Will Club Class be a bust?

[chloe45]

I just don't get this new Club Class. On my upcoming Dec cruise the difference between my covered mini and club class is $576/pp. That's $1152 per couple for the privilege of special seating in the MDR! You've got to be kidding me. How stupid does Princess think we are? This new perk costs them NOTHING. They take wait staff from the MDR so service suffers for the rest. DH and I haven't eaten in the MDR for years now. We do specialty or the buffet. MDR takes too long.

 

With Club class you also get Hors d'oeuvres and a wine package (probably 2 bottles). Big deal. On my Dec cruise only 2 cabins have been sold in this class.

[fishywood]

What you are overlooking is that the purpose of the separate Club Class section in the MDR is to offer an enhanced dining experience to full suite guests. The Club Class mini-suites you rail against are more or less an afterthought: in order to justify the effort and expense of launching the program Princess decided to include the highest category of mini-suites to bring up the passenger numbers in the program to the minimum necessary as determined by the accountants.

 

While your particular voyage may have unsold Club Class minis, there was another recent thread from a suite guest with friends who want to add the cruise but all Club Class Dining was sold out. Probably a better judge of the overall reception of Club Class Dining is, are full suites being booked more quickly as new bookings open? As for it being a "bust" the "ship-within-a-ship" experience has been a huge moneymaker for the cruise lines that have gone to it; Club Class Dining represents Princess sticking a toe in that pond. Maybe the price difference between a Club mini and a non-Club mini will come down, or Club minis may even disappear--but I would bet the farm Club Class Dining for suite lifers is here to stay.

Edited April 19, 2017 by fishywood

[ian441672]

What you are overlooking is that the purpose of the separate Club Class section in the MDR is to offer an enhanced dining experience to full suite guests. The Club Class mini-suites you rail against are more or less an afterthought: in order to justify the expense of launching the program Princess decided to include the highest category of mini-suites to bring up the passenger numbers in the program to the minimum necessary as determined by the accountants.

 

While your particular voyage may have unsold club class minis, there was another recent thread from a suite guest with friends who want to add the cruise but club class is sold out. Probably a better judge of club class dining overall is, are full suites being booked more quickly as new bookings open? As for it being a "bust" the "ship-within-a-ship" experience has been a huge moneymaker for the cruise lines that have gone to it; club class represents Princess sticking a toe in that pond. Maybe the price difference between a club mini and a non-club mini will come down, or club minis may even disappear--but I would bet the farm club class dining for suite lifers is here to stay.

 

I agree, and each to their own, but we loved the CC package. Premium placed room, enhanced amenities, wine, excellent service in the CC area of the MDR, with enhanced menu options and some great personalised service, priority boarding and so on.

 

It depends what you like and what you want to get out of a cruise and what value you place on all these. Personally I like to pay extra for premium flying, more personalised attention and service etc., and that is why I value the CC perks. Other people are happy with what they get without any enhancements, and that is fine too and each to their own.

 

From what I hear though (and have seen personally) CC is extremely popular and Princess have no plans to change or remove it. It did not detract from the service in the main MDR and there was minimal wait in the normal lines (before CC we have had to queue up, and the wait was similar to that, post CC dining). In fact the Maître D' released one of his staff to help out in the MDR when our CC had emptied out for the night, so there is flexibility built in to support the MDR as a whole.

 

We loved it and would do it again!

[floridalover5623]

While I would never spring for the extra cost just to have a table waiting for me or have some extra courses served for dinner it seems like the people who have done it were thrilled.

As long as it doesn't take away from my service & choices it does provide extra income for Princess from those that feel they need the extra attention & special meals.

For what it costs for the CC option I could just as well eat in a Specialty restaurant every night & get better food & service all the time. :p

[Thrak]

Club Class is not for me but there are many others who will snap it up. Ian posted above about "liking to pay for upgraded flying". I would love to do that but I don't because I simply can't afford to do so. Ah, well. There will always be those who have more in the way of disposable funds than I have. I just look at it as being great that I get to cruise (or fly) at all. (Although cruising in a non-club class cabin is certainly much more comfortable than flying coach or economy!)

 

It's kind of like the "accelerated Elite" debate. Yes, some folks have a lot of money to spend on the casino or suites and some of them get elevated to Elite because of it. I'm not going to let it interfere with my own enjoyment of cruising. In the case of club class - I'm not even tempted so it really doesn't matter to me.

[skynight]

Not for all, but I think it has been successful so far.

[SantaFeFan]

Not for all, but I think it has been successful so far.

 

Not sure about that. For our June cruise on Grand Princess, all standard mini-suites have been sold out for weeks. Yet, over half of the twenty-six Club Class minis are still unsold. At $3,470 pp, one of these rooms will cost about $1,600 more than the total we paid for our mini.

[jagoffee]

I just don't get this new Club Class. On my upcoming Dec cruise the difference between my covered mini and club class is $576/pp. That's $1152 per couple for the privilege of special seating in the MDR! You've got to be kidding me. How stupid does Princess think we are? This new perk costs them NOTHING. They take wait staff from the MDR so service suffers for the rest. DH and I haven't eaten in the MDR for years now. We do specialty or the buffet. MDR takes too long.

 

With Club class you also get Hors d'oeuvres and a wine package (probably 2 bottles). Big deal. On my Dec cruise only 2 cabins have been sold in this class.

 

Although I think the Club Class is a great idea especially to make Princess's suite benefits more competitive, I think the price that you quoted is not very competitive for a Club mini suite. I would guess Princess is going to either increase the price of the Regular mini suites so the difference is not so much or decrease the cost differences. It does seem the price differences varies significantly. Perhaps $25 per person per day would be more reasonable.

[Nashna]

We were in a Club Class mini suite for our March cruise. I don't ever expect to be in Elite status so Preferred boarding was an important perk for us. Boarding first enabled us to secure a cabana in the sanctuary. Had we not been in Club Class, our cruise experience would have been much less enjoyable. We enjoyed conversing with the same wait staff at breakfast and dinner. It was old style cruising when your servers were a big part of your cruise experience...without the too early or too late schedules. Of our 12 meals in CC, all but four were in a 2 top window seating. We chatted with some lovely people who dined around 7:00pm each evening. On disembarkation day, we shared hugs with our waiter and his assistant. We were truly sorry to say goodbye to them.

Will we book Club Class on our next Princess sailing? Absolutely, it is the only way we will sail on Princess in the future. Had we not been in CC, I can honestly say, we would not be sailing Princess again.

[joeyancho]

I would never ever pay extra for early boarding or a quicker seat in the dining room. You still get on the ship, everyone leaves at the same time. You still get to eat in the dining room. The club class special food appears to be just pasta, as far as I can tell. So for me it is not worth it. But that's just me.

[ccruzer123]

Quote: "Maybe the price difference between a Club mini and a non-Club mini will come down, or Club minis may even disappear--but I would bet the farm Club Class Dining for suite lifers is here to stay."

 

 

Just to let you know, prices do come down. We booked a min-suite on our upcoming cruise near the front of the ship, Princess called, asked if we would like to "up sell" to a suite. The $2000 per person was more than what we wanted to pay, but when I was looking at the open suite map I noticed 2 Club Class rooms open. I priced them and the difference between what I paid for the forward mini-suite and the club class was $100 per person. I told my TA to switch us to club class and we now have a middle of the ship mini-suite. My suggestion is to keep a watch for prices, they do drop.

[OCruisers]

Hopefully, CC will be very successful!

The CC minis on our 14 day in January have been totally sold out for a while. :)

[Colo Cruiser]

Apparently pretty stupid as most CC cabins are sold out as is Princess cruises in general. :rolleyes:

[Kineticoh20]

On our upcoming cruise Club class was $1000 more pp:o One could eat at a specialty restaurant every meal and drink to oblivion for that. Plus we prefer the stern so moving mid ship is in our opinion a downgrade.

[stevenr597]

Club Class is pretty similar to Aqua Class on Celebrity. We have observed on most cruises that these two classes are the first to be booked up. One can wait, and hope for a sale, but in many cases, you will not be able to find a cabin in that class. We have booked Club Class on Royal Princess, Trans-Atlantic this Oct. We do feel that C.C. will be a good addition for the week we will have at sea.

 

We have previously booked Aqua Class on Celebrity and we do feel that this does make a big difference. Hopefully our experience with C.C. on Princess will be the same.

[antsp]

We are Elite and have only ever done anytime dining, on our current sailing we opted for traditional dining, walk straight in, lovely personal service. Can't believe never done it before, so why do I need club class.

[Bill B]

Will Club Class be a bust?... Probably not.

 

Cruise lines have to 'stay in the red' and one of the ways to do this is to not underestimate people's stupidity. Just look at the AIBP - the majority of people who purchase it will not get their money's worth. Some people purchase it - knowing they will not get their money's worth - for the (perceived) convenience and so they are not surprised by their bar bill at the end of a cruise. That's stupid!

 

If a Club Class mini is costing more than dining every night in a specialty restaurant and couple of half bottles of crapy wine, that's stupid too.

 

It seems the 'secret' is to keep the price point for these 'enhancements' just below the figure where people start to think about it. :confused:

Edited April 19, 2017 by Bill B

[OCruisers]

Gee, am I the only one who thinks some people actually want CC to fail? :confused:

[cflutist]

Gee, am I the only one who thinks some people actually want CC to fail? :confused:

Sure seems like it. We have been sailing in suites mainly because we like having additional space. Being elite we already received many of the benefits. So we are really looking forwards to CC when we sail on the Pacific Princess for 18 days this summer in an OS. Sometimes it really annoys me that Princess is nickel and dime-ing us to death, but as a CCL stockholder I guess they have to keep coming up with ways to increase revenue.

[Loonbeam]

The short answer is no, its not going anywhere. As it is a new program they are constantly tweaking the yield management routines to get the best pricing ratios, but while that works itself out you may see some impractical variations on specific itineraries.

 

I am also 100 percent certain that after the program has been in place for a while they will look at the various perks and see what needs tweaking, etc. If I had to make an educated guess, I would expect them to consider something like NCLs free at sea, where booking club class minis gets you one perk from a list (like AIBP or free Wifi) and a full suite gets multiple selections... (Prices will adjust accordingly, nothing is really free.)

[skynight]

Not sure about that. For our June cruise on Grand Princess, all standard mini-suites have been sold out for weeks. Yet, over half of the twenty-six Club Class minis are still unsold. At $3,470 pp, one of these rooms will cost about $1,600 more than the total we paid for our mini.

Princess will make adjustments in fares, no. of cabins, and on some future new builds beyond Royal class even cabin design. I think it is here to stay.

[floridalover5623]

On disembarkation day, we shared hugs with our waiter and his assistant. We were truly sorry to say goodbye to them.

 

Big hugs= Big tips.:D:D

[floridalover5623]

Will Club Class be a bust?... Probably not.

 

Cruise lines have to 'stay in the red' and one of the ways to do this is to not underestimate people's stupidity. Just look at the AIBP - the majority of people who purchase it will not get their money's worth. Some people purchase it - knowing they will not get their money's worth - for the (perceived) convenience and so they are not surprised by their bar bill at the end of a cruise. That's stupid!

 

If a Club Class mini is costing more than dining every night in a specialty restaurant and couple of half bottles of crapy wine, that's stupid too.

 

It seems the 'secret' is to keep the price point for these 'enhancements' just below the figure where people start to think about it. :confused:

Didn't you mean black?;)

[Selion]

IMO Club Class is targeted for those cruisers who value convenience, times savings, and a more personalized service more than its costs.

 

If the argument is that these added services and perks do not provide additional value for the money over a regular mini suite, then the argument can be applies to mini suite v. balcony (don't need extra space nor a tub), balcony v. OV (don't want a balcony), OV v. inside (don't spend much time in the cabin anyways).

 

Convenience, time savings, and added personal touches are what Club Class is selling, and I'm sure there are plenty of people who can afford the price tag and would like to have those intangible values.

[SantaFeFan]

If the argument is that these added services and perks do not provide additional value for the money over a regular mini suite, then the argument can be applies to mini suite v. balcony (don't need extra space nor a tub), balcony v. OV (don't want a balcony), OV v. inside (don't spend much time in the cabin anyways).

 

Also applies to cruising (don't need to go an a cruise when I can spend the time at the local beach/lake/pool). ;p

 

Everyone has a tipping point that makes something unattractive. Mine is spending $1,600 more for about $200 worth of value. At least with your other examples one gets a cabin with the addition of a view, or a cabin with the addition of a private balcony, or a cabin with the addition of 30% more room and a tub that can be enjoyed every minute of the cruise, not just at dinner time. With Club Class, the room is pretty much the same as a mini-suite.

Edited April 19, 2017 by SantaFeFan