Bean Counters vs Diamonds

[cruisegirl1]

I just throw in another thought, passengers who are master level with the casino,( a VERY high roller) have access to full suite benefits regardless of their accommodation.  Of course, they are often “gifted“ suites anyway but I guess one could pay for an interior cabin and still enjoy the suite lounge and coastal kitchen all day. 
 

m

 

[island lady]

10 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Sorry, that never gets reported

 

 

Tough to count C&A members in total when they are not cruising this planet any more also.  😉 

[seeyakids]

13 hours ago, ATC cruiser said:

That’s kind of fuzzy math. All those free drinks don’t cost RCI anywhere near 150k. With the cheap booze they serve in the diamond lounge and the volume they buy at, I’d be very surprised if each drink costs them a buck.

yes, I agree it is very fuzzy. My point is not what their cost of booze is, but the excessive profit RCL can make if the new rule is in place and diamonds start purchasing drinks beyond the 3 sea pass limits or better still for RCL diamonds purchase the BP..

[Milwaukee Eight]

6 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

I just throw in another thought, passengers who are master level with the casino,( a VERY high roller) have access to full suite benefits regardless of their accommodation.  Of course, they are often “gifted“ suites anyway but I guess one could pay for an interior cabin and still enjoy the suite lounge and coastal kitchen all day. 
 

m

 

I wonder if they get FREE room service as do full suites if staying in a cabin other than Suite?

Edited November 5, 2019 by Milwaukee Eight

[Lionesss]

I thought I saw a thread with a picture of a sign outside the lounge next to CK on an Oasis class ship that read

Pinnacle/ suite lounge.

 

I know this can change the way anything can change, but just saying, it was what they (RCI) wanted.

 

OK, this was a side note.

 

Carry on.

[cruisegirl1]

12 hours ago, davekathy said:

Yeah, I realize that. Just me thinking out loud. Wonder if those staying in suites would stop cruising with RC if RC did eliminate the SL? 😏

I can’t imagine them ever getting rid of a suite lounge.
 

Honestly, the company doesn’t care how many cruises you’ve been on. I have no data, but I suspect it is something like the more cruises you’ve been on, the less you spend on board each cruise.  Recall your early days of Cruising of buying pictures, buying gifts on board, buying  RCCL T shirts, buying excursions, buying drinks  etc. Now, some of those items are complementary for upper tier. 
 

Royal Caribbean does,  as they should, take very nice care of suite guests. I would be shocked if they ever eliminated a lounge for suite guests.  If anything, I see them creating a ship within a ship for upper suite guests where they are shielded from the general population. Think of the suite sundecks and CK on some of the newer ships. 
 

m

[cruisegirl1]

6 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I wonder if they get FREE room service as do full suites if staying in a cabin other than Suite?

Don’t know. But, At their gambling level, I imagine the casino host can comp  any kind of room service charge.

 

A Masters level player needs to run half a million through a slot machine. That doesn’t mean they have to lose that much that just means I have to gamble that much in one years time.  They deserve much more than free room service

 

m

Edited November 5, 2019 by cruisegirl1

[seeyakids]

13 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Harmony NEVER had the Diamond Lounge in the location of Allure/Oasis. It never existed there. 

sorry, yes there was no Harmony DL initially there. I was referring to the other Oasis class ships. If RCL hasn't already, I would venture to say all Oasis ships will convert that prime location to a money maker specialty rest. rather than keeping that  location DL. By the way, Wonderland was fabulous. Give it a try.

[island lady]

6 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Hi Rory.

Over 200 but we rarely go into the DL and use our 3 free drinks in 

Speciality Restaurants.

MTD.

VCL.

Champagne Bar etc.

We are Elite on Princess.

Mediterranean on P&O

so our 52 cruises have made us top and near top on other cruiselines.

The Free Drinks on RC are a massive USP against other lines.

Graham.

HI Graham...nice reply...but...

Isn't that a bit of a personal question?  Also brings to mind...the types that complain when upper tier brag about their points in the lounge.  When someone asks me how many cruises I have been on, or how many points I have...I just smile and say "Oh...a few" 😉  

Edited November 5, 2019 by island lady

[Milwaukee Eight]

Just now, Lionesss said:

I thought I saw a thread with a picture of a sign outside the lounge next to CK on an Oasis class ship that read

Pinnacle/ suite lounge.

 

I know this can change the way anything can change, but just saying, it was what they (RCI) wanted.

 

OK, this was a side note.

 

Carry on.

Our experience on the Oasis Class ships (haven’t been on Symphony), the door and wall is clearly labeled Suite Lounge. I have seen photos of a sign inside the SL that indicates Suites/Pinnacles. I don’t recall seeing that sign inside but not something I’m looking for. It’s one in those clear plastic frames sitting on a desk. 
 

If you book for summer, Spring Break, when kids are out of school, holidays, the Suite Lounge, in our experience, hasn’t been an issue. 

[island lady]

1 hour ago, cruisegirl1 said:

 

It would also entail air travel for almost everyone. A lot of the Florida cruisers don’t even want to travel from Central Florida to South Florida.
 

We have sailed a longer Canada/New England cruise  , the Caribbean over spring break and summer (more expensive)  and have therefore enjoyed  cruises with relatively low numbers of loyalty passengers. On one cruise there were eight pinnacle members on another there were 12. You are right about Alaska, however we sailed Alaska in the early 2000,s well before the crown and anchor explosion.

M

 

 

Of the cruises I have booked...90% involve a flight to somewhere other than my home state of Florida.  

[Milwaukee Eight]

4 minutes ago, seeyakids said:

sorry, yes there was no Harmony DL initially there. I was referring to the other Oasis class ships. If RCL hasn't already, I would venture to say all Oasis ships will convert that prime location to a money maker specialty rest. rather than keeping that  location DL. By the way, Wonderland was fabulous. Give it a try.

You did say Harmony. 
 

I believe Oasis is getting cabins where the DL was. I thought as you, Wonderland, but that’s not happening. Off topic but, to us, Wonderland was one and done. 

[cruisegirl1]

1 minute ago, island lady said:

 

Isn't that a bit of a personal question?  Also brings to mind...the types that complain when upper tier brag about their points in the lounge.  When someone asks me how many cruises I have been on, or how many points I have...I just smile and say "Oh...a few" 😉  

Same here. But Interestingly I’ve never been asked by anyone in a lounge. I guess it’s assumed that we have a specific number or we would not be in there.  

 

I’ve only been asked a few times.  Usually  at open seating Breakfast/lunch by someone who has several cruises and they are proud of that, (and they should be) and wants to know if they can top everyone at the table. I go along and say “just a few” .  

 

A few of the crew and staff have asked me and I have told them the exact number.

m

[cruisegirl1]

8 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Our experience on the Oasis Class ships (haven’t been on Symphony), the door and wall is clearly labeled Suite Lounge. I have seen photos of a sign inside the SL that indicates Suites/Pinnacles. I don’t recall seeing that sign inside but not something I’m looking for. It’s one in those clear plastic frames sitting on a desk. 
 

If you book for summer, Spring Break, when kids are out of school, holidays, the Suite Lounge, in our experience, hasn’t been an issue. 

Correct about the Spring break/summer lounge, but we find CK to be quite crowded with families, especially early.  
 

That is fine, we never mind sailing with families as generally their schedules and activities are the opposite of ours. 

we’ve actually sailed a couple of short  College spring break “party cruises“ and don’t mind those either as when we want to get a lounger at 10 in the morning, everyone else is sleeping off the night before. When we’re going to bed at 11 that group is just coming out and getting started.

 

 

m

Edited November 5, 2019 by cruisegirl1

[cruisegirl1]

8 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Of the cruises I have booked...90% involve a flight to somewhere other than my home state of Florida.  

That is good, you must have some wonderful travel stories. I will look forward to hearing them when we meet on rhapsody. 
 

Of course you must realize that you are more likely the exception than the rule 😄
m

Edited November 5, 2019 by cruisegirl1

[Pratique]

10 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

Too bad, it would be fascinating to see.

I remember numbers being "quoted" (from what source I don't know)  a few years back on this forum... I'd bet Diamonds are x10 from those numbers in just a few short years.

You could make an educated guess. Assume one out of five or six guests are in the upper tiers, and assume they cruise an average of three or four (?) times a year. 6 million guests last year with those assumptions works out to about 300,000-400,000 (active cruisers). Of course you could play with the numbers but that is probably within or near the ballpark.

[Milwaukee Eight]

12 minutes ago, island lady said:

HI Graham...nice reply...but...

Isn't that a bit of a personal question?  Also brings to mind...the types that complain when upper tier brag about their points in the lounge.  When someone asks me how many cruises I have been on, or how many points I have...I just smile and say "Oh...a few" 😉  

Actually no. If you go back and read @grapau27 post on page 6, he offered a suggestion to increase points required for Diamond to 175, D+ to 350. I thought it was honorable on his part, as he is D+, with 200 points, to suggest 350 for D+. 
 

Have a nice day

[Milwaukee Eight]

13 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Of the cruises I have booked...90% involve a flight to somewhere other than my home state of Florida.  

Of course cruises out of Florida may require a flight (90% of the time in your words). The question would be, what percentage do you cruise out of Florida and what percentage out of Florida. 

[Joebucks]

2 hours ago, compman9 said:

There is a reason cruise lines have these loyalty programmes - THEY WORK

 

This whole thread proves they work

 

If I did not get Diamond Plus benefits I would go on other cruise lines, but I don't because I enjoy the benefits of my loyalty and so does the cruise line

 

While packed lounges of those with 80+ days are a strong indicator, do they really PROVE that the loyalty programs in their current form are a no-brainer? The economy is strong, and we are seeing record travel. Prices are going up across the board. Ships are sailing full. The vast majority of cruisers on most lines are NOT receiving free alcohol, still sailing full. In fact, many cruisers are buying alcohol packages, which are big money for the cruise lines.

 

Any change is bound to alienate some customers, but how many? Many who say they wouldn't return, do. There are even people out there who have earned that elite tier, but don't return because of other reasons. If it was such an open and shut case, why aren't more lines doing it?

[Tulsacoker]

I wonder, if RCI changed and added "unlimited drinks on your seapass card for D level and higher durning HH but reduced the HH time from 3 hours to 2 hours,  how would that be received

Edited November 5, 2019 by Tulsacoker

[Milwaukee Eight]

9 minutes ago, Tulsacoker said:

I wonder, if RCI changed and added "unlimited drinks on your seapass card for D level and higher durning HH but reduced the HH time from 3 hours to 2 hours,  how would that be received

So it’s all about the Free alcohol?  Royal recently added Bud Light to the Diamond list which was a good move. The Vodka on the list is terrible. We prefer a better Scotch as well. 

[Tulsacoker]

1 minute ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

So it’s all about the Free alcohol?  

I believe it is...  

[island lady]

37 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

That is good, you must have some wonderful travel stories. I will look forward to hearing them when we meet on rhapsody. 
 

Of course you must realize that you are more likely the exception than the rule 😄
m

 

Yes, looking forward to meeting and sailing with you as well!  🙂  And nah...I don't find myself exceptional. ☺️

[compman9]

35 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

 

While packed lounges of those with 80+ days are a strong indicator, do they really PROVE that the loyalty programs in their current form are a no-brainer? The economy is strong, and we are seeing record travel. Prices are going up across the board. Ships are sailing full. The vast majority of cruisers on most lines are NOT receiving free alcohol, still sailing full. In fact, many cruisers are buying alcohol packages, which are big money for the cruise lines.

 

Any change is bound to alienate some customers, but how many? Many who say they wouldn't return, do. There are even people out there who have earned that elite tier, but don't return because of other reasons. If it was such an open and shut case, why aren't more lines doing it?

 

You are talking from an American perspective - RCI is a global brand with ships all over the world

 

All cruise lines have a loyalty package. not all offer booze for a couple of hours, but those lines have attracted different loyal guests. For long cruises, some prefer free laundry etc.

 

All I said, was if RCI remove my drinks, I will remove RCI from my option list without the slightest glance backwards

[Mikew0805]

15 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

My spouse would actually be okay with me popping into the DL for a drink or two once in a while as long as I didn't spend 1/2 the day in there every day.

Mine as well. If spouses need to be connected at the hip all the time, there is something wrong in the relationship. 

 

 

44 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Actually no. If you go back and read @grapau27 post on page 6, he offered a suggestion to increase points required for Diamond to 175, D+ to 350. I thought it was honorable on his part, as he is D+, with 200 points, to suggest 350 for D+. 
 

Have a nice day

I think this makes sense. D is 175, then double to D+, then double to P. Make the change now... no grandfathering. 

 

20 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

So it’s all about the Free alcohol?  

If it is, then I wish they would make it unlimited on the card. Then I could get into the lounge and get my coffee during the happy hours while in shorts, without people with their noses in the air freaking out.