tonyfsu21

Here we go again. These “blame RC” posts seem to be coming in more often these days. 

Exactly! The C&A benefits are the icing on the cake. I personally think the program is very generous and the daily drinks for D and above is something you don’t see out of the other mid tier lines. 

Exactly! The C&A benefits are the icing on the cake. I personally think the program is very generous and the daily drinks for D and above is something you don’t see out of the other mid tier lines. 

Exactly! The C&A benefits are the icing on the cake. I personally think the program is very generous and the daily drinks for D and above is something you don’t see out of the other mid tier lines. 

I'd argue cruising for loyalty program perks isn't the proper approach. I got into cruising because I liked it. The C&A benefits were an added bonus, not the reason I did/am/continue to cruise.

I also call B.S on the supposed pinnacle member leaving Royal. D+ and pinnacle perks make onboard expenses very manageable. Also, to reach such status, you would know tons of hacks and tips, so to reach said status and then "find out" it's only a 3-star cruise line suggest this person is trolling.

I’m gonna call troll on this one. The first red flag is the supposed “Pinnacle” level guest jumping ship because of the price gouging. It’s clear that up-charges are the primary revenue generator other than possibly the casino and every mid tier cruise company does the same thing! I also think RC has balanced out the family experience to perfection on its current ships and it seems like the Icon class will expand on that. RC is hardly a Disney cruise experience and I would expect a Pinnacle level cruiser would be able to figure that out. The sad part (if I’m incorrect on the trolling) is that it took you $150,000 to figure out that RC was a mid tier (yes probably 3 star) cruise line. It sounds like you should take your own advise and not drink the KoolAid.

My family will enjoy it even more than me. They may not leave it all that often tbh. I'm looking forward to my cabin being adjacent to the SL/CK and the suite deck being right there, I'm just not a huge pool/sun person so I'll likely go off on my own a bit more (if no one wants to tag along) but that's OK too.
I eat more on cruises than anyone in our family so a trip to El Loco Fresh or Park Cafe or wherever in between meals while they're content to stay put on the suite deck works out just fine.
 

You will enjoy the suite neighborhood, it’s a game changer. 

We just got home from our cruise and I can now honestly say I now know why everyone loves to share their experience with Star Class!
To sum up our trip all I can say is that we were pleasantly surprised.
Our embarkation was a bit delayed.  We heard (rumor) that some fool jumped off the ship to avoid being arrested upon arrival in Galveston ! 
We found our star class agents in the terminal who quickly got us onboard.  We had to wait for our cabin to be ready so we had lunch at ck.  Our genie Alan was amazing.  He was there for everything and we found the whole experience to be stress free.  Trust me when I say they take care of everything snd make your journey special.  
We booked a star loft suite and really appreciated the sheer size of the cabin and balcony.  We loved that it had 2 bathrooms.  The wifi worked great and we were able to stream all our music via the sound bar that sounded amazing. 
The food!  We dined at central park and Giovanni's twice and once at Chops.  The service was excellent all all venues.  My favorite meal was the lobster at Chops!  
We ordered room service for breakfast in our cabin every morning but some of the hot entrees were a bit cold when delivered.  We never visited wj so I can't comment about that.  The hot dogs and pizza were really good after a night of drinking lol!
When they told us we had the UDP I thought how much can one person possibly drink in a day but boy we enjoyed that perk!  Starbucks and the smoothies at the vitality spa! The lavender daiquiri was delish! I can't believe how many bars are on that ship.  
We enjoyed Mamma Mia and the comedy show but found the Blue Planet a bit odd and confusing.  
Another perk that we used several times was the laundry. I think that this is a very underrated perk.  We sent our clothes out a few times and had our shirts pressed. They always delivered our clothes back the next day. 
A few things we didn't like about our cruise was how crowded the pools and hot tubs were.  We enjoyed the suite deck but it was a bit of a pain to have to go down a deck and then back up again.  I would have loved a small pool on deck 17!  
The whole genie experience was wonderful and I enjoyed the front rows seats and drinks as we sat down.  Alan was very kind and considerate and I looked forward to seeing his smiling face.  The express elevator rides were a big plus too!
Im not sure we would book star class again based on the cost but think sky class might be a better fit for us. 
One tip I would like to share is that we ended up tipping our genie via zelle instead of cash. We only needed cash for tips at bars and our loft attendants and of course the casino lol.
We look forward to our next cruise!

I agree. There's no reason to try to get casino status if you don't enjoy (and can afford) gambling. 
For me, it was something I was doing already and then saw it wouldn't take much more effort/money to get to Prime.

IMHO the program as a whole is not worth the effort put forth in obtaining any of the status levels unless you throughly enjoy gambling and achieve them regardless (that would be me). I know some will say the annual cruise comps are worthwhile, but I disagree. The comps are great for a retired couple or a couple w/o kids who can hop on and off a cruise and take advantage of the horrific promotional dates that are offered but for the average family, the program benefits are just short of worthless. I do enjoy the “free” drinks while playing in the casino but that’s about it. I hope corporate revisits the program and does a serious revamp across the board. Transparency in the use of these “comps” would be key. It’s been at least 4-5 years since we have received a worthy offer or comp from this program and actually getting said comp was more effort then it was actually worth. Gone are the days we could get a CLS for the price of a balcony stateroom. I will just take my free beers and crawl back in my hole because it’s probably just going to get worse. 

IMHO some of the promenade/boardwalk/Central Park shopping options are a complete waste of space. I would have preferred another bar/dining venue in the majority of the higher end retail shops. There’s no need for Cartier, Bulgari or Tiffany on a mid tier cruise ship. I feel RC missed the mark on this and should offer a nice mid to high end watch and jewelry shop (slightly higher end offerings then the current shop on promenade), mix in the logo store, mercantile, sugar beach and a beach lifestyle store with name brands and it’s covered. Swap Bulgari and Cartier (which by the way don’t even sell the love bracelets which is what 99% of people want) with a dueling piano bar or possibly the Tiki style bar that they have on Mariner. I have a close friend that is an executive at one of these luxury brands and insists the ship outposts are not money makers and actually dilute the brand. Tear them all out and replace them with useable venues! 

IMHO some of the promenade/boardwalk/Central Park shopping options are a complete waste of space. I would have preferred another bar/dining venue in the majority of the higher end retail shops. There’s no need for Cartier, Bulgari or Tiffany on a mid tier cruise ship. I feel RC missed the mark on this and should offer a nice mid to high end watch and jewelry shop (slightly higher end offerings then the current shop on promenade), mix in the logo store, mercantile, sugar beach and a beach lifestyle store with name brands and it’s covered. Swap Bulgari and Cartier (which by the way don’t even sell the love bracelets which is what 99% of people want) with a dueling piano bar or possibly the Tiki style bar that they have on Mariner. I have a close friend that is an executive at one of these luxury brands and insists the ship outposts are not money makers and actually dilute the brand. Tear them all out and replace them with useable venues! 

I can’t imagine people still getting off the ship at 11:30am. By that time, I would have already been 3 beers deep at the pool bar after embarkation!

I can’t imagine people still getting off the ship at 11:30am. By that time, I would have already been 3 beers deep at the pool bar after embarkation!

I can’t imagine people still getting off the ship at 11:30am. By that time, I would have already been 3 beers deep at the pool bar after embarkation!

There’s always lots of PM entertainment on Freedom! This ship leaves from Miami on short duration weekend cruises and attracts a heavy party crowd that stays up late. The Cubans don’t start the party until 10:00pm! We sail Freedom often and it’s always a great time!

IMHO some of the promenade/boardwalk/Central Park shopping options are a complete waste of space. I would have preferred another bar/dining venue in the majority of the higher end retail shops. There’s no need for Cartier, Bulgari or Tiffany on a mid tier cruise ship. I feel RC missed the mark on this and should offer a nice mid to high end watch and jewelry shop (slightly higher end offerings then the current shop on promenade), mix in the logo store, mercantile, sugar beach and a beach lifestyle store with name brands and it’s covered. Swap Bulgari and Cartier (which by the way don’t even sell the love bracelets which is what 99% of people want) with a dueling piano bar or possibly the Tiki style bar that they have on Mariner. I have a close friend that is an executive at one of these luxury brands and insists the ship outposts are not money makers and actually dilute the brand. Tear them all out and replace them with useable venues! 

Agree, although the awkward family photos taken on formal nights are some of the best people watching opportunities! I will get flamed for this but nix the local dancers at the entry to coco cay & Labadee, I can do without the hoopla. Please blast the “it’s a perrrrfeeecttt daaaaaaayyyyy at Coco Caaaaaaay” at an even more obnoxious volume level just to further reinforce where we are. 

IMHO some of the promenade/boardwalk/Central Park shopping options are a complete waste of space. I would have preferred another bar/dining venue in the majority of the higher end retail shops. There’s no need for Cartier, Bulgari or Tiffany on a mid tier cruise ship. I feel RC missed the mark on this and should offer a nice mid to high end watch and jewelry shop (slightly higher end offerings then the current shop on promenade), mix in the logo store, mercantile, sugar beach and a beach lifestyle store with name brands and it’s covered. Swap Bulgari and Cartier (which by the way don’t even sell the love bracelets which is what 99% of people want) with a dueling piano bar or possibly the Tiki style bar that they have on Mariner. I have a close friend that is an executive at one of these luxury brands and insists the ship outposts are not money makers and actually dilute the brand. Tear them all out and replace them with useable venues! 

IMHO some of the promenade/boardwalk/Central Park shopping options are a complete waste of space. I would have preferred another bar/dining venue in the majority of the higher end retail shops. There’s no need for Cartier, Bulgari or Tiffany on a mid tier cruise ship. I feel RC missed the mark on this and should offer a nice mid to high end watch and jewelry shop (slightly higher end offerings then the current shop on promenade), mix in the logo store, mercantile, sugar beach and a beach lifestyle store with name brands and it’s covered. Swap Bulgari and Cartier (which by the way don’t even sell the love bracelets which is what 99% of people want) with a dueling piano bar or possibly the Tiki style bar that they have on Mariner. I have a close friend that is an executive at one of these luxury brands and insists the ship outposts are not money makers and actually dilute the brand. Tear them all out and replace them with useable venues! 

As a family we continue to return to the brand for the Oasis Class ships which in my opinion are the best. The C&A program (especially at the diamond level and higher) can’t be beat. Deck 17 Suites on the Oasis class is something we look forward to. I’ve sailed all the mid tier brands and they each have strong points but nothing comes close to RC in terms of its fleet and the variety of things to do!

IMHO some of the promenade/boardwalk/Central Park shopping options are a complete waste of space. I would have preferred another bar/dining venue in the majority of the higher end retail shops. There’s no need for Cartier, Bulgari or Tiffany on a mid tier cruise ship. I feel RC missed the mark on this and should offer a nice mid to high end watch and jewelry shop (slightly higher end offerings then the current shop on promenade), mix in the logo store, mercantile, sugar beach and a beach lifestyle store with name brands and it’s covered. Swap Bulgari and Cartier (which by the way don’t even sell the love bracelets which is what 99% of people want) with a dueling piano bar or possibly the Tiki style bar that they have on Mariner. I have a close friend that is an executive at one of these luxury brands and insists the ship outposts are not money makers and actually dilute the brand. Tear them all out and replace them with useable venues! 

IMHO some of the promenade/boardwalk/Central Park shopping options are a complete waste of space. I would have preferred another bar/dining venue in the majority of the higher end retail shops. There’s no need for Cartier, Bulgari or Tiffany on a mid tier cruise ship. I feel RC missed the mark on this and should offer a nice mid to high end watch and jewelry shop (slightly higher end offerings then the current shop on promenade), mix in the logo store, mercantile, sugar beach and a beach lifestyle store with name brands and it’s covered. Swap Bulgari and Cartier (which by the way don’t even sell the love bracelets which is what 99% of people want) with a dueling piano bar or possibly the Tiki style bar that they have on Mariner. I have a close friend that is an executive at one of these luxury brands and insists the ship outposts are not money makers and actually dilute the brand. Tear them all out and replace them with useable venues!