Cruise lines offer their most loyal passengers special benefits through their various loyalty programs. This is an incentive to continue booking cruises on the same line as you move up to higher tiers based on the number of nights you sail.
from the royal caribbean The Crown & Anchor program offers significant benefits and advantages once you reach the highest levels of the program. The initial levels, Gold, Platinum and Emerald, offer some small discounts and other minor benefits.
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However, when you reach the Diamond level, the real benefits start to appear. 80 points are needed to become a Diamond level Crown & Anchor member. Guests earn one point per night sailing, two if sailing alone or in a suite, and 3 if sailing alone in a suite.
When you arrive at Diamante, two benefits are offered. You get four drink vouchers each day that can be used anywhere on the ship or on the private islands CocoCay or Labadee. Those vouchers can be used on any drink up to $14, and unlike a drink package, they can be shared.
Additionally, Diamond members have access to the Crown Lounge, an exclusive card-access space where a continental breakfast is served in the morning and snacks and snacks are offered from 5 to 8 p.m. There is also a 24-hour coffee machine, 7 days a week, making elegant espresso drinks, and a concierge who can help with dinner and show reservations, as well as other issues.
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Access to the Crown Lounge is sometimes restricted
Social media has exploded with reports that Royal Caribbean is restricting access to the Crown Lounge during happy hour from 5 to 8 pm on some voyages. In many of those posts, the poster frames it as the cruise line “taking away another benefit.”
The “other” part usually refers to the old happy hour that included unlimited drinks. This was replaced by drinks vouchers to reduce crowding in the lounge during the social distancing days of Covid's return.
Since social distancing is no longer a concern, Royal Caribbean has maintained the coupon system that some Diamond (and above) members of the Crown & Anchor Society like. Others see the decision as a loss of something.
On select voyages, Royal Caribbean has limited access to the Happy Hour period, where drinks are served, but no longer free, for Diamond+ and Pinnacle tier members. That's a more select audience because it takes 175 points to get to Diamond+ and 700 to get to Pinnacle.
Restricting access is a change, but it has always been in fine print on the cruise line's website.
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“Royal Caribbean reserves the right to modify the Crown & Anchor Society, Club Royale and MyCruise Rewards programs, along with their terms and conditions, at any time and without notice,” the cruise line shared on its website.
The truth about access to the Royal Caribbean Crown Lounge
Royal Caribbean has been forced to limit lounge access during the Happy Hour period, when bar service is offered but drinks require the use of a voucher, a beverage package or must be paid for on very select voyages. It usually only happens on “event” voyages like the Presidential Cruise or an exclusive Casino Royale cruise because those cruises attract more veteran cruisers.
The cruise line only changes Crown Lounge occupancy rules when the number of Diamond, Diamond+ and Pinnacle passengers would cause overcrowding during that popular period.
Royal Caribbean is not preparing to remove the Crown Lounge benefit from Diamond members, nor has it made a policy change. It has chosen to temporarily limit Diamond members' access to trips that attract a high level of premium loyalty program members.
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The cruise line is making a necessary decision to avoid crowding. It also limits Pinnacle's access to the suite's lounge and Coastal Kitchen when numbers dictate. These are all rare occurrences, not a prelude to the cruise line making a change to its Crown and Anchor Society benefits.
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