Crown and Anchor Status

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, lovescats5 said:

Not sure what is good about Platinum.  We received our Platinum pins mid cruise in April and hit the Emerald level that cruise.  Not sure what Emerald gets you either.  Our cruise in Feb. 2020 we will hit the big D but no expectations there either until our cruise in Sept on Ovation to Alaska.  Which will make no difference because we have a genie for that cruise.  After looking at all the benefits the best one seems to be a small discount on rooms which we will definitely take advantage of because suites are a little pricy.

 

Platinum gets you balcony discounts and robes (upon request).  Emerald adds the welcome aboard beverage and a $25 increase in balcony discount.

[island lady]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

Venice is a must do.

We sailed out of Venice several times on Splendour and the sail in and sail out is fabulous especially sailing past St Marks Square.

 

Looking forward to it...just need to find a cabin yet.  

[island lady]

2 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Platinum gets you balcony discounts and robes (upon request).  Emerald adds the welcome aboard beverage and a $25 increase in balcony discount.

 

Nice perks...better than nothing.  🙂 

[lovescats5]

Balcony or suite discounts, for us, would be the best perk.  The rest is a non issue as we have been sailing on ships with Star Class and have had a genie and all the perks associated with Star.  Liberty in March 2020 will be the first time with no genie but we booked the 4 bedroom suite for our family vacation and since we turn D on that cruise the 3 drinks will not work for us either.  Since we book 2 yrs out if possible it is hard to go back when any new level is reached to get the discount because it changes what OBC was offered by both our TA and RCI.  After Liberty we will see what we can do to get the discount for the Ovation Alaska cruise.

[grapau27]

17 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Looking forward to it...just need to find a cabin yet.  

If you are sailing out of Venice get a balcony on the left (port) side of the ship.

[island lady]

54 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

If you are sailing out of Venice get a balcony on the left (port) side of the ship.

 

Thanks Graham!  🙂  I made sure to book port side on Southbound Alaska trip for next year also.   Another beautiful view!  

[LilBlackDress]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

Have done Alaska three times, and have another self tour (two weeks) plus a B2B on Radiance following, which is booked again for next year.  Have also done Panama Canal (eh...not really a fan).   Have not done Venice yet...that one being on our bucket list, but was booked out for what I wanted (already!  😮  ).  

What part of the Panama Canal were you not a fan of?  I'm guessing you did a full transit? 

[taglovestocruise]

2 hours ago, lovescats5 said:

Not sure what is good about Platinum.  We received our Platinum pins mid cruise in April and hit the Emerald level that cruise.  Not sure what Emerald gets you either.  Our cruise in Feb. 2020 we will hit the big D but no expectations there either until our cruise in Sept on Ovation to Alaska.  Which will make no difference because we have a genie for that cruise.  After looking at all the benefits the best one seems to be a small discount on rooms which we will definitely take advantage of because suites are a little pricy.

The big payoff is the free cocktails, DL and overflow lounges are filled to standing only almost every night. Our last TA on Symphony the entire deck 4 lounge and bars were D only 3 hours every night. Plus your vouchers are good in the showrooms and dining during happy hour. 

[SRF]

1 hour ago, LilBlackDress said:

What part of the Panama Canal were you not a fan of?  I'm guessing you did a full transit? 

 

I did the Panama Canal in a small local tour boat.  MUCH more impressive.

 

You sail into the lock and all you see are the walls.  With a patch of sky straight up. Then you RISE UP OUT OF THE GROUND.

 

And coming back, you do the reverse.  Sail into the lock, and the slide down into the ground.

 

There was a cruise ship in the next lock for one time.  They got further away or closer to the ground.  All the balconies are well after ground level, even at the lowest water level.

[LilBlackDress]

7 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

I did the Panama Canal in a small local tour boat.  MUCH more impressive.

 

You sail into the lock and all you see are the walls.  With a patch of sky straight up. Then you RISE UP OUT OF THE GROUND.

 

And coming back, you do the reverse.  Sail into the lock, and the slide down into the ground.

 

There was a cruise ship in the next lock for one time.  They got further away or closer to the ground.  All the balconies are well after ground level, even at the lowest water level.

We have a cruise planned in March that is going to Colon, Panama. But we always wanted to do a full transit.

Do you know the local tour that you did? We booked 'Wonders of Engineering: Panama Canal Locks and Culebra' but we are so far out I can always change my mind if something else or better comes up :) 

[frank808]

On 5/17/2019 at 6:23 AM, island lady said:

 

Thanks Graham!  🙂  I made sure to book port side on Southbound Alaska trip for next year also.   Another beautiful view!  

We have a starboard side northbound in July.  We also did starboard on explorer two years ago and liked that for the views. So for ovation in 2 months we also booked a starboard cabin.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

On 5/17/2019 at 11:06 AM, Host Clarea said:

 

Platinum gets you balcony discounts and robes (upon request).  Emerald adds the welcome aboard beverage and a $25 increase in balcony discount.

Looking forward to the next step after that in a few months down the road. 🙂

[lovesthebeach2]

On 5/15/2019 at 10:47 AM, awestover89 said:

It's always not until the next cruise, and like island lady said, it usually takes a week or two for the points to fully post.

 

That said, if you happen to be doing a back-to-back and you "level up" on the first cruise, you can talk with the loyalty ambassador to get the perks on the second leg even though the points won't typically have posted to your account yet.

 

On 5/15/2019 at 1:17 PM, BillOh said:

 

Also if you book a Next cruise on that cruise you can get the Balcony discount for that next level if applicable. 

 

Weve done that just for the balcony discount and they gave it to us, but as said the points didn’t actual hit until later.

[JLvacation]

On 5/17/2019 at 11:06 AM, Host Clarea said:

 

Platinum gets you balcony discounts and robes (upon request).  Emerald adds the welcome aboard beverage and a $25 increase in balcony discount.

 

~ We met a couple on this past Easter cruise that had a Genie ! Said it made their cruise a entirely different experience !  ~ So enjoy the perks and amenities ! Look forward to hearing about it ! 🙂  

[MadamG2U]

I am Emerald and never got a pin a note or anything.  Will be Diamond after my next cruise, maybe a pin then.

[LilBlackDress]

25 minutes ago, MadamG2U said:

I am Emerald and never got a pin a note or anything.  Will be Diamond after my next cruise, maybe a pin then.

I never did either. We didn't get a diamond pin either. I was walking back to our cabin one day and I noticed the LA was just sitting there doing nothing so I asked about them. He gave me 2 of each tier we didn't receive... 

Edited May 20, 2019 by LilBlackDress

[Lionesss]

During our recent Allure sailing May 5th.  We would hit the 140 mark on day 5.

 

Low and behold ---------------------------- on day 6 was a crystal block in our cabin.............

 

We did not ask about it, in fact we forgot about it.

 

That was quick.

 

Safe travels.

[mugtech]

On 5/15/2019 at 1:36 PM, twodaywonder said:

Wouldn't it be nice when moving up to the next tier during your cruise and be able to use the perks when checking in and during the cruise you move up on? We were surprised and were very happy with that. Why would you want Carnival to change? Makes no sense at all to me. It would be nice to have the extras during that cruise. Guess you do not want them that way. Fine. Waite till your next cruise.

I know a woman who was medically evacuated on the second day of a 15 day cruise and got C&A points for 2 days only.  What if she had been 13 days short of diamond and had been awarded said status at the start of the cruise.  Would RCCL revoke the status and make her pay for the happy hour drinks she received during those 2 days?  A real can or worms.

[mugtech]

On 5/16/2019 at 7:14 PM, twodaywonder said:

Regular bottled water is free in our state room when we arrive. Milk shake, If there is a Johnny Rockets. Where do you get the fresh squeezed orange juice? Not at the bar. Not all Royal ships have the dispensers where you need to carry you glass with. How many different sodas do you need to choose from. Here is Carnivals soda package. Soft drinks:  Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Caffeine Free Coke, Sprite, Sprite Zero, Orange Fanta, Mr. Pibb, Barqs Root Beer, Tonic Water, Club Soda, Ginger Ale

Juices: Orange Juice, Cranberry Juice, Tomato Juice, Pineapple Juice, Grapefruit Juice.

Anyhow, to each there own. Get what yo want. I was just stating what we do.

Fresh squeezed orange juice was selling for $3/glass on Adventure in Windjammer last week.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

16 minutes ago, mugtech said:

Fresh squeezed orange juice was selling for $3/glass on Adventure in Windjammer last week.

Ouch. Luckily it's one of several things included in the refreshment package.

[island lady]

On 5/17/2019 at 12:55 PM, LilBlackDress said:

What part of the Panama Canal were you not a fan of?  I'm guessing you did a full transit? 

 

The Jewel docked outside of the canal for a couple of days, we took a Ferry through the entire canal and then traveled back...that was the good part.  Very interesting.  The bad part of the Panama canal area were the tours of the nearby towns.  Not a fan of.  Too much "in your face" by the locals.  

[island lady]

On 5/19/2019 at 1:27 AM, frank808 said:

We have a starboard side northbound in July.  We also did starboard on explorer two years ago and liked that for the views. So for ovation in 2 months we also booked a starboard cabin.

 

Our "better view side" will be the southbound, with us camped out on the port side.  Did not want to transfer cabins, so we are simply the other view (staying port side) on the way back north.  Love the view from the DL (better than the CL) as you slide out of Skagway.  Could not get our usual corner aft cabin, we are doing a GS mid ship, which is nice also of course.  😉

 

Can always go up on deck to get both side views anyway.  🙂 

[island lady]

14 hours ago, MadamG2U said:

I am Emerald and never got a pin a note or anything.  Will be Diamond after my next cruise, maybe a pin then.

 

I never got that pin either.  In fact never even made it to Emerald.  We skipped over that level on one longer cruise, going from Platinum to Diamond when we finished the cruise.  It's such a short span.  😮 

[SRF]

On 5/17/2019 at 2:17 PM, LilBlackDress said:

We have a cruise planned in March that is going to Colon, Panama. But we always wanted to do a full transit.

Do you know the local tour that you did? We booked 'Wonders of Engineering: Panama Canal Locks and Culebra' but we are so far out I can always change my mind if something else or better comes up 🙂

 

Sorry, it some something like 17 years ago.  And cannot remember what I ate for breakfast. 🙂

 

I am not sure that it is not bookable through various outlets in Panama City.  But it was great.

 

Partial was enough from that end, as we went through the Cut, out into the lake.  And the rest of the transit was the lake.

 

While transiting the Cut, they showed the Discovery program on the building of the canal, with a buffet lunch.

[frank808]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Our "better view side" will be the southbound, with us camped out on the port side.  Did not want to transfer cabins, so we are simply the other view (staying port side) on the way back north.  Love the view from the DL (better than the CL) as you slide out of Skagway.  Could not get our usual corner aft cabin, we are doing a GS mid ship, which is nice also of course.  😉

 

Can always go up on deck to get both side views anyway.  🙂 

We are like you and would not want to move cabins on a b2b if possible.  Staying in a GS makes up for not getting an aft facing cabin 😉!

 

For our northbound Radiance cruise we are unfortunately not in a GS.  We have to make do with aft cabin 1100.  Wonder if it will be any good 😊?  We are doing a S2S so we had to move cabins.