Response from Princess to email re changes

[Guest ldtr]

23 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Go read the Celebrity board.  Princess is picking up a lot of new passengers by being 10% cheaper.

Sure Princess Fares are cheaper, Princess packages are Cheaper dinks and other on board items are cheaper.  But that does not mean that the people coming over are only buying the fares.  A number of those ( probably pretty close to the over all mix on their ships) are coming over to take advantage of the lower fares and still buying packages and other onboard spend items.

 

What many of those complaining about the resent increases do not seem to understand is even with the increases the competition is more expensive than Princess. 

 

So some one coming across can get a fare, and a package for less money than the same on Celebrity, they are not necessarily in the oh the fare is cheaper and we are not going to spend anything else crowd.  Celebrity has a higher package purchase percentage than Princess largely because they started with it years earlier.

[kywildcatfanone]

20 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

I don’t think so … hey, but that’s just me!  It’s a small change to keep up with industry standards and inflation. 
To me, it’s much ado about such a small charge.  

I think that is the point of many people.  A lot of us don't see these changes as "small".  Removal/reductions of loyalty benefits, pricing for previous free venues, and higher prices for packages and the changing of what's included for what the customer paid for at time of booking.

[Guest ldtr]

1 minute ago, caribill said:

 

If you read other current threads, you will see posts by a number of people who are spending much more time than it takes to check-in at the pier trying to order the Medallion, but unable to no matter what digital device they have or what version of the app they are using. And this is true whether shipping is free or not.

 

And posts by people who said their previously successful orders for the Medallion have disappeared and they are unable to place the order again.

The good thing is that no one is standing behind them while they are spending the time trying to order.

 

Lets see we have dozens here vs thousands that cruise Princess.  I have heard many favorable comments from cruisers that are new to Princess.  A lot of the issues are dueto not understanding how the system works (the data is stored on the server if you do not have a good connection or there is a problem with the server the data will not populate. best solution wait and try again later when you have a good connection), having marginal phones (the app is a memory and CPU hog if your phone is limited in either it will act poorly) and/or poor internet connections

[SCX22]

2 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

I think that is the point of many people.  A lot of us don't see these changes as "small".  Removal/reductions of loyalty benefits, pricing for previous free venues, and higher prices for packages and the changing of what's included for what the customer paid for at time of booking.

 

Maybe you want to call it aligning themselves with the competition.  All of the major mass market cruise lines have done/are doing what Princess is doing.  There are anecdotes that Princess is still cheaper than the competition.

[Guest ldtr]

5 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

Exactly.  If Princess were to change their demographic, which they are trying hard to do so, they will also have the younger demographic that RC/NCL/C have, not having to depend on the retired/about to retire to fill their ships.  I wouldn't mind this change.  It would give my group more people to connect/hang out with.

While they are doing a bit more family focused stuff on the Sun and Star, not enough to change their focus.  Keep in mind a large change in cruise line demographics is to change average age from 65 to 60,  That kind of change is what Celebrity did, what HAL is in process of doing and what Princess is starting on.  It will not be a 65 to 45 to compete directly with Carnival or RCCL.

[caribill]

6 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

If one person activates the the OceanNow feature on the app, it is a one time charge of $14.99. 

lt actually makes me believe that a lot of kids or family members each were actually using that privilege, ordering one soda at a time.  

 

 A family of four could be in four different areas of the ship, but you suggest only one of them should pay the fee and be able to have an order delivered to where they are.

[SCX22]

1 minute ago, ldtr said:

While they are doing a bit more family focused stuff on the Sun and Star, not enough to change their focus.  Keep in mind a large change in cruise line demographics is to change average age from 65 to 60,  That kind of change is what Celebrity did, what HAL is in process of doing and what Princess is starting on.  It will not be a 65 to 45 to compete directly with Carnival or RCCL.

 

Their advertising still shows otherwise.  The photos being used are of people much younger than 65 to 45.  If you look at the new advertising of the keyless door entry, it's of a father with his kids in both his arms, and is titled "Convenience at Every Turn with Kids."  Princess revamped their onboard kid's program and touts it.  Princess really wants the younger generation with kids to cruise with them.

 

 

[SCX22]

3 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

I think that is the point of many people.  A lot of us don't see these changes as "small".  Removal/reductions of loyalty benefits, pricing for previous free venues, and higher prices for packages and the changing of what's included for what the customer paid for at time of booking.

 

Maybe you want to call it aligning themselves with the competition.  All of the major mass market cruise lines are charging, and sometimes more than Princess for these amenities.

[Cruise Raider]

2 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

I think that is the point of many people.  A lot of us don't see these changes as "small".  Removal/reductions of loyalty benefits, pricing for previous free venues, and higher prices for packages and the changing of what's included for what the customer paid for at time of booking.

But, the packages have not increased in price, although, I think it’s inevitable that they will.  
the only charge that is new if you don’t have a package is for room service, which has been a long time coming, as well at the sit down pizza place .. also a long time coming, IMO.  
There is still free pizza if you wish to use your feet to go get it.  There is also an abundance of food it you use your feet to go get it!  
If you wish to pay for the sit down experience or delivery service, you will now pay for it.  It’s as simple as that.  
If one wishes to be disgruntled about that fact, so be it!  But in reality, those people are only cheating themselves by focusing on the glass half empty vs the glass half full.  
 

 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

The high demand for room service is not from people picking up the phone and ordering something.

 

The high demand is from Princess implementing the app promising easy ordering and delivery to anywhere you are on the ship. 

 

Princess did not increase the staff numbers in order to cope with the demand the app added to room service orders. 

 

Princess over promised what could be provided and instituted a charge (activiation fee if ordered via app, everytime fee if using phone).

 

Do not blame the passengers. Blame Princess for not staffing up to provide what they said they would.

Except an order placed by phone requires substantially more resources that one generated on the App.  Somebody has to answer the call, they have to take the order, which may include a discussion about what they can or cannot get modified, then they have to enter the order for it to go into the system.  And hopefully they did not make any errors in taking and entering the order.

 

On the other had as most fast food companies have found out.  On the App the order goes directly to where ever it will be processed. Far far more efficient.

 

It has been fairly common to have to wait on hold when trying to get a hold of room service.  On my last cruise took a 20 minute wait on hold to actually speak to someone at RS on the phone.  About the same amount of time it took my order to show up when I used the App.

 

[Guest ldtr]

4 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

Their advertising still shows otherwise.  The photos being used are of people much younger than 65 to 45.  If you look at the new advertising of the keyless door entry, it's of a father with his kids in both his arms, and is titled "Convenience at Every Turn with Kids."  Princess revamped their onboard kid's program and touts it.  Princess really wants the younger generation with kids to cruise with them.

 

 

Sure so do the other adult focused lines.  Look at the ships and the products not the commercials. If the commercials represented cruise line demographics they would show walkers/scooters lined up in the MDR, not young people around the pool.

 

HAL also touts its kids program, even though during their longer cruises it is usually closed because not enough kids on board.  Celebrity also touts theirs.

 

You do get a number of families during school breaks and especially in Alaska.  But the normal demographics are pretty clear.  It will be a major success for Princess to get their average age below 60, including those Alaska cruises.

 

While they want some younger demographics Princess primary competitive advantage is the lower cost compared to other mass market adult focused lines.  They would lose that if they really tried going head to head with RCCL and NCL.  Especially in the 3-4 per cabin bookings.

 

Also the length of cruises do not support that.  The truly family oriented lines have far shorter average cruise lengths (this allows them a much lower cost per passenger even if the cost per day was similar).  Many in the 3-4 day range.  In the adult focused lines HAL has by far the longest average length, then Princess and the shortest average is Celebrity who has started to move to 3-4 days cruises in the Caribbean.

Edited August 21, 2023 by ldtr

[Cruise Raider]

5 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

 A family of four could be in four different areas of the ship, but you suggest only one of them should pay the fee and be able to have an order delivered to where they are.

I’m not suggesting anything except for people should realize that if they want something, they should expect the charges for it.  If they want to save the money, that option is available, too.   It’s just that simple.  
 

[caribill]

2 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

But, the packages have not increased in price, 

 

 

How soon we forget.

 

Last year the Plus Package changed (in two steps) from $40/day to $60/day, a 50% increase.

[Cruise Raider]

3 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Except an order placed by phone requires substantially more resources that one generated on the App.  Somebody has to answer the call, they have to take the order, which may include a discussion about what they can or cannot get modified, then they have to enter the order for it to go into the system.  And hopefully they did not make any errors in taking and entering the order.

 

On the other had as most fast food companies have found out.  On the App the order goes directly to where ever it will be processed. Far far more efficient.

 

It has been fairly common to have to wait on hold when trying to get a hold of room service.  On my last cruise took a 20 minute wait on hold to actually speak to someone at RS on the phone.  About the same amount of time it took my order to show up when I used the App.

 

 Bravo!  

[caribill]

3 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Except an order placed by phone requires substantially more resources that one generated on the App.  Somebody has to answer the call, they have to take the order, which may include a discussion about what they can or cannot get modified, then they have to enter the order for it to go into the system.  And hopefully they did not make any errors in taking and entering the order.

 

Many have posted that the app often does not show the options they want to order and thus a phone call is needed.

 

Just adding a comment field to an app order would allow the needed customization that could reduce phone calls to room service.

[kywildcatfanone]

2 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

How soon we forget.

 

Last year the Plus Package changed (in two steps) from $40/day to $60/day, a 50% increase.

Yep. I was about to reply and post this. It's still discussed in most threads on here. 😀

[SCX22]

3 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Sure so do the other adult focused lines.  Look at the ships and the products not the commercials. If the commercials represented cruise line demographics they would show walkers/scooters lined up in the MDR, not young people around the pool.

 

What about Princess' decision to cruise out of Port Canaveral?  Surely, they are targeting families that want to add to their Disney vacation.

[Cruise Raider]

1 minute ago, caribill said:

 

How soon we forget.

 

Last year the Plus Package changed (in two steps) from $40/day to $60/day, a 50% increase.

I haven’t forgotten anything!  So, living in California, inflation has outpaced the prices of the cruise industry by at least 3 times!  
I know you are trying to make a point by arguing every single comment I am making but, it’s obvious that when they added these additions to the packages last week, the prices of the packages have stayed the same.

While I believe the packages will also increase in price around the beginning of next year, I still believe they are a great value.  

[Guest ldtr]

3 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Many have posted that the app often does not show the options they want to order and thus a phone call is needed.

 

Just adding a comment field to an app order would allow the needed customization that could reduce phone calls to room service.

You mean because they want something RS is not set up to provide - OK.  LEts say it does and lets say that Princess actually wants to provide it on RS (keep in mind the App lists things based upon where you are located and what they are prepared to deliver to that location due to order routing.  For example I can order using the App from a specialty restaurant when in my room, but cannot when at the Hollywood pool, by design and intent).  Those are exceptions. Still results in far less load on the phone line and far more efficiant ordering.

 

I expect many use the phone because that it how they have always done it and do not like the new fangled technology.

[Cruise Raider]

4 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Many have posted that the app often does not show the options they want to order and thus a phone call is needed.

 

Aha .. now you just made my point for me!  
I think they are trying to get away from customizations to every order!  That still requires extra resources.  Adding that to the app would open a whole new can of worms!  
Extra resources = an extra charge .. that’s exactly what they’ve done!  

[Guest ldtr]

5 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

What about Princess' decision to cruise out of Port Canaveral?  Surely, they are targeting families that want to add to their Disney vacation.

More like they have enough ships operating and need to spread them out a bit.  Fort Lauderdale is pretty full.  I would suggest that more like they  are targeting multigenerational where the grandparents want to on Princess.  Then a 30-40 somethings family with small kids.   They might get a few, but if that is what they are depending on that location will not last as long as Houston did.

[caribill]

8 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

Maybe you want to call it aligning themselves with the competition.  All of the major mass market cruise lines are charging, and sometimes more than Princess for these amenities.

 

And that is a big problem.

 

The reason we have been on Princess for so many of our cruises is because they were better than the competition:

o More interesting and unique itineraries

o Better perks for loyal customers

o Welcome aboard cookies in the stateroom.

o No charge for room service delivery

o Crepes Suzettes at the Champaigne Fountain event 

o FCDs that were good for four years

o Chocolates in the bed each evening

o "Log" of the cruise delivered the last night of the cruise

 

But the more Princess is just the same as the others, the less reason to consider Princess first.

[SCX22]

2 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

And that is a big problem.

 

The reason we have been on Princess for so many of our cruises is because they were better than the competition:

o More interesting and unique itineraries

o Better perks for loyal customers

o Welcome aboard cookies in the stateroom.

o No charge for room service delivery

o Crepes Suzettes at the Champaigne Fountain event 

o FCDs that were good for four years

o Chocolates in the bed each evening

o "Log" of the cruise delivered the last night of the cruise

 

But the more Princess is just the same as the others, the less reason to consider Princess first.

 

Maybe that's Princess' point...out with the old cruising style and old passengers to welcome a new cruising style and new passengers.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, tothemall&beyond said:

Not necessarily true. We sailed for 11 nights this past December through Norway on a small Hurtigruten passenger ship, paying far less per night than Princess's current fares, and we received complimentary unlimited fast wifi, complimentary 24/7 brewed coffee and tea, generous amounts in OBC, even gifts at the end of the cruise, and did not have to pay any port fees, taxes or gratuities (and the service was superb). 

What cabin type are you comparing on Princess to Hurtigruten?  Did you buy that directly from them or through a tour?

 

Also keep in mind that Hurtigruten is a ferry doing commercal delivery work on those routes during the winter. Not that much demand for passenger spaces except for tours to/from the far north of Norway and some point to point travel along the route.  PS we did the same route as part of a Gate1 tour.  Not much entertainment though.

 

Most Hurtigruten passenger trips are of the expedition variety not mass market cruise variety.  Reflecting considerable higher daily fares.

Edited August 21, 2023 by ldtr

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

3 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

Maybe that's Princess' point...out with the old cruising style and old passengers to welcome a new cruising style and new passengers.

Exactly!