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Blue Chip Club changes yet again


WonderMan3
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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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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.

 

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While not blue Chip, I often frequent the casino at the $10 tables. As far as the above paragraph, the casinos really do vary a great deal in atmosphere, in training, in warmth, in about everything. I've been at tables where I was helping the dealer do payouts and catch ties. I've been in casinos where you can't find a waiter, even if you ask the dealer. And I've been in some very enjoyable Celebrity casinos where the dealers are friendly, they even have comped drinks, the pit bosses chat and so on.

 

It does sound like the Blue Chip rep you had on your cruise needs another assignment...and the casino boss should probably go with him since the atmosphere was just wrong to elicit more table time/betting time.

 

Celebrity will, of course, ignore your post and comments as usual....but in the future, just count on variability on Celebrity ships...and that's not limited to the casino.

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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.

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Thank you for the detailed information about the changes.

 

I have to confess they do not really apply to me. I am so very disappointed with the gambling experience on Celebrity. I am a machine person, and I find their machines tight beyond belief. In particular I like video keno, and their payouts tend to be 25-50% of the payouts on the Vegas machines, depending on the number of spots picked. That is ridiculous! I can understand a bit bigger cut for them but those amounts are highway robbery. I wish they would loosen up things a bit, and then maybe the casinos wouldn't be so empty most days like they usually are.

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Hi Andy,

 

I'm a Blue Chip Club member, but haven't heard about any changes. That being said, depending on the amount the dollar off per night is, it may work out to be a better deal. I was on a 7 night Equinox sailing last June and earned over 50k worth of club points which is halfway to Sapphire on one sailing. The host gave me a free concierge cabin certificate for a future 7 night sailing which sounded great, but I only sail in the higher suites so figured I would have to pay the difference in price between a concierge and a Royal or Penthouse after the 20% blue chip club discount was applied. Apparently, they put a wholesale value on those certificates so it was only worth about $1,300, much less than my old rebates were.

 

I just booked a Royal Suite on the 8 night Equinox May 25th sailing and the Blue Chip Club rep on the phone actually gave me a much better discount than the certificate, which she said was based on past play, but it was one or the other (certificate or past play dollars off). Obviously I took the past play incentive along with the 20% off standard cabin discount they give for suites, which basically made the certificate worthless (it's even too thick to use for toilet paper!) So if they are giving a $300-500 discount off per night, it would definitely be a decent deal as long as it is still combinable with the 20% off, if it's $150 a night, not so much.

 

I'll definitely make Sapphire after this next sailing and truthfully if I don't like the promos they offer, I'll just find another vacation for the next one as the price they charge for those suites (especially off season in the Carib) really allows for many high end luxury properties so I'll have no problem booking Amanyara and sitting on the beach for a trip not having to bring a gazillion dollars to gamble with.

 

As far as the host goes, you may have just had a bad one or a good one that had a bad week, time will tell on that. My last host was Ralph and he was great and very visible and personable. BTW..I really enjoyed your trip report, really well done!!

 

Neda

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Wonderman3,

Since they instituted the new revision with the dollars off per night, we have been on twice. Once on Silhouette, and once on Equinox a few weeks ago.

 

I had a similar experience on Silhouette and a vastly better one on Equinox. I attribute the difference to the professionalism of the manger and host on Equinox.

You should report your experience ( good or not so good) to the Director for Casino performance who is Evan Lucash. Email Blue Chip and they will forward it to him.

 

 

The hosts and managers are rotated around the ships frequently to fill in for others on vacations or other

reasons. Some really enjoy interacting with the players and some not so much.

We also received the certificates on the last evening not the day before on both cruises.

On Equinox we had a welcome letter and felephone follow up, wine, flowers and candies sent to the room. We did not receive anything from the Silhouette trip such as the letter or other items sent to the room.

 

You are the first one to report on the new system to get extra charges written off above the items on the published tier material. I do not think that is the norm, so good for you that it was taken off.

 

I would think you could apply your dollars off with your husband’s certificate for the same cabin. These changes are so new they may not have thought about this particular situation.

 

The dollars off per day could be a good thing as it per day dollar credit on a cruise so more value on a longer cruise.

 

I agree that a pleasant host, dealers, and managers make for an enjoyable time in the casino. Grumpy ones make us skip the casino.

 

Equinox stayed open until 2 a.m. most nights if players were at the tables. and Silhouette closed at 12:30 a.m. and earlier on the last night.

On both cruises we had 8 higher tier Blue Chip players traveling with us, and their experiences were similar.

 

I enjoyed reading your live report, and hope you enjoy your Edge cruise.

Edited by kk99
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Neda,

I agree Ralph is great along with most of the hardworking staff on the ships.

 

I have two certificates under the new revised system, and I was told they can be used as dollars off per day on any sailing including Edge. It is supposed to be combinable with the 20% off offered on certain Blue Chip tiers except for Edge as it is a brand new ship.

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Hi Andy,

 

I'm a Blue Chip Club member, but haven't heard about any changes. That being said, depending on the amount the dollar off per night is, it may work out to be a better deal. I was on a 7 night Equinox sailing last June and earned over 50k worth of club points which is halfway to Sapphire on one sailing. The host gave me a free concierge cabin certificate for a future 7 night sailing which sounded great, but I only sail in the higher suites so figured I would have to pay the difference in price between a concierge and a Royal or Penthouse after the 20% blue chip club discount was applied. Apparently, they put a wholesale value on those certificates so it was only worth about $1,300, much less than my old rebates were.

 

I just booked a Royal Suite on the 8 night Equinox May 25th sailing and the Blue Chip Club rep on the phone actually gave me a much better discount than the certificate, which she said was based on past play, but it was one or the other (certificate or past play dollars off). Obviously I took the past play incentive along with the 20% off standard cabin discount they give for suites, which basically made the certificate worthless (it's even too thick to use for toilet paper!) So if they are giving a $300-500 discount off per night, it would definitely be a decent deal as long as it is still combinable with the 20% off, if it's $150 a night, not so much.

 

I'll definitely make Sapphire after this next sailing and truthfully if I don't like the promos they offer, I'll just find another vacation for the next one as the price they charge for those suites (especially off season in the Carib) really allows for many high end luxury properties so I'll have no problem booking Amanyara and sitting on the beach for a trip not having to bring a gazillion dollars to gamble with.

 

As far as the host goes, you may have just had a bad one or a good one that had a bad week, time will tell on that. My last host was Ralph and he was great and very visible and personable. BTW..I really enjoyed your trip report, really well done!!

 

Neda

 

 

Interesting. I have only ever booked cruises with Blue Chip that were tied to certificates. I didn’t realize you could call them for any reservation and still get discounts. When you did this with them were you able to get Go Best along with the casino rate?

 

We just made a booking on Edge while we were on Silhouette but now wonder if I should’ve waited and called Blue Chip. If you already have a booking will they check for a lower rate than what you already have? I’m can cancel with no penalty so I would see no reason why I couldn’t just cancel and rebook to get a better price.

 

 

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Interesting. I have only ever booked cruises with Blue Chip that were tied to certificates. I didn’t realize you could call them for any reservation and still get discounts. When you did this with them were you able to get Go Best along with the casino rate?

 

We just made a booking on Edge while we were on Silhouette but now wonder if I should’ve waited and called Blue Chip. If you already have a booking will they check for a lower rate than what you already have? I’m can cancel with no penalty so I would see no reason why I couldn’t just cancel and rebook to get a better price.

 

 

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Yes, you can get the go best packages with the "casino rate". How it works is they take the price of the suite and deduct 20% and then apply any certificates you have off of that. I'm travelling with two friends in their late 50's so we took the senior rate instead which took off another $1600 (on top of the 20% off and the "play discount"), but we don't get the $300 OBC or tips included. I figured it was worth it since everyone in the cabin gets drink packages and internet anyway.

 

As far as Edge goes, it may be too early to book through them, but I would call and ask as they definitely can get the discount applied later. Also, when booking through Blue Chip you can cancel for any reason with no penalty up until 2 weeks before the sail date so there is some benefit there as well.

 

 

I was wondering about the 1k free play the give you, is it promotional chips like a match play kind of thing or regular?

 

Neda

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Wonderman3,

Edge is presently excluded from the 20% discount from Blue Chip. Blue Chip can apply the dollars off certificate you received to your reservation against the cost of your cabin and you can keep your go best perks.

 

If you booked another ship other than Edge , you can get the 20% off and the certificate dollars off applied to the cruise. The certificates do not apply to any of the Galapagos sailings either.

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Neda,

I agree Ralph is great along with most of the hardworking staff on the ships.

 

I have two certificates under the new revised system, and I was told they can be used as dollars off per day on any sailing including Edge. It is supposed to be combinable with the 20% off offered on certain Blue Chip tiers except for Edge as it is a brand new ship.

 

 

Are the dollars off reasonable? I was pretty disappointed in the value of the "free" certificate I received last time as I feel they should of given full value of the cabin to an upgrade.

 

 

BTW..They told me that the 20% off would apply to Edge as the date gets closer, they just can't do it now. I have no interest in sailing on that ship until the reviews come in anyway as I'm nervous about service levels with so many additional suites.

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Neda,

On the last cruise people in our group earned between $150 per night off to $600 per night off on their certificates.

 

As far as the free play, it was given as promo chips for tables or loaded onto the card for the slot players as promo credits.

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Yes, you can get the go best packages with the "casino rate". How it works is they take the price of the suite and deduct 20% and then apply any certificates you have off of that. I'm travelling with two friends in their late 50's so we took the senior rate instead which took off another $1600 (on top of the 20% off and the "play discount"), but we don't get the $300 OBC or tips included. I figured it was worth it since everyone in the cabin gets drink packages and internet anyway.

 

 

 

As far as Edge goes, it may be too early to book through them, but I would call and ask as they definitely can get the discount applied later. Also, when booking through Blue Chip you can cancel for any reason with no penalty up until 2 weeks before the sail date so there is some benefit there as well.

 

 

 

 

 

I was wondering about the 1k free play the give you, is it promotional chips like a match play kind of thing or regular?

 

 

 

Neda

 

 

 

If you mean the Sapphire level free play, they just load $1000 free play on your card and you transfer over to play as you need it. Note: You don’t earn any points on any free play money spent. It’s a nice benefit.

 

I think I’ve already renewed my Sapphire level status based on my play on this Silhouette cruise we just got off of and our Constellation Cruise last May. Since we have one more cruise in April before the tiers reset, I think I’ll be able to go a little easier on the gambling as I would’ve already earned Sapphire and have no interest in any certificates at the end of the cruise since we already have two cruises booked before April of 2019 and could not add another.

 

 

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Wonderman3,

 

Edge is presently excluded from the 20% discount from Blue Chip. Blue Chip can apply the dollars off certificate you received to your reservation against the cost of your cabin and you can keep your go best perks.

 

 

 

If you booked another ship other than Edge , you can get the 20% off and the certificate dollars off applied to the cruise. The certificates do not apply to any of the Galapagos sailings either.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

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At one time, we received an email about the Blue Chip Club. I never received any more since. How do you join? We are at the tables in the casino every night and will be on the Silhouette March 4th.

 

Hi,

 

If you received emails from them, you may already be a member. I would call them at the number in the email, they can look up your play and let you know. I called them before my first Celebrity cruise and let them know I was a Club Royale member and they gave me the casino rate based on that so it wouldn't hurt to try. Good Luck!

 

Neda

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WonderMan3 I appreciate your comments as another Sapphire. I can totally relate to your weird “vibes” comments and your struggle to describe it. On cruises I never know whether to expect warmth or wrath from the staff. But I thought the casino staff all worked for a different entity. Isn’t it a British operation that essentially rents the casino space on the ship. Sometimes you get the royal treatment with all the goodies and attention you described and sometimes you wonder if the host/hostess is still on the ship. On a recent cruise the hostess was uber rude to my wife which makes it kind of challenging to say to your wife...Hey let’s go on another Celebrity cruise!

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WonderMan3 I appreciate your comments as another Sapphire. I can totally relate to your weird “vibes” comments and your struggle to describe it. On cruises I never know whether to expect warmth or wrath from the staff. But I thought the casino staff all worked for a different entity. Isn’t it a British operation that essentially rents the casino space on the ship. Sometimes you get the royal treatment with all the goodies and attention you described and sometimes you wonder if the host/hostess is still on the ship. On a recent cruise the hostess was uber rude to my wife which makes it kind of challenging to say to your wife...Hey let’s go on another Celebrity cruise!

 

 

 

Yes, it has been inconsistent from ship to ship/year to year. But at least it’s better than NCL. We got off of Getaway right before going on Silhouette. They have 3-4 casino hosts who basically just sit behind a booth all day and had very condescending attitudes anytime we went to ask them a question.

 

It always baffles me when people go into service-related industries who have absolutely zero interest in interacting with the public.

 

 

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In view of the recent change to an earned $$$ discount per night voucher system I would recommend you call Blue Chip directly. I am not sure the language you referenced is still applicable but it might be. I am about to go on a cruise under the new voucher system so I can report back but my report will not be for a couple of weeks.

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We will hit the Amethyst level in Blue Chip on our next cruise. It lists "annual cruise benefit " in that category of reward. What exactly does that consist of? Thanks

 

 

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It’s the offer you may get from the casino host at the end of your cruise which I have been referencing in this thread.

 

 

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In view of the recent change to an earned $$$ discount per night voucher system I would recommend you call Blue Chip directly. I am not sure the language you referenced is still applicable but it might be. I am about to go on a cruise under the new voucher system so I can report back but my report will not be for a couple of weeks.

 

 

 

I’m going to wait a week. It usually takes them a week or two after your cruise for them to have the offer in their system after communication with the ship.

 

 

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  • 2 months later...
Has anyone received the new Exclusive Offers via mail? What a joke!!!! Only one 4 DAY comp. AND I'm Sapphire.

I haven't rec'd any offers in the past few weeks. I too am Sapphire and have an issue that most if not all offers are based from USA. I am in Aust and a bit hard and expensive to just jump on a plane LOL. A lot of these offers are within a short time frame so makes it very hard. In saying this I do have a great rep at Blue Chip office who tries to get other bookings I have comped in place of these offers. Cheers

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Yes, it has been inconsistent from ship to ship/year to year. But at least it’s better than NCL. We got off of Getaway right before going on Silhouette. They have 3-4 casino hosts who basically just sit behind a booth all day and had very condescending attitudes anytime we went to ask them a question.

 

It always baffles me when people go into service-related industries who have absolutely zero interest in interacting with the public.

 

 

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I'm just guessing, but I think the hosts are none too happy with the new program. My last cruise the host was awful...all cruises before they were awesome! It has to be hurting their pockets.

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