4 and 5 Star Magazine Subscription Being Discontinued

[Mary229]

18 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Registering on the site does zero.  It you call the Mariners society ask if there is a marketing block on your account.  If there is that could be the problem.  Sales and promos seem to block Mariners pricing as well.  For a long time I was not seeing Mariners pricing but when that ta called it was there.  It was invisible to me.  The last couple weeks I’ve been getting a number of Mariners pricing emails.  It’s been years since I’ve received snail mail.

I call them and call them and yet we never receive any promos.  My sis who is a one star always forwards the latest emails.  Keeping up with promos is one of the reasons I follow this forum

[Florida_gal_50]

2 hours ago, Mary229 said:

I call them and call them and yet we never receive any promos.  My sis who is a one star always forwards the latest emails.  Keeping up with promos is one of the reasons I follow this forum

Did you ask about the block specifically?  

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Did you ask about the block specifically?  

Yes.  It was the last time you mentioned this I called.  I also checked all spam and junk folders with the agent holding.  I will try again later this year 

[Florida_gal_50]

3 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Yes.  It was the last time you mentioned this I called.  I also checked all spam and junk folders with the agent holding.  I will try again later this year 

That's too bad.  Maybe you have too many cruises booked ;).  Thankfully it worked for me. Hopefully you had a knowledgeable person check it and not someone that said whatever to get you off the phone.  I don't love when people suggest checking spam and junk folders.  Never is anything there for me.

[rkacruiser]

11 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

 

So, if marketing dollars (and sales channel capacity) are a finite resource (and this pre-dates COVID cashflow pressures), and you seem very able to book HAL on your own (37 and counting!)  without a glossy magazine, or targeted reprice, or even an e-mail nudge, why would I as a company spend any additional money stimulating you to do something you already do on your own?

 

Most large consumer goods / services organizations recognize this, and construct sales propensity indexes (aka SPIs) to score their respective base in terms of purchase propensity, in order to better target their marketing spend. It yields more than the blanket approach -- bc you're simply wasting money on ppl who will always sail with you, as well as those who will never sail with you;  or the shotgun approach.  

 

This is likely why you are hearing more from Princess?  They see you as a customer with a high SPI, but [relative] low volume / total spend customer -- hence the marketing razzle dazzle.    Scott. 

 

Thanks for your excellent post.  You raised points that I have considered.  If the thinking is:  why bother with advertising to this Mariner, we have "got him".  Well, then, what about my recent cruising history that includes Princess as well as MSC, in Yacht Club no less?  I wonder if they are unaware of that.  I don't deny that I enjoy the Princess product.  Not so much the size of their ships, however.  My MSC Yacht Club experience was so superior that I am now considering Seabourn and Silverseas.  My goodness, I have been cruising with HAL since 1970, isn't it time for a change?  In my opinion, if HAL's marketing reasoning is the same as yours, they are being fools.  I need continued encouraging reasons to continue to sail with HAL other than the crew and the feeling of "being home"  on a --Dam ship.  There have been too many HAL cruises that I have embarked since the Kirk Lanternman and Stein Kruse era that have caused me to wonder:  what will this cruise be like?  HAL once offered a consistent cruise product.  No more.  

 

 

[rkacruiser]

11 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

 

So, if marketing dollars (and sales channel capacity) are a finite resource (and this pre-dates COVID cashflow pressures), and you seem very able to book HAL on your own (37 and counting!)  without a glossy magazine, or targeted reprice, or even an e-mail nudge, why would I as a company spend any additional money stimulating you to do something you already do on your own?

 

Most large consumer goods / services organizations recognize this, and construct sales propensity indexes (aka SPIs) to score their respective base in terms of purchase propensity, in order to better target their marketing spend. It yields more than the blanket approach -- bc you're simply wasting money on ppl who will always sail with you, as well as those who will never sail with you;  or the shotgun approach.  

 

This is likely why you are hearing more from Princess?  They see you as a customer with a high SPI, but [relative] low volume / total spend customer -- hence the marketing razzle dazzle.    Scott. 

 

Thanks for your excellent post.  You raised points that I have considered.  If the thinking is:  why bother with advertising to this Mariner, we have "got him".  Well, then, what about my recent cruising history that includes Princess as well as MSC, in Yacht Club no less?  I wonder if they are unaware of that.  I don't deny that I enjoy the Princess product.  Not so much the size of their ships, however.  My MSC Yacht Club experience was so superior that I am now considering Seabourn and Silverseas.  My goodness, I have been cruising with HAL since 1970, isn't it time for a change?  In my opinion, if HAL's marketing reasoning is the same as yours, they are being fools.  I need continued encouraging reasons to continue to sail with HAL other than the crew and the feeling of "being home"  on a --Dam ship.  There have been too many HAL cruises that I have embarked since the Kirk Lanternman and Stein Kruse era that have caused me to wonder:  what will this cruise be like?  HAL once offered a consistent cruise product.  No more.  

 

 

[Florida_gal_50]

11 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

 

So, if marketing dollars (and sales channel capacity) are a finite resource (and this pre-dates COVID cashflow pressures), and you seem very able to book HAL on your own (37 and counting!)  without a glossy magazine, or targeted reprice, or even an e-mail nudge, why would I as a company spend any additional money stimulating you to do something you already do on your own?

 

Most large consumer goods / services organizations recognize this, and construct sales propensity indexes (aka SPIs) to score their respective base in terms of purchase propensity, in order to better target their marketing spend. It yields more than the blanket approach -- bc you're simply wasting money on ppl who will always sail with you, as well as those who will never sail with you;  or the shotgun approach.  

 

This is likely why you are hearing more from Princess?  They see you as a customer with a high SPI, but [relative] low volume / total spend customer -- hence the marketing razzle dazzle.    Scott. 

I’ve done a lot of cruises with hal (5 star) and I get Mariners pricing.  I’ve also done other lines. Sometimes there is a draught for Mariners pricing.  Why not give people that book a lot a price break instead of given free cruises to every tom, dick and Harry.  That’s just super annoying.  I could “maybe” see it if a person has multiple cruises booked.

[Boatdrill]

14 hours ago, happyglobetrotter said:

How many pins do you need or want ?  Just ask for one at the front desk on your next cruise. If you qualify, you will get one on the spot.

 

I

Thanks for asking. I'd like one 5 star Mariner pin, please. 

[happyglobetrotter]

5 minutes ago, Boatdrill said:

I

Thanks for asking. I'd like one 5 star Mariner pin, please. 

I am not the front office   LOL 

[YXU AC*SE]

12 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

I need continued encouraging reasons to continue to sail with HAL

Fools ?    Hmmm.   Re your recent cruise history, your Princess sailings will be known  --  because of the Carnival-wide affiliate sharing policy, which in part states,  '(w)e may receive information about you collected by other Carnival Corporation companies, businesses, brands and affiliated entities in our family of companies, so that information you provide to one brand may be used by us to better provide you Services and communicate with you.'  So recalling that HAL and Princess are in the same CCL operating group headed by the same person, is not a dollar in one's left pocket worth the same as a dollar in one's right ? 

 

One thing I did not mention with SPI modeling, is that there is often a cross-tabbed value to it called LTV - lifetime value  --  where customers are scored by their value (ie earned revenue) to a company -- so, I will use myself as an example here ...   

 

I'm relatively young (when compared to HAL's customer profile) and I already have demonstrated loyalty to the product -- four star half way to five) which are pluses  --  BUT,  I generally travel in an inside cabin on discounted faring, generally booked close to sailing with lots of re-price, never (ie zero spend) darken the ship's shops, spas, casinos, or shorex desk, and generate comparatively little onboard revenue, and simply use the ship as a convenient conveyance to seeing interesting places. I book my own pre- / post-cruise hotels and transfers, and book my own air  -- which would be red-flag negatives to my LTV score. Of course, this is all tracked and measured (again see the affiliate sharing policy.)    Also, we're both still working, so we need to be careful in our itinerary selection, that fits well in our allotted vacation amounts, and our work-cycle slack times when it's good for us to take it.   

 

So from a HAL perspective,  I am likely a seat-filler -- why would they spend incremental dollars to attract me based upon my LTV?   In fact, why wouldn't they dissuade me?   Working example -- two person household - we have identical HAL sailing histories --  I generally price and book everything on my mariner number (only b/c I know it off the top of my head).   A couple of itineraries ago, I used  the other mariner number, for kicks. Net?  200$pp better faring, and 100$ more in OBC   -- so is HAL trying to fire me as a customer based on my LTV, by offering me a higher price based on my mariner number ? (and yes, companies do generally try to lose low or negative yield customers) -- or simply harvest incremental revenue bc they knew I would book anyway?   

 

Sometimes @rkacruiser, no answer is an answer.   :-).  I just continue to play the game.    Scott. 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by YXU AC*SE

[YXU AC*SE]

13 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Why not give people that book a lot a price break 

See above re yield management / lifetime value. 

 

HI. Let's call you a life-long Coke drinker.  Not Diet Coke or Coke Zero or Pepsi or Dr. Pepper.or President's Choice.   You simply prefer the wondrously refreshing taste of Coca Cola full stop.   Isn't your five-star status with HAL saying the same thing (at least to HAL) ?   Yeah, you might buy the occasional case of Seven-Up or Cranberry Ginger Ale for kicks -- but you're principally a Coke drinker.   

 

Knowing this consumer behaviour as a marketer, why would I discount my product offering to you ?  One can only personally consume so much soda, right ?  If I discount Coke to you, are you going to buy more ?  And if you do, are you going to purchase enough incremental cases of Coke that the net revenue of the additional Coke you buy (realizing there is marginal cost to making Coke) offsets the discount I have offered ?    

 

One thing to consider -- is there a revenue protect element to my discounting Coke to you ?   If I don't give you a price break, will you drop Coke entirely and become a Pepsi Max drinker ?  In your personal instance, your five-star status indicates likely not. 

 

And just remember your personal consumer response may or may not be predictive of the entire class of five-star Coke drinkers out there --  which is what marketers have their eye on. Consumer inertia is a factor to be very much considered here. 

 

Overarchingly, there is maximizing shareholder value considerations here -- where post-COVID, and possi-probably entering recession, discretionary spend like cruise travel will remain under pressure ?  Why would CCL want to give away top-line revenue to long term high-value customers with little incremental upside?  Does it make much sense from a shareholder POV?   Scott.  

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by YXU AC*SE

[Ready2go11]

After logging into my account and clicking on preferences, then using the Contact Preferences as seen below, you can check if you are opted in or out to various marketing methods.
 

 I did this a few weeks ago, and despite opting in to phone and text (I was already opted in for email) I have not seen any change yet. Maybe it will take time for it to filter to their promotions. 
 

I get emails about trips I have already booked, but never other promotional ones. And I have never received any up-sale offers despite usually booking direct with HAL. 
 

 

PROFILE INFORMATION

PREFERENCES

PASSWORD & SECURITY

FUTURE CRUISE CREDITS

Contact Preferences

Personalize your preferences for news, marketing updates, latest fares, specials and offers.

EmailOpted In

PhoneOpted In

Instant MessageOpted Out

Text MessageOpted In

Mailing AddressOpted Out

[YXU AC*SE]

Recall @Ready2go11 'opted-in' doesn't mean you're going to get picked up by a targeted marketing campaign - it simply means you consent to be contacted via the five comms channels you have listed.  You would still need to qualify for whatever the offer is based upon HAL's selection criteria. Random example: why would HAL push a casino offer to you if you have no casino spend history?     Scott. 

[PasadenaDave]

To quote our children and grandchildren “what is this magazine thing you speak of”. As someone who grew up near a paper mill known for high grade magazine quality paper,  they don’t make that stuff anymore 

[Florida_gal_50]

5 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

See above re yield management / lifetime value. 

 

HI. Let's call you a life-long Coke drinker.  Not Diet Coke or Coke Zero or Pepsi or Dr. Pepper.or President's Choice.   You simply prefer the wondrously refreshing taste of Coca Cola full stop.   Isn't your five-star status with HAL saying the same thing (at least to HAL) ?   Yeah, you might buy the occasional case of Seven-Up or Cranberry Ginger Ale for kicks -- but you're principally a Coke drinker.   

 

Knowing this consumer behaviour as a marketer, why would I discount my product offering to you ?  One can only personally consume so much soda, right ?  If I discount Coke to you, are you going to buy more ?  And if you do, are you going to purchase enough incremental cases of Coke that the net revenue of the additional Coke you buy (realizing there is marginal cost to making Coke) offsets the discount I have offered ?    

 

One thing to consider -- is there a revenue protect element to my discounting Coke to you ?   If I don't give you a price break, will you drop Coke entirely and become a Pepsi Max drinker ?  In your personal instance, your five-star status indicates likely not. 

 

And just remember your personal consumer response may or may not be predictive of the entire class of five-star Coke drinkers out there --  which is what marketers have their eye on. Consumer inertia is a factor to be very much considered here. 

 

Overarchingly, there is maximizing shareholder value considerations here -- where post-COVID, and possi-probably entering recession, discretionary spend like cruise travel will remain under pressure ?  Why would CCL want to give away top-line revenue to long term high-value customers with little incremental upside?  Does it make much sense from a shareholder POV?   Scott.  

 

Yes, I understand.  It wasn't a lack of understanding on my part.  No one should ever feel they have someone in the bag.  Unlike a lot of others I have tried other cruise lines and will in the future.  

[Florida_gal_50]

4 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

Recall @Ready2go11 'opted-in' doesn't mean you're going to get picked up by a targeted marketing campaign - it simply means you consent to be contacted via the five comms channels you have listed.  You would still need to qualify for whatever the offer is based upon HAL's selection criteria. Random example: why would HAL push a casino offer to you if you have no casino spend history?     Scott. 

Unfortunately many people on this board think this fixes it all. 

[YXU AC*SE]

4 hours ago, PasadenaDave said:

“what is this magazine thing you speak of”

 

[rkacruiser]

11 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

One thing I did not mention with SPI modeling, is that there is often a cross-tabbed value to it called LTV - lifetime value  --  where customers are scored by their value (ie earned revenue) to a company -- so, I will use myself as an example here ..

 

I know not your expertise in the marketing area (and don't need to know).  I will assume that you "know about which you speak".  

 

I will use myself as an example of "lifetime value"  
to use the illustration of yourself.

 

I often book pre-post hotel packages.  I always book an outside or a veranda stateroom, a Signature Suite, or a Neptune Suite.  Most of my shore excursions are those sold by HAL.  I have a history of booking long cruises or b2b2b cruises.  I buy wine packages.  I buy spa passes.  I patronize specialty restaurants.  I would think I would meet some MBA's definition of a "lifetime value" cruiser. 

 

If marketing to established customers is unimportant to HAL, then, please explain to me why as an owner of a 2020 Buick, I am regularly receiving marketing e-mails and snail mails enticing me to buy a new Buick from GM?  (And, my current Buick is Buick #5).

 

4 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

No one should ever feel they have someone in the bag.  Unlike a lot of others I have tried other cruise lines and will in the future.  

 

Absolutely!  Such marketing I am seeing from HAL is why I used the word "fools" in what I wrote.  My wondering "afield" when I sailed in YC on MSC showed me that there is a different cruising experience "out there".  And, it was one that I liked.  And, there was the quality of cruise experience offered that does not exist in the current iteration of HAL.  

 

11 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

  I just continue to play the game.   

  

I hope you have no objection to playing this "game".  It is only when the participants of a "game" begin to object.  (Please reference to what is taking place in college athletics (particularly football) today to, maybe, understand what I mean.

[YXU AC*SE]

@rkacruiser, HAL isn't Buick and GM isn't CCL ?  For the record, I'm a marketer / management consultant in a discretionary consumer [and small/medium and enterprise] services field (pls don't judge) 

 

You seem to have two issues -- (1) you aren't being proactively marketed to with 'encouraging reasons' to sail HAL, and more importantly (2) you seem to suggest that the brand promise of HAL has eroded since the days of Mssrs Lanterman and Kreuse.  I'm not sure how a once a quarter glossy brochure on 80 pound silk cover delivered via USPS is going to fix your second issue ?   Personally, I'm already at a loss b/c the ppl I see depicted on those marketing materials look leagues apart from the ppl I see wearing their bathrobes to breakfast in the Lido?  LOL.  🙂

 

If (2) is the real issue here (I believe you referenced consistency of product) then perhaps MSC + YC is a better fit for you and HAL is wise to conserve its marketing spend ? Alternately, they could migrate you up the CCL value chain into their Cunard or Seabourn products to better meet the refinement you seek?  All I can suggest is how pretty standard marketing indices can be used to determine whether you warrant marketing investment as a high lifetime value and high sales propensity customer to book a future cruise, based upon your demonstrated past behaviour(s).     Scott. 

Edited September 8, 2022 by YXU AC*SE

[cruisemom42]

23 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

I generally travel in an inside cabin on discounted faring, generally booked close to sailing with lots of re-price, never (ie zero spend) darken the ship's shops, spas, casinos, or shorex desk, and generate comparatively little onboard revenue, and simply use the ship as a convenient conveyance to seeing interesting places. I book my own pre- / post-cruise hotels and transfers, and book my own air  -- which would be red-flag negatives to my LTV score. Of course, this is all tracked and measured (again see the affiliate sharing policy.)    Also, we're both still working, so we need to be careful in our itinerary selection, that fits well in our allotted vacation amounts, and our work-cycle slack times when it's good for us to take it. 

 

All of the above for me. Plus the added "minuses" of a) being a solo cruiser and b) not being "HAL loyal".

 

As you say, best thing to do is play the game and look for the best deal available under the circumstances. That deal may be with HAL or with another line.

 

I guess you could say HAL and I are "friends with benefits".  Neither of us really care if one of us strays.

 

I truly feel sorry for those who only want to cruise on a single line. I feel they are really narrowing their range of possibilities. But everybody's got to do what works for them....

[VennDiagram]

3 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

I guess you could say HAL and I are "friends with benefits".  Neither of us really care if one of us strays.

 

 

Thank you for the laugh-out-loud moment this comment gave me 😄 😅😂

[rkacruiser]

12 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

I truly feel sorry for those who only want to cruise on a single line. I feel they are really narrowing their range of possibilities.

 

I agree.  It's like that old cereal commercial when "Mikey" was reluctant to try a cereal:  "Try it; you may like it".  I have done so.  And, I "like it".  

 

21 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

Alternately, they could migrate you up the CCL value chain into their Cunard or Seabourn products to better meet the refinement you seek? 

 

But, that has not happened.  I receive the Cunarder on occasion, I suppose, because I have sailed with them am a member of their loyalty program.  

 

21 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

) you seem to suggest that the brand promise of HAL has eroded since the days of Mssrs Lanterman and Kreuse. 

 

You are absolutely correct in what I am saying.  And, the lack of a glossy brochure is the least of those changes!  

[YXU AC*SE]

12 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

I have done so.  And, I "like it". 

Well it sounds like you have your solution at hand, Mikey.  🙂

 

Respectfully, as Mr. Lanterman has been retired nearly 20 years and deceased for three -- I don't think we can count on his steady hand to [re-]shape HAL to the product you fondly recall ?   

 

I liked your Buick example, and your expressed brand loyalty there -- that product has evolved, right ?  As an example, if I were to go back 20 years, one can't find a LeSabre equivalent in today's Buick line-up -- the sedan chassis / unibody has been retired and everything has evolved to the cross-over / SUV body style?  Interesting how we can selectively accept / adapt to some changes, but not others.  Consumer behaviour is always interesting, and oftentimes difficult to predict.    Scott.  

 

 

[rkacruiser]

9 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

Well it sounds like you have your solution at hand, Mikey.  🙂

 

 

Yes, I have.  

 

9 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

Respectfully, as Mr. Lanterman has been retired nearly 20 years and deceased for three -- I don't think we can count on his steady hand to [re-]shape HAL to the product you fondly recall ? 

 

This is a silly comment by you in my opinion.  Is it too much to expect the administrative heirs of the product that Mr. Kruse and he helped to create to continue to provide a traditional HAL experience as well as updating that experience in those areas that were required?

 

9 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

Interesting how we can selectively accept / adapt to some changes, but not others

 

I view the my dollars spent on items that I must  accept because of whatever (market?) conditions differently than the dollars I spend on discretionary items, such as travel.  

 

9 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

, one can't find a LeSabre equivalent in today's Buick line-up -- the sedan chassis / unibody has been retired and everything has evolved to the cross-over / SUV body style? 

 

This is an excellent example of a change, if I wanted to remain a Buick customer, that I was forced to accept.  It took me many months, much thought, many visits to dealers and test drives before I decided that I could be OK with a SUV.  

 

What helped me in making my decision?  Glossy brochures that detailed the equipment that one vehicle had in comparison to another.  One hears "stuff" from a salesperson.  So much "stuff" is thrown out that my feeble brain is unable to retain--let alone compare--a Lincoln MKZ to a Buick Envision.  Having "hard copies" to compare the features of the two, as well as repeated test drives, finally led me to a decision.  

[cruisemom42]

37 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

So much "stuff" is thrown out that my feeble brain is unable to retain--let alone compare--a Lincoln MKZ to a Buick Envision.  Having "hard copies" to compare the features of the two, as well as repeated test drives, finally led me to a decision.  

 

Couldn't you obtain the same effect as a glossy brochure by perusing a handsomely designed website?

 

I almost never look at paper magazines, catalogs or brochures anymore. It's all available online at my fingertips -- often even more than is found in the old "brochures".