Jim S
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Posts posted by Jim S
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7 minutes ago, Cile said:
So what is the point to have D+ when benefits are same like D. No difference .
No, D+ get other additional benefits
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6 hours ago, Jim S said:
Not heard anything yet from RCCL but Celebrity Cruises published this notice on their website yesterday.
RCCL have yet to confirm the statement made above by Celebrity cruises regarding the UAE ports not allowing cruise ships to dock in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
I do know for a fact that the Jewel of the Seas sailed today March 9 from Dubai on a 7 night Arabian Gulf cruise. We just have to wait to find out if Jewel gets back into port and whether or not the March 16 and March 23 cruises are being cancelled. Will update the blog if and when I hear any further news.
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For us, we enjoy the social aspect of the CL and the DL and have made several new friends in this way, many of whom we still communicate with. In fact we are (hopefully) going out to Dubai on Friday to join Jewel of the Seas for two B2B cruises and meet up our Canadian friends that we met on two previous transatlantic cruises. They are Pinnacles and we are D+ and we have only just been informed that we will not be able to join them socially in the CS. Not at all happy about this.
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28 minutes ago, FManke said:
Not being anywhere close to either of those levels myself, I was just wondering if their wasn't any under utilized lounge areas that can be converted for use by those C&A members?
They do open up other areas for happy hour overspill but this is only temporary for the particular cruise. Don’t know if they would consider converting an extra lounge area permanently on their ships for D, D+ and Pinnacle guests.
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Yes Jeff M I agree with you. I think we can all understand the problem that RCCL has due to the ever increasing number of D and D+ CAS members and the limited space in the Diamond and Concierge lounges. However, what I am not at all happy about is the deceitful attitude of RCCL in not being open and honest with their loyal guests in advance and only advising D+ members a few days before the cruise that they will not be getting access to the CL.
I can now see that this perk is NEVER going to return to D+ CAS members. Watch out Pinnacles, it is coming to you next.
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Not heard anything yet from RCCL but Celebrity Cruises published this notice on their website yesterday.
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9 hours ago, Felpi said:
then I wait until I get the mail too
We got this info from Canadian friends who are on the same cruise. RCCL has not informed us yet.
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This is the info we received from RCCL regarding the March 16 cruise:-
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3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:
How is that going to affect your cruise ? Are you able to make alternative airline reservations ? Is a RCCL helping with those plans/costs ?
We are on the March 23 cruise as well. RCCL have completely changed the itenary and cancelled four ports ; Kasab, Muscat, Naples and Rome. The cruise now starts with an overnight in Dubai, and they have added three new ports; Limassol, Chania and an overnight in Athens, where it now ends. We only found this out today from our Canadian friends who we are joining on the ship. RCCL have not informed us directly yet and we leave home on Friday on our way to Dubai to join the ship.
We are also on the previous cruise on March 16 and RCCL have just cancelled the overnight in Doha and replaced it with an overnight in Abu Dhabi. The 7 night cruise now only goes to Sir Bani Yas Island and Abu Dhabi. Bahrain and Doha have been cancelled.
I’m afraid we are not having much luck at the moment.
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11 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:
I'm sorry that this is not working out the way you had hoped. I think many of us, who frequent these boards, are well aware that almost 100% of the time, these days, the CL is being put off limits to D+. It is a way for RCCL to turn all of the CL into SL without actually doing it. I'm sorry if you did not get that word soon enough. It is, unfortunately, the way things are going on all of the RCCL ships with very limited exceptions.
I understand why they are doing it. However, RCCL should be more open and honest with their loyal customers and not hide the reality of the situation. I would appreciate them more if they were not so deceitful. We will vote with our feet in future.
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Just received the RCCL email today advising that D+ will not be permitted access to the Concierge Lounge, as the CL is only open for Suites and Pinnacle guests. Not at all happy about this, as we are travelling with cruise friends from Canada who are Pinnacle and they will get access and we will not.
We booked this cruise in a Junior Suite a year ago and got confirmation at the time from RCCL Customer Services that the CL is open to all D+ guests as well as Pinnacles and suite guests. If we had been informed then that we would not be getting CL access we would either have upgraded to GS if the price was right or would not have booked at all.
Shame on RCCL for not being open and honest with loyal cruisers like us, only advising of the situation just days before the cruise when it is too late to do anything about it. Seems like this is happening on a lot, if not all, RCCL cruises, so it appears to be policy.
From now on RCCL will NOT be our preferred cruise company and we will book with whoever gives the best deal at the time.
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On 21 February 2020 at 3:25 PM, WAAAYTOOO said:
Great news !!!! They awarded us C&A points for the entire 8 day Anthem cruise even though it was shortened to 5 days !! 16 points for us since we were in a suite. Only 190 to Pinnacle !!!!
Well done on getting the full points. Only another 2-3 more years to get to Pinnacle !!!!
We still have a very long way to go - 262 at the moment and 348 including the cruises we have booked. Less than half way, mind you we only started cruising in 2011, so I suppose we are not doing too badly.
Happy cruising ???
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So far so good. Just received our travel documents from our Travel Agent today. The potential war with Iran seems out of the question at the moment but the Coronavirus is now the main concern. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it does not affect our B2B cruises on Jewel of the Seas March 16 and March 23.
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On 10 February 2020 at 1:15 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:
BTW, they are still excluding D+ from the CL even with the modified itin.
On our way to 270 for the tech presentation.
Hi WAAAYTOOO
I am fairly new to the forum. My wife and I are booked on Anthem for the transatlantic sailing from Southampton on 1st November and note your comment regarding D+ not being permitted access to the CL. Just wondering if this applies to all future Anthem sailings, as we specifically booked a 4C large balcony cabin close to the CL on deck 12 so that we have easy access to the CL.
if we were not allowed access that would be a great disappointment to us. On previous cruises on Anthem and Ovation (twice) we did enjoy access to the CL and it was fantastic.
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Seems a right rip-off to me. As if you don’t pay enough for the cruise and they expect you to pay through the nose for a stop off at the beach. No thanks, I will not be indulging is this.
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16 hours ago, Spang1974 said:
Have booked twice in the UK ( past cruise and future cruise both Anthem and prepaid tips were the same price as onboard), any variance really just depends on the exchange rate converting dollars to pounds.
From memory the 13 night transatlantic cruise on Odyssey The prepaid gratuity worked out about $19 per person per day
4 minutes ago, Psycho and Barb said:We like the pre-paid tips that are paid by our TA
But if not we will pay them onboard.
When we had our holiday home in Florida we usually booked through www.cruise.com. They always included gratuities in the price of the cruise, and quite often some onboard credit as well.
In the UK you have to add it to your booking or pay via your onboard account. When prepaid it is charged in GBP so you need to work out whether or not it is better to pay upfront or onboard. Recently I have found that it was cheaper to pay onboard. Must have something to do with the currency exchange rate.
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15 hours ago, Spang1974 said:
Have booked twice in the UK ( past cruise and future cruise both Anthem and prepaid tips were the same price as onboard), any variance really just depends on the exchange rate converting dollars to pounds.
From memory, for the 13 night transatlantic cruise on Odyssey the prepaid gratuity worked out about $20 per person per day. Onboard, I believe it is $17.50 pppd, i.e. an extra $65 for the cruise.
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Suite guests do not get drinks on their sea pass card. That is only for C&A Diamond and above members.
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I think that RCI should allow the 3 free drinks to be any drink up to a pre-determined value, say $12, and not just those on the “Diamond” list. That might encourage drinkers to go to other bars on the ship and not jam up the Diamond and Concierge Lounges where the drinks choice is quite limited.
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P&O cruises no longer charge for gratuities, they are included in the cruise fare. I haven’t noticed any substantial difference in the cruise prices from last year when gratuities were added to your onboard daily account.
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Yes, I think RCCL have created a monster that they cannot feed. The number Diamond and Diamond Plus members is increasing dramatically every year. I think RCCL should introduce a new Crown & Anchor loyalty level at, say, 350 points. Access to the Concierge lounge could be awarded from that level. By the way, I am Diamond Plus with 262 points so I am not suggesting this to benefit myself, but merely suggesting the change as way to address the problem of the overcrowded lounges. The Diamond lounge could then be restricted to Diamond Plus members with less than 350 points. Diamond members would receive the normal 3 free drinks on their sea pass each night.
Only my opinion. Hope I don’t upset anybody.
Diamond plus out of concierge lounges
in Royal Caribbean News and Rumors
Posted
We can but that is not the point. We enjoy the surroundings of the CL and this is being taken away from us. We booked a JS and if we had known this when we booked we would have either upgraded to GS if the price was right or we would not have booked at all.