Why Royal Caribbean's customer loyalty perks are in trouble
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- More people are cruising than ever before, and that means more people are climbing the ranks of Royal Caribbean's Crown and Anchor Society. With more people clamoring for perks, is there a problem delivering those benefits in the future?
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As long as they keep the free drinks on the sea pass card, I am good. 😂
Same, that’s the best perk by far. Had it for 2 weeks in Europe. 4 drinks a day * 4 passengers is over 3000$ in savings
My wife just booked a Virgin cruise, they gave us a $350 on board credit EACH for being Diamond Plus on RCL. That will buy a few drinks!!
@@rickh6963 virgin and RCL match?
@@a_goblue2023 Virgin is matching almost everybody right now to try and win market share. RCL does not match Virgin though.
@rickh6963 we hit Diamond plus after our cruise in Nov. May have to test the status match with Virgin.
The thing I like about the Crown Lounge is that if You go at the right time it is a quiet place with comfortable chairs to relax and read
Let the chips fall where they may - if the lounge is crowded, it's crowded, and attendance will self-adjust as fewer people decided to use it. Another idea, have Crown Lounge happy hour on the outdoor suite deck. When I was on Allure, the suite deck was always empty and I was usually the only person up there. The bar there wasn't even staffed.
I’m a recently new diamond member, my wife and I visited the lounge on our last Grandeur cruise to see what it was like. I really didn’t see the value of it. We do enjoy the vouchers. I would give members the choice of continued lounge option or new option of free Wi-Fi for entire cruise. In this day and age most lodging offers free Wi-Fi.
It's sorta hidden on Grandeur and out of the way of anything
.
My wife and I are almost at the Diamond tier, so I really hope they don't do anything that is going to screw that up for us. It's taken us quite a few years to get this far and we are really looking forward to the new benefits!
Us too. Only need 9 points to go diamonds
Same - 11 for us
3 for us
same for us... need 6i think
We are Diamond members and hope they raise the tier requirements.
I enjoy the Diamond lounge personally it has taken many years to get to Diamond status and i go there to relax, get some quiet time, beat my husband at Uno AND to meet other folks. I hope they maintain the lounges in locations with views and I agree with others it is nice to use drink vouchers all over the ship too. My suggestion- give an option for another lounge for Diamonds if you are going to cut out Diamonds from 5-7 from the Crown lounge. We also have worked hard to pay for many trips to get to this level too.
The older ships like Rhapsody of the Seas were never overcrowded in my experiences. They also had great floor-to-ceiling sea-views! With the daily 24-hour vouchers, Diamond guests and above can enjoy complete flexibility of time and venues throughout the ship, eliminating the previous need to go to the Diamond Lounge for the complimentary drinks. This also lessens the number of persons in the lounge per hour. Also noteworthy is that the Diamond Lounge is available 24 hours a day! At least, a quieter place on any ship and also a place to get teas, coffees and cocoa 24/7. They could certainly do repurposing of some lounges or conference-rooms as pop-up Diamond and Pinnacle Lounges whenever a particular sailing is having a large number of high-tier guests.
I just got off of Rhapsody and am sitting in the San Juan airport ready to fly home as I type this. We had a 8-night a cruise and visiited the Crown Lounge everyday (morning and evening) and it was never crowded. We were typically there around 8:00am and around 5:30pm and were often the only ones in the room.
I think the lounge was nice while it lasted, but it’s time for Royal to renovate the spaces into some other attraction open to the public (or use if for storage) and offer more monetary benefits for being a c&a society member, (more free drinks, free specialty resturant and room service vouchers etc.)
What I have seen of them they don't look that special.
As a pretty new cruiser on RC (I'm about to go on my 3rd cruise), selfishly, I wish they should offer MORE perks for Platinum and Emerald that are great for cruisers, but don't cost them very much money. Things like free bottles of water in the cabin upon arrival or one free drink per cruise. Chocolate covered strawberries are pretty easy and cheap to make, but everyone up-charges them like crazy, so that might be nice to add to higher level staterooms at embarkation. Other $0 perks to consider would be priority access to dining options or online early access to excursions. I don't see how they can do anything different with the lounge other than bump regular Diamond out and then give them some cool perks to replace them. They have to have a ton of data about what the most popular purchases are for all of the levels, that hopefully they use to make the perk program better. And while they're at it, I'd love if The Key was actually worth it!
Yeah, platinum and emerald are almost worthless. One free drink a day would be cheap, not take up any space, and would show appreciation for being loyal.
Royal has to be very careful not to devalue the upper tier of the Crown and Anchor Society. Removing benefits tends to erode loyalty perhaps even more than adding them builds them.
They have been eroding perks for 20 years in the tiers and adding back trivial ones. Cruising is at all time records. So don’t convince yourself that they view it the way you think.
If everyone's in the top tier, no one is.
Provide a collection of benefits and let people pick a quantity of them. For example here are 5 possible benefits at this tier, you can pick 2 of them. Add new higher tiers where you can unlock more of them. Most will pick stuff like the free drink or wifi access that doesn't tax the ships areas. Less will pick access to crown lounge.
The drinks are nice - and the new voucher system is amazing, but as a solo cruise guest the main thing I value is meeting other guests at Happy Hour in the lounge. Everyone is so welcoming, and willing for others to pull up a chair and share a drink with them. I really hope they would extend Happy Hour access to solo guests.
Increase the required points for both Diamond and Diamond Plus, but do what Carnival did when they increased the point requirement ... give people a chance to obtain status within one year. This allowed those folks getting close to a new level the opportunity to achieve that level under the old point requirement. Seemed to work well for Carnival. Also, there should be a new status level between Diamond Plus and Pinnacle; maybe at the 400 point level. Certain benefits at 360 are available, but it is not the same as achieving a new status designation.
Both my kids made Diamond Plus before their 18th birthday; thus making them dedicated Royal Caribbean cruisers. However, they (and I) were very disappointed when suite lounge access was taken away; especially on Quantum class ships. If more benefits are taken away, I'm not sure how "dedicated" we will remain.
Royal Caribbean seems to be allowing the problem to work itself by doing 2 things.
First, keep raising their fares, even prices for their older ships are sky high.
Second, knocking back quality and selection of food in the MDR.
We are Diamond Plus with Royal, but we've ventured over to 3 different cruise lines in the last 12 months. And, let me tell you, one of the only things bringing us back to Royal is the 5 daily drink vouchers. Otherwise, I'm not sure we would ever be back. It seems they have really changed their focus from the cruise line they were 10-15 years ago.
I'm Diamond Plus and am doing my Panama Canal Honeymoon cruise on Coral Princes. Princess Premier package includes room service, specialty dining, top shelf drinks up to $20, wifi. Plus my Reserve JR Suite, comes with its own dining room. Royal does not offer anything comparable, under a full suite!
We were Royally screwed us over.
We booked a double C&A points cruise, that they subsequently cancelled, but would honour the double points on the rebooked cruise. They cancelled our rebooked cruise and advised our travel agent that they'd honour the double points on our next cruise.
After finally having the third cruise the double points offer wasn't honoured. Our Travel Agent spent 6 months to get an answer from Royal. There's no way they'll honour the double points despite Royal being responsible for the cancellations.
Not happy with Royal.
Their integrity has really gone in the dumper. My cruise in May, may be my last on the line. Everyone should be treated as a valued guest. The industry can collapse just as quickly as it ascended. Royal and all other lines are heavily in debt, so they really don't have any leverage.
I have nothing against family cruise vacations but kids sail free must cost them a pretty penny and it’s not wise to pull back on benefits for the retirees and adults who put them where they are.
They can add all the edible, drinkable perks to the card, but maybe keep the specialty coffee or water in the lounges for those who really like to socialize. I'd be happy to have any of those perks added to my card and be redeemable anywhere on the ship or private island and not worry about going to a lounge during restricted hours.
We're now boarding our double platinum executive express plus senior gold card members in line 1.
Loyalty must be earned. Doesn’t sound like they’re doing enough to keep it.
Bingo. I (and other Crown and Anchor members I've spoken with) have started looking at other cruise lines. And, let me say, I was quite pleased with the 3 I've tried in the last year. And, will be checking out some additional new lines.
Either way, I think those who have a history with Royal Caribbean should be grandfathered in
I think there are plenty of other areas that they could easily set up for a special breakfast and evening cocktail hour
If they do take away some of the benefits, I would like to see them replace those benefits with better discounts on either cruise fares or beverage packages or something like that. Or even dropping the single supplement fee some would make me happy.
Not gonna lie I’d be really pissed if they got rid of some of the benefits I’ve paid into over the years.
We are about to turn Diamond and the drink vouchers are all I really want. People in FB groups, however, seem super angry at those of us entering that tier, and I'm tired of it. Why can't we all be happy for each other? I had 1 double points cruise along the way - that's it. I have a right to be here.
I really do not understand why people is so angry is not like they give you the points for free. You spend the same money and time cruising to earn the benefits.
I was just on Odyssey and the crown lounge was pretty much empty. We go in a ton for espresso.
I was also just on odyssey! You’re right, I am only gold with 15 points, so I couldn’t go in, but you can peak in a little bit through the music hall by the pool tables and I almost never saw more than one or two people in there.
@@carson2687 Literally empty most of the time. Hope you enjoyed the cruise.
@@HappilyEverYady I did, it was great. I loved the Odyssey! Wish I could climb the loyalty ranks and cruise more often, but I’m landlocked far away in Utah and still young with not a lot of disposable income. Hoping to get an Alaskan cruise booked on Quantum for 2025 though!
Add a dedicated
Pinnacle lounge - P’s Only
Then
Crown lounge - 💎 & 💎+ only.
Suite Lounge - Suite Guests only (No Pinnacle’s, unless in a full suite.
We are almost Pinnacle, tbh as long as we have our vouchers all is good. 🍹
We'll be Diamond + next February. Was restricted as a Diamond on a recent cruise, not being allowed in the lounge after 5PM due to the number of + & Pinnacle members on board. What bothers me about the lounges though is that on the Oasis class & Icon Class, the lounges are down in deck 4, no windows, feels like a dungeon in there! We enjoy the views from the smaller ships lounges, which is a great place to relax, read a book, have a coffee. Wish they would change the location on these larger ships.
Your views here echo what I have noticed about Royal for the past few years. They have shifted their focus from catering to their older, loyal cruisers to younger families on shorter itineraries. Your example of moving the Crown lounge from typically the Viking Crown on older ships down into the little, window-less dungeons is a great example. Also, putting all the new ships with all the bells and whistles on the shorter 3 & 4 night sailings to attract the new cruising families, while putting the old ships on longer sailings which are typically full of the more retired folks.
@@PatrickWagz Patrick, WE ARE some of those "retired folks". We've cruised on quite a few different ships in their fleet, and we always do 7 days or longer, as it doesn't make sense for us to drive down to south Florida for a short 3/4 night cruise. My comment on the Crown Lounge was more an observation than a complaint. I typically grab a nice coffee there early morning, chat with others so inclined, maybe read a bit. I won't be reading however on the lounges down on deck 4, as there are places with much better views throughout most ships. This is only happening on Oasis class and Icon, I've never seen this on any of their other ships. So I wish they would change it on the larger ships, but it certainly isn't a reason I would stop cruising with Royal. Overall, we love Royal and will continue to cruise with them.
It’s always the same with loyalty status... companies beg for your loyalty but never want to give the same appreciation back... always looking for a way to give less ... loyalty programs have become diluted IMO and it will get worse
Instead of the Hor D'oeuvres in the crown lounge, have a special Diamond and above menu in the MDR that has exclusive appetizers, an entrée and dessert.
No. I don’t want it to take 2 hours to eat.
Most of the higher level cruisers are too snobby for us in the lounges anyway so we like our free drinks at any bar more
Is the crowding in the lounge a product of larger ships? I ask because we usually sail on the smaller ships and the lounge is never crowded when we visited. That said, I can do without the lounge, but they better not take the drink vouchers. I don't even use all 4 of them, but it's what we value most on board with regard to the benefits.
On smaller ships I think the saturation level of Diamond and above in the total passenger load is probably the biggest driving variable about lounge access - and on smaller ships saturation level will be mostly driven by itinerary. For example, on the westbound Canal transit sailing for Serenade in '23, there were MASSIVE numbers of Diamond and above (including Super Mario) because of 2 factors - it was a canal transit and because Serenade was then heading out on the World Cruise after completing the eastbound transit back to Miami. As a result, the Crown Lounge was closed to Diamond members during the blackout period. I was told by some fellow passengers that even then the lounger suffered from overcrowding simply because there were so few passengers that weren't upper tier. Same was apparently true on the eastbound transit back to Miami because so many "well-cruised" passengers were doing "back-to-back" transits as a prologue to their world cruise sailing.
I’d be in favor of diamond members getting an extra 1-2 drink vouchers & maybe a speciality lunch & no lounge access & leave lounge for plus & upper levels .. it give diamond loyalty something well reducing capacity in lounge & gives incentives for people to reach upper levels still. Problem solved & minimal cost. A free drink extra drink so 5 for diamond + a speciality lunch on sea day but no club access.
This is what I was thinking would be fair but I would miss the specialty coffee for sure.
@@flawoodsy me too but I can use my extra drink voucher for that & the bonus of a speciality restaurant during sea day is a nice perk & getting those perks well working my way up to diamond + benefits is all the better. Cost to royal is minimal & solves club access problem fleet wide. Some will be disappointed but sail more
i don’t care about the lounge enough provided RCI compesates the removal of access with some other shipwide perk. i.e. discounts on wi-fi or additional coupons such as free spa visits, specialty dining voucher.
As a emerald member, i think thats how you have to start every sentence by stating your level, i feel the perks could be designed better. For example we will be diamond soon with our booked cruises and we dont drink, so not interested in the four free drinks. Maybe you should be able to pick your benifits, have a list and you choose which ones you wish to apply to your sailing. Id pick x number of meals in a speciality restaurant over free drinks for example.
interesting idea, i can see your point.
FYI: you can use your free drinks for specialty coffees, mocktails, soft drinks, etc. It doesn't have to be just alcoholic drinks. Enjoy!
I was so looking forward to access to the Costal Kitchen as a D+ but just as I achieved it they took it away. Very unhappy! That is a lot of loyal cruising to achieve that level when you’re not retired nor living in a port city. We have to fly to cruise.
I like the vouchers and as long as they don't get rid of that, I am agreeable to limited hours. The snacks in the evening are nice but if I suddenly could not get them on a particular sailing then not really an issue or just keep snacks other than cookies in there all the time. Limiting my access altogether would be the issue. I like grabbing a coffee and a cookie anytime. As for the "happy hour"...maybe on a heavy loyalty club sailing move it to a larger venue where snacks can be set up or passed around.
We are Diamond and recently experienced the Diamond lounge limitation between 5 and 7pm on Symphony. We were fine with it because we would not usually go there during those hours. We're normally eating dinner at that time. If RCL limited people during my morning coffee time, then I would be creating a scene.
I’m not sure how I feel about all of this. One of the main reasons we kept cruising on Royal was for the loyalty program. This July will be our first cruise as Diamond. I was excited about it, but now I’m not so sure
My husband and I are Diamond Plus and have witnessed RCCL removing a lot of the loyalty perks. We were just on Wonder and were surprised at how things continue changing. Yes....now delated to the bottom deck of the ship rather than the beautiful window views. Of course, they USED to have the Viking Crown Lounge (not to be confused with the Crown Lounge) but decided that the VCL wasn't used enough and they could make more money through turning it into suites and restaurant for suites. The only thing that we use is the drink package....and we only have one or two drinks a day...IF that. I would actually prefer a coffee package of maybe a couple of specialty coffees a day....not the one in the Crown Lounge. We actually rarely used the Crown Lounge anymore. The other thing is the internet package, which is GROSSLY overpriced. You have free WiFi in almost every hotel these days. There are spaces on the ship that are STILL not being utilized so turn one of those into one of the upper tier spaces. They could have used the suite restaurant for that and still used part of that area as a VCL.....which was a trademark for RCCL.
We use our drink vouchers for coffee, teas, and orange juice
You can use your five drink vouchers (as a D+ member) to get specialty coffees from Cafe Latte-tudes, Cafe Promenade, or Windjammer bar - just not at Starbucks!
when they changed the program to count nights instead of cruises, I had booked my first cruise on the oasis, expecting to be diamond status. But becuase of the change, I was not diamond, because my previous cruise was only 3 nights. So I ended up taking another 3 night cruise just so I would be diamond for the oasis cruise. I live in Fort Lauderdale, so in those days going on a three day weekend cruise cost me less than staying home. So I went a lot. I went on the Majesty of the seas weekend cruise out of miami 24 times, it usually cost from $200 to $500 to go by myself. I also levelled up on carnival on the 3 day weekends on the fascination and imagination, but those ships were crappy and their perks not so great. But I love the ocean.
The Crown Lounge on Vision of the Seas hardly ever has snacks. The last several months, I cruise about once a month, even the coffee area of the room hasn’t had disposable cups, tea bags, and even some days no coffee in the hopper. I’ve quit going altogether, what for? I can get the same snacks at the cafe and the same tea at the Windjammer
Loyalty goes both ways. Also, find another area to expand its lounge experience in the evening.
I think for the social "see and be seen" aspect of the diamond lounge... why not have a diamond lounge event for diamond members in a lounge onboard. Rotate the lounge so you're not essentially moving the diamond lounge to the schooner bar permanently. Have someone checking badges at the entrance to the lounge, and have canapes and special drinks in addition to the diamond lounge itself. Remove cocktails from the diamond lounge but have the cocktails be at the roaming lounge. From like 4p to 6p have the roaming lounge be open to the diamond club eligible folks to spread out the crowd, and to make it so that particular lounge isnt inaccessible during the prime after dinner drinking period. Its not the best option, but I just cannot see how these loyalty programs with lounges will be tenable in the long term. Eventually that lounge will close or become Pinnacle only because there will be no room for all of the people, and the space converted into more cabins or a paid venue, something that will generate revenue for the cruise line.
What you are describing is similar to how Celebrity handles its nightly top tier Happy Hour for Elite and above. For example, on long-haul cruises like transatlantic repos nightly Happy Hour (actually about 2 hours in duration) is staged/hosted in a closed off upper deck lounge. Pass cards are checked for admission, drinks are free, finger food is circulated by servers, and members socialize. If you don't want to go to the event, you can still access your free drink perk at any bar on ship during that time period. Just show your pass card.
Also, we recently tried out Celebrity. Since they matched our RCL status, we could get drinks for free but only during the 5-7pm time slot. We didn't like that when compared to RCL's method of drink coupons on your seapass. For that reason we probably will not be sailing on Celebrity in the future.
i'm not shedding a tear for Royal, they have been raising base fares and cutting costs on dining and staffing. They will still pay their bills. This is certain
We just had this happen on a recent cruise. On that sailing, we were still diamond. We received a letter in our cabin, saying that we were not permitted to use the Crown Lounge. I was really disappointed. I look forward to making friends and having good conversation. It's too big a perk to just take away like that. If i can't count on my perks, why should I be loyal? We have a 33 day Princess cruise booked for November.
The drive to go to the crown lounge was killed by the drink package 10 years ago. IMHO they should make the cocktail hour a daily rotation through specialty restaurants. It would allow them separate the groups, but also provide exclusive experience and low key advertise to book a restaurant reservation. I have come across a lot of diamond and above people who have never even walked into a single specialty restaurant on any ship.
Don't put your faith and trust in a corporation. Stay loyal to yourself. Shop around. You have options. ❤
I like the honesty in “members go there to be seen” tells me all I want to know about the kind of people in there……I’ll stick to the fan tail with a goombay smash
as a new diamond member based in Australia my first cruise as a diamond on ovation of the seas in march 2024 there was no crowding in the crown lounge , which was great.
If the lounge is inaccessible during a sailing allow special coffee vouchers as well. I can do without the rest of the lounge amenities.
We love the robes, drinks, and laundry service in the Diamond plus tier. It would be nice if they would add another level between Diamond plus and pinnacle as the gap in days cruised is very large. Perhaps another drink or two per day at the 200 -300 sailing day level and some more free wifi would be nice. Overcrowding in the lounge has not been a problem for us since drink change went into effect. We are loyal to Royal because of these drink vouchers even though we don’t even use all of them on some days.
The only reason we go to the crown lounge is for coffee
I will stick with celebrity for now
My husband and I are not big drinkers, but we like being able to have our free drinks anywhere on the ship, and at Coco Cay. We like the early dining, so we generally don't have time to go to the lounge, and I prefer a drink at the show because it fills me up too much right before dinner.
One thing that Royal can do is add perks over and above the top tier Pinnacle level. They need to look at things cruisers are paying for and add them to the perks for free when certain levels are reached. Things like once a cruiser gets to 900 or 1000 points, free gratuities, or a free specialty restaurant dinner, or free admission to the adults only place on Coco Cay, free wifi for the whole cruise, free phone service for the whole cruise, etc.
We got the “letter” on our last cruise! I have to admit it made me mad! We didn’t want to go every night but no nights at all! I’m like you it took us years to get there! We enjoyed the appetizers! And I get up really early and the coffee is not turned on anyway! I have a feeling RC is hurting itself between the higher prices of the cruises and the limited included venues to eat on smaller ships! We have 3 more cruises booked after that we shall see!
As far as access to the lounge goes, offer different perks to any member willing to give up access. There are several great options for this. $25 OBC, free specialty coffee vouchers, one of the cheaper specialty restaurants. You could make it dependent on your status. Treat it like airlines do when they are over booked, just ask for volunteers. I don' t think that they would have to offer much.
We love the diamond lounges on the older ships but frequently skip them on the newer ships because they feel like you’re sitting in somebody’s basement. A nice basement, but a windowless basement nonetheless. I think sticking them on deck 4 will prevent over crowding as I’d rather use my drink vouchers elsewhere and sit on my balcony.
perhaps they need virtual balconies
Royal transitioning from "Diamond Lounge drinks" to "Diamond drink vouchers" was an amazingly forward looking strategy. The next move to provide perks for upper tier C&A members should also be based on financial privileges. Larger discounts on certain activities aren't limited by available space.
If there program is seeing that much growth and as much it would hurt the higher up loyalty members maybe create one more higher level and also increase the amount of days it takes to reach each status. It would knock people back a bit but offer people that are affected a one time cabin upgrade or a 40%-50% Future cruise credit as a thank you for being understanding.
I think when people hit that tier they can opt in each cruise (like we opt in for dining time and bed arrangement) to forego any access to the lounge in place receive one extra drink voucher per day OR comped daily gratuities OR one free excursion OR BOGO on specialty restaurants etc. They cant really make many changes to the rewards as far as taking away perks without (agreeably) making people mad but they can provide customization of the rewards within that tier. Also Royal if you see this and you like my idea, I'm hireable. 💅 🤣
Got an idea many wont like 😢. However the best solution the lounge should be only for Pinnacle level that will cut down a big percentage. Like Celebrity only Zenith Level has access to the Micheal Club.
Another way is for RCCL is to increase from 750 night to 1500 to make it more exclusive adding a few more perks.
Just like the airlines lounge exclusive for First Class passengers .
These way RCCL can trim the over crow.
And Diamond Plus should be at 750 nights few extra drinks but no lounge access. Thats a way to help out. Members wont be happy at first but these is a way RCCL will be able to control the monster they have create it. Besides everyone love to cruise and loyal members will continue to cruise.
I’m Diamond Plus and I rarely go into the lounge since we don’t have to get our drinks there any more.
Take out the chairs and have the lounge just be grab and go for food, coffee and concierge services. That would sustain all top tiers including Diamond. We usually grab appetizers and then sit in the adjoining larger lounge anyway (Viking Crown or Music Hall etc). Drinks can be ordered there.
But all the oldies need somewhere to sit.
@@brodricj3023 I’m saying they can sit in the Viking Crown etc which is generally right outside the door. Carry snacks out there.
@@baneeny1 On the Quantum Class ships the Crown Lounge is usually at the entrance of Royal Theater, there is nowhere else to sit.
I'm interested to see if Royal and Celebrity merge loyalty programs and what comes of that. Honestly I wouldn't mind them getting rid of the overcrowded lounges and maybe offer discounts for maybe the specialty dining restaurants/package. Maybe like 5% discount (on top of whatever discount is being offered via the cruise planner) on a restaurant or UDP? There really is no solving the overcrowding with the amount of Diamond and above members cruising besides getting rid of the lounges.
Being Diamond should they limit the access to the crown lounge ect. After being mostly Loyal to Royal I would look at other Cruise Lines.
There are so many people taking the weekend cruises and moving up the Loyalty Program quicker. It works if you live near a port. Unlike myself…landlocked in Ontario Canada!
I reached Diamond+ quickly because of the double points offered during the cruise restart. I only go to the Crown Lounge when it's not crowded. Nice place to read. I don't obsess about the snacks since there's plenty of food on the ships.
We will turn Diamond after our side by side cruises in December. I am most excited about the drink vouchers. 4 drinks (mocktails for us) a day each is going to save us a bunch of money. I don't really care about the lounge or internet, but the drink vouchers are going to be a game changer for us. If RC wants to solve their over crowding problem, just add a couple more things that save us a little money and we "nouveau diamant", who don't know any better, will be very happy to stay out of the lounge.😉
My biggest problem with the C&A program is not so much what they offer, but the fact that I never know what I'm getting. There's no indication when booking a new cruise of just exactly how much, if any, savings I'm getting. Same with purchases. I think a lot of people would be a lot more satisfied if it was obvious what they had actually saved as a result of their tier.
While we stop in the lounge a few times a trip, we rarely stay long, especially on the big ships where they are inside. I like the ones with windows. That said, it's a space that is frequently empty other than a few hours a night, so for RC It's not a good use of space. I like the drinks on my card, and a few of the other perks, we are 2 cruises away from D+
We were almost 3 1/2 weeks on the Jewel of the Seas in the last 4 weeks, doing a b2b and Transatlantic.
We are Diamond plus and the crown lounge was flooded every day with people !!!!
Hords of loud mouth Pinnacles were spending their whole day there. It is a small, dated lounge and often we weren't able to find a seat to just enjoy a coffee, not to even think of spending some time there with a book to read!
The host tried her best to please people with space, but when there simply is no space - what can you do?
In the end we only enjoyed the laundry package, the 2 days free WiFi/person and the free drinks which are some of the perks of Diamond plus.
The rest you might as well forget.
Don't forget about the free photo, and the 6 bucks of free play in the casino!! haha!
@@PatrickWagz yes!
And I won 60 Cents in the casino🤣🤣🤣
I think like the airlines,,,they will switch to a dollar spent basis for moving up the loyalty ladder. Airlines had the same problem over crowding in the Airline lounges and longer lists at the gate for 1st class upgrades
It’s a tough situation for them to manage with the lounge (the drinks solution was a great call). Perhaps more on current occupancy? We have AI video for grocery store shopping without checking out, why not AI video for monitoring occupancy of a room. Too many people? Can’t admit more. This would make it so the option is still there, you’d just have to go when it’s not full
I like the coffee machine in the lounge but I don’t really hang out there. On a lot of these older boats it’s empty - last I went to enchantment of the seas it was empty. As long as they don’t change the drink vouchers I’m grand. Also offering double points during the pandemic was royal Caribbeans decision. They already shifted the “reserved” seating in entertainment venues for what used to be diamond and up its now diamond plus and up.
I have been cruising since I was a teenager. On average, I've been on about 1 cruise a year, and I'm still working my way toward diamond+. My wife and I have been getting a little burnt out of RCL, and starting to play with the idea of working our way through another cruise line because we feel, not only has royal become a little stale, but they keep removing perks, and moving the goal post.
I have an idea let diamonds go in at night and make the hours longer to accommodate diamond and higher!
Not a perfect solution but maybe offer something really good like a steak dinner, per cruise, but you have to reserve a time to get it and then the rest of the time you can choose a designated time of day that you can be there.
The number of points needs to change. A higher number to become Diamond plus and Pinnacle to be specific. Also Royal could give double points for a Jr. Suite and triple pointe for a grand suite or higher.
RC needs to give us something more for getting to Diamond and beyond. Me and the wife are strong drinkers so we always get the drink package making those vouchers useless. Last cruise we checked out the lounge a few times but there wasn't any amazing snacks or anything to make it a huge draw. Hoping they at least merge their loyalty with Celebrity so we can try those boats without losing all the progress we made with RC.
Simple/expensive solution....always sail in a suite and then these philatelist problems are beneath you ;) More seriously though, they added the Dplus level because there were too many diamonds. Grand father every into the old system, make dplus level 50% higher and only open up crown lounge to plus and higher as the rule, but someitmes available for diamond depending on sailing. This is essentially the same way they handle access to coastal kitchen dinner for low level suites.
They should stop access to the concierge club to Diamond Members and replace with 2 free specialty coffees per day.
I took a cruise years ago during a double points event. Suddenly my extra points from that cruise were missing. Tried for months to get them back but Royal refused. They made so many excuses which were all insane (like the extra points were actually my parents... Who I don't live with, I was an adult when I cruised, and my double points cruise was years before their first cruise). Somehow my brother still has the double points. I have two more cruises with Royal and I'm done. Loyalty means nothing to them. We are only sailing with a different line that has incredible benefits and require significantly fewer cruises.
At this point they'll have to dedicate an entire deck for Diamond, D+, and Pinnacle
We have never been in the Crown Lounge when is crowded! We only go twice a day to get expresso coffee!
was on WOTS last September, the Crown was empty every time I visited
We’re RC and Celeb ppl. We just reached Dia+(after 10 yrs). We haven’t ran into a lounge issue yet 🤞. Drink vouchers are a appetizer to drinks in the lounge. The best option is probably self regulation. If it’s too busy we’ll grab a drink and move on.
I agree. Add another tier between D+ and Pinnacle
What about for those busy hours only have a reservation RSVP scenario and have it max at occupancy limit. They have reservations for everything else. Other hours are "open ". (If that is truly what the issue is).
I just became a diamond after my last cruise in September. My next cruise is the end of June. This will be my first cruise as a diamond member.
Congrats!! What ship will you be sailing on as a first time diamond?
@@winterwhitechocolate wonder of the seas
Let’s face it, they are going to kick diamonds out of the crown lounge. They should give us an extra drink a day if they take away access totally.
I'm a simple Gold member. But, I can tell you that the focus on Diamond and higher guests is a real turn off for me with RCL. On Oasis, they took away one of the public spaces and made it a Crown Lounge because there were too many loyalty people. It was often empty, and that left a sour taste in my mouth. I don't care if there's a specific lounge for those of a specific status or higher, that was on the ship plans when I booked. Taking away a public space on an already crowded ship and having it empty most of the time was not a good look. I have one more RCL cruise booked, and if it's the same, which this video makes it sound like it will be, or worse! I'll go back to other lines. I liked RCL, but if you have to be Diamond or higher to matter as a customer, I'm okay on other cruiselines.
My IDEA: On the cruises when they want to limit the crown lounge, offer the Diamond people who have been excluded that week FREE internet for the week in place of the Crown Lounge. Give them something else to make up for it and to make them still feel valued! I think this would do it!
Make a menu of perks and have people pick a certain number based on their status. I have no interest in the lounges or priority boarding. I don’t want a pin of any type or any plaques. I would like a photo which many people don’t care about. I’d rather have free wifi and laundry than drinks and snacks.
we have been very loyal to rcl, never used a different line. if they degrade the loyalty benefits any more, we will definitely move to another cruise line as much as we like rcl
We've been cruising RC for years and are trying to get to Diamond level. If they move the goal posts, I'd be highly upset. What they should do is have people sign up for access to the loung. Limit the number of people per night and limit the number of times you can visit during peak hours on one sailing.
If royal wants to double down on their recent success as becoming the top cruise company on the planet, they should revamp the program even more competitively vs there rivals and add even MORE great perks to their lower tiers to bring even MORE people circling back during their first initial cruise experiences faster.
It’s clear the top tier people love cruising and should be rewarded appropriately for their loyalty But by having more enticing rewards at the lowers tiers it will create that loyal passenger faster and more reoccurring revenue so they can pay down those debts from the pandemic faster and keep that share price staying high !
A lot of what’s in the lower tiers like platinum and emerald are not that different and almost seem like money grabs just giving discounts for spending even more on board. As someone who has not reached diamond yet , if carnival or another cruise line offered the 4 free daily drinks at a lower tiers .. I’d convert to cruising with them.
And let’s be clear The 4 free drinks per day when you reach diamond , in my opinion is the best perk in all the tiers in all the cruise lines programs.
I have never had problems about overcrowding in the crown lounge. But the quality is not that good either
It would help if they added a Diamond + + for those with more than 340 points and are half way to Pinnacle. I believe that is the cut off for Cheers with an officer. As long as my wife gets one drink and I get 9 it is all good with me.😁
No restrictions on where or when you drink, just not unlimited. Yes, when you drink cocktails, you go through the drink vouchers quickly…especially if you drink double anything on the rocks. 😂
Keep the drink vouchers and add reservations to the process
It really is an easy fix. When a benefit isn't available they offer an obc for say $25 for each time lounge isn't available and has to be used on current sailing! Just as easy would be to give room service to those excluded. That has zero hard cost... and is a help... or up the drinks! Really not very hard
Sounds like they getting greedy