New Suite Deposits Effective June 1, 2023

[Ret MP]

35 minutes ago, island lady said:

  Do anyone of you have a detector that lets you know for sure that they are just sailing on the cheap in inside cabins...or are they actually in a full suite?  

Yep, it's like a Divining Rod, except that it points up when it detects a Pinnacle cruiser that is cruising on the cheap and is within arm's length of the user.  

 

I must be totally transparent though, it's not too accurate.  It will point up in the most unexpected places.

[Cigar King]

39 minutes ago, island lady said:

I hate to break everyone's Pinnacle bashing bubble...but how many of those Pinnies in the SL/CK are in full suites?  Do anyone of you have a detector that lets you know for sure that they are just sailing on the cheap in inside cabins...or are they actually in a full suite?  

I assume that Pinnacles do not sail in suites in any greater proportion to the rest of the passengers.  Do you have any numbers that suggest they do?  Assuming the above is true then the majority of Pinnacles are not sailing in suites.  Nobody has ever suggested that a Pinnacle sailing in a suite should not get the suite benefits.

[wreckem2013]

10 hours ago, HicksRA said:

If they upgrade JS benefits, they’ll surely “upgrade” the prices. 

On most sailing I’ve looked at it seems like JS have already doubled in price. Looks like my thanksgivings cruise will be last time we will be in a JS.

[OCSC Mike]

41 minutes ago, island lady said:

You may be missing out on some really wonderful people when you read that book by the cover.   

This made me think of a Pinnacle couple my wife & I met a long time ago during the old DL happy hour. They were easily twice our age & magnitudes wealthier (clearly an assumption by me but I know my finances at the time & from the info I had to go on, I’m comfortable with it).

 

We must have chatted with them for nearly two hours & they could not have been more down to earth telling us about spending months at sea enjoying simple aspects of the ship. We weren’t heavily into cruising yet so it was fascinating at the time. The conversation only ended because they had dinner reservations.

 

Now that I recall that story, I feel bad for not saying hi on Harmony. Perhaps we’ll cross paths again when I’m not with extended family & you’re done with your world cruise segments & 45-day Aussie adventures & back to sailing boring Caribbean itineraries.

[reallyitsmema]

56 minutes ago, island lady said:

I hate to break everyone's Pinnacle bashing bubble...but how many of those Pinnies in the SL/CK are in full suites?  Do anyone of you have a detector that lets you know for sure that they are just sailing on the cheap in inside cabins...or are they actually in a full suite?  

 

Also please remember...Pinnacles are simply pax that happen to enjoy cruising...a lot of cruises.  Try not to demonize the group as whole.  There are bad and good in all walks of life.  Simply ignore the bad and embrace the good.  You may be missing out on some really wonderful people when you read that book by the cover.   

 

There is no bashing going on, people are sharing their experiences.  You weren't on our recent sailing to see what was going on and you are not aware of who was sailing in a suite and who wasn't.  I do know which were in suites and which weren't.  You can continue to jump to conclusions as you do when anyone says anything about pinnacles but that does not change what other cruisers are experiencing.

[graciekelli]

11 hours ago, BND said:

The DL concierge on EN last month told us there are changes coming for JS so they get more suite-type benefits.

That would be so great.  We usually sail in a JS or aft balcony.

[twangster]

To get to this point of implementing change and standardizing the suite deposit policy across the fleet must have taken some time for the review, analysis and gathering internal agreement before making this public.

 

I only hope they follow up by giving the same due effort and time into standardizing suite benefits more closely across the fleet. 

 

Including Voom with all full suites for example, especially now with the lower cost Voom through Starlink. 

 

The 11am to 11pm SL beer & wine only on Oasis class is another example.  That is mostly a crewing issue which they accept on Oasis class but no others.  Those bar crew don't do double duty as CK hosts or anything else.  If they are able to maintain extra bar crew on Oasis class for the SL bar why not on other classes?

 

While they may never add a CK venue on older classes there are many small and subtle ways they could standardize more suite benefits across the fleet.  

[OCSC Mike]

5 minutes ago, twangster said:

While they may never add a CK venue on older classes there are many small and subtle ways they could standardize more suite benefits across the fleet.

 

I'll only be playing the role of suite guest one last time next week for the foreseeable before returning to the frugal cruise life but this makes a lot of sense to me.

 

It may be factored into the price, of course, but the Oasis class suite perks were what I enjoyed last year and am looking forward to next week (nothing against the room, it was very nice). Without them it would be far less of an enhanced experience to me. Personal preferences, as always.

[twangster]

8 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

I'll only be playing the role of suite guest one last time next week for the foreseeable before returning to the frugal cruise life but this makes a lot of sense to me.

 

It may be factored into the price, of course, but the Oasis class suite perks were what I enjoyed last year and am looking forward to next week (nothing against the room, it was very nice). Without them it would be far less of an enhanced experience to me. Personal preferences, as always.

 

They keep on saying that grand suite are cheaper on older ships but I don't see that.  Someone forgot to tell the revenue dept to lower the full suites on older ships.    

[OCSC Mike]

Just now, twangster said:

They keep on saying that grand suite are cheaper on older ships but I don't see that.  Someone forgot to tell the revenue dept to lower the full suites on older ships.    

 

That's crappy then and wouldn't be appealing to me even if I was willing to spend more.

[vjmatty]

11 hours ago, island lady said:

I hate to break everyone's Pinnacle bashing bubble...but how many of those Pinnies in the SL/CK are in full suites?  Do anyone of you have a detector that lets you know for sure that they are just sailing on the cheap in inside cabins...or are they actually in a full suite?  

 

Also please remember...Pinnacles are simply pax that happen to enjoy cruising...a lot of cruises.  Try not to demonize the group as whole.  There are bad and good in all walks of life.  Simply ignore the bad and embrace the good.  You may be missing out on some really wonderful people when you read that book by the cover.   

I don’t think it’s personal against pinnacles, it’s about not wanting a crowded or SRO lounge, and wanting access to CK for everyone who paid for a suite. The poster said Pinnacles should have their own space, not that they should be left in the wind. 

[mac_tlc]

45 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

They keep on saying that grand suite are cheaper on older ships but I don't see that.  Someone forgot to tell the revenue dept to lower the full suites on older ships.    

Only if the comparison is to Wonder and Icon.😜.

[orville99]

We have 22 cruises booked in GS between now and April 2025, and the overall deposit cost of those 22 cruises under this new scheme would cost us a total of $485 more than we paid in deposits when we booked, or about $22/cruise. Not a big deal, and other lines have been doing their deposits this way fleetwide for years. 

[Ocean Boy]

22 hours ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

Personally I think it’s a good change. It will stop those that book the suites as soon as the itinerary comes out hoping the price will go down and when it doesn’t cancel before final payment. This drives up the price for the remaining suites as the inventory is low. Hopefully this deters some of that.

I thought that was supposed to be taken care of by making suite deposits non-refundable several years ago. I doubt that many people are booking just to hold a cabin and then forfeiting their money.

 

One thing I sure of is just as non-refundable deposits started with suites and moved to other categories, it is just a matter of time before this new deposit method does the same.

[Ocean Boy]

Double.

[smokeybandit]

33 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I thought that was supposed to be taken care of by making suite deposits non-refundable several years ago. I doubt that many people are booking just to hold a cabin and then forfeiting their money.

The odds of booking a suite which costs enough for the 10% to kick in is a lot higher now, especially for the new ships.

Book a 15k suite, but pay $500 deposit, forfeiting that $500 seems a drop in the bucket.

[shellunderwater]

22 hours ago, Ret MP said:

Just another revenue stream.  Or should I say, a loan we provide to the cruise lines but don't make any interest from the loan.  

Question though, not really, just an observation:  RCCL's usual sale is 30% off the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th passenger in the same stateroom.  Or whatever the sale is at the time, sometimes even better.  So, the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th passengers aren't required to pay as much deposit as the 1st passenger.  I liked the set rate better, obviously. 

 

I wonder what they are going to do with the "Next Cruise Desk"?  Isn't one of the benefits of the "Next Cruise Desk" a lowered deposit rate? 

The new policy only applies to suites.  All other cabins remain the same, I believe.

[Tulsacoker]

12 hours ago, Cigar King said:

I assume that Pinnacles do not sail in suites in any greater proportion to the rest of the passengers.  Do you have any numbers that suggest they do?  Assuming the above is true then the majority of Pinnacles are not sailing in suites.  Nobody has ever suggested that a Pinnacle sailing in a suite should not get the suite benefits.

I'll make the assumption that Pinnacles sailing in full suites don't wear their name tags.... 😄 

[RosieRoo]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

 

I only hope they follow up by giving the same due effort and time into standardizing suite benefits more closely across the fleet. 

 

Including Voom with all full suites for example, especially now with the lower cost Voom through Starlink. 

 

While they may never add a CK venue on older classes there are many small and subtle ways they could standardize more suite benefits across the fleet.  

Agreed. Just came off the Liberty in a GS. Pricing was not much less than an Oasis class sailing and the benefits don’t compare. No free internet and breakfast only in Chops, to name a few. There’s a huge difference in benefits between classes of ships. 

[twangster]

35 minutes ago, Tulsacoker said:

I'll make the assumption that Pinnacles sailing in full suites don't wear their name tags.... 😄 

 

I often do wear it just to mess with people in the SL.

 

My last two oasis class cruises were in sky and star class.  Wore my Pinnacle badge in the SL knowing it would mess with people.  

 

Last cruise was on Radiance.  Only wore my name badge to top tier, didn't wear it anywhere else for 15 nights.    

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by twangster

[orville99]

51 minutes ago, Tulsacoker said:

I'll make the assumption that Pinnacles sailing in full suites don't wear their name tags.... 😄 

We never wear our tags, but they keep giving us those gold toe tag sea pass cards instead of the regular suite cards.

[dwp10mm]

My only disappointment with this change is for the Next Cruise deposit.  I have two JS booked over the next 18 months.  Of course those were already non-refundable because of the NC booking so that doesn't change.  Like others here, I have every intention of taking every cruise I book.  But I'm more willing to lose $200 versus $500 plus if I can't go.  And I don't like the idea of the interest free loan for what may be over a year away.  They got a lot of that from be during the big C!  Truth be told the only reason I booked these upcoming as JS was to get the double points to get me to D+.  After that, I'm fine with standard balcony cabins going forward.  Now, if the benefits increase, lets talk further.

[A&L_Ont]

3 hours ago, twangster said:

 

They keep on saying that grand suite are cheaper on older ships but I don't see that.  Someone forgot to tell the revenue dept to lower the full suites on older ships.    

 

We have a B2B booked on Freedom for a 3/4 night in a GS and the price is comparable to Harmony for the same week if you could find a GS.  They certainly have to add the suite perks, at least the free internet. 

[A&L_Ont]

4 hours ago, twangster said:

To get to this point of implementing change and standardizing the suite deposit policy across the fleet must have taken some time for the review, analysis and gathering internal agreement before making this public.

 

I only hope they follow up by giving the same due effort and time into standardizing suite benefits more closely across the fleet. 

 

Including Voom with all full suites for example, especially now with the lower cost Voom through Starlink. 

 

The 11am to 11pm SL beer & wine only on Oasis class is another example.  That is mostly a crewing issue which they accept on Oasis class but no others.  Those bar crew don't do double duty as CK hosts or anything else.  If they are able to maintain extra bar crew on Oasis class for the SL bar why not on other classes?

 

While they may never add a CK venue on older classes there are many small and subtle ways they could standardize more suite benefits across the fleet.  

 

 

I should have responded to this post first.  They really need to do all of what you said.  

[orville99]

3 hours ago, twangster said:

 

They keep on saying that grand suite are cheaper on older ships but I don't see that.  Someone forgot to tell the revenue dept to lower the full suites on older ships.    

We have an 8 night Southern Caribbean on Adventure out of PC in a GS booked for October 2024. All in cost including insurance is $5710.

 

Did a mock booking for a 7 night Eastern on Wonder for the same week in a GS, and the cost (without insurance) came out to ~$9,600. Add an estimated $500 for insurance, and the all in cost would be a bit over $10,000

 

Not quite double, but darn close.😱