Becoming Diamond has been...

[MicCanberra]

Yes. Oasis has a great Diamond Lounge. It is the former Concierge Lounge on Deck 11 (and 12).

 

Thank you, that is good to know.:D

[Lionesss]

No, it's just reciprocal status on both lines. It's not like the Hilton Honors system. You don't actually earn mutual points. When you come back to RCI, you'll still have the same # RCI points.

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

Thought it was too good,

 

Safe travels.

[nelblu]

:) I guess that is me.

 

 

 

 

As an experienced cruiser it really depends, if the destination is Alaska's inside passage, I won't mind spending for a balcony for convenience..while for port intensive destinations, I always pick inside... that way I don't have always have to dressed up and go to the top deck or promenade deck whenever someone spotted a wildlife or to enjoy the moving scenery.

 

Insides helped me sleep better as it is total darkness when I turned off the lights while others need natural light.

 

Each of us is different so different strokes for different folks.

 

I would think that you would want a balcony cabin for a port intensive itinerary--we enjoyed having a balcony cabin during our 13 days Mediterranean cruise as we enjoyed having breakfast on the balcony at sunrise and while entering the European ports.

[flowers44]

We were on the Brilliance in November and waiting in line for self debarkation. The staff was coming down the line asking if any body was looking for the preferred line. The couple behind us was Diamond and asked the staff member about the Diamond Preferred Debarkation and was told they needed to prearrange that with the Loyalty Embassedor prior to debarkation day. We will be Diamond on our next cruise and have made a mental note to do this.

[2chiefs]

Becoming Diamond has been somewhat of a letdown. Entice us to cruise more for attractive member benefits only to feel like we've been used.

 

Our first cruise as Diamond we booked two balcony cabins to include others in our cabin. In all, one diamond pin shows up in just one cabin. No priority check in, no welcome back party, no top tier event, no welcome gift (beverage and snack), no priority departure (received luggage tag #61 for 11:00), no entertainment tour...

I think it's time Royal Caribbean revises their Member Benefits if this is how it's going to be. Never thought I'd feel this disappointment on our first cruise as Diamond.

 

Ok, FLAME ON, but before you do, put yourself in our place.

 

This happened to us once as well. I can't remember what ship it was but we felt the same way. Sorry this happened on your first cruise as Diamond. It isn't the norm however so I hope things will be better for you.

[MicCanberra]

 

I would think that you would want a balcony cabin for a port intensive itinerary--we enjoyed having a balcony cabin during our 13 days Mediterranean cruise as we enjoyed having breakfast on the balcony at sunrise and while entering the European ports.

 

I agree, a balcony cabin is also awesome for the sail into ports and to some extent the sail away but then not everyone has my tastes. I enjoy the balcony:D.

[Redrobo]

your wrong.....

 

You're also wrong in your abolishment

 

http://english-zone.com/verbs/your1.html

[UCF_Knight]

I agree. Pins aren't worth much for many people.

 

Quick search of eBay completed listings shows they usually go for $5 or $6 bucks. So if you sell two you might be able to pay for a margarita on the ship.

[Paulette3028]

Becoming Diamond has been somewhat of a letdown. Entice us to cruise more for attractive member benefits only to feel like we've been used.

 

Our first cruise as Diamond we booked two balcony cabins to include others in our cabin. In all, one diamond pin shows up in just one cabin. No priority check in, no welcome back party, no top tier event, no welcome gift (beverage and snack), no priority departure (received luggage tag #61 for 11:00), no entertainment tour...

I think it's time Royal Caribbean revises their Member Benefits if this is how it's going to be. Never thought I'd feel this disappointment on our first cruise as Diamond.

 

Ok, FLAME ON, but before you do, put yourself in our place.

 

No flaming here, but it seems a bit odd when you mention that so many of these items were not available. As mentioned by others sometimes Priority Check in is not much of a priority, but it has always been marked clearly in the terminal.

 

One thing I enjoy is the complimentary robes, it means I don't have to take up space in my luggage for a bulky robe. I enjoy the Diamond Lounge and the specialty coffee I can get whenever I want it. In addition to the DL the drink coupons are nice -- we are not big drinkers, but if we are travelling with friends who are not D's or meet people on board who are not D's -- it is very nice to enjoy a drink in one of the bars with them.

 

Complain less is my thought and perhaps consider that you missed seeing something in your cabin.....all could have been resolved by just mentioning it to your cabin steward -- they can always do magic.

[cincicruisers]

I think the Diamond perks are like a ordering a steak dinner. While the steak is the star of the meal (balcony discount) you are still wanting your potato, salad, and bread.

 

I enjoy the perks and have received all the perks for our trips. Love my steak dinner.:rolleyes:

[John&LaLa]

Quick search of eBay completed listings shows they usually go for $5 or $6 bucks. So if you sell two you might be able to pay for a margarita on the ship.

 

And $20 shipping

[Cuizer2]

Quick search of eBay completed listings shows they usually go for $5 or $6 bucks. So if you sell two you might be able to pay for a margarita on the ship.

 

If they don't raise the price again.

[cindivan]

I have to agree with you on this one. People spend a lot of time concerning themselves with, and investing in, moving up the ladder in a program that could be terminated at any time. Spend the money because you want to go on a cruise. If you get something extra for being in a loyalty program great. Just consider it icing on the cake. The object should be to just enjoy the cake.

 

 

 

I've read comments in the past where people will book a suite or take an extra cruise because they want to reach the next level quicker. Book a suite because you want one. Take an extra cruise because you want to cruise. Doing either just to get some more points makes me sit here shake my head. Yes, those marketing people deserve a raise.

 

 

We love royal but I helped chaperone a high school spring break trip and the vote was carnival because it's cheaper and seen more of a party boat. I was very pleasantly surprised how much fun we had (to be fair, it was the Breeze which is one of their better ships). I didn't miss my RC perks as. Icy as I thought I would

 

We book our family cruises for what we want to do, not to earn points. The discounts erode the value of the diamond discount, and the three free drinks don't thrill most of us because of the limited selection and some us get the drink package anyway (hello royal!! Seriously how many times do we need to beg for a discount for diamond....)

 

My MIL just got diamond plus and we were looking at her benefits and were totally underwhelmed. Pinnacle, sure strictly for the suite lounge and special deck. But pretty sure that will never occur for any of us. 180 for diamond plus. 750 for pinnacle. I think that is one area the marketing team should consider.

[LisaAtlCruiser]

It all comes down to expectations. For me, I enjoy a vacation and I enjoy cruising. Perks for being loyal are icing on the cake. So when I have them I am thrilled and they add joy to me. But I don't get angry if something goes wrong as I don't feel entitled.

 

I am not meaning to put down any one person, or even groups of people. But it just seems like people seem so entitled now-a-days and narcissistic. While that annoys me - I can ignore it. The problem is really it leaves those people very unhappy as the world in fact does not revolve around them.

 

I say enjoy what you have. You cannot control the things around you. Your only choice is how you respond. You can be miserable, angry and bitter. Or you can decide this is not going to take one single ounce of my joy away! Your choice.

 

If I don't get my Diamond pin or benefits on my May cruise, I will go to the Loyalty officers desk and NICELY let them know. Problem solved.

[The Fun Researcher]

HappyCampers3, I don't think you are being unreasonable at all! I would be upset too. ...especially for your first cruise as a Diamond.

 

Clearly there was a mixup by RCI, but that still doesn't make it ok.

 

Dan

[Paulette3028]

We love royal but I helped chaperone a high school spring break trip and the vote was carnival because it's cheaper and seen more of a party boat. I was very pleasantly surprised how much fun we had (to be fair, it was the Breeze which is one of their better ships). I didn't miss my RC perks as. Icy as I thought I would

 

We book our family cruises for what we want to do, not to earn points. The discounts erode the value of the diamond discount, and the three free drinks don't thrill most of us because of the limited selection and some us get the drink package anyway (hello royal!! Seriously how many times do we need to beg for a discount for diamond....)

 

My MIL just got diamond plus and we were looking at her benefits and were totally underwhelmed. Pinnacle, sure strictly for the suite lounge and special deck. But pretty sure that will never occur for any of us. 180 for diamond plus. 750 for pinnacle. I think that is one area the marketing team should consider.

 

We cruise because we love cruising. We started late, when we were in our 50's, but do it whenever we can because we love it. The points/perks are not the reason for it. We have no interest to cruise another line -- Royal simply has not disappointed us and goes to places at times we want to cruise. We could find other cruise lines, but why.....we enjoy Royal. Has everything been perfect, no....in life, nothing is perfect. If you live long enough, you experience of few flies in your soup (so to speak), but nothing has gone so wrong on a cruise to make it a 'bad cruise'.

 

I know people will bring up, how cruising has changed and how benefits have have eroded.....but to us, it is still a great way to vacation and gives us good value for the money spent.

 

Since I have no control over what the perks are and if/when they change the perks, I don't worry about it. Belonging to the CAS doesn't involve a membership fee, and since I will be cruising anyway what the program gives me, I am happy to take advantage of, beginning with the balcony discounts and everything else from there.

[SPacificbound]

Fine for us. We get the balcony discount, the three free drinks PP daily, laundry coupons, and credit towards wifi.

 

We don't really care about any of the other stuff, including the Diamond pins.

 

Edit to add reciprocity on Celebrity, which is great.

Edited January 7, 2016 by SPacificbound

[LisaAtlCruiser]

We cruise because we love cruising. We started late, when we were in our 50's, but do it whenever we can because we love it. The points/perks are not the reason for it. We have no interest to cruise another line -- Royal simply has not disappointed us and goes to places at times we want to cruise. We could find other cruise lines, but why.....we enjoy Royal. Has everything been perfect, no....in life, nothing is perfect. If you live long enough, you experience of few flies in your soup (so to speak), but nothing has gone so wrong on a cruise to make it a 'bad cruise'.

 

I know people will bring up, how cruising has changed and how benefits have have eroded.....but to us, it is still a great way to vacation and gives us good value for the money spent.

 

Since I have no control over what the perks are and if/when they change the perks, I don't worry about it. Belonging to the CAS doesn't involve a membership fee, and since I will be cruising anyway what the program gives me, I am happy to take advantage of, beginning with the balcony discounts and everything else from there.

 

I love your attitude and my guess is that you experience a lot of joy in life!

[ShawninFL]

We've been diamond for about 8 years now....almost diamond plus - yeah!!!! We've never received a pin. We almost always get routed to the Diamond line when checking in and it has always been a shorter line than the general check in line. We never go to any of the C&A receptions so I can't tell you if we were invited by invitation as I probably just threw it out if we did receive it. I can relate to you regarding the luggage tags. We almost always get one of the highest numbered luggage tags...lol. No big deal as we usually self carry our luggage off so when can leave whenever we are ready. But I find it funny that it seems like they purposely give us the high numbered tags. In all honesty, the only benefit that we ever took advantage of, and we found this as a super surprise on our first sailing as Diamond. We didn't know anything about being invited at that time to the Concierge lounge for evening cocktails. So that was a super surprise bonus. Now with drink packages it doesn't mean anything as we can get whatever we want to drink at at any bar at anytime. Since you were well aware of the benefits you were supposed to receive I can understand your disappointment. Luckily on our first Diamond cruise we were clueless, so everything we did receive was icing on the cake. Hmmmm, I would what we didn't receive that we were supposed to get. ;-)

[iheartbda]

.............

 

Complain less is my thought and perhaps consider that you missed seeing something in your cabin.....all could have been resolved by just mentioning it to your cabin steward -- they can always do magic.

I didn't see the post as a complaint, the OP was just stating their disappointment.

Any special invitations we have gotten have always been placed on the bed, not easy to miss.;)

But they did speak to the cabin steward and the LA.

[Paulette3028]

I didn't see the post as a complaint, the OP was just stating their disappointment.

Any special invitations we have gotten have always been placed on the bed, not easy to miss.;)

But they did speak to the cabin steward and the LA.

 

When "Ok, FLAME ON, but before you do, put yourself in our place." I take that to mean he is complaining and know that he will get lots of 'hits' back and getting ready.

 

The post did not say something like 'I can't understand what has happened but.....'.

 

I read in one of HappyCamper3's responses it was admitted that there was a Priority Line at the departure port, but they could not use it because of an issue with one of their other cruisers who it seems was not Diamond. That is how it works.

 

Sorry that he got an unsatisfactory answer from the cabin steward.....we have never had that happen. I can't imagine the LA not handling the issue, if they were notified PRIOR to the event happening. There is nothing the LA can do about a missed event, if the event has already occured.

 

As in a previous reply to me, I do get much 'joy in life'......I start with a positive statement even faced with a problem needing resolution. I have found in life, I turn 65 soon, that the old statement "you get more with honey' goes a long way. Tonality plays a great role in how an issue is going to be resolved, and I have no idea the tonality used when talking to the staff by the OP. Not being judgemental here, just truthful.

 

I have had lots of things put on the bed, and then when I throw suitcases up there, they fall on the floor. We have gotten in the habit of looking first. Somehow after all the cruises I have taken (and many other people on here), I surmise that missing all the items the OP listed may have been more the cruisers fault than the cruise line, especially when considering that it was admitted in the thread that they 'missed the Priority Boarding line, due to other reasons'.

 

I have missed a party/event we were invited to, either a Welcome Back Party or a Top Tier Event, because we were doing other activities and forgot to go to it. The daily compass is a reminder of it and always lists it.

[papaflamingo]

Becoming Diamond has been somewhat of a letdown. Entice us to cruise more for attractive member benefits only to feel like we've been used.

 

Our first cruise as Diamond we booked two balcony cabins to include others in our cabin. In all, one diamond pin shows up in just one cabin. No priority check in, no welcome back party, no top tier event, no welcome gift (beverage and snack), no priority departure (received luggage tag #61 for 11:00), no entertainment tour...

I think it's time Royal Caribbean revises their Member Benefits if this is how it's going to be. Never thought I'd feel this disappointment on our first cruise as Diamond.

 

Ok, FLAME ON, but before you do, put yourself in our place.

 

Sometimes it takes a while for the computer to catch up to the member. Obviously many of us don't care about the pin, but you are entitled to one. Call Crown and Anchor and they'll mail one to you. As for the welcome aboard gift, sometimes (rarely) do they not show up. Did you make a selection in time? Make sure your preferences are in the computer.

But the biggest perk, for us, is the nightly cocktail event. Saves a lot of money on drinks. If you attended this, you got one of the best perks, IMHO.

As for debarkation, they give the numbers out based (I think) on departure plans. But go to the Diamond Concierge and ask for earlier departure. They can help you in all those areas.

I agree you shouldn't have to "chase down" your benefits, but sometimes you just have to do so. It's better than not receiving them. It's a big ship and a big cruiseline. Sometimes things fall through the crack.

[TheMastodon]

No pin !! ahhhh must have pin

[KevinXC]

I will attain Diamond after my next cruise, January 30. If I book a new cruise while onboard the January 30 cruise, will RCL likely give me the Diamond balcony discount?

[Clarea]

I will attain Diamond after my next cruise, January 30. If I book a new cruise while onboard the January 30 cruise, will RCL likely give me the Diamond balcony discount?

Might depend on the person who books your cruise, but I've seen the Next Cruise people give the Diamond discount to those in your situation.