Jasp 0401

Based on the various different ways on different ships that bartenders handle the sea pass cards of Diamond cruisers, I don't really believe it is an 'inventory issue' that they are strictly keeping a count of. However, I do believe that if the use of the three drink coupons is abused, the program does risk being revamped and the those honestly using the program properly will be hurt. The abusers will deserve to be hurt, but the rest of the cruisers surely won't deserve it -- but will still feel it.

I agree I would hate to see the vouchers go because the program is abused in anyway.

Interesting... Also Allure: Rising Tide Bar - they only had a look on our card and saw Diamond and we got our drinks without ever swiping the card. Once our DD (minor, but Diamond on her own) was with us and I politely asked whether she can have a Diet Coke on one of my vouchers. No problem at all (again Rising Tide Bar, no cards swiped).

 

steamboats

We had the same experience on the Rhapsody. The Barmen saw we were diamond gave us our drinks with out swiping our cards.He saw that our daughter was a diamond to and asked if she would like a soft drink. He got her a can and again never swiped our cards.

The three free drinks are intended for the Diamond or D+ member.

 

It really doesn't matter what the bartenders do. Inventory is strictly counted and if the corporate headquarters gets wind of abuses, it will put the entire program at risk!

We didn't do it only saw the Barmen tell them it was no problems. He said how the members used there 3 drinks was up to them.But He could only give them 3 drinks per Diamond member.If they then choose to drink the drinks or share them with their guest was up to them.I did see them give the waiter a tip for each drink.

I did not know about the free drinks, and will be Diamond on my Transatlantic cruise in May. Since I always order a drink package, can I use my three free drinks at a bar and give them to my friends, who will not be Diamond? I may stick my head in the Diamond Lounge, but likely will not attend more than once.

On our last cruise the barman didn't mind that couples were sharing their drink vouchers with their non diamond traveling conpanions . They were going to a bar and getting glasses of wine to take into dinner.

That's a good point---but yes, we have already done that through the 'booker'. I would expect that with a table of eight, we might have to wait but I'll head to Dining Room to check and see if they would prefer a time for us. Thanks!

Your welcome. Enjoy your cruise

Well I'm sure those passengers that didn't take advantage of the Ultimate Package priced at just $24 per day will be regretting it now that the price has recently been increased to $92 per day! The difference is nearly four times the originally promotion price for our 18-night cruise to Hong Kong next April!

Never seen it for $24.Now that would of been a great deal.As its about $24 for the Royal Replenish on our cruise next year.

I really need to become diamond[emoji3]

:) It is nice to be able to get nice coffee and a quiet place to sit. And being given free drinks is nice too.

Package would be wasteful for me..

But being diamond on my future cruise how does the voucher works.

Do you have to do it certain times, certain places..??

We are diamond too. Which is another reason we don't buy any packages. Diamond member get 3 drink vouchers loaded on to their seapass cards a day. You can use them at most bars around the ship in the evening between 5pm and 8.30pm. Times may vary on some ships but you will get a leter in your cabin about times and on what drinks you can get for free.. The vouchers don't carry over to the next night if you don't use them. On most ships they also have a Diamond lounge that you can get free specialty coffee 24hrs aday. Also drinks in the evening during their cocktail hours.

Yes! You missed something, all I was asking is how they saved hundreds of dollars.... Like I stated my wife doesn't drink and I do so I would only buy drink package for me.....

Like I said We never buy the drinks package. Because we are not big drinkers. But on our last cruise which had 6 sea days. We did think about buying one but on sitting down and doing the maths we decided still not to buy one. When we got home from our 10 day cruise . We worked out that if we had bought a drinks package .It would of cost us $356 more than what we paid for our drinks on our cruise.

So we were very happy that we decided once again not to buy a drinks package

I hope everyone understands we didn't buy a package.So we are not complaining about the drinks cost. Just happy we didn't buy one. Because that is what was the orginal question

Has anyone regretted NOT buying the drink package?

Which my answer is No I haven't regretted Not buying a drinks package

We have a group of about 8 ladies cruising and would like to sit together in the MDR in the evenings. This is my first cruise with an unscheduled dining time and with RCCL, actually. Will we have trouble sitting together?

 

Thanks!

No you don't have to pre book. But from my experience it is best to get all your groups bookings linked together. That way the Dining room already knows before you get on board that they are going to have a large group. We were a group of 6 and did check in on the first day. We were told for large groups likes ours it is best to try and pre book dinner each night and not just show up. We would book a couple of days ahead and we never had to wait for our table and always had the same waiter. It was wonderful.

I have sailed before with Princess, Celebrity, and Carnival, but never with Royal Caribbean and never with my 3 year old daughter.

 

We want to book a cruise for next fall with two staterooms as close together as possible (preferably adjoining)

 

- One for me and my husband

- One for my adult sister (will be 30) and my daughter (will be 4). We would pay for the trip for my sister (in case you were wondering why she would want to do this, haha)

 

I found the link below on Royal Caribbean's website and it looks like this WOULD be allowed (similar information on Carnival's website made it look like my daughter would need to share a room with me or my husband).

 

Any thoughts / experiences?

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&faqId=309&faqSubjectId=333

Not a problem . My daughter has stayed in her grandparents cabin and we were in the next cabin with our other daughter.

I think maybe the solution might be to offer a combined lounge for certain ships and/or certain cruises. If the suites lounge and diamond lounge are both not full (or in our case, dead) it may make sense to join forces. It could be done on a cruise by cruise basis.

 

Edited to Add: On the last full sea day, there was an event going on for emerald and higher members in Giovanni's. We peeked in and that was dead too! RCL did offer a champagne brunch for the suites at Chops Grill on the day we were stopping at Santorini. It was fairly well attended but people generally stayed for only half an hour and kept to themselves.

Talking to JD on the Radiance a few years back and he said if there isn't going to be that many diamonds on board they only serve drinks in the concierge lounge and Diamond members are allowed in.

We just had the exact same experience, but in the Concierge Lounge on the Rhapsody. It was deader than a dodo for the first six of the seven nights of our cruise. It was mysteriously crowded on the last night! During the early part of the cruise it was so quiet in the lounge, I was considering asking the concierge if we could go to the Diamond Lounge instead. Not so we could cop free drinks or snacks (we already had those where we were) but for a hopefully more lively atmosphere. I decided against asking her, as I figured she would have to say no. Maybe RCL should consider having one big combined lounge for the suites and Diamonds!

When we were on the Rhapsody last December the Concierge lounge was so full he had to open up the back door. He also started asking some of the Diamond plus if they minded going down to the Diamond lounge as it was nearly empty.

If you have a local C&A phone number, I think it's at least worth a phone call. The kids are supposed to stay at the level that you were on the day they turned 18.

Thanks .They don't know why her level was changed but asure me that it will be fixed when she cruises again.

If you have a local C&A phone number, I think it's at least worth a phone call. The kids are supposed to stay at the level that you were on the day they turned 18.

I will. Thanks

I have 3 kids. RC customer since 2005. My experience is that I was told to link them to my account as children (under 18).

 

They all became the level I was at the time they turned 18. They retained this level after becoming 18, but their points on their new online accounts all showed the ones they actually earned by sailing.

 

They should not take the level away once they turn 18. If they did that, you may be able to have them fix it by calling.

Interesting because my kids were both linked (one still is) and the oldest still lost her status when she turn 18.I wonder if because we are in Australia and the rules are different.Or they don't know the rules here

Our kids were Diamond when they turned 18 as they carried our level. Our son dropped back a level on the next cruise after he was 18 but has since earned his own points and is now Diamond. Our daughter was Diamond when she turned 18 based on her points and she stayed at that level.

Thats what happened to our oldest. She dropped down to Emarald after she turned 18. Our 17 yr has cruised more so has 135 points so should stay diamond when she turns 18.

Hi, I have a question re my son who turns 18 years just two days into our cruise(Australian Coastal/New Zealand cruise). I am diamond plus status, so will he be entitled to the usual perks such as free photo, two for one chops cover charge, gift preferences etc. I can't find reference to this anywhere. Thanks in advance!

He should because he will be under 18. Afterwards he may drop down to the status his points alone give him. That is what happen to my oldest daughter she has only the points and status she acured in her own right. Her younger sister has cruised more and will stay a diamond when she turns 18 as she has earned those points (134 points )in her own right.I don't know if they do it different in the US but that is what happened to us in Australia.

I'm basing my assumption on not everyone getting the same drink package, Meaning I drink more then my wife who only drinks a glass or two of wine at dinner and may only have one specialty drink here and there....

 

I will buy the Premium drink package as it will benefit me, My wife drinks her allotted wine to be brought on for dinner and as a matter of fact will bring the bottle to dinner as they will not charge the corkage fee and keep it for her cold for the following dinners....

 

I based my assumption on people doing there homework and knowing the cost per drink as of today and not what it was in 2009.....

 

Simple math doesn't lie.

 

Why would anyone buy a drink package if they don't drink is all I'm saying.... Do the math! How can someone not, then complain.... It's not rocket science...

We do the maths and that is why we are glad we don't buy the drinks packages. We did think about it on our last cruise becuase we had 6 sea days. But decided not to buy a package as we aren't big drinkers and we were very glad that once again we didn't because even with all those sea days . We would of been out of pocket over $300 if we had gone ahead and bought the packages.

Hundreds of dollars, How long was your cruise?

Most of our cruise are 14 days or more but this one was only 10 days . If we had purchase the premuim drinks package for 2. so I could have cocktail and wine with dinner. We would of been out of pocket just over $300.

We never buy the drinks package as we are not big drinker and most of our cruise have not many sea days. On our last cruise which had a lot of sea days we did think about buying one but was glad we didn't when we got home as we would of been out of pocket hundreds of dollars.

Well. went ahead and changed our next cruise sailing date, and took the plunge for a OS...

We always stay in a GS, and by changing our sailing date 2 weeks with a slightly different itinerary, got a deal that is about the same price we usually pay for a GS...just a few hundred more.

So it's all good, and will do it just for the experience.

Enjoy

How about an RS :what:

We had the Royal Suite on our last cruise and we found the perks were the same. We didn't get met on boarding day and never got any invites to the Captains table .But we did have our 16 year old daughter traveling with us so didn't think we would get an invite for dinner.

Lots of things were broken in the suite and we had workmen working in the bathroom for 3 days trying to fix the spa. We had to use either bathroom in my sister cabin or public bathrooms around the ship during the day. Also had workmen trying to fix the piano for 2 days. No one said we are so sorry for any inconvenience. It was our wedding Anniversary and they did give us a cake and set up a some wine and nibbles so we could have some friends and family over for pre dinner drinks.

Hi Trish, the balcony on 1320 is bigger than the other OS on the Voyager because of the hump. It was great, we could see forward and stern.

 

Enjoy your cruise and you will love this OS - you aren't coming on the NYE cruise this year?

 

Here are some photos I took of it when we had it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

Di

HI Di

No NYE cruise this year as Darryl has to work:(.

Thanks for the photos the balcony looks bigger than I was expecting.We had booked the grand suite next door. But got a great up grade offer on our last cruise that was just to good to pass up.

Cheers Trish

The only down side in an OS on Voyager, the bedroom is wider and goes to the edge of the hull, this means that the balcony is a lot shorter than a GS, and balconies on Voyager are not the deep.

We had the grand suite (1324) the last time we were on the Voyager and loved the balconey. We have the owner suite 1320 which is next to it this time. Looking at the deck plan the balcony looks no where as big as the grand suites.We got a great deal on the suite so thought why not.

Our OS was on Voyager, and that's exactly why I thought the balcony was really no bigger than the GS. It was large enough, though, and the spacious living room made it easy to invite people in. And the bedroom was large with a big vanity and a comfy chaise lounge. The vanity had a very nice lighted magnifying make-up mirror that I enjoyed using.

 

Here are some pics of the OS bathroom that we totally loved on Voyager…beautiful marble floor, marble tile, jetted tub also had a hand sprayer, pretty tile mosaic on the wall over the tub, marble tile & glass shower, double sinks with granite countertop, matching granite shelf behind the toilet, lots of storage, and of course, the handy-dandy bidet.

Judy

Love the photo

Thanks