Why Diamond + ?

[yogimax]

D+ is not hard to reach and is an over crowded tier.

 

 

 

Totally disagree. It takes 25 (TWENTY FIVE) weeks of sailing to reach Diamond Plus without the suite points.

 

Diamond is the one that is growing at a much faster clip.

[BecciBoo]

Agree, they'll have to make D+ much more lucrative for us.

[xpcdoojk]

I agree. We just finished our first cruise with the voucher program in place and I really like it. I always avoid the CL at peak times and really liked being able to have a drink where ever it suited me. For us it was usually the Schooner bar where we could have a drink and trivia at the same time.

 

On the Liberty, the college students were lined up at the bars usually 10 to 20 students per bartender, sharing their drink packages. It was impossible to get a drink at any of the bars. Thank the lord for the Diamond lounge. It was the only respite. On the Oasis, we actually did the rising tide bar for the first time because of the coupons. The coupon system is a wonderful addition to an already great perk....

 

JMHO and YMMV

 

jc

[xpcdoojk]

We are not "bar" people. We enjoy a place to sit, relax, meet new people and make new friends.

 

Yes, I will be the contrarian. The perks are important. The perks are part of the product. As D+, we have chosen to give our loyalty to RCCL. In general, to reach D+ (without being in a suite), you need to have sailed about 25 weeks with RCCL.

 

Sorry, but I expect some loyalty back in return.

 

Good luck with that...

 

They are happy to take your money, or anyone's money. It is a business and not a charity that they are operating. The loyalty they offer you is a discount on your cruise. Some perks that they don't offer others. Why is it that their loyalty is only as strong as the perk they take away? Does that happen when you buy a car, or a house, other substantial expenditures?

 

Like I said in my first post, you have choices and you can choose to build up time on another cruiseline, but that seems to me to be shooting yourself in the foot, as the perks on RCI at Diamond Plus seem to be the equal or superior to the other lines.

 

Entitlement is so depressing to witness.

 

jc

[njm5378]

Good luck with that...

 

They are happy to take your money, or anyone's money. It is a business and not a charity that they are operating. The loyalty they offer you is a discount on your cruise. Some perks that they don't offer others. Why is it that their loyalty is only as strong as the perk they take away? Does that happen when you buy a car, or a house, other substantial expenditures?

 

Like I said in my first post, you have choices and you can choose to build up time on another cruiseline, but that seems to me to be shooting yourself in the foot, as the perks on RCI at Diamond Plus seem to be the equal or superior to the other lines.

 

Entitlement is so depressing to witness.

 

jc

 

I agree.

Part of running a business is the freedom to make choices about how you operate. Part of being a consumer is the choice of who to give your business. If their operations decisions do not suit you, then leave and provide your business to someone else. I cannot say for sure, but I will venture to guess that there is no published literature stating that the C&A program benefits will never change.

[iheartbda]

I agree.

Part of running a business is the freedom to make choices about how you operate. Part of being a consumer is the choice of who to give your business. If their operations decisions do not suit you, then leave and provide your business to someone else. I cannot say for sure, but I will venture to guess that there is no published literature stating that the C&A program benefits will never change.

And I agree with you. However, there are many who feel they have "invested" time and money to get to the level they are and don't want to start all over again with another line.

 

If we had stayed with Royal for all our cruises, we would be D+ now. We've "slept around" with four different lines and enjoyed them all. When choosing a cruise, any perks we get are at the bottom of our list although I DO like the balcony discount on Royal and the one category upgrade on Celebrity. We drink very little to none so the free drinks are no interest or benefit to us. Maybe they should give us something in lieu of not having a total of 42 drinks between us for a week.:D:D:D:D:D

[wolfganghowell]

Those who are D+ and in a suite must have as identity crisis.

 

There's quite a lot of us and we spend a lot of time complaining about ourselves. :D

 

And in the CL, you can usually tell who the D+ and P's are because they will tell you very quickly and often have the pin prominently displayed. The suite people just assume if you got in the room you belong there. Those that are both fall somewhere in the above spectrum. Plus I think those of us that do cruise a lot can tell by someone's behavior which group they are in - including those that fall in BOTH groups. It can be quite amusing if you are into people watching. ;)

[bighairtexan]

there's quite a lot of us and we spend a lot of time complaining about ourselves. :d

 

and in the cl, you can usually tell who the d+ and p's are because they will tell you very quickly and often have the pin prominently displayed. The suite people just assume if you got in the room you belong there. those that are both fall somewhere in the above spectrum. Plus i think those of us that do cruise a lot can tell by someone's behavior which group they are in - including those that fall in both groups. It can be quite amusing if you are into people watching. ;)

 

 

yes... This ^^^^^^^^^ :d

[wolfganghowell]

LOL HI O/S! I'm attempting to use logic again and it always gets me in trouble.

 

On another note, I got an email from Club Royale telling me of my rebate on my next cruise. I can hear you screaming now since I am certain you have NOT gotten an email. :D :D Oh yeah - Les has NOT gotten an email either. I got mine twice. :rolleyes:

[KansasK]

On the Oasis, the Diamond+ members are with the Diamond members in the Diamond Lounge.

 

When checking in, the sign for priority boarding now is only for Suites, Diamond+ and Pinnacle members. It says Diamond members should check in according to their deck number. This is what first cruisers on up do. We are Diamond members who used to get priority boarding, but it did not matter because we walked up to the counter almost immediately. I think there are just too many diamond members, maybe.

Edited March 10, 2015 by KansasK

[ehfl]

I never understood why they have 2 nearly identical lounges anyway. Both are under-utilized during the day, and over-utilized in the evening. Why not just combine into one lounge with evening overflow in one of the bars? It would be a much better use of space, and would eliminate the nonsense and confusion over who can go where/when. Why complicate things unnecessarily?

[SECdawg]

We will be Diamond plus in June. No point in trying to get more points so we are going to try other cruise lines and see what perks they offer. I always new there was not a significant bump in perks from D to D+. Have our first celebrity cruise planned and will be trying Princess and Carnival now that they are taking Enchantment and Freedom from PC.

[RCI Cruisers 004]

Just my thoughts , but we were very happy when they loaded the 3 drinks onto our card so we don't have to go to the overcrowded CL lounge. It's much more enjoyable in the VCL or Schooner Bar.

[DarthGrady]

I can only speak for myself, but the free drinks each night are my favorite and most used perk. So long as they keep flowing I'll be happy regardless of where I'm imbibing.

 

I'll really only miss the CL on the Radiance Class ships. They are IMO the nicest in the fleet with a dedicated bar and patio section. For that reason I hope they don't exclude D+ from the CL.

[DarthGrady]

RCL is a victim of it's own success. They made it too easy to reach their tiers and the numbers bear that out. D+ is not hard to reach and is an over crowded tier. It's time for RCL to rethink their tiers and what numbers of nights or cruises it will take to get there.

There's nothing special when you're the largest group on board and can't use your perks because of crowding.

 

What are you basing that on? At the past guest party back in December on Legend the numbers of D+ were unimpressive at best. Obviously it can vary cruise to cruise, but I've never been on a sailing where D+ were the "largest group on board".

 

Here is the breakdown from December:

 

Edited March 11, 2015 by DarthGrady

[bilyclub]

They with alienate a lot of the D+'s who were Diamond when we got thrown out of the CL. Though the Oasis and Allure CL's were the gold standard for CL's and those perks will be missed.

[Aussie FF]

Thanks DarthGrady.

I have never seen this on any of my cruises. It this common? Maybe they just don't do it in Australia.

This is the main reason I still go to the welcome back parties, to hear the numbers.:)

[Oak Hill Cruisers]

Don't take my Kodachrome away.....

[DarthGrady]

Thanks DarthGrady.

I have never seen this on any of my cruises. It this common? Maybe they just don't do it in Australia.

This is the main reason I still go to the welcome back parties, to hear the numbers.:)

They have at least announced the numbers at most, but not all, of the past guest parties I've attended. That was one of maybe two or three where there's been a graphic presented.