Diamond Lounge

[asquared17]

5 hours ago, Traveler said:

They can try like they tried to get money for Pizza ...

so i guess we should flood the appropriate channels with our displeasure to see if we can ensure this potential voucher threat goes away…

it’s the vouchers that keep me sailing royal tbh. between the fares rising and the new wave of cruisers, as much as i love central park and oasis class — it’s a lot. have been exploring other lines and fares just to see what’s out there because there’s just a lot of “noise” these days. 

ironically, i will have made diamond plus after our sailing in december — but i know that there is NO way i make it to pinnacle unless i marry a captain of the fleet  

diamond plus is wonderful for me; and 5 vouchers a day means i don’t have to buy a water package and can have champagne with dinner. maybe a corona at lunch. that’s it for me

[Matt]

18 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I only have 3 booked right now. We've tried to fit in a third per year, but it's not going to work this year since shorter term bookings are so expensive, plus personal schedules don't really fit to pull one off during school breaks.

[smokeybandit]

Just now, Matt said:

[cruisellama]

On 9/29/2023 at 8:46 AM, RCL_Cruiser_Dan said:

Rumor or fact?

Interesting, a couple of weeks before this was announced we were discussing why the Diamond lounge was named/branded the Diamond Lounge as its actually and "upper tier" benefit - D, D+, P.  I can see how the renaming makes sense to all the upper tier, would think it could confuse the newer cruisers who will mistake it for just being a member of the C&A program.

[Shari]

Diamond Lounge is now showing as Crown Lounge on deck plans on Royal website.  I was just looking at Navigator of the Seas and it is now Crown Lounge.

[CruiseGus]

8 hours ago, Shari said:

Diamond Lounge is now showing as Crown Lounge on deck plans on Royal website.  I was just looking at Navigator of the Seas and it is now Crown Lounge.

Impressive based on other examples of Royals IT department

[BrianB]

I got a couple of future cruises booked. I realize how lucky I am to be able to cruise often and to live close to a port. I’m a glass half full optimist and always look for the best in life and in people.

I’m addicted to the cruise life. I love the service, the crew and the food. Even if a meal may sometimes be a little bit off… it’s understandable that constant perfection is not possible on such an enormous scale. My servers are always anxious to please and will make any change or addition that I request. In fact, on all my cruises, I have never sent something back. But, that’s just me.

As far as the vouchers are concerned, I’m not a big drinker so I never use my six.. Usually two a day.

I like and appreciate the perks of my loyalty status. I mean, they can come and go at any time as the company sees fit to tweak them…either expanding, adjusting or even removing something.

As Super Mario has said time and again…the free WiFi perk that comes with reaching P is a big thing. I agree. I very much appreciate not being charged for WiFi every cruise. I thought the company might have reconsidered that perk post-shutdown when StarLink was added and prices went up. They could have easily justified removing the free WiFi and offering it at a discounted price. But they didn’t.

I don’t really frequent the loyalty lounges except maybe in the early morning for coffee. At that time they are usually sparsely occupied. I’m not a big conversationalist and can usually, if not always, be seen working on my iPad…or reading my smartphone.

I consider myself ‘low maintenance’…lol.

But, that’s just me…and this is just my opinion.

Hi. My name is Brian and I’m a Cruisaholic.

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Wow...@Brianb, you must be my long-lost brother !  We sound very much alike re: our cruising habits.  Not sure why the "tag" feature isn't working.....

[BrianB]

@WAAAYTOOO Works for me……at least it looks like it does.

[smokeybandit]

On 10/4/2023 at 8:40 AM, Matt said:

OK fine, you made me book a cruise over the weekend for Christmas 2024. It's all your fault.

[Steve in Orlando]

On 9/29/2023 at 11:15 AM, Jill said:

I wonder if this has something to do with possible merger with celebrity benefits? 
 

Or…….you can now buy access to the lounge through The Key 

That's where I am - it's a step towards bringing the two lines together in a common reward program. 

[twangster]

Maybe now there will be fewer Diamond members shunning Pinnacles who visit this lounge.  

Despite being able to access another lounge at times many Pinnacles will use the Crown Lounge to meet friends who aren't Pinnacle.  It wasn't unheard of for some Diamond member to tell a Pinnacle to get out of "their" lounge.  

[Matt]

6 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

OK fine, you made me book a cruise over the weekend for Christmas 2024. It's all your fault.

[Snotarni]

On 10/2/2023 at 2:43 PM, WAAAYTOOO said:

At the end of this one we will have 697 C&A points.  Hallelujah !

Whoa!!!!  Congrats!!!!  We have a few more years to go on our "Pinnacle Plan"  

[OCSC Mike]

It is being reported elsewhere that during the evening Happy Hour (5-8pm), only D+ and Pinnacle will be allowed in the "Crown Lounge." D's will be allowed at all other times.

There was a picture of the standard letter from the Diamond Crown Lounge Concierge stating as such but no mention of the ship or sail date.

EDIT: Someone said it was from Quantum based on the name of the concierge.

[smokeybandit]

25 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

It is being reported elsewhere that during the evening Happy Hour (5-8pm), only D+ and Pinnacle will be allowed in the "Crown Lounge." D's will be allowed at all other times.

There was a picture of the standard letter from the Diamond Crown Lounge Concierge stating as such but no mention of the ship or sail date.

EDIT: Someone said it was from Quantum based on the name of the concierge.

Seems kind of an odd thing to do since the happy hour isn't an open bar anymore.  It would make sense in the old days. Unless this is a quiet trial of what response will be. Or this just due to Quantum's current itinerary being a relocation cruise.

[OCSC Mike]

6 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Seems kind of an odd thing to do since the happy hour isn't an open bar anymore.  It would make sense in the old days. Unless this is a quiet trial of what response will be.

That was my thinking but who knows?

I primarily sail when school is out when the D and above numbers are low and the DL is always empty but others have had different experiences... although they seemed to often be on smaller ships and/or during school.

[smokeybandit]

I'm going with this just being a special circumstance (or a perfect time to test it out) due to Quantum heading from Hawaii to Australia. 

[OCSC Mike]

34 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I'm going with this just being a special circumstance (or a perfect time to test it out) due to Quantum heading from Hawaii to Australia. 

People are reporting receiving the letter on Mariner and Wonder as well. There's more in the thread across the street now.

[smokeybandit]

2 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

People are reporting receiving the letter on Mariner and Wonder as well. There's more in the thread across the street now.

If this is going to be a fleetwide thing, that's pretty bush league of RC to say "don't worry, access isn't changing" then to change it a couple weeks later.

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, smokeybandit said:

If this is going to be a fleetwide thing, that's pretty bush league of RC to say "don't worry, access isn't changing" then to change it a couple weeks later.

Agreed. Obviously I hope you're right for numerous reasons.

[Shari]

From a member in a FB group that is on Wonder of the Seas.  This is NOT right!  A very bad image for RCL now.

[Shari]

If someone knows who we can call or email about the change in the access to the "Crown" Lounge please let us all know so we can let Royal know how upset we are that they lied to us.

[FloatyBoaty]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

EDIT: Someone said it was from Quantum based on the name of the concierge.

That person is incorrect. I am currently on the Quantum Hawaii to Brisbane trip. Jullia Kaihatu is our Diamond Concierge and we did not receive that notice as part of our welcome letter.  

That said, the (still called Diamond Lounge here) has been pretty active and when I stopped by during happy hour yesterday, it was packed. We have 450 Diamonds, 262 D+, and 30 Pinnacles onboard. Pinnacles may also use the Suite/Concierge Lounge on this cruise. 

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, FloatyBoaty said:

That person is incorrect. I am currently on the Quantum Hawaii to Brisbane trip. Jullia Kaihatu is our Diamond Concierge and we did not receive that notice as part of our welcome letter.

Thanks, that letter seems to have actually come from Wonder based on subsequent posts.

[WAAAYTOOO]

We boarded Mariner on 10-13-21 and our welcome letter says nothing about limiting access to Diamonds any time of the day/night.  This week, due to the number of Pinns onboard, Pinns are not permitted into the Suites Lounge but next week (our first week as Pinns), we will be allowed in !  Yippee !  Forgive the sideways image.
 

[OCSC Mike]

9 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

our first week as Pinns

CONGRATS!

[Jill]

To confirm: 

[OCSC Mike]

15 minutes ago, Jill said:

To confirm:

Just to be clear, because I will admit to not actually reading the posted letter closely enough earlier, it specifically says "due to the high number of top tier members on THIS CRUISE, we've made a slight adjustment..."

This certainly seems to indicate it will be a cruise by cruise determination based on the volume of top tier members aboard.

[Lovetocruise2002]

37 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

our first week as Pinns

Yay!!!!! Congrats Raye!

[teddy]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

our first week as Pinns

Omg!! Awesome!!

[Jill]

58 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Just to be clear, because I will admit to not actually reading the posted letter closely enough earlier, it specifically says "due to the high number of top tier members on THIS CRUISE, we've made a slight adjustment..."

This certainly seems to indicate it will be a cruise by cruise determination based on the volume of top tier members aboard.

Yes I agree. Changing the name to Crown gives them the ability to be flexible. 

[smokeybandit]

28 minutes ago, Jill said:

Yes I agree. Changing the name to Crown gives them the ability to be flexible. 

I think they still would have done the same no matter the name.

[karl_nj]

4 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Just to be clear, because I will admit to not actually reading the posted letter closely enough earlier, it specifically says "due to the high number of top tier members on THIS CRUISE, we've made a slight adjustment..."

This certainly seems to indicate it will be a cruise by cruise determination based on the volume of top tier members aboard.

Wasn't that the same exact excuse they used to kick Diamond+ out of the Concierge Lounge for like every single sailing?

 

[OCSC Mike]

28 minutes ago, karl_nj said:

Wasn't that the same exact excuse they used to kick Diamond+ out of the Concierge Lounge for like every single sailing?

I'm 7 points short of D+ but sounds similar to what I've seen mentioned.

[WAAAYTOOO]

5 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

CONGRATS!

 

4 hours ago, teddy said:

Omg!! Awesome!!

 

4 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Yay!!!!! Congrats Raye!

Thanks, all.   We’re feeling pretty awesome tonite !  

[Jzx1103]

Phew, we made Diamond Plus just last week.

[asquared17]

yay raye!!! so happy you and dan will be pinns makes up a little for the no-sail time, i hope @WAAAYTOOO

also i am probably still in the minority here, but im holding strong with being barred from the lounge during 5-8 (if needed) as long as i still have my vouchers.

[smokeybandit]

I heard that for those Diamonds who get banned during happy hour will get vouchers for free Sorrento's pizza from 5-8

[WAAAYTOOO]

10 hours ago, asquared17 said:

yay raye!!! so happy you and dan will be pinns makes up a little for the no-sail time, i hope @WAAAYTOOO

also i am probably still in the minority here, but im holding strong with being barred from the lounge during 5-8 (if needed) as long as i still have my vouchers.

Thanks, A.  It has been an wonderful cruise so far.  As expected, the Loyalty Ambassador advised us that we would remain D+ throughout the remainder of this cruise but would be full-fledged Pinns next week.  The Pinns had been run out of the Suites Lounge this week, due to their numbers (I think there are 55 on board) so we didn't really miss anything this week but next week the Pinn numbers are lower, so we will be able to get in.  It's not that big a deal anyway as all I ever do is get morning coffee...I can do that just fine in the CL. ...however, we will be able to get in if we choose to.

Just for information....we got our Pinn ceremony yesterday (day #3) where we went up on stage and got our photo snapped with the LA and the Capt.  I was thrilled that I did NOT trip going up or down the stage stairs nor did I burst into tears of joy as I had expected to do.   Dan had planned on doing the moon walk across the stage after the ceremony but decided not to do that.  (JK) LOL  They delivered a very cute pineapple-shaped cake to our room along with a bottle of bubbly.  We are not big sweets-eaters but we took the cake to breakfast this morning and each had a taste.  I hated wasting the rest of the cake but we were never going to eat it.  Now, at least it's out of our room !  I'm sure the fish will love it.  We had been expecting a certificate for a complimentary specialty dining meal (re: info from other Pinns) but apparently they have put that little perk off until you reach 1400 points so no freebie dinner for us this time.  Next week will start receiving complimentary internet (hallelujah !!) so I have cancelled all of the internet packages that I had previously pre-paid.  We will also be able to go to Chop's for breakfast starting next week and that's one of the perks I'm most excited about.  No more WJ or MDR mania...for breakfast, at least.

The LA mentioned that for the rest of this calendar year, the Pinn numbers are below (at least, right now) the 50 person threshold on Mariner so Pinns will be permitted into the SL on future cruises for the time being.  She did not mention anything about Diamonds being rationed into the CL but I also did not think to ask about this, so that's really not much help, I guess.