Cruise credits

[shopgirl151]

My parents and I did the British Isles cruise last summer.  When completed, I received 2 cruise credits but my parents only received 1 each.  Also, we have rebooked our cancelled cruise for next summer.  I am getting 2 credits for the future cruise credit and again my parents are only getting 1 each.  

 

Can anyone explain?

 

Thanks

[voljeep]

did you sail solo in a separate cabin ?

[shopgirl151]

I did

[voljeep]

5 minutes ago, shopgirl151 said:

I did

that's why you got 2 ... single supplement cruise fare earned you 2 credits

[Thrak]

Solo in a "regular" cabin gets double cruise credits. Solo in a suite gets triple cruise credits. That's just how it works.

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Solo in a "regular" cabin gets double cruise credits. Solo in a suite gets triple cruise credits. That's just how it works.

yep, 5 short 1 or 2 day cruises solo in a suite = 15 cruise credits , so on the 6th cruise ... you could be at the highest captain circle level

[Ombud]

5 hours ago, voljeep said:

yep, 5 short 1 or 2 day cruises solo in a suite = 15 cruise credits , so on the 6th cruise ... you could be at the highest captain circle level

IMHO That's way too much work just to get free laundry (my blue jeans & socks were bleached so much that they turned color) which is the primary difference between Platinum and Elite 

[Thrak]

25 minutes ago, Ombud said:

IMHO That's way too much work just to get free laundry (my blue jeans & socks were bleached so much that they turned color) which is the primary difference between Platinum and Elite 

 

Actually, I think the mini-bar is probably a better Elite perk than the laundry. We gave the laundry a try and it wasn't a good experience. My wife's corduroy pants came back as blue jeans that would fit a 10 year old or a small teen. We did finally get the right clothing back but it took a few days. She also sent out a dress for "cleaning" to have a spot removed but the dress came back with the spot very much still in place. If we ever get to cruise again we will likely just stick with the self-serve laundry.

[Ombud]

@Thrak I trade my minbar for the coffee program so it's worth $39 to me. Better example of why taking 5 overnight suite cruises isn't worth the cost of upgrading to Elite. Now the preferred boarding a tender may be. 

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, Ombud said:

@Thrak I trade my minbar for the coffee program so it's worth $39 to me. Better example of why taking 5 overnight suite cruises isn't worth the cost of upgrading to Elite. Now the preferred boarding a tender may be. 

 

I still don't have the requisite number of cruise credits to be Elite. Taking a bunch of short cruises to "qualify" was of no interest to us. Our only cruise as Elite so far was number 14 because, after cruising 13 times, we had 154 days at sea with Princess. (It would have been sooner but working interfered with our ability to cruise so we had a couple of short "get away" cruises. Glad we're done with that nonsense.) We like cruises of 10 days minimum and preferably longer. We had an additional 33 days booked for this November/December but those are now cancelled. We have a 7 day immediately followed by an 18 day (for a total of 25 days) booked for May/June, 2021 but I doubt those will happen either. Perhaps the 10 day booking for September 2021 will sail. If cruising survives we will eventually have the requisite number of cruises to qualify for Elite status but it makes no difference since we qualified via days at sea. We were soooooooooooo looking forward to those 33 days in Australia and New Zealand. We've never been to those places and have met so many really nice folks from there.

Edited August 30, 2020 by Thrak

[Ombud]

I love down under!! I've done 1 each of the last 3 years. Spent extra nights in both Sydney & Melbourne (they have 4 seasons a day in Melbourne LOL). It was my last cruise & I'll miss Australia this year. I was to go from Hong Kong back to Sydney on the Majestic then spend a week there 😞. 

 

I got to elite the old way ..... 16 cruises as part of a couple. I've only soloed the last few. Doesn't really matter how one gets there 

Edited August 30, 2020 by Ombud

[Papa Yoda]

4 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

I still don't have the requisite number of cruise credits to be Elite. Taking a bunch of short cruises to "qualify" was of no interest to us. Our only cruise as Elite so far was number 14 because, after cruising 13 times, we had 154 days at sea with Princess. (It would have been sooner but working interfered with our ability to cruise so we had a couple of short "get away" cruises. Glad we're done with that nonsense.) We like cruises of 10 days minimum and preferably longer. We had an additional 33 days booked for this November/December but those are now cancelled. We have a 7 day immediately followed by an 18 day (for a total of 25 days) booked for May/June, 2021 but I doubt those will happen either. Perhaps the 10 day booking for September 2021 will sail. If cruising survives we will eventually have the requisite number of cruises to qualify for Elite status but it makes no difference since we qualified via days at sea. We were soooooooooooo looking forward to those 33 days in Australia and New Zealand. We've never been to those places and have met so many really nice folks from there.

 

Work definitely interferes with cruise life...  We had a great time doing b2b and b2b2b Coastals/Getaways/Mexican Riviera, about a 1/3rd of them in suites while staying in the LA area, it was dead easy to take a car service to the port, be gone for 2-3 weeks doing stuff in our "local" ports we'd never do otherwise.  So we made Elite by theoretically gaming the system, but we had a great time and have more than made up for it since, several more b2b and b2b2b's - in suites - getting 2 mini bars each leg.  I am no longer allowed to book anything less than Club Class.

 

We've got 31 days booked Rome / Venice - Fort Lauderdale October 2021 on our little jewel Pacific Princess - we've never been to Europe or the Med so we hope it works out.

 

I'm looking for itineraries to Australia / New Zealand / South Pacific out of the west coast and back without having to fly and hopefully spend a few weeks down under.

[Roger88]

I was never a fan of all those credits and etc. In my opinion there is nothing better than actual money lying in your pocket or on deposit in the bank. I mean, of course, in a different situation without COVID danger and limitations I wouldn't mind having those credits to spend them on my next cruise for example, but for me who very rarely travels its not a good option cause this FCC credits have an expiration date 

[skynight]

6 hours ago, Roger88 said:

I was never a fan of all those credits and etc. In my opinion there is nothing better than actual money lying in your pocket or on deposit in the bank. I mean, of course, in a different situation without COVID danger and limitations I wouldn't mind having those credits to spend them on my next cruise for example, but for me who very rarely travels its not a good option cause this FCC credits have an expiration date 

This thread, the OP's question, is about Captain's Circle Credits, 1 credit to become Gold, 3 for Ruby, 5 for Platinum, 15 for Elite. It's not about Future Cruise Credits (FCC's) which can be used to pay for cruises and do have expiration dates.  

[Thrak]

9 hours ago, Ferd Berfle said:

 

Work definitely interferes with cruise life...  We had a great time doing b2b and b2b2b Coastals/Getaways/Mexican Riviera, about a 1/3rd of them in suites while staying in the LA area, it was dead easy to take a car service to the port, be gone for 2-3 weeks doing stuff in our "local" ports we'd never do otherwise.  So we made Elite by theoretically gaming the system, but we had a great time and have more than made up for it since, several more b2b and b2b2b's - in suites - getting 2 mini bars each leg.  I am no longer allowed to book anything less than Club Class.

 

We've got 31 days booked Rome / Venice - Fort Lauderdale October 2021 on our little jewel Pacific Princess - we've never been to Europe or the Med so we hope it works out.

 

I'm looking for itineraries to Australia / New Zealand / South Pacific out of the west coast and back without having to fly and hopefully spend a few weeks down under.

 

I was "in" a suite once but it wasn't mine... We were just visiting as part of a cabin crawl.  I'm far too poor to book suites and am just very happy we have been able to cruise at all.

[voljeep]

we "upsaled" to our one and only suite on a little 4 day cruise - total was $ 638 pp total, so $ 160 pp pd

 

on a currently booked 4/2021 cruise - a PH is going about $ 480 pp pd - same ship as before - no thanks

 

and yes, we "gamed" the system

14 cruises

15 cruise credits

82 days

Edited August 30, 2020 by voljeep

[Thrak]

On 8/30/2020 at 9:12 AM, voljeep said:

we "upsaled" to our one and only suite on a little 4 day cruise - total was $ 638 pp total, so $ 160 pp pd

 

on a currently booked 4/2021 cruise - a PH is going about $ 480 pp pd - same ship as before - no thanks

 

and yes, we "gamed" the system

14 cruises

15 cruise credits

82 days

 

I'll never quite figure out how following the set rules is actually "gaming" the system. They made the offer and people took them up on it. It never really mattered to me how someone became Elite. Days at sea? Great. Number of cruise credits? Great. I've read that some folks were somehow automagically jumped to Elite with very few days or cruise credits. It really doesn't affect me. Why it should matter to folks is a mystery.

[susancruzs]

It really doesn't affect me. Why it should matter to folks is a mystery.

 

Exactly!  I'm Elite because I sail as a single, and I've had some strange conversations about it.  Because I take longer cruises, always have even before I retired, my days came about the same time as my cruise credits. 

 

People are nosy, borderline rude sometimes.  I haven't taken a 7 day cruise for at least 15 years, getting on board for less than two weeks, not my idea of a fun time.  I've had people ask bold questions about it, and my response is, do you want to pay double for your cruise to get 2 credits?  I've never sailed in a suite, taken short cruises, or tried to "game" the system to get to Elite.  It isn't important, I like exchanging mini bar for the coffee package, don't care about laundry, use the laundry room.  Rest of it, don't care, priority tender isn't important to me either, I'm never in a rush to get off.

 

 

[voljeep]

18 minutes ago, susancruzs said:

Exactly!  I'm Elite because I sail as a single, and I've had some strange conversations about it

why ?

[Ombud]

Because people don't understand that solo cruisers get double credits (and pay double). Cruiser Critic members tend to be more understanding about it

[neverbeenhere]

With the existence of Fast Track or whatever it is officially called, one apparently could have elite loyalty status on their first Princess Cruise. 
 

 

[suzyed]

On 8/29/2020 at 6:46 PM, Thrak said:

 

Actually, I think the mini-bar is probably a better Elite perk than the laundry. We gave the laundry a try and it wasn't a good experience. My wife's corduroy pants came back as blue jeans that would fit a 10 year old or a small teen. We did finally get the right clothing back but it took a few days. She also sent out a dress for "cleaning" to have a spot removed but the dress came back with the spot very much still in place. If we ever get to cruise again we will likely just stick with the self-serve laundry.

Even worse they lost all the underwear we sent to be laundered!!  LOL!  Luckily we didn't send ALL of them!  It took almost a week to get them back.   The other times we sent out the laundry it was fine...no issues.

 

[suzyed]

On 8/29/2020 at 9:41 PM, Ombud said:

I love down under!! I've done 1 each of the last 3 years. Spent extra nights in both Sydney & Melbourne (they have 4 seasons a day in Melbourne LOL). It was my last cruise & I'll miss Australia this year. I was to go from Hong Kong back to Sydney on the Majestic then spend a week there 😞. 

 

I got to elite the old way ..... 16 cruises as part of a couple. I've only soloed the last few. Doesn't really matter how one gets there 

We did it by cruise days rather than credits.  We like the longer cruises too so it was relatively painless to get to Elite. We got to Platinum after about 3 cruises.  
But now with the Princess Plus deal, we get the free internet, free drink package which makes it unnecessary to purchase the coffee package or use our Elite minutes. I still do some of my own laundry because I don't dry my tops in the dryer...I like to hang them to dry. 
The mini bar will be nice for in cabin drinks or on the balcony!
IF we ever get to sail again!

 

 

Edited September 4, 2020 by suzyed

[suzyed]

On 8/30/2020 at 11:29 AM, Thrak said:

 

I was "in" a suite once but it wasn't mine... We were just visiting as part of a cabin crawl.  I'm far too poor to book suites and am just very happy we have been able to cruise at all.

The only times (twice) that we were in a full suite was on NCL to Alaska.

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, neverbeenhere said:

With the existence of Fast Track or whatever it is officially called, one apparently could have elite loyalty status on their first Princess Cruise. 
 

 

How is that...never heard of it.