troykahack

The auto tipping and the beverage packages are responsible for most of it IMHO. We had the beverage package but also tipped (cash) for our drinks and we rarely even got acknowledgement, much less a "thank you" (with the exception of a few great bartenders/servers).

WOW....we tip at least a $1 cash a drink, sometimes more. If they acknowledge me by name and drink, it is $5 cash the first time. We have never had an issue with bartenders during a cruise. It is strange that you tip cash and don't get acknowledgement . Not saying it doesn't happen, just hasn't happened to us and we did 5 cruises last year and we did 33 nights and I like to drink.

Thanks, I missed that.:o

off topic... but you PM just had a press conference with POTUS. It was excellent. God save the Queen. Then CN* bashes him..... LOL

I must be on a different ship. We had a wonderful time on Serenade 11/21 sailing as did we on Allure 1/29 sailing.

Serenade did have a few issues in MDR. We took the Galley tour and the Sous Chief said he had 50 job openings between cooks and waiters. His opinion was that young people just don't want to work these days. You see it on TV everyday. It is a new world we live in. Otherwise, Serenade was otherwise awesome!!! People need to get a job and be productive. Royal has many for them.

Allure.... only issues we had was with cruisers, not Royal or staff. Some people in line for Park Cafe are mindless. We were in line for ten minutes to grab a salad and Roast Beef Slider and then someone said two years ago there was two lines, one for salad and one for sliders.... so he proceeded to form a line at the sliders and almost created a fight. One line was working fine and moving... most people grabbed a salad and then a slider. Just rude people.

The elevators..... people are clueless about elevator behavior. People in the back can't get off unless those in the front don't move out of the way.

We have a late flight and we indicated such when we filled out the online check in. We have something to attend to before flying home from FLL and prefer to get off in one of the first groups. Is it fairly easy to just request this preference on board through guest services? Do they honor such a request?

 

We know we can keep our luggage and simply get off ourselves. We are on Deck 8 on the Allure and will each have one regular sized bag. If it is fairly easy to maneuver we could do it but we have read getting an elevator and dragging your own luggage might be problematic.

 

Thanks

We were on Allure 1/29 (not the week before) and witnessed Self Disembarkation taking place at 730. It might have started earlier.

JS is paying for that perk as well.

 

Paid or earned, does it really matter?

 

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I agree. What about JS access to SL? Since they are almost one and the same, what is stopping a JS from having drinks in the SL? The bar is in the middle. Unless one opts for an upgraded drink, no credentials are asked for.

Another poster above was also concerned that JS wouldn't have access because of cruisers inviting guests to eat with them in the CK. It is a perk paid for by Suite Guests (including JS) and earned by PC. I would hate to not have a "seat" because someone with the perk invited guests to dine with them. If I take my family, that would add 6 people, maybe 8.

20+ cruises and I have NEVER been at a port where the ship time differed from the port's time. Why would any captain choose to have the two mismatched? This would cause nothing but confusion.

I don't know but you would need to ask the Captain of Allure. We didn't change ship time to port time.

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Thank You

 

 

 

Thank you to all of your for your replies.

 

 

 

I have a better idea how all this works now (sort of until they change the rules again)

 

 

 

And will now be able to ask more pointed questions when I call

 

 

 

Thank you again

Please make sure you do call. Best phone call I made as a result of CC.

(888) 561-2234

I still would think with your rated play for $1000 you would have one person to talk to. Try this number and see where it gets you.

(855) 219-7386

Good luck and happy gambling. It is entertainment to me.

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We will be taking our first RCL cruise in July and we like to spend some evenings in the casino. The above information is very useful. It is nice to know how many points we need (to earn/spend) for a discount on a future cruise or free cruise. Can the discounts be combined by two people? That is, if I get a $200 discount at the end of the cruise and my mom get a $400 discount, will that be $600 off our next cruise?

Sure, as long as they are your SO.

Your Mom, do you live with her or her with you??

Honestly, I am not sure how that works. I am sure Royal would work with you if you both are players and rooming together.

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Times do change but since I take 3 to 5 cruises I year I keep up to date.....

Then you should be aware of more and more relaxed dress codes??? [emoji23]

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You should be able to combine your offers. On the certs that I have (from Dec 2016) it says, " Qualified recipients within the same household may combine their offers on the same sail date for 1 category upgrade not to exceed a Junior Suite." You should be able to go from a balcony to a Jr Suite and then just pay the difference between the Jr Suite and the room you want.

 

 

 

I'm not sure that the casino rates now are always better than the normal "sales." The CR rates definitely were better for me, before they changed the program last year, but for the last couple that I booked, the CR rep said the one of the other rates was better than the casino rate and went with that rate. I get the $1000 certs too so I assume we're in a similar player category for room rates.

The times we book our cruises, next month out to 6 months, it was a huge discount for us. We stay in GS. We did book two cruises a year out and were able to apply the CR discount to those through our CR Rep.

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Noreen,

 

 

 

We've been on a good number of cruises and visited the casino each time. However, we are never invited into Club Royale. Might I ask a general idea of how much you spent, what the average wager was, and if it was slots or tables? I'm trying to get an idea of what is needed to be invited.

 

 

 

Anyone else is also welcome for feedback.

 

 

 

Thanks!

It is not really a factor of $ spent (although it sorta works out that way), but your bet per hand/roll/spin and length of play. If you play $50+ per game average over 4 to six hours a day, you are likely to reach the peek. How the lower points are awarded is a bit above my pay grade. Slots are easily defined from chart below. Some know more about the system as it works today than I do.

I earned a $1000 certificate as well on Allure 1/29.

Here is the new revised point scheme. I think the points required were dropped but earning them increased.

They also eliminated the free Specialty Dinning awards along with trinkets.

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Hi

 

My husband and I just returned from Anthem of the Seas last week and I have some questions about the Club Royale program.

 

We both received stickers on our cards during the sailing that gave us free drinks in the casino and waived the 5% fee if we take money out on our cards - these were great perks.

 

We also both received letters the last night from the casino host for free cruises. My husband's letter is for a balcony cabin for 2 and lists various sailings. My letter is for an ocean view cabin for 2 and lists various sailings. It also allows you to use a $ value off a different cruise if those dates don't work. His for $1,000 and mine for $750

 

Here are my questions:

1 - Can I apply the value off a current booking made through my normal travel agent? It wasn't booked through the casino team. The sailing isn't until August so we are before final payment. If we don't think any of the sailings on either certificate will work, can we apply the valus from both to our next cruise?

2 - How do upgrades work with these letters? If we want to sail in a suite do we just pay the difference from the balcony (his letter) or ocean view (my letter) or is it based on the difference from the value $1000 for his letter and $750 for my letter?

3 - Do we still earn C&A points for either free cruises or ones we use the value of the certificate?

4 - Can I still use my normal travel agent and link her in with the Casino team?

5 - We have our first sailing on Celebrity next year - does our casino status roll over there as well? Do we need to do anything?

 

I know I can call the casino team and ask all these questions, but I wanted to start here.

 

Thank you in advance for your help

Noreen

I would have thought with a $1000 and $750 certificates, a Club Royale Senior Representative would have contacted you by now. They called me first thing Monday morning after my November Cruise.

I would call them and ask.

We find we get our best rates by booking through our Casino Representative at Royal. We choose to then turn our booking over to our TA.

We were on Allure 1/29 and with itinerary to include St Thomas and St Maarten and we stayed of ships time.

However, on Serenade 11/21 sailing we changed time when we crossed the timezone each way.

Both Royal ships.

You can use common sense and past experience to evaluate any requests or suggestions. Also you can evaluate what is posted on Cruise Critic. You don't have to be a sheep and follow blindly.

 

 

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There you go... "past experience". Times do change.

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That's one thing that we actually might agree on. It is good for everyone to "head over to the closest mirror and take a good look."

 

So when you get back from your walk you might want head over to the mirror too.

Be nice... no personal attacks.

I enjoy stirring the pot so to speak. Aggravate people a bit but try to avoid a personal attack unless it is against the MODS for deleting my posts and a reprimand. Lol. I am on their watch list. Can't say certain words like F@¥ and M&€A ...

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Ah, I get it. If someone asks for no opinions about door decorations, we are not supposed to give opinions. However if someone asks for no opinions about guest services, it is okay to give opinions. I see what is going on! the old double standard!

 

Just call Guest Services if you want an answer about door decorations, for better or worse!

I love the way these treads transform. Keeps my humor up for the day.

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That letter is only a suggestion. And I think comparing dress guidelines to that letter is comparing apples and oranges. And we know that Royal will let you board before or after the time they suggest.

 

As far as the dress guidelines I don't care what others wear, I don't care if people wear shorts to dinner.

 

But I don't care what they do, allow or not allow shorts or if they enforce or don't enforce allowing shorts. I don't see it as being important to me. I won't stress out about something so insignificant.

Thanks. I am glad you don't let what others wear bother you. I also feel the same way but do wear pants/slacks to the MDR for dinner.

However, dress codes are suggestions. The letter from Royal to board by certain times is a REQUEST. Look up the definition of to ask. The letter says "we kindly ask". Exception to this is the dress code for the SL on Formal Nights were Shorts are PROHIBITED (not enforced).

There is a difference in a suggestion and a REQUEST.

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Not my problem. That will probably be when they stop accepting guests. Only make sense.

 

The Harmony crossing had plenty of eligible passengers that could not get reservations.

 

JS passengers often have to wait until they board to get a reserrvation.

I assume this was a result of a larger than average number of PC members aboard. If full Suites were denied reservation times, I could see a few getting upset. This is a perk they paid for as it is a perk earned by PC.

Don't forget JS get dinner there as well

 

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Yes, and a lot more JS than other Suites. What happens when Guests out number the Suite and PC guests??

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For my upcoming march cruise on Anthem the cruise planner online let me book CK and add my 2 inlaws that are not staying in our suite but in a balcony. I added them to the reservations bc it let me, but we will find out once onboard if they will be allowed in. My mother in law thinks they won't be and is planning accordingly but it would be nice for the 3 times we plan to eat there if they could join.

 

 

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It is nice you can book CK on Cruise Planner. On Allure 1/29, not possible.

I am not debating the right for Suite Guest or PC to bring Guest into the CK for dinner. Just wondering what happens when the word gets out and everyone brings Guest?? Most tables were two toppers but could be pushed together.

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Interesting, what I was referring to was an email from Royal. I don't recall ever getting a message via the cruise planner. You must be special. [emoji6]

 

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This was an email. I took a screen shot. It is the full letter unedited.

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Go back and find the letter about 'boarding' by deck.

 

 

 

As I recall, it states that Suites, Diamond, D+, and PC may 'board' at their leisure.

Here is the copy of the letter. Says nothing about status. This was for September 25th, 2016 Enchantment 4 night cruise out of Miami.

Above image a bit blurry. Try a different resolution.

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Monday morning = no sense of humor. :o

 

 

 

FWIW, I was just hoping to make sure no one was confused by the guest policies on Royal.

We believe, the food and service is a lot better in the CK and is a perk offered to Suite Guest and PC. The way the Lobster was prepared on Lobster night was simply wonderful. Unlike the Lobster offered in the MDR. The quality of service and attention to the Guests dinning experience to us, was above that on and average night in the MDR.

Dinning in the CK makes it all the more worth booking a Suite.

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Troy, the biggest problem with the request, is that it explicitly exempts Suite passengers as well as Diamond, D+ and Pinnacle. On many sailings, those numbers can run upwards of 1,000 passengers. Just my opinion.

C&A states Priority Check-In. Boarding is different than Check-In. A lounge is provided for higher status and Suites.

Honestly, not sure how it would work. On our 1/29 Allure cruise, a tiny bit over a 1/3 of the passengers were C&A Members.

The point here.... I wear pants/slacks to Dinner. But I could care less what others wear. Just saying those that say dress code is required are likely to ignore the request from Royal regarding boarding times.

It is not about what makes the suggestions different, but the way people pick and choose what rules they adopt and abide by.

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As stated above Absolutely, we like to board After the cabins are available and the crowds are gone.

 

 

 

 

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We do the same. Board after 1 so we can drop off our carry on. We eat breakfast/lunch before we board. Many local places much better for food then WJ. No crowds either.

I don't think too many would follow the request from Royal.

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