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What about the new perks?????

Princesshhi

By Princesshhi,
in Princess Cruises

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Lobbylin Great Review Rare

Lobbylin

Posted
Posted
I can't believe that no one has mentioned the new perks on suites and mini suites. Can any recent cruisers comment. They were supposed to start in September. We will be sailing on the Coral in November.

 

What were they?

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beachlovergirl

beachlovergirl

Posted
Posted

Lbackwith - There are a few threads about this so if you do a search you can find more about it.

 

Here's the new perks:

 

"New Suite and Mini-Suite Amenities

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just got an email from Princess that details Suite and Mini-Suite Amenities as of September 2005.

 

They are:

 

For both suites and mini-suites:

 

Complimentary chanpagne at embarkation

Top of the range "Beautyrest" mattresses

Luxury 100% Egyptian cotton, high thread count ivory satin striped bed linens

Fluffy European Duvets

Pillow menu

Massage shower heads

Luxury towels

 

For Suite passengers, in addition

 

Combined DVD and CD player

Complimentary DVD library

Enhanced bathroom amenities

Halo illuminated magnifying vanity mirror

Princess Cruises toe bag

Umbrella

Complimentary use of the Lotus Spa Thermal suite depending upon availability."

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Lobbylin Great Review Rare

Lobbylin

Posted
Posted
Lbackwith - There are a few threads about this so if you do a search you can find more about it.

 

 

Thanks beachlovergirl - they sound good! :)

 

I do smile though when I read of "Fluffy European Duvets" - as a European I can't say I've personally noticed any difference in duvets between places I've stayed at in Europe and the US, but they DO sound good! :p

 

I've read loads of good things of the Lotus Spa Thermal Suite - so I'll be loooking forward to that one....

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virgenia

virgenia

Posted
Posted

No new linens, duvets or towels in the minisuites on the Grand as of September 23. Our room steward did not even know about them. Standard issue Motel 6 blankets and towels.

 

Got a glass of champagne each sometime after we boarded. Asked for different pillows and got two more that were a little firmer. Mattress still hard as a rock.

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myangel

myangel

Posted
Posted

We were on the CB September 9-17th in a VS. This is what we got:

 

For both suites and mini-suites:

 

Complimentary chanpagne at embarkation:YES

Top of the range "Beautyrest" mattresses: NO

Luxury 100% Egyptian cotton, high thread count ivory satin striped bed linens:NO

Fluffy European Duvets:NO

Pillow menu:NO

Massage shower heads:Yes., WONDERFUL!!

Luxury towels:YES

 

For Suite passengers, in addition

 

Combined DVD and CD player:NO

Complimentary DVD library:NO

Enhanced bathroom amenities:YES

Halo illuminated magnifying vanity mirror:YES, and LOVED this!

Princess Cruises toe bag:YES, but had to ask

Umbrella:NO

Complimentary use of the Lotus Spa Thermal suite depending upon availability.":YES, but did not utilize

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DrD

DrD

Posted
Posted
Think about it....

These are not perks, you are paying for each and every one.

 

 

 

How do you figure?

 

I bought my cruise before the perks were announced, when they were my fare did not go up. So I was ready and willing to pay x dollars before the perks, now I'm still paying x dollars, so to me they're free.

 

Of course the line looks to perks to make more money, but I imagine the plan is to get more people to pay for a mini or higher, rather than a guarantee.

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CroozBlooz

CroozBlooz

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I hope this is not yet another example of Princess making announcements and not planning well enough to deliver on the promise. If you look on their website, they indicate that the perks in the mini-suites and the full suites are currently in place.

 

We will be on the CB on October 8, and while it certainly won't prevent us from having a wonderful time, we will be disappointed if the perks (particularly the mattresses and the linens) are not in place.

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bdjam

bdjam

Posted
Posted
Of course the line looks to perks to make more money, but I imagine the plan is to get more people to pay for a mini or higher, rather than a guarantee.
Couldn’t be that Princess just wants to add a little bit to their suites and minis for the passengers who are paying extra for them? Or maybe they want to differentiate the suites and minis from the standard cabins? Is everything the cruise line does a scheme?
I hope this is not yet another example of Princess making announcements and not planning well enough to deliver on the promise. If you look on their website, they indicate that the perks in the mini-suites and the full suites are currently in place.
I wonder if they meant they would start the perks in September? Some – like champagne and duvets are probably easy to deliver. New mattresses requires the time to switch them out – considering that people are lined up to get on board before the previous cruise has even disembarked, it doesn’t leave Princess much time to get the job done for one ship, let alone the entire fleet. It might take some time.
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DrD

DrD

Posted
Posted
Couldn’t be that Princess just wants to add a little bit to their suites and minis for the passengers who are paying extra for them? Or maybe they want to differentiate the suites and minis from the standard cabins? Is everything the cruise line does a scheme?

 

Yes, of course it's a "scheme." Princess, as part of CCL, is a publically traded company. By law and by custom their responsibility is to their investors, and only to their investors. An expenditure that is not meant either directly or indirectly to increase revenue would not fulfull this obligation.

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bdjam

bdjam

Posted
Posted
Yes, of course it's a "scheme." Princess, as part of CCL, is a publically traded company. By law and by custom their responsibility is to their investors, and only to their investors. An expenditure that is not meant either directly or indirectly to increase revenue would not fulfull this obligation.
Isn’t that the capitalist way? I guess my response would be that if one thinks the evil Carnival Corporation is doing what it can to strip potential passengers of their hard earned money in order to fill its stockholders pockets – and if that thought is offensive – one might choose not to purchase the product they sell. They have been in business long enough, and are successful enough, to realize in order to reap profit, they have to offer a decent value for the price of the cruise fare. Right – greater amenities might be more attractive to some, but consider that Princess was selling out its ships without these amenities and since they’ve been instituted, no one has paid a higher price for their cruise fare – and that fare is already low enough so as not to expect the amenities to be offered in the first place. I hardly think Carnival Corporation’s stockholders should be expecting a windfall.
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Toto2Kansas

Toto2Kansas

Posted
Posted

Personally, I feel that when the extra perks were taken away from Princess mini suites several years ago, those categories were not as sought after as they once were. Many just hope for a free upgrade instead of paying the price. Bringing some of these back, whether they are new or just reinstated from earlier years will throw those trying to decide which category to book, a balcony or mini suite, over the edge to pay the extra for the mini suites and full suites.

 

When Princess first introduced the Grand Princess they had tons of perks associated with the mini suites, from free bars (sometimes the set up was replenished throughout the entire cruise, at least it was for us) along with butler service just to mention two. Then it seems as they built more of this class of ship with more mini suites, they just could not keep up. I have heard stories of those passengers not willing to add the extra tips for the butler as part of the reason they did away with that part of them.

 

Many lines do have extra perks for mini suites and above, but Princess seemed to cut their's off entirely for many years.

 

We always book a mini suite or above and I am very glad to see that we will now be getting a few extra perks, for the same price, compared to what we have been getting the last few years. Even without them, I would still book at least a mini, but these added things definitely will keep me booking in the same stateroom range.

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Starbright

Starbright

Posted
Posted

We've just returned from the Grand. We were in a minisuite and had none of the new perks whatsoever - not even a glass of champagne. We were a bit disappointed, but we still enjoyed the cruise!

 

We asked our steward for some feather pillows and he brought them immediately.

 

I think the Grand probably won't get the new mattresses, linens etc until she returns to the other side of the Atlantic. It would be a big job bringing all those things over to the Med.

 

However, I do think that Princess shouldn't lead people to believe those things will be in place from September, when obviously they aren't.

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calikak

calikak

Posted
Posted

We just got off the Sapphire yesterday (one-night cruise). We were in a minisuite. Here's the skinny on the perks:

 

Upgraded toiletries: Yes (but no lotion, just shampoo/conditioner/body gel).

New mattress: It seemed newish, but it's still incredibly firm. I asked for a mattress topper and that helped.

New Sheets: DH thought they were new looking, but I thought they were pretty scratchy.

Duvet: Definitely not.

Pillow menu: not offered, didn't bother to ask.

Champagne: Upon request.

Luxury towels: They were still the small size that barely covers you and they weren't soft.They did seem thicker than the ones on the Golden last spring, but the ones on the Golden were particularly ratty.

Massage shower head: I didn't really notice. It was a round, flat shower head that gave off a goodly amount of water, but I didn't check to see if it had a massage feature.

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CroozBlooz

CroozBlooz

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Posted

I don't believe that the massage showerhead is to be installed in mini-suites, just full suites.

 

And if you read the news blurb on the perks in mini-suites it now says that the perks are available. If Princess says they are available, they should be in all of the minis. If it will take them several months to complete, they shouldn't have said that they were available now. I'm realistic, but I believe that people should do what they say they are going to do, when they say they will do it. Unlike hurricanes, this is totally within their control.

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Toto2Kansas

Toto2Kansas

Posted
Posted

Suite and Mini-Suite passengers can enjoy:

 

  • Complimentary champagne at embarkation
  • Top of the range 'Beautyrest' mattresses
  • Luxury 100% Egyptian cotton, high-thread count ivory satin striped bed linens
  • Fluffy European duvets
  • Pillow menu
  • Massage shower heads
  • Luxury towels

On the Golden in August, we had all of the extras except for the duvet's and new sheets, pillow menu and shower heads. And that was in August. Hummmmmmmmmmm

I figured by now they would have the rest in place. Guess I will find out come November IF they followed through and added all of these extras.

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