DRINKS IN THE DIAMOND LOUNGE DURING HAPPY HOUR

[Tlbecker1]

5 minutes ago, Retired LEO said:

Get use to it. It's here to stay. 

I hope so!

[Retired LEO]

2 hours ago, GITC said:

I must have missed the survey. What is your source of this information that the "majority" are in favour of the changes or is it just in this thread which I have yet to read entirely?

Some dude that works for the cruise line mentioned the totally positive feed back regarding the change. I believe his name is Michael Bayley 😄 😂

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, GITC said:

Everyone's entitled to their opinion which is what I did along with providing some feedback from C&A loyalty about WHY the change was made. I don't think it qualifies as a "crusade"...🤨

 

Perhaps the solution going forward is to give Diamond members a choice between their Seapass vouchers OR the Diamond Lounge. Wouldn't that be a satisfactory outcome and make everyone happy?

 

 

Apologies, seemed like you were calling us lemings out.

 

The more, however, that Diamond members fall into line and accept this downgrade, the more likely it is that it will never return. 

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

Voyager sails with approximately 3500 people. You polled them?

 

Passenger levels have been half that lately😉

 

Should be easy for Ken and I to do a poll🍺

Edited July 28, 2022 by John&LaLa

[GITC]

3 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Voyager sails with approximately 3500 people. You polled them?

Not these days it doesn't. We sailed with about 35% of capacity and I no more polled all of them than @OCSC Mike polled everybody he referred to.

"Anecdotally" was the term used BTW.

[GITC]

2 hours ago, Retired LEO said:

Some dude that works for the cruise line mentioned the totally positive feed back regarding the change. I believe his name is Michael Bayley 😄 😂

I'm sure he is happy given that he's saving the corporation a pile of money (perhaps to help increase his bonus). I suppose I should be happier than I am about it as a shareholder but I'm not looking at it from that perspective. 

 

I see people are still concentrating on the 'polling' and have nothing to say about my proposed solution offered earlier. Hmm.

[Biker19]

6 hours ago, GITC said:

I'm sure he is happy given that he's saving the corporation a pile of money

Other than the ship level accountants, no one knows if the D drink perk change is costing RCI any more or less money.

[Ocean Boy]

6 hours ago, GITC said:

 

I see people are still concentrating on the 'polling' and have nothing to say about my proposed solution offered earlier. Hmm.

I guess that means folks were not very impressed with it.

[island lady]

16 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

90% of my non suite drinks in SL get charged to my vouchers. Maybe more 

 

I noticed that as well.   Having been in a GS and OS cabins the last 6 months on Harmony...it was always the same.  They charged us on our vouchers...even for the wine and beer in the SL.  

 

Would have taken issue, if we had gone over our six vouchers due to that....but only happened once. 

[island lady]

15 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

From a cruise ship hotel manager. This is not me.

 

I have managed Hotels on cruise ships for nearly 30 years; 28 different ships for 18 different cruise lines.

I have had 10s of thousands of tipped crew working for me over the years.

Every few months we get some guest who thinks it’s cute to tip with strange currencies or denominations.

The crew brings the odd bills and coins to me to see if I can change them for something that’s is useful to them. They cannot take the strange currencies home, as they cannot change them there. Many times they cannot find time or a location to change them during the cruise. Generally the crew purser will not accept any unusual coins or bills from the crew. So the crew is usually just stuck with them. 

After smiling at you when you hand them the strange bank note, they only remember the nitwit  who thought he / she was being cute.

 $2 bills are a total challenge for a crew member to use.

 

That is exactly what I was told as well.  

[John&LaLa]

3 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I noticed that as well.   Having been in a GS and OS cabins the last 6 months on Harmony...it was always the same.  They charged us on our vouchers...even for the wine and beer in the SL.  

 

Would have taken issue, if we had gone over our six vouchers due to that....but only happened once. 

 

I was referring to drinks there while in a cheapo cabin.

 

My SL drinks while in a suite showed up in app, but the vouchers were still available elsewhere

[island lady]

Vouchers:   

Use in any bar on the ship (except robots)  or Labadee/Coco Cay...at any time.  Happy hour is now "any hour, any place we choose".  

 

Diamond lounge "free drinks": 

Stuffed into a small (and got even smaller on Oasis class) lounge with hard to find seats, long lines at the bar (or long wait for a waiter)...to guzzle in between dining times for 2 hours. 

 

IMHO...I will happily take the vouchers.  Was not sure I would like the new program...but now find we love it.   

[island lady]

4 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I was referring to drinks there while in a cheapo cabin.

 

My SL drinks while in a suite showed up in app, but the vouchers were still available elsewhere

 

Nice...you just have the magic touch.  😉  Ours were always tabulated.  

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

Vouchers:   

Use in any bar on the ship (except robots)  or Labadee/Coco Cay...at any time.  Happy hour is now "any hour, any place we choose".  

 

Diamond lounge "free drinks": 

Stuffed into a small (and got even smaller on Oasis class) lounge with hard to find seats, long lines at the bar (or long wait for a waiter)...to guzzle in between dining times for 2 hours. 

 

IMHO...I will happily take the vouchers.  Was not sure I would like the new program...but now find we love it.   

We agree. 🍻

[OCSC Mike]

3 hours ago, island lady said:

IMHO...I will happily take the vouchers.  Was not sure I would like the new program...but now find we love it.   

 

I wasn't sure either and since our 1st cruise post-restart was in a suite on Harmony (as you know), that didn't tell me anything since I had both (plus the 11-11 drinks) and I can't come close to drinking that much, lol.

 

After 7 nights with just the vouchers last week, I'm definitely in favor of the new system. I enjoyed trying different stuff including frozen drinks at all hours rather than something boring in the DL every night. It was a no-brainer for my wife who doesn't really drink but is now happy to have a couple virgin daiquiris while in the Solarium or at Cococay and an occasional mudslide for dessert (yes, she's a big kid).

 

Since we're not that far from D+, my goal is to properly use all 10 vouchers when we get there. Wife was only using 2-3 on average so I need to step it up a bit. 😁

Edited July 28, 2022 by OCSC Mike

[cruisegirl1]

Just came from a dr. appointment and one question  on their  new computerized profile was "how many days on the past year have you had 4 or more drinks per day?"  I was tempted to answer, " As many days as I cruised!"   It actually allows you to input 366.   (this was the second time I've had that question - the two Dr's must use the same program) 

 

The actual number is more like never.    

 

M

Edited July 28, 2022 by cruisegirl1

[Aquahound]

4 hours ago, island lady said:

Vouchers:   

Use in any bar on the ship (except robots)  or Labadee/Coco Cay...at any time.  Happy hour is now "any hour, any place we choose".  

 

Diamond lounge "free drinks": 

Stuffed into a small (and got even smaller on Oasis class) lounge with hard to find seats, long lines at the bar (or long wait for a waiter)...to guzzle in between dining times for 2 hours. 

 

IMHO...I will happily take the vouchers.  Was not sure I would like the new program...but now find we love it.   

 

I totally agree.  DW and I are loving the voucher system.  

 

FWIW, I'm not about to run a poll on a cruise to see who all likes/dislikes it.  It's that sort of negativity that steers us away from the DL.  We're on the ship to enjoy our cruise, not whine about company policies.   

[OCSC Mike]

12 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

FWIW, I'm not about to run a poll on a cruise to see who all likes/dislikes it.  It's that sort of negativity that steers us away from the DL.

 

DL is very quiet and relaxing nowadays. Not enough people in there to run a poll. 🤣

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

I

Since we're not that far from D+, my goal is to properly use all 10 vouchers when we get there. Wife was only using 2-3 on average so I need to step it up a bit. 😁

It is a happy place to be. We turned D+ last year and wife only uses 3 or 4 vouchers.  7 for me works out great. 

[island lady]

2 hours ago, davekathy said:

We agree. 🍻

 

LOL...yes, my friend...we usually do.  😉 

[island lady]

1 hour ago, Aquahound said:

 

I totally agree.  DW and I are loving the voucher system.  

FWIW, I'm not about to run a poll on a cruise to see who all likes/dislikes it.  It's that sort of negativity that steers us away from the DL.  We're on the ship to enjoy our cruise, not whine about company policies.   

 

😉   Yeah...some would like that whine with their cheese. 😄 

[Wineaux007]

I was skeptical about the vouchers in the beginning, but after three Royal sailings, it kinda/sorta works out for us.  You can always supplement with rumrunners.  😉

[Borisboy]

Hi,

 we are just diamond members- if you don't use all your 4 drinks er day do they carry over? i.e. can you use then on another day?

 

 thank you

[OCSC Mike]

8 minutes ago, Borisboy said:

Hi,

 we are just diamond members- if you don't use all your 4 drinks er day do they carry over? i.e. can you use then on another day?

 

 thank you

 

No, they expire and reset to 4 at 5am.

 

Many people will use "leftovers" at the end of the night for beer, soda, bottled water, Truly... anything in a sealed bottle/can you can store in your cooler for future use.

Edited June 13, 2023 by OCSC Mike

[simon.hed]

@island lady I have seen people almost put the rising tide bar in same category as the bionic bar, glad to see we arent the only ones who enjoy it!