twangster

27 minutes ago, Ditchdoc said:

Well .. just to be contrary .... If you can not find time/money for at least a 3 night cruise every 2 years, you probably don't have much loyalty to begin with. It maintaining all that loyalty actually means that much to you and you simply can not find the time, find the cheapest, shortest, inside room you can, pay the $300 bucks, reset the loyalty and stay home for another 2 years if you want. Actually, right now, RC has a one way from Miami to Panama for $151. I would think that kind of price would be worth it to keep from loosing your loyalty status for a couple of years if you absolutely could not make the trip. This is assuming paying and not going still count toward your loyalty.

But why?

If someone isn't cruising they cost the loyalty program $0.

Life can present temporary challenges.  Becoming pregnant, becoming a primary caregiver for elderly, other life events that prevent someone from cruising for a few years.  What do the cruise lines gain from alienating guests who can't cruise for a few years?  With the playing field reset, why return to a cruise line who just dumped you?  Seems like it reduces loyalty, not increasing it.

3 hours ago, Sweety said:

This is the start of my retirement year. It has been a full of joy journey. What has started as a three retirement has grown to over 10. Thank you @Ampurp85, @WAAAYTOOO, @Lovetocruise2002, @OCSC Mike, @twangster for making me step out of my comfort zone of cruise ships. 34 years of teaching and I am ready for my next journey. I hope to meet this awesome team of cruisers to help me celebrate my journey. I was awarded the principal star award. I am the first recipient. The award stated, “Thank you for being a star player for administrators, teachers, staff, students and for going beyond your duties.

Congratulations on fulfilling your teaching career!

11 hours ago, sleepytrucker said:

Delta Skymiles makes Delta 7 Billion a year... Delta and other 4 major carriers onyl made profit last year becasue of their rewatrds programs.   Delta was able to borrow agaisnt Skymiles during COVID to stay afloat.   The points are a virtural currency... which can be sold to partners, it is a money printer.   The other major lines are likely to do the same to compete ON THE STOCK MARKET.   AND... may send your lesser spend clients to your compeditors.   Just saying. 

I'm a million miler on Delta.  That gets me lifetime Gold status but I'm only an entry level million miler.  

95% of my first million miles was business travel paid for by someone else.

The business traveler is the cash cow of airlines and hotels.  Their loyalty programs are written for business travelers.   

There are no business travelers on cruise lines other than some few and far between corporate charters to reward top performers.  

Airline and hotel loyalty programs can't be used to compare with cruise line loyalty programs.  Despite that, there is a permanent lifetime status component of Delta's loyalty program for their most traveled fliers.

Ironically Delta upset a lot of their loyalty members with their latest update where they made it all about spend on the branded credit card.  I actually don't fly them very much now.  As I've grown up and pay for business class now Delta is my least flown airline.  Since I buy business class I don't need their loyalty perks.  Kind of ironic.  Their loyalty program doesn't create loyalty.  

29 minutes ago, steverk said:

While I don't expect major changes to C&A anytime soon, Royal does have some issues that will require changes at some point. For example, there's crowding in the crown and concierge lounges. How will Royal adjust for this? Time will tell. Meanwhile, I don't want to give ideas that we won't like!

Renaming the lounge has an inescapable conclusion.  

4 minutes ago, steverk said:

On the other hand, we se more and more ports balking at the number of cruise ship passengers and some are even restricting the size and number of ships in port. Economy of scale is great and all, but it's not all roses.

Absolutely. 

Royal is not about trying to be everything and go everywhere.  They are a mass market cruise line engineered by design to visit mass market ports that want need mass tourism.

Want boutique ports?  Sail Celebrity.  

When you look at Carnival's old VIFP program it was pretty weak.  I've been 3 cruises short of platinum for over a decade.  Over that period there was zero motivation to cruise in order to advance to platinum.  The only real benefit of platinum was early boarding.  Carnival creates chaos for the boarding process so they can sell FTTF.  Platinum and above don't need FTTF.  

The one free beverage had restrictions, only available on the last day after 5pm, or something silly like that.  

VIFP was always a terrible loyalty program.

What's fascinating to me is how strong the reaction has been.  Despite taking away very few benefits, the customer reaction has been explosive.

Can you imagine what Royal would face if they took away the real benefits that CAS currently provides.  Customer reaction would be nuclear in comparison to the strong reaction that Carnival received.

Heading to Odyssey in August.  Curious how smokey the casino was with so few using it.  Were the smokers using it as a smoking lounge without gambling?

Why maintain a fleet of 30 ships when you can sail with just as many berths with fewer ships in the fleet?

That's 30 captains and staff captains, 30 sets of bridge officers and 30 hotel directors, all high paid salary positions.  Do more with less.

Royal's biggest problem is selling off the older inefficient ships while avoiding selling them to a competitor who will buy a ship at a fraction of a cost and compete with Royal in the Bahamas and Caribbean where Royal makes bank.  Cordella was a nice fit as they sail only in India.  No overlap.  TUI wants new ships for the same reasons why Royal does.  So for now it remains optimal to sail the old crud into the ground while carrying passengers and generating lower profits but avoiding giving a competitor the means to take business away for the price of a song.      

I think they missed a digit, or two.  

The SeaPlex on Odyssey is a very different design while the earlier Q class ships have smaller pods that hang off the SeaPlex.  They can't implement a PM in those small pods so it would require major modification to add a PM to early Q class.  Weight is critical on a ship and the SeaPlex is at the top, so weight is even more critical.  It's a pretty significant re-engineering of the ship weight and balance, so not an easy undertaking.

Liberty is another matter.They must have plans to deploy her elsewhere in the future where a sports bar is less of a thing.

Not really.  Royal is a family cruise line and it's very common for kids and families using the pools whenever they are open.  There may be times when the pools are lightly occupied and you may be able to get a few laps in but you will always need to be mindful of someone else jumping in to float in your way.  There are no designated "lap times", it's a shared pool for multiple uses.

Verbiage doesn't state it's limited by cruise length. Each member should get it.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/crown-and-anchor-society-benefit-grid.pdf

Purchase a specialty restaurant dinner cover charge during the first or second night of your cruise and enjoy complimentary dining for the second guest. Valid for dinner reservations only on the first or second night. (Excludes Celebration Table, Chef’s Table, Empire Supper Club, Hooked, Izumi: Hibachi/ Teppanyaki, Omakase, Izumi in the Park, Johnny Rockets, Playmakers, Portside BBQ, and Royal Railway) 

Booked Freedom in July to check out this smoke free casino.

I don't see it being offered in advance on an Anthem 3 night sailing from Sydney.

Oxymoron of the day:

2025 GO FOR THE BOLD OFFER NOT AVAILABLE 6/17/2025

They took it away!

23 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Sorry to take an offramp on this thread....but has anyone else gotten the offer "Go For the Bold" ?  It's listed for both Dan and me on the website but it also says, "Offer Not Available".  Maybe it's something that is coming but not yet implemented.  IF so, that would be a first ! (something on the website before being actually implemented).

Me too

Perhaps try Youtube.  There are videos about slots for beginners.  They work on ships the same as they do on land so don't focus on Royal Caribbean.  

2 hours ago, SplashOfWater said:

I just left the Norwegian Aqua yesterday and my NCL points were updated today. No reason why Royal can't do the same.

It appears on the surface at least, that Royal executive leadership doesn't see the value in modernizing their IT platforms.  This isn't exactly or completely accurate as there are some changes coming, but generally speaking when you have dump trucks of money being dumped in your lap every hour it's hard to understand how an extra dump truck of money per day is worth the costs to modernize.  

Work in IT long enough and when it comes to large corporations there are two main types.  Those that see IT as a tool to empower the organization and increase revenue versus those companies that view IT as a cost center, a money pit that, like a boat, only costs you money with no increased returns.  

When ever I have interviewed for senior IT positions in my life I have asked questions to understand the nature of the IT-political structure to determine how the organization views IT.  I make choices based on the assessment.  I don't enjoy working at an organization where IT isn't valued or funded to excel.  But I do understand the argument.  With gobs of money coming in, will this multi-million dollar expense to improve IT generate gobs more millions?  No?  Then nope.  Stay the course.  

6 hours ago, ScorpioAlicia said:

I recieved an email from concierge welcoming me to my cruise on symphony next week. It only said free drinks 5-8. And complimentary coffee and tea other hours. I'm staying in a crown loft suite and I thought it was wine, beer,soda from 11-11. So I didn't purchase deluxe beverage package.  Does anyone know if it is 11-11? Thank you

Reply to the concierge email and ask them.

Carnival bought the pier and port in Skagway and Royal bought Costa Maya.

This seems to a trend in the industry.  

Port Canaveral is easily accessible.  She will be able to drive up to the terminal and pick you up.  

9 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

How long before it becomes a river of Coco Loco (or whatever they name it there)?

River of pee likely...

Mr. Schneider hinted at a cooler of beer idea they're working on, "We're kicking around this idea where maybe you take a cooler...because being in the longest lazy river in the world, you're in that body of water, if you choose for up to or more than an hour to get around it."

Doesn't the Royal branded credit card already provide cash back % for Royal purchases?  

When I see the phrase Future Cruise Credit I have a PTSD type response from the FCC chaos of the pandemic.  

7 hours ago, Chili said:

 

That would be awesome and with Voyager coming back into the Pacific later this year maybe the stars are aligning for a year round ship in Australia.

Navigator has a dry dock and non-revenue repositioning sailing in March 2027.  April 23 she pops up somewhere ready to be in service. Lelepa is said to begin service "early 2027". With no guests on board the repositioning voyage from the shipyard in Singapore can be direct with no stops on the way.   

Voyager had a dry dock Nov. 2024.  Now that she is under the every 2.5 year requirement for shipyard visits due to her age, that puts the next Voyager dry dock in the May 2027 time frame.  If Voyager was meant to be part of the Lelepa kick off it seems odd to open Lelepa "early 2027" then send Voyager to Singapore for a dry dock soon after.  It's likely Voyager heads to Singapore after her LA/Mexico stint ending in April 2027 for the dry dock she will need.  That just leaves the question what does she do when the dry dock is over mid to late May.  Will they keep her in Singapore to take over from Navigator?  

They likely won't keep two ships year round in Australia, at least not at first, so a year round ship in the warmer Queensland climate doing runs that include Lelepa and the South Pacific regular ports of call visits makes a lot of sense.

With the more chill nature of Lelepa and no pier in favor of tendering, it may not need as long of a construction cycle so the "early 2027" time frame should be realistic. 

Why open early in 2027 if they didn't mean to keep going there through the middle of 2027 when traditionally ships have finished their Australia season?  We've seen references to Lelepa and year round service so maybe it's all coming together for Navigator from Brisbane year round with a Quantum class still operating from Sydney seasonally.