Where Are The New Captain's Club Benefits?

[richsea]

Last July, when Celebrity announced the long awaited enhanced Captain's Club benefits, they made a point of telling us that "this is just the beginning. Over the course of 2009, we will be introducing other exciting & unique new features & benefits that will ........make Captain's Club the premier program at sea."

 

Well, it is now pushing the end of February & so far nothing further has been mentioned. Don't get me wrong, I love the new benefits, but I think that this makes Celebrity look kind of lame. If they were not ready to make further enhancements, they should not have just left it as it was, instead of dangling a carrot & not delivering on their promise.

[Gonzo70]

Lame? Celebrity greatly enhanced their loyalty benefits at a time where other lines were slashing loyalty benefits! Kudos to Celebrity! They transformed their loyalty program from something that was ho-hum into one of the best in the industry. If they want to give more benefits great, but I certainly don't expect them to do more during these tough economic times - IMHO that would just be plain greedy. Eventually I would like to see a tier above Elite that has even more benefits than what Elites receive, but I see no need for them to have to add to the current Elite benefits - they are extremely nice as is.

[39august]

You must be joking! Celebrity's Elite benefits are much better, now, than RCI's. Except that RCI offers 3 1/2 hours of free drinks to X's 2 hours, X offers much more. How about 90 minutes pp free internet? I don't think X is better than Princess, but certainly seems equal from what I have read on these boards.

[tuggers]

I understood that RCI now has only a 25% discount on alcoholic beverages. No more freebies during their special hours! Free canapes, soda and bottled water but that's it.

If someone has any different info I hope they will post it.

[Gonzo70]

I understood that RCI now has only a 25% discount on alcoholic beverages. No more freebies during their special hours! Free canapes, soda and bottled water but that's it.

 

If someone has any different info I hope they will post it.

 

For diamond members on ships smaller than Freedom class, they have free house wine (inexpensive brand), free "champagne" (actually cheap sparkling wine) and 25% off all other alcohol from about 5pm-8:30pm. On Freedom class and on Oasis they do have a "Diamond Lounge" that still offers a greater variety of complimentery cocktails/alcohol. Diamond Plus members of Crown & Anchor still get the open bar during 5pm-8:30pm (but this requires a lot more cruise credits than the 10 needed for Elite with Captain's Club). Also, Royal Caribbean does not have as nice a breakfast set-up as Celebrity has for Elites.

[richsea]

I didn't say that the new benefits are are lame, I said that I loved the enhanced benefits. Tough economic times?? The economic times were tough when they rolled out the new benefits. If the times were so tough, they shouldn't have promised anything, but they did. My point is that if they didn't open their mouths about more benefits to come by the end of 2009, no one would anticipate getting any new benefits. But they did announce that there would be additional benefits & there haven't been any. To me, that makes them look bad.

[Gonzo70]

I didn't say that the new benefits are are lame, I said that I loved the enhanced benefits. Tough economic times?? The economic times were tough when they rolled out the new benefits. If the times were so tough, they shouldn't have promised anything, but they did. My point is that if they didn't open their mouths about more benefits to come by the end of 2009, no one would anticipate getting any new benefits. But they did announce that there would be additional benefits & there haven't been any. To me, that makes them look bad.

 

I couldn't disagree with you more strongly. I am truly impressed with the changes they made to the loyalty program and think they make the company look outstanding and like they care about (and reward) their loyal passengers. If they decide to give us more perks, even better, but I certainly do not feel entitled or like they did something wrong just because they mentioned additional perks several months ago in a press release. Sorry, I just feel that it is nit-picking to try and accuse Celebrity of wrong-doing just because they did not release more perks after already tansforming what was a lackluster loyalty program into one that is at or near the top of cruise lines' loyalty programs.

[Johnthed0g]

Wasn't aware of any benefits!

[richsea]

I couldn't disagree with you more strongly. I am truly impressed with the changes they made to the loyalty program and think they make the company look outstanding and like they care about (and reward) their loyal passengers. If they decide to give us more perks, even better, but I certainly do not feel entitled or like they did something wrong just because they mentioned additional perks several months ago in a press release. Sorry, I just feel that it is nit-picking to try and accuse Celebrity of wrong-doing just because they did not release more perks after already tansforming what was a lackluster loyalty program into one that is at or near the top of cruise lines' loyalty programs.

 

Then I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

Where did I say that the benefits needed upgrading? I said that I love the new benefits, didn't I?

 

The company announced that they were going to add more benefits beyond what they added in July. They volunteered that information of their own volition. They didn't follow through on that promise. They didn't announce that they decided not to further enhance the benefits. To make promises for more benefits within a certain time frame, & then just ignore those promises, make them look bad.

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

Add me to the list of those being very happy with the Captains Club improvements. As for the OP's comments, it would be great if Celebrity anounced the next batch of enhancements - which was promised before the end of 2009. However, I am willing to cut them some slack, as we are still in tough economic times, and these decisions are expensive. The only mistake made, was putting a timeframe on it. When a deadline is not met, some folks are going to hold you accountable.

 

Over the past few years, many of us, (myself included) have been extremely vocal about Celebrity having a poor loyalty program. Thankfully, Celebrity listened to us, and 2009 brought us several wonderful upgrades. Celebrity has clearly resolved this issue, and they now have one of the best loyalty programs out there. I thank them for their efforts. I remain hopeful that Celebrity will consider another Level above Elite, as it is long overdue. I hope we will be hearing from Celebrity, in the near future. Stay Tuned !

[cruisingdelt]

Hi Everyone !

 

Add me to the list of those being very happy with the Captains Club improvements. As for the OP's comments, it would be great if Celebrity anounced the next batch of enhancements - which was promised before the end of 2009. However, I am willing to cut them some slack, as we are still in tough economic times, and these decisions are expensive. The only mistake made, was putting a timeframe on it. When a deadline is not met, some folks are going to hold you accountable.

 

Over the past few years, many of us, (myself included) have been extremely vocal about Celebrity having a poor loyalty program. Thankfully, Celebrity listened to us, and 2009 brought us several wonderful upgrades. Celebrity has clearly resolved this issue, and they now have one of the best loyalty programs out there. I thank them for their efforts. I remain hopeful that Celebrity will consider another Level above Elite, as it is long overdue. I hope we will be hearing from Celebrity, in the near future. Stay Tuned !

 

Please not another level! My next cruise finally gets me to elite, of course not til after the cruise. On the last few cruises there were at least one person with 100+ cruises so I guess there is room for a 4th level. Let's start it at 11 cruise credits:)

[Holly2]

Would hate to see them raise the level of points necessary for exisiting Elite benefits.

[twocc's]

Celebrity has one of the best programs going right now. We agree with Andy- give them some slack. We find ourselves booking with Celebrity more because of their perks. Thanks Celebrity.

 

Charles and Connie

[cookiejarvis]

Almost embarrassed to ask, but are there any benefits for "Classic" members? Please do not ROFLYAO.

Cookie

[Gonzo70]

Almost embarrassed to ask, but are there any benefits for "Classic" members? Please do not ROFLYAO.

Cookie

 

Not much. You receive coupons in your stateroom the first day, but I did not find most of them useful. I think I used one for match play ($5 bet) at casino and one for a free specialty coffee (non-alcoohlic) at specialty restaurant. I forget what the others were for, but did not use them. There was also a welcome back party which was worth attending - nice spread of food, some free alcoholic beverages and a lot of the senior staff was their mingling with guests. The perks get a bit better at Select, but the real good ones are at Elite. It definitely pays to make it to Elite as there are a lot of very useful perks.