Is the Captain Circle Loyalty Program sailing in the wake of the future?

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

Well that leaves me out. 

Ditto.

So, you could buy yourself in?  SMH

[BamaVol]

8 hours ago, MileHighAko said:

This is just rumor, but I recently talked to someone who works in the IT industry for a company that is supposedly contracted by Princess to build a software system for a new loyalty program. It was mentioned that the program could highly favor onboard spending, with the key perks being experiences and not items that customers would normally pay for (things like 360 dining type experiences, special lounge access, pre-cruise concierge, etc.). The thing that intrigued me was the measurement of onboard spend and other activity during a set past period of time (e.g. last 3 years) vs. the lifetime achievement that exists today. 

 That would align Captains Circle with hotel loyalty programs which require annual qualification.  Hotel programs have been scaling back benefits because many of them gift status for credit card holders. And the airline programs have been moving to revenue based qualification for years.  

 

The only cruise line program I am familiar with is MSC.  They comped me top tier status based on my Hilton Honors Diamond.  I haven’t sailed with them yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find a high percentage of elites onboard. Their best benefit is a discount on cruise fares.  I don’t think anyone would be disappointed with that. But they are privately owned, trying to take business away from Carnival and Royal Caribbean ships, and subsidized by their commercial shipping business.

 

I do think that Princess loyalty program members could only expect to see an improvement in benefits with the sort of change you say is rumored. As it stands, expect fewer and lesser benefits. But not a cafeteria plan that is hard to administer.

[Guest ldtr]

3 hours ago, BamaVol said:

 That would align Captains Circle with hotel loyalty programs which require annual qualification.  Hotel programs have been scaling back benefits because many of them gift status for credit card holders. And the airline programs have been moving to revenue based qualification for years.  

 

The only cruise line program I am familiar with is MSC.  They comped me top tier status based on my Hilton Honors Diamond.  I haven’t sailed with them yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find a high percentage of elites onboard. Their best benefit is a discount on cruise fares.  I don’t think anyone would be disappointed with that. But they are privately owned, trying to take business away from Carnival and Royal Caribbean ships, and subsidized by their commercial shipping business.

 

I do think that Princess loyalty program members could only expect to see an improvement in benefits with the sort of change you say is rumored. As it stands, expect fewer and lesser benefits. But not a cafeteria plan that is hard to administer.

A point based program where you earn the points by dollars spent, then redeem them for various benefits (basically spend the points like cash) would not be hard to administer. The only complexity would be establishing the conversion rate.

[davekathy]

Add complementary bag of Wash n Fold as a laundry perk for Platinum to the OPs wish list. 

[Steelers36]

13 hours ago, MileHighAko said:

This is just rumor, but I recently talked to someone who works in the IT industry for a company that is supposedly contracted by Princess to build a software system for a new loyalty program. It was mentioned that the program could highly favor onboard spending, with the key perks being experiences and not items that customers would normally pay for (things like 360 dining type experiences, special lounge access, pre-cruise concierge, etc.). The thing that intrigued me was the measurement of onboard spend and other activity during a set past period of time (e.g. last 3 years) vs. the lifetime achievement that exists today. 

No chance for us either on measurement of onboard spending.  No inclusive fare packages, BYOW, no ship excursions.  Most of our extra spend is on some SD, unless sailing Caribbean and then add on some Sanctuary.

[Guest ldtr]

Keep in mind that the points airline loyalty programs are in most cases the most profitable part of the business with thr money generated from selling points to other businesses that award them to their customers. The affiliated credit cards are a good example of a major revenue generator.

 

Even if one does not qualify in reaching the loyalty tiers each year, they still get points for each flight taken and or dollar spent that have value. Would not be surprised if the cruise lines were to go in such a direction.

 

With the airlines they have million milers that result in lifetime status, some hotel programs also have when you reach a certain number of night.

 

It would be interesting to see how a cruise line might restructure its program 

[MissP22]

8 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Ditto.

So, you could buy yourself in?  SMH

We spend so little on the ship I doubt if we would ever qualify for any of perks. 

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, ldtr said:

Keep in mind that the points airline loyalty programs are in most cases the most profitable part of the business with thr money generated from selling points to other businesses that award them to their customers. The affiliated credit cards are a good example of a major revenue generator.

 

Even if one does not qualify in reaching the loyalty tiers each year, they still get points for each flight taken and or dollar spent that have value. Would not be surprised if the cruise lines were to go in such a direction.

 

With the airlines they have million milers that result in lifetime status, some hotel programs also have when you reach a certain number of night.

 

It would be interesting to see how a cruise line might restructure its program 

It would make sense IMO to have a system where loyalty levels require continued travel with the provider.  I have had hotel statuses in the past and lost them. I was top tier Air Canada for 10 years and lost that when I retired (required at least 95 flight segments per year at the time to maintain it and that isn't good enough on its own any longer as the mighty dollar spend comes into play now).  We still have some sort of status level on X and have not sailed with them in almost 20 years.

[CruiseCrabs]

On 4/27/2023 at 7:38 PM, Kay S said:

Loyalty programs attract older cruisers.  Princes wants the young crowd.  They are slowly chipping away at loyalty benefits.  The handwriting is on the wall.

I think the main problem is that working adults don’t accrue loyalty quickly enough to enjoy the perks and elites are often pins in the rears who take many cruises yet sleep in chairs in all of the prime real estate, yell at guest services, and make entitled demands yet pull shenanigans like reversing the crew appreciation. Loyalty programs are supposed to entice rebooking while encouraging word of mouth advertising and spending dollars in new areas of the brand. Princess knows darn well that many elites are cheating on then and are turning others off to the brand. I love Princess… I don’t love many of their angry, entitled elites.

[CruiseCrabs]

17 hours ago, MileHighAko said:

This is just rumor, but I recently talked to someone who works in the IT industry for a company that is supposedly contracted by Princess to build a software system for a new loyalty program. It was mentioned that the program could highly favor onboard spending, with the key perks being experiences and not items that customers would normally pay for (things like 360 dining type experiences, special lounge access, pre-cruise concierge, etc.). The thing that intrigued me was the measurement of onboard spend and other activity during a set past period of time (e.g. last 3 years) vs. the lifetime achievement that exists today. 

This makes a lot more sense business-wise, to be honest. Why reward those who gamed the system to get to elite (I’m looking at you, three-day cruisers) and reap rewards while not really spending while onboard? No loyalty program is really free per se and the entitlement has gotten out of hand.

[Over from NZ]

1 hour ago, CruiseCrabs said:

I think the main problem is that working adults don’t accrue loyalty quickly enough to enjoy the perks and elites are often pins in the rears who take many cruises yet sleep in chairs in all of the prime real estate, yell at guest services, and make entitled demands yet pull shenanigans like reversing the crew appreciation. Loyalty programs are supposed to entice rebooking while encouraging word of mouth advertising and spending dollars in new areas of the brand. Princess knows darn well that many elites are cheating on then and are turning others off to the brand. I love Princess… I don’t love many of their angry, entitled elites.

Well put! Dump the system altogether. Chuck the money instead at specials and other enticements. 

[SCX22]

2 hours ago, CruiseCrabs said:

I think the main problem is that working adults don’t accrue loyalty quickly enough to enjoy the perks and elites are often pins in the rears who take many cruises yet sleep in chairs in all of the prime real estate, yell at guest services, and make entitled demands yet pull shenanigans like reversing the crew appreciation. Loyalty programs are supposed to entice rebooking while encouraging word of mouth advertising and spending dollars in new areas of the brand. Princess knows darn well that many elites are cheating on then and are turning others off to the brand. I love Princess… I don’t love many of their angry, entitled elites.

 

Gotta say, after having cruise most of the major cruise lines, Princess' Elites like to brag the most.  They like to flash around their black Medallions.  Can't blame them either; Princess eggs them on with their "Most Travelled Guest" event.  

 

No one cares!

Edited April 29, 2023 by SCX22

[Kay S]

4 hours ago, SCX22 said:

 

 

No one cares!

 

Well, somebody must care or they wouldn't do it.  Would I be correct is assuming you are not Elite on Princess?  Luckily, you won't be subject to constant chipping away at the benefits.  I really don't remember ever meeting anyone who flashed his medallion around.  Besides, the writing on them is so small, a person might get hit in the eye before he could read anything on it.

[SCX22]

49 minutes ago, Kay S said:

 

Well, somebody must care or they wouldn't do it.  Would I be correct is assuming you are not Elite on Princess?  Luckily, you won't be subject to constant chipping away at the benefits.  I really don't remember ever meeting anyone who flashed his medallion around.  Besides, the writing on them is so small, a person might get hit in the eye before he could read anything on it.

 

I have been cruising Princess since I was a kid so I'm used to the crowd and and have been Elite for the past 10 years.   I was once the "most travelled guest" on a cruise with only 397 days, granted there were a lot of 1st time Princess cruisers, and was invited to the luncheon as the guest of honor.  I declined the luncheon and the token tote bag as I found the entire thing to be nonsense.  

 

Princess has plenty of ways to flash the Elite Medallions around, such as the metal pendants and metal bracelets.  Most of the people who purchase those accessories are Elite.  Most Elites go on longer cruises and are always bragging to the non-Elites about how they get free laundry.

 

Princess' way of counting loyalty is non-sense because it counts the number of cruises and not the number of days and there are cheats around the system.  I know people to have taken 3 day solo cruises, which would count as 2 cruises in the Captains Circle program, just to get to Elite.  

 

If you want a real loyalty program, consider cruising Royal Caribbean and becoming apart of their Crown & Anchor Society.  You'll find the perks that you are saying are lacking in the Captain's Circle Program.

 

Like I said, for Princess cruisers "it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks" and they will continue to cruise with Princess regardless of what the Captain's Circle program removes as perks.

 

[Kay S]

33 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

 

Princess' way of counting loyalty is non-sense because it counts the number of cruises and not the number of days and there are cheats around the system. .

 

This is not true.  Elite is reached after 15 cruises or 150 days cruised whichever comes first.  Look it up.

 

Have fun  over there on RCCL!

[SCX22]

56 minutes ago, Kay S said:

This is not true.  Elite is reached after 15 cruises or 150 days cruised whichever comes first.  Look it up.

 

Have fun  over there on RCCL!

 

If a solo traveler took a total of 8, cruises between 3 to 5 days, they would be an Elite.  Some people use the 3 to 5 day cruises to boost their number of cruises taken, especially if it's a B2B to the cruise that they are already on.  After doing the math, it would take take 22, 7-day cruises to reach Elite by counting the number of days only. 

 

Most members of Princess' Captains Circle reach Elite by number of cruises taken rather than number of days.

 

Not fair to those of us who have actually put in the cruise days. 

 

Also the reason, why there has to be so many Captain's Circle Parties because there are just too many Platinum and Elites.  On my Hawaii cruise this January, felt sorry for the Captain because he had to host 4 parties, 2 parties on 2 formal nights.  

Edited April 30, 2023 by SCX22

[caribill]

9 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

Most members of Princess' Captains Circle reach Elite by number of cruises taken rather than number of cruises.

 

 

???

[SCX22]

2 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

???

Edited post to make more sense.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 4/27/2023 at 11:21 PM, ldubs said:

 

I kind of like where you are going with this basket of options.   The first thing that comes to mind is I get 4 or 5 free drinks per day on other lines.  

RCI gives 4 with Diamond status and 5 with Diamond Plus.  So, which is it and what other lines give out free drinks with certain tier status?    Not Carnival, NCL, MSC or Celebrity.

[CruizinSusan70]

4 hours ago, Kay S said:

  I really don't remember ever meeting anyone who flashed his medallion around.  Besides, the writing on them is so small, a person might get hit in the eye before he could read anything on it.

Didn't think that writing had anything to do with it.  Aren't Elite members given black medallions?

[Kay S]

31 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Didn't think that writing had anything to do with it.  Aren't Elite members given black medallions?

The medallion itself is a grey, metal color.  It has printed on it the name of the passenger and the sea witch logo in the color of the loyalty level.  New cruisers, it's blue ink, (and so forth) and Elites it's black ink.  The entire medallion itself is not black.  The imprint is pretty small, considering the medallion is about the size of a US quarter.  I guess if you have really good eyesight, you can tell the color of ink on a medallion of someone walking by.

[CruizinSusan70]

12 minutes ago, Kay S said:

The medallion itself is a grey, metal color.  It has printed on it the name of the passenger and the sea witch logo in the color of the loyalty level.  New cruisers, it's blue ink, (and so forth) and Elites it's black ink.  The entire medallion itself is not black.  The imprint is pretty small, considering the medallion is about the size of a US quarter.  I guess if you have really good eyesight, you can tell the color of ink on a medallion of someone walking by.

I thought that the sea witch logo for Elites would be black and would be easier to see than the microscopic text that is on the edge of the medallions.  We had them for our B2B last year on the Discovery.  Wouldn't the sea witch be gold, red, gray and black for gold, ruby, platinum & elite levels.

[shorne]

4 hours ago, SCX22 said:

I know people to have taken 3 day solo cruises, which would count as 2 cruises in the Captains Circle program, just to get to Elite. 

 

Conversely, solo travellers don't get extra credit for the length of the cruise. I'm going to take a 33-day cruise by myself; it counts as 2 cruises but only 33, not 66, days. (It's really two cruises sold as one, but I understand that it is being treated as one for this purpose.)

 

If that creates an incentive for people to take short cruises, Princess has only itself to blame.

[OzKiwiJJ]

21 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

I thought that the sea witch logo for Elites would be black and would be easier to see than the microscopic text that is on the edge of the medallions.  We had them for our B2B last year on the Discovery.  Wouldn't the sea witch be gold, red, gray and black for gold, ruby, platinum & elite levels.

Which is exactly what it is - the centre part of the medallion, where the sea witch is, is the  status colour.

[Torfamm]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

RCI gives 4 with Diamond status and 5 with Diamond Plus.  So, which is it and what other lines give out free drinks with certain tier status?    Not Carnival, NCL, MSC or Celebrity.

Celebrity offers Elite members free drinks from 5:00 to 7:00