Protect Our C&A Benefits

[roysmith99]

With all of the discussion and rumours about possible changes to the C&A programme of benefits, I thought it might be useful to gauge how we all feel in th ehoep that RCCL will actually listen to its loyal customers.

 

Please note you can select more than one option. But do check your answer in both sections, not just the C&A membership one.

[insulationbabe]

Well I hope they read and listen - there are a lot of people out here changing to other ships because of the "take-away" little things that they've done. My hubby loved the little chocolate mints, we liked buy one drink, get one, instead of wine only - the johnny rockets coupon now missing in our diamond booklets - and unless we are on the Freedom class or above - we only get "a diamond event" somewhere on the ship in the evening with more wine and champagne - sure would love to have a real drink before dinner - but frankly I'm "wined out" - don't understabd they boosted the internet amount allowed - I would sooner have a drink in place of it

Don't get me wrong, I love Royal and can't wait to go on our next cruise in February (one of four we have booked in the future) but we built up our credits to become Diamond and then things start disappearing - oh well, we are loyal to Royal right now, please don't take anything else away Royal Carribean:)

[sanjoseca]

The program needs to change. There are so many people that are Diamond and Diamond Plus that Crown and Anchor levels have lost all exclusivity. They need to cut back those eligible so that they can provide meaningful perks cost effectively. I'm looking forward to the changes coming.

[Cruising89143]

It is going to change because it has to. Last week on the Oasis we had over 800 Diamond and 150 D+. For me, it won't make a difference as the C&A perks are nothing special now and it's not my main reason for cruising and until RCI actually announces any changes it really does not matter.

[MsArchangel]

I'm distressed about losing the main thing I use the Concierge Club for -- and that's the espresso machine. I get up way early, and want my morning cuppa in my travel mug to wander around the ship with. (And the Windjammer's coffee isn't 'on' till 6; Latte-tudes doesn't open till, what is it?, 8?! I've already been up three hours!!) Then I come back by to make cocoa (we bring our own) for my husband around 8; (the espresso machine makes hot water).

 

When we cruise in a Grand Suite (as on the Jewel last year and the Oasis upcoming in April this year), we always make sure to reserve a cabin near to the Concierge Club, and since it's open (if unattended) when I get up, I can get my morning coffee and head off. I come by on my way to bed to refill my water bottle with their cold water. Otherwise? I don't use it. I wish they'd put an espresso machine somewhere accessible to Diamond members who don't have a Grand Suite (as on our upcoming TransAtlantic (Sept.) -- we reserved too late to get a Grand Suite, and so are in a Junior Suite {sob}).

 

I know lots and lots of people care about the booze and hors d'ouvres -- but we don't. I think we've only been to one "Diamond lounge" thing -- and that's cause some friends asked us to go. {shrug} We're not like most folks I guess, in what we want access to the Concierge Club for.

 

Yes, I do miss the trinkets and little gifts, but I can buy stuff in the ship's store. The cruise is my pleasure: I just NEED my morning drug....er... coffee!

Elenor

[dougp26364]

Having gone through the emotions of the last changes preceived as downgrades, I think I'll simply take a wait and see attitude. I really thought we used the C&A benefits more than we do but, until they made changes, I have to say I didn't pay that close of attention. In reality, the major benefit we use is the balcony stateroom discount. Past that we really don't take advantage of many of the other benefits.

 

On our Oasis cruise we used the balcony disount, the laundry coupon, I made great use of the Diamond lounge's coffee machine for latte's rather than spending $1.95 for cafe Americano's at Cafe Promanade and, even though they had Blaze open for happy hour with an open bar, we only went in once and all I had was a diet Coke. We stopped in for a few minutes one other night just to have a place to sit while waiting for the ice show but didn't order anything to drink. We only went to the Diamond/Diamond plus breakfast in the MDR once and, since the service that morning was short of what I expect at Denny's (the head waiter had steam coming out his ears trying to get our waiter to do his job) we utlized other venues after that. In short, what I thought were horrible cut backs that would affect us greatly really weren't cut backs that affected us much at all.

 

I'll still say that, if RCI is going to make cuts, they'll get it closer to competing strictly on price and product. Cut to far and I'll be more tempted to shop other lines. Even though the cuts weren't as deep for us as I had originally thought, I'm still looking more at what other cruise lines offer than we ever have in the past.

 

Keep in mind that, just because there are rumors of more changes, it's still just rumors. Also keep in mind that change doesn't have to be cut backs. It could just be a change. Change is always hard to take but change is inevitable.

 

Change could be something as simple as what it takes to reach a certain level such as nights spent on a cruise vs number of cruises taken to earn status. How many times have I read complaints that those close to ports have the advantage of taking cheap 3 night cruises staying in inside staterooms to earn Diamond Plus were as some who has to travel greater distances can't do that? I've read enough about how it's not fair that some can take two three night cruises and get two credits where sailing a seven night cruise is rewarded with only one cruise credit.

 

I'll take a wait and see attitude rather than looking up expecting the sky to fall again. I learned a little from my reaction to the last set of changes. Essentially, I over reacted.

[dougp26364]

It is going to change because it has to. Last week on the Oasis we had over 800 Diamond and 150 D+. For me, it won't make a difference as the C&A perks are nothing special now and it's not my main reason for cruising and until RCI actually announces any changes it really does not matter.

 

Wasnt' that weird having the welcome back party in the theater because it was the only venue large enough to hold the number of members onboard? And how about that one couple who had over 200 cruise credits to their name. Boy that's a lot of cruising.

[Kaboochi]

The big perks are gone. Unless the economy takes a BIG Times are very hard for many industries, especially the cruise industry. But, where can you get a balcony room, all inclusvie minus liguor for under $1800 for 2? I am not at diamond level, but I can see why the ships are cutting back on the perks. Do I like it, no. Will I still cruise RCCL, yes. Until the econlmy takes a HUGE about face, you will probably see less perks for past cruisers, It stinks, but it is what it is.

[Cruzaholic41]

This poll is obviously biased. I don't care what the benefits are. Loyalty benefits are not my drive for cruise vacations. If they want to give me free stuff, fine. But if they don't, I don't care. I'll continue to vacation the way I love without worrying about it.

[pscruzinboyz]

If after 30 cruises with RCCL and they take away the CL from us......I guess we have no choice to go to the Competition.......Carnival........NCL.....

 

Oh my goodness.....Did I just type that........Just Kidding RCCL, take it away from everyone else but leave Bill and my name on the CL list every cruise...Promise.....We'll keep it our little SECRET! ;)

 

Mike

[firefly333]

My biggest complaint is I cant get my balcony discount as platinum with my stock holders OBC. What does one have to do with the other?? Nothing imo.

 

I was so anxious to get to diamond ... now I could care less. No diamond lounge and my stock is still underwater, so Im not selling it...

 

Im one of the frustrated ones.

[roysmith99]

This poll is obviously biased. I don't care what the benefits are. Loyalty benefits are not my drive for cruise vacations. If they want to give me free stuff, fine. But if they don't, I don't care. I'll continue to vacation the way I love without worrying about it.

 

Thank you, I am very grateful to everyone who has voted, and contributed so far. When I decided to set this poll up, it was of course a biased decision or it would not be here at all.

 

Believe it or not I will also continue to cuise with RCCL regardless, but after a very negative experience at the manner in which the last changes were implemented (not the changes themselves) I wanted to try and pull together all of the numerous other threads into a quantifiable survey.

 

This way maybe RCCL will actually see how some of their customers may react; especially as they claim not to get that many written complaints.

 

Also for the record, I also agree that they have to do something, but do it effectively, not tinkering around the edges - last time created a mess waiting for more problems to happen, which they have.

 

Elsewhere on CC I have suggested the idea of a complete review of all benefit levels and simplifying them - such as cabin discounts, OBC and basing them on nights cruised, scrapping discount books but providing all those things that are FREE to provide.

 

.

[bplazo]

We are going on our last RCCL cruise in May and then looking at different cruise line. Since my daughter is grown now we are going to look at a less family cruiseline.

[rollie]

We will be trying out NCL in September, but what I have been reading on the NCL board, they've cutbacks also.

 

Rollie

[ChipLondon]

How can anyone vote on a Poll without know the basis of the vote, to state an opinion about what you would do "if they changed the benefits again", without knowing the proposed changes is simply bizarre.

Say for example ( I know it is an extreme one, but) if Royal decided to give all D members a free cruise, would those that voted to Complain, Cruise less, Change Lines or Cancel a Cruise, still feel the same. Somehow I do not think so.

 

Yes state that we hope benefits are not reduced, and how we might feel if that was the case, or if the number of qualifying cruises was increased. But surely to complain about the unknown, just makes those that do a bunch of whiners, and why would RCCL listen to any moaning without justification.

 

Of course I have an opinion on the subject, and that is that I think there should be a new system introduced, one that only gives a full credit to each 7 days at sea. It is crazy that a 2 night cruises should be the same as a 9 night cruise. I also think that the person making payment should have the ability to decide to whom the credit is given, lots of people have paid for other family members, surely that person should be entitled to claim the credit if they wish rather than it being given to a young child.

 

Reward should be for loyalty to a brand, it is the person paying that often decides where to spend the money. Lets face it with loyalty points earned on many daily things like food and petrol, the points earned go to the person paying, rather than the people eating the food or travelling in the car.

 

I also think that a new membership level ( Royal Diamond ) should be introduced for those that have completed over 50 cruises, and additional benefits, similar to those on Celebrity should be introduced. Extra Internet time, free Dry Cleaning / pressing. I would also like to see things like free In Room Movies, and such things that would be a benefit without costing RCCL any extra outlay.

 

.

[Mark_K]

As long as they keep the main benefit - hefty discount on balcony and above, it's not likely to cause me to alter what I do.

[Happy ks]

We are diamond members and I'll be surprised if we make diamond plus. Never say never ;)

 

But, instead of perks being taken away, we're seriously considering changing our loyalty to other brands because we cannot take our own wine aboard. I know this happened in...2005 I think, but after our last cruise where we ordered overpriced wine to be delivered to our cabin and they had La Terre sitting there upon embarkation with no apology and no refund of the difference. It was like a big slap in the face to us. We're tired of paying dramatically inflated prices for wine to drink in our cabin and at dinner.

 

We can handle most of the perk reductions, we didn't use much of it anyway. I think our last cruise we used 2 coupons at best, which is typical for us. The balcony discounts are great, if those were reduced or taken away we'd have little loyalty left to RCI. It's kind of a shame because we've always felt they had a good product for the price.

 

But Princess is lookng better and better to us. We have our first cruise booked with them next year so we'll see.

[BecciBoo]

My hubby loved the little chocolate mints,:)

 

Hey, the mints are back, several reports just recently on these boards have the mints back, read Live from Oasis by Trainman2:D But of course this was not a Diamond perk but stateroom wide.

[M&M Hayden]

Hey, the mints are back, several reports just recently on these boards have the mints back, read Live from Oasis by Trainman2:D But of course this was not a Diamond perk but stateroom wide.

 

Maybe the mints are back on Oasis, but they weren't last week on Monarch.....

[rollie]

I agree with Happy ks, it the balcony discount goes away we go away.

 

Rollie

[RetireeWannabee]

This poll is obviously biased. I don't care what the benefits are. Loyalty benefits are not my drive for cruise vacations. If they want to give me free stuff, fine. But if they don't, I don't care. I'll continue to vacation the way I love without worrying about it.

agree.

[Don Pedro]

The only way we will keep our benefits is if RCCL eliminates the fast track to Diamond and Diamond+ and institutes cruise days as the basis for Crown & Anchor computation.

 

The swelling ranks of D and D+ cruisers make it nearly impossible for

RCCL to maintain the present benefits. We would welcome a change!

 

What was done in regards to limiting access to the concierge lounge temporarly alleviated the congestion that was negatively affecting suite guests, but it not address the underlying problem. We suspect that RCCL will be making more changes. We only hope that they devise a logical program and are instituted it fairly.

 

We also agree that another class of diamond cruisers, for 50+ cruise points, seems to be part of the solution. But, unless they also adopt a sensible path of progression it will only be a matter of time before that status would also be in jeopardy.

[cruzeluvr]

For us, the C&A perks we get give RCCL a slight edge over the competition when we are looking to book a cruise. We still enjoy the RCCL product and will continue to cruise with them. However, the more they take away from the C&A perks, they will no longer have that edge on the competition and we will be more likely to book with their competitors.

If they are going to make any changes to the program, I think they should consider completely revamping how the different levels are achieved, such as basing it on the number of days on board rather than the number of cruises (and maybe creating more levels in order to grandfather in the current C&A members based on the total days at sea). It doesn't make sense that someone who takes a 4 nighter out of Florida gets the same 1 cruise credit as someone who takes a 9 nighter out of Cape Liberty.

[ChipLondon]

Do you think that Princess or any other cruise do not also charge similar prices for wines, of course they do. Prices on ships are generally not greater than those charged in most Hotels or restaurants of similar standards.

In fact I would have thought that in most of the hotels in the Miami or Fort Lauderdale area, the wine prices are actually higher than on the ships.

 

 

................... We're tired of paying dramatically inflated prices for wine to drink in our cabin and at dinner.

 

..............................

But Princess is lookng better and better to us. We have our first cruise booked with them next year so we'll see.

[madforcruising]

I can´t vote for any of the options in the poll.

 

I could have voted for the D+ option, but not combined with the "I don´t know how long".

 

All I know right now is there´s some rumors spreading around, but nobody actually knows what´s going to happen.

 

I´m not going to wet my pants about any rumors and will wait until we hear a word from RCI about it.

 

I am most likely not going to change my cruise plannings. Certainly I won´t cancel any cruises over any changes. For the future it will be the same as it is already now. I will look around for good itineraries, ships, times and of course prices. A few perks will only influence my decision if everything else would be the same. Of course the balcony discount sometimes can make a difference as it affects the bottom line.

RCI will still be high on my list, but as now it´s not the only line.