Member Benefits Update

[Crusie]

Just got an email from Royal, I thought I had read Diamond would get five drinks loaded on the card but it's four. And it sounds like during HH in the lounge, you have to use them if you want a drink? Does anyone else read it that way? We used to get a couple in there then use the ones loaded on the card at dinner. Not complaining, just wondering! I do like that they are good anytime, anywhere and for the same drinks that the package gets you. 

 

We’re thrilled to offer you additional beverage vouchers to be used at any bar, at any time or in the Diamond Lounge during the nightly Happy Hour. Each day of the cruise, Diamond members receive four vouchers, Diamond Plus members receive five vouchers, and Pinnacle Club members receive six vouchers. Each voucher is for drinks up to $13. Consider it happy hour all day long! 

[wordell1]

If you are having trouble viewing this email please click here. Dear Guest, Your vacation onboard Adventure of the Seas® is right around the corner! And we’d like to thank you for being part of Royal Caribbean® history as you join us on one of our first sailings back to the Caribbean. There’s so much to look forward to. And, to get you even more excited before you go, we want to share some of the great enhancements as well as some changes to our Crown & Anchor® Society program and benefits. We’re thrilled to offer you additional beverage vouchers to be used at any bar, at any time or in the Diamond Lounge during the nightly Happy Hour. Each day of the cruise, Diamond members receive four vouchers, Diamond Plus members receive five vouchers, and Pinnacle Club members receive six vouchers. Each voucher is for drinks up to $13. Consider it happy hour all day long! You’ll also love our newly reimagined behind-the-scenes entertainment tour and a Meal with an Officer, priority access to all shows, and new ways of recognizing our new Pinnacle Club members. As we return to service, some benefits and services have changed. To follow new health protocols and better manage the flow of guests in terminals, the check-in process will be different. All guests will be required to select an arrival time in advance via the Royal Caribbean app. However, Pinnacle Club members can enjoy Flexible Arrival — a new program allowing the freedom to check-in up to one hour before or after your scheduled check-in time while the terminal is open. Onboard, we must adhere to new healthy sail protocols and capacity limits in most venues. So, access to Suite and Concierge lounges will only be limited to members staying in Suites. Your Loyalty Ambassador will share more detailed information with you onboard. As always, we thank you for your continued support of Royal Caribbean. As our most loyal guests, we can’t wait to make incredible vacation memories together again. See you onboard! Crown & Anchor Society

[smokeybandit]

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/06/07/royal-caribbean-changes-complimentary-drinks-offering-adventure-of-the-seas

 

It does read as if the vouchers would be used during the happy hour, but that doesn't make sense as it defeats the point of the happy hour

 

 

I'm bummed that they're restricting the suite lounges just to suite owners. We've met so many great D+/Pins in the suite lounge. The suite lounge will be empty since half the people in there are D+/Pins

[Matt]

7 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

It does read as if the vouchers would be used during the happy hour, but that doesn't make sense as it defeats the point of the happy hour

I read it as it's good all day long, and for any drink up to $13.

Poor man's drink package

[wordell1]

7 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/06/07/royal-caribbean-changes-complimentary-drinks-offering-adventure-of-the-seas

 

It does read as if the vouchers would be used during the happy hour, but that doesn't make sense as it defeats the point of the happy hour

 

It says all day happy hour.

[smokeybandit]

8 minutes ago, wordell1 said:

It says all day happy hour.

Right, but the wording suggests to get a drink during the happy hour you have to use one of your vouchers

[Matt]

8 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Right, but the wording suggests to get a drink during the happy hour you have to use one of your vouchers

I think this line spells it out

"We’re thrilled to offer you additional beverage vouchers to be used at any bar, at any time or in the Diamond Lounge during the nightly Happy Hour. "

[smokeybandit]

Yes, I read that to mean "these vouchers can be used at any bar at any time outside of the happy hour or during the happy hour itself"

 

I don't think that's what they mean, but that's how it reads

[wordell1]

8 minutes ago, Matt said:

I think this line spells it out

"We’re thrilled to offer you additional beverage vouchers to be used at any bar, at any time or in the Diamond Lounge during the nightly Happy Hour. "

I think they are trying to avoid crowds at happy hour.  I would rather have the all day drink vouchers myself - also more choices at $13.

[Matt]

7 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Yes, I read that to mean "these vouchers can be used at any bar at any time outside of the happy hour or during the happy hour itself"

Agreed. Not just at night, and even more importantly, not relegated to the Diamond drink menu.

[CrznTxn]

8 minutes ago, Matt said:

I think this line spells it out

"We’re thrilled to offer you additional beverage vouchers to be used at any bar, at any time or in the Diamond Lounge during the nightly Happy Hour. "

Yes, you cannot receive 4 drink vouchers to use anywhere, anytime and then get a few more drinks during Happy Hour for free. If you go to the Happy Hour in the Diamond Lounge you must use your vouchers. Personally I like the anytime, anywhere.

[HeWhoWaits]

8 minutes ago, Matt said:

I think this line spells it out

"We’re thrilled to offer you additional beverage vouchers to be used at any bar, at any time or in the Diamond Lounge during the nightly Happy Hour. "

The use of  the word or in the list means the vouchers are to be used in each of the possible scenarios. Break it up into two sentences - "vouchers to be used at any bar, at any time" or "vouchers to be used in the Diamond Lounge during nightly Happy Hour." Proper use of the English language says that the vouchers will be required for drinks in the lounge during Happy Hour. If true, this is a reduction in the benefit.

[smokeybandit]

8 minutes ago, Matt said:

Agreed. Not just at night, and even more importantly, not relegated to the Diamond drink menu.

It would make sense if they mean using the vouchers for items not on the the happy hour menu.

But that doesn't seem like an efficient use of the happy hour:)

[smokeybandit]

8 minutes ago, HeWhoWaits said:

Proper use of the English language says that the vouchers will be required for drinks in the lounge during Happy Hour. If true, this is a reduction in the benefit.

And at that point it's not a happy hour. It's just a bar for Diamond and above.

[Matt]

8 minutes ago, CrznTxn said:

Yes, you cannot receive 4 drink vouchers to use anywhere, anytime and then get a few more drinks during Happy Hour for free. If you go to the Happy Hour in the Diamond Lounge you must use your vouchers. Personally I like the anytime, anywhere.

I don't think the drinks you get in the lounge go against your voucher count.  That's now how it ever worked in the Diamond Lounge previously, and my thought is this is poor wording on Royal's part.

You might end up being right, but I really don't think this will be the case. I expect the vouchers to be available anywhere, and if you drink in the lounge, you get as much as you want and those drinks don't go against your voucher total.

[Rory]

I wonder if you will be able to use the vouchers on Coco Cay?

[CrznTxn]

8 minutes ago, Rory said:

I wonder if you will be able to use the vouchers on Coco Cay?

That would be really nice.

[Matt]

8 minutes ago, Rory said:

I wonder if you will be able to use the vouchers on Coco Cay?

Great question.  Since it's on your SeaPass, I would assume so, but I do know Diamond discount doesn't apply to merch on CocoCay.  Not that that is a 1:1 analogy of what to expect.

[cruisellama]

"or"  - I read it as use the vouchers outside the Diamond lounge anytime,  or during happy hour held within the Diamond lounge.   Probable intent is to decrease number of people assembling in the Diamond lounge trying to get their 4 drinks in over a short period of time.  This way folks don't need to enter the Diamond lounge or any other bar during the happy hour.  I think it makes sense if you want to spread folks out.

 

[smokeybandit]

8 minutes ago, cruisellama said:

"or"  - I read it as use the vouchers outside the Diamond lounge anytime,  or during happy hour held within the Diamond lounge.   Probable intent is to decrease number of people assembling in the Diamond lounge trying to get their 4 drinks in over a short period of time.  This way folks don't need to enter the Diamond lounge or any other bar during the happy hour.  I think it makes sense if you want to spread folks out.

 

You can't advertise it as a happy hour at that point since it's just another bar if you have to still "pay" for your drinks

[cruisellama]

10 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

You can't advertise it as a happy hour at that point since it's just another bar if you have to still "pay" for your drinks

All day becomes Happy Hour!! (except in the DL)

 

[Crusie]

35 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Right, but the wording suggests to get a drink during the happy hour you have to use one of your vouchers

Yes, that's what I meant. I guess I wasn't clear!

[FionaMG]

I will be very happy about this if it also applies to my Harmony sailing out of Barcelona. We will get much more use out of the benefit than we do under the "old" rules.

[Jill]

I hope this stays in place through my Alaska and Holy Land cruises. We won’t need the drink package. 
 

Still buying the package though for our October symphony as that’s a “different” type of cruise if ya know what I mean

[smokeybandit]

Hopefully Matt can get clarification on if Happy Hour is still has a complimentary drink menu or if you need to use your vouchers there.

[Matt]

Looks like @smokeybandit was right all along.

From the Diamond host to another guest that asked

I'm still not sure I believe it (as in they may change their minds), but I guess this about keeping crowds low in DL.

[smokeybandit]

That's nuts.  In exchange for taking away the free happy hour a Diamond person gets 1 free drink?

I hope that's not the same for the suite lounge, too.

[instaGator]

33 minutes ago, Matt said:

Looks like @smokeybandit was right all along.

From the Diamond host to another guest that asked

I'm still not sure I believe it (as in they may change their minds), but I guess this about keeping crowds low in DL.

Now is the wrong time for Royal to be devaluing the C&A loyalty program. I think that I am not alone when I say that I really enjoy the Diamond and Suite/Concierge lounges because of the other people that are in there, and to simply turn them into more bars just to thin out the crowd is really missing the point.  On longer cruises, they thin out the lounge crowds by moving the happy hour event to a larger space.  They are very well attended even in the larger space.  I hope that they get this corrected in the next few days, otherwise, there are going to be a lot of negative things written by all of the people on the June 12th cruise.

 .

[Matt]

Clearly their goal is keep the Diamond Lounge from becoming overcrowded, and if you had unlimited drinks there, lots of people would go there to maximize their free drink benefit.

By making it 4 or 5 drinks per day across the board, there is little incentive to go to DL, thus achieving their goal.

So it makes sense from a social distancing standpoint, but obviously it could be a reduction in free drinks for some.

Full disclosure, I have the drink package so doesnt bother me all that much, but I certainly understand the concern.

[smokeybandit]

Why not just close the DL then, or not offer a happy hour (in whatever form it takes).

 

The whole thing just doesn't feel like we're getting the accurate story.

 

[LovetoCruise87]

4 hours ago, Crusie said:

We’re thrilled to offer you additional beverage vouchers to be used at any bar, at any time OR in the Diamond Lounge during the nightly Happy Hour

I see that it say or in the Diamond Lounge during happy hour. So my take is they can be used at any time.

[Jill]

12 minutes ago, Matt said:

Clearly their goal is keep the Diamond Lounge from becoming overcrowded, and if you had unlimited drinks there, lots of people would go there to maximize their free drink benefit.

By making it 4 or 5 drinks per day across the board, there is little incentive to go to DL, thus achieving their goal.

So it makes sense from a social distancing standpoint, but obviously it could be a reduction in free drinks for some.

Full disclosure, I have the drink package so doesnt bother me all that much, but I certainly understand the concern.

We’ve always gotten the drink package as well but with 2 port intensive cruises coming up in 2022, sure will be nice if they keep it at 4 drinks. Heck even if it goes back to 3, I still likely won’t get a package. I can’t imagine hiking with a hangover lol 

[Crusie]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Looks like @smokeybandit was right all along.

From the Diamond host to another guest that asked

I'm still not sure I believe it (as in they may change their minds), but I guess this about keeping crowds low in DL.

Maybe I was right too since I said that when I posted it! 

[MelKaps]

I hope this will carry over to the other ships sailing this summer. From someone who doesn't purchase the drink package, it would be nice to redeem a free drink earlier in the day instead of waiting until ~4:30pm.

[Crusie]

I asked 

Hi, Gretchen. Lounges will operate at limited capacity (50%), first-come basis
Happy Hour is standardized fleetwide, 5-8 PM. Only during the Happy Hour will bar service be offered, where the lounge will be manned by staff. SeaPass card drink redemption can take place in the lounge (no open bar). Packaged food selection will be available at the Diamond Lounge during Happy Hour. -Yami

[smokeybandit]

9 minutes ago, Crusie said:

I asked 

Hi, Gretchen. Lounges will operate at limited capacity (50%), first-come basis
Happy Hour is standardized fleetwide, 5-8 PM. Only during the Happy Hour will bar service be offered, where the lounge will be manned by staff. SeaPass card drink redemption can take place in the lounge (no open bar). Packaged food selection will be available at the Diamond Lounge during Happy Hour. -Yami

So the Diamond Lounge has all but been rendered useless.

[Crusie]

8 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

So the Diamond Lounge has all but been rendered useless.

I agree. It's a shame.

[Linda R]

I love the new drink procedures.  I am Dia+.  Is better than crowing into lounge and waiting so long at time for drinks.   And I REALLY like that you can get drinks any time of the day and up to $13.  I hope it stays that way forever.

[Jill]

I don’t think this will be permanent. Depending how the summer goes, I would imagine by September it may change. Worst case until the CSO expires November 1. 
 

Then We’ll all complain that they took the extra drink away!

[wordell1]

11 minutes ago, Jill said:

I don’t think this will be permanent. Depending how the summer goes, I would imagine by September it may change. Worst case until the CSO expires November 1. 
 

Then We’ll all complain that they took the extra drink away!

For me, 4 free drinks a day would easily make the drink package not make sense.  I suspect there will be a lot less packages sold to Diamond and above.