Big Changes Coming to RCCL's Loyalty Program

[Dive Master]

Amen to that! I've been working hard to achieve my Diamond Plus status and they're going to change the rules on me?

 

I can't imagine Royal Caribbean International "changing the rules" on someone after the fact.They would never do this to their loyal customer base---Would they?????????

[rclcruzer]

It's not a rumor. I wouldn't have started a thread about a rumor. I rarely ever start threads.

no no no....not YOU starting a rumor, I meant maybe the staff member did not get his total info correct. Not you! :)

[FrancescaH]

We have 8 credits each and thought we'd be making diamond with our cruise this December. We cruise in accessible cabins as I use a wheelchair so we can't access the CL via booking a suite as a JS is the highest accessible cabins. I guess if this comes to pass I'll be calling the special needs folks to see what my options are.

[cruisePRN]

Reaching Diamond was to easy with the way they calculated cruise credits VS actual crises. Reaching diamond wasn't really special so this will make it more special. Grandfathering in everyone at their current levels will be a fair thing to do so nobody already in the program will loose any ground.

[GMoney]

I can't imagine Royal Caribbean International "changing the rules" on someone after the fact.They would never do this to their loyal customer base---Would they?????????

 

Why wouldn't they? They reserve the right to change the program; it's clearly stated in the rules. They changed the credit card rewards program.

 

It's all about the bottom line - money.

 

Personally, I'll be happy if they make a change, but that's easy for me to say. I hope that in doing so, it will allow RCI to focus on actually delivering the benefits to those that have earned them. The awareness and knowledge of them across the fleet is spotty at best.

[OHCruisin]

I didn't ask about changes to the Platinum level but I would guess that would be raised also. I was told if someone has 8 or 9 credits you would have the opportunity to reach Diamond in an unspecified amount of time. This is not something that was decided on with little thought. Royal is trying to keep the amount of angry customers to a minimum. :)

 

I hope you're right. I get 2 credits for my February cruise and the May cruise puts me at Diamond. I booked that one deliberately to make Diamond before my December cruise on Grandeur (although they don't have a CL).

 

If not, I'll been exploring other lines. Since I hit on RCI, I've stuck with them. But if reaching Diamond is going to be that hard, I might as well expand my horizons on other lines.

[wolfcathorse]

I'll never make it to D+ now. Darn, when I was in school I got all kinds of D+'s, now I can't even buy one! Guess the good Lord figured I have already had my share of D+'s!

[suziehmkr]

I can't imagine Royal Caribbean International "changing the rules" on someone after the fact.They would never do this to their loyal customer base---Would they?????????

 

;) :D :p ;)

 

Why wouldn't they? They reserve the right to change the program; it's clearly stated in the rules. They changed the credit card rewards program.

 

G - Dive Master is being sarcastic... he was referring to the fuel surcharge after the fact of booking & depositing. ;)

[marle7]

Well, that kinda stinks! :mad: Here we just made Platinum last year and will get two credits for our Med cruise in Sept. Guess we'll never see Diamond now. Good reason to branch out to NCL, HAL and Princess. I have a feeling that in the long run this is just going to hurt them, especially for us that were trying to get to that next level in another year or so. So much for RCI being loyal to us.

Aubie

 

Exactly. After our cruises in Feb and March we will be three credits away from Diamond +. If I have to go to 50 to get to it, I just won't bother. I'll take my three cruises per year to another line.

[4bythebeach]

Talk of changing the loyalty program has been circulating for quite some time. While on Freedom in Dec., they had a wonderful breakfast for Platinum and higher and at this breakfast a member of staff sat at each table. Our table happened to have the man in charge of marketing. He was asked point blank if there was a change coming and told us no, RCI would not be doing this and understood that they would lose loyal customers due to it!

Maybe the gentleman I talked to didn't know, got facts incorrect or was right (EEEKKKK!):(

We specifically booked a cruise in early April to make diamond before our Dec. cruise. If it changes, I don't know that I will stay loyal to Royal. I would probably still cruise with them, but not as often!

[GMoney]

;) :D :p ;)

 

 

 

G - Dive Master is being sarcastic... he was referring to the fuel surcharge after the fact of booking & depositing. ;)

 

Oh sorry! I didn't read it that way. Thanks for correcting me.

[suziehmkr]

Oh sorry! I didn't read it that way. Thanks for correcting me.

 

No problem... I don't think many would see that unless they knew Dive Master's circumstances. :)

[dirtgirl]

Talk of changing the loyalty program has been circulating for quite some time. While on Freedom in Dec., they had a wonderful breakfast for Platinum and higher and at this breakfast a member of staff sat at each table. Our table happened to have the man in charge of marketing. He was asked point blank if there was a change coming and told us no, RCI would not be doing this and understood that they would lose loyal customers due to it!

Maybe the gentleman I talked to didn't know, got facts incorrect or was right (EEEKKKK!):(

We specifically booked a cruise in early April to make diamond before our Dec. cruise. If it changes, I don't know that I will stay loyal to Royal. I would probably still cruise with them, but not as often!

 

Same here. I will still cruise Royal, but will definitely branch out to other lines.

[vtoria98]

So maybe this isn't the right thread but I didn't want to start another one, but are you Diamond on your 10th cruise or after your 10th?

[JLS cruiser]

So maybe this isn't the right thread but I didn't want to start another one, but are you Diamond on your 10th cruise or after your 10th?

After.

[jaspercat]

Oh this news just plain sucks:( . Like a lot of you, I have to travel quite a ways (flying, etc.) to get to a cruise port so it takes me awhile to get accumulate the cruise credits. My Dec 08 cruise on the Grandeur will be cruise #9 and the plan is/was to do cruise #10 in 2009 so that in 2010 I would be Diamond (finally). Now this news -- all I can say is DRATS, I'll never make it now.

[Bruin Steve]

Here's my take:

 

Up until a few years ago, having 10 + cruises meant an awful lot...especially if you were the type who took long cruises and/or stayed in Suites...

 

Then they changed the scoring system...which allowed people to amass a lot of "cruise points" in an awful hurry...You could reach the platinum level with only two cruises...and you could reach Diamond level in just four (Of course, here's where it gets really weird--through some bizarre quirk in the record keeping--or in some unwritten rule in their scoring system, we became Elite Celebrity Captains Club members by our THIRD cruise...the only explanation I can come up with is that we took a long cruise for which we booked TWO suites, one for us and one for our kids and I think they somehow accounted us six points at once, not that I'm complaining...And, even before the "Reciprocity"--which also adds a lot to the number of higher level folks on each line--we were already Dianmond level C& A members)

 

In any event, the net effect is that there is a glut of folks in the higher levels...and getting there faster...

 

It's really an deflation in the value of the status levels...

 

So, since you can now attain Diamond status in the number of cruises it used to take to get to Platinum--or less-- maybe they figure it's time to adjust a little...

 

Which gets me to the real point: I don't care. I don't choose to cruise with Royal Caribbean or Celebrity for the perks. I choose for the cruise itself... for the itinerary... for the ship...for the service...for the style...

 

The "perks" are WAY down the list in consideration...

 

I've never once thought, "I'd book another Royal Caribbean or Celebrity cruise, but I'm already at the Diamond level in C&A and Diamond Plus is just so far away, so what's the point?"

 

I book each cruise because of the CRUISE ITSELF...nothing more...

[pierces]

No more "Three-Day-Diamonds"?:eek:

 

Diamond has has become a commodity with people booking 5 short cruises in a JS to hit Diamond before they go on the larger ships with a Diamond lounge and free drinks.

 

Loyalty programs are nice, but we continue to cruise RCI and Celebrity because we like them better than the competition in our price range, not to complete our collection of "pleather" picture frames!

 

Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

 

Dave

[Aubiecruiser]

If they indeed want to keep us loyal, and make changes they should do it for new enrollees only and keep the present levels intack for us that have been C&A members for years. I can assure them that if it changes across the board, I'll be giving HAL a try next. My neighbor (who is a real foodie) raves about them and in fact is cruising on HAL right now. Just talked with him today when he hit port in St. Thomas. Guess we'll just have to wait for the "news at 11:00".

Aubie

[Sue L]

My daughter will make the whole family platinum in March, hopefully that will still happen or like many of you I will branch out more. I was sticking with RCCL to get to the next level on one line, as I have some cruises on several lines but never achieved the higher level status on any one of them.

 

I am going on a 12+night in Sept so 2 credits and that would make 7 for us and we were planning a B2B of 12+nights in each segment for 2009 which would have made us Diamond. The Princess cruise that I saw might now look more appealing if it won't gain us anything on RCCL.

 

It is a shame that the things they have been doing seem to affect the most loyal of their customers lately. :(

[Cruising89143]

I didn't ask about changes to the Platinum level but I would guess that would be raised also. I was told if someone has 8 or 9 credits you would have the opportunity to reach Diamond in an unspecified amount of time. This is not something that was decided on with little thought. Royal is trying to keep the amount of angry customers to a minimum. :)

 

Tony, regardless of what RCI does they are not going to be able to make everyone happy. I was getting close to D+ but if they change it then so be it. Not a big deal to me. I cruise RCI for more reasons than just the past guest program. :)

[GMoney]

Why are folks so desperate to make Diamond? It's a nice level, but the bennies aren't all that. I think the best one is the balcony discount. I'm just curious...

 

At the end of the day, I know I cruise for the experience. The benefits play a minor role. But that's me and I respect the fact that other people feel differently.

[golfer1966]

Well, that kinda stinks! :mad: Here we just made Platinum last year and will get two credits for our Med cruise in Sept. Guess we'll never see Diamond now. Good reason to branch out to NCL, HAL and Princess. I have a feeling that in the long run this is just going to hurt them, especially for us that were trying to get to that next level in another year or so. So much for RCI being loyal to us.

Aubie

 

Will you branch out to try other cruise lines in general or is it because your upset about the policy change. I would like to think that RCI is a good cruise line and I enjoy sailing them even if I dont make D+. Actually I dont think it will hurt them, I think people will sail in spite of any policy changes becuase they are a good cruise line ( imo ) Sorry you will not make Diamond, but hey , the policy hasnt even changed yet.... ya never know. :rolleyes:

[Alexis]

Changing levels is fine with me as long as I'm grandfathered in. We clawed our way to this status the hard way, and to have it taken away would have been an explosion of emotion. :(

 

I just had heart failure reading the first post.

It took us 9 cruises, (1 in a JS) to make Diamond.

From 1998 to 2006.

I would have been sick not to be Grandfathered in. :o

[Jimmers]

I hope this rumor isn't true. As someone with frequent cruiser friends, I know how important achieving Diamond status is. To have the bar raised when you were just getting ready to jump over it has got to be disappointing.

 

Jimmers:)