rbt001

Regardless of the intent of the crew member, isn't it possible that once he was alone, in the water, at sea, he might have had second thoughts? Assuming that they were only looking for a body is pretty cold in my opinion.

Exactly! "Second thoughts" was the first thing I was thinking as I read through seven pages of postings on this thread. I'm just catching up on my forum reading and saw this today -- I bet the same applied to G8RH8R.

Wonderful thread! Thanks to all who have participated.

Read the thread and made the beach trek while at PC recently.

GRAVES DEMOLISHED

OLD CHURCH FLATTENED AND BULLDOZED

BOTH CABLE LANDING BUILDINGS RAZED

CHAIN LINK FENCE SURROUNDS THE WHOLE SITE

SIGN HANGING ON FENCE READS:

"Coming Soon:

Wal-Mart"

P.S.- Just kidding.

(Okay, I hope at least some people think this post was as funny as I thought it would be when I dreamed it up as I plowed through seventeen pages, so far, of this thread. Yes, this is interesting. No, I hadn't read about it for my January cruise, so instead kept a barstool warm as I gazed at the ocean through palm fronds and drank my bucket of beer. Will I visit the graves during my upcoming trip in February? Hmmm... the bucket of beer still has more votes... )

I believe I said, RP, Royal Princess. I am looking for people that have stayed in these cabins on this ship, cabins over Crooners.

Oh ... the RP, Royal Princess.

Perhaps people read this and haven't responded because they thought you were referring to

RP, Ruby Princess.

Profits are a factor as well of course, but honestly I suspect Princess makes FAR more money off wine overall than hard spirits. Margins may not be as high, but when we toured the wine locker the amount of wine versus spirits was easily a 30 or 40 to 1, which is more than would be accounted for portioning.

A 750 ml bottle of spirits can generate revenue at least 10 times its cost. Remember there are 25 - one oz pours in that bottle.

A particular wine may be marked up 3 to 5 times its cost.

As for observations as to the volume of wine the poster saw, as compared to spirits... there's another reason for that.

As a simplified answer, replacing spirits inventory is typically easy and plentiful. The contracted wholesaler is always going to have the same rum, gin or vodka, so inventory levels on board need only be enough to supply the anticipated demand until the next point of replenishment (of course with some AMPLE margin to avoid running of this high profit margin item.)

Whereas the ship may have a number of choices for each spirit, Princess wine lists are extensive. Each wine on the list is specific and most are produced in limited quantities. This means wine purchases (co-ordinated on a fleet-wide basis) are done so in large quantities to ensure there will be sufficient inventory until the wine list is next updated.

Sure, the "house wines" and most popular wines are chosen because they are plentiful and probably restocked often. But more than half of the wine list probably doesn't get replenished nearly as often, in part, because the inventory sits, taking up space on board, until someone orders it.

It's typicaly not published, but ask sometime about "Clearance" wines. More likely than not, you can find a good wine at a reduced price. Why? It's been carried on the wine list and just hasn't sold at the price offered. Or the wine list has been updated and it's been removed because there's only a limited quantity that won't be replenished.

On my European cruise with NCL, I attended a $25 wine tasting with no more than two dozen fellow passengers. All of the wines we were served were no longer on the wine list. They were good wines and were available for purchase at a "clearance sale" reduced price in any dining room or lounge on the ship; you just had to know to ask.

Lastly, there are the storage conditions: wine requires climate control whereas spirits aren't so temperamental.

So... wine is profitable --but not as profitable as spirits-- and certainly more headache.

All this, yet the OP asked about beer. (And this next part has probably been addressed by other posters in the time it's taken me to write all this.)

Beer? What? You wanna take on ... one bottle/can? A six-pack? Or a case? What's the limit? Well then there's probably a need for that IGLOO Cooler you wanna bring on to store it, right? And the ice to keep it cold? No problem when the ice melts: just drain the water over the balcony railing! [remove tongue from cheek]

But I digress.....

Can you bring in a glass of your own wine? Sure. Is it right? Well, look at it this way....edited.... If you tell your tablemates to meet you in your cabin and pour them all a glass and you all carry your glasses into the MDR you skirt the fee. Is that the right thing to do?

... and I never even go 31 MPH in a 30 MPH zone....

Last year a friend and I took a 30 trip to Italy, and we sandwiched an 11 day cruise in the middle. Both of us are big red wine drinkers, so I visited a retailer (one in the news recently about credit card info) and purchased two pairs of lucite wine ...glasses... One pair was stemmed, very tall, almost obnoxious in size, and the other pair was stemless. Since I was travelling with only ONE carry-on and no other luggage, they were light-weight and practical for having wine at night in hotel rooms. Oh, and as an aside, we didn't stay at one hotel in Venice because I read from upset guests that they were forbidden to bring wine or food to their room: no reason to smuggle in and clearly break hotel policy when there were other hotels just as nice.

For the cruise (on a different line, but this does apply to this topic here) I did plenty of research and decided that to be safe, we'd carry on our own wine and pay the corkage, since even a pre-cruise call to the corporate headquarters only yielded vague information as to what would be offered as a wine package; they leave it up to the ship and it varied by cruise.

Sit down while reading this part... on the train out to the port I decided that the TWELVE bottles we had bought, certainly would not be enough for the 11 days, so we purchased another 9 bottles at the port town. The proprietor of the store placed them in a cardboard box and then placed the box in a trash bag so as to tie the end of the plastic bag around my friend's to-be-checked-in roller-board suitcase handle upon which this was all all balanced. He had a backpack that had six bottles on his back, and I had a shopping bag with my six bottles in one hand and my carry-on over my shoulder. And YES, we did present all for declaration and to pay corkage.

Going up the gang-way, I'm sure the two of us, in our 50's, looked like TWO AMERICAN HILLBILLIES, carrying part of our luggage in a paper shopping bag, plastic trash bag and a cardboard box.

I can truthfully say that we MAY have had a single beer at lunch, and NEVER started drinking until, say... 5pm or so, back in the cabin, while getting ready for dinner.

I read on the comments about pours from a wine bottle. As mentioned already, the stemmed glasses, which I pulled out the first evening, were veto'd by my friend for the first night: they just looked too big. Turns out those big one each could hold half a bottle.

Most nights we settled for the stemless, which required a little top-off to drain the bottle. We'd be opening the second bottle to refill our glasses on our way to the dining room. We NEVER carried our bottles out of the cabin.

The staff ALWAYS asked if we'd like them to carry our glasses from the entrance of the MDR to our table, and the wait-staff offered to change out the glassware.

I held my breath the one evening, at a community table, when an officer came around to check on everything. In conversation his eyes darted around the table as he was speaking, and I saw him lock in on our stemless lucite, while stating: "Those aren't our glasses." He actually complimented them, saying they looked like expensive GLASS, and how it's a new trend. I explained about our 30 day trip, which wasn't necessary. He wasn't offended or put out by us having our own; he prided himself on knowing the entire ships inventory and just was stating those as not his own. Prior to his arrival at the table, we had shared the hillbilly boarding story which was met with laughs and amusement by our tablemates.

We never felt bad or felt we were breaking some rule of contract or morality. Most people that we conversed with would ask us in passing where our glasses were if they were not in hand, since after sunset we'd hardly be without them, our special glasses.

Oh, and it turns out that 21 bottles wasn't nearly enough. First time we tried to order a glass of wine, the staff quickly pointed out the economics of purchasing a bottle, which they could hold the unused portion in exchange for a claim check (no need for that. lol) So we did patronize the ship's beverage outlets: I'd bet our "supplimental" purchases over the cruise were more than others total consumption. And that, I'm sure, satisfied the cruise line's bottom line.

And before anyone thinks of sending pamphlets for AA... consider that our wine consumption was over at least 7 hours (5pm to midnight... later on a few nights) and there was a meal during this time period as well as several glasses of water. It was also balanced with morning exercise and an afternoon walk.

That's the long way of stating "don't sweat the small things."

The Ruby rep had the audacity to say she works 13 hours a day. Doing what? This cruise had 88% first timers, most with little kids. She had nothing to do and never had anybody waiting at her door.

Hmmm.... I'm sailing on my first Princess cruise with Ruby on 01/09, so reading the postings about attitudes and poor service are a head's up.

BUT....

Ship staffing is about efficiency, so I believe it's true when someone posted that she said she works 13 hour days; most likely she wears several hats, having other responsibilities behind the scene. Someone above her decides on the schedule (time allotted) for the desk, and it sounds like they try to get a feel by having some appointment/sign-up sheet. Perhaps "time at the desk" is viewed as time taken away from some other important support activity back of the house.

NO EXCUSES

By no means do I suggest that there's ANY excuse for poor service or an attitude. I could be misuderstanding, but it seems the purpose is SALES related, aimed at procuring future revenues. To that end, I'd expect a smile to go along with an attitude presented as helpful and knowledgable. When I'm presented with anything less --in a situation where I'm determined to buy-- I confront the individual, politely, with what I perceive as shortcomings in my expectations: it's their chance to either meet my expectations or immediately get someone who can.

I hope it doesn't come to that on my cruise, as I do have questions --which I'm trying to find answers to on these forums-- but may need to ask while onboard.

THANK YOU THANK YOU to all that have posted-- and not just on this one topic!

My first Princess cruise was supposed to be at the beginning of February of 2014, and it was in my "research" here that I learn of the 100% FCC, so decided to book the 01/09 sailing. Without the Cruise Critic Forum, I would have never known. (Princess Eyes, that's for you, and it's true.)

Lastly, and back on topic, I suspect/expect that by my sailing in less than two weeks, that this service problem will have been resolved. The backlog of fulfilling the dropbox requests may still be delayed, but hopefully there will be more accurate timelines (10 days stated shouldn't take 22 days, as someone else here experienced,) so that expectations can be matched with reality.

Pia, thank you for ALL of your insightful information and taking the time to update us.

Yes. :) The drink packages are to make money and profits, not because they want to save you money. "Slippage" is a marketing term for unused portions of what you've paid for. It's the difference between a transaction cost and actual use. That's why gift cards are successful... the company gets the money up front and many people either don't use the gift card or use only portions. For example, I still have a Regal Cinemas gift card from maybe 3-4 years ago and I still have $2.50 left. That's slippage. :) If you purchase the drink package for $49/day but the comparable value that you've used is only $25/day on average, the cruise line gets a nice profit. Many people who buy these packages forget that there are ports and they'll be off the ship for hours or the whole day. That's a lot of drinking to make up to get the full value.

Actually, Pam, what you describe with the gift cards is known as "breakage." I've never heard "slippage" used this way, since it refers mostly to futures contracts in the investment world.

A simple way to look at this is to think about your local "all-you-can-eat" buffet. From the restaurant's outlook, they need to ensure that --ON AVERAGE-- the price they charge is enough to cover the food cost, labor cost, and overhead while still turning a profit. Additionally, the restaurant also needs to believe that there are enough customers in their demographic reach who PERCEIVE the price to be a good enough value to eat there. Ideally, for every glutton, there's at least one or more guests that do NOT eat their body weight in food. From a practical point of view, food cost, at best, can only be matched to a meal period, since there's no way to keep track of exactly what each guest eats.

Now equate that to the Princess trials for "all-you-can-drink" beverage packages... (they'll never use that terminology, as that certainly doesn't promote "responsible alcohol consumption," but let's face it.... those consumers that entertain the purchase certainly see it that way!) On a recent RCI cruise, an angry woman on a premium beverage package was banging her glass for a refill of Grey Goose that wasn't coming fast enough--- all before the ship set sail!!!

"...full value of the package...." From the passenger perception, full value probably surrounds the answer to the question: "Will I order enough drinks each day that would have otherwise had a pricetag that collectively exceeds the $45 daily price of the package?"

For the cruise line, it boils down to "how much will it cost to serve drinks in relation to the price of the package?"

In the ideal world, the "trial" can pinpoint "per guest" profitability of the package with the help of the Point of Sale system: each beverage served is recorded and settled BY GUEST. The information can be captured to determine each package's profitability. They'll lose money on the lush. But they hope to make money on the light drinkers, and those that miscalculate how much they think they'll actually consume.

What distorts the numbers are the cheats. Let's start with the bartenders. Overpouring and circumventing POS time restrictions are two ways to encourage additional gratuities by making the guest happy.

Then there are the passengers. Several have already noted "it's not fair" to make everyone pay. It's done to cut down on the perception on cheating.

Ever tried to have two adults walk through the turnstyle at an "all-you-can-eat" buffet with only one person paying, claiming the other wasn't going to eat?

I recall taking my parents to an UPSCALE buffet (no turnstyles) when my father was finishing his chemotherapy: he wasn't the least interested in eating, so ordered just a shrimp cocktail while we ordered the buffet. The waitress was beside herself and watched our table like a hawk, convinced dad was going to cheat and eat from my mom's plate. He didn't even eat half his shrimp. Whether she owned the company stock or just was concerned a low check average meant a lower gratuity, I'm not sure.

Some have mentioned that competitors have dropped the "all must buy it" policy. RCI still had it in place 30 days ago. If some do drop it, I'd guess they've studied their results enough to determine that either cheating wasn't enough of a distrotion.... -OR- they're experimenting to see if the "all must buy it" policy was discouraging too many individual sales.

Lastly, I'll share about a childhood friend I grew up with who believed that the ONLY time to spend money eating out was at an "ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT" establishment. I'll never forget how he chastised me at my brother's company picnic (where my brother paid the caterers per person attending.) I ate a total of three hot dogs and nothing else. My childhood friend scolded me, telling me I should be eating the pork roast, the expensive food, and NOT the cheap hot dogs! I wasn't getting my money's worth. (His thoughts, even though it was my brother's money paying.) But I was eating the hot dogs because I like them and they were a treat since I usually eat healthy.

It's all to point out that people have different perceptions of value. We understand why the lush and the boozer will see value. But then there may be those who find value in simply paying one price in lieu of sticker shock when they get a multi-page itemed list of every beverage on their folio.

We all understand that beverage packages will only be around as long as they're profitable to Princess. There's nothing wrong with that. Nor is their anything wrong with motives tied to profitability--- especially when another side of it is an additional guest OPTION.

****I'm not sure what compelled me to pull out my lecturn; this was only supposed to be about the term "breakage". I hope noone missed their cruise departure time because they read this full post! lol*****