Woo Hoo... Pinnacle now equals Zenith on Celebrity

[cruise wizard]

21 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Gary, does X have an upper tier party like Royal does, that shows total loyalty numbers?  Or can you ask what the breakdown is?  I usually will ask the concierge or LA if there is no event.  

 

They have a very nice Captain's Club Celebration event - no numbers mentioned - very low key - only top cruiser mentioned (champagne and dozen roses). Captain has a short welcoming speech followed by some type of entertainment - great variety of handheld snack items (had a cheeseburger slider which was juicy) - different cocktails & champagne. There was a live band too. 

[orville99]

9 minutes ago, island lady said:

I have a big "hole to fill" from Dec. 2025 to Feb. 2026.  Nice we are now status match as Venetian too!  

We are still working off our existing RCL inventory, so we slotted in an 11 night X cruise in December 2025, and a 21 night B2B on X in March 2026. We found a really nice B4B cruise on Silversea in 2026 that leaves out of FLL and returns 4 weeks later, but there's a 7 night hole right in the middle that our concierge is trying to figure out. She thinks it may be a charter, but can't get a clear answer from their inventory people. We are also looking at Regent for the same timeframe.

[island lady]

23 minutes ago, cruise wizard said:

 

They have a very nice Captain's Club Celebration event - no numbers mentioned - very low key - only top cruiser mentioned (champagne and dozen roses). Captain has a short welcoming speech followed by some type of entertainment - great variety of handheld snack items (had a cheeseburger slider which was juicy) - different cocktails & champagne. There was a live band too. 

 

Sounds like fun!  Will be looking forward to that on Connie, and later on with you two on Apex.  Thanks!  Hope you and the bride continue to enjoy your time on board!  🙂 

[island lady]

21 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We are still working off our existing RCL inventory, so we slotted in an 11 night X cruise in December 2025, and a 21 night B2B on X in March 2026. We found a really nice B4B cruise on Silversea in 2026 that leaves out of FLL and returns 4 weeks later, but there's a 7 night hole right in the middle that our concierge is trying to figure out. She thinks it may be a charter, but can't get a clear answer from their inventory people. We are also looking at Regent for the same timeframe.

 

Oooooh....  🥰 That sounds nice!  We will be on X in Feb/March 2026 with Gary and Mary.  Then following that...we are back to Viking out of Hong Kong to Vancouver.  So afterwards,  later in 2026 is also available.  🙂  Soooo much out there to enjoy!

[PhillyFan33579]

38 minutes ago, cruise wizard said:

 

They have a very nice Captain's Club Celebration event - no numbers mentioned - very low key - only top cruiser mentioned (champagne and dozen roses). Captain has a short welcoming speech followed by some type of entertainment - great variety of handheld snack items (had a cheeseburger slider which was juicy) - different cocktails & champagne. There was a live band too. 

My experience at these events has been similar to your comment. One big difference compared to RCI is they offer a lot of appetizers at these events. Another difference is they don’t have a slideshow like RCI. At roughly half of the events I have attended the CD or Captain has announced the number of Zeniths, Elite Pluses and Elites on the ship, but those are the only loyalty levels I have heard mentioned at these events. 

[cruise wizard]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

My experience at these events has been similar to your comment. One big difference compared to RCI is they offer a lot of appetizers at these events. Another difference is they don’t have a slideshow like RCI. At roughly half of the events I have attended the CD or Captain has announced the number of Zeniths, Elite Pluses and Elites on the ship, but those are the only loyalty levels I have heard mentioned at these events. 

 

Just got back from the Zenith luncheon - about 18 in attendance at Blu - very nice menu of lamb, branzino, filet. All of the folks at the lunch were Pinnacle's (no mixing yet). We had officers that sat with us during lunch - some great conversations. 

[cruise wizard]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

My experience at these events has been similar to your comment. One big difference compared to RCI is they offer a lot of appetizers at these events. Another difference is they don’t have a slideshow like RCI. At roughly half of the events I have attended the CD or Captain has announced the number of Zeniths, Elite Pluses and Elites on the ship, but those are the only loyalty levels I have heard mentioned at these events. 

 

The appetizers were great - big variety and the drinks were varied.

[PhillyFan33579]

2 minutes ago, cruise wizard said:

 

The appetizers were great - big variety and the drinks were varied.

When we were on Apex in April, we were seated at a table to the left of the bar in Eden. I don’t know if it was the location, but literally every minute or two a waiter stopped at our table offering drinks or appetizers. By the end of the event, I was full and had a good buzz. 

[cruise wizard]

3 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

When we were on Apex in April, we were seated at a table to the left of the bar in Eden. I don’t know if it was the location, but literally every minute or two a waiter stopped at our table offering drinks or appetizers. By the end of the event, I was full and had a good buzz. 

 

That is the general area where we were in - same experience - non-stop waiters with trays of "everything" to eat and drink!!!!

[compman9]

More interested in this quote:

Saying there was "more to come," Liberty added, "You'll see here over time that you're building status and other things across the family of brands."

He doesn't want a single programme, so it appears the first stage might be about shifting the Pinnacles, but what could come next?

 

Hopefully combining cross-cruiseline points so I can jump to Pinnacle 😉

[cruise wizard]

27 minutes ago, compman9 said:

More interested in this quote:

Saying there was "more to come," Liberty added, "You'll see here over time that you're building status and other things across the family of brands."

He doesn't want a single programme, so it appears the first stage might be about shifting the Pinnacles, but what could come next?

 

Hopefully combining cross-cruiseline points so I can jump to Pinnacle 😉

 

We will stay within the RCG family but Princess and Holland America may be looking for Pinnacles to jump ship with a status match........ala MSC. We older / seasoned cruisers are still a large market and some company will take advantage of the crossovers / graduating classes by offering some nice benefits. Carnival, Disney, NCL and Royal will be battling for the younger generation. Viking has shown quite an interest in the golden agers that want to cruise - sending a big wake up call!!!!!

[Tlbecker1]

11 hours ago, little britain said:

Feedback in other places seems to be that most Ps have never even set foot on an X ship so I would think this first week of the experiment would be too early for the RL to be overrun already? 

I agree.  We have cruised on Celebrity twice, but we did it for the itinerary.  We have another one booked, but it was before the new Zenith/Pinnacle agreement.

[Kbonner]

18 hours ago, cruise wizard said:

 

NO access to the Retreat pool, sundeck, lounge

Celebrity Silhouette now: Concierge says categorically no to access for PZ. Hotel Director says sure. Guess who won? Full access for ZP. Although I have to admit there are only 4 Pins onboard

[Kbonner]

17 hours ago, cruise wizard said:

 

It will be interesting attending the Zenith Luncheon this noon. Lots of questions and observing too. Stay tuned!!!

Celebrity Silhouette yesterday: all ZPins invited. Luncheon was 2 hrs, hosted by the captain, hotel director and others. Great food and ......excellent (expensive) wines. Celebrity still understands loyalty/loyalty light😇

[verizon]

1 hour ago, Kbonner said:

Celebrity Silhouette now: Concierge says categorically no to access for PZ. Hotel Director says sure. Guess who won? Full access for ZP. Although I have to admit there are only 4 Pins onboard

Love that Hotel director that make sense. Crossover Zenith's should not be denied if less than 10

[ILCTCRUISER]

13 hours ago, cruise wizard said:

 

We will stay within the RCG family but Princess and Holland America may be looking for Pinnacles to jump ship with a status match........ala MSC. We older / seasoned cruisers are still a large market and some company will take advantage of the crossovers / graduating classes by offering some nice benefits. Carnival, Disney, NCL and Royal will be battling for the younger generation. Viking has shown quite an interest in the golden agers that want to cruise - sending a big wake up call!!!!!

A bit dated study of demographics from CLIA.  Published in 2020 and based on numbers gathered in 2018.  My guess is that little has changed over 6 years.

 

Source: CLIA (2020). 2018 Global Passenger Report. Washington DC: CLIA.

Cruise lines are expanding their target population, attracting younger age groups such as families and youngsters. While it used to be a “65+ type of market”, in 2018, the average age of cruisers was 46.7 years. Just 13% were over 70 years old, and the 65+ years old group stood at 32% of all persons cruising within the year.

 

From accompanying graph (not shown here) pax 50+  represent 50% of cruise pax population.  Nothing to sneeze at there.

 

 

[orville99]

20 minutes ago, ILCTCRUISER said:

A bit dated study of demographics from CLIA.  Published in 2020 and based on numbers gathered in 2018.  My guess is that little has changed over 6 years.

Found this as well:

 

Carnival Cruises had the highest percentage of 18–24-year-olds driving traffic, at 16.35%

Royal Caribbean Cruises had the highest percentage of 25–34-year-olds driving traffic, at 24.24% and the highest percentage of 35–44-year-olds driving traffic, at 21.69%

P&O Cruises had the highest percentage of 45–54-year-olds driving traffic, at 19.22%

Cruise118 had the highest percentage of 55–64-year-olds driving traffic, at 22.02%

Cruise Direct had the highest percentage of 65+ year olds driving traffic, at 25.26%

 

Edited June 14 by orville99

[jamon]

Cruise Wizard:::

do you have copy of menu for the Zenith lunch held at Blu?????

[Starry Eyes]

2 hours ago, ILCTCRUISER said:

A bit dated study of demographics from CLIA.  Published in 2020 and based on numbers gathered in 2018.  My guess is that little has changed over 6 years.

 

 

Source: CLIA (2020). 2018 Global Passenger Report. Washington DC: CLIA.

Cruise lines are expanding their target population, attracting younger age groups such as families and youngsters. While it used to be a “65+ type of market”, in 2018, the average age of cruisers was 46.7 years. Just 13% were over 70 years old, and the 65+ years old group stood at 32% of all persons cruising within the year.

 

From accompanying graph (not shown here) pax 50+  represent 50% of cruise pax population.  Nothing to sneeze at there.

 

 

That’s all persons who have cruised within a year.  I suspect the result would differ if weighted by number of cruises per year, as most of the passengers taking lots of cruises per year are older.

[ILCTCRUISER]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

Found this as well:

 

Carnival Cruises had the highest percentage of 18–24-year-olds driving traffic, at 16.35%

Royal Caribbean Cruises had the highest percentage of 25–34-year-olds driving traffic, at 24.24% and the highest percentage of 35–44-year-olds driving traffic, at 21.69%

P&O Cruises had the highest percentage of 45–54-year-olds driving traffic, at 19.22%

Cruise118 had the highest percentage of 55–64-year-olds driving traffic, at 22.02%

Cruise Direct had the highest percentage of 65+ year olds driving traffic, at 25.26%

 

There’s also a 2023 CLIA report that offers a graph plotting passenger age and cruise length for the various destinations.  Pretty much common sense:  Caribbean cruises tend to be shorter duration with a younger demographic.  I imagine It’s something of a chicken-or-the-egg question.   Which came first on those cruises:  the younger clientele or the water slides, bumpier cars, etc?  Those cruises work nicely for those in the 30-40s:  work/career demands, raising families, need to plan a vacation that has something for adults AND kids, using vacation time wisely, and so forth.

[ILCTCRUISER]

6 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

That’s all persons who have cruised within a year.  I suspect the result would differ if weighted by number of cruises per year, as most of the passengers taking lots of cruises per year are older.

Good point.  Not a statistician here but wouldn’t such a weighting produce similar numbers?  I don’t know the answer to that.  Any statisticians out there?

Edited June 14 by ILCTCRUISER

[orville99]

7 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

That’s all persons who have cruised within a year.  I suspect the result would differ if weighted by number of cruises per year, as most of the passengers taking lots of cruises per year are older.

 

1 minute ago, ILCTCRUISER said:

Good point.  Not a statistician here but wouldn’t such as weighting produce similar numbers?  I don’t know the answer to that.  Any statisticians out there?

Interesting hypothesis. If you look at a cruise itinerary that has historically been skewed by repeat cruisers (TA/Repo cruise) you may be able to infer an outcome. On the Westbound TA with the data that cruise wizard posted, the D, D+, and Pinnacle numbers represented ~1/3 of the total passenger count. I would think that on a more typical itinerary, those numbers would be substantially lower.

 

However, since every booked cruise represents a filled cabin, and every cruise seems to be fully booked, if I were trying to develop a strategy to incrementally increase revenue, I would probably start by figuring out how to entice those passengers who tend not to spend to vacate their cabins so I can book someone in there that will be much more likely to spend.

 

At the end of the day, I don't think it really matters how many times one cruises a year but how much they incrementally spend on each of those cruises. In business parlance, what is the opportunity cost of not replacing us with cruisers who will spend more on a cruise even if they only take one a year - and collectively will fill the ship on each sailing?

[lovesthebeach2]

I have to stop reading this thread…. I had hoped that D+ would have gotten better  benefits than we did…. Not that I’m a big drinker, but to go back from the 5 drinks a day of a large menu of choices, to a very limited drink menu for 2 hours only in certain bars, which is during the dinner hours like it was before, and 2 days of internet to 240 minutes isn’t worth it to me. Some of us are high points, but not yet pinnacle, so if they wanted us to move, they should have sweetened the deal a bit more.

 

So it seems Royal ONLY wanted pinnacles to move and not any other level, otherwise they would have done more. I’m happy for you all, but a wee bit jealous. I wanted to start to move to X and we do have some booked, but I’m not giving up on Royal yet. They still have small ships sailing luckily. 

[RosieRoo]

14 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

 

So it seems Royal ONLY wanted pinnacles to move and not any other level, otherwise they would have done more. I’m happy for you all, but a wee bit jealous. I wanted to start to move to X and we do have some booked, but I’m not giving up on Royal yet. They still have small ships sailing luckily. 

I think it’s the Pinnacles they want to encourage because of the overcrowding in the suite areas on Royal. Celebrity never gave Zeniths access to Luminae or the sundeck which was smart on their part. Royal gave Pinnacles access to all the suite perks and they have created a monster. Since awarding double points there are a lot more Pinnacles and the suite venues are becoming a problem. On the Anthem TA there was a waiting line every night outside of Coastal and some of the people that paid big money for those suites were not too happy to be waiting when half of Coastal was wearing pins. Don’t get me wrong, I am Pinnacle, but I also understand the suite guests point of view because we mostly sail in suites. 

Edited June 14 by RosieRoo

[little britain]

13 hours ago, Tlbecker1 said:

I agree.  We have cruised on Celebrity twice, but we did it for the itinerary.  We have another one booked, but it was before the new Zenith/Pinnacle agreement.

We have another 3 booked, before the agreement- purely because they offer far better itinerary’s and actually have a ship in Europe over the winter. 
But the status match is purely icing on the cake!