Crystal Engages Nordic Countries Sales Representation

[ryndam]

From today's Seatrade Cruise News. Not quite certain if this is any relevance or not. I'm not familiar enough with the workings of third-party hospitality representatives to understand the implications of this announcement.

 

Rob

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/marketing/crystal-appoints-nordic-region-general-sales-agent

[BWIVince]

38 minutes ago, ryndam said:

From today's Seatrade Cruise News. Not quite certain if this is any relevance or not. I'm not familiar enough with the workings of third-party hospitality representatives to understand the implications of this announcement.

 

Rob

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/marketing/crystal-appoints-nordic-region-general-sales-agent

 

It's pretty typical for suppliers to have intermediaries in regions where they don't have their own sales orgs, so this is pretty standard but good news.  It's also typical for new suppliers to go through different agencies in a given segment or region before they find one that's a good fit long-term, so it would be very normal of some of these agencies get swapped out at some points for other ones (almost always by mutual agreement).

 

Vince

[vistaman]

stlll  nobody for belgium netherlands ...

TA not aware of new C 

[BWIVince]

4 hours ago, vistaman said:

stlll  nobody for belgium netherlands ...

TA not aware of new C 

 

It might take more patience than that...  🙂  It took old Crystal 30+ years to get a handful of intermediaries.  The synergy with A&K's sales network might expedite this, but it's is such a conditional process that I wouldn't hold my breath on what partnerships they sign next/soon/later/ever.  Crossing my fingers for you though.  🙂 

 

Vince

[vistaman]

8 hours ago, BWIVince said:

 

It might take more patience than that...  🙂  It took old Crystal 30+ years to get a handful of intermediaries.  The synergy with A&K's sales network might expedite this, but it's is such a conditional process that I wouldn't hold my breath on what partnerships they sign next/soon/later/ever.  Crossing my fingers for you though.  🙂 

 

Vince

the former representative moved to Explora and because my one and only EJ was a disaster and I did made it down rather seriously - it was also the end of a good understanding

[PaulMCO]

15 hours ago, BWIVince said:

 

It might take more patience than that...  🙂  It took old Crystal 30+ years to get a handful of intermediaries.  The synergy with A&K's sales network might expedite this, but it's is such a conditional process that I wouldn't hold my breath on what partnerships they sign next/soon/later/ever.  Crossing my fingers for you though.  🙂 

 

Vince

Yes -- but they were Old Crystal's local representatives and probably owed money.  Would presume that is the case with many of the old partners.  It makes it difficult to reset a network when insolvency occurs (been through that) and general some sort of accommodation is reached for past issues, even though nothing is technically owed.

[BWIVince]

8 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

Yes -- but they were Old Crystal's local representatives and probably owed money.  Would presume that is the case with many of the old partners.  It makes it difficult to reset a network when insolvency occurs (been through that) and general some sort of accommodation is reached for past issues, even though nothing is technically owed.

 

Having worked for an intermediary for decades, I think the dynamic is a little different here.

 

Genting and A&K's sales networks couldn't be more different, not just because they are in different markets, but because A&K is also a supplier of different services (like destination management).  I think this will naturally yield different sales relationships for Crystal than they had in the past.

 

I certainly understand from the customer perspective where it's challenging to reset a brand relationship, but intermediaries work differently.  They make money off of sales and they consolidate the business into as few channels as they can to maximize their buying power.  They may not work with A&K because it doesn't make sense for their customer base and they don't do that kind of business to move the needle enough to be worth it, but they're not going to shun A&K because they have a grudge against Genting.  Unlike customers who may not know the backstory of the assignment, intermediary relationships are based on the conglomerates they partner with, and know Genting from A&K intimately.  

 

That's just my read on it, for what it's worth.

 

Vince

[johanc]

Tomorrow I will see some people of Dutch VCK zeereizen where I booked Crystal cruises in the past.

I will ask to make them available again in the future

regards

J

[johanc]

they told me that they lost a lot of money after the bankruptcy but they will offer Crystal again in the near future 

[BWIVince]

On 6/7/2024 at 12:22 PM, johanc said:

they told me that they lost a lot of money after the bankruptcy but they will offer Crystal again in the near future 

That’s great news…. But they do sound a little more like an agency than an intermediary.

 

Vince

[vistaman]

On 6/7/2024 at 6:22 PM, johanc said:

they told me that they lost a lot of money after the bankruptcy but they will offer Crystal again in the near future 

I did 20 old C cruises before the bankrupcy  , on the Symphony for my 21st

new C is not friendly to singles - the  people on board are great exception made for one

we cannot grant your 20th milestone reward because we cannot verify  if you got it already ...???

single cabins are  minimal  - i was able to travel that way when i was in my 40s not anymore when i do approach my 70th 

I do not think i will use all my vouchers by new C 

aware some people do not like those comments ;  random upgrades once more 

commericial upgrades ??? that is a policy by a company also starting with a C 

 

 

 

 

[Crystal Guest Relations]

On 6/9/2024 at 8:21 AM, vistaman said:

I did 20 old C cruises before the bankrupcy  , on the Symphony for my 21st

new C is not friendly to singles - the  people on board are great exception made for one

we cannot grant your 20th milestone reward because we cannot verify  if you got it already ...???

single cabins are  minimal  - i was able to travel that way when i was in my 40s not anymore when i do approach my 70th 

I do not think i will use all my vouchers by new C 

aware some people do not like those comments ;  random upgrades once more 

commericial upgrades ??? that is a policy by a company also starting with a C 

 

 

 

 

Hello vistaman, thank you for your loyalty to Crystal. Please email our Loyalty Department at loyalty@crystalcruises.com for further assistance. - Crystal Guest Relations

[Stickman1990]

On 6/9/2024 at 10:21 PM, vistaman said:

new C is not friendly to singles - the  people on board are great exception made for one

we cannot grant your 20th milestone reward because we cannot verify  if you got it already ...???

…. 

aware some people do not like those comments ;  random upgrades once more 

commericial upgrades ??? that is a policy by a company also starting with a C 

I’m not sure what your issue is that you think you are being hard done by?
 

That policy of not awarding previously achieved milestones under old Crystal has been new Crystals policy since the beginning. How could they know which awards have been recognised? It sounds like you’re looking for an exception to be made for you over others in a similar situation - some with even higher award level attained but not taken under old Crystal 

 

Similarly what class of suite you decide to book as a single us entirely up to you - there’s a range available at a range of prices - that’s your choice of course. Crystal is somewhat unique in offering the dedicated singles cabins at concessional prices - but they won’t suit everyone and for those guests they need to consider paying more to book more spacious cabins 

[vistaman]

14 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

I’m not sure what your issue is that you think you are being hard done by?
 

That policy of not awarding previously achieved milestones under old Crystal has been new Crystals policy since the beginning. How could they know which awards have been recognised? It sounds like you’re looking for an exception to be made for you over others in a similar situation - some with even higher award level attained but not taken under old Crystal 

 

Similarly what class of suite you decide to book as a single us entirely up to you - there’s a range available at a range of prices - that’s your choice of course. Crystal is somewhat unique in offering the dedicated singles cabins at concessional prices - but they won’t suit everyone and for those guests they need to consider paying more to book more spacious cabins 

No, i did not want an exemption , but I found the explanation given rather ridiculous 

aware of 20 cruises and doing a 21st but not aware I eventually did receive the reward.  : by whom ? by santa ? 

[Texas Tillie]

2 hours ago, vistaman said:

No, i did not want an exemption , but I found the explanation given rather ridiculous 

aware of 20 cruises and doing a 21st but not aware I eventually did receive the reward.  : by whom ? by santa ? 

 

As has been posted on this forum several times, new Crystal knows the total of your previous cruises but has no information as to whether or not you used any milestone rewards. It is the same for every one of us, you aren't being singled out.

[BWIVince]

On 6/11/2024 at 2:45 PM, vistaman said:

No, i did not want an exemption , but I found the explanation given rather ridiculous 

aware of 20 cruises and doing a 21st but not aware I eventually did receive the reward.  : by whom ? by santa ? 

It’s not ridiculous, it’s unfortunately the way incorporation works in the US.

 

A&K had the option of buying Crystal if they wished, which would have given them the entire company including all of its financial records, and all of its assets and liabilities.  For a variety of smart reasons, they did NOT do this.

 

Loyalty program data in the US is financial data.  Earned awards are financial liabilities and pending awards and redemptions are maintained in a company’s financial system.  There is usually an API that connects some basic info between a company’s financial system and their CRM system, but financial details (for a lot of security reasons) to some degree are always limited to the accounting system as that’s the real single source of finance truth.  The CRM system is the source of truth for customer data and history — minus the financial history.

 

Using one of my clients as a real world example, they use Salesforce as their CRM and SAP for their accounting system.  Their customers can redeem loyalty points for events through my company’s event management system, which calls their CRM to get their customer info about who they are, and calls SAP to get award balances and debit them as needed.

 

In A&K’s case, they ONLY bought the CRM data.  Unlike the customer data, the financial data isn’t an a la carte asset, it comes with the purchase of the company, which would not have been a viable option for A&K (or anyone at that point).  This gives them the customer sailing history (and not even great data there as Crystal had only deployed a modern CRM in GHK’s final years), NOT financial data or award data.  From this, Crystal can (loosely) glean total cruises, but based on my record during the GHK era, even the total number of nights and regions sailed may be incomplete from the early NYK years…. But they have no definitive data on earned or redeemed awards.

Also, I can imagine someone asking why if Crystal doesn’t have access to financial data, how can they do the EI program?  A&K is a party to the assignment as a buyer of many assets, and MM&A is helping facilitate the assignment data as such, but the info MM&A is sharing with A&K is publicly available assignment data and not Crystal’s financial records.  The loyalty program liability details by customer, so far a I’ve seen so far (and I may have missed something), has not been exposed in the assignment.

 

Does that help explain it any?

 

Vince

[vistaman]

must be not so pleasant if someone did  fullfill 25 cruises and then the bankrupcy 

that is a loss of a reward of 3k credit 🤢

[BWIVince]

2 hours ago, vistaman said:

must be not so pleasant if someone did  fullfill 25 cruises and then the bankrupcy 

that is a loss of a reward of 3k credit 🤢

 

That absolutely sucks...  But there are some hard limits to a company going out of business, and that's one of them.  😞  Liabilities and financial records don't convey in a branding purchase.  You have to look at the win of the jump start of being able to earn the next award with the new company.

 

Vince

[ctjon]

Hard to constantly remember but even though the company name is similar and the ships are the same this is a completely different company than the one that owned previously and where you earned the credits. Sure they want the same customers, etc. but the new company doesn't really owe us anything from the old. 

[Keith1010]

Remember, there was no company to buy.  The new owner bought assets; two vessels, a customer list including some data and the naming rights. 

 

I am also reminded that there is a saying use it or lose it. Years ago when the program changed (and it changed several times) some would complain that they could have used a milestone but chose to wait. I know all of that doesn't apply to this conversation but it is a reminder for those who have just achieved a new milestone or will soon to use them.  Things change.

I am just happy that we have a cruise line that kept most of what made Crystal special that way and has made it even better.  There was a time when many didn't think this would ring true.

 

Keith

[vistaman]

I find those "single " cabins extremely basic 

I am booked on a one week for late spring   2025    : 5800  €

if eventually i want   the most modest  balcony  9600 €  (5700 double fare ) 

and if I  would opt for a Aquamarine  10,800 € ( double fare  7300) 

not the smoothest supplements imho 

 

 

 

[Stickman1990]

2 hours ago, vistaman said:

I find those "single " cabins extremely basic 

Book something different then

 

We all face choices about how much we spend cruising - and we get what we pay for - that’s life….

 

We’d all like more for less - but that just isn’t practical 

[vistaman]

i am afraid for 9600 or 10,800 € I indeed  can find something better  ... 

even a room with a jacuzzi  or a full bath tub  on far newer ships. 

[May B]

7 hours ago, vistaman said:

i am afraid for 9600 or 10,800 € I indeed  can find something better  ... 

even a room with a jacuzzi  or a full bath tub  on far newer ships. 

For me, it’s sad that you were not comfortable in the single stateroom on deck seven forward on Crystal. Mr B and I were totally comfortable in the same size cabin but the veranda version, on Serenity, except our butler was too busy for us, since we were just a few veranda staterooms (deck nine)  in amongst a sea of aquamarines.

 

The way we pack, there was plenty of room for us. And we also are in our late 70s.