A few questions from soon-to-be first time Diamond cruisers

[Ian T]

 

My wife and I are looking forward to taking our first cruise as Diamond C&A members in January - a B2B on Symphony, Yay! - and have a few questions...

1. in Matt's article from Feb 10th he lists the following amongst the on board perks:

* 50% off coupon for any glass of wine, beer or soda (two coupons per sailing)

* 20% off any wine, beer or soda by the glass

Given that there is no mention of coupons for the 20% discount, does this apply throughout the sailing or is it a "one and done" deal?

2. Either way, do we need to ask for the discount to be applied or is this done automatically?

3. We will be sailing with other family members, 2 of whom are Gold and the other 2 are cruising newbies, and we all have a dining package. Can we go to the Diamond Concierge on Day 1 to organise our dining reservations rather than one of the venues?

4. If so, can we do so for all of us despite our other family members not being Diamond (our bookings are linked)?

Thanks in advance as always!

[OCSC Mike]

1-2. I’ve never used a % off, just my 4 free drinks, but I’d advise you to mention anything you want to use just to make it clear. Your free drinks may come off automatically (and you may not want them to if, say, you’re buying a soda & want to save them for $14 alcoholic drinks). I always say “Pina Colada, Diamond drink please” or something like that when I order.

3-4. The concierge likely won’t be in the DL when you board & you want to make reservations ASAP so you’re much better off going to a restaurant.

Congrats on achieving Diamond and enjoy your new perks!

[BrianB]

Ditto about the restaurant reservations…especially with a group. Go right to the restaurant host desk as soon as you board and make the reservation. Just have everyone’s cabin numbers. Reservations fill up quickly, especially for groups.

Also ditto for the coupons. Unless specifically noted, they are one and done. Just tell the server which one you want to use…your free Diamond drink, or your percentage off coupon. Do that for every drink you order so that the server doesn’t charge you for a Diamond drink if you’re only getting a soda or bottle of water. Save them for the alcoholic drinks.

Congratulations on achieving Diamond!

[Va4fam]

For dining reservations.....don't do what we did.   We went to Izumi thinking we were booking hibachi.   Nope, we had a reservation for sushi.   Luckily we caught it and changed in time.   Teppenyaki is the name of the hibachi on Odyssey (maybe some or all ships).

As @BrianB posted above, make sure to specify when you use a Diamond voucher.  

Congrats on becoming Diamond and enjoy Symphony, she's a great ship.

[Mike6453]

8 hours ago, Ian T said:

 

My wife and I are looking forward to taking our first cruise as Diamond C&A members in January - a B2B on Symphony, Yay! - and have a few questions...

1. in Matt's article from Feb 10th he lists the following amongst the on board perks:

* 50% off coupon for any glass of wine, beer or soda (two coupons per sailing)

* 20% off any wine, beer or soda by the glass

Given that there is no mention of coupons for the 20% discount, does this apply throughout the sailing or is it a "one and done" deal?

2. Either way, do we need to ask for the discount to be applied or is this done automatically?

3. We will be sailing with other family members, 2 of whom are Gold and the other 2 are cruising newbies, and we all have a dining package. Can we go to the Diamond Concierge on Day 1 to organise our dining reservations rather than one of the venues?

4. If so, can we do so for all of us despite our other family members not being Diamond (our bookings are linked)?

Thanks in advance as always!

we did just discover on odyssey that you can use a drink voucher and automatically get 20% off bottles when combined with diamond benefits

same....a drink voucher and $4 gets a pitcher of beer which is 5 beers...

[Ian T]

Thanks everyone, this is really helpful!

[Iluv4n6]

On 8/18/2023 at 10:58 AM, Mike6453 said:

...a drink voucher and $4 gets a pitcher of beer which is 5 beers...

Never considered this option.  Usually just go with fancy/$13 drinks for each Diamond drink.  Good to know about the volume beer value afforded by the 50% off coupon!