Pinnacle/zeniths ?

[Straughn]

42 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

They are quite different in my experience.,

I would agree. Before I relate my story with a group of Pinnacles, let me say that I don’t judge them all by this experience. However, I have seen similar behavior on other RCCL ships; we just weren’t subjected to it. 
 

My partner and I were on a Royal cruise, in a suite, and made friends with another couple, also in a suite. We decided to meet in the suite lounge for a pre-dinner drink. We got there first and sat at a nice window table for four. Shortly after our friends arrived, a group of 6-8 people arrived. They looked around and then had brief “pow-wow.” A very officious woman came over and informed us that we were sitting at their table. The male half of our new friends said that he didn’t know there were assigned tables in the suite lounge. She then said. “You don’t understand. We are all Pinnacles and we have sat in this area every night this cruise. You have taken one of OUR tables.” To which our friend replied, nicely, that as far he knew, it was first come, first served for lounge seating and he saw no reason to move.”  She then replied, “I guess I will have to get the concierge to make you move.”  By now the four of us wouldn’t have left our seats for anything.

 

The woman huffed and puffed her way to the concierge desk, where she had to wait while the concierge helped another guest. When it was her turn, she loudly explained to the poor concierge that he must make us move as she and her friends were Pinnacles. The concierge, as far as we could tell told her politely to “pound sand.”

 

By now, the lounge is full and there are no seats together, let alone an area that would accommodate 6 or 8 people. The group left the lounge with the woman telling the concierge that  she would have him fired for not respecting her Pinnacle status.

 

Let me repeat, that I am sure most Pinnacles aren’t like that. But we did notice that Pinnacles seemed to announce their status to staff and other passengers a lot. I have yet to witness that behavior from a Zenith on X.

Edited August 16 by Straughn

[verizon]

7 minutes ago, Straughn said:

I would agree. Before I relate my story with a group of Pinnacles, let me say that I don’t judge them all by this experience. However, I have seen similar behavior on other RCCL ships; we just weren’t subjected to it. 
 

My partner and I were on a Royal cruise, in a suite, and made friends with another couple, also in a suite. We decided to meet in the suite lounge for a pre-dinner drink. We got there first and sat at a nice window table for four. Shortly after our friends arrived, a group of 6-8 people arrived. They looked around and then had brief “pow-wow.” A very officious woman came over and informed us that we were sitting at their table. The male half of our new friends said that he didn’t know there were assigned tables in the suite lounge. She then said. “You don’t understand. We are all Pinnacles and we have sat in this area every night this cruise. You have taken one of OUR tables.” To which our friend replied, nicely, that as far he knew, it was first come, first served for lounge seating and he saw no reason to move.”  She then replied, “I guess I will have to get the concierge to make you move.”  By now the four of us wouldn’t have left our seats for anything.

 

The woman huffed and puffed her way to the concierge desk, where she had to wait while the concierge helped another guest. When it was her turn, she loudly explained to the poor concierge that he must make us move as she and her friends were Pinnacles. The concierge, as far as we could tell told her politely to “pound sand.”

 

By now, the lounge is full and there are no seats together, let alone an area that would accommodate 6 or 8 people. The group left the lounge with the woman telling the concierge that  she would have him fired for not respecting her Pinnacle status.

 

Let me repeat, that I am sure most Pinnacles aren’t like that. But we did notice that Pinnacles seemed to announce their status to staff and other passengers a lot. I have yet to witness that behavior from a Zenith on X.

I totally believe in you.

I was in RCCL thread's and do find some Pinnacles are rotten apples

They do feel the entitilements.

[Iamcruzin]

1 hour ago, Straughn said:

Let me repeat, that I am sure most Pinnacles aren’t like that. But we did notice that Pinnacles seemed to announce their status to staff and other passengers a lot. I have yet to witness that behavior from a Zenith on X.

16 years and 12k posts on Cruise critic with sailings on Princess, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity,  let me tell you that Royal Caribbean has a cult following in terms of their loyal passengers. They have more rude and entitled cheerleaders than any of the other two lines and they act as if they won the Nobel Prize instead of buying a loyalty status. I don't have a dog in this race as I would have to sail in suites and limit myself to one cruise line for the rest of my cruising days in order to obtain this level. At that point it wouldn't matter as I would be receiving the benefits just from my booking category.  I will tell you that the most complaints from all three cruise lines comes from those who have reached the high levels. For years members on Cruise Critic were begging for the cruise lines to create additional levels and all that did was generate more complaints.

[doghog]

4 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I guess it's not easy being a Zenith or Pinnacle. 

Or to many with P and Z envy. 

[phoenix_dream]

16 hours ago, markeb said:

So I’m a lowly E, thanks to reciprocity. (Although only 9 points from E on CC alone). I’ve also lived through Continental/United and Marriott/Starwood. Funny thing about those. It was nuts for awhile then largely normalized. Yes, those are mostly annual programs (I’m lifetime with Marriott/Bonvoy). It is almost impossible to get an upgrade on United these days and they’ve restructured their qualifications multiple times. I think the barbarians at the gates are equally likely to just blow over. I know it’s no fun to just relax, but can we wait until it’s an actual problem?

 

BTW, Laura’s answer to this was spot on. It’s an RCG program. Arguably always has been. Not a Celebrity program. RCG wants to retain customers. They’ve expanded it across RCG because their data showed their customers were likely to switch lines without a retention incentive. Rewarding loyalty is a side effect. 
 

Now if you want to see real craziness, try to get a seat in a United Club as a member or Star Alliance Gold with all the “Credit Card Members”. At least RCG isn’t doing that!

For that matter, in some airports (Fort Lauderdale comes to mind) good luck getting a seat even if you bought club access or use a Club Visa card like we pay quite a bit for each year!  The clubs are just not big enough to handle the influx of all the special credit card offers going around these days.  

[bigbenboys]

3 hours ago, Straughn said:

Let me repeat, that I am sure most Pinnacles aren’t like that. But we did notice that Pinnacles seemed to announce their status to staff and other passengers a lot. I have yet to witness that behavior from a Zenith on X.

We have met 4 Zenith's in MC. Very nice and very knowledgeable about cruising. It was nice hearing their stories. Last year on a sailing from Vancouver BC to LA we had to go through customs in Seattle. Well it was a disaster. We were in suites, what was to take under 2 hours, took up to 6 hours. X had to bring down water and sandwiches. While DH was getting water and sandwiches. I could hear was women say I'm Zenith let me through. I want back on the ship. You know I'm Zenith.

Many of us that cruise, know that X must zero out the ship before they can start reboarding. 

[doghog]

It's the person, not the tier level. 

[Cruising89143]

5 hours ago, chemmo said:

My experience with Pinnacles has been on RC ships. We are D+ as well as being E+. One of the differences we have noticed between the lines is how little loyalty level is discussed on Celebrity and how much on RC. I wonder if that is just our experience?
 

We have never been massive users of the suite lounge or Diamond lounge etc but it is nice to access some of the time. I am sure, like so many changes, we start of talking about possible negatives that may not materialise. 
 

I am sure you will be welcomed aboard for who you are not what you are…

 

 

No, it’s not just you. This happens much, much more on Royal than it does on X. I could add more, much more but I won’t. I will say that not all Pinnacles are created the same. A few are friends and they do not act like they own the ship.

[Cruising89143]

4 hours ago, Straughn said:

I would agree. Before I relate my story with a group of Pinnacles, let me say that I don’t judge them all by this experience. However, I have seen similar behavior on other RCCL ships; we just weren’t subjected to it. 
 

My partner and I were on a Royal cruise, in a suite, and made friends with another couple, also in a suite. We decided to meet in the suite lounge for a pre-dinner drink. We got there first and sat at a nice window table for four. Shortly after our friends arrived, a group of 6-8 people arrived. They looked around and then had brief “pow-wow.” A very officious woman came over and informed us that we were sitting at their table. The male half of our new friends said that he didn’t know there were assigned tables in the suite lounge. She then said. “You don’t understand. We are all Pinnacles and we have sat in this area every night this cruise. You have taken one of OUR tables.” To which our friend replied, nicely, that as far he knew, it was first come, first served for lounge seating and he saw no reason to move.”  She then replied, “I guess I will have to get the concierge to make you move.”  By now the four of us wouldn’t have left our seats for anything.

 

The woman huffed and puffed her way to the concierge desk, where she had to wait while the concierge helped another guest. When it was her turn, she loudly explained to the poor concierge that he must make us move as she and her friends were Pinnacles. The concierge, as far as we could tell told her politely to “pound sand.”

 

By now, the lounge is full and there are no seats together, let alone an area that would accommodate 6 or 8 people. The group left the lounge with the woman telling the concierge that  she would have him fired for not respecting her Pinnacle status.

 

Let me repeat, that I am sure most Pinnacles aren’t like that. But we did notice that Pinnacles seemed to announce their status to staff and other passengers a lot. I have yet to witness that behavior from a Zenith on X.

Exact same thing happened to us on the Oasis when it was a brand new ship. At this time D+ was the highest level. No Pins. This lady came up to us in the suite lounge and stated that we were sitting in their chairs. She proudly proclaimed that they were D+. Guess what, so were we. We did not move and she gave us the evil eye the entire time. I just smiled back. I enjoyed that evening.
 

Two years ago we were having pre dinner drinks in the suite lounge on the Symphony. This man who was proudly wearing his pin name tag loudly stated that Pinnacles should have priority over Suite guests for both the suite lounge and Coastal Kitchen and he stated that if Royal could not accommodate all Pinnacles in the suite lounge and CK then they should be allowed to rebook without any penalty. I looked over at the two suite concierge who looked up at him a then put their heads back down. His friends sitting with him looked as though they wanted to crawl into a hole. 
 

We were on the Anthem last week out of Southampton and we only used the suite lounge twice the entire week. We would much rather enjoy the bars for pre dinner drinks. 

[hcat]

4 hours ago, doghog said:

Doesn't surprise me and we've never attended a Roll Call gathering. Another reason I don't post pictures of us on Cruise Critic or even mention Cruise Critic while onboard. 

but we have  also had  some wonderful times at precruise dinners .. just with other couples or  a larger group..

  in Cv, Italy, pre cruise I helped organize a pre cruise dinner at a local restaurant....walkable from several hotels... We ended up with abt 30 people..inside and outside,  and were treated like family by the owners and staff. Enjoyed great food,  fresh bread, wine, cheese fruit, desserts...very memorable. 

 

Cruise Critic roll calls were  much closer groups before fb came along.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

26 minutes ago, hcat said:

but we have  also had  some wonderful times at precruise dinners .. just with other couples or  a larger group..

  in Cv, Italy, pre cruise I helped organize a pre cruise dinner at a local restaurant....walkable from several hotels... We ended up with abt 30 people..inside and outside,  and were treated like family by the owners and staff. Enjoyed great food,  fresh bread, wine, cheese fruit, desserts...very memorable. 

 

Cruise Critic roll calls were  much closer groups before fb came along.

I have meet some very good friends though the roll call on CC but finding the FB have a bigger following now 

For our November TA , 53 people are following the cruise of CC , 316 people are following on FB 

I find FB to be less  restrictive

 

[Iamcruzin]

35 minutes ago, hcat said:

Cruise Critic roll calls were  much closer groups before fb came along.

I agree. Now they are dead. Nobody interacts or answers a question. I don't even know why they even joined the roll call in the first place.

[doghog]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

but we have  also had  some wonderful times at precruise dinners .. just with other couples or  a larger group..

  in Cv, Italy, pre cruise I helped organize a pre cruise dinner at a local restaurant....walkable from several hotels... We ended up with abt 30 people..inside and outside,  and were treated like family by the owners and staff. Enjoyed great food,  fresh bread, wine, cheese fruit, desserts...very memorable. 

 

Cruise Critic roll calls were  much closer groups before fb came along.

CC is the only social media I subscribe to. If you enjoy that is all that matters. 

[doghog]

35 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

I agree. Now they are dead. Nobody interacts or answers a question. I don't even know why they even joined the roll call in the first place.

You can't speak for others.  I  always provide answers on CC  based on our experiences on the Roll Calls for the cruises we are booked on.

[chemmo]

8 minutes ago, doghog said:

You can't speak for others.  I  always provide answers on CC  based on our experiences on the Roll Calls for the cruises we are booked on.

When we first cruised we asked many naive questions on CC and received so many polite and helpful responses that we think it is only fair to now repay. As you say, it is always necessary to use your your discretion when replying and stick to areas you have personal experience of…

 

 

[DaKahuna]

20 hours ago, doghog said:

The Retreat Lounge will end up doing what RC is doing in the Suite Lounge. Limiting Pinnacles based on the number of suite passengers for that specific cruise. I can see all cruises (no matter the itinerary) having an increase of Zenith numbers.

 

 This is interesting as I cannot remember a cruise after January 1st, 2022 that we were on where the Retreat did not sail 100% booked.  There has to be some other metric they will use but I have no idea what it will be.  

 

 This is definitely going to make special events in the Retreat Lounge (e.g. Captain's Toast, Trivia, Silent Disco, etc..)  interesting.  They have been crowded / standing room only on our last four sailings. 

 

[DaKahuna]

8 hours ago, chemmo said:

One of the differences we have noticed between the lines is how little loyalty level is discussed on Celebrity and how much on RC. I wonder if that is just our experience?

 

 It is not just your experience.  Unless the subject comes up tangentially, we've never had a discussion that started off about points. 

[DaKahuna]

3 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

For that matter, in some airports (Fort Lauderdale comes to mind) good luck getting a seat even if you bought club access or use a Club Visa card like we pay quite a bit for each year!  The clubs are just not big enough to handle the influx of all the special credit card offers going around these days.  

 

 Up until 05/2022 I spent 10 years doing a lot of travel for business.  I felt it worth it to have the United Club Card to get me access to the Untied Club when I flew as it was predominately domestic travel.  

 

 This year my wife and I discussed whether or not to renew the card for just the Club Membership as the only travel we are doing is when we go on vacation, two - three times a year at the most.  I have pretty much decided to cancel my United Club membership as the Club access 2 or 3 times a year and the two free checked bags is not worth the cost of the membership. 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

 

 I find it interesting that if you look at the signatures of most of the posters on Celebrity you do not see anything about their CC level. 

 

 If you go over to the RCCL board on Cruise Critic and look at the signature of most of the posters you will see they C&A level proudly displayed. 

 

 Nuff said !!

 

[doghog]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 I find it interesting that if you look at the signatures of most of the posters on Celebrity you do not see anything about their CC level. 

 

 If you go over to the RCCL board on Cruise Critic and look at the signature of most of the posters you will see they C&A level proudly displayed. 

 

 Nuff said !!

 

I elect to keep signatures turned off. I'm not interested in anyone's tier level, cruise history or upcoming cruises.

 

[RosieRoo]

4 hours ago, doghog said:

It's the person, not the tier level. 

Thank you for that. We are Pinnacle, but do not wear the pins. So many have had bad experiences with some of the entitled that we don’t even want to be identified as part of that club. We often cruise suites and see first hand the incidents people here have reported. No one in a suite should have to wait for a table in Coastal while Pinnacles sneak in the back door and seat themselves or not be able to find a seat in the lounge. Some of the entitled behavior is incredible, but Royal chooses to look the other way and it continues. Luckily Celebrity did not create that problem with Luminae. Hopefully there won’t be a problem with the Retreat, but hopefully if there is Celebrity will handle it better. We were already more than halfway to Zenith when they announced the combining of benefits. Honestly I’m happy to have free internet and some free beverages. 

[jelayne]

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 I find it interesting that if you look at the signatures of most of the posters on Celebrity you do not see anything about their CC level. 

 

 If you go over to the RCCL board on Cruise Critic and look at the signature of most of the posters you will see they C&A level proudly displayed. 

 

 Nuff said !!

 

I’ve met a lot of great people on our cruises and Roll Calls, tours, dinners, drinks.  It wasn’t until we reached Zenith did I know that a number of them were Zenith.  It’s just not a talking point.  

[samplecd02]

Find this interesting topic to read. When I was on my last cruise on the Beyond, I met some RC Diamond (not sure if they were +) at Le Petite Chef. When we got together later in the cruise they made a point to mention that they were D and were trying out Celebrity. They were some of the nicest people I have met on a cruise, but I did find it odd that they didn't just say "I am a normal RC cruiser and decided to try Celebrity" rather than tell me their status. I just hit Elite after that cruise, but it never crossed my mind to say what status I was. 
On another note, I don't think they will be back to Celebrity, they liked the RC 5 drink coupons and didn't want to spend the $$ on the drink package, as well as a few other "nickel  and dime" things that Celebrity does that RC doesn't.

[goofysmom99]

Celebrity didn't come up with Zenith pins until after the status match.  Think they should have skipped that.  To avoid the "what's a black card" questions that often happened after I got one, I learned to put my room key face down on the table before handing it to a waiter.  And saved X the expense of a pin because I honestly would be embarrassed to wear it, even to the luncheon (always thought it was rather gauche on Royal).  It'll be interesting to see how many Zs wear one.

[island lady]

22 hours ago, chemmo said:

I am sure most Pinnacles are not ‘campers’. The point I was trying to make is that if you do get a group who do this then it does impact the enjoyment of others.

 

I knew the group were all Pinnacles, not in suites because they told me and many others…Several were missing the cold of the Northern States and had booked several b2b cruises from mid January until mid February and good luck to them! They had secured good deals and with the Pinnacle benefits they were saying that this was their regular January/February plan. I was thrilled they were having a good time. I had no personal issue with them.

 

However, we had flown across the pond to get a bit of sunshine following a difficult time and had paid out a substantial sum for suite perks. At the time I had some mobility issues following surgery (on crutches).  Some nights we wished to enter the lounge for a drink prior to dining in Coastal Kitchen and it was frustrating that seats were really hard to come by. On several evenings one or other of the concierge staff would encourage us (and others) on entry to immediately sit in Coastal Kitchen as there was no seating available. On some nights we did this but it wasn’t our plan…We had boarded expecting to be able to enjoy a comfortable lounge space.

 

To reiterate, I have no issues with a group of Pinnacles enjoying their perks! What I do object to is a system that results in those of us who have paid $$$$ for a suite not being able to sit and relax in the suite lounge…

 

In our experience we have never had any issues on Celebrity with crowding in the suite lounge. I hope the measures Celebrity take in monitoring numbers secures this. I also hope that if Pinnacles are restricted access that Celebrity can ‘compensate’, as suggested in my post, by offering an alternative space.

 

And what you may have missed....I am a Pinnacle that books suites.  We prefer to check out other lounges, versus always sitting the SL.  We never, ever take seats in the SL section...but will sit at the bar for a drink for a few minutes before our dinner at 5-5:30 pm.  It is never busy at that time.  

 

So...you are welcome.  Your SL seat that we would have taken up...is available to you.