Loyalty vs Revenue

[Hawkstar33]

4 hours ago, the penguins said:

On Silhouette last May 3 days before the end of our cruise we decided to stay onboard for the next sailing as we knew the ship only had 800 passengers booked. We asked at Guest relations were still refered to future cruises who in turn had to ask Miami to authorise a discount. To meet UK government restrictions the booking had to be completed 48 hours the sailing time. Miami took so long to make an offer that when it came through (the Manager of the FC came to find me in the MDR) I had to leave my dinner, rush to FC office and make the payment. The booking was confirmed with 5 minutes to spare before the cutoff. 

 

I think it is like others have said now.  Chances of getting a discounted deal  upgrade, are gone.  With the moveup, you can still do it, but again, prices are sky high.  Back then in May, they were probably looking for any additional revenue, coming after the shutdown.  Or like I said, you just get lucky sometimes.

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, Hawkstar33 said:

I think it is like others have said now.  Chances of getting a discounted deal  upgrade, are gone.  With the moveup, you can still do it, but again, prices are sky high.  Back then in May, they were probably looking for any additional revenue, coming after the shutdown.  Or like I said, you just get lucky sometimes.

According the Royals quarterly statement the group is now running at 100% capacity and at higher cruise prices per passenger and higher onboard spend per passenger than the record 2019 levels.

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

On 5/12/2023 at 9:44 AM, Markanddonna said:

On a recent Celebrity TA, passengers with inside cabins were offered balcony and balcony concierge cabins at no cost upon boarding. The only inconvenience was waiting for the luggage to get transferred to the new cabin. I suspect they were attempting to put their special entertainers and high-ranking crew in one of the inside hallways. Or, they suspected they might need them for isolation. There were COVID cases aboard.

 

These folks also got the perks package gratis. We didn't ask questions like "why?"  

I'd put money down that some of the crew were covid positive from the previous cruise and they anticipated needing some isolation rooms. If people stayed in this area, they could also get infected and then their cruise cost while in isolation would then be refunded. Smart move by Celebrity.

[Markanddonna]

14 minutes ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

I'd put money down that some of the crew were covid positive from the previous cruise and they anticipated needing some isolation rooms. If people stayed in this area, they could also get infected and then their cruise cost while in isolation would then be refunded. Smart move by Celebrity.

Good possibility.  We shall never know, I suppose. There were several people on our sailing that tested positive for COVID mid cruise to the day after. From my small knowledge base, I would imagine there were quite a few more, including the ladies hacking behind us in the theatre...grrr

[cachouonacruise]

Watching the show Below Deck, has been very instructive for me. 
 

On that show, very rich people rent a super yacht for a fabulous amount of money. 
 

The staff will smile and caters to the guests every wishes, but only, for the purpose of getting a good tip.
 

Difficult guests who tip generously are more appreciated at the end, then friendly guests that are tighter on the tip. When the guests leave the ship, the crew take a deep breath and begin preparing for the next group and the hope of a new tip! 

 

At the end of the day, and the same can be said of us on cruise ships. It does not matter how rich, or who we are. It does not matter if it is our first cruise or our 100th with an extremely high loyalty status. It does not matter if we're polite, friendly or not. It's only about money... Money we bring to the cruise line and money we bring to the crew.

 

So, despite the staff's incredible ability and performance, leading us to believe that we really mean something to them while on board, nothing beats new money for the line or the staff, certainly not loyalty!

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, cachouonacruise said:

Watching the show Below Deck, has been very instructive for me. 
 

On that show, very rich people rent a super yacht for a fabulous amount of money. 
 

The staff will smile and caters to the guests every wishes, but only, for the purpose of getting a good tip.
 

Difficult guests who tip generously are more appreciated at the end, then friendly guests that are tighter on the tip. When the guests leave the ship, the crew take a deep breath and begin preparing for the next group and the hope of a new tip! 

 

At the end of the day, and the same can be said of us on cruise ships. It does not matter how rich, or who we are. It does not matter if it is our first cruise or our 100th with an extremely high loyalty status. It does not matter if we're polite, friendly or not. It's only about money... Money we bring to the cruise line and money we bring to the crew.

 

So, despite the staff's incredible ability and performance, leading us to believe that we really mean something to them while on board, nothing beats new money for the line or the staff, certainly not loyalty!

A slightly jaundiced view and in our experience not completely true. In March 2019 we cruised on Eclipse and towards the end of the cruise we asked our favorite "coffee girl" (Olysia) where her next contract would be.

She replied Silhouette starting in September.

I told her we would sailing on the ship to the Canary Islands from Southampton on 13 October and would she please have my latte ready when we boarded.

Fast forward to October and we boarded with my brother and his wife who were on their first ever cruise. As we sat down in the Al Bacio Olysia arrived with my latte. My brother thought I had some how ordered without him seeing but before I could say anything Olysia said to my wife " sorry Miss Anita I didn't bring you a drink because I wasn't sure if you would want the English Breakfast Tea, Latte or the weak hot chocolate as you don't always have the same".

It's not all about the money.

[Orator]

6 minutes ago, the penguins said:

A slightly jaundiced view and in our experience not completely true. In March 2019 we cruised on Eclipse and towards the end of the cruise we asked our favorite "coffee girl" (Olysia) where her next contract would be.

She replied Silhouette starting in September.

I told her we would sailing on the ship to the Canary Islands from Southampton on 13 October and would she please have my latte ready when we boarded.

Fast forward to October and we boarded with my brother and his wife who were on their first ever cruise. As we sat down in the Al Bacio Olysia arrived with my latte. My brother thought I had some how ordered without him seeing but before I could say anything Olysia said to my wife " sorry Miss Anita I didn't bring you a drink because I wasn't sure if you would want the English Breakfast Tea, Latte or the weak hot chocolate as you don't always have the same".

It's not all about the money.

Agree! Based on my experience relationships based on mutual respect are more important than money to the majority of crew. 

 

 

 

[cachouonacruise]

3 minutes ago, the penguins said:

A slightly jaundiced view and in our experience not completely true. In March 2019 we cruised on Eclipse and towards the end of the cruise we asked our favorite "coffee girl" (Olysia) where her next contract would be.

She replied Silhouette starting in September.

I told her we would sailing on the ship to the Canary Islands from Southampton on 13 October and would she please have my latte ready when we boarded.

Fast forward to October and we boarded with my brother and his wife who were on their first ever cruise. As we sat down in the Al Bacio Olysia arrived with my latte. My brother thought I had some how ordered without him seeing but before I could say anything Olysia said to my wife " sorry Miss Anita I didn't bring you a drink because I wasn't sure if you would want the English Breakfast Tea, Latte or the weak hot chocolate as you don't always have the same".

It's not all about the money.

I am very glad, your experience with a crew member seems to have been more meaningful than ours.

 

In one specialty restaurant, where we thought we had made a special connection with a waiter, to the point where he gave us his email address. When we tried to write to thank him...We received a reply that the email address was inexistant. ( It was not a typo on the address). This was not a big deal fo us, just an eye opener situation. 

[sbcs5390]

On 5/12/2023 at 6:54 PM, Milhouse said:

I suspect the better strategy would be to head down to guest services on day 1 of the second half of their B2B and tell them they are interested in a paid upgrade if rooms were available.  And someone would contact them in the evening with options once everyone is aboard and they have done an assessment of what rooms were available.

I was going to say this too. I've had decent experiences doing this, but the ship's hands are really tied until the ship sets sail and so the rack rate prevails. When doing so, I did not get the points associated with the new cabin, and paid on my oboard account for the upgrade cost. Another time, we were doing a B2B and wanted to upgrade my Mom onboard but of course they could not guarantee someone else would not book "her" room for the second cruise during the first cruise and then she'd have had to have moved cabins. 

[jelayne]

5 hours ago, the penguins said:

According the Royals quarterly statement the group is now running at 100% capacity and at higher cruise prices per passenger and higher onboard spend per passenger than the record 2019 levels.

That may be true for many sailings but ours 2 weeks ago was at 60%.