Do you like the new changes to the C&A Points System?

[ARCruisinNana]

We just got off the ship on Sunday....on this cruise, in a small ocean view rm, we had a bottle of wine, choc strawberry plate, a fruit plate and a cheese tray, oh also a cookie and petite for plate. Along with the lounge benefits and coupon book. This to me is significant.....Great perks at D+ It should be hard to get there! RCI really makes an effort to reward at this level!!

 

I also think these are significant onboard perks. Looking forward to my cruise on Feb. 1.

[Mrs Cigar King]

Yes, have sailed HAL. Did not like it as much as RCI, except that we did like the fact that you could bring your own wine aboard. We happily paid the corkage at night in the dining room for wine that we knew we would like.

Service, food and ship was not as nice as RCI IMHO.

 

Count me in also as a happy sailer with the new points, as I did not lose status.

 

Thank you. It's kind of a shame because I do like RC. Last month we did a transatlantic and found that the service varied greatly from staff to staff. The excellent service was spectacular but the ones that did not care really dragged things down. It was on the Adventure which seemed in need of repairs.

Hopefully RC's customer service will get back to us with some kind of positive answer or at least a very good explanation of why they want to loose my my husband as a customer. The longer it takes the more riled he gets, sigh.

[ken3028]

Since we got bit by the cruise bug 7 years ago my wife and I have sailed on RCI 9 times, 6 of those on a 3 or 4 day Majesty itinerary. We live in So. Florida and it's incredibly convenient for us to do this.

 

We are booked on Majesty the weekend of 6/10 for a big birthday celebration and the cruise we thought would make us Diamond members. Well, here's where I disagree that no one was downgraded. We were allocated 76 points under the new system. With that as a starting point, we will now be 1 point shy of Diamond after this cruise. Unless something is changed, we will not be Diamond until a subsequent cruise. In my mind, we were downgraded.

 

I am going to plead my case to C & A and see what happens. We've been "Loyal to Royal" because we like to curise with them and the perks it has given us. If this isn't handled well, we'll have to review our loyalty.

 

We'll see what happens. :mad:

[kimberley]

Since we got bit by the cruise bug 7 years ago my wife and I have sailed on RCI 9 times, 6 of those on a 3 or 4 day Majesty itinerary. We live in So. Florida and it's incredibly convenient for us to do this.

 

We are booked on Majesty the weekend of 6/10 for a big birthday celebration and the cruise we thought would make us Diamond members. Well, here's where I disagree that no one was downgraded. We were allocated 76 points under the new system. With that as a starting point, we will now be 1 point shy of Diamond after this cruise. Unless something is changed, we will not be Diamond until a subsequent cruise. In my mind, we were downgraded.

 

I am going to plead my case to C & A and see what happens. We've been "Loyal to Royal" because we like to curise with them and the perks it has given us. If this isn't handled well, we'll have to review our loyalty.

Th

We'll see what happens. :mad:

This is exactly why Rccl have changed the system. Most of my cruises have been 10 and 11 nights for which I received one point the same as you doing a four night cruise yet I have actually cruise 6/7 night extra for each cruise.

[yj2cute]

Since we got bit by the cruise bug 7 years ago my wife and I have sailed on RCI 9 times, 6 of those on a 3 or 4 day Majesty itinerary. We live in So. Florida and it's incredibly convenient for us to do this.

 

We are booked on Majesty the weekend of 6/10 for a big birthday celebration and the cruise we thought would make us Diamond members. Well, here's where I disagree that no one was downgraded. We were allocated 76 points under the new system. With that as a starting point, we will now be 1 point shy of Diamond after this cruise. Unless something is changed, we will not be Diamond until a subsequent cruise. In my mind, we were downgraded.

 

I am going to plead my case to C & A and see what happens. We've been "Loyal to Royal" because we like to curise with them and the perks it has given us. If this isn't handled well, we'll have to review our loyalty.

 

We'll see what happens. :mad:

 

This is the exact scenario that they are trying to change. You were 1 cruise away from Diamond before the change and you still are. Just change your short cruise from 3 to 4 nights and you have your Diamond status.

[Mrs Cigar King]

Originally Posted by ken3028

Since we got bit by the cruise bug 7 years ago my wife and I have sailed on RCI 9 times, 6 of those on a 3 or 4 day Majesty itinerary. We live in So. Florida and it's incredibly convenient for us to do this.

 

We are booked on Majesty the weekend of 6/10 for a big birthday celebration and the cruise we thought would make us Diamond members. Well, here's where I disagree that no one was downgraded. We were allocated 76 points under the new system. With that as a starting point, we will now be 1 point shy of Diamond after this cruise. Unless something is changed, we will not be Diamond until a subsequent cruise. In my mind, we were downgraded.

 

I am going to plead my case to C & A and see what happens. We've been "Loyal to Royal" because we like to curise with them and the perks it has given us. If this isn't handled well, we'll have to review our loyalty.

Th

We'll see what happens. :mad:

This is exactly why Rccl have changed the system. Most of my cruises have been 10 and 11 nights for which I received one point the same as you doing a four night cruise yet I have actually cruise 6/7 night extra for each cruise.

 

I can see the change going forward, it is a fair system. But for the people that have been cruising on the old system and planned out the cruise credits based on that, it does not come out fair across the board. I think the customer service representatives should be given authority to manually correct the point system on a case by case basis.

Ken3028, I would appreciate it if you could post the response you recieve from C&A.

[yj2cute]

Originally Posted by ken3028

Since we got bit by the cruise bug 7 years ago my wife and I have sailed on RCI 9 times, 6 of those on a 3 or 4 day Majesty itinerary. We live in So. Florida and it's incredibly convenient for us to do this.

 

We are booked on Majesty the weekend of 6/10 for a big birthday celebration and the cruise we thought would make us Diamond members. Well, here's where I disagree that no one was downgraded. We were allocated 76 points under the new system. With that as a starting point, we will now be 1 point shy of Diamond after this cruise. Unless something is changed, we will not be Diamond until a subsequent cruise. In my mind, we were downgraded.

 

I am going to plead my case to C & A and see what happens. We've been "Loyal to Royal" because we like to curise with them and the perks it has given us. If this isn't handled well, we'll have to review our loyalty.

Th

We'll see what happens. :mad:

 

 

I can see the change going forward, it is a fair system. But for the people that have been cruising on the old system and planned out the cruise credits based on that, it does not come out fair across the board. I think the customer service representatives should be given authority to manually correct the point system on a case by case basis.

Ken3028, I would appreciate it if you could post the response you recieve from C&A.

 

That would be pretty much everyone, since you have to have cruised previously to even be a C&A society member. They would have to make adjustments to every single person who already had a cruise booked. Not going to happen.

[Mrs Cigar King]

That would be pretty much everyone, since you have to have cruised previously to even be a C&A society member. They would have to make adjustments to every single person who already had a cruise booked. Not going to happen.

 

 

no, we are members with previous cruises. We would not care otherwise.

 

**sorry, read this again. Yep, they would have to make adjustments.

[yj2cute]

no, we are members with previous cruises. We would not care otherwise.

 

Everyone in the C&A society has previous cruises. That's why they are C&A members. You are missing the point. You are upset because you think they shorted you 3 nights. They did not take the number of nights previously sailed when making the conversion. JUST CRUISE CREDITS. You had 4. You were 1 cruise away from Platinum. You are now, still, 1 CRUISE AWAY FROM PLATINUM. What exactly is the problem?

[bigeagle12]

This is a very interesting thread. It does appear most people are happy, especially the ones that were given points that were not earned based on the conversion.

It is the ones like us that regarded C&A as a loyalty program and feel that RC is not treating us with fairness that are not pleased. Our goal has been to reach a level with nicer suite discounts. It seems farther away now. We feel that is RC would like to keep our loyalty, they need to do better then MerionMoms suck it up attitude.

We understand the customer service representatives that are on the front have limited authority to make the customer happy. What we are looking for is a contact that does have the authority.

At this point we will not be cancelling the short cruise next month but we certainly will not book any more on this line.

Anyone ever sail on Holland America, how was it.

 

Why are you still whining?

 

Sounds fair to me .. you were one cruise away from Platinum before the conversion and you are still one cruise away.

 

Under the old system you advanced based on number of cruises so it is fair that everyone was converted equally .. no one gained status or lost status .. if a few fell through the cracks RCI is correcting these situations.

 

In your case you stayed the same :confused:

[island lady]

Hi Pat did last weeks cruise make you diamond then? Kimberley

 

Well, hello again Kimberley!! :)

 

Sorry did not get to say goodbye to you before we left. We both very much enjoyed meeting you and talking with you on our cruise together. Hope you had a safe trip back to the UK.

 

That is the plan anyway, as I am currently at 76 points and just 4 points shy of Diamond.

Not sure when they will post our new points to the account, but it should be 10 points for those 10 nights. That would put us to 86 which is 6 over to make Diamond status.

 

Will be checking that status on RCI website with earnest in the next 10 days or more.

:D

[Lynnees]

Why are you still whining?

 

Sounds fair to me .. you were one cruise away from Platinum before the conversion and you are still one cruise away.

 

Under the old system you advanced based on number of cruises so it is fair that everyone was converted equally .. no one gained status or lost status .. if a few fell through the cracks RCI is correcting these situations.

 

In your case you stayed the same :confused:

 

She/he will not make D on their next cruise which is in June because it's a 3 day cruise. So after that cruise, some months down the road, they will not reach D. They don't seem to understand they received extra credit for the 6 3and 4 days cruises they took. For each of them they were given 7 days. From now on its one night at a time and that's what their issue is. They need more than 3 nights.

 

Hopefully this is more understandable 9 x 7 + 13 = 76. Therefore they need 4 more days but are only booked on a 3 day in June.

[island lady]

Since we got bit by the cruise bug 7 years ago my wife and I have sailed on RCI 9 times, 6 of those on a 3 or 4 day Majesty itinerary. We live in So. Florida and it's incredibly convenient for us to do this.

 

We are booked on Majesty the weekend of 6/10 for a big birthday celebration and the cruise we thought would make us Diamond members. Well, here's where I disagree that no one was downgraded. We were allocated 76 points under the new system. With that as a starting point, we will now be 1 point shy of Diamond after this cruise. Unless something is changed, we will not be Diamond until a subsequent cruise. In my mind, we were downgraded.

 

I am going to plead my case to C & A and see what happens. We've been "Loyal to Royal" because we like to curise with them and the perks it has given us. If this isn't handled well, we'll have to review our loyalty.

 

We'll see what happens. :mad:

 

If you were to count your actual nights you have sailed with RCI in the past, where would you be in points? I am also at 76 points, and was actually surprised that I earned that much. In my calculation, I should be at only 54, (which would put me just shy of Emerald). As it stands, I am now upgraded to Emerald (as are you) so I thought the conversion was more than fair. We also enjoy a favorite 3/4 night ship (Monarch) which is ported only 5 miles from our house.

 

Sorry you were not happy with the results as I was.

[Merion_Mom]

I have read all 23 pages to see if my question has been answered already. I am looking for a bit more detail. We are one of those that are not happy with the change retroactivly. Going forward is fine but we feel like we lost out points. We have 32 nights and four points. The conversion gave us 29 points. I understand this is a sweet perk, but we kind of feel cheated out of the three nights for taking longer cruises. We talked to some customer service representatives today and they were very nice but could not give us back the three nights. Does anyone have an email that goes up the food chain or a phone number for someone that has the authority do look into this. I like RC, but my husband is not happy and is talking about jumping cruise lines.

Thanks.

 

I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this is their system, and they have the right to structure it in any way they wish.

 

You were one cruise away from Platinum.

 

You are still one cruise away from Platinum.

 

I hope that you can see this and understand that you haven't lost anything.

 

This is a very interesting thread. It does appear most people are happy, especially the ones that were given points that were not earned based on the conversion.

It is the ones like us that regarded C&A as a loyalty program and feel that RC is not treating us with fairness that are not pleased. Our goal has been to reach a level with nicer suite discounts. It seems farther away now. We feel that is RC would like to keep our loyalty, they need to do better then MerionMoms suck it up attitude.

We understand the customer service representatives that are on the front have limited authority to make the customer happy. What we are looking for is a contact that does have the authority.

At this point we will not be cancelling the short cruise next month but we certainly will not book any more on this line.

Anyone ever sail on Holland America, how was it.

 

I hope that you can reach someone at Royal Caribbean who will explain it to you in a way that you will understand, a way that apparently I don't have.

 

But the fact of the matter is that I am explaining to you exactly what Royal Caribbean has done and is doing.

 

"Don't shoot the messenger" - you may not like what I have to say, but what I am saying is the reality. You can dislike it all you want, but zeroing in on what you perceive to be my attitude won't change the Crown & Anchor program.

 

You didn't lose nearly as many nights as Patti/cruisenfever, but she understands that the conversion is what the conversion is.

 

Their game, their rules.

 

Just for fun, I'll try one more time:

 

You didn't "lose nights" because they weren't counting nights before.

 

They counted your cruise credits.

 

Then they switched from a cruise credit to a cruise point system.

 

You had four points. You were Gold, with one cruise to go to get to Platinum.

 

Now you have 29 points.

 

You are Gold, with one cruise to go to get to Platinum.

 

Even for a non-math person like me, it's pretty straightforward.

 

:)

[Merion_Mom]

If RCCL wanted to keep 3-4 day cruisers from gaining an advantage on 7-11 day cruisers then why didn't they reduce the points to 1/2 for 3-4 days.

 

We are one cruise short of Diamond right now and we have already booked it and now it's out of reach for another 2-3 years. We do two 7-day cruises in 18 months. They could have done a grandfathering in for those nearly reaching the next level.

 

This is the second change since we joined. Not going to believe their marketing anymore. It is just as easy for us to go back to the other lines and add on to our totals there and get better perks. If we stay loyal for 2-3 more years judging from the track record we can expect at least 1 more and likely 2 more changes to the "loyalty program". No reason to stay loyal if the bar keeps moving out of reach.

 

On our last cruise a 1st time cruiser in a Junior suite (honeymooners) got better treament/perks than the 8 time returnee! Now there is a reward for loyalty for you. I know they paid more but they got a bigger better cabin for it and cons. lounge. Now they get roped off seating in the theatre and the ice show (best seats in the house) and nearly every other venu. Obviously loyalty is only of interest if it comes in the way of a suite booking. Diamond Plus didn't get roped off seating and look how much they must have spent by now.

 

RCCL clearly needs some new blood in the perks department. Emerald as opposed to Platinum is a joke. There is no real added perk to emerald it just keeps you from diamond for a lot longer. Some of the supposed perks are so stupid like the advantage for the airline booking. LAME! confused:

 

If RCCL wanted to keep 3-4 day cruisers from gaining an advantage on 7-11 day cruisers then why didn't they reduce the points to 1/2 for 3-4 days. We are one cruise short of Diamond right now and we have already booked it and now it's out of reach for another 2-3 years. We do two 7-day cruises in 18 months. They could have done a grandfathering in for those nearly reaching the next level. This is the second change since we joined. Not going to believe their marketing anymore. It is just as easy for us to go back to the other lines and add on to our totals there and get better perks. If we stay loyal for 2-3 more years judging from the track record we can expect at least 1 more and likely 2 more changes to the "loyalty program". No reason to stay loyal if the bar keeps moving out of reach. On our last cruise a 1st time cruiser in a Junior suite (honeymooners) got better treament/perks than the 8 time returnee! Now there is a reward for loyalty for you. I know they paid more but they got a bigger better cabin for it and cons. lounge. Now they get roped off seating in the theatre and the ice show (best seats in the house) and nearly every other venu. Obviously loyalty is only of interest if it comes in the way of a suite booking. Diamond Plus didn't get roped off seating and look how much they must have spent by now. RCCL clearly needs some new blood in the perks department. Emerald as opposed to Platinum is a joke. There is no real added perk to emerald it just keeps you from diamond for a lot longer. Some of the supposed perks are so stupid like the advantage for the airline booking. LAME! confused:

 

 

You were not on our cruise so you don't know who got what. Yes the JS did have CL priviledges, heard it, saw it. You need to do better math, we are more than one cruise removed from Diamond NOW under the new system.

 

As for emerald, you don't get any credit unless you ask for it. Our loyalty embassador indicated that we were receiving it. The paperwork doesn't show it and we had to do battle to have it added. We should have gotten OBC credit for booking on board and Platinum/balcony credit but had to bird dog it ourselves. So much for the perks. Just like other "perks" you have to figure it out and then demand it.

 

We view this as an invite to reconsider our "loyalty" and will do so. Your posts seem to indicate you are an authority on the new program. You apparently have not talked to the customer service or C & A folks I have. I even have in writing from the online chat that we are far from 1 cruise away from diamond after the change. Not a good idea to assume you know the details for everyone. Maybe this works well for you, that's good it is working out for some however that is not the case for many if you read the posts. You and others are entitled to an opinion as to whether or not you think it is good or bad but so am I.

 

Would you like to provide us with your previous number of cruise credits? You wrote in your first post that you were one cruise short. I assumed that you meant that you had 9 cruise credits, since you need 10 to be Diamond.

 

In the conversion, that means 76 cruise points. Since you need 80 cruise points to be Diamond, it is reasonable to say that you need one cruise to be Diamond.

 

Please explain to me my error.

 

:)

[cruisenfever]

 

You didn't lose nearly as many nights as Patti/cruisenfever, but she understands that the conversion is what the conversion is.

 

:)

After my cataract surgery this morning and a re-calculation we actually lost 110 points!:(

 

But we do understand why they calculated the way they did and even though we are not happy about losing all those points, we'll just suck it up and forge ahead.

[Let'sGo!]

As far as I can tell, everything stays about the same.

We were Platinum before -- 8 cruises, 2 cruises away from Diamond.

We are Emerald now -- 69 credits, still 2 cruises away from Diamond.

 

The only thing that I do see that worked in our favor is that my husband had one cruise less than I... I took a cruise with my Mom that he did not take. During the conversion however he was bumped up to Emerald along with me.

 

Maybe I can use that to book a suite for the next cruise to move us along faster - LOL!

 

 

Think maybe our old Platinum pins are collector's items? (Yes, we actually DID get them!)

 

Ann

[Mr Miserable]

I have to say that I found the gushing tone of the email announcing the changes to be a bit cheesey and pure spin. Nobody is better off and no doubt the onboard discounts will be as petty as the $25 credit for booking another stateroom! Come on! $25! How insulting is that! Now $25 off one of those miserable 3 day Bahamas jaunts may be proportional but when, or if, I book during the expensive holiday season $25 really is quite insulting - doesn't even buy an $8 bottle of Mondavi Merlot (marked-up accordingly).

I think I will continue to ramp up credits with Celebrity thankyou.

[ken3028]

This is the exact scenario that they are trying to change. You were 1 cruise away from Diamond before the change and you still are. Just change your short cruise from 3 to 4 nights and you have your Diamond status.

 

If it were that easy I would do it. I don't have unlimited days off and other vacations have already been planned.

 

Look, I'm not whining here, just commenting on what I feel is an inequity. That's what this thread is for, and it's my opinion. I will appeal to who I can, it certainly can't do any damage.

[Clarea]

After my cataract surgery this morning ...

Best wishes on a very fast and minimally painful recovery from your surgery.

 

Bob

[CruiseKeeper]

I have to say that I found the gushing tone of the email announcing the changes to be a bit cheesey and pure spin. Nobody is better off and no doubt the onboard discounts will be as petty as the $25 credit for booking another stateroom! Come on! $25! How insulting is that! Now $25 off one of those miserable 3 day Bahamas jaunts may be proportional but when, or if, I book during the expensive holiday season $25 really is quite insulting - doesn't even buy an $8 bottle of Mondavi Merlot (marked-up accordingly).

I think I will continue to ramp up credits with Celebrity thankyou.

 

Mr. Mis, I believe you are easily insulted. I've never been insulted when someone wants to hand me $25 unless while they hand it to me, they actually, well . . . insult me. :o

 

Actually, I am better off than I was before the changes, so nix that "nobody is better off." I agree with you though, the email was pure spin, but then again, what did you expect?

 

Celebrity is a great cruise line, enjoy!

[bob278]

Some people really chose their ID well. :rolleyes:

 

I see the frustration, but Royal set things up so that folks who were one credit away from elevating to the next level were still one cruise away. In some cases, it requires 4 days, but they had a large population to deal with (and business requirements to meet).

 

Those who are frustrated are justified, but to blast RCL as screwing them is a really severe over reaction. Of course that is just my opinion and is worth no more than anyone else's.

[Merion_Mom]

I have to say that I found the gushing tone of the email announcing the changes to be a bit cheesey and pure spin. Nobody is better off and no doubt the onboard discounts will be as petty as the $25 credit for booking another stateroom! Come on! $25! How insulting is that! Now $25 off one of those miserable 3 day Bahamas jaunts may be proportional but when, or if, I book during the expensive holiday season $25 really is quite insulting - doesn't even buy an $8 bottle of Mondavi Merlot (marked-up accordingly).

I think I will continue to ramp up credits with Celebrity thankyou.

 

What an apt screen name! :eek:

 

The $25 OBC is only for a 3 or 4 night cruise.

 

It increases - the longer the cruise, the higher the OBC.

 

And the ADVERTISING brochure from Royal Caribbean sure did advertise the cruiseline!

 

Enjoy those Celebrity cruises. Not every cruiseline and not every cruise is right for every cruiser.

 

Baskin-Robbins does GREAT business! ;)

[Schooner Bar Girl]

After my cataract surgery this morning and a re-calculation we actually lost 110 points!:(

 

But we do understand why they calculated the way they did and even though we are not happy about losing all those points, we'll just suck it up and forge ahead.

 

My points worked out to be pretty close to my actual days. However I know several members were given several "hundred" points more than their actual days. These members are obviously very happy with the point conversions. I say good for them......enjoy the bonus. However with members such as yourself that have lost points I think that the extra points should be give if you can document the lost "points".

 

I would think that it would be a bit of a burn knowing others got several hundred "extra" yet you lost 110. IMO....Anyone with "actual" days greater than the points given should have their "true" days converted to points.:)

[dlabout]

So what happens to those of us at sea on the 21st? That cruise will be a per night or will it be a cruise credit and tossed into the calculation?