Independence Concierge Lounge

Rejoining Indy on 1 May 2017. Are Diamond Plus members still granted access to Concierge Lounge ?

Rejoining Indy on 1 May 2017. Are Diamond Plus members still granted access to Concierge Lounge ?

As of today, yes.

Thanks Bob. Have not sailed RCI for a few years. Have things changed much ?

Thanks Bob. Have not sailed RCI for a few years. Have things changed much ?

When was the last time?

When was the last time?

November 2014

November 2014

No corkage fees for wine anywhere on the ship.

Gratuities now $13.50 per person / day, automatically charged daily to you onboard account.

Room service charges about to start.

Adventure may have a Suite Lounge at some point, probably not before your cruise. This will eliminate the Concierge Lounge and D+ will only have the Diamond Lounge.

Diamond Plus members were promised​ they would always have access to the Concierge lounge. So now we have a Suite Lounge

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Thanks again Bob.

We have booked 'W' guarantee. Am I correct in thinking gratuities may be higher depending on suite category assigned ?

Congratulations on your CC post count.

Thanks again Bob.

We have booked 'W' guarantee. Am I correct in thinking gratuities may be higher depending on suite category assigned ?

Congratulations on your CC post count.

Yes, if they give you a GS or better, you will have to pay $16.50 per person / day.

Rejoining Indy on 1 May 2017. Are Diamond Plus members still granted access to Concierge Lounge ?

Enjoy, we absolutely loved the concierge Felix and the bartending staff in there as well during our honeymoon last year. Bad experiences throughout the cruise but the Indy concierge lounge saved our cruise experience for us.

Felix may not be back from vacation. I think he left 3/13...2 months....May 13th????

I'll be on this month. I'll miss not seeing him.

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Felix may not be back from vacation. I think he left 3/13...2 months....May 13th????

I'll be on this month. I'll miss not seeing him.

 

 

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Just got off today. Felix is there now.

Thanks for the update.

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Diamond Plus members were promised​ they would always have access to the Concierge lounge. So now we have a Suite Lounge

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Forums mobile app

When & where did you see this promise?

Enjoy, we absolutely loved the concierge Felix and the bartending staff in there as well during our honeymoon last year. Bad experiences throughout the cruise but the Indy concierge lounge saved our cruise experience for us.

Curious to know what "bad experiences" you had

Curious to know what "bad experiences" you had

Well, we were on our honeymoon and they tried putting us at a large table in the main dining room with other people; sat for awhile at the table our first night and not one person came over to our table. I had to get up and get someone and switched us to a table for two. On the 2nd night there, our service was slow and someone went to the table next to us before coming to us, though we sat quite a while before those people did and we had the same staff for our two tables; they were getting stuff before we had even been asked for our orders. We didn't return to the main dining room after that and for the first time ever, I changed our automatic gratuities and removed completely the ones for the dining staff and added it to room steward instead. Giovanni's was a let down and I couldn't believe they considered it a specialty restaurant; had better italian at olive garden, lol. Also, while I have cruise with Royal several times on other ships, our last cruise before that one, was on Carnival. I was expecting pizza that was as good as what we had on Carnival, from Sorrentos. Carnival makes their pizza fresh right there and even being from New york, it was very good pizza. Sorrentos, however, was like a heated up frozen pizza and we were disappointed in that since it's pretty much the only really late night thing you can eat, after windjammer closes and aside from room service. The degenerates in the room next to us were smoking weed on their balcony every day, multiple times a day. The hallway smelled of it and we barely used the balcony from our suite because of it. Called guest services about it, probably 5 times and nothing was ever done about it. Never got the cake for our honeymoon the first or 2nd night in the main dining room either. The windjammer food, especially breakfast, was cold and usually seemed stale. We also did the chef's table, which I really talked up to my wife, after having done it on a cruise with my mom, some years back on the Allure. The Chef came out one time at the beginning and was never seen again the whole evening. The Sommelier, while having the proper knowledge on the wines, had no idea about any of the courses. People in our sitting were asking questions about what was in some of the courses and he couldn't do anything but guess and say he wasn't sure, since the chef was in the wind. With our anniversary being during our cruise on the Anthem, which we leave for on Sunday, it left such a bad taste in my wife's mouth, that she has no interest in doing the Chef's Table during our cruise, to see what it should really be like. Felix, however was great and really took care of us throughout the cruise. We booked our excursions directly and not through the ship and he, for instance, walked us down and got us onto one of the first tenders to Belize, no tender ticket needed. Moving onto the one thing that happened, which wasn't the ships fault, was our experience in Belize. We were to go horseback riding but it was like a couple hours drive and in the middle of a forest somewhere, driving through a couple of police checkpoints with guys carrying automatic rifles. The guy drove through a hole filled, no, actually a crater filled, road, deep into some forest. Once we got to a swamp, which we would have needed to get into a boat, which would be pulled across using a rope, I had had enough. It didn't seem safe and really seemed like a scene from one of those horror movies, where you end up waking up in a bathtub filled with ice and missing some organs. We had to make up excuse to tell the guy we just wanted to head back. I tipped the driver very well, since he did get us back safely and gave us a little tour of Belize on the ride back but I charged back the excursion as soon as I got home. Our privately booked excursion in Cozumel at Mr. Sanchos, was amazing though and really enjoyable; jet ski riding, atv riding and all the food and drinks we wanted. If we could have pulled Felix and the concierge bartenders off the ship and kept him there with us, we probably would have enjoyed it there, more than on the ship, lol.

Wow! Thanks Trackhead37 for summarising your experiences. We have read lots of negative reports on the decline of service and standards during this time. Pleased that you found some solace in the Concierge Lounge.

Best wishes for many happy years together.