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VIFP program

difi

By difi,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Joebucks

Joebucks

Posted
Posted
On 2/16/2019 at 5:54 PM, bury me at sea said:

Carnival enjoys being a leader in the go to line for novice cruisers.  In addition to being family friendly and fun, they offer a good value for the cost.

 

They don't need to foster loyalty; it's not the market that makes them money.

 

Put yourself in a corporate seat for a moment.  You can sell early boarding and cabin access to relatively new cruisers or you can give it away to thousands of platinums a year.

 

I, possibly as a minority of one, will be astonished if changes in VIFP perks result in more benefits.  My crystal ball predicts a new level between gold and platinum that includes a second bottle of water and many many more nights to achieve platinum status.

 

The prospect that early access to cabins will continue to be offered to platinums is dubious at best.  It has never been listed as a perk at the platinum level, but came in the back door when FTTF was implemented.

 

Just my two cents, which with inflation might be worth one no longer copper cent.

 

I agree that new cruisers are more important than most people believe. But to say they don't need to foster loyalty is just wrong. If that was the case, they wouldn't even have a VIFP program.

 

Carnival has previously said they had interest in using the loyalty program to capture more of those 3rd time cruisers. What they would offer, I don't know. People think they are going to get room upgrades and alcohol because some hotels do it. Not the same business. However, I don't think they want to be bested by Royal in many areas. I would love to see a Diamond lounge like thing. I would almost certainly put Platinum at 100 nights or more though.

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crooooze

crooooze

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, grantbob said:

 

They did. Last September I used mine in the Alchemy bar and paid the difference between the cost of the drink and value of the coupon.

Yeah, the restriction for Gold is that the coupon is only valid after 5pm on the last night... Nonsense.

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jbethel11

jbethel11

Posted
Posted
On 2/13/2019 at 7:47 AM, robertlanajean said:

I've only been on one cruise (second one coming up!!), don't gamble or buy Cheers and enjoy a variety of vacations, so perhaps I'm not the demo Carnival is after, but I have to say that compared to other travel/entertainment options the rewards for cruising are pretty lame and difficult to obtain.

 

frequent flyer = free flights

frequent car renter = free rental days/upgrades

frequent hotel stay = free nights

my local pizza buffet gives every 10th visit free

frequent cruise = free bottle of water and eventually .. you get on the ship faster and a blankets (left off the drink and party for dramatic purposes 🙂 ) 

 

They could really up the ante... free blanket for ALL repeat cruisers, free soda package for gold and up, free specialty meal for platinum (every cruise), free gratuities for diamond (once per year).. with all benefits stacking. 

 

As of now the loyalty programs are not enough to make me a loyal Carnival cruiser. I'm still more interested in ports, amenities, and overall value. Perhaps an aggressive loyalty campaign would create more loyalty and make casual cruisers faithful cruisers. 

By beverage package, you mean Bottomless Bubbles? That would make sense, as Carnival would NEVER give Cheers to us. They already allow us to bring 12 cans of soda, so why not give us the beverage package. I think Platinum and up should receive 1 free steakhouse dinner or 2 other free specialty restaurants. 

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xDisconnections

xDisconnections

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, jbethel11 said:

By beverage package, you mean Bottomless Bubbles? That would make sense, as Carnival would NEVER give Cheers to us. They already allow us to bring 12 cans of soda, so why not give us the beverage package. I think Platinum and up should receive 1 free steakhouse dinner or 2 other free specialty restaurants. 

As long as they’re using cans, they won’t give you a free soda package either. 

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glrounds

glrounds

Posted
Posted
On 2/11/2019 at 12:46 PM, BenjiRodney said:

Thre needs to be a level between Platinum and Diamond. 75-199 is a huge jump. Currently at 115 days with 19 more days booked. Will take awhile to hit that Diamond Status. 

 

I quite agree. 156 nights here and running out of time (80 in October) 🙂

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glrounds

glrounds

Posted
Posted
On 2/16/2019 at 3:54 PM, bury me at sea said:

Carnival enjoys being a leader in the go to line for novice cruisers.  In addition to being family friendly and fun, they offer a good value for the cost.

 

They don't need to foster loyalty; it's not the market that makes them money.

 

Put yourself in a corporate seat for a moment.  You can sell early boarding and cabin access to relatively new cruisers or you can give it away to thousands of platinums a year.

 

I, possibly as a minority of one, will be astonished if changes in VIFP perks result in more benefits.  My crystal ball predicts a new level between gold and platinum that includes a second bottle of water and many many more nights to achieve platinum status.

 

The prospect that early access to cabins will continue to be offered to platinums is dubious at best.  It has never been listed as a perk at the platinum level, but came in the back door when FTTF was implemented.

 

Just my two cents, which with inflation might be worth one no longer copper cent.

 

I agree with almost all of this. For many reasons Platinums and Diamonds don't make Carnival a lot of money. Carnival's market is the novice and family cruisers. They buy a butt load of Carnival photos on the ship and in every port, trinkets and clothing from the ship store, and ship-sponsored tours. They spend a fortune on booze. They pay a fortune for the FTTF to board an hour before the other regular paxs. They drop a fortune in the casinos where there is absolutely no authority looking over their shoulder like the Nevada Gaming Commission does. They are pure gold to Carnival. Barnum & Bailey had a title for them.

 

Whereas, the P&D cruisers, with phones and cameras take excellent pics for themselves, have figured out how to book tours on the internet that are in many cases exact duplicates of those offered by Carnival at TWICE the price. Do their heavy drinking in ports at a fraction ($1 beers and bargain jello shots in Los Cabos !) or at the P&D special drink away. Wait until the last night at sea to scoop up t-shirts, jackets and other trinkets at HALF PRICE. Attend the Art auction for the free wine, seldom bid on  anything. And a zillion other COST advantages we have from experience I can't remember now.🙂

 

From a corporate standpoint Carnival would, most likely, just as soon P&Ds move onto another one of their lines for a few dollars more. Have a cruise on the PANORAMA booked in January bringing me to 156 nights on a Carnival ship and believe me, at times, it's very tempting.

 

However, they always get me with the Steakhouse. An absolute steal at $38. Usually go at least twice per week.🙂

 

As "bury me at sea" says it's just my 2 cents worth. As a retired business owner, I frequently view things from a PURE business standpoint. P&Ds are a royal pain to Carnival.

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SNJCruisers

SNJCruisers

Posted
Posted

Been platinum for 10 years, with 19 on Carnival, but my first two were from '91 and '86, so I did not get credit for them.  Have two booked this year and '21, but still leaves me 6 short of Milestone.  Diamond will never be obtained.  The Milestone benefit of 25% off will be the only real major perk I'll ever get, but with so many other choices out there, don't know if it will become reality.

 

A free 8x10 picture, a BOGO specialty dinner and a 10% discount on Cheers would be three perks I would like to see for platinum.  But I certainly will not be holding my breath.

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gkbiiii

gkbiiii

Posted
Posted

Royal Caribbean: Diamonds & above get comped drinks & more.

Celebrity: Elite & above get comped drinks and more.  Zenith gets Premium Drink package!

MSC: Black Cards get a Specialty Dinner for two, & more.

Princess: Elite's get cabin beverage set up & more.

Crystal: free credit and comped cruises, even suites!

NCL: Platinum & above, get Comped Specialty Dining & more.

Cunard: Diamonds get Comped Specialty Dinner for two.

Costa: Peril & above Comped Specialty Dining.  Peril Diamond Comped Spa Dining Room whole voyage.

 

So yes, Carnival could step it up a notch or two!

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gkbiiii

gkbiiii

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Fla Senior said:

Then the program would become a rewards program, not a loyalty program.  Maybe have both.

But many cruise lines do just that & award points based on cabin category. Royal even gives you extra points, for cruising single, in a cabin. So it is possible to get three points per day (normal, single, suite, daily points).

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pe4all

pe4all

Posted
Posted

I am quite happy with the "perks" given at my current level. (Platinum)  However, I would love it if Carnival gave extra points like NCL (and other lines do).  After only 6 cruises on NCL I was at their Platinum level, as I was given double points for booking 9 months or more in advance, double points for Med sailing promo they were running, double points for our Baltic cruise for a promo, etc.

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Amyracecar

Amyracecar

Posted
Posted

As a new(ish) Carnival customer can I also say that it amuses me greatly that our 'perk' is a bottle of water each. (Especially as they're now doing the cheaper water packs to order. When we first started cruising in-room water was expensive, not quite so much now) 

 

I still have all the other rather average perks to look forward to! 

 

It baffles me how they can't work something like this to their advantage. Why not offer red/gold cruisers something like a free drink in the speciality restaurants, meaning that it encourages people to book & pay for a table, or 10% off a couple of photos. Either way they're potentially making more money but it looks like you're getting a benefit. 

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wms99

wms99

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, ImANewfie said:

There needs to be a level above Diamond.  I am just under 500 and have 11 other cruises booked...   

 

What would be above a Diamond? Adamanthium? Uru? Mythrial? Vibrainium? I ask in a serious way.

 

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IPlayWithString

IPlayWithString

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, masterty said:

They should make it 1 point per $1k spent per pax. Leave everything else alone. JM2C.

 

See..the reason I don't like this is because it's unfair. If you keep it at 1 pt per cruise day, then it's fair across the board, no matter if you are staying in an inside room or the grand suite (or whatever it's called). If you change it to 1 pt per X$, then some people would NEVER get to platinum or diamond because they  just don't cruise that often or don't spend that much money per cruise.

 

We usually choose inside rooms, which are cheaper, and we choose them for a variety of reasons. One of which is usually cost. It's not that we don't like balconies, but inside rooms are generally better for us. Are you saying we don't deserve to reach diamond (since we're already platinum) because we don't spend as much money as Joe Megabucks who books a suite every time?

 

 

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SNJCruisers

SNJCruisers

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Lottacruises said:

Reduce benefits for platinum, taking away the priority boarding,

LOL...that is the ONLY perk for Platinum worth anything besides whatever trinket they decide to give away.  The drink coupon is worthless, the Platinum/Diamond gathering is worthless and the hot water only wash is worthless.

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bury me at sea

bury me at sea

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Amyracecar said:

As a new(ish) Carnival customer can I also say that it amuses me greatly that our 'perk' is a bottle of water each. (Especially as they're now doing the cheaper water packs to order. When we first started cruising in-room water was expensive, not quite so much now) 

I don't find it amusing; I find it insulting.  Free water is available all over the ship, including in the bathroom sink in every cabin.

 

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schazzy

schazzy

Posted
Posted
24 minutes ago, bury me at sea said:

I don't find it amusing; I find it insulting.  Free water is available all over the ship, including in the bathroom sink in every cabin.

 

 

I guess we are spoiled by having very good tap water at home, but unless it's ice cold, the ship's tap water seems to taste very metallic to us, so we tend to drink the bottled water more often than not on a cruise. So we actually appreciate getting 2 large bottles of water to have for the cabin and not having to pay $4 a piece for them. Greatest perk ever? No. Do I enjoy getting them? Yes.     

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clhayes

clhayes

Posted
Posted

John Heald mentioned during a recently taped Q&A session in November’18 that he personally recommends adding two levels.  One between Platinum and Diamond, as well as a second titled Diamond Plus.  John states that there are approximately 500,000 Plats and 10,000 Diamonds.  Just sharing as I thought it relevant to the OP. 

 

https://youtu.be/-8M_wwyTRcE

 

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