New Silversea Royal Caribbean/Celebrity Status Match Announced

[Emdee]

1 hour ago, mahasamatman said:

It's also included if you charter a yacht and hire people to do your laundry. Both of which are completely irrelevant.

I do hire people to do my laundry. 
To some it is a relevant perk even if irrelevant to you. 
Further, when booking a luxury cruise it is important to see what the competition is providing. 
 

[mahasamatman]

34 minutes ago, Emdee said:

Further, when booking a luxury cruise it is important to see what the competition is providing.

I disagree.

[admranger]

The status match (VS250) has been a welcome perk to our first SSea cruise.  We're currently on the Shadow and have used the free laundry several times.  We did not receive an upgraded bottle of champagne but that wasn't a big issue for us and we didn't ask for a replacement.

 

Overall we are really liking our cruise.  The food and service have been excellent.  The lack of dishes clanking and a boisterous main dining room is such a blessing to have.  Quiet dining with nice people.  We've only seen one "iffy" issue when a passenger accused another passenger of cutting in line while waiting for the main restaurant.  It was not a malicious act but rather moving to face a person they were talking to.  Totally unnecessary.  Still, SSea is much more civilized than our last Celebrity cruise by a wide margin.

Edited June 26 by admranger

[Emdee]

We got our status match but holding off booking until we see how things progress with Silversea. Also fully booked with the competition for now. 

[Dolcevita Diva]

On 6/17/2024 at 1:57 PM, billc23 said:

What really makes no sense to me is 2 sailings in a suite on Celebrity may allow a status match on Silversea that receives free laundry and a 5% discount on bookings. The benefits after 2 Silversea sailings have very little value when matched to Celebrity...  Why??

 

Actually, even less than that. Celebrity launched a program in 2020 that allows one to earn points by watching a webinar, reading a brochure, taking a survey, etc. Smart way to keep passengers engaged while cruising was shut down. 

 

I poked around in the Celebrity Forum and read part of the thread about this Power Up Points program. Ten points earned through this program convert to 1 Club point.  An enterprising soul had prepared a spreadsheet of all the opportunities to earn these points and how many Captain's Club points they would convert to.  Based on that spreadsheet, it appears that anyone who participated in all of the options could have earned 122 Captain's Club points - and 150 points gives you Select status which would be matched to Venetian Society 100 days. 

 

So according to my understanding of how Celebrity awards points based on cabin category, someone who went all in on the Power Up program would be eligible to receive free laundry and a 5% discount on bookings on Silversea after sailing for only 6 days in a Concierge or Aquaclass cabin or 4 days in one of the SkySuite class cabins (which seem to be the most comparable to Silversea's verandas suites in size and cost per day).   

[commodoredave]

On 7/7/2024 at 3:48 PM, Dolcevita Diva said:

 

Actually, even less than that. Celebrity launched a program in 2020 that allows one to earn points by watching a webinar, reading a brochure, taking a survey, etc. Smart way to keep passengers engaged while cruising was shut down. 

 

I poked around in the Celebrity Forum and read part of the thread about this Power Up Points program. Ten points earned through this program convert to 1 Club point.  An enterprising soul had prepared a spreadsheet of all the opportunities to earn these points and how many Captain's Club points they would convert to.  Based on that spreadsheet, it appears that anyone who participated in all of the options could have earned 122 Captain's Club points - and 150 points gives you Select status which would be matched to Venetian Society 100 days. 

 

So according to my understanding of how Celebrity awards points based on cabin category, someone who went all in on the Power Up program would be eligible to receive free laundry and a 5% discount on bookings on Silversea after sailing for only 6 days in a Concierge or Aquaclass cabin or 4 days in one of the SkySuite class cabins (which seem to be the most comparable to Silversea's verandas suites in size and cost per day).   

My wife has taken 3 Celebrity cruises (I've done 4) for a total of 32 days. She has Select status, which equates to VS 100 days. She has taken 7 Silversea cruises (I've done 8 cruises) for a total of 80 days, which equates to basic entry level with Celebrity. So, her 3 cruises and 32 days with Celebrity gets her a status level match with Silversea that she couldn't have achieved with 7 cruises and 80 days with Silversea. And her 7 cruises and 80 days with Silversea gives her nothing in terms of status match with Celebrity. Whoever thought up this system understands very little of rewarding loyalty. 

[CalTexCruiser]

17 minutes ago, commodoredave said:

My wife has taken 3 Celebrity cruises (I've done 4) for a total of 32 days. She has Select status, which equates to VS 100 days. She has taken 7 Silversea cruises (I've done 8 cruises) for a total of 80 days, which equates to basic entry level with Celebrity. So, her 3 cruises and 32 days with Celebrity gets her a status level match with Silversea that she couldn't have achieved with 7 cruises and 80 days with Silversea. And her 7 cruises and 80 days with Silversea gives her nothing in terms of status match with Celebrity. Whoever thought up this system understands very little of rewarding loyalty. 

 

Agreed.  I made Elite with Celebrity after 3 sailings (22 total days) due to sailing in upper level suites.  That is now matched to VS 250 on Sliversea.  

 

Intrigued by our newfound status, we almost booked our first Silversea sailing through the Panama Canal this December, but ultimately chose a different line because we did not want to disembark in Lima, Peru during rainy season.

 

 

[commodoredave]

10 minutes ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

Agreed.  I made Elite with Celebrity after 3 sailings (22 total days) due to sailing in upper level suites.  That is now matched to VS 250 on Sliversea.  

 

Intrigued by our newfound status, we almost booked our first Silversea sailing through the Panama Canal this December, but ultimately chose a different line because we did not want to disembark in Lima, Peru during rainy season.

 

 

We enjoyed out 3 nights in Lima following a flight from Guayaquil after our Silversea Galapagos cruise. But that was in December, and the weather was nice. By the way, despite the sky-high price for our Galapogos cruise, we did not receive any extra nights bonus for it. I wonder if that will change given the status match. 

[Tothesunset]

9 hours ago, commodoredave said:

Whoever thought up this system understands very little of rewarding loyalty. 

It's little to do with loyalty and a lot to do with filling expensive SS cabins. 

[commodoredave]

10 hours ago, Tothesunset said:

It's little to do with loyalty and a lot to do with filling expensive SS cabins. 

I get that. And frankly, I think a status match program is great, and we have certainly benefited from it. My point is that it is not an equal status match. For example, while 32 days with Celebrity gets us 100 days status with Silversea, 80 days with Silversea gets us nada with Celebrity. Basically RCL is saying that days at sea with Celebrity are worth triple the days at sea with Silversea. 

[Tothesunset]

1 minute ago, commodoredave said:

I get that. And frankly, I think a status match program is great, and we have certainly benefited from it. My point is that it is not an equal status match. For example, while 32 days with Celebrity gets us 100 days status with Silversea, 80 days with Silversea gets us nada with Celebrity. Basically RCL is saying that days at sea with Celebrity are worth triple the days at sea with Silversea. 

I think they are keener to get people across to SS. The flow in the other direction would be, I posit, minimal. 

[commodoredave]

2 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

I think they are keener to get people across to SS. The flow in the other direction would be, I posit, minimal. 

If the flow the other direction would be minimal, then it would cost almost nothing to make the status points equal while still making it look fair. 

[Tothesunset]

6 minutes ago, commodoredave said:

If the flow the other direction would be minimal, then it would cost almost nothing to make the status points equal while still making it look fair. 

Of course. I'm not sure that fairness forms any part in the decision-making process. 

[tfred]

The celebrity program has accelerators for staying in a suite “The Retreat”, so it is more than just nights   A few cruises in an X suite and you can be at 250 days 

 

the Silversea status match is really just to keep celebrity pax from drifting to Seabourne et al when moving up. 

[commodoredave]

2 hours ago, Tothesunset said:

Of course. I'm not sure that fairness forms any part in the decision-making process. 

It would appear you are correct.

[commodoredave]

2 hours ago, tfred said:

The celebrity program has accelerators for staying in a suite “The Retreat”, so it is more than just nights   A few cruises in an X suite and you can be at 250 days 

 

the Silversea status match is really just to keep celebrity pax from drifting to Seabourne et al when moving up. 

So why even bother to offer Silversea clients a status match if it’s only to persuade people to move up, not down?

[tfred]

X an RC are different animals compared to Silversea. Pax would only go “Down “ when with adult children or grandchildren 

[commodoredave]

7 minutes ago, tfred said:

X an RC are different animals compared to Silversea. Pax would only go “Down “ when with adult children or grandchildren 

Not true. We recently did a Celebrity cruise in May to Bermuda with friends because it was the best itinerary and value. And we are off in 2 weeks for a trans-Atlantic on Princess. Of course, we can afford larger suites in the restricted areas on these mass market lines which has some appeal. 

[DavyWavey70]

3 hours ago, tfred said:

X an RC are different animals compared to Silversea. Pax would only go “Down “ when with adult children or grandchildren 

I’d disagree tfred. I Recently took my first Celebrity cruise in January and had an amazing time. I Booked it because of itinerary and also not being fleeced as a solo. Where they have got it so wrong is the utter arrogance of the scheme. They really believe their “esteemed guests” are thicker than slurry. They should have introduced a scheme with level points across the board. This many Silversea nights equals this many points, this many Celebrity nights equals this many and so on. Insulting your guests that have spent the most by offering them absolutely nothing whilst offering huge upgrades to those that have spent very little really isn’t a great strategy. Laziness and greed. It is the most bizarre loyalty scheme that I have ever witnessed and indeed the only loyalty scheme I’ve ever seen that encourages their biggest spenders to just walk away.