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Finally turned Diamond


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Well we finally turned Diamond. Just awarded the points from our Oasis cruise from last week. Booked at the right time and received double points for our short Adventure 4 day cruise, 8 points and double for Oasis 7 day cruise, 22 points in those cruises because they were running a promotion. 

Anyway we really wanted to hit Diamond because that's really where some of the good perks hit. The 4 drinks a day for both of us will be very nice. Diamond club is a pretty cool perk. Really looking forward to our Oasis cruise in May now, our first as Diamond. 

What are some other cool perks for Diamond? What are some sneaky cool ones that you can think of? Maybe some under the radar? 

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1 hour ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Well we finally turned Diamond. Just awarded the points from our Oasis cruise from last week. Booked at the right time and received double points for our short Adventure 4 day cruise, 8 points and double for Oasis 7 day cruise, 22 points in those cruises because they were running a promotion. 

Anyway we really wanted to hit Diamond because that's really where some of the good perks hit. The 4 drinks a day for both of us will be very nice. Diamond club is a pretty cool perk. Really looking forward to our Oasis cruise in May now, our first as Diamond. 

What are some other cool perks for Diamond? What are some sneaky cool ones that you can think of? Maybe some under the radar? 

 

1 hour ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Well we finally turned Diamond. Just awarded the points from our Oasis cruise from last week. Booked at the right time and received double points for our short Adventure 4 day cruise, 8 points and double for Oasis 7 day cruise, 22 points in those cruises because they were running a promotion. 

Anyway we really wanted to hit Diamond because that's really where some of the good perks hit. The 4 drinks a day for both of us will be very nice. Diamond club is a pretty cool perk. Really looking forward to our Oasis cruise in May now, our first as Diamond. 

What are some other cool perks for Diamond? What are some sneaky cool ones that you can think of? Maybe some under the radar? 

Robes in your cabin, welcome snack and beverage in your cabin, usually a tour of some sort,  priorities on some waitlists or entry to shows.

Enjoy!

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58 minutes ago, teddy said:

Congrats!!

We’ll be there after our October cruise if the double points come through for the one we’re about to go on tomorrow. 

Well here is an early congrats to you! Yeah that double points perk they were running was awesome. I booked 2 in that time period, mostly with FCC too. I was worried because I had to move the short 4 day cruise but still got the extra points. I'm happy, RC honored both with the extra points. 

This is going to be a little extra of a cruise coming up in May! 

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6 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

What are some other cool perks for Diamond? What are some sneaky cool ones that you can think of? Maybe some under the radar? 

I just took my first cruise as Diamond, on Wonder of the Seas.  We sailed out of "Rome" (Civitavecchia), which turned out to be the "alternate" embarkation port.  The "main" embarkation port was Barcelona.  This caused a few issues:

1) The app did not work for people boarding in Rome, so you couldn't book entertainment yourself

2) Entertainment could only be booked for the first half of the cruise; the 2nd half couldn't be booked until Barcelona boarding day

On our boarding day we were able to get booked for some shows in the first half of the week, and they wrote down our selections for the 2nd half of the week on a piece of paper.  The staff told us they would put in our other requests on Barcelona boarding day.

Turns out, they didn't.  Luckily, we had been talking with the Diamond Lounge concierge earlier, and he recommended we check back with him to make sure we were booked into the adult comedy club slot we wanted.  He was able to fix it for us, but it was a close call.

I also had some issues with Diamond drinks not posting to my account correctly, and he was able to quickly resolve those too.

So I would say that the perk I didn't think I would have any need for but turned out to be a huge help was the Diamond Lounge concierge.  At least for this cruise where I wasn't able to use the app.

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8 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

What are some sneaky cool ones that you can think of? Maybe some under the radar?

It's discussed more often there days, but you get 4 more drinks on the morning of disembarkation day. You can use these for mimosas or whatever if the WJ bar is serving alcohol (mixed results). You can also use them for fresh squeezed OJ, coffee drinks at Cafe Promenade (you have the DL coffee machine of course but there are some items like a fancy iced coffee you can get at Cafe Promenade), bottled water, etc.

Some people who stay up late have also reported using them after they reset at midnight the night before for extra late night drinks at whatever bars are open that late. I'm asleep by then, lol.

Congrats on Diamond!

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Below the radar, we enjoyed priority boarding on our last cruise (June).  Rather than starting with "check in times", Port Canaveral gave priority to Pinnacle, Diamond Plus, and then Diamond (suites and Key had priority, too).  After we boarded, they went by check in time.  This could vary by port.

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13 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Awesome if guys and thanks, we are pretty happy about the move up. 

Hey as I understand it you get 1 free "surf and stream" free? How does that work when I get 2 full cruise internet packages? Do they make a small discount for the one day?

You get 24h of surf (no stream) free.  You can upgrade to 24h of surf & stream for like $7 or so.  Or there is a discount if you buy the internet package onboard for the whole cruise.

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2 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Awesome info guys and thanks, we are pretty happy about the move up. 

Hey as I understand it you get 1 free "surf and stream" free? How does that work when I get 2 full cruise internet packages? Do they make a small discount for the one day?

The Diamond discount won't work before you are onboard. If you already purchased a package you can pick a day and use your free day of Surf and have an extra device for that day. You may or may not be able to do this directly in the app. If it doesn't give you the option in the app, just see the VOOM desk.

For longer cruises, it's usually always better to buy the package ahead of time online. The short cruises it can come close to the same price.

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1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

The Diamond discount won't work before you are onboard. If you already purchased a package you can pick a day and use your free day of Surf and have an extra device for that day. You may or may not be able to do this directly in the app. If it doesn't give you the option in the app, just see the VOOM desk.

For longer cruises, it's usually always better to buy the package ahead of time online. The short cruises it can come close to the same price.

Seems like this particular perk will not be useful to us but that's a small one anyway. We get a two device package every cruise. By the way the internet on Oasis was awful, I expected it to be much better. Anthem it was excellent, Oasis and Adventure were awful. 

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Congratulations!

I'm literally sitting on the balcony of our cruise that will push us over into the shiny Diamond land. Can't wait to join you and take serious advantage of the perks!

I'm not a big drinker so the 4 per day bigger is more than perfect. I probably wouldn't do more than 2 even with the juice option! (Don't drink coffee)

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20 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

Congratulations!

I'm literally sitting on the balcony of our cruise that will push us over into the shiny Diamond land. Can't wait to join you and take serious advantage of the perks!

I'm not a big drinker so the 4 per day bigger is more than perfect. I probably wouldn't do more than 2 even with the juice option! (Don't drink coffee)

Exactly, I'm not a big drinker at all so the full alcohol package would be a total waste but to spread 3-4 drinks a day out free is an amazing perk. Wife is the same way. We bought 3-4 a day and shared them basically this last cruise. Now we can get our own, and spread them out throughout the day and that is perfect. 

Gld you are joining us! This is the tier we wanted to get to for a long, long time. Diamond + maybe but not chasing, pinnacle is completely out of the question. Diamond suits us just fine. 

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Nice. I had 17 points prior to the pandemic. Within this past year I've got on five cruises that netted me 8, 20, 28, 14, and 14 points bringing me up to 101. I've still got one cruise left with the promotion that will net me another 24 points. After the scheduled cruises for next year I will only need 28 more points for D+. Having a quiet lounge to go to during the day is nice to have. Obviously, the free drinks are the biggest benefit. Saves a good amount of money. Add to that having 100 shares of RCL stock gets me an additional $100 in OBC each cruise. The coming years should be really fun, though I got spoiled with the limited capacity ships. 

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congratulations!! diamond is such a fun achievement 🤩 the last time we were in CK for dinner, our server did a doubletake when he saw that i was diamond and said i had to be the youngest person in the fleet 🤣 i know he was just being kind but it made me laugh. (i also have a young face, i suppose 😆)

the diamond lounge is nice to visit in the early mornings; i used to get up early to exercise around 6 and then hit the DL on my way back to the cabin for a quick yogurt or fun pastry and coffee. it's not usually as overrun as some of the other elite lounges (or at least, it wasn't pre-covid, so take this with a grain of salt!) and typically is quite mellow and relaxing. part of that may also be due to the fact that you have to haul it down to deck 4 on the oasis class ships, which is usually pretty quiet in the mornings as there are no shows/entertainment happening at that time.

i am excited to use the free drink coupons now for all day (and also at coco cay thanks to @twangster's helpful reminder) and am so happy to offset my poolside treat/drink without having it hit my seapass card!

also did not know it could be used for freshly squeezed OJ in the 'jammer, another special treat i would not have ordinarily taken advantage of if needing to pay ala carte for it.

and don't forget you can also use them at wonderland for drinks at the bar!! (clearly i have my drink plans all mapped out hahaha)

 

sidebar: does anyone know if it can be used for freshly squeezed juices in the vitality cafe?

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2 hours ago, alibobali said:

congratulations!! diamond is such a fun achievement 🤩 the last time we were in CK for dinner, our server did a doubletake when he saw that i was diamond and said i had to be the youngest person in the fleet 🤣 i know he was just being kind but it made me laugh. (i also have a young face, i suppose 😆)

the diamond lounge is nice to visit in the early mornings; i used to get up early to exercise around 6 and then hit the DL on my way back to the cabin for a quick yogurt or fun pastry and coffee. it's not usually as overrun as some of the other elite lounges (or at least, it wasn't pre-covid, so take this with a grain of salt!) and typically is quite mellow and relaxing. part of that may also be due to the fact that you have to haul it down to deck 4 on the oasis class ships, which is usually pretty quiet in the mornings as there are no shows/entertainment happening at that time.

i am excited to use the free drink coupons now for all day (and also at coco cay thanks to @twangster's helpful reminder) and am so happy to offset my poolside treat/drink without having it hit my seapass card!

also did not know it could be used for freshly squeezed OJ in the 'jammer, another special treat i would not have ordinarily taken advantage of if needing to pay ala carte for it.

and don't forget you can also use them at wonderland for drinks at the bar!! (clearly i have my drink plans all mapped out hahaha)

 

sidebar: does anyone know if it can be used for freshly squeezed juices in the vitality cafe?

I’ve used Diamond drinks for the protein shakes at the vitality spa.  I’m pretty sure the juices are included.  You can always ask first.

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9 hours ago, alibobali said:

the diamond lounge is nice to visit in the early mornings; i used to get up early to exercise around 6 and then hit the DL on my way back to the cabin for a quick yogurt or fun pastry and coffee. it's not usually as overrun as some of the other elite lounges (or at least, it wasn't pre-covid, so take this with a grain of salt!) and typically is quite mellow and relaxing.

It's a ghost town in the early AM (based on Harmony and Indy over the past few months).

Be aware, not sure how long you exercise, but the coffee machine may not be prepped and ready until 7am and breakfast was put out later than it used to be on both my recent cruises.

My wife gets up even earlier than you to go running most mornings (yes, she's nuts) and my routine had always been to go to the DL for several early morning cappuccinos and a couple pastries (I call it pre-breakfast). I had to settle for my coffee at 7-ish on both ships.

One DL concierge told me HQ decided to not leave the coffee machine on overnight as they often had pre-covid b/c they found too many people were breaking it while it was unattended. Made no sense to me b/c it's on and unattended all day between breakfast and happy hour but oh well. Minor annoyance but I still enjoy my free cappuccinos.

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thank you for the info, @Pattycruise!! i will try this out when we sail in february and see what happens 😊

 

2 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

It's a ghost town in the early AM (based on Harmony and Indy over the past few months).

Be aware, not sure how long you exercise, but the coffee machine may not be prepped and ready until 7am and breakfast was put out later than it used to be on both my recent cruises.

My wife gets up even earlier than you to go running most mornings (yes, she's nuts) and my routine had always been to go to the DL for several early morning cappuccinos and a couple pastries (I call it pre-breakfast). I had to settle for my coffee at 7-ish on both ships.

One DL concierge told me HQ decided to not leave the coffee machine on overnight as they often had pre-covid b/c they found too many people were breaking it while it ws unattended. Made no sense to me b/c it's on and unattended all day between breakfast and happy hour but oh well. Minor annoyance but I still enjoy my free cappuccinos.

ah yes, pre-breakfast -- i refer to it also as "first breakfast" 🤣 to be honest, the coffee is usually an afterthought for me, since i am that psycho who travels with their own cold brew and will have some before departing the cabin in the morning -- but this is good to know. i noticed that the coffee machine was offline a few times when i had gone early in the morning last time we sailed on oasis, but i figured i was just there too early for signs of human life 😆

the big espresso machines make me nervous for that reason; i worked at starbucks for many years prior to getting into retail and into the tech field now and the thought of everyone being able to just punch whatever combination of keys in kind of blows my mind. then again, i am the type a/control freak person who makes their own coffee, so maybe i am not the right person to advise on this 🤣 the automatic machines are so finicky and have so many things that can set them off -- it is definitely a treat to use them but they can throw error codes so easily. (or maybe it's operator error for people like me haha)

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20 minutes ago, alibobali said:

ah yes, pre-breakfast -- i refer to it also as "first breakfast" 🤣 to be honest, the coffee is usually an afterthought for me, since i am that psycho who travels with their own cold brew and will have some before departing the cabin in the morning -- but this is good to know. i noticed that the coffee machine was offline a few times when i had gone early in the morning last time we sailed on oasis, but i figured i was just there too early for signs of human life 😆

the big espresso machines make me nervous for that reason; i worked at starbucks for many years prior to getting into retail and into the tech field now and the thought of everyone being able to just punch whatever combination of keys in kind of blows my mind. then again, i am the type a/control freak person who makes their own coffee, so maybe i am not the right person to advise on this 🤣 the automatic machines are so finicky and have so many things that can set them off -- it is definitely a treat to use them but they can throw error codes so easily. (or maybe it's operator error for people like me haha)

Everyone has their preferences. I make cheap stuff with flavored creamer at home so anything the machine spits out is an upgrade to me. I'm not picky.

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17 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Everyone has their preferences. I make cheap stuff with flavored creamer at home so anything the machine spits out is an upgrade to me. I'm not picky.

absolutely. and the big machine is really uniformly excellent, especially for the quality and volume of coffee it pumps out on the daily. it's very tasty!! sometimes we like to do a shot or two of espresso with hot water, americano style and it's just crisp and delicious. you have the right idea!!

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As mentioned by others, the Diamond drinks are a game changer.  And what seems like a kinda new feature is that you can use them anytime of day, at any bar.  Additionally, there are (2)50% off coupons for beer and wine for when you go over the 4 freebies.  
We also took advantage of the free 8x10 photos for each adult Diamond member.
Also, utilized the one free day of surf Voom.  
We never stepped foot in a Diamond lounge so I can't speak on that.  Might check that out on our next cruise 

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On 8/28/2022 at 11:39 AM, Hutcherl said:

As mentioned by others, the Diamond drinks are a game changer.  And what seems like a kinda new feature is that you can use them anytime of day, at any bar.  Additionally, there are (2)50% off coupons for beer and wine for when you go over the 4 freebies.  
We also took advantage of the free 8x10 photos for each adult Diamond member.
Also, utilized the one free day of surf Voom.  
We never stepped foot in a Diamond lounge so I can't speak on that.  Might check that out on our next cruise 

Can you use this diamond drink vouchers during dinner? Main Dining room? 

And they are good for anything?

Specialty coffee as well? 

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9 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Can you use this diamond drink vouchers during dinner? Main Dining room? 

And they are good for anything?

Specialty coffee as well? 

Yes to MDR, yes to coffee. Anything up to $13 (and if you go over you can just pay the difference).

There are only a couple venue exceptions, Bionic Bar and somewhere else.

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25 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

We actually bought some family photos this past cruise it's pretty expensive so this would be a nice perk also. 

We have always bought a couple of photos on all of our cruises so when we finally hit D it was great. That and the free drinks have effectively reduced our onboard spend to practically zero. Just the sort of people Royal "love" to have on board. 😏

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