New Suite Deposits Effective June 1, 2023

[Ret MP]

I'm not sure where my wife got the information but she told me that there was a post or email that said the cost of travel protection insurance on RCCL is going up on June 1st.  Take that for what it's worth, it was on the Internet, after all.  

[Merion_Mom]

12 hours ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

So idk why RC calls it and advertises it as a suite lounge. If I’m paying over $600pd pp to stay in a suite that included special areas I’m not expecting to be crowded out by at least 50 people who aren’t even staying in suites. RC needs to get their act together if they expect people to be happy with their Suite experience. Loyalty perks shouldn’t cross into the Suite experience IMO.

 

The counter argument.  Pinnacles and Masters have spent a lot of money to garner those privileges.  

 

[twangster]

10 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

I'm not sure where my wife got the information but she told me that there was a post or email that said the cost of travel protection insurance on RCCL is going up on June 1st.  Take that for what it's worth, it was on the Internet, after all.  

 

Confirmed with a TA.

[Merion_Mom]

11 hours ago, AlexandNessa said:

 

+1

 

We were experienced suite cruisers when we tried Royal for the first time in a suite. It was worse than abysmal. Lines out the door during happy hour.  No where to sit.  Overflow lounge didn't help. Concierge absolutely overwhelmed to the point they couldn't help everyone. I was left wondering why we paid the premium for the suite, apart from the extra space. I let them know that in the post cruise survey and doesn't come back for 11 years later, when they made some nominal changes. 

 

When you combine loyalty/suite/casinos perks, it just results in watered down perks for everyone. 

 

 

11 or more years ago?  It was called the Concierge Lounge then, there was barely a handful of Pinnacles in the entire fleet - those people would have been Diamond Plus.    RC solved THAT problem by kicking out the D+.  

 

And when there are a lot of PC on a cruise, access to the SL and CK is curtailed or even eliminated.  

 

Masters have no such restrictions.

[Ret MP]

1 minute ago, twangster said:

 

Confirmed with a TA.

Sorry, but does that mean that you confirmed it with a TA or do I need to confirm it with a TA?  I'm calling my TA now.    

[reallyitsmema]

13 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

 

11 or more years ago?  It was called the Concierge Lounge then, there was barely a handful of Pinnacles in the entire fleet - those people would have been Diamond Plus.    RC solved THAT problem by kicking out the D+.  

 

And when there are a lot of PC on a cruise, access to the SL and CK is curtailed or even eliminated.  

 

Masters have no such restrictions.

 

I was aware of Masters access to the SL and CK.  I have no idea of the numbers though as those aren't shared at the top tier.  Any idea of a ballpark number?  I know it changes ship to ship and sailing to sailing.

[AlexandNessa]

11 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

 

11 or more years ago?  It was called the Concierge Lounge then, there was barely a handful of Pinnacles in the entire fleet - those people would have been Diamond Plus.    RC solved THAT problem by kicking out the D+.  

 

And when there are a lot of PC on a cruise, access to the SL and CK is curtailed or even eliminated.  

 

Masters have no such restrictions.

I never said they were Pinnacles. I was schooled though while waiting in line to enter the lounge. I said to my hubby, "wow, there are a lot more suites on this ship than i thought" or something like that. I was told by my queuing neighbors that if you had enough status, it was a perk.  I never pay attention to key cards so i couldn't tell you (nor do i care or ask them their status) if they were D or D+. But it was a really bad decision that meant the perks were watered down for everyone.  It was a huge, overpriced disappointment.  We found suite value in other lines and sailed elsewhere, until they made some corrections. 

[twangster]

12 hours ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

So idk why RC calls it and advertises it as a suite lounge. If I’m paying over $600pd pp to stay in a suite that included special areas I’m not expecting to be crowded out by at least 50 people who aren’t even staying in suites. RC needs to get their act together if they expect people to be happy with their Suite experience. Loyalty perks shouldn’t cross into the Suite experience IMO.

 

Originally there were no Suite Lounges.  There were Concierge Clubs and those clubs have long blended suite guests with loyalty guests.  

 

Royal will continue to adapt and adjust policy.  That is inevitable as ships, suites and tier level numbers change.    

 

At the moment Royal still appreciates the many long time cruisers some of which have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, far greater spend than someone who books a dozen GS over 12 years.  Neither extreme represents all cruisers completely and only Royal knows how best to respect both groups.

 

At the moment it is what Royal wants it to be.  Their ship, their rules.

 

[smokeybandit]

Ever since they did away with the windowless sardine can suite lounges, I've never seen a full lounge. 

[twangster]

23 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

Sorry, but does that mean that you confirmed it with a TA or do I need to confirm it with a TA?  I'm calling my TA now.    

 

A TA has confirmed what your wife has stated.

[Ret MP]

1 minute ago, twangster said:

 

A TA has confirmed what your wife has stated.

Got it.  Cryptic, eh!

[Morecruisesplz]

13 minutes ago, twangster said:

At the moment Royal still appreciates the many long time cruisers some of which have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.

We have not found this to be true. Try to get a table for 2 (never mind in a great location), into a lounge, or help with most anything. D+ means nothing.

[Merion_Mom]

46 minutes ago, AlexandNessa said:

I never said they were Pinnacles. I was schooled though while waiting in line to enter the lounge. I said to my hubby, "wow, there are a lot more suites on this ship than i thought" or something like that. I was told by my queuing neighbors that if you had enough status, it was a perk.  I never pay attention to key cards so i couldn't tell you (nor do i care or ask them their status) if they were D or D+. But it was a really bad decision that meant the perks were watered down for everyone.  It was a huge, overpriced disappointment.  We found suite value in other lines and sailed elsewhere, until they made some corrections. 

Which ship was it?

[Merion_Mom]

50 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

I was aware of Masters access to the SL and CK.  I have no idea of the numbers though as those aren't shared at the top tier.  Any idea of a ballpark number?  I know it changes ship to ship and sailing to sailing.

 

That's a very interesting question.  I don't have a number based in fact.  I am on a FB page for the casino, and there is probably more than one such page.  There are a LOT of people talking about being Masters and fully using the perks.  

[OCSC Mike]

39 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

D+ means nothing.

It will mean something to me & my wife when we get there in 2 more cruises… extra drinks, extra internet, bogo specialty dining, etc.

 

We rarely need special assistance but we’ve had the DL concierge help us out on the rare occasion we have. Once, in fact, was a last minute table for 2 on lobster night in the MDR when our plans changed & she got us seated immediately.

 

To each his own. I feel appreciated.

[Anton]

17 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

That's a very interesting question.  I don't have a number based in fact.  I am on a FB page for the casino, and there is probably more than one such page.  There are a LOT of people talking about being Masters and fully using the perks.  

A few weeks ago someone posted in that big social media place that there were 417 Masters at the start of the current casino year, not exactly but approximately.  There were twice that amount in the last casino year so a lot didn't meet the criteria to keep Masters tier.

[Merion_Mom]

6 minutes ago, Anton said:

A few weeks ago someone posted in that big social media place that there were 417 Masters at the start of the current casino year, not exactly but approximately.  There were twice that amount in the last casino year so a lot didn't meet the criteria to keep Masters tier.

 

But like the total number of Pinnacles, there is no way to verify or even begin to guess if that is accurate.

 

[Morecruisesplz]

17 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

It will mean something to me & my wife when we get there in 2 more cruises… extra drinks, extra internet, bogo specialty dining, etc.

 

We rarely need special assistance but we’ve had the DL concierge help us out on the rare occasion we have. Once, in fact, was a last minute table for 2 on lobster night in the MDR when our plans changed & she got us seated immediately.

 

To each his own. I feel appreciated.

Very nice! That is great. Enjoy your upcoming status change. (Your post reminds that there are valuable perks that we might be taking for granted. Thx for the reminder.)

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

At the moment Royal still appreciates the many long time cruisers some of which have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, far greater spend than someone who books a dozen GS over 12 years.  

 

12 GS suites sounds costly to me, one a year or not. I saw someone mention JS on adventure approaching $5k. .. and GS even more costly. I'm not sure what a average cost is for them right now. Could also cost over 100k for 12 GS suites. 

[twangster]

8 hours ago, firefly333 said:

12 GS suites sounds costly to me, one a year or not. I saw someone mention JS on adventure approaching $5k. .. and GS even more costly. I'm not sure what a average cost is for them right now. Could also cost over 100k for 12 GS suites. 

 

At today's rates maybe.  Not at rates starting 12 years ago.

 

But even if they they did approach 100k, that still pales compared to 300k or 400k.  

 

They would have contributed 25% to 33% of the subjects of their ill will.  

 

Meanwhile a guest on their very first GS cruise would have paid a tiny fraction of that.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by twangster

[twangster]

8 hours ago, firefly333 said:

12 GS suites sounds costly to me, one a year or not. I saw someone mention JS on adventure approaching $5k. .. and GS even more costly. I'm not sure what a average cost is for them right now. Could also cost over 100k for 12 GS suites. 

 

Let's use real numbers.

 

My first cruise on Royal was in an Oasis loft suite.  I was pre-gold so I had no CAS discounts or other crazy rates to leverage.  The website rate for a fall school break cruise was $5,936 for two guests.  My cabin mate was a school teacher so we had to cruise that specific week with no ability to shop weeks for the lowest rate.  

 

My second Royal cruise was a year later in an Allure loft suite on another ship at $5,529 for two guests as a gold member so no CAS discounts.

 

My 3rd cruise in a Harmony GS a year later was $4,218 for two guests as a gold member so no CAS discounts.  

 

All were sky class so I got to use the SL and CK.  We had no issues getting seats. 

 

On my first cruise I met a Pinnacle member named Bill who explained the whole CAS to me.  Pretty cool I thought but I'll never be able to reach 700.  Bill was also on my 3rd cruise and he used his Pinnacle influence to get some Guinness in the SL.  He had lunch with the FBM he told me, and that night Guinness appeared in the SL.  Nice guy and I appreciated having Guinness in the SL.  Before that it was only basic beers in the SL.

 

My average spend across the three cruises was $5,224 per cruise for sky class.  I wasn't a casino player, no CAS discounts, no weird super secret TA deals.  Newbie booking cruises on the website.  

 

Twelve cruises times $5,224 each equals $63k in spend.  That's a fraction of what most Pinnacle Club members have contributed to get where they are.  That's real word spend. Not some imaginary most or least expensive suite with casino discounts or GGG or CAS balcony rate.  Those are actual numbers for a never cruised Royal newbie booking on the website.  

 

I'm not using the lowest GS rate ($4,218) to come up with that $63k spend.  That would only be $50k.  I'm using my real spend across L1 and GS rates averaged over 3 years of cruises.  

 

I stand by my statement, someone booking sky class once per year using website rates pales in comparison to the spend of a Pinnacle member.    

 

 

[Ourusualbeach]

10 hours ago, Ret MP said:

I'm not sure where my wife got the information but she told me that there was a post or email that said the cost of travel protection insurance on RCCL is going up on June 1st.  Take that for what it's worth, it was on the Internet, after all.  

Royals travel insurance makes absolutely zero sense to purchase for the deposits for a number of reasons.

 

Royals travel insurance is paid at final.  While it could be purchased ahead of time it is based on the entire cruise fare.  Their is no option to insure only a portion of your trip.

 

Take a $20,000 suite (after taxes)  the deposit is therefore $2,000.  The premium for the insurance is $999 per person.  Pretty sure that most can see that is not a winning proposition.

 

You can find other insurance providers where you can cover the deposit only and then increase the amount when you make final but tat option is not available with Royals insurance.

[BND]

11 hours ago, Ret MP said:

I'm not sure where my wife got the information but she told me that there was a post or email that said the cost of travel protection insurance on RCCL is going up on June 1st.  Take that for what it's worth, it was on the Internet, after all.  

I saw a post on FB yesterday with a chart showing the new rates.   We buy an annual policy through Allianz.  It covers more than RCI's does.

Edited May 25, 2023 by BND

[Ourusualbeach]

11 hours ago, Ret MP said:

the cost of travel protection insurance on RCCL is going up on June 1st.

Not surprising, the rates have stayed the same for at least 4 or 5 years

[molly361]