Captain's Club Website updated NOW

[jagoffee]

However the new point system works, it should be interesting when we do find out.

We've been on a variety of 1, 2 and 3 point cruises. The one that "bugged" us the most was the Galapagos cruise. It was such an expensive week cruise and we only got one point. (and no bag at all - I was hoping for one of the leather handle ones) Maybe the new system will handle some things differently.

 

I guess we wait and learn.

 

But Celebrity gives Elite's a 10% discount to make up for the lack of the benefits. Good deal IMO.

[YOW]

Doesn't seem fair at all and seems Celebrity is not rewarding loyalty but only MONEY.

 

In business (which is what Celebrity is) aren't these the same thing?

 

I think the people that are getting downgraded the most are those in inside cabins. But those are also the people bragging about sailing for $50/day when we are paying closer to $200-$250/day.

 

EDIT: I just had a thought that might make the people who are not moving up in the benefit department feel a little better.

The only thing we get from these loyalty programs are things we might otherwise have been paying for. So if I get free laundry for my $250 day and you are only paying $50/day - you still have an extra $200/day to pay for that laundry.

 

Fair enough. Though not all inside cabins are $50/day, the point is valid. We've been a bit spoiled by mileage and other programs, which have often rewarded 'loyalty' based on how often we give them our business (or how many miles we fly), as opposed to how much we spend. Wouldn't the latter, which is truly the bottom line, make more sense?

[harz99]

I briefly saw the date of September 23, today, but that's gone now.

 

Educated guess says it will start on Monday September 25.

 

This what it says on my page :

 

"we have converted from using a Tier Credit reward system to a Point reward system on 23 NOV 2013"

[jagoffee]

I really hope Celebrity gives more points for suites than those CC and AQ cabins.

 

It is the same now, so I suspect they only way a suites is going to be more points than CC or AQ is if the CC and AQ are lowered to say 15 points extra.

I think that the suite benefits will be improved shortly to make them more competitive with other cruise lines.

[cruisestitch]

I'm so sorry -- I had a brain lapse. Of course it is November, not September.

 

Note to self: engage brain before starting to type.

[CanadianCruisers]

Celebrity is a week too early for me as I'm leaving on the Silhouette TA in an AQ cabin which would generate 3 points bringing me to 24 points multiplied by 30 would be 720 points. Based on the speculation the next cruise would be worth 70 points (5 points times 14 nights) plus the 630 I currently have would bring me to 700. Anyhow, I'm looking forward to seeing all the details!

[CruisingChick]

In business (which is what Celebrity is) aren't these the same thing?

 

No I don't think someone is more loyal just because they can afford to book suites or other more expensive cabins.

 

If we could afford to sail 3-4 times a year in a suite we would. As it is we are lucky to be able to sail twice a year by booking inside cabins.

[ghstudio]

For those that aren't seeing their captain's club sailing history...or it's flashing quickly.....the Celebrity IT department apparently didn't test with firefox or chrome browsers....(why isn't this a surprise?). If you look using internet explorer, you will be able to see the page.

 

(posted in multiple forums intentionally)

[FUN33]

The new Celebrity program, at first glance, appears to be much better thought out and structured than what RCI did several years ago. Very little to complain about with the new Celebrity program. They are rewarding loyalty AND in addition they are rewarding loyal cruisers who spend more money than those with the same number of cruises (or days or nights or whatever).

 

Difficult to please everyone but the new Celebrity program is excellent and very fair. Something needed to be done, 10+ cruises to reach the former highest level (Elite) was just too low a threshold. There was nothing Elite about a program that at times 50% of those sailing were in the highest category.

 

This is a welcome and long overdue improvement.

[WestLakeGirl]

Thanks for the hint about using IE

[harz99]

Difficult to please everyone but the new Celebrity program is excellent and very fair.

 

I don't see that you can say that as we have not yet seen the detail of tier benefits or reciprocity with RCL and AZ,

[mahdnc]

For those that aren't seeing their captain's club sailing history...or it's flashing quickly.....the Celebrity IT department apparently didn't test with firefox or chrome browsers....(why isn't this a surprise?). If you look using internet explorer, you will be able to see the page.

 

(posted in multiple forums intentionally)

 

my IE 10 browser momentarily flashes the new information.

[harz99]

No I don't think someone is more loyal just because they can afford to book suites or other more expensive cabins.

 

If we could afford to sail 3-4 times a year in a suite we would. As it is we are lucky to be able to sail twice a year by booking inside cabins.

 

Agreed; I would also say that those of us that do not live in North America have considerable air fares to add to the base price of many of the "X" cruises we take from the US ports, and those of you that fly the other way into Europe will have seen how costly cruises from our home ports can be.:(

[bob278]

The new Celebrity program, at first glance, appears to be much better thought out and structured than what RCI did several years ago. Very little to complain about with the new Celebrity program. They are rewarding loyalty AND in addition they are rewarding loyal cruisers who spend more money than those with the same number of cruises (or days or nights or whatever).

 

Difficult to please everyone but the new Celebrity program is excellent and very fair. Something needed to be done, 10+ cruises to reach the former highest level (Elite) was just too low a threshold. There was nothing Elite about a program that at times 50% of those sailing were in the highest category.

 

This is a welcome and long overdue improvement.

I would agree with your overall sentiment. However, there will be people who didn't get what they wanted (or thought they "deserved"). And a few of them will be right. However, there was no way Celebrity could have pleased everybody. Each person will react to how the perceive they were treated.

 

In our case, I looked at our cruising history and calculated that we would have had 1,399 tier credits. We now have 1,320. Were we screwed? Technically, we would need an extra 16-day cruise in Concierge to make it to Zenith (a goal I don't expect to reach). Many would be extremely upset over that, but I can't get very excited about it.

 

 

From reading posts on several threads, it looks like nobody went down a level and a few are reporting that they were given small adjustments to reflect that they were close to the next level. Now many who did not get an adjustment are going to feel discriminated against. Celebrity can't win.

[NLH Arizona]

I think they are attempting to keep old customers happy.

We are in the group with 8 old points.

If I read my screen flash correctly it says something like "since we were so close they have given us bonus points and we are now Elite".

I didn't think we were THAT close. :o

Anyways, our next cruise is 14 days in Aqua (and we were expecting to make Elite with 11 old points) so if the conversion chart is correct we will get 5 x 14 = 70 new points. Add that to our 240 (8 x 30) and we are at 310 which is still Elite.

I think the people that are getting downgraded the most are those in inside cabins. But those are also the people bragging about sailing for $50/day when we are paying closer to $200-$250/day.

 

EDIT: I just had a thought that might make the people who are not moving up in the benefit department feel a little better.

The only thing we get from these loyalty programs are things we might otherwise have been paying for. So if I get free laundry for my $250 day and you are only paying $50/day - you still have an extra $200/day to pay for that laundry.

I also have 8 points and mine said the same thing, but when looking at the tier it said Select. I ended up with 265 points (30 X 8 = 240 + 25 bonus points = 265) and one more 7 day cruise in a concierge class (which I usually do), would put me at Elite (if in fact it is 5 points a day). So it seems as though, at least for me, it is a wash and that is what I was expecting; didn't lose anything and I didn't expect to gain anything.

[CruisingChick]

Seems to me that Celebrity went from one extreme to the other. First it was to easy to become Elite and now it's much harder and also almost impossible to get to the higher levels.

 

I guess I should thank my lucky stars we starting cruising them 11 years ago and with the conversion are now Elite +. We would have never gotten there under the new program.

[cruisestitch]

One thing we haven't gotten into yet is that this opens up all kinds of opportunities to get point that didn't exist before. In the previous system, there was no way for Celebrity to give 1/2 point.

 

But with the inflation of the points, you might now see such things as:

 

Book during a promotion and get 25 extra points (seen already, but not yet officially offered)

Pay in full today and get extra points

Book B2B cruises and get extra points

Holiday cruises get extra points

Book a package of shore excursions and get extra points

 

Or even:

Bet a certain amount in the casino and get extra points

Spend so much in the gift shop and get extra points

 

Now they can give away 1 point, 5 points, or 10 points, or whatever pretty freely.

 

The possibilities are now endless.

[upwarduk]

For those that aren't seeing their captain's club sailing history...or it's flashing quickly.....the Celebrity IT department apparently didn't test with firefox or chrome browsers....(why isn't this a surprise?). If you look using internet explorer, you will be able to see the page.

 

(posted in multiple forums intentionally)

 

I use I.E and my page is flashing off quickly.

[ghstudio]

One thing we haven't gotten into yet is that this opens up all kinds of opportunities to get point that didn't exist before. In the previous system, there was no way for Celebrity to give 1/2 point.

 

But with the inflation of the points, you might now see such things as:

 

Book during a promotion and get 25 extra points (seen already, but not yet officially offered)

Pay in full today and get extra points

Book B2B cruises and get extra points

Holiday cruises get extra points

Book a package of shore excursions and get extra points

 

Or even:

Bet a certain amount in the casino and get extra points

Spend so much in the gift shop and get extra points

 

Now they can give away 1 point, 5 points, or 10 points, or whatever pretty freely.

 

The possibilities are now endless.

 

Yes, celebrity created that ability very well in this change. In the old world, all they could do is give away 1 point. Now they can give out smaller increments....e.g. 10 points for booking an excursion package or perhaps a drink package....and so on.

 

Very well done celebrity...just resist the internal pressure to give more points than necessary. Is it really necessary to give 25 points for a booking during a special? That large space you created to get to the next level can quickly become smaller if you are too free with the bonus points.

[dkjretired]

The Summit was my first Celebrity cruise and I know that I paid to join the Founder's Club after that cruise. Did they actually have a Captain Club type program prior to the Century? Obviously they eliminated the charge sometime after the Summit was introduced.

 

They had the program from the early 90s, I got mine on the Meridian which was Celebrity's first ship, prior to the first new builds, Horizon and Zenith.

[harz99]

I use I.E and my page is flashing off quickly.

 

Mine is steady and has been all day, using IE11 on a laptop and a BT broadband connection.

 

I wonder if it is the various devices people are using to view the page rather than the browser.

[bob278]

Mine is steady and has been all day, using IE11 on a laptop and a BT broadband connection.

 

I wonder if it is the various devices people are using to view the page rather than the browser.

 

I suspect it is more likely the browser. My IE 10 did not work but after I updated to 11 it works fine.

[bob278]

Seems to me that Celebrity went from one extreme to the other. First it was to easy to become Elite and now it's much harder and also almost impossible to get to the higher levels.

 

I guess I should thank my lucky stars we starting cruising them 11 years ago and with the conversion are now Elite +. We would have never gotten there under the new program.

 

But that is probably the point. They could not afford to keep making it so easy to get the rewards. And they DID grandfather everyone who earned them under the old, easier method.

 

Now the question is how many people who are just starting out (maybe with less than 2 or 3 of the old points) will now look elsewhere. I don't know about any other cruise lines except RCL but it is only slightly easier to progress there. I would bet that the program is competitive. These people are not so great with shore-based customer service, but they aren't stupid :D.

[riredsox]

Seems to me that Celebrity went from one extreme to the other. First it was to easy to become Elite and now it's much harder and also almost impossible to get to the higher levels.

 

I guess I should thank my lucky stars we starting cruising them 11 years ago and with the conversion are now Elite +. We would have never gotten there under the new program.

 

If I had taken 2 five night cruises instead of one of my 11 night I would be elite plus now. I Cruise twice a year doing at least 10 night cruises a year and I will never make elite plus now. I had 24 credits.

[I-Cruiser]

I don't see it as almost impossible to reach the higher levels. Not at all!!

If you get to Elite+ or Zenith much depends on your age.

I suppose if you are in your 60s or 70s it would be hard to reach the top but for us in our 40s who cruises 2-4 times a year its not a hard task at all.

I would say a big "thank you" to Celebrity for recognizing who your future is.