No exchanges anymore for mini bar to coffee?

[caribill]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

 They need to find a different way to present an Elite reward but so far they are stumbling.  I suspect that after a while they will figure it out, and it would move faster if everyone told Princess what they would like to see as the replacement. 

 

Why?

 

They have been cutting benefits to their best customers left and right without any replacements.

 

What makes you think they would not cut more without any meaningful replacement?

[JimmyVWine]

35 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

If they can count 15 alcohol beverages a day, they can count 15 coffees a cruise.

Maybe.  Maybe not.  What they could do is limit the amount of coffee that one can order in a day and count that.  That would be apples to apples.  

[JimmyVWine]

37 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

For us, would not want to lose mini-bar completely as it is useful to us (and I should think anyone else who books Standard fares). 

 

 

 

33 minutes ago, caribill said:

Why?

 

Because providing mini-bottles is going to go away.  They are the "plastic straws" of the 2020's.  The wave of the future is going to be to provide some sort of digital bar credit linked to the Medallion.  But providing small, obsolete, costly, hard-to-recycle liquor bottles is going to end. 

 

Two weeks ago:

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/boston-city-council-proposed-ban-on-nips-mini-bottles-of-alcohol/

 

Last year:

https://liquorlicenseadvisor.com/2022/05/04/more-towns-banning-nips-miniatures-in-liquor-stores/

 

 

[coo359a2]

We would hate to lose the mini bar for short cruises that we might not purchase the Plus  package.  I've ran the numbers and for us 2 or 3 drinks, plus soda, water and coffee, gratuities and wi-fi each day more than make up the cost of the package. Don't count the premium desserts or gym classes for us even though some desserts didn't look to bad on the Regal we were on during spring break. Asked at the Gelato counter how their sales were going with all the kids.  Answered they were going through about 150 glasses a day.

[Steelers36]

2 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

 

Because providing mini-bottles is going to go away.  They are the "plastic straws" of the 2020's.  The wave of the future is going to be to provide some sort of digital bar credit linked to the Medallion.  But providing small, obsolete, costly, hard-to-recycle liquor bottles is going to end. 

 

Two weeks ago:

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/boston-city-council-proposed-ban-on-nips-mini-bottles-of-alcohol/

 

Last year:

https://liquorlicenseadvisor.com/2022/05/04/more-towns-banning-nips-miniatures-in-liquor-stores/

 

 

Very good points about the small bottles.  Never kept any of those - always swapped for beers and Perrier. 

 

Your idea of a digital bar credit makes sense - although IDK if they could separate that from other OBC.  Whatever they do, I am resigned to the fact that it won't likely cover 10 beers and 10 Perrier from the menu pricing.

 

[JimmyVWine]

2 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

I've ran the numbers and for us 2 or 3 drinks, plus soda, water and coffee, gratuities and wi-fi each day more than make up the cost of the package.

And you can be assured that Princess has run the numbers too and came up with the same conclusion.  They are counting on a future state where 80%+ of its passengers sail with a package.  And for people who have a package, the mini-bar or its coffee package swap-out are both useless and it makes sense for a company intent on cutting costs to stop buying small, economically unsound bottles.  So Princess needs to find a way to appease the intersecting Venn Diagram circles of people who are both Elite and who refuse to buy a package.  That number is not zero, nor, in the future, will it be huge. Seems that a credit toward a few ounces of liquor that is already housed in larger, more economical bottles would make the most sense.   

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

And you can be assured that Princess has run the numbers too and came up with the same conclusion.  They are counting on a future state where 80%+ of its passengers sail with a package.  And for people who have a package, the mini-bar or its coffee package swap-out are both useless and it makes sense for a company intent on cutting costs to stop buying small, economically unsound bottles.  So Princess needs to find a way to appease the intersecting Venn Diagram circles of people who are both Elite and who refuse to buy a package.  That number is not zero, nor, in the future, will it be huge. Seems that a credit toward a few ounces of liquor that is already housed in larger, more economical bottles would make the most sense.   

a six pack of canned drinks and a 375 of choose your own liquor

[Roberto256]

23 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Because providing mini-bottles is going to go away.  They are the "plastic straws" of the 2020's.  The wave of the future is going to be to provide some sort of digital bar credit linked to the Medallion.  But providing small, obsolete, costly, hard-to-recycle liquor bottles is going to end. 

 

I vote for dispensers in the shower.

[billco]

33 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

I've ran the numbers and for us 2 or 3 drinks, plus soda, water and coffee, gratuities and wi-fi each day more than make up the cost of the package. Don't count the premium desserts or gym classes for us even though some desserts didn't look to bad on the Regal we were on during spring break. Asked at the Gelato counter how their sales were going with all the kids.  Answered they were going through about 150 glasses a day.

Win win for everybody, because it costs Princess very little to provide all of that.

[AE_Collector]

To me the only logical thing to do with the elite minibar considering the number of people cruising with packages is to offer either an exchange for OBC or a bar/drinks credit to replace it completely. I’ve been saying the same thing about the Elite laundry for awhile now since most cruises we did pre-Covid had 3-4 day laundry turnaround “due to the number of elites onboard”. Yes we still got free laundry but it was quickly turning into yet another reduced perk due to the delays. Unlimited Laundry could easily have some reasonable limits applied to it by giving elite a laundry allowance based on number of cruise days and all items already have a price list to use to make it work. The combination of too many elites on many cruises, and likely some people overusing it both for themselves and possibly for other travelling companions resulted in those of us who use it sparingly also being caught up in waiting days for our laundry to be done. I’m assuming this hasn’t been an issue yet Post Covid but it will be again.

[PacnGoNow]

5 minutes ago, AE_Collector said:

To me the only logical thing to do with the elite minibar considering the number of people cruising with packages is to offer either an exchange for OBC or a bar/drinks credit to replace it completely. I’ve been saying the same thing about the Elite laundry for awhile now since most cruises we did pre-Covid had 3-4 day laundry turnaround “due to the number of elites onboard”. Yes we still got free laundry but it was quickly turning into yet another reduced perk due to the delays. Unlimited Laundry could easily have some reasonable limits applied to it by giving elite a laundry allowance based on number of cruise days and all items already have a price list to use to make it work. The combination of too many elites on many cruises, and likely some people overusing it both for themselves and possibly for other travelling companions resulted in those of us who use it sparingly also being caught up in waiting days for our laundry to be done. I’m assuming this hasn’t been an issue yet Post Covid but it will be again.

We got ours back the next evening on our recent Enchanted cruise. We had 800 b2b’s, with a lot of Elites. Seems to be getting a lot better now.

 

[AE_Collector]

Are many ships sailing full? I’ve only been on two post Covid cruises but pre Covid it was getting bad on many cruises.

[caribill]

59 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

 

Because providing mini-bottles is going to go away.  They are the "plastic straws" of the 2020's.  The wave of the future is going to be to provide some sort of digital bar credit linked to the Medallion.  But providing small, obsolete, costly, hard-to-recycle liquor bottles is going to end. 

 

 

 

Oh no!

 

They are an important part of the 2 fancy desserts a day one can get a day by paying $60/$80 a person per day extra.

[caribill]

48 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

 And for people who have a package, the mini-bar or its coffee package swap-out are both useless

 

Unless you like canned soda which is not included in the $60/$80/$39 per person per day packages.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, coo359a2 said:

 Asked at the Gelato counter how their sales were going with all the kids.  Answered they were going through about 150 glasses a day.

 

Since Princess expects about 75% of passengers to have the Plus or Premier package which includes these desserts, 150 glasses is a very small fraction of the number of people who have paid for them with the packages.

[coo359a2]

27 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Since Princess expects about 75% of passengers to have the Plus or Premier package which includes these desserts, 150 glasses is a very small fraction of the number of people who have paid for them with the packages.

I thought it was a lot based on just a few on CC responding  that they were interested. Do know that CC is just a small percentage of actual cruisers.  Without the  spring break young kids,  would think the numbers served would drop some.   Was told that they have about 150 glasses a day pre made up with the chocolate around the top edge.  I believe that it was on our 1st week's cruise that they ran out of soft serve ice cream on the 2nd day.  They were then using the regular "hard" ice cream that Princess makes.  Kids, young and old, were scarfing down the ice cream cones.

[JimmyVWine]

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

a six pack of canned drinks and a 375 of choose your own liquor

Works.

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

150 glasses is a very small fraction of the number of people who have paid for them with the packages.

 

51 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

I thought it was a lot based on just a few on CC responding  that they were interested.

If 2,500 people have the right to 2 desserts per day, then the opportunity exists for Princess to scoop out 5,000 per day.  If they are scooping out 150, that is an embarrassingly small number. 

[billco]

17 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

 

If 2,500 people have the right to 2 desserts per day, then the opportunity exists for Princess to scoop out 5,000 per day.  If they are scooping out 150, that is an embarrassingly small number. 

Possibly even less who take advantage of the fitness classes.

[JimmyVWine]

22 minutes ago, billco said:

Possibly even less who take advantage of the fitness classes.

Hadn't thought about that, but I'll bet you are right.  While the classes are not "two per day" the way the desserts are, I'll be the number of takers each day is a two-digit number.

[Happiest when cruising]

2 hours ago, AE_Collector said:

To me the only logical thing to do with the elite minibar considering the number of people cruising with packages is to offer either an exchange for OBC or a bar/drinks credit to replace it completely. I’ve been saying the same thing about the Elite laundry for awhile now since most cruises we did pre-Covid had 3-4 day laundry turnaround “due to the number of elites onboard”. Yes we still got free laundry but it was quickly turning into yet another reduced perk due to the delays. Unlimited Laundry could easily have some reasonable limits applied to it by giving elite a laundry allowance based on number of cruise days and all items already have a price list to use to make it work. The combination of too many elites on many cruises, and likely some people overusing it both for themselves and possibly for other travelling companions resulted in those of us who use it sparingly also being caught up in waiting days for our laundry to be done. I’m assuming this hasn’t been an issue yet Post Covid but it will be again.

I have found it interesting to read about the free laundry. People actually send it out towards the end of their cruise, so they go home with all clean laundry. I don’t think that was the original intent of the perk.  Sometimes…we have created our own problems. 

[PescadoAmarillo]

41 minutes ago, Happiest when cruising said:

I have found it interesting to read about the free laundry. People actually send it out towards the end of their cruise, so they go home with all clean laundry. I don’t think that was the original intent of the perk.  Sometimes…we have created our own problems. 

I can’t imagine putting clothing that’s been washed by the Princess laundry away at home without first washing it with my detergent and softener and no strangers’ skivvies. 

[Happiest when cruising]

31 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I can’t imagine putting clothing that’s been washed by the Princess laundry away at home without first washing it with my detergent and softener and no strangers’ skivvies. 

Haha… I’m guessing most people don’t care that much. 
 

 

[Ombud]

4 hours ago, voljeep said:

a six pack of canned drinks and a 375 of choose your own liquor

A 750ml bottle of wine & 4 glasses

[Guest ldtr]

4 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

And you can be assured that Princess has run the numbers too and came up with the same conclusion.  They are counting on a future state where 80%+ of its passengers sail with a package.  And for people who have a package, the mini-bar or its coffee package swap-out are both useless and it makes sense for a company intent on cutting costs to stop buying small, economically unsound bottles.  So Princess needs to find a way to appease the intersecting Venn Diagram circles of people who are both Elite and who refuse to buy a package.  That number is not zero, nor, in the future, will it be huge. Seems that a credit toward a few ounces of liquor that is already housed in larger, more economical bottles would make the most sense.   

Keep in mind that Elites that do not buy the package (we are included in that group) may not be in the most profitable group for Princess.  If they need us to fill ships that is one thing.  If demand continues and they can fill cabins with more profitable customers then there incentive to continue with benefits will decrease.

 

Loyalty programs are really marketing programs, when they a financial benefit for the company they tend to go away.

 

In general Princess is implementing changes that its competition have already implemented from packages, to difference in price for selected cabins vs guaranty, to upgrade bidding programs, to more class oriented features starting with the Sun.