twonpcb Posted November 21, 2017 #1 Share Posted November 21, 2017 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?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Vol Fan Posted November 21, 2017 #2 Share Posted November 21, 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare keesar Posted November 21, 2017 #3 Share Posted November 21, 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted November 21, 2017 #4 Share Posted November 21, 2017 (edited) 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. Edited November 21, 2017 by leaveitallbehind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wine-O Posted November 21, 2017 #5 Share Posted November 21, 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted November 21, 2017 #6 Share Posted November 21, 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alakegirl Posted November 21, 2017 #7 Share Posted November 21, 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingChick Posted November 21, 2017 #8 Share Posted November 21, 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xport Posted November 21, 2017 #9 Share Posted November 21, 2017 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... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare chemmo Posted November 21, 2017 #10 Share Posted November 21, 2017 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodger1964 Posted November 21, 2017 #11 Share Posted November 21, 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lienf Posted November 21, 2017 #12 Share Posted November 21, 2017 On our TA in October on the Reflection the Elite Happy Hour was from 4:30 to 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davekathy Posted November 21, 2017 #13 Share Posted November 21, 2017 (edited) 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. Edited November 21, 2017 by davekathy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted November 21, 2017 #14 Share Posted November 21, 2017 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.......:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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