Minor Changes to Suite Perks?

There is a new version of the suite perks dated July 14, 2014. There are a few apparent changes:

 

Balcony Furniture

 

• Old: Upgraded balcony furniture with room for four: two comfortable loungers, a table and two chairs
  
• New: Upgraded balcony furniture including loungers, dining table and chairs
  

 

Flowers

 

• Old: Fresh flower arrangement
  
• New: Fresh orchid in stateroom
  

 

Priority Reservations

 

• Old: Priority reservations for the Chef’s Table, the Ultimate Ship Tour, and Princess Cays Bungalows
  
• New: Perk eliminated?
  

 

CD/DVD Players

 

• Old: CD/DVD player with access to a complimentary DVD library
  
• New: Suites on ships with Video On Demand will not offer DVD/CD players and access to DVD library
  

Edited August 21, 2014 by IECalCruiser

Flowers: one orchid instead of an arrangement? I can understand the elimination of the DVD player on ships with free on-demand movies.

Flowers: one orchid instead of an arrangement? I can understand the elimination of the DVD player on ships with free on-demand movies.

 

Better be one beautiful orchid! :)

Flowers: one orchid instead of an arrangement? I can understand the elimination of the DVD player on ships with free on-demand movies.

It was already posted last year that there was no DVD player on the Royal. Some people were unhappy. This change just clarifies that for the Royal, Regal and any other ship that has Video On Demand, which I believe now includes the Sapphire, suites will not have the DVD player.

Flowers: one orchid instead of an arrangement? I can understand the elimination of the DVD player on ships with free on-demand movies.

 

I would think it is an orchid plant that will last for several weeks instead of 5-7 days. Probably more "economical". I wonder if agriculture will allow a live plant being transported from point A to B. You can't bring rooted in dirt plants from Hawaii to California or California to Florida (Panama Canal).

 

Most interesting. And how are they going to stop passengers from taking home their souvenir plant?

 

Thank you for starting this thread.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

You can't bring rooted in dirt plants from Hawaii to California or California to Florida (Panama Canal).

 

From the American Orchid Society:

 

Orchids are different from other houseplants. Unlike ferns, philodendrons, palms and Swedish ivy, orchids do not grow in soil. Potting an orchid in soil is actually one of the best ways to kill it.

 

In the house, orchids are grown in pots filled with chips of bark, stones, treefern or some other loosely packed material, which keeps roots well-aerated and permits water to drain quickly.

 

Dang, I was looking forwards to a flower arrangement.

Edited August 21, 2014 by cflutist

Flowers

 

• Old: Fresh flower arrangement
  
• New: Fresh orchid in stateroom
  

 

 

That is a big downgrade in suite benefits.

 

There have been many posts saying how great these flower arrangements were and that they lasted a long time.

Surprised they didn't give some internet credit.

 

To be honest new balcony furniture appears to me to be nothing more than a more accurate description of the status quo.

 

Surprised about the loss of priority bookings. That has no economic basis and is simply a reduction in benefits. May be a result of the number of suites on new ships.

Sadly last year the Orchid plant soon became infested with small biting flies & had to be removed outside (not replaced).

We will be in our B2B suite in a little over 2 weeks. sad to hear about the loss of some perks. Makes Princess suites less inviting.

We love suites for the space, but I'm so disappointed that Princess continues to reduce the benefits and perks. Other lines such as NCL and Celebrity are giving more perks to suite guests. It seems that on Princess, suites are becoming more and more expensive with fewer and fewer benefits. I'm really disappointed in Princess in this regard.

We were on the GRAND PRINCESS, in an aft facing vista suite last week in Alaska, and the flower arrangement of the past is gone. We had a tall...rather anemic...orchid in a small pot. It tipped over a couple times during the first few days, so we placed it in the small chrome wastebasket and set it on the end table. The room steward removed it and replaced it with two orchids in a larger pot. There was also a small arrangement in a bud vase in the bathroom. The balcony furniture was teak (needed refinishing BIG TIME) with navy blue cushions. The DVD player was still there (living room TV only)and the DVD menu was still offered. Contrary to other reports, we found the GRAND PRINCESS to be in good shape with no more rust than other Princess ships we were in port with.

Edited August 21, 2014 by DCT61

Full suite I had last year completely lacked balcony furniture! (Of course, I was in a window suite.)

 

Flowers were nice, but an orchid sounds nice too.

 

I didn't use the DVD player, and on-demand sounds great. Would be nice to have on all ships, regardless of suite or not.

The balcony furniture we had on our most recent cruise included two teak loungers, two side tables, a teak "dining" table and four teak chairs. I was a bit surprised to see that the teak was in need of refinishing, as the CB had been in dry dock just a few months ago. During our cruise, the two teak side tables were replaced with freshly refinished teak side tables - I guess they are working on it a few pieces at a time.

 

We did have flower arrangements each of the two weeks, as well as a small vase with a fresh flower in the bathroom, and the DVD library. We also had a letter each of the two weeks from the Maitre d' asking us to contact him for any of our dining needs.

 

We did the Chef's Table twice, once each week, but I don't think would have required any "priority" as there was barely enough demand to have it the first week. We had a full table of reservations for the second week with our CC group, and I put in the request for that Chef's Table the first week of the cruise.

 

It is time to offer some free internet time for those in full suites, it certainly doesn't have to be unlimited, but the minutes available for us as elites were barely enough - had the same amount of time been available and combinable for suites we would have been quite happy and felt we had enough internet time to stay in touch comfortably.

Thank you for the updates to the suite perks. On our cruise to Hawaii, we had three flower arrangements, one in the living area, one in the bathroom, and one in the bedroom. Once we arrived in Hawaii, all the flowers were changes, and we received gorgeous orchids and tropical flowers.

Oh dear. What a shame. In themselves they seem minor but when you look at it overall it looks a bit mean. We seem to be coming late to these niceties of cruising and missing out on so many things that used to be. They just keep chipping away and chipping away. I wonder if they think we won't notice:rolleyes:. These things that have been removed or lessened were on the list when we booked and I was quite looking forward to having some flowers in the cabin, others no doubt wouldn't bother at all, but it is something that just makes a difference.

 

It isn't just Princess either. I was actually surprised to read in a post earlier that HAL and Celebrity are adding 'perks'. They already have some good reasons for choosing their suites so adding more will be interesting.

And the squeeze continues. :(

I've never been that impressed with the flower arrangements that we have been given, but then I'm not a big flower person.

 

I wish they would give the internet minutes back but can understand that it was being abused and won't return.

 

The on demand on the Royal was really nice and you don't need to wait for the movies to be brought to your room like you do with the DVD's.

 

Since I'm not elite (yet) the best suite perk for me has been the free laundry and hopefully that's a keeper.

You know, I am not sure what is driving all of these things, but I have suspicion that the DVD to on demand is a practical thing since they invested in on demand, and I do not think that is really a loss of a benefit.

 

As for the flowers, maybe it is a PC "green" thing, since the live orchid can continue to flourish and be reused. ??? Well, that seems to be part of the reason behind the unpopular or popular (depends on where you stand on the issue) for the change in bathroom body wash, shampoo and lotion. Then on the CB we wind up not with the large bottles, but with plastic tubes of the stuff, which we barely touch anyway, and are not reusable like those wonderful little plastic screw top bottles of not so long ago are!

 

As far as the priority reservations stuff, well, I recall calling the dine line and finding them not helpful to begin with. I strongly suspect it was a lack of training and awareness, since they know exactly which stateroom is calling. But I do wonder if it has caused a bunch of issues?

 

(This is a bit of an aside, but still related in the PC sense. CD Lee explained the loss of the "If I Were Not Upon the Sea" performance in the crew talent show to be a result of passenger complaints - it just was no longer PC! I find the loss of amusement at a CD in bad drag to be a disheartening comment on the lack of tolerance which is becoming more and more prevalent.)

 

The little things are still there - personalized stationery, flowers on formal night, canapes if you wish, more space, whirlpool tub, separate shower......need some internet time back!

"The little things are still there - personalized stationery, flowers on formal night, canapes if you wish, more space, whirlpool tub, separate shower......need some internet time back"

 

Only the top sheet of stationary was personalized..the rest in the stack were not. We got a kick out of that. We don't spend our vacation writing long letters to people...so its no huge loss to us, but I can see where some might miss it.

"The little things are still there - personalized stationery, flowers on formal night, canapes if you wish, more space, whirlpool tub, separate shower......need some internet time back"

 

Only the top sheet of stationary was personalized..the rest in the stack were not. We got a kick out of that. We don't spend our vacation writing long letters to people...so its no huge loss to us, but I can see where some might miss it.

 

Oh my, what a "misprint" by the ship's printshop. I do use it to write thank you's from time to time, so it is a nice thing to have available (to me).

You know, I am not sure what is driving all of these things

 

Me either; but it gets more irritating by the week.

 

The little things are still there - personalized stationery, flowers on formal night, canapes if you wish, more space, whirlpool tub, separate shower......need some internet time back!

 

I want the bath products back as well as the damned internet. It's just the way these things were done.

 

Mike

And Sabatini's breakfast menu now only offers one item and that is an Egg McMuffin!

 

What is this world coming to!

And Sabatini's breakfast menu now only offers one item and that is an Egg McMuffin!

 

 

Hardly.

 

Mike:)

Full suite I had last year completely lacked balcony furniture! (Of course, I was in a window suite.)

 

Flowers were nice, but an orchid sounds nice too.

 

LOL about the furniture. :) The orchid thing might indeed be a "green" thing to "reuse" items in the room. Still, it all seems just like more Princess being cheap. I wonder how many more things they can reduce or eliminate before they become a BYOB (bring your own bed) transportation service from Point A to Point B.