Blue Chip Club changes yet again

It sounds like when corporate took over in Las Vegas years ago. Hosts had little flexibility and the perks became extremely stingy. At least Vegas table rules (and slots) are more generous than on the ships.

Just off of Silhouette and discovered more changes to the Blue Chip Club. This follows on the heels of the total restructuring of the program last April.

 

The key change is with the end of cruise incentive generated based on your play during the cruise. Last year they had changed the incentive to a certificate for a free cruise. The parameters of your certificate were determined by your play (category of cabin, # of nights). Now they have changed the incentive to a dollar off amount per night. So basically, if your incentive shows you earning $150 off per night you are able to apply that to any cruise in any category and they will deduct $150 off per night from your cruise cost. You will receive your incentive certificate from the casino host before you leave the ship if your play was strong enough.

 

There were a few things to note about this though. The host presented my husband and I with our certificates in the early afternoon on Day 11 of our Day 12 cruise, so the amount given did not take into account any play we did on Day 11 and 12.

 

The certificate can only be applied to cruises booked AFTER the date the certificate was earned, and you must travel within 1 year of the issue date. So you cannot apply it to existing bookings.

 

One big point of concern was in the fine print on the back which states “Qualified recipients within the same household may not combine their offers on the same sail date”. My husband and I each have our own status with Blue Chip and always cruise together in the same cabin. With all the previous incentives we each earned our own and were able to combine them towards the fare of one cabin. So this was concerning to us. When questioning the host about this he also thought it made no sense for couples staying in the same cabin but said we would need to talk to Blue Chip representatives about it. If they indeed do not allow us to put both of our incentives to the same cabin then we may be winding up our time cruising with Celebrity as their casino incentives are one of the reasons we have continued to sail with them. I will be calling Blue Chip next week to confirm what the deal is.

 

Some other observations of our casino experience was that the host onboard has now become almost exclusively arm’s length when it comes to players. This host on Silhouette, Angel, never extended an invitation to meet players on the first day like other hosts we have had in the past. He never came up to either of us during the 12 day cruise to introduce himself, welcome us or check in with us despite us both being Sapphire level players (the second highest level). The only times he came up to me was first about 5 or 6 days into the cruise when I won one of those “hot seat” promotions for some Swarovski items. He walked me up to the area to choose my gift and that was it; he still did not introduce himself at that time or ask me how I was liking the casino, etc. And the next time he came up to me was on Day 11 to present our future cruise certificates. And still, at that time he did not introduce himself or ask me how my cruise was going or anything like that. He just explained briefly what the certificate was and to come back and meet with him the next day so he could make adjustments to our bill. It was all very technical and devoid of any warmth.

 

Now to reference the adjustment of our bill. This was something that we had not encountered before with Celebrity. In the past we had sometimes been offered a free spa treatment or bottle of wine or free specialty dinner, but we had never had the host go to our end of cruise bill and take stuff off. Now being Sapphire level we automatically had $100 each in spa credit that he would’ve had to adjust anyway, as well as 2 free specialty dinner charges (we were in a Royal Suite so we had no specialty charges save for paying for our friends fees at Luminae one night), and $50 each in laundry credit (which we never used because our laundry was free in the suite). So minus the $200 spa credit and $60 Luminae charge he still wound up going in and wiping out all our other charges (over $900 worth). The only thing he couldn’t remove was a casino cash draw that my husband had done. So I’m not sure if this bill adjustment is something that Celebrity has been doing in the past that we just never encountered or if this is part of the new changes to the program.

 

Back to the host though and the treatment of Blue Chip players. We received no welcome letter in our cabin like we have in the past. On Constellation last May when we boarded we had a whole little packet advising us of our tier level, our list of benefits while onboard, a player’s card and a welcome letter from the host and manager inviting us to a cocktail around sailaway time. The only thing we had this time was a generic voicemail on our phone from Angel advising us to come down to the casino to see him to get our benefits. When we came down later, he was not there and the cashier said it was just to get our Sapphire level free play which she loaded on our account herself. In the past we also received little treats in the cabin during the cruise with a note from the host like a bottle of wine or chocolate covered strawberries or canapés. On a 10-14 day cruise we would get about three of those things. This cruise we received nothing. So I’m not sure if they’ve done away with those little niceties or if it was just a miss with this particular host.

 

I have to say that we are overall very disappointed with the staff at the Silhouette casino. I’ve mentioned our interactions with Angel the host, but everyone else there was very unfriendly and rarely interacting with guests beyond their necessary required duties. The cashiers always looked annoyed or angry. The manager skulked around the place like some mafia boss. Maybe one time during a 12 day cruise did a drink server come by and ask me if I wanted to order a drink. Overall it was just a very negative vibe. The staff all seemed like they wanted to be anywhere but in that casino, and that showed when they kept closing early each night. One night I was there a little later than normal at 12:10 and an employee came up and said they would be closing at 12:30. On the final night of the cruise they closed the casino at 11:45pm even when there were two tables full of players and a couple dozen people playing slots. I’ve never seen this before with a cruise ship casino; normally they stay open until everyone leaves. Again, a very odd vibe with this staff on this cruise. Machines were also the tightest we’d encountered on a Celebrity cruise yet. I hit one jackpot this time after hitting 3 on Constellation last May, and 3 on Eclipse last January and 4 on Eclipse the prior year. By the end of the cruise I walked away with zero money. (Contrast this with NCL Getaway which we were on the week before this cruise where I hit two jackpots and left the cruise up $1700.)

 

Some of my experiences may be one offs and isolated, but I just wanted to share here to see if anyone else was encountering similar issues and to give people a heads up about the official changes to the Blue Chip program.

 

 

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Did they qualify your status on your card? Last cruise was the first time that I had a status on my card.

Did they qualify your status on your card? Last cruise was the first time that I had a status on my card.

Yes. This was the first cruise where my Blue Chip level was printed on my keycard.

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Thanks for posting. I’ll be on the Silhouette in November, and I’m disappointed to read that the casino closes early and has lackluster service.

 

My only cruise so far was on the Summit, and I was surprised by my experience in the casino there. It closed early (maybe around 1 most nights), and while the dealers were friendly, the service wasn’t what I’m used to from land casinos. I was very surprised when a dealer told me he couldn’t save my spot at a table for a few minutes while I went to the bathroom, even though I was playing there for a long time.

Save a spot? I just leave my chips on the table and say I'll be righ back while walking away. Never occurred to me that I should ask for the "privilege" as if I were in primary school.

I liked the people at Silhouette, but that was two years ago.

AliceS I read your post with interest. My spouse and I were on the April 1st sailing with Angel. I am a Sapphire. I share many of your observations but do want to offer my perspective. Depending upon the number of cruisers with BC status he can be very busy with back office duties. I agree that sometimes we receive the in cabin goodies but sometimes we don’t. Maybe they have been cut back. Sometimes there is a first day organized BC party other times not. We have experienced the same differences with other hosts/hostesses. Now as to the mysterious gambling outcomes. I won a 7.5K AND a 1.5 K payout on the slots on the April 1 cruise. My accountant will be challenged next year. The bar service is wildly variable on each cruise. I do tip $5 per Service and that seems to make me popular. I fully realize that this personal habit should not be required but that’s what I feel comfortable doing. Now even the residents of Outer Mongolia know slot payouts on cruise ships are...nominal! Did I say that nicely enough. Frankly I don’t play the slots for any expected profit. After managing 30 lawyers for many years all I want to do is wear a Tommy Bahama shirt drink rum and cokes and push a button on a repetitive basis for hours. Plus in casino no skin cancer concerns. SO Yes Angel has an interesting persona but overall I kind of like him. Will be on the Equinox August 11 last mega slot cruise. Maybe we all can meet. I for one like the $$$ night off stipend versus the specific cabin prize. You should have seen my wife’s (American Queen) look on her face when I used to say we have a free balcony! Cheers.

I’m really confused as to how this all works. We were told that we were automatically in the Blue Chip Club the first time that we gave them our room card when we sat down at a table, We were on a 10 day cruise and spent plenty of $$ in the casino every night, but have never heard a peep from them. I sure hope we are members, as we plan on adding to whatever level we were at on our next cruise. We were told that as long as we cruise within 18 months past play will still be there and we can add to it.

I’m really confused as to how this all works. We were told that we were automatically in the Blue Chip Club the first time that we gave them our room card when we sat down at a table, We were on a 10 day cruise and spent plenty of $$ in the casino every night, but have never heard a peep from them. I sure hope we are members, as we plan on adding to whatever level we were at on our next cruise. We were told that as long as we cruise within 18 months past play will still be there and we can add to it.

You used to have to be invited to join based on your play. When they changed the program last year now you are automatically a member once you earn one point. That being said, the lower tiers aren’t eligible for the same type or frequency of offers as the higher tiers. I am Sapphire level though and I think I’ve maybe gotten one or two emails from Blue Chip with offers over the past year. Now I also have had at least two or more cruises on the books at any given moment during that year so they may not chase players with offers if they already have multiple cruises booked.

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