We are ready to announce additional enhancements to the Crown & Anchor Society. We are so enthusiastic about these changes that we wish we could have introduced them last June with the prior wave of enhancements. Many of the new improvements required significant work on our computer systems and as we all know that takes time. But we are ready now and so I am asking Lillian Murphy, our Vice President for One to One Marketing, to introduce the enhancements to you. We love our Crown & Anchor Society members and we are pleased to move our recognition of our members’ loyalty forward again.
Guest Blog by Lillian Murphy, VP One to One Marketing:
Well the day has finally arrived and we’re so excited to be sharing even more news with you today. Adam had noted in a December blog when speaking about the plans for 2011 that we were going to build on the new Crown & Anchor Society benefits we launched in June of 2010.
First let me address why we are making more changes. Our loyalty program is similar to relationships we have with our families, and we do consider our loyalty program members family. As we know the best relationships are built on listening and responding to feedback, and this has led us to the second phase of our enhancements which is about recognition of their value to Royal Caribbean.
There are really three core topics. The first is relative to how our members have an opportunity to achieve their tier level status, the second is about two new tiers of recognition we are introducing, and the third is about personalizing the experience that members have with us and offering choices in preferences, and a much enhanced website experience.
Let me spend a little more time on each of these enhancements.
- We are transitioning how a member earns their tier status from ‘cruise credits’ to ‘Cruise Points’. The calculation is very simple – for every night you sail with us you will earn one Cruise Point, and Double the points when you stay in a suite. The more nights you spend onboard, the more points you earn. It’s important to understand that all our existing Crown & Anchor Society members will continue to enjoy all of their current program benefits and status, plus have the opportunity now to advance to the next tier even faster than before. As a one time conversion benefit we have grandfathered everyone’s status in the program.
- Continued recognition of our members is important to us so we are introducing two new status levels, Emerald and Pinnacle Club. Emerald tier, which sits between Platinum and Diamond status, will provide all the current Platinum level benefits, in addition to some new benefits as they continue to make their way to the Diamond level. Benefits such as higher member savings on balcony and suite category staterooms and a personalized welcome gift delivered to their stateroom on every cruise vacation. Pinnacle Club members, who will now become our top tier program members, are being honored for their incredible loyalty to Royal Caribbean International and will be further recognized with all the benefits of the entire program plus complimentary cruises at certain Cruise Point milestones. I had the pleasure of meeting so many of these members on Allure’s maiden voyage and know how special these members are to our family.
- Members can now enjoy a more personalized experience once they log into their Crown and Anchor Society account. We wanted to simply provide our members information that is relevant to them. Members can now easily keep abreast of the latest news and offers that are available specifically to them and can establish custom settings for items such as upgrades if they become available, and for our Emerald and higher level members they can select their choice of a personalized in-room amenity.
I encourage everyone to click on www.RoyalCaribbean.com/CrownandAnchor to read all about these exciting enhancements and set your preferences.
Finally, to celebrate the incredible loyalty of program members, we are introducing a limited time offer: ‘Bring a Friend’ and receive $25 to spend onboard. Members will now be rewarded for introducing new guests to Royal Caribbean International for new bookings made between January 21st and April 30th, 2011. The promotion will offer a $25 onboard credit per stateroom to Crown & Anchor Society members when sailing with their ‘first to Royal’ friends or family, for up to five staterooms per sailing, depending on the length of their cruise. You can find out all the details about how to register for this promotion by following this link: www.RoyalCaribbean.com/BringaFriend.
I’d like to wish all of our Crown and Anchor members a wonderful New Year and hope to see you enjoying your benefits onboard.
Cheers!
I looked over the new program this morning. I think royal Caribbean did a great job with the new Loyalty program! I can’t wait to sail again on the serenade in February. I will be 14 points closer to Diamond Plus!
That’s great to hear, Erik! We are glad you like our new Crown & Anchor Society enhancements. And congratulations on being only 14 points away. Have an excellent time onboard Serenade of the Seas.
Just returned on 1-21-11 from our 17th cruise and there were a lot of speculation rumors about the C&A changes on board. Mostly not good. Now that I have read them, my husband and I are very pleased. We were afraid we were going to lose our Diamond status from what everyone was saying. We are very pleased with the new benefits and soon will be a Diamond Plus member. Thanks for grandfathering us in. We worked too hard to get to where we are now. Didn’t want to go backwards.
We are glad that you approve of our new enhancements, Dee. Thanks for your feedback and hopefully you’ll be a Diamond Plus member soon!
Great job RCI & C & A. Thanks a million
Thanks, James. We appreciate your feedback.
I think the changes to the cruise credits was long overdue and I SUPPORT THESE CHANGES 100%. Well done RCCL.
Thank you so much, James. We are happy to hear we have your support in our enhancements.
This is great! Oh and by the way Adam, in MD, it has been hard to find the “Cruise for Cash” scratch offs. I have managed to buy several, but not without gas station hopping to locate places that are not sold out-everyone has been sold out of those scratch offs-it appears to be a great success! Havent won the big prize yet, but I’m trying. Thought I would share that with you.
We are glad you enjoy the new Crown & Anchor Society enhancements, Lisa. Good luck to you on your ‘Cruise for Cash’ scratch tickets. Thank you again for your feedback as it is very helpful to us in creating even greater programs and innovations for all our guests.
I am glad to have the changes to the Crown & Anchor benefits clarified. Like a previous commentor, I too was afraid that I was going to lose my earned benefits. I am just upset with the fact that we just lost an opportunity to get credit for bringing a friend. We were wanting to assure ourselves of a great cruise and booked back in the fall for a 10 day Greek Isles cruise on Splendour in Sept. 2011 and are bringing another couple who have never cruised before. But because we booked early we are not eligible for the Bring a friend credit. It should be by when the cruise is taking place and not by booking now. I understand that you are trying to increase sales but I think the fact that we market for you is also worth something. We love RCI and thank you for recognizing our patronage. Alice
Thanks for your feedback, Alice. We are honored and truly appreciate your loyalty. Bring a Friend onboard credit offer is a limited-time offer for new bookings only. We will honor any new friends who are first-time cruisers that reserve your same cruise after January 21st, 2011.
Overall I am happy with the CAS Changes. Though I have to be honest and say multiplying everyones credits by 7,does seem a tad unfair.
As a UK Dplus member though who will never reach Pinnacle much as I love cruising with RCCL,I don’t now have the same, “oh got to book another cruise to gain more points to get to next level” feeling. Pinnacle is too far away for me.
Cruising with RCCL for me personally is more than just the perks of the next level but the perks do help in some ways with my decision if I want to book another cruise or not.
I admit I love being able to go to the Conceirge Lounge and my balcony discount and other perks I get as a Dplus member and I will probably keep cruising with RCCL but..well the but is still there.
Lillian, it was nice to meet you on the Allure & I hope the pics of my rhinestone tshirt came out ok for you.
Glad to hear that you are happy overall with our latest changes, Elizabeth. Thank you so much for your feedback. Making these changes was an arduous task, and we had to make decisions based on what would be the greatest benefit for our entire C&A Society members. We greatly appreciate your loyalty and are honored to have you as a member. We hope to see you onboard with us again soon.
A major overhaul of a guest loyalty program done thoughtfully and fairly that benefits the guests and the cruise line. Congratulations on a job well done. A big thank you for the mailing explaining the new program.
Thank you very much for your support and feedback, Marvin.
Hi Adam. Thanks for the new point system. It makes a lot of sense. I also wanted to tell you how much we enjoyed the inaugural Allure sailing on Dec. 1. What a great ship!!
Thanks again for the changes in the point system. I noticed you also changed the “Find a Cruise” function. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work for me. I know it must be something on my computer. I sent an e-mail over a month ago to ask what background program it uses so I could diagnose the problem. I haven’t gotten an answer yet. Would you be so kind as to have one of your IT guys or gals send an e-mail to me letting me know what background programs are used? I LOVE browsing cruises, but have been unable to do so since the change.
Thanks again RCCL is the tops!!
Hi Jeff, thanks for the feedback. Great to hear you had an amazing time onboard the inaugural Allure sailing. We will be sure to forward your suggestion on to the appropriate department.
Hi Adam
Yu did it right.We have allready booked 3 cruise on Oasis and Back to Europe with “TheNEW” Liberty
We love you & allthe Ships
Gitte & Bjorn (727)C&A
Thanks so much, Bjorn! We hope Gitte and yourself have an amazing time onboard for your 3 cruises. We can’t wait to see you both again.
At one time I thought you got double points for cruises OVER 10 days in addition to double points for suites. Is this the case – -please email at Treacher1@aol.com. Thank you so much!
Your loyalty means a great deal to us. That’s why we wanted to further recognize and reward you as one of our most valued guests. We’ve listened to comments by our members and are responding by making the changes they told us were important in recognizing their loyalty to Royal Caribbean. On January 21st, 2011, we have made further enhancements to our program, based on our member’s feedback.
These changes included Cruise Points. You can earn one Cruise Point for every cruise night you sail with us, and DOUBLE the points when you purchase a suite. For instance, if you complete a 7-night cruise, you’ll earn 7 Cruise Points, and when you purchase a suite you’ll earn 14 Cruise Points. Further terms and conditions apply. Points are not recorded or applied until after you complete your sailing. For example, if you are graduating from Gold to Platinum tier level on your current sailing, you will not receive Platinum level benefits until your next sailing.