Tell Me About Being "Elite" w/Princess, Is It That Much Better Cruise Experience?

tldr

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And finally, the MTP's. They changed it to most travelled guests, (but things die hard, like FCC, now Future Cruise Deposit)...those parties be they luncheons or cocktail parties are very nice most of the time, and something we hope for and look forward to attending.

 

Wasn't it always the most traveled guests or did I miss something?

Based on days of course.

My next cruise (about a week away) will be my first as Elite (and my wife's first at Platinum), but for the most part I doubt I will be making much use of the benefits. I don't drink alcohol or coffee so the minibar doesn't do much for me (I'll probably get the coffee cards and trade them off or something) and I'm not sure if we will make use of the laundry service since we usually just do the self - serve laundry anyway (I will say that the laundry rooms were probably the biggest thing we missed when we sailed on RCCL last year). The priority embarkation and disembarkation and Internet minutes are always nice, but for as long as I've been cruising I've either been traveling with my parents who have Platinum status or I've had it myself.

That said, I choose Princess mostly for the itineraries, although I really want to go try an Oasis class ship at some point. That, and the fact that the smaller Grand class ships (the ones with covered pool and no Riviera deck) are probably my favorite ships to sail on.

My next cruise (about a week away) will be my first as Elite (and my wife's first at Platinum), but for the most part I doubt I will be making much use of the benefits. I don't drink alcohol or coffee so the minibar doesn't do much for me (I'll probably get the coffee cards and trade them off or something) and I'm not sure if we will make use of the laundry service since we usually just do the self - serve laundry anyway (I will say that the laundry rooms were probably the biggest thing we missed when we sailed on RCCL last year). The priority embarkation and disembarkation and Internet minutes are always nice, but for as long as I've been cruising I've either been traveling with my parents who have Platinum status or I've had it myself.

 

That said, I choose Princess mostly for the itineraries, although I really want to go try an Oasis class ship at some point. That, and the fact that the smaller Grand class ships (the ones with covered pool and no Riviera deck) are probably my favorite ships to sail on.

Just curious, but looking at your signature, with the Princess cruises you've listed how do make Elite on your next cruise ?

Wasn't it always the most traveled guests or did I miss something?

Based on days of course.

The change from passengers to guests happened in this year.......

I like the new car you get when you first turn Elite. I choose the Yellow Yugo.

Clerks in Target are now associates.that would be great if they shared in the profits,but they don’t. A lot of modern terms are annoying. No one is going to call you. They are going to reach out to you.

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I usually don’t need priority disembarkation, but I do like a nice quiet lounge to wait in while the rest of the ship is bedlam.

Depends on the location of the priority lounge. This last cruise we were doing a walk-off with our luggage. Disembarkation was on deck 7, our walk-off group was in Explorers on deck 7 and the priority lounge was on deck 5. To avoid having to drag our luggage up from 5 to 7 we decided to just go to Explorers. Luckily we caught the tail end of the first walk-off group and were off in no time.

I like the new car you get when you first turn Elite. I choose the Yellow Yugo.

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Yuck yuck 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I chose red!

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We do not cruise on Princess because we are Elite.

We are Elite because Princess is the best fit for us so we most often cruise Princess. :)

Does being Elite keep us from cruising on other cruise lines?

Certainly not and we do "sleep around" on other lines from time to time. :D

This is such a great way to explain it. So love your last line!!!

I'm going to disagree with you for once, Gut. I enjoy the Platinum perks. The priority boarding is great, especially when we were in Barcelona a couple of months ago as there was a separate lounge for Platinum/Elites in the terminal with complimentary tea, coffee and snacks. It was very pleasant waiting there for boarding to commence.

 

I also like the free internet and find it's perfect for quickly catching up with email etc. In fact I didn't even use all my minutes on the Med cruise.

 

I am looking forward to reaching Elite, mainly for the free laundry and the priority tendering. I suspect we'll still do underwear and tshirts in the laundrette but we do send anything that needs pressing after washing to the laundry. It will be nice to get that free and that will mean I'll be able to take more of my lovely linen tshirts on cruises. Priority tendering would have come in very useful on a couple of cruises.

 

If we manage to do all the cruises we have booked we should reach Elite by the end of 2019. We do cruise other lines occasionally but we keep coming back to Princess. It's a good fit for us and has interesting itineraries that depart and/or return to Australia thus keeping other travel costs to a minimum.

We too keep coming back to Princess as you know. Just the laundry is no use to us (both have some skin issues that don’t go well with the harsh detergents, but having a self serve laundry on Princess is a god send on longer cruises).

Sydney-Sydney is a must with Mrs Gut not being allowed to fly and me trying to avoid it.

End we will be elite about the same time. Hawaii will leave us a handful of days short, if we don’t do anything next year.

Mmmm linen T-Shirts, where from Mrs Gut will want to know.

This is such a great way to explain it. So love your last line!!!

I second that!

We cruise Princess because they continue to put out a product that suits our needs. With that said, we have looked at other lines, but by the time you compare pricing for what we get in return for our status, it's hard to justify another line, and I'm not talking just Elite status. Let me explain...I own CCL stock at a low cost basis. So, depending on the length of cruise, we are automatically granted a $50 OBC (of course we have to "apply" for it) for a minimal investment (less than $3K) in my IRA. Surely I can get that on any of the other Carnival brands, but none of them appeal to my demographic (mid 50's) or wallet. I am now at a level where I also get a loyalty credit, as well as a credit (per person) for the Future Cruise Deposit we buy every cruise. So even before the Elite perks, we are walking on board with $200-300 in credit, depending on the length or our cruise. If we were to switch to Royal Caribbean or Celebrity, to get equal benefits, we would have to first put out another $12K in the IRA (using RCL's stock price) just to get the same shareholder benefit.

The Elite perks, in our opinion are minimal, but it is nice to have a mini-bar set-up for our evening cocktails on the balcony, and it surely is nice to have the internet minutes for each of us to stay in touch with the kids. In all our cruises, we have never been to the Elite/Paltinum/Suite happy hour....it just doesn't interest us. We generally are getting ready for dinner, or enjoying a drink on our balcony during this event. And when we are finally ready for dinner, we can be found at Vines or Crooners before dinner. As for the laundry perk....we rarely use it, but is nice to have when needed.

We don't flaunt our status on Princess...we have been very fortunate to be able to cruise with them as much as we have. I cannot tell you how many times we have witnessed people flashing their black cards as though it means something to staff or other passengers. Several times, I have seen people flashing their card at a full elevator as if someone of lesser status should get off.

Bottom line, we cruise Princess because to the product they offer, not because of the status we have achieved. The elite perks are nice, but far from the sole reason we cruise with them. Hope this helps.

Wow some of you guys got new cars. :eek: Princess only gave me a Elite pin :mad:.

I thought it was great at the time so I booked 16 more cruises with the hope of getting another one.

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony

 

Mmmm linen T-Shirts, where from Mrs Gut will want to know.

I got one at Trenery a year or so ago. The others I bought recently at: Galeries Lafayette in Paris (Jodhpur brand), Monoprix in Marseilles, and an overpriced tourist shop on Capri. Guess who just got back from Europe :D

Sportscraft sometimes have them but they are getting to be ridiculously expensive. Marks & Spencer online have a nice linen collection too, but no tshirts at the moment.

I'm always buying clothes on holidays rather then using the laundry though I'm sure it's convenient for some. That T-shirt that has the name on the place you've just been to and someone will always say, "So you've been to insert name here" and think it's hilarious. I'm only just platinum and won't be elite until 2019 though up to this point I haven't used any perks pre elite. Princess continue to provide excellent service so unless that changes I'm sure I won't.

I just was elevated to Ruby on my last cruise.

Obviously many cruises to go before being Elite.

Does your Elite status keep you sailing Princess?

I am not Elite ....... however I find that my ability to be upright and breathing keeps me sailing Princess.

I don't care where we are going, just as long as I am on a Princess cruise does it for me.

I did get to 'taste' the benefits of early boarding once via an extremely dear Elite friend, which us Elfs seriously enjoyed. So we have had a taste of 'special treatment'.

We also like the fact that we Elfs are climbing the cruise 'social ladder' by doing more cruises and are starting to get some recognition of our loyalty to Princess. Personally we would like to achieve our recognition status by actual cruises rather than by loyalty trickery cos we spend our Elf dollars in the casino or some other such malady.

Perhaps one day we may even get a stateroom under the 'Main Stair Case' near the IC .......

We were just in port with an NCL ship & from the looks of the types of passengers I know why we stick to Princess.

Wow... I guess you never were told “never to never judge a book by its cover”.... and if you have nothing nice to say .

We met the couple on our last cruise who won "Elite" for the cruise at the first-time passenger party. I thought it was a great prize--something that doesn't cost Princess much and will hook them on sailing again and again.

We met the couple on our last cruise who won "Elite" for the cruise at the first-time passenger party. I thought it was a great prize--something that doesn't cost Princess much and will hook them on sailing again and again.

Awesome!

Yes, I love the extra's we get. Especially the free internet, the mini bar I could be ok without but it is a nice perk. What I love the most is the priority boarding and priority de-embarkation.

I think it's time for princess to create a super elite category.Some think like 300 days or more.

long cruiser

I think it's time for princess to create a super elite category.Some think like 300 days or more.

long cruiser

Do you think they’d add more or just reduce the lower level benefits though?

the one I’d like to see them change is the OBC for 20+ cruises to include number of days, but that’s probably because all me levels h@ve been days not cruises.

the one I’d like to see them change is the OBC for 20+ cruises to include number of days, but that’s probably because all me levels h@ve been days not cruises.

Same here. There are many more shorter cruise options available in the US eg Caribbean cruises of 7 days. It's rare to get cruises here of 7 days or less unless Princess is offering different start/finish ports on some cruises and offering 2-3 day options to fill the cabins after the first disembarkation port.

The Elite perks are only one reason to keep sailing with Princess (our 21st is booked). The status perks are FAR superior to other lines, but it's the ambiance, service and quality experience that keep us coming back to Princess. Yes, we do other lines....going to try MSC soon, but even their "Black Card" status perks fall far short of what we get from Princess.