Platinum and Diamond VIFP Party on 5+ day sailings featuring complimentary drinks

[jsglow]

2 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

On my last cruise (May 8-13 on Sunshine) I saw lots of blue, red and gold cards especially at Alchemy.  I felt like the "unicorn" with my Platinum card.  I think 5 day and under cruises are light with P & D's.  It will be interesting to see the breakdown on my 10 day October cruise out of Rome.

My personal experience was that there were very substantially more in Europe but it still paled in comparison to the overwhelming percentage on a Galveston based Journey this past winter.

 

I think the latter had more to do with the easy access for 'seasoned' Texans on a very atypical itinerary that they could drive to rather than fly.  

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Typically I see more P and Ds on longer cruises.    The Pand D party is well done and on longer cruises with lots of upper level patrons they will have two parties.  Last week we did an 8 day on the Dream.  We received an invitation to the 3:00 party and there was another one at 4:00.

 

You are not limited to one drink, you can order as many as you like.  Also, you can order a drink of your liking, not just what’s on the waiters tray.  My husband orders a Nice scotch and soda and tips the waiter and they keep him stocked up for the duration of the party.

 

 

 

[TacAlert]

On 5/17/2023 at 3:00 PM, mz-s said:

 

The reason Gold gets the free drink on the last night is because originally they were invited to the P&D party. It was called the past guest party at the time. The parties got too large, hard to find a seat sometimes, too many people fighting for too few drinks. When that changed, I guess about 8 or 9 years ago at this point, they gave Gold a free drink on the last night to make up for it. P&D kept the party.

Yes I remember those parties.  But I just prefer the one drink on last night.  Oh well, I will try the party.

[N7786W Flyer]

On 5/17/2023 at 3:08 PM, Eli_6 said:

I want to be sure and go to the party if they offer one.  I am all about FREE DRANKS!!!

On our last cruise (we debarked 5/13/23), other than a free glass of wine, there were NO free drinks at the Platinum/Diamond party.  However, they did put one free drink on your SNS card to be used at your discretion.

 

Even at the Diamond party, you could order only 1 drink at a time.  My wife tried to order two drinks when we entered the venue, but was quickly shut down.

 

Garnett

Edited May 19, 2023 by N7786W Flyer

[Eli_6]

1 hour ago, N7786W Flyer said:

On our last cruise (we debarked 5/13/23), other than a free glass of wine, there were NO free drinks at the Platinum/Diamond party.  However, they did put one free drink on your SNS card to be used at your discretion.

 

Even at the Diamond party, you could order only 1 drink at a time.  My wife tried to order two drinks when we entered the venue, but was quickly shut down.

 

Garnett

Well, that is cheap.  Even the lounges at the airport leave champagne and wine bottles out for you to serve yourself.  

[CTCruisers]

On 5/17/2023 at 2:51 PM, wemjam said:

Which I always thought was stupid.  I know "why" they do it (putting limitations on it makes it more likely to not be used and saves them $), but why not just give you the coupon and let you get it when you want.

 

Also, I always thought the Gold was better, at least you didn't HAVE to be in the dining room for brunch to use it.  I don't hardly drink let alone at 10am when I am having brunch LOL!  Would rather be able to enjoy it in the evening the last day.

We just go to the dining room, show them our platinum cards, and order beers requesting that they don't open them. Then, we just leave and bring the beers to our cabin fridge.

[wemjam]

2 minutes ago, CTCruisers said:

We just go to the dining room, show them our platinum cards, and order beers requesting that they don't open them. Then, we just leave and bring the beers to our cabin fridge.

That works for something like beer served in a can that can be held until later.  We are not beer drinkers, we do mixed drinks. That don't keep so well. 😁

[MagnoliaBlossom]

9 hours ago, N7786W Flyer said:

On our last cruise (we debarked 5/13/23), other than a free glass of wine, there were NO free drinks at the Platinum/Diamond party.  However, they did put one free drink on your SNS card to be used at your discretion.

 

Even at the Diamond party, you could order only 1 drink at a time.  My wife tried to order two drinks when we entered the venue, but was quickly shut down.

 

Garnett

Wow, that is so different from our experience.  Suppose it varies by ship.  We were on the Dream.  We have found that if you tip your waiter when you order your first drink they are a bit freeer with your beverages.

Edited May 19, 2023 by MagnoliaBlossom

[jmoak]

What are recent experiences with the Platinum/Diamond party?  When is it typically held? Do you get an invitation in your stateroom? What types of drinks can you get? Order or just what is provided on tray?  We are turning platinum this cruise and just want to make sure we don't miss it!

[rizkeeper]

I'm on the MG (in 2+ days!!!) I will post my experience with P&D party when I return. 

[mz-s]

34 minutes ago, jmoak said:

What are recent experiences with the Platinum/Diamond party?  When is it typically held? Do you get an invitation in your stateroom? What types of drinks can you get? Order or just what is provided on tray?  We are turning platinum this cruise and just want to make sure we don't miss it!

 

Usually on the last sea day, and on most ships you can order whatever you want or grab something off the tray. On Excel class you get one glass of wine.

[jsglow]

1 minute ago, mz-s said:

 

Usually on the last sea day, and on most ships you can order whatever you want or grab something off the tray. On Excel class you get one glass of wine.

And yes, you get a nice invitation card delivered to your stateroom.

[rolloman]

On 5/17/2023 at 9:28 PM, mz-s said:

yes that’s how they do it on excel class ships because they don’t serve drinks during the party, just a glass of wine.

They give beer and wine lately on Mardi-Gras...and they actually said...you have two hands, take two drinks with you into the theater. They also allowed you to go back out and get more... However, they quickly shut down the drink table once the event starts.

[mz-s]

6 minutes ago, rolloman said:

They give beer and wine lately on Mardi-Gras...and they actually said...you have two hands, take two drinks with you into the theater. They also allowed you to go back out and get more... However, they quickly shut down the drink table once the event starts.

 

Yeah I think they're getting a lot of complaints about the needless penny pinching of cutting back on the drinks on the Excel class.

[DallasGuy75219]

On 5/18/2023 at 9:44 PM, N7786W Flyer said:

On our last cruise (we debarked 5/13/23), other than a free glass of wine, there were NO free drinks at the Platinum/Diamond party.  However, they did put one free drink on your SNS card to be used at your discretion.

 

Even at the Diamond party, you could order only 1 drink at a time.  My wife tried to order two drinks when we entered the venue, but was quickly shut down.

 

Garnett

 

5 hours ago, jmoak said:

What are recent experiences with the Platinum/Diamond party?  When is it typically held? Do you get an invitation in your stateroom? What types of drinks can you get? Order or just what is provided on tray?  We are turning platinum this cruise and just want to make sure we don't miss it!

 

4 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

Usually on the last sea day, and on most ships you can order whatever you want or grab something off the tray. On Excel class you get one glass of wine.

 

2 hours ago, rolloman said:

They give beer and wine lately on Mardi-Gras...and they actually said...you have two hands, take two drinks with you into the theater. They also allowed you to go back out and get more... However, they quickly shut down the drink table once the event starts.

 

2 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

Yeah I think they're getting a lot of complaints about the needless penny pinching of cutting back on the drinks on the Excel class.

They serve only wine on the Excel class not to be cheap but because the theaters were not built with bars to support drink service, unlike all the prior ships where there are bar servers serving drinks in the theater before shows and before and during other events. 

 

Thus there are not facilities to serve mixed drinks and store/serve anything other than a few varieties of wine on as large of a scale as the P/D party.  That's why they also load a drink on your S&S, so you can still get your drink of choice somewhere else.

[love2relax]

On 5/17/2023 at 12:04 PM, mz-s said:

 

My understanding is on the Excel class ships that is what they do, they give you a glass of wine during the party and put another drink on your account.

We just got off of the Celebration and that is exactly what they did. I don’t drink wine, so we decided not to bother going, even though I love the video of the ships that they always show. By the time they had the party I was sick of being around crowds of people and found better things to do with my time rather than sit around waiting for the movie with nothing appealing to drink. 

[Illbcruzn4life]

8 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

Usually on the last sea day, and on most ships you can order whatever you want or grab something off the tray. On Excel class you get one glass of wine.

It's usually at a very convenient time of 5pm isn't it?

[Honolulu Blue]

On 5/17/2023 at 3:08 PM, Eli_6 said:

So do they always have these? What if half the ship is platinum?  We are leaving in a few days on our first platinum cruise and haven't gotten anything about our platinum benefits.  I want to be sure and go to the party if they offer one.  I am all about FREE DRANKS!!!

 

I recall at least once the Platinum party was split into at least two parts because we had so many of high status. 

 

16 hours ago, jmoak said:

What are recent experiences with the Platinum/Diamond party?  When is it typically held? Do you get an invitation in your stateroom? What types of drinks can you get? Order or just what is provided on tray?  We are turning platinum this cruise and just want to make sure we don't miss it!

 

6 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

It's usually at a very convenient time of 5pm isn't it?

Mine is at 4:45 pm today on the Magic. It's in the aft lounge, which means there probably aren't too many of us.

 

 

[ledges1]

On the last night of my cruise on the Elation (11/3), we had the P&D party in the Comedy Club. There were waiters walking around with premade drinks and wine. You could go to the bar and order drinks, which I did (beer). During the party, waiters were asking me if I needed another drink. It was free flowing and not rushed like some I have attended. It lasted about 45 minutes.

[ninjacat123]

1 hour ago, ledges1 said:

On the last night of my cruise on the Elation (11/3), we had the P&D party in the Comedy Club. There were waiters walking around with premade drinks and wine. You could go to the bar and order drinks, which I did (beer). During the party, waiters were asking me if I needed another drink. It was free flowing and not rushed like some I have attended. It lasted about 45 minutes.

Good to know!  We will be on Elation this Thanksgiving😃

[jmoak]

5 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

 

I recall at least once the Platinum party was split into at least two parts because we had so many of high status. 

 

 

Mine is at 4:45 pm today on the Magic. It's in the aft lounge, which means there probably aren't too many of us.

 

 

Thank you. If you don’t mind let me know how they go about distributing drinks at the party. Premade, wine only, order freely, etc.  we are on the magic in two weeks so this will be very helpful!!  Thanks again!

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, jmoak said:

Thank you. If you don’t mind let me know how they go about distributing drinks at the party. Premade, wine only, order freely, etc.  we are on the magic in two weeks so this will be very helpful!!  Thanks again!

I'll see what I can do.

[staceyglow]

16 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

It's usually at a very convenient time of 5pm isn't it?

Not necessarily.  It depends on a number of things, including the number of diamonds and plats onboard.  Sometimes they have to have 2 parties.

 

We are early diners (checking into YTD as early as they let us) and I don't ever recall our 5:30 dining time conflicting with our Diamond/Platinum party.

[ninjacat123]

Our P&D party on Pride in Europe was at 4:00pm in the Taj Majal theatre.

[Honolulu Blue]

5 hours ago, jmoak said:

let me know how they go about distributing drinks at the party. Premade, wine only, order freely, etc.  we are on the magic in two weeks so this will be very helpful!!  Thanks again!

I was just at the Platinum and Diamond party and can now answer your questions. 

 

The waiters had lots of premade drinks (including wine) available on their trays that they freely gave out. There was a bar nearby, so they took drink orders and delivered them happily.

 

Enjoy your cruise on the Magic!