340 Followers...

86 and 254 -- 340 Followers...

April 10 335 followers...

83 + 252 followers = 335 followers...

31 Navigator Scores Issued 10 in the 80's   Five in the 90's

Cruise Privileges Program Get valuable benefits when you book a qualifying voyage with American Express Travel

Receive Valuable Cruise Amenities

The Cruise Privileges Program1 offers Platinum Card®Members exclusive benefits and complimentary amenities on sailings of five nights or more.*

•

$100-$300 per stateroom shipboard credit (depending on category booked)

•

Additional exclusive amenities unique to each cruise line

Plus receive 2X Membership Rewards® points on each dollar of eligible purchases made when you book using a Membership Rewards program-enrolled American Express Card on amextravel.com

See offer @ https://www.americanexpresscruise.com/cruises/promos/amex/shopping/cruise_privileges_program.jsp?cobrand=15558&webpagerecno=2357

Three reasons to get your travel navigator score. Day 24.

Three reasons to get your travel navigator score.

1)      You may qualify for loyalty program reciprocal upgrades – we’ll tell you where.

2)      Your score is private, but you can share if you like and network with other high score navigators who have shared theirs in our private LinkedIn group.

3)      We’ll open doors and introduce you to other clubs and associations you may want to join – see the roster in question 12 in the quiz at www.NavigatorScore.com


299 followers at Twitter...

New branding is: Navigator Score for the ranking system for Cruising Society...

New branding is:  Navigator Score for the ranking system for Cruising Society...

See the updated quiz at www.NavigatorScore.com

To date we've had 30 quizzes completed and 10 have circumnavigated the globe. and of those 10, six have done so more than once.

Eight have flown more than a million miles.

Have shared with the Circumnavigators Club one interested new member, will not doubt share more.

WOW.....

Other big rising statistic is:
285 Twitter Followers.

Best Takeaway from Russell Hannon @ Phil Travel Show.....

http://evreward.com  

-- a look up site for Loyalty Program Offers......

 indexing 40,000+ rewards and coupons 
for 10,000+ online stores and services

Coupons ,  Credit card offers etc..

See more about his site at:  www.BreakTheTravelBarrier.com

Two biggest take-aways from Philadelphia Travel Show

Take Away #1    You need Travel Insurance 

Peter Greenberg was one of the speakers.

He talked about buying travel insurance and suggested you do not buy it for minor trips, and specially said not to buy form the same place you are buying the ticket, for you will be getting a policy that may protect the seller more than it protect you.

Said the primary thing you should be looking for in travel insurance is Medical Evacuation.

Said the issue is that some policies pay for medical evacuation to the location and doctor of the insurers choice, and you really want to read the fine print to ensue that the evacuation is to your doctor  and under the hospital you want.  Told the story a guy that broke his hip in a fall on the pyramids and ended up paying $80,000 for five first class seats to flown home on a stretcher - for him and one for the nurse.

Then he said he recommends two insurers:
Med Jet Assist  https://medjetassist.com/
and TravelGuard:  http://www.travelguard.com/

...and went on to say he has been insured for many years with Travel Guard.

Also Mr. Greenburg mentioned Insure My Trip website at https://www.insuremytrip.com/ as an option to find insurance choices.



Take Away #2   Here's the guy to buy it from, who I met at the show and has a booth.....:

Brandon Hughbanks..-- what a great name for an insurance agent -- RIGHT :)    

No really that's his name ---- his # is 1-402-343-3636  and the website is:  www.TravelInsuranceCenter.com

And there is an online form you can shop with.

Here's a screen shot.

---Mitch Davis



.

New Opt-in Message for sign-ups at NavigatorScore.com

Dear Friend:

Please scroll down to see your travel score from www.CruisingSociety.org 

You can share this with your friends -- yes, bragging rights.

...and they can get their score too --- at www.NavigatorScore.com

Not expecting this email?  Please just ignore it, someone filling out the www.NavigatorScore.com questionnaire may have made error and entered your email.

** Bravo – See your score in the results list at the bottom of this reply.  Your travel score is private and you can share this self-reporting email if you like.  If you would like us to announce your score in our twitter feed at www.Twitter.com/CruisingSociety please reply to this email with a)  your permission, b) your name as if should be shown, and c) a social media profile or website can link to. 

** If you’ve circumnavigated the globe but did not check you are a member of the Circumnavigators Club, I would be pleased to nominate you by sending your name and email to them.  The club is a fraternal club of world travelers and one of really nice benefits is reciprocal membership with the Yale Club in New York.  Please reply with “Please nominate me to Circumnavigators Club” – then I will forward your into to them.  See more info about the club here: http://circumnavigators.org/

** If you’ve got some status with cruise lines you may be able to quality for match status with other cruise lines. I will be covering more opportunities in the regular email newsletter.  Right now one of the lines MCO is offering to match status on the line.  See that offer at:  https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/MSC-Voyagers-Club/Loyalty-Match-Program.aspx 

** You may have checked that you qualify for travel certificates.  Here’s a link to a great service where you can order custom certificates.   http://tiffanycertificates.com/

** If you are a business traveler – a road warrior --- you may also want to join the National Professional Travelers Association – it is a LinkedIn group that we manage – join free at www.NPTA.com 

** If you have opted in for the email newsletter, thanks – more info will follow – one of the primary topics we have in helping our friends maximize the value of their loyalty point programs, and we are a great advocate of loyalty point reciprocal use

** If you did not opt in for the email newsletter.   That means I can’t keep you up to date on one of the primary topics the society has interest in; in helping our friends maximize the value of their loyalty point programs, and we are a great advocate of loyalty point reciprocal use.   If you would like to be on the email newsletter list please do opt-in by returning to the www.YourTravelScore.com page and simply entering your name and email, then checking yes to the email opt-in form.  You don’t need to fill out the full survey again.

Thanks, and luck be with you.

Sincerely,

Mitchell P. Davis, CEO, CrusingSociety™  ... a Broadcast Interview Source, Inc. company.

Contact me directly at (202) 333-5000 or CEO@CruisingSociety.org

Here’s information on the 9 groups listed in the “do you also belong to” section.  No endorsement is implied.

• Circumnavigators Club is a club for those who have circled the globe. Their web site is: http://circumnavigators.org/
• 
  
• The Travelers’ Century Club is for those who have visited 100 or more countries. Their web site is: http://travelerscenturyclub.org/
• The Explorers Club promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space by supporting research and education in the physical, natural and biological sciences. Web site is: https://explorers.org/
• The National Professional Travelers Association is for business traveler networking. Web site is: Http://www.NPTA.com -- Qualified business travelers with Silver or better airline status join free.
• World Travelers Association (WTA) is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization that believes in ‘Traveling for a Purpose.’ https://worldtravelersassociation.org
• Most Traveled People is a web site that posts name and countries visited for well, you guessed it. Web site is MostTraveledPeople.com
• The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) was formed in 1991 by a group of Travel & Tourism CEOs who felt that the sector’s contribution to economies and job creation was not being recognised. Its objectives were to use empirical evidence to promote awareness of Travel & Tourism’s economic contribution; to expand markets in harmony with the environment; and to reduce barriers to growth. Web site is: https://www.wttc.org
• The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world’s premier business travel and meetings organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. GBTA’s 7,000-plus members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. Website is: http://www.gbta.org
• The World Food Travel Association (WFTA) is a non-profit and non-governmental organization (NGO) and the world’s leading authority on food travel. The Association is at the forefront of food travel development and promotion with cutting-edge resources for today’s food, drink, travel, hospitality and media professionals. Web site is:  http://worldfoodtravel.org 

Updated with NavigatorScore.com  3/27/17

Mission Statement of the Cruising Society: Day 18

Mission Statement of the Cruising Society:

The Cruising Society™ is an invitation-only club of cruising aficionados. They share a mission to maximize member enjoyment of cruises. The club has a travel scoring system to validate members and rank their experiences and aspirations. Membership is free for those who qualify. A shared agenda of many members is to validate the travel score to be accepted on a reciprocal basis by cruise lines. Cruising Society™ Travel Scores are awarded at five levels: Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. The top 1% of the members are awarded Double Diamond. See and take the Cruising Society™ Travel Score test at www.NavigatorScore.com -- the test is free.

Post updated 3/27/17 to state Navigator Score.

Today's score: 230 Followers.

Loyalty Program News. -- What's this that I signed up for? Day 17

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Loyalty Program News. -- What's this that I signed up for?

Statement of Principles for Loyalty Program News.

Uh, --  What's this that I signed up for anyways? 

Here's what the opt-in question says on the questionnaire from www.YourTravelScore.com

[__] -  Check here for Loyalty Program News. Opt in to receive our highly focused weekly newsletter (sometimes more often with breaking news) with the latest on how to buy, sell, trade, earn, get, share, give, and receive points in cruise ship loyalty programs worldwide, including which lines are honoring other line’s status points. We will never spam you.

Our goal is to be the "gas in lamp" on this single focused topic of cruise line loyalty programs.  [Yes, now and then we might wander over to hotel & air programs too. ]

What prompted this?

There is a trend that started with the airline alliances that carriers will 'code share' and allow members of one loyalty status program to benefit from another program.

You can see that with the airline programs One World and Star Alliance:

One World key members are shown on their site: https:/ /www.oneworld.com/and include American Airlines and British Airways:

Star Alliance key members are shown here: https://www.oneworld.com/member-airlines/overview and include Untied, Air Canada, and Air China.

Basically there are two major alliances.

Will cruise ships do the same? 

In some ways there already are two groups --- Those under the Carnival umbrella and those that are not.

According to Wikipedia Carnival controls 21% of the cruise industry with 25 ships under the Carnival flag and another 75 plus ships under nine other lines. There is some very limited reciprocity between lines. The Carnival VIFP (Very Important Fun Person) program does not cross all lines.

There is a trend of cruise lines offering matching loyalty bonus to traveler who switch lines, as shown in the MSC Loyalty Status Match offer -- that's here:

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/MSC-Voyagers-Club/Loyalty-Match-Program.aspx

The advent of travel companies doing status match is clearly shown for air, hotel, & car rental at http://www.statusmatcher.com/ -- site that reports on incidents of travel company accommodations to loyalty matching.

So, will this loyalty match phenomenon grow into cruise line Alliance programs?

That the news story this blog will cover.

More news soon.

Take action today, request your Travel Score and opt-in for our Loyalty Program News email newsletter at www.YourTravelScore.com

Signing off.

Luck be with you.

Mitchell P. Davis

CEO,  CruisingSociety.com

A Broadcast Interview Source, Inc.company

Request to follow our Tweets at www.Twitter.com/CruisingSociety.

Yes, just 17 days since Cruise Society started a Facebook page.

Now up to 127 Twitter Followers.
17 registrants with Travel Scores -- Six of the 17 have circumnavigated, three of them twice or more.

Day 16 --- Focus Group Results -- Philadelphia Travel Show on Sunday.

March 22, 2017:

Focus Group Results --

What our business?

Gosh, comes down to a bit of Darwinism -- Using scoring systems to help both travelers and travel providers make better connections.

Via the Travel Score system selecting and ranking travelers on five basis points:
1)  Status --  Loyalty Status held --- Current status.
2)  Distance -- Miles traveled -- total over lifetime
3)  Duration --  Days on travel in last year.
4)  Coverage -- Countries traveled to, with bonus for circumnavigation
5)  Aspiration -- Simply put our members want to network with people who would consider space tourism, but have a real problemswith couch potatoes who seek staycations.

The scoring system has been recently updated and members are invited to re-apply for to update their scores -- and hint :) -- hint :) don't check "Staycation"for that actually subtracts points from your score.

Rumor is we are going to start asking our top travelers -- those with 90+ scores to be rating the travel providers.. 

Another show and networking on Sunday.  Will go to the Travel & Adventure show in Philadelphia on Sunday.
https://travelshows.com/shows/philadelphia/

If you'll be there, please text let me know, and we can meet and nosh.

Or join me in the Cafe Car on Amtrak 164 on the way there that Sunday morning the 26th

Luck be with you.

---Mitchell Davis

P.S.  Oh, and thinking about three upcoming shows:

April 18th  Cruise360  https://cruise360.org/
May 2 -- Loyalty Expo  https://loyaltyexpo.loyalty360.org/
November 17th  Cruise World  http://www.cruiseworldshow.com/


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Stats:  235 is today’s score, up from last score of 180
264 Followers on Twitter  -- up 12 from yesterday
    https://twitter.com/MyTravelUpgrade
     https://twitter.com/cruisingsociety
15 Participants in NPTA.com linkedin Group. Up 3
     https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7403855
2 in Facebook group -- static
     https://www.facebook.com/groups/1657455244559474
18 Travel Score applications -- up 1

Score - 301

Cruising Society's frequently asked questions…. Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Cruising Society's frequently asked questions….   Tuesday, March 21, 2017

1)   Why do I need a travel score?

You don't. Why do you want your travel score is a different question. With your score, we can search for travel options and offers that you may not see or receive. Frequent travelers, whether for business or leisure, do not necessarily want something cheaper. They (you) want a better value or a deal not available to those who don't travel as much. We can help you locate those values.

2)   How does a better score help me?

The more you travel, again whether for business or pleasure, the more attractive you are to providers of transportation, accommodations, services, and others who supply these necessities and amenities.

3)   How do I improve my travel score?

Whenever convenient, whether it's once a month or every time you travel, update the information in the survey. Adding a country or city or another cruise can impact your travel score. The higher your score, the more attractive you are—without going through plastic surgery or buying a new wardrobe.

4)   Is a travel report like a credit report?

No, it is very different. You receive points, based on your cruise travel, particularly the number of nights you've cruised and on which lines. As you don’t ask which lines or how many cruises on which lines, should you delete that part? The score is a networking tool to establish your credentials and to let you know what benefits you qualify for on future cruises. Based on your answers, we can help you learn about and claim those benefits.

5)    Will everyone get the same referrals?

No, for instance if you have not circumnavigated the globe, we would not nominate you for a membership in The Circumnavigators Club.

6)    Is my score secret or will it be shared?

We don't share your score. You may, if you like.

7)   What happens if I want you to make my profile active?

We'll publish a tweet with your name, score, and say something nice, interesting, and fun about you. Then you can follow or link to that tweet to show your acceptance and travel score.

8)   Can I delete my score and all information you have about me?

Yes, you can opt- out of the system and cancel your score at any time.

9)   How do you investigate and verify scores so I know I can trust scores you've given other people?

For 32 years I've run the Yearbook of Experts and the ExpertClick.com expert referral system so I've learned how to determine the veracity of people. Also, as you know, frauds are usually outed very easily.

10)   How do you calculate my score and is that process public?

No, we do not publish the formula. That is our secret sauce -- and may change over time.

11)   How can your Cruising Society travel score be free?

This site may be compensated through third party advertisers—and, we make some money selling the optional pins and certificates (see next question). Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site may be from third party advertisers from which Cruising Society receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). It is this compensation that enables Cruising Society to provide you with such services as creation of and free access to your travel score at no charge. The Cruising Society strives to provide a wide array of offers for our members, but our offers do not represent all travel services companies, clubs, or products.

12)   What can I buy?

You can buy pins, medallions, and certificates, hats, T-shirts, books, and other items that may be of interest to frequent cruisers.

13)   How does the Society make money?

We collect revenue from such marketing partners as critical card companies and other associations that pay referral fees. Our primary funding mechanism are the advertisements we publish in the weekly email newsletter. Again, we will not sell your name to them. We will forward these offers to you for you to pursue or not. If you would like to advertise in our email newsletter, please contact us at CEO@CruisingSociety.org or call (202) 333-5000.

14)    What are some of the benefits of letting you make my score public?

A lot of what we do is very touchy and personal. For instance, if you make your travel score public and I notice that you've circumnavigated the globe, but you are not a member of the Circumnavigators Club, then I'll ask my friend, the club's president, to reach out to you and offer membership.

Alternately, I may notice that your travel score suggests that you would have the opportunity for a reciprocal upgrade with a cruise line, or qualify for a new Gold card. I wouldn't give them you name so they could spam you, so I'd simply send a link to you with an offer and suggest that you check it out.

Also, for many years when I've traveled I've had Dutch treat networking dinners, often in private clubs or exceptional restaurants—from the Rainbow Room in NYC to The Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood--where lots of people have made connections. If I’m going to be in your city, or you’re going to be in mine (Washington, D.C.), I'd love to reach out and meet you.

15)   Is this limited to United States residents?

No, anyone may take the survey and join The Cruise Society.

16)    May I recommend or suggest someone else learn their Travel Score?

Yes, please do. The more people who are involved, the more attractive the Cruise Society membership is to travel providers.

17)    Do I receive anything for recommending someone who joins?

Yes, the satisfaction that they can improve their travel life.

Day 15 – “Traveler Data Aggregation” Company?? – HUH?

Day 15 – “Traveler Data Aggregation” Company??  – HUH? 

Tuesday March 21., 2017

 Just 15 days ago we launched with a Facebook page and some newly registered domain names.

The Stats:  235 is today’s score, up from last score of 180

204 Followers on Twitter

    https://twitter.com/MyTravelUpgrade

     https://twitter.com/cruisingsociety

12 Participants in NPTA.com linkedin Group.

     https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7403855 

2 in Facebook group

     https://www.facebook.com/groups/1657455244559474

17 Travel Score applications:

…and we continue to learn – an internal discussion here has been about: “innovation and the how the first mover has an advantage of being first, while the second mover benefits from the mistakes and miss-calculations or the first mover.”  We’d thought we were the first mover and had to figure everything out.  We were the “innovators,” and had to think up everything from scratch.

Back in 2010, I read a book titled: Copycats: How Smart Companies Use Imitation to Gain a Strategic Edge, published by Harvard Business Press.  

See review here:  https://www.forbes.com/2010/05/11/china-america-innovation-leadership-mangement-imitation-book.html

To quote from the Forbes article; “Books these days regularly cheer innovation. You rarely go to a conference without hearing how important it is. Copying others has a bit of a stigma.  Yet despite all of that talk, successful imitation rather than innovation may be a better way to make money. Even better, borrowing from others and combining that with your own creativity, can build strong competitive advantages.”

Then burning the mid-night oil and surfing the net last night, I find out we are not the first.  There was a 2011 news release from a company called Traxo, to offer their “Traxo Travel Score”.  See the archived release at PRnewswire here:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/traxo-launches-traxo-travel-score-124185179.html

We don’t know why they killed it, but they don’t offer it as a going concern at their website today or can be found with search.  But being able to see what they did six years ago will be helpful in figuring out what we want to do in the future.

Then I noticed TRAXO just took in a big Series “B” funding

December 13, 2016

TripAdvisor Invests in Traxo, Leading $5.2M Series B Round for Traveler Data Aggregation Company

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161213005112/en/TripAdvisor-Invests-Traxo-Leading-5.2M-Series-Traveler

So our little project is really another entrant in the field called:  “Traveler Data Aggregation.”

Who would have known, with $2,000, two weeks, and a few off the shelf programs, and timing that allowed a visit a leading industry trade show we’d be playing in this big sandbox?

Lots of promotion today, as we move out of beta today with a PRnewswire release.

See the release as posted on our site today at:  https://www.expertclick.com/NewsRelease/Travel-Score-Offered-by-New-Travel-Club-CruisingSocietyorg-Helps-Voyagers-Get-Upgrades-Deals-on-Major-Cruise-Lines,2017105995.aspx

Do check back in on Wednesday, and let’s if we’ve bumped that 245 score up.

--Mitchell Davis

Oh, and see our just published FAQ at: https://www.expertclick.com/NewsRelease/Cruising-Societys-frequently-asked-questions,2017106009.aspx

.

Cruising Magazines found at Seatrade -- March 2017

Edition for Monday March 20, 2017

Social media count;  

154 Followers on Twitter.  

7 Participants in NPTA linkedin Group.  

Two in Facebook group

15 Travel Score applications;

180 is the score.

From my Visit to UBM's Sea Trade Global Last week

Magazine covers are captioned with name of magazine and URL below each

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cruise Business  See site at:  http://cruisebusiness.com/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cruise Industry News    https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Travel & Cruise    https://issuu.com/fcca/docs/travel-and-cruise-2017-1st-qtr?e=2271905/45790696

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cruise Insight     from UK    http://www.ashcroftandassociates.com/publications.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cruise & Ferry Matgaine   http://www.cruiseandferry.net/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maritime Reported and Engineering News    http://www.marinelink.com/magazines

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Passenger Ship  Technology     http://www.passengership.info/index.htm

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Porthole Cruise    https://www.porthole.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PortNewsPaper     http://www.men-car.com/port.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SeaTec    http://www.seatec.fi/magazine/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sea Trade Cruise Review   http://www.seatradecruisereview.com/

  

Day Eleven – Just back from UBM’s Seatrade Cruise Global in Ft. Lauderdale

Day Eleven – Just back from UBM’s Seatrade Cruise Global in Ft. Lauderdale

Wow!  -- Big booths. Lots of big ship models. Here’s a photo of me from the show.

Lots of information provided:

…..and everybody likes lists so here’s a good list from the daily show guide newsletter:

CLIA’s (Cruise Line Industry Association) “Top Nine Destination for 2017”

1. Beautiful Bucharest
2. Exclusive Private Islands
3. Sail the South Pole
4. The Gorgeous Galapagos
5. Exotic Africa
6. Great Wall of Culture
7. Havana History
8. A Driver’s Dream

For more info visit their website at: https://cruising.org/

I'll have more info from show in Monday's post.

Luck be With You.

-- Mitchell P. Davi, CEO

www.CruisingSociety.org

Questions?  Or to contact me:

Call (202) 333-5000

or email:  CEO@CtuisingSociety.org

Current follower count on Twitter is 140

Click here to follow us:  https://twitter.com/cruisingsociety

Day Nine – CruisingSociety & MyTravelUpgrade ,,.

March 15, 2017

Day Nine – CruisingSociety & MyTravelUpgrade ,,.

Wow, nine days ago we were just a Facebook page.  Now today’s twitter counts are 50 and 58.  There are two members of the Facebook and the Linked group with two also.  National Professional Traveler Association.  So today’s networking count is 112.  Oh, and three followers in the NPTA Twitter account.

Tomorrow, I’m going to skip the blog post but assure I’ll have lots of new content for Friday, for I’m off to Ft. Lauderdale for the SeaTrade convention.  See the shows info at: http://seatradecruiseglobal.com/

New participants continue to apply for theirTravelUpate score.  See the opt-in page at http://MyTravelUpgrade.com  Why not apply today? 

Should you opt-in to get our email newsletter and to get your TravelUpgrade score.

I)  It can help you qualify for reciprocal or upgrade offers -- we'll share where once we know your score.

II) We'll share with you other clubs you may be able to qualify to join.

III) You get bragging rights and can share a link to verify your status.

IV) You can order really cool pins and frameable certificates.
ee the opt-in page at http://MyTravelUpgrade.com  Why not apply today? 

The linkedin group for NPTA, the National Professional Travelers Association is now live at linkedin.  The group is designed for networking for road warriors.  The big credential to be a member is that you have at least a gold status with your airline. Membership is free if your status is equal or above the 50,000 mile Gold status from United.    

There is breaking trend that status levels are portable between airlines, hotels, and cruise lines.

A)      MSC Cruises now offers “Loyalty Status Match Program” with a simple web interface where you can valid your status with your airline, and immediately earn that status.
  https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/MSC-Voyagers-Club/Loyalty-Match-Program.aspx

B)      There is website that chronicles upgrade and recipricol status portability events, with international cover of airlines, hotel and car rental, but not cruise lines– See that site at: 

           statusmatcher.com

I’ll back on Friday to blog on what I find at Seatrade Cruise Global.

Till then happy sailing.

Mitchell P. Davis

Cruising Society

Day Eight Blog – Cruising Society.com and @YourTravelScore

Day Eight Blog – CruisingSociety.com  and  @YourTravelScore

Wow, just eight days since that was just a Facebook page.

Today’s follower count is 39 for @YourTravelScore and 59 at @CruisingSociety

The @CruisingSociety page is still marked as private, and viewers have to request permission to follow.

The choice to make it private initially was done as were still in sandbox, but now it seems having that “red rope” up in front of the blog makes it more attractive.

Who knows if I’ll ever take that red rode down, for now it seems sort of intuitive that being private is attractive to the visitors.

….anyways the private account is attracting more followers.

---Mitchell Davis

Day Seven. ---- Cruising Society -- a"Loyalty Marketing Disintermediation" Business

March 13, 2017

It is the seventh day since we stated the Facebook group page on March 6th.

1)  New information is still coming in --- seems our key market presence can be stated as a "Loyalty Marketing Disintermediation" business.

.   Four interesting items on status matching:

a)   A website called www.StatusMatcher.com that chronicles hotel, air & car rental matching world wide.  Shows cases approved and denied and has a great charting system that show how a 5 level loyalty program can be matched with a three leve.

b)  USA Today story with the headline:  Fly Guy: How to get an airline elite status match
See it here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/hobica/2013/07/09/fly-guy-how-to-get-an-airline-elite-status-match/2499795/ 

c)  From The Points Guy:  Hotel Elite Status Match and Challenge Plans for 2016  http://thepointsguy.com/2016/06/hotel-elite-status-match-challenge-plans-2016/

d)   Wikipedia has a great page that explains Loyalty Marketing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyalty_marketing

2) There are now 82 follower on our two Twitter accounts:
https://twitter.com/YourTravelScore
and
https://twitter.com/CruisingSociety  -- and we still have not made that account public -- so far 56 people have requested to follow us.  ...and we may not ever make it public simply to prevent the whole wide world from seeing people who follow us and contacting them.  I've learned over the years that holding your client list close the vest is a careful strategy,

3)   We've received 15 applications for Travel Scores.   See yesterday's post for a review of the first 12:  https://cruisingsociety.blogspot.com/2017/03/preliminary-results-from-travel-score.html 

4)   Wikipedia has a great page that explains Loyalty Marketing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyalty_marketing

Look for more news tomorrow as we keep this blog going.

... and we'll soon publish our first weekly newsletter.

To be on the news letter list, please opt-in at www.YourTravelScore.com
  Fill out just the first three questions to be on mailing list.
  or fill out the full form to apply for the Travel Score.

---Mitchell P. Davis, CEO
Cruise Society (tm) -- a Broadcast Interview Source, Inc. company
E-mail:  CEO@CruiseSociety.org
Phone:  (202) 333-5000
Fax: (202) 342-5411

P.S. We welcome news items for our soon to be published weekly e-mail newsletter -- News can be sent in two ways:
1)   Via Email with the subject: "News Release"
2)   By fax to (202) 342-5411

P.P.S.  There is Loyalty trade show on May 2 to 4th in Orlando -- here's their conference page:
http://loyaltyexpo.loyalty360.org/

Preliminary Results From Travel Score Tabulation.

Preliminary Results From Travel Score Tabulation.

March 12th, 2017.

Today is Day Six for the Society. It started on March 6th with a Facebook page, and quickly moved to Twitter, first with @CrusingSociety, then with @YourTravelScore. You can also visit the web sites at: www.CruisingSociety.org

Lots of very interesting replies in the first wave of 12 Travel Score applications that arrived yesterday and today.   Here's a link to the online Travel Score Invitation Page:  www.YourTravelScore.com

Two have circumnavigated once, and two have gone around the world twice for a total of six round trips—one of double-dippers was me—I’ve done so twice in the same direction as Phileas Fogg -- flying east.   [ 9:30 PM Update -- a late entry is from a fiend of mine who checked "multiple." so that average has moved up. ]

The 12 members had clocked up 460 cruise nights. One comment about Viking River Cruises: "Plus, It's 150 or so passengers not 1,500 or 15,000, so you feel like a person, not a number." indicates how eager people are to share their cruising and river boating experiences.

The average person had visited 22 countries.

Wow, and they have flown about 4,200,000 miles and many have gold and platinum air cards. That means they are current status members, for airline cards de-escalate in value if not used, unlike cruise status programs that typically just keep rolling forward.

You know that distinction between how most air and hotel loyalty programs don't offer grandfather status, while the cruise lines do keep growing, the jumping point for this whole idea of the Cruise Society when it sparked just 6 days ago when I learned about the Loyalty Status Match offer from MSC Cruises!

See it here: https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/MSC-Voyagers-Club/Loyalty-Match-Program.aspx

This trend of status matching is growing. There is even a web site called http://www.statusmatcher.com/ where people share their war stories, success and failures in getting accomodated, for the big corporate players don't want to let the cat out of the bag that they are doing deals to poach each other's high value loyal status customers.  But clearly on that site you can see that lots of deals are getting done.

But MSC cruises has fired the first public salvo, across the bows of the other cruise lines, and is publicly doing deals. They even have a straight forward process all online. See how easy it is at the link above.

The last question I asked on the survey was if they had an AMEX Gold Card or a Chase Sapphire? ...and if they didn't would they want to hear about it?

We call it the "Gold Card Curious" question.  Of the 12 replies one respondent said he didn't have a top line card but is interested -- he's a guy who cruises, with 100 plus cruise nights and didn't have an airline status card.

American Express and Chase Bank are you listening?

Mitchell P. Davis CEO, Cruising Society and the Travel Score system.
We use Twitter for our main web presence -- see that and follow us at:   www.Twitter.com/CruisingSociety 
To contact Mr. Davis
Email to:  CEO@CruisingSociety.org
or call (202) 333-5000