Crown and anchor program

[Sulross]

Can anyone confirm or deny that this coming Wednesday, 1/12, RCCL will be announcing changes to there Loyalty program. Chainging levels and how to acquire points and such. Also, if they are and you are a certain level are you locked into (Grandfathered) that level or is there a chance you could go down if just over what is needed? Thanks

[felix_the_cat]

That seems to be the million dollar questions. That there are going to be changes there doesn't seem to be any doubt. Exactly what those changes are - well that's conjecture at the moment.

The best guess seems to be they are going to convert to days sailed with double for suites.

The guess is that they will grandfather everyone in at the level they are now.

I don't think that is as important as what you are actually going to get at the level you are at. Are they going to take away the CL for D+? Are they going to lower the amount of balcony discount?

Who knows................Wednesday.................... ..

[Queen of Oakville]

All I know is that I am one credit away from Platinum and I don't want to lose that!!!!

[felix_the_cat]

I'm D+ and I don't think I'm going to have changes, but there are a lot of people upset because if they go days they are going to fall way back because the majority of their cruises have been 3 or 5 days. The joys of living in Florida

Now perhaps the rest of us can get onto a level playing field.

They do say that you will be grandfathered in at whatever level you're at now but that isn't really going to help you.

[Sulross]

I am Diamond Plus with 30, should be ok.

[DiamondMember]

So here we are on Wednesday and no annoucement from the cruise line. Wonder if they are really modifing to the days v. cruise credits. Perhaps all the message board speculation has them reconsidering?

[felix_the_cat]

I have to wonder really. There was a person on CC who put this out as gospel. He/she claims to have worked for RCI and claims to have first hand "special" knowledge. Actually seems to claim he/she has all this knowledge about everything.

Personally, yes I think they will be making some changes but when is anyone's guess. There is a pic on CC of the new levels that was apparently put out at the Baltimore dock so I have to assume something is going to happen in the not too distant future.

As for the complaints, just remember that less than 1% of cruisers actually post on websites such as this and cc therefore I wouldn't think their influence would be that huge, certainly not enough to cause a whole program to change (or not).

[ViviW]

Glad I found this thread, I'd heard something about changes to C&A but couldn't find any hard info.

I agree there are probably changes coming but I'm sure RCI wants to get it right this time. Last time there was so much anger over Ds no longer having access to the CL. People were saying they would never cruise with RCI again. I suspect most of them continued to cruise with RCI.

I do hope RCI grandfathers people in at their current level and have always thought C&A levels should be determined by total number of days, as opposed to the current system. It just seems fairer. Sort of like frequent flyer miles.

In any case, again, I'm glad I found this thread. I hope someone here will let us know when the new changes happen and what they are.

[Snoozeman]

Originally Posted by felix_the_cat

...They do say that you will be grandfathered in at whatever level you're at now...

That's what they said last time too.

[DiamondMember]

The line is taking their time to post any changes to the program; wondering when they would release all these changes. My guess is that they would make any changes the same time of year they updated the program last year (i.e., June 2010). I can see them making changes on an annual basis; perhaps we'll see more come of this in June 2011. Just a thought.

[felix_the_cat]

What is going to happen is anyone's guess. There were pics of the new sign so I suppose that means it really is going to happen. As for the converstion on the dark side that says there will be no changes for those already "there" I take that with a bucket of salt. When there are changes - things change.

[ViviW]

Originally Posted by Snoozeman

That's what they said last time too.

Did people lose levels, e.g., went from Diamond to Platinum? I thought the last changes were in benefits in each level. Not that losing benefits is good but it would not be good at all if you were Diamond and suddenly were Platinum again.

[felix_the_cat]

The only loss on the last changes were to benefits now to level. In particular, D's lost the Clounge. There was a shout out about that so they were given the D "nightly event" where they actually thought they got something. (Cheap throat burning wine, pop and 25% off other drinks.)

The scuttlebut is there will be 2 new levels added. There will be grandfathering in because those who reached D+ on 3 night cruises for the most part wouldn't qualify for D+.

The claim in there will be no loss of benefits but I'll only believe that when I see it in writing.

[felix_the_cat]

Apparently the BIG announcement is tomorrow (21st) morning. At least according to an editor on the dark side.

[ViviW]

The changes have been posted. RCI is now awarding cruise points by the number of days cruised, double points for suites. They added two more levels, Emerald and Pinnacle.

The levels are now

Gold - 3 points
Platinum - 30 points
Emerald - 50 points
Diamond - 80 points
Diamond Plus - 175 points
Pinnacle - 700 points

Here are a couple of links that provide info.

https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/ca...?pnav=6&snav=3


Royal Caribbean International

[ViviW]

Originally Posted by felix_the_cat

The only loss on the last changes were to benefits now to level. In particular, D's lost the Clounge. There was a shout out about that so they were given the D "nightly event" where they actually thought they got something. (Cheap throat burning wine, pop and 25% off other drinks.)

The scuttlebut is there will be 2 new levels added. There will be grandfathering in because those who reached D+ on 3 night cruises for the most part wouldn't qualify for D+.

The claim in there will be no loss of benefits but I'll only believe that when I see it in writing.

Yes, I vividly recall the resentment when the CL was taken away from Diamond members, so many said they would never sail on RCI again. Then RCI gave them, as you so well put it, "cheap throat burning wine, pop and 25% off other drinks" and that appeared to quiet everyone down. We always felt the CL was too crowded at night to be enjoyed but did like it for coffee in the mornings. We remain Diamond and don't have far to go to Diamond Plus but I can't imagine we will ever rack up 700 cruise nights for Pinnacle.

[felix_the_cat]

I believe most are satisfied with what they have. No one lost a level. We are still D+ however we have lost "days/points" because of our longer cruises. The 3 dayers from Florida have really come out ahead on this but now they will have to earn the same way as anyone else. The only thing they did which could really be called a bit "off" was invite a lot of those 3 dayers who had a 100 cruise thereby 300 points to the pinnacle level. Really shouldn't have happened. At the same time there don't seem to be much difference in the perks for D+ and Pinnacle.

We'll never reach pinnalce though so arn't even going to try.

[ViviW]

Originally Posted by felix_the_cat

I believe most are satisfied with what they have. No one lost a level. We are still D+ however we have lost "days/points" because of our longer cruises. The 3 dayers from Florida have really come out ahead on this but now they will have to earn the same way as anyone else. The only thing they did which could really be called a bit "off" was invite a lot of those 3 dayers who had a 100 cruise thereby 300 points to the pinnacle level. Really shouldn't have happened. At the same time there don't seem to be much difference in the perks for D+ and Pinnacle.

We'll never reach pinnalce though so arn't even going to try.

Hadn't heard RCI invited the folks with 100 3-day cruises Pinnacle status, it does seem off but I suppose RCI wanted to reward them; 100 cruises, 3-day or not, is a lot of cruises. It is got to be a very difficult balancing act for RCI.

I don't understand your losing days/points, RCI actually reduced the number of cruise days? We take longer cruises, too, 9 days and up, all balconies, no suites and ended up with more points than we had days. No idea how they calculated it but have heard others also got more points than they had days.

What I find odd is they added Emerald, there is only one additional perk, it seems it would have been better to add a level between D and D+ but I suppose any changes between D and D+ would have caused an uproar. Besides what would they call it, Diamond half plus, ?

Also, I can't figure out if the balcony/suite discounts have changed. Do you know?

[felix_the_cat]

Their calculation is credits X 7 + 13. In our case 29 X 7 + 13 = 216. There were quite a number at this rank. The difference is a number of our cruises were 10/12 day so we would have had more points under the new system. I actually realize I don't have the proper number of days at sea in my signature either. Sooner or later I'll figure it out properly.

If you have 7 or less cruises its credits x 7 + 1 so it makes a real difference to those who are at 7 cruises credits and expecting to get to D on their next cruise but now won't. I think that had something to do with the creation of the Emerald level.

Once you get to D+ there really isn't much difference, if any, between that and pinnacle so if they were to add another level between I believe it would cause more problems for RCL than worth. Generally, by the time anyone is D+ their loyalty is established. Why would they want to risk chasing D+ away.

The balcony discounts were changed awhile ago but not with this except that Emerald now has a discount higher I believe than Plat.

[ViviW]

Felix - thanks for the info. Sorry, I didn't mean to imply there should be a level between D+ and Pinnacle. Just thought if they were going to add a level it might be good between D and D+ (leaving the D+ benefits as is b/c those cruisers have definitely proven their loyalty). It was just a fleeting thought b/c the Gold, Plat and Emerald seem so close together points-wise. But the new system seems good to me, much fairer overall.

For reasons I've never been able to explain, I couldn't keep the balcony discounts straight. We have relied on our TA to apply whatever the discount should be and tell us what the final balance is. Glad to hear that whatever the discounts are they remain :-)

Again, thanks again for your help and info. Happy cruising! Maybe we'll catch up together on a cruise.