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New Program called "The Key"


ValerieJo
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That happens to everybody....their system is more for show than it is real...[emoji849]


Yes - but in the game of ‘show’ they are at least pretending to be scanning cards of people without the Key. If you show the sticker - they don’t swipe you and have told us it’s a perk.


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2 minutes ago, Cel_cruise said:

 


Yes - but in the game of ‘show’ they are at least pretending to be scanning cards of people without the Key. If you show the sticker - they don’t swipe you and have told us it’s a perk.


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OK so a variation of the show....😂

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On anthem of the seas right now. Key has worked well for us.  Arrived at cape liberty to our own security line. Swift and easy. Got in rows with pinnacle and diamond plus. Were one of the first three rows on the ship. Unloaded our luggage in royal theater and then went back to find a small desk where our Key envelope was waiting for us with internet codes for each.  Then waited for Chops  to open.  Had a wonderful meal there. It is long though.  By then our room was ready.  Our carry  on bags were in our closet and checked in bag steady on the hallway. We do have private times but hasn’t happened yet.    I was able to book iFly and north star on different days as well.  Our new Platinum friends were shocked at how much we got compared to their perks.  Oh and fresh fruit tray in our room with Key card alongside it.  Maybe not the biggest perk but still nice to come back to.  

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I purchased The Key for my upcoming Baltic cruise. The main reason I did this was because I wanted priority disembarkation at the different ports of call, especially St.Petersburg. Does the Key include this or is it just priority disembarkation at the final destination?

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1 hour ago, CYN2920 said:

I purchased The Key for my upcoming Baltic cruise. The main reason I did this was because I wanted priority disembarkation at the different ports of call, especially St.Petersburg. Does the Key include this or is it just priority disembarkation at the final destination?

Yes you should have priority disembarkation at each port.  

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2 hours ago, MissLittle1959 said:

No complaints here!  Tonight we see the gift.  Not sure if we have special seating or not.

 

2 hours ago, blueridgemama said:

 

Sounds like everything is going perfectly for you. Hopefully will continue. Appreciate you taking the time to post.

Maybe Anthem just has it down and their staff are all informed. It worked well for us this past week also.

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25 minutes ago, TennisCruiser62 said:

 

On Anthem this past week, we had priority disembarkation at 2 ports of call. None of them were tendered either. Not sure why the 3rd port there was no priority mentioned. 

Thanks! Hopefully someone who has used The Key in Europe will see this and respond. Our private excursions pick us up shortly after arrival and those with booked Royal Carribean excursions disembark before anyone else is permitted to.

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7 hours ago, Cel_cruise said:

One more random tidbit from SOTS - Key Members don’t have to check out towels!!?!? We show our card and they give them to us! No swiping or tracking! While I love the convenience of this - it has this free random sort of feel! Ha!


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This was not part of The Key last month on SotS!  I wish it had been!  

 

2 hours ago, CYN2920 said:

I purchased The Key for my upcoming Baltic cruise. The main reason I did this was because I wanted priority disembarkation at the different ports of call, especially St.Petersburg. Does the Key include this or is it just priority disembarkation at the final destination?

 

I was told on the Symphony that there is no priority debarkation at ports of call, only at the end of the cruise.  Others have reported different experiences, some have had no priority debarkation and some have.  You won't know whether you have priority debarkation or any of the reported Key benefits until you get on board, unfortunately, as it seems to vary widely from one sailing to the next.  

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1 minute ago, Grenouille21 said:

I was told on the Symphony that there is no priority debarkation at ports of call, only at the end of the cruise. 

Since Oasis class doesn't tender, there's not much to prioritize with those ships at ports of call - quite different on different class of ships at tender ports.

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1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

Since Oasis class doesn't tender, there's not much to prioritize with those ships at ports of call - quite different on different class of ships at tender ports.

 

And yet it wasn't worded that way in any of the documentation from RCI, which promised priority debarkation at all ports of call.  And others have said that they have had priority debarkation in non-tender ports.  So... 🤷‍♀️

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1 minute ago, Grenouille21 said:

And yet it wasn't worded that way in any of the documentation from RCI, which promised priority debarkation at all ports of call.  

You read enough around here to realize that you have to "interpret" what RCI says in their marketing materials.

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30 minutes ago, Grenouille21 said:

 

This was not part of The Key last month on SotS!  I wish it had been!  

 

 

I was told on the Symphony that there is no priority debarkation at ports of call, only at the end of the cruise.  Others have reported different experiences, some have had no priority debarkation and some have.  You won't know whether you have priority debarkation or any of the reported Key benefits until you get on board, unfortunately, as it seems to vary widely from one sailing to the next.  

We received s letter tonight stating to meet in the music hall for priority disembarkation in Bermuda.  We prob get an escort down.  

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The Key was amazing on Freedom of the Seas. Daily Private flowrider sessions, 2 rock climbing sessions and one ice skating session. We got priority debarkation at every port.  The show seats were great and we just had to show our card.  Embarkation was smooth and we had a special line but there were not any lines when we got there so it didn’t matter.  Chops was good and they even let my underage son (not required to purchase the key) eat for free with our family.  Debarkation was a breeze.  We had to wait 20 minutes in the dining room after breakfast to be escorted off, but after that we walked straight to our luggage and had a special customs line just for Key members.  It took 5 minutes.  I was told there were about 100 keys sold on our ship.  I wonder if smaller (yet older) ships are able to be more consistent with the offerings.  We are doing the Key on the Ovation this summer and I’m wondering how it will compare.

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The Key on Symphony...the headaches continue...

Tonight we had 2 activities that would involve The Key. We had reservations for Hiro and we had Ice Skating.

Hiro started at 8:30 and we arrived around 8:12. We stood in the reservation line and it was odd that it just wasn’t moving. Come to find out - that it wasn’t moving because most of the guests showing up at that time were Key guests - and when they showed up the reserved seating area was already full. Many guests were very unhappy. We know of at least 20 that could not be seated in the area but there may have been more.

The greeter from the Sports Staff was very apologetic - he told us that he has been asking management to start using the reservation data to block off reserved areas based on the actual numbers but they won’t accept his suggestion. I felt bad for him as the guy on the front line dealing with this mess. He said point blank to talk to CD Mike about it because it is definitely a real issue and we should not have been in this situation.

Our group of 8 split up - I took the 3 girls and we found some bench seating on the side that we could fit on it my daughter sat on my lap (for an hour!!) and the other 4 adults went to Deck 7 to watch - so not only did they not get Key - they didn’t even use their reservation!! One of them dragged a chair over for the senior of the group. While the view from Deck 7 was great - it should not have come to that!!! Luckily we thought the show had enough entertaining stunts and choreography that it helped make things tolerable.

After that [emoji360] disappointment - we went to the properly scheduled Ice Skating time. They waited until 9:30 to open the ice exactly and then nearly every guest that was in line needed to sign waivers. It was 9:45before we got to the front and then we had to wait for some of the girls moms to come down to sign waivers. It was 10:05 before we had everything done and could proceed to skate fitting area. Given the late start I asked that our group also be given stickers for the 10:30 Skating session which after pointing out we would have 5-8 minutes to skate before the time ran out, they agreed. In the end- that request being granted was great compensation. When they cleared the green group - they let us stay on the ice while the white group was allowed in the skate prep area. We had about 10 min of ice time with just the 4 of us which was perfect for the 2 kids who were new to skating!! We stayed on until the entire white group made it onto the ice and freed up seating for us to get off.

For skating - I accept that some of the delayed start was on us for needing to sign waivers - though I do wish that they had a process for this to sign them ahead of time or at checkin or muster tag pick up or something. But 15 minutes before we even got to the sign in station was crazy - this was a first ice skating event I think and there should have been more people to get the possible key guests into the ice quickly.


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6 minutes ago, Cel_cruise said:

The Key on Symphony...the headaches continue...

Tonight we had 2 activities that would involve The Key. We had reservations for Hiro and we had Ice Skating.
 

Can you post your Key activities sheet for SOTS this week.  We go in 7 weeks.  After readding everything from SOTS I might cancel it and just add Voom and Chops lunch and save a ton of money (4 keys). 

 

We bought it for Flowrider mostly.  And now it seems like you don't get much time on it with SOTS.

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18 minutes ago, Cel_cruise said:

The Key on Symphony...the headaches continue...

Tonight we had 2 activities that would involve The Key. We had reservations for Hiro and we had Ice Skating.

Hiro started at 8:30 and we arrived around 8:12. We stood in the reservation line and it was odd that it just wasn’t moving. Come to find out - that it wasn’t moving because most of the guests showing up at that time were Key guests - and when they showed up the reserved seating area was already full. Many guests were very unhappy. We know of at least 20 that could not be seated in the area but there may have been more.

The greeter from the Sports Staff was very apologetic - he told us that he has been asking management to start using the reservation data to block off reserved areas based on the actual numbers but they won’t accept his suggestion. I felt bad for him as the guy on the front line dealing with this mess. He said point blank to talk to CD Mike about it because it is definitely a real issue and we should not have been in this situation.

Our group of 8 split up - I took the 3 girls and we found some bench seating on the side that we could fit on it my daughter sat on my lap (for an hour!!) and the other 4 adults went to Deck 7 to watch - so not only did they not get Key - they didn’t even use their reservation!! One of them dragged a chair over for the senior of the group. While the view from Deck 7 was great - it should not have come to that!!! Luckily we thought the show had enough entertaining stunts and choreography that it helped make things tolerable.

After that emoji360.png disappointment - we went to the properly scheduled Ice Skating time. They waited until 9:30 to open the ice exactly and then nearly every guest that was in line needed to sign waivers. It was 9:45before we got to the front and then we had to wait for some of the girls moms to come down to sign waivers. It was 10:05 before we had everything done and could proceed to skate fitting area. Given the late start I asked that our group also be given stickers for the 10:30 Skating session which after pointing out we would have 5-8 minutes to skate before the time ran out, they agreed. In the end- that request being granted was great compensation. When they cleared the green group - they let us stay on the ice while the white group was allowed in the skate prep area. We had about 10 min of ice time with just the 4 of us which was perfect for the 2 kids who were new to skating!! We stayed on until the entire white group made it onto the ice and freed up seating for us to get off.

For skating - I accept that some of the delayed start was on us for needing to sign waivers - though I do wish that they had a process for this to sign them ahead of time or at checkin or muster tag pick up or something. But 15 minutes before we even got to the sign in station was crazy - this was a first ice skating event I think and there should have been more people to get the possible key guests into the ice quickly.


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Cel_Cruise - (or anyone else currently on SOS)  - Since they greatly reduced the special Key times for the activities such as Flowrider, Zip Line, Skating, etc., are you supposed to still have "priority access" during non-Key times (when the general ship population is allowed to go) by moving ahead or "cutting" the lines?  If so, have you experienced it? What do the other cruisers think?  Is the any signage for that?  Or do people think you are cutting the line?   

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Can you post your Key activities sheet for SOTS this week.  We go in 7 weeks.  After readding everything from SOTS I might cancel it and just add Voom and Chops lunch and save a ton of money (4 keys). 
 
We bought it for Flowrider mostly.  And now it seems like you don't get much time on it with SOTS.


I already posted it in post #2227


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Cel_Cruise - (or anyone else currently on SOS)  - Since they greatly reduced the special Key times for the activities such as Flowrider, Zip Line, Skating, etc., are you supposed to still have "priority access" during non-Key times (when the general ship population is allowed to go) by moving ahead or "cutting" the lines?  If so, have you experienced it? What do the other cruisers think?  Is the any signage for that?  Or do people think you are cutting the line?   


We asked about this when we met with the head of Guest Services and he told us we were supposed to still have this and sent wrist bands to our rooms. We got the wrist bands delivered last night but have not gotten any guidance on how to use them or where they would be accepted. We will be inquiring sometime today and will report out on the experience and our groups comfort level to use them.

If going on another symphony cruise (while Anthem seems like a total score!!) - I would have probably kept the great internet deal I got on the cruise planner, purchased Chops specialty from the planner, and had our group reserve flow rider lessons. A family of 4 could have gotten the 4 device package for $26/day last week on the planner, plus $80 Chops, and $60/person (do all 4 need it?) for Flowrider lesson for less than the price of the Key especially at the $25 sale price. That just leaves show seating and debarkation as discriminators.


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