D Plus discount

[Merion_Mom]

Sorry...but I'm not getting this either and agree with the OP...why be punished $$$ for making an early booking...When the OP makes final payment they will be at the higher C&A level and should be entitled to the benefits they have earned...Glad as a D+ I won't have to worry about this as it will be a long time before I reach Pinnacle...This is a horrible policy if it is indeed a fairly new one that I have not heard of. :eek:

 

So RCI doesn't want us to book onboard future cruises because I have an upcoming C&A level change that will take place

 

Then you have nothing to worry about. PC does not get a higher balcony discount than D+. No increase at all. :eek:

 

Is it any different than booking a cruise when you are 54, and the trying to get the 55 discount if available. Or booking a solo with a 200% surcharge when you have 320 points and then asking for the 150% surcharge when you qualify a few trips later. :what:

 

Actually, one used to be able to have those applied, no problem. As others have written, these are things that USED TO happen, and have been changed/taken away.

 

They used to give you the benefits that applied AT THE TIME OF YOUR CRUISE. When I booked the Mariner Around the Horn cruise, we were all under 55. One of our threesome turned 55 about two months before we left. They eagerly repriced the fare to include a senior discount then currently available.

 

:rolleyes:

[whitshel]

Sorry I just turned Diamond a few weeks ago after my Navigator cruise. I already had an Oasis cruise booked for Jan, I called my t/a and he called rccl for me and they said no problem. Went from a $125 to $225 discount and the cabin wasn't repriced. Personally I think the t/a really helped with this one. It pays to have a t/a.

[Ashland]

Then you have nothing to worry about. PC does not get a higher balcony discount than D+. No increase at all. :eek:

 

 

 

Actually, one used to be able to have those applied, no problem. As others have written, these are things that USED TO happen, and have been changed/taken away.

 

They used to give you the benefits that applied AT THE TIME OF YOUR CRUISE. When I booked the Mariner Around the Horn cruise, we were all under 55. One of our threesome turned 55 about two months before we left. They eagerly repriced the fare to include a senior discount then currently available.

 

:rolleyes:

Yikes....just goes to show you I have no idea what the perks are for Pinnacle as it will never apply to me ;)

[Paulxyz2004]

This is an email I just sent to Mr. Goldstein, not sure if it has been discussed on boards before, but I find it unacceptable.

 

 

Hello,

I am a Crown and Anchor member who has attained the Diamond Plus level on my April 12th, 2015 Quantum sailing. I have four future cruises booked for a total of $15k. I was advised by the Loyalty Ambassador on the QOS to contact C and A upon my return to get my balcony discount adjusted to the Diamond Plus level. To my surprise I was told that it could only be done at prevailing prices. I have cruised exclusively with RCCL and X since 2007, and I find this unacceptable to be treating your loyal customers this way. Is RCCL ready to lose a loyal client for a total of $100 in balcony discounts that were earned by us through the many cruises we have done. I have been a RCCL cheerleader for many years, but in the past year I have found that customer satisfaction and retention are the least of your concerns in the way RCCL nickel and dimes their customers in every possible way. I wish to return to the RCCL that caused my addiction to cruising.

 

 

 

Thank you

 

I woud say say yes they are ready to lose a loyal customer, especially a demanding D+ one over $100.

 

The bigger question is are you ready to give up 4 Cruises you might have anticipated and invested some time into planning them and already accounted for investing $15K into over $100?

 

As you´ve already come to the conclusion how you lost confidence in RCCL´s Business practice, why give them your Business for another 15K?

[ocav]

Yes , you are the only one not getting it . The point of the post is that RCCL keeps taking away perks that were there . Ex combinable discounts .

 

 

No I'm not. If there's a discount on (say $200 onboard credit) and I want to take advantage of it on my existing booking, I have to reprise my booking to the current rate. Why should it be any different for the diamond balcony discount?

 

Be thankful you get a discount in the first place, or that Royal will let you take advantage of it on existing bookings at all. Many companies would say "tough"

[American Bear]

Am I the only one not getting this... Customer loyalty applies to anything after you get to that loyalty level, so if you have booking prior you don't get the discounts, but if you want to apply that discount you'd have to switch to the current prices and any offers you had before your sacrifice?

 

I don't see your complaint if that's the case, you should be lucky they would let you apply the discount on existing bookings.

 

 

OK let me explain it,,,

The OP had booked, 'not taken' these cruises, and C&A level status of the cruise 'should' be changed to the proper level at 'final payment! :eek:

This new policy over the last year or so sucks, and is another stupid rule by RCL.:mad:

If RCL didn't want to lower the final pmt., they should offer OBC.

I'm sure there will be many 'loyalists' who can't see the reality and make excuses, but this is nothing more then corporate greed against loyal RCL cruisers!

[American Bear]

No I'm not. If there's a discount on (say $200 onboard credit) and I want to take advantage of it on my existing booking, I have to reprise my booking to the current rate. Why should it be any different for the diamond balcony discount?

 

Be thankful you get a discount in the first place, or that Royal will let you take advantage of it on existing bookings at all. Many companies would say "tough"

 

Excuses!

And many say OK!

Just in the last year we received a lower cruise fare from Carnival and MSC saving us hundreds of dollars on both cruises before final pmt. without re-booking!:eek:

[American Bear]

Then you have nothing to worry about. PC does not get a higher balcony discount than D+. No increase at all. :eek:

 

 

 

Actually, one used to be able to have those applied, no problem. As others have written, these are things that USED TO happen, and have been changed/taken away.

 

They used to give you the benefits that applied AT THE TIME OF YOUR CRUISE. When I booked the Mariner Around the Horn cruise, we were all under 55. One of our threesome turned 55 about two months before we left. They eagerly repriced the fare to include a senior discount then currently available.

 

:rolleyes:

 

 

Exactly true, I think these 'excusers' have very little experience or history with RCL and how it was, where RCL was known for going the extra mile to take care of their long time loyal cruisers! That is not true anymore!:mad:

 

You don't get to D+, Pinnacle status (exculding those who earned through their parents) without taking a lot of cruises, and most of these cruisers can see just how much RCL has changed for the worse in dealing with their higher level cruisers.

 

Those at these levels who haven't run into a problem yet, consider yourself lucky, cause your time will come!

[Paulxyz2004]

Excuses!

And many say OK!

Just in the last year we received a lower cruise fare from Carnival and MSC saving us hundreds of dollars on both cruises before final pmt. without re-booking!:eek:

 

 

Special Rates on Balcony and Suite Staterooms is a dollar off discount to applicable balcony and suite categories only available to Platinum, Emerald, Diamond, Diamond Plus, and Pinnacle Crown & Anchor Society members. Savings are not redeemable for cash and non transferable. When reserving the applicable offer code and a valid Crown & Anchor Society membership number must be included in the reservation. Platinum, Emerald, Diamond, Diamond Plus, and Pinnacle Crown & Anchor Society member will receive an increased discount for making a reservation for a sail date outside of 6 (six) months.

 

The T&C´s are pretty clear IMO on this. The Discount is given for reserving a cruise and is only applicable at the time of making the Reservation. So your C&A balcony Discount is calculated on your Status at the time of booking and not the final payment date. So if your Status changes in between it´s only Logical having to re-price the cruise at the currnet going rate, as it Needs to be handled like a new booking at that Point.

 

I´m baffled to hear it called corporate greed when a Company gives out some nice perks for free but has some T&C´s attached to prevent a free for all mentality.

[Paulxyz2004]

Exactly true, I think these 'excusers' have very little experience or history with RCL and how it was, where RCL was known for going the extra mile to take care of their long time loyal cruisers! That is not true anymore!:mad:

 

You don't get to D+, Pinnacle status (exculding those who earned through their parents) without taking a lot of cruises, and most of these cruisers can see just how much RCL has changed for the worse in dealing with their higher level cruisers.

 

Those at these levels who haven't run into a problem yet, consider yourself lucky, cause your time will come!

 

I´m cruising with RCI for Long enough to know that the program has changed and I know it used to be the way the OP expected it to be. However I have always cruised for the cruise and not for the Status and I´ve always been grateful for the perks they give, as they wouldn´t have to give me anything at all. I never have based my decision for a cruise on the loyalty program. I would still cruise with RCI if they had no program at all. So yes I see how some Things have been enhanced away, but to me it´s still good value.

[ocav]

Exactly true, I think these 'excusers' have very little experience or history with RCL and how it was, where RCL was known for going the extra mile to take care of their long time loyal cruisers! That is not true anymore!:mad:

 

 

 

You don't get to D+, Pinnacle status (exculding those who earned through their parents) without taking a lot of cruises, and most of these cruisers can see just how much RCL has changed for the worse in dealing with their higher level cruisers.

 

 

 

Those at these levels who haven't run into a problem yet, consider yourself lucky, cause your time will come!

 

 

Well I'm sorry I'm just a lowely Gold member and I don't feel I am owed by RCI for cruising with them. Crown and Anchor membership is a perk of cruising with the same line, not an entitlement.

[FLACRUISER99]

This is about airline FF programs but it might apply to cruise lines also. http://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines/could-frequent-fliers-sue-airlines.html

[ocav]

This is about airline FF programs but it might apply to cruise lines also. http://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines/could-frequent-fliers-sue-airlines.html

 

 

How many times have you tried to use those frequent flier miles only to have your request denied, or run into blackout dates, and thought, "Man, I wish I could sue."

 

No I genuinely haven't thought "Man, I wish I could sue" because I didn't fly all those miles to get a free flight, it's a perk of being a frequent flyer, and as such they can stipulate how I use them. Same applies here, RCI can stipulate how and when you can take advantage of loyalty discounts.

 

What's with this major suing culture?

[American Bear]

The T&C´s are pretty clear IMO on this. The Discount is given for reserving a cruise and is only applicable at the time of making the Reservation. So your C&A balcony Discount is calculated on your Status at the time of booking and not the final payment date. So if your Status changes in between it´s only Logical having to re-price the cruise at the currnet going rate, as it Needs to be handled like a new booking at that Point.

 

I´m baffled to hear it called corporate greed when a Company gives out some nice perks for free but has some T&C´s attached to prevent a free for all mentality.

 

 

Baffled, so let me explain it to you,,,

This is a fairly new way of business for RCL. (last year or two)

Yes it is the company's practice now which you point out.

Why the change, because it benefited the company's bottom line, and screwed the loyal cruiser. And it seems like every change in the last couple years has been exactly this way.

This change(and there are others) as explained by others is different treatment then what RCL customer service used to do, which was allow their agents to take care of loyal cruisers, without re-booking!

In the past no re-booking would be needed, an on board credit would be applied, maybe a future cruise credit, the loyal RCL cruiser who has a history of over 10 cruises, maybe 20 cruises, would have been taken care of!

Honestly if the OP makes enough noise, they might get something like this, but it shouldn't be necessary.

Now some of the excusers here will say, its just business, everything changes, blah, blah, blah.

They miss the point, RCL excelled in the past in 2 areas, service before the cruise, and service during the cruise! That's not true anymore!

[ocav]

 

Why the change, because it benefited the company's bottom line, and screwed the loyal cruiser.

 

 

Not always. What if the current rate is cheaper than what you booked at initially?

[American Bear]

Well I'm sorry I'm just a lowely Gold member and I don't feel I am owed by RCI for cruising with them. Crown and Anchor membership is a perk of cruising with the same line, not an entitlement.

 

No apology necessary, and by the way, no D, D+, Pinacle level cruiser got there without being Gold first, so its not lowly!

You have every right to your opinion, but others have their rights to agree and disagree, and here we'll just have to disagree.

I can't remember one change in RCL policy like the one the OP pointed out has benefited the loyal cruiser, they've all been made to take away!

[John&LaLa]

Baffled, so let me explain it to you,,,

This is a fairly new way of business for RCL. (last year or two)

Yes it is the company's practice now which you point out.

Why the change, because it benefited the company's bottom line, and screwed the loyal cruiser. And it seems like every change in the last couple years has been exactly this way.

This change(and there are others) as explained by others is different treatment then what RCL customer service used to do, which was allow their agents to take care of loyal cruisers, without re-booking!

In the past no re-booking would be needed, an on board credit would be applied, maybe a future cruise credit, the loyal RCL cruiser who has a history of over 10 cruises, maybe 20 cruises, would have been taken care of!

Honestly if the OP makes enough noise, they might get something like this, but it shouldn't be necessary.

Now some of the excusers here will say, its just business, everything changes, blah, blah, blah.

They miss the point, RCL excelled in the past in 2 areas, service before the cruise, and service during the cruise! That's not true anymore!

 

Mr Bear, you seem quite bitter, I feel sorry for you. On the other hand, there have been changes made to enhance the loyalty program. Case in point, solo credits. This was something many expressed an interest in, and now it is part of program. I guess your a glass half full guy.

 

Safe travels

Edited May 1, 2015 by John&LaLa

[American Bear]

Actually, the policy has only been in effect a bit more than a year. Before that, Royal would apply higher higher discounts when earned, without re-pricing the cruise.

 

Exactly true Bob!

We would add RCL might have even given an upgrade to your cabin like OV to balcony, etc..

The point being the loyal member would be taken care of.

[artypharty]

I ran into this "new" repricing issue a few months ago , just after turning diamond and requesting the additional discount and being denied. I was disappointed but not discouraged. I'm pretty loyal to RCI after all.

 

Then the price of cabins went up significantly. ...sigh, okay, but I'm still a fan.

 

Two cruises ago, I did the unheard of for me, by scoring a few employees less than 10 on the customer survey. I soul searched and just couldn't reward, not mediocre, but poor service. :eek: in general, I really have noticed a bit of a service decline. But, I can deal with it ...no such thing as a bad cruise, right?!?!?

 

Is there a straw, the one that finally, (along with a myriad of other "changes"), does the camel in? I don't know. I do know I am actually checking out other lines now and some are enticing... :o

Edited May 1, 2015 by artypharty

[American Bear]

Mr Bear, you seem quite bitter, I feel sorry for you. On the other hand, there have been changes made to enhance the loyalty program. Case in point, solo credits. This was something many expressed an interest in, and now it is part of program. I guess your a glass half full guy.

 

Safe travels

 

John, please keep your personal comments to yourself, you don't know me, I am a very happy man(not a half full guy) who's explaining my views on the changes I see that RCL has made that are not friendly to us loyal RCL cruisers.

By loyal I mean we even bought stock years ago, and we have almost 25 yrs cruising with RCL, so we've seen a lot of changes but never so much as the last few years in one direction.

That's our opinion, and you're certainly entitled to yours as long as its not personally attacking me, or who I am .

As far as solo credits, we don't know about solo credits cause we don't cruise solo.

[John&LaLa]

John, please keep your personal comments to yourself, you don't know me, I am a very happy man(not a half full guy) who's explaining my views on the changes I see that RCL has made that are not friendly to us loyal RCL cruisers.

By loyal I mean we even bought stock years ago, and we have almost 25 yrs cruising with RCL, so we've seen a lot of changes but never so much as the last few years in one direction.

That's our opinion, and you're certainly entitled to yours as long as its not personally attacking me, or who I am .

As far as solo credits, we don't know about solo credits cause we don't cruise solo.

 

Just trying to say that not every change is bad. Hence the half full comment. It's like some folks can't see the forest through the trees. How about drinks on the card? Some folks like that, but others see it as a conspiracy to kick C&A out of lounges.

 

Change is inevitable, embrace.

[Paulxyz2004]

Baffled, so let me explain it to you,,,

This is a fairly new way of business for RCL. (last year or two)

Yes it is the company's practice now which you point out.

Why the change, because it benefited the company's bottom line, and screwed the loyal cruiser. And it seems like every change in the last couple years has been exactly this way.

This change(and there are others) as explained by others is different treatment then what RCL customer service used to do, which was allow their agents to take care of loyal cruisers, without re-booking!

In the past no re-booking would be needed, an on board credit would be applied, maybe a future cruise credit, the loyal RCL cruiser who has a history of over 10 cruises, maybe 20 cruises, would have been taken care of!

Honestly if the OP makes enough noise, they might get something like this, but it shouldn't be necessary.

Now some of the excusers here will say, its just business, everything changes, blah, blah, blah.

They miss the point, RCL excelled in the past in 2 areas, service before the cruise, and service during the cruise! That's not true anymore!

 

Let´s see.... there´s nothing in your Explanation new to me. As I´ve said I know what changes happened. I´ve been cruising on RCI for over 20 years now and I do know how the program changed over the due course of time and I´m not missing anything here.

 

Some of those changes I actually appreciate pretty much. 20 years ago there was no DL/CL. There was no happy hour in the evening. There weren´t 3 Drinks loaded on your seapass Card. There was no even a D+ / PN Level. There were no extra Points for solo Cruises and/or cruising in suites. Cruise credits were given on a Ratio of one credit per cruise. They later got to give an extra credit for Cruises over 12(?) nights (can´t rememer the exact length). Today it´s a much fairer System of nights cruised. Transition of the System was quite fair and generous to most, even though personally I lost out on Points as I had many more nights sailed than I got in the conversion.

 

Just some IMO positive changes.

 

We all shouldn´t Forget the whole program is something we are getting on top for free. I really can´t blame them one bit to have some rules in effect now to prevent double, tripple..... dipping on perks.

[Cindy]

Just my $0.02, because I'm a long way from a level change:rolleyes:...

 

I found the change in policy annoying last year when it happened, and it still irritates me. I think it makes RCI look petty & cheap. It would be one thing if they had never allowed it, but for many years it was encouraged by the C&A personnel on-board. I took advantage of it for several cruises!

 

I do think RCI needs to be careful in the current market and really think about their pricing strategies. I know this isn't a new change, but to someone who hasn't cruised in a while it could be a shock, especially when they start looking at drink prices, increased charges for specialty restaurants, etc. At some point, even loyal customers will begin to look around if they feel like they're being gouged.

[Paulxyz2004]

I know for some People on CC this is a rather emotional and personal Thing. But we have to realize it´s a Business decision nothing more and nothing less.

I also believe RCI is more after a new Generation of cruisers and they are far more inclined to get the new cruiser onboard than to get the repeat cruiser back.

I´ve said it before and will do so again. I´m sure they would be happy to get rid of some (might just be a few, but still) of their C&A members.

[American Bear]

Let´s see.... there´s nothing in your Explanation new to me. As I´ve said I know what changes happened. I´ve been cruising on RCI for over 20 years now and I do know how the program changed over the due course of time and I´m not missing anything here.

 

Some of those changes I actually appreciate pretty much. 20 years ago there was no DL/CL. There was no happy hour in the evening. There weren´t 3 Drinks loaded on your seapass Card. There was no even a D+ / PN Level. There were no extra Points for solo Cruises and/or cruising in suites. Cruise credits were given on a Ratio of one credit per cruise. They later got to give an extra credit for Cruises over 12(?) nights (can´t rememer the exact length). Today it´s a much fairer System of nights cruised. Transition of the System was quite fair and generous to most, even though personally I lost out on Points as I had many more nights sailed than I got in the conversion.

Just some IMO positive changes.

 

We all shouldn´t Forget the whole program is something we are getting on top for free. I really can´t blame them one bit to have some rules in effect now to prevent double, tripple..... dipping on perks.

 

 

Paul, I'm not talking about 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago, my comment said the changes in the last couple of years have been mostly 'take away'.

And remember, this take away comes at a time when RCL is doing extremely well financially, so its not need, its greed!:eek:

I will disagree with your point that 'the loyalty club is something we get on top for free', many cruise RCL only because of the loyalty club, and don't think for a moment RCL doesn't price that into the cruise price.

As the old saying goes, nothing is free, and those perks aren't free either.

Happy cruising.

Edited May 1, 2015 by American Bear