No access to crown lounge to Diamond level

[seasidemama]

Had a friend on last week's symphony sailing and she was told Crown lounge was only open to D+/Pinnacle on that sailing.

My friend isn't diamond yet so didn't have any details.

 

Anyone experience this issue on a cruise?

I'm lowly diamond and can deal without the breakfast/evening appetizers - BUT I always take advantage of the coffee machine many times a day. 

 

I guess all those rumors on the renaming of the diamond lounge to crown lounge were right on point. 

[Another_Critic]

When they close the CL for Diamond, it is only during Happy Hour.  It is open to Diamond all other times.

[Ourusualbeach]

4 minutes ago, seasidemama said:

BUT I always take advantage of the coffee machine many times a day. 

 

The restricting of the Crown lounge to D+ will not affect you.  As mentioned it is for happy hour only

[dad son team]

This happened to us on our recent TA crossing because there were over 1,000 guests who we at least Diamond.  As others have said, it was only closed to Diamond between 5-8pm.  It was available all other times.  This was on the Explorer where the CL is up in the crown, which was ALWAYS packed during happy hour.  We could still use the bar area, but we couldn't go inside to get appetizers so really didn't miss much.

[ONECRUISER]

Did the Boston to Florida Cruise for over Decades, very popular with Upper Tier C&A. Diamonds would get Crown Lounge and/or 3 Lounges, D+ would get the Diamond Lounge. Lot on longer Sailings have similar, though as already said is "usually" just for Happy Hour

[cublet]

Hello,

 

Whilst in port, the view from Anthem's Crown Lounge is usually no more than the concrete of the sea or pier wall.

 

The view from Independence's Crown Lounge is magnificent - sea day or port day.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[OldCaver]

5 hours ago, seasidemama said:

I'm lowly diamond and can deal without the breakfast/evening appetizers - BUT I always take advantage of the coffee machine many times a day. 

 

Totally with you on that coffee machine. I hit it early in the morning, without fail. More visits may or may not happen, but will probably happen. 🙂

[BND]

5 hours ago, seasidemama said:

Had a friend on last week's symphony sailing and she was told Crown lounge was only open to D+/Pinnacle on that sailing.

My friend isn't diamond yet so didn't have any details.

 

Anyone experience this issue on a cruise?

I'm lowly diamond and can deal without the breakfast/evening appetizers - BUT I always take advantage of the coffee machine many times a day. 

 

I guess all those rumors on the renaming of the diamond lounge to crown lounge were right on point. 

We've had it happen on some sailings, but not all.  We're D+, almost Pinnacle so we know that access to the SL won't probably happen for us on most, if not all cruises.  We do use the CL.  On Jewel 10 night NB and 10 night SB (NJ to Quebec to NJ) they limited the CL to D+ and Pinn and only let the top 20 Pinns into the SL. The CL during happy hour spilled over into the VCL and completely filled it.  Our b2b on Vision in April wasn't restricting at all and the CL was never full.  It varies so much from itinerary to ship.  We're on a 5 night on Vision to Bermuda in Aug and we know there won't be a lot of top tier onboard.  Last cruise we did to Bermuda on EN a couple of years ago, we were #3 point wise with about 440 points.  My point is, that your mileage may vary, but as others have said, you can go in anytime except during happy hour IF they are restricting access to D+ and above.

Edited June 8 by BND

[MichaelCMTX]

A number of us suggested this was the endgame of the name change.

 

Not too concerned as we're D+ 100 days from today.

[Jasukkie]

I'm D+ and I just don't see the appeal of these spaces. The ones without the views are about as appealing as a doctor's waiting room, and the ones with a view are divided into a tiny little space that always has that one group dominating the seating. The snacks have gone downhill too. I pop in once or twice per cruise, or not. Love those vouchers!

[Tin can]

9 hours ago, MichaelCMTX said:

A number of us suggested this was the endgame of the name change.

 

 

I think so and possibly the alignment of the RCI brands. Its all speculation of course but I am seeing growing discussions in FB groups that the Crown Lounge is destined for something along the lines of 'The Key' and paid for access/experience

 

Who knows, but as the above poster states, everyone seems to love the vouchers and like Jasukkie we also barely visit the lounge now. Why then wouldn't corporate try and generate income from some under utilised prime ship real estate.

 

I'm not a conspiracist, especially concerning holidays,  but I do find it interesting that all of a sudden Pinnacles are now being filtered by points to access the suite lounges. Of course numbers are increasing but could we have expected these changes two years ago, it just seem to me that some very big loyalty scheme changes are coming our way.

 

 

 

[loman]

Im only there for the coffee machine too, so i dont care about the happy hour rules .

Once in the morning and once mid afternoon .

[nelblu]

20 hours ago, seasidemama said:

Had a friend on last week's symphony sailing and she was told Crown lounge was only open to D+/Pinnacle on that sailing.

My friend isn't diamond yet so didn't have any details.

 

Anyone experience this issue on a cruise?

I'm lowly diamond and can deal without the breakfast/evening appetizers - BUT I always take advantage of the coffee machine many times a day. 

 

I guess all those rumors on the renaming of the diamond lounge to crown lounge were right on point. 

It all depends on the numbers of D and up on any sailings.  For instance, on my Easter Anthem sail the CL was open to D as the place was like a morgue on many nights.  I even had my grandkids join us on many nights.  As others have said, the CL lounge is open throughout the day for Ds except during happy hour, when dictated.  Unfortunately, the coffee machine was broken for the last 4 days.

Edited June 9 by nelblu

[BND]

12 hours ago, Jasukkie said:

I'm D+ and I just don't see the appeal of these spaces. The ones without the views are about as appealing as a doctor's waiting room, and the ones with a view are divided into a tiny little space that always has that one group dominating the seating. The snacks have gone downhill too. I pop in once or twice per cruise, or not. Love those vouchers!

On small ships such as Vision class, it's a place to get a snack before dinner (late seating for us).  There are plenty of people who do like the lounges.  We've met a lot of great people in them.  The great thing about it is, you don't have to go, but if others want to, then that's great.  We haven't experienced the "seating domination".   On some sailings there are groups that know each other and why shouldn't they sit together?  We have seen less of that in the last few years, but it's never kept us from finding a seat.

[BND]

3 hours ago, Tin can said:

 

I think so and possibly the alignment of the RCI brands. Its all speculation of course but I am seeing growing discussions in FB groups that the Crown Lounge is destined for something along the lines of 'The Key' and paid for access/experience

 

Who knows, but as the above poster states, everyone seems to love the vouchers and like Jasukkie we also barely visit the lounge now. Why then wouldn't corporate try and generate income from some under utilised prime ship real estate.

 

I'm not a conspiracist, especially concerning holidays,  but I do find it interesting that all of a sudden Pinnacles are now being filtered by points to access the suite lounges. Of course numbers are increasing but could we have expected these changes two years ago, it just seem to me that some very big loyalty scheme changes are coming our way.

 

 

 

The limiting of Pinns to the SL is simple.  The suites expect the lounge they paid for in their cruise fare and if they allow all the Pinns on top heavy cruises, then they wouldn't be getting one of their perks.  On some cruises there are 50 or more Pinns which really impact the SL.  We've only experienced the limits on Jewel Quebec city 10 day NB and 10 day SB.  It's a cruise that doesn't happen often and so it attracts top tier who've done other itineraries many times.  On Vision in April, there were no limits and the lounges weren't crowded at all.

[TeeRick]

Yes we were on Symphony earlier this year and the Crown Lounge was restricted to D+ and P during HH.  Really not a big deal with the drink vouchers.  Why crowd into the Crown Lounge?

[Jasukkie]

2 hours ago, BND said:

On small ships such as Vision class, it's a place to get a snack before dinner (late seating for us).  There are plenty of people who do like the lounges.  We've met a lot of great people in them.  The great thing about it is, you don't have to go, but if others want to, then that's great.  We haven't experienced the "seating domination".   On some sailings there are groups that know each other and why shouldn't they sit together?  We have seen less of that in the last few years, but it's never kept us from finding a seat.

I'm glad you enjoy them. I'm sure Royal will keep them around another couple of years for old time's sake, but I don't think the concept will survive long term. 

 

As for the seating situation, the last time I got snacks in the lounge was on Jewel, which is a tiny partitioned space. One large group had arranged the majority of chairs in an oval, they were loud and it just wasn't a relaxing vibe. I say this not as a complaint, they are absolutely free to do that, but just sharing that it can be a reason why people prefer to be elsewhere. I can use my vouchers anywhere. They also let you walk out with the snacks which is nice if it is too crowded. As I said, I usually check it out at least once per cruise, it's by no means a deal-breaker for us. That's prime hot tub time when everyone else is at dinner.

[Ashland]

On 6/8/2024 at 10:05 AM, dad son team said:

This happened to us on our recent TA crossing because there were over 1,000 guests who we at least Diamond.  As others have said, it was only closed to Diamond between 5-8pm.  It was available all other times.  This was on the Explorer where the CL is up in the crown, which was ALWAYS packed during happy hour.  We could still use the bar area, but we couldn't go inside to get appetizers so really didn't miss much.

We're D+ almost Pinn and stay in suites. On Explorer we go in get our drink and snacks and sit out in the Crown. The lounge is always too crowded for us and has a lack of tables for two which we prefer.

[smokeybandit]

1 hour ago, Ashland said:

We're D+ almost Pinn and stay in suites. On Explorer we go in get our drink and snacks and sit out in the Crown. The lounge is always too crowded for us and has a lack of tables for two which we prefer.

The suite lounge on Explorer is tiny compared to other ships.

[shandryl]

I was on Vision OTS sitting in the "Diamond lounge" March 2022 before the name change to Crown & both Concierge & Suite lounge access on all ships changed to Suite guests/Pinnacle "Only" later the same year.

'

They made changes and took away some perks.  Remember when happy hour was open bar! Good times! 😄🍹

 

You can bet that they are going to change it up even more in the not to distant future. "JMO"

 

[smokeybandit]

Just now, shandryl said:

I was on Vision OTS sitting in the "Diamond lounge" March 2022 before the name change to Crown & both Concierge & Suite lounge access on all ships changed to Suite guests/Pinnacle "Only" later the same year.

'

They made changes and took away some perks.  Remember when happy hour was open bar! Good times! 😄🍹

 

You can bet that they are going to change it up even more in the not to distant future. "JMO"

 

Suite lounges were always Pinnacle only. Concierge lounges technically allowed D+ but I don't think any actually were allowed in since the restart  before the official rule change

[Another_Critic]

22 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Suite lounges were always Pinnacle only. Concierge lounges technically allowed D+ but I don't think any actually were allowed in since the restart  before the official rule change

Enchantment March 2022.  As D+, I was allowed in the Concierge lounge.

[seasidemama]

I was referring to the crown lounge, not the suite lounge. Good to know coffee is still available all day. On my last 2 cruises (fist 2 as diamond) I did go into the happy hour 5-8pm to enjoy some appetizers, and a couple of times in lieu of dinner since we didn't have a big appetite and enjoyed the quick bites. An alternative would be sorrento's or promenade cafe which isn't really the same. It's unfortunate that they are restricting this now.

[PhillyFan33579]

I rarely go to the “Crown” Lounge so don’t pay too much attention to it. However, I do recall the few times there were letters in my cabin recently restricting Diamonds from the lounge that this only applied during happy hour.