RC and Celebrity loyalty programs possibly merging?

[nelblu]

There's a thread of an announcement by Royal that the Diamond Lounges will be renamed Crown Lounges

 

 

[Mick B]

Ah! 

And I wonder if the DL is renamed Crown Lounge, then will they create a tier called Crown at say 340 points between D+ and Pinnacle? I choose this figure because this is where as D+ you start to get a few extras, so it just seems logical to me that this is where they would go. I see they say no one will be denied access, so why change the name? Something is bound to happen at some point soon.

Not too bad if by being D or D+ you still get your 4 or 5 free drinks at any bar, but would be a shame not to be able to get your nice coffee when you fancy or a nibble for breaky or just before dinner. Worst still, not being able to have a chat with the concierge and find out what hidden secrets they have for you to discover on that particular ship. Many a time I learned little things in the DL such as where the D+ seating was in the theatre or Ice show (as they can vary from ship to ship). Also they were useful for making sure that if you took your bottle of free wine into the MDR that the waiters did not charge corkage on it.

Hopefully, this won't happen anytime soon, as personally, I don't expect to reach 340 nights before 2026 and I am not likely to book suites at the price they are just to get double points to gain access to a lounge with a coffee machine, that may possibly be out of order anyway, as it was for most of time during my last 4 cruises.

 

Mick.

 

BTW If they do go with Crown Lounge then imagine the confusion when people start calling it the CL on ships that still have a Concierge Lounge. Or will Royal actually rename all the old Concierge Lounges to Suites Lounges first? I know they have started doing this on some ships. Maybe when all the CLs have become SLs then that's when something may be announced. Who Knows?

Also, What about the Viking Crown Lounge, that must be confusing. Not too bad if the DL, sorry CL, I mean Crown Lounge is up there where the VCL is/was, but on some ships the DL, sorry I'm not going to get used to this, was elsewhere. Maybe they want to confuse us so we get lost and never find it. Maybe I will just go to any other bar and order 5 Kraken-coladas and no longer care!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by Mick B

[BND]

12 minutes ago, Mick B said:

 

 

BTW If they do go with Crown Lounge then imagine the confusion when people start calling it the CL on ships that still have a Concierge Lounge. Or will Royal actually rename all the old Concierge Lounges to Suites Lounges first? I know they have started doing this on some ships. Maybe when all the CLs have become SLs then that's when something may be announced. Who Knows?

 

 

 

CL only applies to a few ships now.  We used to enjoy it on GR mainly due to it's location/view.    I'm kind of surprised since they kicked us D+ out that they haven't renamed all of them SL's.

 

What do you mean "if" they go with Crown Lounge.  It's been announced.  Marc Walker (CD) announced it earlier today.

Edited September 29, 2023 by BND

[Ocean Boy]

17 minutes ago, Mick B said:

 Maybe I will just go to any other bar and order 5 Kraken-coladas and not care!

 

Thar sounds like a great plan to me!😁

[Charles4515]

6 minutes ago, BND said:

What do you mean "if" they go with Crown Lounge.  It's been announced. 

They can now kick the Diamonds out and make it Diamond Plus and above. Kind of hard to kick Diamonds out if it is called Diamond Lounge. 

[Tlbecker1]

1 hour ago, Harrisonkid said:

Not sure it would benefit many...buy the Free bag of laundry on Celebrity is very nice (if you use it ) 😉

We have.  The only problem was that we didn’t receive it for 4 days and our stateroom attendant asked us to help her sort ours out of others laundry.  It was the weirdest experience, grabbing underwear that were ours and seeing someone else’s items that they sent in.  This was just this last February.😪

[nelblu]

26 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

They can now kick the Diamonds out and make it Diamond Plus and above. Kind of hard to kick Diamonds out if it is called Diamond Lounge. 

Why, the Lounge is pretty much empty these days.

 

You know, I never thought about it, but in addition to the drink policy, part of the reason is that traditional dining went from 6 to 5:30 and more recently on Oasis it was 5 with a sign that allows you only 15 minutes grace.  

[Another_Critic]

7 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Why, the Lounge is pretty much empty these days.

Apparently I must be a DL magnet 😄, since The DL is usually full on all my sailings.  But they are always off peak and several repos (which are typically top tier heavy).

[BND]

43 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

They can now kick the Diamonds out and make it Diamond Plus and above. Kind of hard to kick Diamonds out if it is called Diamond Lounge. 

They kicked  D+ out of the CL so who knows, but my point was it is being called the Crown Lounge, it's not an "if".

[Mick B]

If it takes Royal as long to implement this change as it does to change the questions in their trivial/music quizzes or change their shows in the theatre, then luckily everyone reading here on CC will be Pinnacle by the time this happens anyway!

 

Mick.

 

[island lady]

15 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

When the next pandemic rears it's head and cruise ships get hit RCI will be courting its C&A members again.

 

Too late.  😄 😄 

[island lady]

14 hours ago, nelblu said:

There's a thread of an announcement by Royal that the Diamond Lounges will be renamed Crown Lounges

 

 

 

LOL...RCI must think we are all that stupid.  IMHO it is just a preview of the slow change to happen... like the old CLs becoming SLs.  I think Diamonds are soon getting the boot. 

 

Actually I thought that would happen when the vouchers came out.  

[Tenderpaw]

Having just sailed on a 18 night Celebrity cruise as an Elite, i can tell you the Celebrity loyalty program is not as good because not only are the free drinks limited to the happy hour, it is also a limited free drink menu.  

 

I don't see Royal's program offering more benefits and I can totally see the free drink vouchers going away in favor of a limited menu during happy hour.

 

If any combining happens, it won't be in our favor.  Look for another tier to be added, fewer perks made to sound like an improvement, and harder to earn points.

 

When Celebrity changed to their current program, i was 3 cruises away from Elite under the old program.  With the change, i needed 3 7 day cruises in an inside to get there.  

Edited October 1, 2023 by Tenderpaw

[Tlbecker1]

On 9/29/2023 at 10:09 AM, Mick B said:

If it takes Royal as long to implement this change as it does to change the questions in their trivial/music quizzes or change their shows in the theatre, then luckily everyone reading here on CC will be Pinnacle by the time this happens anyway!

 

Mick.

 

I hope you are right.  We will be Pinnacle next month and have been looking forward to it for a while.

[Mick B]

Due to limited holiday allowance me and the wife will be 102 by the time we get to pinnacle so will have to hope D+ get looked after.

A good sign was D+ got the theatre seating along with pinnacle so here's hoping although that may change if a new tier at 340 points appears

 

😧

Edited October 1, 2023 by Mick B

[island lady]

13 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

I hope you are right.  We will be Pinnacle next month and have been looking forward to it for a while.

 

Sigh...unfortunately Pinnacle is not what it used to be.  😞 

[Tlbecker1]

31 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Sigh...unfortunately Pinnacle is not what it used to be.  😞 

I am sure that is true, but the free internet will be amazing.

[Its the journey]

9 hours ago, Tenderpaw said:

Having just sailed on a 18 night Celebrity cruise as an Elite, i can tell you the Celebrity loyalty program is not as good because not only are the free drinks limited to the happy hour, it is also a limited free drink menu.  

 

I don't see Royal's program offering more benefits and I can totally see the free drink vouchers going away in favor of a limited menu during happy hour.

 

If any combining happens, it won't be in our favor.  Look for another tier to be added, fewer perks made to sound like an improvement, and harder to earn points.

 

When Celebrity changed to their current program, i was 3 cruises away from Elite under the old program.  With the change, i needed 3 7 day cruises in an inside to get there.  

That's the plan 

 

As told to me by someone who works for RCI 

 

She's not a board member, but she is one of the people who oversees the loyalty program.

 

Of course, who knows if it will happen or when.  But this is being discussed.  

[notscb]

Honestly I think it would make sense to merge the loyalty programs across the Royal Caribbean Group as a brand. Form a business perspective, if you can break down perceived barriers between brands, you open the door for people to feel connected to the group at large.

 

What I'm imagining by saying this is that folks would feel free to follow the group as a whole vs. being loyal to just one arm of the group. That way, when someone considers a vacation in another part of the world, they'll look for and be open to an experience on another sister brand of the group versus finding a different travel provider to go with.

 

"Loyal to Royal" would take on so much more meaning if that meant that I could travel on Celebrity using the same status as on a Royal ship without having to do any extra legwork for matching.

 

[not-enough-cruising]

On 9/28/2023 at 5:47 PM, Another_Critic said:

How do Viking prices compare to RCI?

ridiculously high

[not-enough-cruising]

On 9/29/2023 at 10:00 AM, nelblu said:

Royal is pretty loyal and generous to its customers.  For instance, I would equate Kids sail free with the Casino free comped cruises.  Points are earned on comped cruises.

 

I'm not educated enough on Celebrity, but someone had posted some time ago when there was a huge discussion on this topic that Celebrity doesn't allow children to accumulate points.  Maybe someone can confirm or educate me.

X does not allow anyone under the age of 18 to join the Captains Club

[nelblu]

9 hours ago, Mick B said:

Due to limited holiday allowance me and the wife will be 102 by the time we get to pinnacle so will have to hope D+ get looked after.

A good sign was D+ got the theatre seating along with pinnacle so here's hoping although that may change if a new tier at 340 points appears

 

😧

There are additional benefits at 340+& 525+--solo supplement, cheers with an officer, additional bottle of wine, better toiletries, etc.  

[island lady]

16 hours ago, Tlbecker1 said:

I am sure that is true, but the free internet will be amazing.

 

It's my favorite perk!  🙂  Hope they don't take that away as well.  

[A&L_Ont]

On 9/29/2023 at 6:25 AM, mac_tlc said:

I agree. For the first time in 20 years we do not have any Royal cruises booked. Our late 2024/early 2025 calendar is pretty open, with nothing on Royal or Celebrity. 
 

Looking seriously at Viking but a couple things make us hesitate so far. Would love to do the fiver cruise itinerary you are on, but my DW’s mobility issue probably preclude such a port intensive itinerary.

 

 

mac_tlc

Mac, who have you been looking at as alternatives for example AI or other cruise lines.

[mac_tlc]

23 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

Mac, who have you been looking at as alternatives for example AI or other cruise lines.

Andrew,

We have three Celebrity cruise booked but they were done a while ago and the pricing is much better than now, probably about half for two of them.

 

We also booked Oceania for a TA in Fall 2024 after Celebrity cancelled two on us. Pricing for a bigger room and hopefully better service was less than we had booked on Celebrity. 
 

Also booked the HAL Koningsdam because of the intriguing itinerary to Hawaii but being round trip out of San Diego.

 

We have no desire to do a land AI. Rather be on the water.

 

Royal’s suite pricing has gone way too high,  especially Wonder and Icon. Owners suites at over $20K for two for a week? Come on. Not interested in 3/4 nighters so Utopia is out. I’ll investigate whatever ship comes to NJ for summer 2025, only because it’s easier with the grandkids, but the pricing will probably be prohibitive. 
 

We are also going to do an MSC Yacht Club, just haven’t picked one yet. Probably Meraviglia out of NY or Seashore out of PC.

 

Viking has some great longer itineraries, like Amsterdam to NY or Bergen to NY, but their payment policies and some contradictory reports of their treatment of wheelchair guest has us on pause, but I think we will try them at some point. 
 

I’ve looked at Regent but the pricing seems much higher and the ships are much smaller, maybe too small for us. That was one reason why we decided to try Oceania, the Vista is 1200 people while Regent is 500-750. 

mac_tlc