Category Archives for Cruise Lines

A Look At Royal Caribbean’s Crown And Anchor Society

Just like the airlines, every cruise line offers a loyalty program to keep repeat customers coming back. These programs work very much the same as they do with a major airline except the perks are different, and some say even better, especially at the highest levels.

All loyalty programs are broken into tiers with a passenger reaching a certain level based upon the amount of points that have been accrued. Let’s take a look at a few loyalty programs just as a comparison.

Royal Caribbean’s Crown & Anchor Society (the one I’m most familiar with since most of my cruising has been done on this line) is a six-tiered program based upon the number of nights you spend on board. Each night is worth one point, but suite cruisers get an extra point, as do solo cruisers since they’re paying for two. That means that if you’re sailing solo in a suite you can rack up the points pretty quickly to jump program levels. The six tiers are:

Gold – 0 to 3

Platinum – 4 to 54

Emerald – 55 to 79

Diamond – 80 to 174

Diamond Plus – 175 to 699

Pinnacle – 700 or more

While it seems like a long way between Diamond and Pinnacle, Royal does have at least small recognition points along the way, providing a commemorative engraved crystal block starting at 140 points and at every 70 afterwards.

Benefits: Every level has some level of priority check-in as well as an invitation to the onboard Welcome Back party. At Platinum, you also get a pin and an invitation to the captain’s C&A member’s party, while at Emerald you’re supplied with a small Welcome Aboard present and drink as well as various discounts for spa, specialty dining, and internet packages.

At Diamond level it gets more interesting in that a load of steeper discounts kick in, a free 60 minutes of internet is included as is a $200+ discount on any balcony or above cabins, and what seems to be the most coveted perk of all – entry into the C&A Lounge. The only thing that makes this lounge special is that every night between 5 and 8PM a wide range of free cocktails are available, although it also has a concierge available for booking excursions, events, dinner, and even plane tickets.

One of the downsides of the popularity of the program is that the many nights the C&A Lounge is overcrowded, so now Royal just loads three free drinks onto your SeaPass card that can be retrieved at any bar on the ship between 5 and 8PM.

At Diamond Plus and Pinnacle meals with officers, behind the scenes tours and discounted and free cruise options are available, plus a special call center for making reservations.

Members-Only Deals: C&A members get normal email notices of sales, but there are also an exclusive sales that they’re made aware sale up to several days before they begin. This allows them to take advantage in order to book the best cabin before it hits retail.

Most loyalty programs have more similarities to each other than differences. They’re all based on the amount of time spent cruising, the perks increase with the tier, and the benefits center around discounted to free goods or services.

That said, here’s generally what you can expect from any program:

• Discounts and upgrades
• Faster embarkation and debarkation
• Free services and amenities
• Gifts and swag
• The biggest differences are at the level that most of the desirable perks actually kick in.

Ways To Upgrade Fast

If you really want to jump levels fast there are ways to do it. One is to book suite level cabins, which provide additional points. On many cruise lines, a suite is good for double points but on others it could go to 10 times that, if you can afford it.

Another is to cruise solo, which generally provides double the points, since you’re paying for two. If you’re lucky enough to get a single supplement deal of 150%, you’ll usually still receive your double points but for a lot less money.

In many cases just sailing in a suite is enough to get basically the same perks as an elite level loyalty member, although only for that cruise. The one exception on some cruise lines are the junior suites in that some only receive partial suite benefits since many cruise lines consider them more of a premium balcony rather than a small suite. Regardless, booking a junior suite is an excellent way to double your cruise points at a reasonable price.

Many cruise lines have their own Visa or MasterCharge cards that also accrue loyalty club points when you use it, just like with an airline card. That sounds pretty good on the surface, but many times the points aren’t exactly transferrable and aren’t worth as much as you’re led to believe, so it’s not a reliable way to accrue points. Many times the credit card points are only good for onboard credit and have no bearing on your loyalty program tier, so it’s best to read the fine print before you jump in.

The Parties

Most cruise lines will have a Welcome Back party on board for their loyalty club members where they serve free drinks and appetizers and are usually attended by the ship’s captain and senior staff officers. These are all pretty typical in that the cruise director acts as the master of ceremonies, and the captain is the main attraction. Many captains have a canned speech while others are very loose and ad lib and take questions from the audience.

At the beginning of the show the cruisers from all the tiers except the lowest are recognized, with a special presentation to the ones who have sailed the most. I’m always amazed at the number of people that have 1,000 plus nights at sea, but even more amazed at the ones that are at 1,700+ (there’s seems to be one on every sailing). Imagine that, spending almost 5 years on vacation!

The 2016 Cruise Industry In One Infographic

If you ever wanted to know the big picture about the cruise industry, this one infographic from Cruise Industry News tells the whole story. It gives you a look at the current major sailing regions, the cruise fleet and revenue, the largest fleets, and the industry’s growth.

It’s no surprise that by far the major sailing market is the Caribbean, but the #2 and 3 markets are the Mediterranean and Asia/Pacific regions, which are a bit unexpected. Also Carnival is by far the largest cruise company, with a bit more than twice as many ships in its fleet than #2 Royal Caribbean, with has twice as many as #3 Norwegian, which has twice as many as #4 MSC.

But what’s most surprising is the industry’s dramatic growth from 2001 if you look on the bottom of the graphic. That said, it’s positioned for an even greater increase in that there are now 59 new ships on order with a total price tag of over $44 billion, according to Seatrade Cruise News. I’d say that qualifies it as a growth industry for sure.

An Overview Of Different Cruise Lines

Just like with most other things in life, cruise lines are not created equally. Generally speaking, the differences lie in the markets that they serve. Some cruise lines straddle different markets as well, which make them even more difficult to classify. That said, it’s pretty much agreed that cruise lines fall along these lines:

Retail (least expensive)
Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Costa, Fred Olsen, MCS, P&O, AIDA

Premium
Celebrity, Holland America, Cunard, Princess, Disney

Upper Premium
Azamara, Oceania, Windstar

Luxury
Crystal, Seabourn, Silversea, Regent Seven Seas, Paul Gauguin

Niche
Hurtigruten, Un-Cruise Adventures

River Cruises
Avalon Waterways, Uniworld, Viking

Sailing Ships
Windstar, Star Clippers, SeaCloud, Ponant

As you go upscale, the ships tend to get smaller and crew to passenger ratio gets larger. Of course, that comes at a cost so those cruises are definitely more expensive, but they’re also aimed at a clientele that could afford it.

There are other things that set the various cruise lines apart though. Food is a big one, although what’s good and what’s not is so subjective that it’s hardly worth noting. Entertainment is another, where the larger ships tend to have more entertainment, although the caliber can vary quite a bit.

A big difference between cruise lines is family activities. While it’s true that Disney is more oriented to families just by the nature of entertainment properties, other cruise lines are sensitive to family cruising and try to have activities available for all age groups. For instance, Royal Caribbean has the Dreamworks Experience with characters from films like Madagascar for the smaller kids, as well as a video arcade, teen disco and Adventure Ocean, a supervised activities area for ages 3 to 17. On the other hand, a more upscale line like Oceana or Crystal has fewer of these areas or activities because they cater to an older crowd.

One thing’s for sure, there’s a cruise that will fit every whim, fancy and budget if you look around.