When Everyone Is Special, No One Is Special

[kirtihk]

On 7/6/2024 at 12:57 PM, joydivision84 said:

What? Sorry but this just comes across as a ramble.

 

Really though, I guess my opinion is the opposite, make the customer feel special across the board. Whether you can afford one 5k cruise, or 20 of them, treating people differently, or rather dramatically differently isn't a good thing in my opinion. Making everyone feel special is a better world to live in, rather than the top 1% who can afford multiple cruises every year. Loyalty programs exist and I don't think anyone has any issues with that, but they shouldn't offer a completely different experience to the person who is on their first celebrity cruise.

 

All just my opinion of course.

I don't think that was the point (to offer a completely different experience) in the original post.  The point was to offer an additional (of high quality as a key) experience to loyal cruisers.

 

And yes, it's true: it's a human nature NOT to feel any special when everyone else around you has the same "special".  Specialty becomes (mental) norm by losing requirements of exceptional treatment.

[Ken the cruiser]

On 7/6/2024 at 11:25 AM, Tom and Ingrid said:

IOW - as mentioned in another thread, "loyalty" programs don't mean much if they don't inspire loyalty.  I gotta wonder where this leads - for us in particular - as we approach retirement and more time to cruise, and nothing too enticing about progressing too much further up the ladder, especially if by the time we get to Zenith (10 yrs more?), it will likely be a shadow of what it was.  I see changing from a "X or bust" cruiser to almost solely being driven by price and itinerary (already high priorities).

For us, it has always been about chasing that free laundry loyalty perk! 😉

 

Initially, we booked vista suites and HAL excursions so we could accrue enough points to make 4* Mariner status. Then we switched to Celebrity and booked Concierge cabins and Sky Suites (if the price was right like it was when cruising started back up) until we made Elite+ (and Diamond+ on RC). Then we went on one 38-day NCL cruise where we got double Latitude points and made Platinum on NCL. We finally made Elite on Princess last fall and now our free laundry box is checked on all of the lines we cruise with.

 

Now as you suggested it's all about the itinerary and price. But then we are in our early 70s now and mostly go on 3-5 week cruises, and the last thing we want to do on a cruise is laundry. 😀