Diamond Drinks Now.....

[AnyShip4Me]

It's probably too early to ask but how are they handling diamond/diamond plus drinks? I heard they are now letting you have

any drink (up to $12) at any time of day. How many to you get?  Thanks!

 

[CGTLH]

24 minutes ago, AnyShip4Me said:

How many do you get?

D 4, D+: 5, Pin: 6

[ConstantCruiser]

The unknown is how long this will last or if it will become permanent.  

[Vancity Cruiser]

19 minutes ago, ConstantCruiser said:

The unknown is how long this will last or if it will become permanent.  

I hope it becomes permanent. With more and more people becoming diamond (especially with the double points offer) it makes more sense than overcrowded diamond lounges where everyone is trying to get free drinks.

[rjac]

29 minutes ago, Vancity Cruiser said:

I hope it becomes permanent. With more and more people becoming diamond (especially with the double points offer) it makes more sense than overcrowded diamond lounges where everyone is trying to get free drinks.

Crown and Anchor could change the requirements to become Diamond and higher. I think they did this a few years ago, but I could be mistaken.

[smokeybandit]

I bet it becomes permanent.

[ConstantCruiser]

4 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I bet it becomes permanent.

Fingers crossed.  Free drinks are good so no complaints about the old drink menu but...  I like better stuff so the new drink offers work so much better for me.  

[Jill]

We’ve got 2 port intensive cruises coming up in 2022 (Alaska and Holy Land/Greece). I’d be really happy if they just load the drinks on my card for anytime of day. We won’t get the DBP if they do. After a long day of port stuff, 2 glasses of wine and hit the sack are good for me! 
 

I’ll buy water with my extra drinks. I know, that’s wasteful

[stevendom57]

I never saw the answer to the initial question. Are the drinks loaded on your card to use at any time of the day or only at specific "Happy Hour" times?

[smokeybandit]

10 minutes ago, stevendom57 said:

I never saw the answer to the initial question. Are the drinks loaded on your card to use at any time of the day or only at specific "Happy Hour" times?

You can use them at any time during the day.

[PG Cruiser]

37 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

You can use them at any time during the day.

... at any bar/location, including Coco Cay and Labadee, right?

 

[smokeybandit]

9 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said:

... at any bar/location, including Coco Cay and Labadee, right?

 

Private islands yes. I thought there were some very specific exclusions (like Starbucks) but otherwise can be used at any bar.

[PG Cruiser]

8 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Private islands yes. I thought there were some very specific exclusions (like Starbucks) but otherwise can be used at any bar.

I think it's safe to say that the vouchers would work very similarly to the drink packages (except for the unlimited part lol)

 

[twangster]

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/crown-anchor-society/program-updates

 

Q : How will the daily happy hour be impacted?
A : The Happy Hour in the Diamond Lounge will take place daily from 5 pm to 8 pm. Diamond and above members will now enjoy additional daily beverage vouchers to be used at any bar, at any time, in the Diamond Lounge during Happy Hour, or in our private destinations. Whether it’s sparkling water, sparking wine, or the drink of the day, you choose when and where to enjoy these beverages.
The number of daily beverage coupons will increase as follows:

Diamond — 4 beverage coupons loaded daily on SeaPass card

Diamond Plus — 5 beverage coupons loaded daily on SeaPass card

Pinnacle Club — 6 beverage coupons loaded daily on SeaPass card

Diamond, Diamond Plus, and Pinnacle Club members will be able to redeem their complimentary beverage vouchers (for drinks valued up to $13) at any venue except Starbucks and Bionic Bar, at any time throughout the day.

[ChrisK2793]

On 6/29/2021 at 4:11 PM, rjac said:

Crown and Anchor could change the requirements to become Diamond and higher. I think they did this a few years ago, but I could be mistaken.

If they were to make Diamond Plus say 300 points ……. Would everybody who reached it at 175 still keep it?  We’ll hit Diamond Plus after our December cruise.

 

[Matt]

3 hours ago, PG Cruiser said:

... at any bar/location, including Coco Cay and Labadee, right?

 

Theoretically, yes, but in practice, it was not available when I was at CocoCay. That may have changed since.

[Ampurp85]

I don't think they will be changing the thresholds for C&A status anytime soon. I also think your status would move up with the aligning tier if they did. I too hope they keep the drinks on the seapass, as I may have 2 drinks in a day but would love frozen mocktails. My plan was to try to make Diamond in 2022 between the family and solo cruises I had booked in 2020/21. Those 5 of 6 cruises turned to just 3 in suites

The cruise industry has been shutdown for 15mth. I am on the low end with less than 5 cruises cancelled, some people had as many as 30.  With the double points program in place, all it does is put people where they would/might have been had this not happened. It will definitely move people like me, I only cruise about 3wks a year, up the tiers quicker. But for most people it will just make up for the lost cruises.

 

 

[Jill]

2 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I don't think they will be changing the thresholds for C&A status anytime soon. I also think your status would move up with the aligning tier if they did. I too hope they keep the drinks on the seapass, as I may have 2 drinks in a day but would love frozen mocktails. My plan was to try to make Diamond in 2022 between the family and solo cruises I had booked in 2020/21. Those 5 of 6 cruises turned to just 3 in suites

The cruise industry has been shutdown for 15mth. I am on the low end with less than 5 cruises cancelled, some people had as many as 30.  With the double points program in place, all it does is put people where they would/might have been had this not happened. It will definitely move people like me, I only cruise about 3wks a year, up the tiers quicker. But for most people it will just make up for the lost cruises.

 

 

I don’t know. For us without double points we’d be at 129. Double points on our 4 cruises will get us to 175. That’s a chunk. 10 night Alaska in a JS was the biggee at 40 points. 

[smokeybandit]

27 minutes ago, Jill said:

I don’t know. For us without double points we’d be at 129. Double points on our 4 cruises will get us to 175. That’s a chunk. 10 night Alaska in a JS was the biggee at 40 points. 

No doubt some (myself included) will make some point bank with the double points. But surely we're in the extreme minority, program wide.

[twangster]

Changing threshold levels is like playing with matches while refueling your car.   High probability of it going boom.  

If the program ever reaches a point where the benefits are costing more than the loyalty business they return all they need to do is adjust the benefits rather than move the goalposts.

 

[smokeybandit]

11 minutes ago, twangster said:

Changing threshold levels is like playing with matches while refueling your car.   High probability of it going boom.  

If the program ever reaches a point where the benefits are costing more than the loyalty business they return all they need to do is adjust the benefits rather than move the goalposts.

 

Especially since they've reduced benefits anyway under the guise of covid

[twangster]

The open bar in the Diamond Club is a good candidate.  No where in the verbiage or terms & conditions is open bar promised.  Once the pandemic is over they could ease back the drink coupons to what they were before but continue to use drink coupons in the club - end results is scaling back a benefit that was never stated in writing to be a benefit (open bar).  That's a whole lot safer than moving the goalposts that cruisers have been working towards for decades in some cases.

People will moan and complain but it's still 3 daily drinks more than you get on any other cruise line (that doesn't include drinks in the cruise fare).

I'm not saying that is the intention.  The cheap booze that was offered in the club before was just that - cheap booze.  Given the goal of loyalty the cost of cheap booze is negligible if it keeps customers coming back. 

[Ampurp85]

@JillI am getting 30pt for a 5n solo on Mariner and 24pt for a 4n solo on Indy plus 28pt for a GS on Allure. That is 3 cruises to D in less than 4 months. I had 5 cruises planned from 20-21 and wouldn't have made it to D until I booked something in 2022 as I just started sailing on RCG in 2019. All are a huge chunk of points for "lil ole" me to move up on. But what I am doing is not the norm. I am sure there are a lot of people like me who cruise only a few weeks out of the year because of our work schedule, so those of us making D won't be that big of a deal. Even if people are booking just to move up that's good for RCG as its revenue. Most D and D+ are still buying bev, specialty and other packages. Even if the perks are cut back, my ultimate goal is to cruise and have fun; the extras are just that.

[stevendom57]

11 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

You can use them at any time during the day.

Do they roll over to the next day if unused?

[AlmondFarmer]

Someone said no to your question on another thread.
My hope was new round reloaded at midnight to keep the party going, but was told that next day’s allocation loads once all bars are closed.

[cruisellama]

On 6/29/2021 at 1:19 PM, smokeybandit said:

I bet it becomes permanent.

Agree. It makes sense as it not only spreads people out it gives more  choice on where you can get your complimentary drink.  As far as increase in number higher tier guests, true would expect it to grow, but as some stop sailing numbers are also decreased.   We’ve been through a year where no one has collect any C&A points.

[dswallow]

In theory the double points offer is simply offsetting the 15 months during which zero points were earned by anyone. So it's not like the total points distributed from March 2020 through December 2022 would be much different between what it would have been had sailing never paused and what it will be if sailing continues opening up as planned going forward.

In fact, considering the removal of a few ships from service, it's likely the maximum number of points that could be earned with the current fleet under double points is less than could have been earned pre-COVID-pause.

Certainly, some people are taking full advantage of this double points offer. But there really are just a limited number of cabins to be sold.

I expect the new Diamond Drink offers will become permanent. It takes a significant load off staffing for the Happy Hour period in the Diamond Lounge and overflow areas, spreading the demand out ship-wide throughout the entire day. It likely makes for a happier diamond and above passenger, overall. A handful of people might have gotten more alcoholic beverages the old way, but it's unlikely to really be a large number of people who will be upset with the change. And I suspect many more people will like the change overall.

[twangster]

I'm pretty sure somewhere in the past I posted a desire for Royal to make the drink "coupons" work for any drink, any time.   That was long before the notion of a pandemic entered the picture.  

Not only did Royal do just that but they granted more drink coupons for those that have climbed higher.  Then they made them work at the private destinations.

I'm very happy with this change.  

Losing some lounge access is a bummer but there was writing on the wall that was a possibility.  Some people can smell it's going to rain.  This is a change I could smell coming.

Everyone places different value on different components or benefits of any loyalty program.  For me Crown and Anchor is still the best in the industry and a reason to keep coming back.

Thank you Royal.

 

[CGTLH]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Losing some lounge access is a bummer but there was writing on the wall that was a possibility.  Some people can smell it's going to rain.  This is a change I could smell coming.

Want to say the voucher in the lounge idea has been a swirling rumor since 2016. I recall on Allure when they were scanning everyone's card in the Diamond Club when getting a beverage. Plus the "use anywhere during happy hour" vouchers had rolled out.

 

Part that took me for a surprise with the new voucher program was getting rid of the limited selection menu. Being free to select what you want is a huge upgrade in benefit.

[CruiseGus]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

 

Thank you Royal.

 

Yes to that statement.

In reference to earning double point, in my situation, I just checked, we have the same number of cruises +1 booked as we had cancelled, which is pretty much the same number of cruises we would normally take every year.  Actually the +1 is a special celebration that would have been added to the normal anyway.

Then I thought, lets see if i can figure out how much it cost me per point earned, maybe double points make it much cheaper? All situations are different, and there are also intangibles in addition to cost.  But clearly for me double points has not come out any cheaper that most of my other cruises, with the exception of one of my L&S that was already a good price when I bought the original cruise 3 years ago.  Everyone will be different and i had fun setting up the spread sheet (also many other calculations included)

[kilik49]

Is there an age limit on the beverage coupons?  If my 3yr old gets my Diamond status, does his Sea Pass card also get loaded with 4 beverage coupons?

[twangster]

17 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

Want to say the voucher in the lounge idea has been a swirling rumor since 2016. I recall on Allure when they were scanning everyone's card in the Diamond Club when getting a beverage. Plus the "use anywhere during happy hour" vouchers had rolled out.

 

Part that took me for a surprise with the new voucher program was getting rid of the limited selection menu. Being free to select what you want is a huge upgrade in benefit.

Royal has been slowly making the drink coupons better with incremental changes.  

A few years ago there were no drink coupons.  They didn't exist.

A few years ago there were only select bars where the coupons worked.  Then they expanded it to more bars.

A few years ago drink coupons did not work in the MDR.  They they changed the policy and they were accepted in the MDR.

That was all before the pandemic. 

This is an ongoing evolution of the program making it better and better.  

[BrianB]

I don’t think this new drink coupon policy…or any other policy for that matter…can truly be considered ‘permanent’ in a business sense. I’m sure they will always be evaluating cost-profit-passenger satisfaction in determining whether there needs to be any ‘tweaking’ in the future. I have to wonder what would happen if this new policy results in a measurable drop in purchases of the drink package by D and above C&A members. I hope it does not and this continues because it’s a perfect fit for me. Cheers!

[dswallow]

2 hours ago, kilik49 said:

Is there an age limit on the beverage coupons?  If my 3yr old gets my Diamond status, does his Sea Pass card also get loaded with 4 beverage coupons?

No, the drink vouchers are available only to those of legal drinking age. I asked the Adventure Loyalty Ambassador about this specifically in response to someone with a similar question. He also said they have access to the discounted internet benefits now. I really don't know myself if that's something new. Just what he mentioned.

[Matt]

7 hours ago, kilik49 said:

Is there an age limit on the beverage coupons?  If my 3yr old gets my Diamond status, does his Sea Pass card also get loaded with 4 beverage coupons?

Nope, kids do not get the drink vouchers. In fact, kids have their own set of benefits.

[Linda R]

I am thrilled with the new drink vouchers!   More options, can get drinks all day.  It is perfect for me

[Tyro]

2 hours ago, Matt said:

Nope, kids do not get the drink vouchers. In fact, kids have their own set of benefits.

What about 18-20 year olds as they are able to have their own C&A accounts/numbers?

[Ampurp85]

@Tyro18-20 aren't really kids

But jokes aside that would be probably a no, legal drinking age in US is 21, since the cruise departs from Us port those restrictions would still apply. However, some ports have legal drinking ages of 18. An 18 y/o is not allowed to by a drink package and the C&A happy hour perk was mainly for alcoholic drinks.

[AlmondFarmer]

Anybody ever been “Hey Mistered?” on a cruise ship?

To keep my question on topic, has a diamond member under the age of 21 ever asked anyone reading this over 21 to buy them an alcoholic drink on a cruise ship?

Bonus question, if you did (shame, shame) did you use one of your diamond drink vouchers?