just made platinum. question.

[StormySeas]

we got off Liberty on 11/21. This cruise put us well into the platinum category due to double points. I booked another cruise for October and was looking forward to the discount on our balcony room. I booked the cruise on 11/26 to take advantage of the black friday sale but I did not have my points applied to my account at the time of booking. I was told that I could call back later and apply the balcony discount. I called yesterday. BIG mistake!!! cyber Monday was throwing them into overdrive! on hold for at least 1 1/2 hours and the guy at the other end was very confused and did not know how to apply a discount. after many tries and more time on hold, he told me that I cannot get the discount! he said that I cannot stack the discount on the black friday deal. I didn't think this was correct and will try to call back. I wanted to know if it is worth the time on hold to talk to another cruise planner. Has anyone else had this problem?

[firefly333]

1 minute ago, StormySeas said:

we got off Liberty on 11/21. This cruise put us well into the platinum category due to double points. I booked another cruise for October and was looking forward to the discount on our balcony room. I booked the cruise on 11/26 to take advantage of the black friday sale but I did not have my points applied to my account at the time of booking. I was told that I could call back later and apply the balcony discount. I called yesterday. BIG mistake!!! cyber Monday was throwing them into overdrive! on hold for at least 1 1/2 hours and the guy at the other end was very confused and did not know how to apply a discount. after many tries and more time on hold, he told me that I cannot get the discount! he said that I cannot stack the discount on the black friday deal. I didn't think this was correct and will try to call back. I wanted to know if it is worth the time on hold to talk to another cruise planner. Has anyone else had this problem?

Unfortunately many of us have found out the balcony discount is not a set amount and depends on what what discounts are on the rate you booked. I have to email my TA to get the amount of my cruise. The up to 550 off may be more than your bslcony discount and it may be actually 0 discount. Keep checking on their site to see if you get a lower price.

 

The only time I have gotten the full discount is on group rates. 

[MeHeartCruising]

Read the fine print of the balcony discount on the C&A Benefits page:

Crown and Anchor Society Benefits (royalcaribbean.com)

 

"This offer cannot be used with certain restricted fares and is not combinable with any other promotion or offer, including, but not limited to Shareholder Benefits, and other dollars off and onboard credit offers, MyCruiseSM Upgrades, Companion Fare and Free Cruise promotions and benefits."

 

When doing my online bookings, the balcony discount appears or not depending on whether it can be used with current promos or not.

Edited November 30, 2021 by MeHeartCruising

[StormySeas]

I guess I should have known.....oh well, at least I got a pretty good deal on the black friday sale. I will just keep looking for price drops (if any are better than what I have). thanks guys

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, StormySeas said:

we got off Liberty on 11/21. I booked the cruise on 11/26

Did your points actually post making you Platinum? Those dates would usually mean, not yet.

[xtremegk]

It takes a bit of digging, but if you check Royal's marketing site, you can usually find the flyers on the various promotions. For these Cyber Week deals, if you look at the grid at the bottom, it says the C&A balcony & suite discount is NOT combinable with the <$550 kicker: 21001510_Cyber_Week_Trade_Flyer_v1.indd (rccl.com)

[StormySeas]

17 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Did your points actually post making you Platinum? Those dates would usually mean, not yet.

yes. but the points didn't post until after I booked the cruise. they told me to call back after the points posted

[StormySeas]

2 minutes ago, xtremegk said:

It takes a bit of digging, but if you check Royal's marketing site, you can usually find the flyers on the various promotions. For these Cyber Week deals, if you look at the grid at the bottom, it says the C&A balcony & suite discount is NOT combinable with the <$550 kicker: 21001510_Cyber_Week_Trade_Flyer_v1.indd (rccl.com)

thank you. I didn't dig enough.

[firefly333]

Just now, StormySeas said:

thank you. I didn't dig enough.

I too was all excited thinking I would get a 225 discount on a balcony once I turned diamond. .

 

I'm like what do you mean its $67 off lol. And I've seen worse since then.

[xtremegk]

21 minutes ago, StormySeas said:

thank you. I didn't dig enough.

 

I check that site frequently when planning. The C&A discount doesn't combine with a lot of the few-days-only sales.

[Another_Critic]

2 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

Read the fine print of the balcony discount on the C&A Benefits page:

Crown and Anchor Society Benefits (royalcaribbean.com)

 

"This offer cannot be used with certain restricted fares and is not combinable with any other promotion or offer, including, but not limited to Shareholder Benefits, and other dollars off and onboard credit offers, MyCruiseSM Upgrades, Companion Fare and Free Cruise promotions and benefits."d

When doing my online bookings, the balcony discount appears or not depending on whether it can be used with current promos or not.

FYI - The not combinable with Shareholder Benefits was removed in June 2019.

[Merion_Mom]

2 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

Read the fine print of the balcony discount on the C&A Benefits page:

Crown and Anchor Society Benefits (royalcaribbean.com)

 

"This offer cannot be used with certain restricted fares and is not combinable with any other promotion or offer, including, but not limited to Shareholder Benefits, and other dollars off and onboard credit offers, MyCruiseSM Upgrades, Companion Fare and Free Cruise promotions and benefits."

 

When doing my online bookings, the balcony discount appears or not depending on whether it can be used with current promos or not.

 

@MeHeartCruising, unfortunately, RC does not update its website very often, particularly on the C&A section.

 

This is a good example.  The balcony discount CAN be combined with Shareholder Benefits now.  You could a long time ago, then they stopped combinability, but started again in June 2019.  

[DCPIV]

As you've discovered, the C&A level discounts are largely worthless because they cannot be combined with any promotional discounts (a.k.a., sales).  Since they're pretty much always doing a sale of some sort and because that sale (pretty much) always provides a better discount than the C&A discount, the C&A discount is little more than window dressing.

[deliver42]

I;m Diamond, and can't remember the last time I got a C&A discount.

[Another_Critic]

2 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

I;m Diamond, and can't remember the last time I got a C&A discount.

Have you booked a balcony or suite?