The Key

[DunkelBierJay]

The Key popped up on my Cruise Planner this morning, and I am curious if anyone has used it yet. It seems like a no brainer at $19.99 with embarkation day lunch in Chops covered along with VOOM and the other perks.

[Matt]

Check out @twangster review here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/12/04/review-royal-caribbeans-the-key-vip-guest-experience

[Sh2738]

I haven’t used it and personally I believe that it is a waste of money but that’s just me. It is pricey at 19/day/person. Maybe if it was just 19/day and if you didn’t have to only get Chops. But with only getting one lunch with no choice about where, basic internet for one device, everyone in the cabin must purchase, and only other benefit being early boarding/getting off at ports. It would amount to an extra 280 for two people. Is not close to being worth it in my viewpoint. Maybe if it was lunch everyday or if you were able to go someplace else, we can’t eat at Chops so it isn’t a perk for us. 

 

Others might have have different opinions but to me I view it as a waste if money for not really getting anything out of it. But that’s just me. 

[spiralqueen]

24 minutes ago, Sh2738 said:

I haven’t used it and personally I believe that it is a waste of money but that’s just me. It is pricey at 19/day/person. Maybe if it was just 19/day and if you didn’t have to only get Chops. But with only getting one lunch with no choice about where, basic internet for one device, everyone in the cabin must purchase, and only other benefit being early boarding/getting off at ports. It would amount to an extra 280 for two people. Is not close to being worth it in my viewpoint. Maybe if it was lunch everyday or if you were able to go someplace else, we can’t eat at Chops so it isn’t a perk for us. 

 

Others might have have different opinions but to me I view it as a waste if money for not really getting anything out of it. But that’s just me. 

I'd respectfully disagree. The internet provided is the faster version, so it's not "basic" internet per se and it is one device per person. It also includes a nice debarkation day breakfast, private hours on different attractions like the zip line, rock climbing wall, and Flowrider, and reserved seats at the shows. I'm also not discounting the value for me, personally, that I can drop off my carry on bags for someone to bring to my room so I don't have to lug them around until rooms are open.  I will give you that it loses value on non Oasis or Quantum class ships or on longer sailings, but to say you don't get anything out of it is a bit unfair, in my opinion. I do appreciate, however, that you acknowledge that that is your opinion. I'm seeing in far too many places that people are saying it's a valueless scam as if that was a fact and it really rubs me the wrong way and makes me defensive. 

[Sh2738]

9 minutes ago, spiralqueen said:

I'd respectfully disagree. The internet provided is the faster version, so it's not "basic" internet per se and it is one device per person. It also includes a nice debarkation day breakfast, private hours on different attractions like the zip line, rock climbing wall, and Flowrider, and reserved seats at the shows. I'm also not discounting the value for me, personally, that I can drop off my carry on bags for someone to bring to my room so I don't have to lug them around until rooms are open.  I will give you that it loses value on non Oasis or Quantum class ships or on longer sailings, but to say you don't get anything out of it is a bit unfair, in my opinion. I do appreciate, however, that you acknowledge that that is your opinion. I'm seeing in far too many places that people are saying it's a valueless scam as if that was a fact and it really rubs me the wrong way and makes me defensive. 

I also agree that it really ain’t a scam at all just another program that they are offering and some might find it worth the money while others won’t depending on what they value and what they like to do. Yes I think that it really depends on what you would do on the ship. Personally we don’t use any of the flowrider, rock climbing etc activities so those features aren’t of any value to us but would be very valuable to families that would use those features. Also, the price that we are paying for the internet for two devices is a total of 133 for two devices for our cabin since we don’t need any more than that. Also, we check our bags and just carry a purse on board so that feature wouldn’t be used by us either, but certainly might for other groups that might want to carry on luggage. The breakfast also isn’t anything that I would place value on solely for us because we are fine with getting room service or eating in the buffet, but again that’s only us. So for us I can only look at the value of boarding priority and reserved seating at shows as those are the only other features that we would be receiving in addition to the internet. Therefore just for us we would have a difference of around 147 for the added benefits beyond the internet. I personally don’t feel that monetarily speaking that priority boarding and reserved seats at shows is worth an additional 147. 

 

But it that’s just me. I would rather spend that kind of money on excursions and activities. 

 

But families might find this advantageous depending on what they like to do. 

To each their own though

[whenismynextcruise]

I have been looking into the "key" for an upcoming sailing and I have heard mentions of the carry on luggage perk. I am not willing to let someone else handle my carry on luggage so that is why I carry it on in the first place. To me, the point of carrying on luggage is to protect my precious items and NOT let someone handle them. Camera, medication, expensive watches, etc. I guess I just dont understand this perk so it wouldnt really be a perk to me. We never purchase zoom as we choose to disconnect while we are on vacation. And yes, I realize that this is not an option for everyone. We would enjoy the lunch at Chop's. After what can be a long travel morning a nice sit down lunch would be a treat. All of the special hours and premiere attractions is nice if you use them. And depending on the port and the itinerary the early boarding and disembarkation priority at ports can be a benefit if thats important to you to be first on and off. So IMHO it would not be really worth it to us.

To each thier own. Judgment free here. I dont think anyone should be on the defense about this unless they are the person that works for RCL that owns the implementation of this new offering.

 

Relax, live, cruise.......

 

[cruiselife]

The more I think about it the better of a deal it seems. Even at $23.99 a day on my Harmony sailing it seems like a pretty decent deal. It comes out to about $125 more in total than just the internet package for 2 people. So if you were both going to get the internet package anyways then you are looking at getting a specialty lunch at Chops ($22/person normally),  priority check-in, early stateroom access, private FlowRider hours, priority seating at shows with no reservations, priority debarkation at all ports, and a debarkation breakfast. Really if you factor in the internet package and lunch at Chops you are looking at about $40 total per person total on a 7 day sailing for all the extra perks. I think it makes sense for people who are going to do get the internet and have lunch at Chops anyways. The argument could certainly be made that none of the perks are necessary, but I can definitely see the benefits of having them. Particularly the reserved seating at shows without reservations or waiting in queue, private FlowRider hours, and priority debarkation at every port.

[DunkelBierJay]

3 hours ago, spiralqueen said:

I'd respectfully disagree. The internet provided is the faster version, so it's not "basic" internet per se and it is one device per person. It also includes a nice debarkation day breakfast, private hours on different attractions like the zip line, rock climbing wall, and Flowrider, and reserved seats at the shows. I'm also not discounting the value for me, personally, that I can drop off my carry on bags for someone to bring to my room so I don't have to lug them around until rooms are open.  I will give you that it loses value on non Oasis or Quantum class ships or on longer sailings, but to say you don't get anything out of it is a bit unfair, in my opinion. I do appreciate, however, that you acknowledge that that is your opinion. I'm seeing in far too many places that people are saying it's a valueless scam as if that was a fact and it really rubs me the wrong way and makes me defensive. 

This is what I have been thinking in that the net cost ends up being $4-$5 per day if you were going to get VOOM anyway. Lunch at Chops is $21 on its own, so rationalizing further makes the total additional cost about $14 for everything else. The reserved seating would be worth it to me at that cost. Another question is that if one person in a cabin gets it, do all others have to get it? I think that if you value what you get, it's well worth it. I also like the idea of not schlepping a bag with some water and wine all over the ship on embarkation day before 1:00 pm.

[Sh2738]

3 minutes ago, DunkelBierJay said:

This is what I have been thinking in that the net cost ends up being $4-$5 per day if you were going to get VOOM anyway. Lunch at Chops is $21 on its own, so rationalizing further makes the total additional cost about $14 for everything else. The reserved seating would be worth it to me at that cost. Another question is that if one person in a cabin gets it, do all others have to get it? I think that if you value what you get, it's well worth it. I also like the idea of not schlepping a bag with some water and wine all over the ship on embarkation day before 1:00 pm.

Yes so if one person gets it all have to get it. So for two people at 19.99 per person per day this comes to be 279.86 for 7 night cruise. While a 2 device internet plan shared by a two person cabin is only 132.93 if gotten at 18.99 per day. 

Therefore, if two people share a 2 device package the difference between just having internet and getting The Key package is 146.93. So if one takes those facts into account, the remaining benefits outside of internet would need to outweigh this additional $147 cost. 

Thus for two people who can share a two device internet package, it depends on if they believe that the other benefits of the Key package are worth the additional nearly $150 cost. This would vary by individuals. Some might find that the cost doesn’t bother them and that they are willing to pay it for priority boarding and reserved seats being the main other benefits, while others might not depending on their individual situation. To each their own

It is really too bad that you have to get it for everyone in the same cabin though. 

 

Thanks 

[spiralqueen]

@DunkelBierJay this was exactly my logic as well. It was a no brainer for my family because we are 3 adults who were all planning on getting internet anyway and had agreed on lunch at Chops  one day. One of the most appealing things to me about The Key is the reserved seating because I highly value shows and I haven't been to any of them before as this will be my first time on Allure. 

As to whether everyone needs to get it or not, I thought I read somewhere that everyone over the age of 6 needs to get it, but when I was buying it in the cruise planner, I had to buy it for each person individually. Then, when the price dropped to the current $19.99 I was able to individually cancel the purchases and rebuy them. It wasn't like it is with the drink package where it automatically forces you to get it for everyone in your cabin. 

[SpeedNoodles]

It's an amazing deal for me. Solo, 4-night cruise at $19.99/ day using my $25 OBC!

[JasonL]

If I am cruising with my kids in a family cabin, that's 5 people, it would definitely not be worth it if everyone had to pay. When it's just me and the wife I would absolutely consider it though, as we highly value our time to not wait in lines. Also we always get Voom

[MrMarc]

I was one of those that thought it was a bad idea...But I just bought it for my next cruise.  But since I cruise alone, the actual cost to me is $10 a day (Internet would cost $10 a day).

[DunkelBierJay]

7 hours ago, Sh2738 said:

Yes so if one person gets it all have to get it. So for two people at 19.99 per person per day this comes to be 279.86 for 7 night cruise. While a 2 device internet plan shared by a two person cabin is only 132.93 if gotten at 18.99 per day. 

Therefore, if two people share a 2 device package the difference between just having internet and getting The Key package is 146.93. So if one takes those facts into account, the remaining benefits outside of internet would need to outweigh this additional $147 cost. 

Thus for two people who can share a two device internet package, it depends on if they believe that the other benefits of the Key package are worth the additional nearly $150 cost. This would vary by individuals. Some might find that the cost doesn’t bother them and that they are willing to pay it for priority boarding and reserved seats being the main other benefits, while others might not depending on their individual situation. To each their own

It is really too bad that you have to get it for everyone in the same cabin though. 

 

Thanks 

That’s the beauty of it in my opinion. Buy it if you value the entire package. Some may see it as a rip-off, others see it differently. In some ways, you can think of it as getting some suite perks without the cost of a suite. 

[Mrs. RoyalMoyal]

Please, if you have used the key, can you share an example of the days and times the extended flowrider sessions are on a NON-Oasis ship.  (I saw twangster's review) We usually pay for at least 2 flowrider lessons, and my 13 year old "suffered" from lack of Internet last week on Anthem, so this, along with paying with a bunch of onboard credit, is about the same price for us.  

As Freedom is a "new to us" ship, and we have not seen the shows (and I go to any ice show offered).  

I schedule everything around standup...  I even skipped dinner last week for an evening session!

 

Edited December 30, 2018 by Mrs. RoyalMoyal
saw Twangster's schedule for the flowrider, want non-Oasis schedule for the key