3 Drinks only in Diamond Lounge

[frank808]

1 minute ago, Host Clarea said:

 

There used to be a lounge up in Viking Crown called Hollywood Odyssey.  It was a bar open to all, and a cigar bar after 9pm. That was turned into the Concierge Lounge several years ago, so there is no more Hollywood anything on Radiance class ships.

That explains it.  Our first cruise was in 2014 and first time sailing serenade was 2018. Did not know the cl was a cigar bar.  Where is this extra door the poster spoke of?

[frank808]

3 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I always thought the whole VCL was the Vortex. Oops

I thought it was all the same vcl until our second cruise on serenade.

[taglovestocruise]

Three drink max and the place would be a ghost town at 6pm.

[Clarea]

 

48 minutes ago, frank808 said:

That explains it.  Our first cruise was in 2014 and first time sailing serenade was 2018. Did not know the cl was a cigar bar.  Where is this extra door the poster spoke of?

 

I know of no extra door in the Concierge Lounge, formerly Hollywood Odyssey.    I believe the DL may have an extra door leading to the public area of Viking Crown.

[Hogbay]

3 hours ago, rusty nut said:

I have my own thoughts on this. I believe they are simply tracking every single drink you order for liability purposes. Before, you drank all you wanted in the Dl and you could leave and go do all kinds of stupid things, like, I don't know, jump overboard? Accountability. They want to track it so that if you sue them for breaking your leg on the pool deck they have a defense that, no, Mr Doe, we are not liable because our records show you had 17 cocktails in a 2 hour period. It's all recorded. This goes for all bars, restaurants, and now the DL. Good for them.

Do not agree . Do you have a RSA in place ? yet your own records State Mr Doe was Served 17 cocktails in a two hour period, And we have video that even though a measuring cup was used every pour overflowed and that Two hours is in fact 1 hour 49 minutes ?  How do you say ? 😃

[pcur]

1 hour ago, frank808 said:

Where is the Hollywood lounge on serenade? The vcl was used as the overflow venue for the dl on serenade this past Feb.  

 

It used to be (I think) where the Vortex Night Club is now.  

[Clarea]

32 minutes ago, pcur said:

 

It used to be (I think) where the Vortex Night Club is now.  

 

Perhaps there was more than one venue using the word "Hollywood" in the name.  However, if we are talking about the Hollywood Odyssey, that is now the Concierge Lounge on all Radiance class ships.

[pcur]

2 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Perhaps there was more than one venue using the word "Hollywood" in the name.  However, if we are talking about the Hollywood Odyssey, that is now the Concierge Lounge on all Radiance class ships.

 

Yes!  That's the one.

[Merion_Mom]

6 hours ago, rusty nut said:

I have my own thoughts on this. I believe they are simply tracking every single drink you order for liability purposes. Before, you drank all you wanted in the Dl and you could leave and go do all kinds of stupid things, like, I don't know, jump overboard? Accountability. They want to track it so that if you sue them for breaking your leg on the pool deck they have a defense that, no, Mr Doe, we are not liable because our records show you had 17 cocktails in a 2 hour period. It's all recorded. This goes for all bars, restaurants, and now the DL. Good for them.

 

Actually, that would PROVE their liability.  If they KNOW how much you have been served, and didn't cut you off, they are responsible.  

[Mythbuster]

8 hours ago, nelblu said:

And yet, on my January 11 niter on the same ship, no such oversight.  I guess it may be random or on certain sails.

The OP stated it started June 1.  I think January came before June 1st this year.  But then again I may be looking at my calendar wrong.

[Mythbuster]

8 hours ago, nelblu said:

Not that easy on the Anthem as the Music Hall is the overflow for the DL and non Ds are allowed in that area especially since it has pool tables.  The only way is to close the Music Hall to non Ds during the 3-3.5 hrs. or have some staff member closely monitor the flow of Pax.

It may have changed but the last time I was the Anthem you could only order your drink in the D lounge but could take it out to the Music Hall to drink it.  I guess you could bring a drink to a non D in the Music Hall but as difficult as it is to order a drink in the DL when it is crowed I doubt it is worth it.

[nelblu]

6 hours ago, Mythbuster said:

It may have changed but the last time I was the Anthem you could only order your drink in the D lounge but could take it out to the Music Hall to drink it.  I guess you could bring a drink to a non D in the Music Hall but as difficult as it is to order a drink in the DL when it is crowed I doubt it is worth it.

When was that?  If it's crowded in both the DL and the Music Hall, I doubt it would workable.

[Wine-O]

7 hours ago, Mythbuster said:

It may have changed but the last time I was the Anthem you could only order your drink in the D lounge but could take it out to the Music Hall to drink it.  I guess you could bring a drink to a non D in the Music Hall but as difficult as it is to order a drink in the DL when it is crowed I doubt it is worth it.

When we were on Anthem, they roped off the Music Hall section up to the bar area, and service was provided to you sitting at the tables in there.  There were a few people who would enter the roped off area.  Not sure if they were sneaking in or eligible and just taking the short cut to get in.  🍷

[SAmome]

10 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Three drink max and the place would be a ghost town at 6pm.

Perhaps not but that could be the idea. If people go to the DL to have 1-3 drinks and chat with new friends and move on, great. If they hang out there the entire time largely for the purpose of unlimited drinks this could become a problem as the DL on many ships had gotten smaller and the number of D guests continues to grow. 

 

Changing it to 3 drinks "anywhere" will put people in the DL that want to visit there and not just there for unlimited drinks.  It could make the crowds managable as a place for people to meet up for a drink or two before dinner and more have a chance to use it.  I avoid DL at coctail time b/c of the crowds.

 

RCCL might be weighing two options, change the rules on drinks or change it to D+ lounge.  

[pcur]

9 hours ago, Mythbuster said:

The OP stated it started June 1.  I think January came before June 1st this year.  But then again I may be looking at my calendar wrong.

If you are referring to when they started swiping cards in the Adventure DL, it was in place when we got on 4/27/19.

[davekathy]

7 minutes ago, pcur said:

If you are referring to when they started swiping cards in the Adventure DL, it was in place when we got on 4/27/19.

Did they limit you to 3 drinks in the DL?

[pcur]

2 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Did they limit you to 3 drinks in the DL?

 

No.  That is now becoming an urban RCCL myth! 

 

They had to repeat constantly that the cards were only for tracking and inventory purposes, and you could have as many drinks as you wanted in the DL.  People were going nuts thinking it was tied to the 3 free drinks on the card.  It wasn't:  those 3 were for NON-DL drink orders.

[davekathy]

6 minutes ago, pcur said:

 

No.  That is now becoming an urban RCCL myth! 

 

They had to repeat constantly that the cards were only for tracking and inventory purposes, and you could have as many drinks as you wanted in the DL.  People were going nuts thinking it was tied to the 3 free drinks on the card.  It wasn't:  those 3 were for NON-DL drink orders.

What I thought. Thanks for the clarification. 

[blackshirt]

3 minutes ago, pcur said:

 

No.  That is now becoming an urban RCCL myth! 

 

In this case, I’d call it the Facebook RCCL group myth. That group is filled with so much misinformation, it’s staggering. 

[pcur]

3 minutes ago, blackshirt said:

In this case, I’d call it the Facebook RCCL group myth. That group is filled with so much misinformation, it’s staggering. 

 

It was indeed the way people reacted to it.  As I said before, I was on the Adventure for 4 b2b cruises, and I was even explaining it to people in line in the DL.  Even after having it explained, some were STILL suspicious.  There's no helping some people from themselves.

[Big_G]

46 minutes ago, pcur said:

 

No.  That is now becoming an urban RCCL myth! 

 

They had to repeat constantly that the cards were only for tracking and inventory purposes, and you could have as many drinks as you wanted in the DL.  People were going nuts thinking it was tied to the 3 free drinks on the card.  It wasn't:  those 3 were for NON-DL drink orders.

 

It isn't the first time this has been done and probably won't be the last.

[rt1092]

I can tell you exactly when they started swiping cards in the DL on the Oasis. It was Feb 3, 2019. We were on for a B2B. On the first leg, they were setting up the card reader by the little buffet table. But not asking for cards. On the second leg Feb 3 they asked me for my card when I sat down. The waiters all knew us well. Plus we had our badges on. So no reason to check to see if we were eligible to be there. 

I inquired about why they needed the cards. They told me it was for inventory.  They said as a few on here have stated that only a few ships were doing this. I was told that in the SL they were doing the same thing.  I think it was a possibility that some of the crews parties were supplied by liquor for the lounges. And maybe they want to tamp them down a bit. 

I my opinion. Royal does not care if the lounge is crowded. If it's to crowded for you, go elsewhere and get your 3 drinks. The lounge is a perk, not something that is written in the contract. The price that Royal pays for the liquor they serve in the lounge is nominal. For every person that drinks a lot there are 2 that have next to none.

[davekathy]

6 minutes ago, rt1092 said:

I can tell you exactly when they started swiping cards in the DL on the Oasis. It was Feb 3, 2019. We were on for a B2B. On the first leg, they were setting up the card reader by the little buffet table. But not asking for cards. On the second leg Feb 3 they asked me for my card when I sat down. The waiters all knew us well. Plus we had our badges on. So no reason to check to see if we were eligible to be there. 

I inquired about why they needed the cards. They told me it was for inventory.  They said as a few on here have stated that only a few ships were doing this. I was told that in the SL they were doing the same thing.  I think it was a possibility that some of the crews parties were supplied by liquor for the lounges. And maybe they want to tamp them down a bit. 

I my opinion. Royal does not care if the lounge is crowded. If it's to crowded for you, go elsewhere and get your 3 drinks. The lounge is a perk, not something that is written in the contract. The price that Royal pays for the liquor they serve in the lounge is nominal. For every person that drinks a lot there are 2 that have next to none.

We did a B2B cruise on the Freedom March 2019 and they weren't scanning Seapass cards in the DL. Sip to ship, DLC to DLC. Consistently inconsistent. 

[reallyitsmema]

10 hours ago, Mythbuster said:

It may have changed but the last time I was the Anthem you could only order your drink in the D lounge but could take it out to the Music Hall to drink it.  I guess you could bring a drink to a non D in the Music Hall but as difficult as it is to order a drink in the DL when it is crowed I doubt it is worth it.

 

When the overflow is open on Anthem, they have set up a separate bar in the roped off section of the Music Hall.  It was much quicker to get a drink there than it was in the Music Hall on our sailings.  One sailing had also set up appetizers out there too.  There was an officer that spoke to a group that came in under the rope, they stayed for a drink and then left, so not sure if they were D or not.   

[Biker19]

15 minutes ago, rt1092 said:

I can tell you exactly when they started swiping cards in the DL on the Oasis. It was Feb 3, 2019. 

Card scanning like this has been reported on and off for years.