Revamped Tier Levels Coming Soon

[PrincessLuver]

8 hours ago, skynight said:

You can not compare airline status to cruise ship status. The main focus of airline loyalty levels frequent business travelers, those that fly 25, 50, 100M miles per year, paid for by their business.  Airlines want those travelers and that business money to stay with their brand flight after flight, year after year. Cruise ship passengers are longer term customers leisure travelers that pay their own way. Thus loyalty levels should focus on the long term and not depend on taking a vacation every year.

I don't believe you will see concrete awards like you mention. With us cabin upgrades are not very appealing. Promos normally take care of that. Free cruises. I don't see this anytime soon. 

 

I understand the loyalty programs and have traveled extensively in business and also personally and I know how to use them and how they work.  I was responding to another poster who saw no value in any of the loyalty programs.  

 

Having said that, Princess' program is a joke for what little benefits that passengers thing they are getting for the amount of money they spend.  Like other's have said NOBODY is Elite if everyone is Elite.

 

That is not true for the airline, hotel, and some rental car loyalty programs.

Edited June 8, 2021 by PrincessLuver

[Wishing on a star]

IMHO, a traveller loyalty status is very different than the %Back credit cards.

And, isn't that true that those that spend more on Suites, Club Class, etc... do get their perks.

 

Do air passengers get more FFM's because they paid for First Class?

 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2021 by Wishing on a star

[MileHighAko]

6 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Do air passengers get more FFM's because they paid for First Class?

Yes. Lots more.

[starboardcruiser]

5 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

This slide shows also shows that Suite & Club Class passengers get that benefit however they don’t need a reservation for Club Class dining but can use it for other types of reservations.

I saw this, but when I tried to select anything, it says the cruise needs to be paid in full. I'm in a suite, but not Elite, so perhaps non-Elite suites need to be paid in full. There's nothing for me to do right now anyway because the ship in my app is not the one I'm supposed to sail on, but I am curious to see what the options are.

 

As far as the perks in general, the advanced booking window for Elites seems appealing to me, but I don't use most of the other perks. The Princess Plus fares seemed a good enough deal to proceed with, but it cancels out a lot of those benefits. Not everyone feels they would get their money's worth, but I enjoy the luxury of not having to worry about those additional expenses throughout the voyage.

[Thrak]

We have only sailed once as Elite. Princess screwed up and gave us Platinum cards. No Elite boarding.  I had to go to the desk to get changed from Platinum to Elite. It took 2 days to get the mini bar and then it was missing half the liquor. They substituted Heineken which my wife doesn't like. We had the worst cabin we have ever had - incredibly noisy at almost all times - and the steward must have been the worst in the history of Princess. Two and three hours after all the other stewards had finished he was still farting around trying to get things done. He failed to replace glasses and towels more than once. My wife sent clothing to the laundry and, instead of brown corduroy pants in her size, she got back denim skinny jeans. The label was something like a 27" waist and very short legs. The label actually said "skinny" on it. My wife definitely does not wear that size. I don't think I've ever seen anybody on a Princess cruise that can wear that size other than the occasional young teen. Of course the steward had no idea what corduroy was and it took a couple of days to get the correct item back. She also sent a dress in to be "cleaned" to remove a spot. The dress was gone for two days but came back with the spot still in place. We also had the absolute worst CD staff we've ever encountered - including the only CD staff member who was actually offensive and obnoxious.

 

All in all our new Elite status really didn't make a lot of positive difference. 🤪 We wrote the cruise off to what Lemony Snicket would refer to as "A Series of Unfortunate Events". (Fortunately for us a couple we had sailed with before and who we really like was on the same cruise. They made all the difference. Good people can help turn a "less than great" experience around. We're hoping to sail with them again next May.)

 

 

[Astro Flyer]

38 minutes ago, starboardcruiser said:

I saw this, but when I tried to select anything, it says the cruise needs to be paid in full. I'm in a suite, but not Elite, so perhaps non-Elite suites need to be paid in full. There's nothing for me to do right now anyway because the ship in my app is not the one I'm supposed to sail on, but I am curious to see what the options are.

Based on last weeks webinar suite passengers are eligible to make advance reservations which should be unnecessary because you can be seated in Club Class at anytime. Apparently the statement that you need to be paid in full is another glitch that needs to be fixed.

 

One of my cruises is on Discovery but the name of the ship doesn’t appear in the app. However I was able to complete all of the required sections & to make Dine My Way reservations. Although currently none of the 5 OceanReady arrival status options shows as green despite all Personal Information & Documents having ✅  

 

Maybe that will be corrected after they confirm that Discovery will arrive for our Spring 2022 cruise.

[Discus16]

On 6/7/2021 at 9:55 AM, pms4104 said:

Cruzsnooze ...

 

I understand your point.

 

But I do think Princess is looking for a way to change their bloated program, and I doubt fairness will come into play.

 

Heck, before sailing restarts soon, thdy could announce that anyone who has not sailed for 12 months will be reset to zero.  Fair or not?

We had 2 cruise cancelled so that would means we would not have sailed for 12 months of no fault of our own. 

[Ombud]

5 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

9 hours ago, dreams_of_travel said:

Princess just feels comfortable to my family. I am glad my Travel Agent/Cruise Specialist advised me early on to try Princess first.  YMMV

TA didn't advise us, it just worked out that way. First cruise was on Princess and we never looked back. Never had a bad cruise experience (altho' DH froze when we went to Alaska and refused to go outside when we were cruising the glacier).

My 1st cruise was on Commodore.  Took me 5 yrs to be willing to give it another try (TA 'assumed' I could only afford 1 room so I had a room smaller than NCL's singles with 3 kids & an X). Tried an old PCL ship and that one leaked all over. Another few years before I tried Carnival.  LOVED IT and so did my 3 kids (single by then). Gave my parents an Alaska cruise and the TA said to try Princess. So when mom decided to take us on a 'family cruise' in 2004 it was on Sea Princess. And I was hooked for 2 reasons: (1) so much music & (2) no amusement type park. Just my style. My kids loved it. Later took my family & it was great. My grandsons loved interacting with the sax players (FWIW they're both musicians now: 1 in Philharmonic & teaches / 1 in technojazz. Supports them in SF & LA with enough leftover). This is now their liner of choice 

[restasured]

On 6/7/2021 at 9:47 AM, cruzsnooze said:

That would be unfair to those of us who pay for suites vs the inside cabins. Company needs to reward their big spenders accordingly.

I can't see where it would be unfair to anyone.  One day one point, for everyone.  I seriously doubt that anyone, more affluent or not, book a suite for the points.  If you choose to pay additional, you are paying for the accommodations, just as if you pay less, you are paying for the accommodations.  

[restasured]

5 hours ago, MileHighAko said:

Yes. Lots more.

Not in the sense that this discussion is about.  If you buy a $100 ticket to fly 1000 miles you get 1000 frequent flyer points.  If you spend $1000 to fly those same 1000 miles you still get 1000 frequent flyer points.  Where the added points come in is not due to cost per mile, it is because the credit card logs in 1000 points, that can be converted to FF points on top of the 1000 points from the flight.  As opposed to the other person getting 100 points from his credit card plus the 1000 points from the flight.  Percentage per dollar is the same.

[Steelers36]

3 minutes ago, restasured said:

Not in the sense that this discussion is about.  If you buy a $100 ticket to fly 1000 miles you get 1000 frequent flyer points.  If you spend $1000 to fly those same 1000 miles you still get 1000 frequent flyer points.  Where the added points come in is not due to cost per mile, it is because the credit card logs in 1000 points, that can be converted to FF points on top of the 1000 points from the flight.  As opposed to the other person getting 100 points from his credit card plus the 1000 points from the flight.  Percentage per dollar is the same.

I disagree.  Many airlines give bonus points - like 150% for business class.  And they can give less points for the super-saver type no-frill discount seats (0% or 50%, for example).

 

[restasured]

On 6/7/2021 at 6:38 PM, cruzsnooze said:

I don't feel the number of nights is any better then the cruise credit system. Why should I get the same 10 nights in a suite VS 10 nights in an inside cabin. There needs to be some measurement for bigger spenders.

  I see the Princess site states there will be maintence on the site June 6-7 so I think they're working on the tier level ???

The reason is, because for the price you pay for the suite you get the upgraded, well, everything,  You are paying for the suite and the perks of having the suite, you aren't buying points.  

[MileHighAko]

53 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I disagree.  Many airlines give bonus points - like 150% for business class.  And they can give less points for the super-saver type no-frill discount seats (0% or 50%, for example).

This is correct. Additionally many airline loyalty programs have a $ spend requirement in addition to miles flown.  Business/first class tickets greatly contribute to both requirements. Of course often # of segments can be substituted for number of miles as part of the equation, but $ spend is still a hard requirement. 
 

[Steelers36]

17 minutes ago, MileHighAko said:

This is correct. Additionally many airline loyalty programs have a $ spend requirement in addition to miles flown.  Business/first class tickets greatly contribute to both requirements. Of course often # of segments can be substituted for number of miles as part of the equation, but $ spend is still a hard requirement. 
 

Agreed.  I have been out of the "game" in recent years due to retirement, but am aware that airlines have trended into a dollars-spent aspect to get to the higher tiers.  I am not sure I would have been able to achieve Air Canada SuperElite status year after year when travelling on business between Canada and USA had this been the case then due to economy class ticket policies in terms of acceptable amounts to bill clients through consulting firms or directly.  I am thinking I would have had to spend dollars for more expensive full-fare tickets if I wanted that top status.  The best two things about the top AC status for me were the access to business class reward seats for overseas travel (almost impossible to get for normal folks then) and the service if flights cancelled, delayed, etc.  But, I have burned my points and am basically dormant in the program.  My leisure travel doesn't need to be focused on AC and partner airlines as I will never have enough miles in a year to achieve any status of significance.

 

ETA - I am not complaining in the above either and in fairness could not if it affected me prior to retiring.  After all, I was achieving SuperElite status with typically 95, or odd time 100, minimum segments flown - never with 100,000 miles because I was flying typically Toronto to/from eastern US cities.  I bought economy tickets in advance when prices were lower and almost never paid full econ fare.  My annual spend would have been nothing like someone flying overseas to Europe or Asia on several trips in business class.  Sometimes I booked connections on purpose just so a round trip was four segments instead of two.  All perfectly legit in the program.  Anyway enough about flying.  Cruising is different and who knows what they might do in future to recognize and reward passengers.  I do think regular suite guests should get some status level recognition faster/easier than me who typically books Inside cabins.

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by Steelers36

[gvre]

We are elite with 28 cruises over 300 days.

My wife will never let them do our laundry as it comes back destroyed most of the time.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, restasured said:

Not in the sense that this discussion is about.  If you buy a $100 ticket to fly 1000 miles you get 1000 frequent flyer points.  If you spend $1000 to fly those same 1000 miles you still get 1000 frequent flyer points.  Where the added points come in is not due to cost per mile, it is because the credit card logs in 1000 points, that can be converted to FF points on top of the 1000 points from the flight.  As opposed to the other person getting 100 points from his credit card plus the 1000 points from the flight.  Percentage per dollar is the same.

 

Many airlines have changed from points=miles to points based on the cost of the ticket.

[caribill]

57 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

 I do think regular suite guests should get some status level recognition faster/easier than me who typically books Inside cabins.

 

 

They do under the current program. Two points per cruise (three if cruising solo in the suite) instead of one point in all other cabin categories. So can reach Elite status after 8 cruises instead of 15.

[skynight]

14 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

So when my credit card gives me 2% back is that a class system? If I spend more I get more back. If I book a suite I get better  perks and special privileges' like the elite/suite happy hour, another class system. We live in a capitalistic country where money does buy higher end goods and services.  

Don't see how this relates to cruise line loyalty status.

A loyalty system is a marketing tool, nothing more. It is a way to encourage customers to return to their brand. The more you return the more benefits you can receive, some of them useful, some not so useful. How does a marketing department determine how to offer increased loyalty status. Many options. Do they wish to partially connect it with cost of fares as they do now? Do they wish to disconnect it from fares and base it only on bookings, sailing days, voyages? Do they wish to connect it with more time on board to reach the next level? It's up to Princess. Princess will determine what they feel is the better way to attract return customers. If I were advising I would advise against connecting loyalty status with cost of fares. Don't believe it will generate additional return business. Don't believe you should be able to buy loyalty status. Those in full suites already purchase almost all of the highest level benefits and more with or without status. Thus money is already buying higher end goods and services. No need to further attach money to loyalty levels.

[Daniel A]

31 minutes ago, skynight said:

Those in full suites already purchase almost all of the highest level benefits and more with or without status. Thus money is already buying higher end goods and services. No need to further attach money to loyalty levels.

But aren't you going to the extreme with that logic?  The number of full suites on a ship are very, very limited.  Staying in a minisuite doesn't get any more benefits than one staying in an inside or for that matter a regular balcony cabin.  I'm OK with using days at sea as long as it applies equally across all cabin categories regardless of the number of PAX in the cabin.

 

No matter what benchmarks are used, some people won't be happy.  I also recall similar threads from past years on CC.  It's funny though, what stands out to me is that for the most part, it isn't the lower tiers who are the most vocal complaining about the Captain's Circle benefits, it's the Elites.  I guess when you achieve Elite status you buy into the concept of being someone special and it's disappointing to discover there are many, many other people who are just as 'special.'

[Steelers36]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

They do under the current program. Two points per cruise (three if cruising solo in the suite) instead of one point in all other cabin categories. So can reach Elite status after 8 cruises instead of 15.

Yes.  I should have used agree a.d not think as I know what suites get you.

[PrincessLuver]

1 hour ago, skynight said:

Don't see how this relates to cruise line loyalty status.

A loyalty system is a marketing tool, nothing more. It is a way to encourage customers to return to their brand. The more you return the more benefits you can receive, some of them useful, some not so useful. How does a marketing department determine how to offer increased loyalty status. Many options. Do they wish to partially connect it with cost of fares as they do now? Do they wish to disconnect it from fares and base it only on bookings, sailing days, voyages? Do they wish to connect it with more time on board to reach the next level? It's up to Princess. Princess will determine what they feel is the better way to attract return customers. If I were advising I would advise against connecting loyalty status with cost of fares. Don't believe it will generate additional return business. Don't believe you should be able to buy loyalty status. Those in full suites already purchase almost all of the highest level benefits and more with or without status. Thus money is already buying higher end goods and services. No need to further attach money to loyalty levels.

 

But people on Princess have already bought loyalty status by simply taking a lot of 1, 2 and 3 day cruises and they are treated the same as someone who spends thousands more of USD on the cruise.  

 

Princess' loyalty program makes absolutely no sense to us and is not valuable to us at all......we only cruise Princess because of their generous giving and allowance of the use of FCC/OBC's.  We qualify for a wide variety of OBC's on Princess and this is of value to us.....and we have been on the ships with 1,500 plus Elites and it is a joke.....nobody really cares!!!!

Edited June 9, 2021 by PrincessLuver

[caribill]

21 minutes ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

  A cruise day in an inside cabin is not the same for the cruise lines as a day in a suite.

 

As pointed out earlier, the purpose of a loyalty program is to encourage return customers.

 

Many (most?) of the elites cruise multiple times a year.

 

But the loyalty program also encourages those who cruise once a year or less to also return to Princess. And, as been pointed out, those who cruise less often tend to spend more on board including the cruise line's shore excursions. So even the once a year cruisers in inside cabins can be a good revenue source for Princess.

[palolake]

On 6/7/2021 at 5:19 PM, Syracusefan44 said:

I went to my Princess account and it still shows my level as “Elite” but below the “Membership Benefits” are now blank.  
 

Seems to indicate changes are indeed on the way.  We shall see. 

 

I just went there and it looks the same as always.

[skynight]

2 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I guess when you achieve Elite status you buy into the concept of being someone special and it's disappointing to discover there are many, many other people who are just as 'special.'

We have always felt special from our very first Princess cruise. The staff treats you this way and we treat them the same. We have been elite around 10 years. We never felt extra special at any time because of the elite status. Always feel we are just like everyone else on board.

 

[beg3yrs]

On 6/7/2021 at 3:19 PM, Syracusefan44 said:

I went to my Princess account and it still shows my level as “Elite” but below the “Membership Benefits” are now blank.  
 

Seems to indicate changes are indeed on the way.  We shall see. 

Oh you're in serious trouble now! What did you? Run over Jan's dog? Say something "non-maritime correct" like calling a ship a boat?

 

Looks like your benefits have been CANCELED! All the rest of us are now sufficiently scared into submission. We won't say or do anything that might trigger Princess management! 😁