You're about to discover the best things
and the worst things about
staying loyal to a cruise line.
I'm Gary Bembridge.
This is another of my
Cruise Trips for Travellers.
I'm taking a look at loyalty
programmes with cruise lines
and look at the pros and the cons
of staying loyal to one
particular cruise line.
But what is a cruise
line loyalty programme?
They're free to join, you
normally get signed up
when you go on your very
first cruise on a cruise line.
Often, you need that to be able to get in
to manage you cruise booking, for example.
You then earn points based on
the number of cruises you do.
Now for most cruise lines,
it's based on the number
of nights you do.
So most of the different
tiers that you hit and move up
depend on the number of nights.
The great thing about that is
not like many loyalty
programmes, say on airlines,
they don't wipe the nights free
and you have to reset every year.
So basically your nights keep building up.
So as you get to a new
tier, you keep that tier
and you keep working
your way up the tiers.
That then enables you to
redeem those various points
for either free benefits
or at certain tier levels,
it unlocks a whole range of benefits.
So all of the cruise lines
have loyalty programmes.
I thought I might just
mention five of them
for the five biggest based
on the number of passengers
cruising on them.
So Carnival Cruise Line, for
example, their loyalty programme
is called the VIFP:
the Very Important Fun Person.
The Crown & Anchor Society is
Royal Caribbean's loyalty programme.
Norwegian Cruise has the
Latitudes Awards programme,
MSC has the MSC Voyager's Club,
and Princess, which is the
fifth biggest cruise line
in terms of number of
passengers in the world.
They have the Captain's Circle.
So what are the worst
things about staying loyal
to one particular line?
Before we look at the upside of those,
it's worth talking about
some of the downsides.
There's two kind of worst
sides or two key watch outs.
The first of those is that
for most cruise lines,
as you earn status and tier
points on one cruise line,
it's strictly for that cruise line only.
Unlike airline loyalty programmes,
where airlines tend to
be part of bigger groups-
so you have for example, One
World, you have Star Lines,
you have Sky Team.
So groups of airlines belong to those.
And as you build up status with those,
you can use that status on other airlines,
and you can often move
the points between them.
This is not necessarily
the case on cruises.
For example, Carnival Group,
I have very high status
on Cunard, so I have platinum
status, kind of which
only gives me the top status.
But if I go on other
Carnival corporation brands,
like Carnival, Seaborne,
Holland America, Costa, Aida,
for each individual programme
have to build up status.
The same, I think, is true
of Norwegian Cruise Lines.
You're a part of the
Norwegian loyalty programme,
or your're a part of the
Oceania loyalty programme,
or you're part of Regent
Seven Seas loyalty programme.
The key difference for
those is as follows:
So if you actually cruise
with Royal Caribbean Group,
you find that your status moves
between their different brands.
So if you cruise Royal Caribbean,
and you build up status
on their Crown & Anchor
Society, you'll find if you go
for example on Celebrity,
or you go on Azamara,
you find that your status
actually keeps building and adding,
and your status applies across
the different cruise lines.
So it's a little bit more
similar to the airline situation.
The other great thing to
understand is that with MSC Cruises
they do a status match.
So if before you go on a
cruise, you are perhaps
very high status like I am on Cunard,
you are very high status
on Royal Caribbean.
They will match that status
if you apply in advance.
So you then unlock all
the benefits on MSC.
So as you look to choose who
you're gonna be loyal to,
you want to bear in mind
do you want to be loyal
to one particular cruise line
where you can't transfer that loyalty,
or do you want to be
loyal to one cruise line
that's part of a group that
will let you move stuff around.
That is kind of the worst side of being
a loyalty club, particularly
if you cruise lots of
different cruise lines like I do,
you kind of don't have
status on many of them
because you're chopping
and changing so often
and you can't transfer that across.
The other kind of worst thing
or risk and watch-out is you
should never let status
get in the way of a great deal.
So you shouldn't only
look at that cruise line,
because you might find you
get great other experiences
or you get phenomenal deals
to cruise the Caribbean,
cruise the Mediterranean,
go to Alaska on another cruise line.
Don't just turn down because of the perks
that you might get, because in practise,
as you'll see in a little while,
while there's some great perks,
they're not necessarily so magnificent
that it should stop you
chasing a great deal.
So this is probably the two worst things
about cruise loyalty programmes.
So what are the six best
things about staying loyal
to a cruise line and building up status?
So the best thing of all is
you get discounts, upgrades,
and potentially even free
cruises by staying loyal.
Now the different perks
differ by cruise lines,
so you need to check into the details.
So for example on Celebrity,
you can often get cabin upgrades,
you can get discounts on voyages
on pretty much all lines.
Silversea, as you build up
you can get a free sailing.
You can get free specialty dining on MSC,
you can get discounts on future sailings
with most cruise lines, especially
Seabourn and Fred Olson.
You can get savings on shore
excursions on Fred Olson.
You can get fares at special rates
for third and fourth
passengers on Holland America.
There's a whole mismash of
discounts, upgrades and benefits
that you can get through status.
The second big plus of staying loyal is
services and amenities
are often bundled in.
So you'll find all sorts
of things will come
as you hit the different status levels.
So you'll get things like
photos, internet access,
you might get all sorts
of dining included,
you might get champagne breakfast.
So all the different lines
offer different benefits.
So for example on Cunard
you'll get things like WiFi
which builds up,
you'll get some free laundry services,
and all sorts of different
features are built in
as you build up
including things like special dining.
So again, on Cunard as
you hit different stages
you get special dining for free.
The third perk, which I
think is a really great one,
is you get faster embarkation
and disembarkation.
This is particularly great
if you're on a cruise line
which is really big.
So you don't have to be
necessarily travelling in a suite
so obviously if you're
travelling in a suite
you get faster embarkation.
But after you go up priority
you get to get on the ship
and get off the ship quicker.
So that's a real big plus.
And you'll find often there's
little special lounges
for different cardholder levels
where you can have teas and
coffees and refreshments
before you go you might be
sitting in a nicer lounge
and different facilities
for when you get off.
So definitely, faster
embarkation/ disembarkation
I tink is a real big plus,
because it just makes the whole
cruising experience much smoother.
The fourth big plus, and this
appeals to a lot of people,
is they have different events,
they have different parties,
and different activities available
for people as they go up tiers.
Most of the cruise lines will have
some sort of cocktail party,
or captains or officer's party,
for members of their
different loyalty programmes,
and sometimes, depending on
your level, might even have
smaller, much more
intimate and special ones.
Often you'll find if you've
got status you'll get invited
for the chance to do the things
like behind the scene tours,
or go on the bridge, which is
increasingly difficult to do,
and they offer those often first
to people who have status.
You'll also find often people
with status are more likely
to get invited to the
Captain's table or to be hosted
by officers and members of
the crew, if that' something
that the cruise line does.
So activities, parties and
events is a real big plus
and often bundled in.
The fifth big plus is
often the cruise line
will give you little gifts
and various bits and pieces
as you build up status.
So it could be as simple
as, for example again,
using the Cunard as example,
you get different little pins
to indicate your level of status.
Some of the cruise lines
will give you luggage tags.
Some of the cruise lines
will give you special bags
which you can use to go off on excursions,
you know, nice little canvas bags.
And so different little
gifts are bundled, and again
it differs a lot by cruise line.
The other big plus is
as you build up status,
you'll also often be
given access to concierge
services. So often that's only available
for people travelling in suites,
but you'll often find they
will have special services
available for people with status.
And it's normally hosted
by the person who manages
the actual club on board,
so you can go to them
and they'll help sort
out excursions or dining,
or bookings, they'll give
lots of tips and advice,
if you've got any problems
they'll help solve it.
So you actually have somebody
other than just guest services
or your cabin steward you can go to,
to help sort out problems.
And that can be a real big plus.
Obviously, most cruise lines
will have some sort of service
like that for suite members,
but you'll find pretty
much on every single cruise
there'll be one person
allocated who looks after
people who're members
of the loyalty programme
and particularly people with status.
And they're often the ones
that will organise the special
treats and bits and pieces,
so it's always good to build
a relationship with them,
because they often organise
lots of bits and pieces
that could be added to improve
your cruise experience,
Whether that's an extra bottle of wine,
some champagne, some chocolate
covered strawberries,
whatever that may be.
Those, in my view, are the best
things and the worst things
about staying loyal to one cruise line.
Bear in mind, no matter how loyal you are,
don't let it get in the way of constantly
looking for new experiences
and new destinations
and of course you don't
lose out on great deals
because you're sticking loyal
to just one cruise line.
In my view, there's great
perks, there's great benefits,
however, they don't always outweigh
the savings you could make
by finding a better deal
or another cruise line.
And also, you might get
a different experience.
I have many more tips and advice videos,
so why don't you watch another
one of those right now!
