First time Diamond, any tips ?

[JCMass.]

After many years of taking cruises we have just achieved Diamond status.  We will be taking our first trip in September with this status on the Serenade, and are really looking forward to it.  

 

 It seems that the Diamond Lounge becomes crowded so drinks are now on your sea pass to be used around the ship during certain hours.  Can you get soft drinks at other times of the day, and can you take them with you  ?   Anything else we would wish we knew beforehand.  Thanks for any tips !!  

[Clarea]

The Diamond Lounge only serves beverages during the 3.5 hour free drink period each evening.   You can have unlimited drinks in the DL during that period.  Additionally, you can use your 3 drink vouchers at any bar on the ship, during that same period.

 

Read the welcome letter that will be in your stateroom when you arrive, it will have info about your Diamond perks.

[Cinders411]

Just wanted to say, congrat's JC Mass. We just became Diamond as well and will take our first cruise as one on Allure this fall!  

[taglovestocruise]

When your both Diamond you each get the 1 day free internet and you both get a free picture from the photo kiosk. 

[Bee Guy]

The soft drinks are free only during the happy hour.  If you get them outside the DL, they count against your 3 free drinks.

[Merion_Mom]

[Merion_Mom]

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[Merion_Mom]

A friend who was just on the Grandeur says that they were pouring "Barton's vodka" which is worse than New Amsterdam.  Hard to imagine, IMO, but WOW, worse than New Amsterdam!?!?!?!?

[Oak Hill Cruisers]

And your Diamond status becomes Elite status on Celebrity. 

 

With Elite on Celebrity you get a much nicer 90-minute free internet package that you can turn on & off so it can last lots longer than the RCI 24-hour package that runs out in 24 hours after logging in.

 

Take an internet screen shot of your C&A Diamond status so you can transfer your Diamond status to other cruise lines, like MSC, which will grant you Black Card status.

[cruiseguy1016]

The free 8" X 10" picture is a nice perk. We have never bought a picture on the ship because we never thought it was worth the money. We also passed on most attempts to have our picture taken (embarkation, formal night, on the pier at every port, etc.) throughout the cruise because we knew we wouldn't be buying any of them. Now that we are Diamond and my wife and I each get a free picture, we are having more pictures taken on our cruises hoping to find a nice souvenir picture from each cruise.

[loveheart]

5 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

The free 8" X 10" picture is a nice perk. We have never bought a picture on the ship because we never thought it was worth the money. We also passed on most attempts to have our picture taken (embarkation, formal night, on the pier at every port, etc.) throughout the cruise because we knew we wouldn't be buying any of them. Now that we are Diamond and my wife and I each get a free picture, we are having more pictures taken on our cruises hoping to find a nice souvenir picture from each cruise.

We did  exactly the same on our cruise once we became diamond. We had zillions taken last week and had trouble finding 2 that we liked 

[George C]

We like taking lots of pictures then just picking the best two. Have not paid for pictures in a long time. 

[Ourusualbeach]

53 minutes ago, Oak Hill Cruisers said:

And your Diamond status becomes Elite status on Celebrity. 

 

With Elite on Celebrity you get a much nicer 90-minute free internet package that you can turn on & off so it can last lots longer than the RCI 24-hour package that runs out in 24 hours after logging in.

 

Take an internet screen shot of your C&A Diamond status so you can transfer your Diamond status to other cruise lines, like MSC, which will grant you Black Card status.

I believe that MSC is the only other cruise line that status matches and they no longer grant Black status for Diamond.  You also have to sail once every 2 years to maintain that status and once used you cannot status match again. 

Edited July 14, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[George C]

27 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I believe that MSC is the only other cruise line that status matches and they no longer grant Black status for Diamond.  You also have to sail once every 2 years to maintain that status and once used you cannot status match again. 

I got my matching black earlier this year ,  which gives you  a 5 percent discount on cruise, but they do better than that for veterans, got ten percent off.  Black also gives you a dinner in a specialty restaurant among other things, we sail in November in yacht club on seaside.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

38 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I believe that MSC is the only other cruise line that status matches and they no longer grant Black status for Diamond.

That was also the information that I got.....did they change it back to grant black-status again?

[Ourusualbeach]

2 minutes ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

That was also the information that I got.....did they change it back to grant black-status again?

Or they’ve started hiring ex Royal agents and depending what day of the  week you apply determines what status they grant.

 

The information that I had read was that effective last October only Pinnacle and Zenith would be granted black.  D, D+, Elite and Elite + would be granted Gold. 

[Thorben-Hendrik]

2 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Or they’ve started hiring ex Royal agents and depending what day of the  week you apply determines what status they grant.

🤣😂😱

[George C]

24 minutes ago, George C said:

I got my matching black earlier this year ,  which gives you  a 5 percent discount on cruise, but they do better than that for veterans, got ten percent off.  Black also gives you a dinner in a specialty restaurant among other things, we sail in November in yacht club on seaside.

Apologies I just doubled checked my msc doc and I got my matching black in 2018 . 

[frank808]

2 hours ago, Oak Hill Cruisers said:

And your Diamond status becomes Elite status on Celebrity. 

 

With Elite on Celebrity you get a much nicer 90-minute free internet package that you can turn on & off so it can last lots longer than the RCI 24-hour package that runs out in 24 hours after logging in.

 

Take an internet screen shot of your C&A Diamond status so you can transfer your Diamond status to other cruise lines, like MSC, which will grant you Black Card status.

MSC no longer matches D to Black status. Now D and D+ get gold. Pinnacles get matched to Black.

 

I did match to black last year with our D+ status. The only extra perks you get if sailing in YC is the extra bottle of bubbly, dinner in a specialty restaurant from a limited menu and a chocolate ship.

 

Now getting to black status sailing with MSC would take a little less than 28 days if sailing in YC. Booking onboard you also get double MSC points.  

[JCMass.]

3 hours ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

The free 8" X 10" picture is a nice perk. We have never bought a picture on the ship because we never thought it was worth the money. We also passed on most attempts to have our picture taken (embarkation, formal night, on the pier at every port, etc.) throughout the cruise because we knew we wouldn't be buying any of them. Now that we are Diamond and my wife and I each get a free picture, we are having more pictures taken on our cruises hoping to find a nice souvenir picture from each cruise.

Great tip, thanks.  We rarely have out picture taken, but we will give it a try this time.  Thanks for all the tips.   

Edited July 15, 2019 by JCMass.