The Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection Is Now Sailing and Bonvoy Members Can Earn 75,000 Points For Select Bookings
Postponed again and again, we finally see the Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection set sail, and to mark the occasion, they have created a special promotion for Bonvoy members to earn additional bonus points when booking select 2023 voyages.
Cruise enthusiasts who are looking to book a Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection sailing can currently earn 75,000 Bonvoy points in addition to the 5 points per $1 spent on the cruise fare.
Members earn and redeem points on travel with Marriott Bonvoy. Earn points on your cruise fare and hotel packages, nights toward Elite status, and redeem points toward the price of your cruise fare when you sail. Plus, Elite members receive enhanced benefits onboard.
Currently, if you reserve your RCYC suite by October 31, 2022 on select 2023 voyages to the Caribbean, Costa Rica, and Panama, you can earn 75,000 Marriott Bonvoy Bonus Points after you sail.
The promotional website can be accessed here.
Here are the sailings offered with the bonus points:
Keep in mind these prices are for double occupancy, so even the lowest-priced, one-week voyages will cost you $11,000+ which is definitely the luxury segment. Not that the Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection would try to position itself simply in the upmarket segment.
The benefits for Bonvoy members can be found on this page.
I think the status-specific benefits are negligible, as most services and perks are already part of the cruise package, which is, after all, luxury and not some cheap retail line with a piece concept for all sorts of extras. To be able to earn one night for the Bonvoy status for each night spent on board is a nice touch.
The pricing will be something to watch over the coming years. I’m extremely curious about the distribution and possible discounting they have to do in order to fill cabins and sell on a profitable basis.
It’s one thing to have this ideal vision of a luxury line but another to keep it going while burning money. Is the Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection able to grow a fanbase of loyal customers that keep coming back as the big cruise lines do? I think my sweet spot would be $8,000 total for two pax, Double Occupancy on a one-week sailing.
Conclusion
The 75,000 points offer is definitely an interesting incentive to maybe book the Ritz Carlton Yacht trip but let’s not forget that this is really worth ~ $500-600, and the money you’re putting down on a RCYC sailing is likely in excess of $10,000. Of course, you’re getting another 5 points per $1, so all in all, that comes together to a nice chunk of points after the cruise.
Would I book the cruise exclusively because of the points offered? Definitely not. But it will take the blow of the rather large price tag of the trip. Right now, firm quotes for the sailings are available on request so price monitoring is a bit more difficult than for comparison of retail lines.
These are the Terms & Conditions of this offer:
Marriott Bonvoy Bonus Points Offer (“Bonus Points”) is available for a limited time and is awarded for a limited number of bookings per voyage; applies only to new bookings on eligible voyages aboard Evrima that are booked between October 1, 2022 and October 31, 2022 (“Promotion Booking Period”) for eligible voyage departure dates in 2023. Member must mention “Marriott Bonvoy Bonus Point Offer” at time of booking in order to receive Bonus Points. The eligible voyages for this promotion are those voyages departing on the following dates: January 4, 2023, January 14, 2023, January 21, 2023, January 28, 2023, and April 14, 2023 (“Select Voyage(s)”). The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection reserves the right to remove any Select Voyages at any time without notice. A limited number of suites are available on each Select Voyage. Marriott Bonvoy members will earn 75,000 bonus points for each Select Voyage regardless of suite category booked, as long as the booking is made within the Promotion Booking Period and the Select Voyage is completed. Members can earn 75,000 bonus points per suite, up to three (3) suites, double occupancy, on a Select Voyage for which they have paid, provided the member is booked in and stays in one (1) of the suites. To ensure Bonus Points are posted to the correct account, members must provide their membership number at the time of purchase, or up to thirty (30) days prior to their scheduled voyage sailing date. Bonus Points will be automatically added to the member’s account within 14 days of the last day of the Select Voyage provided the booking isn’t cancelled. Bonus Points offer is in addition to the base points earned for the Select Voyage. Bonus Points offer may be withdrawn at any time. Existing reservations made before the Promotion Booking Period that are cancelled and rebooked during the Promotion Booking Period will not receive the Bonus Points offer. Bonus Points offer is subject to the existing terms of service related to The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection’s participation in Marriott Bonvoy, which can be found here https://www.ritzcarltonyachtcollection.com/loyalty-terms-conditions. All Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program terms and conditions apply. See https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/terms/default.mi for more information. Offer is exclusively available to Marriott Bonvoy Members. Not a member? Join at http://join.marriottbonvoy.com/yacht.
