Perks

[Little]

My Parents were on the Mardi Gras last week and had an interesting experience.  My Mom is Diamond and my Dad turned Diamond on this cruise.  My Mom advised that they no longer have a different process getting on the ship being Diamond.  They had to stand in line with everyone else. This would not have been such a big deal except my Mom can't stand up for very long.  Another thing they noticed when they got to their cabin is that a letter was left on the counter for my Dad welcoming him to Diamond with a nice leather password case but there was not a letter to my Mom welcoming her and giving her a ship pen and gift.  They didn't get the coupon that one gets for a free drink during brunch.  The Diamond party wasn't all you can drink or eat.  They gave them a glass of wine when they arrived then another glass when the left.   Has anyone else noticed a difference?  They did say the ship was beautiful and did not feel crowded at all.

[dallasdan]

Because of the pandemic, they are not leaving the Welcome gifts and pins in your state room.  You have to go to Pixels to receive them.  You also have to ask for the drink coupon at brunch.  There is early boarding for Diamonds and Platinum in that you get to chose your boarding time 2 days ahead of everyone else.  If they were late to select their time, they would not get priority boarding.  Right now, you cannot just show up at the port whenever you like and get early boarding.

[mz-s]

There should have been a "VIFP Benefits" QR Code in their room they could have scanned that went over all the benefits of their status and how to redeem them.

[silversneakers]

1 hour ago, Little said:

My Parents were on the Mardi Gras last week and had an interesting experience.  My Mom is Diamond and my Dad turned Diamond on this cruise.  My Mom advised that they no longer have a different process getting on the ship being Diamond.  They had to stand in line with everyone else. This would not have been such a big deal except my Mom can't stand up for very long.  Another thing they noticed when they got to their cabin is that a letter was left on the counter for my Dad welcoming him to Diamond with a nice leather password case but there was not a letter to my Mom welcoming her and giving her a ship pen and gift.  They didn't get the coupon that one gets for a free drink during brunch.  The Diamond party wasn't all you can drink or eat.  They gave them a glass of wine when they arrived then another glass when the left.   Has anyone else noticed a difference?  They did say the ship was beautiful and did not feel crowded at all.

The letter also stated you can get a "free drink" at any bar one hour prior to the VIP party, There is no food being offered at the event and the captain/senior officers were not present.  I suspect COVID has a lot to do with the diminished offerings.

 

As far a boarding,  typically Suites cost substantially more that most cabins and they now offer Suites first priority boarding which is what they should have always done instead of making them wait until after Platinum/Diamond board.  A lot of the Diamond/Platinum guests are sailing at a reduced rate.....not all but a great number of them are casino guests. There are now so many Diamond/Platinum guests that I believe they were thinking of adding another category in between (?).

[Little]

Thanks for the response.  My Parents are in their 70s and I have just gotten them new IPhones so they were unaware they needed to scan the code.  They have already booked another cruise so I appreciate the responses.

 

 

[Oldsweets]

Sadly, while your correct Dallas Dan that Platinum/Diamond get 2 days early checkin time so that they can board early if they arrive on time that isn’t always the way it works out.  Just a week ago as Platinum with the first checkin time and A3 Boarding number.  Process went smooth and waited about 15 minutes until they began boarding.  They called the Suites (A1 & A2). And a few minutes later they announced B1 and lower?   No call for A3 just jumped right too B 1. Then it got worse as they immediately announced all guest May now board.  `The system then broke down with line jumpers and the face recognition system was so backed up they shut off access to the escalators to reduce the backup.  So sadly even when you get an early number the system does fail and knee deep in confusion.  I should add we are cruising  a lot since the restart and Carnival hands down does a better job with embarkation and debarkation then the competition.  We normally only spend minutes embarking or debarking with Carnival and just this weekend we were an a competitor line and spent 2.5 hours Boarding and 45 minutes departing the ship.  45 minutes with our priory status on this line as well.   

[katiel53]

John Heald did mention a few days ago, he was working with the "beards" to allow the Platinum & Diamond members to begin boarding early again as it was before Covid.

 

I am hoping that will be implemented soon.