Is the Penninsular Club worth your loyalty?

.does anyone want to buy several pairs of P & O slippers (one size fits all) !!!!!!!:D

You bring them home?

David.

You bring them home?

 

David.

I used to but not anymore, the bag they come in is useful :confused::confused::D

I like the discount on on on board spend. Couldn't care less about boarding lunch or priority embarkation, as the last time, the priority queue was so long that we were on board before our friend who was in the priority one! I don't book a cruise based on Peninsular discounts.

I don't book a cruise for the benefits I can get as a past passenger. I'm Elite with Princess and have a future cruise credit of £75 which acts as a full deposit and also gives me $100 on board credit so doubles my money (P&O need to sort theirs out as it seems to be a waste of time imo), plus shareholder credit.

My last cruise was with Royal Caribbean so I didn't get the above and the next is probably P&O.

The glass of "champagne" at sail away is nice but for £2.50 its not going to sway me to come back to P&O. After all I'm usually spending thousands.

I'm itinerary/price driven.

Next cruise is looking like Azura in December as it does a lot of places I haven't been to plus its a bit of a bargain with flights.

Having said all that, the Peninsular club is a bit pants compared to other lines to say the least. I did start a thread in the Christopher Edgington interview about it and got ignored by him, its a sticky above for anyone interested "Rewarding Loyalty".

I have read your sticky Mike and you made some valid points so it is a shame CE didn't choose to answer them....perhaps its time he did another question and answer session! :)

P&O DO NOT add 12% to the advertised price, whatever they did to arrive at the menu price is irrelevant. The other lines that add 15% to the quoted price are the culprits.

This was exactly my point Brayman. If I see a price advertised, and I am happy to pay it, then I make the purchase. It drives me insane to see another 15% added. I am not at all concerned about how a seller arrives at a costing; they all have similar processes. Just don't add an additional sum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenny wren View Post

As i said earler we paid less than 50 pounds a night for our cruise...

This illustrates what's wrong with the cruise industry. It's impossible for P&O to make a profit on rates like this, particularly with non drinkers. So standards inevitably fall, as we know has happened over the last few years.

 

The best Premier Inn in Bournemouth is priced from £100, so the same rate as the cruise cheapo. No food, no entertainment, no ports, nothing but a basic room, which won't be a patch on the on board one.

 

And they're still building more ships. Madness.

 

David.

David, I agree that no cruise line would make profits at that average price, but they would make a darn sight less if they left the rooms empty, the marginal cost per person on an all almost full ship is extremely small, not even the cost of the food since they are contracted for a full ship replenishment every turn round, so all of the income from late availability rooms goes straight onto the bottom line.

And the reason that all lines are building more ships is simply that they expect to make more profits as a result.

Yes of course it would only be the few inside cabins that are ever as low as 50 pounds per night......the average cost per person per night is probably way over 100 pounds ......in fact once you take the suites, mini suites and balconies into account probably over 200 pounds per night per person....

From P&Os perspective the point of the loyalty club is to gain repeat business from its customer base - but have they diluted it so much it just 'doesn't cut the mustard' anymore? A big benefit is the percentage discount on on-board spend, however this is only applied to the balance of any spend over and above the on-board credit - so anything you buy with OBC doesn't get the discount. Lots of cruises are coming with large OBC incentive packages so this can mean that the reality of your discount is really rather small. They insist on dishing out tacky plastic pins which you see very few people wearing (for obvious reasons), give you a pair of disposable slippers and a free glass of champagne. The higher tiers get a few nice touches such as priority boarding and an extra glass or two of champagne - but is it really worth staying with P&O to strive to get to those tiers? I've been thinking more about this recently, after the cruises we have booked we have 50ish nights to get to Caribbean, but even though P&O suits us, things like the complex pricing strategy and lack of real loyalty incentive is tipping the balance and I am now more likely than ever to start switching to other brands. Just wondering what the general view is?

Personally I cruise when I choose and with whom. I enjoy my cruises with P&O as i do with Cunard and others.

I take the loyalty schemes of each with a pinch of salt with the exception of 8 hours apiece free wifi on Cunard and a 10% discount on my spend - albeit given after the OBC has gone to the wine waiter.

The more you spend the greater the reward and lets be frank, 10% is not to be sniffed at.

Oh, and I do enjoy the Peninsular Lunch. They do tend to push the boat out there.

Happy cruising.

The best thing about your loyalty points on P&O is that they contribute to your loyalty grade on Princess so we found ourselves on Elite after only 2-3 cruises on Princess. This means free laundry, free wifi, free drinks buffet every evening, priority embarkation and tenders, free wine-tasting.... etc so well worth having.

 

I spoke to P&O about the lack of incentive in their loyalty system and they sent me a questionnaire about how I thought things could be improved - but nothing's changed.

No free drinks buffet on Princess for Elites that I know of. You can get a fixed low price ($5) 'cocktail of the day' with 'canapes of the day' in one of the lounges but they are not free.

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No free drinks buffet on Princess for Elites that I know of. You can get a fixed low price ($5) 'cocktail of the day' with 'canapes of the day' in one of the lounges but they are not free.

 

 

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They do a great welcome back "party" though, lots of free drinks and canapés!

No free drinks buffet on Princess for Elites that I know of. You can get a fixed low price ($5) 'cocktail of the day' with 'canapes of the day' in one of the lounges but they are not free.

 

 

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Meant the buffet was free (and delicious with a different theme every night) so sorry if it wasn't clear.

I don't think P&O particularly want returning passengers.

On our first cruise we booked many of their excursions, went to the talks without realizing they were sales pitches (and got sucked into buying), bought photographs and even the dvd. Now we are immune to all that!

Even though we are disappointed as each of the little touches of elegance disappear year by year, we still come back because of British ambiance, kettle, a fridge in the cabin, and the itinerary.

If we do get fed up with P&O we would probably change to Cunard.

One thing I get really annoyed about is brands being counted on Princess. How can it be rewarding loyalty when some people have never stepped onboard a Princess ship before! Ggrrrhhh

One thing I get really annoyed about is brands being counted on Princess. How can it be rewarding loyalty when some people have never stepped onboard a Princess ship before! Ggrrrhhh

Yes and even worse I am Elite on Princess. :) :)

Oh I thought you had to do at least one Princess cruise before your P &O points were taken into account....perhaps I'm wrong? :confused:

Oh I thought you had to do at least one Princess cruise before your P &O points were taken into account....perhaps I'm wrong? :confused:

That's what I thought too. However, we have booked our first Princess cruise and been given elite status.

Brian

Oh I thought you had to do at least one Princess cruise before your P &O points were taken into account....perhaps I'm wrong? :confused:

No you have to join the Captains Circle Club which may be done by phoning Carnival House and giving them your Peninsular Number to outline your cruise history. Then they can add this to your booking and you get the appropriate level.

Regards John

One thing I get really annoyed about is brands being counted on Princess. How can it be rewarding loyalty when some people have never stepped onboard a Princess ship before! Ggrrrhhh

You have to look at the situation in an holistic manner to understand the thinking behind this. At one time P&O and Princess were a single company. Prior to Princess starting as a cruise line P&O existed and operated cruises. They then acquired Princess and traded as P&O Princess I believe. Carnival Corporation acquired this company and separated them into the two brands. Through this era it would be difficult to work out loyalty sensibly and shortly thereafter each brand recognised the others cruise history as part as their loyalty scheme in a reciprocal manner. Eventually P&O decided not to continue to recognise the Princess cruising history however Princess continued to recognise P&O cruise history. This I believe is down to the disparity with what cruises are offered in which regions; particularly cruises of up to three days. This means it is easier for people who live in certain regions to progress up the levels on the Captains Circle. If you examine how many cruises operated by Princess Cruise Line; are available of the short 1 to 3 days mini break variety. 16 are available in the US area, 22 are available in the Australia area and 1 is available in the UK area. So there is a disparity. Can you guess which of all these cruises is the most expensive?

Regards John

This illustrates what's wrong with the cruise industry. It's impossible for P&O to make a profit on rates like this, particularly with non drinkers. So standards inevitably fall, as we know has happened over the last few years.

 

The best Premier Inn in Bournemouth is priced from £100, so the same rate as the cruise cheapo. No food, no entertainment, no ports, nothing but a basic room, which won't be a patch on the on board one.

 

And they're still building more ships. Madness.

 

David.

Good afternoon David.

Would you have the ships sail with empty cabins then?

As a retired hotel owner, albeit a small but highly rated one in Bath, we charged very high rates. We could fill the hotel every Friday to Sunday at full 'Rack Rate' but would often find one or two rooms vacant mid week.

I would leave instructions with reception that after 6.00pm they had the flexibility to offer first a 25% and then a 50% discount to 'chance' callers. Lets say on average that was then £54.00 we took whereas otherwise those rooms would not have generated anything.

Staff were there, lights were on and there was always the chance the guest would have dinner and a drink. On the minus side there was the cost of ingredients for the breakfast (all of £2.00) and another £2 for laundry.

My business plan was to make a profit at 75% occupancy and that was easily achievable. So every £50.00 on top was icing on the cake.

I often see criticism of 'bean counters' on these boards but in matter of fact they ain't all that daft.

What's more enjoy my quarterly dividend from Carnival and the hike in the share price over the years hasn't been bad either.

Most evenings I watch cruise ships pass. The ones that are still partying on deck 60 minutes after sailing are usually P&O and Cunard vessels.

Tells me something.

Yes and even worse I am Elite on Princess. :) :)

Have you tried a Princess cruise? You would love it. The ambience is great, so is the food. Thick beef slices in the buffet compared to the micro thin ones we had on Aurora, in fact I asked the server 'if there was a war on!!!' Try a Soton to Soton cruise on Princess....you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Gan canny [emoji3][emoji106]

A considerable amount of my P&O points were from my Ocean Village days.

One thing I get really annoyed about is brands being counted on Princess. How can it be rewarding loyalty when some people have never stepped onboard a Princess ship before! Ggrrrhhh

I don't mind who else gets to Elite or how they do it, just as long as I am at that level - and I am 😄

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I don't mind who else gets to Elite or how they do it, just as long as I am at that level - and I am [emoji1]

 

 

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Yes, but look how long you have to wait for your laundry to be done now with so many 'phoney elite' members!!!!!

Laundry is not a perk I use much - too many things spoilt. Like the other perks though [emoji1]

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