bdnuggin Posted August 1 #1 Share Posted August 1 So a few months ago booked two rooms -- same cruise, same room type, same floor, etc -- for an upcoming cruise. Guests in one of the rooms sailed with Crystal before, the others had not. Received a 3% Crystal Society discount on the one cruise fare, but the new cruisers were given a $250 credit per person per stateroom. So to make math easy if the cruise fare was $10,000 per room, the return guests would receive a $300 discount and the new guests received $500. The 3% only applied to the fare, whereas the other to excursions or other costs. Does this seem accurate? Is this typical, or a sales 'trick'? (perhaps I should say strategy). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWIVince Posted August 1 #2 Share Posted August 1 I would say Crystal is one of the more conservative suppliers in the travel industry when it comes to new customer acquisition discounts -- they rarely if ever leave the range of the discounts that returning guests get when they design new customer promotions. I'd note the following: Many (most?) Crystal guests save up their new bookings to start them onboard, so a significant number of people in your example would get a 5% discount. In your example that ties up the promotion, but below is a very relevant note. I don't know what Crystal's "average" booking fare is, but it's MUCH higher than $10,000 per stateroom. Even if we just look at bookings not made onboard, I wouldn't be surprised if the 2.5% vs. $250 per person would only impact a single digit percentage of their bookings, since it would literally only be cheaper for the very cheapest cabins on the very cheapest itineraries. An onboard credit isn't equal to a fare discount, either in terms of cost to the supplier or value to the customer. The customer may or may not have a use for the credit, may not actually use it for a variety of reasons, and requires the customer to spend money to realize the benefit -- and that's just from the customer side of the equation. Therefore the actual cost or value of the $250 credit is kind of fuzzy. Just some things to consider... Vince 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare May B Posted August 1 #3 Share Posted August 1 (edited) We often struggle to find uses for onboard credit on Crystal, since gratuities and alcoholic beverages are included in the fare. On our last Crystal cruise, we had a total of $500 to spend. I took two nice shore excursions, and then “had” to go shopping to use the rest! I bought an adorable purse that I absolutely did not need. I hope to get to show it to John Joseph some day and tell him it’s my onboard credit purse. We usually don’t even take ship’s excursions, but one of the two, I couldn't have done on my own. Edited August 1 by May B 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare May B Posted August 1 #4 Share Posted August 1 47 minutes ago, May B said: We often struggle to find uses for onboard credit on Crystal, since gratuities and alcoholic beverages are included in the fare. On our last Crystal cruise, we had a total of $500 to spend. I took two nice shore excursions, and then “had” to go shopping to use the rest! I bought an adorable purse that I absolutely did not need. I hope to get to show it to John Joseph some day and tell him it’s my onboard credit purse. We usually don’t even take ship’s excursions, but one of the two, I couldn't have done on my own. And btw, my $500 OBC on my cruise was not a new cruiser promo. It was the promo offered when I willingly made a $500 deposit to New Crystal, for a cruise to be named later. IIRC, the new schedules had not been posted! Nor the fares. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juicyjuju Posted August 3 #5 Share Posted August 3 If you have a cruise booked that does not have an onboard booking discount, and then you take another cruise prior to that, can you make an onboard booking and apply it to the later cruise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted August 4 #6 Share Posted August 4 5 hours ago, juicyjuju said: If you have a cruise booked that does not have an onboard booking discount, and then you take another cruise prior to that, can you make an onboard booking and apply it to the later cruise? Julie, with new Crystal you cannot do that. You either have to make the booking while on the cruise or make an open booking and then at home apply it to a new booking. Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juicyjuju Posted August 4 #7 Share Posted August 4 8 hours ago, Keith1010 said: Julie, with new Crystal you cannot do that. You either have to make the booking while on the cruise or make an open booking and then at home apply it to a new booking. Keith Thanks Keith. I can't say that doesn't make sense. It was a nice perk of OC though. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Woodrowst Posted August 6 #8 Share Posted August 6 On 8/1/2024 at 10:22 AM, bdnuggin said: So a few months ago booked two rooms -- same cruise, same room type, same floor, etc -- for an upcoming cruise. Guests in one of the rooms sailed with Crystal before, the others had not. Received a 3% Crystal Society discount on the one cruise fare, but the new cruisers were given a $250 credit per person per stateroom. So to make math easy if the cruise fare was $10,000 per room, the return guests would receive a $300 discount and the new guests received $500. The 3% only applied to the fare, whereas the other to excursions or other costs. Does this seem accurate? Is this typical, or a sales 'trick'? (perhaps I should say strategy). On a $10,000 cruise do you really want to sweat over $200? Does it really matter? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medium Kahuna Posted August 6 #9 Share Posted August 6 3 hours ago, Woodrowst said: On a $10,000 cruise do you really want to sweat over $200? Does it really matter? It matters. That's just my 2 percents. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Woodrowst Posted August 6 #10 Share Posted August 6 15 minutes ago, Medium Kahuna said: It matters. That's just my 2 percents. Why? If you can afford $10,000 for a cruise how will it affect your lifestyle or overall financial situation if instead you spend $10,200? My thought is not to sweat the small stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctjon Posted August 6 #11 Share Posted August 6 A lot of businesses offer better prices for first time customers - way to get them to try product. Why shouldn't Crystal try same strategy to get new customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercedes Jazz Posted August 6 #12 Share Posted August 6 I can assure everyone on Cruise Critic that I am in the top 1% when it comes to spending more for my cruise fare than required. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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