Revamp of C&A tiers? Cruises getting expensive!

[smokeybandit]

1 minute ago, Ocean Boy said:

But a high mark up none the less.

Alcohol has the highest mark up of any product in a restaurant, so sure, going to the liquor store yourself would be a lot cheaper.

[Jetdriver787]

34 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

 

Actually they're quite competitive with any urban/suburban bar/restaurant, if not cheaper.

Except, that unlike the bar/restaurant, they are selling “duty free” alcohol from a bonded warehouse. That alone should double the ”profit” margin on a like for like comparison. The direct “cost” is likely to be negligible. To what extent it affects the otherwise purchase of drinks packages must be a consideration?

[rolloman]

32 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

But a high mark up none the less.

Exactly...the actual cost they pay for the ingredients versus what they sell them for equates to a massive money maker for the cruise line. For simplicity, a single can of beer costs them under .50 cents yet they sell them for 8+ bucks. I drink beer, I get 5 drinks a day for D+...so for under $2.50 a cruise day they get my loyalty. Trust me, they are not moved by that figure. Keep buying those drink packages people so I continue to get my 5 drinks a day...

[nelblu]

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

If they do a revamp they should make it harder to move to the next tier. There are too many Diamonds because it doesn’t take that many points.  

I'll tell you one thing. there were some 400 D and D+ on my Easter sail on Anthem and the Crown Lounge was like a morgue.  There were more kids in the Lounge than adults.  Also, lunch with Officers event there was more senior staff than actual attendees.  Usually, this event is very well attended.  The Pinnacle event was separate and don't know what the turnout was.

[Cigar King]

3 hours ago, fenton04 said:

Well in the Midwest no matter how inexpensive the cruise there was the matter of flights

This is one of the reasons we do consecutive cruises.  You only need to pay airfare and hotel for one.

[Tolkmit]

3 hours ago, nolegirl01 said:

So I'm a few points away from Platinum (I know still a newbie) and we have a loooooong way to go to even hit diamond but I was just wondering....now with cruise prices going up significantly, do you think that Royal Caribbean will eventually do a revamp of C&A tiers? It seems like back then and even before covid, it was much cheaper to cruise and quicker to get points, but now with cruising getting so expensive, people can't afford it like they used to. What do you guys think? Just a thought! 🙂

 

Personally, I think a revamp is probably coming, but it will be the opposite of what you are hoping for. Royal wants to de-inflate the higher tiers, not get more people into them.

 

My guess is they combine Royal and Celebrity's loyalty programs, and create entirely new tiers with new names at that time, and re-work the rewards so it's not incredibly obvious how much you are losing with the conversion into the new program. For instance, instead of a number of free drinks each day, they'll attach a dollar amount, like 40, 50, or 60 dollars free per day depending on tier. And they'll add in a few policy changes at that point, like children not inheriting as high of a tier from their parents, etc. And I'm guessing they will do it soon, while they are sailing mostly full so they can afford the short term hit.

[Jam0610]

20 minutes ago, Cigar King said:

This is one of the reasons we do consecutive cruises.  You only need to pay airfare and hotel for one.

Agree. We drive to Galveston from Missouri but flights to Florida often are $ 1000.00 or more for the two of us. Add bags, hotel stay, meals, and taxi your close to doubling the cost of cruise fare.

Really think they will move to a point system based on dollars spent. Already happens in the Casino.

[Another_Critic]

Whatever C&A loyalty changes are made, they will be presented as "enhancing your cruise experience".  😄

[doghog]

Celebrity's new tagline, "Nothing comes close. You'll never want to vacation any other way". 😁  

[rolloman]

2 hours ago, Tolkmit said:

 

m. For instance, instead of a number of free drinks each day, they'll attach a dollar amount, like 40, 50, or 60 dollars free per day depending on tier. And they'll add in a few policy changes at that point, like children not inheriting as high of a tier from their parents, etc. And I'm guessing they will do it soon, while they are sailing mostly full so they can afford the short term hit.

They are going to get a good laugh at Corporate with this one...

[Tolkmit]

1 hour ago, rolloman said:

They are going to get a good laugh at Corporate with this one...

 

How so? Are you saying they'll find it funny to do this, or they'll laugh at the idea?The dollar amounts are about what I would expect them to pull. The cheapest beers are 7.50. Plus 18% automatic gratuity pushes them close to 9 dollars. Diamond currently gets 4 free drinks. So if you buy the cheapest beer, you get 4.5 free instead of 4. But anything other than that, you get less than current and Royal comes out ahead. And that's the immediate effect, it gets even better for them in a year or two when they raise drink prices without raising rewards.

[fenton04]

7 hours ago, JupiterTwo said:

 

Well, that's certainly one way to keep costs down...

You cleverly left out the fact “when we get there early”.

[fenton04]

4 hours ago, Cigar King said:

This is one of the reasons we do consecutive cruises.  You only need to pay airfare and hotel for one.

Well I retired in 2017.  So now we do take longer cruises!

[PhillyFan33579]

10 hours ago, nolegirl01 said:

So I'm a few points away from Platinum (I know still a newbie) and we have a loooooong way to go to even hit diamond but I was just wondering....now with cruise prices going up significantly, do you think that Royal Caribbean will eventually do a revamp of C&A tiers? It seems like back then and even before covid, it was much cheaper to cruise and quicker to get points, but now with cruising getting so expensive, people can't afford it like they used to. What do you guys think? Just a thought! 🙂

Have you cruised lately? I cruise at least once a month and ships are packed. I have seen nothing to indicate people can’t afford to cruise. If RCI ever changes the tiers, it will be in the other direction (i.e. more days needed to reach Diamond, etc.). RCI already has too many Diamond members. Because of this they changed the name of the Diamond Lounge and on certain cruised perks are taken away from Diamonds on the ship. 

[PhillyFan33579]

6 hours ago, Tolkmit said:

 

My guess is they combine Royal and Celebrity's loyalty programs  

At a recent lunch with officers this topic came up. The Hotel Director said there are no plans to combine RCI and Celebrity’s loyalty programs. 

[sgmn]

9 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

 

Actually they're quite competitive with any urban/suburban bar/restaurant, if not cheaper.

Well they're more expensive than my local pub, though agree similar to a city centre restaurant or sporting arena. The difference being you may only spend a couple of hours at that football or musical event, or occasionally visit a city centre bar.  

On board you're a captive audience for maybe several weeks with no other choice apart from port stops. 

Personally if I didn't have my diamond drinks I would pay per drink. No way could I bring myself to pay so much hard earned money on an alcohol package, especially on the longer cruises with long port days that I prefer.

 

Oh for the days pre covid when a) prices were more reasonable 

B) they had wine and beer packages

C) they had the 10 drink cards which were shareable and at a discount 

 

Edited April 10 by sgmn

[cublet]

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

Well they're more expensive than my local pub, though agree similar to a city centre restaurant or sporting arena. The difference being you may only spend a couple of hours at that football or musical event, or occasionally visit a city centre bar.  

On board you're a captive audience for maybe several weeks with no other choice apart from port stops. 

Personally if I didn't have my diamond drinks I would pay per drink. No way could I bring myself to pay so much hard earned money on an alcohol package, especially on the longer cruises with long port days that I prefer.

 

Oh for the days pre covid when a) prices were more reasonable 

B) they had wine and beer packages

C) they had the 10 drink cards which were shareable and at a discount 

 

Hello,

 

Agreed.

 

My Pin's 6 drinks and 525 points 3 bottles of wine is quite enough to see me though a week (just). But what would annoy me, without the above, would be the offer to  'Buy one, get one 50% off" - as a solo traveller even with 50% off, a second drinks package is of no use to me so is (would be) a disincentive to me to book.

 

Much better value is buying a drinks package at the time of booking that includes water and gratuities from MSC and comes in at about £30 per night for me. And I will be giving it a good thrashing starting this Friday!

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

PS: And, needless to say, when I order Prosecco I get Prosecco and not something dug out from the back of the cleaning cupboard.

[gumshoe958]

2 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

At a recent lunch with officers this topic came up. The Hotel Director said there are no plans to combine RCI and Celebrity’s loyalty programs. 

I have no plans to lose the lottery this weekend. But I bet I will!

 

If a Hotel Director is even in the loop on board level discussions like that, which I doubt, they’re hardly likely to reveal confidential information at an officers’ lunch.

 

RCG could actually play it quite cleverly and use a program merger to offer carrots and sticks to encourage more veteran top tier cruisers to move from Royal to Celebrity.

[Ocean Boy]

13 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

That, and they might make it revenue-based like the airlines.

 

Right now a point is a point whether you spend under $100 a night on an inside or over $300 on a prime balcony. And two points are two points whether you book the cheapest JS or the most expensive suite. So some earn elite status for far less than others. 
 

I could see them changing to, say, one point per $200 spent. And extend it to include cruise planner & on-board spend.

 

 

 

If you like that system why don't you go ahead and sail with a cruise line that uses it?

 

I have no idea why people constantly compare cruise lines with airlines. They are completely different industries. Their commonality is that they both operate expensive pieces of machinery that move. People fly because they have to. No one has to take a cruise. Big difference in how you can treat those two groups of consumers and what they will tolerate.

[gumshoe958]

21 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

If you like that system why don't you go ahead and sail with a cruise line that uses it?

I never said I liked it.

 

But if I was Jason Liberty I’d sure be considering it.

Anyone who doesn’t think a major devaluation of C&A benefits is coming needs to get their head out of the sand. It’s just a question of when.

 

Edited April 10 by gumshoe958

[rolloman]

7 hours ago, Tolkmit said:

 

How so? Are you saying they'll find it funny to do this, or they'll laugh at the idea?The dollar amounts are about what I would expect them to pull. The cheapest beers are 7.50. Plus 18% automatic gratuity pushes them close to 9 dollars. Diamond currently gets 4 free drinks. So if you buy the cheapest beer, you get 4.5 free instead of 4. But anything other than that, you get less than current and Royal comes out ahead. And that's the immediate effect, it gets even better for them in a year or two when they raise drink prices without raising rewards.

Royal is not going to give anyone 50-60 dollars a day. Secondly as I earlier described, the cost per beer is a few cents compared to the $8.00 they charge you. You cannot base your discussion on full retail price. Lastly, the only ones complaining about too many Diamonds are people on this message board. Changes in the past have been made because of the popularity of the program, such as over crowding in the lounge. They fixed it with drinks everywhere. The next step will be to get rid of the lounge altogether and turn it into a revenue generating space. 

[Ocean Boy]

1 minute ago, gumshoe958 said:

I never said I liked it.

 

But if I was Jason Liberty I’d sure be considering it.

Jason Liberty better remember that full ships today doesn't guarentee full ships tomorrow and realize just who is filling them. Look at the numbers people post about their cruise compositions. There are a lot of repeat cruisers. If those folks were not there would there be enough newbies to keep those ships full? I don't know and I'm not sure Jason wants to find out. Consumer debt is at an all time high. He may just not want to rattle the cage too much of those who choose to spend their money with RCI. Eventually the bottom is going to fall out of this debt ridden economy.

 

And as far as occasional cruisers losing their status, that will accomplish nothing other than to make them more likely to sample other cruise lines. D+ and Pinnacle level is hardly filled with people who only cruise once every few years.

[livingonthebeach]

I remember the days of uber-crowded Diamond lounges during happy hour. Now with the anytime drinks loaded on the sea pass card, I haven't seen over crowding at the former Diamond / now Crown Lounges.  The anytime / anywhere free drinks is the most positive change I've seen to the loyalty program that most people have embraced. Not so much for the other changes, i.e. Diamonds not allowed during cocktail hour in the Crown lounge on SOME sailings and Pinnacles and Diamond+s losing some of their benefits as well. 

[gumshoe958]

4 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Jason Liberty better remember that full ships today doesn't guarentee full ships tomorrow and realize just who is filling them. Look at the numbers people post about their cruise compositions. There are a lot of repeat cruisers. If those folks were not there would there be enough newbies to keep those ships full? I don't know and I'm not sure Jason wants to find out. Consumer debt is at an all time high. He may just not want to rattle the cage too much of those who choose to spend their money with RCI. Eventually the bottom is going to fall out of this debt ridden economy.

 

And as far as occasional cruisers losing their status, that will accomplish nothing other than to make them more likely to sample other cruise lines. D+ and Pinnacle level is hardly filled with people who only cruise once every few years.

Jason Liberty, like most CEOs, is happy to make hay while the sun shines. If and when the strategy starts failing he’ll change it. 
 

Most people have short memories. Those who’ve deserted Royal due to high prices and cuts to service can be enticed back if the price is right and they’re flung a few perks. But he’ll cross that bridge if and when he comes to it.

[Ocean Boy]

1 minute ago, gumshoe958 said:

Jason Liberty, like most CEOs, is happy to make hay while the sun shines. If and when the strategy starts failing he’ll change it. 
 

Most people have short memories. Those who’ve deserted Royal due to high prices and cuts to service can be enticed back if the price is right and they’re flung a few perks. But he’ll cross that bridge if and when he comes to it.

I agree with you on this. Businesses will often chase a dollar today even if it costs them 10 dollars next week. And when you really think about it, just one year as CEO of RCI pretty much sets you up financially for the rest of your life so even if he screws up and gets the boot....