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Are Elite Perks Generous Enough?

need2cruisesoon

By need2cruisesoon,
in Princess Cruises

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Casey12

Casey12

Posted
Posted

Internet is very cheap for ships to buy. Celebrity often offers free unlimited WIFI as a special for bookings all the time. If internet is slow in most places, it is because Princess is not buying enough bandwidth. Other cruise lines often much cheaper internet and it is much faster. Princess really needs to get with the program.

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Cruise Junky

Cruise Junky

Posted
Posted
When that was offered, the only passenger Internet devices were the computers in the Internet Cafe and the computers in full suites. Probably less than 50 total.

 

 

These days the average passenger has at least one Internet capable device. Unlimited Internet for free for a couple of thousand people is really impractical from a cost and bandwidth viewpoint.

 

Oceania just announced free internet. Not a couple of thousand but it'll be 1,250 on Riviera & Marina.

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

Posted
Posted
Oceania just announced free internet. Not a couple of thousand but it'll be 1,250 on Riviera & Marina.

 

Azamara is offering it as a free perk right now. Smaller but honestly, it doesn't matter. The scale between the numbers isn't an issue for internet providers.

 

If Celebrity can offer it every other week as a promo, it can't be that difficult.

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Cruise Junky

Cruise Junky

Posted
Posted
Azamara is offering it as a free perk right now. Smaller but honestly, it doesn't matter. The scale between the numbers isn't an issue for internet providers.

 

If Celebrity can offer it every other week as a promo, it can't be that difficult.

 

Completely agree with you.

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happicruzer

happicruzer

Posted
Posted

Met an an onboard accounting officer, different cruise line; however, learned the internrat and drink packages are huge income producers.

 

Noticed many who purchase full internet spend time walking through the ship looking at phones.

 

How many threads are there - should I buy the drink package or not. While I’ll happily accept a cruise bonus, I want to enjoy the cruise missing the news so didn’t buy an internet package on last HAL cruise. Also survived that cruise without a drink package.

 

Put me in a chair to watch the ocean, eat good food in MDRs and I’m one happy cruiser.

Judy

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caribill

caribill

Posted
Posted
Internet is very cheap for ships to buy. Celebrity often offers free unlimited WIFI as a special for bookings all the time. If internet is slow in most places, it is because Princess is not buying enough bandwidth.

 

Yes, Celebrity has that as a perk, but it is one of several choices (except suites get all four perks offered). But if you do not get it as a perk, the cost is between $25-$30 a day, depending on cruise length. (Lower costs with advanced loyalty status.)

 

In addition, it is usually not a free perk. Celebrity has clever marketing, but if you drill down on the pricing, the cruise cost increases with each perk added. Example on a Celebrity cruise I was on last year: Cabin price with one perk was $150/person more than no perks. Two perks cost $330/person more than no perks. And four perks cost $690 more than no perks. So it is not free unlimited. In this case if it was the first perk, it was $300 for two people in the cabin.

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Reina del Mar

Reina del Mar

Posted
Posted

So many 'perks' not appreciated by everyone. ..we are all different. Shoe shine does not appeal, afternoon tea not exciting me, others do not want laundry, some switch off from Internet...so here's a wildcard thought !

 

What about a price reduction for each level .? Above what some agents seem to be able to offer. (Why can't I find them?)

 

Maybe 1% for Gold, 2% for Ruby, 3% for Platinum, 4%Elite and 5% for imaginary new tier Super Elite ???

 

I agree with those who suggest tiers should be based on nights onboard and not number of cruises( 2 or 3 night cruises give such an unfair advantage to those lucky enough to be able to do them)

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paul929207

paul929207

Posted
Posted
So many 'perks' not appreciated by everyone. ..we are all different. Shoe shine does not appeal, afternoon tea not exciting me, others do not want laundry, some switch off from Internet...so here's a wildcard thought !

 

What about a price reduction for each level .? Above what some agents seem to be able to offer. (Why can't I find them?)

 

Maybe 1% for Gold, 2% for Ruby, 3% for Platinum, 4%Elite and 5% for imaginary new tier Super Elite ???

 

I agree with those who suggest tiers should be based on nights onboard and not number of cruises( 2 or 3 night cruises give such an unfair advantage to those lucky enough to be able to do them)

I have seen no sign that Princess is interested in adding perks that will cost them significant money.

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jagoffee

jagoffee

Posted
Posted
My above post shows that it is not really free. And my experience on a Celebrity ship found it was also not really fast.

 

I was on the Princess Emerald in October and Celebrity Eclipse in January and the Celebrity Internet was very fast compared to the Princess version. I am hoping that the new system that Princess is implemently will bring their internet speed up to the Celebrity level. Celebrity implemented a new system in the last few years and it made a significant improvement to the Celebrity Internet speeds.

I can confirm that the unlimited internet on Celebrity is not really free and is bundled in certain prices. (What they market as BBB). The Princess Elite benefit has more free minutes than Celebrity’s Elite free internet minutes. The Celebrity Elite Plus minutes is about the same as Princess’s Elite minutes.

 

The bottom line is that Princess’s Internet is a competive disadvantage, but planned improvement is on the way. They were running wires in October on the Emerald. I believe the Ocean Medallion program will bring better technology to the Princess ships.

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Pierlesscruisers

Pierlesscruisers

Posted
Posted
does

Celebrity / RCCL...let you combine military, stock with other OBC or do you have to choose?

 

 

I don't believe that either Celebrity or RCCL offer any stock benefits, although they may. But neither of those are under Carnival Corp. so neither of them can take advantage of the Carnival stock benefit. As to military OBC, the last time I checked, the only cruise lines that offered military OBC to any non active duty or retired military people were Princess and Cunard. All you need to get the OBC on those 2 lines are a discharge certificate (DD-214) showing 2 years of service (or 6 months in a combat zone) and an honorable discharge to qualify for the OBC.

 

 

Tom

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

Posted
Posted
I don't believe that either Celebrity or RCCL offer any stock benefits, although they may.
Both offer shareholder credit for folks owning at least 100 shares. See http://www.rclcorporate.com/investors/shareholder-benefit/

 

The problem with Celebrity and RCI is that a lot of times the shareholder benefit is not good in conjunction with other offers.

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Pierlesscruisers

Pierlesscruisers

Posted
Posted
Both offer shareholder credit for folks owning at least 100 shares. See http://www.rclcorporate.com/investors/shareholder-benefit/

 

The problem with Celebrity and RCI is that a lot of times the shareholder benefit is not good in conjunction with other offers.

 

Thanks for the info! Learn something every day! Glad I put in that "...but they may." at the end of my statement. :D

 

Tom

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pablo222

pablo222

Posted
Posted
Everyone on this thread is saying that they wish the minibar was per person, not per cabin.

 

This is just a subset of 'everyone wishes they got more for free'.

 

Sorry, for the purists, 'for no additional cost', as there is the cost of the cruise.

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WAMarathoner

WAMarathoner

Posted
Posted
( 2 or 3 night cruises give such an unfair advantage to those lucky enough to be able to do them)

The reason for this is to fill the ship. I live within driving distance of Seattle. Due to the laws, the ships can't do a domestic-only cruise. So they have to sail from Seattle to Vancouver. It's an 18-hour cruise for ~$100 each. The addition of the cruise credit is what makes it worth it, and many of the passengers are there for that reason. I highly doubt they could otherwise make the trip profitable -- which means the next cruise would have to pick up the financial cost.

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cruzsnooze

cruzsnooze

Posted
Posted

 

I agree with those who suggest tiers should be based on nights onboard and not number of cruises( 2 or 3 night cruises give such an unfair advantage to those lucky enough to be able to do them)

I prefer cruise credits because I sail in suites and pay 4 or 5 times what an inside cabins costs. If I don't get any better perks for that huge discrepancy I may as well sail in a balcony and save a fortune.

Th only other fair system would be to credit 1 point per dollar for the cruise fare, no different then the way most credit cards award points thus preserving the higher credit for higher dollar amounts spent on suites.

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