Platinum to Elite

[Dreamer333]

After my upcoming cruise I’ll be elite. 
Did anyone’s cruising experience change much once elite?

I don’t recall much of a difference when I became platinum except for the early embarkation (love getting on the ship asap). Oh and the lower cost of the vacation protection. 
 

I think the mini bar setup will be nice. I noticed that elite gets you upgraded bathroom amenities… what does that entail?

[Jadn13]

Laundry for us is a big help since we normally take longer cruises. 
I know many do not like sending out laundry but for us this is a great perk.

 

The discount for excursions is also helpful in extending our $$$ 
10% isn’t a lot but it’s helpful for European itineraries with expensive excursions. 
 

I also take advantage of the

-Free Wine Tasting

-High Tea in the cabin

 

For shorter  Caribbean itineraries the shop discount is nice since I use non refundable OBC to buy make up. This ends up saving me money on make up that I’m essentially getting for free. 

Elite status just adds a few perks that add to our cruising experience.

 

It all depends on your style of cruising if the extra perks provide any additional value.

 

 

[skynight]

Laundry is the big benefit. Next is probably priority tender embarkation ship to shore. Bathroom amenities really nothing of any importance. Mini bar items can be exchanged by calling room service. Alcoholic for alcoholic or non alcoholic, non alcoholic for non alcoholic. 

[JF - retired RRT]

2 minutes ago, skynight said:

Laundry is the big benefit. Next is probably priority tender embarkation ship to shore. Bathroom amenities really nothing of any importance. Mini bar items can be exchanged by calling room service. Alcoholic for alcoholic or non alcoholic, non alcoholic for non alcoholic. 

Even less since the restart. Everyone reports less of what we used to get and some really odd items.

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, Dreamer333 said:

I don’t recall much of a difference when I became platinum except for the early embarkation (love getting on the ship asap).

Unfortunately,  that's probably one of the last remaining Elite perks that is still worth anything. 🙁

[Sea Hag]

2 hours ago, Dreamer333 said:

After my upcoming cruise I’ll be elite. 
Did anyone’s cruising experience change much once elite?

I don’t recall much of a difference when I became platinum except for the early embarkation (love getting on the ship asap). Oh and the lower cost of the vacation protection. 
 

I think the mini bar setup will be nice. I noticed that elite gets you upgraded bathroom amenities… what does that entail?

We just did our first sailing as Elite. We don't drink, so it was really nice to swap out the minibar for coffee packages. We really enjoy coffee and specialty coffee drinks. We don't usually do Princess excursions, but we did on this cruise and got the 10% refund to OBC. No upgraded cabin amenities that I could see. The cruise before this last one was our first suite, and so far I'm two for two on people getting angry at me when I get in the Elite/Suite line at guest services. I don't understand that, since it's clearly marked and I never had a problem with people in the Elite/Suite line when I wasn't allowed in it. I always figured that people who paid more then me or had cruised more than me ought to get something out of it. 

 

That's about it for us. We didn't see any big changes, just a few little ones.

[cityguy300]

For me, the internet was the big win with Platinum (RIP), the laundry with Elite.  Conveniently my Elite status kicked in on the second leg of a B2B, so I definitely put it to the test right away!

 

The mini-bar is also nice if you're like me and never buy a drink package, but want something sweet other than iced tea and breakfast OJ to drink occasionally.  Although after accepting the default setup the first time, I made sure to swap out the airplane-sized liquors with pop, beer, Perrier, and bottled water.

 

From the upgraded bathroom amenities, the only memorable one to me was the Febreze-like spray.  I still have some old ones I keep in my travel caddy to spritz on longer, non-cruise trips, lol.

Edited May 22, 2022 by cityguy300

[mtnesterz]

3 hours ago, Dreamer333 said:

Did anyone’s cruising experience change much once elite? I noticed that elite gets you upgraded bathroom amenities… what does that entail?

Free internet was gone since our previous cruise, as a Platinium. No upgraded bathroom amenities. Supply issues or ? Mini bar and upgraded insurance appreciated. Laundry? Have heard cycles are hard on clothes. Didn't use it, or the embarkation, disembarkation lounges. Other takeaways affected everyone, library etc... Experience? In the overall, a disappointment. But some of that may be due to Covid and hopefully will come back.

[memoak]

The laundry perk is great for long cruise just be careful with anything that might shrink. Rule of thumb if you wouldn’t put it in your home dryer then don’t send it to ships laundry 

[JF - retired RRT]

@Sea Hag @mtnesterz@cityguy300

There aren't really "upgraded" bathroom amenities. Pre-shutdown we got a gold mesh bag with various goodies in it. Linen spray, showercap, nail files, lotion, ear buds, sleep mask, etc. The items usually varied from cruise to cruise. Generally, 4 or 5 items in the bag.

[MissP22]

4 hours ago, memoak said:

The laundry perk is great for long cruise just be careful with anything that might shrink. Rule of thumb if you wouldn’t put it in your home dryer then don’t send it to ships laundry 

If we send in anything, and that's a big if, it goes to cleaning.

We've learned our lesson with the laundry.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

If we send in anything, and that's a big if, it goes to cleaning.

We've learned our lesson with the laundry.

On the Majestic the cleaning option was not on the elite/suite laundry list in our cabin

[MissP22]

12 hours ago, memoak said:

On the Majestic the cleaning option was not on the elite/suite laundry list in our cabin

There must have been a temporary problem with the machines. It was available on the Enchanted in March. 

[skynight]

22 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Unfortunately,  that's probably one of the last remaining Elite perks that is still worth anything. 🙁

Certainly laundry and ship to shore tender priority are very nice benefits. Benefits that are widely used. 

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, skynight said:

Certainly laundry and ship to shore tender priority are very nice benefits. Benefits that are widely used. 

We haven't had the occasion to use laundry in a long time. Most of our trips are in the Caribbean nowadays and since we drive to the port I can take as much or as little clothing as needed. I prefer to wash and dry my clothing at home where I can control everything.

Yes the priority tendering can be beneficial but other than Princess cays there aren't that many tendering ports in the Caribbean.

(G Cayman)

We don't go to Princess Cays to often any more and just enjoy the ship. My husband went without me last cruise since he hadn't gone in many cruises. Nothing new plus he didn't like fight the files at lunch time.😄

[memoak]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

We haven't had the occasion to use laundry in a long time. Most of our trips are in the Caribbean nowadays and since we drive to the port I can take as much or as little clothing as needed. I prefer to wash and dry my clothing at home where I can control everything.

Yes the priority tendering can be beneficial but other than Princess cays there aren't that many tendering ports in the Caribbean.

(G Cayman)

We don't go to Princess Cays to often any more and just enjoy the ship. My husband went without me last cruise since he hadn't gone in many cruises. Nothing new plus he didn't like fight the files at lunch time.😄

Short cruises are fine without laundry service but we mostly take 14 - 21 day cruises and are not at a port area

[MissP22]

4 minutes ago, memoak said:

Short cruises are fine without laundry service but we mostly take 14 - 21 day cruises and are not at a port area

We also do longer trips and I suppose I could have sent in items for cleaning last trip but I didn't.

I can't forget how they damaged some of my better tops in their laundry a while ago.

I just put the dirty items in the trunk of my car during a B2B trip.