Is the Captain's club dead?

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

I am talking about customers from, say, Carnival and NCL. 

Where did you see this? I did an intensive search and could find nothing along this line. You would think Celebrity would advertise it so everybody would know. MSC is the only one I know that does anything like that for competing line passengers.

[mahdnc]

It was in a bulletin sent to TAs. Other requirements were the booking had to be for veranda or above and made before Dec 31st. 

[Shadow9612]

4 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I can give you my own perspective.  While I am disappointed that my Elite Plus perks are worth virtually nothing these days (other than the laundry, which I do value), I really love the onboard experience on Celebrity and as long as the overall general value remains I will continue to sail with them.  I think they are superior in service, food quality, general ambiance, etc..   Not having extra perks will not impact my desire to sail Celebrity as long as those things remain.  At the same time, it does frustrate me that my loyalty means little to them anymore.  That's an emotion, admittedly, but also one based on fact. Let's face it - losing a benefit (or in this case multiple benefits) tends to bother people more so than had they never had the benefit to begin with. However, once I board the ship, I don't pay any attention to that frustration as I enjoy my cruise.   You are therefore enlightened 🙂, at least from my individual perspective. 

Beautifully said. 

 

 

[neverlaysup]

7 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

Every one is different on what they like. I prefer the AI pricing. Today I priced out an RCI and X cruise to get an average “per day” price. By the time that I added on the internet, gratuities and the drink package to the RCI cruise it was $55.00 per day more expensive and RCI is not on the same level as X IMHO. I once again booked X. 
 

I could travel on RCI and use the suite/Diamond/D+ lounges or vouchers for drinks but I detest those lounges. Won’t use them on X either so for us the drink package works better. Again, someone here who likes the current setup. 

I did the same thing on almost identical Transatlantic cruises for next year. The RCL price was $1200 more than the Indulge price on Celebrity. If you factor in the $800 OBC added for that package, the price is $2000 more on RCL. No thank you, I will sail X.

[lifeisrealygood]

My wife and I are elite +, and we just booked a Silhouette sailing in March, 2023 , 10 day Caribbean Cruise in a concierge 2 cabin, deck 10, midship.  They gave us the C3 pricing, and we saved a whopping $20 per person.  Whoopee!!!!

 

One category upgrades are not what they used to be.  When the Certified Vacation Planner gave me the cruise fare, and it was just $20 lower then the published fare, I said, "Wait a minute, I get the C3 pricing for a C2 category", and he replied "yes you do, and it is $20 per person".  

[the penguins]

5 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

I really don´t care if i get my special tea in Al Bacio because  I am Elite + or because it is now all included. They ( X) should provide their customer with the choice of all included or a " just cruise"- price. So their loyal customers - as I am - have a choice and can benefit from their Captains Club benefits- earned with spending hard dollars during the years of beeing loyal to X.

The priority boarding is one thing I really enjoy - also the laundry - and those are still in tact.

So in answer to the topic- " Is the Captains Club dead?" No not dead by ailing! LOL.

 

Tell Celebrity - they have said that they appreciate that not everyone wants or needs a full beverage package or WiFi and are working to address this so email them your views.

You can email the department concerned : celebrityengagementcenter@celebrity.com. 

[the penguins]

9 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I can give you my own perspective.  While I am disappointed that my Elite Plus perks are worth virtually nothing these days (other than the laundry, which I do value), I really love the onboard experience on Celebrity and as long as the overall general value remains I will continue to sail with them.  I think they are superior in service, food quality, general ambiance, etc..   Not having extra perks will not impact my desire to sail Celebrity as long as those things remain.  At the same time, it does frustrate me that my loyalty means little to them anymore.  That's an emotion, admittedly, but also one based on fact. Let's face it - losing a benefit (or in this case multiple benefits) tends to bother people more so than had they never had the benefit to begin with. However, once I board the ship, I don't pay any attention to that frustration as I enjoy my cruise.   You are therefore enlightened 🙂, at least from my individual perspective. 

Great answer - tell Celebrity see post 57 for a contact to the department handling this issue. I have been speaking to and emailing Marie Kirk.

[chemmo]

I can’t understand why Celebrity haven’t introduced a couple of new ‘free’ things as they are obviously getting the message that many regulars feel their loyalty has no value anymore.

 

For example, a free photo, boarding gift (sparkling wine?), a voucher off a tour, a few more tasting sessions (cheese and wine)…I am sure others can think of more/better things.

 

Whilst many guests wouldn’t want these particularly at least Celebrity would be trying to pass on the message ‘We value your loyalty’…

 

[the penguins]

22 minutes ago, chemmo said:

I can’t understand why Celebrity haven’t introduced a couple of new ‘free’ things as they are obviously getting the message that many regulars feel their loyalty has no value anymore.

 

For example, a free photo, boarding gift (sparkling wine?), a voucher off a tour, a few more tasting sessions (cheese and wine)…I am sure others can think of more/better things.

 

Whilst many guests wouldn’t want these particularly at least Celebrity would be trying to pass on the message ‘We value your loyalty’…

 

They have , most revolve round drink and include paying extra.

The other is a special offer on dry cleaning for your "Chic night" clothes. It seems such a badly thought out idea that I wonder how it found the light of day. Perhaps it's because Andrea Shey, the new head of loyalty has previously only worked in the banking industry and has no experience in cruising.

Tinkering will not solve this issue just reverting to a system that gives us choice will, which is exactly what Celebrity say that they are doing. See post 56 above 

[the penguins]

9 hours ago, davekathy said:

Priority tendering at tender ports. You may be singing a different tune if you were to book a cruise where AI isn't offered. Or if AI is done away with. 

Where AI isn't offered all the Elite benefits still apply including tendering.

[mahdnc]

11 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

Where did you see this? I did an intensive search and could find nothing along this line. You would think Celebrity would advertise it so everybody would know. MSC is the only one I know that does anything like that for competing line passengers.

 

See this link.

[TeeRick]

14 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I can give you my own perspective.  While I am disappointed that my Elite Plus perks are worth virtually nothing these days (other than the laundry, which I do value), I really love the onboard experience on Celebrity and as long as the overall general value remains I will continue to sail with them.  I think they are superior in service, food quality, general ambiance, etc..   Not having extra perks will not impact my desire to sail Celebrity as long as those things remain.  At the same time, it does frustrate me that my loyalty means little to them anymore.  That's an emotion, admittedly, but also one based on fact. Let's face it - losing a benefit (or in this case multiple benefits) tends to bother people more so than had they never had the benefit to begin with. However, once I board the ship, I don't pay any attention to that frustration as I enjoy my cruise.   You are therefore enlightened 🙂, at least from my individual perspective. 

Well said.  We are E+ and will never make Z.  And honestly there is little to no incentive to make it to Z.  So what?  We sail Celebrity because we enjoy Celebrity.  That is the bottom line for us.  For those that sail in suites like we usually do, the CC benefits have been of little value for many years.  We use the laundry benefit mostly.  In some cases do we feel that we lost benefits? - or that other paying passengers can now get AI packages (albeit at a price) if they choose?  How is that actually a loss to us in a loyalty program?

[davekathy]

4 hours ago, the penguins said:

Where AI isn't offered all the Elite benefits still apply including tendering.

Yep. That's what I said. 

[the penguins]

56 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Yep. That's what I said. 

sorry I read your two sentences as 1 statement. Your second said " you may be signing to a different tune" implying that if you booked without AI the tendering benefit had been removed. Glad that's cleared up.

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

Well said.  We are E+ and will never make Z.  And honestly there is little to no incentive to make it to Z.  So what?  We sail Celebrity because we enjoy Celebrity.  That is the bottom line for us.  For those that sail in suites like we usually do, the CC benefits have been of little value for many years.  We use the laundry benefit mostly.  In some cases do we feel that we lost benefits? - or that other paying passengers can now get AI packages (albeit at a price) if they choose?  How is that actually a loss to us in a loyalty program?

the point is that there is no choice. If AI was optional you would be 100% correct, but unless you book a guarantee cabin on a limited number of routes it's AI or nothing. 

 

 

[C-Dragons]

22 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Well, the argument for those who do not drink or can find the same food in other venues, cabin upgrades not of value, discounts minuscule and etc..., I wonder the reason some of us continue to sail on X who are E and E+ if no value/reward for sailing X all these years are not there any longer?

 

Will someone chime in to enlighten me on this?

 

bon voyage

We started sailing with X many years ago. They were, and continue to be, the best fit for us. We also think that X is superior in food, service, and just great ships!

Our very first cruise on X was in a Suite in 2003. Since that time we sailed twice in Concierge Class and the rest of our cruises have all been in Suites. The suite class has evolved and improved over the years. Our status with X has also moved upward, but like others have mentioned most of the perks don’t matter anymore.

We're happy with X. I've often said on CC that boarding a X ship feels like going home again.
Others may have a different view, and will gravitate to the cruise line that suits them best. 
 

Edited November 2, 2021 by C-Dragons

[goofysmom99]

I was hoping to book cruise only fares now that I have zenith perks.  Doesn't seem to be possible at the moment.  Could be that there are solo discounts on those cruises, too.  After a day of searching, I've totally lost interest in trying to determine every permutation and combination.

[C-Dragons]

1 minute ago, goofysmom99 said:

I was hoping to book cruise only fares now that I have zenith perks.  Doesn't seem to be possible at the moment.  Could be that there are solo discounts on those cruises, too.  After a day of searching, I've totally lost interest in trying to determine every permutation and combination.

Congratulations on your Z milestone! 😊

[upwarduk]

16 hours ago, cdn_tbird said:

personally I'd rather they just raised the price to cover

Please don’t encourage Celebrity to do that. In my experience it has already been done x3 in the past 6 weeks. We booked 15/09/21 on what my husband thought was an excessive price, but as I have a BIG birthday in 2022 he agreed to it.

 

The day after we booked , the 20% off was introduced. The final pricing was over £1,000 more than we paid.

 

 

 

Today, 2nd person half price was introduced. 
Final price now £257 more than 20% off price.😱

Edited November 2, 2021 by upwarduk

[LGW59]

On 11/1/2021 at 12:18 PM, maxsales said:

Other than the Zenith category is there really any value in the Captain's club?  With most cruises now being AI the free drinks are valueless and if you are Elite+ the Al Bacchio benefit is gone.  The wireless benefit is no longer needed so I guess the only thing remaining is laundry.

 

Anyone else think Celebrity should revise their loyalty program?

May Captain Club RIP!

[terrydtx]

Since we now only book the Retreat Class on Celebrity and we are Elite, I find CC benefits to be totally useless for us. We get everything we want or need in the Retreat.  I am not complaining as we do not continue to book Celebrity for the CC tiers, we book because we love the Retreat and no other mainstream cruise line has a product to compete. We have 3 cruises booked in 2023 and 2024 all in Sky Suites which will make us Élite Plus when finished. BTW when you book the Retreat there is not an option, that I know of, to book with out all the included perks.

Edited November 2, 2021 by terrydtx

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

Since we now only book the Retreat Class on Celebrity and we are Elite, I find CC benefits to be totally useless for us. We get everything we want or need in the Retreat.  I am not complaining as we do not continue to book Celebrity for the CC tiers, we book because we love the Retreat and no other mainstream cruise line has a product to compete. We have 3 cruises booked in 2023 and 2024 all in Sky Suites which will make us Élite Plus when finished. BTW when you book the Retreat there is not an option, that I know of, to book with out all the included perks.

 

I've done it before pre Plandemic and pre AI.  Who knows if it's possible now.

[cdn_tbird]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

Since we now only book the Retreat Class on Celebrity and we are Elite, I find CC benefits to be totally useless for us. We get everything we want or need in the Retreat.  I am not complaining as we do not continue to book Celebrity for the CC tiers, we book because we love the Retreat and no other mainstream cruise line has a product to compete. We have 3 cruises booked in 2023 and 2024 all in Sky Suites which will make us Élite Plus when finished. BTW when you book the Retreat there is not an option, that I know of, to book with out all the included perks.

Very well said. I don't drink to get drunk but out of curiosity I once kept track on how much I actually drank in a day. On a port day depending on when we got back to the ship easily 1 or 2 before dinner, a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, add another drink while enjoying the show and a couple of martini's afterwards, so easily 6 or 7 and that's not including sparkling water. On a sea day I can easily add at least 2 or 3 beers by the pool. Good thing we don't cruise too often, because 7 days at that clip is a heck of a lot more than I drink the entire rest of the year. Hmmm.... maybe I should be looking into AA 😄

 

But all kidding aside, like you I pick to cruise X because I enjoy the complete package, not because of the "perks" a particular CC level entitles me to.

 

The one comment I have is, I've seen a lot of people mention the Sail Only rate not being universally available, but I don't recall if anyone ever mentioned actually calling X or their TA and asking if it was an option. Just because it isn't available online doesn't mean it's not an option.

[weregoingcruising]

On 11/1/2021 at 11:18 AM, maxsales said:

Other than the Zenith category is there really any value in the Captain's club?  With most cruises now being AI the free drinks are valueless and if you are Elite+ the Al Bacchio benefit is gone.  The wireless benefit is no longer needed so I guess the only thing remaining is laundry.

 

Anyone else think Celebrity should revise their loyalty program?

OH NO ANOTHER ONE😟

[weregoingcruising]

Where are all the non suite and Retreat CC members posts? If you can afford suites and Retreat cabins why worry about Captains club benefits?