Captain's Club - beyond Elite status?

[BrendaJ]

Canderson - you're right. I chose a bunch of things that would generally cost Celebrity between $100 and $200. Anything that you can buy on board is pretty much equal to a discount or cabin credit.

 

I guess a meaningful reward would have to be something that other passengers cannot buy - perhaps an engraved piece of jewelry, high quality item of clothing or luggage, or special privledges, such as access to officers/company management, behind-the-scenes tours, higher priority in all line-ups, special lounges, choice of dining room table, etc. I would suppose that a $200 discount is probably not that big a deal to anyone who can afford to cruise more than 100 days.

 

Personally, I think a cool perk would be access to a special area of Celebrity's website, perhaps with a message board where you could chat with other passengers, as well as Celebrity staff. You would think that the cruise line would be interested in hearing the opinions of their best clients.

 

Brenda

[CGTNORMANDIE]

I would like all of the above and X should be able to do it...if they wanted to.

 

ROSS

 

HI GYPZ!!!

[floridacruisers]

Danno, you've got my vote. The last thing we need is to make all Celebrity ships into floating 'Wallyworlds'. I don't mind paying for something if I get my money's worth. Give out more free-bee's and something's got to give. I do like the idea of higher levels like C&A cause I'm getting close (18) to them and would like the recognition accordingly. There are bennies you can get that don't cost much but are greatly appreciated. I'm sure Celeb could come up with something other than backstage tours.

[Danno]

Things like the entertainment, movie & TV selections, bed quality -- those should be things that effect everyone on the ship equally.

 

All the more reason...if I have a bad bed I find little solice in the fact that someone with the lowest cat, inside cabin also has a lousy matress.

[CruisingChick]

Listen after taking 6 Celebrity cruises in a row and having numbers 7 and 8 booked, I have given them allot of my hard earned money. I don't see WHY I shouldn't be rewarded with something SPECIAL. It's good customer service.

 

In the last 2 years we've given Celebrity approximately $19,000 (that's just cost of the cruise not what we have spent on the ship). They can't give me a free dinner in the Speciality Restaurant or $200 off my next cruise?

 

By the way, we book inside category 9 cabins, so I can't even imagine how much we would have spent if we booked a higher category.

[Sky Sweet]

I would like all of the above and X should be able to do it...if they wanted to.

 

ROSS

 

HI GYPZ!!!

 

Do you really think Celebrity can do it without compromising on the quality of their product?

[Danno]

As someone who owns a business let me make this VERY CLEAR!!! If I give you something for FREE, I have to get that revenue back elsewhere...and the shell game begins. And I don't think my perks should be a burden on first time cruisers (for example).

 

All I want is what I paid for, and was promised....

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Do you really think Celebrity can do it without compromising on the quality of their product?

 

Sure X can do it...RCI and Princess are doing it. When you look carefully at what X is offering...it really amounts to very little when compared to RCI or Princess.

 

BTW...X is already hard at work compromising the product. Every year that goes by...the airline execs at X are busy dumbing down the product. RCI assigned huge costs to X after the merger...to pay for the merger. RCI will have 20 ships on line in 2006 with another 3 coming quickly.

 

X will have 8 ships in need of refurbishing in 2006 (not including Explorer). RCI treats X like Cinderella while it tries to dumb down the product to suit the air execs idea of profitability. So far they have managed to PO 1/2 of the old customer base with their lack of knowledge of what it takes to run a 1st. class operation with respect for the tradition of quality that was established by the Chandirs family.

 

ROSS

[canderson]

RCI assigned huge costs to X after the merger...to pay for the merger.

That's believable. Look at what happened when the airline "Kiss of Death", Frank Lorenzo, got hold of Continental, Eastern, Frontier and People's all at the same time. There was NO equity in the way operating costs were being assigned between Continental and Eastern.

 

It would certainly be interesting to see CURRENT unconsolidated figures, but RCI isn't talking. "Proprietary information" and all that.

[Danno]

...the air execs idea of profitability. ROSS

 

 

The words "air execs" and "profitability" should never appear in the same sentence, unless the words "stupid" and "bankruptcy" are in that same sentence...really!!!

[Sky Sweet]

The words "air execs" and "profitability" should never appear in the same sentence, unless the words "stupid" and "bankruptcy" are in that same sentence...really!!!

 

Do you have any opinion about why the discount carriers are doing so well while the major airlines have been in and out of bankrucpcy for the past few years?

[Bruin Steve]

I am about to take a short cruise on RCCL, so, I will sample their "Diamond" perks--thanks to my "Elite" Captains Club status --which, BTW, I hit in record time by taking long cruises in suites...a rule I really appreciated because I never quite saw how someone who goes on 10 three-nighters during the off season in discounted inside cabins deserves "better" perks than someone who spends as much with the line in a single cruise, booking a suite, pre- and post cruise stays, airfare and thousands in shore excursions...

 

In fact, the real irony of the whole thing is that I believe EVERYONE deserves great treatment by the simple reason of the money they're spending on the cruise they're on...I really don't think I'm entitled to anything on a subsequent cruise just because I've been on a prior cruise...I want to get my money's worth on EACH cruise for what I spent on THAT cruise...That's really all they owe me...A cruise fare is a present charge, not a future investment...

 

That said, to be truthful, I really don't consider the Captains Club perks when booking a cruise...I just want to know that I'm getting a quality cruise experience for the money paid...

 

$$ discounts don't really mean that much...the bottom line is that it is what it is...If they're giving a "discount", it's really only that they're setting the price at that lower amount...And they'll set the prices at where they need to set them to produce their return...

 

As to the little stuff, wine tastings and backstage tours and "parties" are nice...if they didn't have them, I probably wouldn't notice-I always find lots to do anyway...

 

Priority Embarkation is becoming a pet peeve with me...When we boarded the Constellation in Dover, they had a long line for the "ordinary" passengers and much shorter lines for Select and Elite and for suites...Problem is they had about 20 agents servicing the long line--and two servicing the "priority" lines...The end result was that we saw the couple who got off the bus behind us and who went through the ordinary line heading to the ship while we were still 3 or 4 back in the Select/Elite line!!! Not much priority, huh?

 

So, basically, I pay little attention to the perks...they are what they are...But, I'll try to take special notice on the Monarch of the "Diamond perks"...maybe if I'm looking for them, I'll appreciate them...

[Danno]

Actually I do...a more personal level of service...the ability of front line employees to bend a rule to fit a situation...all in all, they don't seem to nearly as smug as the big lines.

 

(Case in point...Jill had to drive from Toronto to North Bay (4 hours) to board a plane to fly from North Bay to Toronto with me (2 hours later), then change planes to fly to south, to cruise from FLL...if she wasn't on the plane from North Bay to Toronto, they wouldn't honour her ticket from Toronto to Florida...gotta love Air Canada and it's "rules".)

[Sky Sweet]

As someone who owns a business let me make this VERY CLEAR!!! If I give you something for FREE, I have to get that revenue back elsewhere...and the shell game begins. And I don't think my perks should be a burden on first time cruisers (for example).

 

All I want is what I paid for, and was promised....

 

If you were on a cruise that had numerous travel agents, would you feel as if you were helping to finance these TA's who paid a special TA rate, which was significantly less than what regular passengers paid?

[Bruin Steve]

Listen after taking 6 Celebrity cruises in a row and having numbers 7 and 8 booked, I have given them allot of my hard earned money. I don't see WHY I shouldn't be rewarded with something SPECIAL. It's good customer service.

 

In the last 2 years we've given Celebrity approximately $19,000 (that's just cost of the cruise not what we have spent on the ship). They can't give me a free dinner in the Speciality Restaurant or $200 off my next cruise?

 

By the way, we book inside category 9 cabins, so I can't even imagine how much we would have spent if we booked a higher category.

Anne Maria,

I'm not trying to sound snooty here, just interesting to see how this supports one of my points...On a SINGLE Celebrity cruise, our 13-night cruisetour on the Summit a year ago July, we far exceeded that total (not counting what we spent on the ship--or shore excursions--or tips, either...We're talking just the initial invoice amount to Celebrity for two suites on a 13 night cruisetour)...

 

What should I expect AFTER dropping all that dough on a SINGLE cruise? Truth is, I expect NOTHING...at least nothing more than I paid for on THAT cruise...I spent $20,000+ for a cruise...and for that I expected--and received--one danged good cruisetour. But, does it entitle me to anything on the NEXT cruise? Not really...I, of course, paid more money for the next one...and for the one after that...

 

Captains Club is not some right or investment...You don't own a piece of any company by virtue of having bought from them before...

 

On your 6 prior Celebrity cruises and with your $19,000 spent, did you not receive the value you contracted for each time?

 

I buy gasoline at the 76 station...have for years...After all of the money I've spent there, do you think they owe me something on future tanks? On the contrsry, they keep raising the prices and could care less--the price of gas is based on the going rate each time...

 

Well, some businesses, like cruise lines, like to make you think you're getting something for your "loyalty"...But, truthfully, what you are getting, you are getting for the price you pay for that particular transaction...the rest is just marketing...

[canderson]

Do you have any opinion about why the discount carriers are doing so well while the major airlines have been in and out of bankrucpcy for the past few years?

A long legacy of unsupportable costs for doing business. Nothing more complicated than that.

[Sky Sweet]

Actually I do...a more personal level of service...the ability of front line employees to bend a rule to fit a situation...all in all, they don't seem to nearly as smug as the big lines.

 

(Case in point...Jill had to drive from Toronto to North Bay (4 hours) to board a plane to fly from North Bay to Toronto with me (2 hours later), then change planes to fly to south, to cruise from FLL...if she wasn't on the plane from North Bay to Toronto, they wouldn't honour her ticket from Toronto to Florida...gotta love Air Canada and it's "rules".)

 

I agree with you. When my daughter was in college, she had checked in for a flight after Thanksgiving vacation, as if everything was okay, but that flight was delayed for ten hours before being cancelled for fog. After five hours, I contacted the airlines to see if she could fly out of another airport in the area which was operating without problems and had space, but was advised I would have to pay an additional $1,000 because her flight had not been canceled at that point in time. After ten hours at the gate, they decided to close the airport because of fog, so she was finally able to fly out of another airport in the area.

[BrendaJ]

I guess I see things in a different way than most people.

Captain's Club and other loyalty programs are, in my opinion, a form of marketing, and an attempt to get repeat business from someone they know is interested in buying what they are selling. If Celebrity had no competition, there would be no need for them to try to steer their past customers away from the competition.

I think that if a person has cruised over 100 days, that kind of commitment should be recognized by more than a list of perks that likely cost the cruise line less than $30 per recipient and in many cases are just another attempt to get more money out of your pocket (ie. the casino and spa coupons).

I guess I'm just saying that, if Celebrity and Holland America (on which I've not yet sailed) offered the same itinerary in the same size cabin for the same price, the Captain's Club Elite rewards would not convince me to stick with Celebrity (by the way, I'm not Elite yet, but will be soon). If Holland America's product happened to be my cup of tea, Celebrity could lose a frequent cruiser. If the Elite rewards were a little more impressive, I'd probably just stick with Celebrity rather than take a chance on not liking HAL as much.

Brenda

[hajekfam]

Why the magical number of 100 days?

Even though I don't have 100 days of cruising Celebrity, I have cruised Celebrity exclusively since our very first cruise ever (Zenith in 1992). I would say that I am a very loyal Celebrity cruiser. So loyal in fact, that when the studio where we take dance lessons wanted to book a cruise, we told them that we only cruise Celebrity and convinced them to book thier annual dance cruises on Celebrity also.

[Danno]

What impresses me and keeps me coming back isn't points or trinkets...it's Mike, our favorite wine steward, greeting us "welcome back Mr and Mrs. Danno...nice that you could join us again"...that impresses me.

 

Lets see the suits at RCL figure out how to package that and sell it...great employees are the result of skilled management and superior training, but that doesn't show up in a bar graph, so the bean counters will hardly acknowledge it exists.

 

Like I said...give me a consistant, quality, product and forget all the silly come-ons.

[Logie]

First, be aware that the count for the two lines aren't combined. Each line provides you whatever perks you get from the other line for your status there, however. So when you get to 5 cruises on one or the other, you'll be accorded like status during any cruises on the other line -- same when you reach 10 on either line.

 

If you've joined the C&A on RCL, just let the Captain's Club folks at Celebrity know, providing them with your membership number.

 

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question! I wish the Carnivor company would do that!! I guess they have too many lines.

[pooh1bear43113]

We attained "Diamond" status in RCI's C&A thanks to our recently acquired "Elite" status with CC.

 

We had cruised a few times on RCI (before we found X) - but hadn't sailed RCI in several years. In December, we sailed NOS (with Capt. Bang!) and were absolutely blown away by the amenities offered to "Diamond" status (again: thanks to X)....

 

but I have to say the very best perk (IMHO) was the Concierge Lounge. What a wonderful, quiet place to spend some time prior to dinner enjoying a drink or glass of wine. Was pretty nice to visit inthe AM for cap./espresso and pastries.

 

Really would appreciate a perk like that on X.

[AliceS]

Princess Elite benefits win hands down. Mini bar set up, laundry, dry cleaning, free internet, etc. We do like Celebrity and do cruise with X, but all things being equal, the Princess perks are nice. We like Anytime Dining, too.

 

Itinerary usually helps us choose.

[flashdog_1]

I am taking my first HAL cruise in March and have been doing some comparison on my own. One thing I noticed was that HAL has a single rate that is equal to booking one half of a double. And they guarantee that if they do not find you a same sex cabin partner, you can still have the cabin for the price even if you are alone. That's the first time I've seen that. I've been taking my daughter with me instead of cruising solo. I'm limited by her work schedule, however, and would not be if I took advantage of HAL's single cruiser program. I could go for half price. Yeah, who knows what sort of roomie you'd get, but maybe they match ages, too, and wouldn't give me a 21 year old who is traveling with a big group and just couldn't fit into one of their cabins.