onboard are the same people who take multiple cruises every year. If your retired and have no restrictions on your time then I guess its a choice between having one expensive cruise or multiple cheaper cruises.eg. not spending onboard.  These multiple cruises also get you more loyalty rewards which can mean you spend even less onboard. 

The P&O loyalty scheme does look woeful when compared to the likes of RCL ,however I guess you get what you pay for. 

I must admit this was me a few years ago. There was /is only so much money in the pot for cruising. Do I prefer to spend lots of money on excursions, ships photos and very expensive spa sessions or do I put that money towards another cruise. For me personally it is the latter. The money is still going to P&O tho and with about 40 cruises they’ve had a lot of it….😃

[Eglesbrech]

2 minutes ago, crompton21 said:

I quite like the cheese (just saying)

I just find it boring and repetitive. There are literally thousands of varieties of cheese in the world and hundreds of British cheeses yet they serve the same tired ones cruise after cruise.

 

I am however glad you enjoy them😀

[davecttr]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

No problem with that. Or call it a cash back scheme.

I would not mind nectar points 😁

[Bobblehat71]

7 minutes ago, Angel57 said:

I must admit this was me a few years ago. There was /is only so much money in the pot for cruising. Do I prefer to spend lots of money on excursions, ships photos and very expensive spa sessions or do I put that money towards another cruise. For me personally it is the latter. The money is still going to P&O tho and with about 40 cruises they’ve had a lot of it….😃

 

I don't blame you. I intend to do exactly the same when I eventually get to retire. Not for quite a while sadly 😢

[kalos]

7 minutes ago, davecttr said:

I would not mind nectar points 😁

 

 Bring back Green Shield Stamps 

[davecttr]

7 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

I just find it boring and repetitive. There are literally thousands of varieties of cheese in the world and hundreds of British cheeses yet they serve the same tired ones cruise after cruise.

 

I am however glad you enjoy them😀

I like cheese. On Marella Explorers maiden season (that's Janes ship updated) the Executive chef provided an excellent salad selection including cheeses I had never heard of. I stopped counting when I reached 15 kinds, not all at the same time of course. 🤤

[Peanut006]

1 hour ago, kalos said:

Some good points everyone but how could we improve P&O for everyone ? 

How do P&O sell themselves to lets say a set of Grandparents who are just 

taking their very first cruise with a couple of grandkids for a treat . How do 

you sell it to them ? It's no good me telling them I get "xyz" perks and this 

could be them in years to come . Years ago I sailed with Thomson and there

was no perks but what they did have was a fantastic show team who even put 

on afternoon plays in the theatre and a show every night followed by a fantastic supper

laid on every night .All this was for everyone and as a newcomer got me wanting more.

As I asked .."What can P&O do better going forward ? " Maybe a show in the afternoon 

would be something for everyone they could do.

 

 

 

A show in the afternoon is a great idea, especially for the younger children on board. 
We are cruising next year on Sky Princess as a multi generational family, not been on Princess before so hope there is enough for them to do. We sailed on Indy with them before with all the slides, trampolines etc x

Michelle

[majortom10]

Be careful for what you wish for as Princess has just changed their Loyalty Tiers. If you are Elite  and do not drink alcohol so therefore making the Princess Plus package of free internet not good value then it is going to cost you more as the free wi-fi has gone and now you have to pay  and even though it is 50% discount it is still 50% more than what you paid for in the past. We have always swapped our Elite mini bar for 2 coffee cards so in effect our drinks bill at the end of the cruise is very small.

[Josy1953]

1 hour ago, Cathygh said:

That's an interesting piece of research. I wonder why they spend less? Are they the customers who love the ship and don't need/want to spend money? Are they on a budget? Or are they bored with the same shops and menus in the speciality restaurants? 

 

I think that we spend less now than we used to because we are bored with the the offerings in the restaurants and shops.   We have eaten in the specialty restaurants so many times that it is no longer the treat that it used to be and the menus are repetitive so we only eat in them if the MDR menu has a poor choice for one of us. 

 

We do quite like the Glass House for lunch on a couple of days on each cruise.

 

We invariably spend a few hours browsing in the on-board shops but rarely buy anything because most of what they sell is tat or can be bought cheaper ashore.

[wowzz]

21 minutes ago, Peanut006 said:

A show in the afternoon is a great idea, especially for the younger children on board. 
We are cruising next year on Sky Princess as a multi generational family, not been on Princess before so hope there is enough for them to do. We sailed on Indy with them before with all the slides, trampolines etc x

Michelle

You may be a little disappointed. There is a children's club, but no slides, etc.

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, bee-ess said:

I like the 10% off the bill but negated by having to use up OBC to get it. I seem to remember P&O said they were going to overhaul the loyalty scheme about 3 years ago(?) but it didn't happen. Frankly though the 10% off the bill is the only thing worth having on it.

The 10% off the bill was certainly welcome when I treated myself to  a Tag Heuer watch on our last Ventura cruise. 

 

We do like the embarkation buffet and Peninsula lunches as well though.

[Snow Hill]

21 hours ago, majortom10 said:

Unfortunately "dynamic" pricing throughout the holiday industry not just cruising is here to stay. It does work both ways and I have benefited in prices being reduced but it is only human nature to moan about price increases.

Unless legislation is brought in I can’t see dynamic pricing disappearing as it is endemic in the travel industry