Crown & Anchor Double Points

[Milwaukee Eight]

15 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I got a JS because I brought a long time gf who had done a lot of trips with me before she married

Did she bring her husband?

 

Asking for a friend......  😎

[firefly333]

2 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Did she bring her husband?

 

Asking for a friend......  😎

No she said next cruise she and hubby she wants to do alaska. We went out of tampa and I got a nice suite hotel. She says my turn to come see her in san Antonio and see the sights.. and covid hit.

 

We hiked to the bottom of grand canyon, did most of the national parks, she came to see me in hawaii and we did boards strung across mountains to carry irrigation water. I've known her over 40 years since college, so I wanted her to love cruising. 

 

I'm kind of the opposite of your post, I'm used to taking care of everyone and dont like being fussed over, so idk about a suite. I wouldnt use a genie. But I like a nice cabin and view. But I also .liked inside view as a people watcher. I loved our pr cabin. Now I want a inside balcony if I am on a ship with one. But I dont want the fussing over part tbh. 

[Ocean Boy]

26 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

The cabin and Amenities are worth it. Heck with the points. We don’t care about points. 😇

A suite with its amenities is worth it to you. I don't know if it is worth it to me or to someone else. Of course the price differential would have to be known in order to make a decision.

 

I do know there was a time when I used to say that a balcony was not worth the extra cost to me. However, as time goes on my needs changed and now I am much more likely to spend extra for the balcony. Maybe someday a suite will be worth it to me.

 

One thing I can say is that I don't really take into account the number of "points" that I will get when deciding on the cabin that I want to book. Though I certainly am not unhappy to get the points. I certainly would not book, and pay more for, a suite just to get more points.

[crzndeb]

8 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

A suite with its amenities is worth it to you. I don't know if it is worth it to me or to someone else. Of course the price differential would have to be known in order to make a decision. I do know there was a time when I used to say that a balcony was not worth the extra cost to me. However, as time goes on my needs changed and now I am much more likely to spend extra for the balcony. Maybe someday a suite will be worth it to me. One thing I can say is that I don't really take into account the number of "points" that I will get when deciding on the cabin that I want to book.

I tend to agree with you. Being a solo traveler, I don’t need a suite, and tend to have a bit of social anxiety in large groups, so I pretty much do my own thing, unless I have friends on board.I have an interior with virtual balcony booked on the Ovation next year, but I’ve been looking at alternate sailings in case it’s cancelled. I haven’t been on a Quantum class ship yet, and really want to. I was shocked at cost of interior cabins, between you pick or they pick cabin. It was several hundred dollars. With my balcony discount, I could book a balcony for only about $20-30 a day extra. So I will probably book a balcony, unless the interiors w/virtual drops significantly. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

17 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

A suite with its amenities is worth it to you. I don't know if it is worth it to me or to someone else. Of course the price differential would have to be known in order to make a decision.

 

I do know there was a time when I used to say that a balcony was not worth the extra cost to me. However, as time goes on my needs changed and now I am much more likely to spend extra for the balcony. Maybe someday a suite will be worth it to me.

 

One thing I can say is that I don't really take into account the number of "points" that I will get when deciding on the cabin that I want to book. Though I certainly am not unhappy to get the points. I certainly would not book, and pay more for, a suite just to get more points.

With some creative L&S, thanks to my TA and Ellen, we got some great Suites at 1/3 the price.  Too bad we can’t continue to get these prices. 
 

M8

[reallyitsmema]

8 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

A suite with its amenities is worth it to you. I don't know if it is worth it to me or to someone else. Of course the price differential would have to be known in order to make a decision. I do know there was a time when I used to say that a balcony was not worth the extra cost to me. However, as time goes on my needs changed and now I am much more likely to spend extra for the balcony. Maybe someday a suite will be worth it to me. One thing I can say is that I don't really take into account the number of "points" that I will get when deciding on the cabin that I want to book. Though I certainly am not unhappy to get the points. I certainly would not book, and pay more for, a suite just to get more points.

 

We sail in suites but we also will sail in a balcony cabin if the suite prices are too high.  When we sail ships that don't have Royal Suite Class we will only book a JS if it has a really good price and have yet to book a full suite on those ships as we do not feel the amenities are worth it.  Royal Suite Class is what makes booking a full suite worth it to us and we typically book in sky class for access to Coastal Kitchen for all meals and free Voom for both of us.  It is doubtful we will ever book a star class unless it is at sky class pricing levels.

 

We enjoy the larger cabins and larger balconies to just relax without all the crowds but can easily go back to just balconies if suite pricing gets too high.  We aren't into it for the points, we have just come to enjoy Coastal Kitchen over the MDR and WJ, especially on Anthem.  We have Quantum next, which we hope is as good as Anthem's CK.  Hoping for Symphony after that and will likely end up in a balcony.

[xpcdoojk]

30 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

A suite with its amenities is worth it to you. I don't know if it is worth it to me or to someone else. Of course the price differential would have to be known in order to make a decision.

 

I do know there was a time when I used to say that a balcony was not worth the extra cost to me. However, as time goes on my needs changed and now I am much more likely to spend extra for the balcony. Maybe someday a suite will be worth it to me.

 

One thing I can say is that I don't really take into account the number of "points" that I will get when deciding on the cabin that I want to book. Though I certainly am not unhappy to get the points. I certainly would not book, and pay more for, a suite just to get more points.

OB, my first several cruises were all in inside cabins, we visited multiple continents in them.  When you are active, and you don’t spend a lot of time in the cabin, they are awesome because it is always dark and sleeping is easy.  As we got older, and I blame my boss for this, we did a company trip back in 2006 and took about 600 customers and employees on the Splendour of the Seas to Mexico, and we were booked into a balcony.  We haven’t booked inside since.  We have booked jr suites a few times because they were not much more or in the case of the Ovation, we were not sure about the level of Chinese people on board and thought if it was too overwhelming a bit of space would be nice.  It turned out to be a cruise with people from Singapore , USA and Australia, so the extra space wasn’t needed, but still it was nice.  The best thing about that was we got to eat a CK, which wasn’t so much finer dining but it was fresher and hotter dining.  So, I really like CK... so a suite is probably worth it for the food and the completely relaxed atmosphere.  We were spoiled on that trip because there was no pressure on that area, when we arrived it was like a private dining room.  Which after a long day was nice.  

 

So, when a suite is a few hundred more I get interested, we were booked for a bit over a week from now in a JS on the Anthem for the TA.... I was looking forward to CK....

 

Ain’t happening.

 

When we lifted and shifted to the Odyssey no suites available.  Looking at a 7 day from Rome pre cruise and JS is almost double our balcony cabin.  Can’t say I am willing to pay double.  

 

 A Genie is wasted on us because we know what we want, and I would rather just do whatever it is I am wanting.  There are times when there is a wait, maybe a Genie would be nice, but mostly, we are way too type A and way too independent to wait for someone to help us.  That kind of stuff frustrates me more than it provides me pleasure or relief.

 

JMHO and YMMV

 

jc

[Coralc]

25 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

 

When we lifted and shifted to the Odyssey no suites available.  Looking at a 7 day from Rome pre cruise and JS is almost double our balcony cabin.  Can’t say I am willing to pay double.  

 jc

 

That is what stopped us from doing a L&S from the Allure TA to the Odyssey TA. I should have tried it earlier. We had a full suite on Allure, and by the time I tried to L&S, there were none available. Because of the price protection, we would have been paying suite prices for a best available cabin on Odyssey. 

 

Oh well. We booked something for next December out of FLL. Double points, no status change.🤔 

Edited October 23, 2020 by Coralc

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Go the opposite way once you exit the elevator (towards the window that allows you to look out over Central Park. 

 

There could be a very heavy door you need to open

[xpcdoojk]

I can look back to when we actually did the L&S,(it wasn’t that long ago) we were able to get a balcony for quite a bit less than our JS, since then I have been able to move to a large balcony on the port side for about $20.  So, I am actually happy with my booking on the OY.  I would have probably been locked out of the CK anyway since it is a TA....  even if I had gotten in it wouldn’t have been the completely open private dining that I remembered.  They are offering the UD Package at a reasonable price, may have to do that, but I must say, while I love my wife with all of my heart after a long period of time together alone and since we are both people people and I am sure we will miss meeting new friends in the MDR.  So, I am hopeful they will reduce the 5 night package.  Right now it is almost full price, compared to the UDP.

 

jc

[yogimax]

1 hour ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

With some creative L&S, thanks to my TA and Ellen, we got some great Suites at 1/3 the price.  Too bad we can’t continue to get these prices. 
 

M8

1/3 the price of what? 

[yogimax]

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Is the money you spend for a suite worth it to you for the extra points you would get?

Best question of the day!

 

We started out in inside cabins and now book balconies.  When I look at suite prices, I figure I can book many more cruises in a balcony for the same price as far fewer cruises in a suite.

 

We are not in the enviable position of "money doesn't matter."   I suppose if money were no object we would be in suites, but probably not.  I was raised to watch my money and make frugal decisions.  

 

By being able to book more cruises we have been able to attain D+.  That has been a blessing!

[John&LaLa]

23 minutes ago, yogimax said:

1/3 the price of what? 

 

The going rate of an OS

[John&LaLa]

9 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Best question of the day!

 

We started out in inside cabins and now book balconies.  When I look at suite prices, I figure I can book many more cruises in a balcony for the same price as far fewer cruises in a suite.

 

We are not in the enviable position of "money doesn't matter."   I suppose if money were no object we would be in suites, but probably not.  I was raised to watch my money and make frugal decisions.  

 

By being able to book more cruises we have been able to attain D+.  That has been a blessing!

 

And you'd be Pinnacle if you'd stayed with insides. 😉

[csnarpy]

1 hour ago, Coralc said:

 

That is what stopped us from doing a L&S from the Allure TA to the Odyssey TA. I should have tried it earlier. We had a full suite on Allure, and by the time I tried to L&S, there were none available. Because of the price protection, we would have been paying suite prices for a best available cabin on Odyssey. 

 

Oh well. We booked something for next December out of FLL. Double points, no status change.🤔 

 

I guess we got lucky, We had a PV on the Freedom and L&S'd to the Odyssey and was put into a GS.  The difference in cost was insane, so happy about the price protection. This is also for next December, for our B2B over Christmas.

 

My  biggest complaint is the Bev package and Dining package costs, they have gone up immensely.

Edited October 23, 2020 by csnarpy

[Milwaukee Eight]

9 hours ago, yogimax said:

1/3 the price of what? 

1/3 the price of a GS during normal pre COVID19 times. We got a couple of OS as well for probably 1/4 the normal prices of a GS. 
 

Based on new rates online, it’s a lot less. 
 

Great to have a good TA and sharpe CC members to find these deals (Ellen).   Got to love L&S. 
 

M8

[Ourusualbeach]

32 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

1/3 the price of a GS during normal pre COVID19 times. We got a couple of OS as well for probably 1/4 the normal prices of a GS. 
 

Based on new rates online, it’s a lot less. 
 

Great to have a good TA and sharpe CC members to find these deals (Ellen).   Got to love L&S. 
 

M8

and Irishgal432

[Milwaukee Eight]

13 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

and Irishgal432

Yes. Forgot. Sorry 

[Ourusualbeach]

9 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Yes. Forgot. Sorry 

 

9 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Yes. Forgot. Sorry 

Great network of deal finders.

[LuCruise]

Ok...here's an "is it worth it" question.  Next year we have March, Aug (5 night) and Dec (7 night)

I am not counting March as at this point, we are 80% sure we are going to cancel.

I am hopeful for Aug and Dec.

 

With Aug and Dec, that would get us to 79 points when we board our cruise in 2022 (ugh!)

 

We have an aft corner Sp Balcony room (extra large) booked in Aug. as refundable.

We could switch it to JS non-ref for $1100 more, or to JS ref for $1900 more.

That would let us be Diamond when we board our cruise in 2022.

 

I'm thinking it's not worth it since that's a lot of money just for a few included evening drinks.  Plus, who knows if they modify the points for each level by then....But wow, so close!  The double points actually brings us close to where we would have been had we not missed some 2020 cruises, so I am thankful for Royal's deal.

 

Thoughts?  (I know everyone's financial situation is different so prob hard to comment anyways). 

Edited October 23, 2020 by LuCruise

[Ourusualbeach]

2 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Ok...here's an "is it worth it" question.  Next year we have March, Aug (5 night) and Dec (7 night)

I am not counting March as at this point, we are 80% sure we are going to cancel.

I am hopeful for Aug and Dec.

 

With Aug and Dec, that would get us to 79 points when we board our cruise in 2022 (ugh!)

 

We have an aft corner Sp Balcony room (extra large) booked in Aug. as refundable.

We could switch it to JS non-ref for $1100 more, or to JS ref for $1900 more.

That would let us be Diamond when we board our cruise in 2022.

 

I'm thinking it's not worth it since that's a lot of money just for a few included evening drinks.  Plus, who knows if they modify the points for each level by then....But wow, so close!  The double points actually brings us close to where we would have been had we not missed some 2020 cruises, so I am thankful for Royal's deal.

 

Thoughts?  (I know everyone's financial situation is different so prob hard to comment anyways). 

$1100 buys a lot of much better drinks.  If it were me I wouldn't do it.

[LuCruise]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

$1100 buys a lot of much better drinks.  If it were me I wouldn't do it.

Very good point!  Thanks.

[firefly333]

12 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Ok...here's an "is it worth it" question.  Next year we have March, Aug (5 night) and Dec (7 night)

I am not counting March as at this point, we are 

 

We have an aft corner Sp Balcony room (extra large) booked in Aug. as refundable.

We could switch it to JS non-ref for $1100 more, or to JS ref for $1900 more.

That would let us be Diamond when we board our cruise in 2022.

 

If I had a aft balcony I'd have a hard time giving it up. Hard to get.... .not sure what a SP is. 

 

[reallyitsmema]

10 hours ago, yogimax said:

Best question of the day!

 

We started out in inside cabins and now book balconies.  When I look at suite prices, I figure I can book many more cruises in a balcony for the same price as far fewer cruises in a suite.

 

We are not in the enviable position of "money doesn't matter."   I suppose if money were no object we would be in suites, but probably not.  I was raised to watch my money and make frugal decisions.  

 

By being able to book more cruises we have been able to attain D+.  That has been a blessing!

 

We book suites because we enjoy them and the amenities.  We book balconies because we enjoy them too.  There are many good deals out there if you look for them or if you watch posts in this forum.  Just because someone books a suite doesn't mean money doesn't matter to them or money is no object.  It is a personal choice.  I would rather a suite than wasting my money in the casino or on a drink package or buying a fancy piece of jewelry or a new car every year.  We aren't obsessed with a loyalty level on a cruise line as some on here who have to tell everyone there status on a daily basis.  We cruise the way we do because it makes us happy, everyone else should do the same and not worry about what others are doing.

[johnjen]

I'm a bit miffed they're pulling this amazing stunt now after canceling our lift & shift to June 2021. Some nerve. Done with cruising until 2023 now over this and everything else that happened. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by johnjen