new NCL CAS program april 2024?

[UKstages]

there's a tease on the NCL casinos at sea website page that says a "revamped rewards program" will launch in april:

 

"get ready to take your status to the next level with a revamped rewards program launching on april 1, 2024!"

 

tier credits and status both reset on april 1... that's nothing new... but they seem to be implying that the program will have either new tiers or new benefits.

 

has anybody heard anything about this?

[JGmf]

Haven't heard anything, but will now start being on the lookout for some news.

 

I'm sure you'd agree that whatever it is, with cruise demand high and a lot of debt to pay, I can't imagine anything they do to revamp the program will be beneficial to us whatsoever.

 

[UKstages]

38 minutes ago, JGmf said:

I can't imagine anything they do to revamp the program will be beneficial to us whatsoever.

 

hard to say.

 

i hit the "elite" level in CAS on my last trip and i am actually looking forward to a few decent benefits, including generous OBC and excursion benefit. so, here's hoping they only add to those benefits and not whittle them away. if they are planning on making cuts, it's bad form to do so without notice. airlines generally give a year's notice before making changes to their frequent flyer programs, even though they are not required to do so.

 

even though i hit "elite" on my last cruise a month or so ago, my status is still not reflected on the website. i'm hoping that has more to do with their inefficiency than any negative changes associated with the program or the tier level.

 

in any case, it's never been a "real" casino loyalty program with truly compelling benefits.  maybe they got that message and are making changes designed to truly gain loyalty and provide meaningful benefits.

 

things i'd like to see:

 

• elimination of the onerous "admin fee"... no other line does it and it can add several hundred dollars to a "free" cruise. alternatively, i could live with elimination of the fee for higher level premium players.

• true play-based offers and a human host (perhaps in miami or phoenix) capable of assessing your play. the hosts onboard only know one formula... how to rebate a small portion of your play for OBC on the last night of the cruise. they are very personable and very helpful, but they are not traditional hosts. 

• elite status recognition across the ship... unlike a land-based casino, if you're ruby or elite in CAS, it means absolutely nothing elsewhere on the ship. it would be great if your status got you preferred seating or free meals or a meaningful dinner with genuine officers.

• play-based cabin upgrade offers

• nonsmoking casinos across the fleet

• online booking of comp trips, or at least the ability to see offers online

• play-based slot dollar offers (slot play)... practically every other cruise line offers returning players free play... the only time i ever get that is during my birthday month... and its only $100.

• play-based slot dollar incentives... on itineraries that are under-booked (such as transatlantic journeys) offer $500 or $100 in free play. these would typically be the same sort of itineraries they are already offering double latitude points on and for which there have been price drops.

• status based rewards... when i win a hot seat, they give me $20 in downloadable free play. i'm putting through 75K or 100K coin on an average cruise and they're rewarding me with twenty bucks. that would be downright comical, if it wasn't so insulting.

• stronger land-based casino affiliations, again with meaningful, perhaps reciprocal benefits.

• status match with other cruise casino programs and land-based programs.

 

this last one is not unique to casino guests, but higher level casino guests do tend to have OBC...

 

• the ability for CAS guests to pre-book excursions and other shipboard expenses (such as the vibe), with the charge applied to OBC once onboard. alternatively, a meaningful comp would be vibe passes.

 

Edited March 11 by UKstages

[JGmf]

Wow, that's a thoughtful set of suggestions...and your comments are spot-on: NCL is indeed rather comical/insulting in how they treat their players.

 

I just sailed on Princess and received a come-back offer for a free mini-suite, paid-for drink package, and $1500 in Free Play for cruises up to 14 days.  My play was pretty typical of how I play on NCL.  With love like that, it's a tough sell to return to NCL.

 

Let's hope the folks at NCL see some ROI on improving their players club and add some meaningful changes...

[Sunseeker810]

I too would love to see them drop the mystery fee! 

[dbrown84]

yes, it would be great to see the admin fee go.  I'm about to check out MSC, who not only don't have an admin fee but also don't even charge taxes and port fees.  My free cruise with MSC will be about $500 cheaper than my free cruises with NCL

[itsnotjustme]

12 hours ago, Sunseeker810 said:

I too would love to see them drop the mystery fee! 

I have not yet booked through CAS, but I may soon.  When I talked to them, they said if I get a comped cruise, there is an admin fee of $20/person/day and that essentially substitutes for port fees and taxes.  

 

This formula does not sound like a mystery to me... is it less straight forward than I was told?

 

And while I am on here.... I'm told my play is borderline for getting a comped cruise.  The best verbal offer I have had is 20% off a club balcony on two cruises I asked about (one 7-night from NYC to Canada in September, and one 12-night Japan/Korea in April 2025).  The host implied if I wait until closer, there is a chance the NYC could become comped.  Does anyone have experience they can share?

 

Also, if I were to book the Sep 2024 cruise (whether comped or discounted), would that affect my ability to also book the Japan/Korea cruise in 2025?  

[ometauru]

4 hours ago, itsnotjustme said:

I have not yet booked through CAS, but I may soon.  When I talked to them, they said if I get a comped cruise, there is an admin fee of $20/person/day and that essentially substitutes for port fees and taxes.  

 

This formula does not sound like a mystery to me... is it less straight forward than I was told?

 

And while I am on here.... I'm told my play is borderline for getting a comped cruise.  The best verbal offer I have had is 20% off a club balcony on two cruises I asked about (one 7-night from NYC to Canada in September, and one 12-night Japan/Korea in April 2025).  The host implied if I wait until closer, there is a chance the NYC could become comped.  Does anyone have experience they can share?

 

Also, if I were to book the Sep 2024 cruise (whether comped or discounted), would that affect my ability to also book the Japan/Korea cruise in 2025?  

They told you wrong or you misunderstood. The admin fee is IN ADDITION TO port fees and taxes. Also, in my experience port fees and taxes are generally more expensive on NCL than other cruise lines but I am not sure if that's across the board or just weird quirks of the cruises I've taken. 

 

Honestly I'd be more okay with the admin fee that they charge if they had insane offers for their casino players. Why is carnival basically letting you sit on their board if you put $20 in a slot machine and NCL trying to get you to wait tables at American Diner just to get the privilege of paying a $20/day admin fee. 

[Sand and Seas]

@UKstages,  you've listed a lot of good ideas.   I do love the new CASNext certificates.  Hopefully, there will be some more changes  like the ones you have suggested. 

 

Congrats on making Elite!  Can you tell me where you were expecting to see 'Elite' listed online?  I've never seen anything listed on my ncl account regarding my Ruby status.  

[UKstages]

55 minutes ago, Sand and Seas said:

Can you tell me where you were expecting to see 'Elite' listed online?  I've never seen anything listed on my ncl account regarding my Ruby status.  

 

on the top right of the website, there is a pull down menu for "my account." click on that and a display will open with your name and account number. right below that it should state your casino loyalty level.

[Sand and Seas]

1 hour ago, UKstages said:

 

on the top right of the website, there is a pull down menu for "my account." click on that and a display will open with your name and account number. right below that it should state your casino loyalty level.

Mine just says 'Casino-Value'.....not sure what that means? 

I've been Ruby Tier in casino for a few years.

[603NHCruiser]

11 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

on the top right of the website, there is a pull down menu for "my account." click on that and a display will open with your name and account number. right below that it should state your casino loyalty level.

So far, the account identifier has been really random for many people and for myself personally, changes at any given time. it has said everything from "Casino-Value" to "Jade", "Pearl", "Foxwoods", "CAS Guest", "MyVegas" etc. it has been talked about on a few of the sites across the internet that talk about CAS and no one can seem to get a straight answer as to if it is accurate or what it even means. People who have never set foot in the Casino also have an Identifier on their account and have reported that it also sometimes has a casino reference, or may say something else 

[UKstages]

yes, that is all true, mine said “casino-value” for a good long while, even as I was ruby.  that all changed sometime last year and there was much talk about it here on CC. i thought it had been fixed for all. apparently, not.

[UKstages]

i spoke to a rep at CAS today to confirm my current offers. 

 

i asked him about the 4/1 changes.

 

he was cagey. he asked what i had heard. i said i didn't know anything... just that there is a tease posted on the website. he didn't know that it had been announced on the website. and he would not confirm that there would be a new program in place april 1st! 

 

but it was clear from his hemming and hawing that there would be a new program; he was just under strict orders not to talk about it.

[itsnotjustme]

April Fool's Day.

[JGmf]

I'm assuming most/all of you CAS players will/have received this in the mail.  I got mine today:

 

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

On 3/11/2024 at 12:14 PM, JGmf said:

Wow, that's a thoughtful set of suggestions...and your comments are spot-on: NCL is indeed rather comical/insulting in how they treat their players.

 

I just sailed on Princess and received a come-back offer for a free mini-suite, paid-for drink package, and $1500 in Free Play for cruises up to 14 days.  My play was pretty typical of how I play on NCL.  With love like that, it's a tough sell to return to NCL.

 

Let's hope the folks at NCL see some ROI on improving their players club and add some meaningful changes...

 

Thats the kind of perks I used to get regularly on Princess with a high level of play.

Last few trips the best I've gotten is Balc, $600 FP and NO perks.

Therefore I'm Not booking any more cruises on Princess unless perks included.

I got one, which I booked.  But many others Without perks, I've let expire.

 

Agree with above that NCL needs to Eliminate the bogus $200 Admin Fee!

Thats why I steered away from NCL when booking casino comps.

Let me know if/when Ncl comes to their senses and eliminates Admin fee.  Thanks

 

[UKstages]

2 hours ago, JGmf said:

I'm assuming most/all of you CAS players will/have received this in the mail.

 

i have not received that yet. were there any more details provided?

 

any mention of admin fee?

 

the only thing i see new there is the behind the scenes tour, which i assume is the same one offered to platinum and above, a latitudes level which many CAS players already are. if it's the pay for play BTS tour, that could have some modest value, as there is greater availability and it does not require you to get onboard at 11:15 am to fight for a spot. but, otherwise, it's a negligible benefit.

 

this hardly seems like anything i would describe as a new program. certainly nothing worth teasing on the website.

 

Edited March 18 by UKstages

[603NHCruiser]

Like usual, they promote positive changes while actually taking considerable things away from the lower tiers. Us measly pearl players may now only have to earn 4K points per year to retain our status but from the looks of the mailer they have removed two great perks. The casino drinks, which means no more water, Red Bull or espresso from the casino. And they have also done away with the OBC for Pearl. Yay just in time for my April 5th sailing lol. 
 

Edit: another read shows that there is mention of some sort of “water package” but it will likely just be another bottle of Box water to the room. 

Edited March 18 by 603NHCruiser

[Sand and Seas]

It appears to have replaced the Free Drinks while playing with a 'water package', whatever that might mean for the various tiers.   

We enjoyed getting cans of Diet soda to take back to our room.    

Edited March 18 by Sand and Seas

[UKstages]

i don't see that from the photo of the tier benefits posted.

 

are you saying they have removed free drinks in the casino for some lower tiers?

 

free drinks is a pretty sacrosanct casino benefit.

 

and most people have a drinks package anyway, so all they would really giving away is water and energy drinks. really? they've cut free drinks?

 

 

[JGmf]

There was no other fine print in the mailer. Just what I shared.  Here's what the mailer looks like. 

[Sand and Seas]

1 hour ago, UKstages said:

i don't see that from the photo of the tier benefits posted.

 

are you saying they have removed free drinks in the casino for some lower tiers?

 

free drinks is a pretty sacrosanct casino benefit.

 

and most people have a drinks package anyway, so all they would really giving away is water and energy drinks. really? they've cut free drinks?

 

 

The new mailer does not list 'Free Drinks while playing'.     It does add 'water package', but who knows what the limits are per tier.   I agree, it makes no sense to cut the free drinks.

 

Several of the other benefits listed are similar to what has been listed currently on the CAS website:

 

https://www.ncl.com/why-cruise-norwegian/casino-cruise/players-club

 

 

Edited March 18 by Sand and Seas

[itsnotjustme]

1 hour ago, Sand and Seas said:

It appears to have replaced the Free Drinks while playing with a 'water package'

So the drinks are watered down?

[itsnotjustme]

23 minutes ago, Sand and Seas said:

it makes no sense to cut the free drinks.

Given I always have the FAS drink package, the only thing I used it for was water.... Now I hope the water package is a minimum of 1 liter per person per day (i.e., 14 liters for 2 people on a 7-day cruise).