No more free internet for platinum & elite

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

People keep wondering what the Internet access costs. I don't know if they have raised it recently but this is from our Travel Summary that I downloaded just now.  It shows what Princess is considering the cost of the Internet service I'm getting with Princess Plus. This is for a 12 day cruise in May 2022. Using the price listed that makes the cost of Internet service $9.97/day.

 

 

They always quote the general marketing high-end rate to make any benefit seem to be as large as they can realistically make it.  Hence they used a $10/day rate, but voyage packages have been priced less and therefore work out to < $10/day on average. 

 

For example, pre-Covid a 12-night cruise would have an internet package for sale in the Personalizer for $75.  The on-board price was $100.  If Elite or Platinum, you could get that on-board price for $75 (@ 25% off).  Yes, a quirk in the pricing scheme for that voyage length. 

 

So, now what is the true value of the internet package to the customer?  $75 - not $120.

 

Going forward, the cost should be no more than $60 net if eligible for the 50% off.  So, again, the true value in the PLUS is only half of the high "fake" price listed. 

 

 

ETA - Or, perhaps the pre-cruise price was $90.  Not sure now if I had a typo or not.  It's been a long time since I prepared the full price list for Medallion Net, IDK if a quirk or my mistake.  But the point is $120 is not a real cost anyone would have to pay unless booking it one day at a time.

Edited July 3, 2021 by Steelers36

[gazpam]

1 hour ago, nocl said:

Or if it does, are you really a customer that they want to keep. Princess has a lot of Elite cruisers.  A number of which cruise a lot, but do not spend much outside of their cruise fare.  If the value of Internet is enough for one to totally leave a cruise line, they just might be a non-profitable customer.

 

When one considers that 25-28% of main stream cruise lines revenue comes from on board sales.  One that is not willing to spend much on board is not a profitable customer for the cruise line.  

As you state. Princess has a lot of Elite cruisers. Therefore I would imagine that loosing those many Elite would put a bit of a hole in there passenger roll call. 

I have sent my email to those 4 suggested and will send one to the Princess contact us.

For those who may be interested in what I have sent, this is it.

 

Having been a loyal Princess passenger over the years, enough to get to the Elite level, and 4 future cruises already booked for 2021/22 with Princess, totalling 85 days. I will no longer book Princess over other cruises that have a similar itinerary. 

 

Why would you even consider the statement, "We hope you enjoy these updates to your perks - because you deserve it." an enjoyment, and obviously your loyal passengers don't deserve much. What a ridiculously mean thing to do, to change the Internet to pay,(oh great 50% off) and OBC gone. Wow we still get free laundry and,

 

Exclusive, early access to Dine My Way reservations (ability to make them before final payment!)
* 10% off shore excursions
* 10% off Lotus Spa treatments
* 10% off Photo Gallery offerings

Which many of us have no interest in. 

During this very trying period with the pandemic, I have remained loyal and left my FCC with Princess when 3 or 4 of my cruises have been cancelled. Yes, I have certainly been repaid by Princess with great deals for hanging in there with the new cruises I have booked for 2022. But still find this, pay for internet, a mean thing to do.

 

[nocl]

2 minutes ago, gazpam said:

As you state. Princess has a lot of Elite cruisers. Therefore I would imagine that loosing those many Elite would put a bit of a hole in there passenger roll call. 

I have sent my email to those 4 suggested and will send one to the Princess contact us.

For those who may be interested in what I have sent, this is it.

 

Having been a loyal Princess passenger over the years, enough to get to the Elite level, and 4 future cruises already booked for 2021/22 with Princess, totalling 85 days. I will no longer book Princess over other cruises that have a similar itinerary. 

 

Why would you even consider the statement, "We hope you enjoy these updates to your perks - because you deserve it." an enjoyment, and obviously your loyal passengers don't deserve much. What a ridiculously mean thing to do, to change the Internet to pay,(oh great 50% off) and OBC gone. Wow we still get free laundry and,

 

Exclusive, early access to Dine My Way reservations (ability to make them before final payment!)
* 10% off shore excursions
* 10% off Lotus Spa treatments
* 10% off Photo Gallery offerings

Which many of us have no interest in. 

During this very trying period with the pandemic, I have remained loyal and left my FCC with Princess when 3 or 4 of my cruises have been cancelled. Yes, I have certainly been repaid by Princess with great deals for hanging in there with the new cruises I have booked for 2022. But still find this, pay for internet, a mean thing to do.

 

Look at the two changes.

 

The first the loss of a loyalty OBC is no surprise.  At the number of Elite, and the rate at which other cruisers are becoming Elite with the total number of sailed cruises growing, the cost of that benefit would only get higher.  I have been on cruises where more than 25% of the passengers have been Elite.  It is rare for the most sailed to be below 1000 days.  So the money being paid out for that benefit is a non-trivial amount and would only continue to increase with time.  Not surprised that its days are numbered.

 

As far as the Internet changes, the benefit was from the days when their system was entirely based upon minutes, now the system is entirely based upon devices.  So any continued support of the minutes based system would be only for the Captains Circle benefit.  Considering how much effort went into support of the minutes based system (people forgetting to log out and burning all of their minutes, people complaining that the system was too slow and their minutes were being wasted.

In reality the unlimited time, device based system is certainly a better system and removes a lot of the support issues that the old minute based system had.  No way the cruise line is going to support a minute based system for a benefit when they are only selling unlimited device based.

 

So the only real question is the price.  The discount is about equivalent to the cost of the minutes they used to provide under the old system that were given free.

 

As I said above if these two changes, a relatively small dollar figure compared to the cost of cruises and on board spend, is enough for someone to change cruise lines they just might fall into the category of customer that the company is willing to lose.

[gazpam]

2 minutes ago, nocl said:

Look at the two changes.

 

The first the loss of a loyalty OBC is no surprise.  At the number of Elite, and the rate at which other cruisers are becoming Elite with the total number of sailed cruises growing, the cost of that benefit would only get higher.  I have been on cruises where more than 25% of the passengers have been Elite.  It is rare for the most sailed to be below 1000 days.  So the money being paid out for that benefit is a non-trivial amount and would only continue to increase with time.  Not surprised that its days are numbered.

 

As far as the Internet changes, the benefit was from the days when their system was entirely based upon minutes, now the system is entirely based upon devices.  So any continued support of the minutes based system would be only for the Captains Circle benefit.  Considering how much effort went into support of the minutes based system (people forgetting to log out and burning all of their minutes, people complaining that the system was too slow and their minutes were being wasted.

In reality the unlimited time, device based system is certainly a better system and removes a lot of the support issues that the old minute based system had.  No way the cruise line is going to support a minute based system for a benefit when they are only selling unlimited device based.

 

So the only real question is the price.  The discount is about equivalent to the cost of the minutes they used to provide under the old system that were given free.

 

As I said above if these two changes, a relatively small dollar figure compared to the cost of cruises and on board spend, is enough for someone to change cruise lines they just might fall into the category of customer that the company is willing to lose.

I had heard talk years ago of the possibility of adding another level due to the increasing Elite passengers. Many people were against this, but I think it would be quite a good scheme.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

People keep wondering what the Internet access costs. I don't know if they have raised it recently but this is from our Travel Summary that I downloaded just now.  It shows what Princess is considering the cost of the Internet service I'm getting with Princess Plus. This is for a 12 day cruise in May 2022. Using the price listed that makes the cost of Internet service $9.97/day.

 

 

 

Looks correct based on some other posts. That would make the OBC back to be half of that and the Internet cost $5/day.

 

Do they show the four device package option?

[caribill]

22 minutes ago, gazpam said:

I had heard talk years ago of the possibility of adding another level due to the increasing Elite passengers. Many people were against this, but I think it would be quite a good scheme.

 

Is it "quite a good scheme" if some of the remaining best Elite benefits are only allocated to a new, higher level, no longer available to Elites?

[caribill]

21 minutes ago, nocl said:

 I have been on cruises where more than 25% of the passengers have been Elite.  It is rare for the most sailed to be below 1000 days. 

 

As far as the Internet changes, the benefit was from the days when their system was entirely based upon minutes, now the system is entirely based upon devices.  So any continued support of the minutes based system would be only for the Captains Circle benefit. 

 

With the Internet benefit available to both Platinum and Elite cruisers, easily over half the passengers could be P&E and (until now) would have benefited from the free Internet minutes (with the option during the first sign-on to purchase additional minutes at a greatly reduced rate).

 

So any continued support of the minutes based system would be for the benefit of over half the passengers.

 

(The minutes based system was also based on devices as you could use the minutes on any number of devices, just one at a time.)

 

 

[Steelers36]

18 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Looks correct based on some other posts. That would make the OBC back to be half of that and the Internet cost $5/day.

 

Do they show the four device package option?

See my post #303.  What @Thrak posted was not package pricing, but rather the value Princess is reporting received for the free internet with PLUS.  Thus, a 4-device package price is not listed.  As I explain in post #303 above, this is a jazzed up number to make the value appear as large as possible, and was their past practice.  However, the true cost of internet package for the voyage was quite a bit less.  No one would purchase it for each day at a time for each day of the voyage (what it would require to actually cost $10/day).

[Thrak]

9 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

See my post #303.  What @Thrak posted was not package pricing, but rather the value Princess is reporting received for the free internet with PLUS.  Thus, a 4-device package price is not listed.  As I explain in post #303 above, this is a jazzed up number to make the value appear as large as possible, and was their past practice.  However, the true cost of internet package for the voyage was quite a bit less.  No one would purchase it for each day at a time for each day of the voyage (what it would require to actually cost $10/day).

 

Of course they list the highest "value" they can. They also list the beverage package at full cost when stating the "value" of the Princess Plus package. I would hardly expect them to do anything else. People can make of it what they will. I merely posted what Princess is listing as the value of the "regular" Internet package for a 12 day cruise.

 

I would never have paid full price for the Internet package as I was more than content to take the free minutes. Likewise I would never have paid full price for the beverage package as I found it to be too expensive. I will pay for Princess Plus as it is, in my mind, a reasonable compromise that suits my needs without breaking the bank.

[nocl]

19 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

With the Internet benefit available to both Platinum and Elite cruisers, easily over half the passengers could be P&E and (until now) would have benefited from the free Internet minutes (with the option during the first sign-on to purchase additional minutes at a greatly reduced rate).

 

So any continued support of the minutes based system would be for the benefit of over half the passengers.

 

(The minutes based system was also based on devices as you could use the minutes on any number of devices, just one at a time.)

 

 

It would still require supporting two different management systems. With all associated costs and labor.  Out of those eligeable for the benefit how many would have already selected the more inclusive fare, How many on the base fare would want the unlimited package.  Bottom line is that the number still wanting the minutes would be a subset of all eligeable and the cruise line would still have to support two different systems one only for that subset.

[caribill]

6 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Of course they list the highest "value" they can.  I merely posted what Princess is listing as the value of the "regular" Internet package for a 12 day cruise.

 

I would never have paid full price for the Internet package as I was more than content to take the free minutes.

 

So far there is no indication in the post-pandemic world that Princess will offer any package pricing less than $10/day. My guess is that the pre-pandemic pricing does not exist at all anymore.

[Thrak]

Just now, caribill said:

 

So far there is no indication in the post-pandemic world that Princess will offer any package pricing less than $10/day. My guess is that the pre-pandemic pricing does not exist at all anymore.

 

They can change things at any time but I took the pricing from a travel summary I downloaded just before posting to get the most recent info available at this time.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

They can change things at any time but I took the pricing from a travel summary I downloaded just before posting to get the most recent info available at this time.

 

And that is pre-cruise pricing.

 

I remember seeing a post showing that someone who needed the package waited until on board to purchase it, the price was $14.99/day.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, caribill said:

 

And that is pre-cruise pricing.

 

I remember seeing a post showing that someone who needed the package waited until on board to purchase it, the price was $14.99/day.

Sorry, but it is not pre-cruise pricing.  As stated in above posts, it is simply the value representation Princess is reporting for the PLUS package component.  It is the per-day price if buying a single day at a time and matches practice pre-Covid.  We don't really know if internet pricing is changed or not until cruises begin or someone reports seeing it in the Personalizer (perhaps not), or it shows up in the MC App (more likely).

[nocl]

9 hours ago, gazpam said:

I had heard talk years ago of the possibility of adding another level due to the increasing Elite passengers. Many people were against this, but I think it would be quite a good scheme.

The cruise lines would be much better off to totally revamp their loyalty systems to more of a points type structure. Where you earn points based upon your spend and can trade in points for what you want. Still keeping a small set of status benefits earned by cruising a certain number of days per year.

 

The problem with lifetime status is over time the percentage of passengers that have reached it will only get higher and the point is reached where the numbers degrade the advantage. Half the ship Elite and the tender benefit, not so much. Laundry, but so many elite it takes a week to get it back, why bother.

[Doug R.]

19 minutes ago, nocl said:

The cruise lines would be much better off to totally revamp their loyalty systems to more of a points type structure. Where you earn points based upon your spend and can trade in points for what you want. Still keeping a small set of status benefits earned by cruising a certain number of days per year.

 

The problem with lifetime status is over time the percentage of passengers that have reached it will only get higher and the point is reached where the numbers degrade the advantage. Half the ship Elite and the tender benefit, not so much. Laundry, but so many elite it takes a week to get it back, why bother.

The points gained by onboard spending would not sit well with the elites who brag about how they never ever spend a cent onboard and cash in their refundable OBC.

[nocl]

22 minutes ago, Doug R. said:

The points gained by onboard spending would not sit well with the elites who brag about how they never ever spend a cent onboard and cash in their refundable OBC.

Would not be onboard spend, but total spend including fares.

 

Just like the airlines they could provide lifetime status at some level when certain milestones are reached.  For example I have reached million mile status on two air lines. On American that gives me lifetime gold status.

 

To do the equivalent on cruise lines you could have aa mid level lifetime status given at 1000 cruise days.

[Doug R.]

13 minutes ago, nocl said:

Would not be onboard spend, but total spend including fares.

 

Just like the airlines they could provide lifetime status at some level when certain milestones are reached.  For example I have reached million mile status on two air lines. On American that gives me lifetime gold status.

 

To do the equivalent on cruise lines you could have aa mid level lifetime status given at 1000 cruise days.

I neglected to add that many of the elites I described also sail in interior cabins.

[Ombud]

Now that I can see the survey results here 

 

my opinion is shifting. Am I personally still upset that I lost my free minutes? Sure. Am I buying the pkg pre-boarding? Yes. It's $10 a day before / $15 onboard : with 50% rebated. But in that 2/3rds of us book the ➕ fare, that has no value to 2/3rds of us. But I still don't understand loss of loyalty OBC. 

[TonyM99]

19 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

I'd be open to checking them out for value proposition as we sailed them in the past.  But, need to use up all the money I have tied up in the Bank of Princess first.

Interesting a number of people have suggested moving to Celebrity over these changes - Yes as my previous list we are frustrated with the changes especially not been able to cruise with them since we gained Elite status ! Princess as you will see is our most cruised line - we have done one with Celebrity  and got another planned in a few months to use the FCC from our cancelled one with them last year - But the equivalent Princess cruise would have been a LOT cheaper without the FCC - So if selecting that particular itinerary would have gone with Princess still 

[nocl]

1 hour ago, Doug R. said:

I neglected to add that many of the elites I described also sail in interior cabins.

Nothing wrong with that we sail on average around 100 days per year, many in inside cabins, which I find to be quieter and easier to sleep in. 

 

The point is that the cruise lines have locked themselves into a program that has ever increasing costs, and is based upon historical, not current use.  It is a system that will increasingly collapse under its own weight as a higher and higher percentage of passengers on any given cruise reach the top tier.  

[Astro Flyer]

9 hours ago, caribill said:

 

And that is pre-cruise pricing.

 

I remember seeing a post showing that someone who needed the package waited until on board to purchase it, the price was $14.99/day.

 

6 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Sorry, but it is not pre-cruise pricing.  As stated in above posts, it is simply the value representation Princess is reporting for the PLUS package component.  It is the per-day price if buying a single day at a time and matches practice pre-Covid.  We don't really know if internet pricing is changed or not until cruises begin or someone reports seeing it in the Personalizer (perhaps not), or it shows up in the MC App (more likely).

While we won’t know for sure until someone can pre-pay for unlimited internet or purchases it onboard, the customer service manager who called me provided the cost: $9.99/day in advance; $14.99 onboard. For P&E both ways will receive a 50% discount in non-refundable OBC because it’s a benefit…use it or lose it. She didn’t state that was the value based on P+ but said it was the per day price for the length of our cruise.

[nocl]

23 minutes ago, TonyM99 said:

Interesting a number of people have suggested moving to Celebrity over these changes - Yes as my previous list we are frustrated with the changes especially not been able to cruise with them since we gained Elite status ! Princess as you will see is our most cruised line - we have done one with Celebrity  and got another planned in a few months to use the FCC from our cancelled one with them last year - But the equivalent Princess cruise would have been a LOT cheaper without the FCC - So if selecting that particular itinerary would have gone with Princess still 

Celebrity used to be our favorite line, but we now sail much less with them.  Maybe 1 cruise a year, instead of 5 to 6.  Largely due to changes with their fare structures, pushing the ship within a ship concept.  Noticed substantial reduction in quality of the experience for non-suite passengers as public space was removed to be reserved for suite passengers. Basically the value has dropped compared to other lines as far as we are concerned. 

 

But certainly give them a try.  Also consider HAL, P&O and MSC (similar price points) they each also have their own positives (and negatives) but a primary advantage in trying different lines is a wider exposure to different ports and routes.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by nocl

[caribill]

51 minutes ago, Ombud said:

 

my opinion is shifting. Am I personally still upset that I lost my free minutes? Sure. Am I buying the pkg pre-boarding? Yes. It's $10 a day before / $15 onboard : with 50% rebated. But in that 2/3rds of us book the ➕ fare, that has no value to 2/3rds of us. But I still don't understand loss of loyalty OBC. 

 

Princess is shifting to benefits that have very little, if any, cost to them.

 

o Previous free minutes replaced by a cost if you want to use the internet. But, since 2/3rds of passengers pay for the Internet via Plus fares, the benefit costs them nothing for the 2/3rds of the passengers that are paying for Internet use anyway.

 

o The loyalty OBC did have a cost to Princess. Since many onboard services from shore excursions to specialty restaurants are big money makers, using the OBC towards these services did reduce Princess profits. Of course $25 to $100 of OBC used for these services actually cost Princess less than the stated OBC applied.

 

[san diego sue]

2 hours ago, Doug R. said:

The points gained by onboard spending would not sit well with the elites who brag about how they never ever spend a cent onboard and cash in their refundable OBC.

Princess should have made all the OBC Non refundable. Would have taken care of that problem."The Elites that spend nothing on board may not be the majority." Princess can figure out the spending habits of people on board. We are Elite and so are our friends. I spend at least 90 days at sea during a given year. We have never cashed in OBC, and we are always in at least a balcony or above (consider ourselves lucky). We buy photos, upgrade the internet to unlimited (when it was offered), buy Princess tours, shop in the shops, buy drinks, go to specialty restaurants,Wine dinners etc . And yet even though the dollar amounts of the Benefits that  have been taken away wasn't much, it was the "loyalty that gave us that" and was greatly appreciated by us.We felt our loyalty was appreciated, now not so much.

Edited July 3, 2021 by san diego sue