Loyalty Survey

[barney]

I've always thought it odd that it's calculated on nights, not spend.

3 x 7night cruises inside cabin can be as little as £1500 but gives you 21 nights.

1 x 14 night in a suite can easliy be twice as much as that, but you get 14 nights accredited.

To be absolutely honest, it doesn't really bother me either way.
I take the discount at the end but it doesn't affect my decision making.

Slippers ??? No Ta!

[Mervyn and Trish]

One thing that I do not agree with under the current system, and I am prepared to be shouted down over it, is the ability of those in certain tiers to have priority booking

I agree, though I might not if I ever get there! However, it was interesting that with the way it seemed to work this time if we pre-registered even us under-peasants could get a guarantee of a cabin grade before the upper class priority date. And the price I was quoted at registration point didn't fluidly increase either when the confirmation came through, despite the grade being sold our by then.

[Ray Scully]

The discount only goes to mitigate overpriced and small measure drinks

Ray

[Dark Knight]

compared to the amount you spend to reach various tiers, the rewards are derisory
slippers that cost pennies, a tacky lapel pin, afew free drinks, none of that is ever going to garner my loyalty
priority booking and boarding is designed to pander to those who feel this makes them important, you know the type
and there is little real coralation between onboard nights and onboard spend. you can buy a cheap 7 night cruise but spend big or book a worldie and spend cheap
Pando should take a leaf from the real retail world, where companies offer decent gifts for loyalty and offer a real reward not just cheap gimics

[Capt Black]

How dare PandO try to review the current Loyalty scheme without asking me for my opinions.

I'm off to Cunard.

How long has this revamp lasted - 2 years? Surely another revamp so soon will irk people again, and cost however much it costs to implement.

As for the slippers.....very useful for when we have visitors staying over.

[oldbluefox]

Unfortunately I don't know of any companies offering worthwhile gifts for loyalty but to be honest loyalty schemes do not affect my buying patterns. If I find a product I like at a price I am happy with I will buy it. I suppose loyalty schemes are wasted on me although I am happy to accept the benefits if I qualify for them.

[Dark Knight]

I do OBF

[oldbluefox]

............... and as there's no such thing as a free dinner they probably add the cost to their product and I'm paying for them!!

[Dark Knight]

true
but as everyone already knows this, given the relative cost of a cruise, the freebies should be a bit more representative of what people have spent on garnering them and should be a reflection of what your loyalty means to them...........or perhaps they reflect the value of people's loyalty already

[oldbluefox]

Instead of an expensive loyalty scheme I would prefer them to look at what they are offering. Over the years I have seen quite a few 'traditions', which set cruising apart from other holidays, abandoned. The emphasis should be on quality, experience and value. Get that right and people will return, if that is what they appreciate. No number of free gifts would entice me back to a line if I didn't enjoy it.

[Dark Knight]

I said exactly the same earlier
but there are cruise lines which do exactly that but at a far higher price than most are able to or prepared to pay for that sort of experience
the traditional cruise experience seems a long time ago

[oldbluefox]

I still maintain that for very little extra cost per capita cruise lines could raise their game quite significantly. A little surreptitious spying on the activities of other cruise lines would help to pick out cost effective intiatives not only to draw the customers but to keep them. Loyalty schemes would then be merely a bonus.

[towny44]

Unfortunately I don't know of any companies offering worthwhile gifts for loyalty but to be honest loyalty schemes do not affect my buying patterns. If I find a product I like at a price I am happy with I will buy it. I suppose loyalty schemes are wasted on me although I am happy to accept the benefits if I qualify for them.

............... and as there's no such thing as a free dinner they probably add the cost to their product and I'm paying for them!!

Switching away from cruising but to answer your points, we do find that Tesco's Clubcard does seem to offer us regular opportunities to save money with their targetted discount coupons, money off vouchers and price comparison vouchers.
Of course you are probably correct that the customer pays for it in the original price, but since not everyone uses their vouchers if you do take full advantage of them, as we do, then your price saving is maximised.
However I am not certain this system could be successfully applied to cruising. but we are always happy to take advantage of any freebies they offer.

[david63]

Interesting comparison to Tesco Clubcard.

Just done a few quick calculations and, on the face of it, P&O's scheme is better value than Tesco's. Tesco Clubcard gives you 1p in the £1 return (for this I am ignoring double points and extra coupons).

If say you paid £1,500 pp for a cruise, you spent £500 on board, had no OBC and were in the top tier of the Peninsular Club then in Tesco terms you would receive £35 - with P&O you would get £50 from the on board spend (plus a pair of blue slippers).

One big difference is that with Tesco you can start earning from day one whereas with P&O you have to wait a while.

The bottom line is that whatever loyalty scheme is operated by any retailer then we, as the customer, are funding it somewhere along the way.

[Gill W]

priority booking and boarding is designed to pander to those who feel this makes them important, you know the type

Whatever people may say, I think people like going up the tiers of a loyalty scheme, and going to the 'exclusive' events etc.

A few months ago, when late booking deals etc were being discussed, I suggested, that in order to break the culture of booking late that seems to have happened over the last few years, that late deals should be exempt from the loyalty scheme. No points, no on board spending discounts, no cocktail parties or lunches.

The idea didn't seem popular..... which implies to me, that people do like loyalty schemes, even if it's not cool to admit it. There may be some saddos who feel the need to lord it over other people because of their tier, but most people just think there's a nice lunch to go to and enjoy it for what it is.

[Dark Knight]

Gill
I agree with you, it is nice to feel exclusive, but I still maintain the rewards versus the spend is derisory and almost meaningless, which calls into question just how much Pando value peoples loyalty

the bottom line for me, anyway, is, if it is the right price and destination I will book and loyalty is not even a consideration , and neither are some cheap loyalty gifts

[longjohn]

I agree with DarKnight and others here, loyalty should be more than a few trinkets and one posh meal. I will always accept the 10% off the bar bill and priority check in on the basis that I have cruised many times with P&O. But I am in a position where I can usually only book at the last minute and because of this I am penalised despite my so called loyalty to P&O. A lot of the ship is filled up with late saver deals so I'm not alone.
I now find that shuttles are being charged for at ports,and dining will be a non negotiable affair as to which sitting you get on. I prefer 2nd sitting but fear with my luck and despite my loyalty,I will get 1st which will ruin my holiday to some degree. I never bother what cabin I get as I only kip there.
I was booked on the Oceana that sailed on Saturday basically a trip to Barcelona as it turned out to be, but I opted to change to Azura A409 in two weeks time.
So I lost money on my pre cruise hotel and won't get a refund on it. I think P&O should consider my loyalty to the cruise company and refund me the money.
I still think its the best holiday to take despite having a moan, don't you?

[Mervyn and Trish]

Realistically Longjohn, if you book at last minute, whether through choice or force of circumstance, you can't expect P&O to be able to guarantee you second sitting. Even if you've travelled with them a million times before they don't know you're going to book again, or which ship, or which cruise. Should they save you a table on every ship on every cruise just in case?

By booking late you are getting the lowest prices and can't expect to get priority over us peasants who've booked earlier and paid a higher fare and nor can you expect to get all the bells and whistles, such as included transfer coaches, which are part of the early booking package.

[david63]

I thought, and I may be wrong about this, that Select Fares (or whatever name they go/have gone under) have been available all the time.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I believe that is true. So you can opt for higher price with bells and whistles or cheapie with fewer/none. It was certianly true with Vantage/Getaway and is true with Select/Early Saver (the new intermediate fare). Not sure what happens/will happen if and when the new equivalent of Getaway kicks in on the new structure.

[Andrea S]

Loyalty offerings to customers should show some reward for the overall money they spend. This is what would encourage people to stay with the company. It is all down to finance , people want value for their hard earned money and it is the returning customers that keep them in business.

Sailing from the UK is something I can never imagine doing and it will always be the ports that are the attraction. Cutting time at any destination could change any of my future plans.

[longjohn]

Mervyn & Trish, thanks for your imput, I often find I'm on a loser with the old argument about 'who pays most wins' I've posted on another site the same argument in the past and taken the flak.
Just to add, surely loyalty is returning year after year to P&O, whether you pay top dollar or like me and plenty of others who look for a bargain. The abillity to pay more for your cruise means you do have more choice and that's great if your circumstances are restricted by time. I for one can go anytime and have had a good relationship with P&O since 1985, our first cruise on Canberra.
But the fundamental right to try and get the sitting you want has never been an issue before, had I been allocated 1st sitting on past cruises I simply changed it with the restaurant manager. If this has changed, and I will find out next week, then my loyalty will be sadly going somewhere else.
The shuttle situation may prove a little harder to accept to, just because I diddn't pay the full rate,I will be held to ransom. A Taxi might might actually be cheaper and quicker at some ports.
So what is the solution? why not bring down the fares in each catagory so everybody pays the same rate and all have the same benefits. No saver fares just a fixed rate take it or leave it. Just a thought.