Princessfan20

Yes but you only get to attend in you bought the new Princess Premiere Plus Ultimate Galactica package.

Beyond frustrated. We usually have 4 or 5 bookings a year and in the last 6 months when we needed help with a booking it usually turns into some kind of time consuming and error prone ordeal. Just trying to cancel a booking, have the FCD's go back to our accounts and then being reapplied to a new booking is like walking a tight rope with no net when you talk to a Princess representative, especially from the ridiculous Philippine call center. I now give the lowest marks on the follow-up survey and indicate I would not hire that representative as a matter of principal. They just do not seem to value their customers time or needs anymore. It is such a radical change and not the norm for how easy Princess customer service use to function.

You will both fit in fine. You will see that Princess is much more casual on formal nights than many on CC would lead you to believe otherwise. Have a great cruise and no worries.

This is still the one of many benefits that Princess has done away with that upsets us with Princess. We are both veterans's but will not receive SHOBC anymore and for what reason? Princess is definitely unfair by singling out one group of passengers such as veterans to take away a previous perk. Basically hostile to veterans IMHO.

The only place we ever had to get prior approval for medications were the two times we sailed out of Singapore on Princess. They have very strict guidelines and approval process for about 250 different medications.

We lived on the Island of Hawaii for many years and recently moved back to the mainland but still live part of the year on island. This idea that the Maui/state government is going to expedite rebuilding everything is pure folly. Hawaii does not work that way. Towns do not get restored that fast on the mainland (it takes years -look at Paradise, CA and areas in Florida) when they are wiped out by natural disasters and it is probably going to be excruciating slow on Maui. Plus you will have many meetings to make sure that the needs of the locals and natives are taken into account. There will be great resistance from taking suggestions from any people from the mainland on what is best for Maui. I would be surprised if Lahaina has any resemblance to its' past self in twenty years from now. Hawaii is over run with tourists anyway so there will be a natural pressure from locals to take back what they see having been taken from them. I just hope the hoards stay away from the Big Island.

Maybe their only solution would be to overnight in Honolulu if they are not already. Maui and Hawaii Island are having the National Guard brought in today. Their resources are going to be extremely stressed and basically not available. Most flights from the mainland to Kahului Airport have already been canceled today through August 11, 2023. Visitors (4,000) are being evacuated to Honolulu to make housing available for the thousands of locals who have lost their hokes. I am sure the Emerald Princess is a low priority for the state.

We are on Hawaii Island and newscast are reporting that the town of Lahaina has been destroyed by fire and many boats in the harbor burned. Many many burn victims. Fires are still burning on Maui and in Kohala area of Hawaii. State is asking visitors not to come to Maui. Situation is still fluid. Doubt cruise ships will be allowed there for the foreseeable future.

Please cite your source. I know of no major travel company that does not value repeat customers and does not have rewards programs to keep them coming back. Or is this just more hyperbolizing on your part?

We were on 21 day Med on Enchanted and wore Tommy Bahama shirts and slacks every evening, even on formal nights and never a problem. Got lot's of compliments though. :-)

Just more of the new Princess and I would say this is another cut in services. We were always able to choose our cabin on any booking if available but now Princess is charging a fee if you are lucky enough to do so. On several cruises there is no choice and we have to pay up front for a mini-suite or higher and not get what we want. I think the new Princess term is "Cabin Roulette." But I am sure that there are those who think it is a brilliant idea by Princess because now they get to have a scavenger hunt after boarding to find what cabin they got n where and it just makes cruising so much more exciting. 🙂

OMG! I am pretty sure just about everyone on the Princess CC boards are a shareholder. Next!

Not the best analogies. In the casino a player can leave a stack of chips where they are playing and dealer will hold spot. Looks like Princess is now reserving chairs in theaters for certain guests whether they show up or not. We do Reserve Class dining and there is always a chair waiting for us. Often the same chairs every night. Also, let's not even talk about your own special lounger in the Sanctuary. It does happen.

Princess is taking the art of nickeling and dining to a whole new level.

Are people really sure these Premium packages are really that popular. The only thing I have noticed that the Reserved seats on our last three cruises never even came close to filling up on the nights Princess reserved them.

The only Elite benefit we cherish is the free laundry. The Loyalty program was really weak IMHO. We are more interested in the different ways you can earn OBC's on Princess. I do not think Delta is a good representation of speaking for all loyalty programs or airline reward programs. Delta Sky Miles has always been referred to by many frequent flyer's as Sky Pesos. Also, as you are probably aware Delta has tightened its' rules on who can enter their clubs because of the over-crowding that was occuring.

Thanks for sharing the article. It spells things out pretty clearly.

Many restaurants did change their menus because of the increase in eggs. Supposedly Princess uses almost 10,000 eggs a day on a cruise according to the procurement officer when we did a ship tour on the Regal.

I am really surprised how little you literally do not know about travel reward programs and us normal people’s travel opportunities. Now hitting ignore button.

If you would have read my post correctly you be aware that I said airlines, hotels and rental car companies treat their Elite customers much better then Princess does now. Last summer we flew from west coast in international first class, stayed in Hilton hotels for three weeks and had a free Hertz rental using their loyalty reward programs. Princess’ loyalty program was weak to begin with and then they weakened it even more by making cuts. Cannot understand why people are fanning over how great these cheap charges are. Princess is not the company it use to be and that is because it is being run by executives who came from Carnival. Drink up. But love how enthusiastic the Princess cheerleaders are being on paying Princess for extras that use to be part of the cruise price. BRILLIANT!

I agree with what you posted and I think there are a number of Princess (cruise) travel agents on these boards who always have to pitch how great cruising is no matter what the cruise lines do.....it's their livelihood. The good thing is there are so many other forms of travel that are just as good or not better than cruising and we have never been solely locked into cruising. The airlines, hotels and rental car companies treat their elite travels way better than Princess does now.

Agree. We have been loyal Princess cruisers for many years but we have lost all the perks you mentioned. It is not a small change as some have suggested. We had always cruised at least 50 days a year and these perks were significant motivators. With those gone and these new cheap charges Princess has lost our reliable loyalty. Appreciated your spot on summary.

Doubt Princess’ new inefficient and scripted off shore call center would even know what is going on or what to do. Supposedly more of the new and improved Princess product.

We would tell our friends who sell Viking, Oceania, etc that Princess is an excellent cruise line. We were always a little baffled when they all would say that "they do not want to be nickeled and dimed" which we told them that it was not true. Boy were we wrong. Princess has gone from the Love Boat to the Cheap Boat. Welcome aboard suckers! 🙂

This may be a problem for Princess if passengers who book suites decide that instead of being nicked and dime to death their money will go much further and be more appreciated on the luxury brand cruise lines. We are certainly looking at those lines now. Princess has certainly lost its' panache with these ridiculous new resort fees so to speak.