Who would like this for an Elite Benifit?

[Grego]

13 hours ago, Thrak said:

Dislike

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I can imagine the issues with Specialty Dining when soooooo many people suddenly had 2 dinners available. Imagine the angry people when they can't book a time. There could also be issues with so many people having "reserved" seating in the theater. Sounds like creating unnecessary problems to me.

 

I was actually thinking in terms of creating a new level for persons over 500 days let's say that would include things like the plus package and maybe including a specialty dinner.  Adding a dinner to the current Elite package would create a real mess on voyages where there are up to 900 Elite members.

 

[Cruise Raider]

I, for one, would love that so much … even a 50% upgrade cost would be very lovely!  
 

[cjpj]

On 2/2/2023 at 6:01 PM, Thrak said:

Dislike

======

I can imagine the issues with Specialty Dining when soooooo many people suddenly had 2 dinners available. Imagine the angry people when they can't book a time. There could also be issues with so many people having "reserved" seating in the theater. Sounds like creating unnecessary problems to me.

 

We buy the Plus package and it's plenty for us. After rebooking two segments of a B2B2B for a major price reduction we now have the "old" Plus package on the first leg and the "new" Plus package on the second and third legs. The "extra snazzy wow wow" parts of the "new" Plus package don't really look all that great to me. I certainly can't imagine that we will be eating 2 of the Premium Desserts every day. That sounds crazy to me. My wife may get wild and sign up for a fitness class (then again she may not) but I can't imagine that I will do so. The Juice Bar could go either way -  might be "Good" might be "Okay", might be "GAH! " - we will have to wait and see.

I never said anything  about a free specialty dinner as part of the deal.

Edited February 3, 2023 by cjpj

[memoak]

3 minutes ago, cjpj said:

I never said anything  about a free specialty dinner as part of the deal.

Premier Plan includes 2 specialty dinners per cruise. Might be ok on a 7 day cruise but the value plummets when you take 14 to 21 day cruises like we do

[cjpj]

1 minute ago, memoak said:

Premier Plan includes 2 specialty dinners per cruise. Might be ok on a 7 day cruise but the value plummets when you take 14 to 21 day cruises like we do

Ah, sorry, my bad.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Premier Plan includes 2 specialty dinners per cruise. Might be ok on a 7 day cruise but the value plummets when you take 14 to 21 day cruises like we do

Except that on a 7 day cruise getting a reservation to use those dinners might be  difficult, would be easier to use them with the number of Premier reservations have to be spread out over more days.

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, cjpj said:

I never said anything  about a free specialty dinner as part of the deal.

 

I was under the impression that the Premier Package came with 2 Specialty Dining freebies.

[CRLess]

On 2/2/2023 at 9:44 AM, JimmyVWine said:

I think this entire discussion has veered off into Never-Never-Land. Correct me if I am wrong, (I often am, and am not Elite (in the Princess sense) so I am not well-versed in the way the perks work), but if one eschews the mini-bar setup they can exchange that for two "coffee cards/packages".  If I am right about that then Princess has concluded that the cash value of this perk is around $80.  Now, someone who is Elite (in the Princess sense) and who does routinely accept the minibar can weigh in here and let us know what they think the equivalent cash value is of the minibar setup.  Not in the "retail" sense, but in the "equivalent cost had I purchased drinks at a bar that equal the volume that I receive in my cabin" sense.  In other words, if the minibar setup provides the equivalent volume of alcohol to make 8 cocktails (making this up here as I have no idea), and the cost of the equivalent number of cocktails at a bar would be $64 (8 x $8) and then you add in some waters and sodas, maybe you are still getting into the $80 range.  Maybe it is more.  Perhaps less.  But the point is that the cash equivalent value of the minibar setup is under $100.  So the whole notion of giving Elites the Plus package as an included perk on a 7 or 10 day cruise simply isn't going to fly.  The cash equivalent of Plus is now $60 per day or $420 for a 7 day cruise.  The value of the minibar (or two coffee packages) doesn't even equate to a day and a half of the Plus Package.  The true cash equivalent of the minibar would be to give each Elite person (if each person gets their own minibar setup) around $80 in OBC to be used only at the bars and fresh brewed/specialty coffee stations.  And if each cabin is only entitled to a single minibar setup instead of one per person, then the OBC would be reduced to $40 per person assuming two people per cabin.  The idea of swapping out the minibar for hundreds and hundreds of dollars of Plus Packages or upgrades to Premier is unthinkable.

Spot on!  We just got off the Enchanted last weekend.  We had the Princess Plus package, so the Elite Mini bar set up was meaningless to us.  I had them swap all the sodas for water, and all the alcohol for Beefeater (my go-to). Being on the Marina deck forward, I would run up to The Mix bar every night to grab a large glass of ice, and a glass of tonic water and limes to have a Gin & Tonic in the room while getting ready for dinner.  I could have just as easily gotten the Beefeater and Tonic at the bar for no extra cost. Bottom line, the Elite set up is of no value to me having the drink package.

[jwattle]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

I was under the impression that the Premier Package came with 2 Specialty Dining freebies.

Correct! 😁

[Ombud]

I might or might not have 1 glass of wine a day so those pkgs are useless to me. However the minibar covers my coffee / teas 3× a day. Also as a stockholder, why would I want to cut revenue?? You like the Princess Premier? I like you paying for it. 

[Guest ldtr]

16 minutes ago, CRLess said:

Spot on!  We just got off the Enchanted last weekend.  We had the Princess Plus package, so the Elite Mini bar set up was meaningless to us.  I had them swap all the sodas for water, and all the alcohol for Beefeater (my go-to). Being on the Marina deck forward, I would run up to The Mix bar every night to grab a large glass of ice, and a glass of tonic water and limes to have a Gin & Tonic in the room while getting ready for dinner.  I could have just as easily gotten the Beefeater and Tonic at the bar for no extra cost. Bottom line, the Elite set up is of no value to me having the drink package.

Except you can always take that alcohol minis home after the cruise is over.

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, ldtr said:

Being on the Marina deck forward, I would run up to The Mix bar every night to grab a large glass of ice, and a glass of tonic water and limes to have a Gin & Tonic in the room while getting ready for dinner. 

 

Why go to a bar for ice and tonic? We had ice delivered by the room steward every day and tonic water was included in the mini bar setup. Yes, we also had the Plus package but we didn't always want to go out to a bar or order room service. We watched a movie while the laundry was running and had G&T in the cabin with no hassle at all. The mini bar isn't necessary but we consider it a useful perk. Sometimes when it's late and I want a before bed drink I either have an alcoholic drink from the mini bar but I'm more likely to have a nice bottle of San Pellegrino before hitting the sack for the night. That is also part of the mini bar...

 

As a break from the alcohol we ordered Tonic and Lime a number of times while out and about. What a great refreshing drink. Just because we could have had Gin in it didn't mean we had to have Gin in it. At home we tend to refer to that drink as and Tonic as in Gin and Tonic but without the Gin. Hmmm... I had two of those this evening. They were quite nice.

[cjpj]

On 2/2/2023 at 9:44 AM, JimmyVWine said:

I think this entire discussion has veered off into Never-Never-Land. Correct me if I am wrong, (I often am, and am not Elite (in the Princess sense) so I am not well-versed in the way the perks work), but if one eschews the mini-bar setup they can exchange that for two "coffee cards/packages".  If I am right about that then Princess has concluded that the cash value of this perk is around $80.  Now, someone who is Elite (in the Princess sense) and who does routinely accept the minibar can weigh in here and let us know what they think the equivalent cash value is of the minibar setup.  Not in the "retail" sense, but in the "equivalent cost had I purchased drinks at a bar that equal the volume that I receive in my cabin" sense.  In other words, if the minibar setup provides the equivalent volume of alcohol to make 8 cocktails (making this up here as I have no idea), and the cost of the equivalent number of cocktails at a bar would be $64 (8 x $8) and then you add in some waters and sodas, maybe you are still getting into the $80 range.  Maybe it is more.  Perhaps less.  But the point is that the cash equivalent value of the minibar setup is under $100.  So the whole notion of giving Elites the Plus package as an included perk on a 7 or 10 day cruise simply isn't going to fly.  The cash equivalent of Plus is now $60 per day or $420 for a 7 day cruise.  The value of the minibar (or two coffee packages) doesn't even equate to a day and a half of the Plus Package.  The true cash equivalent of the minibar would be to give each Elite person (if each person gets their own minibar setup) around $80 in OBC to be used only at the bars and fresh brewed/specialty coffee stations.  And if each cabin is only entitled to a single minibar setup instead of one per person, then the OBC would be reduced to $40 per person assuming two people per cabin.  The idea of swapping out the minibar for hundreds and hundreds of dollars of Plus Packages or upgrades to Premier is unthinkable.

You are missing an important point - the Plus Package has to be PURCHASE and is upgraded to the Premium package for no additional charge. Similar to the vacation protection benifit increase. Same thing they are doing right now for the Military Benifits promotion.  So your calculations are off.

[cjpj]

11 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

I was under the impression that the Premier Package came with 2 Specialty Dining freebies.

Yes, already said I'd missed this point.

[cjpj]

9 hours ago, Ombud said:

I might or might not have 1 glass of wine a day so those pkgs are useless to me. However the minibar covers my coffee / teas 3× a day. Also as a stockholder, why would I want to cut revenue?? You like the Princess Premier? I like you paying for it. 

And that us your choice - you'll still get your minibar setup if that's for you. So no harm, no foul. If you want the package you still pay for the Plus package, just get the premium instead.

[cjpj]

9 hours ago, jwattle said:

Correct! 😁

Yeap! And I've said already that I missed that.

[cjpj]

14 hours ago, cjpj said:

I never said anything  about a free specialty dinner as part of the deal.

And let me add, sorry! Missed the dinners being part iof the package.  

[Ombud]

39 minutes ago, cjpj said:

You are missing an important point - the Plus Package has to be PURCHASE and is upgraded to the Premium package for no additional charge. Similar to the vacation protection benifit increase. Same thing they are doing right now for the Military Benifits promotion.  So your calculations are off.

That promo benefit has ended. 

[geocruiser]

No, I would not like it.

[Ombud]

44 minutes ago, cjpj said:

And that us your choice - you'll still get your minibar setup if that's for you. So no harm, no foul. If you want the package you still pay for the Plus package, just get the premium instead.

So what you're suggesting is that one of the things the minibar could be traded for is to upgrade from Plus to Premium? Trade in something that has a maximum value of $80 (can be traded for 2 coffee cards OR 24 bottles water OR $40 bottle of wine OR like to like switch) for something that has a $20 value per day? On an average 7 day cruise =$140 / on a repositioning cruise = $300?

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, cjpj said:

You are missing an important point - the Plus Package has to be PURCHASE and is upgraded to the Premium package for no additional charge. Similar to the vacation protection benifit increase. Same thing they are doing right now for the Military Benifits promotion.  So your calculations are off.

No. My calculations are not off. The cash value of the minibar setup is around $80 for two people in the cabin. In order to get the benefit of upgrading to Premier, each person in the cabin has to SPEND $60 per day. For a 7 day cruise for 2 people that would be $840 in cash outlay to get a “free” upgrade. That is a nonstarter for the customer. And the value of the upgrade is $20 per day. For 2 people on a 7 day cruise Princess would be exchanging an $80 cash value minibar for $280 in package upgrades. That is a nonstarter for Princess. Nobody wins here. And the point that you are missing is that the upgrade does not provide the customer with any free alcohol. All it does is allow prepaid drinks whereas the minibar is free. Let’s say that the minibar recipient trades all of their liquor bottles for gin and is going to have one gin and tonic per day. The minibar setup allows them to drink that for free. They then supplement that drink with two other cocktails per day at the bar for a cost of $20 per day. Over the course of 7 days that comes to $140. Under your proposal that same customer gets all three cocktails from the bars and pays nothing at the bar for those drinks. But they paid $420 for the privilege of paying nothing at the bar. How is that a win?

Edited February 4, 2023 by JimmyVWine

[Ombud]

The problem with a short term promo trade-out option is that there would be an uproar once that ended .... another "devaluing elite cruisers by removing (ending) a benefit." The military perk was clearly a short term promo to entice a select group to try this line instead of another .... much like the 1st responders / medical / teachers perk. Come try the Orginal Love Boat line and for a limited time we'll toss in ~~~~

 

At any rate, we've beat this okay idea (which it was now that I understand it better) to death

[Bwana Tom]

Strongly Dislike!!

[eclue]

We like the elite mini bar....we exchange as needed.

 

[Guest ldtr]

On 2/3/2023 at 10:44 PM, Thrak said:

 

Why go to a bar for ice and tonic? We had ice delivered by the room steward every day and tonic water was included in the mini bar setup. Yes, we also had the Plus package but we didn't always want to go out to a bar or order room service. We watched a movie while the laundry was running and had G&T in the cabin with no hassle at all. The mini bar isn't necessary but we consider it a useful perk. Sometimes when it's late and I want a before bed drink I either have an alcoholic drink from the mini bar but I'm more likely to have a nice bottle of San Pellegrino before hitting the sack for the night. That is also part of the mini bar...

 

As a break from the alcohol we ordered Tonic and Lime a number of times while out and about. What a great refreshing drink. Just because we could have had Gin in it didn't mean we had to have Gin in it. At home we tend to refer to that drink as and Tonic as in Gin and Tonic but without the Gin. Hmmm... I had two of those this evening. They were quite nice.

Your post has the quote incorrect. you quoted the person I was responding to, not my post.