Suggestion: Move the free Behind the Scenes tour from Platinum to Sapphire Tier

[shof515]

13 hours ago, julig22 said:

I'd personally prefer that they come up with a list of available perks for platinum and above.  Then you choose from the list - platinum gets 2 choices, sapphire gets 4 or something along those lines.

 

Royal does something like that and its great

[libtrek]

I must be easy to please. We were higher level Carnival before we switched to NCL. Don’t know if they still do it, but we would receive a gift on every Carnival cruise, branded tumbler, beach bag, small cooler, dop kit bag, photo frame. I still use all of the above. Listening, NCL?

[The Traveling Man]

3 hours ago, seemoreroyals said:

It took us 10 cruises to reach Platinum so not really that easy.

We got to Platinum after just eight cruises, but two of those were two week long voyages.  That was long before NCL started handing out double and triple Latitudes points like they were Christmas candies.  Today it's quite possible to get to Platinum in as few as four cruises.  Our ninth cruise, first as Platinum, was the second leg of a B2B on the Dawn.  We got off the ship in Quebec as Gold and got back on board later that day as Platinum, having accrued all the new perks and benefits of our new Latitudes status.

[The Traveling Man]

@ChiefMateJRK I just thought of an exception to the general rule about Sapphire Latitudes members being able to skip the line.  Last September we traveled on Prima's second ever cruise for paying guests.  Maybe it was just because the ship was new and the crew had not yet worked out all the bugs, or maybe because some of the entertainment venues are smaller relative to the passenger capacity as compared with other NCL ships, but we were turned away at a couple of venues.  We were told that on the Prima, everyone who did not have a reservation would have to wait in the standby line.  Sapphire members were not allowed to "badge their way to the front" as on other NCL ships.  Many folks have posted on other CC threads about the Prima that the lines for Poor David's and the comedy club would start forming more than an hour before showtime and that those who arrived only 30 minutes early usually were out of luck.  We have sailed on more than ten other NCL ships since making Platinum Plus (now called Sapphire) and have always been able to go to the front of the line on each of those other ships, even without having made a reservation.

[podgeandrodge]

So does Sapphire allow you to skip the line for entertainment shows, as well as dining?  Is it up to the staff at the doorway i.e. could they refuse and mortify you as you walk back to the back of the line? 😲

 

In terms of the Behind the Scenes Tour, I'm currently Platinum (easy these days with the extra points I guess, but took me a lot of cruises), and I would suggest they leave the current BTS tour for Platinum, but perhaps give the "Paid" BTS tour to Saphire, thus adding value.  Right now, I just don't see much value in progressing from Platinum.

[jimsig]

4 hours ago, seemoreroyals said:

It took us 10 cruises to reach Platinum so not really that easy.  They should add a few more things for higher tier levels and not take away from Platinum. 

 

In particular we really enjoy the free laundry and the two extra specialty dinners and bottle of wine.  

 

3 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

It seems to be a bit easier now, or perhaps because we cruise in the Haven. We've been on four cruises and, unless our next cruise is five nights, or less, we'll be Platinum when we disembark. 

With the bonus points they are now giving it does make it easier.  We just got off our third cruise and we are already Gold.  If we can do an 8 day or longer next time that gives 3pts we will make Platinum. Even though we stayed in a suite once we did not get any bonus points as we upgraded by calling the old upsell line about 5 days before the cruise.  

[jimsig]

Instead of removing a perk from one tier add one or more perks to the higher tiers.  

[vacation44]

6 hours ago, seemoreroyals said:

It took us 10 cruises to reach Platinum so not really that easy.  They should add a few more things for higher tier levels and not take away from Platinum. 

 

In particular we really enjoy the free laundry and the two extra specialty dinners and bottle of wine.  

It took us 6 cruises with two of them being in the Haven and one of them being in a non-Haven Suite (not club balcony suite).   We hit a lot of double points along the way.

 

We are also very happy with the two additional dinners and the bottle of wine.   

 

[The Traveling Man]

3 hours ago, podgeandrodge said:

So does Sapphire allow you to skip the line for entertainment shows, as well as dining?  Is it up to the staff at the doorway i.e. could they refuse and mortify you as you walk back to the back of the line? 😲

I never have tried it at restaurants, so I really can't answer your question.  The Prima is the only NCL ship on which we have been turned away at an entertainment venue, though.  We don't find a need to do it very often.  We usually make reservations for shows (only required on the big ships) and arrive a half hour or so before showtime to find a seat and enjoy a cocktail.

[dhanakorn]

From the marketing point of view, I assume that once passengers reach the Platinum level they tend to come back and cruise again. Why would the company needs to spend more to retains these already loyal customers? 

 

The new customers (bronze to gold) are on slipping slope. They can easily switch to other cruise lines since they haven't invested so much with NCL. I speculate that their data show high retention rate once customers reach Platinum. The current benefits must be good enough to attract repeating customers. Once you reach Platinum, then latitude points are just a number.

 

 

[FLAHAM]

5 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:Last September we traveled on Prima's second ever cruise for paying guests.  Maybe it was just because the ship was new and the crew had not yet worked out all the bugs, or maybe because some of the entertainment venues are smaller relative to the passenger capacity as compared with other NCL ships, but we were turned away at a couple of venues.  We were told that on the Prima, everyone who did not have a reservation would have to wait in the standby line.  Sapphire members were not allowed to "badge their way to the front" as on other NCL ships.  Many folks have posted on other CC threads about the Prima that the lines for Poor David's and the comedy club would start forming more than an hour before showtime and that those who arrived only 30 minutes early usually were out of luck.  We have sailed on more than ten other NCL ships since making Platinum Plus (now called Sapphire) and have always been able to go to the front of the line on each of those other ships, even without having made a reservation.

When I was on the Prima in February, the CruiseNext desk got me reservations for all the “sold out” venues.  I was latitudes Saphire.

[itsnotjustme]

On 5/9/2023 at 9:15 PM, ChiefMateJRK said:

How do you know this?  That percentage is fantastically out of line with all other historical reports I've seen.

We were told this several times by our concierge. 

 

This was not a typical cruise.  It was a 16-day transatlantic.  Passengers were primarily older - I estimate 80%+ above age 60.  So they appeared to be seasoned experienced cruisers.  And with the way they are giving out points, our travelling companions - only on their 4th NCL cruise - skipped right over gold and reached Platinum this cruise.  (16 days, in a suite, with two extra points per night = 64 points!)

[dexddd]

As far as dining, we went once to mdr on Prima for lunch.  Hostess eyes got big, rushed us in, got table by doors to kitchen, probably worst spot in 270 degree view restaurant.  At least 30 minutes before first app showed.  Guy in charge stopped by to apologize without us saying anything.  Nothing improved.

 

Glad CN apparently improved on that ship since our sailing.  Our experience nothing we see on land other than maybe cable company.

[Viajera7]

20 hours ago, libtrek said:

I must be easy to please. We were higher level Carnival before we switched to NCL. Don’t know if they still do it, but we would receive a gift on every Carnival cruise, branded tumbler, beach bag, small cooler, dop kit bag, photo frame. I still use all of the above. Listening, NCL?

I had my first Platinum cruise with Carnival last October. (Platinum is the second highest level on Carnival). What I got was a koozie. I am glad they are changing the gift for this year. What I liked was the pin for the ship that you are sailing. Before that,  it was a generic tier pin for the previous levels like NCL.

 

I hope NCL is reading this because I agree that there is not a lot of differentiation between Platinum and Sapphire. I like some of the suggestions given on the thread. I am turning Diamond on my Viva Christmas cruise.

[Seafan22]

If I were to enhance the Sapphire level, I would add one more complimentary specialty restaurant meal.  Do that and I'm happy.

[UKstages]

On 5/10/2023 at 9:26 AM, cruiseny4life said:

It seems to be a bit easier now...

 

THIS.

 

extra points per night for suites and haven, plus ridiculously frequent point multiplier promos.

 

i hadn't cruised on NCL for sixteen years or so... i only had one seven night cruise under my belt when i returned in 2019. now, five cruises later, i'm at sapphire. (or at least i will be after next week's cruise).

 

it's been discussed before, but the elite levels may have been devalued largely because of the influx of more members achieving these levels more easily.

[brookie848]

On 5/10/2023 at 11:11 AM, The Traveling Man said:

We got to Platinum after eight cruises, but two of those were two week long voyages.  That was long before NCL started handing out double and triple Latitudes points like they were Christmas candies.  Today it's quite possible to get to Platinum in as few as four cruises.  Our ninth cruise, first as Platinum, was the second leg of a B2B on the Dawn.  We got off the ship in Quebec as Gold and got back on board later that day as Platinum, having accrued all the new perks and benefits of our new Latitudes status.

We'll be Sapphire after nine cruises. This was helped along by the fact that all of our cruises were in the Haven/suites and that a chunk of them were booked more than nine months out back when they offered an extra point per night for booking early.

 

Our favorite perk is the laundry and we like have the extra dinners (we don't always use them). We've done the behind the scenes tour twice, but skipped it on our last cruise. I'm not sure if we'll do it on our next or not -- there are no sea days on our next cruise, so some of that will depend on timing.

 

I'd be interested trying the dinner with officers and the tastings, but there are other things I would probably appreciate as well. Sometimes things like that are just something else to schedule.

Edited May 11, 2023 by brookie848

[The Traveling Man]

5 hours ago, Seafan22 said:

If I were to enhance the Sapphire level, I would add one more complimentary specialty restaurant meal.  Do that and I'm happy.

Both my wife and I are Diamond.  We receive two dining coupons, each good for dinner for two people.  If Platinum member is traveling with a first time NCL guest, they also get two dining credits.  Maybe NCL could make some changes there.

[insidecabin]

On 5/10/2023 at 2:19 AM, BirdTravels said:

Maybe a Diamond lounge and drinks like Royal?

But not available on some port days in Europe.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

A perk I would like to see for upper levels is priority disembarkation.  NCL is probably at the bottom of the list for well organized disembarkation.   A designated area, DR, theater, lounge is open to top tiers only with self assist luggage.  Like embarkation, once the ship is cleared they call levels and escort you off the ship.

 

aside from a few employees, there is no cost to the ship.  Zip, zero, nada.  So nice on other lines to not have to stand in that extremely long self disembark line.

[mking8288]

Haha, maybe that's why on our recent Epic TA with hundreds, I mean, more than a few hundreds Platinum & Sapphire (and, of course, Diamonds & even Ambassadors) onboard - CruiseNext put the BTS tour on turbo/hybrid mode - finished in less than 1 hour, closer to 45 minutes if not for being stopped dead cold idling (for safety reasons - held the group up) below deck on I-95 while provisioning was moving crates around) - and, instructed everyone to NOT take any pictures or videos, etc. at all, none permitted whatsoever ... "younger" mustache guy at CruiseNext  said, my tour, my rules & look behind - security is escorting us, okkie dokie.  Not impressed with the latest tour, if it wasn't the Epic & possibly with a different design & layout below pax decks, I wouldn't have sign up & gone for it - seen enough of those on the *Away & older mid-size ships over the years.  

 

Meanwhile, prices of the paid tour went from $80 or $90 recently to $129 p/p for up to a 3 hour tour, including access to the Engine Control Room and Bridge, including a souvenir photo.  Obviously, previous claims of ship or maritime security while at sea WAS / is not the real reason to not show loyal guests those "exclusive" & guarded area.  

[julig22]

On 5/9/2023 at 9:10 PM, The Traveling Man said:

I enjoy the experience more when there are no more than a half dozen guests.  About half of our dinners have been like that, but recently NCL seems to prefer "the more the merrier" approach.  Several of them have been dinners for 12 or more, usually with two officers.  The problem with that is the physical distances and the ambient noise level make it difficult for everyone at the table to hear what's being said.  That leads to multiple conversations, the persons seated next to the officers dominating the discussions, and others feeling left out.  One of the advantages of getting to know the senior officers is that it increases your chances of dining with a senior officer in a smaller group.  It also increases the odds of being invited to Cagney's or Le Bistro instead of the MDR.

On my most recent cruise, there were 2 groups scheduled for the same night, I don't know if there were others as well.  But of the 8 passengers in my group, 5 were newbies that somehow won the dinner.  So instead of conversation with seasoned passengers, it was more of q&a's from people new to NCL, so, while it was an interesting experience, it wasn't exactly what I expected.  We ate with the procurement officer, so that was OK and somewhat informative but I also prefer to glean information from other guests.

[The Traveling Man]

5 minutes ago, julig22 said:

On my most recent cruise, there were 2 groups scheduled for the same night, I don't know if there were others as well.  But of the 8 passengers in my group, 5 were newbies that somehow won the dinner.  So instead of conversation with seasoned passengers, it was more of q&a's from people new to NCL, so, while it was an interesting experience, it wasn't exactly what I expected.  We ate with the procurement officer, so that was OK and somewhat informative but I also prefer to glean information from other guests.

I think the most we have ever seen at one time is four or five tables of officers and passengers.

[alanstarr]

On 5/11/2023 at 8:42 AM, Seafan22 said:

If I were to enhance the Sapphire level, I would add one more complimentary specialty restaurant meal.  Do that and I'm happy.

Theoretically they do, right? If you count the dinner with the officers? Just turned Sapphire this week, so not positive how that works, but seems like that's the case.

I think a simple change is to leave the regular Behind the Scenes tour for Platinum, but upgrade Sapphires to the extended BTS which includes the bridge and engine room.

 

[julig22]

6 minutes ago, alanstarr said:

Theoretically they do, right? If you count the dinner with the officers? Just turned Sapphire this week, so not positive how that works, but seems like that's the case.

It's usually in the MDR, not a specialty restaurant.  Which makes sense, since there's more variety to choose from, easier for everyone's individual preferences.