C&S benefits

[soloadventurer]

Given the latest news from RC regarding a reduction in C&S benefits will you continued to book cruises with them or wait until they fully reinstated all C&S  ? 

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, soloadventurer said:

Given the latest news from RC regarding a reduction in C&A benefits will you continued to book cruises with them or wait until they fully reinstated all C&A  ? 

Depends on the definition of "fully reinstated".

[crazyank]

1 hour ago, soloadventurer said:

Given the latest news from RC regarding a reduction in C&S benefits will you continued to book cruises with them or wait until they fully reinstated all C&S  ? 

Do you mean C&A?  We can do without a couple cans of coke and a plate of cookies.

[soloadventurer]

SORRY Crown and Anchor 

[cruisegirl1]

Yes-.we will continue to sail.
 

And....I don’t believe many benefits removed will ever be reinstated. 
 

But....a couple of the removed benefits total well over $200 per cruise  for us. The 3 bottles of wine we selected are in the $50 range on the wine list. If we purchase them and pay the 18% service fee, plus purchase 2 beers (welcome beverage) and service fee, we are over $200. With our past cruising routine of 8-12 cruises per year, losing the gift and welcome amenity alone is a substantial reduction in benefits.   Yes I read that we will get 6 drinks a day-and that is generous- I’ll need to use some vouchers to simply replace the 6 bottles of water left as part of the welcome amenity.
 

Will I miss the welcome cookies?  -NO  

 

While we don’t cruise for the benefits, they are/were a nice incentive. 

m 

 

 

[later]

1 hour ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Yes-.we will continue to sail.
 

And....I don’t believe many benefits removed will ever be reinstated. 
 

But....a couple of the removed benefits total well over $200 per cruise  for us. The 3 bottles of wine we selected are in the $50 range on the wine list. If we purchase them and pay the 18% service fee, plus purchase 2 beers (welcome beverage) and service fee, we are over $200. With our past cruising routine of 8-12 cruises per year, losing the gift and welcome amenity alone is a substantial reduction in benefits.   Yes I read that we will get 6 drinks a day-and that is generous- I’ll need to use some vouchers to simply replace the 6 bottles of water left as part of the welcome amenity.
 

Will I miss the welcome cookies?  -NO  

 

While we don’t cruise for the benefits, they are/were a nice incentive. 

m 

 

 

We are in the same situation as you and it is a big loss for us but we will continue to book with Royal.

[John&LaLa]

5 hours ago, soloadventurer said:

Given the latest news from RC regarding a reduction in C&S benefits will you continued to book cruises with them or wait until they fully reinstated all C&S  ? 

 

Not enough data, but I'll keep cruising and decide down the road

[livingonthebeach]

If you wait until the C & A are fully reinstated, you may be waiting a long time, or forever, as I don't think once they take something away, they will give it back, as past history illustrates.  

 

I'm okay with the 4 or 5 drinks loaded on the SeaPass card.  The rest of the stuff is not worth waiting for it to come back. 

[Goodtime Cruizin]

"I'll have a covid free cruise w/ a drink package on the side. Make it to go please." 

[lovescats5]

We book Star Class so the free stuff doesn't really matter.  So, we will continue to book.

[Sea Dog]

I'm still a low life Gold member so I don't get anything. I'm going to keep on cruising till I get a high enough status so that I have a right to complain.

[HicksRA]

Gotta use up my already existing stockpile of bookings before I have to decide....

[Mapleleafforever]

Let me keep my 5 free drinks on my card and I'm ok, no reason not to book. Take away all my perks and I'll still cruise......who knows, may even try different lines. 

[Northbay]

Does anyone know if they are discontinuing the balcony/suite discount for Diamond and above C & A members.   I’ve tried booking on line, and although they’re applying the second guest discount, on the current & ongoing sale,  it doesn’t seem like the balcony/suite discount is showing up.

[firefly333]

1 minute ago, Northbay said:

Does anyone know if they are discontinuing the balcony/suite discount for Diamond and above C & A members.   I’ve tried booking on line, and although they’re applying the second guest discount, on the current & ongoing sale,  it doesn’t seem like the balcony/suite discount is showing up.

I've seen several posts on this. If the discounts applied are higher than the balcony discount, there might be no balcony discount or very little. I think I got $44 discount off one cruise. Depends on the discounts believed applied. If it's a group rate I think you get the whole discount or i did.

[Northbay]

 

42 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I've seen several posts on this. If the discounts applied are higher than the balcony discount, there might be no balcony discount or very little. I think I got $44 discount off one cruise. Depends on the discounts believed applied. If it's a group rate I think you get the whole discount or i did.

Thanks so much.  Today is the first time in a booking that I hadn’t seen it applied.

[Cigar King]

I hope they keep the restrictions to the lounge access.

[ownedbypets]

5 hours ago, lovescats5 said:

We book Star Class so the free stuff doesn't really matter.  So, we will continue to book.

 

As long as they don't take away Star Class perks.

[cured]

13 hours ago, soloadventurer said:

Given the latest news from RC regarding a reduction in C&S benefits will you continued to book cruises with them or wait until they fully reinstated all C&S  ? 

I don't have enough points in C&A for anything to actually make a difference, but loyalty programs don't necessarily influence my travel choices. Loyalty programs are notorious for being fickle across the travel industry, so I have never been someone to become attached to one. 

 

I can't count the number of times our different airline and hotel loyalty programs have changed and made it harder to reach certain goals over the years.  Or, in one hotel program where we were top tier, they just decided to eliminate the program completely.

 

If I have a benefit, I will check that product first. For instance, I will usually try to fly Southwest because I have a companion pass and that usually makes their fares cheaper for our family.  However, they made the companion pass harder to get pre-covid by upping the points needed to earn it. If I didn't have the benefits, I would still fly Southwest because I prefer their product over other airlines.  

 

The product offered makes my decision with with the different loyalty programs adding some influence if it means I can save some money. But I am not going to sweat it if loyalty program changes or is eliminated because that is inevitable in the travel industry.

[grapau27]

The only benefits we would miss

Free drinks in our cabin.

BOGO Speciality restaurant.

Shop discount.

Hopefully 5 any drink any time of day.

Coffee machine in DL.

Graham.

[DaniDanielle]

We would miss them too.

[John&LaLa]

20 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

The only benefits we would miss

Free drinks in our cabin.

BOGO Speciality restaurant.

Shop discount.

Hopefully 5 any drink any time of day.

Coffee machine in DL.

Graham.

 

Only😱

 

That's almost all of it, and you want the 5 drinks anytime. 😉

[yogimax]

When bargaining, you never begin from weakness.  If RCCL reads these boards and see that folks don't seem to care if they cut benefits... they will cut benefits.  Watch out what you say!

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

The only benefits we would miss

Free drinks in our cabin.

BOGO Speciality restaurant.

Shop discount.

Hopefully 5 any drink any time of day.

Coffee machine in DL.

Graham.

I believe that benefit is the one your wife would miss. 😉

[AF-1]

They do read these boards;  and so do the other cruise lines.