LOYAL TO ROYAL: OUR FIRST CRYSTAL BLOCK!
We reached a new milestone and received our very first crystal block from ROYAL CARIBBEAN! This milestone was earned during our Anthem of the Seas cruise back in Oct 2022!
Many Crown and Anchor society members are unaware that they are entitled to receive a crystal block just like the above picture. First of all, you might ask - what is Crown and Anchor (C&A)? Crown and Anchor is the loyalty scheme exclusive to Royal Caribbean.
For each night you cruise, you earn 1 point if you stay in non-suite cabins. For suites, you earn 2 points per night. If you’re a solo traveller - you also earn double points! Each tier has their own benefits. However, in our experience, you won’t really start feeling the benefits until you reach Diamond. When you reach Diamond - you get 4 free alcholic and specialty non-alcoholic drinks up to $14 (excluding Starbucks and Bionic Bar) per day. This increases to 5 drinks per day if you’re a Diamond Plus member and then up to 6 drinks for Pinnacle members.
We are casual drinkers so this works for us as this removes the need of purchasing drinks packages which could end up really costly!
Royal Caribbean (RCCL) has debuted a brand new, full colour style crystal block. Now this has divided avid RCCL cruisers and preferred the old style block which was just clear. The new style blocks probably look nicer in person and the picture doesn’t do it justice but we love it! It’s a nice memento from our Anthem of the Seas cruise.
So how do you get it?
Members receive their first crystal block at 140 cruise points and earn subsequent blocks for every 70 points thereafter.
However, we were unaware that we were due to receive this and from reading the forums, we were not alone!
Bear in mind that if you are due to hit the 140 milestone (or 70 points thereafter), you should be getting this crystal block during the cruise that you are on when you hit that milestone. You should contact the Crown and Anchor loyalty ambassador on the ship if you haven’t received it by the end of your sailing.
In our case, we had to contact RCCL via email and they shipped it within a week. If you have not received yours and you hit the milestone within 1 year - they will still honour it and hopefully send you the block. You just need to be patient as other cruisers seem to be waiting for months before theirs arrived!
Which milestone are you excited to hit next?