Protect Our C&A Benefits

[LIFESAJOURNEY]

Here is a letter I sent to Shareholder Benefits after they again informed me that I could not combine discounts (Diamond balcony and shareholder).

 

Dear Shareholder Benefits, This is pathetic! I am a Diamond member who has always pushed Royal Caribbean with all my friends. You know my history with you. As a loyal patron I should be able to get price discount as a Diamond member. RCL also came up with the Shareholder benefits to entice and reward its shareholders. You have already cut back on the Diamond members use of the Concierge Lounges, you cut out the dividend, and now you are going to cut back on benefits to the shareholders....... shame on you! Keep treating your most loyal and highest enhancement spending customers like this and you will shoot yourselves in the foot. I hope you pass this on to those up top. Really getting sick of this treatment. Sincerely, Rob

 

Still no reply to date! I encourage people to write to RCL C&A and Shareholder Benefits to let them know how you feel. If they don't hear about it, they assume it is OK. Going on Independence end of Feb. Will see what happens on that cruise.

[depplep]

Before booking IOS we looked at Celebrity, NCL, Princess and HAL. Mostly because we wanted a different itinerary, not so much that we're unhappy with RCCL. In the end we went with RCCL because we know what to expect and are comfortable with this line. The second factor in staying loyal to Royal was that we wanted the cruise credit. The perks came third.

[Puffinater]

How can anyone vote on a Poll without know the basis of the vote, to state an opinion about what you would do "if they changed the benefits again", without knowing the proposed changes is simply bizarre.

Say for example ( I know it is an extreme one, but) if Royal decided to give all D members a free cruise, would those that voted to Complain, Cruise less, Change Lines or Cancel a Cruise, still feel the same. Somehow I do not think so.

 

Well said. I agree 100%. Hard to vote without knowing what you are voting on.

[ChipLondon]

.............. The second factor in staying loyal to Royal was that we wanted the cruise credit. The perks came third.

 

 

Sorry I do not get your point, the perks are earned by having cruise credits, why would you want/need the credit if the perks are not iimportant.

 

 

 

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[madforcruising]

Interesting poll results. I like it being a public poll. :cool:

 

It peeked my interest to see at least one person voting for "Cancel an existing cruise" that does not even have any cruises on RCI booked:rolleyes:.

[critterchick]

I'm distressed about losing the main thing I use the Concierge Club for -- and that's the espresso machine. I get up way early, and want my morning cuppa in my travel mug to wander around the ship with. (And the Windjammer's coffee isn't 'on' till 6; Latte-tudes doesn't open till, what is it?, 8?! I've already been up three hours!!) Then I come back by to make cocoa (we bring our own) for my husband around 8; (the espresso machine makes hot water).

 

When we cruise in a Grand Suite (as on the Jewel last year and the Oasis upcoming in April this year), we always make sure to reserve a cabin near to the Concierge Club, and since it's open (if unattended) when I get up, I can get my morning coffee and head off. I come by on my way to bed to refill my water bottle with their cold water. Otherwise? I don't use it. I wish they'd put an espresso machine somewhere accessible to Diamond members who don't have a Grand Suite (as on our upcoming TransAtlantic (Sept.) -- we reserved too late to get a Grand Suite, and so are in a Junior Suite {sob}).

 

I know lots and lots of people care about the booze and hors d'ouvres -- but we don't. I think we've only been to one "Diamond lounge" thing -- and that's cause some friends asked us to go. {shrug} We're not like most folks I guess, in what we want access to the Concierge Club for.

 

Yes, I do miss the trinkets and little gifts, but I can buy stuff in the ship's store. The cruise is my pleasure: I just NEED my morning drug....er... coffee!

Elenor

 

If you're in a JS you should have a coffeemaker in your cabin. Now you wont even have to get dressed to enjoy a cuppa joe!:)

 

We are diamond members and I'll be surprised if we make diamond plus. Never say never ;)

 

But, instead of perks being taken away, we're seriously considering changing our loyalty to other brands because we cannot take our own wine aboard. I know this happened in...2005 I think, but after our last cruise where we ordered overpriced wine to be delivered to our cabin and they had La Terre sitting there upon embarkation with no apology and no refund of the difference. It was like a big slap in the face to us. We're tired of paying dramatically inflated prices for wine to drink in our cabin and at dinner.

 

We can handle most of the perk reductions, we didn't use much of it anyway. I think our last cruise we used 2 coupons at best, which is typical for us. The balcony discounts are great, if those were reduced or taken away we'd have little loyalty left to RCI. It's kind of a shame because we've always felt they had a good product for the price.

 

But Princess is lookng better and better to us. We have our first cruise booked with them next year so we'll see.

 

That's why I never order wine in advance anymore. Fortunately we were Diamond by then so were able to get the Concierge to intervene and get us what we had originally ordered.

 

Do you think that Princess or any other cruise do not also charge similar prices for wines, of course they do. Prices on ships are generally not greater than those charged in most Hotels or restaurants of similar standards.

In fact I would have thought that in most of the hotels in the Miami or Fort Lauderdale area, the wine prices are actually higher than on the ships.

 

Although the other lines most certainly mark up their wines, I get the sense (because I haven't done an exhaustive analysis) that both Princess and Carnival have a lower markup than RCI. And now with a completely new list containing many wines that I'm not familiar with, I have no idea whether the markups are fair (2-3x retail) or over the top (4-5x retail, common with the lower end wines on the RCI list).

 

I also didn't vote in the poll. We have already started looking at the competition - for the first time in several years we have only two RCI cruises booked, one next week. We have cruises on Carnival, Princess and Celebrity lined up and will likely be looking at HAL to see what they have to offer next summer. I think we probably would be doing that regardless of C&A perks, though because we're branching out into places where RCI doesn't sail, and I'm a little burned out on the product, anyway.

[depplep]

I guess I should have elaborated on the perks. We aren't so concerned about the perks for Diamond as we are accumulating credits to get to Diamond plus, hoping I guess at this point that they will be better than what we're getting now. If that makes any sense?

[ChipLondon]

...........Although the other lines most certainly mark up their wines, I get the sense (because I haven't done an exhaustive analysis) that both Princess and Carnival have a lower markup than RCI. And now with a completely new list containing many wines that I'm not familiar with, I have no idea whether the markups are fair (2-3x retail) or over the top (4-5x retail, common with the lower end wines on the RCI list).

 

.

 

 

I would be surprised if anyone in the leisure industry ( at 4* or above ) could operate on a 2x retail mark up. The Industry which itself has a most unusual way of calculating profit, for most of us a product purchased at say $5 and sold at $10 would represent a 100% mark up.

Not however in the restaurant trade, which would buy at $5 and sell at $15 and call this a 66.6% mark up as it calculates % on the sales price rather than cost. Then of course you have to add the sales tax where applicable.

However if a bottle of wine took 2 people say 1 hour to drink, would any operator be happy entertaining 2 people for an hour simply for a $10 profit, minus of course staff and establishment costs. if that was the case they would soon go out of business.

I would expect that a mark up should be at least 4 x cost, probably 5 x to compensate for those that think smuggling booze on board is clever. If people really want to drink at retail cost price, then they can, in their own homes.

[ChipLondon]

Got it now, thanks for the clarifcation.

 

I guess I should have elaborated on the perks. We aren't so concerned about the perks for Diamond as we are accumulating credits to get to Diamond plus, hoping I guess at this point that they will be better than what we're getting now. If that makes any sense?

[alwayshappytocruise]

Maybe the mints are back on Oasis, but they weren't last week on Monarch.....

 

Nor last week on Rhapsody.............

[Happy ks]

Do you think that Princess or any other cruise do not also charge similar prices for wines, of course they do. Prices on ships are generally not greater than those charged in most Hotels or restaurants of similar standards.

In fact I would have thought that in most of the hotels in the Miami or Fort Lauderdale area, the wine prices are actually higher than on the ships.

 

 

I'm sure that any Princess would charge the same amount. The big difference is that they allow passengers to bring aboard bottles of wine. We don't at all mind paying corkage fees if we were to take th e bottle to dinner, but we usually buy wine at dinner.

 

We pay the increased prices for wine in restaurants all the time and don't mind. We understand it is a business and they need to make a profit. I just think that since #1 RCI used to allow wine to be brought aboard and #2 many other lines allow wine to be brought aboard, they should re-think their policy. It's just stupid.

 

Edit to add, No one will ever convince me otherwise on this subject and I continue to write about it on all our customer review cards at the end of each cruise. One day I hope they will come to their senses. We're not trying to take their profits away, simply have a glass of wine in our cabin at our leisure.

[Aldeya]

My biggest complaint is I cant get my balcony discount as platinum with my stock holders OBC. What does one have to do with the other?? Nothing imo.

 

 

This is my biggest dissapointment. I can live without chocolates on the pillow and a drink coupon but...

 

I am a shareholder and a Diamond member. I invested my money in RCCL(by bying a stock and by cruising with this cruise line) and I can't combined both discounts? It maybe a smart move from a business point of view but not a very smart one from the building a loyalty to the product.

[ChipLondon]

A nice balanced view is always hard to argue against, I also think that if Royal were to accept that passengers would be happy to pay a reasonable corkage fee, then some agreement could be reached.

 

 

I'm sure that any Princess would charge the same amount. The big difference is that they allow passengers to bring aboard bottles of wine. We don't at all mind paying corkage fees if we were to take th e bottle to dinner, but we usually buy wine at dinner.

 

We pay the increased prices for wine in restaurants all the time and don't mind. We understand it is a business and they need to make a profit. I just think that since #1 RCI used to allow wine to be brought aboard and #2 many other lines allow wine to be brought aboard, they should re-think their policy. It's just stupid.

 

Edit to add, No one will ever convince me otherwise on this subject and I continue to write about it on all our customer review cards at the end of each cruise. One day I hope they will come to their senses. We're not trying to take their profits away, simply have a glass of wine in our cabin at our leisure.

[zekekelso]

In fact I would have thought that in most of the hotels in the Miami or Fort Lauderdale area, the wine prices are actually higher than on the ships.

Most hotels in the Miami or Fort Lauderdale area won't scan you and your bags and prevent you from drinking your own wine in your room.

[zekekelso]

IHowever if a bottle of wine took 2 people say 1 hour to drink, would any operator be happy entertaining 2 people for an hour simply for a $10 profit, minus of course staff and establishment costs. if that was the case they would soon go out of business.

What if they charged, oh, $1000+ per person cover charge just to be in the restaurant in the first place?

[madforcruising]

What if they charged, oh, $1000+ per person cover charge just to be in the restaurant in the first place?

 

 

With the post from ChipLondon talking about 1 hour and you talk about $1000 I make that $1000 for an average cruise of 7 days which represents 168 hours, so we are talking about a $5.95 cover charge "just to be in the restaurant" and you are getting a room to sleep, transportation and lots of food.;)

[igot2cruz]

Were you, by any chance, a Navy Corpsman in Taiwan in late '60s early 70's?

[cruiserbryce]

we cruise with RC more often than others b/c the overall experience is better...benefits aside we prefer RC. While its a bummer to see them cutting I would rather that the they raise the prices of cruise all together.

[mtchg]

..it took me a whole THREE cruises to make Platinum. Two of them were 12 niters so I got extra points; but really, that's probably too fast. RCI cannot sustain the benefits. They

"created a monster" economically speaking.

 

Carnival for years had NO veteran benefits to speak of, other than the occasional suprise bump in category; then started the VIP rewards system. But you have to cruise TEN

cruises (length of cruise is not considered) before you get any benefits; and they do NOT include price reductions on balconies or suites. Best part of Carnival's Diamond status (10 or more)

is FREE laundry; but Carnival does not have to invest near the money for it's program that RCI is forced to do.

 

I know the "genie is already out of the bottle" for RCI; but if they didn't have to give so

many discounts to so many Platinum and Diamond members as well as multiple free special meals and free liquor; perhaps they could have

rates a little more competitive with Carnival in the first place.

 

Mitch

[MrsPete]

I don't think I'm with the majority, but here's my take on things:

 

I am not loyal to any company. That's it. That's the bottom line.

 

I like Royal Caribbean, and my instinct is to check their prices/itineraries first . . . but I check other companies too and compare them against Royal's options. If another company offers a product that's better for me, that company's going to get my business.

 

Perks are nice, but they won't convince me not to comparison shop.

 

What WILL make me choose Royal again and again is a quality product and a competative price.

 

Right now the biggest obstacle between me and Royal is the suite benefits (which is another subject). In all likelihood, after my upcoming cruise is completed, I'll not sail with them again because of that issue.

[roysmith99]

Wow, the response from this poll is tremendous thank you all so much.

 

I understand all of the comments about the poll being biased - as I said earlier today, it certainly is, that was why its here. Those of us who have suffered at RCCL's hands in the last year know why this is important to us - the small minority that have not been affected are very lucky (inlcuding the suite guests). Its no fun being forced to sit in a small corner of a lounge and offered cheap and nasty wine at our diamond benefit. And wahy can't we get our 25% discount during 'diamond event' hours at any bar - we have computers that do that sort of thing easily nowadays.

 

Having been told by the ship's crew that they have NO influence over HOW the benefits are applied I am still wondering if they know what the words customer service mean. They chose HOW and WHERE events are held and if they ewish, what extras to offfer, such as peanuts or snacks. In our case they provided huge hot food and snakcks to people watching a football match in the bars, but not to Diamond members (unless we watched the match). We even missed sailway becasue the muster drill was postponed until after the footy match, which just happened to be as we sailed out of port.

 

I don't want chocolates on my pillow, but the towel animals are FREE to provide. I dont want useless discount vouchers - e.g. 10% off a $100 bottle of wine - but I do want the Loyalty Ambassador to listen to my complaint about the diamond event being held in the darkest, smallest and most miserable area of the ship.

 

OK so I maybe did not totally get the questions for the poll right, but when they change the Diamod grade again and kick us out of the Diamond lounges and make them D+ only; like they did with the CL last year. Or change the CL to suite guests only; just what will we do - grin and bear it. Once they announce their changes it will be too late.

 

All I ask from RCCL is that they do not just tinker with the benefits - if the market and financial situation is that bad make a complete break. But please do not change any benefits after we have booked and paid, because that really is frustrating - last October we had paid and expected access to the CL but did not get it.

 

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[PEGLEG]

There would be a lot less diamond/diamond + IF they would revoke all points earned for passengers UNDER 21. Everyone would start at ZERO points at age 21. You have to EARN points yourself, instead of getting them because someone else paid for your cruise. If you do not think this to be true, count all the rebuttles to this post, add them up. You will see how many fewer diamonds/diamond + there would be.

[ChipLondon]

Ahh......... a voice of reason, with something intellegent to say.

 

 

With the post from ChipLondon talking about 1 hour and you talk about $1000 I make that $1000 for an average cruise of 7 days which represents 168 hours, so we are talking about a $5.95 cover charge "just to be in the restaurant" and you are getting a room to sleep, transportation and lots of food.;)

[madforcruising]

I don't want chocolates on my pillow, but the towel animals are FREE to provide.

 

 

Just picking out this sentence of your post, because I think that´s not true. I´d venture a guess the towel animals are even more expensive to provide than the chocolates.

 

Have you ever thought about the huge amount of towels they use to create those towel animals in every cabin on the ship. These towels need to be laundred in excess off the "regulary" used ones in the bathrooms.

It takes huge amounts of water to do this.

[madforcruising]

There would be a lot less diamond/diamond + IF they would revoke all points earned for passengers UNDER 21. Everyone would start at ZERO points at age 21. You have to EARN points yourself, instead of getting them because someone else paid for your cruise. If you do not think this to be true, count all the rebuttles to this post, add them up. You will see how many fewer diamonds/diamond + there would be.

 

 

While I never have cruised as a kid and I don´t have kids I take on cruises I disagree on this one (You can count this as a rebuttle but not as one that would free up any D/D+ member from the program;)).

 

If the kid has actually been on that many cruises I think they have earned the status because their parents paid for it. It would be unfair to take it from them.

However I do think they need to stop giving kids / relatives the same status as the highest member in the household. This should be stopped. If they don´t want to seperate family members on a cruise then I say give the status to them for the cruise only, but after that everybody is on their own again.