How would you like to see Virgin Voyages’ Sailing Club evolve?

[neverendingcruising]

485c members get access to Richard’s so that’s already a benefit of the top “tier” if they keep that in the new program 

[CineGraphic]

2 hours ago, neverendingcruising said:

485c members

 

# of sailings isn't always the factor in being granted membership into 485c....and they've already expanded membership numbers past the original 100.

[-The-True-North-]

6 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

# of sailings isn't always the factor in being granted membership into 485c....and they've already expanded membership numbers past the original 100.

How do you get 485c?

[CineGraphic]

16 minutes ago, -The-True-North- said:

How do you get 485c?

Short answer: You can't

https://vvinsider.com/guides-and-faqs/guide/sailing-club/club-485c/

[cantgetin]

Honestly, I think it is time to end the status match and award Sea Rover with DBE to people who have completed 2 cruises (which was the requirement) or whatever increased level they set.  Alternatively, have a different set of perks that does not include priority boarding for those who status match rather than previous cruisers.

[mbfrenc0586]

13 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

Honestly, I think it is time to end the status match and award Sea Rover with DBE to people who have completed 2 cruises (which was the requirement) or whatever increased level they set.  Alternatively, have a different set of perks that does not include priority boarding for those who status match rather than previous cruisers.

Agreed.  Just something required so that those of us who actually have cruised with VV get a benefit for doing so.  I have cruise 5 in two weeks and 6 in August.  I'm totally fine with them giving some benefits for a status match but not the same as for those of us who have cruise multiple times already.

[-The-True-North-]

44 minutes ago, mbfrenc0586 said:

Agreed.  Just something required so that those of us who actually have cruised with VV get a benefit for doing so.  I have cruise 5 in two weeks and 6 in August.  I'm totally fine with them giving some benefits for a status match but not the same as for those of us who have cruise multiple times already.

Yup.

 

Guess VV thinks there's no benefits of keeping people loyal. Just hand out status like it's free candy on Halloween.

 

Between the lack of a loyalty program and the doubling of prices, it might be time to jump ship.

 

Can we do the reverse of what everyone is doing, and use VV Sailor Club to status match anyone else?

 

VV to Hilton Gold to MSC?

[Tolkmit]

40 minutes ago, mbfrenc0586 said:

Agreed.  Just something required so that those of us who actually have cruised with VV get a benefit for doing so.  I have cruise 5 in two weeks and 6 in August.  I'm totally fine with them giving some benefits for a status match but not the same as for those of us who have cruise multiple times already.

 

I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed if they are expecting loyalty rewards to be significantly different after 5-6 cruises than what someone gets on their first cruise, once the program actually comes out. Royal Caribbean, for instance, you need a dozen one week cruises before you get anything truly worth mentioning, and a hundred before you hit the top tier.

[-The-True-North-]

5 minutes ago, Tolkmit said:

 

I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed if they are expecting loyalty rewards to be significantly different after 5-6 cruises than what someone gets on their first cruise, once the program actually comes out. Royal Caribbean, for instance, you need a dozen one week cruises before you get anything truly worth mentioning, and a hundred before you hit the top tier.

What does Royal Caribbean give those with 2 to 11?

 

I believe people aren't disappointed by what they are getting. People are disappointed because you don't even need to sail once to get the same treatment as someone who has sailed 12 times. I get it, they are trying to attract people from other companies.

 

But that means that DBE isn't a loyalty program, but just basic perks.

[jon81uk]

15 minutes ago, Tolkmit said:

 

I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed if they are expecting loyalty rewards to be significantly different after 5-6 cruises than what someone gets on their first cruise, once the program actually comes out. Royal Caribbean, for instance, you need a dozen one week cruises before you get anything truly worth mentioning, and a hundred before you hit the top tier.

In reality if VV make changes it will to give the existing deep blue extra benefits to those who have done multiple cruises and then less benefits to those who have only done two or three. There isn’t much more they could offer on top so a reduction in benefits for some is more likely.

[Tolkmit]

23 minutes ago, -The-True-North- said:

What does Royal Caribbean give those with 2 to 11?

 

I believe people aren't disappointed by what they are getting. People are disappointed because you don't even need to sail once to get the same treatment as someone who has sailed 12 times. I get it, they are trying to attract people from other companies.

 

But that means that DBE isn't a loyalty program, but just basic perks.

 

Very little. Think "50% on glass of wine!" type coupon stuff. They have a few tiers, but negligible differences between them. And they list other stuff, like an event onboard, but... it's all still pretty small stuff. However, when you hit their higher tiers, it's pretty good value.4-5-6 free 14$ cocktails per day.

 

And both here and in other discussion places, most of the people commenting (who give a number) aren't people with a dozen sailings on Virgin, they are people with 4 or 5. And yes, there might be a couple loopholes; but for the most part it takes a dozen sailings on another line to match to the same status as 2 sailings on Virgin. As long as Virgin is trying to attract people from other lines, I think that's fair. If they just stop matching MSC, that will close most of the loopholes I've seen explained.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Tolkmit

[Tolkmit]

23 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

In reality if VV make changes it will to give the existing deep blue extra benefits to those who have done multiple cruises and then less benefits to those who have only done two or three. There isn’t much more they could offer on top so a reduction in benefits for some is more likely.

 

I expect them to continue lowering the bartab offer for booking until it's gone completely, then do the same with MNVV loot offers, then to start offering more bar tab amounts for the higher tiers.

 

So something like, cocktail event and premium wifi for 1-4 cruises; plus 10$ specialty coffee each day for 5-9 cruises; plus laundry service and 100 bartab after 10 cruises; plus another 10$ in bartab for every cruise above 10. And then expedited boarding and early dinner reservations at 50 cruises; access to Richard's Rooftop at 100.

 

And that's me being conservative. It would still leave them offering significantly less dollar value for higher tier loyalty people than some of their competitors. It's also why (I'm guessing) they keep delaying launching the program. They want their more loyal people to have hit around 10 cruises so they aren't losing much from what they currently get when it comes out.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Tolkmit

[cantgetin]

VV has talked about loyalty based on number of cruises, number of nights, and number of dollars spent.  Obviously, no final decision yet.

[-The-True-North-]

59 minutes ago, Tolkmit said:

 

I expect them to continue lowering the bartab offer for booking until it's gone completely, then do the same with MNVV loot offers, then to start offering more bar tab amounts for the higher tiers.

 

So something like, cocktail event and premium wifi for 1-4 cruises; plus 10$ specialty coffee each day for 5-9 cruises; plus laundry service and 100 bartab after 10 cruises; plus another 10$ in bartab for every cruise above 10. And then expedited boarding and early dinner reservations at 50 cruises; access to Richard's Rooftop at 100.

 

And that's me being conservative. It would still leave them offering significantly less dollar value for higher tier loyalty people than some of their competitors. It's also why (I'm guessing) they keep delaying launching the program. They want their more loyal people to have hit around 10 cruises so they aren't losing much from what they currently get when it comes out.

Eck. Hope that's not the case.

[Tolkmit]

28 minutes ago, -The-True-North- said:

Eck. Hope that's not the case.

 

For certain perks, like early boarding or reservations, if everyone has it it loses all value. And you get a lot of backlash if you eliminate or raise the tiers required for stuff later; so it makes sense for Virgin to try and set up a model for long term.

My last several cruises on other lines, it's been approximately ~33% new cruisers, ~25% cruised at least once but less than 5 times, ~15% between 5 and a dozen cruises, ~15% between a dozen and 25, ~10%  between 25 and 100, ~2% over 100. Some of those numbers get inflated by other factors (Royal for instance had double points for a short time after the pandemic and children start with their parents reward status.) But it gives you an idea. There are a lot of people who cruise a lot.

Around 5% of the ship already gets expedited boarding and such, because they have suites. If, long term, Virgin wants to keep less than 10% of total passengers getting those benefits, to keep them valuable, those are the sorts of numbers they'll have to be looking at.

It's all speculation, there is a chance Virgin ignores industry standards, does re-setting rewards, tiers only based on sailings in the last year, or gives a lot more a lot sooner and just plans to deal with the backlash of having to take them away in 5 or 10 years. But if they try to have a loyalty program that is similar to and competitive with other lines, I think that's around where they will be.

[CineGraphic]

At this point I don't think it matters how many people have been status matched because once Virgin sets the prices where they want them to be, and we all know that's higher than what we've been used to paying, those higher prices will weed out a large number of folks. People are already complaining about the 2025 pricing and saying that can't continue to sail with Virgin, or will sail less.

[Lustate]

8 hours ago, Tolkmit said:

 

My last several cruises on other lines, it's been approximately ~33% new cruisers, ~25% cruised at least once but less than 5 times, ~15% between 5 and a dozen cruises, ~15% between a dozen and 25, ~10%  between 25 and 100, ~2% over 100.

Genuine question… how can someone get over 100 cruises with a company? Let’s assume your a uk bod and get the average of 5 weeks annual leave a year, and you start booking every single week of leave with them from 18 years old. You would need to spend all your leave with them for 20 years to get to 100 cruises. 
 

that’s just near impossible. Think about Disney who has only been around for 25 years so only now will uk people who get more than the average in the uk have a possible chance to break the 100 cruises. 

[cantgetin]

17 minutes ago, Lustate said:

Genuine question… how can someone get over 100 cruises with a company? Let’s assume your a uk bod and get the average of 5 weeks annual leave a year, and you start booking every single week of leave with them from 18 years old. You would need to spend all your leave with them for 20 years to get to 100 cruises. 
 

that’s just near impossible. Think about Disney who has only been around for 25 years so only now will uk people who get more than the average in the uk have a possible chance to break the 100 cruises. 

We watched one couple from Chicago who did a weekend get away from the Chicogo weather one weeke d per month on DCL...she ultimately becane a TA.  Bottom loine, that's how they acrued so many criuses, but they were all short cruises.  And much of this was in the era when DL cruises were reasonably price.  We take a lot of long cruises, and used to remark on our number of nights vs. others who had more "status."    At some point, the value for money on DCL, as well as child issues and mine becoming an adult, made it time to explore other lines.  We've stucl to about 2 cruises per year but continue to choose cruises that make that 24 or more nights per year.  Ans no, with a move such that we are farther from ports, we'll never see the 100 cruises level on any line, but I've seen how others do it.  It doesn't seem right that a 3 night cruise gets the same status credit as a 12-15 night.  On the othr hand, depending on line, 7y nights may cost more than 14-15 nights.

[Lustate]

13 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

 It doesn't seem right that a 3 night cruise gets the same status credit as a 12-15 night.  On the othr hand, depending on line, 7y nights may cost more than 14-15 nights.

I’m hoping they do something like the number of nights x the class of cabin. That should in theory even help out people who do longer sea terrace voyages against the shorter mega suites. 
 

massive suite for a week = 7*26 = 182 points

sea terrace for four voyages at a week = 7*17*4 = 476

 

regular voyages get more perks even if they have paid less, rewarding sticking with the brand over a longer term. 

[Tolkmit]

8 minutes ago, Lustate said:

Genuine question… how can someone get over 100 cruises with a company? Let’s assume your a uk bod and get the average of 5 weeks annual leave a year, and you start booking every single week of leave with them from 18 years old. You would need to spend all your leave with them for 20 years to get to 100 cruises. 
 

that’s just near impossible. Think about Disney who has only been around for 25 years so only now will uk people who get more than the average in the uk have a possible chance to break the 100 cruises. 

 

The problem is your assumption of 5 weeks of annual leave a year. In my circle of friends who regularly cruise together, we have a couple medical doctors, both of whom can get closer to 12 weeks off per year by grouping their shifts. A couple nurses, who do contract nursing, which pays well enough they typically do 3 month contracts then take a month off. And a couple independent contractors such as myself, who just don't schedule or take jobs times we plan to cruise. We could do 12 cruises a year, if we truly wanted, but actually average about 6 seven day cruises a year. And while we might be outliers; it's actually a rapidly growing trend, at least among millennials in the US, to prioritize quality of life over maximizing earnings. You also have more and more people capable of working from "home" who spend weeks at a time making the home they work from a ship. In addition, you have to consider retirees. They make up a large portion of the cruise industry's customer base, and have all the time in the world.

So it may seem impossible but I assure you it's not. Royal Caribbean's loyalty program, you get one point per night on board. Their highest level, pinnacle, requires 700 points to achieve, or 100 seven night sailings. They average around 3% of their capacity being pinnacle members. Now, there are exceptions where you can get more than 1 point per night, staying in a suite or paying for and staying in a dual occupancy cabin alone. But there are also regularly people who could have made pinnacle 3 or 4 times over. Still, I rounded down to ~2% in my original post due to the occasional person getting more than one point per night.

 

You also have to consider that the people sailing often enough to reach these reward tiers, tend to keep sailing at the same rate. So if a Virgin ship does 52 sailings a year, and wants to average around 78 cabins being filled by people in their top rewards category (~5% of the ship, doubling the number who get it from being in a suite) that's 8112 times someone with top rewards books a sailing. All that takes, is 676 people who each book 12 cruises a year, to fill that up. So yeah, not many people can cruise that often; but all it takes is a handful who can.

[cantgetin]

• On our last sailing, we had quite a few people "working" on line during the cruise.  I doubt that many were really doing a full day of work, but they were still involved at least part time.

[-The-True-North-]

Not many Retiree's on a VV Sailing. At least that I know. Most of the older people we talked to didn't like the time on board.

 

But think this is ultimately shifting away from the original question. Thank you for your thoughts, I truly hope VV continues to do things different and not match what other lines have. 

[cantgetin]

5 hours ago, -The-True-North- said:

Not many Retiree's on a VV Sailing. At least that I know. Most of the older people we talked to didn't like the time on board.

 

That may deoend on the particular cruise.    We had quite a few of us "older folk" on our 14 and 15 night cruises.

[neverendingcruising]

The loyalty world outside of cruising is shifting to dollars spent, if Virgin continues trying to disrupt the industry it wouldn’t surprise me to see an annual earning period where your status is based on the amount of money you spend and having to requalify year after year. Seems harsh but logically makes the most sense.  

[robertsammons]

1 hour ago, neverendingcruising said:

The loyalty world outside of cruising is shifting to dollars spent, if Virgin continues trying to disrupt the industry it wouldn’t surprise me to see an annual earning period where your status is based on the amount of money you spend and having to requalify year after year. Seems harsh but logically makes the most sense.  

This is actually exactly what they were talking about originally, they even had a booking promotion where the $ spend was multiplied for the tokens they were talking about. I'm not sure if this will be the case when it finally launches but I do think this is fairest way as it also rewards those that can only sail certain times of year such as the holidays.