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Diamond Plus Drink Package - Sharing Cabin with a Gold


twangster

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Based on current bookings I should make Diamond Plus this spring.  I sometimes cruise and share a cabin with friends or family who are not D+.  This got me thinking... what about deluxe drink packages with the new rules that everyone over 21 in a cabin must buy the drink package if any one in that cabin buys the drink package?

A Diamond Plus member typically receives a 30% discount from the on board drink package price.  This is usually better than cruise planner prices even during sale events.  That's great for the D+ member, but what about anyone sharing the cabin over 21 years old who isn't D+?

If we buy in advance using the cruise planner the D+ member doesn't get their 30% discount but if you wait until on board, only the D+ member receives any discount, everyone else over 21 pays full price. No win situation.

I posed the question to the Crown and Anchor desk at Royal Caribbean and this was their response:

"We discussed your questions at length with a supervisor. The long story, short, is that in order to get the best value for all members of your stateroom, you will all need to purchase the beverage package through the Cruise Planner, before your sailing. Then, when you board, you will be able to cancel your own beverage package and then re-book it using your Diamond Plus discount."

Has anyone tried this?  Cancelling a cruise planner purchase on board and buying it again using your on board C&A offer?

 

 

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2 hours ago, twangster said:

Based on current bookings I should make Diamond Plus this spring.  I sometimes cruise and share a cabin with friends or family who are not D+.  This got me thinking... what about deluxe drink packages with the new rules that everyone over 21 in a cabin must buy the drink package if any one in that cabin buys the drink package?

A Diamond Plus member typically receives a 30% discount from the on board drink package price.  This is usually better than cruise planner prices even during sale events.  That's great for the D+ member, but what about anyone sharing the cabin over 21 years old who isn't D+?

If we buy in advance using the cruise planner the D+ member doesn't get their 30% discount but if you wait until on board, only the D+ member receives any discount, everyone else over 21 pays full price. No win situation.

I posed the question to the Crown and Anchor desk at Royal Caribbean and this was their response:

"We discussed your questions at length with a supervisor. The long story, short, is that in order to get the best value for all members of your stateroom, you will all need to purchase the beverage package through the Cruise Planner, before your sailing. Then, when you board, you will be able to cancel your own beverage package and then re-book it using your Diamond Plus discount."

Has anyone tried this?  Cancelling a cruise planner purchase on board and buying it again using your on board C&A offer?

 

 

Love how you are always thinking! I have done this before but not for a drink package. You get the diffference back as an OBC.

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20 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

So @twangster, what's wrong with taking the RC rep's advice and just cancelling and repurchasing?

Reading their response I'm not sure they have dealt with this before.  The new drink package policy that created this dilemma is fairly new.  It doesn't seem like a written policy but something they had to debate for a while before responding (the response took a while). 

My fear is that ship personnel will have never heard of this "policy" so I wanted to see if any one has ever run into this.  It's $50 for a 7 night cruise so not a huge issue but $50 is $50.

As it turns out my +1 for the Alaska GC now can't go so it may be a moot point anyways, I'll likely just go solo.

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23 minutes ago, twangster said:

Reading their response I'm not sure they have dealt with this before.  The new drink package policy that created this dilemma is fairly new.  It doesn't seem like a written policy but something they had to debate for a while before responding (the response took a while). 

My fear is that ship personnel will have never heard of this "policy" so I wanted to see if any one has ever run into this.  It's $50 for a 7 night cruise so not a huge issue but $50 is $50.

As it turns out my +1 for the Alaska GC now can't go so it may be a moot point anyways, I'll likely just go solo.

I see...well for us it was a pre-paid dinner at Jamie's that we cancelled halfway into the cruise.  No questions asked.  The money showed back up in our onboard account immediately.  Does the fine print say anything about not being able to cancel?  Because, if not, you could technically could argue it...?

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2 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

I see...well for us it was a pre-paid dinner at Jamie's that we cancelled halfway into the cruise.  No questions asked.  The money showed back up in our onboard account immediately.  Does the fine print say anything about not being able to cancel?  Because, if not, you could technically could argue it...?

I think a DP is unique because on board systems could be coded to cancel it for all over 21.  Can ship personnel override the computer system? 

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1 hour ago, Sabrinaklai said:

This reminds me of a question from a while ago about someone who was asking if their specialty dining could be cancelled if pre-purchased since it might go 20% off onboard.  It was for overnight in Bermuda I think?  Was it @JLMoran that brought it up?  Not sure. It was a while ago.

I had asked about whether specialty dining went on sale during overnights, but only to figure out if I should just wait until we're at the port to make the reservation or book the dining in advance.

For the OP, while the pricing of the drink package as the D+ member won't be as good if you pre-purchase on the Cruise Planner, it's still a 20% discount vs. on-board purchase, so you're not losing out on all discounts. And I have seen some deeper discounts offered on the cruise planner that put it closer to your 33% D+ discount. My sailing on Freedom in 77 days had the drink package stuck at $55 per night forever, but then it suddenly dropped to $43 (right when the change in purchase policy kicked in). So maybe do the advance purchase, keep an eye on the Cruise Planner to see if you can cancel and re-buy at a better discount, and then if all else fails you could still try to do the on-board cancellation and repurchase with your D+ discount.

Just looking at the numbers, it seems like your "loss" from not as good a discount is still more than offset by the Gold person's "gain" from getting the discount in the Cruise Planner.

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6 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

 

Just looking at the numbers, it seems like your "loss" from not as good a discount is still more than offset by the Gold person's "gain" from getting the discount in the Cruise Planner.

Joe, look who you are talking to!!! @twangster is the guy who created a giant spreadsheet to save a bit of money for VOOM!

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6 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Just looking at the numbers, it seems like your "loss" from not as good a discount is still more than offset by the Gold person's "gain" from getting the discount in the Cruise Planner.

But I want my cake and to eat it too!  It's $50 for a 7 night cruise.  MY $50!!!

Most D+ cruise with spouses who are D+ so its likely not a common issue.  

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