Captains Circle Status, should there be a time limit?

[Coral]

But it does not stop them complaining about the increased number of other High levels.

 

They want Princess to provide the same benefits or products and services yet are unwilling to support the company.

 

There is another post that triggered this discussion for me, the OP states they are Elite but have not cruised with Princess for 6 yrs, should they deserve to retain their status even though they are threatening to be disloyal by cruising on another line?

 

What do you mean unwilling to support the company? Many people can't cruise once every year or two but are still loyal to Princess.

 

If they make the change, Captain Circle members is primarily going to include retired individuals and those who live near the port. I can assure you that Princess needs to attract more then retired individuals to maintain their cruise lines. Look at HAL - their clientele is mostly older which they recognize will be an issue for them in the coming years and they are trying very hard to attract younger passengers.

 

Are you retired or do you have a lot of vacation in Australia? I just looked up and it appears that in Australia, the government requires companies to give people 20 days vacation. That is double what most people in the US get. http://www.vpcalendar.net/average-vacation-days-by-country.html In the US, companies do not have to give any vacations but most do give 10 days per year.

[caribill]

I have never been bothered when there is a high number of elites and platinums on board (other than not making the most traveled cutoff because iof all those with more days).

 

One incentive to cruise more often is that if you do not have a Princess cruise booked, soon there will be at least one flyer from Princess in your mailbox every day.

[CruisinChris]

Even though it feels like there are TONS of Elite, maybe even Platinums, in the scope of the total customer base these are a very SMALL percentage. This is why Princess chooses to richly reward these folks. Having a strong repeat customer base is a key part of Princess' business strategy. Other competitors are more focused on building trial - attracting first time cruisers. Look at how they market themselves and their message and you will see the difference.

 

There's no need to feel in competition with each other for the perks, and I would imagine no reason to really worry about changes to the program either. I believe Princess is committed to rewarding it's loyal passengers (however they choose to define it) and to do so in way that encourages us to come back over and over.

[akeasley]

No, even though some people may have not traveled with Princess for many years, they have still earned the right to be Elite and Platinum from their past travels. I'm curious to know why this question was asked...why does it matter?

[Times Prince]

I keep reading on this discussion forum that people are platinum or elite but have not cruised with Princess within the past year or 2 or even 5 or 6.

 

With most other frequent traveler/guest programs there is a requirement that to retain a particular level the member needs to do something each year to maintain their status.

 

Should the captains circle program have a similar requirement? It might reduce the issue that some have with the high number of platinum/elite on certain cruises as well as making sure that people continue to "earn" their status.

 

Your thought?

Time limits would be the quickest way to ensure that passengers are NOT LOYAL.

 

An example from airlines is that, as a non-business customer, we often travel to destinations not served by a particular airline. Because of this even though I was a long time United customer with some significant business and personal travel miles I have had more than two free trips worth of airline miles flushed by United airlines when I moved to a city served by American and Continental. In addition they regularly increased the amount of miles required to just beyond what a casual traveller would earn. The result- we stopped booking United when there was a choice.

 

People do not always have the means to cruise each year. We now have grandchildren in Europe, and must choose visiting them or cruising in a given year. The time limits would penalize us for this.

 

There are two other lines serving the nearest port to us, and Princess wins by their loyalty program and by their standard of service and quality of producty. Take away the loyalty benefits we have earned and I guarantee that the other lines will win business.

[iluvcruzin]

I say no. I am not a cruiseline loyalist. I may go a year or 2 between lines.

[Nebr.cruiser]

Absolutely no to time limits. Except for those who are wealthy enough to cruise multiple times a year, lucky enough to live near a port or to have lots of vacation time, it's not that easy to take more than one cruise a year, if that.

 

We're platinum and about half way to the next stage, maybe a little more. We normally take 1-3 cruises a year, one at least on Princess; and we prefer 10-14 day cruises. But, this year, due to business, we are skipping our December cruise. We also have an elderly parent who is not in great health which may curtail some cruising this year.

 

And, though Princess is a favorite of ours, we like other lines too. Since we are in the middle of the US, flying is always and issue, especially this year, with prices very high.

 

I don't understand what the deal is with having many higher status cruisers on board anyway; I don't think it has ever impacted us in the least.

[ONT-CA]

Can I ask when replying that you include you cc level and how many cruises you took in the past 2 years with princess?

quote]

 

I have taken 7 in the last two years all as Elite passenger. While I see your point in that culling the Elite membership numbers would lessen the demand on the dwindling benefits, including elbowroom, perhaps the best way to deal with this is to create a further level above Elite that would be difficult to attain with befitting benefits.

[wickedwitchofthewest]

I say no to time limits on loyalty benefits.

I may have lots of days holiday being a Brit but.... I spend most of them working overtime to earn the extra cash I need to be able to afford to cruise every two years.

The Brits may get more holiday time but we then lose out by not having the low fares that Americans seem to enjoy, so its swings and roundabouts I guess.

As for the time limits imposed by the airlines - they would find me much more loyal if they gave me a decent loyalty program instead of keeping on taking all my points off me just because I can't afford to book a flight with them very often. (Thank the deitys that I'm able to keep trickling points into one of them through a supermarket scheme! With the weekly groceries Maybe I'll get a free flight in about ten years!)

[ONT-CA]

The real problem has been the re designated requirement for Elite. While it was a requirement of completing so many cruises, people were doing multiple 3 day jaunts over to Barbados in order to obtain status. The deal should have been and should yet be the number of days one has taken with Princess. Why should a World Cruise be equal to a 3-day shuttle to Barbados? It appears that now, the higher number of Elites, the lower the benefits. Time to acknowledge the real loyal Princess cruisers and reward them accordingly.

[compozer]

Time to acknowledge the real loyal Princess cruisers and reward them accordingly.

 

So how do you do that? Would you do it by:

 

Total amount of money spent?

 

Total number of cruises?

 

Total number of days sailed?

[Woobstr112G]

No time limits.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Pam in CA]

So how do you do that? Would you do it by:

 

Total amount of money spent?

 

Total number of cruises?

 

Total number of days sailed?

Total amount spent wouldn't work because that would penalize those who use a TA plus anyone who doesn't book a full suite. Total number of cruises didn't/doesn't work because it favored those living in the northwest who were the only ones able to take advantage of the short cruises and penalized anyone taking a cruise longer than seven days. Plus, there are a number of short cruises planned for 2014 so that would favor people on these cruises.

 

The only fair and equitable way, IMHO, is total days.

[Coral]

 

The only fair and equitable way, IMHO, is total days.

 

I agree!

[tarheelmjfan]

So how do you do that? Would you do it by:

 

Total amount of money spent?

 

Total number of cruises?

 

Total number of days sailed?

 

To me, this is the obvious answer. It should have always been that way.

 

FWIW, I agree with those who don't think you should lose your status for not sailing often. If that were to happen, the person who said they hadn't sailed with Princess in 6 yrs, but were considering booking a cruise with them, may not even consider it. Making a change like that may be good for a few passengers, but it wouldn't be a good business decision for the cruise lines. The large majority of Captain's Club members aren't able to cruise multiple times a year.

 

All that said, we don't book cruises based on loyalty programs. It really doesn't matter to me how they award passengers for their loyalty.

[Phyljim]

Total amount spent wouldn't work because that would penalize those who use a TA plus anyone who doesn't book a full suite. Total number of cruises didn't/doesn't work because it favored those living in the northwest who were the only ones able to take advantage of the short cruises and penalized anyone taking a cruise longer than seven days. Plus, there are a number of short cruises planned for 2014 so that would favor people on these cruises.

 

The only fair and equitable way, IMHO, is total days.

 

We, also completely agree. Total days!

[shepp]

Since you asked...I'm platinum with four Princess cruises in the last two years, and 62 days over the next year booked. I think time limits are a lousy idea. IMO, Princess uses the loyalty program as a bribe more than a reward, and making people start from scratch would be incredibly off-putting. (And hey, it's a bribe that's working on me.)

 

It makes more sense to shorten the timespan on FCCs, as has been done. That's encouraging people to cruise more often. Expiring status would feel more like extorting them to cruise more.

 

And IMO, it's less irritating to wait to board behind an Elite couple who haven't crises in ten years than behind two Elites who've spent half the preceding year aboard, and figure it's their right to bring their six or eight Blue friends with them.

 

Anyway, I'm betting that everyone who wants time limits wants them set up so they would be included.

[TracieABD]

Days sailed....

[Julia’s Journey’s]

I would say no limit. The top people in the airline programs are mostly people who do it for work and travel many or even most weeks. With cruising, many people can't take multiple cruises because of other responibilities. The cruise lines still want them returning.

 

I agree, you cannot compare this to taking a flight that is a couple of hours.

[Quilter n Cruiser]

Days sailed and definitely no time limit.

[WpgCruise]

Might we see the time come when Princess will reward their highest revenue generators, differently than people who sail frequently with them?

Consider it from the Companies side of the desk.

To what extent do you reward Elite/Platinum cruisers who sail in inside cabins, don't frequent the bars, don't gamble, don't eat in the speciality restaurants, don't take ship excursions, in short don't make the Company much money. But.....they fill up the cabins often.

Or instead do you reward the (new or repeat) cruiser who books a suite, spends 4 hours a day at the casino, averages 5 drinks a day, takes a ships excursion in every port, and eats 80% of their meals in speciality restaurants?

Revenue generated by Client with the Sea Pass card is very easy to track. In today's business world Revenue is King. Loyalty is nice, but only if it is generating revenue.

If you were Princess Management who are you going to reward more through perks?

The answer I think is the higher revenue generator, and it won't matter if it is a new or repeat cruiser.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Add me to the majority of you who believe a time limit would be a bad idea (both for many of us and for Princess).

 

We're going to take our fifth cruise within ten years of our first one on Princess -- and will attend Platinum status no matter if you count number of cruises or days (we'll be at 57 days). But there was a period of exactly (to the day, actually) of five years between #3 and #4. Life happened, including having a MIL who was terminally ill.

 

Also we have a school-aged kid who has to come with us, but aside from taking her out of kindergarten for #1 Princess cruise, we can't let her miss school now. And if she's taking summer school or participating in band camp, that will limit when she's available. We do live an hour's drive from one port that Princess utilizes, but that's only during half of the year. The only flexibility we do have is that hubby usually can decide when he takes vacation (and when he's officially retired, it'll just be the matter of having less money to go anyway). I've had jobs where there were certain times of year you can't get away, or only one or two workers can be away at one particular time.

 

For us, it hasn't been that we've tried out other cruiselines once we've been on Princess. But to punish a consumer just because they tried out another product...that's just not done, as far as I know.

[YaddaBest]

The number of cruises only matters up to that 16th cruise. After that it is all about days at sea. The main thing is the top three for the most sailed passenger aboard and the top 20 getting to go to the lunch with the Captain and officers. To think that they would take away what you earned by being loyal to a cruiseline is just silly. To compare it to frequent flyer miles is apples and oranges. Just because you did not cruise for any period does not take away that you did travel. You do not get any free cruises because you have 50 cruises unless we speaking about what Carnival does. Princess does not do that. I believe RCL might do it as well. I think the people complaining are envious of those that cruised and would like to leap frog them. If you sailed them when they were P & O does not take away that you sailed on a Princess line. You earned them and congratulations and thank you for being loyal patrons of Princess. I do not disparage those ahead of me. You earned it and deserve praise and appreciation.

[davekathy]

Number of days sailed with no time limit.

[kate59]

There are several things in this issue so it isn't easy to say yes or no.

 

We are Platinum and done 2 cruises - but one was 46 nights - not something I could afford every 2 years. Cruises out of Australia aren't usually 1 or 2 days except for some repositionings but not a general thing. Our Princess cruises from Australia are usually about 2 weeks or more.

 

Also those of us over 50 might not be able to cruise every 2 years for the reasons someone else gave, family commitments, looking after grandkids etc, but also as we are at the age the risk of being ill and not able to travel for some time - thru no fault of our own - so would be penalised if no cruising for 2 years. I wouldn't be happy with this.

 

I am going on a Carnival Spirit cruise in May - that was not my decision but still going and having fun - as I want to spend time with my daughters so no Princess cruise next year - so should I be penalised for using a different company (not really I know) but I will not get my free internet minutes or some of my other perks on Carnival and will just be a new customer to them.