Slap in face for diamond plus c&a rccl members

[Honey49]

Shocked at treatment of Diamond Plus crown and anchor members on the refurbished Voyager of the Seas. It seems that emails advising that Plus members could still enjoy the new Suite lounge as they had when it was the concierge lounge are “a mistake from head office “. We have been downgraded to share the roughly 31 seat diamond lounge (about the size of an interior cabin) with the Diamond members with occasional overflow allowed into the adjoining Star Lounge if it happens to be free. Why bother to be loyal to royal when the same benefits apply if you’ve done 80 days or 300 plus. I have a 49 day booking later in the year and I will be canceling at least the Voyager leg and definitely looking at other cruise lines, which I haven’t done while wasting my time accumulating crown and anchor points.

 

[Chiliburn]

8 hours ago, Honey49 said:

Shocked at treatment of Diamond Plus crown and anchor members on the refurbished Voyager of the Seas. It seems that emails advising that Plus members could still enjoy the new Suite lounge as they had when it was the concierge lounge are “a mistake from head office “. We have been downgraded to share the roughly 31 seat diamond lounge (about the size of an interior cabin) with the Diamond members with occasional overflow allowed into the adjoining Star Lounge if it happens to be free. Why bother to be loyal to royal when the same benefits apply if you’ve done 80 days or 300 plus. I have a 49 day booking later in the year and I will be canceling at least the Voyager leg and definitely looking at other cruise lines, which I haven’t done while wasting my time accumulating crown and anchor points.

 

I think cruise lines will be having a bit of a rough patch over the next year.

This will be a time they will be needing their  loyal customers.

 

we are on Ovation and I don’t think I have seen more than 20 people in the diamond lounge. 

[cme2c]

There is another thread on this. I am not a diamond, but I was on the repositioning cruise Singapore-Sydney on Voyager ots last November. I met a few unhappy diamonds This is what happens when RCI turns public areas into cabins, 

[MicCanberra]

I am a diamond member and this is disappointing.

I suppose they see more money coming from newer cruisers than from the repeat customers.

 

[Chiliburn]

41 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I am a diamond member and this is disappointing.

I suppose they see more money coming from newer cruisers than from the repeat customers.

 

I think we will be seeing more incentives if things get tough.
 

Molly announced big things were going to happen about a six months ago .

 

Big bad things happened.

[lyndarra]

These so-called loyalty plans don't sit well with me. Two cruisers can, with identical number of cruise days, can end up on different loyalty levels. One can only afford the cheaper, usually inside, cabins the other cruises in suites. Yet they are equally "loyal" to the brand. To my way of thinking its how much one is willing to spend, not loyalty, that determines the benefits level.

Some people like to think they are more important than others.

 

[Honey49]

In Molly’s announcement email, it was also made quite clear that Diamond Plus members were entitled to use the Concierge lounge. What a joke. I’ve got to this level on inside cabins and it’s taken a long time, could never afford a suite, so I really appreciated the benefits. Looks like I wasted my 11years of loyalty. They’ll be making the same changes to the Explorer too. The other cruise lines are now looking more and more tempting.

[mr walker]

We are Diamond, still a little way off D+ & can understand that the C&A loyalty program is somewhat a victim of it's own success. More people are cruising more often and hence are progressing thru the levels at a rate that is causing some difficulties.

 

We don't cruise to accrue points & levels, but just prefer the RC product - when we started we would never have considered we would ever cruise enough to get anywhere near where we are now. We accept that changes will happen, just like other loyalty programs, which will change the perks. It is actually in the fine print.

 

We actually like the 3 drinks on the card system as an alternative option to the DL during "Happy Hour" & enjoy the other benefits. Also the SL for the high paying guests make sense to us - if we want to avail ourselves of that, we can always choose a suite.

 

We would never get bent out of shape over the changes. If we got close to that we would chose another holiday option.

[MicCanberra]

5 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

I think we will be seeing more incentives if things get tough.
Molly announced big things were going to happen about a six months ago .

Big bad things happened.

Yeah, no so good so far.

[MicCanberra]

 

4 hours ago, lyndarra said:

To my way of thinking its how much one is willing to spend, not loyalty, that determines the benefits level.

 

That is exactly how they are treating passengers on a particular cruise, the more you spend, the more perks you get on that cruise.

Loyalty perks are getting downgraded and it doesn't matter how much you have spent on previous cruises.

[lyndarra]

23 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

 

That is exactly how they are treating passengers on a particular cruise, the more you spend, the more perks you get on that cruise.

Loyalty perks are getting downgraded and it doesn't matter how much you have spent on previous cruises.

When looking through the "perks" or "rewards" levels there doesn't seem to be any great incentive to move up. Five percent off this, ten percent off that. Laundry done a dollar or three cheaper. Free(?) drinks in an exclusive bar? You pay for it in your fare. I don't and won't chase points, I'll book my cruises for the itinerary and the service. If I gain some kind of precious stone level - meh.

I don't think I'll accumulate enough HAL tiles to do my bathroom anytime soon.😛

Edited February 27, 2020 by lyndarra
add on

[MicCanberra]

I agree, no use chasing points with any loyalty club.

We cruise for the itinerary so we are not loyal to any particular line, however we have cruised often enough to have fairly decent loyalty status with a few lines (X, royal and Celebrity being the higher ones).