EFFY credit- is this something new?

[QuattroRomeo]

I just happened to be browsing through the "extras" page of things to pre-purchase on a booking, and came across these EFFY credits. Never noticed them before!  l guess if you're in the market for jewellery it is a nice deal. Has anyone had occasion to use one?

 

 

[POA1]

Thanks. I've never seen those before.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

No, that is definitely something new. Out of the last 3 HAL cruises 2 both when in a Neptune Suite we have been given about 2nd or 3rd day in a Gift Certificate to spend in Effy. The first one was for $500 and the second was for $300. We were not given one when we booked a regular balcony despite having previously purchased Effy when we got the $500 on board credit for them.

I do have several Effy pieces and do not mind purchasing when I have a whole lot of SBC from HAL, when I have that and the $500 from them and then my bottom line is only about $250 I consider it a win. But with that being said I honestly  would not pre buy $1700.00 or $1500. I see it is fully refundable but just not sure I would do it. Some of the Effy shops will work with you on pricing especially toward the end of the cruise 😉

[Duquesmom]

Celebrity has this, too. 

[ChinaShrek]

Are I reading the Silver deal correctly? I spend $1500 andI  receive $2000 OBC PLUS $500 for the Effy Boutique? Can the $2000 be spent on anything on the ship?

[Alberta Quilter]

I read it as pay $1500 to receive $2K to spend ONLY in the Effy boutique.  Note the second last line of the Ts and Cs.

[QuattroRomeo]

2 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

No, that is definitely something new. Out of the last 3 HAL cruises 2 both when in a Neptune Suite we have been given about 2nd or 3rd day in a Gift Certificate to spend in Effy. The first one was for $500 and the second was for $300. We were not given one when we booked a regular balcony despite having previously purchased Effy when we got the $500 on board credit for them.

I do have several Effy pieces and do not mind purchasing when I have a whole lot of SBC from HAL, when I have that and the $500 from them and then my bottom line is only about $250 I consider it a win. But with that being said I honestly  would not pre buy $1700.00 or $1500. I see it is fully refundable but just not sure I would do it. Some of the Effy shops will work with you on pricing especially toward the end of the cruise 😉

I don't own any EFFY pieces but there are some very nice ones in the shop! I did notice on our last cruise that there seemed to be a lot of promotion for them, and read on another thread here about an EFFY cruise, so it must be becoming a sizeable partner now..?

I probably wouldn't buy these credits though; too much money to tie up "just in case" I like something...plus, the exchange rate would add over $500 to the cost of the silver credit for us..😲

[QuattroRomeo]

1 hour ago, Duquesmom said:

Celebrity has this, too. 

Is it fairly recent, or has it been there for awhile? Similar amounts?

[Duquesmom]

1 hour ago, QuattroRomeo said:

Is it fairly recent, or has it been there for awhile? Similar amounts?

I’m not certain.  My first Celebrity cruise is coming up shortly.  Noticed it on their website to buy.  I think the amounts are similar.

[Haljo1935]

Fairly recent addition to pre-cruise purchase options.

FWIW Carnival has also added the Effy credits to their site, so I would say Effy and CCL are trying to increase awareness and encourage spending.

[QuattroRomeo]

3 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Fairly recent addition to pre-cruise purchase options.

FWIW Carnival has also added the Effy credits to their site, so I would say Effy and CCL are trying to increase awareness and encourage spending.

Yes it has to be about the money, for sure! I'm not a marketing expert, but I imagine that if you buy a credit, you are more likely to actually follow through with a purchase!

[cruisemom42]

Effy onboard ships is the equivalent of Diamonds International ashore, IMHO. Their aggressive marketing is annoying. Look at the daily program of any ship that has them aboard and you'll find "events" listed throughout the day whenever the shops are open. I'm sorry, but "Introduction of the new Firefly Collection" should not qualify as an event... 

 

Thank goodness ships have really limited printed flyers delivered to cabins. A few years ago the adverts for promotions from Effy were so bad that my DS and I were joking about the next Princess ship being named "Effy Princess" and the new HAL one would be the "Effydam".

 

 

[QuattroRomeo]

15 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Effy onboard ships is the equivalent of Diamonds International ashore, IMHO. Their aggressive marketing is annoying. Look at the daily program of any ship that has them aboard and you'll find "events" listed throughout the day whenever the shops are open. I'm sorry, but "Introduction of the new Firefly Collection" should not qualify as an event... 

 

Thank goodness ships have really limited printed flyers delivered to cabins. A few years ago the adverts for promotions from Effy were so bad that my DS and I were joking about the next Princess ship being named "Effy Princess" and the new HAL one would be the "Effydam".

 

 

Effydam- love it! You are right though, there are tons of "promotions" in the daily program; they actually make up about half of it! Not only jewellery but spa stuff, cariloha, del sol, various watch brands, and on and on. None of these sales pitches qualify as "events". Mind you, some of the actual activities shouldn't qualify either..! 

I guess that if it helps to keep the cruise prices down that's good, but we do need something else to do besides shopping. 

[iceman93]

On 1/29/2024 at 7:28 AM, cruisemom42 said:

Effy onboard ships is the equivalent of Diamonds International ashore, IMHO. Their aggressive marketing is annoying.

I completely agree, and had such a poor experience with the Effy people on my NS cruise last year that I will never even consider buying Effy jewelry ever again.

 

My wife and I had been considering a couple of items that were in the $10k-$15k range.  Not the kind of decision we make on the spot, so we told them we were going to take a few days to decide which we wanted to get.

 

Every day from then on, when we'd walk by the Effy area, they'd swarm over to us.  "What have you decided?  Are you ready to buy yet?  You don't want your preferred items to sell out, so you should make up your minds!"

 

The kicker was the one day I was walking through the area by myself and one of the sales staff approached me to say "If you want your wife to know how much you love her, you should buy the most expensive items."  After being speechless for a moment (rare for me), I told her that my wife knows very well how much I love her and she doesn't need me spending money on trinkets to demonstrate it.  I also told her she had lost the sale and to please not approach us anymore.

 

She didn't, but a few days later when walking through the store manager approached us to say he understood there was a problem with a sale but that he'd like to take over, and if it was a matter of not being to afford what we wanted that he could offer a slight discount or offer some similar lower-priced items.  I was speechless again (twice in one cruise!), but bless my wife she told him it had nothing to do with being to afford the items but that she now knew where the sales staff got their rude attitudes from and to please not approach us again.  She also gave him our cabin number and asked that no further Effy offers be delivered to us.  Since we were staying in the PS, I hope that put to bed the question of whether or not we could afford his jewelry...

[REOVA]

Read the fine print. They do offer discount flyers on the ship but you have to spend a minimum amount or some items are exempt from purchasing with the discount. So if they're "marked up" 100% (or more) and you have to spend $5,000 to get $500 off.....but it is interesting that HAL stopped printing maps, puzzles, trivia, etc to reduce "environmental impact" but ads for spa and EFFY are plentiful. I guess profit centers are exempt from environmental impact. 🤪