What about the new perks?????

[spongerob]

Don't wait up for an answer, Mmsoko. It took this board about 2 months to figure out that the dining rooms had been changed on the Diamond and Sapphire. We got some, but not all, in August. Our friends on the same cruise got more, but still not all.

[redrobin]

According to Princess, they all do! LOL

 

Based on my phone call, which had NO ambiguity whatsoever, you should be able to walk into any mini-suite or suite and find all the amenities. There was no, "they'll be in place over the next few months," or "we're working to phase them in as soon as it's practical"... :D If anyone else contacts Princess and gets a different reply, let us know!

[britsbest]

Here are Duvets

 

http://www.johnlewis.com/Home+and+Garden/Bedroom/Bedding+and+Bed+Linen/Duvets/ProductType.aspx

 

Robin.......I think if you expected them all to be done you are going to be surprised, the rest of us have more realistic expectations !

[bdjam]

According to Princess, they all do! LOL

 

Based on my phone call, which had NO ambiguity whatsoever, you should be able to walk into any mini-suite or suite and find all the amenities. There was no, "they'll be in place over the next few months," or "we're working to phase them in as soon as it's practical"... :D If anyone else contacts Princess and gets a different reply, let us know!

Based on ‘rob’s post, some ships had some amenities in August…so they were EARLY!! What’s with that? Princess said beginning in SEPTEMBER!! How dare them not do what they say they're going to do.

[donna5]

The American Heritage Dictionary defines "duvet" thusly: "A quilt, usually with a washable cover, that may be used in place of a bedspread and top sheet."

 

Wordnet (which is run out of Princeton University) defines duvet slightly differently: "a soft quilt usually filled with the down of the eider."

 

Our bed on the Sapphire this past weekend had the same bedspread that we've seen in the past on Princess ships, the one that's thin but heavy. Definitely not soft or with a washable cover or filled with down. I'm guessing they'll bring these onboard when the ship gets to LA on Saturday.

 

 

Hi Beth,

Sorry we missed you, we went to the wrong bar and then when I called punki she had already left the bar.

 

We were in D407 mini and we had a better mattress(and they make the bed a little higher) and we had the light, soft comforter, not the regular stiff ones. Got the champagne. Got the slippers. Robes. Ammenities(but were suppose to get them anyway due to Elite.) No luxury towels, no luggage protector, no stain pinstripe linens.

[calikak]

We must not have much to argue about if the debate is raging over whether beginning in September means finished in September or sometime thereafter...LOL.

 

Must be because of that jeans sticky at the top of the forum, it's stopped us from having a good old-fashioned jeans argument recently. :D

[beachlovergirl]

Hi Beth,

Sorry we missed you, we went to the wrong bar and then when I called punki she had already left the bar.

 

We were in D407 mini and we had a better mattress(and they make the bed a little higher) and we had the light, soft comforter, not the regular stiff ones. Got the champagne. Got the slippers. Robes. Ammenities(but were suppose to get them anyway due to Elite.) No luxury towels, no luggage protector, no stain pinstripe linens.

 

No stain pinstripe linens??? I think she means satin...lol.

[donna5]

No stain pinstripe linens??? I think she means satin...lol.

 

 

Well they weren't satin or stained(a good thing)!!!!! :eek:

[CroozBlooz]

I wouldn't call anyone unrealistic since, if you look at my earlier post, you will see the link to a Princess news release that indicates what the amenities ARE in the mini-suites and the suites. It does NOT say "beginning in September...". So it may be that Princess actually believes that all of the amenities are now available in all of the suites and mini-suites now, even though others indicate that is not the case. Perhaps everyone is just not looking hard enough?? LOL:)

[mrdawson]

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.

 

Actually we are expecting a windfall!!:D

[cruzin girl]

Just off the CB on Sept. 24th having making several calls on the ship inquiring about the pillow menu, not one person had heard anything about this. They recommend that we asked the captains circle lady however after talking to 3 or4 people I gave up.

[redrobin]

Robin.......I think if you expected them all to be done you are going to be surprised, the rest of us have more realistic expectations !

I believe I DO have realistic expectations. I grew up watching my father operate a small business in the service industry that he started from scratch and headed for 50 years. I understand the importance of accurate, timely communication with customers and employees as a means of avoiding problem situations. Obviously adding the new perks involves a great deal of logistics; however, it’s not rocket science. Princess moves goods and people around on a daily basis. Perhaps a customer service representative or a room steward on a ship do not have all the facts, but I can guarantee you that a large amount of pre-planning took place, and someone at Princess headquarters is working towards a detailed schedule of implementing the new amenities. Barring acts of God (which we’ve had recently), production problems…I’m confident that Princess has identified a completion date. In my mind, that date was sometime in September, which is why they announced the perks in early August and started rolling them out, as others have stated, even prior to September 1st.

While your interpretation is certainly reasonable, it is not the one espoused by Princess. Princess has unequivocally indicated that the new perks are currently in place, both over the phone and in the press release on princess.com. In my mind, even the Captain’s Circle newsletter stating “beginning in September” points to the fact, even if that statement is open to debate. My reason for commenting was to point out that, IF the perks are not in place, Princess marketing got ahead of the schedule, or perhaps more accurately, the schedule fell behind the marketing. But more importantly, it would be a real shame for a positive improvement by a business to result in ANY ill will or disappointment that could have been avoided by better communication and coordination.

I do recognize that many people who will be cruising in the near future had already booked and paid for their cruises, so any new perks available are an added bonus. I certainly don’t advocate those passengers demanding a shipboard credit, discounts on a future cruise… if they don’t find the perks onboard. However, I realize that as more time goes by, an increasing number of passengers will be disappointed if the perks are not in place, with some of them booking and paying for a mini-suite or suite based on the assumption of finding those perks onboard because of Princess communications.

I too am a fan of Princess. I don’t think I’ll be fortunate enough to cruise again for another year, when all the perks should be available, so I really don’t even have a ‘dog in this fight.’ New cruisers, (who may not be aware of sites like Cruise Critic :eek:) , rely on calls to Princess customer service or written Princess communication, which need to be clear, accurate sources of information if Princess wants to create new, loyal customers. I simply wanted to comment that I felt Princess could have done a better, less confusing, job of rolling out the new perks, whenever they appear. Let’s wait and see what Princess delivers over the new few weeks.:)

 

 

[A.Emgee]

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.

I was on the same cruise as Calikak. I've been in minisuites on the Golden and Sapphire in 2003 and 2004 respectively, and the things I noticed were:

 

Upgraded toiletries: The usual Lotus Spa stuff but came in a small sample-sized bottle, except for lotion, which was in the usual paper "pouch".

New mattress: Definitely was not the usual sagging Princess variety.

New Sheets: Did not notice this.

Duvet: Definitely not.

Pillow menu: Nope.

Champagne: Surprised to find these in the fridge when went to get ice! I did not have to request.

Luxury towels: Did not notice this.

Massage shower head: I think the thing did have a massage setting, but my recollection is spotty.

 

I'm on the Diamond in January in a minisuite so I sure hope they will have all these perks implemented by then!

[scottydog123]

No Mini Suite perks on this sailing

[CroozBlooz]

I agree with redrobin. Need I say more?

[scampi]

We were in minisuite E728 on the Sapphire from Sept. 26 to Oct. 1st. We asked about the perks and our steward hadn't heard of them. I also inquired at the pursers desk and had them make a copy of my printout from the Princess website. They hadn't received any information about the perks for minisuites and suites. Let me add that we had the exact same room on our January 6, 2005 cruise. The bedspread last week was soiled & stained & I had it removed for the duration of the cruise.

[Golfette]

Scampi - I am really irritated. I called Princess about 5 days ago, spoke to several people & was told that "positively the perks were in place on the Sapphire." I am going on Sapphire 10/15. If I had to deal with this type of behavior from any other type of business, I would drop them like a hot rock. From reading these boards, apparently, this type of behavior is almost expected on cruise lines. Don't jump on me guys - all I expect is a little straight dealing. Like a press release that the program is going slower than expected or something like that. What I don't like is bland assurances that everything is like they say it is when it isn't. Sounds like politicians to me!

[redrobin]

FYI - Just want to clarify a discrepancy that was mentioned earlier in this thread. The Princess Captain's Circle announcement states that both suites and mini-suites will have massage shower heads. However, the Princess news release says that only full suites will have them. Don't know which communication is correct?!?

[CroozBlooz]

You may also want to look at this thread:

 

"From Princess's Mouth - Supposedly the Facts on New Perks"

[A.Emgee]

You may also want to look at this thread:

 

"From Princess's Mouth - Supposedly the Facts on New Perks"

For the search-impaired:

Link

[britsbest]

http://book.princess.com/html/cc/enewsletter/onboard.html?source=enews6AS

 

Sort of clears things up?

[hugger]

On the Coral now

All the new perks are in place except for the new bed linens and duvets.

You do have to ask for the the champage

I almost missed the pillow menu - if you can call it that.

It's in the blue binder

You can now get a theraputic pillow (love it) or a feather head rest (none available when I found out I could ask for it).

We are enjoying the new perks - mattresses are very comfortable - however, when made into a queen a very noticeable spot where they meet. Need an egg crate really.

Bathroom amentities are nice in the bottles as is the massage water head. I really appreciated the post about the two knobs in the shower - push them and you get can get much better water pressure.

Interenet is terrible -

[markn]

Just got off The Sapphire from the Mexican Riviera cruise 10/01-10/08. Prior to the cruise I was really excited about the new mini-suite amenities that were supposed to be in place on September 1st. I was a bit disapointed that the amenties were not all there. Here is what we got in the mini-suite on the Dolphin deck.

 

Champagne on embarkation: No, until we asked for it. Our steward then brought us a bottle of Andres 7% warm champagne, Yuk!

 

Top of the range "Beautyrest" mattress: well, the mattress did say "Beauty rest", but it was still hard as a rock.

 

Pillow top matress cover: No. I asked our attendant, and she said they ran out of them.

 

Luxury 100% Egyptian cotton sheets: NO, same run of the mill sheets

 

Fluffy European duvets: NO. Asked our steward about getting this, and she said "sorry, we ran out of them".

 

Pillow Menu: No. But I asked our steward for a couple of feather pillows and she brought them. They were very nice.

 

Massage shower head: Yes! Great.

 

Luxury towels: NO. Same old Holiday Inn scratchy towels.

 

The other comment I would like to make is that Princess seems not to pay any attention to the online "Cruise Personalizer", in that they ignore your requests. Like frsh fruit, request for a robe, soft drinks, type of beer & wine you would like in the room. We got nothing we asked for.

 

Planning our next cruise in a regular suite for next spring. However, next cruise will be on Celebrity or Crystal!

 

Mark from Seattle

[Golfette]

Sorry to hear that Mark. We're leaving on Oct. 15th on Sapphire, also minisuite on Dolphin deck. If it's warm Andre Champagne - they can keep it. Thanks for your report.:(

[markn]

I did talk to several other passengers on the Dolphin deck that were Platinum and Elite members (I'm just a lowly gold member), and they said that they got all the new amenities. Hopefully they will all be in place when you cruise this weekend!!!