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"Gold" Card


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  • 3 months later...

It is really funny how people put value on the color of a card. I remember years ago it was having a American Express Gold Card, that was the in card. And now airlines, cruises, and credit providers all are offering colored cards. The color of the card is really meaningless. I had a AMEX Gold Card when I was 18, did that really mean anything? And now Gold is not good enough, AMEX ran through the metal cards, gold, platinum, etc, and now they are back to basic understated black.

 

I do not care what color my room key is, I really just care about getting services. 

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I got my first (and probably last for quite a while) gold SeaPass card on my last cruise. In the growing pile of blue SeaPass cards, it stands out quite nicely.

 

normal_GoldSeapass.png

 

Hey Marc your card made it to the google image search

 

https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=royal+caribbean+door+cards&newwindow=1&espv=2&biw=1288&bih=707&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSz4n9k9nMAhVR6WMKHQzaDpoQ_AUIBigB#newwindow=1&tbm=isch&q=royal+caribbean+gold+seapass+card&imgrc=cd3QP76ZJ345BM%3A

 

Also notice just his first name on the card?  Tying to imply maybe that we treat our suite guests like family?  Great if you are a suite guest but can make the common normal guest feel unwanted or welcome.  Like the third class Titanic passengers held back out of the first class section as the ship sank.

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Actually they have added two other colors of cards now. Dark Purple for Star Class and Plum for Sky class suites. I haven't heard if they now just use Gold for C&A status benchmarks or not.

The gold card is still used for Suites and Pinnacles for all ships except for the Oasis and Quantum class ships. Dark blue is for the Sea class along with the two mentioned above. For the Quantum and Oasis class ships Pinnacles have a White or ivory color card, not gold.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey Marc your card made it to the google image search

 

https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=royal+caribbean+door+cards&newwindow=1&espv=2&biw=1288&bih=707&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSz4n9k9nMAhVR6WMKHQzaDpoQ_AUIBigB#newwindow=1&tbm=isch&q=royal+caribbean+gold+seapass+card&imgrc=cd3QP76ZJ345BM%3A

 

Also notice just his first name on the card?  Tying to imply maybe that we treat our suite guests like family?  Great if you are a suite guest but can make the common normal guest feel unwanted or welcome.  Like the third class Titanic passengers held back out of the first class section as the ship sank.

 

He removed it. All seapass cards have first and last names.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

I am writing this not to brag but to suggest the opposite.  I simply prefer the space in a Suite as opposed to any other Room.  I have sailed on Oasis class ships all the way down to the "Song of Norway"  (which by the way seemed HUGE for my first cruise ever in 1986). I have booked every size Stateroom minus the new Loft Size Staterooms.  I can afford (Barely) the Suites but as the years go by I ask myself if I would have been Just as happy with a Balcony or below Stateroom  and have been able to afford four times as many Cruises.  This becomes the new era of sailing for me as I was unhappy with my last sailing. Not because of the service as my room attendant, Waiter Staff, and ship Maintenance were excellent.  The Room 8504 was in fair to excellent condition considering its age but it was third room from the bow on the eighth deck just below the Windjammer. Paying for an Owners Suite I received the following:  Non stop noise from the Carts and equipment being moved around in the Windlammer from 3:00am until past midnight every day. Robes to use on our cruise(not to keep unless I pay $69.00 each) A basket of Fruit on night one. A plate of Strawberries on night three. An Excellent Concierge that escorted on and off the ship for priority boarding of all excursions. Exclusive Suite Concierge lounge (No Diamond Plus or below allowed).  And finally a 528 sq.ft. room with separate shower and whirlpool bath.

     Now,  as a Diamond Plus member paying for a Promenade room I would receive the following: Robes to use on our Cruise (one new Robe as a Free Gift for being a Diamond Plus Member). A basket of Fruit, four bottles of water and a package of mixed nuts and dried fruit on night one. A plate of Strawberries on night three. A plate of Petit Fours on night five. An Excellent Concierge that escorted on and off the ship for priority boarding of all excursions. A Diamond Lounge (Separate from the Suite Lounge but much larger). A behind the scenes tour of the Bridge, Galley, and theater. And finally a 179 sq. ft. room with a shower that you can squeeze into.

 

I asked myself on this last cruise 10/22/16.  Is it worth the room size?   To which I must weigh Comfort versus Number of Cruises I can afford to take.  I have come to the conclusion that with the knowledge of several cruises under my belt that my wife and I can cruise in a smaller, less comfortable room if we utilize the entire ship as our temporary home IE...  Spend more time in the Solarium, Centrum, and all parts of the ship.  This way we can literally afford four times as many cruises and have four times as many memories.  For those that say I get Double the Crown and Anchor points for a Suite, you are correct.  But, doing the math and taking four times as many Cruises would get me twice as many points and four times as many places to sail. I will from now on consider smaller rooms and many more new destinations to sail.

 

Happy Sailing to you no matter which way you choose or can afford to do so!

post-2711-0-17274500-1478896005_thumb.jpg

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I asked myself on this last cruise 10/22/16.  Is it worth the room size?   To which I must weigh Comfort versus Number of Cruises I can afford to take. 

 

I'm in the same boat as you, so to speak.  We used to reserve Balcony cabins all the time.  In fact, next week's cruise is a balcony with an attached interior for the kids.  The last couple of cruises have been Ocean View cabins, and our next cruise is an Interior.  I'm finding that we spend so little time in the room - much less on the balcony - that it's not worth the upcharge for our family.  I'd rather save the money and take 2 cruises a year - which is what we are doing in 2017 and beyond. 

 

That said, there are some ships with pricing that makes it OK to have a balcony room (Anthem for the weeks I'm looking at in Nov 2017) but of the most part I think we'll be doing interiors or Family Oceanviews for the foreseeable future.

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Is it worth the room size?   To which I must weigh Comfort versus Number of Cruises I can afford to take.  I have come to the conclusion that with the knowledge of several cruises under my belt that my wife and I can cruise in a smaller, less comfortable room if we utilize the entire ship as our temporary home IE...  Spend more time in the Solarium, Centrum, and all parts of the ship.  This way we can literally afford four times as many cruises and have four times as many memories.

 

Thanks BigKarl ... I find your insights on this topic useful, but I do have a question that I'll get to below.

 

First I'll say that I share your (and bcarney and DocLC's) general sentiments. When considering bumping up to a higher category I also consider whether I'd get more value by spending the extra bucks on shore excursions, specialty restaurants, spa treatments or even at the casino. Sure, I prefer the space of a JS, and I enjoy reading with a glass of wine on a private balcony, and like being able to look outside when I wake up, but at the end of the day a good sleep in a comfortable bed and a shower is all I really need from my room. In practice I've settled with the general rule of thumb that if it costs a little (i.e. < $500) to bump up a category, I do it, but if it costs a lot, I don't. If that means an inside cabin, I'd be fully prepared to do so.

 

But where I'm a little uncertain about this philosophy is with longer itineraries, especially ones with stretches of three or more straight days at sea. I haven't done one of these yet, but I hope to in the future. So that's my question for you BigKarl (and anyone else) as someone who has done longer transatlantic and Panama cruises, would you apply the same philosophy to a longer cruise, or would you avoid an inside or smaller outside cabin on a longer itinerary (especially when considering the significant discount for inside cabins on those cruises)?

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We have done only 1 transatlantic.  For that cruise, we were fortunate to get an oceanview family room at the very front of the ship (Jewel of the Seas). We did not think that we would be spending a lot of time out on a balcony since the weather was going to be somewhat coolish going across the Atlantic.  That was one of our favorite cruises of all time.  We had LOTS of room (since there were just 2 of us and it was a 2 BR cabin) and did not miss having a balcony.  After all...your view is going to be ocean followed by ocean with a little more ocean.

 

We like having at least a balcony for longer port-filled cruises.  There is always something to see and we spend a lot of time in our room (unlike many others) so we like having a balcony.  We did a repositioning on Explorer (14 days) when she moved from Bayonne to Florida and we definitely enjoyed having our balcony on that one (we had an aft JS which was GREAT!).  The weather completely sucked on that cruise (at least, at the beginning) but that's a story for another time.

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To date, we have booked suites every time, simply because we like to spend a lot of time in our stateroom and the space (and balcony) is, therefore, important to us. We did this even for a transatlantic cruise, which started in Southampton and went via the Canaries to the Caribbean, ending in San Juan. The weather was fine and the seas calm so we made more use of the balcony than is often the case for transatlantic. However, Quantum sailed on exactly the same date as us (we were on Adventure) but it took the northerly route for its maiden voyage to Port Bayonne. From what I heard, a balcony would have been a bit of a waste on that trip, due to some very rough weather. I guess what is best all depends upon how you use the stateroom, where you are going, and what weather/seas you encounter.

 

Incidentally, we may change our minds now, regarding suites as, having just retired, we have less money but more time for vacations!!

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  • 1 month later...

I would much prefer to take more frequent cheaper cruises than less more expensive ones.

 

I hardly spend anytime in my room, so a bigger room besides the wow factor wouldn't be  that big a deal to me.

 

Sure if I was rich or perhaps lived within driving distance I could splurge more on the rooms, but that's not the case when I had to add in flights and terrible exchange rates.

 

As for the "status", I enjoy it for the perks and deals I get at the different levels, has nothing to do with what color my card is or what color other levels are for me.

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I'm in the same boat as you, so to speak. We used to reserve Balcony cabins all the time. In fact, next week's cruise is a balcony with an attached interior for the kids. The last couple of cruises have been Ocean View cabins, and our next cruise is an Interior. I'm finding that we spend so little time in the room - much less on the balcony - that it's not worth the upcharge for our family. I'd rather save the money and take 2 cruises a year - which is what we are doing in 2017 and beyond.

 

That said, there are some ships with pricing that makes it OK to have a balcony room (Anthem for the weeks I'm looking at in Nov 2017) but of the most part I think we'll be doing interiors or Family Oceanviews for the foreseeable future.

I've just had my first cruise - balcony stateroom. I loved the door open at night listening to the water. Also when i was in my room I sat on balcony and felt like the only person on the ship - luvly spot to get away from the other 3000 people. My 3 kids had interior, hmm not for me - a little claustrophobic.

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I had a AMEX Gold Card when I was 18, did that really mean anything? And now Gold is not good enough, AMEX ran through the metal cards, gold, platinum, etc, and now they are back to basic understated black.

 

I have an AMEX "blue" card that is actually clear.

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Guest toodle68

Interesting topic because we just had a similar conversion. This last cruise we decided on a balcony for the first time since there were 2 whole days sailing and ended up upgrading to a junior suite for a small charge just before the cruise. We absolutely loved the junior suite but found we did not get much use out of the balcony. It was humid and very little breeze and very little sound of the waves on deck 10.  Whilst the suites bigger than junior looked nice, I just could not imagine spending that much money even if we could afford it.  

 

Our next cruise is on Majesty and we have opted for an inside cabin.. then on Freedom later this year we are back to a junior suite..

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