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Fast Track To Diamond Status?


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I have done the cruise ting for a long time. 20+years doing RCCL but only a few in that time. My busy work life  kept me from doing anything "regular basis". Now that I'm slowing down some I'm looking to do more and more RCCL cruising. Did one last year, again this year, already booked next year and may add one in between. Even looking at transatlantics when the kids get off to college.  Was wondering if there was ways to get more points per cruise. I've always been goal oriented  and would like to reach that mark...

 

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2 hours ago, deep1 said:

I have done the cruise ting for a long time. 20+years doing RCCL but only a few in that time. My busy work life  kept me from doing anything "regular basis". Now that I'm slowing down some I'm looking to do more and more RCCL cruising. Did one last year, again this year, already booked next year and may add one in between. Even looking at transatlantics when the kids get off to college.  Was wondering if there was ways to get more points per cruise. I've always been goal oriented  and would like to reach that mark...

 

The only two way I am aware of  to get more cruise will be to travel in a suite which will give you dubble points or travel as a solo cruiser which give you also dubble points (triple if you travel solo in a suite)

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1 hour ago, KristiZ said:

Every now and then they do a promotion where you get extra points for bringing newbie cruisers with you on a trip (in their own cabins). I think we got 6 extra points one time for that!

I'd push my friends into their own cabin for 6 extra points. #noshame

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3 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

I'd push my friends into their own cabin for 6 extra points. #noshame

@SpeedNoodles Does this include kids?  #Hmmm

@deep1, the JS is the lowest suite that will give you double points - if you are close enough to a port, you could pickup some last minute cruises for like the 3-4 day routes and stay in an interior room for cheap.   

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Haven't seen that bring new ppl get points ever. They user to give you $25 OBC for that...but they even cut that incentive.

 

I don't think they will ever give away free points towards your status based on Royal's current business model.......or til they raise the # of points needed...then maybe..lol

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1 minute ago, monctonguy said:

Haven't seen that bring new ppl get points ever. They user to give you $2O)BC for that...but they even cut that incentive.

 

I don't think they will ever give away free points towards your status based on Royal's current business model.......or til they raise the # of points needed...then maybe..lol

I've never heard of getting points for bringing in a new pax either.

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If you do a land-sea cruise through Royal, one that I know is ride the train to an Alaska cruise, you get 1 point per night for the land part as well as the points you get for the sea part.

I have also never heard of getting point for referring people, OBC yes, points no.

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How much time off are you able to take in a year? If you can take off as much as you want and have easy access to a cruise port, then sail solo in an interior cabin and take as many cruises as your time and budget allows. Going interior will save a ton of money per cruise so you can do more sailings.

On the other hand, if you only get a couple weeks a year and your budget can handle the big jump in price, sail solo in a Jr Suite each cruise. Getting the triple points will offset taking fewer cruises.

Personally, I'd only go the solo in JS route if I had easy access to a Quantum class or Oasis class ship; at least the added cost of the JS gives you access to Coastal Kitchen and the other Sea Class perks; on other ships, a JS is really (as @Matt says)  just a "glorified balcony" and IMO not worth the premium.

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9 hours ago, deep1 said:

Was wondering if there was ways to get more points per cruise. I've always been goal oriented  and would like to reach that mark...

The only way to move up quicker is to either cruise more, or to book rooms where you are the only person in the room.

If you book a room by yourself, you will get 2 points per night (instead of one).

If you book a suite by yourself, you will get 3 points per night (instead of 2).

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40 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Personally, I'd only go the solo in JS route if I had easy access to a Quantum class or Oasis class ship; at least the added cost of the JS gives you access to Coastal Kitchen and the other Sea Class perks; on other ships, a JS is really (as @Matt says)  just a "glorified balcony" and IMO not worth the premium.

You know I'm with you most times, but this time I have to disagree.  I will almost always book JS or above now and it's not just for CK.  The JS is the fastest way to climb the C&A ladder and while it not matter to some, I will explain why it matters to me...Access to the Diamond lounge is a hidden perk.  It was our sailing in a regular cabin on Indy that convinced me of this.  Without access to the suite lounge, the Diamond lounge gave us access to a very similar experience.  I will continue to book JS and above because I worry that they will change the levels at some point.  The more points I can accumulate, the better.  And the extra space is still worth it to me, especially in the bathroom.

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From someone who has climbed the C&A ranks quickly the secret has been a lot of solo cruising on longer cruises and occasional suites.  To make it economical cruising off peak is the key.

Long cruises help a lot.  A cruise of 11 nights solo equates to 22 points.  The snowbird migration last year was 13 nights netting me 26 points.  

The best "bang for your buck" are transatlantics on older ships.  Rhapsody Nov. 2020 14 nights for $1,300 "all in" (inc. taxes and fees) on a solo basis would net you 28 points for a very low $46 per point although you do have to consider the cost of international airfare.  These ultra low fares are few and far between so if you used them exclusively it would take years to climb the ranks.

It's not always about just sailing the cheapest cruises.   You'll want to enjoy the cruise, it is money after all, so not all of my cruises are the bargain variety and often they cost me much more per point.  

If it's strictly a points grab suites can help but you have to look at the numbers.  In some cases the extra cost to move up to a suite is less than the cost of another cruise to gain the same number of extra points, in other cases it isn't.  I've got a 15 night cruise booked in a JS that will net me 45 points solo in a suite.  If I cruised solo in a regular cabin that would be 30 points.  The extra $1,200 to move to a JS comes with an extra 15 points.  I could spend the $1,200 for another 7 night cruise that will get me 14 points or for $1,200 I get 15 points so in this case it made sense to upgrade and I get to enjoy a JS cabin.  More importantly it's a pretty cool and unique itinerary and being 15 nights the extra space will be appreciated compared to an interior cabin for 15 nights.

One feature of C&A to be aware is the ability to put you and your "significant other" in a relationship.  Qualification so far appears to be having the same address on your C&A accounts.  Once in a relationship if one person achieves a certain level in the program, the other person is granted that level even though their actual points remains below the threshold for that level.  They don't get your points, but they get your level.  This is how one can sell the notion of cruising solo to a partner.  You are "taking one for the team" as you will both level up as you advance.  

Cruising just to get points doesn't make sense but if you research and check often you can find some pretty cool and unique itineraries and often they are cost effective off peak when most working class people or those with kids can't cruise.

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11 hours ago, tiny260 said:

I have also never heard of getting point for referring people, OBC yes, points no.

 

11 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I've never heard of getting points for bringing in a new pax either.

 

11 hours ago, monctonguy said:

Haven't seen that bring new ppl get points ever. They user to give you $25 OBC for that...but they even cut that incentive.

Happened for us in 2012 on Serenade in the Med. Maybe Royal was testing it and decided not to continue?

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11 minutes ago, KristiZ said:

 

 

Happened for us in 2012 on Serenade in the Med. Maybe Royal was testing it and decided not to continue?

Didn't they also used to have a "Diamonds in December" promotion, where Diamond members could get 2x the points for December cruises or something like that?

I haven't seen anything like that recently.

 

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1 hour ago, karl_nj said:

Didn't they also used to have a "Diamonds in December" promotion, where Diamond members could get 2x the points for December cruises or something like that?

I haven't seen anything like that recently.

 

The last Diamonds in December was in 2013.   Suddenly they realized that they were creating too many upper tier pax and began finding ways to NOT create as many (e.g., no more double points on suites whenever possible....no points at all when receiving a comp cruise, etc)

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The 'points issue'  that irritated me was a cruise I paid for 3 cabins (six people). I only got points for my cabin.

Only way I know is spend more nights on board. Think about a Panama Canal trip. That was 15 days I think. Go both directions back to back for 30 points.

 

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2 hours ago, Ditchdoc said:

The 'points issue'  that irritated me was a cruise I paid for 3 cabins (six people). I only got points for my cabin.

Until I realized the system, I was irritated too as we pay for 2-3 cabins for each cruise.  However, you need to think of it as airline points and not hotel points.  I know with hotels each room gives us points on our master account.  However with cruising, same as airlines, each person accumulates points.  

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22 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

 I will continue to book JS and above because I worry that they will change the levels at some point.  The more points I can accumulate, the better.  

I wonder about this too.  After our booked cruises we'll only be 15 points away from Diamond.  So I'm constantly watching JS prices to see if we want to double our points on a cruise.  It's just hard when the additional money can be spent on air fare.  But as you say, I wonder if they will raise the numbers so by the time we complete our cruises, it will be say 30 points away now instead of 15.  You seem to be proactive and have a good plan (aside from liking the extra space ?).

PS - love twangster's description and example of numbers above

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As @twangster explained so well, the ability of spouses to link accounts can be very valuable! I learned about the importance of this perk through a couple we met on a cruise. We  sailed on the Allure and they invited us to share their Cabana (we had “met” the wife through a roll call and then in person during a cabin crawl). She is Diamond Plus snd is cruising at least monthly, but he hardly cruises. She retired, but he is still working and so she had started cruising alone and often (occasionally with a friend) in inside cabins. So she had really racked up points while he was home working to pay for her cruising ?  But because they have linked accounts, he is also Diamond plus and so can take advantage of everything that she can on s ship (with or without her). He quite enjoyed his free tour of the bridge during that sailing ?

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23 hours ago, twangster said:

 

Cruising just to get points doesn't make sense but if you research and check often you can find some pretty cool and unique itineraries and often they are cost effective off peak when most working class people or those with kids can't cruise.

And.....another well said, easy to understand post by Twangster explaining the slightly confusing world of Royal Caribbean! 

@Twangster has touched on something important here that is worth talking some more about, cruising benefits once you are Diamond and above; because they might not be what perceive them be. To be fair, it's always easy to look down from a ladder and much harder to climb up it; I get it.

Benefits wise; some are OK, a couple very good, and some I find not valuable and don't care to use them. But over time the benefits are slowly being eroded away. 

The biggest benefit I find at being D+ is not written on some webpage; I am grateful for the experiences I have had. I am thankful that Royal Caribbean has provided an affordable way to travel and see the world; many places I would never have been to if it were based on my own doing. I respect Royal for providing a clean, safe environment no matter what ship I'm on. Any of the Royal fleet, I feel very comfortable once I finally get onboard. Cabin wise, I have never had a bed, washroom, or carpeting not feel like home--no matter what class I happened to been traveling in; I've done most of them. I have always had plenty to eat: I average gaining a pound a day. Royal Caribbean is a great way to vacation.

Pressing to climb the Crown and Anchor ladder? I think many of us would say "It's the journey, not the destination. Enjoy it!" As Twangster is recommending, check out different itineraries. Sail out of a new port. Let an excursion introduce you to something new or bring you slightly out of your comfort zone. And....it doesn't have to cost a million dollars. 

 

 

A word about the Diamond Lounge: I (affectionally) call the nightly Diamond event "Raccoons entering the Dumpster". 'Cause it is a lot like that and you can set your watch to them; just show up about 15-20 minutes early, you'll see. But that being said, at 53 years old, I am a younger aged raccoon. It's not exactly loud music, dancing, and crazy party time. It's quiet conversation. Yes, for me it replaces buying a drink package; but on the other hand, it's not worth spending thousands for extra cruise points just to receive the perk. The coffee machine is nice if you like cappachino. The concierge is is great and can work out your difficulties or bend some rules, as a Diamond or above, you should have fewer and fewer issues. 

 

 

 

 

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For solo cruisers when you hit that 340 points finally and only have a 150% supplement discount..that can be good savings.

With that discounted solo supplement it can also make a C&A partner sharing status book a combo of 2 rooms for the lowest price..can end up cheaper to book a solo JS with that 150% supplement and put the other D+ in a solo inside than it would have been to put both of them in the same JS room.

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46 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

For solo cruisers when you hit that 340 points finally and only have a 150% supplement discount..that can be good savings.

With that discounted solo supplement it can also make a C&A partner sharing status book a combo of 2 rooms for the lowest price..can end up cheaper to book a solo JS with that 150% supplement and put the other D+ in a solo inside than it would have been to put both of them in the same JS room.

There a whole other strategy here.  Some people who cruise with friends take this to a whole new level. 

Put the wife solo in a JS and book the husband as a 3rd guest in a cabin with friends.  Wife get triple points, husband stays in that JS with her.  Husband pays 3rd guest rate, wife pays 340 reduced single supplement.  Wife climbs the ladder quickly, husband gets her status changes as she levels up.  

This can be cheaper than a solo inside cabin for husband.

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Wow I hit a hot topic! ?As for the newbies I never got any points. On the sailing solo, I enjoy having a baritone voice but the GF would see to it that I would become soprano if I went that direction. ? Some great ideas coming through though... Keep em coming... 

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On 5/7/2019 at 8:19 AM, tiny260 said:

If you do a land-sea cruise through Royal, one that I know is ride the train to an Alaska cruise, you get 1 point per night for the land part as well as the points you get for the sea part.

I have also never heard of getting point for referring people, OBC yes, points no.

To be sure of the details here ..... do you mean that you get points for the days you do the land portion (in addition to the cruise days)  or that there is an extra point tacked into the entire trip (e.g., 3 pts per day in a suite). I would guess the former, but it wasn’t clear so I thought I would check to be sure! Always looking to maximize ??

- NCL gives an extra point for some sailings, we got 3 pts per night in the Haven when we sailed to AK in June, but I have never seen one from RCCL where that was offered. 

 

@deep1 the topics here are all pretty hot, there are a lot of interested and knowledgeable cruises who hang around and try to help no matter the question ?

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1 minute ago, 2Beeze said:

To be sure of the details here ..... do you mean that you get points for the days you do the land portion (in addition to the cruise days)  or that there is an extra point tacked into the entire trip (e.g., 3 pts per day in a suite). I would guess the former, but it wasn’t clear so I thought I would check to be sure! Always looking to maximize ??

- NCL gives an extra point for some sailings, we got 3 pts per night in the Haven when we sailed to AK in June, but I have never seen one from RCCL where that was offered. 

If the land portion (Booked through RCCL) is 3 days you get 3 points, so a 3 day land with a 7 day cruise (Non-suite) is a total of 10 points.

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6 hours ago, 2Beeze said:

To be sure of the details here ..... do you mean that you get points for the days you do the land portion (in addition to the cruise days).  

In 2017 booked a JS for 7 day south bound Alaska cruise on Radiance along with a 3 day land tour prior to the cruise.  We received 20 cruise points for the trip. 

Note we did not receive any up grade in travel or accommodation on the land tour portion of the trip. 

It was a great trip and a great way to celebrate 25 years of marriage!  Even renewed our vows on the ship with the Hubbard Glacier as a back drop.

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  • 8 months later...
On 5/8/2019 at 12:43 PM, twangster said:

There a whole other strategy here.  Some people who cruise with friends take this to a whole new level. 

Put the wife solo in a JS and book the husband as a 3rd guest in a cabin with friends.  Wife get triple points, husband stays in that JS with her.  Husband pays 3rd guest rate, wife pays 340 reduced single supplement.  Wife climbs the ladder quickly, husband gets her status changes as she levels up.  

This can be cheaper than a solo inside cabin for husband.

Doesn't that mean the husband would always have to find the wife to get into their cabin?

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On 5/8/2019 at 11:43 AM, twangster said:

There a whole other strategy here.  Some people who cruise with friends take this to a whole new level. 

Put the wife solo in a JS and book the husband as a 3rd guest in a cabin with friends.  Wife get triple points, husband stays in that JS with her.  Husband pays 3rd guest rate, wife pays 340 reduced single supplement.  Wife climbs the ladder quickly, husband gets her status changes as she levels up.  

This can be cheaper than a solo inside cabin for husband.

This is really good (as usual from you Twang) brings a whole new way to look at things.   Thank you!

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If Royal Caribbean was financially savvy they would look at all other successful customer retention programs and allow C & A members to buy cruise points.

Seriously, why would they not take cash in exchange for doing nothing more than typing some characters on a keyboard to raise a C & A status???

 

I 'd estimate a C & A point to sell for about $325.

 

By tabling this idea, here is a great way for some RCL middle manager to rocket his/her way to the upper level of management by creating this program of pure profit.

 

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33 minutes ago, bobroo said:

If Royal Caribbean was financially savvy they would look at all other successful customer retention programs and allow C & A members to buy cruise points.

Seriously, why would they not take cash in exchange for doing nothing more than typing some characters on a keyboard to raise a C & A status???

 

I 'd estimate a C & A point to sell for about $325.

 

By tabling this idea, here is a great way for some RCL middle manager to rocket his/her way to the upper level of management by creating this program of pure profit.

 

Doesn't this just make a loyalty program obsolete in the first place if you can "buy" your way to the top? 

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9 minutes ago, FManke said:

Doesn't this just make a loyalty program obsolete in the first place if you can "buy" your way to the top? 

More fun to buy your way to the top just by booking suites and taking the cruise ?

 

And on edit.....booking into a full suite basically gets you just about everything from the loyalty tiers....faster on/off, special lounges, if the ship has star...free drinks and wifi.....special reserved seats etc etc etc

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43 minutes ago, bobroo said:

If Royal Caribbean was financially savvy they would look at all other successful customer retention programs and allow C & A members to buy cruise points.

Seriously, why would they not take cash in exchange for doing nothing more than typing some characters on a keyboard to raise a C & A status???

 

I 'd estimate a C & A point to sell for about $325.

 

By tabling this idea, here is a great way for some RCL middle manager to rocket his/her way to the upper level of management by creating this program of pure profit.

 

As a frequent traveler for work I can share there is a key difference in the cruise loyalty programs that will make purchasing the points problematic.  Hotel, car rental and airlines require an annual requirement to retain status and cruise lines your status is for life.  (There are a few exceptions such as million miler balances, lifetime diamond, etc.). 
 

The annual programs allow you to purchase up since there are always people that are leveling up AND down.  Since the cruise lines will never lower your status purchasing status would create an even bigger log-jam at the top tiers.  It is already getting strained as you can see by the threads on Diamond/plus status and the lounge and drinks.

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