New email about using drink vouchers

[KelJ]

Just received this email:

 

ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING TRAVELS

Dear Diamond, Diamond Plus & Pinnacle Club Members, As part of our ongoing efforts in reviewing guest feedback, we’re working towards providing you the best onboard experience and avoiding visits to the Guest Services desk.  What we noticed was that many visits are related to beverage vouchers provided to our higher tiered Crown & Anchor Society members. Effective on sailings starting this Friday, November 4th, we’ll have all members sign their check when using any beverage vouchers. The benefit of doing this is two-fold: The receipt has a count of your vouchers to help you better track how many you have left. So if you’re a Diamond member, and you have 4 a day – it may tell you 2 of 4 have been redeemed. We noticed many beverage voucher disputes are related to use on a drink you did not want to use it on.  For instance, you ordered a $3 coffee and we may have applied your voucher – and you don’t learn about it until you’re at dinner, wanting that nice $13 cocktail and you’re out of vouchers. While it’s a little more work for our teams, by having you have your hard check – you can better control both your count and the proper application! We know how much this benefit means to you and we want you to fully enjoy it. I know I’d prefer you enjoy your vacation, instead of spending time inquiring about drink discrepancies with our teams. We appreciate your loyalty and openness to helping us make your cruising experience the best there is! Sincerely, Aurora Yera-Rodriguez AVP | Guest Experience  Royal Caribbean International

[lesands77]

You beat me to it! Good idea I think - I would be so annoyed if a voucher was used for a can of coke instead of a Mai tai 😄

[irishgal432]

Finally!  I was charged for drinks I did not order, been charged for the same drink twice in error, charged for drinks in the Suite Lounge when in a suite.  I have had this happen on several cruises.  It is a pain to have to order the drink and then go to guest services to get it figured out.  On my last cruise, I was charged for 2 baha mamas at the pool.  I asked for the time and told them  our wherabouts.  I was on the flowrider and my husband was in the fitness center .  

 

Plus now you can add tips onto the charge.

 

[smokeybandit]

This is dumb. I have no idea how signing a check does anything to solve the issues they claim it's solving.

[JessyCruises]

I board Oasis on Sunday and while I think it’s a waste of paper, it is needed.  Now if only they could figure out how to do the signatures on a tablet or something…

[JessyCruises]

1 minute ago, smokeybandit said:

This is dumb. I have no idea how signing a check does anything to solve the issues they claim it's solving.

It would allow you to see if they rang it in correctly. It won’t help like in the case above where the person did not even order the drink. 

[fsjosh]

1 minute ago, smokeybandit said:

This is dumb. I have no idea how signing a check does anything to solve the issues they claim it's solving.

They have your signature on a piece of paper saying you wanted to use your voucher for that drink. The simple act of making you sign the paper when you wouldn't otherwise should be enough of a reminder that you are using a voucher. The piece of paper also tells you how many vouchers you have, so saves that question that probably gets asked 1,000 times a day. 

[smokeybandit]

4 minutes ago, fsjosh said:

They have your signature on a piece of paper saying you wanted to use your voucher for that drink. The simple act of making you sign the paper when you wouldn't otherwise should be enough of a reminder that you are using a voucher. The piece of paper also tells you how many vouchers you have, so saves that question that probably gets asked 1,000 times a day. 

 

But then you have to figure out if your voucher was actually used vs. being charged for something. That was the great thing about vouchers, you knew a voucher was used because you didn't sign anything. Plus you could always look in the app to know how many vouchers you used.

 

 

[drb116]

I suspect that part of the motivation might be to help servers get more tips. I would be surprised if there is not a tip line on the receipt.

 

Honestly, for me that would be welcome. I always tip cash, but hate having to carry the cash around with me all the time.

[Another_Critic]

2 minutes ago, drb116 said:

I suspect that part of the motivation might be to help servers get more tips.

I suspect the same.

[reallyitsmema]

5 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

 

But then you have to figure out if your voucher was actually used vs. being charged for something. That was the great thing about vouchers, you knew a voucher was used because you didn't sign anything. Plus you could always look in the app to know how many vouchers you used.

 

 

 

How are you distinguishing a $0 charge for a voucher drink vs a $0 charge for a specialty coffee using a refreshment package?  The app lists both the same.

[grapau27]

I have just received the same email.

[smokeybandit]

7 minutes ago, drb116 said:

I suspect that part of the motivation might be to help servers get more tips. I would be surprised if there is not a tip line on the receipt.

 

Honestly, for me that would be welcome. I always tip cash, but hate having to carry the cash around with me all the time.

I think the main motivation is people not paying attention to what they're doing and wasting Guest Services time. And this is their solution, which is weak and won't stop people from going to Guest Services because they'll not look at their receipt and/or throw it away anyway.

[neverbeenhere]

I'm signing someone else's name.

[Sunshine3601]

on recent cruises I was able to use my DH's drink vouchers to get either him or myself something when I was out of vouchers.    I wonder if this new system will no longer allow someone to use their spouses vouchers, if the spouse is not right there.

[cruiseguy1016]

When I received the email, I saw the subject line and it read "Crown & Anchor Benefit Process Enhancement". My first thought was oh boy, here we go again. I wonder what they're going to be taking away from us with this enhancement.

[Missusdubbya]

51 minutes ago, irishgal432 said:

Finally!  I was charged for drinks I did not order, been charged for the same drink twice in error

 

Same, I think this is better. My problems have been related to the dining room not posting drinks correctly, so a slip would help.

 

39 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

 

But then you have to figure out if your voucher was actually used vs. being charged for something. That was the great thing about vouchers, you knew a voucher was used because you didn't sign anything. Plus you could always look in the app to know how many vouchers you used.

 

 

 

It would be a zero charge if your voucher was being used...

[ValerieJo]

Waste of time, resources and paper.  If you think drink service is slow now, wait until they have to constantly deal with paper receipts.  How hard is it to keep track of your vouchers or just state if you’re using one or not????  Plus, they show up in the app.  We’ve never had a problem.  

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, drb116 said:

I suspect that part of the motivation might be to help servers get more tips. I would be surprised if there is not a tip line on the receipt.

 

Honestly, for me that would be welcome. I always tip cash, but hate having to carry the cash around with me all the time.

That was my first thought. Now I can just add a tip and not worry about carrying bills for tips. 

 

Ok with me.

[Yorkvillain]

Doesn’t matter what change Royal makes - people will run to Cruise Critic to complain about it. 

[njkruzer]

34 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

on recent cruises I was able to use my DH's drink vouchers to get either him or myself something when I was out of vouchers.    I wonder if this new system will no longer allow someone to use their spouses vouchers, if the spouse is not right there.

We shared. Dh would order drinks for both of us, give server just one card. Next we'd use mine.  This is more work for servers.  I guess we don't drink enough to have a problem. 

[danv3]

Addressing a minor problem by implementing a system that's less convenient (and more wasteful) for everyone?  Brilliant!  

[PhillyFan33579]

3 minutes ago, danv3 said:

Addressing a minor problem by implementing a system that's less convenient (and more wasteful) for everyone?  Brilliant!  

From talking to bartenders I am friends with, this has been a big problem on most ships since early Summer when ships started sailing at close to full capacity. I don’t know if this is the ideal solution, but it is not a minor problem. 

[Lorey2007]

So they'll keep a signed receipt, and we'll get a copy?

[njkruzer]

1 minute ago, Lorey2007 said:

So they'll keep a signed receipt, and we'll get a copy?

That's how it used to work.