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doglips

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doglips, regarding bands and artists, why?

 

Most I have never heard of with the exceptions of Lord Archer and Tom O'Connor. In the latter case he meant nothing to me until we heard him, now I would put him top of my must see list.

 

Of all the other artists, without exception, if I came across them again it would be on the avoid list. We sat through one 'performance' of a club singer (no gender or nationality) and mised a second. Two years later we gave it 5 minutes - only because the waiter was a bit slow with our drinks.

 

The world reknowned pick pocket and the similarly world class juggler as on the no see list. Similarly a world famous (never heard of him) Broadway singer is banned for our sight. :)

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I think all the lines are facing problems with their 'loyalty' schemes, and that is that there are beginning to be many, many people at the top level. This must be costing the lines some serious money - if, say, 25% or more of the passengers on a voyage are on the top level, and (in P&O's case) getting 10% of the price of everything, that can be a significant revenue shortfall.

 

So it doesn't surprise me that the benefits of loyalty schemes may be being scaled back.

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You must have made a mistake and meant Archer on your avoid list!

 

Kathie,

 

In context - I had heard of Jeff Archer (he hates being called Jeff but that's how Big Al refered to him at North Sea Camp :D )

 

Equally in context, while I had heard of Tom O'Connor he is now top of my see again list.

 

Good news, it was Cunard that I saw Jeff. The QE2 has an exclusive area which meant that most passengers were able to avoid mixing with an ex-jail bird.

 

PS, we had a notable TV personality and speaker on our last cruise - I was told. I had never heard of her before and had no great urge to listen to her then. :)

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I think all the lines are facing problems with their 'loyalty' schemes, and that is that there are beginning to be many, many people at the top level. This must be costing the lines some serious money - if, say, 25% or more of the passengers on a voyage are on the top level, and (in P&O's case) getting 10% of the price of everything, that can be a significant revenue shortfall.

 

So it doesn't surprise me that the benefits of loyalty schemes may be being scaled back.

 

You may be correct but that doesn't really fit with other facts:

 

As Portunus club member you are encouraged to book before the 1st Edn schedule is released - this saved us £30 on several cruises book for next year - £180 in all for us. Then they have specific Portunus Club cruises at a further 5% off - one of ours is a Portnus cruise so that is another £400. Then they encourage us to buy on board with our extra discount it is only ----

 

In other words they push all the Portunus advantages and thus ensure brand loyalty.

 

As Sapphire members they give an extra coctail party - now that could be a saving but it also makes the Sapphire members feel that little bit extra special - we had a Sapphire couple on our previous Oceana cruise however, the other 3 couples on our tables on the last 2 cruises were ruby or nil. Sapphire/Gold are still limited but in the theatre over half the passengers were Portunus members so loyalty counts and possibly also helps encourage others.

 

Now your point is supported by the double gap for sapphire to gold compared with ruby to sapphire. Now from my lowly position sapphire is attainable but gold looks simply too far distant. Once I have attained sapphire I might eventually get gold but it is so far away that I don't feel any incentive to reach for the deckhead.

 

I would think that lowering the gold to 100 and intruducing a diamond tier at 150 or 200 at 12.5% would be as likely as stretching adding a diamond at 10% and pushing the gold reward downwards.

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doglips, regarding bands and artists, why?

 

Most I have never heard of with the exceptions of Lord Archer and Tom O'Connor. In the latter case he meant nothing to me until we heard him, now I would put him top of my must see list.

 

Of all the other artists, without exception, if I came across them again it would be on the avoid list. We sat through one 'performance' of a club singer (no gender or nationality) and mised a second. Two years later we gave it 5 minutes - only because the waiter was a bit slow with our drinks.

 

The world reknowned pick pocket and the similarly world class juggler as on the no see list. Similarly a world famous (never heard of him) Broadway singer is banned for our sight. :)

I take it you don't know the answer then! I agree that some acts are dire, but I have seen some decent ones, and it's all a matter of personal taste anyway. As to 'why the question', we enjoy ballroom (& other) dancing. Some of the musicians we've been cursed with on board couldn't play to tempo with a metronome up their collective jacksie. We would avoid cruises featuring these 'players'.

GM

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Doglips,

 

It is usually very difficult to find out in advance who 'invited guests' onboard are. Regular groups who are onboard for a few weeks are easier to find out as you enquire with people onboard just before you - though that is no guearantee that they will still be onboard when you are.

 

Recently we had Nicky Slater the ice skater onboard as a guest speaker and his slot was well attended, it was run early for late sitting diners and during 2nd sitting for early diners.

 

On the most recent cruise we had Floella Benjamin who was so popular she did 3 shows in the one evening but I wasn't really interested in her story so avoided it. Apparently all 3 opportunities were very well attended.

 

I am hoping to have some interesting speakers to listen to when I am onboard Oriana at the end of the year.

 

Feebee_71

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On the most recent cruise we had Floella Benjamin who was so popular she did 3 shows in the one evening but I wasn't really interested in her story so avoided it.

 

Snap. I had never heard of her although Mrs PN had but I think we had a more pressing engagement - dinner and bed IIRC.

 

I am hoping to have some interesting speakers to listen to when I am onboard Oriana at the end of the year.

Feebee_71

 

Seriously though, with a different company I offered my talk which would have been extremelky relevant for a Baltic cruise. The company, and I guess P&O too, do not engage speakers etc and they put me on to the organisation in the US who were slow in replying and then wanted a CD/DVD of my talk. As if I was going to provide the CD, also references. As I had paid for the cruise and talk for charity they missed an opportunity. Still, their loss.

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We heard in May on Arcadia from the Portunus girl that they are thinking about adding another group in Sapphire, so that group is halved. Gold will still be at the same points entry and remain the same.

 

That would be logical as the 1000 point jump to Gold was a bit steep. The 2.5% increments however suggest that the present benefits may indeed be pared back.

 

As Gold would remain the top tier with the same benefit they could drop Ruby to 2.5% with Sapphire Plus now being the 7.5% reward. The question then is whether a 2.5% reward for Ruby would be enough to get that vital consolidation and second cruise.

 

I would also be miffed if, having just qualified for 7.5% reward to discover I was on the down escalator.

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