New Program called "The Key"

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, cured said:

Thanks! I will try that too.

 

Thanks everyone for all your help for this clueless newbie.

 

I'd be curious to hear what C&A has to say, as we are supposed to be able to cancel Cruise Planner purchases up to 72 hours before the cruise.  If they refuse, please ask them if this is a change in policy.

[cured]

3 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I'd be curious to hear what C&A has to say, as we are supposed to be able to cancel Cruise Planner purchases up to 72 hours before the cruise.  If they refuse, please ask them if this is a change in policy.

Will do.  I was able to cancel 3 of the 4 keys yesterday and then after everyone's help with my questions if I needed the last one, went in to cancel it today. Oops, should have done it yesterday. At least I got most of them cancelled.

Edited August 2, 2019 by cured

[cured]

19 hours ago, cured said:

I don't think the planner is going to work.  This is what I get, in large bold letters 😀, when I log into my planner:

 

 

IMPORTANT UPDATE: DUE TO YOUR CRUISE VACATION DEPARTING WITHIN THE NEXT 6 DAYS, YOU CAN NO LONGER PURCHASE / RESERVE / MODIFY / CANCEL PRODUCTS ONLINE. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO BROWSE AND VIEW YOUR SCHEDULE. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE ADDITIONAL RESERVATIONS / CHANGES ONCE ONBOARD.

 

I will keep trying to call and try different customer service reps. Now that I think of it, I think I also have the number of one of the planners who called me nonstop when I first booked and he told me to call him if I needed anything.

Update on why the planner shut down at 6 days rather than the customary 72 hours. Apparently on the Oasis Med cruise, even though you board in Rome 4 days later, the planner shuts down 72 hours before the Barcelona embarkation as that is supposedly the primary start of the cruise. 

 

Both Alex and Hans have told me that it is noted on my account that I tried to cancel well before 72 hours but couldn't because of the this Barcelona ridiculousness, so I should have no problems cancelling on board.  

 

I also got a nastygram from Royal Caribbean that they were missing my final payment that was due back in May so our cruise was going to be cancelled unless I paid. Problem was, even in the email, the balance showed I owed was $0. Hard to make a payment on 0. I did try. I thought if I ran my CC for 0, it would reset the error.

 

What triggered the email?  According to Customer Rep Alex, who was as perplexed as me and put me on hold for quite awhile to figure it out, it was triggered because I cancelled 3 of the 4 keys and the rules state that everyone has to have the key. So it looked like I had to purchase 3 more keys.  Yes, in the craziness of packing to leave today, the last minute RoyalUP bid, and having booked the key long, long ago last year,  that little detail slipped my mind. I was going to cancel the last one anyway, but just didn't do it at the same time with the other three. 

 

Computer systems can be finicky.  And believe me, I will be calling daily till Thursday just to make sure the computer didn't follow through with its threat even though I have been assured nothing will happen because our balance is at 0. Sorry, I read Cruise Critic too much to know that the Royal Caribbean software can have a mind of its own.

 

So, lesson for this newbie - if you cancel your key, remember the rules and make absolutely sure you cancel all of them at the same time. I was on the phone with Royal Caribbean at midnight last night, panicking that I was getting on a plane to Rome today and I would arrive without a cruise to enjoy.

 

Edited August 3, 2019 by cured

[Biker19]

9 minutes ago, cured said:

 

So, lesson for this newbie - if you cancel your key, remember the rules and make absolutely sure you cancel all of them at the same time. 

Not sure if things changed recently, but the Planner lets you buy just one Key. 

 

That interporting in Europe does mess up a lot of things if you don’t embark at the “original “ port.  

Edited August 3, 2019 by Biker19

[sheena20013]

 

On 7/17/2019 at 11:18 PM, tomservo said:

When do they make the Key available in the cruise planner? I recently booked a cruise in May 2020, I can’t tell if I missed it and it’s already sold out, or if they haven’t offered it yet. 

 My cruise for March just went on sale in the last few days. I reserved it for now while I decide. It was $37 a day per guest which really is too much I believe. 

[tomservo]

1 hour ago, sheena20013 said:

 

 My cruise for March just went on sale in the last few days. I reserved it for now while I decide. It was $37 a day per guest which really is too much I believe. 

 

It just showed up on mine a few days ago as well. Mine was a bit better than yours at 32, but still more than I think I’d like to pay. Like you, I reserved it anyway while I decide. 

[Roose]

My family of 3 bought the key to use from Southampton on Independence of the seas mainly as my son has a sensory processing condition that makes queuing and being in large crowds very difficult. We found it to be a mainly positive experience.

 

We arrived at the port about 10am and could clearly see a sign for key guests. There were queues starting to form at the standard check in desks. 

We were the first to be greeted at the Key area and were very quickly checked in and given a key information card of what to expect from our perks. We had to get a muster wristband for our 8 year old and were then seated for a short while. There was a roped off area for what I guess were suite guests who were quietly escorted on board first then an announcement was made for key guests to board so my son thought we were first as he hadn’t noticed the suite guests being escorted. We walked past a very large crowd of people waiting to board and were one of the first on the ship.

 

We went to drop off our carry on luggage. There was a large key sign and desk to greet you and it was great to drop off our bags. We had packed in them appropriate clothing for ice skating just in case we were given a key hour for this before our main case was delivered to the stateroom.

 

Then it was off to chops for lunch missing the chaos in Windjammer. We are all vegetarian so only had the mac cheese but it was a very nice peaceful lunch where you were made to feel special. It did not take long as other guests have reported in their posts.

 

in our stateroom our key carry on bags were waiting along with all the key paperwork. Sure enough there was a key hour for Ice skating that day so it was a good idea to have ensured our long trousers were ready! We were the only ones on the ice for the first half hour and then only 3 other guests joined us. 

There were not daily key hours as per when I booked the key but we found that there were still sufficient hours for our needs and they were at good times, in particular sea days.  The sky pad we used 3 times and were the only ones every time. We tried to use it in a non key hour and there was at least an hours queue so we didn’t wait.

We did the flowrider once but it was available twice on the 2 week cruise and there were only 2 other guests.

Rock climbing, my husband went straight on but they seemed to be letting non key on as well on that occasion.

Due to the queues at non key times we would not have got to enjoy these activities without having purchased the key.

 

One day we received a fruit plate with a for key guests note on it in our stateroom.

 

With regards to priority port of call debarkation, generally queues weren’t too bad anyway.  In our key paperwork we were told to go to the main restaurant area on deck 5 if you wanted priority escort off the ship. I was pleased about this as I didn’t want to just push my way to the front of the crowd like others have reported. We used this a couple of times, especially good if on a tender day! We were taken in a priority lift and escorted straight off. 

 

We used the VIP theatre seating a lot. The areas were manned by staff who checked your key status to gain entry. We were very pleased with our front row seating every time as most shows were very full. 

 

The internet package was great. We never had any problems accessing the web.

 

Our final perk was the fantastic breakfast on day of departure, being able to get off the ship late and being escorted off straight to our luggage. We were given a letter about what to do and It was all a seamless straight forward process.

 

Given our circumstances the key was right for us.

 

[blueridgemama]

Roose Thank you for your review. Glad that the Key benefits worked well for you.

[starrcards]

OK. Full disclosure first before my question. I have NOT read all 120 pages of this thread nor did I get the Key for our Oasis cruise last Christmas.  Now the question.  We (party of 3) have booked a July 2020 cruise on Empress to New England/Canada.  There are 2 tender ports on the cruise. Normally we purchase a single Vroom package to share.  Empress has only a rock wall (no Flowrider) and only the theatre for entertainment.  Would the Key be of value for us on this cruise?

[LMaxwell]

12 hours ago, tomservo said:

 

It just showed up on mine a few days ago as well. Mine was a bit better than yours at 32, but still more than I think I’d like to pay. Like you, I reserved it anyway while I decide. 

Eventually the option to cancel Key will be removed so long as the booking is in effect.  

[LMaxwell]

10 minutes ago, starrcards said:

OK. Full disclosure first before my question. I have NOT read all 120 pages of this thread nor did I get the Key for our Oasis cruise last Christmas.  Now the question.  We (party of 3) have booked a July 2020 cruise on Empress to New England/Canada.  There are 2 tender ports on the cruise. Normally we purchase a single Vroom package to share.  Empress has only a rock wall (no Flowrider) and only the theatre for entertainment.  Would the Key be of value for us on this cruise?

 

If you had to pay approx $100 extra per day for 3 people...absolutely not.  That money would be far better spent in the ports (experiences).  

[blueridgemama]

4 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

Eventually the option to cancel Key will be removed so long as the booking is in effect.  

 

How do you know this?

[blueridgemama]

20 minutes ago, starrcards said:

OK. Full disclosure first before my question. I have NOT read all 120 pages of this thread nor did I get the Key for our Oasis cruise last Christmas.  Now the question.  We (party of 3) have booked a July 2020 cruise on Empress to New England/Canada.  There are 2 tender ports on the cruise. Normally we purchase a single Vroom package to share.  Empress has only a rock wall (no Flowrider) and only the theatre for entertainment.  Would the Key be of value for us on this cruise?

 

You would get priority boarding, carry on luggage drop off,  lunch in Chops, priority tendering at your 2 tender ports, Vroom for all 3 of you, breakfast and priority disembarcation on the last day. Only you can decide if that is enough to justify the cost.

Edited August 12, 2019 by blueridgemama

[LMaxwell]

2 hours ago, blueridgemama said:

 

How do you know this?

The same way I know a lot of things that will happen in the future but won't divulge any names. 

[blueridgemama]

Just now, LMaxwell said:

The same way I know a lot of things that will happen in the future but won't divulge any names. 

 

So you have a crystal ball that you can predict the future😊 Must be nice.

[LMaxwell]

Just now, blueridgemama said:

 

So you have a crystal ball that you can predict the future😊 Must be nice.

 

No, that would be terrific! 

[cmich068]

I just purchased The Key for my upcoming Greek Isles cruise on Jewel. It was still selling for $19.99 three weeks out so I expect that they are not getting great uptake on my sailing.

 

Only really wanted to ensure priority tender access in our ports, but will obviously use the embarkation lunch and internet packages as well. Still not sure I see the value but will give it a shot and report back in a few weeks time. 

[starrcards]

2 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

 

If you had to pay approx $100 extra per day for 3 people...absolutely not.  That money would be far better spent in the ports (experiences).  

 

That's where I was going  with my thought pattern.  Currently would be $75/day for the three of us ($525 total).  If it ever went to $15 pp/day I might consider.   The priority tendering piqued my interest.

[springfire]

We purchased The Key for our Independence of the Seas 4 day cruise in December.  The cost was 19.99 day, so for the two of us the cost of The Key was $160 for our cruise.  We cancelled our two device internet that we had purchased on sale for 20.99 a day, so this saved $84.00.   Since we will get to eat a nice lunch at Chop's on embarkation, that is a big plus and worth $40.   

 

After enjoying the above, The Key is still costing us about $36.   The ability to drop off our bags and not drag around our wine is easily worth $10.00 to me.  Having a nice breakfast  and an easier way off the ship the last day is easily worth the difference for us to purchase The Key.   Having priority check in, priority seating and private hours on Flow Rider and hopefully Ice Skating made purchasing The Key an even better benefit.

 

We have a cruise on the Allure next month and the cost of The Key is  $29.99/day, total cruise price for two $420.00.  The cost of the Key on our Allure cruise would be a waste of money as it seems very overpriced.   We agree with others who said, The Key is a better deal on shorter cruises, not so much on longer cruises.

[tomservo]

4 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

Eventually the option to cancel Key will be removed so long as the booking is in effect.  

 

You mean you won't be able to cancel after final payment? Or even before final payment they won't let you cancel it? I've never heard of something in the cruise planner that you couldn't cancel before final payment, and I thought you had up until a few days before the cruise to cancel anything purchased in the cruise planner (correct me if I'm wrong).

[blueridgemama]

4 minutes ago, tomservo said:

 

You mean you won't be able to cancel after final payment? Or even before final payment they won't let you cancel it? I've never heard of something in the cruise planner that you couldn't cancel before final payment, and I thought you had up until a few days before the cruise to cancel anything purchased in the cruise planner (correct me if I'm wrong).

 

Pure speculation. Everything you reserve can be cancelled as long as you fo!low the guidelines. Why would the Key be any different?

[LMaxwell]

1 hour ago, blueridgemama said:

 

Pure speculation. Everything you reserve can be cancelled as long as you fo!low the guidelines. Why would the Key be any different?

 

Guidelines will be changing.  

 

Similar to what was happening with people booking multiple suites and cancelling at final payment; created a glut of inventory.  RCI needs to manage demand with inventory.  Luckily, RCI is more savvy than the consumer with this product so they'll win either way. 

[xpcdoojk]

7 hours ago, blueridgemama said:

 

How do you know this?

 

Over active imagination?

 

jc

[tomservo]

7 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

 

Over active imagination?

 

jc

 

Sounds like they know someone who knows someone. If it’s true I wonder if it’s only for the Key or other items in the cruise planner as well?

[aespo4]

On the Allure presently and The Key has changed since we were on the Allure in March. This change is for activities mainly. In March we had 5 extra 1 hour sessions for Flowrider this cruise their is only 1 extra hour for flowrider all week also rock climbing, Ice skating, and Zip-lining also only have 1 hour for the week where in March these were more as well. Chops was moved to the main dining room as to accommodate.