Recent President's Cruise on Symphony.

[ValerieJo]

I have been reading on another site that the only people that could watch the Hall & Oates concert live in the Theater were Pinnacles, Suites and D+.   Diamond and all others had to watch on a screen at the Aqua Theater.   I was not on the cruise but would be kind of angry if I had paid all that money to go on this special cruise and not be able to watch the Headliner show!  I realize the theater will not hold 6000 guests, but they could have had a second show.  What are your thoughts?

[Merion_Mom]

My thoughts:

Hall & Oates are rock 'n' roll legends.  They are the highest selling duo of all time.  They were hired to do one concert.  Period. (And a second show still would not have included everyone.)

 

Not everyone gets to do everything on a cruise.  There are limits.  Sometimes not everyone gets into the comedy club.  Not everyone gets into Jazz on 4.  Not everyone participates in the Belly Flop contest.  Not everyone gets invited for a tour of the bridge.  And so on and so forth.  Sometimes loyalty status has benefits that not everyone gets.  It's life.

 

And Diamonds who waited "standby" got in.

[Clarea]

34 minutes ago, ValerieJo said:

 ... What are your thoughts?

 

Avoid the President's cruise.

[Merion_Mom]

2 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Avoid the President's cruise.

 

It was a great cruise.

[ReneeFLL]

38 minutes ago, ValerieJo said:

I have been reading on another site that the only people that could watch the Hall & Oates concert live in the Theater were Pinnacles, Suites and D+.   Diamond and all others had to watch on a screen at the Aqua Theater.   I was not on the cruise but would be kind of angry if I had paid all that money to go on this special cruise and not be able to watch the Headliner show!  I realize the theater will not hold 6000 guests, but they could have had a second show.  What are your thoughts?

Since you weren't on the cruise do you even know how it was advertised? Did they say that everyone would be able to get to see them live?

[ValerieJo]

11 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

My thoughts:

Hall & Oates are rock 'n' roll legends.  They are the highest selling duo of all time.  They were hired to do one concert.  Period. (And a second show still would not have included everyone.)

 

Not everyone gets to do everything on a cruise.  There are limits.  Sometimes not everyone gets into the comedy club.  Not everyone gets into Jazz on 4.  Not everyone participates in the Belly Flop contest.  Not everyone gets invited for a tour of the bridge.  And so on and so forth.  Sometimes loyalty status has benefits that not everyone gets.  It's life.

 

And Diamonds who waited "standby" got in.

 

I think the difference is that those who don't get into the comedy club and other venues do so by choice by not making reservations.  Thanks for clearing up that there was a stand by line for others.  It was not mentioned in the other reports I read.

 

[ValerieJo]

8 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

Since you weren't on the cruise do you even know how it was advertised? Did they say that everyone would be able to get to see them live?

 

This is why I'm asking for thoughts as I wasn't on the cruise.  Do you know how it was advertised?

[PhoenixCruiser]

I believe that was clearly explained to passengers, correct me if I'm wrong 😀

[bilyclub]

They originally were going to do the show in the Aqua Theater which would have cut out a lot more people. 

[klfrodo]

55 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Avoid the President's cruise.

I was on the week before as a lowly Suite guest. I can only imagine how it was this week. 😲

[ryguy2008]

From what I've read, this is the normal procedure for the annual president's cruise. I followed the threads this week pretty closely and it seems like this sailing is particularly designed for the most loyal members.

[Alter Ego]

This is an email I received prior to the cruise.  If this was sent to everyone in the Crown and Anchor program, then I don’t think it specifies enough. However, as I’m a diamond, I don’t know what a lower tier would have received.

 

I do believe there was a post complaining about this before the cruise.  It sounded to me like the person saw something similar to my email and was upset after the fact when she later discovered that she wouldn’t be allowed to go to the show.

[ValerieJo]

1 hour ago, Alter Ego said:

This is an email I received prior to the cruise.  If this was sent to everyone in the Crown and Anchor program, then I don’t think it specifies enough. However, as I’m a diamond, I don’t know what a lower tier would have received.

 

I do believe there was a post complaining about this before the cruise.  It sounded to me like the person saw something similar to my email and was upset after the fact when she later discovered that she wouldn’t be allowed to go to the show.

Yes, this does seem rather misleading and vague.   Thank you for posting.   

[cgncruiser]

5 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Avoid the President's cruise.

As a Pin I'll second that😂

[grapau27]

5 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Avoid the President's cruise.

Great advice.

[kernow]

I've never been on a Presidents cruise and have no real desire to do so but have enjoyed following the live threads.

The thing that would most annoy me is the special events for Royal visa card holders. I would love a card but those of us outside of North America are not allowed to have one. I wonder if they will still have these events next year when the cruise is in Europe?

[Tony O]

When the concert was about to begin they allowed Diamonds and others in.  I saw people standing 2 and 3 deep on deck 4 and 5 of the theatre.  Many people left before the show was over because they didn't  want to miss the fireworks. We stayed to the end and was hoping for encore but that never happened, I guess  because so many leaving early.

We decided this was or first and last presidents  cruise. The Diamond lounge  was soo crowded they used The Attic, Jazz on 4 and had a drink cart setup in the hallway.

It was a very different type of crowd  than the week before.  This crowd was a lot more louder and not as happy as the week before.

But to us it was a cruise and we made the most of it and just tried to avoid the crowds  when posdible.

We were impressed on how much  Michael Bayley made himself available  to all as he could be seen walking around the ship and always had time to talk to those who approached him.

[marci22]

9 hours ago, klfrodo said:

I was on the week before as a lowly Suite guest. I can only imagine how it was this week. 😲

I have looked into these cruises and thought, 'this is the one time you really need to book GS or above'. Then I thought about it some more and came to the conclusion that it's probably best if you're a Pinnacle, because it would be aggravating to have such a large amount of top tier cruisers when you are a suite passenger. 

[Tony O]

3 hours ago, kernow said:

I've never been on a Presidents cruise and have no real desire to do so but have enjoyed following the live threads.

The thing that would most annoy me is the special events for Royal visa card holders. I would love a card but those of us outside of North America are not allowed to have one. I wonder if they will still have these events next year when the cruise is in Europe?

Went to the Visa  party I .walked in and walked out.  Soo overcrowded  no place to sit. People  almost shoulder to shoulder.It  was almost impossible  to try the  appetizers  I saw some who you thought never ate or drank before .It was amazing how some people acted as real jerks over flashing  necklace and wrist bands.  Saw many just take  handfuls of it. No idea why.

I don't think you missed anything.

[Tony O]

1 minute ago, marci22 said:

I have looked into these cruises and thought, 'this is the one time you really need to book GS or above'. Then I thought about it some more and came to the conclusion that it's probably best if you're a Pinnacle, because it would be aggravating to have such a large amount of top tier cruisers when you are a suite passenger. 

I heard some pineapples  complaining about how they felt not being special and not getting what they want.I heard that their happy hour was at Dazzles  and not suite lounge.As a suite guest you had priorty over reservations  for Coastal Kitchen  they got what was left.I be,ivecit was well over 200 closer to 300 pinnacles  over 900 Dia ond plus and over  800 diamond is on the cruise,

[John&LaLa]

9 hours ago, klfrodo said:

I was on the week before as a lowly Suite guest. I can only imagine how it was this week. 😲

 

It was fantabulous, dont listen to the haters.

 

BTW, suite guests got to do pretty much everything. CK was very quiet.

[marci22]

6 minutes ago, Tony O said:

I heard some pineapples  complaining about how they felt not being special and not getting what they want.I heard that their happy hour was at Dazzles  and not suite lounge.As a suite guest you had priorty over reservations  for Coastal Kitchen  they got what was left.I be,ivecit was well over 200 closer to 300 pinnacles  over 900 Dia ond plus and over  800 diamond is on the cruise,

Can't imagine having that many loyalty customers on one cruise.

[marci22]

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

 

It was fantabulous, dont listen to the haters.

 

BTW, suite guests got to do pretty much everything. CK was very quiet.

Looks like you had fun, but you're a P.

[Mikew0805]

10 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

My thoughts:

Hall & Oates are rock 'n' roll legends.  They are the highest selling duo of all time.  They were hired to do one concert.  Period. (And a second show still would not have included everyone.)

 

Not everyone gets to do everything on a cruise.  There are limits.  Sometimes not everyone gets into the comedy club.  Not everyone gets into Jazz on 4.  Not everyone participates in the Belly Flop contest.  Not everyone gets invited for a tour of the bridge.  And so on and so forth.  Sometimes loyalty status has benefits that not everyone gets.  It's life.

 

And Diamonds who waited "standby" got in.

Oh you were on it? How was the concert? I would have love to have seen that. 

[John&LaLa]

1 minute ago, marci22 said:

Looks like you had fun, but you're a P.

 

Thats true, but we hung out all over the ship.

My Hall & Oates experience was no different than a D+

Saw all of the shows from normal seats

Watched Phoenix from the rock wall deck

Ate in WJ 4 nights

Gave away several flashers to people that missed out or little kids we saw on the Promenade 

 

We will probably skip the next one because we cant go early and the cruise after is literally sold out.  We also have Jewel Suez/Dubai at end of November,  so I'd have to cancel that.