Permanent change to lounge access?

[Tree_skier]

12 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

You'll find this on the Crown&Anchor list of benefits. Once you reach Diamond, these are the benefits Royal currently offers to you:

 

"Royal Caribbean reserves the right to modify the Crown & Anchor® Society, Club Royale®, and MyCruise® Rewards programs along with their terms and conditions, at any time and without notice"

 

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/crown-and-anchor-society-benefit-grid.pdf

 

Also take specific note of #14:

"14_  ......  Royal Caribbean may limit or remove access to the Crown Lounge as needed to accommodate special sailings including, but not limited to: Charters, Crossings, Repositionings, Inaugurals, Trade Events, and President’s Cruises."

 

5 minutes ago, doghog said:

Been there done that.🤣

I think @Hoopster95 misunderstood when you said you weren't diamond.  I think the assumption was you were lower than diamond not D+ 😉 

[Engineroom Snipe]

4 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

 

I think @Hoopster95 misunderstood when you said you weren't diamond.  I think the assumption was you were lower than diamond not D+ 😉 

"Lower than diamond...", they are relegated to shoveling the coal into the boilers in order to get one plate at Sorrentos.

 

May God bless the "little people". I might be one of them.

 

😉

[firefly333]

6 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

"Lower than diamond...", they are relegated to shoveling the coal into the boilers in order to get one plate at Sorrentos.

 

May God bless the "little people". I might be one of them.

 

😉

Well thank goodness then, no more manning the rowboats. Lol

 

Until royal says its changed permanently it's not. Just speculation. Like the threads every 2 days saying icon costs too much. Fun to talk about but changes nothing. 

[OCSC Mike]

54 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Fun to talk about

 

Is it though? 🤣

[Engineroom Snipe]

20 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Well thank goodness then, no more manning the rowboats. Lol

"You got a rowboat?"

 

Must be at least Diamond+ to be offered a seat at the oars!

 

I agree, so much speculation on so many levels.

 

I book a cabin on a cruise and enjoy each and every day. Should I get some sort of 'perk', I am grateful.

 

One never knows how many more days at sea are in the cards of life.

 

 

[firefly333]

22 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

"You got a rowboat?"

 

Must be at least Diamond+ to be offered a seat at the oars!

 

I agree, so much speculation on so many levels.

 

I book a cabin on a cruise and enjoy each and every day. Should I get some sort of 'perk', I am grateful.

 

One never knows how many more days at sea are in the cards of life.

 

 

Shhhh. I'm already probably in trouble but I even drink the free coffee and if it's hot enough I'm happy. Sometimes it's not hot enough but if not I get some more. I usually dont bother with those vouchers.

.

 

All i care about is my wifi and last 2 times even paid for additional access. I hate not knowing what the stock market is doing. .. but other than that I'm pretty darn good. So low class im sure that I drink the free coffee, whatever's handy. I really enjoyed my carnival journey cruise but missed my free wifi. Now dont take that away and im good. I rarely go into the lounge during happy hour, maybe once a cruise just to see how it is. Curiosity but rarely eat anything there. 

[Billy Baltic]

5 hours ago, Tatka said:

 

Why? It is a normal practice now. Rules are changing as number of people who get to higher statuses grow. On our sailing there was 705 D and 546 D+ and 120 Pinnacles. This is a huge number of people to handle in one lounge in 3 hours. Many people attend. And you cannot assume they won't. Otherwise you will need to start turning away people at entrance. This will create larger problems and even confrontations.

 

Due to this RCI now gives vouchers to use in other bars. We are D+ now, but we would understand if we were Ds.

 

Name of Diamond lounge was changed to Crown due to this I suspect.

 

LA cannot do anything about this. New rules implemented for 6 months already.

RC are like a dog chasing their tail at this stage. So far it’s diamonds but that can’t last. On your sailing, what do they do if even half the D+ turn up. I think they would have been better set the bar at the 350 - 400 points range to avoid needing to revisit this in 12 months. And I say that as someone who likes to get a coffee from the crown lounge but don’t expect to get anywhere near 350 points in my cruising life. 

[Engineroom Snipe]

25 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

All i care about is my wifi and last 2 times even paid for additional access. I hate not knowing what the stock market is doing. .. but other than that I'm pretty darn good.

You have now shown your "Royal" weakness, 'wifi'.

 

"I'll get you my pretty......" (The Wizard of Oz, 1939).

 

The flying 'Royal' monkeys are waiting to take you away from your "free" wifi.

 

The man behind the curtain, "Nothing to see here, just an additional wifi charge for the man who must have access to the stock market."

 

As they cut from the scene where the Scare Crow has lost all of his stuffing.

 

😢

 

 

😠

[meadowlander]

47 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

All i care about is my wifi and last 2 times even paid for additional access. I hate not knowing what the stock market is doing. ..

Doing tremendous. Record high after record high. I'm not one of those hoping it crashes.

Edited February 8 by meadowlander

[Engineroom Snipe]

3 minutes ago, meadowlander said:

Doing tremendous. Record high after record high. I'm not one of those hoping it crashes.

I too have no desire to have the market crash. Many are riding their 401ks into "the seas of retirement on cruises."

 

"Live long and prosper." (Mr. Spock, as portrayed by actor Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry)

[BND]

3 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Well thank goodness then, no more manning the rowboats. Lol

 

Until royal says its changed permanently it's not. Just speculation. Like the threads every 2 days saying icon costs too much. Fun to talk about but changes nothing. 

Where exactly does Icon not cost more?  LOL.  We have no interest in Icon for many reasons and cost is way down the list.  You do know that most all of the time, things like changes to status/access come true, right?  I remember right before we hit D+ that there was talk of no more CL access and then, poof, it happened.  Just one of many.  It's coming.

[BND]

1 hour ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

I too have no desire to have the market crash. Many are riding their 401ks into "the seas of retirement on cruises."

 

"Live long and prosper." (Mr. Spock, as portrayed by actor Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry)

A lot of us who use CFP's start protecting assets as we get older.  Don't want the market to crash, but have more in protected assets than we did in our 50's.  We only have RCI stock for the OBC.  I don't really care what price it's at as it's not even a blip in our investment portfolio. 

 

As far as this topic goes, I think some people have their head in the sand.  It's going to change because it has to.  Some of us have seen lots of changes.

 

 

Edited February 8 by BND

[Tatka]

1 hour ago, Billy Baltic said:

RC are like a dog chasing their tail at this stage. So far it’s diamonds but that can’t last. On your sailing, what do they do if even half the D+ turn up. I think they would have been better set the bar at the 350 - 400 points range to avoid needing to revisit this in 12 months. And I say that as someone who likes to get a coffee from the crown lounge but don’t expect to get anywhere near 350 points in my cruising life. 

   I am prepared for Royal to raise number of points to 350 or even higher for Crown lounge and be excluded for 3 hours. I can skip snacks 🙂

I enjoyed cruising without lounge too. 
I can drink my 5 drinks in various places 

[loman]

As long as i have access to the coffee machine in the crown lounge at all other times besides 5 - 8 pm,

i dont mind at all . 

[BND]

3 minutes ago, loman said:

As long as i have access to the coffee machine in the crown lounge at all other times besides 5 - 8 pm,

i dont mind at all . 

I never get coffee in the lounge.  I don't like the options.  I'd rather pay for what I actually like.

[firefly333]

51 minutes ago, BND said:

Where exactly does Icon not cost more?  LOL.  We have no interest in Icon for many reasons and cost is way down the list.  You do know that most all of the time, things like changes to status/access come true, right?  I remember right before we hit D+ that there was talk of no more CL access and then, poof, it happened.  Just one of many.  It's coming.

Of course icon costs more. Where did I say it didnt? I said every couple of days there is a new thread saying icon costs too much and it's fun.  We all like to post.

 

I agree and a ship designed for more children doesnt sound enticing to me. 

 

I'm just worried I get to pinnacle before they remove the wifi access. You are about 100 pts ahead of me and I'll be busy moving this year. Things falling into place to move. Decided not to move into the place I already bought that is rented out until sept but speeding it up but still a lot of work in front of me. I come to cc for fun and entertainment. I am sure I posted all you are posting when I did harmony nov 26 dec 3 and dec 10. Even posted what treeskier posted how to see if your cruise if affected. ..last Nov. Now its feb and we are all enjoying rehashing it. Tree skier was on my dec 10 and he was 2 cruises short of diamond and I remembered he was disappointed. He was on my cc roll call.

 

By the time I'm pinnacle I will never be allowed in ck. Forget crown lounge i was hoping as a pinnacle some day to eat in ck. So all this top 30 stuff .... i agree just a matter of time until the next axe falls. Except I'm more concerned with the top 30 part than the diamond part. I meet a lady who said she was #31, just missed the cut off for top 30 that week on harmony. I posted just what you are posting. We agree. 

Edited February 8 by firefly333

[BND]

13 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Of course icon costs more. Where did I say it didnt? I said every couple of days there is a new thread saying icon costs too much and it's fun.  We all like to post.

 

I agree and a ship designed for more children doesnt sound enticing to me. 

 

I'm just worried I get to pinnacle before they remove the wifi access. You are about 100 pts ahead of me and I'll be busy moving this year. Things falling into place to move. Decided not to move into the place I already bought that is rented out until sept but speeding it up but still a lot of work in front of me. I come to cc for fun and entertainment. I am sure I posted all you are posting when I did harmony nov 26 dec 3 and dec 10. Even posted what treeskier posted how to see if your cruise if affected. ..last Nov. Now its feb and we are all enjoying rehashing it. Tree skier was on my dec 10 and he was 2 cruises short of diamond and I remembered he was disappointed. He was on my cc roll call.

 

By the time I'm pinnacle I will never be allowed in ck. Forget crown lounge i was hoping as a pinnacle some day to eat in ck. So all this top 30 stuff .... i agree just a matter of time until the next axe falls. Except I'm more concerned with the top 30 part than the diamond part. I meet a lady who said she was #31, just missed the cut off for top 30 that week on harmony. I posted just what you are posting. We agree. 

We're currently at 635 points.  We looked at doing a 5 night Bermuda so we'd go over on our Wonder b2b in Nov but no JS available for the dates we need (have to hang with my mom for part of July so that impacts our schedule).  I told DH what I really want is the free wifi lol.  Gave up on much else.  We should hit Pinn in Mar 2025 on the first leg of our b2b2b Adventure cruise.  We're always just behind the curve.  Missed CL access for D+ by a few months for example.   We moved this past March and now have no mortgage so easy to afford but between my dad passing this past Nov (travel to TX for funeral) and my mom needing "babysitting" sometimes, we are limited.  Plus, we decided to take our sons and DDIL's to the beach this summer.   We first made D when they just had the D event which was just wine and beer/soda/water.  By the time we hit D+, it was the CL and then that went away in the last year or so.   Can't help the fact we didn't start cruising until the 2000's.  

[PhillyFan33579]

56 minutes ago, BND said:

We're currently at 635 points.  We looked at doing a 5 night Bermuda so we'd go over on our Wonder b2b in Nov but no JS available for the dates we need (have to hang with my mom for part of July so that impacts our schedule).  I told DH what I really want is the free wifi lol.  Gave up on much else.  We should hit Pinn in Mar 2025 on the first leg of our b2b2b Adventure cruise.  We're always just behind the curve.  Missed CL access for D+ by a few months for example.   We moved this past March and now have no mortgage so easy to afford but between my dad passing this past Nov (travel to TX for funeral) and my mom needing "babysitting" sometimes, we are limited.  Plus, we decided to take our sons and DDIL's to the beach this summer.   We first made D when they just had the D event which was just wine and beer/soda/water.  By the time we hit D+, it was the CL and then that went away in the last year or so.   Can't help the fact we didn't start cruising until the 2000's.  

Probably a little bit off subject and this may not apply to you, but I don’t understand people who cruise exclusively to reach the next loyalty level. Assuming nothing changes in the future, which is a big assumption, I will reach Pinnacle in the next 2-3 years. I would reach Pinnacle sooner but I still cruise on Celebrity 3-4 times a year. To me cruising is all about the experience; reaching the next step in a loyalty program means little to me. 

[firefly333]

11 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Probably a little bit off subject and this may not apply to you, but I don’t understand people who cruise exclusively to reach the next loyalty level. Assuming nothing changes in the future, which is a big assumption, I will reach Pinnacle in the next 2-3 years. I would reach Pinnacle sooner but I still cruise on Celebrity 3-4 times a year. To me cruising is all about the experience; reaching the next step in a loyalty program means little to me. 

I got back Saturday from carnival journey cruise. I thought food  much improved but admit I missed wifi and hated their tv station. Just CBS today to cover the Iowa caucus and the next one. I hit diamond on carnival this last one. Done ncl celebrity and others. I wouldnt say I'm cruising on royal for the next tier as much as I kinda like the free wifi and 5 drinks and missed them though I really enjoyed this particular cruise I was on.

 

Carnival journey cruises have too many high tier loyalty members. Lol so on journey cruises you dont get priority embark and debark and tendering. The diamond lunch had to be held on 2 separate days so many of us ... their answer to the same problem we are discussing here. We had 1600 high tier too many to give priority embark. I think they should maybe just limit to diamonds instead of nobody gets it .... so it's not just royal. Great cruise I loved but annoyed my perks cut by carnival because it was a special journey expensive cruise that high tiers mostly do. ... read elderly. Lol. Almost no kids. 

Edited February 8 by firefly333

[PhillyFan33579]

4 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I got back Saturday from carnival journey cruise. I thought food  much improved but admit I missed wifi and hated their tv station. Just CBS today to cover the Iowa caucus and the next one. I hit diamond on carnival this last one. Done ncl celebrity and others. I wouldnt say I'm cruising on royal for the next tier as much as I kinda like the free wifi and 5 drinks and missed them though I really enjoyed this particular cruise I was on.

 

Carnival journey cruises have too many high tier loyalty members. Lol so on journey cruises you dont get priority embark and debark and tendering. The diamond lunch had to be held on 2 separate days so many of us ... their answer to the same problem we are discussing here. We had 1600 high tier too many to give priority embark. I think they should maybe just limit to diamonds instead of nobody gets it .... so it's not just royal. Great cruise I loved but annoyed my perks cut by carnival because it was a special journey expensive cruise that high tiers mostly do. ... read elderly. Lol. Almost no kids. 

I am only familiar with RCI, Carnival and Celebrity’s loyalty programs, but I think they are all dealing with too many people moving up the status level tree. Although I may not like it personally, I think cutting back on benefits is the best way for cruise lines to address this issue. I can relate to the age thing. In my younger days I mainly cruised on Carnival. As I got older I switched to cruising on RCI. Over the last few years I have cruised on Celebrity more frequently. I am in my late 50s and still enjoy the vibe on RCI ships, but as I get older the more relaxed vibe on Celebrity ships is becoming more appealing. The one thing that is consistent on all three of these cruise lines is the bars always seem to be very popular on the ship. 

[Mick B]

I can remember years ago on numerous cruises where Pinnacle members came into the old Diamond Lounge around 230pm to set up a sort of knitting factory which was really a way of reserving seats for their friends who would arrive just before 5pm for the HH. Many people would arrive to find no seating and the Pins would not move their stuff for them nor would the staff intervene.

 

So, on these selected cruises where Diamonds are not allowed in the new Crown Lounge between 5pm and 8pm, are the staff going to check sea pass cards and ask Diamond members who have turned up earlier to get a seat to leave? Are they going to leave or kick off? And when they do go, will any D+ or Pins actually be there in their masses, since you can have a drink at any bar using your vouchers and the Crown Lounge acts as one of those venues, so other than the nice nibbles and a chat with the staff, what is the need to now be there at that time?

 

I always knew something was going to have to change, given the ever increasing amount of Diamond and above members. It would now seem that you cannot really predict if you will get full access to the Crown Lounge when booking a cruise as you cannot know who else with a higher tier is also going to book the same cruise.

 

It probably won't be too long before D+ start to lose a few perks too based on the numbers onboard.

How long before the reserved seating in the shows goes?

 

But, at least as D, D+ and P we all still get the free drinks vouchers which helps keep the extra costs down at this point in time when many of us are feeling the pinch.

 

All I can say is enjoy your cruise, and if there are some perks to be had during it, then enjoy them too.

 

Mick.

 

 

 

[BND]

8 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Probably a little bit off subject and this may not apply to you, but I don’t understand people who cruise exclusively to reach the next loyalty level. Assuming nothing changes in the future, which is a big assumption, I will reach Pinnacle in the next 2-3 years. I would reach Pinnacle sooner but I still cruise on Celebrity 3-4 times a year. To me cruising is all about the experience; reaching the next step in a loyalty program means little to me. 

It doesn't apply to us as up until now, we really haven't paid much attention to our points and even now just book cruises to fit our lifestyle.  Heck, we made D years ago and thought that was good.  As I'm retired and DH just went PT (only gets paid for hours he works so no PTO needed) we're booking more.  He did the math a few months ago after we had booked Adventure for spring 2025 and realized where we'd be.   We actually had X booked a couple of years ago but switched to go on our friends 50th anniversary cruise on Royal instead.   We also go out of Baltimore a lot and really prefer Royal over Carnival.  In Florida, we prefer Canaveral over FLL or Miami to cruise from.  I remember being surprised by our D pins years ago, which I promptly threw away by mistake lol.  We know when we're hitting Pinn but didn't plan it at all.  

 

Anyway, I've seen quite a few people chasing D who are now upset about any changes.  They are creating their own reality.  

[BND]

4 hours ago, Mick B said:

I can remember years ago on numerous cruises where Pinnacle members came into the old Diamond Lounge around 230pm to set up a sort of knitting factory which was really a way of reserving seats for their friends who would arrive just before 5pm for the HH. Many people would arrive to find no seating and the Pins would not move their stuff for them nor would the staff intervene.

 

So, on these selected cruises where Diamonds are not allowed in the new Crown Lounge between 5pm and 8pm, are the staff going to check sea pass cards and ask Diamond members who have turned up earlier to get a seat to leave? Are they going to leave or kick off? And when they do go, will any D+ or Pins actually be there in their masses, since you can have a drink at any bar using your vouchers and the Crown Lounge acts as one of those venues, so other than the nice nibbles and a chat with the staff, what is the need to now be there at that time?

 

I always knew something was going to have to change, given the ever increasing amount of Diamond and above members. It would now seem that you cannot really predict if you will get full access to the Crown Lounge when booking a cruise as you cannot know who else with a higher tier is also going to book the same cruise.

 

It probably won't be too long before D+ start to lose a few perks too based on the numbers onboard.

How long before the reserved seating in the shows goes?

 

But, at least as D, D+ and P we all still get the free drinks vouchers which helps keep the extra costs down at this point in time when many of us are feeling the pinch.

 

All I can say is enjoy your cruise, and if there are some perks to be had during it, then enjoy them too.

 

Mick.

 

 

 

As the restriction has already occurred on many ships/cruises, my understanding is yes, they do check cards.  On Jewel in Oct/Nov when we arrived at the Crown Lounge, we had to show our cards and prove we were D+ in order to get in.  They also had someone at the door to the overflow doing the same thing, so yes, they are enforcing it.  On Jewel, D were allowed in for the first half hour.  After that D+ and Pinn only and only the top 20 Pinns were allowed into the Concierge Lounge.

[Mick B]

Wow!

Royal actually enforcing one of their rules.

Let's hope they do the same with the chair hogs round the poolside.

 

Mick.

 

[Tatka]

1 hour ago, Mick B said:

Wow!

Royal actually enforcing one of their rules.

Let's hope they do the same with the chair hogs round the poolside.

 

Mick.

 

It’s much more difficult to implement as you understand. Crown Lounge has regulated access. Do you really see an army of pool attendants/security working hours removing people’s stuff?