floridalover5623

1 hour ago, nukesubsailor said:

If it still true today that cruise lines fares are sold at cost and the only profit comes from the passengers onboard expenditures----then why does Princess incur the costs of loyalty-rewarding events such as the Platinum, Elite, & Suite cocktail parties,  Captains' Circle cocktail parties, and Most Travelled Passenger parties.  Why would Princess provide Loyalty Onboard Credit for those with 21 or more cruise credits?

Of course Princess has to retain their loyal cruisers by offering some perks but all of the things you mentioned don't really cost Princess that much, except the Loyalty on board credit perk.

So they have a  Platinum, Elite, & Suite cocktail party? Al they do is feed the people some snacks & hope they buy some drinks. 🤑 Snack all you want & you'll eat less at dinner. 

Captains' Circle cocktail party? What are they giving you? A watered down drink and maybe a few snacks. You'll again eat less at dinner.

Most Traveled Passenger party? Well that only applies to the top 20 or 40 people and yes that probably does cost them a few dollars. Who knows how much, but it is a nice affair.

Don't get me wrong, the perks are nice but after all is said & done they would rather have a new cruiser occupy my cabin spending  money like I used to do 25 years ago when we were working.   

1 hour ago, mustgo said:

Not so!   I posted my email early on about my response from princess.  Later made one comment.  We are only platinum on Princess, but we have a cruise past final payment in April and we will drag in the balcony chair.  We have 3 more Princess cruises booked, 2 in a standard balcony which I am going to cancel, 1 in a deluxe balcony which we will probably take.  We are a pair of dreaded old folk, in good shape, but do need 2 chairs and will not bring our own onboard.  It is a deal breaker for us and we will just cruise more on Holland.

I may very well be wrong but overall I still doubt if there are sufficient numbers to make a difference in their decision. 

They've made unpopular choices in the past & nothing changed their minds, but this may well be a different case.

2 hours ago, Mytravellove said:

I'd be interested in knowing what the comparison in general would be.

An excerpt from a CC post from BruceMuzz in 2014 was as follows....

He works for the cruise industry (not only Princess) & oversee's most aspects of the ships operations. 

"Carnival proved to the rest of us long ago that frequent cruisers are the biggest money loser we have.

They are generally high maintenance and not cost-effective to the line. The more cruises they take, the less they spend onboard our ships. Since today's cruise line sales model is selling cruises at cost or at a loss, then recouping profits through onboard spending, the frugal frequent cruiser is our worst enemy.

My employer recently conducted a study, comparing frequency of cruising with onboard spending.

Every time a passenger takes another cruise, his/her onboard spending drops an average 9%.

After 10 cruises, they are spending essentially nothing onboard. The cruise line is transporting them for free."

10 hours ago, oskidunker said:

The luggage excuse. The Alaska excuse. The heavy clothes excuse. I think people just want to hear, “ Please tell me I don’t have to dress up” The answer is, you don’t. 

Some people are afraid of what comments would be made if they posted what they really wanted to say. 

8 hours ago, c-boy said:

why are you revisiting a 3 year old  thread ... hello they've been there and back already !

What difference does it make what the subject is still pertinent? Someone could still be traveling to Alaska this season & might have the same question.

7 hours ago, Kingofcool1947 said:

Yes, I stand on the sidelines on many issues.  Including this about a chair.   That’s because I don’t feel strongly on the controversy.   And, I just want to offer options to those kind of PAXs here who feel strongly about the removal of the chair.

I will still cruise, and enjoy my cruises on Princess no matter if there is a chair or no not..   Will you?

But,  wishing you and others  good luck  in your fight with Princess.   Hope you have a successful outcome.

King

I believe the same way & seriously doubt if there more than a handful of loyal passengers that will stop sailing because of it. From scanning over this thread it appears to be the same people who are repeatedly commenting about it and after all is said & done how many of them will leave Princess?

9 hours ago, TheRabbit said:

That is a great show and we had to get there over a half hour early to get poor seats the one time it was on the Coral for our cruise last fall.

 

I am guilty of saving a seat for my DW. 

I do the same thing all the time & don't believe it to be considered "seat saving".

5 hours ago, caribill said:

When the Internet was taken away from full-suite passengers, the free specialty dinner on the first evening and a little plate of nuts on embarkation were added to replace it.

People in full suites seem to forget that little perk.

They only remember what was taken away.

2 hours ago, EightFurryPaws said:

I always purchase a new $10 watch at the great 3 hour sale, which I get for $9.

It's cheaper than buying a new battery and it's very exciting to rummage through all the designer watches which Princess offers that I have seen onboard over the last 10 years.

 

That's about what they get from me onboard.

 

Pam

That's only your excuse to take another cruise. 

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

We arrived plenty early to get a good location for On The Bayou as we knew it would fill rapidly and we knew we wanted a fairly close to the front location.

That's one show that requires getting there at least a full hour before show time. 

1 hour ago, Astro Flyer said:

I prefer the current system where those who arrive earliest get to choose their best seats.

That's is the fairest way to seat people. 👍

First come, first seated. 

Without a doubt, it's the new cruisers.

We haven't spent more than $20 per cruise in years and if my wife doesn't see anything of interest in the so called "sales" it would be nothing. 

No drinks, no special coffee. no pictures, no casino, no tours, no bingo. 😄

11 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

Where does it say this?  It was my impression the minibar items were for me to drink when I'm "on" the ship.  I never saw somewhere that said "to be used in-room only".

It doesn't.

Anyway, how can they prevent people from drinking it only in their cabins?

11 hours ago, pink845 said:

A lot of time when people book their cruise late (last minute) , there is no availability in Traditional or all that is left is 8:30 pm at night.    We take the 8:30 pm offered and then we go over to Any Time.   If you kindly speak with the Maitre D at Any Time and you are not too picky, he can usually book you in the Any Time dining location for a specific time each evening of your cruise.   

That's what I'm going to do next cruise.

Wait till the last moment to request a TD table which we probably won't be able to receive & then ask for specific table & time in AT dining. 

This way I won't have to call in each day for reservations. 😄🙄🙄

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

Also, 10 to 15 minutes before the show, Celebrity opens the seating to everyone. On Celebrity the area is never full based on my experience.  The area in question is a few rows in the middle section of the balcony on Chic (formal) nights only.

Are there people standing in the aisles waiting for seating? 

No one will say a word about anything you drink outside of your cabin.

People have just become a little cautious because of what has been posted regarding the 2 free bottles of wine allowed at embarkation. 

1 hour ago, miss prairie girl said:

 

Reminds me of our last cruise.  DH and I entered a row to sit down. One woman in the middle of the row approached us and informed us in a loud harsh voice that she was saving the whole row for her family. At that moment, an announcement came on about No Seat Saving. I looked at her and said, "Did you hear that and did you understand that?" She glared at me and repeated that she was saving the whole row for her family. DH and I sat down a few seats away from this person. During most of the show, she turned sideways towards us and glared at us. End of story: No family came to sit with her and the row slowly filled with nonfamily members. We noted she did not confront any one after us. There are always some people who do not play nicely with others.

It's always best to get a crew member to explain it to them.

13 minutes ago, AF-1 said:

Royal Caribbean has a section in the theater reserved for suite guests.  I have used this service with them.  The concierge walks you to  your seat.  The section of the theater is never filled;  so that tells me most suite guests don't take advantage of this perk; or they just don't care about using this perk.  I assume that the sky suite guests will fall into the same category.  I was in a suite two weeks ago and only made two of the four shows in the theater.  

It seems like a disservice to reserve seats for people that might not show up at all when there are others that are ready to sit down and might not be able to find any seat because the theater is already filled. 

I hope Princess doesn't go this route in the future. 

It should remain first come first seated. 

18 hours ago, nbsjcruiser said:

Dropped our bags off at the room and headed for lunch.

I guess the fire doors were open so everyone could go to their rooms upon boarding. 

41 minutes ago, nbsjcruiser said:

Well there are propulsion issues that will require the ship to go to drydock in April. As a result the ship cannot go full speed. Typically the itinerary would have the ship in Princess Cays on day 2, followed by an arrival in St Thomas on day 4 at 6am or so. Instead she arrives in St Thomas at noon so the morning is missed. Day 5 is the normal 7am-5pm stop in St Maarten followed by 2 days at sea and return to FLL. 

Most people don't even know that they've been cheated out of that time on the islands due to power issues on the ship.

I suspect it also has something to due with the AC cooling problems on certain decks.

14 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

I'm highly allergic to that stuff. I get an immediate and very nasty headache. Perfume is supposed to be subtle. You aren't supposed to be able to taste it in the air. I hate it when someone sits near me in the dining room or the theater and is surrounded by a noxious cloud of "perfume". Some of it smells like RAID insect spray to me.

 

I guess we can apply your example to those who reek of cigar smoke also. 🙄

3 hours ago, Californian said:

We will have a mini bar setup.  Would it be ok to bring a can of soda with us to the dining room?  Or have it in a glass and bring it into the dining room?

Or even a can of soda that you've brought on board with you.

It doesn't have to have come from the setup. 

I can't see how that would be much of a problem since it involves only a handful of people.

If they try & extend the program to the rest of the crowd, it might.

I really hope this doesn't lead to the way RCI requires reservations for their productions shows.

2 hours ago, elliair said:

When we begin to run low, it's time to book another cruise!

Yep. I'm running low on soap. Time to go again. 😁

3 hours ago, Coral said:

Princess does not provide kettles on any of their ships. Last year, they did on the Sapphire. This was very unusual - to the point that there was a press release about it. They appeared part way through the Southhampton cruises and promptly removed them at the end of the season.

 

I believe P&O has at times but this is not the norm for Princess. Maybe you have read about them on other lines or maybe it is common on Australian ships.

 

And it is not like asking for a robe. Kettles are listed as items forbidden on Princess ships. I am surprised they did it on the Sapphire.

 

BTW - they have not been on the Regal in the past.

2 hours ago, floridalover5623 said:

We had a chair on the Regal in both our rooms this past Jan/Feb.

Removing them saves me from having to lift it into the closet each time I board.

Someone must have removed it from your room in anticipation. 

Sorry about my post. It was in response to another thread, not the kettles. 

1 hour ago, Coral said:

Since the Regal Princess never had them, I doubt they would have them available. The OP was asking about the Regal.

We had a chair on the Regal in both our rooms this past Jan/Feb.

Removing them saves me from having to lift it into the closet each time I board.

Someone must have removed it from your room in anticipation. 

1 hour ago, Coral said:

They don't keep them on the ships. The Sapphire Princess was something new last year and every cabin had them. It is not like they stock them for people who want them.

It seems strange that they would remove them from the ships and couldn't leave a few behind for those people that wanted them.