It can be challenging to navigate the waters to maintain your customers’ loyalty towards your cruise liner, especially when every company is in a race to buy a giant ship to attract new customers. The solution is to implement a robust Loyalty program solution.Â
Statistics reveal that 53 percent of Americans prefer a cruise liner that offers them some rewards in return for traveling with them.
Since customers can be as varied as they come, appease them also needs to be varied. One size does not fit all when it comes to loyalty programs, so here is our pick of the best ones to help you gain some insight into what could be the best approach for you.
1. Latitudes
The Norwegian Cruise Liner made a sweeping change in its rewards system last year. The loyalty program has tiers based on cruisers’ profiles and offers targeted incentives to its customers based on purchase behavior.
The cruise liner added a system that allows customers to gain up to 3 points per night, providing avid cruisers a quick route to get to the elite levels. It helped the cruise liner in boosting customer retention to a great degree.
NextBee helps you boost customer lifetime value by providing key analytics for created tier-based loyalty programs and offer targeted offers to your customers.
2. Windstar Cruises
The Yacht Club of this cruise line automatically enrolls patrons into a single level loyalty program.Â
Understanding customer data and priorities, Yacht Club has decided to do something different instead of a traditional profile-based tier program.
To see how high-end hospitality operators structure non-discount VIP perks, compare our guide to ingenious loyalty programs by luxury brands and explore our flexible tier points and onboard incentives engine.
The cruise liner offers a single level to all its patrons. The customers can collect points as they avail more days on the cruise. The liner offers exclusive perks to members who score the highest points, including dinner with officers and the captain.
Our team at NextBee will help boost sales and increase retention by using Smart Analytics. We use AI-powered engagement to track onsite data and create custom made solutions with targeted incentivization.
The visual model below maps out how your passenger data flows from initial booking and onboard excursion spend to post-sailing tier settlement.
Finance gate holding cruise tier points in pending status until voyage completion and onboard folio settlement. 3. MSC Cruises
At its lowest levels, the rewards program of MSC cruises is the same as any other cruiser. But things get truly interesting at the Gold and Black level, where privileges shoot up exponentially.
Another exciting feature is the Loyalty Match program, where the cruise liner will offer you the same perks as other hotels, cruise lines, and tour operators if you are a repeat customer. This way, the cruise liner and the associated brand both help in boosting each other’s revenues.
How NextBee help Cruise Operators to design the Loyalty Program?
NextBee offers an AI-driven customer engagement platform that allows you to design the best loyalty campaign for your cruise liner. The solution helps to:
- Drive cross-channel upselling of related products, thus driving up customer lifetime value even more
- Our solution offers valuable techniques to implement the Loyalty solution for achieving your e-commerce goals and keep you ahead of your competition
- It boosts your revenue when you create a personalized rewards program tailored to your needs
- It can easily handle cross channel referrals, increase customer retention
- Brands can use AI-powered tracking analytics to turn your customers into your most faithful brand advocates
Executive Questions on Designing Tiered Cruise and Travel Loyalty
Use these decision rules, cabin unit economics models, and rollout timelines to increase repeat bookings and onboard ancillary spend.
How do cruise loyalty programs prevent passengers from gaming tier status with canceled bookings?
Protect your loyalty tiers by separating booking incentives from completed-voyage points: issue small early-booking bonus credits in pending status at deposit, but lock tier-qualifying cruise nights and suite multipliers until disembarkation and final onboard folio settlement.
Your Voyage Settlement and Tier Qualification Decision RulesWe gate tier upgrades and onboard credit redemptions on verified embarkation and settled cabin folios.
When a cabin deposit is paid Log pending cruise points based on cabin category and sailing length without upgrading current tier status Pre-sailing excursion add-ons Apply 1.5x point multiplier to pre-paid shore excursions, specialty dining, and spa packages Cancellation and rebooking gate - Void pending tier nights automatically if a reservation cancels prior to final payment
- Transfer pending promotional credits only once to a rescheduled sailing within 12 months
- Block status-match upgrades until the guest completes their first paid voyage
Post-disembarkation settlement Convert pending points into active tier status within 48 hours of final onboard folio clearance Our tier engine evaluates reservation status supplied by your property management system and does not authorize cabin upgrades on unsettled bookings. Explore our tiered loyalty program rules and gates →How do you structure sign-up and onboard perks to protect cabin margin?
Protect cabin margin by replacing fare discounts with high-margin onboard privileges such as priority tender boarding, complimentary laundry, specialty dining vouchers, and shore excursion credits that cost your fleet a fraction of their perceived retail value.
Your Cabin Fare Discount vs Onboard Privilege Margin ModelWe compare the net margin impact of direct cabin fare discounts against high-margin onboard experiential perks.
Loyalty Reward Structure Guest Perceived Value Hard Cost to Operator Net Cabin Margin Kept 10% Direct Cabin Fare Discount $300 off a $3,000 balcony cabin $300 direct revenue reduction $1,500 net contribution Onboard Excursion and Dining Bundle $300 onboard folio credit $95 wholesale fulfillment cost $1,705 net contribution (+$205) Priority Embarkation and Wi-Fi Perk $180 perceived VIP privilege value $18 marginal delivery cost $1,782 net contribution (+$282) Under those assumptions, our unit economics model calculates margin retention from your supplied amenity costs rather than promise guaranteed booking volume. Design margin-safe sign-up and booking incentives →How do you link guest loyalty feedback to onboard crew recognition?
Connect guest post-voyage surveys directly to your crew recognition ledger so verified five-star mentions from loyalty members automatically credit points and safety badges to the named cabin steward, dining server, or excursion guide.
Your Guest-to-Crew Recognition Rollout TimelineWe link post-sailing loyalty member surveys to automated crew recognition points and seasonal awards.
Step 01 · Days 1 to 10 · Fleet HR OperationsCabin and Crew Roster SyncMap shipboard department rosters and cabin assignment logs to our recognition ledger.Step 02 · Days 11 to 20 · Guest Experience LeadPost-Voyage Guest Commendation TriggerAward loyalty members 250 bonus points for submitting verified crew commendations after disembarkation.Step 03 · Days 21 to 30 · Total Rewards DirectorContract-End Crew Reward FulfillmentConvert crew commendation points into reloadable international prepaid cards or time-off vouchers.Our crew recognition ledger tracks commendations supplied by your guest survey system and does not modify maritime payroll contracts. See our employee and crew rewards platform →To know more about the Loyalty Program, contact NextBee’s marketing specialists to have complete insights about the solution.
