RC and Celebrity loyalty programs possibly merging?

[Its the journey]

3 minutes ago, Tatka said:

They won't merge points.. they already have issues with number of Diamonds/Elites

This would help.  They don't intend to take status away from any who have earned it, but the changes would make it a much harder road to earn status in the future without spending buckets of money.  It will likely happen eventually.

[RobInMN]

My initial interpretation of the potential to merge the programs would not be that benefits merge, but rather that there is a single, combined counter system. Sailing on any line increments your counter accordingly. Each line could still have their own benefit system with different benefits, even a different schedule.

 

[Tatka]

16 minutes ago, Its the journey said:

This would help.  They don't intend to take status away from any who have earned it, but the changes would make it a much harder road to earn status in the future without spending buckets of money.  It will likely happen eventually.

What I’m saying they won’t allow to combine points.

We sailed

 

7 times with X

29 times with RCI 

 

I don’t think they will combine points from those cruises 

 

[Charles4515]

22 minutes ago, Its the journey said:

This would help.  They don't intend to take status away from any who have earned it, but the changes would make it a much harder road to earn status in the future without spending buckets of money.  It will likely happen eventually.

That seems likely what will happen. They might make some minor changes  like the 3 drinks on Celebrity will be all day and every day. Probably reciprocity with Silversea will be added.  Points won’t be combined. 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Charles4515

[Tatka]

Silver Sea are luxury all inclusive I think.

[HicksRA]

If it happens, it will no doubt “enhance our experience” in their favor..

[Its the journey]

4 minutes ago, HicksRA said:

If it happens, it will no doubt “enhance our experience” in their favor..

 

4 minutes ago, HicksRA said:

If it happens, it will no doubt “enhance our experience” in their favor..

Lol.  No doubt 

[OCVTSGIRL]

2 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

I did more googling, and saw a source, but I suspect the post I made with the link will not be approved.  I saw found a blog post about it just now.  Since I'm not sure I can post the name of the blog, here is what I googled "RCI merging loyalty programs", and it was the second article down.

I was able to open your link.

[3yorkies]

Hope this does not happen, as it could revert to the loss of our drink vouchers which are sooooooooooo much better than drinks in specific places at specific hours.   That is why I don't cruise on Celebrity because I want to use my 5 free drinks when and where and on what I want, not choose certain limited drinks from 5 to 8 in certain locations. 

[Its the journey]

5 minutes ago, 3yorkies said:

Hope this does not happen, as it could revert to the loss of our drink vouchers which are sooooooooooo much better than drinks in specific places at specific hours.   That is why I don't cruise on Celebrity because I want to use my 5 free drinks when and where and on what I want, not choose certain limited drinks from 5 to 8 in certain locations. 

People are going to scream loudly if that perk is walked back.  However, it is being discussed.  Seriously discussed.

[neverbeenhere]

We’re more than half Zenith and close to Pinnacle, if we can ever burn up our Princess money, we can complete Pinnacle. But if they want to use our Celebrity cruises to push us over the top now, I wouldn’t mind. 

[deliver42]

I can see the drinks go away. Liberty doesn't care about loyalty, just money.

[Starry Eyes]

1 hour ago, Its the journey said:

People are going to scream loudly if that perk is walked back.  However, it is being discussed.  Seriously discussed.

Will it save money to walk it back to the old happy hour?  I suspect it averaged more than four or five drinks per Diamond member during the old happy hour.   There were lots of doubles ordered; lots of generous pours.  Plenty of people seemed to try to maximize the drinks ordered in that timeframe.  

[LobsterStalker]

Bottom line ... If they are considering this , they are working on figuring out how it can benefit them ... Not benefit us in any way , so brace yourself. And of course the announcement would come with a whole spew of BS making it sound great 

 

Cheers... For now

[Rackham]

3 hours ago, Its the journey said:

This would help.  They don't intend to take status away from any who have earned it, but the changes would make it a much harder road to earn status in the future without spending buckets of money.  It will likely happen eventually.

 

I've been speed running C&A levels to Diamond (between last year and this) because when looking at their different loyalty programs in 2021, and how the C&A program has evolved over time, this seemed like the next logical evolution. It was a question of when and the form it would take.

 

44 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

Will it save money to walk it back to the old happy hour?  I suspect it averaged more than four or five drinks per Diamond member during the old happy hour.   There were lots of doubles ordered; lots of generous pours.  Plenty of people seemed to try to maximize the drinks ordered in that timeframe.  

 

I figure that Royal wouldn't go back to the old happy hour. Instead, they'd offer a generous discount on the DBP based on loyalty status instead of drink vouchers beyond what's currently on offer. For example, instead of 4 vouchers at Diamond, maybe they'd get 50% off the DBP once onboard. D+ receives 75% off and Pinnacle could receive 90% off. It still appears to be a great deal for everyone who hasn't reached these tiers, people who are already at one of these levels and still buy the DBP comes out ahead, and Royal would undoubtedly convert some people who wouldn't otherwise buy a package to do so. They would lose some higher tier members of C&A with this, but it might be a net positive in their eyes since the people lost might be those who primarily take advantage of the benefits, but aren't opening their wallets for Royal beyond the cruise fare.

[smokeybandit]

I get the impression that many people buy the drink package despite having vouchers, so I can't imagine they'd make it cheaper in lieu of vouchers.

[compuryan]

6 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Just curious as to why merging would be a benefit.  You already get reciprocal status.  Most have nothing to gain by a merge.

I thought the reciprocal status happened only on the date you sign up for the other program.  If I have been in both loyalty programs for 10 years but took 2 cruises on Celebrity and 12 on Royal (assuming all equal value cruises under the loyalty programs) in those years, you're saying I would still have even status with Celebrity?

Edited September 28, 2023 by compuryan

[boscobeans]

With enough cruises and points over 23 years to earn Elite plus as well as Diamond plus we are very happy with Royal and hope they don't switch to the Celebrity perks.

 

[Starry Eyes]

26 minutes ago, compuryan said:

I thought the reciprocal status happened only on the date you sign up for the other program.  If I have been in both loyalty programs for 10 years but took 2 cruises on Celebrity and 12 on Royal (assuming all equal value cruises under the loyalty programs) in those years, you're saying I would still have even status with Celebrity?

If those 12 Royal cruise have made you D on Royal, Celebrity will match that to Elite.  But if you keep cruising on Royal and make it to D+, Celebrity will still only match that at Elite; the match does not go higher.  Similarly, Celebrity Elite (and higher) can match to D on Royal.  (If you those 12 Royal cruises have you at Platinum or Emerald, you match to Select on Celebrity)

 

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Reciprocity-Flyer_052021_FINAL.pdf

Edited September 28, 2023 by Starry Eyes

[Its the journey]

3 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

Will it save money to walk it back to the old happy hour?  I suspect it averaged more than four or five drinks per Diamond member during the old happy hour.   There were lots of doubles ordered; lots of generous pours.  Plenty of people seemed to try to maximize the drinks ordered in that timeframe.  

It will save quite a bit of money.  They buy liquor wholesale.  Their most expensive drink costs around 3 dollars. 

 

They make a huge markup profit on the drinks.  The average drink on board costs half that for them to provide, compared to that most expensive drink.  And they can choose what drinks they offer at a happy hour.

 

The problem with the way it is now, is that a lot of people who are moderate drinkers are happy with the vouchers.  They don't need to buy the drink package.  If those people are forced back into a limited hours, limited drinks happy hour, to get their drink perk, they will be motivated to buy packages that increase RCI profits.

 

RCI will say, "getting the drinks of your choice, at any time of day, was only a temporary covid related change.  We are going back to how it was originally and to be more in line with our premium lines. "

 

This is a piece of what is being discussed.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Its the journey

[island lady]

8 hours ago, davekathy said:

Weird. So far no buzz about it on the CC Celebrity forum. Stay tuned.

 

Dave....did you get your original account back finally?   No more doghog?  

[island lady]

9 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Just curious as to why merging would be a benefit.  You already get reciprocal status.  Most have nothing to gain by a merge.

 

Well...not exactly.   Being Pinnacle on RCI, I am knocked back to equivalent of Diamond when cruising on Celebrity.  

[Billy Baltic]

5 hours ago, Its the journey said:

It will save quite a bit of money.  They buy liquor wholesale.  Their most expensive drink costs around 3 dollars. 

 

They make a huge markup profit on the drinks.  The average drink on board costs half that for them to provide, compared to that most expensive drink.  And they can choose what drinks they offer at a happy hour.

 

The problem with the way it is now, is that a lot of people who are moderate drinkers are happy with the vouchers.  They don't need to buy the drink package.  If those people are forced back into a limited hours, limited drinks happy hour, to get their drink perk, they will be motivated to buy packages that increase RCI profits.

 

RCI will say, "getting the drinks of your choice, at any time of day, was only a temporary covid related change.  We are going back to how it was originally and to be more in line with our premium lines. "

 

This is a piece of what is being discussed.

 

 

It may save them money on drinks but I suspect it will lose them quite a lot of existing diamonds and above. At current pricing, C&A benefits is the main thing keeping us on RC.
It’s also a very slippery slope when a company shows they will do this. Next up balcony discount or solo discount? How would they encourage people to be loyal when the customer knows they’ve previously moved the goalposts?

[gumshoe958]

16 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

It may save them money on drinks but I suspect it will lose them quite a lot of existing diamonds and above. At current pricing.

I honestly don’t think they care. As the number of D, D+ and Pinns keeps rising they have to give away more and more free drinks and clearly they’d much rather attract new, younger cruisers who’ll happily spend more on board.

[sgmn]

9 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

Will it save money to walk it back to the old happy hour?  I suspect it averaged more than four or five drinks per Diamond member during the old happy hour.   There were lots of doubles ordered; lots of generous pours.  Plenty of people seemed to try to maximize the drinks ordered in that timeframe.  

Exactly, what's the difference between four (diamond) drinks in 24 hours or potentially six or more drinks squeezed into the old happy hours 

 Drinks are cheap for them to offer anyway.

The only thing if they went back to the old HH more people may buy the DP because they want to drink outside the Happy Hours, which would be to RC's benefit. Or buy a couple of drinks after 8pm . 

 

If perks get watered down it will encourage us to look elsewhere instead of just sticking to RC and Celebrity. 

 

We do usually book tours through Royal Caribbean plus a dinning package and gifts from their shops so frequent cruisers do spend money on board 

Edited September 28, 2023 by sgmn