How would you like to see Virgin Voyages’ Sailing Club evolve?

[robertsammons]

I'd really like to see the 485c perks just expanded out, those seem like good top tier perks that should be offered to those who have multiple sailings. I like the idea someone mentioned of potentially booking spots for Richards rooftop so its not overwhelmed

[_tacocat_]

i've been on vv quite a bit since late 2021 (so much so that i'm in their not-so-secret secret Club 485c).  i have no future voyages planned, so i have no skin in this game, but i think whatever they implement should be closer to airline/hotel loyalty programs - you have to regularly re-earn your status. 

 

obviously cruising is a bit different than earning airline/hotel status from mostly work travel, but i think your status should be valid for 2 years, and you have those 2 years to requalify - maybe 1 or cruises every 2 years for the base level and 4 or 6 for the next level... attainable tiers.  this eliminates the BS that you see on other lines where you get the "well, i'm a triple diamond upside down crystal status because i've been sailing since 1965 and new sailors are just poo under my shoe" attitude.

[Wildcatllamas]

A few years back I was on a NCL cruise with a friend. We were sailing in one of their large suites that my late husband and I had booked before he passed. So instead of cancelling I took my friend. I was now a Platinum. We were seated with a woman and her daughter and the minute we set down she was bragging about being Platinum. I told her I was Platinum as well and she asked how many cruises. She got all bent out of shape when I told her that cruise was my 5th with NCL. She had sailed something like 30 times on short cruises on the West Coast in the cheapest interior and all of them were last minute bookings.

 

With working I had to plan my time off so we would usually book a minimum of a year out and always in a suite. It was easy to earn the points needed to become Platinum with the way NCL did it. I would never begrudge a person who could fast track to a top tier if they can do it through planning. 

 

As much as I would love to cruise in a suite again - since it is just me most of the times a Sea Terrace works. If they had a mini-suite style, like what I usually do now on Princess, then that would be my option. But don't mess with my hammock! 

 

My next cruises are both 12 nights, although I haven't told my boss yet. Both are bucket list cruises. A coworker commented "what is she going to do, fire you? Who is crazy enough to take your management position." 

 

NCL was one point for each night you sailed, book 9 months or more out and you got an extra 1 point per night and stay in a suite it was an extra 1 point per night (and sometimes the promos were up to 3 extra points if you were in a suite). So a system like that takes in number of nights, advanced booking and giving credit to those in a suite. For those of us who are Sea Blazers and Sea Rovers maybe a couple of extra points to recognize us.

[_tacocat_]

On 12/26/2023 at 3:21 PM, -The-True-North- said:

How do you get 485c?

no one knows haha - my husband and i are both in it, we sailed 2x as rockstars (cheeky corner and brilliant) and 2x as mega (gorgeous) and had a few future sailings booked at the time, so we thought it may have been $ spend, but we've met folks who haven't ever sailed in a suite.

[Wildcatllamas]

3 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

  this eliminates the BS that you see on other lines where you get the "well, i'm a triple diamond upside down crystal status because i've been sailing since 1965 and new sailors are just poo under my shoe" attitude.

I love your description of some of the ones I have run into on my travels. It is a hoot!!

[_tacocat_]

OH i totally forgot about the elusive token system.  i think they've scrubbed all reference to it at this point, but for a while, they were going HARD into token accelerators based on spend and whether you were a sea rover/blazer or 485c. 

 

i have no clue how many tokens we accrued, but at the time, i was thinking it would be pretty neat if they had a tier-free system, and you got to DIY your own status.  want early booking of restaurants? 100 tokens.  early boarding? 250. guaranteed upgrade if space is available when you book?  5,000.  shake for champs? 100.  cocktail with dinner? 25.  things like that.  basically figuring out what's important to YOU (because it's different for everyone) and building your own set of perks per voyage.  some things might be more important to you on an 8 night cruise vs. a 4 night, or a voyage with more sea days/early port nights vs. a port heavy itinerary with late nights in a couple ports.

[-The-True-North-]

2 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

OH i totally forgot about the elusive token system.  i think they've scrubbed all reference to it at this point, but for a while, they were going HARD into token accelerators based on spend and whether you were a sea rover/blazer or 485c. 

 

i have no clue how many tokens we accrued, but at the time, i was thinking it would be pretty neat if they had a tier-free system, and you got to DIY your own status.  want early booking of restaurants? 100 tokens.  early boarding? 250. guaranteed upgrade if space is available when you book?  5,000.  shake for champs? 100.  cocktail with dinner? 25.  things like that.  basically figuring out what's important to YOU (because it's different for everyone) and building your own set of perks per voyage.  some things might be more important to you on an 8 night cruise vs. a 4 night, or a voyage with more sea days/early port nights vs. a port heavy itinerary with late nights in a couple ports.

That would be pretty dope. Haha although, I'd imagine everyone would just use it for dinner reservations priority. This REALLY needs to change. Even moving it to a first come first severed, except Rockstars type thing.

 

If I am not mistaken, this system you talk about is already in place by Accor Hotels and their ALL program. You tailor your rewards on things that matter to you.

[robertsammons]

18 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

OH i totally forgot about the elusive token system.  i think they've scrubbed all reference to it at this point, but for a while, they were going HARD into token accelerators based on spend and whether you were a sea rover/blazer or 485c. 

 

i have no clue how many tokens we accrued, but at the time, i was thinking it would be pretty neat if they had a tier-free system, and you got to DIY your own status.  want early booking of restaurants? 100 tokens.  early boarding? 250. guaranteed upgrade if space is available when you book?  5,000.  shake for champs? 100.  cocktail with dinner? 25.  things like that.  basically figuring out what's important to YOU (because it's different for everyone) and building your own set of perks per voyage.  some things might be more important to you on an 8 night cruise vs. a 4 night, or a voyage with more sea days/early port nights vs. a port heavy itinerary with late nights in a couple ports.

I've seen it in a TA document from a few months back so its still talked about, I just know they'll not have calculated it right through 

[CineGraphic]

1 hour ago, _tacocat_ said:

but we've met folks who haven't ever sailed in a suite.

 

It's been hinted to me that attitude has a lot to do with it.

How you treat the crew may be more important than you think.

[_tacocat_]

16 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

How you treat the crew may be more important than you think.

haha that certainly may have had a lot to do with it.  we didn't interact a ton with crew on our first voyage, but we were B2B for our 2nd and 3rd voyages then back on a couple weeks later for our 4th and developed relationships across those 3 voyages with a BUNCH of the happenings cast, bartenders, servers and even one of the somms (who we've now followed onto all 3 ships!).

 

we also gave good, thoughtful feedback on all of our post-voyage surveys and pretty regularly responded to their "pulse" surveys throughout the trips.  did we have service issues onboard at times?  yes, but we weren't whiners that expected comp for every tiny thing that was slightly less than "AWESOME!" across our trips.  one of the group's hypotheses was that members were engaged and gave them actual food for thought in interactions instead of just "well RC does this, and NCL does this, and why is there no organized ball room dancing like cunard" haha