Suggesting a Captain's Club Level above Elite Plus but below Zenith

[Cruise a holic]

What is Amethyst Tier?  and what are TA groups?  Tis

[verizon]

31 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

What is Amethyst Tier?  and what are TA groups?  Tis

Check Blue chip tier, TA means  travel agents group.

On my last cruise I recognize there were 4 from TA.in the Zenith lunch.

Edited November 10, 2022 by verizon

[Cruise a holic]

Just now, verizon said:

Check Blue chip tier, TA means  travel agents group.

How do you get TA groups?

[goofysmom99]

My travel agent is a zenith.  She's never used her zenith cruise because she's also a top Blue Chip tier.  In fact, she's aboard several B2Bs right now until Dec sometime (internet and wifi calling make for seamless business-at-sea).

[Orator]

 

It's good business to comp Blue Chip members since, according to the head of the loyalty program, they cover the cost of the cruise plus.  I'm certain that the bean counters at Celebrity based their decisions on the contributions to the bottom line. Others do the same by encouraging people who spend  the most to get benefits. That is true in casinos. The more you spend, or lose, the more you get. Park West at one time, perhaps currently, gave free cruisers to heavy spenders.

 

[lienf]

The Elite Plus perks work for us. My wife doesn’t drink and I can get by with our 3 evening drinks and 2 bottles of wine we can bring on board. The 240 minutes each for wifi is enough and the bags of laundry is another bonus. Booked a 9 night Alaska cruise without AI and with the OBC we get from our TA, that almost covers the gratuities, it worked out to be much cheaper. 

[TommyD3]

19 hours ago, someguyfl said:

IIRC, when Celebrity changed the program over from the old qualification system to the new one, they multipled the number of points by some amount ... and also if the minimum number of points for your current level was higher than that number, they just set your number of points to that.

I'm fairly certain after the adjustment I had less than 150 points, but was just barely Select, so they increased my points to 150.

The changeover was in late 2013. Before that you received "credits". One per cruise, plus one more if concierge or higher and a third if a 10 night plus cruise. At changeover your number of credits was multiplied by 30 to convert to the current points system. Pre conversion Zenith was 100 credits, now 3000 points. MUCH harder to move up now unless sailing in high end suites. Many new Zenith members since the restart at the Zenith lunch on Beyond last week !!!

[ORV]

14 hours ago, verizon said:

In future the Zenith club will be full of cruisers from Blue Chip Club and also from the TA groups.

Where is the Zenith Club? 

[jagoffee]

11 hours ago, TommyD3 said:

The changeover was in late 2013. Before that you received "credits". One per cruise, plus one more if concierge or higher and a third if a 10 night plus cruise. At changeover your number of credits was multiplied by 30 to convert to the current points system. Pre conversion Zenith was 100 credits, now 3000 points. MUCH harder to move up now unless sailing in high end suites. Many new Zenith members since the restart at the Zenith lunch on Beyond last week !!!

I agree.

 

Do you concur with Orator’s recent observation that most Zenith’s cruise in suites?

 

On the subject of a new classification, the benefits of the the Elite plus are only significant to those on a cruise only rate.  IMO.  Although there is some value.  Not enough to take a cruise that is not your first choice.  Even those at the Zenith level complain frequently that they receive many of the benefits in their standard booking, diluting the real difference between Zenith and other CC levels. I am not saying I agree at the Zenith level, but I am not there.
 

It is good that Celebrity offers Cruise Only rates, but I do not think that is Celebrity’s target market.  It has been many years (back to the 1,2,3 days) since I have not had all the perks on my booking.

 

A new level might just create more people to complain.

Edited November 11, 2022 by jagoffee

[TeeRick]

2 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

A new level might just create more people to complain.

Very true.  

[TommyD3]

12 hours ago, jagoffee said:

Do you concur with Orator’s recent observation that most Zenith’s cruise in suites?

Yes there are very few Zeniths who do not sail in a suite now.

Just what LLP wants !!!!

[phoenix_dream]

Just turned Zenith after 30 years cruising and 65+ cruises. I can tell you that certainly for us, sailing in suites is not what got us there!  I also think the PUP points, while of some value, really don’t do much to get people from Elite Plus to Zenith as the gap is so very large. 
When all is said and done I seriously doubt they will ever create a middle level.  If anything, I would not be surprised if the required points for Zenith rises even further. Let’s be honest, loyalty is not what counts these days. The push is to get people to book suites, and while it irks me, the bottom line is that it is working.  As Celebrity is a business, as long as it works it won’t change.
And I don’t think the diminishing of loyalty will change either. Again, let’s be honest. From what I have seen, a large percentage of current Zeniths are ‘of an age’, as am I. When it comes to extras such as photo packages, gambling, expensive shore excursions, etc., for many of us it’s ‘been there; done that’.  We just enjoy the cruise and don’t need all the extras. The bigger spenders are the younger people with fewer cruises under their belt, especially those in suites.