What I would like from Captain's Club...if anyone cares.

[FinelyCruising]

I think these programs are naturally bound to change over time, when for one reason or another an aspect of the program peaks or becomes unmanagable or because it's time to revamp and change it up a bit. All those things are predictable, but I don't think of them as mistakes.

 

As for the masses as the Cocktail Soiree, I elect not to attend many of them, yet from what I have seen I have no doubt that they are well attended.

 

It seems to me there are certain perks that come from the cruiseline as their base platform, another level may or may not come based on cabin selection. Both of these are pay-for options when one considers the selection of offerings of the cruiseline itself, and then again if one selects an upgraded cabin. While any cabin selection contains the base platform amenties, all cabin selections can be supplemented by the loyalty program. It is possible for a loyal cruiser in a interior cabin to get a plethora of perks, at no additional cost, than a first time cruiser who may be in one of the suites and paying for each and every amenity.

 

However, I still think that there is a tendency to want the benefits of the suite life rolled into the loyalty program, and while that would be nice for the loyalty cruiser, it depreciates what the cruiseline has to offer it's suite guests as amenties.

[flashdog_1]

??!!?? Very few including us [see other thread - Galveston Disembarkation Train Wreck]. We were among the "left behind" after the first wave of buses took off and were left to fend for ourselves along with hundreds of others. Do you refer to the 12/5~12/17/05 cruise, or has this happened before as well? How and when was this offer of free taxi rides communicated?

 

I went back to the board where I read that. i don't know how to make a link, but if you'll go to Celebrity Roll Calls/ Millenium/ Transatlantic 11/18/95 to pg 86, post # 2140 you will see the post where it was said Celebrity offered free taxis after the TA and the subsequent 2 nighter.

 

On the Roll Call/ Millenium/Cruise to Nowhere 12/2 toward the end we were all discussing the disasters (exaggeration) we encountered, like having to wait 8 hours from the time our plane landed until the ship left, changing of the time and day for the muster drill, changing of time for the one shore excursion we did, people not being admitted to the dining room because they didn't have an assignment card in their cabin, not allowing us to charge tips to our sea pass, rooms not really ready, no champagne offered, hotel desk people snappy and not smiling, people were told 'this isn't really a cruise," stores not open until the second night (this is a 2 night cruise, remember), errors on charge accounts, some people receiving credit and others not, beds not turned down...it goes on and on. On that board

I asked the same as you did, "where did you hear about free taxis?" and the reply was "Celebrity diid offer free transfer to the FLL airport, I think they just wanted to be sure we all got well away from the ship as quickly as possible."

 

I certainly did not get a free taxi, and I was one of the last off the ship, being on deck 9 which was last to disembark.

[safein]

In this day of cruise lines and air lines nickle and diming us to death - there is no excuse to charge $35 to be a CC member - RCCL gives far better perks for free and they are owned by the same management. The object of CC is to keep pax comming back because it is far cheaper to keep a happy passenger than to get a new one.

 

We were one of the original founders members who paid the $35 per couple. That was when the CC was worth a lot more not so much in what we got sent to us, but how we were treated as passengers. And that was when Celebrity was owned by Chandris/OSG. RCI should have left things well enough alone with the 2 loyalty programs. Say what you will, but I remember getting invites to 2 separate parties in the early days: one for Captain's Club and a separate one for Repeaters! Now basically with the new CC, it's all one party which is too large.

 

In order to breed loyalty to a brand, a company has to listen to its passengers and find out what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong. RCI/X should really talk to the longest running members and see what can be done to keep them going as members. Because something is free does not make a loyal customer.

 

Anita

[Ericknow32]

In order to breed loyalty to a brand, a company has to listen to its passengers and find out what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong. RCI/X should really talk to the longest running members and see what can be done to keep them going as members. Because something is free does not make a loyal customer.

 

The reason I don't see them doing this is because their longest running members have already shown they will stay so why should they fix something if it's not broken.

 

There is one reason for a loyalty program, that's to keep people loyal. If Celebrity feels their product is good enough to bring there guests back without much extra incentive then they will not give the extra incentive. Celebrity has people doing the numbers. People are coming back to Celebrity without great loyalty perks otherwise they would be giving them out.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with the amount of people in the loyalty program. RCI has a lot more people in their program and their perks are much better. (or so I've heard, I will see soon enough.) RCI puts more money into their program to keep people from leaving. Celebrity probably puts the money into their product to keep people from leaving. Carnival has no perks at all. They probably put their money into advertising to get new guests because they figure their guests aren't going to stay loyal anyways.

 

Basically I am saying that the reason there are not better perks is because Celebrity doesn't need them to keep loyalty. It would be nice if the loyal Celebrity cruisers got more perks, especially free ones, but......

[TEXASMUNK]

Boy, did he make a good point!

 

If Celebrity ended their program tomorrow, would you run to NCL?

 

If the answer is YES, then they need to focus on it. If the answer is NO, then there maybe things are not bad.

 

I am not about to change curise lines over 30 free internet minutes or a glass of low quality champagne.

 

But, having said that, I do think Danno's original post makes lots os sense...do small things that say thank you without alot of associated costs.

[RickandAnne]

I thought I had seen this....it comes off of Celebrity's web site in the listing of Elite Member Benefits. I'm not Elite level and can't follow up to see if there's any meat on this bone. But it appears there is (at least some lip service to) some avenue to make your suggestions known. Have any of you Elite members out there ventured to participate in this Advisory Panel? I'd be curious if Celebrity actually has a 'voice of the customer' program or if this just gives the appearance of one. A lot of the excellent suggestions made here should have a way to be heard.

 

Rick

Elite Member Benefits

Tender Service

Private Shipboard Departure Lounge with Continental Breakfast

Invitation to Captain's or Officer's Table

Waitlist for Dining Room Seating

Complimentary use of Thalassotherapy Pool on Century-class ships

Opportunity to participate in our exclusive online cruise advisory panel

Opportunity to enroll in Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society program at the Diamond Level

[spearmint]

Totally agreed. However, probably NOT going to happen, at least in Print. Being that Royal Caribbean just ended the Crown and Anchor Magazine in Print, can Celebrity be far behind ? IMHO, this is not a good idea at all. There are still tons of people out there who are not internet friendly. In my case, I would still rather get a hard copy to read, when I do not want to be in front of my computer. I hope Celebrity does NOT follow this.

 

Are you referring to the CC Departures brochure, or the newsletter delivered to the cabin of the ship each day? I am confused... However, I agree that I prefer a hard copy in either case.