Serenade: Only Diamond+ and Pinnacles allowed in Diamond Lounge?

[RFerrington]

14 hours ago, Venice Cruising said:

From past experience on Serenade, I cruise her quite frequently, my guess is  they will make the Safari Lounge into a diamond lounge. There is no way all of the D, D+ and Pinnacles will fit into the regular diamond lounge.

 They have used the Safari Lounge quite frequently for that purpose.

@venice cruising that is a beautiful night runner in your profile pic.  I have one just like it !!

[bilyclub]

It happens when they have giveaways like double points. We had only one cruise in the CL before they threw the D's out. This was back when only the Freedom Class had D Lounges. You have to be grateful that they don't get rid of the whole program. It will take a lot of good years for Royal to get out of debt.

[killsport]

Does this mean that Diamond can't get morning specialty coffee from the machine (with our without staff assistance)?

[island lady]

 

Just before Covid shut down, RCI kicked D+ out of the ships that still had concierge lounges, and hid that fact with name change on ships that now have Suites Lounge (or were put in as suite lounge, in both cases eliminating the concierge lounge).    

 

Back track to the past...Diamonds were kicked out of the then Concierge lounges years ago.  

 

So don't feel bad Diamonds...change happens...to all of us.  Pinnies are kicked out of Suites Lounges  now as well.  Serenade may be testing ship for this change?

 

With double points, it's ridiculously easy to make it to 80 points to become Diamond.

 

When RCI came out with the drink vouchers years ago......I thought  that was it.  DL will become D+ and Pinnie lounge...Ds will get the vouchers to use anywhere and suites guests had SL.  Of course now RCI has upped it's vouchers quite a bit...can use anywhere, including Coco Cay.  

[island lady]

3 minutes ago, killsport said:

Does this mean that Diamond can't get morning specialty coffee from the machine (with our without staff assistance)?

 

What I would like to see is coffee vouchers to pair up with drink vouchers.  That would be a simple fix to losing the lounge coffee.  Love going in there early in the morning for coffee.  Would miss it.  

 

The only thing that stays the same....is change.  

[cruisegirl1]

2 minutes ago, killsport said:

Does this mean that Diamond can't get morning specialty coffee from the machine (with our without staff assistance)?

If D are not allowed in the lounge then you would be  correct.  

 

Quite frankly - I had not heard that info anywhere else or for any other ship.  

 

M

[island lady]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

 

I get no love from Apple despite owning several products from different portfolios.  I only get increasingly inferior products and increasing terrible operating systems.  They don't even give existing owners access to new products 10 minutes the public.  Are those my rewards?

 

C&A is hugely successful.  

 

 

I can't find the Walmart loyalty lounge either.  😮😉 

[cruisegirl1]

16 hours ago, AC Stew said:

A friend on the current November 18 Serenade out of Tampa has advised that Diamonds are going to be restricted from accessing the Diamond Lounge. Only Diamond+ and Pinnacles are allowed! This is an entirely separate issue from vouchers, capacity monitoring, and no more "self-serve" from the coffee machine.

 

If true, Diamonds will no longer be able to sit in the Diamond when it's quiet and enjoy a cappuccino. (Subjective of course, but I think that the machine coffee is decent.) For me, this is one of the benefits that I truly appreciate. I haven't noticed any "official" changes to benefits. Could this be an arbitrary "ship specific" ruling? Seems like a real slap in the face to an awful lot of loyal Diamond customers.

 

Can anyone confirm or comment on any repercussions?

Isn't there already an evening pinnacle event/lounge.    That would  make the D lounge,  D+ only 

[island lady]

2 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

If D are not allowed in the lounge then you would be  correct.  

 

Quite frankly - I had not heard that info anywhere else or for any other ship.  

 

M

 

Thinking perhaps test ship?  

[island lady]

1 minute ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Isn't there already an evening pinnacle event/lounge.    That would  make the D lounge,  D+ only 

 

With the DL being so much smaller on the largest ships now...would not take much to pack the D+ only in the DL like sardines.  😉 

[cruiselvr04]

On Adventure last week they had a room just for Pins.  It was served by the Safari bar.

 

We really enjoyed our 5 drinks a day although I don’t think we ever used them all. It’s a great perk to use them even in special dining.   The lounge will lose its appeal now that your 5 are included in what you get in the lounge.  We did visit the suite lounge every night but we don’t always book suites.  
 

I do like the steamed milk in the morning in the lounge for my hot cocoa.

 

 

[AC Stew]

I should have just posted the original question without adding my thoughts on the matter. I inadvertently set myself up as a target. Should have known!

 

The point I want to make: Yes, there were/are changes to loyalty programs with RCI and others. I get that. With more Diamonds pouring in, I don't think any of us will be surprised to see further dilution of said benefits. My problem, is that RCI should not arbitrarily impose added restrictions, such as suddenly closing D Lounge to Ds. If changes are to be imposed (even on a ship by ship basis), they should be officially noted in the C&A tier benefits lists. Customers should know what to expect and then decide where to spend their cruise dollars. 

 

Again, a close friend is doing the November 13 and November 18 back to back on the Serenade. She said that the DL change was announced first, to the small group who were doing that back to back. Lounge was open to Ds on the first sailing, but would be closed on the second. (Pax load was 1100 or so on November13, 1300 or so on the November 18 sailing.) She doesn't participate on the Boards, so I was curious to see if anyone on the current sailing might be able to comment.

 

Another note: We're actually almost D+. I brought up the matter because I thought it was important to all C&A members. 

[cruisegirl1]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

With the DL being so much smaller on the largest ships now...would not take much to pack the D+ only in the DL like sardines.  😉 

Yes - but, so far the change is not for the large ships, just Serenade.  D and D+ always had access to the D lounge on Oasis class ships.  

 

Not sure why Serenade made this announcement.  Doesn't Serenade get  way  fewer upper end cruisers.   Seems non Oasis class, not out of PC has way fewer.  We had just a handful of P's  on Rhapsody from Tampa   just prior to the shutdown.

 

I don't recall our numbers for  our September Mariner cruises, but the current Mariner numbers  are only  171 D, 109 D+ and 30 P.   Certainly fewer than 250 is no problem for a D lounge.  Hopefully folks come  and go ( likely more now that there is no unlimited drinking)  and not everyone goes to the lounge ( we don't ) .

 

I am curious why Serenade made this change and if they will rescind the changes.  

 

M

 

 

[Another_Critic]

1 hour ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Isn't there already an evening pinnacle event/lounge.    That would  make the D lounge,  D+ only 

As I posted earlier in the thread, Oasis had a P E/L in Jazz on 4.  But the DL was still open to Ps.  Result:  P E/L empty, DL packed.

[cruisegirl1]

5 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

As I posted earlier in the thread, Oasis had a P E/L in Jazz on 4.  But the DL was still open to Ps.  Result:  P E/L empty, DL packed.

We stopped in  to the P event on a recent  Allure  B2B.  80+ P on the first crusie and 70+ P on the second one.    We stopped in to support the concept and stayed for a few minutes  just twice  in two weeks.  But,  when we stopped in to take a look, there were  always fewer than 10 people there.  So much wasted food!

 

Not verified -  but one person in the P event said that P's were told to use the P event  rather than the  D lounge.  Perhaps The D lounge ( huge on Allure) was at capacity - I have no idea or even if the comment was true.  

 

M

Edited November 19, 2021 by cruisegirl1

[ship_cat_2018]

17 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

On Oasis from Bayonne, they had a Pinnacle only lounge in Jazz on 4 (next to the D Lounge).  The result was ... Jazz on 4 was empty and the D lounge was always full.  The should have kicked the Pinns out of the D lounge.  😄

 

Actually, they should have used Jazz on 4 as D lounge overflow, as they did pre-Covid. 

Very funny ... not.

 

Pinnacle are also Diamond and Diamond + don't you think ?!

[island lady]

20 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Yes - but, so far the change is not for the large ships, just Serenade.  D and D+ always had access to the D lounge on Oasis class ships.  

 

Not sure why Serenade made this announcement.  Doesn't Serenade get  way  fewer upper end cruisers.   Seems non Oasis class, not out of PC has way fewer.  We had just a handful of P's  on Rhapsody from Tampa   just prior to the shutdown.

 

I don't recall our numbers for  our September Mariner cruises, but the current Mariner numbers  are only  171 D, 109 D+ and 30 P.   Certainly fewer than 250 is no problem for a D lounge.  Hopefully folks come  and go ( likely more now that there is no unlimited drinking)  and not everyone goes to the lounge ( we don't ) .

 

I am curious why Serenade made this change and if they will rescind the changes.  

 

M

 

 

 

Thanks!  🙂

 

Was simply stating an overall view of the possible changes...in case Serenade is a test market for those?

 

Would not surprise me if the changes made there...will start filtering in to other ships.  As it did when the smaller ships starting kicking out the D+ from the CLs that still existed.  I was also on Rhapsody when D+ was kicked out of the CL pre-Covid.  Which then became a ghost town, made even more empty when the Pinnies wanted to be with their D+ friends in the DL.  (Loved that location on Rhapsody!)  Poor CL concierge was really bummed.  He and his staff depend on tips...it hurt them.  

 

Does make me think changes were intended when the larger ships set up the much smaller DLs on those ships on deck four.   But that is just my wild guess.  I miss the old CL..then changed to DL...on Oasis.  🥺

 

I don't have a dog in this fight...does not apply to me.   But I do see changes happening as the D  numbers grow, even faster now with double points.  

[cruisegirl1]

1 minute ago, island lady said:

 

Thanks!  🙂

 

Was simply stating an overall view of the possible changes...in case Serenade is a test market for those?

 

Would not surprise me if the changes made there...will start filtering in to other ships.  As it did when the smaller ships starting kicking out the D+ from the CLs that still existed.  I was also on Rhapsody when D+ was kicked out of the CL pre-Covid.  Which then became a ghost town, made even more empty when the Pinnies wanted to be with their D+ friends in the DL.  (Loved that location on Rhapsody!)  Poor CL concierge was really bummed.  He and his staff depend on tips...it hurt them.  

 

Does make me think changes were intended when the larger ships set up the much smaller DLs on those ships on deck four.   But that is just my wild guess.  I miss the old CL..then changed to DL...on Oasis.  🥺

 

I don't have a dog in this fight...does not apply to me.   But I do see changes happening as the D  numbers grow, even faster now with double points.  

I don't think we begun to see the changes!  I won't  try to speculate.  Look forward to seeing you on board Harmony soon. 

 

M

[island lady]

6 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

We stopped in  to the P event on a recent  Allure  B2B.  80+ P on the first crusie and 70+ P on the second one.    We stopped in to support the concept and stayed for a few minutes  just twice  in two weeks.  But,  when we stopped in to take a look, there were  always fewer than 10 people there.  So much wasted food!

 

Not verified -  but one person in the P event said that P's were told to use the P event  rather than the  D lounge.  Perhaps The D lounge ( huge on Allure) was at capacity - I have no idea or even if the comment was true.  

 

M

 

I am curious to check out the P Lounge as well.  Wonder if that is going to be permanent?  

 

Of course the TAs will have a packed P Lounge.  😉 

[cruisegirl1]

17 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

On Oasis from Bayonne, they had a Pinnacle only lounge in Jazz on 4 (next to the D Lounge).  The result was ... Jazz on 4 was empty and the D lounge was always full.  The should have kicked the Pinns out of the D lounge.  😄

 

Actually, they should have used Jazz on 4 as D lounge overflow, as they did pre-Covid. 

Good idea but for some reason, many P's  want their own space.  Sad if they don't use it . 

M

[island lady]

2 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

I don't think we begun to see the changes!  I won't  try to speculate.  Look forward to seeing you on board Harmony soon. 

 

M

 

Gosh yes!!  Looking forward to seeing you as well!  🙂  I won't know how to act to actually pack for a cruise again.  My cruise on Harmony is our first cruise back since Covid shutdown.  😮  

 

Will also be interesting to see how the CL and SL are set up now with protocol changes. Love it having our cabin  just around the corner.  😉 

[cruisegirl1]

2 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I am curious to check out the P Lounge as well.  Wonder if that is going to be permanent?  

 

Of course the TAs will have a packed P Lounge.  😉 

Last Harmony TA used Dazzles as a P lounge.   I'm guessing it was crowded, just  judging from  the  number of P's on board a TA .

 

Many P's have expressed displeasure regarding the venue and the fact that is is only an evening event.  Not sure why - they can simply get coffee or whatever , in the D lounge. Some folks are never happy. 

 

M

[island lady]

6 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Good idea but for some reason, many P's  want their own space.  Sad if they don't use it . 

M

 

I will use it...kind of like the quiet space.  😉   

 

Will be interesting to see if and where the P Lounge is on Wonder TA next Fall.  

 

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2021 by island lady

[cruisegirl1]

5 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I will use it...kind of like the quiet space.  😉   

 

Will be interesting to see if and where the P Lounge is on Wonder TA next Fall.  

 

 

 

 

P lounge is only an evening space.  Nothin during the day and often used for other events.  If you want a place for a quiet drink, then you are in luck.  Lovely appetizer choices  as well.

M

[cruisegirl1]

8 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Gosh yes!!  Looking forward to seeing you as well!  🙂  I won't know how to act to actually pack for a cruise again.  My cruise on Harmony is our first cruise back since Covid shutdown.  😮  

 

Will also be interesting to see how the CL and SL are set up now with protocol changes. Love it having our cabin  just around the corner.  😉 

Everything is staffed.  Can't even get a sugar package yourself.  

M