Diamond Club Theory when we return

[Oxo]

17 minutes ago, yogimax said:

First stop the cuts and stop lying by saying they are "enhancing our experience" when giving us a cup of coffee  in return for eliminating the CL experience.  Be honest!

 

Simply put... stop the cuts and slow the erosion to the program.  If changes are necessary, grandfather in existing members and then make changes.

 

I would also grant limited admission to Coastal Kitchen for higher level D+.   

 

This will make some angry, but they need to remember that the easy way to Pinnacle is first and foremost living in Florida.  RCCL should reward, in some way, those of us who don't have that advantage, have to spend extra on travel, but are still loyal to Royal.

 

I'll stop here.

 

Oxo, Please stay safe as well!

Thanks for your positive and objective input. I totally agree with you. All cruise lines make it sound like they are giving you something, but really degrading the perks. 

We are in the mid 500 points with RCI and are not trying to get to P as it is so far away. 

We don't only cruise RCI, as we have no favorite. This year we cruised NCL and Celebrity. We had to cancel MSC and RCI.

Each cruise line offers something different, so we like to experience different ships, etc. Each line has different perks and we are top level on most of them so it doesn't matter which line we go on. Never make P or X Zenith. Too old to do another 50 cruises. LOL

 

We don't foresee curising again until next year. We will cancel our 2 RCI Oasis and Allure cruises for Nov.

Again, thanks and Stay Safe to you and your family!

[Milwaukee Eight]

22 minutes ago, yogimax said:

First stop the cuts and stop lying by saying they are "enhancing our experience" when giving us a cup of coffee  in return for eliminating the CL experience.  Be honest!

 

Simply put... stop the cuts and slow the erosion to the program.  If changes are necessary, grandfather in existing members and then make changes.

 

I would also grant limited admission to Coastal Kitchen for higher level D+.   

 

This will make some angry, but they need to remember that the easy way to Pinnacle is first and foremost living in Florida.  RCCL should reward, in some way, those of us who don't have that advantage, have to spend extra on travel, but are still loyal to Royal.

 

I'll stop here.

 

Oxo, Please stay safe as well!

I have suggested, after Suites, limiting Pinnacle access to SL/CK. What number that is, is unknown to me. I have suggested access by cruise points. Let’s say as a guess, top 25 in points. If that falls down to some D+ or D, then so be it. I have also suggested an area for Pinnacles only, lounge and dining area. If Royal wants to add high point D+, no skin off my back. 
 

Maybe you should be asking for an exclusive area for P’s and D+ similar to the SL/CK. 
 

M8

[yogimax]

10 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

I hear you but don't forget you have Cape Liberty, NJ, Boston and Baltimore within driving distance and less driving time that most Northern Floridians have to drive to get down to the ports South of them.  How about the people who live in the Mid-West and not close to any airport? Should those people be rewarded more?  Where do you draw the line? 

Yes, thank you.

 

I knew this particular suggestion would be the most difficult to implement.  Perhaps, one way, would be to give greater discounts to residents of certain states.

 

The funny thing about Cape Liberty for us in Queens, Brooklyn and the rest of Long Island is that it is a killer to get to as you either have to drive through Manhattan or go around it.  In addition, the R/T tolls can easily add almost a hundred bucks!

[yogimax]

7 minutes ago, Oxo said:

Thanks for your positive and objective input. I totally agree with you. All cruise lines make it sound like they are giving you something, but really degrading the perks. 

We are in the mid 500 points with RCI and are not trying to get to P as it is so far away. 

We don't only cruise RCI, as we have no favorite. This year we cruised NCL and Celebrity. We had to cancel MSC and RCI.

Each cruise line offers something different, so we like to experience different ships, etc. Each line has different perks and we are top level on most of them so it doesn't matter which line we go on. Never make P or X Zenith. Too old to do another 50 cruises. LOL

 

We don't foresee curising again until next year. We will cancel our 2 RCI Oasis and Allure cruises for Nov.

Again, thanks and Stay Safe to you and your family!

We're in a similar situation with nearly 500 points and getting older.  We now know Pinnacle is an impossibility, partly due to the cancellations, so there's little incentive left (other than 525).  Perhaps that's why I really hate to see what has taken us years and $$$ to achieve being whittled down more and more.

[yogimax]

10 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I have suggested, after Suites, limiting Pinnacle access to SL/CK. What number that is, is unknown to me. I have suggested access by cruise points. Let’s say as a guess, top 25 in points. If that falls down to some D+ or D, then so be it. I have also suggested an area for Pinnacles only, lounge and dining area. If Royal wants to add high point D+, no skin off my back. 
 

Maybe you should be asking for an exclusive area for P’s and D+ similar to the SL/CK. 
 

M8

Interesting suggestion - using cruise points based on individual cruises rather than one blanket rule.

[John&LaLa]

40 minutes ago, yogimax said:

First stop the cuts and stop lying by saying they are "enhancing our experience" when giving us a cup of coffee  in return for eliminating the CL experience.  Be honest!

 

Simply put... stop the cuts and slow the erosion to the program.  If changes are necessary, grandfather in existing members and then make changes.

 

I would also grant limited admission to Coastal Kitchen for higher level D+.   

 

This will make some angry, but they need to remember that the easy way to Pinnacle is first and foremost living in Florida.  RCCL should reward, in some way, those of us who don't have that advantage, have to spend extra on travel, but are still loyal to Royal.

 

I'll stop here.

 

Oxo, Please stay safe as well!

 

You should try a time out, its liberating.😇

[livingonthebeach]

2 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Yes, thank you.

 

I knew this particular suggestion would be the most difficult to implement.  Perhaps, one way, would be to give greater discounts to residents of certain states.

 

The funny thing about Cape Liberty for us in Queens, Brooklyn and the rest of Long Island is that it is a killer to get to as you either have to drive through Manhattan or go around it.  In addition, the R/T tolls can easily add almost a hundred bucks!

 

I get it. I've lived in the tri-state area and know driving to and from NYC, LI is a pain.  On the bright side it's less of #@%^ than having to drive from Wyoming. 

 

I agree they should give a break to residents of certain States.  Floridians get a break on some sailings -- it seems like fewer and fewer in the recent past.  Some Floridians fly overseas for cruises in the Med, Asia, Pacific etc. bypassing the Caribbean altogether -- for these cruises we get zippo breaks.

[John&LaLa]

5 minutes ago, yogimax said:

We're in a similar situation with nearly 500 points and getting older.  We now know Pinnacle is an impossibility, partly due to the cancellations, so there's little incentive left (other than 525).  Perhaps that's why I really hate to see what has taken us years and $$$ to achieve being whittled down more and more.

 

You dont want to hear this, but in 2018 and 2019 we earned around 200 points on non Florida cruises. 😉

 

Really not that hard

[Oxo]

5 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Interesting suggestion - using cruise points based on individual cruises rather than one blanket rule.

Be careful with conversations. We are Elite plus on Celebrity. A couple of years ago they did a conversion. We had x number of sea passes showing we were Elite Plus, screen print of status,too . Got on ship, sea pass showed we were only Elite. Long story short tell.  Got it straighten out after ship contracted main office.  Others had the same problem. 

Conversion do cause many problems! Seen it time and time again. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

8 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Interesting suggestion - using cruise points based on individual cruises rather than one blanket rule.

You could apply the same to the DL and remaining CL’s. Access by points. Easy to limit over crowding and rewards the top cruisers on that cruise. 
 

M8

[Milwaukee Eight]

12 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

You dont want to hear this, but in 2018 and 2019 we earned around 200 points on non Florida cruises. 😉

 

Really not that hard

We heard whining on Freedom President Cruise out of Barcelona, about the Florida P’s. We had like 60 P’s onboard.  We thought it was funny.  I guess the Florida P thing has been going on for some time. 
 

Shame on you cruisers that live in Florida for taking advantage of the entitled of the NE. 😇

 

M8

[zekekelso]

5 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

They better be pretty inventive in order to get people to risk their lives flying on planes, walking through airports, and then spending a week with strangers from who knows where on a ship spewing their germs all over the place.😮😉😁

You’d be amazed what people will do for free booze. 

[pcur]

1 hour ago, Oxo said:

Thanks for your positive and objective input. I totally agree with you. All cruise lines make it sound like they are giving you something, but really degrading the perks. 

We are in the mid 500 points with RCI and are not trying to get to P as it is so far away. 

We don't only cruise RCI, as we have no favorite. This year we cruised NCL and Celebrity. We had to cancel MSC and RCI.

Each cruise line offers something different, so we like to experience different ships, etc. Each line has different perks and we are top level on most of them so it doesn't matter which line we go on. Never make P or X Zenith. Too old to do another 50 cruises. LOL

 

We don't foresee curising again until next year. We will cancel our 2 RCI Oasis and Allure cruises for Nov.

Again, thanks and Stay Safe to you and your family!

 

Interesting post.  We are about where you are point-wise, and I'm holding out with a glimmer of hope based on a conversation I had with a LA on a ship last year.  He told me they were having a C&A / LA conference in Miami in January of this year to discuss the program.  He said he had been telling them for years that the program was lopsided toward the bottom end, and that they needed to add a level between D+ and P.  

 

Then COVID19 hit before anything could trickle out if they did have that conference meeting.

 

I am still hoping that when RCCL gets back to cruising, they may be tweaking incentives and perks to entice cruisers back.  So, I'm hoping they tweak between D+ and P,  too.  

 

Meanwhile,  we are spending pretty much equal time on Princess, because they sail from the West Coast, and right now have fabulous promos going.  I actually did a cost analysis on their Princess Plus package of wifi, beverage package with tips, and gratuities.  It would cost us more to pay for these individually, and take our wifi benefit with the Captain's Circle which is far less than unlimited.  Now they have the temporary bonus specialty dining perk that can be added to any existing booking, as well as new ones.  Princess is making it easy for us to sail with them on the West Coast, while RCCL is not impressing me elsewhere.  We have 3 cruises booked on each line, but if RCCL was West Coast based and had their C&A program updated a little, we would be 100% with RCCL.

 

I'm sure we aren't the only ones doing this.

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, DaniDanielle said:

I think the perks are good, even though we haven’t been able to take advantage of D+ perks yet😢

 

I bought stock in March hoping to take advantage of the OBC. 🤣🤣

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

We heard whining on Freedom President Cruise out of Barcelona, about the Florida P’s. We had like 60 P’s onboard.  We thought it was funny.  I guess the Florida P thing has been going on for some time. 
 

Shame on you cruisers that live in Florida for taking advantage of the entitled of the NE. 😇

 

M8

 

They all think we have a suitcase by the door, we're on some magical last minute call list, we get free parking, and took a hundred 3 day cruises prior to the conversion. 🤣

 

Not one of those statements is applicable to this Florida Pinnacle

 

and BTW, 3/4's of our pre Pinnacle points were earned prior to making FL our residence in 2017😉

Edited July 15, 2020 by John&LaLa

[sjb317]

We’ve always been happy with the perks on Royal and even though we are in the over 500 pt range, have no plan or desire to get to a Pinnacle.  I find that we are sailing Celebrity more and more.  While the perks are better on Royal, the prices with incentives have been more enticing on Celebrity.

 

Sherri🙂

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

You could apply the same to the DL and remaining CL’s. Access by points. Easy to limit over crowding and rewards the top cruisers on that cruise. 
 

M8

I don't like the idea at all. Why should my benefits be based on who else also happened to book the same cruise that I did? And I wouldn't even know what my benefits are until I board the ship.

 

Nope, I do not like the idea.

[John&LaLa]

5 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I don't like the idea at all. Why should my benefits be based on who else also happened to book the same cruise that I did? And I wouldn't even know what my benefits are until I board the ship.

 

Nope, I do not like the idea.

 

Neither do I, you plan with expectations. If anything, maybe an additional reward for being at the top of the heap.

 

But to see M8's point, he also sailed with expectations that were not met due to oversaturation of the top C&A levels into his perks.  

 

But I do think he was warned against it.😉

Edited July 15, 2020 by John&LaLa

[livingonthebeach]

3 minutes ago, sjb317 said:

We’ve always been happy with the perks on Royal and even though we are in the over 500 pt range, have no plan or desire to get to a Pinnacle.  I find that we are sailing Celebrity more and more.  While the perks are better on Royal, the prices with incentives have been more enticing on Celebrity.

 

Sherri🙂

 

I was on the Millie in Asia this past Fall and found that the HH drinks on X are much better than RCCL's.  While there was no dedicated Elite or Elite+ lounge, unlimited complimentary drinks in any bar or dining venue were available with the sea pass card during HH.  Much better system, IMHO. 

[John&LaLa]

1 minute ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

I was on the Millie in Asia this past Fall and found that the HH drinks on X are much better than RCCL's.  While there was no dedicated Elite or Elite+ lounge, unlimited complimentary drinks in any bar or dining venue were available with the sea pass card during HH.  Much better system, IMHO. 

 

2 hours, though, correct.

 

But don't you know, the lounges aren't about drinking.  t

They are about meeting 'like minded' folk and making long term friendships. 😉

[Milwaukee Eight]

14 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I don't like the idea at all. Why should my benefits be based on who else also happened to book the same cruise that I did? And I wouldn't even know what my benefits are until I board the ship.

 

Nope, I do not like the idea.

That’s ok with me. It was my counter to a D+ 525 and wants access to CK.  I’m ok with leaving it like currently as long as Royal makes an effort to adjust on cruises with large numbers of P’s. It seems they were doing that prior to COVID19. Who knows what happens going forward. I don’t see more access to those areas, but less if any. 

If access was by points, there wouldn’t be the rush to reserve seats. 😇😎

 

M8
 

 

Edited July 15, 2020 by Milwaukee Eight

[Milwaukee Eight]

8 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

But to see M8's point, he also sailed with expectations that were not met due to oversaturation of the top C&A levels into his perks.  

Amenities to Suites. Perks for C&A. 😇. Otherwise perfect. 
 

M8

[Aquahound]

On 7/10/2020 at 5:25 AM, compman9 said:

 

I would not be surprised to see the nightly drinks replaced by stocked cabin fridges 

 

 

I stayed at a Embassy Suites last week and they completely eliminated their revered nightly reception.  No alternative at all.  So it would not surprise me if, in order to start cruising earlier, RCI foregoes some loyalty perks to discourage social gathering.   

[John&LaLa]

40 minutes ago, pcur said:

Interesting post.  We are about where you are point-wise, and I'm holding out with a glimmer of hope based on a conversation I had with a LA on a ship last year.  He told me they were having a C&A / LA conference in Miami in January of this year to discuss the program.  He said he had been telling them for years that the program was lopsided toward the bottom end, and that they needed to add a level between D+ and P.  

 

Then COVID19 hit before anything could trickle out if they did have that conference meeting.

 

I am still hoping that when RCCL gets back to cruising, they may be tweaking incentives and perks to entice cruisers back.  So, I'm hoping they tweak between D+ and P,  too.  

 

I've sat in on 3 corporate ship board presentations in the last 3 years

Mariner Global Odyssey

2018 Presidents Cruise

2019 50th Birthday Celebration

 

During each of those talks there was a 'Read my lips, no new Levels' statement

 

I also heard about a 2020 meeting, but my take was to tweak what's there, and I kind of doubt most folks want that.

 

[sjb317]

12 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

I was on the Millie in Asia this past Fall and found that the HH drinks on X are much better than RCCL's.  While there was no dedicated Elite or Elite+ lounge, unlimited complimentary drinks in any bar or dining venue were available with the sea pass card during HH.  Much better system, IMHO. 

Yes, that is a nice aspect of Celebrity’s perks but we rarely use it as we have a “free” drink package as an incentive.  
 

Before you all pounce, I realize that we are paying for that incentive but it seems to be at a much reduced rate.  For example, we have booked a  balcony 10 night cruise for 2 on Edge in 2022   that included drink package, gratuities, and WiFi plus $500 OBC for a total of $1500.00.   I think that is a pretty good price.

 

Sherri🙂