Luxury Cruises
 

Does anyone have a recommendation for high-end or luxury cruises that reward loyalty? I'm planning a honeymoon cruise for next fall and was considering Seadream, but I don't think they have any loyalty program.

Thanks in advance!

Try Crystal, since it looks like it has a decent long-term loyalty program:

http://www.crystalcruises.com/soc_rewards.aspx

Mike

hi, Cujo88, welcome to flyertalk!

if you haven't already, you might want to check out www.cruisecritic.com, they're kind of like flyertalk for the cruising set and might have more info for you.

i'm stoked to see crystal has a loyalty program...one of these days we'll do a luxury cruise, and i like the idea of getting bennies with them!

Crystal has changed their loyalty program a couple of times over the years. In the long run it doesn't amount to much. You are better off selecting the cruise and company you really want for each trip and letting the loyalty programs not enter in to your thinking.

Watch for returning passenger discounts which actually have more actual value than a pin or onboard credit.

It does seem that Regent has really beefed up their frequent cruiser program, plus you can earn GoldPoints when booking with them.

Check out www.luxurycruisetalk.com. It is run my Brown & Keene travel. They specialize in Regent, Oceania, Silversea, but I get the feeling that their focus is on Regent.

Regent give a 5% discount for past customers...not sure if that is common or not.

I agree go to luxurycruisetalk.com . Lots of friendly people there to answer all questions. Regent has a tiered loyalty program and besides 5% past cruiser discount, there are also some cruises with higher discounts to past cruisers, along with other special offers.

Hope they do better than when they were Radisson. I dropped my Goldpoints membership when Radisson refused to give me points for purchasing a cruise on sale. They claimed only full-fare cruises counted for Goldpoints.

"Sale" cruises do earn Goldpoints - but not when its "deeply discounted" as in the two-for-one deals.

Loyalty perks for Regent is pretty decent at the lower tier levels - but the highest tier doesn't add much. Silver - lowest tier gives you free internet and free hour of telephone time along with a few other less useful perks. Gold bumps the telephone time to two hours.

Past guest discounts on Regent varies from cruise to cruise - can be nothing up to 10%.

Yes luxurycruisetalk specializes in Regent but do have Silverseas & Oceania along with some other specialized trips.

Thanks
 

Thanks everyone for all of your thoughts. Both Cruisecritic and luxurycruise are good leads generally. It does seem that luxury cruises are way behind the curve in loyalty programs, especially given the amount of repeat cruisers out there.

Have you sailed on any Carnival family cruiseline
 

If you have you are automatically considered a past passenger and part of the loyalty programs of all the cruise lines that Carnival owns. That would include Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Cunard, Costa and Seabourn. Windstar was just sold so they will only "count" until the end of the year.

Seabourn is always in the World's Best lists and rates highest for service and cuisine. As a past passenger of any of the above you get 50% off on Seabourn past passenger sailings. Not all sailings are past passenger but to give you and idea you can do a Med. sailing for $2998. This is all inclusive in a suite with all your liquor, wines, tips, etc.

Go on the Seabourn board on www.cruisecritic.com and you will see raves about this luxury line.

Bon voyage

At one time, Crystal had a great loyalty program. Unfortunately, the beancounters got hold of it and gutted the program. The reverberations are still evident. IF you are going to be cruising several times a year, loyalty programs can become significant. If it's a once a year thing, consider yourself the same as the traveler who flies once a year -- the loyalty program really doesn't matter much. Look at your projected spending and see if it's worth changing your cruiseline preference.

this is a great tip, thanks. i've sailed w/princess, but didn't realize they were 'married' to seabourn...will keep in mind when getting ready to book again! ^

edited to ask: are you sure these two are linked? how do you find these rates?

Just look at their website or their brochure. The "Signature Value" savings dates are the ones that offer past passengers of any of the World's Leading Cruise lines these rates. On the back of the Seabourn brochure you will see listed all of the family of cruise lines that Carnival Cruises owns. If you have ever sailed on any of them you are considered a past passenger of all of them. If you sail 140 days with Seabourn (not any of the family cruise lines) you get a free cruise.

Cheers

awesome tip, thanks ^