DRINKS IN THE DIAMOND LOUNGE DURING HAPPY HOUR

[John&LaLa]

48 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

I just did some speed scrolling to catch the gist; there's some consternation over limited to 4 or 5 per day vs unlimited in a 3 hour window in 1 room and vouchers good for the same time, I have a solution for those days when vouchers just won't suffice. 

 

If you want more one or two more than the amount of vouchers you have there's actually a fairly simple process. After you order, don't say a word🤫, this is key - 😎just be cool about it😎.  Hand the server or bartender your card discretely. Things happen.  Your card and a drink are handed back to you.  Check your TV the next day and you'll see a charge. That's how you know it worked. 

 

Check in real time on the app

[LMaxwell]

4 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Check in real time on the app

Unable.  Phones in the safe hibernating.  It gets a vacation too. 

[John&LaLa]

2 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

Unable.  Phones in the safe hibernating.  It gets a vacation too. 

 

FWIW, your suggestion didn't include any 'grease' 😉

 

Never mind, you were being sarcastic. 

Apologies 

Edited July 21, 2022 by John&LaLa

[LMaxwell]

33 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

FWIW, your suggestion didn't include any 'grease' 😉

 

Never mind, you were being sarcastic. 

Apologies 

I was suggesting slum it like a Gold or Platinum but didn't want to be uncouth. 

[Ocean Boy]

48 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

FWIW, your suggestion didn't include any 'grease' 😉

 

Never mind, you were being sarcastic. 

Apologies 

 

14 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

I was suggesting slum it like a Gold or Platinum but didn't want to be uncouth. 

Have to be careful with sarcasm these days. Some around here either can't recognize it or just don't deal well with it.

[Banana Benders]

Love the new voucher system !!

it great to be able to have a Guinness in the Irish Pub each day

and a few drinks in dining room and theater with no extra cost.

Saves seeing so many people  staggering from lounges to dinner

and theater spilling drinks everywhere. 🍷🍾

 

We are D+ and very rarely use all our 5 vouchers

[LMaxwell]

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

 

Have to be careful with sarcasm these days. Some around here either can't recognize it or just don't deal well with it.

 

Then my return won't be long. Biting insights are my love language 😞 

[island lady]

15 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Exactly, I've never heard of that bridge getting stuck.😀

 

LOL...yup...just us stuck on the bridge when we don't pay attention to the warning bell.  😄 

[island lady]

14 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Also intended to save money when people aren't pounding 6-7 free drinks during the happy hour.

 

Nothing wrong with that.....they are not in it for charity.  😄 😄 

[di T]

Last month we returned to cruising on a b2b on Wonder, must say the drinks at any bar any time was for us a plus! We would go to the lounge for a drink and though fairly quiet would meet with the same couples each night. It was great if we wanted a more expensive wine over the amount they allowed just paid the few dollars extra at any bar we went.

[Wineaux007]

If you drink mixed drinks, some bartenders give you the bare minimum pour while some are a little more generous with their pour, i.e. just what the shot glass holds or the shot glass plus some over pour.  It also sometimes depends if they know you are a tipper.  If you get a drink in the DL, you can't watch them pour, so you don't know exactly what you get.  I would go to a bar where you can watch them pour.    Just my observation.  

[actuarian]

On 7/16/2022 at 8:17 AM, saridien said:

Your mileage may vary, but we went on the Freedom in May and never got charged for our drinks in the diamond lounge. They would ask our room number and we would give it, but it never showed up on our folio. We went almost every night for snacks and a glass of wine. Once I even ordered a cocktail that they got from the Viking crown and still was not charged for it. It might not be every ship that operates this way, but the freedom diamond lounge is very relaxed. 

Regardless of where you get your drinks, they will not show up in your folio (unless they cost more than $13) until you have exhausted the daily drink vouchers (4 for diamond members and 5 for d+ members).  However, that does not mean that the vouchers are not being used in the diamond lounge; in my experience they are.  On the other hand, if you are a Pinnacle or in a suite, then you can order drinks in the suite lounge and those do not use up your vouchers.

Edited July 22, 2022 by actuarian

[saridien]

Just now, actuarian said:

Regardless of where you get your drinks, they will not show up in your folio until you have exhausted the daily drink vouchers (4 for diamond members and 5 for d+ members).  However, that does not mean that the vouchers are not being used in the diamond lounge; in my experience they are.  On the other hand, if you are a Pinnacle or in a suite, then you can order drinks in the suite lounge and those do not use up your vouchers.

 

On our cruise, vouchers did show up on the folio as costing $0. That's how we kept up with how many we had left. 

 

I used all 4 vouchers at other bars on days that I got a diamond lounge drink that didn't show up on the folio, so no they didn't use a voucher or charge me for diamond lounge drinks. 

 

I don't think this is normal per say but that's what our experience was on the Freedom in May of this year. 

[OCSC Mike]

12 minutes ago, actuarian said:

Regardless of where you get your drinks, they will not show up in your folio (unless they cost more than $13) until you have exhausted the daily drink vouchers (4 for diamond members and 5 for d+ members).  However, that does not mean that the vouchers are not being used in the diamond lounge; in my experience they are.  On the other hand, if you are a Pinnacle or in a suite, then you can order drinks in the suite lounge and those do not use up your vouchers.

 

On both my Harmony cruise on 5/29 and the Indy B2B I got off this morning, our Diamond drinks appeared in our account via the app (as $0.00) almost instantly.

 

As mentioned above, this was also one way I kept track of how many my wife and I had used each day.

Edited July 22, 2022 by OCSC Mike

[Ourusualbeach]

12 minutes ago, actuarian said:

Regardless of where you get your drinks, they will not show up in your folio (unless they cost more than $13) until you have exhausted the daily drink vouchers (4 for diamond members and 5 for d+ members).  However, that does not mean that the vouchers are not being used in the diamond lounge; in my experience they are.  On the other hand, if you are a Pinnacle or in a suite, then you can order drinks in the suite lounge and those do not use up your vouchers.

Every single one of my drinks on my last 4 cruises has shown up as a 0 charge. 

[Another_Critic]

To clarify.  The vouchered drinks show up as $0.00 in the app and TV.  However, they don't show on the paper printout from guest services.

[island lady]

1 hour ago, actuarian said:

Regardless of where you get your drinks, they will not show up in your folio (unless they cost more than $13) until you have exhausted the daily drink vouchers (4 for diamond members and 5 for d+ members).  However, that does not mean that the vouchers are not being used in the diamond lounge; in my experience they are.  On the other hand, if you are a Pinnacle or in a suite, then you can order drinks in the suite lounge and those do not use up your vouchers.

 

We are Pinnacle...and sail in suites.   But the SL on Harmony still chocked them onto our vouchers.  

 

No biggie though, did not take issue with it since we would never go above our six vouchers.  To me:  Free is free..no matter how they want to rack it up.  😉 

[island lady]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Every single one of my drinks on my last 4 cruises has shown up as a 0 charge. 

 

Bucky loves his glass of Oberon Cab at dinner.  In both the MDR and in CK...the glass of wine is 15.00.  Thus...a charge of 2.00 plus tip, ended up on our Sea Pass account as 2.36.  Every time.  And yes...we still tipped in cash as well.  

[GITC]

On 7/15/2022 at 3:02 PM, cruiseguy1016 said:

I don't think there were ever 4 free drinks on your Seapass AND unlimited drinks in the DL during Happy Hour, were there. I think when RCI decided to put the 4 drinks on your card, they stopped serving free ones in the DL. I know there was a time when you had 2 freebies plus unlimited in the DL.

When I was on the Radiance in February 2020, almost immediately B4 Covid shut everything down, we had hard copy vouchers for drinks (I thought it was 4 but may have been 3) for use during happy hour at any bar. These were in addition to the free-for-all Diamond Lounge happy hour which was expanded on that Australia Over-the-Top cruise because of the vast numbers of Diamond members and above. 

 

Just sailed on Voyager a few weeks ago and was dismayed to find the Diamond Lounge happy hour all but eliminated in favour of the four vouchers added to your Seapass. Thankfully, we were in a suite which carried on the traditional happy hour so we weren't negatively affected...this time.

 

I spoke with the loyalty desk about this apparent downgrade of Diamond benefits and she indicated to me that it was a change made post-Covid to keep some semblance of 'social distancing' due to larger and larger numbers of Diamond members. In other words, should things EVER return to some semblance of normal, one MIGHT expect the return of this benefit.

 

The more, however, that Diamond members fall into line and accept this downgrade, the more likely it is that it will never return. It's funny how the "enhancements" that all these loyalty programs come up with rarely enhance the customer experience in a positive way.

[GITC]

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[GITC]

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[GITC]

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[OCSC Mike]

2 minutes ago, GITC said:

The more, however, that Diamond members fall into line and accept this downgrade, the more likely it is that it will never return. It's funny how the "enhancements" that all these loyalty programs come up with rarely enhance the customer experience in a positive way.

 

The majority of D members have said they prefer the 4 vouchers for any drink any time over the 3 hour happy hour with the limited menu... so while you consider it a downgrade, you are in the minority.

[GITC]

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Edited July 27, 2022 by GITC

[3yorkies]

I don't see it as a downgrade,  as I would prefer to have 4 (soon to be 5 after next cruise) drinks that I can enjoy throughout the day and anywhere on the ship (except perhaps bionic bar and rising tide) than to be able to guzzle  as much as I want in 2 or 3 hours.  That's not how I like my drinks.   Some days I use all 4 by mid evening and then go to the casino if I want another, as they are free there on my prime.   I would hate to see them revert to the old DL hours only system.   And I always put that on my comments after each cruise----four so far in 2022 and one more in August, one in December.