Elite Level Changing

[1MKS1128]

This afternoon I read a post on another site that said there are far to many cruisers that have achieved Plat and Elite status by taking very short cruises. The poster stated the info was given to him by a senior officer. The level of Elite will only be able to be reached by number of days cruised not number of cruises. There was no mention of those already at Elite getting anything different. I remember Carnival doing this a few years ago. Cruisers were given a year to complete the level they were hoping to achieve. Many cruisers missed out because they were not aware of the change. What do you think ? Fact or Fiction. Anybody else hear or actually know anything ?

[denmarks]

It would be OK as long as they gave multiples like they do now for singles and suites.

[skynight]

This afternoon I read a post on another site that said there are far to many cruisers that have achieved Plat and Elite status by taking very short cruises. The poster stated the info was given to him by a senior officer. The level of Elite will only be able to be reached by number of days cruised not number of cruises. There was no mention of those already at Elite getting anything different. I remember Carnival doing this a few years ago. Cruisers were given a year to complete the level they were hoping to achieve. Many cruisers missed out because they were not aware of the change. What do you think ? Fact or Fiction. Anybody else hear or actually know anything ?

Could be true at some point in time. But, to turn your first sentence around, over the past few years Princess has added many, many additional short cruises to their itineraries and marketing them strongly, so should they have expected a different outcome?

[shredie]

This rumor makes the rounds every couple of months or so. IMO, it's perpetuated by the crowd who think there is a "right way" to achieve status and that the short-cruise people are "cheating." Since the whole thing is a Princess marketing tool anyway, Princess gets to make the rules, and the rules now state a short cruise gets a cruise credit. It is not a matter of right and wrong.

[paul929207]

Rumors about this have gone round for years.

 

Until something is announced, I don't worry

[Thrak]

Agreed. Same old rumor. If things change then they change. I can't waste my time or effort wondering or worrying about things of this sort. I'm not elite yet and, when I finally get there, it will most likely end up kind of a tie between number of cruises and days at sea as we like to take longer cruises whenever possible.

 

I like Princess and whether or not they make this oft-rumored change won't affect my cruising one way or another.

[Meanee]

This is quite hilarious. "But person A spent money with Princess, took a number of cruises, only to achieve some minor benefits earlier than person B! I am outraged!"

 

I would understand if Princess decided to give bunch of people Elite status just for ****s and giggles, but people who gamed the system by taking a number of short cruises still went on cruises, spent money. Yeah, they will enjoy few tiny liquor bottles and extra internet minutes sooner than some others.

[miagirl]

Agreed. Same old rumor. If things change then they change. I can't waste my time or effort wondering or worrying about things of this sort. I'm not elite yet and, when I finally get there, it will most likely end up kind of a tie between number of cruises and days at sea as we like to take longer cruises whenever possible.

 

I like Princess and whether or not they make this oft-rumored change won't affect my cruising one way or another.

 

Our feelings exactly! :)

[Fisherwoman]

I just got off the Ruby Princess Monday morning in Vancouver after a one day cruise from Seattle. Everyone I met was on the cruise because of getting their status to a higher level. I also met people who went single in a cabin to get two cruise points. The ship was not full. If Princess changes their policy these ships will sail empty! It takes 15 cruises to get to Elite on Princess and 10 cruises to reach Diamond on RCCL. It was a great cruise but taking into account the expense of travelling to one of these cities people would not book a one day cruise if it wasn't for the "points", IMO.

[Thrak]

I just got off the Ruby Princess Monday morning in Vancouver after a one day cruise from Seattle. Everyone I met was on the cruise because of getting their status to a higher level. I also met people who went single in a cabin to get two cruise points. The ship was not full. If Princess changes their policy these ships will sail empty! It takes 15 cruises to get to Elite on Princess and 10 cruises to reach Diamond on RCCL. It was a great cruise but taking into account the expense of travelling to one of these cities people would not book a one day cruise if it wasn't for the "points", IMO.

 

I don't take sides regarding those who take short cruises in order to make it to Elite. It's not my problem one way or another. However, I would guess that most of the people who take 1 day cruises live in places like Seattle or Vancouver and don't have much of an expense getting back home afterward.

[mmckm]

I think they should have a system where every dollar spent for your cruise and while on board cruising gives you so many points. Each level is based on those points. The more you spend the more princess makes so why not reward people for it. Just like a points card.

It seems the fairest way to me. It will never happen, but I can see them changing to the amount of days cruised rather then the system they have now.

[OCruisers]

It would be better if Princess only did it by number of days ... but that's probably not going to happen.

[tetleytea]

It would be hard to change the program fairly. People have been paying money to Princess to cruise expecting Captain's Circle to work a certain way, and to change it now not in their favor would constitute a plain-and-simple bait-and-switch.

[beg3yrs]

It would be hard to change the program fairly. People have been paying money to Princess to cruise expecting Captain's Circle to work a certain way, and to change it now not in their favor would constitute a plain-and-simple bait-and-switch.

 

Not really. Here's an excerpt from the terms and conditions:

 

"Princess Cruises reserves the right to terminate the Princess Cruises Captain's CircleSM Program or change the terms and conditions of participation and benefits in whole or in part, at any time, without notice."

 

The full text is here: https://book.princess.com/captaincircle/jsp/ccTermsNCondition.jsp

 

It's all there for everyone to read. Just because you didn't read the T's & C's does not make a change in the program "a plain-and-simple bait-and-switch."

[Colo Cruiser]

I think they should have a system where every dollar spent for your cruise and while on board cruising gives you so many points. Each level is based on those points. The more you spend the more princess makes so why not reward people for it. Just like a points card.

It seems the fairest way to me. It will never happen, but I can see them changing to the amount of days cruised rather then the system they have now.

 

 

I disagree~! :( I have spent enough already. :cool:

[rockdoctor]

This is a tricky subject. We got to Elite on Celebrity just before they "changed the rules". All I can is I hope I get to Elite before they "change the rules".

[Colo Cruiser]

This is a tricky subject. We got to Elite on Celebrity just before they "changed the rules". All I can is I hope I get to Elite before they "change the rules".

 

 

Other then adding Ruby level a few years ago the rules have not been changed in a looong time so I suspect it will have to be done sometime.

[traveling1969]

It's better to speculate than never!:rolleyes:

[notentirelynormal]

I think they should have a system where every dollar spent for your cruise and while on board cruising gives you so many points. Each level is based on those points. The more you spend the more princess makes so why not reward people for it. Just like a points card.

It seems the fairest way to me. It will never happen, but I can see them changing to the amount of days cruised rather then the system they have now.

 

I would love this. I usually pay us as well as for my DD and SIL, my DS and DIL, the four grandchildren and my mom and/or stepson. My last cruise cost over $30,000. That was just the cruise fare, air travel and hotel. Wouldn't take me long to get to elite. Afterall, even though they cruised every dime went on my credit card.

Edited September 17, 2015 by notentirelynormal

[MGAfhc]

I think they should have a system where every dollar spent for your cruise and while on board cruising gives you so many points. Each level is based on those points. The more you spend the more princess makes so why not reward people for it. Just like a points card.

It seems the fairest way to me. It will never happen, but I can see them changing to the amount of days cruised rather then the system they have now.

 

Princess has a reward system to fill cabins and they have a full range of cabins. By concentrating rewards to the higher priced cabins Princess might ensure that the most expensive cabins are filled but it would do nothing for the less expensive cabins (the majority) and I believe they like to sail full.

[PenguinLife]

Are the perks of the reward system really worth it anyway,

 

sail with them a second time and get a small % discount and a smaller deposit option

 

sail with them 4 or 5 times, and get a 50% discount off travel insurance, sail with them

 

5-6 times and get to skip the long line to board, or at least to sit in the waiting area to board

 

15 times and you get priority tender access

 

Whats the big deal, sure maybe the skipping in line would be nice, we are 1 day away from Platinum on Carnival and have not been on a Carnival ship in 3-4 years, and getting to Platinum is not a big incentive to book another Carnival cruise, much the same goes with Princess. We book cruises based on where they are going and if the timing fits our schedule first, and which is the best value, then we give preference to the lines we like. So sure we like Princess we also like Holland America and we will even tolerate Carnival if its a deal, but when it comes to loyalty clubs does it really matter since all of the above are owned by the same parent company and they shuffle their loyalty programs around to compete against themselves.

[RocketMan275]

Princess has a reward system to fill cabins and they have a full range of cabins. By concentrating rewards to the higher priced cabins Princess might ensure that the most expensive cabins are filled but it would do nothing for the less expensive cabins (the majority) and I believe they like to sail full.

 

Essentially, Princes already concentrates benefits to the more expensive cabins. You sail in a suite and you get pretty much the full benefits of being elite.

[Nancyquilts]

I can remember when you could only get to Elite by taking 15 cruises. We had 350 days by the time we got to 16 and Elite. I was delighted to see them change to use either.

[shredie]

The reason for the Captain's Circle program is marketing for Princess. If they went to a dollars-spent system, they would defeat the purpose of the program. People are enticed to cruise more in order to get more benefits. If the benefits could be gained by spending lots of money on one or two cruises, then there would be little incentive to come back as repeat customers. On the other side of it, if only by spending lots of money someone gains benefits, then the incentive to try is reduced. As it is now, a person who sails only once a year in an inside cabin has the same chance of becoming elite as someone who sails three times a year in a balcony. What's lost in all this talk is the very basic idea that Princess is marketing cruises through this program. It is not a contest to see who worked "harder" to become elite or who "gamed the system" to get there. It's business, not theology. :rolleyes:

[VibeGuy]

Something the short-cruises-are-cheating crowd fails to recognize:

 

These are VERY inexpensive introductions to a taste of the brand and experience. I don't do one-nights alone - I bring friends. Dozens of them so far. Almost every one of them has taken another Princess cruise - many of them are already Platinum. They bring friends, too. So providing an incentive for frequent cruisers to up their frequency a bit and bring friends is worthwhile to the line. The value of attracting a 20-, 30- or 40-something to the brand is measurable, and the $25 referral credits alone don't negate that value.

 

My presence also increases the tip pool for the staff and I spend onboard at a disproportionate amount to the length of the sailing - same duty-free purchases as a weeklong cruise, similar drinking patterns, frequently the same number of specialty restaurant visits. Just concentrated.

 

The incremental point value of each cruise between 16 and 20 is $5 - 1/5th of the way to $25 in OBC. After the first 21, $2.50 - I get 1/10th closer to an further $25 in OBC. Hardly seems like great return on my investment to keep taking short cruises. It's a terrible investment, in fact.

 

If I ran the zoo, I might consider increasing the distance from Platinum to Elite in terms of sailings, but keep the days where they are. Easy enough to do, and might reweight the program a bit in favor of longer cruises, but again, I'm pretty sure that per-trip onboard spend is not precisely linear to days, so there may be no need to disincentivize short cruises.

 

So if you think I'm on the 1NTs like last Sunday's Ruby sailing just because I'm looking for cruise credits in my progress towards ill-gotten Elite status, you are *SORELY MISTAKEN*. I'm there because I love being onboard a Princess ship for even one night, I like sharing that experience with my friends in the hopes that the ones who are skeptical about a cruise vacation will join me in the future, and I *really* like the dinner rolls.