Rare shof515 Posted July 18 #26 Share Posted July 18 48 minutes ago, Crusin Karen said: I just read a post on “another forum” complaining about the free drink. She had just turned platinum. It was last day of her cruise and she tried to order her free drink at 5pm. They refused saying it had to be ordered at the last day brunch. She went to guest services but they basically told her “too bad.” She said it ruined her whole cruise. Kind of dramatic BUT how much does CCL lose on one free drink and would have kept a loyal customer happy. I never understood why there was a day/time limit for this “perk.” thats why i hate the platinum free drink. the gold free drink can be used anywhere on the ship. why is platinum limited? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nycruise1 Posted July 18 #27 Share Posted July 18 9 minutes ago, shof515 said: thats why i hate the platinum free drink. the gold free drink can be used anywhere on the ship. why is platinum limited? The loyalty party used to be gold/platinum/diamond. When they excluded gold, they added the gold drink perk on the last night in place of going to the party which normally was the last night. The diamond/platinum drink I think was just a perk they chose to limit to the morning in the MDR. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mz-s Posted July 18 #28 Share Posted July 18 17 minutes ago, shof515 said: thats why i hate the platinum free drink. the gold free drink can be used anywhere on the ship. why is platinum limited? It won't be in a few days anymore. But @nycruise1 has the historical reason for why it was the way it was for far too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jamman54 Posted July 18 #29 Share Posted July 18 52 minutes ago, jam19872016 said: I really appreciate this change. I hate to be cynical but you never lead with bad news. You lead with good to soften the blow for bad news. I hope this good news is not meant to distract from the bad news forthcoming. Royal has recently made great improvements with their enhanced loyalty match so I'm hopeful Carnival will prove me wrong. Although it is not published anywhere, I thought Carnival did still offer milestone benefits at 125, 150 etc? Are we sure they do not as I remember a complaint on some FB group a while back from someone only getting 25% at 125 which I thought was a valid complaint. Of course we know how reliable FB can be but it was definitely brought up. I was told this by someone I know that now has 250+ cruises on Carnival. Nothing after a 100 cruises. Like I said, I'll never have to worry about that. 😁 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BlerkOne Posted July 18 #30 Share Posted July 18 Carnival makes an improvement to the program and some gripe about it anyway. Shocking. For the gamblers with a million cruises, what stops them from creating an new account/VIFP number and starting over from 0? It shouldn't take long to recapture any staus. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mar214 Posted July 18 #31 Share Posted July 18 It's been mentioned before: it's nice that so many get free cruises via their casino offers, while the rest of us have spent a small fortune paying out of pocket, yet we all get grouped into the same count towards Diamond, Platinum, etc. level. We choose to pay extra for only booking balcony cabins, with no consideration given by Carnival to the cruise price we have paid. Maybe it's time to allow for extras to be given out based on price paid for the cruise? It would be great to feel my loyalty to Carnival earns something extra other than what the loyalty level allows. When we hear about ALL the extras given to casino rate cruisers, we wish we could get a little bit of the "you are special" feeling. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephPS79 Posted July 18 #32 Share Posted July 18 (edited) 1 hour ago, jimbo5544 said: When it was put in place I bet that number was just fine. Oh, by the way, those people pushing 1,000 days are called casino rates. IMHO, they should not even be in the program People are dropping thousands in the casino for these casino rates. It wouldn't make sense that they wouldn't be awarded benefits. I'm sure if you added up the money spend in the casino over those 1000 days, it would surpass cruise fare significantly. They are also spending thousands for these comp specialty dining, that they could easily have bought outright for $100. But people like free things. And they like to be recognized when they are basically giving away $10K for a steak dinner. Like it or not, gamblers make bank for Carnival. With all that said, as someone who cruises on Casino offers, none of the Loyalty Perks really make it or break it for me. I cruise on Carnival because I have fun. If I didn't earn points from my very expensive free offer, I would probably still cruise on Carnival. Edited July 18 by StephPS79 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusin Karen Posted July 18 #33 Share Posted July 18 13 minutes ago, mar214 said: It's been mentioned before: it's nice that so many get free cruises via their casino offers, while the rest of us have spent a small fortune paying out of pocket, yet we all get grouped into the same count towards Diamond, Platinum, etc. level. We choose to pay extra for only booking balcony cabins, with no consideration given by Carnival to the cruise price we have paid. Maybe it's time to allow for extras to be given out based on price paid for the cruise? It would be great to feel my loyalty to Carnival earns something extra other than what the loyalty level allows. When we hear about ALL the extras given to casino rate cruisers, we wish we could get a little bit of the "you are special" feeling. Agree with this. I don’t want to open a whole other can of worms but I was just on my 37th CCL cruise. 3 of those were journey cruises. Almost all aft wrap or regular balcony cabins. Recruited a lot of friends and family to join us over the years. The last 4 of my cruises were solo as my husband passed and I’m paying double. Might be nice for a small gesture or even a bottle of wine to acknowledge my loyalty. Or even in sympathy?? DH was in players club. I’m not complaining or expecting anything, just might have been a nice gesture of goodwill. I’m booked on Venezia 5/25 but shocked myself by booking a cruise with Princess and RCL. I realize I’m an extremely minor concern of CCL but 🤷♀️ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jimbo5544 Posted July 18 Author #34 Share Posted July 18 30 minutes ago, BlerkOne said: Carnival makes an improvement to the program and some gripe about it anyway. Shocking. For the gamblers with a million cruises, what stops them from creating an new account/VIFP number and starting over from 0? It shouldn't take long to recapture any staus. Some things never change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ohioNCLcruiser Posted July 18 #35 Share Posted July 18 (edited) As long as I can still get unlimited laundry (or at least a few bags) and can show up at the pier anytime on embarkation day I'm happy. Sticking to a cruise line for any minor benefits (like a $5 bottle of water and a piece of plastic gift) just seems like someone is valuing their business very low. Obviously that only applies to someone who only books a cruise line because of their loyalty perks. Diamond on Carnival, 4 Star Mariner on HAL and Sapphire on NCL. I would say my favorite perk besides the laundry on Carnival is the discount on specialty dining on HAL and would love Carnival to bring this perk over. Lots of cruise lines offer great options and nothing is more freeing than not sticking to a loyalty program. Edited July 18 by ohioNCLcruiser 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare lazydayz Posted July 18 #36 Share Posted July 18 37 minutes ago, BlerkOne said: Carnival makes an improvement to the program and some gripe about it anyway. Shocking. For the gamblers with a million cruises, what stops them from creating an new account/VIFP number and starting over from 0? It shouldn't take long to recapture any staus. Your name and birthdate are associated with your VIFP account. How do you propose they create new accounts? Change identity to get downgraded? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BlerkOne Posted July 18 #37 Share Posted July 18 3 minutes ago, lazydayz said: Your name and birthdate are associated with your VIFP account. How do you propose they create new accounts? Change identity to get downgraded? I don't think you need to change anything other than don't book under an existing VIFP number and the system will automatically generate a new one for you. It is not unheard of for people to have to call Carnival to merge accounts when it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mz-s Posted July 18 #38 Share Posted July 18 17 minutes ago, ohioNCLcruiser said: As long as I can still get unlimited laundry (or at least a few bags) and can show up at the pier anytime on embarkation day I'm happy. Sticking to a cruise line for any minor benefits (like a $5 bottle of water and a piece of plastic gift) just seems like someone is valuing their business very low. Obviously that only applies to someone who only books a cruise line because of their loyalty perks. Diamond on Carnival, 4 Star Mariner on HAL and Sapphire on NCL. I would say my favorite perk besides the laundry on Carnival is the discount on specialty dining on HAL and would love Carnival to bring this perk over. Lots of cruise lines offer great options and nothing is more freeing than not sticking to a loyalty program. showing up any time on embarkation day is by the book already gone but not enforced for priority guests. At any time they could start enforcing it however. https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1380/~/priority-check-in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jimbo5544 Posted July 18 Author #39 Share Posted July 18 21 minutes ago, lazydayz said: Your name and birthdate are associated with your VIFP account. How do you propose they create new accounts? Change identity to get downgraded? Think you missed the point…. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Beach Bum Posted July 18 #40 Share Posted July 18 3 hours ago, bar1068 said: And to add to this, it was something Carnival had done in the past, which was kept pretty quiet, at l least in my opinion. Some cruises back on the Celebration, late in the afternoon on the last day of the cruise, a friend and I went to the bar in Pig and Anchor, ordered a couple of drinks, bartender says, do you wanna use your free voucher? We looked at each other like huh, but sure. For several cruises after that, we used that "voucer" on the last day, in different iterations. Last month we were on Venezia, went to use it, bartender says, nope you as Diamond needed to use that voucher at sea day brunch. Now, if you were gold, then you could use it. We were like, when the hell did that change? In February we used the voucher on the last day so we were pretty frustrated. The free drinks you got in Celebration is limited to excel ships because at the plat/diam party they don’t serve unlimited drinks because of the showroom layout. Because of that, they give all plat/diam guests the one free drink they can use anywhere on the ship. This is also a small loophole that can get you a 16th drink on that day too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wo5m Posted July 18 #41 Share Posted July 18 (edited) 2 hours ago, BlerkOne said: I don't think you need to change anything other than don't book under an existing VIFP number and the system will automatically generate a new one for you. It is not unheard of for people to have to call Carnival to merge accounts when it happens. This is true. This is what usually happens when people who have been on a carnival cruise before, but end up getting a blue card before getting it fixed. In addition, I also had someone once tell me(I hope its not true) that they used this get around a lifetime ban. They also reported their password stolen so the new one didn't match the number of previous passport when it was reissued. Edited July 18 by wo5m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BlerkOne Posted July 18 #42 Share Posted July 18 The smoke continues by how much gamblers allegedly spend in the casino. Of course, spend does not mean lose. Many post pictures of their jackpot. Of course some lose. Some win. Many don't play much at all. As if normal cruisers who pay for their cabins never enter the casino and spend plenty, pay for their drinks, specialty dining, etc. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jimbo5544 Posted July 18 Author #43 Share Posted July 18 3 hours ago, StephPS79 said: People are dropping thousands in the casino for these casino rates. It wouldn't make sense that they wouldn't be awarded benefits. I'm sure if you added up the money spend in the casino over those 1000 days, it would surpass cruise fare significantly. They are also spending thousands for these comp specialty dining, that they could easily have bought outright for $100. But people like free things. And they like to be recognized when they are basically giving away $10K for a steak dinner. Like it or not, gamblers make bank for Carnival. With all that said, as someone who cruises on Casino offers, none of the Loyalty Perks really make it or break it for me. I cruise on Carnival because I have fun. If I didn't earn points from my very expensive free offer, I would probably still cruise on Carnival. Again, not the point of the thread, but if they choose to give away their money (in the casino), so be it. Counting it the same as hard earned dollars spent on cruises is totally different. I do not have a problem with them getting comped, just should not be counting the same as booking cruises. There are times when I get a cruise severely comped or free, it does NOT count towards my numbers. Same for other revenue. Everybody contributes, I spend more on rooms than others, so what. All that said, it is their ballgame and their ball, they can do whatever they want. I am fine with it yesterday, fine with it today and will be fine with it tomorrow. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carol louise Posted July 18 #44 Share Posted July 18 4 hours ago, nycruise1 said: If someone gets to 200 cruises and they got 5 free cruises (100/125/150/175/200) it would not break Carnival and they would be rewarding their most traveled guests of which there are not that many. Some people forget Carnival’s spending money on perks they give away are not “rewards” like the cruisers are in school, but a marketing expense, i.e. to influence the customer to cruise again on Carnival vs. another line. After 200 cruises, maybe they have determined it’s not necessary. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jimbo5544 Posted July 18 Author #45 Share Posted July 18 (edited) 12 minutes ago, carol louise said: Some people forget Carnival’s spending money on perks they give away are not “rewards” like the cruisers are in school, but a marketing expense, i.e. to influence the customer to cruise again on Carnival vs. another line. After 200 cruises, maybe they have determined it’s not necessary. They have a different mind set on loyalty, but it is what it is. Edited July 18 by jimbo5544 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markmbsc Posted July 18 #46 Share Posted July 18 I hope they do something for solo cruisers. I cruise alone and pay double. Why not give solo cruisers additional sea days? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mz-s Posted July 18 #47 Share Posted July 18 13 minutes ago, markmbsc said: I hope they do something for solo cruisers. I cruise alone and pay double. Why not give solo cruisers additional sea days? If it's any consolation if we ever cruise together, I'll give you my fanny pack. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Saint Greg Posted July 18 #48 Share Posted July 18 (edited) 6 hours ago, sgttami said: Effective 7/20/24 Gold, Platinum and Diamond will be able to redeem their free drink at any bar at any time on cruises 5+ days. That's all I saw on Heald's page this morning. If you can use that on the first day out of Galveston that actually makes something I've never used useful when cruising out of Galveston. They took the $25 free play away they should be able to give me a $15 drink. Edited July 18 by Saint Greg 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigeee67 Posted July 18 #49 Share Posted July 18 18 minutes ago, markmbsc said: I hope they do something for solo cruisers. I cruise alone and pay double. Why not give solo cruisers additional sea days? I agree as I travel solo since the wife passed and I pay for two people but only get credit for one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine5715 Posted July 18 #50 Share Posted July 18 Just remember Delta Airlines absolutely hosed their most valuable business flyers with changes in their Skymiles program under the guise of "if everyone is VIP, no one is VIP". Delta tied their frequent flyer status to their branded AmEx card. Never doubt the ability of a corporation to screw things up..especially once I get to the top status. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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