NCL Oceania Regent Loyalty Programs to be Consolidated

[mrlevin]

At NCLH Investor Day CEO Harry Sommer implied that the three programs will be consolidated:

 

"Loyalty programs like CruiseNext certificate sales on board — essentially, a nonrefundable deposit for a future cruise cruise — are up 60% since 2015. When an analyst asked if NCLH may be considering a loyalty program that encompasses all three of its brands, CEO Sommer indicated that's possible and there may be news in the back half of the year."

 

I cannot envision this as good news for Regent cruisers.

 

 

Edited May 21 by mrlevin

[boblerm]

4 hours ago, mrlevin said:

I cannot envision this as good news for Regent cruisers.

Why is that?

[mrlevin]

Speaking only for myself; I will never sail Oceania or NCL so reciprocal or consolidated benefits will not be of any use to me; on the other hand, if Regent provides reciprocal benefits to NCL and Oceania cruisers those are benefits that impact what could be provided to existing Regent cruisers.

 

In the whole scheme of things probably a minor impact for or against.  

 

Airlines have sure found out that giving benefits to too many people sure impact what they can provide to their best customers.  

[SWFLAOK]

1 hour ago, mrlevin said:

Speaking only for myself; I will never sail Oceania or NCL so reciprocal or consolidated benefits will not be of any use to me; on the other hand, if Regent provides reciprocal benefits to NCL and Oceania cruisers those are benefits that impact what could be provided to existing Regent cruisers.

 

In the whole scheme of things probably a minor impact for or against.  

 

Airlines have sure found out that giving benefits to too many people sure impact what they can provide to their best customers.  

I totally agree with you for both NCL and airlines. And don't get me started on allowing people with an American Express card access to airport lounges, and then turning away business class passengers for our airline's lounge.

[njhorseman]

How does "it's possible" get translated as "to be consolidated"?

 

It sounds like Sommer said they're considering it, not that it's a done deal.

[Lonedaddy]

Only works if they have a $ spend threshold.  Otherwise agree no benefit to giving a big ncl cruise regent benefits.  Though they should consider the reverse.  For instance I would consider an ncl cruise with my adult children and grandchildren if I could get some perks with it more than with nothing.  

[mrlevin]

9 hours ago, njhorseman said:

How does "it's possible" get translated as "to be consolidated"?

 

It sounds like Sommer said they're considering it, not that it's a done deal.

Then what's going to be announced "in the back half of the year?"  I agree that consolidation is too strong a word as there are other levels of integration.

[njhorseman]

9 minutes ago, mrlevin said:

Then what's going to be announced "in the back half of the year?"  I agree that consolidation is too strong a word as there are other levels of integration.

Sommer said "there may be news...".

The words "may be " don't convey certainty.  It leaves open the possibility that nothing will occur. 

[mrlevin]

1 minute ago, njhorseman said:

Sommer said "there may be news...".

The words "may be " don't convey certainty.  It leaves open the possibility that nothing will occur. 

We will see . . .

 

I hope you are right.

[papaflamingo]

15 hours ago, mrlevin said:

if Regent provides reciprocal benefits to NCL and Oceania cruisers those are benefits that impact what could be provided to existing Regent cruisers.

Just curious, how will an Oceania or NCL loyalty member getting SS benefits on a Regent cruise impact you?  Other than possibly having to compete with them for early booking of shore excursions or dining reservations, something anyone can do by booking a Concierge Suite or higher, I can't think of any benefits that impact other passengers in any way.  Am I missing something? 

 

Edited May 22 by papaflamingo

[mrlevin]

Yes,  you are missing a lot.  One of the best titanium benefits is transportation to and from the ship.  Currently you can have 10 or 15 cars when disembarking; I guess we could have a lot more.  How about the check in lines for named suites or titanium or above; will they be longer?  What about special events for the higher tiers; will they get too crowded?  It was great seeing Hubbard Glacier from Regent Suite on last cruise.  

 

These are all minor first world problems and I will survive; just as I survived when Delta got rid of Platinum Coordinators and widgets to take you between planes on a tight connection and the ALPA work slowdown in 2000-2001.

Edited May 22 by mrlevin

[papaflamingo]

4 minutes ago, mrlevin said:

Yes,  you are missing a lot.  One of the best titanium benefits is transportation to and from the ship.  Currently you can have 10 or 15 cars when disembarking; I guess we could have a lot more.  How about the check in lines for named suites or titanium or above; will they be longer?  What about special events for the higher tiers; will they get too crowded?  It was great seeing Hubbard Glacier from Regent Suite on last cruise.  

 

These are all minor first world problems and I will survive; just as I survived when Delta got rid of Platinum Coordinators and widgets to take you between planes on a tight connection and the ALPA work slowdown in 2000-2001.

I think you're overthinking this.  I doubt there are many who will translate benefits at the Titanium level.  If they've reached that level on Oceania or NCL they're probably loyal enough to not jump cruise lines.  So even if someone did, it's would likely be a single couple or person and extremely rare.  And consider, YOU can jump to Oceania and receive THERE top tier benefits if you want.  We were Diamond Plus on Royal Caribbean.  That let us get Elite benefits on Celebrity. However we were limited to Elite as the highest tier that would transfer, and our eligibility for the next level started with zero days on Celebrity.  So likely that would be something NCLHS would do.  I doubt they'd let a top tier NCL member come over to Regent as a Commodore.  

As for the "ALPA work slowdown in 2000-2001," I survived it too....as a Delta Pilot and ALPA member.  That was totally different than this situation, and it wasn't a "work slowdown," those are illegal job actions. Pilots simply chose not to fly overtime.  😎

[mrlevin]

I am definitely over thinking this.  😀

 

As for the ALPA "actions" or lack thereof, I lived it too; I was commuting via ATL (or occasionally CVG) every Monday and Thursday.  

[Pcardad]

I would travel more on NCL if my Titanium status transferred over...instead of RCL or other lines.

[Chateaunole-du-pape]

2 hours ago, mrlevin said:

I am definitely over thinking this.  😀

 

As for the ALPA "actions" or lack thereof, I lived it too; I was commuting via ATL (or occasionally CVG) every Monday and Thursday.  

The widgets for tight connections are still offered to high-value customers, on a "surprise-and-delight basis," though now they're Porsches rather than Ford Crown Victorias...

[SellaVee]

Oceania offers a free cruise as one of it's perks for loyal customers.  However it counts cruises rather than days, unless the cruise is exceptionally long, like a world cruise.  That’s a perk worth having, though I won't reach that level.

[frantic36]

2 hours ago, SellaVee said:

Oceania offers a free cruise as one of it's perks for loyal customers.  However it counts cruises rather than days, unless the cruise is exceptionally long, like a world cruise.  That’s a perk worth having, though I won't reach that level.

 

We always do long cruises usually of a month at least but around three a year so how does that work out? I am asking because I am used to a Milestone Cruise Award with Seabourn based on days sailed so I am thinking if based on cruises it wouldn't be a good result?

[papaflamingo]

On 5/22/2024 at 8:51 AM, mrlevin said:

I am definitely over thinking this.  😀

 

As for the ALPA "actions" or lack thereof, I lived it too; I was commuting via ATL (or occasionally CVG) every Monday and Thursday.  

I may have flown you up there.  I flew out of Atlanta and did CVG frequently around that time.  And I didn't participate an any illegal job actions, although I, along with every other Delta Pilot,  was accused of it more than once. 😜

Edited May 23 by papaflamingo

[Chipper Wood]

On 5/21/2024 at 1:42 PM, boblerm said:

Why is that?

 

Why indeed.

 

I have sailed on all three lines, so there could be some advantage to combining them for perks,

[zak477]

For us frequent Regent cruisers, remember when laundry service was a free perk only with Platinum members and above?  We were so happy to become Platinum members but at the same time Regent changed its marketing and made free laundry service available to all. So no long a frequent traveler perk. And they never replaced the perk with something new.  If they are combining all three companies, will our Oceania tier still be per cruise or converted to # of nights?

We never have and never will sail NCL, no big ships at all. 

[papaflamingo]

1 hour ago, zak477 said:

For us frequent Regent cruisers, remember when laundry service was a free perk only with Platinum members and above?  We were so happy to become Platinum members but at the same time Regent changed its marketing and made free laundry service available to all. So no long a frequent traveler perk. And they never replaced the perk with something new.  If they are combining all three companies, will our Oceania tier still be per cruise or converted to # of nights?

We never have and never will sail NCL, no big ships at all. 

When RCCL and Celebrity merged programs we were awarded Elite status on Celebrity if we were Diamond or above on RCCL.  But that was the highest tier we could be granted.  And our Elite status was with zero days cruised.  So to achieve he next tier we would have to actually EARN 750 points (based on from 2-24 points per night depending on cabin, etc.).  I imagine any merging would be similar.  There'll be a max "highest level" and you'd need to sail the entire number on Regent in order to move up.  Pretty sure this is "much to do about nothing." 

[labonnevie]

4 hours ago, zak477 said:

For us frequent Regent cruisers, remember when laundry service was a free perk only with Platinum members and above?  We were so happy to become Platinum members but at the same time Regent changed its marketing and made free laundry service available to all. So no long a frequent traveler perk. And they never replaced the perk with something new.  

I may not remember this correctly (my wife wells me it wouldn’t be the first time) but we had the free laundry perk and it was replaced with a $100 SBC when Regent extended free laundry to everyone. 

[SellaVee]

On 5/23/2024 at 12:20 PM, frantic36 said:

 

We always do long cruises usually of a month at least but around three a year so how does that work out? I am asking because I am used to a Milestone Cruise Award with Seabourn based on days sailed so I am thinking if based on cruises it wouldn't be a good result?

Th Oceania would tell you exactly, but I think if your cruise is more than 21 days it counts as 2 cruises.  It's certainly more than 20 days.  It pays to do 7 day cruises to climb the ladder faster, but we never do that.

[wcsdkqh]

6 hours ago, labonnevie said:

I may not remember this correctly (my wife wells me it wouldn’t be the first time) but we had the free laundry perk and it was replaced with a $100 SBC when Regent extended free laundry to everyone. 

Absolutely Correct.

[ChucktownSteve]

15 hours ago, SellaVee said:

Th Oceania would tell you exactly, but I think if your cruise is more than 21 days it counts as 2 cruises.  It's certainly more than 20 days.  It pays to do 7 day cruises to climb the ladder faster, but we never do that.

That's what makes the status levels irrelevant to us as well. Our sweet spot is 14 to 18 night cruises.  However the number of nightly tier levels, regardless of cabin category, are so high that only the true loyalists achieve the higher levels.  We like the Concierge and Penthouse levels which are not beneficial to accumulate Society status however they do include some of the perks of higher levels.

 

We've only sailed one NCL cruise in the late 1980's thus any reciprocal status from Regent could not convince us to sail them especially if we were a higher level Society member.

 

I'm wondering if you sail Regent, why would people want to drop down to a mass market cruise line? So is this combination really an incentive?