[cowboy71]

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2011 cruise - 22 bands had been announced
2012 cruise - 15 bands had been announced
2013 cruise - 15 bands had been announced
2014 cruise - 14 bands had been announced
2015 cruise - 18 bands had been announced
2016 cruise - 30 bands had been announced
2017 cruise - 31 bands had been announced
2018 cruise - 21 bands had been announced
2019 cruise - SOON

[cowboy71]

Notably, this is also around the time things usually go quiet on the 70K front, and we have weeks/months without any band announcements.

Historically:

2018 - no announcements from 11th July to 16th September
2017 - no announcements from 21st August to 22nd December
2016 - no announcements from 6th August to 2nd October
2015 - no announcements from 27th August to 23rd September
2014 - no announcements from 18th May to 9th November

[zboy]

Somewhat interesting thought. Dont be surprised if repeat cruisers are asked to take a hit for the team. Andy has repeatedly said booking process is unfair and , new blood is needed. I have had privilege of 6 times , the cruise. So, he may ban those early booking this time, and in fact, not be allowed to book until 2 weeks (just a guess), after public sales. Wouldnt surprise me, even with the new number of cabins. Still, there is a bit of arrogance here, it is a lot of money, and if they announce say, not till then end of September, it makes a lot of assumptions, that could backfire, from a business model standpoint. Still, it tends to always work out, and is interesting regardless. But if it is this way, it really screws with a lot of peoples plans , and opportunity cost with regards to other alternative trips , one could have made. All one can do is sit back, wait, and enjoy the sound of silence.

[Gratch]

Somewhat interesting thought. Dont be surprised if repeat cruisers are asked to take a hit for the team. Andy has repeatedly said booking process is unfair and , new blood is needed. I have had privilege of 6 times , the cruise. So, he may ban those early booking this time, and in fact, not be allowed to book until 2 weeks (just a guess), after public sales.

Purposefully punishing your extremely loyal customer base would be a monumentally bad business decision, imo.

YMMV, I suppose.

[Mr.Kito]

Everytime i see this megathread on the top, i have a mini heart attack.


then I read it again... 2018..

[Amalu]

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2011 cruise - 22 bands had been announced
2012 cruise - 15 bands had been announced
2013 cruise - 15 bands had been announced
2014 cruise - 14 bands had been announced
2015 cruise - 18 bands had been announced
2016 cruise - 30 bands had been announced
2017 cruise - 31 bands had been announced
2018 cruise - 21 bands had been announced
2019 cruise - SOON

Do you also have the dates of the first announcements of the respective years? Maybe the dates on which booking details were first revealed.

[Pellaz]

Somewhat interesting thought. Dont be surprised if repeat cruisers are asked to take a hit for the team. Andy has repeatedly said booking process is unfair and , new blood is needed. I have had privilege of 6 times , the cruise. So, he may ban those early booking this time, and in fact, not be allowed to book until 2 weeks (just a guess), after public sales.

Purposefully punishing your extremely loyal customer base would be a monumentally bad business decision, imo.

YMMV, I suppose.

Absolutely agree. I'm not an elitist by nature, but if previous Survivors were kicked to the curb like that, I'd have to check with my roommates to see if they would want to jump ship. I'd vote yes and I think they would too.

Everytime i see this megathread on the top, i have a mini heart attack.

then I read it again... 2018.

You and me both.

[Amalu]

Absolutely agree. I'm not an elitist by nature, but if previous Survivors were kicked to the curb like that, I'd have to check with my roommates to see if they would want to jump ship.

That would simply be unfair, stupid from a business point of view and more or less the end of 70k as a whole.

Everyone who makes it on the boat would then have to be afraid of being treating in the same disrespectful and unfair manner for the next year.

But:

[PotatoPotahto]

Somewhat interesting thought. Dont be surprised if repeat cruisers are asked to take a hit for the team. Andy has repeatedly said booking process is unfair and , new blood is needed. I have had privilege of 6 times , the cruise. So, he may ban those early booking this time, and in fact, not be allowed to book until 2 weeks (just a guess), after public sales.

Purposefully punishing your extremely loyal customer base would be a monumentally bad business decision, imo.

YMMV, I suppose.

Absolutely agree. I'm not an elitist by nature, but if previous Survivors were kicked to the curb like that, I'd have to check with my roommates to see if they would want to jump ship. I'd vote yes and I think they would too.

I'm not even sure there'd be a way to implement this? Only reason we get early access is our emails are logged and we get survivor codes. Anybody could just make a new email and book up. If it ever were implemented, which I doubt by itself, I doubt it'd be this year. They'd have to have a way to definitely log who has been on before.

[Phoenix]

They'd have to have a way to definitely log who has been on before.

[cowboy71]

First band announcement dates for previous cruises:

2019 - SOON
2018 - 3rd July
2017 - 8th July
2016 - 25th June
2015 - 15th March
2014 - 31st March
2013 - 27th June
2012 - 18th April
2011 - 18th December (2009)

[cowboy71]

I don't have all the emails - so if someone could fill in the blanks that would be great :)

Early booking invitation email received:

2012 Cruise - 19th April 2011
2013 Cruise - 2nd July 2012
2017 Cruise - 9th July 2016
2018 Cruise - 5th July 2017
2019 Cruise - SOON

[PotatoPotahto]

They'd have to have a way to definitely log who has been on before.

They do. The name on your passport. All they'd have to do is ask for your passport number, which presumably is information UMC could get about previous cruisers easily.

[Godflesh]

I don't have all the emails - so if someone could fill in the blanks that would be great :)

Early booking invitation email received:

2012 Cruise - 19th April 2011
2013 Cruise - 2nd July 2012
2017 Cruise - 9th July 2016
2018 Cruise - 5th July 2017
2019 Cruise - SOON

2016 Cruise - 24th June 2015

Folks, remember that Statsman's dates are sometimes one day later than continental US dates.

[cowboy71]

Any way you look at it, we are now basically one month later than the latest we've ever got first band announcements or early booking emails in any previous year

[Godflesh]

Any way you look at it, we are now basically one month later than the latest we've ever got first band announcements or early booking emails in any previous year

Yes, and nobody saw that coming. Except for one guy

I'm guessing we are still at least a month away from any action.

http://70000tons.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5540&p=294589#p294589

[cowboy71]

I am the Prophet of DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

[Godflesh]

Come on, Prophet of SOON!

[Godflesh]

All this frustration will be forgotten SOOO quickly when they announce JUDAS PRIEST (who only have one show announced in 2019, in France on 1/27, just in time) as the first band

I’ve been fantasizing about JUDAS PRIEST just because the stars seem to align timing-wise, but now I’m starting to think that UMC NEEDS a first announcement of that caliber to make up for the lost mindshare.

[Amalu]

I’m starting to think that UMC NEEDS a first announcement of that caliber to make up for the lost mindshare.

I still think that any kind of announcement would be VERY much appreciated. The line-up in the previous years was always nice.

I do agree however that the later it gets the better the announcement must be. It simply would not be enough to announce 5-10 lesser known bands and saying that headliners will follow #SOON.

[Memnoch]

I wouldn't be surprised if they opened sales to everyone at the same time, but gave gold and silver survivors a discount code. And even if it might piss off some veterans, it'd make sure there's always fresh blood on the boat and, better yet, a chance of an affordable cabin for the newbies as well.
That, or they could only release something like half of each cabin category for gold survivors, then half of what's left for silver and the rest for public sales.

The only group that deserves a right to book in advance is those who have been on all 70k's.

[Ti7aNiC]

I wouldn't be surprised if they opened sales to everyone at the same time, but gave gold and silver survivors a discount code. And even if it might piss off some veterans, it'd make sure there's always fresh blood on the boat and, better yet, a chance of an affordable cabin for the newbies as well.

For the sake of simplicity from a logistical point-of-view, I'm convinced it's only a matter of time before this is how it'll be. Possibly a higher discount for Gold & Silver survivors than just 10% & 5% since the'd be losing the ability to book early.

If it were up to me, I'd scrap Silver early booking (just give Silver survivors a higher discount), but actually keep Gold early booking. The one change I'd do is make the qualification for Gold be that you've sailed on over 50% of the cruises. That would require some quality dedication to become Gold for newbies, yet reward the survivors who've been dedicated for such a long time. As well, it would open up the possibility of people losing their Gold status, which might actually be a good thing years down the road (as to not have too many Gold survivors and to add incentive to keep going every couple years).

[Phoenix]

... I'm back, and still nothing? This is perplexing.

All this talk about not letting people book early makes me nervous. I only just got gold status this year, and I was counting on that to be able to get a spot on the boat (I don't have any cabin mate plans). But if I can't book early and I have to try on my less-than-stellar work internet, I'm probably not getting one.

Of course, this only matters when we finally get word that we can actually BOOK in the first place. The farther this goes on, the more likely that I will book something else.

[cowboy71]

Some really good suggestions here - I hope UMC are listening :)

Larger discount to payoff against removing early booking rights, no Silver survivors and/or Gold qualifying being 50% or more cruises.

Maybe we will get some action on 8th of the 8th? At least that is something we really will have the answer for....SOOON.

[alex_canada]

It's always been the case that we get at least 24 hour notice before gold booking opens, right? My new job is less flexible so I need to organize some things to be able to sit on the phone reliably.

[cowboy71]

It's always been the case that we get at least 24 hour notice before gold booking opens, right? My new job is less flexible so I need to organize some things to be able to sit on the phone reliably.

Don't think so mate.

Not sure if my time conversions are quite right, but I received the early booking email for 70k 2017 at 1.38pm on the 9th of July (my time, as in Queensland Australian time). I believe that would equate to 11.38pm EST on the 8th of July.

Booking then opened at 3pm EST on 9th of July. So in that case it was only about 14 hours notice.

[alex_canada]

god dammit

[cowboy71]

For this years we got about 2 and a half days notice though :)

2018 cruise email received July 4th 7pm EDT. Booking opened July 7th 12pm EDT

[deathmetalpat]

I don’t think they will repeat the booking for 2017 again,because of the fast start people had barely anytime to get cabin mates organized.This caused many double -triple bookings etc.,people going together but both or more booking as lead to get a cabin.They spent many hours trying to sort out the mess it caused.

[Mr.Kito]

The one change I'd do is make the qualification for Gold be that you've sailed on over 50% of the cruises. That would require some quality dedication to become Gold for newbies, yet reward the survivors who've been dedicated for such a long time. As well, it would open up the possibility of people losing their Gold status, which might actually be a good thing years down the road (as to not have too many Gold survivors and to add incentive to keep going every couple years).

This is something i've been thinking about for quite sometime now and it seems the easiest and most efficient way to solve the problem.

[D.T. Metal]

Some really good suggestions here - I hope UMC are listening :)

Larger discount to payoff against removing early booking rights, no Silver survivors and/or Gold qualifying being 50% or more cruises.

I am with you on this on Statsman and hope UMC is listening. It is no secret that Andy wants "fresh blood" on the cruise and there is no way of doing this other than pissing off some veterans.

Other cruises don't do early booking and it somehow works just fine. But since UMC started the tiered system it's hard to reverse course at this point. My following suggestions (hey UMC - take note ) would be:

Plan A:
1. let veterans who cruised on ALL 70K's have first dips with the current discount intact. Inform them via e-mail and let them book ahead of time. There aren't that many and this way their awesome loyalty is rewarded.

2. open it up to the general public but give gold and silver survivors their discount during booking.

Plan B: (not as radical)
1. keep the current gold and silver priority with their respective discounts but require a FULL cabin during booking; meaning the names of the cabin mates have to accompany the request. This could eliminate the mad dash of finding cabin mates and leave more cabins for potential newcomers.

Either way, some people will get pissed, but Andy already said that he is going to revamp the booking system. Let's wait and see...

[Pellaz]

Some pretty nifty suggestions here.
Memnoch, I can't see them opening bookings to everyone at the same time just because of the chaos that ensued last year with Gold bookings. The website crashed hard and it would be even worse if everyone could try to book at once. Maybe they've made some IT improvements....but I'm guessing they haven't.

In order, they could open bookings tor:
-- Survivors who have been on every 70K, or maybe all but one 70K, or whose Forum username is "Pellaz"
-- Survivors who booked a suite last year AND are booking a suite again this year
-- Survivors who are now booking their 5th 70K
-- Survivors who are now booking their third 70K
-- Survivors returning after coming last year
-- General public sales


If I were UMC, I'd also reserve out a slightly smaller number of cabins for each Survivor category than in the past, to leave more availability when public sales roll around.
They could offer a "bonus" perk to Survivors who've been on every 70K, like guaranteed early access and/or "skip the line" for the merch area. Or free pizza all cruise at Sorrento's.

An evil thought also occurred to me: what if Andy is delaying announcements and bookings this year to "thin the herd" a bit...and therefore have more openings for first-time cruisers?

[Phoenix]

An evil thought also occurred to me: what if Andy is delaying announcements and bookings this year to "thin the herd" a bit...and therefore have more openings for first-time cruisers?

Someone else suggested this, and I actually think there's probably some truth to it. Though it also weeds out those who have never gone, who don't hear news and decide to book Wacken instead because Demons and Wizards got announced. So it's a bit risk/reward... though I guess Andy knows he has LOTS of returning customers that will just go regardless...

[PotatoPotahto]

A lot of people have suggested it, but I think the easiest way would just be to reserve a few of every kind of cabin.

So, when gold tickets go on sale, 50% of cabins are available (and likely sell out)

When silver tickets go on sale, 25% of cabins go on sale (and likely sell out)

And when public sales open the rest are available.

It would probably piss off veterans the least out of all the suggestions so far, instead of not letting them get their early access or opening up to every body at the same time. They still get discounts and early access, but it's not possible for them to book the whole cruise to themselves.

Hope I explained this well.

[cowboy71]

Either way, some people will get pissed, but Andy already said that he is going to revamp the booking system. Let's wait and see...

Pretty sure a lot of people are pissed already so nothing to lose there

Love the suggestions I'm seeing here. I would not be surprised if we see some variation of what's been offered up here thusfar.

Memnoch, I can't see them opening bookings to everyone at the same time just because of the chaos that ensued last year with Gold bookings. The website crashed hard and it would be even worse if everyone could try to book at once. Maybe they've made some IT improvements....but I'm guessing they haven't.

SOLID point. Yeah no way would they have invested in any IT improvements so they will definitely need to have a system that throttles the number of connections coming in. Having it open slather for anyone to book at once is a sure fire guarantee of crashing their systems.

[Pellaz]

A lot of people have suggested it, but I think the easiest way would just be to reserve a few of every kind of cabin.

So, when gold tickets go on sale, 50% of cabins are available (and likely sell out)

When silver tickets go on sale, 25% of cabins go on sale (and likely sell out)

And when public sales open the rest are available.

It would probably piss off veterans the least out of all the suggestions so far, instead of not letting them get their early access or opening up to every body at the same time. They still get discounts and early access, but it's not possible for them to book the whole cruise to themselves.

Hope I explained this well.

I think this could be something they'll actually implement. The problem would arise when the allocated supply of staterooms runs out and, say, Gold survivors then get some sort of "sold out" message. Would Gold survivors then have to wait until Silver sales start, or until general sales start, or....? And just the rumor of 70K being "sold out" prematurely could impact general sales.
It would be a tricky rope to walk.

I still think their best bet would be to establish at least one additional loyalty tier, but I like the thought of adding a percentage of prior 70Ks instead of a hard-and-fast number. Start sales off with the higher tiers and work down. It would help alleviate the website behaving like a frightened child when Gold sales start. Using a percentage would mean that if people remain loyal they could advance to the next tier as time went on.

Say.....
-- Diamond Survivors: all 70Ks, or maybe all but one 70Ks to date. This would be like "80 or 90%" of 70Ks.
-- Platinum Survivors: 60% of all 70Ks to date. For this year, that would equate to 5 or 6 70Ks.
-- Gold Survivors: 40% of all 70Ks to date. This would come out to 3 or 4 70Ks.
-- Silver Survivors: 20% of all 70Ks to date. 1 or 2 prior 70Ks.
-- General public sales.

Or, simplify it and combine the top two tiers as "Platinum" and make it 5 70Ks or more.

Ironically, the cruise lines themselves are having similar issues with their loyalty program tiers...although not quite for the same reasons.

[Gratch]

I don't really give a fuck what the particulars are any more...just announce something.

[Godflesh]

Whatever is happening, it was known well in advance, because no megathread was opened.

Dates of Andy's megathreads:
BTH: 7/7/12 "The BARGE TO HELL Is Coming!"
2011: 2/17/10 "11 OUT OF 40 BANDS CONFIRMED!" (post made by Allison not Andy)
2012: 4/18/11 "Please welcome the first 7 out of 40"
2013: 6/27/12 "The Wait Is Over! Welcome The First 10 Bands Onbroad!"
2014: 3/4/13 "70000TONS OF METAL 2014 Is On The Horizon!"
2015: 2/14/14 "...Are You Getting Excited Yet?"
2016: 2/27/15 " Are you getting ready...?"
2017: 5/20/16 "Are You Ready For Round 7?"
2018: 4/12/17 "Sailors! Prepare Your Wishlists For 70000TONS OF METAL 2"
2019: SOON

(Edit: Added original thread titles)

[PotatoPotahto]

I'm not as worried about the Megathread thing, since all this megathread started with is...

How about you post your personal wishlist here in the Official 70000TONS OF METAL forum, THE place to connect with fellow Metalheads from over 70 different countries around the globe?

And Speedy started a Wishlist thread on the first day of this year's cruise that has almost 500 replies. Andy could just think "Oh shit somebody already did my forum job. Oh well."

Also I could be totally wrong, I don't know, I've only been sailing since '16 and only recently became active on the forums.

[Phoenix]

I'm not as worried about the Megathread thing, since all this megathread started with is...

How about you post your personal wishlist here in the Official 70000TONS OF METAL forum, THE place to connect with fellow Metalheads from over 70 different countries around the globe?

And Speedy started a Wishlist thread on the first day of this year's cruise that has almost 500 replies. Andy could just think "Oh shit somebody already did my forum job. Oh well."

Also I could be totally wrong, I don't know, I've only been sailing since '16 and only recently became active on the forums.

Every year I've been here, "Prepare your wishlist!" Is how the megathread starts (or is nesr the start). Every year, our wishlist thread is already here.