Will this work? ...Getting Wife, son and maybe daughters to Diamond

[The Fun Researcher]

2 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Single supplements are just discounts if you are traveling solo correct? They don’t impact the number of C&A points given if you are traveling solo right?

Quoting myself only to clarify that I meant fee, not discount LOL.  Got my wires crossed.  My last two brain cells are hungover I guess:D

 

Dan

[molsonschooner]

7 hours ago, kruzerci said:

It literally makes me SMH the things people do to “status up”. Just enjoy your cruises and it’ll happen eventually. It’s not really logical to overspend or book special trips just to make Diamond earlier. The premium between a balcony and a JS plus single supplement just to get 4 free drinks a day is really something. Diamond isn’t even what it used to be. 

I am close to diamond but i will not book a cruise just to reach diamond. I cruise because I like to cruise, not to reach a new level. Saying that, on my last cruise, we were told by the loyalty ambassador on the ship that even though our t/a made a mistake, C&A should give us the double points(cancelled-rescheduled cruise instead of transferring the reservation.).The loyalty ambassador was even go to send C&A an email explaining our situation. Can someone tell me how to contact the resolutions people.

[The Fun Researcher]

7 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Dont wait too long. As I said I got there in sept but had to pay for dec b2b allure. Ourusualbeach who is a ta posted I couldnt apply the dp340 once I made final payment. I didnt know about that rule. 

 

That's why I pushed to get it sooner for next year. 

Can you clarify this for me?

 

We do have an Alaskan Cruise booked for July 2023, so final payment is in April.  Are you saying that making Diamond needs to occur before our final payment is due in April?  This seems silly. (not shooting the messenger, just sayin 🙂 )  For instance if I achieved Diamond in May I wouldn't be Diamond on our Alaskan cruise, a full two months later?

[AshleyDillo]

41 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Are you saying that making Diamond needs to occur before our final payment is due in April?

 

If you want to try to reprice upcoming cruises with your new Diamond status, it would have to be done before final payment. It likely wouldn't be a savings since you'll pay the current prices.

 

Who you quoted was referring to the 340 point level where you get a discount on the solo supplement.

Edited November 11, 2022 by AshleyDillo

[ARandomTraveler]

8 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

I don't care about status.  I do care about the 4 drinks per day, as we will use them all.  Drink prices have gone nuts on RCCL in my opinion.  It would nice to have that perk nailed down for cruises going forward.  We have one cruise booked already, and probably another, for summer next year. 

 

Beyond Diamond (D+, P...), I don't really care as we will already have the main perk we've looked forward to.

 

It's not work to jump on a 4 night cruise to get us to Diamond before our more substantial upcoming cruises.  There are some options for just over $1,100 total for a single occupancy JS.  I get to enjoy some time off, and my wife and son benefit as well going forward.

Dan

Can you use the 4 free drinks that the 15 year old gets for the 21 year old, since the Diamond vouchers are shareable? Or do the 4 free drinks that the 15 year old gets have to remain non-alcoholic, even if they're buying the drink for someone whose 21?

 

If the 15 year old can share them with the 21 year old, then you can just buy the 15 year old's drinks out of pocket because they'll be cheaper, or make the 15 year old share the 4 free drinks with one of the siblings, and then one of the parents can share their free drinks with the other sibling.

Edited November 11, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[ARandomTraveler]

7 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Ahh, I didn't understand that detail. 

 

It seems like a bad idea on the cruise line's part:  two of you would buy more drinks, attend more dinners in a specialty restaurant, buy more excursions.  They'd make more money if they gave you a financial nudge to "cruise double".  But I'm just rambling.  

Except that the whole reason they're trying to make Diamond is so they don't have to pay for drinks, so my guess is royal isn't making much profit on this couple for those extra items, which is totally fine, just saying that it wouldn't benefit Royal to help them get double points AND sail on this cruise together.
 

Plus, once you've been to an island 50 times or however many times you have to go to the same place to get  Diamond, are you really gonna keep taking excursions? Probably not.
 

The loyalty gets extra bodies on the ship, helps pay the cruise fare and the port fees, which is an important part of their business structure and I get it, but the additional expenditures are probably inversely proportional to the number of times one cruises (on average - I know there are outliers who pay for dining and drink packages even after they've hit Diamond, but based on reading cruise critic, that doesn't seem to be the norm).

Edited November 11, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[aubreyc1988]

2 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Even at $13 per drink, 4 drinks per day,  on a single 7 night cruise for my wife and I that alone saves $728.  

 

We don’t drink much more than four drinks any given day so this perk is perfect for us.

 

We’ve slogged through our cruises to the 68 points that we have now. We don’t cruise to get points, we cruise to have a great vacation with friends and/or family.  However, now that we are so close it would be nice to have this perk in hand for the many future cruises we hope to complete, God willing.  -Dan

I didn't even know solo cruising got double points on Royal until 2 weeks ago! 

[Another_Critic]

Let's see ... I need 26 seven day cruises solo to get to Pinnacle.  Or I can get there with only 17 in a Jr. suite solo. 

 

I guess I need to block out January to June.  😄

 

Edited November 11, 2022 by Another_Critic

[firefly333]

2 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Can you clarify this for me?

 

We do have an Alaskan Cruise booked for July 2023, so final payment is in April.  Are you saying that making Diamond needs to occur before our final payment is due in April?  This seems silly. (not shooting the messenger, just sayin 🙂 )  For instance if I achieved Diamond in May I wouldn't be Diamond on our Alaskan cruise, a full two months later?

No my spontaneous b2b2b2b on grandeur as it says was to hit 340 pts. At 340 pts solo gets a 25% discount. Cant apply dp340 code to already paid dec allure, I had to wait for the pts for my sept b2b to post ...so close. Took another week after I got back tk post. By then I had to pay for b2b dec allure...the solo discount at 340 pts cant be applied once you make final payment.

 

Maybe it wasnt worth it but my prices in 2023 sure look good now. 

[firefly333]

50 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I didn't even know solo cruising got double points on Royal until 2 weeks ago! 

It's not double. Some of us are solo. 1 for regular, 1 for solo, 1 form suites. You get 3 not 4 in a suite. Not double.

 

If you booked during double pts promo you get 6 in a suite per day .. not 8 which would be double. 

 

 

[aubreyc1988]

3 hours ago, firefly333 said:

It's not double. Some of us are solo. 1 for regular, 1 for solo, 1 form suites. You get 3 not 4 in a suite. Not double.

 

If you booked during double pts promo you get 6 in a suite per day .. not 8 which would be double. 

 

 

Sorry I wasn't clear, I wasn't aware that if you sail in a non suite room solo, you get 2 points per night.

[aubreyc1988]

3 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

Let's see ... I need 26 seven day cruises solo to get to Pinnacle.  Or I can get there with only 17 in a Jr. suite solo. 

 

I guess I need to block out January to June.  😄

 

I have faith you can do it! Take an extended work leave for some much needed R&R lol 

[SRF]

17 hours ago, kruzerci said:

It literally makes me SMH the things people do to “status up”. Just enjoy your cruises and it’ll happen eventually. It’s not really logical to overspend or book special trips just to make Diamond earlier. The premium between a balcony and a JS plus single supplement just to get 4 free drinks a day is really something. Diamond isn’t even what it used to be. 

 

Actually 12 drinks per day.  4 for poster, 4 for poster's spouse, and 4 for son, once he gets old enough.

 

Sail 100 days, that is 1200 drinks, times $14 (ignoring the grat, assuming you tip for the free ones),  that is $16,800.   

 

Not bad for taking a 4 night cruise.

[SRF]

15 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Good stuff.  🙂

 

Regarding my wife along, would love to but we would each only get 8 points then and not reach 80 total.  Suites get 2 points per night normally with double or more occupancy.  Solo in a suite gets 3 points per night, which is what I need on a 4 night to get the 12 total we need.

 

Kindly, Dan

 

Or do a 6+ night cruise together, in a suite, to get the 12+ points needed.

 

I was supposed to make D+ after the next cruise (in 8 day WOOHOO), but had to cancel a spring 10 night, suite, double points promotion (40 points) due to both of us testing positive for COVID (NO symptoms).

 

So, once I retire, I will be perusing the Going, Going, Gone sale for some cheap solo cruises. 😄

 

You should have done this before your one daughters 18th birthday.

[cruiseguy1016]

13 hours ago, VernRDH said:

Just a thought about 15 yo son: when he turns 18, his status will change. He will only have the credits for cruises he has actually been on. This happened with DD, who is now 23. We were Diamond before she turned 18, but then her status changed because she had only earned Emerald. 

She just made Diamond this summer after our 9 night Adventure cruise booked during double points promo. We, however are now D+. 

 

This is wrong. I'm not saying it didn't happen to you and your daughter but it's wrong. The policy is; once your child has attained a status using his/her parents' points, they will keep that status after they turn 18. Their points will revert back to what they have earned on their own but their status will stay at the level they were at when they turned 18. It's too late now but a phone call to RCI would have rectified the situation for your daughter.

[cruisegirl1]

11 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

Can you use the 4 free drinks that the 15 year old gets for the 21 year old, since the Diamond vouchers are shareable? Or do the 4 free drinks that the 15 year old gets have to remain non-alcoholic, even if they're buying the drink for someone whose 21?

 

If the 15 year old can share them with the 21 year old, then you can just buy the 15 year old's drinks out of pocket because they'll be cheaper, or make the 15 year old share the 4 free drinks with one of the siblings, and then one of the parents can share their free drinks with the other sibling.

Underage passenger will NOT be allowed to use their voucher for alcohol. It might accidently happen in a rare instance, but count on it as a NO.  

M 

[topnole]

19 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

I don't care about status.  I do care about the 4 drinks per day, as we will use them all.  Drink prices have gone nuts on RCCL in my opinion.  It would nice to have that perk nailed down for cruises going forward.  We have one cruise booked already, and probably another, for summer next year. 

 

Beyond Diamond (D+, P...), I don't really care as we will already have the main perk we've looked forward to.

 

It's not work to jump on a 4 night cruise to get us to Diamond before our more substantial upcoming cruises.  There are some options for just over $1,100 total for a single occupancy JS.  I get to enjoy some time off, and my wife and son benefit as well going forward.

Dan

This is the smart way to go if you save enough on your longer future cruise.  To me this a strategic move based in $ savings.  If 4 drinks is with $50 a day you save $700 per couple in your cruise that you wouldn’t have had without the Jr suite cruise.  So it effectively makes your JR suite cruise very cheap.  In this case it makes total sense.  It’s not like flying round trip in a day (for zero reason) just to level up with airlines as some do.  In your case you get to enjoy an extra cruise and an effectively low cost due to future drink savings.  It’s a no brainer to me.  
 

Don’t worry about your daughters.  They are far along towards diamond anyhow.  Better than starting from zero as an adult like most of us.  Too bad my parents didn’t cruise Royal when I was a kid.  Instead I have high status on another line that I never cruise on.  

[topnole]

3 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Actually 12 drinks per day.  4 for poster, 4 for poster's spouse, and 4 for son, once he gets old enough.

 

Sail 100 days, that is 1200 drinks, times $14 (ignoring the grat, assuming you tip for the free ones),  that is $16,800.   

 

Not bad for taking a 4 night cruise.

You can’t count all future drinks.  Only the  12 days he would need to make Diamond.   

[SRF]

1 hour ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Underage passenger will NOT be allowed to use their voucher for alcohol. It might accidently happen in a rare instance, but count on it as a NO.  

M 

 

It has been reported previously that it was allowed, if the parent was there and obviously getting the drink.

 

But that was a while ago, so things may have tightened up.

[topnole]

1 hour ago, SRF said:

 

It has been reported previously that it was allowed, if the parent was there and obviously getting the drink.

 

But that was a while ago, so things may have tightened up.

It was one person reporting it.  I would certainly assume it won’t be allowed unless the server really likes you.  

[Another_Critic]

9 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I have faith you can do it! Take an extended work leave for some much needed R&R lol 

In 4 weeks I will be on permanent work leave.  🙂

[The Fun Researcher]

15 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

Except that the whole reason they're trying to make Diamond is so they don't have to pay for drinks, so my guess is royal isn't making much profit on this couple for those extra items, which is totally fine, just saying that it wouldn't benefit Royal to help them get double points AND sail on this cruise together.
 

Plus, once you've been to an island 50 times or however many times you have to go to the same place to get  Diamond, are you really gonna keep taking excursions? Probably not.
 

The loyalty gets extra bodies on the ship, helps pay the cruise fare and the port fees, which is an important part of their business structure and I get it, but the additional expenditures are probably inversely proportional to the number of times one cruises (on average - I know there are outliers who pay for dining and drink packages even after they've hit Diamond, but based on reading cruise critic, that doesn't seem to be the norm).

 

Your points are valid.  I also think it all depends on any given couple, or family.

 

Drinks are expensive on RCCL's ships, and we take that cost into account when budgeting for our cruises.  Once we have Diamond, a line item of our cruise budget goes way down.  Knowing that, we will transition some of that spending.  We will be more willing to spend some of the saved money on things we normally do not do, like specialty dining, tours, entertainment, etc...

 

So I don't think our total spend will change drastically, but now our cruise experience is heightened because we can use the money saved on drinks for other splurges that we haven't done in the past.  ...and RCCL maintains their margin on us fairly close to before.  Plus, we are now even more Loyal to Royal due to the perks, so they get more of our money more often

 

That's just us though. Everyone is different

Dan

[SRF]

4 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

In 4 weeks I will be on permanent work leave.  🙂

 

We should get together and celebrate.

 

I have 4 more work weeks.   Total about 7 weeks, but 2 weeks for a 12 night cruise and 1 week for the holiday week

[ARandomTraveler]

2 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

 

Your points are valid.  I also think it all depends on any given couple, or family.

 

Drinks are expensive on RCCL's ships, and we take that cost into account when budgeting for our cruises.  Once we have Diamond, a line item of our cruise budget goes way down.  Knowing that, we will transition some of that spending.  We will be more willing to spend some of the saved money on things we normally do not do, like specialty dining, tours, entertainment, etc...

 

So I don't think our total spend will change drastically, but now our cruise experience is heightened because we can use the money saved on drinks for other splurges that we haven't done in the past.  ...and RCCL maintains their margin on us fairly close to before.  Plus, we are now even more Loyal to Royal due to the perks, so they get more of our money more often

 

That's just us though. Everyone is different

Dan

That's fair and reasonable. I would do the same if I were you. I was just pointing out that it doesn't boost Royal's bottom line to make an accommodation for a couple to sail together in order to get the double points and reach Diamond faster.
 

But the loyalty aspect of it certainly keeps frequent cruisers spending their money at RC vs going to another cruiseline, which makes good business sense. 

[not-enough-cruising]

7 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Underage passenger will NOT be allowed to use their voucher for alcohol. It might accidently happen in a rare instance, but count on it as a NO.  

M 

I use my grandson’s vouchers for old

fashioneds every night; no problems