Maybe it's time Reciprocal Privileges

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Arnold Donald, the CEO of Carnival Corp, did mention a while ago that they were looking at some way to at least have some kind of reciprocal privileges across the corporation's brands.

[rkacruiser]

3 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Arnold Donald, the CEO of Carnival Corp, did mention a while ago that they were looking at some way to at least have some kind of reciprocal privileges across the corporation's brands.

 

A one word reply to that idea by me:  YES!

[iancal]

I suspect that he is currently dealing with more pressing issues.

[HokiePoq]

This would be great.  We are four star Mariners but have never sailed on Princess.   Would do so if benefits are reciprocal.

[iancal]

When we are looking a two or three cruise lines/ships that we feel are about equal we assign a value of any perks that we get from one to the comparison of the fares.  It serves to lower the fare comparison price on that ship.

 

Not once has the value we assigned to a perk actually make any difference on the financial comparison.    We are not willing to pay 20 or 30 percent more for a like for like cruise simply because of the perk that may be worth five or ten percent to us.   We ignore the valueless (to us) or meaningless ones (to us) like priority this or that.

 

In the past we have selected cruises on HAL, Princess, NCL, and Carnival when a Celebrity or RCI  cruise was in the mix even though we have some good perks on Celebrity/RCI.  Those perks were not good enough to compensate for the differences in pricing at time of booking.

Edited June 19, 2020 by iancal

[mame42]

I would book Seaborne in a heartbeat if I could use my 24K FCC.

[hotzej]

Marty/Gail,

We might consider others in the Carnival group if they at least provided our laundry perk.  Seabourn gives you just about everything else.  If we had laundry also we might consider them.  Stay healthy. Bill

[eswn]

It is a good idea!

[iancal]

Really, in the large scheme of things how much would one spend on laundry?  Would you pay, say 20 or 30 percent more to cruise on a ship/cruise line that gave you free laundry?  We each only  travel with a 20 inch carry on.  We use the laundry facilies.

 

There is nothing free.   We get a $200 discount perk when we book a balcony cabin on RCI or Celebriy.  Plus we get a Diamond Lounge.  Coffee, food, liquer(after 5PM) gratis in a private lounge with a concierge. 

 

These perks certainly do not preclude us from any HAL or Princess cruises.  Our the last cruise Princess was 30 percent less that Celebrity or HAL.   It is just how things shake out from time to time. Plus we preferred the Princess ship to either of the others.   We only now get something on Princess....I think some complementary internet minutes plus some other meaningless things that we do not even consider as perks. .  Does not influence our decision one iota.

Edited June 19, 2020 by iancal

[Hlitner]

Human nature is a funny thing.  We have met folks who book $30,000 cruises and then get angry because they must pay for their laundry.  And you will hear folks whine because they cannot get invited to a repeaters party (although they have never been on that cruise line).  One terrific perk we get with Princess (we are Elite) is lots of free Internet time (you hear that HAL).  If CCL were to give HAL 3-4 Star Mariners reciprocal privileges' with Princess at the Elite level, HAL folks would quickly realize how much better the perks are at Princess.  Even as 5 Star Mariners with HAL we do not get any free Internet  and still must pay half price for espresso.  On Princess we can swap our FREE mini-bar set-up (another Elite perk) for "coffee cards" and get free specialty coffee drinks.  Princess also has free laundry/dry cleaning at the Elite level although their laundry service sucks when compared to HAL.

 

Hank

[CineGraphic]

8 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Human nature is a funny thing.  We have met folks who book $30,000 cruises and then get angry because they must pay for their laundry.  And you will hear folks whine because they cannot get invited to a repeaters party (although they have never been on that cruise line).  One terrific perk we get with Princess (we are Elite) is lots of free Internet time (you hear that HAL).  If CCL were to give HAL 3-4 Star Mariners reciprocal privileges' with Princess at the Elite level, HAL folks would quickly realize how much better the perks are at Princess.  Even as 5 Star Mariners with HAL we do not get any free Internet  and still must pay half price for espresso.  On Princess we can swap our FREE mini-bar set-up (another Elite perk) for "coffee cards" and get free specialty coffee drinks.  Princess also has free laundry/dry cleaning at the Elite level although their laundry service sucks when compared to HAL.

 

Hank

 

We love the benefits of sailing with Princess, and having a laundromat, if needed.

I hope HAL regulars won't be disappointed when nobody makes them bow while the captain presents them with a medal.

Princess has the most-traveled luncheon, but it's not nearly as full of hot air as the medal presentation.

[Hlitner]

17 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

We love the benefits of sailing with Princess, and having a laundromat, if needed.

I hope HAL regulars won't be disappointed when nobody makes them bow while the captain presents them with a medal.

Princess has the most-traveled luncheon, but it's not nearly as full of hot air as the medal presentation.

At the risk of offending some HAL fans who think the medallions are an important part of their lives, we have never given a hoot about those silly medallions, pins, etc.  But we also do not want to "rock the boat" or cause anyone grief.  On one long Prinsendam (our favorite ship) cruise we got a phone call from the Mariners Club hostess reminding us we were invited to the medal ceremony (I think we were getting a silver) and had not RSPV'd.  We told the hostess that we had no planned on going since it meant leaving our deck chairs, going to the cabin, changing clothes, etc.  all in the morning!  The hostess really implored us to come saying they did not have many medal winners on that cruise and they needed some to show up :).  We did go, had to bow our heads so the Captain could get the tin things around our necks, etc etc.  Personally, I find  those kind of events humiliating.  But it is amazing how many folks go for no reason other then to watch.  

 

DW and love our sea days and generally will put on swim wear and head out to a deck chair (weather permitting) right after breakfast.  Anything (including medal ceremonies, Mariners Lunches, etc) are viewed (by us) as annoying interference with a relaxing sea day.  We even stopped going to the the Roll Calls (oh horrors) because they also interfered with our deck chair/reading time.  

 

On Princess they do have a Captain's party (usually pre-dinner) for past cruisers and we are (more horrors) again contrarians and do not go.   But we do acknowledge that these kind of events are very important to some folks and we bless them as we relax in other places with nice drinks.

 

The one HAL event we did love was when Captain Gundersen invited all the 4-5 Star Mariners to his cabin for cocktails.  This happened on a Grand cruise and there were about 400 who qualified.  The Captain made good on his word keeping the invites to about 20 at a time...and it took him nearly 2 months to get it done!    The only other neat get together we experienced happened on Seabourn where they have "block parties" out in the corridors before cocktail time.  It is a fabulous way to get to know your neighbors and meet many of the senior staff (who roam the corridors).  The idea is not practical on larger cruise ships.

 

Hank

 

 

[iancal]

Last time we looked at perks across our favourite cruise lines...HAL, Princess, Celebrity, and RCI, HAL's program was absolutely at the bottom of the list.  Not just below, but at the bottom.  The differences stand out even more when we attached a monetary value to them.

 

RCI gives us, don't know if they still do, a completely useless and cheap made in China lapel pin.  Really, what are we to do with it other than toss it into the waste basket.  We have seen the medalians on HAL.  At first, when told of the, I thought that it was a bit of a joke.  What kind of reward for custom is that?  Same with those day one lunches that we have been invited to.....along with just about everyone and his/her brother on the ship.    Special?  Not.  Lido for us....same price, included in the fare for everyone.

 

We have had those free bags on a few cruise lines.  Not certain why anyone would get so excited over a bag but they apparently do.  Especially the ones that are colour coded to indicate that someone is" truly" special.  We do not use them  on the cruise.  Too many others.  We use a non descript bag that is easily distinguishable from the others poolside or later at the poolside bar.  We would be happier with a few drink coupons to use at any bar.

 

This is a feature of HAL that could stand to brought up to date and up to par with the competition.

Edited June 19, 2020 by iancal

[kazu]

28 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

The only other neat get together we experienced happened on Seabourn where they have "block parties" out in the corridors before cocktail time.  It is a fabulous way to get to know your neighbors and meet many of the senior staff (who roam the corridors).  The idea is not practical on larger cruise ships.

 

It’s a shame you missed the block parties on the Prinsendam.  It was really great.

 

We can thank our Seabourn captain for that experience.  It was the first ever on the Prinsendam then.  I do believe they continued on some of the longer cruises.

It was a lot of fun for sure.

[Hlitner]

6 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

It’s a shame you missed the block parties on the Prinsendam.  It was really great.

 

We can thank our Seabourn captain for that experience.  It was the first ever on the Prinsendam then.  I do believe they continued on some of the longer cruises.

It was a lot of fun for sure.

Yeah, I can imagine that working well on the ole P'Dam.   That was a very special ship.  Anyone who doubts that a ship can have a personality likely never cruised on the P'Dam.   Our first cabin on that ship was 409 which was a Starboard-Forward porthole cabin.  There was lots of rust and corrosion around our portholes which we found appalling the first time we entered our cabin.  A few weeks later that rust was like an old friend and we found ourselves overlooking all the faults of the ship (and there were many).  HAL gave up part of its soul when it got rid of that vessel.

 

Hank

[kazu]

4 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

HAL gave up part of its soul when it got rid of that vessel.

 

I felt the same way.  HAL had a lot of hard core P’dam cruisers who were willing to pay the higher price for the better service and itineraries.

 

I know, she didn’t have a BB Kings and the other stuff but the Adagio every time we were on were superb.  The crew was fantastic and I never ever saw a bad HD or Captain on that ship.

sorry, just a little lament at hat little beauty gone and her fabulous itineraries and the crew split up.

[SilvertoGold]

Does any Princess level give free specialty restaurant dinners (2 pp)?

[CineGraphic]

4 hours ago, SilvertoGold said:

Does any Princess level give free specialty restaurant dinners (2 pp)?

No free dinners based on loyalty, but they do issue a bit of "loyalty OBC" as you go past "elite", which could be used towards specialty dining.

Platinum & Elite get free internet minutes based on the length  of sailing.

Elite gets free laundry/shoe shine, mini bar, upgraded bathroom amenities etc.

[SilvertoGold]

34 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

No free dinners based on loyalty, but they do issue a bit of "loyalty OBC" as you go past "elite", which could be used towards specialty dining.

Platinum & Elite get free internet minutes based on the length  of sailing.

Elite gets free laundry/shoe shine, mini bar, upgraded bathroom amenities etc.

 

I did look up Elite quite a while ago.  I remember that it seemed you need very few days to get to the top level on Princess as compared to HAL (something like 150 cruise days, which is less than 4 star on HAL). Must be a lot of Elites.   Interesting to compare the two lines for their reward program.  

Edited June 20, 2020 by SilvertoGold

[Aquahound]

On 6/18/2020 at 4:40 PM, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Arnold Donald, the CEO of Carnival Corp, did mention a while ago that they were looking at some way to at least have some kind of reciprocal privileges across the corporation's brands.

 

I don't see why not.  RCCL brands have been doing it for years.  It wouldn't make one bit of difference to me when booking cruises, but some people really get in to the recognition stuff.  

[TiogaCruiser]

17 hours ago, kazu said:

 

It’s a shame you missed the block parties on the Prinsendam.  It was really great.

 

We can thank our Seabourn captain for that experience.  It was the first ever on the Prinsendam then.  I do believe they continued on some of the longer cruises.

It was a lot of fun for sure.

She had a block party on her final voyage (14 days) and it was fun. 
 

That was only a year ago. Funny, it seams so much longer.

Edited June 20, 2020 by TiogaCruiser

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

22 hours ago, hotzej said:

Marty/Gail,

We might consider others in the Carnival group if they at least provided our laundry perk.  Seabourn gives you just about everything else.  If we had laundry also we might consider them.  Stay healthy. Bill

It would be some thing different ...

[bEwAbG]

The problem with reciprocity is that some brands within a line have a much larger pool of people who have attained status and the smaller brands are then overwhelmed trying to offer all of this free stuff.  It's all doable, but unless there is a tangible benefit to the company, not likely to happen.  The temptation would be to do it during a downturn but then once it's started, it's not going away.  They'd be wiser to just offer special promotions for limited periods.

[SilvertoGold]

4 minutes ago, bEwAbG said:

The problem with reciprocity is that some brands within a line have a much larger pool of people who have attained status and the smaller brands are then overwhelmed trying to offer all of this free stuff.  It's all doable, but unless there is a tangible benefit to the company, not likely to happen.  The temptation would be to do it during a downturn but then once it's started, it's not going away.  They'd be wiser to just offer special promotions for limited periods.

 

This makes sense.

HALs' top level requires 500 cruise credits; Princess's 151 cruise days or 16 cruises.  Big difference: there must be huge number of top level pax on Princess.  I suppose with double credits on HAL for suites  plus spending, you could get to the 5 star level with maybe 200 actual days, but not many pax are in that position.

[bEwAbG]

Within the Royal brands, I know that many of the mid tier Celebrity passengers are annoyed when so many Diamond cruisers from RCCL start crowding events.  RCCL has its own problem with too many Diamonds crowding their own lounge (one of the perks with that level).  The main issue is that you can get Diamond status at 80 nights in a regular room or 40 nights in a suite, which gives you benefits of the mid tier (Elite) on Celebrity.  Getting to that level is slightly quicker if you choose suites on Celebrity, but a regular inside or balcony room would take almost twice as long to achieve the same status that RCCL passengers get via reciprocity.  You also don't always earn status within your own program for trips you take on other brands, e.g., your 7 nights on RCCL doesn't get you 7 nights worth of points in your Celebrity account.

 

Devil is in the details, though. Combining all these Carnival brands would be an undertaking unless they scrap everyone's program and roll out a single one.

Edited June 20, 2020 by bEwAbG