Just my thoughts on changes to Blue Chip Club, and Captain’s Club inconsistency, but we had an amazing 30 days on the Eclipse

[kk99]

So, these events happened on the Eclipse 4-22-2023 transpacific, and May 9, 2023 Hawaii to Vancouver sailings.

First off all of the crew, and staff were great. I am a very positive person, so these are the things that need to be published on Celebrity’s webpage so that everyone has the same information. Just for background, I’ve cruised a fair amount with Celebrity, over the past 25 years and always with friends and family. I also have been a Ruby tier casino player since they started the revised program several years ago, but I don’t plan on keeping it after this year. I’ve cruised on many lines, usually for the itinerary and value for me.

So the activities manager on Eclipse stated that while they will keep trivia (at least on longer cruises) , there would be no more prizes, (fleetwide) after our 2 cruises as it had gotten out of control with the cheating and people confronting the staff about the correct answers. I think this a positive, as those who just want to have fun can, and who needs another deck of cards or cap.  People need to be civil, way too much cursing going on. 
 
On our first sailing there were 26 Zeniths, and the 2nd leg had 36 Zeniths broken into 2 groups for lunch. A very nice luncheon on both sailings, and everyone got the photo of the groups delivered in a regular paper envelope. I went to the top cruiser event on both cruises, and sat in the back. I clapped for the individuals who got it, and left. Did not see any reserved seating in the front for people other than the top cruiser people. No big deal, just noticed it.
I don’t think Zeniths or higher tier casino players will ever regain access to the Retreat lounge that they had pre pandemic. Again Celebrity gets to make the rules of their loyalty and casino programs, but there has been a lessening of both program benefits imo.I rarely go in the lounge especially if I have friends who are not in a suite traveling with us.

Casino changes, more are coming this summer.

When we were in Hawaii, and the casino was closed for several days while we were in ports, they were going to update to some newer slot, video poker machines, but they did not arrive in time. What they did do was to install in all of the machines, the readers that allow you to charge to your room a maximum of $2000 a day. Before the readers were installed you would go to the cage, and you could charge up to $5000 a day to your room for chips or slot vouchers, if your bank account could support it and you really wanted to bet big one night. After the change, even if you had a previously established line of credit, it was capped at $ 2000 per day. I saw several frustrated table players on the 2nd cruise.
New rule is whatever comp play you earned is whatever can only be applied to your next new cruise for an offer or discount. Future cruise sales can take a blue chip club deposit for a sailing, but only for what offers are in the computer for you, up to 9 nights. You get better discounting and longer cruises by calling Blue Chip shoreside if you played a lot according to their algorithm , and also future cruise sales (onboard) cannot price out any Blue Chip discount sailing on a new ship for it’s first year of service.

The biggest change, and this is a Captain’s Club issue that affected us, is that if you book a suite through Blue Chip, because say there are only sky suites available at the time of booking, and you later pay the difference to upgrade it to a higher grade suite, even outside final payment, you do not get the points of the cabin you sail in, but at what suite cabin grade you originally booked. It is being treated the same as a move up points restriction. So on our 2nd leg, we all got the cabins we wanted on the day of booking, but on the first leg, we didn’t but paid a sizable amount to upgrade it when a better suite cabin became available to book outside of final payment. One of my friends on the sailing would have turned Zenith on their next cruise, now it is 2 cruises away for them. Celebrity needs to fix their website pages to disclose these changes, and not have people be surprised after the fact. This was an undisclosed change by Captain’s Club, and Blue Chip had no idea about the change. Blue Chip to my knowledge does not have a shoreside manager in place after Patrick Jacquot left the company several months ago, but a call center. The junket side of Blue Chip is more helpful and knowledgeable.
 

So my funny story is that I am taking medications for my immune system where I can’t drink. So we requested precruise and while onboard that Celebrity keep all the alcohol. I think for the 2 cruises between the suite amenities, Blue Chip, a birthday celebration, Captain’s Club and other departments, we got something like 15 bottles which went to the crew bar, with the champagnes going to couples celebrating long term anniversaries. I got a lot of thank you from crew members. Two of us played trivia once in the Retreat and won a bottle of nice champagne. I never laughed harder, and declined that prize. 
 

So I am taking a break from Celebrity for several months, as I still have one more treatment, before a fall transatlantic. I do hope they fix the shoreside experience, Blue Chip notices and the Celebrity website to correctly reflect whatever changes they have made or will make shortly.  I so enjoy being on the ship but not the shoreside issues both pre and post.   I am hopeful that they will add different future itineraries, as I have found places we want to go visit both on land and by sea that Celebrity doesn’t offer.

My favorite memories of this wonderful vacation was going to Russell,  New Zealand and paying my respects on Anzac Day. My father served under the Australian generals during WWII in the South Pacific.   Thankful for everyone’s services. 
 

We did all private tours on our cruises, and just had a blast. If anyone needs information or has questions about the ports, just post up, and I’ll try and answer. Here’s hoping your next holiday is a wonderful one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

Thanks for your review. The topics you covered I knew little about. 

[sixpackeddie]

Very informative, it’s greatly appreciated