"Mariner"?

[tjcletsgo]

We will be sailing Princess for the first time next month. We've previously sailed Holland America and RCCL. HAL gives you credit for sailing any Carnival lines. Does Princess? Would we be able to board with previous Princess cruisers or will we be back of the line for embarkation? (Boooooo):D

 

Thank you!

 

Janie

[Pam in CA]

We will be sailing Princess for the first time next month. We've previously sailed Holland America and RCCL. HAL gives you credit for sailing any Carnival lines. Does Princess? Would we be able to board with previous Princess cruisers or will we be back of the line for embarkation? (Boooooo):D

You will receive a Princess Captain's Circle member #. No other credit for HAL or Carnival saiings. FYI, I never received any credit on HAL for my Princess sailings other than a HAL Mariner # and being able to attend the past passenger lunch, which was nice. HAL doesn't give any other credit for Princess cruises. If they did, I'd be a 5-star Mariner instead of just a 3-star Mariner.

[thyme2go]

Our experience: Having sailed on HAL we had our first trip on Princess. No credit for any other sailing was acknowledged and we didn't know what to expect after a red eye flight to the port. On embarkation we waited, and waited, and waited.......it was very aggravating and after about an hour of being 'bumped' and asking when we would be able to board we were told to merge and got on board. This was the MOST irritating thing about Princess and maybe it was a fluke at embarkation, but putting other paying customers into a hold zone (that's what it was as we did not move an inch....) was not a good way to treat newcomers or create a first impression with Princess. Two or more lanes are fine, just don't penalize newbies for being "new" and send them to the HOLD. And yes, despite having a good cruise.......we remember how we were treated the first day and the struggle to get on board (so we could lay down and sleep!!). We are trying again and see if it happens again......if it happens, that will be the end of Princess for us. BTW.......both trips were/are on the small ships--I can't imagine what would happen on a 'big' ship......:eek:

[Pam in CA]

Our experience: Having sailed on HAL we had our first trip on Princess. No credit for any other sailing was acknowledged and we didn't know what to expect after a red eye flight to the port. On embarkation we waited, and waited, and waited.......it was very aggravating and after about an hour of being 'bumped' and asking when we would be able to board we were told to merge and got on board. This was the MOST irritating thing about Princess and maybe it was a fluke at embarkation, but putting other paying customers into a hold zone (that's what it was as we did not move an inch....) was not a good way to treat newcomers or create a first impression with Princess. Two or more lanes are fine, just don't penalize newbies for being "new" and send them to the HOLD. And yes, despite having a good cruise.......we remember how we were treated the first day and the struggle to get on board (so we could lay down and sleep!!). We are trying again and see if it happens again......if it happens, that will be the end of Princess for us. BTW.......both trips were/are on the small ships--I can't imagine what would happen on a 'big' ship......:eek:

Highly unusual. The only time I've ever seen that is if the ship has a high number of Captain's Circle Platinum and Elite members boarding at the same time. One of the perks of Platinum/Elite members is priority boarding. The small ships tend to have more of them so that is what might have happened. Usually, (if you get to the terminal after boarding begins), you're in your cabin in less than half an hour. The record for me is in my cabin and my luggage delivered within 35 minutes of arriving curbside at the terminal.

[nyc12345]

The record for me is in my cabin and my luggage delivered within 35 minutes of arriving curbside at the terminal.

 

To Pam, you have elite status with Princess, right? So it may be faster than a newbie.

 

To thyme2go, we all started as newbies and earned our status with Princess. Once you have cruised with them enough times, you will have priority boarding too.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

To Pam, you have elite status with Princess, right? So it may be faster than a newbie.

 

To thyme2go, we all started as newbies and earned our status with Princess. Once you have cruised with them enough times, you will have priority boarding too.

 

I agree, we all start as newbies but I also think it depends on the port you are boarding at and also don't believe most of the people who work at the ports are actually Princess employee's.

[Pam in CA]

To Pam, you have elite status with Princess, right? So it may be faster than a newbie.

In some cases. :) My "record" had nothing to do with any status. Arrived at San Pedro at 12:20pm, no lines, no wait, in my cabin by 12:40pm, luggage delivered at 12:50pm. If you're willing to arrive a little later and not wait around for embarkation to start, check in and boarding can be a breeze.

 

The people you see in the terminal might be Princess one day, Carnival the next. They are not strictly speaking Princess employees.

[iceleven]

We will be sailing Princess for the first time next month. We've previously sailed Holland America and RCCL. HAL gives you credit for sailing any Carnival lines. Does Princess? Would we be able to board with previous Princess cruisers or will we be back of the line for embarkation? (Boooooo):D

 

Thank you!

 

Janie

 

From what source, or experience, have you this information? I have cruised HAL, Princess and Carnival (and others) and never have been "credited" in any form toward any cruise nor have I read here in these boards anyone talk about this sort of sharing credit. It would be a real bonus if this sort of system was in place but I believe each cruise line has their own, individual system for creating "loyalty" amongst their repeat cruisers.

[Seafoam Green]

If you're willing to arrive a little later and not wait around for embarkation to start, check in and boarding can be a breeze.

 

+1

 

Sailing out of FLL, I like to have lunch with my brother, and then he drives us to the port. We get there after the rush, and there is no waiting. Definitely less stressful.

[tjcletsgo]

From what source, or experience, have you this information? I have cruised HAL, Princess and Carnival (and others) and never have been "credited" in any form toward any cruise nor have I read here in these boards anyone talk about this sort of sharing credit. It would be a real bonus if this sort of system was in place but I believe each cruise line has their own, individual system for creating "loyalty" amongst their repeat cruisers.

 

On the HAL boards they said if you sailed any Carnival Lines you get Mariner status to eat in the main dining room upon boarding. I was just hoping Princess wouldn't ban us to the back of the line.:o

[fishywood]

On the HAL boards they said if you sailed any Carnival Lines you get Mariner status to eat in the main dining room upon boarding. I was just hoping Princess wouldn't ban us to the back of the line.:o

 

That is correct. If you have sailed another Carnival Corp entity in the past on your first HAL cruise your card will show '1 Star Mariner' rather than no Mariner Society status. Unfortunately the converse is not true for Princess; you will get the first-timer's blue cruise card. That is the entire extent of it; there is no inter-line system of "credits" at this time.

 

But what I don't get is your obsession with being at the "back of the line"? Worrying about who got to board before I did is a silly stressful way to start a vacation! There will be three lines for check-in at the terminal: (1) Elite members and all Suite passengers; (2) Platinum members; (3) everyone else. So even the passengers staying the the Grand Suite still start the day at the back of their particular line :D

 

(and very often the line for the "non-privileged" moves faster than the others)

[N00B]

I previously cruised Carnival. I spoke to the Customer Service agent at Princess about some kind of status reciprocity. She told me that I qualified for "pas passenger" pricing, but that was the only "perk" I could transfer. As it was, my pricing was less than past passenger, so it did me no good.

[cmst220]

We will be sailing Princess for the first time next month. We've previously sailed Holland America and RCCL. HAL gives you credit for sailing any Carnival lines. Does Princess? Would we be able to board with previous Princess cruisers or will we be back of the line for embarkation? (Boooooo):D

 

Thank you!

 

Janie

 

Dont panic over embarkation day ,its has been known the elite /plat line is way slower than the other cruisers line .

we all started blue card and the important thing is to enjoy the cruise .

[tjcletsgo]

Dont panic over embarkation day ,its has been known the elite /plat line is way slower than the other cruisers line .

we all started blue card and the important thing is to enjoy the cruise .

 

Thank you so much, I can tell just by dealing with Princess so far that they will be my favorite line! If the food is as good as you guys say I'm booking several FCC's!:p

 

Thanks for all your help:D

[thyme2go]

That is correct. If you have sailed another Carnival Corp entity in the past on your first HAL cruise your card will show '1 Star Mariner' rather than no Mariner Society status. Unfortunately the converse is not true for Princess; you will get the first-timer's blue cruise card. That is the entire extent of it; there is no inter-line system of "credits" at this time.

 

But what I don't get is your obsession with being at the "back of the line"? Worrying about who got to board before I did is a silly stressful way to start a vacation! There will be three lines for check-in at the terminal: (1) Elite members and all Suite passengers; (2) Platinum members; (3) everyone else. So even the passengers staying the the Grand Suite still start the day at the back of their particular line :D

 

(and very often the line for the "non-privileged" moves faster than the others)

I don't think being in the back of the line was the issue in our case. The fact that the one and only "line" DID NOT MOVE -- was the issue! There was no separate line for levels and it was beyond frustrating to hover and not be given a green light to move forward. We'll see what happens this time.....it's just another remnant of stratification (Platinum is MORE than gold is MORE than blue, etc.....) that has no bearing on worth, lest anyone forget. However, it would be nice to at least see the door and walk towards it...........:rolleyes:

[Cruisin' Chick]

I too just didn't get this feeling about being able to bypass the non-platinum/elite line just because of having taken non-Princess cruises. I've been on some Carnival cruises before going on Princess for the first time, but all I got was a past passenger discount. No biggie. We don't care for standing in lines, but there were a couple of times we timed it well and didn't have a line at all.

 

After five cruises, we'll be at Platinum level so hopefully we'll have an expedited embarkation for our next cruise. But at least we earned it the right way.