Non-"Elite" status affected your enjoyment?

[goldfish65]

Essentially my first cruise (last time was 1973) and this will be a long one on a small ship and I gather a large contingent of members with loyalty privileges. Does anyone who was in my position feel they had a negative experience? I don't mind people boasting or speaking a secret language, I am concerned with venues being filled or closed off at certain times. Any tips for using specialty dining...obtaining a nice table in the MDR...etc? We have early dining. Do I have valid concerns? Thank you.

[Tulsacoker]

Nope no concerns and you will not even notice anyone's status. Enjoy your cruise

[spookwife]

The only time you might be impacted is during the evening cocktail hour when the loyalty lounges serve drinks and appetizers.  If there are a very large number, they will use an overflow area adjacent which means anyone not Diamond and up won’t be allowed.

 

a ‘nice’ table is subjective.

 

wait until you board to get deals on specialty dining

[RickAinley]

Nope. Nope and Nope.

 

Early boarding means squat by the time we got to Port Canaveral at 12pm. Straight on. We passed the Diamond lounge a few times. but didn't feel we missed out.

 

Enjoy your week.

[Big_G]

What ship?

[voyager70]

I thoroughly enjoyed all my cruises before I became D/D+.  Didn't effect my experience at all.

 

[goldfish65]

14 minutes ago, spookwife said:

The only time you might be impacted is during the evening cocktail hour when the loyalty lounges serve drinks and appetizers.  If there are a very large number, they will use an overflow area adjacent which means anyone not Diamond and up won’t be allowed.

 

a ‘nice’ table is subjective.

 

wait until you board to get deals on specialty dining

Thanks, I am sure there are ample places where we can enjoy a drink!

 

8 minutes ago, Big_G said:

What ship?

Rhapsody...April 2020 transatlantic.

[jakeil7]

The only way you could be affected is if you were in a suite class cabin on a ship with extensive suite-focused facilities and there were many high end elites.  Since you are on a smaller ship, it does not matter. 

[ZiggaZagga17]

9 minutes ago, voyager70 said:

I thoroughly enjoyed all my cruises before I became D/D+.  Didn't effect my experience at all.

 

Us too!

 

Stands to reason really if you think about it - nobody would have become D or D+ if we hadn't! 😎

[kernow]

It won't have any affect on you, despite the fact that so many people like to talk about it on here, most passengers onboard will not mention it. 

Generally being polite and friendly to the staff will get you much further than status and throwing money at them.😀

[jakeil7]

1 minute ago, kernow said:

...throwing money at them.

Although this is a totally valid strategy as well 😁

[Big_G]

30 minutes ago, goldfish65 said:

Rhapsody...April 2020 transatlantic.

 

Rhapsody's Diamond Lounge is aft on Deck 6 off the Shall We Dance Lounge. The overflow goes into the main lounge but there usually nothing going on there during cocktail hour. The Concierge Club is on Deck 11 and they do use the Viking Crown for over flow but there still should be plenty of room. Those are the only areas you probably need to be concerned with.

[vacationlover_mn]

We only had one cruise with stuff closed off- on symphony this past Feb, there was a giant construction company that did a charter over Super Bowl weekend.  Even though some venues were closed certain nights, we had a great time 🙂

[cruisegirl1]

You shouldn’t notice it at all. There are many cruisers that never heard of crown and anchor society and don’t know what the different levels are. One poster mentioned using a diamond lounge or overflow. Honestly that’s a great time to visit other ship bars or  venues as they are often empty. 
 

on Oasis class ships, one has to make reservations for entertainment. Reservations open at the same time for everybody. There is some special seating, but generally that is in an upper balcony so if you like a seat by the floor, you are in luck.
 

hope you have a good time 

m

[Merion_Mom]

2 hours ago, goldfish65 said:

Essentially my first cruise (last time was 1973) and this will be a long one on a small ship and I gather a large contingent of members with loyalty privileges. Does anyone who was in my position feel they had a negative experience? I don't mind people boasting or speaking a secret language, I am concerned with venues being filled or closed off at certain times. Any tips for using specialty dining...obtaining a nice table in the MDR...etc? We have early dining. Do I have valid concerns? Thank you.

 

Bar recommendation:  Hang out in the Schooner Bar.  Any time of day - it's a great place - but especially from 4:30 to 8.  You can watch the parade of D & D+ marching back to the Diamond Lounge and Shall We Dance Lounge (yeah, on the Vision class, they named this lounge after Broadway musicals/songs) for their free drinks and overrated appetizers.  Free entertainment for you!  😄 

[Tulsacoker]

Keep check back wanting someone to post that they will have a rotten time not being a top tier with reasons 

[biomedbob]

Merion:  You've let our secret out.  The Schooner Bar on the Grandeur is the only way the D's and D+'s can access their freebies by walking through there.  Sometimes I leave the bar and go into the SP Lounge and grab some of the shrimp or cheese offerings and bring them back to munch on.  If there is a comment or a glare....I just flash my P S&S card!

[papaflamingo]

Schooner Bar is a great place to hang.  It's my favorite bar on the ship.  But I can't say I've ever seen any "entertainment value" in watching people walk through to another space aft.  Y'all must be easily entertained. 

[mayleeman]

Frankly, the only awareness for us of having so many upper-tier pax on our recent Allure B2B was that many  complained about overcrowding in the Diamond Lounge (other venues for overflow were unavailable).  We were always worried about the crowds, because the Lounge was next to the elevators and Library on our deck.  I swear we didn't see more than 25 to 30 people going in or out of the Lounge the entire 2 weeks. Maybe they are a stealthy bunch!

 

We concluded from our visits with upper tiers that their high numbers were a bigger inconvenience to them than to the rest of the ship. And we learned a lot from the ones we talked to.

Edited November 7, 2019 by mayleeman

[toxicfairy]

I'm not in the big leagues yet. But we've made it to Emerald. I've never worried about it and never knew what anyone elses status was except once when the extremely rude woman was screaming at the woman working at the curtosy desk that she demanded an upgrade and didn't they know she was a diamond member!?$?!!! We laughed all the way back to our cabin at how she acted like she was the Holy Grail of cruisers.

[goldfish65]

Thanks to all for sharing. Look like we have nothing to worry about and in some ways we are better off.

[boscobeans]

No real felt effect for us as we earned our Elite on Celebrity and then earned Diamond  on RCCL, independent of each other. 

In the past 20 plus years we have however noticed a widening difference in the entire cruise experience based on category of stateroom, especially with more and more pluses for suite bookings.

 

Back a few years a suite got a larger stateroom, a veranda and a butler. Now there are different "BETTER" dining venues places on private islands only available to suite guests and other perks. 

 

All in all after booking everything from an inside up to Royal Suites on both lines there are things that for the most part are really NOT that noticeable whether they are Loyalty based or Category based. 

Edited November 8, 2019 by boscobeans