Bean Counters vs Diamonds

[Hogbay]

With the chicken wings

[molly361]

2 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

 

It would also entail air travel for almost everyone. A lot of the Florida cruisers don’t even want to travel from Central Florida to South Florida.
 

 

M

 

 

 

 

I resemble that statement😇

[lovescats5]

island lady...yes she works after school but not at a "real" job.  Her mom died 4 years ago and she has been learning how to be a young adult since then.  She can cook, clean, help her dad in his business, take care of her pets and other friends pets, and still get all A's in school.  If you have to have a job and pay for your own ticket then I would be out of luck also.  I have been a mother and housewife for 45 years so I guess since my husband pays for me to sail in the Star Class Suites he should get the points but not me. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

deleted. Repeated

Edited November 5, 2019 by Milwaukee Eight

[molly361]

Seems to me that someone posting on here has mentioned on several threads about their upcoming Pinnacleness, just sayin😇

[Tulsacoker]

👀

[GTO-Girl]

20 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

Mostly agree.

 

While 3 is probably plenty, I'd even bump that up and say unlimited drinks on the card during the happy hours.

 

Of course, the down side to this plan is now all the other bars will be more crowded with Diamond refugees.

and sadly people would start “sharing” with family and friends....

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

HI Graham...nice reply...but...

Isn't that a bit of a personal question?  Also brings to mind...the types that complain when upper tier brag about their points in the lounge.  When someone asks me how many cruises I have been on, or how many points I have...I just smile and say "Oh...a few" 😉  

Hi Pat.

Yes it was too personal but

I always answer questions when asked and really your reply would have been more appropriate to this question.

Edited November 5, 2019 by grapau27

[Tulsacoker]

9 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

and sadly people would start “sharing” with family and friends....

then maybe institute a minimum time between drink orders 😱

[The Fun Researcher]

2 hours ago, Mikew0805 said:

I think this makes sense. D is 175, then double to D+, then double to P. Make the change now... no grandfathering. 

 

Sure this would help some with crowding in the Diamond Lounge, but I think this would kill the enticement of the C&A program for most new cruisers.  We all know the benefits of the program are pretty dang crappy until you reach Diamond and get the Happy Hour. (if you enjoy drinking on a cruise)  If Royal would start requiring 25 (7 night) cruises, or half a year at sea, before becoming Diamond, it just becomes unapproachable from the beginning.  Personally, I wouldn't even care about the program from the start if they made the Diamond points so high.  I wouldn't be loyal to royal from the start.

[HBE4]

3 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

3 hours ago, island lady said:

HI Graham...nice reply...but...

Isn't that a bit of a personal question?  Also brings to mind...the types that complain when upper tier brag about their points in the lounge.  When someone asks me how many cruises I have been on, or how many points I have...I just smile and say "Oh...a few" 😉  

 

Actually no. If you go back and read @grapau27 post on page 6, he offered a suggestion to increase points required for Diamond to 175, D+ to 350. I thought it was honorable on his part, as he is D+, with 200 points, to suggest 350 for D+. 

 

I agree. It was a honorable and selfless action of @grapau27 to suggest a solution where he would be giving up a benefit for the common good. 👍

 

Also, I don't think it's rude  or bragging to tell someone who asks how many cruises you've been on. I believe they sincerely want to know.

 

Now, if you start every single conversation with: "I've been on 299 cruises and I've never....", that's a different story. 😉

 

 

Edited November 5, 2019 by HBE4

[HBE4]

2 hours ago, Tulsacoker said:

2 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

So it’s all about the Free alcohol?  

 

I believe it is...  

 

Agreed.

 

After all, the complaints about the crowding in the lounge is only during the happy hour.   It can't just be the appetizers, can it?

 

I know some will say they enjoy the conversation with like-minded cruisers. But isn't that pretty much everyone on the ship? 🤔 

[The Fun Researcher]

14 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Agreed.

 

After all, the complaints about the crowding in the lounge is only during the happy hour.   It can't just be the appetizers, can it?

 

Absolutely.  There is better food and more variety offered in the Windjammer during that time, so yes, it's absolutely the alcohol, which I totally understand by the way.  🙂

 

When basic drink prices on-board are $10 or more, three nightly drinks (or unlimited if you are in the lounge) is a huge perk.  One that I'm very much looking forward to.

 

Dan

[clochette]

23 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

I get the spouse matching rule. That makes sense.

 

But the children?  I'd say any cruise before they turned 12....or 16...or 18 (however Royal defines kids) shouldn't count. Or maybe have the rule that it takes 2 nights for 1 point since the kids either sailed free or as a very cheap 3rd & 4th passenger.  Or some combination of those two, i.e. nothing under 12 counts, between 12-18 it's 2 nights-for 1 point, etc

completely disagree, my kids have the same status as we have and have "earned" every single one of those points, we always traveled in attached rooms, and they always paid full price, even as an 8 year old.

[tserface]

18 hours ago, ATC cruiser said:

That’s kind of fuzzy math. All those free drinks don’t cost RCI anywhere near 150k. With the cheap booze they serve in the diamond lounge and the volume they buy at, I’d be very surprised if each drink costs them a buck.

 

I think they are assuming people would buy the drinks if they didn't get them for free.  In our case, that is not true. We enjoy the perks and a few drinks, but at the current prices we wouldn't pay for that many if we were asked. So, there isn't as much opportunity cost, at least in our case, as this is suggesting.

 

Tom

[cruisegirl1]

3 hours ago, molly361 said:

I resemble that statement😇

I was hoping I had not offended anyone. 
m

[tserface]

On 11/4/2019 at 10:20 AM, HBE4 said:

 

Mostly agree.

 

While 3 is probably plenty, I'd even bump that up and say unlimited drinks on the card during the happy hours.

 

Of course, the down side to this plan is now all the other bars will be more crowded with Diamond refugees.

 

On our recent Celebrity Summit cruise they gave us unlimited drinks during happy hour at any bar on the ship.  Happy hour was 5p-8p, but that was plenty of time.

 

Tom

[tserface]

I think they will consider the trend of including "Unlimited" drink packages with the cost of the cruise in more of an all-inclusive fashion.  If everyone on the cruise can get drinks whenever they want because "it came with the cruise" then there won't be as much interest in the Diamond Club.  We enjoy meeting people there.  It's obviously filled with people who enjoy cruising and we always have good conversations with others, but that could happen in any venue.

And, the apps are just food.  If the ship was all inclusive, the apps could be for everyone during the Happy Hour.

If they want to reward Diamonds, etc. they could give them more discount on the cruise to make up the difference.  The cruise discount could even be scaled by the total number of points accumulated and be either a fixed amount or percent of the price (so if a Diamond cruises in an inside room they get less discount than one in a suite ... for example).

I think this concept will be tough to implement because it will raise cruise prices by $60-$70/day and no one wants their prices to look higher.

Celebrity is often do a trial of this idea by including "Perks" then allowing you to un-include them if you don't want drinks.  The Classic Drink Package is typically one of the 2 defaults.  On our last Celebrity cruise a very high percentage of people had a drink package and most of the servers just assumed we did too.  This seems like the wave of the future and it normalizes everyone on the cruise and gets the cruise line more money in the long run since even non-drinkers (or sort of drinkers) will pay the same as others.

Tom

[cruisegirl1]

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

 

Agreed.

 

After all, the complaints about the crowding in the lounge is only during the happy hour.   It can't just be the appetizers, can it?

 

I know some will say they enjoy the conversation with like-minded cruisers. But isn't that pretty much everyone on the ship? 🤔 

yes-crowding is just happy hour.
 

I go for coffee and a light breakfast almost every morning. I can have any seat in the room.
 

sometimes the whole cruise goes by and we have not been in the lounge during cocktail hours.

 

M
 

 

 

[ATC cruiser]

21 minutes ago, tserface said:

 

I think they are assuming people would buy the drinks if they didn't get them for free.  In our case, that is not true. We enjoy the perks and a few drinks, but at the current prices we wouldn't pay for that many if we were asked. So, there isn't as much opportunity cost, at least in our case, as this is suggesting.

 

Tom

That’s the same with us.

[legaljen1969]

18 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

Been in the Diamond lounge many many times and I’ve never heard any brag about their cruise total. I have heard a few folks cry about how long it will take them to get to wear the personalized pin. 

I would think that many of those D+ and Pinnacles probably cruise together fairly frequently. Maybe not as a planned group, but probably they turn up on the same sailings fairly often.  Who is to brag to then??  LOL

[legaljen1969]

5 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Don’t know. But, At their gambling level, I imagine the casino host can comp  any kind of room service charge.

 

A Masters level player needs to run half a million through a slot machine. That doesn’t mean they have to lose that much that just means I have to gamble that much in one years time.  They deserve much more than free room service

 

m

I wish I had a cool half million to run through a slot machine.   It hurts my heart to spend $20 in the casino.

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, clochette said:

completely disagree, my kids have the same status as we have and have "earned" every single one of those points, we always traveled in attached rooms, and they always paid full price, even as an 8 year old.

No they did not pay full price. You paid full price for them. If I could get points for all the cabins I have paid for while cruising with our kids I would be on my way to pinnacle. 

Edited November 5, 2019 by taglovestocruise

[NateUpNorth]

1 hour ago, tserface said:

Celebrity is often do a trial of this idea by including "Perks" then allowing you to un-include them if you don't want drinks.  The Classic Drink Package is typically one of the 2 defaults.  On our last Celebrity cruise a very high percentage of people had a drink package and most of the servers just assumed we did too.  This seems like the wave of the future and it normalizes everyone on the cruise and gets the cruise line more money in the long run since even non-drinkers (or sort of drinkers) will pay the same as others.

Tom

 

I do believe that the drink package on X, while one of the perks, will also contain an added "top up" fee to add it? 

 

The current trend appears to be making the base price as low as possible to secure the booking, then adding everything in as "pre-cruise" expenses. I'm not sure the companies targeting this market space will want to start inflating prices $500 a person for an "included" drink package. Although some other lines do seem to have success with "the price is higher but I get a "free" drink package"

 

The Diamond perk of 3 drinks on the card and/or unlimited drinks in the lounge during happy hour is a fantastic loyalty bonus. It's a shame they currently seem to be having difficulty providing it. 

[Tulsacoker]

8 minutes ago, NateUpNorth said:

The Diamond perk of 3 drinks on the card and/or unlimited drinks in the lounge during happy hour is a fantastic loyalty bonus. It's a shame they currently seem to be having difficulty providing it. 

just the second part. :)