Do Marella keep a record of your cruises ?

[GOQ]

I know P&O and other cruise lines must keep a record of your previous cruises because of schemes like the "Peninsular club" and similar reward schemes.

Marella/Thomson don't seem to acknowledge your previous cruises, but do you think they keep a subtle record ?, I know they don't have a reward scheme (OK it's good value already) but  at least an acknowledgement, maybe just a pin badge would be nice.

There are folks on this forum who have 30 - 40 cruises under their belt, what do you think ?.

[Brummijam]

It would be nice if tui recognised customer loyalty but there is no sign of it happening officially. We have been on a few Thomson/Marella cruises and on about our fourth trip there was a complimentary bottle of wine in the cabin  the card just read “with compliments of Thomson”

Has anyone else received unexpected goodies on their trips..?

[Pensioncruiser]

They did something special for what they said was our fiftieth cruise , it was actually our 48th, but it coincided with our golden wedding so we accepted it. We have also received bottles as returning guests and a couple of suite upgrades. 😎

[davecttr]

Yes,  a couple of bottles of wine delivered to the cabin. They must keep internal records as on  my last Explorer cruise they asked anyone with previous Marella/Thomson cruising experience to contact reception and we got a invite to a little reception. Thinks, same on Discovery

[GOQ]

Sorry to add an additional observation here:

 

On my last Marella cruise on Dream one late afternoon I went to the Water's Edge bar for a little whisky and was asked to move by a "White Shirt " officer as the area was reserved for special passengers, whereby "it, the officer" roped off part of the bar with a tape. I retreated to a far corner of the bar then was immediately  surrounded by overflow passengers in smart evening dress. When  I asked them what was happening they replied they had received invitations because they had been on previous cruises with Marella. Well, I thought, this is at least my 9th or 10th cruise with Thomson/Marella, what have I done wrong.  I just removed myself to another bar.

 

What did I do wrong ???

[Pensioncruiser]

Nothing other than not register at reception that meeting is for anyone who has done at least one cruise. 

[GOQ]

I did not realize that. I have not seen this explicitly mentioned anywhere.

Thanks for the tip, I guess I just have to report to reception on arrival in future and inform them of my prior cruises with Marella/Thomson. So I guess they don't keep a record of my previous cruises then if I have to inform them of the fact. On the feedback email questionnaire there was a question something like " Do you think Marella value your custom", I entered 7, maybe I should have entered 2.

 

Thanks for your help

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by GOQ
x

[Vitalsign]

In the Cruise News for all ships is an invitation to a Discover your Smile Party with the captain and officers when you register with reception and tell them how many cruises you have done At the cocktail party you will receive a discover your smile badge with the name of the ship and year on it

TUI in my opinion have no idea how many cruises we have done but I did win on Discovery 2 last year and got a photo with captain (FOC) and a bottle of champagne!! At another four of these parties the winners were each time the same couple who had done over 125 cruises with TUI - amazing

[Pensioncruiser]

Think they realise some cruisers exaggerate 🙄 so they now have a raffle for the bubbly well they did last year on Discovery. 

[Vitalsign]

Yes I believe some do but this couple definitely have done this many - They cruise every 4/6 weeks and were well known by the officers You have probably met them as we have many times 

Yes they did raffle the prize on Celebration this year but not on my cruises last year and agree it's a good idea but a better one would be to keep a record of regular cruisers and like they have in the past give little extras to us I did 7 last year and didn't even receive a bottle of wine on arrival Even better would be loyalty points like on other cruise lines but I won't hold my breath

[Pensioncruiser]

Must agree with you and yes we have seen that couple, the winners of the raffle on the Discovery in fact passed the prize onto them they are a lovely couple. 

[Vitalsign]

On Celebration this year the couple told me they thought it was a good idea to raffle the prosecco as they felt embarrassed by winning it so often. A black family won it on their first cruise and it was the grandmas birthday and she was thrilled and everyone sang happy birthday - great PR for TUI - and I bet they cruise again.

[nancyneptune]

Holding a draw for the bottle of bubbly is much fairer.  Some people count a back to back as two cruises other count it as one.  Some people exaggerate.  One old gentleman we met in Hemingway's told us he had done 72 cruises. We sat with him again in Horizons at the Discover Your Smile Party and he said he had done 86 cruises. He was really miffed as a couple sitting nearby had been on 95 cruises. He said  " Well I've never seen them before "  LOL !!!

 

[Pensioncruiser]

When they started doing this the Captain informed us that a B2B counted as two. Think the best thing about this meeting is that you have a good time with the staff and fellow passengers and the bubbles and snacks help🍸🍸🍻🍻.

[ollienbertsmum]

On 5/11/2019 at 4:21 PM, GOQ said:

Sorry to add an additional observation here:

 

On my last Marella cruise on Dream one late afternoon I went to the Water's Edge bar for a little whisky and was asked to move by a "White Shirt " officer as the area was reserved for special passengers, whereby "it, the officer" roped off part of the bar with a tape. I retreated to a far corner of the bar then was immediately  surrounded by overflow passengers in smart evening dress. When  I asked them what was happening they replied they had received invitations because they had been on previous cruises with Marella. Well, I thought, this is at least my 9th or 10th cruise with Thomson/Marella, what have I done wrong.  I just removed myself to another bar.

 

What did I do wrong ???

Haha this would have been so me!!   

[Eglesbrech]

Interesting that they have started these parties again. They stopped for many years, it was something they did when Thomson started selling cruises at first.

 

I don’t think that they do keep a record as we have been with them quite a few times going back to their launch as a line and never had any kind of recognition for it.