Loyalty Program - Time for a Change

[boxztrs]

I think it is time for the new Holland America Group executives (that oversee Princess and Holland America) to wake up and finally combine loyalty privileges for the two cruise lines. As a long time Princess elite member, it would be nice to sail on some of the Holland ships and itineraries without having to start at the "bottom" so to speak. Since I don't have any standing with Holland, I am inclined to go on other cruise lines. Does Carnival really want to alienate the loyal following we give?

 

Royal Caribbean has done this with great success (i.e. your highest loyalty status on any line applies to all lines).

 

Do any of you agree? I assume the executives read these forums, so if thousands of you would agree they might see the light.

[Ethel5]

I think the idea of a loyalty program is to keep you coming back to the same brand. What would be the purpose of making the same loyalty perks open to all brands under that company's umbrella?

[boxztrs]

I think the idea of a loyalty program is to keep you coming back to the same brand. What would be the purpose of making the same loyalty perks open to all brands under that company's umbrella?

 

If a company loses sales to another company (regardless of brand), then I call that poor marketing. Royal Caribbean figured it out, why can't Carnival.

[skynight]

If it makes marketing sense then it will get done. If not, then it will not get done. But, I would expect that the perks would be diluted if spread across their 8 brands. RCI only operates 4 brands and two of them are very small.

[Thrak]

I can see it now... Folks who have taken a bunch of 3 and 4 day booze-cruise trips on Carnival will suddenly be Elite on Princess and want to give it a try. Masses of "young adults" boozing it up and taking over the ship.

 

I'll pass. I like Princess the way it is.

[paul929207]

I can see it now... Folks who have taken a bunch of 3 and 4 day booze-cruise trips on Carnival will suddenly be Elite on Princess and want to give it a try. Masses of "young adults" boozing it up and taking over the ship.

 

I'll pass. I like Princess the way it is.

Where is the "Like" button when I need it.

[ggprincess2004]

I can see it now... Folks who have taken a bunch of 3 and 4 day booze-cruise trips on Carnival will suddenly be Elite on Princess and want to give it a try. Masses of "young adults" boozing it up and taking over the ship.

 

I'll pass. I like Princess the way it is.

 

Me too!

[marco]

For me, it really depends on what the perks would be. OK...so I'm "Elite" on Princess. IF they combine all the Carnival Brands and what I'd get would be 10% off in the gift shops on all of the Carnival brand lines.............I'll pass. Right now, if you are the top tier of a loyalty program for, say, Cunard, Costa, HAL, Princess, or Carnival the perks are not the same for all of the lines.

[Roses2]

The loyalty programs are just that: Loyalty to a cruise line.

 

Currently, while there are many opinions, a large number of us believe Princess has the best loyalty program of all the lines.

 

Lets keep it that way and not dilute it.

 

Mark me down as a no vote.

Edited February 27, 2014 by Roses2
typo

[OCruisers]

No for me as well!

Things are fine the way they are now. :)

 

LuLu

~~~~

[boxztrs]

I can see it now... Folks who have taken a bunch of 3 and 4 day booze-cruise trips on Carnival will suddenly be Elite on Princess and want to give it a try. Masses of "young adults" boozing it up and taking over the ship.

 

I'll pass. I like Princess the way it is.

 

You obviously haven't gone on any of the 3/4/5 day cruises on Princess this year. It was actually refreshing to have a younger demographic on board. And much to your dismay, they weren't booze cruises. Princess is already trying to get the younger age demographic by doing the short cruises. Where is a 30-40 year old Carnival cruiser's next cruise line - Princess. And besides, those of you that only want to be with old people could go on Holland America and get all your "privileges".

[senior lady]

if you go on a HAL cruise, they will automatically give you one star mariner status. You just need to call and they will link your Princess # with Holland.

[fishywood]

 

Royal Caribbean has done this with great success (i.e. your highest loyalty status on any line applies to all lines).

 

 

That is not entirely correct. ONLY if you have attained the HIGHEST status on RC it is honored on X or vice-versa. For any of the intermediate ranks it counts as nothing.

 

 

Princess' and HAL's loyalty programs are so dissimilar (in both how ranking is achieved and how benefits dolled out) that merging them would inevitably result in a loss of benefits and prestige from one's preferred line. And simply adding up voyages/days for both lines and applying them to both programs would result in a massive increase in high-ranking members overwhelming the administration of onboard perks (a daily topic over on the X boards).

 

The Captain's Circle program is actually much more similar to Cunard's World Club. On Cunard you move up from Silver to Gold after only 20 days, getting internet credit and a second cocktail party invite per cruise--much quicker than one achieves those benefits on Princess or HAL. No way the current milestone targets would not be substantially increased if any combining of points took place.

 

Where is a 30-40 year old Carnival cruiser's next cruise line - Princess. And besides, those of you that only want to be with old people could go on Holland America and get all your "privileges".

 

First you advocate merging loyalty programs specifically so you can try HAL--then you take a potshot at HAL's demographic. Kindly let us know when you figure out what it is you are talking about.

Edited February 27, 2014 by fishywood

[Thrak]

You obviously haven't gone on any of the 3/4/5 day cruises on Princess this year. It was actually refreshing to have a younger demographic on board. And much to your dismay, they weren't booze cruises. Princess is already trying to get the younger age demographic by doing the short cruises. Where is a 30-40 year old Carnival cruiser's next cruise line - Princess. And besides, those of you that only want to be with old people could go on Holland America and get all your "privileges".

 

I don't "only want to cruise with old people". I just don't want to cruise with partiers. I have friends who tried cruising - they took a Carnival Caribbean cruise. They refer to it as "that awful cruise we took". The ship was full of party-hardy 20 somethings. These people swear they will never cruise again. My wife and I started with Princess and will likely stay with Princess because we liked the Princess product.

 

As for all my "privileges"... I don't have any. We have cruise numbers 3 and 4 scheduled for this year (May and November). It will be a very long time before we make Elite but we don't really have a problem with that. Eventually we will be eligible to receive loyalty perks - because we plan to stick with Princess. Until that time arrives we will enjoy our cruises and hope that Princess never becomes a party line.

 

There are LOTS of other cruise lines for people who want to party, be loud and obnoxious, or who simply enjoy water slides, etc. Having choices is great. We choose a more "sedate" style of cruising.

 

Note: Our son has cruised twice - both times on Princess. I think he will be checking out Carnival next time as he wants a more "lively" cruise experience. He's a much bigger drinker and partier than we are. Again, choice is good.

[mamaboss]

I don't "only want to cruise with old people". I just don't want to cruise with partiers. I have friends who tried cruising - they took a Carnival Caribbean cruise. They refer to it as "that awful cruise we took". The ship was full of party-hardy 20 somethings. These people swear they will never cruise again. My wife and I started with Princess and will likely stay with Princess because we liked the Princess product.

 

As for all my "privileges"... I don't have any. We have cruise numbers 3 and 4 scheduled for this year (May and November). It will be a very long time before we make Elite but we don't really have a problem with that. Eventually we will be eligible to receive loyalty perks - because we plan to stick with Princess. Until that time arrives we will enjoy our cruises and hope that Princess never becomes a party line.

 

There are LOTS of other cruise lines for people who want to party, be loud and obnoxious, or who simply enjoy water slides, etc. Having choices is great. We choose a more "sedate" style of cruising.

 

Note: Our son has cruised twice - both times on Princess. I think he will be checking out Carnival next time as he wants a more "lively" cruise experience. He's a much bigger drinker and partier than we are. Again, choice is good.

 

COMPLETELY agree!:D

[Happy2cruise]

I can see it now... Folks who have taken a bunch of 3 and 4 day booze-cruise trips on Carnival will suddenly be Elite on Princess and want to give it a try. Masses of "young adults" boozing it up and taking over the ship.

 

I'll pass. I like Princess the way it is.

Me too;)

[Pam in CA]

You obviously haven't gone on any of the 3/4/5 day cruises on Princess this year. It was actually refreshing to have a younger demographic on board. And much to your dismay, they weren't booze cruises. Princess is already trying to get the younger age demographic by doing the short cruises. Where is a 30-40 year old Carnival cruiser's next cruise line - Princess. And besides, those of you that only want to be with old people could go on Holland America and get all your "privileges".

I'm smiling at this because the 3- and 4-day cruises were filled with Platinum/ Elite passengers who knew a good bargain because Princess couldn't give these cruises away. Literally. Actually, they did give them away as I (and thousands of others) have my cruise fare back as a credit towards payment for my next cruise. I haven't seen so many B2B2B etc. Hundreds per cruise. No, it wasn't a booze cruise because so many got free cruises and they could bump up a level or two quickly in the Captain's Circle program.

 

Count me as someone who feels that the Princess loyalty program is fine as a stand-alone. For those who feel they should all be combined, be careful what you wish for since the good Princess benefits will disappear.

 

BTW, I've taken some great HAL cruises and am a 3-star Mariner. I guess I'm one of those "old" people.

Edited February 28, 2014 by Pam in CA

[waltd]

No thanks. I like it just the way it is.

[Iamcruzin]

I think it is time for the new Holland America Group executives (that oversee Princess and Holland America) to wake up and finally combine loyalty privileges for the two cruise lines. As a long time Princess elite member, it would be nice to sail on some of the Holland ships and itineraries without having to start at the "bottom" so to speak. Since I don't have any standing with Holland, I am inclined to go on other cruise lines. Does Carnival really want to alienate the loyal following we give?

 

Royal Caribbean has done this with great success (i.e. your highest loyalty status on any line applies to all lines).

 

Do any of you agree? I assume the executives read these forums, so if thousands of you would agree they might see the light.

I don't know how well it's working. I'm always reading threads on the Celebrity boards with elites complaining that the Diamond+ or what ever the equivalent is to Celebrity Elite are causing over crowding during the elite cocktail hour and at times they give out vouchers because the ship can't accommodate the crowd. Personally I am not interested in sailing any of the other Carnival Brands so cross over benefits wouldn't benefit me.

[timetravler]

Then only thing I would love to see changed is count days on the ship, NOT how many cruises you take. Too many do a bunch of mini cruises so they can get to elite quickly. I have heard of many people complaining about this. I do not have any problem with people who do these short cruises, only what I stated above.

[iluvcruzin]

Why not just make it fun and try all the various lines? Why let a loyalty program dictate if you decide to cruise with that particular line or not?

 

I'm not a cruise line loyalist and yes, I have achieved the higher tiers on many of them. But I can say that most time my decision it's not based on the loyalty program perks. The exception is if say, I'm looking at a 7 day cruise and the balcony perk on RCCL makes it a better bargain. But I don't choose a cruise because I can get free drinks, laundry service or internet.

[NOSaints1]

I've sailed 2 Carnival cruises and haven't had a problem with people drinking.

 

 

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[paul929207]

Then only thing I would love to see changed is count days on the ship, NOT how many cruises you take. Too many do a bunch of mini cruises so they can get to elite quickly. I have heard of many people complaining about this. I do not have any problem with people who do these short cruises, only what I stated above.

As Pam mentioned above, the short repo cruises do not sell well. Princess gives equal Captain's Circle weight to them to try and fill the ship.

[pms4104]

You obviously haven't gone on any of the 3/4/5 day cruises on Princess this year. It was actually refreshing to have a younger demographic on board. And much to your dismay, they weren't booze cruises. Princess is already trying to get the younger age demographic by doing the short cruises. Where is a 30-40 year old Carnival cruiser's next cruise line - Princess. And besides, those of you that only want to be with old people could go on Holland America and get all your "privileges".

And those short 3/4/5 day sailings were so successful that, to fill many of those sailings, Princess offered free cruises ... The fare people paid for those shorties was credited to any minimum 7 night trips in 2014. Don't be surprised to see those shorties gone in 2015.

[Wehwalt]

Then only thing I would love to see changed is count days on the ship, NOT how many cruises you take. Too many do a bunch of mini cruises so they can get to elite quickly. I have heard of many people complaining about this. I do not have any problem with people who do these short cruises, only what I stated above.

 

That's fine, as long as you count a night alone (and not from having kicked hubby out) as 2 nights, as has been paid for. Oh, and also for purposes of most traveled.

 

See how delicate the walk Princess must do is?

 

And those short 3/4/5 day sailings were so successful that, to fill many of those sailings, Princess offered free cruises ... The fare people paid for those shorties was credited to any minimum 7 night trips in 2014. Don't be surprised to see those shorties gone in 2015.

 

What they did do was the PVSA voyages this April and May are harder to use that way. I don't see any "three cruises in four days" as last year. The most I see doable is two cruises in four days.

Edited February 28, 2014 by Wehwalt