Royal Caribbean heading toward the "Carnival" way of thinking .....

Royal Caribbean heading toward the "Carnival" way of thinking .....

I've been on quite a few Royal Caribbean cruises lately and along with that, I've been mostly posting on the Royal Caribbean message board on Cruise Critic. In the past, there was one recurring train of thought about the line ... it just knows how to treat its loyal customers. On the whole, I'd say that this is true as Royal Caribbean offers some very nice perks for returning customers including discount coupons on the price of a cruise and in-cabin coupon books for all returning members (coupons differ by tier), onboard credit for booking a cruise while on your cruise, logo gifts in your stateroom, and for higher-tier past guests, discounts on balcony/suite cabins (starting after 5 cruise credits) and access to a concierge lounge (if available on the ship, starting after 10 cruise credits).

On the flip-side of the coin is Carnival. It offers a generic "repeaters" party just likc RC does, but other than that, there's not much more until you reach your 10th cruise, at which point you get a few more luxuries like free laundry and logo gifts in your room. There is no incentive for booking another Carnival cruise onboard, and unless things have changed in the year since I last cruised Carnival, there wasn't even an option to book onboard. Why are the perks so few or hard to attain on Carnival? One description I've read that I think adequtely fits ... the ships are filling without them and cruisers are returning because they like the product, not the extras.

Enter to economy of 2008 where everyone is feeling the pinch of gas prices, etc. Suddenly, Royal Caribbean has a brilliant idea ... we need to save money ... what if we cut what we offer our past guests? After all, Carnival does it and they seem as popular as ever. However Royal Caribbean realized that there would be a result if they actually eliminated any one popular perk. Instead, they've instituted new policies for combining perks. Now, no-longer can you use both a past-guest coupon on the price of your cruise and receive credit for booking onboard. No-longer (past 10/15) can you get credit for owning 100 shares of stock AND get credit for booking onboard or use a coupon. Essentially, Royal Caribbean has implemented policies to make sure that its most loyal guests (ie, the ones who book onboard, are eligible for coupons, and/or would spend $2000-4,000 for 100 shares of stock) are not rewarded too much for their loyalty.

You know what this sounds lke to me? It's not worth putting down $100 for a non-refundable NextCruise booking while on my next Royal Caribbean ship because I'm essentially giving the company money that will limit what other perks I would be eligible for ... and hey, without having that money already been paid, it suddenly becomes much easier to look at other lines like Carnival, Princess, Holland American, and Celebrity (which yes, is owned by RC).

You know what? I don't think that Royal Caribbean cares that much. After all, their ships are sailing full because of product, not the perks. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?