tonyfsu21 Posted October 12, 2016 Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 So I have Harmony of the seas booked twice in 2017. March we are booked in a balcony room and Thanksgiving 2017 we have a crown loft suite. Both rooms were booked under my casino VIP rate. My question is if my casino play goes exceptionally well in March can I call the VIP host and get an additional discount on the crown loft suite for Thanksgiving? Xobertlab, Howarderose and MylesDots 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted October 12, 2016 Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 That's an interesting question, Tony. The casino rate, itself, will not change. That % discount is the same for everyone who qualifies for a casino rate. The casino rate is not set by the casino, but is set by the Revenue Department. What could change, however, is the additional casino discount that would qualify for during the March 2017 cruise. I refer to this additional discount as the Previous Play Bonus (PPB). They have no name for it at Club Royale, so I just made up my own name. Your casino discount (I only just found out this information during a recent chat with CR) is a combination of the casino rate (standard, for everyone who qualifies) + some individual "bonus" discount (PPB) that is based upon your play on your last cruise. That PPB can be large if you had a very good cruise on your last cruise or it could be smaller if you did not have a good cruise, or if, say, you had family on board during that cruise and maybe you didn't spend much time in the casino. The good news is, if your PPB is high, you can turn around and book as many cruises as you want using that high PPB and they will never adjust it even if you have a few bad sessions on any of those cruises. Conversely, if you have a lower PPB then any cruise you book would use that lower PPB. The question that I have is....if you cruise in March and earn a high PPB (using whatever criteria they use...big secret...I don't know what it is) could you then rebook your November 2017 cruise using that increased PPB ? My guess is the answer is sure....but just like any RCI rebooking, you would pay the current base rate on the November cruise (which would probably have increased from what you paid originally) to which they would then subtract the current casino rate (if that has changed since you originally booked. I don't think those fluctuate very much but who knows...) plus your current PPB which presumably would be higher than the PPB that you used to book, originally. What I don't know...and didn't think to ask...was whether the casino rate I have been getting for over 5 years now has always consisted of these 2 variables (casino rate + PPB) or if I have only been getting a flat casino rate in the past and the new variable (PPB) is something that has just been added. I do not know the answer to this question. What else did I find out during my call ? The qualification period for your eligibility for CR rates will be 18 months. In other words, if you do not cruise within 18 months of establishing your "level" you will drop back down to -0- and have to start over. ...and when you finally DO decide to cruise again, you would not be eligible for any casino rates at all. So if you rely on the casino rate (which we certainly DO) then you would need to cruise at least every 18 months to maintain your level in the program and your eligibility to receive the casino rate + PPB. Something else I found out is....if you receive ANY kind of certificate onboard, you have at LEAST the minimum eligibility and will therefore be eligible for at least the basic casino rate. That's a huge deal. From my experience, the basic casino rate is anywhere from 42 - 50% off the full fare (depending on the ship and sailing). So even if you get a certificate for $100 (which is the minimum) you would be eligible to book a cruise and receive at LEAST the going casino rate plus some arbitrary PPB (which, I guess could be -0-....I just don't know how they calculate it !). When I asked "how do I know whether I am going to "qualify" on any particular cruise or not" ? ...his answer was "...whatever you're doing, just keep doing it..." So that was a somewhat useless answer. But I guess I will just keep doing what I am doing and hopefully I will continue to qualify and maintain at least some minimum level in the program. Oh...by the way...there is NO MORE Club Royale VIP Program. It is gone. I had heard this before but had it confirmed on this call. The old VIP numbers are gone and everyone is tracked by their C&A numbers now. I had thought (erroneously) that there was some remnant of the old program remaining for us oldtimers. Nope. Two things were stressed - the old Program is gone and EVERYTHING is being determined by the play on your LAST cruise only. There is no "averaging" of your last year of gaming. Everything is going to depend ENTIRELY on the play of your last cruise. I guess this can be a good thing (if you have a good session) or a bad thing if you don't. Matt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyfsu21 Posted October 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 Wow thanks so much for the good info! I did notice something interesting that is along the lines of what your referring to with the extra discount. When I booked the March cruise I received the "casino rate" + $1,250.00 cash applied to the cruise based on my play about (5) months ago on Brillience of the seas. I am wondering if I play presumably at the same level in March and earn the $1250 again if I can use it as casino cash in Nov to avoid re-booking the cruise and applying the $1250 to the fare? Why on earth does RC keep us in the dark? Wouldn't it be easier for them to publish the rules? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted October 12, 2016 Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 Yes. If you get any certificate you can apply it to any booking you have already made as long as you do not already have any other casino discount applied to that cruise. I do think there is an expirattion period (maybe 12 months ?). The casino rate does not count as a discount (even though it clearly is !) so you could have the $1250 (or whatever coupon value you might get) applied EVEN if you have already been given a casino rate. Even better....coupons are combinable ! On our last cruise (Allure in Feb) Dan and I both received coupons and we were allowed to apply them BOTH to the same cruise (Harmony next Feb). We would have had them applied to our upcoming Navigator holiday cruise but we had already had the last of our cash rebates applied to the Navigator cruise which invoked the "no more than 1 casino discount per cruise" rule so we had to apply them to the next cruise, which was Harmony in Feb. So, in the end, we got a 44% discount off the full fare price plus an additional discount off the price of our combined coupon values. Well over $7k discount in all. tonyfsu21 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloatMe Posted November 26, 2016 Report Share Posted November 26, 2016 Yes. If you get any certificate you can apply it to any booking you have already made as long as you do not already have any other casino discount applied to that cruise. I do think there is an expirattion period (maybe 12 months ?). The casino rate does not count as a discount (even though it clearly is !) so you could have the $1250 (or whatever coupon value you might get) applied EVEN if you have already been given a casino rate. Even better....coupons are combinable ! On our last cruise (Allure in Feb) Dan and I both received coupons and we were allowed to apply them BOTH to the same cruise (Harmony next Feb). We would have had them applied to our upcoming Navigator holiday cruise but we had already had the last of our cash rebates applied to the Navigator cruise which invoked the "no more than 1 casino discount per cruise" rule so we had to apply them to the next cruise, which was Harmony in Feb. So, in the end, we got a 44% discount off the full fare price plus an additional discount off the price of our combined coupon values. Well over $7k discount in all. I received a cruise certificate from the casino host on Allure a few weeks ago, but on the back, conditions #1 and #14 say that it can only be used for new bookings? Is it your experience that I might be able to use it for payment on one of the cruises I already have booked? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 26, 2016 Report Share Posted November 26, 2016 Yes. Even though it says it's for new bookings only, I have never had any trouble getting the certificate applied to an existing booking. The only stipulation that they have ever made is that you cannot add a certificate to a booking that already has a casino discount applied. My guess it that this would not be a problem for you so I would definitely call Club Royale and see if they will apply your casino certificate to an existing booking. All they can say is "no" ! ...and I don't think that will happen. The $100 will come straight off the top....it's a straight discount to the price of the cruise so it's really quite valuable. I think they HOPE that you will book a new cruise to use it but I have never had them deny applying it to an already booked cruise. Good luck ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bsbrady Posted November 26, 2016 Report Share Posted November 26, 2016 I also received a certificate from the Allure and was not able to apply it to my existing booking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloatMe Posted November 27, 2016 Report Share Posted November 27, 2016 I also received a certificate from the Allure and was not able to apply it to my existing booking. I snapped some photos of it and sent it to my TA. I suspect I Wil get the same answer you did, but as WAAYTOO iterated, can't hurt to ask Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 27, 2016 Report Share Posted November 27, 2016 It surprises me that they would deny applying your certificate to a future cruise, already booked. I'm disappointed to hear it. I wonder if it has anything to do with whether or not you are a Club Royale member. I know they have changed the way they run their membership recruitment. I can't explain it...and I'm sorry to hear it. Maybe they have changed things since June when we got our last 2. We were able to take them both and apply them to our Feb. Harmony cruise which had been booked back in 2015. I hate these kinds of inconsistencies. It does nothing to bolster their program profile. FloatMe, I hope you have better luck ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firegal2539 Posted November 27, 2016 Report Share Posted November 27, 2016 WAAAYTOO, I just booked a cruise for January 2018, the 9 day Bahama. When I called to book it, the rep told me that I might get a better discount by calling CR, which I did. It lowered the cost by about $300 to $350 but I didn't get any OBC which is ok when I can save that much. The CR rep stressed to me that the CR discount is 20 to 25%. She again stressed that it is never more than 25%. As you said, inconsistencies from one rep to another, different answers. What I found funny, I had another cruise I wanted to book and the CR rate was higher than the regular Cyber rate. The rep said that is very rare, but it might be the ship or destination. The other thing she mentioned is you can only book 18 months out, so if I wanted a cruise in June she couldn't have booked it at the CR rate. I don't know whether this is all true or not but that was what I was told. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 27, 2016 Report Share Posted November 27, 2016 Candie, they must be changing the program significantly then. I always get at LEAST a 42% CR discount. It is often close to 50% - of course this is the discount off the FULL retail fare, which nobody ever pays...so I guess it could be 20% off the already discounted rate (25 - 30% depending upon which "sale" they are running at any given moment). So maybe that is accurate. And yes...you will never get any OBC with the casino rate. It is always just a straight discount right off the top of the cruise fare....but as you say, the discount is so good that I don't care whether I get any OBC or not. I still make out better with the CR discount than any other "sale" they are having. I wasn't aware that they had a limit on how far in advance you could book a CR rate. I booked my upcoming 23 Dec. cruise in June of 2015 so that's just about 18 months. BTW, the discount I received on the full fare price for this cruise was 44% (originally $5454 PP reduced by $2383 PP). Then I got an other $300 taken off due to the very LAST of my cash rebates from the old CR program. Casino rate is the way to go, that's for sure....at least, for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bsbrady Posted November 28, 2016 Report Share Posted November 28, 2016 All the discounts are on full price. I have received a few more coupons via email since booking. I did call the CR desk and the told me that the price I paid for my cruise was very good. If I wanted the $400 discount I would have to re-book at the prevailing rate, which was over $1000 more. So it didnt pay. I guess I got a really good deal. I booked onboard via Next Cruise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firegal2539 Posted November 28, 2016 Report Share Posted November 28, 2016 Thanks WAAAYTOOO, I wasn't thinking about the full price fare, which as you said, no one pays that because there is always some kind of discount going on. I don't even know what the full price fare is for the cruise I booked, but again, I think it would be about a 40% discount. I was so excited to save that money. I also like that my TA can take over the booking. Most cruise lines won't allow TAs to take over a casino booking but Royal said they were fine with it. I asked the rep about getting a CR discount through Next Cruise, since I am sailing in two months, and she said you can't book a Casino discount through Next Cruise. She said that Next Cruise can never match the casino rate unless there is a huge discount promotion going on and she said that is very rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howarderose Posted December 1, 2016 Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 Hi, soon will be my first cruise as a diamond member. My housband is NOT a diamond member. I understand that I will be getting 3 drinks per day between 5-7 PM. Will he be getting the same or we will have to share mine? In a diamond lounge can he come along? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted December 1, 2016 Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 Good news ! Your husband can be upgraded to Diamond by virtue of your Diamond status. Just call the Crown & Anchor Society and tell them your situation. He will "inherit" your Diamond status. 800-526 9723 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donolog Posted December 1, 2016 Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 Good news ! Your husband can be upgraded to Diamond by virtue of your Diamond status. Just call the Crown & Anchor Society and tell them your situation. He will "inherit" your Diamond status. 800-526 9723 And then he can say "I married into Diamond Status" :) WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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