New Levels

[CVU]

Elizanessie, that makes perfect sense and no one will be upset by that of course those of us that live in Florida might be LOL.

 

I think this is the fairest way to go now lets see what RCL does. You know making smart decision is not one of RCL strong points.

 

Yes, seems fair to me too. We take long cruises and it seems the best way to do it. 1 credit for 3 nights and 1 credit for 11 nights, it not right.

 

RCL make their decisions but then back track and make a general mess of the whole thing!! Maybe they are Thinking this time about all aspects of it and really trying to not make a mess of any new changes????:D

Hence the postponement...........maybe that happened after reading all the comments on CC!!:D

[cruzsnooze]

I just got off the Mariner today and staff stated there would be changes by adding the Emerald and Pinnacle level. They stated each cruise credit would be worth 7 which means there is a conversion to nights VS cruises. They did not state what the numbers would be for each level nor mention the benefits for each tier.

This cruise was the farewell to Mariner and the service was not up to RCL standards. They had brought in a significant number of new crew who speak Portuguese and Spanish for their new itinerary and they were kinda green.

It's not a rumor, there will be 2 new tiers on the loyalty program but RCL is not making the announcement until the end of the month with all the details. That is what was told to us anyway.

There are way too many diamonds and pluses. The D+ were not allowed to use the CL on this sailing because of the high number of D+ guests but were allowed to use the Viking Crown bar for the 5-8:30 purpose of beverages and appetizers. Only suite guests got to use CL in the evenings.

[Coralc]

I just got off the Mariner today and staff stated there would be changes by adding the Emerald and Pinnacle level. They stated each cruise credit would be worth 7 which means there is a conversion to nights VS cruises. They did not state what the numbers would be for each level nor mention the benefits for each tier.

This cruise was the farewell to Mariner and the service was not up to RCL standards. They had brought in a significant number of new crew who speak Portuguese and Spanish for their new itinerary and they were kinda green.

It's not a rumor, there will be 2 new tiers on the loyalty program but RCL is not making the announcement until the end of the month with all the details. That is what was told to us anyway.

There are way too many diamonds and pluses. The D+ were not allowed to use the CL on this sailing because of the high number of D+ guests but were allowed to use the Viking Crown bar for the 5-8:30 purpose of beverages and appetizers. Only suite guests got to use CL in the evenings.

 

Ah-Hah! TW. :rolleyes::D:D:D

[critterchick]

I just got off the Mariner today and staff stated there would be changes by adding the Emerald and Pinnacle level. They stated each cruise credit would be worth 7 which means there is a conversion to nights VS cruises. They did not state what the numbers would be for each level nor mention the benefits for each tier.

This cruise was the farewell to Mariner and the service was not up to RCL standards. They had brought in a significant number of new crew who speak Portuguese and Spanish for their new itinerary and they were kinda green.

It's not a rumor, there will be 2 new tiers on the loyalty program but RCL is not making the announcement until the end of the month with all the details. That is what was told to us anyway.

There are way too many diamonds and pluses. The D+ were not allowed to use the CL on this sailing because of the high number of D+ guests but were allowed to use the Viking Crown bar for the 5-8:30 purpose of beverages and appetizers. Only suite guests got to use CL in the evenings.

 

Actually we were allowed into the CL during the day for breakfast and to use the services of the Concierge. He didn't leave the usual welcoming letter, though, so we just tried out keys and they worked. Diego didn't visit the overflow lounge at all that I saw, so in effect there was no Concierge service available in the evening for things like reservations or troubleshooting. Not that we weren't perfectly capable of doing most things for ourselves, but I got the distinct impression that he had very nearly taken the week off from D+ passengers.

 

I agree that the cruise wasn't up to the usual RCI standard. We had wonderful cabin service and had no problems in the lounges or specialty restaurants. But service in the MDR during breakfast and lunch was quite slow, partly because it was a popular place but I also think because there were quite a few new crewmembers onboard.

 

We had a marvellous time nonetheless and will miss having an RCI ship on a regular West Coast run.:(

[Tagsalong]

I just got off the Mariner today and staff stated there would be changes by adding the Emerald and Pinnacle level. They stated each cruise credit would be worth 7 which means there is a conversion to nights VS cruises.

 

 

This would be the simplest way to calculate the previous cruise credits, but fair, I don't think so. You mean to say all those Miami, and other, pax who did 3 & 4 day cruises most of their life will get 7 points each. And all those who did 12, 14 or longer cruises will get just 7 points each. Again, I don't think so, or at least hope not.

[B-52]

This would be the simplest way to calculate the previous cruise credits, but fair, I don't think so. You mean to say all those Miami, and other, pax who did 3 & 4 day cruises most of their life will get 7 points each. And all those who did 12, 14 or longer cruises will get just 7 points each. Again, I don't think so.

 

 

Sounds backwards. Taking current credits and multiplying by 7?

Should take total of each night sailed. period.

Perhaps take total nights and divide by 7?

[Coralc]

This would be the simplest way to calculate the previous cruise credits, but fair, I don't think so. You mean to say all those Miami, and other, pax who did 3 & 4 day cruises most of their life will get 7 points each. And all those who did 12, 14 or longer cruises will get just 7 points each. Again, I don't think so.

 

But it shouldn't matter...if they keep you at your same level. Pinnacle is so far out there for people that are at D+ already...it makes no difference, how many days credited.

 

And I certainly don't begrudge others that reached their level in a different way or number of nights. That was the program then....perhaps they will have a new or fairer way to credit cruises going forward. You shouldn't either, (how people received their level) really has no effect on your cruise experience. IMO. :D:):D

[Coralc]

And eleluv suggested it originally....and in our case, as an average cruiser....our number of days at sea, divided by 7, happens to equal EXACTLY our current number of credits, and that is with a good mix of longer/shorter and 7 day cruises. :)

[skandls]

I just got off the Mariner today and staff stated there would be changes by adding the Emerald and Pinnacle level. They stated each cruise credit would be worth 7 which means there is a conversion to nights VS cruises. They did not state what the numbers would be for each level nor mention the benefits for each tier.

This cruise was the farewell to Mariner and the service was not up to RCL standards. They had brought in a significant number of new crew who speak Portuguese and Spanish for their new itinerary and they were kinda green.

It's not a rumor, there will be 2 new tiers on the loyalty program but RCL is not making the announcement until the end of the month with all the details. That is what was told to us anyway.

There are way too many diamonds and pluses. The D+ were not allowed to use the CL on this sailing because of the high number of D+ guests but were allowed to use the Viking Crown bar for the 5-8:30 purpose of beverages and appetizers. Only suite guests got to use CL in the evenings.

 

Since there was a special D+ event every night - were the plain Diamonds at an event in the Crypt with not so good wine and strange 'trail mix'? Or were they allowed free drinks at the D+ event? Just curious.....

[Florida_cruisers]

My friend purposely booked a cruise in March to become a diamond member. He swears that if RCL really implements changes to their loyalty program they would honor his booking. I tell him they won't because you don't earn any points until after you cruise. He says that if they don't honor the cruise since he already booked, he will cancel the cruise. I think he is being unreasonable but DH says that if he complaints enough he might get grandfathered in as a diamond - which by the way he did not earn through 10 cruises but by booking suites ( double points) on short cruises.

[CVU]

And eleluv suggested it originally....and in our case, as an average cruiser....our number of days at sea, divided by 7, happens to equal EXACTLY our current number of credits, and that is with a good mix of longer/shorter and 7 day cruises. :)

Not for us, we have had many long cruises and it comes up short in credits.

[dfishner]

My friend purposely booked a cruise in March to become a diamond member. He swears that if RCL really implements changes to their loyalty program they would honor his booking. I tell him they won't because you don't earn any points until after you cruise. He says that if they don't honor the cruise since he already booked, he will cancel the cruise. I think he is being unreasonable but DH says that if he complaints enough he might get grandfathered in as a diamond - which by the way he did not earn through 10 cruises but by booking suites ( double points) on short cruises.

 

As crazy as RCL can be sometimes I do believe they will give a time limit for the conversion have no idea how much time. There are a few things you can bet on and it goes like this

some people are going to be upset and complain bitterly on here

some will cancel their cruises because of this.

some will state they will never cruise on RCL again.

[Coralc]

Not for us, we have had many long cruises and it comes up short in credits.

 

But according to your signature...you are DIAMOND + ? If you stayed at Diamond + what difference would it make? :rolleyes: Is your aspiration to join the Pinnacle Club (700 rumored nights) in this lifetime?

 

Let's be a little reasonable here. You wouldn't be losing anything. :rolleyes::D:D

[UNV-IT!!!]

This is exactly how i see it. I am already diamond. and i doubt it will be that much more for me to reach +. especially if they give 7 days for each credit althought most of my cruises are 7 days already. so i dont think i will loose much if anything. like stated i am not worried or thinking about reaching pinnacle.

But according to your signature...you are DIAMOND + ? If you stayed at Diamond + what difference would it make? :rolleyes: Is your aspiration to join the Pinnacle Club (700 rumored nights) in this lifetime?

 

Let's be a little reasonable here. You wouldn't be losing anything. :rolleyes::D:D

[ehfl]

Thanks for adding more fuel to the rumor fire....very helpful :(

[tinkerme1]

Since there was a special D+ event every night - were the plain Diamonds at an event in the Crypt with not so good wine and strange 'trail mix'? Or were they allowed free drinks at the D+ event? Just curious.....

 

On the 1/9 Mariner cruise, the D+ cruisers were not allowed into the Concierge Lounge in the evening due to an abundance of D+'ers. Instead, the D+ passengers were instructed to use the Viking Crown Lounge in the evening from 5:00 PM to 8:30 PM as their private lounge. The Suite guests had the Concierge Lounge to themselves but only in the evening hours.

 

The Concierge Lounge, during the daytime hours, was available for Suite and D+ guests.

 

The Diamond cruisers had use of the Dragon's Lair for their evening drinks.

 

This arrangement was not a "special event", just a make-shift arrangement to accommodate all those cruising on the last sailing out of California on the Mariner of the Seas.

[Coralc]

Thanks for adding more fuel to the rumor fire....very helpful :(

 

Are you referring to me? Its not my rumor...we haven't been on a cruise since Oct/Nov. I read alot. Really alot, here, books, newspapers. Anything I have posted is sourced from posts on Cruise Critic. :)

[Tagsalong]

But it shouldn't matter...if they keep you at your same level. Pinnacle is so far out there for people that are at D+ already...it makes no difference, how many days credited.

 

And I certainly don't begrudge others that reached their level in a different way or number of nights. That was the program then....perhaps they will have a new or fairer way to credit cruises going forward. You shouldn't either, (how people received their level) really has no effect on your cruise experience. IMO. :D:):D

 

Sorry, but I misread Cruzsnooze's post re Mariner. I read it as 7 x the number of cruises one has taken. Actually its 7 x cruise credits, which makes your statement correct. Our 51 cruise credits x 7 is very close to our actual number of nights at sea with Royal.

 

The number is somewhat important to us because we do expect to get to Pinnacle long before death. We got to 357 (the soon-to-be count) in just 8 years, and did only one cruise each of the first two years in that period. Cruising for us is a life style, not a vacation. And we do a lot of cruising on the other lines as well. As others have posted, the perks of a level do enter in to each decision on booking a cruise as they affect the overall value of each cruise and, therefore, do have an effect on our cruise experience.

 

ps. not trying to be argumentive here but when someone says "you should" or "you shouldn't" do something, well it gets my dander up. I don't do smiles so I'm not sure what they meant at the end of your statement.

[Coralc]

You're right too...I should have said for MANY people that are D+ already, it shouldn't matter how close they are to Pinnacle. Now that we don't have ships on the west coast, it will be longer in between cruises and also we have already booked longer cruises. We have 3 booked. B2B on Serenade this year and a long one on Radiance in 2012. :D

 

But if the levels are as rumored, I don't think Pinnacle is in our future. :)

 

EDIT: And an explanation to your edit......why would you care onboard how someone made diamond+? I've never asked anyone how they got there....but you seemed to imply in your original post (now corrected by this one) that it was unfair for the short cruise cruisers.

[Rancher Dave]

My friend purposely booked a cruise in March to become a diamond member. He swears that if RCL really implements changes to their loyalty program they would honor his booking. I tell him they won't because you don't earn any points until after you cruise. He says that if they don't honor the cruise since he already booked, he will cancel the cruise. I think he is being unreasonable but DH says that if he complaints enough he might get grandfathered in as a diamond - which by the way he did not earn through 10 cruises but by booking suites ( double points) on short cruises.

 

Possible that friend would find someone reviewing his argument for special grandfathering tells him tough you didn't make it...where the same argument out of someone who sailed all week long or longer up to 11 night cruises may get the nod.

 

I really do think those who have only used 3 night cruised to achieve big status may be in for a surprise in that they don't get treated the same as those who have a mix of cruises. It may be hard at this point to look back at actual spending but going forward that may also be part of the mix...although different spending on the ship actually benefits the cruise line at different levels....tons of shore excursions may be less beneficial to RCCL than the same amount spent on wine at dinner...

 

It would be good for RCCL to figure it all out before announcing even if there are more delays in rolling it out. One big massive change...RCCL takes some hits for it but it is probably better than having a hit a year for a while.

[Merion_Mom]

Actually, it wasn't the ONLY reason to go on the 1/7 cruise--it was between 1/7 and two others later in January, which we can easily decide living 20 minutes from the port and using zero vacation time to jump on the Majesty. It cost an extra $50 or so to take the 1/7 cruise instead of a later one--for that, it was worth the investment to lock in the additional perks of D status (whatever they end up being) a few years in advance. Does that sound like a reasonable business decision?

 

Just ignore them. Who cares what your reason was and how on earth does it affect any of them??

 

 

Pssst, my mom and I booked an extra two cruises between Nov and Dec 2010 (in addition to the two we already had in Nov and Dec) just so we'd get to Diamond!! We even referred to one as "just a cruise credit" and didn't even get off the ship or do much of anything. OMG, the horror! :eek: Are we condemned to hell or something now? :rolleyes:

 

Methinks the lady doth protest too much. :rolleyes:

 

The point was not anyone caring why you cruise. The point is that you were complaining about it.

 

I booked the 1/7 Majesty cruise last minute to become D after seeing the hoopla here (the infamous sign sealed the deal for me), and I ran into others on the ship who did the same thing to become D and D+ (including one couple who paid a premium for a last-minute suite as nothing else was left--ouch!). It might end up being the most stupid thing I've ever done, but as the old joke goes about why a dog does a particular thing with certain body parts, I got on the ship because I could, being a "local".

 

We'll be on the Liberty in Europe this summer, we wanted to do it as Ds, it took us 7 years of mostly short RCI cruises to get to D, and if C&A levels changed to number of days as was rumored, we probably wouldn't have otherwise been Ds for a long time.

 

Every RCI person on the ship and on land swore that I'd be grandfathered as a D by taking the 1/7 cruise. If that doesn't happen, we certainly won't be the only ones calling C&A.

 

[ehfl]

Are you referring to me? Its not my rumor...we haven't been on a cruise since Oct/Nov. I read alot. Really alot, here, books, newspapers. Anything I have posted is sourced from posts on Cruise Critic. :)

 

Switch to threaded mode if you are having problems understanding who is replying to who. (or is it whom?) :confused:

 

I get confused sometimes too...the hybrid or threaded mode is easier to figure out.

[Coralc]

I'm sorry..I don't know what that means. I guess I am in standard message board mode. And yes it would be "to whom. "

[Kellie Poodle]

We were on Voyager for the 1/2/11 sailing.

 

We booked a future cruise with the LA (who by the way is an absolute darling) and my DH mentioned that we had heard about changes and wondered if we'd be getting extra days credited for a cruise tour that was 14 days on ship but 5 days with an RCI tour. She said that the new program wasn't official and was going to be released "soon" but even she didn't know about all the details yet.

 

HOWEVER, she did advise us to wait for the announcement and call C&A to make sure they added the cruise tour days to our account.

 

Whether or not this means anything, I don't know. I do know that she was definitely aware of an impending change to the program when we spoke to her on January 3, 2011.

[Camlott]

Just off the Voyager today... I spoke with the LA this past Friday about the new changes not knowing they were not announced as planned last week. The LA did not deny anything. He simply told us that the announcement should be coming this week. He did not go into any details and I didn't ask for any. He just had a puzzled look when I approached him about it.