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RCI Crown and Anchor



 
 
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Old April 22nd, 2009, 03:14 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Cruise Crazy
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Default RCI Crown and Anchor

This is the slightly different response that I got:
Concierge Lounge
Dear James and Doris:
Thank you for your e-mail regarding your benefits. We apologize for any
delay in our response. You are a valued member and we appreciate you
taking the time to write us regarding your comments, suggestions and
concerns. You will be happy to hear we have recently made some new
adjustments. Please see the below letter to our members from Royal
Caribbean International President, Adam Goldstein.
Dear Crown & Anchor Diamond and Diamond Plus Members,
I am writing to provide you with an update regarding the recent changes
to our Crown & Anchor Loyalty Program.
Let me begin by thanking you for being loyal customers of Royal
Caribbean International. These are remarkable times economic challenges,
new modes of communication, amazing new ships and so many other changes
that impact our lives at every turn. Especially in these times, we
appreciate your loyalty as our Crown & Anchor Diamond and Diamond Plus
members.
As you may know, we recently announced a number of changes to our Crown
& Anchor Loyalty Program. Many of our Diamond Members have expressed
considerable unhappiness about the change in eligibility for access to
our Concierge Lounges. While we knew the reaction would be negative, it
has been more negative then we anticipated. This underscores how
phenomenally passionate our most loyal customers are about their Royal
Caribbean experiences. We believe one of our strengths that inspires
such loyalty is our ability to learn from others and especially from our
Crown & Anchor customers. With this in mind, I will comment on the
change in eligibility regarding our Concierge Lounges and also inform
you of some new enhancements that will improve your experience onboard
our ships.
Our decision to limit access to the Concierge Lounges was based on the
unfortunate but inescapable fact that we cannot deliver an acceptable
experience in lounges that were never designed to handle so many people.
We regret that the crowding in our Concierge Lounges prevents us from
delivering the experience we intended. It also prevents us from being
able to grandfather in Concierge Lounge access for existing Diamond
level members. We deeply regret having to restrict this access, but we
are committed to delivering an exceptional Concierge Lounge experience.
Having said that, we realize we should have provided more notice of our
decision, which carries such consequences. To that end, we will delay
the implementation date for the change in eligibility from July 1, 2009,
to September 1, 2009.
Before I address the additional initiatives we will implement, I would
like to summarize the physical or hardware status of our fleet as it
relates to Concierge Lounges and Diamond Lounges, taking into account
all 22 Royal Caribbean International ships that are now open for sale.
Five ships (our Freedom class and Oasis class) have both the Concierge
Lounges and Diamond Lounges. We are excited about the Concierge Lounge
overlooking the Boardwalk and the Diamond Lounge overlooking the Royal
Promenade on our forthcoming Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.
Five ships (Monarch of the Seas, Majesty of the Seas, Vision of the
Seas, Grandeur of the Seas and Rhapsody of the Seas) have no Concierge
Lounges and two ships (Splendour of the Seas and Legend of the Seas)
have limited Concierge Lounges.
Ten ships have Concierge Lounges but no Diamond Lounges (Enchantment of
the Seas, as well as the ships in our Voyager class and Radiance class).
While we dont currently have plans to add Diamond Lounges to these
ships, we will look for opportunities to invest in Diamond Lounges as we
go forward.
The strong response from our Diamond members regarding our recent
changes demonstrates how much the Concierge Lounges are valued and we
clearly should honor that response. The feedback we have received from
Diamond members fall primarily into one of the three following
categories: * * * Preserving the social aspect the ability to meet
and mingle with other members
* * * Maintaining free or reduced price drinks * * * And,
access to concierge-type services for ice show tickets and other
activities
In order to address the first two interests for Diamond members, outside
the Concierge Lounge, effective September 1 we will offer them a
dedicated VIP private party in one of our bars or lounges. This may be
held in the Viking Crown Lounge, or any other bar or lounge designated
by the ship. In this dedicated area, from approximately 5 to 8 p.m., we
will offer complimentary wine and champagne and happy hour discount of
25 percent off all other beverages. This will be offered every day of
each sailing and will replace our recently announced one-time per-cruise
special Diamond party.
Additionally, we will offer a new continental breakfast from
approximately 8 to 10 a.m. in one of the rooms adjacent to the main
dining room onboard. During these morning hours, a crew member will be
present and will provide services such as obtaining ice show tickets,
and other assistance. We believe these changes will address the primary
desires our Diamond members have expressed. These enhancements will be
instituted on all our ships that dont have a Diamond Lounge today.
A number of Crown & Anchor members have placed the Concierge Lounge
issue in the context of a perceived sequence of cutbacks that taken
together have reduced the quality of the product we offer. We take these
comments seriously. I am pleased to inform you that in 2009 we are
seeing one of the most meaningful year-over-year improvements in our
guest satisfaction ratings in memory. Apart from the obvious
Independence of the Seas entering the fleet, Empress of the Seas and
Sovereign of the Seas leaving the fleet and Oasis of the Seas soon to
join systemic improvements such as My Time Dining, our suite
enhancements, the new debarkation process, and numerous smaller
initiatives are being very positively recognized by guests, travel
agents and the media.
While we understand not everyone is happy about every change taking
place in our fleet, we appreciate your loyalty to our company and we
sincerely hope you will continue to choose Royal Caribbean
International. It gives us no pleasure to hear from aggrieved Diamond
and Diamond Plus customers. Our goal is to earn your advocacy and your
return to our fleet by providing you with truly memorable vacations and
by recognizing and rewarding your loyalty.
Our mantra at Royal Caribbean International, besides delivering the Wow,
is continuous improvement. We constantly strive to find the right
balance, so our product evolves in ways that our guests, especially our
most loyal guests, are comfortable with. Our ratings and most
communications we receive indicate that the balancing is working.
However, occasionally we stumble and when we do we try to react quickly.
This may be such an instance. We are committed to earning the faith you
place in us. I hope the additional enhancements explained in this letter
demonstrate our commitment.
Thank you very much for being our customer and for your loyalty to Royal
Caribbean International.
Sincerely,
Adam M. Goldstein
President and Chief Executive Officer
Royal Caribbean International
James and Doris, we look forward to welcoming you onboard again soon.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Florence
Crown & Anchor Society
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?
Call: 1-800-526-9723, 8 AM to 11 PM EST, Monday-Friday, 9 AM to 8 PM EST
Saturday-Sunday
(Outside the United States or Canada: +1-316-554-5951) Visit our Web
site: www.royalcaribbean.com E-mail us:
Write us: Crown & Anchor Society
P.O. Box 026053
Miami, FL 33102-6053
*** Be sure to keep your Crown & Anchor Membership Number handy and
always provide it every time you book a Royal Caribbean cruise vacation
to get all the benefits to which you are entitled. ***

~~DORIS~~
**________*/*/___/*/___/*/_________
*\::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::/
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pacific Princess 9/2/2009

HAL Westerdam 12/6/2009

Oceania Regatta 3/8/2010

Oceania Regatta 3/21/2010

http://community.webtv.net/DorisIs/AROUNDTHEHORN

 




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