RCCL new Diamond Lounge Policy?

It was similar on the Explorer out of Seattle. We did 4 of them last summer. On one of them they combined the 340+ meal with an officer and the Pinnacle meal. There were a total of 6 of us. The other 4 were P's 2 of them had 2 P's and one of them had none.

Yup, no need for DL overflow on Alaska cruises! Love the uncrowded lounges on those, with servers that are walking towards you with your preferred drink as you sit down. :D

Ahmmm...look at me...keeping with the thread subject for a change. ;);p

I am curious if anyone here has experienced the Rhapsody in Europe. I expect that the last couple sailings before the TA would have higher numbers but are there very many D+ and P's on the sailings during the season?

Still on my bucket list...though I am worried about how much longer Rhapsody will be with us to do very many Europe cruises in the future. :o

I agree it is probably cost. Traditionally Alaska cruises have carried premium prices and high port costs on top of the travel expenses

 

Traditionally we could fly to Florida and cruise for about the same cost as cruising to Alaska with no air involved.

 

Although the number of families has increased there are still relatively fewer kids than warm weather cruises.

We talked to a couple on the Jewel this last January, who told us it was cheaper to fly to San Juan than to fly to Florida from New Hampshire. They were staying on for 10 weeks! :o:D Plus the cruises on Jewel were cheaper than a cruise from Florida anyway. Win-win for them!

We had only 16 of us that were over the 340 mark on that Jewel cruise...so they added us into the suites luncheon.

Yeah, I noticed the summer cruises out of Florida are lightly populated with upper tier C&A. I think it is also the more expensive cruise time of year and of course...lots and lots of kids!

We were on Rhapsody in October 2016 for a 10-night cruise out of Venice. They opened up a small portion in the back of Shall We Dance as overflow. During a TA in April 2017, they closed off all of Shall We Dance for the overflow. We never felt crowded either time.

That overflow in Shall We Dance was open for our Rhapsody cruise last month, and very lightly populated.

It isn't about the numbers in Alaska. They felt it was better to implement it in Alaska so that by the time it did the Vancouver to Honolulu and then Honolulu to Sydney cruises which always attracts many Diamond, Diamond Plus and Pinnacles (more D and D+) it will not come as a shock to them that the tiny Diamond Lounge is all they will have.

 

Cheers

Di

Put all the Ds, D+ and Ps in the Diamond Lounge on Radiance in Alaska and still find plenty of seats any time of the evening. ;)

Once again I ask: How many Alaska cruises have you been on, and what were those upper tier numbers you experienced?

We talked to a couple on the Jewel this last January, who told us it was cheaper to fly to San Juan than to fly to Florida from New Hampshire. They were staying on for 10 weeks! :o:D Plus the cruises on Jewel were cheaper than a cruise from Florida anyway. Win-win for them!

 

We had only 16 of us that were over the 340 mark on that Jewel cruise...so they added us into the suites luncheon.

 

Yeah, I noticed the summer cruises out of Florida are lightly populated with upper tier C&A. I think it is also the more expensive cruise time of year and of course...lots and lots of kids!

Sometimes the airlines pricing does not make a lot of sense. We were booking 1st class air with miles. It cost fewer miles for Seattle to San Juan and Seattle to Miami, and in one direction we stopped in Miami.

On the Liberty Nov 2016 we had a 340+ lunch with 3 passengers and 2 officers. I believe it was Thanksgiving week when many upper C&A's avoid the ships. There were 1500 kids onboard. As I recall the last afternoon a large number of teenagers too over the Diamond Lounge. Not sure how that ended but they were gone by cocktail time.

We are currently on Allure. They have implemented a happy hour in the MDR which is effectively the same as the diamond lounge. No need to use our drink coupons during the MDR “happy hour”. The diamond lounge isn’t terribly crowded either. About 500 ish D and D plus. 13 PC.

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We will definitely enjoy. Will be our first time on HM but will miss OA's large DL.

Me too....at least we can still use the tiny DL on Harmony for our morning coffee run. :D

Though several times I tried to use the much larger DL on Oasis for our morning coffee run, only to find the line to the machine at 8-10 deep. :o

 

On the Liberty Nov 2016 we had a 340+ lunch with 3 passengers and 2 officers. I believe it was Thanksgiving week when many upper C&A's avoid the ships. There were 1500 kids onboard. As I recall the last afternoon a large number of teenagers too over the Diamond Lounge. Not sure how that ended but they were gone by cocktail time.

That's what we had on Radiance Alaska during one leg also. There were only the 2 couples and one Pinnacle that were over 340, which of course were the top cruisers. No regular "meal with an officer"...it was an elegant dinner in Chops. Very nice!

We are currently on Allure. They have implemented a happy hour in the MDR which is effectively the same as the diamond lounge. No need to use our drink coupons during the MDR “happy hour”. The diamond lounge isn’t terribly crowded either. About 500 ish D and D plus. 13 PC.

 

 

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I don't understand.

Is the dr open before dinner, for drinks, or does this mean you can order drinks if you're diamond or better and they don't use the coupons at dinner?

I don't understand.

Is the dr open before dinner, for drinks, or does this mean you can order drinks if you're diamond or better and they don't use the coupons at dinner?

Mdr does not open early. According to our server, during dinner you can order drinks and they don’t charge your coupon.

Is this on all ships?

Normally we pick up a glass of wine at the bar and carry it into the MDR.

Is this on all ships?

Normally we pick up a glass of wine at the bar and carry it into the MDR.

It is easy to get a couple of glasses of wine to take in with you at another bar first night then ask when you get into restaurant if they accept the diamond vouchers for subsequent nights.

Is this on all ships?

Normally we pick up a glass of wine at the bar and carry it into the MDR.

Surprisingly, this is not consistent across the fleet.

Mdr does not open early. According to our server, during dinner you can order drinks and they don’t charge your coupon.

Once again a fleet wide inconsistency. But not surprised. Our voucher drinks loaded on our Seapass card were charged when we used them in the MDR on the Jewel on our first leg of a B2B cruise April 2017.

Agree..it's HORRIBLE!! Hopefully they get the bugs worked out. Have tried three times trying to change my log in and password as asked...then it goes to "we can't process this right now" type message and just freezes. :mad::(

Agree. The new website is terrible. It changed my user name and my status from DP to pre-Gold. I had to call to get it sorted out. One of my cruises isn't listed and the booking number is being accepted. Trying to look at Cruise Planning is awful as well as you need your booking number and other details of the cruise. At least before you could just go in from anywhere to look up something. We only have four cruises with Royal right now, starting to use their sister company Celebrity as have been finding Royal going downhill quite a bit. Hopefully we like Celebrity in May.

Agree. The new website is terrible. It changed my user name and my status from DP to pre-Gold. I had to call to get it sorted out. One of my cruises isn't listed and the booking number is being accepted. Trying to look at Cruise Planning is awful as well as you need your booking number and other details of the cruise. At least before you could just go in from anywhere to look up something. We only have four cruises with Royal right now, starting to use their sister company Celebrity as have been finding Royal going downhill quite a bit. Hopefully we like Celebrity in May.

Agree it's very frustrating. Seems every time RCI thinks they are "upgrading" the website...it gets much worse every time.

IT demons at work...I can hear their evil laughter as they gleefully rub their hands together at our frustration. :mad::evilsmile:

Agree it's very frustrating. Seems every time RCI thinks they are "upgrading" the website...it gets much worse every time.

 

IT demons at work...I can hear their evil laughter as they gleefully rub their hands together at our frustration. :mad::evilsmile:

Do you think the IT staff have figured a way to glean off the gratuities yet?;p In our day, we followed the rule: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Do you think the IT staff have figured a way to glean off the gratuities yet?;p In our day, we followed the rule: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Agree. And as soon as I walk out of the cell phone store with my brand new cell phone and program...it is immediately obsolete!! :eek::eek:;p

Put all the Ds, D+ and Ps in the Diamond Lounge on Radiance in Alaska and still find plenty of seats any time of the evening. ;)

 

Once again I ask: How many Alaska cruises have you been on, and what were those upper tier numbers you experienced?

What part of my reply dont you understand? It is not about the numbers in Alaska. It is about starting it there while the numbers are minimal😬

What part of my reply dont you understand? It is not about the numbers in Alaska. It is about starting it there while the numbers are minimal😬

OK...so you don't do the Alaska cruises. :confused: And what is "it"? :o

Are you saying RCI is going to implement...what ...on those cruises? And is it during the Alaska season or after the last leg from Seward to Vancouver when Radiance travels to Hawaii on September 7th?

OK...so you don't do the Alaska cruises. :confused: And what is "it"? :o

 

Are you saying RCI is going to implement...what ...on those cruises? And is it during the Alaska season or after the last leg from Seward to Vancouver when Radiance travels to Hawaii on September 7th?

I believe she is referring to implementing the new policy after the repo to Alaska in the spring. Overflows are not needed in Alaska. Then when the fall trip from Vancouver to Hawaii happens they implement the new policy.

Either way there will be a lot of unhappy people if they do not have overflow during the repo cruises whenever they start it.

I believe she is referring to implementing the new policy after the repo to Alaska in the spring. Overflows are not needed in Alaska. Then when the fall trip from Vancouver to Hawaii happens they implement the new policy.

 

Either way there will be a lot of unhappy people if they do not have overflow during the repo cruises whenever they start it.

Could be...but just sounds strange since the Alaska cruises are so light with upper tier....why bother with that at all during the summer season up there?

This is a great post probably the best post you have written,well done.

You mentioned me but like i keep telling Troy:

We are unaffected by overcrowding in DLs,CLs in Europe and my suggestions are only in support of my US friends who seem to encounter this regularly.

Well, we're on an upcoming TA so it should prove interesting. I'm sure the Brilliance CL will be packed but I just can't imagine what will happen if they don't open the side door in the DL and allow overflow into the VCL or relocate evening event to another lounge. Radiance class DLs, as we know, are just slightly larger than a shoebox.

That being said, has anyone ever SEEN this notice from corporate? Could it be that individual ship management is making the decision to open up overflow or not? Isn't it easy to tell disgruntled D, D+ and P that the decision came from corporate and therefore out of staff's control?

Well, we're on an upcoming TA so it should prove interesting. I'm sure the Brilliance CL will be packed but I just can't imagine what will happen if they don't open the side door in the DL and allow overflow into the VCL or relocate evening event to another lounge. Radiance class DLs, as we know, are just slightly larger than a shoebox.

 

That being said, has anyone ever SEEN this notice from corporate? Could it be that individual ship management is making the decision to open up overflow or not? Isn't it easy to tell disgruntled D, D+ and P that the decision came from corporate and therefore out of staff's control?

I look at the example of the Harmony that is coming to PC soon to replace Oasis. Tiny little cave like DL down in the "bilge"on deck 4 is all you have unless you are P or in full suite and can thus use the SL. In comparison there is always a large number of upper tier C&A on Oasis out of PC and even that large two floor DL is packed. :eek: Of course with no CL any longer on those ships, Ds and D+ packed in together in the same lounge.

Now RCI supposedly is going with no over flow for DL on ships.

I would say RCI is hoping you will give up and go use your drink vouchers elsewhere? Which is essentially kicking many out of the lounge without even having to implement anything due to over crowding. :o