Update: A Closer Look at Changes to Royal Caribbean's Cruise Loyalty Program

[LauraS]

Check out the latest Royal Caribbean News from Cruise Critic:

 

Update: A Closer Look at Changes to Royal Caribbean's Cruise Loyalty Program

[cruzin lady]

I didn't see any mention of the crystal blocks. Will they still be awarded as they were, or what are points required to correspond to the old 20, 30, 40 etc?

Thanks,

Cruzin Lady

[cruisenfever]

I didn't see any mention of the crystal blocks. Will they still be awarded as they were, or what are points required to correspond to the old 20, 30, 40 etc?

 

Thanks,

 

Cruzin Lady

From the fine print on the Benefits page it stays...........

 

"A commemorative gift will be delivered to you during the sailing on which you attain your 140, 210, 280 and 350 cruise points and on every 70 cruise points thereafter".

[flames]

From the fine print on the Benefits page it stays...........

 

"A commemorative gift will be delivered to you during the sailing on which you attain your 140, 210, 280 and 350 cruise points and on every 70 cruise points thereafter".

 

Patti, I like reading all of your posts as you really keep me inform of everything that is going on, I never have to ask questions as you seem to have all the answers:cool:

 

Carol:)

[FreshOffTheBoat]

One mistake in the article, it says udner the old system you only got ONE credit for a 14 night cruise, which is not true, you received 2 credits for a 14 night cruise.

 

Overall I like the new system. Didn't change much, just made things a little more fair.

[davewcur]

The only thing I have a problem with is only receiving 7 nights credit for my 8,9,10,11 and 15 night cruises..... If I total up number of nights times the number of credits they gave me for the cruise I get 164. but under the new program I only have 146????? AM I wrong to say a 15 day cruise is 30 days at sea because they gave me 2 cruise credits for that cruise under the old program. A person that took a 3 day cruise got 7 day at sea for that under the conversion. Does not seem fair? Just wondering??

[keltic]

Yes, the ones always loosing are the singles. The most outrageous policy of the whole cruising industry. I love the company but I will be away from their ships as long as they don´t introduce a more reasonable policy.

 

I have to spend double to get points. At least, we could be awarded with more points. But it seems that we are not welcome on board yet. I am a Diamond member but have given up the company some years, ago.

[C U Onboard]

From the fine print on the Benefits page it stays...........

 

 

Hi Patti - what's your take on the fine print regarding personalised amenity for D+

The wording implies to me that it is now per person instead of per stateroom as before.

[cruisenfever]

The only thing I have a problem with is only receiving 7 nights credit for my 8,9,10,11 and 15 night cruises..... If I total up number of nights times the number of credits they gave me for the cruise I get 164. but under the new program I only have 146????? AM I wrong to say a 15 day cruise is 30 days at sea because they gave me 2 cruise credits for that cruise under the old program. A person that took a 3 day cruise got 7 day at sea for that under the conversion. Does not seem fair? Just wondering??

I agree. Up until today, those that took shorter cruises made out quite well. We have taken 16 cruises since October of 2003, all of which were 11 plus night cruises or more and all in JS cabins.

 

Hi Patti - what's your take on the fine print regarding personalised amenity for D+

The wording implies to me that it is now per person instead of per stateroom as before.

Well now, that is my interpretation from what I copied and pasted from the C&A footnotes.

 

"Bonus gift of your choice will be chosen from a pre-selected list for each guest. All orders need to be placed up to 5 days before a US based sailing and 7 days for an internationally based sailing. All Diamond Plus members can go into the secure Crown & Anchor section of the website and select your preferences and keep them up to date; or, Diamond Plus members and their travel agents can contact a Loyalty Specialist within 14 days of their departure to select an amenity and arrange timing for delivery to either their stateroom or dining room by calling (800) 526-9723 and pressing 9 at any time during the greeting message. Hours of operation: Monday through Friday 8 a.m. - 11 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. (ET)".

[FreshOffTheBoat]

I agree. Up until today, those that took shorter cruises made out quite well. We have taken 16 cruises since October of 2003, all of which were 11 plus night cruises or more and all in JS cabins.

 

 

Well now, that is my interpretation from what I copied and pasted from the C&A footnotes.

 

"Bonus gift of your choice will be chosen from a pre-selected list for each guest. All orders need to be placed up to 5 days before a US based sailing and 7 days for an internationally based sailing. All Diamond Plus members can go into the secure Crown & Anchor section of the website and select your preferences and keep them up to date; or, Diamond Plus members and their travel agents can contact a Loyalty Specialist within 14 days of their departure to select an amenity and arrange timing for delivery to either their stateroom or dining room by calling (800) 526-9723 and pressing 9 at any time during the greeting message. Hours of operation: Monday through Friday 8 a.m. - 11 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. (ET)".

 

Yes the shorter cruise people got more bang for their buck, however you still got 14 credits for a 11 night cruise. Its not terrible. You didn't really lose anything but you didn't gain anything like many of the people with 3 nigth cruises gained a lot of extra points

 

The only reason why royal didn't let the people with a lot of 3 night cruises only get 3 credits for this cruise is because they got no balls, lol

[bob278]

I agree. Up until today, those that took shorter cruises made out quite well. We have taken 16 cruises since October of 2003, all of which were 11 plus night cruises or more and all in JS cabins.

 

 

Well now, that is my interpretation from what I copied and pasted from the C&A footnotes.

 

"Bonus gift of your choice will be chosen from a pre-selected list for each guest. All orders need to be placed up to 5 days before a US based sailing and 7 days for an internationally based sailing. All Diamond Plus members can go into the secure Crown & Anchor section of the website and select your preferences and keep them up to date; or, Diamond Plus members and their travel agents can contact a Loyalty Specialist within 14 days of their departure to select an amenity and arrange timing for delivery to either their stateroom or dining room by calling (800) 526-9723 and pressing 9 at any time during the greeting message. Hours of operation: Monday through Friday 8 a.m. - 11 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. (ET)".

That seems to be supported in the drop down list for our level (230 points). Two of the items (towel and tote bag) show only 1 per relationship/stateroom. But what I wonder is if simply choosing them in your profile is the same as "Ordering them". We have a short cruise in two weeks and I plan to call just to see.

 

But I have to say they made some major improvements to the C&A side of the web site.

[cruisenfever]

Yes the shorter cruise people got more bang for their buck, however you still got 14 credits for a 11 night cruise. Its not terrible.

 

The only reason why royal didn't let the people with a lot of 3 night cruises only get 3 credits for this cruise is because they got no balls, lol

No, we really didn't, if they multiplied our cruise credits by 7 and added 13. Where are the 78 points from those longer cruise that we lost?

 

No, you are right, it's not the end of the world, it's the principle. Life goes on and we will just have to cruise more.:D

[cruisenfever]

That seems to be supported in the drop down list for our level (230 points). Two of the items (towel and tote bag) show only 1 per relationship/stateroom. But what I wonder is if simply choosing them in your profile is the same as "Ordering them". We have a short cruise in two weeks and I plan to call just to see.

 

But I have to say they made some major improvements to the C&A side of the web site.

I plan on calling for our upcoming cruises on EN. Of course I'll have what is written in the footnote in front of me. That's if they don't amend it. :p

[bob278]

Patti,

 

Is the link for the Tuesday sale broken or changed? The one I have used for nearly a year isn't working. I finally booked a cruise off the sale and would hate to lose the link now.

[cruisenfever]

Patti,

 

Is the link for the Tuesday sale broken or changed? The one I have used for nearly a year isn't working. I finally booked a cruise off the sale and would hate to lose the link now.

Bob, I just checked the "Special Offers" box on the "new" C&A Home Page and it says that there are no specials at this time.

[Latvish]

I did spot this change from the old system..

The old way if you were upgraded from a balcony to a JS you earned the extra point.

 

Now

One Cruise Point for each completed night of sailing and an extra Cruise Point per night when you purchase and sail in suite accommodations (categories RL, RS, PS, SL, TS, A1, A2, A3, CL, OS, FS, GS, JS). Cruisetours are included as an additional night per each day on the cruise tour. Points will be awarded by rate paid not rate berthed, for example, in the instance of an upgrade from an outside to a suite category.

[klingoncruiser]

One mistake in the article, it says udner the old system you only got ONE credit for a 14 night cruise, which is not true, you received 2 credits for a 14 night cruise.

 

Overall I like the new system. Didn't change much, just made things a little more fair.

 

Yeah, that is pretty well how I see it as well on the change.

[cruisenfever]

I did spot this change from the old system..

The old way if you were upgraded from a balcony to a JS you earned the extra point.

 

Now

One Cruise Point for each completed night of sailing and an extra Cruise Point per night when you purchase and sail in suite accommodations (categories RL, RS, PS, SL, TS, A1, A2, A3, CL, OS, FS, GS, JS). Cruisetours are included as an additional night per each day on the cruise tour. Points will be awarded by rate paid not rate berthed, for example, in the instance of an upgrade from an outside to a suite category.

Not any more.:)

[Merion_Mom]

Not any more.:)

 

But as "we" know, it was always "supposed to be" like this, but they didn't follow their own rules.

 

Same as for combining things. They weren't supposed to let us combine before, but they did, and when they began to enforce their own policies, we all went ballistic.

 

It's human nature.

 

We always want more; the company needs to rein it in.

 

:)

[Seatravelers]

No, we really didn't, if they multiplied our cruise credits by 7 and added 13. Where are the 78 points from those longer cruise that we lost?

 

No, you are right, it's not the end of the world, it's the principle. Life goes on and we will just have to cruise more.:D

 

Same thing happened to us but we will get over it. Oh well, still D+, still able to go to the CL plus overall just happy to be heathy and able to cruise RCCL whenever possible.

[bob278]

Bob, I just checked the "Special Offers" box on the "new" C&A Home Page and it says that there are no specials at this time.

Patti,

 

For quite a while, I have used this link

http://www.creative.rccl.com/sales/RCI_Sales_Event/rci_sales_event.pdf

and was able to see the Tuesday sale prices on Thursday or Friday. A week ago, that heads up let be me ready to take advantage when the "early release" happened on Monday and we booked the Radiance for Feb 5th.

 

I know we are supposed to get the special deals on Monday, but it was nice to see it a couple of days sooner. Have you ever seen this link or know if it will no longer work (maybe it's just broken due to the major changes today)?

[pcur]

Laura and board monitors: you should put all the C&A changes threads in their own sub-forum board. Might as well see all the good, bad, and ugly at the same time!!

 

Just a thought................

[orville99]

No, we really didn't, if they multiplied our cruise credits by 7 and added 13. Where are the 78 points from those longer cruise that we lost?

 

No, you are right, it's not the end of the world, it's the principle. Life goes on and we will just have to cruise more.:D

 

Patti, it appears from the new C&A website that there is a process (maybe it's not up yet) for you to challenge the number of days that were credited if your numbers don't line up with their conversion calculations. We haven't tried it (because we actually came out 2 days ahead), but it looks like there is a way to appeal the numbers and have them rectify the days counted.

[cruisenfever]

Patti, it appears from the new C&A website that there is a process (maybe it's not up yet) for you to challenge the number of days that were credited if your numbers don't line up with their conversion calculations. We haven't tried it (because we actually came out 2 days ahead), but it looks like there is a way to appeal the numbers and have them rectify the days counted.

Thanks for the info.

[Seatravelers]

Please, someone post this info, if/when it is available to challenge the number of days credited. Thanks in advance