Shareholder Benefits

[CJANDH]

Royal Caribbean Cruise lines offers on-board credits to shareholders of at least 100 shares when they sail on Royal or Celebrity. But it doesn't offer that benefit when you cruise on Silversea. Does anyone know the rationale for this?

[mysty]

Might be a good idea to talk to RCCL.  I'm sure they know the answer to your question. 

[Stumblefoot]

15 minutes ago, CJANDH said:

Does anyone know the rationale for this?

According to Silversea’s Chief Commervial Officer on June 6, 2021, “We're always looking for innovative ways to collaborate with our sister brands and we continue to take steps to incorporate Silversea into the RCL family. While we currently don't have an update regarding onboard credit benefits for RCL shareholders, we will be sure to communicate any decisions to all shareholders directly, as the discussions progress.”

[CJANDH]

1 hour ago, Stumblefoot said:

According to Silversea’s Chief Commervial Officer on June 6, 2021, “We're always looking for innovative ways to collaborate with our sister brands and we continue to take steps to incorporate Silversea into the RCL family. While we currently don't have an update regarding onboard credit benefits for RCL shareholders, we will be sure to communicate any decisions to all shareholders directly, as the discussions progress.”

Thanks for that. I did not get a response when I emailed them last week. But of course, their systems are down which might explain it.

[OlsSalt]

I more than made up the initial 100 share costs of another cruise line's onboard credit on subsequent cruises, even with the current ups and downs of the entire industry. But I also made that stock purchase early in our cruising career on that line, so there was plenty of time for a decent payback. However, the  mutual value of these perks - to self and the cruise line - can become problematic.

 

High loyalty passengers being granted discounts and special onboard perks can be self-defeating when so many rewarded loyal passengers show up on the same cruises.  Which is what can happen when a very good product creates a lot of repeat loyal customers who show up to collect their loyalty rewards.  

 

When suddenly 800 or so passengers all come aboard expecting priority treatment and exercise their onboard discounts, the  reward system breaks down and the cruise line starts losing money rather than enjoying increased loyalty enhanced revenues. I'll leave it to the pencil pushes to figure out where the sweet spot is between cost and benefit for these types of loyalty programs, including stock ownership. But we have seen it work both ways on this other cruise line. 

 

I suspect the SS special niche and passenger base does not need additional cruise perks to keep its passenger base coming back for more.  And the smaller ships don't need on board loyalty perks to make the experience more enjoyable for some, but not for others. 

 

 

[cruiseej]

40 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

When suddenly 800 or so passengers all come aboard expecting priority treatment and exercise their onboard discounts, the  reward system breaks down

 

And yet another reason for not sailing on ships which hold 800 passengers! 😉

[OlsSalt]

1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

 

And yet another reason for not sailing on ships which hold 800 passengers! 😉

Call me overly cost conscious, but I loved seeing three to four times the same places with this "crowd" for the cost of one smaller cruise line these past 15 years.  So many reasons to chose the cruise experience - for travel itself, for the onboard experiences, for the cruise line amenities, and for the sheer numbers of miles traveled per dollar.

 

I look forward to the combination of all of the above in our upcoming SS cruise. Who knows what new brand loyalties it will also create. After over 600 days at sea on larger ships, there are few new global horizons to explore for their own sake for us, so the cruise option in our case is now looking for new onboard experiences rather than merely far away ports, with strange sounding names.

 

But our SS cruise will offer even that, as we traverse the south Atlantic to finally reach Tristan da Cuhna, at last - few ships even go there.  Love the fact so much is taken care of by SS - door to door. That becomes value added too. 

Edited September 2, 2021 by OlsSalt

[Dolcevita Diva]

21 hours ago, CJANDH said:

Royal Caribbean Cruise lines offers on-board credits to shareholders of at least 100 shares when they sail on Royal or Celebrity. But it doesn't offer that benefit when you cruise on Silversea. Does anyone know the rationale for this?

I would think that at least part of the rationale is that Silversea is close to all-inclusive.  While passengers on mass market lines prioritize every bit of additional on-board credit they can get to offset all of the add-on costs, your cruise fare on Silversea already includes beverages, wifi, shore excursions, gratuities, etc. - and often airfare and onboard credit as well.  Plus, your TA and credit card (if you pay with AmEx Platinum) will give you additional onboard credit as well.   You'll find a number of posts on here where Silversea passengers are sometimes challenged to find ways to spend all of their on-board credit and ask for ideas on how to use it all! 

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

You'll find a number of posts on here where Silversea passengers are sometimes challenged to find ways to spend all of their on-board credit and ask for ideas on how to use it all! 

 

A very interesting post concerning a question that I have had.  Booking with my travel agent, I always receive some on-board credit.  If I have on-board credit because of making a future cruise deposit, then add to that any cruise line loyalty credit:  how will I be able to apply all of that when the cruise is all inclusive?  

 

Sailing on other cruise lines, even with substantial onboard credit and not using much of that for shore excursions, I have always used all the credit I had.  But, they were not all inclusive.  

 

Thanks again for your post.  

[ronrick1943]

I would think the spa alone would use up a lot of credit——a private car tour when you just don’t want to be in a large group.

[Dolcevita Diva]

3 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

A very interesting post concerning a question that I have had.  Booking with my travel agent, I always receive some on-board credit.  If I have on-board credit because of making a future cruise deposit, then add to that any cruise line loyalty credit:  how will I be able to apply all of that when the cruise is all inclusive?  

 

Laundry (if not eligible for free laundry), the spa, gift shop, shore excursions that are not the included ones, the additional charge for La Dame, indulging in wine or spirits from the premium list.  Some have mentioned taking a bottle of premium wine home with them....   Still - on one cruise, my friends had so much credit that she went to the spa/salon every day to use it up!  More mundane, but I always use some of it towards a bottle of that Elemis muscle soak from the spa to use in my suite and to coming home with a suitcase of freshly laundered clothes 🙂

Edited September 2, 2021 by Dolcevita Diva

[cruiseej]

On 9/1/2021 at 3:47 PM, CJANDH said:

Royal Caribbean Cruise lines offers on-board credits to shareholders of at least 100 shares when they sail on Royal or Celebrity. But it doesn't offer that benefit when you cruise on Silversea. Does anyone know the rationale for this?

 

22 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

I would think that at least part of the rationale is that Silversea is close to all-inclusive.

 

Well, I'd note that Seabourn passengers can get a shareholder credit if they own shares of parent company Carnival Corp., and Seabourn is generally as inclusive as Silversea.

 

I suspect th answer is that it's only recently that SS became fully owned by Royal Caribbean; it was privately owned until 2018, and then partially owned by RCCL until just last year. So after the Covid crisis (whenever that may be!), we might se RCCL extend the credit to SS passengers.

 

 

16 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

on one cruise, my friends had so much credit that she went to the spa/salon every day to use it up! 

 

Considering the hefty spa prices, I just can't imagine how one can accumulate enough onboard credit to be able to go to the spa very day! 😉

[bethtex]

My TA gives an option of cash back vs OBC.  We always choose the cash back but don't feel guilty if we spend it all on the cruise.  

I have RCL stock and would love the additional OBC on SS.  There are lots of ways to spend it from spa to gift shop, excursions, etc.

Maybe they will have it available before our next SS cruise in Aug 2022