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Anyone have any thoughts as to the following? I have attempted to touch base with RCCL corporate but have not received any responses.
 
I know that many others have been affected to much greater degree than I have but I would like to offer a suggestion to Royal Caribbean to those passengers who may have had to cancel or had their travel plans cancelled by Royal Caribbean because of the crisis affecting the globe. My wife and I were looking forward to the culmination of many years of sailing with Royal Caribbean and achieving the goal of "Diamond" member. That achievement would have been realized had this pandemic not escalated to the point it is now with our completion of a March 2020 sailing. 
 
Upon reflection of that, my suggestion would be RCCL's consideration in offering people that were affected by the current events, the escalation of their "reward" status to the point they would have completed if circumstances would not have prevented such achievement. I know this may be asking for quite a bit from Royal Caribbean but I feel if no one asks, maybe it hasn't been considered.
 
Everyone has had to change their lives in one way or another during these difficult times. Governments are considering options that have never been thought of before. Companies are joining in to do all they can. If someone would have told me 3 months ago that every major cruise line would be "dead in the water," I would have told them they were crazy. Perhaps in these crazy times, Royal Caribbean could consider such a suggestion.
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7 minutes ago, twangster said:

It's an interesting idea.  Perhaps for folks who accepted the FCC as opposed to a refund.  That would be a good carrot to dangle to avoid people opting for a refund for cruises that were cancelled (so far).  

Can you imagine the potential outcry though on other message boards if the diamond and above ranks were grown through that kind of program. It sounds like they had  status acceleration programs in the past (I know I’m a bad person and was cruising NcL back then) but that was before the mob mentality of Facebook groups. 

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14 minutes ago, Andrew72681 said:

Can you imagine the potential outcry though on other message boards if the diamond and above ranks were grown through that kind of program. It sounds like they had  status acceleration programs in the past (I know I’m a bad person and was cruising NcL back then) but that was before the mob mentality of Facebook groups. 

People whine about everything and anything.  Many people on FB would praise it.  Some,  mostly those who don't benefit will whine. 

It's not like they are just giving away points trying to buy loyalty.  If you had a cruise booked that was cancelled it appears to be reasonable.  It's not like they are selling them to anyone on the open market (like some airlines have done in past years).

If nothing had happened, if there was no virus, these guests would have sailed and they would have received their points.   This wouldn't impact CAS numbers that wouldn't have occurred anyways.  This would be a huge weight in the decision to go for a refund versus FCC.  That is significant right now as they bleed cash over the refunds.  

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We, as consumers, tend to view loyalty programs as solely about the rewards that we get.  But, most companies' loyalty programs are run by marketing departments.  And marketing is all about identifying new customers and encouraging new booking behaviors, NOT rewarding the same behaviors to the same people. 

Even if Royal threw everyone a few more elite nights onto their balance as a "thank you,"  yes, a few of us would be *at* that next level when we do get to take our next cruise, but that probably isn't going to change the booking behavior of most of us who are already in the program.  

What they probably are doing is looking at the rate of future new bookings, and deciding how to incentivize new cruisers to pull the trigger.  As they are currently stingy with awarding nights (ie, you have to sail it, no nights for having the branded credit card, etc), my guess is extra nights per sailing probably isn't in the cards.  

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Not exactly the same thing but on our Feb Anthem cruise (the one that started out as an 8 day Bahamas and ended up as a 5 day Bermuda cruise), they awarded all 16 of our C&A points even though we only actually earned 10.  So it is not entirely unprecedented.  One thing's for sure...they will not do it unless they feel compelled to do it.

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17 minutes ago, YoungEmptyNesters said:

My Wife and I had our March 15th Cruise cancelled. We both received the points for that cruise applied to our C&A points total. Not sure if they will be taken back once the refund is processed but right now they have been applied to our total! 

That's interesting....wonder if anyone has noticed that?

 

I am waiting for my refund as well, but the cruise date was supposed to be April 17th...so something I will defn be watching for as well.

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24 minutes ago, YoungEmptyNesters said:

My Wife and I had our March 15th Cruise cancelled. We both received the points for that cruise applied to our C&A points total. Not sure if they will be taken back once the refund is processed but right now they have been applied to our total! 

I also received points for the 3/15/20 cruise on the Oasis, which I found odd!   Have not received anything to date related to my cxl'd sailing on 3/15/20 or 3/22/20.  Waiting patiently!

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7 minutes ago, RBRSKI said:

I also received points for the 3/15/20 cruise on the Oasis, which I found odd!   Have not received anything to date related to my cxl'd sailing on 3/15/20 or 3/22/20.  Waiting patiently!

That's fantastic! I've checked ours and no updates...glad I haven't been holding my breath. Well, aside from COVID-19 requirements.

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My 4/12 cruise remains on my account as a future cruise despite that it's been cancelled by Royal as part of the phase 2 cessation.

I can still go into the cruise planner and add things to my cart.  

It will be interesting to see if this will end up in points.  

Normally when they have cancelled cruises on me before they disappear from my list of future cruises.  

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We are still Gold so the extra points will be nice but if we lose them it will be okay too. Bonus for us is I upgraded to a Jr. Suite just a couple days before we took off for Miami - scored double points. Just a small blessing during this crazy time we are currently all dealing with. Not going to complain if we lose them as there are so many others dealing with much more than C&A points!

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4 hours ago, twangster said:

It's an interesting idea.  Perhaps for folks who accepted the FCC as opposed to a refund.  That would be a good carrot to dangle to avoid people opting for a refund for cruises that were cancelled (so far).  

 I. Agree that  would  be a very good  for people who. Take. Fcc   

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No points added to our total from our cancelled 3/22/2020 cruise although it was a Casino comp. cruise.  So I really do not expect them to credit us anything as we were refunded all the ancillary money paid for taxes, gratuities, and shore excursions. Only money we paid and have not had refunded is the insurance.

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22 hours ago, Andrew72681 said:

I’d say if the status had an expiration date it would be more likely to happen. MSC status for example expires after three years of inactivity so they have added an extra year to everyone’s account expiration date. 

Agree with this statement that since since the C&A status is lifelong there is not many concessions that they will extend, BUT there is a window that might be left for some cruises.  As evidenced by some of the post above, how many people think that Royal will honor the C&A points for a specific time period?  
 

It would be easy for them to take an all or none attitude of “if you didn’t cruise, you don’t get the points” and revoke the points that were credited for those mid March cruises.  It is also pretty unlikely that they would take the opposite view and let anyone with a cancelled cruise keep their points.  Likely they will land somewhere in the middle and let the points for the cruises up to a certain date stay in people’s accounts.  I’m thinking a cut off date for that might be cruises that were scheduled before March 31.  

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6 hours ago, ScooterScott22 said:

Agree with this statement that since since the C&A status is lifelong there is not many concessions that they will extend, BUT there is a window that might be left for some cruises.  As evidenced by some of the post above, how many people think that Royal will honor the C&A points for a specific time period?  
 

It would be easy for them to take an all or none attitude of “if you didn’t cruise, you don’t get the points” and revoke the points that were credited for those mid March cruises.  It is also pretty unlikely that they would take the opposite view and let anyone with a cancelled cruise keep their points.  Likely they will land somewhere in the middle and let the points for the cruises up to a certain date stay in people’s accounts.  I’m thinking a cut off date for that might be cruises that were scheduled before March 31.  

I could also see the scenario where they give a number of bonus points on rescheduled cruises. Perhaps a 3:1 ratio. So if a cruise is 3-5 days you get 1 bonus point, 6-8 days you get 2, more than 8 you get 3. 

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This is a great idea, JLC!

 

We were to cross over to (I know, lowly) Emerald status during our 4/26 cruise and that is one reason I'm bummed.

But it would be so nice for RC to show that appreciation for our loyalty (credit towards a (hopefully) 11/29 cruise and

not a refund) and we can climb up from the bottom deck and having to help paddle (my back is strong now, though).

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We had our C&A points show up on the cruise that was canceled. We were supposed to make Emerald and when I login it shows Emerald and the number of points were supposed to have if we cruised. I know they'll disappear once Royal Caribbean gets everything straightened out but a person could hope that they miss them and let them be.

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On 4/9/2020 at 11:39 AM, JustLovin'Cruisin' said:
Anyone have any thoughts as to the following? I have attempted to touch base with RCCL corporate but have not received any responses.
 
I know that many others have been affected to much greater degree than I have but I would like to offer a suggestion to Royal Caribbean to those passengers who may have had to cancel or had their travel plans cancelled by Royal Caribbean because of the crisis affecting the globe. My wife and I were looking forward to the culmination of many years of sailing with Royal Caribbean and achieving the goal of "Diamond" member. That achievement would have been realized had this pandemic not escalated to the point it is now with our completion of a March 2020 sailing. 
 
Upon reflection of that, my suggestion would be RCCL's consideration in offering people that were affected by the current events, the escalation of their "reward" status to the point they would have completed if circumstances would not have prevented such achievement. I know this may be asking for quite a bit from Royal Caribbean but I feel if no one asks, maybe it hasn't been considered.
 
Everyone has had to change their lives in one way or another during these difficult times. Governments are considering options that have never been thought of before. Companies are joining in to do all they can. If someone would have told me 3 months ago that every major cruise line would be "dead in the water," I would have told them they were crazy. Perhaps in these crazy times, Royal Caribbean could consider such a suggestion.

My wife and I would also move to Diamond this year, after completing a cancelled 4/22 cruise on Adventure and and 11/15 cruise on Oasis (fingers crossed on that one). That sounds like a great suggestion!

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Public service announcement: there are all kinds of circumstances when you may receive cruise points that were not actually earned. Don’t fall in love.

Your cruise points are audited for each crystal block and thoroughly audited for pinnacle status.

 

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While I maybe in the minority here, I don’t think they should do this.  I understand wanting to keep business, but the fact of the matter is you didn’t take the cruise.  Regardless of circumstance, I do not expect to be rewarded for something I didn’t do.  I’ve had two airline flights cancelled so far, and I got my money back and nothing more which is what I’d expect.

We have a b2b next month on Navigator I fully expect to be cancelled and we were due to make Diamond after that week.  If they cancel, I’ll likely be getting a 125% FCC which is already more than they have to offer.  Other than perhaps the additional sailing discounts, I frankly could care less about making diamond.  Again, I know most might disagree with me, but I’m not going to bash anyone who agrees with the OP.  
 

There’s not a good answer or solution to any of this, completely unprecedented.  Bottom line, stay safe everyone and I look forward to seeing you all on a ship in the future.

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I have to agree with codyh21 on whether or not we achieve the next level at a particular date. We were supposed to achieve that lofty Diamond milestone with a combination of a cruise that was cancelled last month and one in November. Since we were cancelled last month that may or may not happen this year unless we schedule additional trips. While the perks are nice they are the least reason we go on a cruise. If changes are made to CAS or we do not receive points for a sailing we actually did not go on it will not affect us going on Royal in the future. We have cruised on the other lines and there are many reasons we choose Royal and continue to patronize their ships.

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2 hours ago, codyh21 said:

While I maybe in the minority here, I don’t think they should do this.  I understand wanting to keep business, but the fact of the matter is you didn’t take the cruise.  Regardless of circumstance, I do not expect to be rewarded for something I didn’t do.  

I don't know if Royal will grant such a thing...they promptly issued my wife & I, the full allotted of points for a shorten cruise. I think if they do reward points, to those booked on a self-suspended cruise, that was paid in full, it obviously would be in good faith; because, those points would have been awarded, to those cruisers, who book those dates out of good faith & loyalty to the cruise line. This such a unique situation, they may recognize a one-time need to give back, at a time of huge inconvenience & uncertainty.  

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2 minutes ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

This such a unique situation, they may recognize a one-time need to give back, at a time of huge inconvenience & uncertainty.  

I think there's wisdom in this sentiment.  Right now, none of the cruise lines can afford to give cash refunds.  They do it when they have to but are giving strong incentives NOT to get your money back.  One way that they can "appease" us is with awarding points.  It costs them nothing except for the headaches that come with increased loyalty members...but frankly, that problem is waaay down their problems list at the moment.  

We have not had a cruise cancelled - yet - but it's coming.  We are 100% certain that our 15 May cruise on Majesty will be cancelled so we will wait and see if those points are ultimately awarded.  It won't bother me one way or the other if they do not but I suspect that they will.

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On 4/12/2020 at 6:12 AM, twangster said:

They often grant extra points for hurricane modified cruises so the precedent has been established in loose terms albeit not exactly the same.  

One can only hope... says the guest "boarding" Anthem today (at least in spirit).

1206455847_Anthem0days.jpeg.a139fdd230d2df2e63b79c596acc7050.jpeg

My cruise was scheduled to depart today 4/13/2020 on an 11 night Western Caribbean cruise. It was cancelled by the cruiseline. Oh well. I can't wait until this virus has passed so I can get back to cruising. I'm good.

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Well I was already awarded points when CAS was re-vamped back in the early 2000’s. Cruises used to be awarded a single point, was not based on nights. We were awarded several extra points during the changeover to the current program. 
 

It’ll be interesting to see if I get my points for my cancelled Symphony. I did take the 125% FCC. It was for a JS suite too. 

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