Offers received from Club Royale (Royal Caribbean)

[RFerrington]

I just got an email offer for comp cruise.  Offer 181RCL1108. 

 

When I called to get prices for an upgrade on the Thanksgiving Brilliance cruise, they said that this offer has not yet been loaded into the system.  The same thing happened with the last such offer I got.  It took them about 3 days to get it all validated.  The rep told me to call back on Monday to get pricing and to book.

 

It seems so ridiculous that they would send these offers out before they even have them in their "system" whatever that means.  To me, this is one more clue that perhaps these offers aren't coming from Club Royale at all, but rather, are coming from the Revenue Department.  One hand not knowing what the other is doing and all of that...

 

We are already booked on the 1 Dec. Oasis cruise (the previous comp offer we got that was distributed before it was loaded into their system) so we will be doing a S2S with Brilliance 11-25 through 11-30, spending the night in Miami and then catching Oasis on 12-1.  That way we can do a twofer with the airfare; fly into Tampa and back out of Miami.

 

I'm averaging about 1 of these comp offers every 2 weeks.  The list of cruises is different every time.  This would also seem to indicate that Revenue is pushing this.  They seem to be cruises that still have lots of rooms available.  There are still 8 Grand Suites available on the 11-25 sailing of Brilliance.  I suspect that it's b/c this is a Monday-Saturday itin...not as popular as the weekend departures.  But with the holiday in there it's still a 5:4 for us so it's a winner !

 

[texasreb]

Oasis just returned to port early. Disease on the ship. Always laid off to norovirus. Full refunds given.

Lots of offers by Royal means more revenue for them. I have 3 booked, and paid. Then get 2 Prime offers after April 1 if nothing else.

[nvance724]

On 1/10/2019 at 3:46 PM, RFerrington said:

I just got an email offer for comp cruise.  Offer 181RCL1108. 

 

When I called to get prices for an upgrade on the Thanksgiving Brilliance cruise, they said that this offer has not yet been loaded into the system.  The same thing happened with the last such offer I got.  It took them about 3 days to get it all validated.  The rep told me to call back on Monday to get pricing and to book.

 

It seems so ridiculous that they would send these offers out before they even have them in their "system" whatever that means.  To me, this is one more clue that perhaps these offers aren't coming from Club Royale at all, but rather, are coming from the Revenue Department.  One hand not knowing what the other is doing and all of that...

 

We are already booked on the 1 Dec. Oasis cruise (the previous comp offer we got that was distributed before it was loaded into their system) so we will be doing a S2S with Brilliance 11-25 through 11-30, spending the night in Miami and then catching Oasis on 12-1.  That way we can do a twofer with the airfare; fly into Tampa and back out of Miami.

 

I'm averaging about 1 of these comp offers every 2 weeks.  The list of cruises is different every time.  This would also seem to indicate that Revenue is pushing this.  They seem to be cruises that still have lots of rooms available.  There are still 8 Grand Suites available on the 11-25 sailing of Brilliance.  I suspect that it's b/c this is a Monday-Saturday itin...not as popular as the weekend departures.  But with the holiday in there it's still a 5:4 for us so it's a winner !

 

I got the same offer on the club Royale site. I hadnt received any email offers lately. I called and asked them to send me the list of cruises offered and she id except she sent me the list for 1008 not 1108. so now ill call again tomorrow and try to get the correct list! I really dislike the call center in the Carribean. The Oregon folks are so much more competant! PS I received my Egg Hunt offer today!

[lvnc327]

Can you tell me what the "Egg Hunt" is ??? Thanks

[OHCruisinDad]

As I stated in a previous post, I purchased the promotional casino package online prior to our sailing on the Symphony last week.  We boarded on Saturday and following sailaway when the casino opened, I went the cashiers cage to claim my chips.  I was provided the base value of the purchased chips plus the 10% of "free" play chips.  The entire amount was provided in "promotional chips" marked "not redeemable for cash".  The first table I went to exchanged my $100 promotional chips for smaller value promotional chips.  At other tables, the same thing occurred the first two days.  Later in the week when I exchanged the promotional chips, some dealers gave me regular chips.  It appears that the casino staff is still learning the ropes regarding the promotional offers and the promo chips.  I did get purchase credit in their system when I used the chips - same as buying in for cash.  All winning hands were paid in regular chips.  I had one table on the second day where the dealer didn't have any promotional chips and had to have the pit boss exchange them for me.  The next dealer just cashed them for regular chips as though they were regular chips.  Will I buy this promotion again in the future?  Possibly as the 10% extra is a decent incentive plus I used my RCL Visa and get double points that I cash in for OBC.  Instead of taking cash to buy in at the tables, I took the cash and paid it on my RCL Visa so that it would offset the charge and my net would be a zero bill.

 

Please feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to answer them.

[Bronx12]

On 1/12/2019 at 8:18 PM, nvance724 said:

I got the same offer on the club Royale site. I hadnt received any email offers lately. I called and asked them to send me the list of cruises offered and she id except she sent me the list for 1008 not 1108. so now ill call again tomorrow and try to get the correct list! I really dislike the call center in the Carribean. The Oregon folks are so much more competant! PS I received my Egg Hunt offer today!

 

Thanks for reporting back. We were going to buy it, but I noticed yesterday that it has been removed from my cruise planner.

[OHCruisinDad]

21 hours ago, Bronx12 said:

 

Thanks for reporting back. We were going to buy it, but I noticed yesterday that it has been removed from my cruise planner.

 

That's interesting.  I just checked both our Serenade and Rhapsody sailings in February and the casino offerings were not listed on either cruise planner.  Perhaps they feel there are problems with the administration or possibly they just didn't sell.  We will wait and see.  I will ask the next time I call CR and report back on this thread.

[dccooper]

We are getting ready for our next cruise and since Diamond Plus does not get priority check-in anymore would like to know since  my wife has Signature status in the casino, which is suppose to have priority check-in. The Sea Pass has Signature on it nothing about priority check-in, so will they allow us to enter thru the Suite and Pinnacle check-in areas?

[BEENSAILING]

I am signature. That Casino status does not give u access to Suites and Pinnacle check in.

[John&LaLa]

On 1/10/2019 at 4:17 PM, texasreb said:

Oasis just returned to port early. Disease on the ship. Always laid off to norovirus. Full refunds given.

Lots of offers by Royal means more revenue for them. I have 3 booked, and paid. Then get 2 Prime offers after April 1 if nothing else.

 

We were on Oasis as Laura's annual Prime cruise. Obviously it was free, so not sure how the refund works for us.

 

I do know that they did give us $164 OBC for the one day that was first offered.

 

 

[dccooper]

7 hours ago, BEENSAILING said:

I am signature. That Casino status does not give u access to Suites and Pinnacle check in.

 Then what does it mean under Signature and Master that you have Priority Check-In? This is from the card the Casino Host hands out.

[Life is Good Cruising]

On 1/13/2019 at 6:53 PM, lvnc327 said:

Can you tell me what the "Egg Hunt" is ??? Thanks

Haven’t been to any.

[lvnc327]

Can you tell me where you got the calendar that you show above. Would be nice to know when offers are avail. - Thanks

[OHCruisinDad]

2 hours ago, lvnc327 said:

Can you tell me where you got the calendar that you show above. Would be nice to know when offers are avail. - Thanks

 

I get them in the mail from RCL/Casino Royale.  I also get email offers from them.  If you have a rating and are not receiving their offers, I would call CR and inquire.

[peymas]

We did the egg hunt last year. They open the doors and it is mass chaos in casino  with everyone looking for eggs that have free lay in them. There is also a golden egg and i think a gold bar was given for that. I found 3. The young people were king of the egg hunting.

 

[texasreb]

On 1/15/2019 at 6:15 PM, dccooper said:

 Then what does it mean under Signature and Master that you have Priority Check-In? This is from the card the Casino Host hands out.

Back on Nov 23, Miami check in for Navigator sailing. The agent moved us to the suite line for check in for having a casino booked cruise, casino card, etc.

NCL has priority check in for any Casino card level.

[fla gang]

On 12/19/2018 at 5:29 PM, Wally Alligator said:

Thinking the disparity in offers may be that CR is looking at more than just total points accrued in a program year when assigning discretionary comps.  I would assume someone that racks up 12,000 points in a single sailing would be sent better comp offers than someone who accumulates the same 12,000 points but takes 6 cruises to rack them up.

CR told me they look at your last two cruises and if your points accrued on your last cruise was less than the cruise before that one then your offer would decrease. If your last cruise points were more they would increase your offer, but she said it would depend on how many more points you attained.

[maryjaden]

I agree that the offers (in part)might be based on playing per cruise.  I have been consistently getting offers for JS or $1000 off per cruise.  I am only Prime and only am able to Cruise twice per year due to my business.

[texasreb]

I am Prime. So is my wife. On cruises this past year I played a 4800 and 2500 point cruise. No JS offer. So what is the secret ?

 

My wife played on this last cruise and came out $800 ahead. Nearly as well in November. Of course anything she wins is HERS. So she buys more jewelry.

[gaylemh]

16 minutes ago, texasreb said:

I am Prime. So is my wife. On cruises this past year I played a 4800 and 2500 point cruise. No JS offer. So what is the secret ?

 

My wife played on this last cruise and came out $800 ahead. Nearly as well in November. Of course anything she wins is HERS. So she buys more jewelry.

Certificates for JS are 8,000 points.

 

[Wally Alligator]

8 hours ago, texasreb said:

My wife played on this last cruise and came out $800 ahead. Nearly as well in November. Of course anything she wins is HERS. So she buys more jewelry.

Hmmmm...seems like whenever I win, my wife buys more jewelry. 

[RFerrington]

I have been told that they only look at your last cruise to determine offers and discounts...so the information we get from the reps is not particularly reliable.  I have a sneaking suspicion that "total revenue" may also factor in somehow as we have been getting WAAAY better (and more frequent) offers since we started upgrading our offers to top suites and purchasing the dining and drinks packages.  That's just speculation though.

Edited January 26, 2019 by RFerrington

[maryjaden]

I think you may be right.  On my last cruise,  I accumulated about 6000 points. I was traveling with my husband and daughters (16 and 21). We had a cabana,  drink packages, escape room,  2 RCI excursions and specialty dining. So total revenue may indeed play into offers.

[Lady Hudson]

Anyone have any luck getting yearly point totals when calling the casino department?

[RFerrington]

38 minutes ago, Lady Hudson said:

Anyone have any luck getting yearly point totals when calling the casino department?

No, I’ve never been even tried. I have no confidence that they are tracking my points accurately. I keep my own spreadsheet. Every time I’ve ever spoken with anyone on the phone about points, they tell me that they can only “see” points from my most recent cruise.