not-enough-cruising Posted February 28, 2019 #1526 Share Posted February 28, 2019 14 hours ago, marcg125 said: Here is a picture of the menu from vloggers who went on the Symphony Cruise the first week of February using The Key program for those who asked about Chops Grille menu. Consequently here is the Key menu from Chops embarkation lunch on Feb 10, Liberty of the Seas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Lionesss Posted February 28, 2019 #1527 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Reading this thread has provided me with a lot of information. But as I read on and on about the KEY, I am hearing the price is or should I say has changed with no rhyme or reason to ship or sailing date. I guess it could be a result of RCI testing the waters and supply and demand. Ok now that I have that out of the way. What is the current cost that all are paying for this service? Are the perks different for different class of RCI ships? Also I know I can search myself for the answers but would like to continue hearing about cruisers individual experiences. Thanks Safe travels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFan Posted February 28, 2019 #1528 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Kinda cheesy of RCL to cheapen the Chops embarkation lunch like that for a VIP experience. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare xpcdoojk Posted February 28, 2019 #1529 Share Posted February 28, 2019 The original price was pretty much 19.99. Since then I have seen both 31.99 and 24.99 on my cruise on which the Key is listed as an option. It starts to make sense if you plan on booking two internet packages. If you want/need early disembarking times in ports. If you like to do the activities that are given special times. If you are going to book a specialty lunch especially first day. If you want early access to your room (depends on ship). You want to dump your hand luggage and be free of it. It made sense to me at 19.99 per person per day, but a the other prices it would be hard to justify. Although in my special case I could probably justify it. Aka flowrider. jc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Tree_skier Posted February 28, 2019 #1530 Share Posted February 28, 2019 16 hours ago, tinkr2 said: Wait . I have to have a windows operating system? No you don't. I have used my MacBook Pro, my. iPad and my iPhone all without any difficulty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3bzmom Posted February 28, 2019 #1531 Share Posted February 28, 2019 3 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said: The original price was pretty much 19.99. Since then I have seen both 31.99 and 24.99 on my cruise on which the Key is listed as an option. It starts to make sense if you plan on booking two internet packages. If you want/need early disembarking times in ports. If you like to do the activities that are given special times. If you are going to book a specialty lunch especially first day. If you want early access to your room (depends on ship). You want to dump your hand luggage and be free of it. It made sense to me at 19.99 per person per day, but a the other prices it would be hard to justify. Although in my special case I could probably justify it. Aka flowrider. jc There is no priority disembarking at port unless it’s a tender port. Also, post-cruise disembarkation last week was a nightmare- the 8:30 time was actually 10:00, so if disembarkation is a concern, you should do self-disembark and not take advantage of Key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShillyShally Posted February 28, 2019 #1532 Share Posted February 28, 2019 I'm just hoping next week we'll find it provided enough value to justify the costs. The reports coming back are kinks are being worked out and/or readily occurring but I expect that will happen long after it's new! Normally we wouldn't care about internet but since we already needed that this trip we aren't paying a ton more at $19.99 a day and still figure this is as good a trip as any to try it on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orsino Posted February 28, 2019 #1533 Share Posted February 28, 2019 When giving feedback on Key experiences, I think it is vitally important to include the ship and sail date. Key implementation is not consistent across ships! So if you are weighing options, be sure to look for reviews that are specific to your ship. Unfortunately, I think twangster's excellent review of The Key is now too dated to be relevant to people considering buying today. Both because Royal is tweaking the program and the experience on a 'sold out key' cruise simply has to be different than one of the first that had fewer key holders. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShillyShally Posted February 28, 2019 #1534 Share Posted February 28, 2019 1 minute ago, Orsino said: When giving feedback on Key experiences, I think it is vitally important to include the ship and sail date. Key implementation is not consistent across ships! So if you are weighing options, be sure to look for reviews that are specific to your ship. Unfortunately, I think twangster's excellent review of The Key is now too dated to be relevant to people considering buying today. Both because Royal is tweaking the program and the experience on a 'sold out key' cruise simply has to be different than one of the first that had fewer key holders. Agreed! I think the debarkation reports too need to be taken with a grain of salt as even best laid plans can get thrown off when weather or suspected cargo is in play. And it seems it's sold out for our cruise as I don't see it in the planner anymore so I'll just stop debating it, keep it and plan on enjoying and will report back on how it went! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare xpcdoojk Posted February 28, 2019 #1535 Share Posted February 28, 2019 43 minutes ago, 3bzmom said: There is no priority disembarking at port unless it’s a tender port. Also, post-cruise disembarkation last week was a nightmare- the 8:30 time was actually 10:00, so if disembarkation is a concern, you should do self-disembark and not take advantage of Key. Yes, I am talking about tender ports and not at the end of the cruise. I think in all of my cruises I have gotten off earlier than I expected one time. That was in Southampton on the Navigator. On my upcoming cruise 4 ports and 3 are tender ports. jc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3bzmom Posted February 28, 2019 #1536 Share Posted February 28, 2019 8 minutes ago, Orsino said: When giving feedback on Key experiences, I think it is vitally important to include the ship and sail date. Key implementation is not consistent across ships! So if you are weighing options, be sure to look for reviews that are specific to your ship. Unfortunately, I think twangster's excellent review of The Key is now too dated to be relevant to people considering buying today. Both because Royal is tweaking the program and the experience on a 'sold out key' cruise simply has to be different than one of the first that had fewer key holders. Agree, to a point... if one reason you're buying The Key is for priority disembarkation at ports, that's universally ONLY for tender ports- but they don't tell you that in the literature. So it's not ship specific as much as it's itinerary-specific. In regards to our disasterous disembarkation experience on Liberty last week, yes there can always be problems at port, but do not expect to get priority service above self-debarking passengers. That was my point in posting. If a quick exit off the ship is necessary, self-disembark and don't count that as a Key benefit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3bzmom Posted February 28, 2019 #1537 Share Posted February 28, 2019 2 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said: Consequently here is the Key menu from Chops embarkation lunch on Feb 10, Liberty of the Seas That was also the menu on Liberty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orsino Posted February 28, 2019 #1538 Share Posted February 28, 2019 2 minutes ago, 3bzmom said: Agree, to a point... if one reason you're buying The Key is for priority disembarkation at ports, that's universally ONLY for tender ports- but they don't tell you that in the literature. So it's not ship specific as much as it's itinerary-specific. In regards to our disasterous disembarkation experience on Liberty last week, yes there can always be problems at port, but do not expect to get priority service above self-debarking passengers. That was my point in posting. If a quick exit off the ship is necessary, self-disembark and don't count that as a Key benefit. I'm sorry your disembarkation went poorly. Our experience on Oasis on 17 Feb was vastly different. I didn't expect to use the Key benefit because the letter we were given said the Key escort started at 8:15 (or 8:30, I don't remember exactly). We needed to be off earlier so self carried our luggage. To my surprise, we were escorted off after breakfast (about 7:30AM). I don't know that it saved us time, but we apparently skipped "the ramp" (whatever that is). The people we were with seemed to like skipping it. And while we didn't get front of the line access to customs, we sort of merged partway in so skipped some portion of the line. While we self-carried, the other Key guests leaving at the same time had key-checked their luggage and were brought to it. I saw no problems even though it was 7:30AM. Super smooth early Key disembarkation on Oasis. I am hesitant to proclaim this would be true for all future Key passengers, and the wording of the letter conflicts with what I experienced. but that's something about the Key I saw all week. What was written down was NOT what we experienced. Fortunately, the discrepancy was (almost) always in our favor. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbahorik Posted February 28, 2019 #1539 Share Posted February 28, 2019 26 minutes ago, Orsino said: When giving feedback on Key experiences, I think it is vitally important to include the ship and sail date. Key implementation is not consistent across ships! So if you are weighing options, be sure to look for reviews that are specific to your ship. Unfortunately, I think twangster's excellent review of The Key is now too dated to be relevant to people considering buying today. Both because Royal is tweaking the program and the experience on a 'sold out key' cruise simply has to be different than one of the first that had fewer key holders. My detailed oasis review is current as we are on the ship now. February 28th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbahorik Posted February 28, 2019 #1540 Share Posted February 28, 2019 On 2/27/2019 at 10:52 AM, jerseyjjs said: You're diamond? From the content of your post, it seems like you spent $280 for a limited menu at Chops and your carry on bags taken to your cabin (though you had to schlep them to the theater first). Doesn't seem like a sensible value to me. We love to schlep! We always get surf and stream for each of us so there is that too 😉. We had so much shipboard credit and we don’t drink , gamble or shop so why not? Plus they put a 🔑 sticker on our sea pass! 😂😂 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShillyShally Posted February 28, 2019 #1541 Share Posted February 28, 2019 31 minutes ago, bbahorik said: We love to schlep! We always get surf and stream for each of us so there is that too 😉. We had so much shipboard credit and we don’t drink , gamble or shop so why not? Plus they put a 🔑 sticker on our sea pass! 😂😂 I'll admit I am looking forward to the 🔑 sticker 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradenj21 Posted March 1, 2019 #1542 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Interesting to me that some people report recieving extra perks with The Key (fruit plate, strawberries, cookies). Is this common or dependent on the ship and/or C&A level? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare xpcdoojk Posted March 1, 2019 #1543 Share Posted March 1, 2019 I am guessing some are getting something but higher levels of C&A get stuff always, hard to know exactly what when people post without posting all of the various details. jc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkr2 Posted March 1, 2019 #1544 Share Posted March 1, 2019 So now I am waiting to see if they have changed the Jamies lunch menu options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradenj21 Posted March 1, 2019 #1545 Share Posted March 1, 2019 8 hours ago, xpcdoojk said: I am guessing some are getting something but higher levels of C&A get stuff always, hard to know exactly what when people post without posting all of the various details. jc I would agree with that for fruit etc. but Key shaped cookies seem pretty specific. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare xpcdoojk Posted March 1, 2019 #1546 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Yes, so will I get Key shaped cookies and regular cookies or just key shaped in which case the only change will be the shape. jc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cre8tiv Posted March 1, 2019 #1547 Share Posted March 1, 2019 I am looking forward to the Xtra Key Perks...key cookies if they re still doing it. And no Key ..lime pie,hmmm.. that’s a shame. Any “Key” related stuff would just make it that much better, lol Appreciate all the Actual Key experiences being shared. safe travels all. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grenouille21 Posted March 1, 2019 #1548 Share Posted March 1, 2019 They really should give out keychains. And key lime pie. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShillyShally Posted March 2, 2019 #1549 Share Posted March 2, 2019 2 hours ago, Grenouille21 said: They really should give out keychains. And key lime pie. LOL, I agree, it should be key overload! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatheWenz Posted March 2, 2019 #1550 Share Posted March 2, 2019 The KEY is now available on our Cruise Planner for Mariner of the Seas or $19.99. We are on a 4 night cruise, leaving in a few weeks. For the two of us it's $159.92. If I cancel the internet I got for one device, it's down to $99. Still not sure if it's worth it. We haven't been on a cruise in almost 25 years so it's hard to know if any of these perks will even matter to us.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now