Revamped Tier Levels Coming Soon

[Daniel A]

18 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

I liked Viking River and will try Viking Ocean cruises after I use up my FCC's. I will forego my Personal Princess Planner for a big box TA to get their 8% back as a shop card for their big box store. I like RCL perks better now and am not starting over since I'm at their D+ tier.

  NCL is looking better now too. All of these leave from San Pedro so I have options .

Be careful, we spent many thousands on a suite on a Viking River Cruise and got horrible service .  Our neighbors were moved from a balcony to a below waterline cabin when their original cruise was cancelled.  Viking told them it was an equivalent exchange as the sale they booked under had ended.  If you want to be treated badly, use Viking.

[Ombud]

4 hours ago, Dorinda said:

Our return to service

As part of our commitment to safe sailing, some loyalty events and offerings may be updated.
 

So, it’s just a guess…

I wonder if it'll be like it was on a Royal Princess cruise October 2019 --- no captains party just a card in my room informing me of a free beverage of my choice 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

46 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

I saw in another thread but wasn't sure what the conversation was exactly.  Are they changing the embarkation times for loyalty members?

 

I think it is a temporary, Covid measure, but they are getting very strict on Departure Group size. They need to know close to exactly how many people will be there at one time.

 

30 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

I liked Viking River and will try Viking Ocean cruises after I use up my FCC's.

 

Who wouldn't like Viking? But their 13 day Barcelona to Venice cruise starts at $6,000. A 14 day Princess, Barcelona to Rome (via Greece & Turkey) starts at $3,400 for a Veranda room. You can buy a lot of Internet for $6,800 v $12,000.

[Thrak]

29 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

At this point if we were to lose the free laundry we'd start looking at other cruise lines. All the other stuff is pretty much insignificant to us compared to the free laundry!

 

We really don't have an issue doing our own laundry. Princess is great in that they have guest laundry facilities.

[Thrak]

22 minutes ago, Ombud said:

I wonder if it'll be like it was on a Royal Princess cruise October 2019 --- no captains party just a card in my room informing me of a free beverage of my choice 

 

Since Princess is "encouraging" everybody to purchase Princess Plus a "free drink coupon" kind of loses it's allure.

[Ombud]

Just now, Thrak said:

 

Since Princess is "encouraging" everybody to purchase Princess Plus a "free drink coupon" kind of loses it's allure.

A poll on CC seems to indicate that 2/3 purchase Princess➕ so yeah, no benefit. Maybe that's next to go??

 

[beg3yrs]

10 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

We really don't have an issue doing our own laundry. Princess is great in that they have guest laundry facilities.

Initially we didn't have in issue either but finally after trying to be good laundry room citizens, setting alarms to remind us the washer or dryer should be done and then witnessing so much bad etiquette we were really happy to make Elite and not have to do that again, we haven't looked back.

[memoak]

15 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Since Princess is "encouraging" everybody to purchase Princess Plus a "free drink coupon" kind of loses it's allure.

Yeah but if you are near your limit it can let you have one extra

[NSWP]

58 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

At this point if we were to lose the free laundry we'd start looking at other cruise lines. All the other stuff is pretty much insignificant to us compared to the free laundry!

Indeed, imagine on a 108 day world cruise - Sydney to Sydney.  All the extra money you could spend on booze and shorex if your laundry bill was covered. What is a bag of laundry now, $30? So say one every 3 days for 108 days that is about $1100 worth of wine, lol.  We mostly did long cruises, a month or so, so Elite laundry saved us a bit, as did dare I say it the internet minutes.

Edited July 2, 2021 by NSWP

[kiwimum]

1 hour ago, cruzsnooze said:

I liked Viking River and will try Viking Ocean cruises after I use up my FCC's. I will forego my Personal Princess Planner for a big box TA to get their 8% back as a shop card for their big box store. I like RCL perks better now and am not starting over since I'm at their D+ tier.

  NCL is looking better now too. All of these leave from San Pedro so I have options .

Be careful with the Big Box.   Had a dreadful time getting a refund from them for a cancelled cruise.   My credit card for final payment was charged the day after It was cancelled.  I ended up disputing the charge.  Customer service was severely lacking. 
Now book directly with PCC.

[darkpelagic]

I’d pretty much already decided Princess didn’t have enough loyalty to retain my loyalty but this confirms it. They might have kept it if they kept the sun and sea, but now they don’t have a single decent promenade deck either, so they’re just like any other mass cruise ship line. I doubt I’ll get to elite now. If cruising ever comes back in a decent format, that is. 
 

Reading elites whining about too many elites is like peak capitalism. This is why trickle down economics never works. The rich all want to deal you out. 

Edited July 2, 2021 by darkpelagic

[CineGraphic]

6 hours ago, Dorinda said:

Our return to service

As part of our commitment to safe sailing, some loyalty events and offerings may be updated.
 

So, it’s just a guess…

 

Imagine a virtual Captain's Circle Party...where they'll simply load your Medallion with a digital coupon for a free drink, which does nothing for those of us with a Plus package.

[Steelers36]

53 minutes ago, kiwimum said:

Be careful with the Big Box.   Had a dreadful time getting a refund from them for a cancelled cruise.   My credit card for final payment was charged the day after It was cancelled.  I ended up disputing the charge.  Customer service was severely lacking. 
Now book directly with PCC.

I'd keep looking for a decent TA that offers a cash discount off the fare instead of OBC or other credits.

 

[maggie777]

2 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Be careful, we spent many thousands on a suite on a Viking River Cruise and got horrible service .  Our neighbors were moved from a balcony to a below waterline cabin when their original cruise was cancelled.  Viking told them it was an equivalent exchange as the sale they booked under had ended.  If you want to be treated badly, use Viking.

Our friends used to cruise Princess with us but switched to Viking because of the smaller ships. They have completed 3 cruises and just booked another. 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

1 hour ago, darkpelagic said:

Reading elites whining about too many elites is like peak capitalism.

 

If everyone is Elite, then no one is Elite.

 

18 minutes ago, maggie777 said:

Our friends used to cruise Princess with us but switched to Viking because of the smaller ships. They have completed 3 cruises and just booked another. 

 

For a tad more they can move over to Silversea or Seabourn.

[dreaminofcruisin]

1 hour ago, darkpelagic said:

 They might have kept it if they kept the sun and sea, but now they don’t have a single decent promenade deck either,

 

You might want to check out the Coral Princess--REALLY nice Promenade Deck.

Also, the Grand Class ships have nice Promenades....though you do have to do the steps at one end or turn around.....

[Steelers36]

20 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

For a tad more they can move over to Silversea or Seabourne.

My like was for the Elite remark.  Good one.

 

Just once I would like to sample one of these lines just for the experience.  A lotto win would help convince me.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, darkpelagic said:

They might have kept it if they kept the sun and sea

Are you thinking of another line, perhaps?  Don't get it.

[cruzsnooze]

3 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Be careful, we spent many thousands on a suite on a Viking River Cruise and got horrible service .  Our neighbors were moved from a balcony to a below waterline cabin when their original cruise was cancelled.  Viking told them it was an equivalent exchange as the sale they booked under had ended.  If you want to be treated badly, use Viking.

I sailed on Viking to China for 2 weeks and had a wonderful experience. It was a land & Cruise like Princess' cruisetour and we enjoyed it. We had a balcony. Cans of soda were included at meals and we were allowed to take an extra few back to our cabin.  All excursions were included, it was wonderful. I'm sorry you had such a different experience.

[cruzsnooze]

3 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

At this point if we were to lose the free laundry we'd start looking at other cruise lines. All the other stuff is pretty much insignificant to us compared to the free laundry!

With the loss of loyalty OBC  you are loosing more then the laundry service should you  pay for it.    I found their laundry takes too long and comes back shrunk from scalding hot water. It is not a perk I used much at all. 

[phabric]

When we finally get to on a cruise, go to the Captain Circle desk and complain about the decease of Elite benefits, if many complain they will see many are not happy.

[maggie777]

19 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Are you thinking of another line, perhaps?  Don't get it.

Sun and Sea Princess...older, smaller

[Syracusefan44]

14 minutes ago, phabric said:

When we finally get to on a cruise, go to the Captain Circle desk and complain about the decease of Elite benefits, if many complain they will see many are not happy.

The only thing I want to do is get on a cruise ship for the first time since December 2019 and start enjoying life again traveling the world.  
 

If I was actually looking forward to was stepping onboard so I could  complain to the Captains Circle host about losing a limited number of free internet I would stay home.

 

Free laundry and a 10% discount on Princess excursions is fine with me.

Edited July 3, 2021 by Syracusefan44

[Steelers36]

8 minutes ago, maggie777 said:

Sun and Sea Princess...older, smaller

OH... I thought they were referring to some sort of sales promo without capital "S" there.  DOH!!!

[caribill]

6 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

I agree they are all similar, HAL is the bottom of those three, but still nice. I like Celebrity a lot and their loyalty program makes sense to me.

 

Have you been on any of HAL's newest ships such as the Nieuw Statendam? They have significantly more live music entertainment in the evening than Princess. The newer HAL ships do not effectively shut down at 9 PM anymore.