Diamond benefit question

[esper10]

I need some help please. I booked a cruise while I was an emerald with RCCL. I just completed a cruise and now I'm diamond. I called Crown & Ancer so I can get the balcony discount As a diamond since it is more but I was told that in order for me to get the extra balcony discount from emerald to diamond my booking need to be repriced and since the cruise went up I will not be able to get the extra discount. I was very disappointed as I was not making any changes to my booking and instead of them congratulating me for being diamond I was told I can't get the diamond balcony discount. Any of you experienced that? Is it true?

[LMaxwell]

I was very disappointed as I was not making any changes to my booking and instead of them congratulating me for being diamond I was told I can't get the diamond balcony discount. Any of you experienced that? Is it true?

 

They did not deny you the discount; they said that to apply it your cruise will be repriced at todays current higher rate, and overall you would pay more. They used to apply the greater discount to the current booking but now they reprice it at the current rate so sometimes it is not worth getting the bigger discount. Not a great policy, IMO.

[Coralc]

Royal Caribbean has been getting really unpleasant about a lot of things, lately. Here is a recent thread on the very topic you are inquiring about: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2063065

 

We will still cruise with them, but maybe once a year, more exotic ports and not with the same amount of anticipation that we used to have for the line.

[dancinman66]

I need some help please. I booked a cruise while I was an emerald with RCCL. I just completed a cruise and now I'm diamond. I called Crown & Ancer so I can get the balcony discount As a diamond since it is more but I was told that in order for me to get the extra balcony discount from emerald to diamond my booking need to be repriced and since the cruise went up I will not be able to get the extra discount. I was very disappointed as I was not making any changes to my booking and instead of them congratulating me for being diamond I was told I can't get the diamond balcony discount. Any of you experienced that? Is it true?

 

 

This is a problem at all levels with your previous made bookings

Nothing you can do

Imagine if you book heaps in advance just off a level

They all end up in that boat

I had 8 cruises fall into that when I broke 350 points and the single occupancy reduction

And suffered

Remembered that for when hitting the pineapple

 

 

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[esper10]

It is sad that they keep on taking away different things and cutting back. I never thought that applying a balcony discount require to reprice the whole cruise. After all no changes are made to the booking as far as category cabin or names. By the way any one know that if another person a 3rd one is added to the cabin will it reprice? It used to just add the cruiser if the cabin hold 3 people.

[FLACRUISER99]

I need some help please. I booked a cruise while I was an emerald with RCCL. I just completed a cruise and now I'm diamond. I called Crown & Ancer so I can get the balcony discount As a diamond since it is more but I was told that in order for me to get the extra balcony discount from emerald to diamond my booking need to be repriced and since the cruise went up I will not be able to get the extra discount. I was very disappointed as I was not making any changes to my booking and instead of them congratulating me for being diamond I was told I can't get the diamond balcony discount. Any of you experienced that? Is it true?

Keep a sharp eye on the cruise price maybe it will drop back down before final payment date then you will able to apply your discount. I highly recommend that you subscribe to one of the price monitoring sites on the internet.

[Clarea]

It is sad that they keep on taking away different things and cutting back. I never thought that applying a balcony discount require to reprice the whole cruise. After all no changes are made to the booking as far as category cabin or names. By the way any one know that if another person a 3rd one is added to the cabin will it reprice? It used to just add the cruiser if the cabin hold 3 people.

I don't believe they will reprice the existing two guests, but the 3rd person will be added at the current price.

[cello56]

RCI is doing what my dear mother used to call - "Cutting off their nose to spite their face!" Seriously, all these nit picking cutbacks are going to backfire on them eventually. People are being loyal customers to the brand, and the company is treating them very poorly in many areas. Small things like repricing instead of just applying the new benefit are small financial costs that are leaving a very bad taste in the customer's mouth. Very poor long term planning if you ask me.

[marci22]

RCI is doing what my dear mother used to call - "Cutting off their nose to spite their face!" Seriously, all these nit picking cutbacks are going to backfire on them eventually. People are being loyal customers to the brand, and the company is treating them very poorly in many areas. Small things like repricing instead of just applying the new benefit are small financial costs that are leaving a very bad taste in the customer's mouth. Very poor long term planning if you ask me.

 

I agree.

[papaflamingo]

I think it's easier to understand if you consider that when you make a pricing change in a booking you are technically canceling the booking and re-booking it. RCCL simply doesn't make you "jump through the hoops." You don't lose that perfect cabin you have taken out of inventory for the last 6 months, you don't drop that dining preference you've managed to snag, etc. But it always changes discounts, OBC's, etc. For example if you book outside 6 months the Diamond discount is $225. If 3 months out you take advantage of a rate change, you're Diamond discount drops to $200 (inside 6 months). Or if you take advantage of a deeply discounted rate you could lose the discount all together. Anytime you do a rate change you are bound by the rules of the new rate.

Not exactly what happened to you, but effectively the same theory. Is it fair? Well, it's their cruise line, their pricing rules. So I guess so. But I'll say this, if they would allow you to take advantage of your new discount, it could be part of the incentive to book and extra cruise. For example we were 4 points short of Diamond when we had Oasis booked. We decided to jump on a 5 night cruise and get that Diamond benefit before our Oasis cruise. Don't remember if we got the extra $100 discount, but it might be a factor. Certainly wouldn't bankrupt RCCL to extend the extra $100 as a "welcome" to someone who has shown their loyalty.

[Clarea]

RCI is doing what my dear mother used to call - "Cutting off their nose to spite their face!" Seriously, all these nit picking cutbacks are going to backfire on them eventually. People are being loyal customers to the brand, and the company is treating them very poorly in many areas. Small things like repricing instead of just applying the new benefit are small financial costs that are leaving a very bad taste in the customer's mouth. Very poor long term planning if you ask me.

Another nit picking example is their new policy of reducing the balcony discount by $25 if you get a price drop less than 6 months before the sail date.

[molly361]

RCI is doing what my dear mother used to call - "Cutting off their nose to spite their face!" Seriously, all these nit picking cutbacks are going to backfire on them eventually. People are being loyal customers to the brand, and the company is treating them very poorly in many areas. Small things like repricing instead of just applying the new benefit are small financial costs that are leaving a very bad taste in the customer's mouth. Very poor long term planning if you ask me.

 

 

I agree as well!!

[bouhunter]

I think it's easier to understand if you consider that when you make a pricing change in a booking you are technically canceling the booking and re-booking it. RCCL simply doesn't make you "jump through the hoops." You don't lose that perfect cabin you have taken out of inventory for the last 6 months, you don't drop that dining preference you've managed to snag, etc. But it always changes discounts, OBC's, etc. For example if you book outside 6 months the Diamond discount is $225. If 3 months out you take advantage of a rate change, you're Diamond discount drops to $200 (inside 6 months). Or if you take advantage of a deeply discounted rate you could lose the discount all together. Anytime you do a rate change you are bound by the rules of the new rate.

Not exactly what happened to you, but effectively the same theory. .

 

Great job of trying to justify a ridiculous new policy.:rolleyes: They aren't just "changing discounts", they're refusing to honor a price you were quoted and give you a discount you're entitled to.:mad:

[FLACRUISER99]

RCI is doing what my dear mother used to call - "Cutting off their nose to spite their face!" Seriously, all these nit picking cutbacks are going to backfire on them eventually. People are being loyal customers to the brand, and the company is treating them very poorly in many areas. Small things like repricing instead of just applying the new benefit are small financial costs that are leaving a very bad taste in the customer's mouth. Very poor long term planning if you ask me.

I also agree, also maybe that's the best reason for folks that own stock to sell it.

[ekekasyunx]

It is sad that they keep on taking away different things and cutting back.

[esper10]

RCI is doing what my dear mother used to call - "Cutting off their nose to spite their face!" Seriously, all these nit picking cutbacks are going to backfire on them eventually. People are being loyal customers to the brand, and the company is treating them very poorly in many areas. Small things like repricing instead of just applying the new benefit are small financial costs that are leaving a very bad taste in the customer's mouth. Very poor long term planning if you ask me.

 

You could not say it better. For me it would have been under $100 for a cruise that is going to coast around $10,000.00 by the time we buy the air to Europe. So no big deal but a let down for me when I call to adjust the discount to tell me some story. Another thing by the way I was told is that they are going to try to add 3 alcohol drink in the sea pass something new that they working on. I wonder if in time this is all we get. I was looking for we for my drinks in the diamond lounge. Any of you know any thing about this?

[Clarea]

You could not say it better. For me it would have been under $100 for a cruise that is going to coast around $10,000.00 by the time we buy the air to Europe. So no big deal but a let down for me when I call to adjust the discount to tell me some story. Another thing by the way I was told is that they are going to try to add 3 alcohol drink in the sea pass something new that they working on. I wonder if in time this is all we get. I was looking for we for my drinks in the diamond lounge. Any of you know any thing about this?

Here are some threads on the drink vouchers:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2072678

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2059707

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2069905

[molly361]

You could not say it better. For me it would have been under $100 for a cruise that is going to coast around $10,000.00 by the time we buy the air to Europe. So no big deal but a let down for me when I call to adjust the discount to tell me some story. Another thing by the way I was told is that they are going to try to add 3 alcohol drink in the sea pass something new that they working on. I wonder if in time this is all we get. I was looking for we for my drinks in the diamond lounge. Any of you know any thing about this?

 

 

If you are Diamond or above there will be 3 drink vouchers added to your Seapass card. That is in addition to the DL which you can also use and get cocktails at during the hours that they are open.

[Oxo]

They did not deny you the discount; they said that to apply it your cruise will be repriced at todays current higher rate, and overall you would pay more. They used to apply the greater discount to the current booking but now they reprice it at the current rate so sometimes it is not worth getting the bigger discount. Not a great policy, IMO.

 

Agree!! If we were to book our Nov 2014 cruise now, it would cost us $1,400 more for the same cabin category. Luckily, we booked this back in March. Prices are going up!!

[dorisis]

And when you do get the balcony discount, you can't get your stockholder credit. RC has too many restrictions that's why I like Princess better.

[akcruz]

RCI is doing what my dear mother used to call - "Cutting off their nose to spite their face!" Seriously, all these nit picking cutbacks are going to backfire on them eventually. People are being loyal customers to the brand, and the company is treating them very poorly in many areas. Small things like repricing instead of just applying the new benefit are small financial costs that are leaving a very bad taste in the customer's mouth. Very poor long term planning if you ask me.

 

Absolutely agree. We will be diamond after our upcoming cruise. Have 3 other cruises booked, 2 of which have gone up quite a bit. Yes it is a small amount, but does leave a bitter taste.

[racerxspeedy]

Thanks for the "heads-up" on this issue. Another example of how the RCI pricing "games" have negatively impacted a very loyal customer. I would consider the diamond balcony discount the best benefit offered - provided RCI will honor it. Not a smart business choice for the long term.

[gelli8112]

It is sad that they keep on taking away different things and cutting back.

 

So true. Remember when they use to give you the baseball caps on every cruise for being a member of crown and anchor. I'm sure they got them for 60cents a piece and incorporated the cost into the price of the cruise but I still enjoyed getting them and I wore them everywhere. Cheapest marketing they ever purchased.

 

Now they give us a throw away basket with stale cookies. :mad:

[slyster]

I was an emerald member on my last cruise when I booked my upcoming cruise. The crown and anchor loyalty ambassador told us to wait until we received notification that we were diamond and then call and apply a diamond balcony discount. It's exactly what we did. We booked it in October last year....and I believe in December I called to apply the diamond balcony discount. Mine didn't need to be rebooked.

Edited July 21, 2014 by slyster

[dancinman66]

I was an emerald member on my last cruise when I booked my upcoming cruise. The crown and anchor loyalty ambassador told us to wait until we received notification that we were diamond and then call and apply a diamond balcony discount. It's exactly what we did. We booked it in October last year....and I believe in December I called to apply the diamond balcony discount. Mine didn't need to be rebooked.

 

 

I think it depends on who you talk to as for lots of issues you can get multiple outcomes according to who you get and their mood

Consistency is not one of their strengths

 

 

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