Free Internet eliminated from all suites

[lfk60]

If I had a suite booked, I'd be slightly upset. Anyone who can afford to sail in a suite can afford the extra for the Internet.

 

But since I have never sailed in a suite and never will (unless we get a massive gift from the Upgrade Fairy), this doesn't affect me.

 

Wow!! That is quite a generalization!! ANYONE?? Really??

 

Please be respectful enough to realize that there are probably lots of folks who saved all their lives for that one suite on a cruise, or who worked lots of overtime and really pushed their budget limits to be able to book a suite for a very special occasion. Paying any extra might not be in the cards.

[TheBestIsYetToCome]

It is one thing to eliminate a perk....people can decide whether the value is still there without the perk and then they can purchase (or not) accordingly.

 

It's quite another to eliminate the perk after it has been offered (and accepted) as an enticement to make the purchase. Doing this, I'm afraid, is very, very out of line -- no matter how comparatively low in cost the perk may be. At best, it's bad business.

 

I would be quite frosted about how this is being handled if I were holding a booking for a suite just now, even though we have access to Elite internet benefits in addition.

[Loonbeam]

Two distinct issues here it seems (as so often with Princess)

 

1> They made a change to suite perks, added some, removed some, as they are allowed to do and probably do every so often. Some will like the changes, some won't. And while I think it would be great if they were retroactive to bookings, I can see logistically why they might not be. Worst case they should offer people the option to cancel without penalty (though I would be very surprised if anyone did).

 

2> Communications of said changes. This is where they fall down hard ALL THE TIME. How hard would it be to send an email to booked suite passengers a day or two before a formal announcement. To their credit, their site seems to be updated.

 

The first is not really a problem. Change happens. The second is a continuing problem and only serves to aggravate the first.

[cruisemom42]

It is no longer listed in the amenities of suites which has recently been changed to include a free dinner at a speciality restaurant on the first night:

 

http://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/ships/PrincessSuite_eFlyer.pdf

 

-----

 

While I have cruised in suites previously, I have not recently. I did spend 3 weeks on the Sapphire recently (in a mini suite that cost me significantly more then I have paid in the past) and after the cruise, I realized that Princess is no longer the line for me. It is the gradual cuts over the years that made me realize that "Princess cruising" is not what it used to be. I have to say that we had excellent service in many areas on the ship. The wait staff was great, our room steward was great, etc... But it is the overall cuts (over the years) that no longer makes me feel the same way I used to about cruising. Some of them are small things and some are items that may not mean much to some, other things are things that I don't like (MUTS blaring during the day). I realize that all mid-line cruise lines are going through similar cuts and it is entirely possible I wouldn't be happy on those lines either so I had already decided to take a break from cruising and do land based trips. I may end up on a Princess ship in the future, if my mom wants to go one more time (cruising is something that I have done with my mom) but it wouldn't be my choice.

 

A few of the cuts that have annoyed me are dining room menu cuts (and lack of changing menus like other lines have), loss of lunch on port day cuts, the new very uncomfortable furniture on my balcony which made it very uncomfortable to sit in for long periods of time when I had 4 glacier days with Princess recently, the lack of food in the buffet around 3:30 (it was extremely minimal - the buffet was closed and the area outside of the buffet that they built had very minimal food), the increased demands on the staff to do more and to be pushed to a point where service is lacking (not their fault), decrease space ratio on their newer ships, etc... My cruise on the Crown Princess was so crowded and there were so many lines that I have specifically avoided those ships the past few years.

 

I could go on. I am paying more for my cruises then I did before. I am getting less then what I used to get. It may not affect some, but it affects me.

 

I sold my Carnival stock when I returned from my cruise last month as I didn't see a need for it in the future as I don't expect to be using that perk in the future.

 

As far as the internet issue - Princess can pay more for better bandwidth (even with satellite) -they can do this. I am tired of people saying "it is slow because it is satellite". It is slow because they are choosing not to pay more for more internet bandwidth, though charging a high fee for their internet. Heck, in 2002 or so, Princess only charged .35/per minute for internet. Technology has gotten cheaper and Princess increases their rates.

 

I read recently that RCCL is greatly increasing their internet speed on one of their ships as a trial bases ( http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/news.cfm?ID=4885 ) .

 

Bash me if you choose. I used to be a huge supporter (maybe even a cheerleader) of Princess but over the last few years, I have definitely changed my thoughts. Cruising on Princess no longer has the magic it used to and it no longer is the value I once considered it to be. I no longer want to feel like I am being herded by cattle which is what my last few cruises made me feel like.

 

I agree nearly 100% with what you have said so well here.

 

I have been lucky enough to be able to sail on some smaller lines that still represent, for me, more of what cruising should be -- and not at much additional cost over a Princess cruise.

 

Cruisers will eventually find another product that suits them if the one they currently choose changes too much for the worse...

 

You always find folks saying they would rather cuts be made in services offered than increases in price -- that is, until the cuts take away something that THEY highly value. :cool:

[jmcross]

It is one thing to eliminate a perk....people can decide whether the value is still there without the perk and then they can purchase (or not) accordingly.

 

It's quite another to eliminate the perk after it has been offered (and accepted) as an enticement to make the purchase. Doing this, I'm afraid, is very, very out of line -- no matter how comparatively low in cost the perk may be. At best, it's bad business.

 

I would be quite frosted about how this is being handled if I were holding a booking for a suite just now, even though we have access to Elite internet benefits in addition.

 

 

I completely agree!!

 

This was one of the big draws to being in a suite as a first time cruiser with Princess. I wanted to be able to keep in touch with my three kids while away as they will be staying with my mother. My youngest is only 5 and this is the first time we've been away from him ever in his life.

 

This change while insignificant to some is important to us.

[cbreit]

I think one of the points of taking a cruise is to get away from everyone and everything - total relaxation, so losing the internet doesn't seem so bad, to me anyway.. if I have to go on line that bad, I'll just pay the fee.. sorry...

[CDay]

 

This was one of the big draws to being in a suite as a first time cruiser with Princess. I wanted to be able to keep in touch with my three kids while away as they will be staying with my mother. My youngest is only 5 and this is the first time we've been away from him ever in his life.

 

This change while insignificant to some is important to us.

 

 

I was just wondering. If Princess called and told you they were eliminating the free internet as one of the suite perks and said you could have a 100% refund if you were unhappy with that change. Would you cancel? Would any of you out there with this complaint cancel for a 100% refund, even after final payment?

[gottagocit]

Some here almost seem to enjoy seeing this perk taken from those who are either wealthy enough to book a suite at will OR have saved for years, as we have done in order to celebrate our silver anniversary. This I find sad.

 

Hopefully everyone here can at least agree that if someone who has booked or more seriously paid in full as we have, and doesn't receive the perk has been treated very poorly and obviously has every reason to feel cheated. That said I am going to contact Princess and ask to hear it directly from them.

 

If it does in fact come to pass that passengers such as ourselves are treated this way, the outcry being witnessed here today on this board will pale in comparison with that which will follow on every travel board from here to Frommers to Trip Advisor and everyone that can be found.

[Sunviking]

Because then some people on a ship or just back reported they still had the free internet in their suite. Thus, everyone assumed it was an accidental omission from the list.

Exactly what I thought!

 

I hope that they are inundated with complaints.

I believe they have been. I have both called and faxed them.

 

It is one thing to eliminate a perk....people can decide whether the value is still there without the perk and then they can purchase (or not) accordingly.

 

It's quite another to eliminate the perk after it has been offered (and accepted) as an enticement to make the purchase. Doing this, I'm afraid, is very, very out of line -- no matter how comparatively low in cost the perk may be. At best, it's bad business.

 

I would be quite frosted about how this is being handled if I were holding a booking for a suite just now, even though we have access to Elite internet benefits in addition.

 

This last comment by TheBestIsYetToCome describes exactly why we were so ticked off by this change. I am sailing on one cruise in 5 days with our adult daughter and in less than 2 months with my DH. Obviously we have paid for both cruises and for us internet is important for work reasons. Irrespective of that, we bought and paid for something which has now been switched. We have another booked for the fall of next year and since we have not paid for it except for a deposit, I don't have a problem with Princess announcing a change of policy for future cruises. But for those who have paid in full already, I believe that Princess should honor the contract they made with us.

 

When I called Princess this afternoon and spoke with a customer service supervisor I was told that "Upper Management was considering the decision."

[Astro Flyer]

Just confirmed this directly through Princess. No grandfathering of prior bookings. It was eliminated on June 27th and the agent had no further information.

 

Don't worry though. You now get free welcome goodies from the chef on embarkation day. Good grief! :rolleyes:

 

I am the one who called this morning. The agent at Princess just said it was gone as of June 27th and that they knew nothing else.

 

My TA has a call in to see what they can do. I'll post later if/when I hear back from him.

 

Just heard back fro my TA. He says that he is now awaiting a call from Princess upper management and will get back to me early next week.

 

I don't have a good feeling about this.

Since we may not know until next week whether there will be any minutes given to suite passengers, it's all speculation for now.

 

I understand why those booking suites would be upset & hopefully for them the suggestions already posted to get the same number of minutes as Platinum/Elite members or double that amount for those who already qualify for this benefit will be implemented.

 

As some have said, each of us make decisions on how to spend our vacation budget so I'm certainly not going to question how anyone does it. I decide on a less expensive cabin because I'd rather sail more often in a less expensive cabin...others may prefer to sail less often while enjoying the benefits of a suite.

 

Why this change has been implemented is unknown however it could be due to those who have abused the system by allowing others to use their suite benefit or maybe because some remain connected all of the time. Maybe it's just a financial decision however I doubt if anyone except for those responsible for this decision really know 'why'. :confused:

 

Princess is closing loopholes that some have used for an unintended reason such as eliminating lifetime brewed coffee with one punch remaining in a coffee card. We've all read posts from those bragging about a way to manipulate some benefit so I see no need to rehash those things in this discussion about a change to a suite benefit. I seem to recall reading that at one time the Captain's Circle internet benefit was unlimited but is now limited. Why? Too many qualifying? Too many abusing it? I don't have the answer & each of us can speculate about why without ever knowing the real reason.

 

I'll never have a suite so it's up to those who enjoy a suite and their benefits to decide if eliminating unlimited internet access is enough to stop booking them.

[WarEagle76]

This issue was raised on a thread yesterday regarding the "new" suite amenities:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1664894

 

As to why is wasn't raised before, I don't know but I only noticed it when I accessed the link to the flyer that was posted on the thread above yesterday. I conctacted my TA who was not aware of the change and he contacted Princess and was advised that yes, complimentary internet access had been eliminated and no, it would not be grandfathered for current suite bookings. I contacted Princess this morning spoke to a Supervisor and yes, they have been inundated with calls and have esclated it to upper management. What will be decided is anyone's guess. My biggest issue is with how the change has been implemented (badly). No notice to customers, no notice to TA's, and if the outcome was to stop suite users from "abusing" the complimentary access, then they should simply have provided an adequate amount of time with a cap versus eliminating it altogether.

 

And as far as it being a "perk", I disagree, it is a compenent of the advertised Princess Suite product that I purchased and different from what I consider a perk such as internet minutes received as a part of the Captain's Circle program.

[Sunviking]

I would also like to say that for someone to say that because you book a suite you can afford to pay a little more for internet is a really presumptuous comment. As someone said earlier in this thread, those who book suites rarely see their price go down regardless of the great sales that may be offered. Some people cruise once a year or less frequently so that they can stay in a bigger cabin instead of sailing on several cruises each year in a lower category. We each make our choices and only we know what our circumstances are. I wouldn't presume to comment on how much anyone on Cruise Critic can afford to pay for extras on a ship.

[flintg]

I'm with you. We booked a suite for October 2013 with the idea that it would include unlimited internet. The price we agreed to pay was based on us being allowed to use the internet when we wanted for as long as we wanted and not have to pay extra to do so. The idea that it is "free internet" is false. There is a reason that a suite guest pays 4x the amount an inside cabin pays. The internet, just like any of the other perks, is included in that price.

 

.

 

 

(There is a reason that a suite guest pays 4x the amount an inside cabin pays. ) You are correct! That reason is 5-6 times the square footage, full baths, real furniture, breeakfast in specialty resturants, priority boarding, and many other perks. I seriously doub tlosss of "free" internet minutes will send any one back to a l50 square foot if closet if they can afford a suite! Nothing in life is "free", someone always pays for it!:confused:

[cellyml12]

I agree 100% with the people who have already done the final payment. While Princess has every right to change the perks as they see fit, it IS only fair to either give the people that have already paid either the internet they thought they were getting, or OBC to cover the price of an internet package. Our cruise is almost a year out & we expect things to either go up in price, or some things to change. That sort of thing happens every year with business' in general, but it really is unfair to have rolled out a new policy in this way. This is another reason I'm glad we switched to a mini. At least we can't lose what we never had. Unless they take away the glass of champagne on our first day, which I'm TOTALLY fine with. :D

[Astro Flyer]

I would also like to say that for someone to say that because you book a suite you can afford to pay a little more for internet is a really presumptuous comment. As someone said earlier in this thread, those who book suites rarely see their price go down regardless of the great sales that may be offered. Some people cruise once a year or less frequently so that they can stay in a bigger cabin instead of sailing on several cruises each year in a lower category. We each make our choices and only we know what our circumstances are. I wouldn't presume to comment on how much anyone on Cruise Critic can afford to pay for extras on a ship.

Ann...well said & I don't think it's anyones business to question about how others decide to spend their vacation budget. :eek:

[PescadoAmarillo]

Coral, I'm mobile so I can't easily quote one paragraph of your post, but, oh yes, I agree with you. I, too, am tired of hearing about how it's satellite internet, it's on a ship, as an excuse for poor Internet quality. It CAN be better. We know crewmembers who video Skype their spouses every day while on a ship. They obviously have the "good stuff" when it comes to Internet quality.

 

And Matcodixon, I'm as average a person as you'll find, but I do have a MS degree in this stuff. Costs are dropping dramatically. Technology is improving exponentially. The fact that it's satellite doesn't make it magic. We had satellite based Internet at our home 7 years ago. It's simply a matter of time before Internet quality becomes a competitive advantage for one cruise line over others, just as it was when it first started appearing on ships. I paid $0.75 a minute for internet on a cruise in 2002. It's about $0.50 a minute now. How much has the cost of providing that minute dropped? Probably 80%.

[TheBestIsYetToCome]

I was just wondering. If Princess called and told you they were eliminating the free internet as one of the suite perks and said you could have a 100% refund if you were unhappy with that change. Would you cancel? Would any of you out there with this complaint cancel for a 100% refund, even after final payment?

 

My answer is the same as if you posed the question of what I might do if I booked a first class ticket and AA called and told me that they were eliminating meals up front.....I might downgrade to a less expensive cabin type, rather than spending the money on something that, for me, did not have its original value.

[tgwabd]

You still get the minutes that go with your level of cruising, except that you are not unlimited, Elite get the same level of free minutes as the Platinum level according to how many days that you are cruising, just like the coffee card, it was abused, and Princess reads all the things that are posted here, as it is often said " you abuse it, you lose it". People, two credits of 250 minutes, eight hours, what else do you need.

[Iamcruzin]

Same here. We have never run out of the free Elite minutes.

 

Although I never travel in suites, I find that the Internet minutes that I get as a Platinum member are more than enough...

 

I prepaid for the least expensive internet package for my wife and I to share on our last trip and we didn't even use the last 30 minutes. Next trip we will have the platinum benefit which will be double of what we purchase so my guess is we will have plenty of unused minutes.

 

I really think that those who booked before they discontinued the unlimited internet suite benefit should be grandfathered. Most of the suite perks are just fluff. Better sheets, pillow menu, better soap and now free pastries that anyone on the ship can get in the buffet.:rolleyes:

[2little time]

And what about people like me? This is our first Princess cruise so I now get no minutes. I am not an Internet junkie but somehow my first experience with Princess is not a good one. I feel cheated out of something that was promised.

That sums it up nicely. It is all about the lack of communication and getting what you were promised.

[ONT-CA]

It never was offered to elites.

 

Oh yes it was

[jmcross]

I was just wondering. If Princess called and told you they were eliminating the free internet as one of the suite perks and said you could have a 100% refund if you were unhappy with that change. Would you cancel? Would any of you out there with this complaint cancel for a 100% refund, even after final payment?

 

Honestly I probably won't cancel. I get Internet in Alaska on my iPhone. I can check on my kids then. I will also purchase Internet minutes to check on them in between ports. The point is I shouldn't have to spend extra money to purchase Internet time that was already promised to me by my TA and Princess.

 

It's like looking at a sale online or in a store flyer and then getting to the store and having them say, "Sorry, that sale price can't be honored." It just stinks of bad business.

 

I have sailed with other lines and this will leave a bad impression on me.

 

It's certainly not the end of the world nor will it ruin my upcoming cruise with Princess. It just will always be in the back of my mind when consideirng Princess versus other cruise lines in the future.

[Matcodixon]

Coral, I'm mobile so I can't easily quote one paragraph of your post, but, oh yes, I agree with you. I, too, am tired of hearing about how it's satellite internet, it's on a ship, as an excuse for poor Internet quality. It CAN be better. We know crewmembers who video Skype their spouses every day while on a ship. They obviously have the "good stuff" when it comes to Internet quality.

 

And Matcodixon, I'm as average a person as you'll find, but I do have a MS degree in this stuff. Costs are dropping dramatically. Technology is improving exponentially. The fact that it's satellite doesn't make it magic. We had satellite based Internet at our home 7 years ago. It's simply a matter of time before Internet quality becomes a competitive advantage for one cruise line over others, just as it was when it first started appearing on ships. I paid $0.75 a minute for internet on a cruise in 2002. It's about $0.50 a minute now. How much has the cost of providing that minute dropped? Probably 80%.

 

For someone with an MS in this stuff, I would think that you would understand the problem. Of course satellite internet has greatly improved on land as the demand is so much greater than in the middle of the ocean. To achieve the same level of coverage over such a vast area there would have to be many more satellites purchased and launched. Each satellite offers only limited coverage area. The cost of improving the service by launching new satellites has to be absorbed in the price somehow. You must already know this.

 

BYW On land the bulk of the internet for business and personal use comes through the following sources: DSL (land lines) Cable (land lines) 3G and 4G networks (Cell Phone system towers) and of course simple dial up which is hardly used anymore. None of these systems can be used out in the oceans.Satellite is still, by far the most expensive, even on land.

[ONT-CA]

Same here. We have never run out of the free Elite minutes.

 

That is what the Suite customers once said. The real point here is that as Princess were now able to rescind the internet for the Suites, tomorrow you may find that the Elite benifits are reduce to a point to have you now show some concern for the Suite customers.

[TheBestIsYetToCome]

You still get the minutes that go with your level of cruising, except that you are not unlimited, Elite get the same level of free minutes as the Platinum level according to how many days that you are cruising, just like the coffee card, it was abused, and Princess reads all the things that are posted here, as it is often said " you abuse it, you lose it". People, two credits of 250 minutes, eight hours, what else do you need.

 

How could any of us know what another cruiser's needs are?

 

If people want to use their time on a cruise to sit on their balcony and work remotely, that is their business and not mine. But, in that case, their needs are probably quite high, which may explain why they purchased a cabin with the cost those needs rolled into the cost of the cabin.