How Are People Feeling about C&A Benefits?

[roquejo]

For me, the benefits are not significant until you reach Diamond.

 

For lower levels, case to case, but sometimes even gold priority boarding meant a lot on some instances when the regular line is very long but no lines for C&A.. this happened perhaps twice and I was grateful that I breezed through that and saved a lot of time..but case to case really as sometimes the regular lines are short so this benefit doesn't matter.

 

For Diamond, I kinna enjoy the free alcoholic and mixed drinks in the Diamond lounge and 3 free drinks a night elsewhere..for me it has value considering regular food is complimentary and unlimited in a cruise and drinks are paid, But by being Diamond, drinks became free as well.

 

But that is if you love drinks so not for all....

 

Another benefit is the reciprocal elite benefits at Celebrity where you instantly get lots of perks like nightly free drinks, elite breakfast, wine tasting, a tea event, free internet, free laundry, free 1 day spa entrance on port days as well even if you have not taken even a single Celebrity cruise.

 

As for the Diamond discount, it is not significant since there are a lot of promos and discounts to fill empty ships from time to time that are much larger than balcony discounts, and some of the benefits are not combinable with the balcony discount.

 

As it is, the C&A perks, along with Celebrity's Captains club are still the best in the industry, I'm already Gold with NCL and around 2-3 cruises short of reaching the highest Platinum level, but the benefits of NCL Platinum, like HAL, pales compared with RCCL. Platinums just get a free specialty dining credit on the first day with a bottle of wine, sparkling wine and chocolate strawberries on their stateroom and free bag of laundry and that's it. No lounge with unlimited drinks.

Edited July 19, 2015 by roquejo

[bertrande]

We are platinum and have some ways to go before hitting diamond. After our two planned cruises in 2016, we will still need between 2-5 cruises in Jr. suite and above to hit diamond and I am not sure if the loyalty programme will change before we get there. However, we do appreciate the platinum perks however small they are and the fact that we get reciprocal select tier benefits on celebrity. We sail because we love cruising but there's a reason why we haven't checked out the other lines and have stuck closely to RCCL and Celebrity. Between the two lines, we have found itineraries which we liked and worked for us. We figured we can explore the other lines later once we hit Diamond or Elite whichever comes first lol.

[dacsmom]

Compared to other cruise lines Royal C&A benefits are pretty good. Some people complain about the benefits, but I look at it as having fun cruising while moving up through the levels. It does not cost anything to join so you are getting free stuff and discounts. While I would love to stay with RCI exclusively until I am Pinnacle I do shop around and choose the cruise that offers the best deal for me.

[Deeliteful]

I am now diamond and will be sailing on my first cruise at this level next month. I am sailing with my brother and his two children. My question is - is it worth me getting a drinks package (which I usually do) now that I am at Diamond level?

I will certainly drink more than 3 alcoholic drinks per day.

Edited July 19, 2015 by Deeliteful

[Cinders411]

Looks like to me the C&A perks on Royal Caribbean are pretty good. I am looking forward to becoming a diamond (at some point). I would never choose a cruise line just for perks but, when RC invited us to the Welcome Back Party on our 2nd cruise I did appreciate it.

[roquejo]

I am now diamond and will be sailing on my first cruise at this level next month. I am sailing with my brother and his two children. My question is - is it worth me getting a drinks package (which I usually do) now that I am at Diamond level?

I will certainly drink more than 3 alcoholic drinks per day.

 

As long as you are in the Diamond lounge, you can drink as much as you can within the happy hours from 4:30 to 8 or 5 to 8:30. Wine, beer, and several mixed alcoholic drinks are included... the only ones not included are blended and frozen drinks.

[Doug S]

I am now diamond and will be sailing on my first cruise at this level next month. I am sailing with my brother and his two children. My question is - is it worth me getting a drinks package (which I usually do) now that I am at Diamond level?

I will certainly drink more than 3 alcoholic drinks per day.

 

On our recent Jewel sailing (also our first as Diamond) we decided to wait and play it by ear on the cruise. I ended up buying one beer on the cruise, and had several other drinks in the various ports I obviously had to pay for. Between the nightly Diamond event (which was almost empty and easy to get personal service) and the 3 drinks on my card, I was able to have as many as 6 drinks a night, which was plenty for me, even if I was limited to a window of time.

 

Down side was at the new prices I did not feel it was worth it to buy a few morning bloody Mary's I usually get over the week and I could not order the fancier specialty drinks I have tried on previous packages. My wife did buy a few more drinks and specialty coffees than me, but still no where near making it worth getting a package. It was very easy for either of us to walk a short distance to the lobby bar and refresh both of our drinks over dinner using our 3 credits.

 

Our end of cruise total (including cash and billed tips) for on ship bar and other non alcoholic drinks was less than $250, and that includes a soda package for me. A far stretch from the $800 plus additional tips we would have paid on a package. We are moderate drinkers, so we were fine without. For heavier drinkers, it may be a different case.

[roseshayit]

Thanks everyone for all the information! We are usually interior cabin people, but if we ever do my dream of a fall foliage Canada/NE cruise and Alaska as a close second, I want to make sure we have a balcony, so that is a definite perk.

[rodenboy]

When you compare it to having no benefits, something is better than nothing.

[granddutchess]

Balcony discount is the only benefit IMHO. I do not book any cruise based on the C&A benefits. Book it based on price and itinerary.

[American Bear]

I think it's unfair to say we aren't invested to RCCL. Of course we aren't compared to several people on this forum, but we've certainly put our money into Royal now for 3 cruises and 2 on the way. I'm not complaining about this at all; we've had great experiences thus far and would love to continue.

 

Since we are so close to platinum, it certainly is a factor when planning a cruise. Go for cheaper, try something new or work toward the next tier level while knowing you will have a good time at a higher price? That's why I asked this question.

 

 

RCL's loyalty program at the higher end is likely considered best of all cruise lines by most people.

To get there might cost you a fortune cause RCL is usually higher priced then Carnival, NCL, MSC, or Costa.:eek:

So if you're cruising RCL for their loyalty club, the best comes nearer the top!:)

[steveru621]

I asked this question before. What benefits have been taken away from C&A members?

[Clarea]

I asked this question before. What benefits have been taken away from C&A members?

The ability to combine discounts/OBC.

 

The sale of Next Cruise certificates with the same OBC as booking a specific cruise.

 

OBC eliminated for cruises less than 5 days.

[LoveyHowell]

Best benefits of any mainstream line. can't knock RCI on their program.

[Swath]

The 3 Drinks per night for Diamond & Up

Two Reasons I think of for Royal Bringing this in:

1) Full/Overcrowded Diamond Lounge

2) When you bring someone one a cruise that is not Diamond

[orville99]

Best benefits of any mainstream line. can't knock RCI on their program.

 

Absolutely (at least of the five lines we normally cruise). RCL's benefits starting with your second cruise are head and shoulders better than any level on HAL, Princess, Carnival, or Disney - and they are the only line that gives reciprocity across their three brands. We're D+ on Royal, and Elite on Celebrity, yet we've never sailed on them (yet - first one is next year). Our Mariner stars and Captain's Circle status mean nothing when we sail Carnival, and our VIFP status gets us nothing on the other two Carnival brands.

 

We will turn Platinum on our next Disney cruise and after that all we'll get is a different colored beach bag, another useless photo album, and a BOGO in their Palo restaurant - woo hoo - can't wait:D

[cruisingsince94]

We are happy with the diamond perks. Balcony discount, free drinks, internet, free photos, are all nice. We move up to D+ after our August cruise but I'm not sure what that will benefit us. Guess it's time to go take a look.

[woodyren]

A recent Platinum member here. We recently booked another cruise and a discount was applied to the booking, but it also removed $USD100 OBC that was available if we didn't quote out C&A number. Actually worse off by a few dollars with the discount given the AUD/USD exchange rate.

 

The C&A balcony discount is generally combinable with only 1 other offer. I had this same issue booking a recent Radiance cruise but for me the OBC value of 200 USD was less than the balcony discount of 372AUD so I left my C&A number in place and took the discount over the OBC. The reason why I (and probably you) couldn't receive both is that there was also the double upgrade for balcony at inside price offer (so the double upgrade was 1, the OBC was 2 and the balc C&A discount would have been 3) .

 

If this wasn't the case you should be able to get both and I would give C&A a call.

[LoveyHowell]

Absolutely (at least of the five lines we normally cruise). RCL's benefits starting with your second cruise are head and shoulders better than any level on HAL, Princess, Carnival, or Disney - and they are the only line that gives reciprocity across their three brands. We're D+ on Royal, and Elite on Celebrity, yet we've never sailed on them (yet - first one is next year). Our Mariner stars and Captain's Circle status mean nothing when we sail Carnival, and our VIFP status gets us nothing on the other two Carnival brands.

 

We will turn Platinum on our next Disney cruise and after that all we'll get is a different colored beach bag, another useless photo album, and a BOGO in their Palo restaurant - woo hoo - can't wait:D

 

Princess let's you combine any OBC you can find anywhere, stack, stack, stack. Also many of their itineraries can be broken down into split trips, so to speak, and you can apply certain OBC's all over again. But that's if you qualify for them to begin with. The other "perks" before reaching a really high level aren't up to RCI level. Carnival perks <snort, choke> what Carnival perks?

 

I know there has been changes and cutbacks over the years, but overall it is still a really strong program amongst competition.

[lakette3]

I book a cruise to go on a cruise. So to me it´s about ship, itinerary, Timing, Overall product and pricing.

 

I do not book a cruise because of some loyalty Programm.

 

I am a C&A members and I´m happy about the perks they give me, but it´s not the reason for booking with them. Only if every other aspect would be the same, the loyalty scheme would sway me, but then there´s no two ships the same and with that no two Cruises will ever be the same.

 

I agree with you. I cruise because I love it. I am a Diamond member and we usually have a suite which brings some perks. However, the perk I enjoy the most is getting off the ship quicker. Otherwise, I don't cruise for the loyalty rogram.

[Virtopia]

I will be Diamond after my next cruise and I am looking forward to the extra perks. Right now I enjoy the balcony discount and the welcome back parties ... I usually have two drinks per party and that keeps me for the evening.

[woodyren]

We normally only book cruises that are in the $100-$150 (AUD inclusive of all port charges and taxes) a day range, generally we can snag a balcony and a couple of times have even had a JS. but will happily take an inside if the price difference is too great. Often we have cruised for less than this amount. After experimenting with 4 different cruise lines we decided that our preferred lines are RCL or Celebrity but would cruise NCL and then Carnival if the price was considerably cheaper.

 

We spend very little on board the ships as we don't see value in what is available. We can cruise as often as our disposable income allows so we work on the spend less cruise more formula.

 

We now have reached diamond and love the perks. If in the mood we will have 3-6 drinks in the happy hour. (2 before dinner, 1-2 with dinner 1 after dinner and then get1 a few minutes before finish which will last the night.) This would cost us say $20-$40 pp per day to buy.

 

1 free day of internet each. $29 pp.

 

Balcony discount $325 for the cruise we just booked (but we lost $200 OBC)

 

1 free picture each (which we would never buy but are happy to get for free)

 

So just for this cruise for example we have received perks in the range of $600-$800 in value and the cruise cost was comparable to other lines for the same itinerary.

 

 

 

We also get similar on Celebrity.

Edited July 20, 2015 by woodyren

[SPacificbound]

I am happy with the C & A benefits. The balcony discount and free drinks drinks are great. No complaints.

[roquejo]

I guess we can say that overall, cruise loyalty programs are not as rewarding as airline or hotel loyalty programs because the cruise points are for status purposes only, unlike in the airline and hotel industry where miles and points are both for statuses and for awarding free flights or hotel stays. In the cruise industry, you cannot "directly" spend your earned points to score free award cruises.

 

But maintenance sort of balanced it out, in both airline and hotel industry, you have to earn a minimum number of points or miles to maintain your status whereas in the cruise industry, once you earn that status, you keep it for life even if you haven't cruise for quite a while.

 

And if you scan all the existing cruise loyalty programs and do side by side comparison, RCCL's C&A benefits is still the best in the cruise industry. Each has different strengths but the reciprocal elite benefits with Celebrity and Azamara is the game changer.

 

Having status in 3 lines catering to 3 different market segment gives you greater flexibility and more choices, in case one came up with a unique IT not present in the other, or if you want something different for a change.. e.g. An RCCL Diamond trying out Celebrity for a more intimate upscale experience and gets all the elite perks as well.

Edited July 20, 2015 by roquejo

[alfaeric]

We are loyal to Royal because the cruise just fits us. Good price range, ships fit US, the shows fit us, the crew fits us.

 

That fit has increased the value of the equation over time- the price has gone down (which lets us up the category we sail in thanks to the discounts), the drinks have basically become free (we don't drink that much, but will splurge on wine every once in a while), free bottle of bubbly, two free pictures, discounts in restaurants, etc.

 

The benefits just makes the fit better.