Elite happy hour question

We were initially Elite members on X and thus translated to Diamond on RCCL. Alas, for the last several years, we have been on RCI ships and not X. During that time, RCI has shied away from the Diamond Lounge happy hours and simply loaded a certain number of drinks onto your card that could be used during said happy hour times at all bars on the ship. Has X done the same thing? Are there no more Elite "parties?"

Yes X still hosts the Elite cocktail parties, usually 5-7 pm. The exception is only when there are too many Elites to be accommodated in the Sky Lounges. Then either paper drink coupons or drinks loaded on the Sea Passes are issued.

We go and just use our Bev Package enjoying the company and quieter atmosphere.

As many people have beverage packages, the number of people attending the Elite cocktail hour has dropped. The event typically takes place in the Sky Lounge on S-class ships between the hours mentioned in a previous post.

We were initially Elite members on X and thus translated to Diamond on RCCL. Alas, for the last several years, we have been on RCI ships and not X. During that time, RCI has shied away from the Diamond Lounge happy hours and simply loaded a certain number of drinks onto your card that could be used during said happy hour times at all bars on the ship. Has X done the same thing? Are there no more Elite "parties?"

This is completely incorrect. The three drink card coupons are loaded nightly on your SeaPasss cards for use in lounges in addition to the Diamond Club- not in place of it. The Diamond Club - which is open every night including the first night for 3-1/2 hours - serves unlimited cocktails with no coupons required during that time to its members.. The addition of the coupons was to offer alternative venues for the cocktail hours as the Diamond Club is frequently very crowded. Again, they are in addition to - not in place of - the Diamond Club service. Your information as posted regarding RCI is wrong.

As to Celebrity, they continue to offer their Elite cocktail hour every night for 2 hours except the first night and the Captain's party night - which Elite can also attend.

Celebrity doesn't load 3 drinks on your seapass, unless something has changed in the last few weeks. They will issue you 3 paper drink coupons only if there are too many Elites & above on board to be accommodated in the Sky Lounge.

To further clarify my first response, on RCI during the Diamond cocktail hours, you can either go to the Diamond Club for unlimited drinks, or to the other ship's venues to use the 3 free drink coupons, or both as time allows. But the Diamond Club is open in addition to the other lounges for this service during that time to Diamond and above C & A members.

I think I remember reading that one ship had a test run of having the drinks loaded on the SeaPass card in lieu of the paper coupons. But this has not happened on all ships. Although Celebrity officials said quite a while ago that they were working on this.

To further clarify my first response, on RCI during the Diamond cocktail hours, you can either go to the Diamond Club for unlimited drinks, or to the other ship's venues to use the 3 free drink coupons, or both as time allows. But the Diamond Club is open in addition to the other lounges for this service during that time to Diamond and above C & A members.

Or you can do both. We have done plenty of cruises where we enjoy the Diamond Lounge Happy Hour and then use our coupons on our seapass cards to get drinks to take to the show or the MDR since you are not suppose to leave the lounge with a drink. It's not an either or situation.

I think I remember reading that one ship had a test run of having the drinks loaded on the SeaPass card in lieu of the paper coupons. But this has not happened on all ships. Although Celebrity officials said quite a while ago that they were working on this.

I am the member who reported that Celebrity was piloting this while aboard Equinox in September/October 2016--I was part of the test group--and the anticipation at the time was that the process would be rolled out full scale for the Equinox Transatlantic several weeks later... The Captain's Club Hostess told me that it was also being piloted on Constellation at the same time...

Don't know what happened--it seemed to be working fine--but reports here seem to indicate that Celebrity hasn't implemented yet...

To further clarify my first response, on RCI during the Diamond cocktail hours, you can either go to the Diamond Club for unlimited drinks, or to the other ship's venues to use the 3 free drink coupons, or both as time allows. But the Diamond Club is open in addition to the other lounges for this service during that time to Diamond and above C & A members.

If you can get a seat in the Diamond lounge! We cruised Allure in January and it was full from just before opening to end of cocktail time! We tried to visit a couple of evenings at different times and found it not a pleasant experience....

Our summary would be in terms of volume of alcohol available RC wins for loyalty cocktail time but in terms of pleasantness and ambiance much prefer the Celebrity event!

If you can get a seat in the Diamond lounge! We cruised Allure in January and it was full from just before opening to end of cocktail time! We tried to visit a couple of evenings at different times and found it not a pleasant experience....

 

Our summary would be in terms of volume of alcohol available RC wins for loyalty cocktail time but in terms of pleasantness and ambiance much prefer the Celebrity event!

As someone else said, one of the reasons the Celebrity event is less crowded is proliferation of the drink packages...We never get the drink package and enjoy our 2 hours of free drinks.

On our TA in October on the Reflection the Elite Happy Hour was from 4:30 to 7.

This is completely incorrect. The three drink card coupons are loaded nightly on your SeaPasss cards for use in lounges in addition to the Diamond Club- not in place of it. The Diamond Club - which is open every night including the first night for 3-1/2 hours - serves unlimited cocktails with no coupons required during that time to its members.. The addition of the coupons was to offer alternative venues for the cocktail hours as the Diamond Club is frequently very crowded. Again, they are in addition to - not in place of - the Diamond Club service. Your information as posted regarding RCI is wrong.

 

As to Celebrity, they continue to offer their Elite cocktail hour every night for 2 hours except the first night and the Captain's party night - which Elite can also attend.

To further clarify my first response, on RCI during the Diamond cocktail hours, you can either go to the Diamond Club for unlimited drinks, or to the other ship's venues to use the 3 free drink coupons, or both as time allows. But the Diamond Club is open in addition to the other lounges for this service during that time to Diamond and above C & A members.

Agree x 2.

If you can get a seat in the Diamond lounge! We cruised Allure in January and it was full from just before opening to end of cocktail time! We tried to visit a couple of evenings at different times and found it not a pleasant experience....

 

Our summary would be in terms of volume of alcohol available RC wins for loyalty cocktail time but in terms of pleasantness and ambiance much prefer the Celebrity event!

Agree with both comments as well. The 3 drink coupon - as mentioned before - was (at least for one reason) added to offer an alternative to the ever growing crowds in the DL. The DL's typically are smaller in size on RCI than the lounges used by Celebrity. However on RCI they (like Michael's on Celebrity) are dedicated Crown & Anchor Loyalty lounges used only for those members.

But we too find the atmosphere much nicer on Celebrity. In fact we find a lot of things nicer on Celebrity than RCI of late. But that is a topic for another thread.......:)