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This question has been asked many times, think the basic answer is no. But they sometimes do something if you are returning on the same ship. They did something special for us on our fiftieth cruise which coensided with our golden wedding but saying that one of the best things they did for us was on our first cruise upgrade to a suite. 👌

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All you get is an invite to a get together with the Captain and/or some of the officers before dinner one evening.  You get a glass or two of bubbly (no real incentive now the ships are all AI anyway) and a couple of canapes.  You will be given a 'Discover Your Smile' pin badge as you arrive.  The senior officer says a few words and presents a bottle of bubbly to whoever has done the most Marella/TUI/Thomson cruises (the winner has done over 80 each time we have been on so our 15 seems meagre lol).

 

To get the invite you have to register at reception as a returning passenger - when to do this will be announced in your daily 'Cruise News' sheet; if you don't register you won't get anything.

 

Oh, and we did get a block of chocolate once lol!

Edited by campolady
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Sounds like fun.

I've always asked why no loyalty points scheme in place from Marella and the corporate answer is, they simply don't need to. The prices are reasonable and competitive, they already have over 2/3rds returning guests anyway, so don't feel the need to encourage what is already happening.

When you look at some of the other cruise lines and what they offer, it really isn't all that much to fuss about.

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I don’t normally disagree with you SausPud but our loyalty on Celebrity/Royal Caribbean entitles us to some decent things like free internet, free laundry, captains party, gelato in the speciality ice cream, helipad sailaway party & lots more. We haven’t been on that many cruises with them unlike some people on here with Marella. It is certainly a factor when deciding who we sail with. Marella should introduce something especially when the prices are going as high as they are. 

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I have been on 8 Marella cruises in the past 3 years but only found out about the "Party" from this forum a few months ago. I On the last cruise I spotted the party announcement in cruise news, added myself to the list, and the party was cancelled. But a I did get a special Badge.

 

I didn't bother to fill in the Marella cruise questionnaire this time, the thought being "If you can't be bothered to acknowledge me as a customer then I can't be bothered the time to fill in your questionnaire".

Edited by GOQ
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Following on from Jayneykul's post, I have just returned from a Princess cruise.  We got priority embarkation, one-off stocking of a mini-bar (8 x miniature spirits, 2 x beers, 2 x water, 8 x mixers), canapes delivered to cabin on formal nights, afternoon tea in cabin, free cover charge once for two people in a speciality restaurant, 150 minutes complimentary internet time, loyalty club party, complimentary wine-tasting event, separate lounge every evening with reduced-price cocktail specials and complimentary food, unlimited free laundry and separate disembarkation lounge.  We would also have got 10% discount in the on-board shops if we had bothered to go inside any of them 😄.

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The wife and I have done 20 Plus cruises with Tui, they briefly started paying lip service  to loyal customers about 5 years ago. For one or 2 cruises we received a warm bottle of cheap wine in the cabin on arrival but that soon stopped and we have had nothing for the last 4 ?

 

Having said that, they must be doing something right because we keep returning 😉

Edited by john_l
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On 8/3/2019 at 12:12 PM, john_l said:

The wife and I have done 20 Plus cruises with Tui, they briefly started paying lip service  to loyal customers about 5 years ago. For one or 2 cruises we received a warm bottle of cheap wine in the cabin on arrival but that soon stopped and we have had nothing for the last 4 ?

 

Having said that, they must be doing something right because we keep returning 😉

 

 

The reason we kept returning was being able to fly from our local airport, but there is a lot less to choose from now.  Some cruises we had on our bucket list only have departures from Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham. 

 

We are now looking at CMV and FO  for next year as they are sailing from a few ports in Scotland. 

 

We have done dozens of cruises with Thomson / Marella over the years and all we have had for our loyalty is a bar of chocolate.

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On 8/2/2019 at 2:17 PM, SausPud said:

Sounds like fun.

I've always asked why no loyalty points scheme in place from Marella and the corporate answer is, they simply don't need to. 

When you look at some of the other cruise lines and what they offer, it really isn't all that much to fuss about.

 

I remember that too - but was lead to believe that the reason they couldn't recognise loyalty was because they simply hadn't got the records.  Perhaps that's borne out by the fact that they ask you to report at Reception to register as a repeat passenger.  As far as I am aware when they asked us how many cruises we'd done, they had absolutely no way of checking that out.  As an asides, I've read on here that some count b2b cruises as 2 not one.  That would make a significant difference to our count!  So it's all very random.  No wonder there's nothing really on offer - they have no idea of whether it's been earned.

 

On 8/3/2019 at 11:28 AM, Britboys said:

Following on from Jayneykul's post, I have just returned from a Princess cruise.  We got priority embarkation, one-off stocking of a mini-bar (8 x miniature spirits, 2 x beers, 2 x water, 8 x mixers), canapes delivered to cabin on formal nights, afternoon tea in cabin, free cover charge once for two people in a speciality restaurant, 150 minutes complimentary internet time, loyalty club party, complimentary wine-tasting event, separate lounge every evening with reduced-price cocktail specials and complimentary food, unlimited free laundry and separate disembarkation lounge.  We would also have got 10% discount in the on-board shops if we had bothered to go inside any of them 😄.

 

Well that's not insignificant - quite impressed really.  I'd be happy to have those perks.  Approx how many days cruising with them did you do to warrant that loyalty level?  Or were you able to transfer P&O loyalty to Princess - we just missed out on the possibility to transfer ours.  Wish I had booked a cruise with them to secure the benefits now! 😏 😉

 

On 8/3/2019 at 12:12 PM, john_l said:

The wife and I have done 20 Plus cruises with Tui, they briefly started paying lip service  to loyal customers about 5 years ago. For one or 2 cruises we received a warm bottle of cheap wine in the cabin on arrival but that soon stopped and we have had nothing for the last 4 ?

 

I remember that too - but as before, they've no idea who is entitled and who's not.  And yes, it soon fizzled out.  At that point had they wanted to do anything about a loyalty scheme, they could have started something up - albeit those of us who had done a lot of Thomson cruises might have missed out had it commenced from then.  However, had they contacted the T.A. we used - a TUI company - our agent could have given them a complete breakdown of our bookings!   I don't think there's much will - possibly because they have enough returning passengers as has already been mentioned.

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17 minutes ago, kruzseeka said:

Well that's not insignificant - quite impressed really.  I'd be happy to have those perks.  Approx how many days cruising with them did you do to warrant that loyalty level?  Or were you able to transfer P&O loyalty to Princess - we just missed out on the possibility to transfer ours.  Wish I had booked a cruise with them to secure the benefits now! 😏 😉

 

It was almost entirely down to P&O.  We had sailed with Princess once before, almost 19 years ago.  The top level of their scheme (Elite) is after your 16th cruise or 151 days at sea.  You do get priority embarkation, the disembarkation lounge and internet minutes after 6 cruises or 51 days.  Internet minutes increase with the length of the cruise - 150 up to 7, 250 for 8 - 20 days and 50 for 21 days plus.

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I made an enquiry at my local TA about a cruise with P&O, they brought up a previous P&O cruise from 2009, I was impressed. Unfortunately the points, or whatever they are, had expired. The only proof of my Thomson/Marella cruises are my cruise cards. 

I agree with Nancyneptune that the main attraction of Marella is they fly from my local airport, however they do seem to be reducing the frequency of the winter flights.

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2 hours ago, GOQ said:

I made an enquiry at my local TA about a cruise with P&O, they brought up a previous P&O cruise from 2009, I was impressed. Unfortunately the points, or whatever they are, had expired. The only proof of my Thomson/Marella cruises are my cruise cards. 

I agree with Nancyneptune that the main attraction of Marella is they fly from my local airport, however they do seem to be reducing the frequency of the winter flights.

 

 

Not only reducing the winter flights from regional airports GOQ but also many of the  flights for the  re-positioning cruises throughout the year. 

 

Have you also noticed over the last couple of brochures, many of the re- positioning cruises have more sea days but less days in total compared with a few years ago.  We always enjoyed the re-positioning cruises as they had a good variety of ports. 

Now they seem to be all about getting from A to B in the shortest time with less ports and less time in port.

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5 hours ago, Britboys said:

It was almost entirely down to P&O.  We had sailed with Princess once before, almost 19 years ago.  The top level of their scheme (Elite) is after your 16th cruise or 151 days at sea.  You do get priority embarkation, the disembarkation lounge and internet minutes after 6 cruises or 51 days.  Internet minutes increase with the length of the cruise - 150 up to 7, 250 for 8 - 20 days and 50 for 21 days plus.

 

Thanks for that info.  I think we were on 'Elite' too courtesy of P&O credits but as I said, didn't book before the transfer ceased.  Can't blame them really, it wasn't reciprocated by P&O.  

The internet minutes aren't to be sniffed at though.  Even a small allocation allows you to touch base, check on family, however briefly.  I'd appreciate that.  Used to buy minutes on P&O until they changed to a daily rate.  Don't bother now.  Wonder how many do likewise. I think they may lose out overall.

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17 hours ago, kruzseeka said:

 

Thanks for that info.  I think we were on 'Elite' too courtesy of P&O credits but as I said, didn't book before the transfer ceased.  Can't blame them really, it wasn't reciprocated by P&O.  

The internet minutes aren't to be sniffed at though.  Even a small allocation allows you to touch base, check on family, however briefly.  I'd appreciate that.  Used to buy minutes on P&O until they changed to a daily rate.  Don't bother now.  Wonder how many do likewise. I think they may lose out overall.

My free 150 minutes literally just about lasted the 7 nights, enabling me to send short updates with photos on whatsapp to about 5 or 6 people.  It was quite fast and the connection was good, which quite surprised me in Alaska!  If I recall rightly, you could buy a package that worked out at $9.99 per day if you bought it for the whole cruise.

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3 minutes ago, Britboys said:

My free 150 minutes literally just about lasted the 7 nights, enabling me to send short updates with photos on whatsapp to about 5 or 6 people.  It was quite fast and the connection was good, which quite surprised me in Alaska!  If I recall rightly, you could buy a package that worked out at $9.99 per day if you bought it for the whole cruise.

 

That's pretty reasonable.  I've just been trying to find the latest Wifi charges on Marella.  From what I've read, it's an hourly rate of £8 or daily £15 (if that's correct).  I much prefer to buy a set number of minutes, using 10/15 minutes a day then roll over the unused minutes.  It's a bit like photos though - I reckon if they cut their prices significantly they would get much more uptake and therefore be more profitable.  

But that Princess charge is much more reasonable and I would be prepared to buy that. 

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As long as people keep returning and they keep filling the ships, they will not have a loyalty scheme. Have to disagree about prices, since the all inclusive angle started, prices have risen considerably. Similar cruises on other cruise lines, including P&O are a lot cheaper even if you were to pay as you go for the drinks.

Marella, I think, will start to lose customers if they get complacent.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We will be on our 6th cruise with Marella in April. I know it is not many but only new to cruising in the last few years. We have never been given any recognition, not even a push off the side but now i have found out about registering at reception for the party, she who must be obeyed told me we are going. That's another job for me whilst she gets her nails done !!!

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I got a chilled bottle of sparkling wine and a plate of delicious choccies last cruise. On my last P&O cruise I got 10% off onboard spend plus two x 2 day episodes confined to my cabin sick. thanks P&O I will stick with Marella for now

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