I will NEVER prebook pop up Sel de Mer again EVER - Heads up to 4 & 5* Mariners.

Reading this thread got me to thinking about an interesting question regarding Mariner discounts. Our good friends bought us a PG and a Canelleto dinner as gifts for our upcoming cruise. They are not HAL Mariners. Do you think they had to pay full price or were they able to pay the price we would have paid ourselves if we had booked it and gotten our Mariner discount? On the other hand, if we pay for someone else's PG dinner, is it charged at our Mariner discount rate or theirs? I'm just wondering. Thanks.

Post on their Facebook page too. They generally respond to bad social media posts.

I had issues getting my complimentary Pinnacle Grill dinner to actually be complimentary. It took 3 days and several visits to the Front Desk and Pinnacle Grill manager before it was finally sorted. I was not leaving the ship until it was sorted, even if it meant holding up disembarkation!

But I do find there is a disconnect between what's on the website, what's printed on your purchase confirmation, what you are entitled to as a whatever-Star mariner, and what happens once on board. And there is sometimes a disconnect between what happens in the accounting/billing department on board and what is said at the venue, whether it be a restaurant, bar, or the spa. Sometimes you just have to keep on top of the situation. And yes, it's annoying and frustrating to keep after them until it's all correct, but you sometimes have to chase refunds or discounts in daily life on land too.

Reading this thread got me to thinking about an interesting question regarding Mariner discounts. Our good friends bought us a PG and a Canelleto dinner as gifts for our upcoming cruise. They are not HAL Mariners. Do you think they had to pay full price or were they able to pay the price we would have paid ourselves if we had booked it and gotten our Mariner discount? On the other hand, if we pay for someone else's PG dinner, is it charged at our Mariner discount rate or theirs? I'm just wondering. Thanks.

... My own theory is that HAL doesn't really value its 4 and 5 star mariners any longer, and would love to get rid of them and the financial obligations involved in offering their "perks".

... Like "Old As Dirt Mom" said -- I also think HAL is trying to get rid of the long time Mariners.

Y'all may be on to something here, although I suspect that (if it truly exists) the plan targets just a few select Mariners, as most 4- and 5-Star Mariners have not experienced similar bad treatment.

On the other hand, if we pay for someone else's PG dinner, is it charged at our Mariner discount rate or theirs? I'm just wondering. Thanks.

If you pay for someone else’s dinner, it is charged to you using your Mariner status which means it will get the discount. This probably will sound tacky, but when we have met non 4-star people on cruises and all decide to go to a specialty restaurant, I always offer to charge their dinner to my account and then they can pay me back in cash at the discounted price. They are always very happy to do this since it saves them money. And if they don’t want me to do that, that is not a problem. They can have their meals charged to their account at the full price and we can still all enjoy dinner!

We were on Westerdam this past November. I prebooked and paid for Sel de Mer on line (for two), as well as the first night in Canelleto. On both occasions my account was credited for the 50% discount the next morning. I never asked about the discount or mentioned it on either occasion, as I just assumed it would be forthcoming and it was.

It does seem like the policies are inconsistently applied from one ship to another on many cruise lines. I have two cruises currently booked on other lines, and I'm finding some of the same complaints on those boards regarding the "loyalty" perks and how they are applied (or not applied) from ship to ship.

We always pre book all the specialty restaurants including SDM. Its been tricky getting 50% reimbursed or 100%, but we always get it back. We are persistent and smile a lot, as we explain to the front office.

Sandra

Y'all may be on to something here, although I suspect that (if it truly exists) the plan targets just a few select Mariners, as most 4- and 5-Star Mariners have not experienced similar bad treatment.

SMH. "HAL doesn't love us anymore!" Delusional, much?:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

I had issues getting my complimentary Pinnacle Grill dinner to actually be complimentary. It took 3 days and several visits to the Front Desk and Pinnacle Grill manager before it was finally sorted. I was not leaving the ship until it was sorted, even if it meant holding up disembarkation!

 

But I do find there is a disconnect between what's on the website, what's printed on your purchase confirmation, what you are entitled to as a whatever-Star mariner, and what happens once on board. And there is sometimes a disconnect between what happens in the accounting/billing department on board and what is said at the venue, whether it be a restaurant, bar, or the spa. Sometimes you just have to keep on top of the situation. And yes, it's annoying and frustrating to keep after them until it's all correct, but you sometimes have to chase refunds or discounts in daily life on land too.

Oh believe me eliianne, I did chase.

I chased for my 5* PG dinners, and my internet allowance on the 2nd segment as well as Sel de Mer.

I grew to hate the word "night auditor".

They were adamant on the Sel de Mer on board. Vict0riann was on our cruise on the 1st segment and had the same issue with the Sel de Mer. (She posted earlier on in this thread).

SMH. "HAL doesn't love us anymore!" Delusional, much?:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

They didn't say that the cruise line doesn't "love" them anymore. You took some poetic license there. You are correct that that would would reflect delusion, i.e., as if the cruise line ever "loved" a customer (rather than appreciated, valued, etc.)

What Old As Dirt Mom said is that they feel as if the cruise line no longer values them (and, really, I read that as, "no longer values them as it once did"). That actually makes a lot of sense. If the 4* and 5* Mariners on CC are representative of 4* and 5* Mariners generally, then we have seen loads of clear and compelling evidence that Old As Dirt Mom is correct.

Why would that be true? Well just look at underlying subtext of this conversation: The presumption that 4* and 5* Mariners should be kowtowed to out of proportion to the treatment other cruisers receive. That expectation would only be justified if financial analysis shows definitively that 4* and 5* Mariners represent a substantially greater amount of future income than other cruisers. That is probably no longer the case. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that research shows that familiarity correlates to economy. That happens whenever a pricing model doesn't have adequate safeguards.

So while there is no question that the cruise line should be fair in its treatment of all passengers (and without hearing their side of the argument with the OP, we'll never know the truth of that matter), there are sound reasons to believe that we're moving toward a system within which all passengers should expect to receive the same treatment as other passengers in the same circumstance. In reality, the airlines have actually fixed their version of this broken system: Your loyalty status for an airline - that which gets you better treatment - is based on what you've done for the airline lately, not what you may have done for them in the past. Ten years from now I bet that cruise lines will either being making or have already made the same conversion. And along the way the past-frequent cruise passengers will go through the same grief process that frequent airline passengers went through.

As some of you know, we did the Sel de Mer on our recent Prinsendam cruise but we didn't get credited with out discount that should have been applied (as I reported in my LIVE thread - https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2628744&page=75)

 

Several of us went to get this rectified and were told that the discount did not apply to this

 

We had 6 Sel de Mer dinners prepaid for (actually there were 8 but I cancelled the last 2 when I realized what was happening) with NO discount).

 

I emailed HAL guest services about this and I got my reply today. They are going to give me a whole $49 total to my credit card.

 

Excuse me? That's one dinner - not 6.

 

:(

Jacqui-

Did they give a reason as to why they were refunding $49?

It’s a strange number for “good will” if they are maintaining that SdM is not included.

And as you have said, the math is way off if they are saying it is the full sum. Unless, of course, that is the “new” math.

On our VOTV 2016, I’d pre-booked a de libriges. And the pinnacle manager said it had been changed to La Cirque and he’d book it for what we’d originally paid. We had to move it to the second half. No problem.

But after the second half started, we got a new Hotel Director and automatic refund for la cirque. I think La cirque was a little higher than de libriges.

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Jacqui, I don't know if this would help. But you could post about this on all social media you have-Twitter, Instagram, etc. since the world has become so socially media conscious. At this point, you could even try writing to the CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines, writing to some of the travel bloggers, or Christopher Elliot who writes a consumer advocacy blog or get in contact with your credit card company. I love HAL, but I've had issues over the years where I wrote to the HAL CEO and ended up with good results. The worst was when HAL had started the Live with Lincoln Center and I boarded my Oosterdam TA last year to find out that there was no classical music concerts at all for the whole cruise because the stage was being renovated, HAL knew this and never let any of the passengers know ahead of time.

Royal Caribbean is pretty stingy with their upper tier c&a members too. Perks are limited to certain days. Figured into our decision to move to HAL.

We did a cruise line study a few years ago, and tried several over a couple of years. Too bad we can’t pick and choose the strengths from several cruise lines. for example, dh likes how Royal Caribbean designs their mini suites with their coffee pots.

He likes the NS on nieuw amsterdam, the glass shower door in princess suites, but not the fixed shower head.

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Sorry about your experience, Kazu. My own theory is that HAL doesn't really value its 4 and 5 star mariners any longer, and would love to get rid of them and the financial obligations involved in offering their "perks".

That is my impression as well.

I miss A Kirk Lanterman

We never hear mention of S tein Kruse any more, WHERE is he when we need him? :)

Guests mattered to them. No 'guests' = no customers= no business. :D

Jacqui-

Did they give a reason as to why they were refunding $49?

It’s a strange number for “good will” if they are maintaining that SdM is not included.

 

And as you have said, the math is way off if they are saying it is the full sum. Unless, of course, that is the “new” math.

When they replied, they said it was disheartening that I had not received the discount/refund for the 50%.

$49 is 50% of the cost of dinner for two.

He clearly said in his email they would be refunding $49 total.

Sorry about your experience, Kazu. My own theory is that HAL doesn't really value its 4 and 5 star mariners any longer, and would love to get rid of them and the financial obligations involved in offering their "perks".

Conventional business wisdom says it is more expensive to find a new customer than to retain an old one. But the reverse may be true on mass market ships offering layered loyalty programs.

Jacqui, I don't know if this would help. But you could post about this on all social media you have-Twitter, Instagram, etc. since the world has become so socially media conscious. At this point, you could even try writing to the CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines, writing to some of the travel bloggers, or Christopher Elliot who writes a consumer advocacy blog or get in contact with your credit card company. I love HAL, but I've had issues over the years where I wrote to the HAL CEO and ended up with good results. The worst was when HAL had started the Live with Lincoln Center and I boarded my Oosterdam TA last year to find out that there was no classical music concerts at all for the whole cruise because the stage was being renovated, HAL knew this and never let any of the passengers know ahead of time.

Thanks. I did reply to their email so before I do anything, I'll give them a chance to answer me.

However, I did want to warn people that this can happen. And, speaking for myself, I will not prebook Sel de Mer in advance again.

The letter from the Mariner's Society is a good idea. I'll take it next time, make sure it will apply and then book Sel de Mer.

When they replied, they said it was disheartening that I had not received the discount/refund for the 50%.

 

$49 is 50% of the cost of dinner for two.

 

He clearly said in his email they would be refunding $49 total.

It sounds to me like someone skimmed through your correspondence far too quickly and missed the fact that it was multiple dinners, not just the one. Hopefully your follow up will do the trick.(yn)

I'd go to the very top and call Oprah :)

There is a fundamental difference between not valuing a customer and cheating a customer.

The latter is compounded when, brought to it's attention on several occasions, the vendor still demurs and keeps it policy of 'sticking it to the customer'.

Really bad business. The cost of keeping a customer is much less than the cost of attracting a new one.

Not only bad business, but an example of very poor customer service on the follow up discussions.

Just imagine how a prospective customer considering HAL would view this. Would it encourage them to book HAL or perhaps go with another cruise line. I know what our decision would be.

Just a note: On our recent March Rotterdam cruise, the information for the Sel de Mar clearly stated that Mariner discounts did not apply.

Perhaps the discount is left up to the discretion of each ship's management?

Actually, I think they are correct, and I'm actually surprised to see so many of them finally acknowledging it.

 

They didn't say that the cruise line doesn't "love" them anymore. You took some poetic license there. You are correct that that would would reflect delusion, i.e., as if the cruise line ever "loved" a customer (rather than appreciated, valued, etc.)

 

What Old As Dirt Mom said is that they feel as if the cruise line no longer values them (and, really, I read that as, "no longer values them as it once did"). That actually makes a lot of sense. If the 4* and 5* Mariners on CC are representative of 4* and 5* Mariners generally, then we have seen loads of clear and compelling evidence that Old As Dirt Mom is correct.

 

Why would that be true? Well just look at underlying subtext of this conversation: The presumption that 4* and 5* Mariners should be kowtowed to out of proportion to the treatment other cruisers receive. That expectation would only be justified if financial analysis shows definitively that 4* and 5* Mariners represent a substantially greater amount of future income than other cruisers. That is probably no longer the case. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that research shows that familiarity correlates to economy. That happens whenever a pricing model doesn't have adequate safeguards.

 

So while there is no question that the cruise line should be fair in its treatment of all passengers (and without hearing their side of the argument with the OP, we'll never know the truth of that matter), there are sound reasons to believe that we're moving toward a system within which all passengers should expect to receive the same treatment as other passengers in the same circumstance. In reality, the airlines have actually fixed their version of this broken system: Your loyalty status for an airline - that which gets you better treatment - is based on what you've done for the airline lately, not what you may have done for them in the past. Ten years from now I bet that cruise lines will either being making or have already made the same conversion. And along the way the past-frequent cruise passengers will go through the same grief process that frequent airline passengers went through.

bUU I think your conclusion is right on. HAL could reword for activity, cruise days in the past 12 months or perhaps the prior year. That world reward cruisers for recent activity and could be structured in a fair way. problem for HAL is he pr effect. If HAL management had the brains (big if) they could come up with an annual rewards program plus something for those in a discontnued Mariner program. Youranalysis is brilliant!