New Program called "The Key"

[MissLittle1959]

1 hour ago, seanjulz said:

I have looked through the thread and cant find any reviews on the key on quantum class has anyone done a cruise and seen how many flowriding rockwall sessions etc?

I will be doing Anthem on the 13th of April so I will either try to do it on the ship or when I get home.

[Gatortim1996]

I’m D+ and I also purchase the surf and stream for my my cruise can’t stoping playing my iPad games for 9 days 😀 so the the key check in is better than my D+ check in than lunch at chops it was great the ice shows and theater seating same as D+ Flow rider time was great no line on and off at ports no diffrents the disembark day steak and egg breakfast and than enter the self asst line and my bags were first off the ship, I enjoyed the Key service

[cre8tiv]

Gatortim 1996: thx for posting on ur Actual Experience! 

[Tennis17]

1 hour ago, MissLittle1959 said:

I will be doing Anthem on the 13th of April so I will either try to do it on the ship or when I get home.

Thanks! I would like to know if North Star and IFly have Key hours also as I missed the booking window for IFly on my June Ovation Alaska cruise. 

[seanjulz]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

JC will probably provide that info on the Sydney- Hawaii leg in a couple of weeks.

That would be great as im doing the opposite one in September 

[MissLittle1959]

13 minutes ago, Tennis17 said:

Thanks! I would like to know if North Star and IFly have Key hours also as I missed the booking window for IFly on my June Ovation Alaska cruise. 

No problem!  I sure hope there is bc I'm so looking forward to iFly!  I had no idea we could even book those activities online but we just booked back end of January and nothing was available to book.  Last week was the first we could book the shows, so I've done that at least. I've even had RCL agents tell me there was no need to even book the shows as the Anthem is a ship where there are no lines.  Hmm, not sure I'd ever trust that. lol

[stowite]

4 hours ago, MissLittle1959 said:

  I'm looking forward to using the Key Program in two weeks and will leave a review once we return or maybe even while I'm still on the ship.  Going on the Anthem of the Seas.  I haven't seen any reviews yet on the Key on that ship unless I missed them.  I don't relish going thru 80 pages. lol

I will look forward to your review of the Key on Anthem as that is the ship we are going on.

[brillohead]

7 hours ago, LoveTheSoul said:

If someone decides to "waste" their own money on something you detest, so what?! 

I actually LIKE that so many people "waste" their money on things that I don't personally value (like fancy suites, drink packages, spa treatments, specialty dining, shore excursions).  

All that extra income/profit for RCI means that my inside room continues to be an excellent value! 

 

If cruises still cost as much as they did back in the 80s, relatively speaking, there's no way I'd be able to take two or more cruises per year!  

[xpcdoojk]

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

JC will probably provide that info on the Sydney- Hawaii leg in a couple of weeks.

 

Indeed I will, and I agree, I hope there are that many sessions on the Ovation!!!!!

 

jc

 

[zooma]

3 hours ago, Tennis17 said:

Thanks! I would like to know if North Star and IFly have Key hours also as I missed the booking window for IFly on my June Ovation Alaska cruise. 

 

It has been reported that the Key gives you assigned hours for North Star and iFly... at least on Anthem.

[VictorSinclair]

4 hours ago, Gatortim1996 said:

This My itinerary on navigator 3/1 cruise to the ABC’s

 

Just thought I'd help by cross posting from a wonderful long form review being written right now by @Grenouille21 about her experience with the KEY on Symphony.

It would appear that the KEY reserved activities hours vary vastly between ships. I have a cruise booked on Mariner in May and I hope I can draw the conclusion that the hours for the KEY will be the same across ship classes (Navigator and Mariner both being Voyager Class ships), but that's just conjecture on my part. Buyer Beware.

 

Edited March 28, 2019 by VictorSinclair

[Grenouille21]

5 minutes ago, VictorSinclair said:

 

Just thought I'd help by cross posting from a wonder long form review being written right now by @Grenouille21 about her experience with the KEY on Symphony.

It would appear that the KEY reserved activities hours vary vastly. BBW

 

 

Thank you for tagging me in this.  I knew others had more reserved hours on their cruises but to see it laid out like this is really awful.  I've been thinking about sending an email to someone at Royal, not one of those "I demand compensation!" emails, just a "Hey, you gotta figure this out and stop changing things around" email.  

[VictorSinclair]

@Grenouille21 I guess it can't hurt. I would honestly feel cheated by the difference in the 2 offerings for the same supposed program. Sux that there seems not to be any guarantees, so they can offer one hour and technically, they've fulfilled their part of the deal. Plus also I guess they'd also counter that your choice of not going to the front of the line during open time was on you.

[seanjulz]

1 hour ago, xpcdoojk said:

 

Indeed I will, and I agree, I hope there are that many sessions on the Ovation!!!!!

 

jc

 

Looking forward to seeing what you get as im thinking it should be oretty close to the same with the cruise going in reverse, the only reason we really got the key was for extra sessions 

[RW_MI]

6 hours ago, VictorSinclair said:

It would appear that the KEY reserved activities hours vary vastly between ships. I have a cruise booked on Mariner in May and I hope I can draw the conclusion that the hours for the KEY will be the same across ship classes (Navigator and Mariner both being Voyager Class ships), but that's just conjecture on my part. Buyer Beware.

I have The Key booked on two upcoming cruises (Navigator and Allure), but if the scheduling is this random, I may cancel.  I'm booking mostly for the Flowrider, so if hours are very limited or in the middle of a port day, it's not worth the $ to me.  I realize that RCI is still figuring this out, but it seems like they could post a schedule within a couple weeks of sailing.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

After more than 2000 posts and 160,000 views in this thread...there has been great information regarding this new program, including a wide range of perspectives, experiences, and reviews.

 

Based on the overall assessments of this new program, we've decided to change the name of our little pet's name from Fluffy to a more appropriate name - Key. It just feels so right....

(Yes...he's a guinea pig...)

[VictorSinclair]

36 minutes ago, RW_MI said:

I realize that RCI is still figuring this out, but it seems like they could post a schedule within a couple weeks of sailing.

 

I’ll start by saying this is once again just conjecture on my part, but I think your thought that RCI should be able to give you a schedule 2 weeks out works against their business model. If you look in the cruise planner, you’ll see that FlowRider, for example, is available for private bookings. I imagine there is an internal chart they keep if their activities that has a a set number of slots for private reservations and if and when they get filled by private bookings it reduces the opportunities that KEY members will have for reserved hours. Reservations through the cruise planner are open until 3 days before your sail date, so it is in their interest to wait until the last possible moment for them to make as much as possible from private bookings before turning loose the remaining slots that were not booked to the KEY. 

[JoeFan]

For my sailing on HOS 8/25 I picked up the key at $19.99 and then rose to $24.99 and hasn't budged.

It is still available, whereas the CocoCay beach beds are gone. So I wonder how in demand it truly is? I remember FTTF booking up almost immediately. But that is a much, much cheaper option.

 

 

[ShillyShally]

9 hours ago, Grenouille21 said:

 

Thank you for tagging me in this.  I knew others had more reserved hours on their cruises but to see it laid out like this is really awful.  I've been thinking about sending an email to someone at Royal, not one of those "I demand compensation!" emails, just a "Hey, you gotta figure this out and stop changing things around" email.  

Agreed, and now that I think about it, I'm not even sure I remember getting a schedule for the flowrider or rock wall on Indy - we just had a card to choose which showing of Grease we wanted to attend.  Granted I wasn't looking for a schedule either this trip but now I don't remember ever getting one as I knew what benefits the Key gave and I was trying to take notes to share back.

[blueridgemama]

2 hours ago, RW_MI said:

I have The Key booked on two upcoming cruises (Navigator and Allure), but if the scheduling is this random, I may cancel.  I'm booking mostly for the Flowrider, so if hours are very limited or in the middle of a port day, it's not worth the $ to me.  I realize that RCI is still figuring this out, but it seems like they could post a schedule within a couple weeks of sailing.

 

If your primary reason for purchasing the Key is for flowrider hours, why not just reserve a private hour session on the flowrider instead of investing extra money in the Key?

[Cel_cruise]

 
I’ll start by saying this is once again just conjecture on my part, but I think your thought that RCI should be able to give you a schedule 2 weeks out works against their business model. If you look in the cruise planner, you’ll see that FlowRider, for example, is available for private bookings. I imagine there is an internal chart they keep if their activities that has a a set number of slots for private reservations and if and when they get filled by private bookings it reduces the opportunities that KEY members will have for reserved hours. Reservations through the cruise planner are open until 3 days before your sail date, so it is in their interest to wait until the last possible moment for them to make as much as possible from private bookings before turning loose the remaining slots that were not booked to the KEY. 

From a business perspective this makes a lot of sense...I wonder if this is what happened on Symphony!


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[RW_MI]

2 hours ago, VictorSinclair said:

it is in their interest to wait until the last possible moment for them to make as much as possible from private bookings before turning loose the remaining slots that were not booked to the KEY

I get this.  But for The Key be profitable and marketable long term, they'll be subject to how consumers perceive the value. If  we're expected to pay a fixed price for whatever they have leftover, fewer people may decide the program has value.  Hard to say, as everyone buys it for different reasons.  

 

19 minutes ago, blueridgemama said:

If your primary reason for purchasing the Key is for flowrider hours, why not just reserve a private hour session on the flowrider instead of investing extra money in the Key?

Because one private session is $345, and the incremental cost for The Key over a one device internet package (I travel solo) is $56 for the week and will hopefully offer multiple flowrider times that are less crowded than normal.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

15 minutes ago, RW_MI said:

I get this.  But for The Key be profitable and marketable long term, they'll be subject to how consumers perceive the value. If  we're expected to pay a fixed price for whatever they have leftover, fewer people may decide the program has value.  Hard to say, as everyone buys it for different reasons.  

 

Because one private session is $345, and the incremental cost for The Key over a one device internet package (I travel solo) is $56 for the week and will hopefully offer multiple flowrider times that are less crowded than normal.

I think that was addressed in Post 2021...

[mil76]

$345 for a private hour on the Flowrider vs. $280 for two of us to have the Key last week, in which we ended up with 5+ hours on the Flowrider by ourselves (including the 8-9am hour almost every day), plus internet, plus other perks we didn't really care about.  Key wins hands down.

 

As for the hours, they change all the time.  I found a Key schedule from Liberty a few weeks ago where most of the Key Flowrider hours were in the middle of the day during hours that were usually open sessions in the past.  Because last week was a peak spring break week, they told me they switched the schedule to give Key the 8-9am hours since they expected a big crowd during their open session hours, and the weeks before Spring Break the Flowrider was dead so they could get away with doing Key hours in the middle of the day.  

[Colorado Babe]

2 minutes ago, mil76 said:

$345 for a private hour on the Flowrider vs. $280 for two of us to have the Key last week, in which we ended up with 5+ hours on the Flowrider by ourselves (including the 8-9am hour almost every day), plus internet, plus other perks we didn't really care about.  Key wins hands down.

 

As for the hours, they change all the time.  I found a Key schedule from Liberty a few weeks ago where most of the Key Flowrider hours were in the middle of the day during hours that were usually open sessions in the past.  Because last week was a peak spring break week, they told me they switched the schedule to give Key the 8-9am hours since they expected a big crowd during their open session hours, and the weeks before Spring Break the Flowrider was dead so they could get away with doing Key hours in the middle of the day.  

This is great to hear.  We are on the Adventure in May and my husband loves the flowrider and spends every bit of time using it when it is open.  Glad to hear that the key times are in the afternoon or at least on the Liberty.  Hoping that will be the case on the Adventure.