Have the D+ cruisers been kicked out of all the Concierge lounges?

[homedepot124]

We are on the 1/4/20 sailing of the Rhapsody OTS and we got an e-mail from RCCL this week saying the Concierge lounge is only for Pinnacles and Suite passengers.  We are D+ and were on Serenade in September and had no problem using the Concierge lounge. 

[Merion_Mom]

Empirically, no one here can yet say whether it is happening on all the ships, but many passengers received that email on various ships.  There are already at least two threads discussing this.

[RCCL Fan]

I know every ship is different but on our last two, (vision class) we walked into both the diamond lounge and concierge lounge and saw absolutely no difference.  

 

Crowd size was the same, food and bar service was the same.   On Enchantment the diamond even had a little live entertainment, and concierge did not.

 

I know lounges are super important to some of us and not so important to others, but it made me wonder if outside of Oasis and Quantum class how similar the two lounges really are.

 

 

[Crism]

Explorer has the old Concierge lounge until March. I was able to go in no problem on a 5 night following the TA. Even with 39 Pineapples.

[island lady]

What you are seeing is the workings of the current (and fairly new) Concierge in the CL, ....Kumar.  He has tried several times to kick out the D+ from the CL....with no signage change...nada.   There was so much howling on my last Rhapsody cruise, he had to relent and let them in.  Sad he is still up to those tricks.  

 

On the other hand, Alan...who used to be concierge in the CL...had moved to the DL on deck six.  He is a far superior Concierge (IMHO).   Also...we actually preferred the DL to the CL...love that sweeping view off the aft, with lots of room for overflow in the "Shall we Dance" lounge.  Not a fan of the layout in the CL on Rhapsody.  

[Norwich Cruiser]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

What you are seeing is the workings of the current (and fairly new) Concierge in the CL, ....Kumar.  He has tried several times to kick out the D+ from the CL....with no signage change...nada.   There was so much howling on my last Rhapsody cruise, he had to relent and let them in.  Sad he is still up to those tricks.  

 

On the other hand, Alan...who used to be concierge in the CL...had moved to the DL on deck six.  He is a far superior Concierge (IMHO).   Also...we actually preferred the DL to the CL...love that sweeping view off the aft, with lots of room for overflow in the "Shall we Dance" lounge.  Not a fan of the layout in the CL on Rhapsody.  

Agree that Alan is by far the better and we also prefer the diamond lounge on Rhapsody.

[Crism]

1 hour ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

Agree that Alan is by far the better and we also prefer the diamond lounge on Rhapsody.

All the Pineapples on the Vision Panama Canal cruise I was just on started doing the same thing. Much better than being smashed upstairs into the CL.

[Milwaukee Eight]

Interesting 

[c-leg5]

1 hour ago, Crism said:

All the Pineapples on the Vision Panama Canal cruise I was just on started doing the same thing. Much better than being smashed upstairs into the CL.

Is the lounge being used for overflow? Flow is not as good from Vision DL as Rhapsody.

 

View nice from  CL on these ships, but not easy to socialize. 

[klfrodo]

I hope so.

as a diamond and someone who stays in suites, I’ll enjoy my CL lounge and not take up space in the Diamond lounge.

[George C]

Nobody likes losing perks , we are diamond plus but always book suites. We sometimes stop for one drink in diamond lounge just to check it out. We also get drink package. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 hour ago, George C said:

Nobody likes losing perks , we are diamond plus but always book suites. We sometimes stop for one drink in diamond lounge just to check it out. We also get drink package. 

Same here....

[ONECRUISER]

4 hours ago, klfrodo said:

I hope so.

as a diamond and someone who stays in suites, I’ll enjoy my CL lounge and not take up space in the Diamond lounge.

Though until lost it Diamonds were allowed in CL. C&A popular now. 20yrs ago when made Diamond, only Top Tier then, at most 6-10 on a new ship sailing Popular Cruise. Now pushing 1000 upper Tier on some sailings. Ships I cruise prefer CL, havent been in a Diamond Lounge in probably 3+ yrs

Edited December 23, 2019 by ONECRUISER

[kruzerci]

D+ and enjoyed the CL on Explorer the past 9 days. We used CL for the coffee machine in the mornings since it was on our deck and DL for drinks because it has windows. 

[voyager70]

We're D+ who book standard cabins. Perfectly OK with one lounge access.  Can't justify the extra $$ booking a full suite as we spend probably 2 hrs/day tops in the cabin outside of sleeping.  

 

[klfrodo]

The only thing constant in life is change.

As more Emeralds become Diamonds, more Diamonds become Diamond +, more Diamonds + become Pinnacles, there will be changes. Whatever benefits are provided today are not promised tomorrow. Today’s Diamond lounge will become tomorrow’s Diamond + Lounge and the lowly Diamonds will just get a couple of drink coupons. Pinnacles will be split off to Pinnacle Plus.

[LMaxwell]

9 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

Crowd size was the same, food and bar service was the same.   On Enchantment the diamond even had a little live entertainment

 

Where?  Acrobats? Spiderman? 

[c-leg5]

16 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

 

Where?  Acrobats? Spiderman? 

music

[LMaxwell]

Just now, c-leg5 said:

music

 

The point was WHERE is there room in the Enchantment DL; it's tiny and pushed up against a sloping ceiling; I could only imagine room for entertainers if they were on the ceiling 

 

 

[Retired LEO]

19 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

 

Where?  Acrobats? Spiderman? 

An annoying piano player

[Merion_Mom]

48 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

The only thing constant in life is change.

As more Emeralds become Diamonds, more Diamonds become Diamond +, more Diamonds + become Pinnacles, there will be changes. Whatever benefits are provided today are not promised tomorrow. Today’s Diamond lounge will become tomorrow’s Diamond + Lounge and the lowly Diamonds will just get a couple of drink coupons. Pinnacles will be split off to Pinnacle Plus.

 

Nonsense.

[LMaxwell]

1 minute ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Nonsense.

Agree.  

 

Even the name is an oxymoron 

[Straughn]

2 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Same here....

Me three!

[allentownahoy]

10 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

Empirically, no one here can yet say whether it is happening on all the ships, but many passengers received that email on various ships.  There are already at least two threads discussing this.

And I have 2 upcoming cruises where some have received the emails but I have not. I know I am no longer welcome in the CL but it would be nice if Royal officially notified me.

[RCCL Fan]

30 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

 

The point was WHERE is there room in the Enchantment DL; it's tiny and pushed up against a sloping ceiling; I could only imagine room for entertainers if they were on the ceiling 

 

 

 

On our sailing it was a 3 piece band... and their backs were to the wall shared with the CL.  They were in the middle of the space facing out to the VCL.