Diamond+ BOGO Dining Not currently offered on Ovation

[JessyCruises]

I meant to post this earlier but I forgot.  I was on the Ovation for the 5/5/22 and 5/13/22 sailings and tried to use our D+ BOGO dining both weeks.  They are not currently offering it.  I noticed it was missing from the welcome letter so I asked the Diamond Concierge and the Loyalty Ambassador and they both confirmed it is not being offered at this time because they are short staffed in the restaurants. It appears they are trying to keep reservations down.  They did not indicate when it would be back.

 

Just wanted to give a heads up in case anyone was planning on using it onboard so you are prepared.

[Jimbo]

That's disappointing, want you to pay full price. Seems silly though, say you get onboard too and are able to get a reservation. Why not have the ability to use the coupon offer? Seems like a money making move to me. Didn't know things were so tight for Royal.

[Biker19]

Just now, Jimbo said:

Didn't know things were so tight for Royal.

Read some of their SEC filings or follow the RCL stock thread.

[orville99]

Had no problems on Harmony using the BOGO on both legs of our B2B two weeks ago, so this may be a ship specific decision.

[Ourusualbeach]

20 minutes ago, JessyCruises said:

I asked the Diamond Concierge and the Loyalty Ambassador and they both confirmed it is not being offered at this time because they are short staffed in the restaurants

Just my opinion but they should have either held off rushing to get all the ships back to service or sailing at close to full capacity so they could have the ships properly staffed so they wouldn't have to be cutting service.

[nelblu]

20 minutes ago, JessyCruises said:

I meant to post this earlier but I forgot.  I was on the Ovation for the 5/5/22 and 5/13/22 sailings and tried to use our D+ BOGO dining both weeks.  They are not currently offering it.  I noticed it was missing from the welcome letter so I asked the Diamond Concierge and the Loyalty Ambassador and they both confirmed it is not being offered at this time because they are short staffed in the restaurants. It appears they are trying to keep reservations down.  They did not indicate when it would be back.

 

Just wanted to give a heads up in case anyone was planning on using it onboard so you are prepared.

On some ships, the BOGO is not as valuable as it used to be.  On the Easter Anthem, there was only a few dollars difference between to the Chop's +1 in the planner a few months prior to sail.  Also, the flexibility to have the 2nd dinner at a different day rather than the 1st & 2nd.

[XSWABBY]

You would think that they would have given an OBC for the value of the BOGO.

[Jimbo]

28 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Read some of their SEC filings or follow the RCL stock thread.

If that is the case, wonder when they will announce they will no longer be giving Stock holders of a 100 shares NO MORE..... OBC..... for booking a cruise.

 

Think the time is coming?

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Think the time is coming?

Not yet.

[leaveitallbehind]

The staffing problem should hopefully be relatively short term.  But even with the previous lowered capacity sailings the reported availability of staff and logistics of matriculating them into the system was difficult.  Perhaps a short term solution would be to limit capacity again but by the time those bookings would come into effect the situation might be resolved.  Besides the cruise lines need the bookings revenue so reducing them may be more harmful than some of the current frustrations.  Who knows?  It just seems like a Catch-22 situation.

 

But to the point of this thread, we had the BOGO available on our October Oasis, December Allure, and April Anthem.  Wait and see if there is an issue on our upcoming June Allure.

Edited May 26, 2022 by leaveitallbehind

[DCPIV]

37 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Just my opinion but they should have either held off rushing to get all the ships back to service or sailing at close to full capacity so they could have the ships properly staffed so they wouldn't have to be cutting service.

 

As much as I agree with you, it also seems like that's not something they could manage.  Either rush the ships back into service or shut the whole operation down . . . for good (or until a buyer came along).  It's no fun being in a dilemma.

[JessyCruises]

40 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Had no problems on Harmony using the BOGO on both legs of our B2B two weeks ago, so this may be a ship specific decision.

Yes they said it was specific to Ovation.  We are hoping to use it a few times

on our B4B on Oasis next week

[JessyCruises]

40 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Just my opinion but they should have either held off rushing to get all the ships back to service or sailing at close to full capacity so they could have the ships properly staffed so they wouldn't have to be cutting service.

Agreed.  Ovation was not ready on 5/5.  Service was much better on the 13th

[yogimax]

Seems like D+ are once again being targeted for reductions in benefits.

[njkruzer]

Used it on Jewel TA 4/29-5/13.

[sandy toes]

13 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

The staffing problem should hopefully be relatively short term.  But even with the previous lowered capacity sailings the reported availability of staff and logistics of matriculating them into the system was difficult.  Perhaps a short term solution would be to limit capacity again but by the time those bookings would come into effect the situation might be resolved.  Besides the cruise lines need the bookings revenue so reducing them may be more harmful than some of the current frustrations.  Who knows?  It just seems like a Catch-22 situation.

 

But to the point of this thread, we had the BOGO available on our October Oasis, December Allure, and April Anthem.  Wait and see if there is an issue on our upcoming June Allure.

leaveitallbehind: you said that so well. 

Staffing is such a tough thing in this post Covid era. To recruit, hire, train, place and then, do some micro training specific to the individual ship is a challenge. Now, add to that, individual crew members becoming ill, not just with Covid but with all the standard issues. What was already a tight crew becomes short and even has the potential for a nightmare fairly quick. 

The BOGO seems to be ship and itinerary specific if you read some threads. I have found whenever I felt any upset, talking to "The LA", or even a trip to guest services, would end with an OBC for whatever might be missing. Honestly, right now, during this start up, YES we are still in the start up phase, I am just so VERY happy to be on ship and to share a few smiles with friends, and a bit of conversation with the crew.  I can eat in the MDR and be just fine with that, even if things are not back to 100%. The sea is a chill pill for me, walk up that ramp, onto the ship, drop things off in the cabin, walk around a bit and ahhh, as we sail away the chill has hit me like the scent of a lovely English garden...calm. Nothing, will dissolve that feeling, especial a missing BOGO.

[Ourusualbeach]

22 minutes ago, JessyCruises said:

Agreed.  Ovation was not ready on 5/5.  Service was much better on the 13th

I'm on her July 8.  Hoping it continues to improve. 

[HicksRA]

I can understand why after seeing the total mayhem on Liberty at Chops on Sunday/Monday nights recently. Too many people trying to use their BOGO on those nights. 
With the new onslaught of D+, they need to allow the BOGO on any night to more easily accommodate them. Why restrict it to the first two nights?  

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, HicksRA said:

Why restrict it to the first two nights?

For probably the same reason they may be suspending it altogether on some sailings - they make more money from other customers.

[Starry Eyes]

Well, I suppose it is a coupon offer (albeit a long standing one), not a promised part of the loyalty program, so there is not much one can say.

Hope you had a great time.

 

[orville99]

4 minutes ago, HicksRA said:

I can understand why after seeing the total mayhem on Liberty at Chops on Sunday/Monday nights recently. Too many people trying to use their BOGO on those nights. 
With the new onslaught of D+, they need to allow the BOGO on any night to more easily accommodate them. Why restrict it to the first two nights?  

When we used our BOGO's on the first night of both legs of our April B2B on Harmony, you could count the number of tables with diners at them on one hand and have fingers left over. To be honest, we have never seen any of the specialty restaurants any more than sparsely populated on the first night of a cruise even before the shutdown. YMMV

[leaveitallbehind]

50 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Seems like D+ are once again being targeted for reductions in benefits.

Not so sure that's really the case.  If it were, IMO the BOGO issue in terms of it not being currently offered would be fleet wide.  And as I indicated previously, we've had it available to us on all three of our cruises so far since October.  I think that just may be one area that - in particular as referenced on Ovation - may just be a specific issue and opportunity to eliminate.

 

That being said, under M. Bayley's tenure there have been other C&A "changes" (along with non-C&A changes) that IMO have not been particularly favorable.  So not challenging your position.  Just not sure it's the case here.  

Edited May 26, 2022 by leaveitallbehind

[HicksRA]

14 minutes ago, orville99 said:

When we used our BOGO's on the first night of both legs of our April B2B on Harmony, you could count the number of tables with diners at them on one hand and have fingers left over. To be honest, we have never seen any of the specialty restaurants any more than sparsely populated on the first night of a cruise even before the shutdown. YMMV

I’d imagine that since Oasis class ships have twice as many restaurants plus Coastal Kitchen, diners are spread out more than the smaller ships. I must say though that when I was on Harmony in January, I couldn’t get a reservation at Jaimes or 150 for the first night and ended up in Chops which was not full. 

[njkruzer]

You don't actually have to use it on the 1st or 2nd night,  you just have to reserve and pay the 1st or 2nd night.  As we said we used it on Jewel but later in the cruise, a 14 nt TA.  Just picked our reservation for Giovanni's and paid the 1st day. 

[yogimax]

10 minutes ago, njkruzer said:

You don't actually have to use it on the 1st or 2nd night,  you just have to reserve and pay the 1st or 2nd night.  

Varies from ship to ship.  Many, if not most, require it to be used first or second day.