change to sanctury reservation process

[paul929207]

How about an auction? Highest bidders get them.

[lcmslady]

Who knew this would generate such spirited discussion?

 

Never been in the Sanctuary but the idea of not having to hunt for a chair is well worth the $$ to me.

 

If I can book it for the entire cruise, great - if not, then I'm not getting up at the crack of dawn to go stand in line. I'm on vacation!

 

Time will tell.....

[crows nest club]

Who knew this would generate such spirited discussion?

 

Never been in the Sanctuary but the idea of not having to hunt for a chair is well worth the $$ to me.

 

If I can book it for the entire cruise, great - if not, then I'm not getting up at the crack of dawn to go stand in line. I'm on vacation!

 

Time will tell.....

 

Quite agree - we are not prepared to stand in line - as you say, time will tell. Lets wait until we get more feedback when it is rolled out fleet wide.

[compozer]

, even though only one passenger was present for the bookings two of those passengers in front of him were able to secure 16 and 12 loungers respectively (the rest of the passengers presumably still in bed!!). Princess need to restrict say each passenger in line can only book a maximum of 4 loungers (they may be in a 4 berth cabin) and if more are wanted, then those passengersd must also be in line at the time.

quote]

 

 

I think they should only be allowed to book two loungers. Would there be four adults in one cabin? They don't allow children there so I think 2 per cabin should be the limit. I suppose it could be adult children in the same cabin - so then you should have to bring down their cabin cards to prove they are in the same cabin.

I think some Elite people book insides and then get to the ship early and reserve for the entire week. This could change things and people may start booking balconies instead of insides.

[chamima]

It really did not matter if people had books or other things on the chairs in the front row because they would have already had paid for the seat and you could not have used them anyway.

 

Based on some peoples comments the Sanctuary is fully booked at some times, but based on my experience the Sanctuary is mostly empty. I am sure that Princess has data that indicates how often it is fully booked. If it is fully booked most of the time then I would think that Princess needs to make some kind of change so that everyone has an opportunity to use it. Perhaps that is the reason that the Sanctuary area appears to be so much larger on the new Royal Princess design.

IMO if you cannot book the same lounger for everyday in advance the overall experience would be less desirable. Getting up early every day to "get a good seat" for the day would make it less desirable. Unless you could actually book your desired location in advance I am not sure how you could practically implement an advanced booking system. Reserve a slot in advance and then have to go early each day to find your seat for the day?

 

I thought the overall Sanctuary experience for the total cruise was worth the money, but if I had to hassle with the process early each day than I would probably just skip it. Perhaps it will turn into a process to "legally" pay extra to reserve a chair on a daily basis instead of a restful place for the full cruise. Of course some people "reserve" chairs on a daily basis on other areas of the ship without paying any extra.

 

The bottom line is that Princess will probably try to adust the Sanctuary process to increase the overall revenue. (contrary to some people's assessment that is too crowded thus it must be maximized already and is only a question of fairness of getting a seat)

 

 

We usually book the Sanctuary for the whole cruise. To me the main point of the Sanctuary is knowing that that lounger is mine without getting up early to find or reserve it. Also, it means that my husband or I can go somewhere before we end up in the lounger and know where to find the other person. Reserving these seats on a daily basis negates all of the above benefits and ruins the concept entirely for us.

We loved that the Sanctuary reminded us of cruising years ago when you would get your lounger for the entire cruise on the first day. You never had to worry about getting up early or leaving your seat empty. And you had the same deck steward for the whole cruise so the service (as it currently is in the Sanctuary) was wonderful.

BTW - we were on a B2B on the Emerald in Feb. and you couldn't book for the second cruise until 1:00 of the first day of that cruise so B2Bers had no advantage there either.

 

I guess I'm just glad we've had such wonderful cruises because as I add up all of the supposedly small changes Princess is making it looks like it may be time to look for vacation alternatives. :(

[kruisey]

The Sanctuary not my style.

Think it only fair for the few places it has everybody should have a chance for a restful day not just the few.

Why would you feel you are entitled and not your fellow passengers.?

Lets be fair.

My humble opinion.Not that you wont it:D

[RickEk]

This thread is turning into a pi$$ing match... I, for one, wish we could get a definitive answer from someone with recent experience... thanx! :mad:

 

That would be the OP... :p

[Merlinite]

That would be the OP... :p

 

Actually, OP said they WERE able to book the entire cruise. so which is it? Guess I will find out first hand in 24 days, 12 hours, 6 minutes and a few seconds :D

[Paula_MacFan]

The Sanctuary not my style.

Think it only fair for the few places it has everybody should have a chance for a restful day not just the few.

Why would you feel you are entitled and not your fellow passengers.?

Lets be fair.

My humble opinion.Not that you wont it:D

 

I agree and don't see what the big deal is. Why not just book a balcony and sit out there all day?

 

Do most people booking the Sanctuary have inside rooms?

[dolphinmar]

Merlinite - not that you are counting or anything...;) I see you are from Oregon. We are up in Seattle and I am definitely counting down to our departure. And hopefully a chance to get to experience the Sanctuary. If not, at least there will be sun and that's a vast improvement over the weather we Northwesterners have gotten this winter!

 

Gonna go home and listen to Jimmy Buffet tonight!!!

[RickEk]

Actually, OP said they WERE able to book the entire cruise. so which is it? Guess I will find out first hand in 24 days, 12 hours, 6 minutes and a few seconds :D

 

Oh sure, but the new policy was just put in place and he was able to get it changed by complaining. You may find the policy completely different by the time you sail... :p ;)

[PescadoAmarillo]

How about an auction? Highest bidders get them.

I think this is a great idea. One of my earliest Economics lessons was about maximizing the area under the demand curve, and auctions are perfect at doing this. Also, the price for non-warm weather cruises or port intensive cruises would naturally end up being lower, which makes far more sense then having a standard price regardless of itinerary.

 

I've never quite understood why Princess didn't raise the price of the Sanctuary. People are falling all over each other to get there...at some price point they wouldn't be.

[Bustersmom]

Perhaps there is no one fair way, is there for anything really? As someone who booked the sanctuary for a week I think I can comment. This was the one selling point of the entire cruise for us as we do not want to be labeled chair hogs, by getting up at crack of dawn and laying various personal items on chairs. We are also on vacation and did not want to get up at crack of dawn, so as soon as we got on ship, this was our first destination. We played by the rules. We reserved our chairs and spent most every hour of every single day there, saw many who did not and wondered why spend the money it is not cheap! The one issue I do have is B2B, when we got in line, we found out the B2B cruisers had already reserved over 2/3 of that avail, we think they should start the process over each leg of the cruise, perhaps it would not make it difference but they got preferential treatment. Again, I think anytime you are willing to fork over additional fees for sanctuary, or balcony etc, that is your right. I also agree that the fairest situation I can see would be to open it up on line just like an excursion, how is the sanctuary any different from clams shells or bungalows for fee on Princess Cays?

[LarryF]

I agree and don't see what the big deal is. Why not just book a balcony and sit out there all day?

 

Do most people booking the Sanctuary have inside rooms?

 

To go from an inside cabin to a balcony for a week cruise can cost upwards of $1,000 whereas a lounger in the sanctuary costs $15 each per day; a total of $210 for two people for the week.

 

Here's what you get in the sanctuary that you don't get on your balcony:

 

- a six inch thick cushioned lounge chair that is about as comfortable as a heavenly bed.

- an attendant that brings you cold citrus water and continually refills all day long.

- an attendant that brings you ice cold towels when you need to cool off from the heat.

- an attendant that will get any food items and or drinks for a modest fee of $3.

- an attendant that serves you afternoon tea, scones, cookies and cakes at 3:30 every afternoon.

- no second hand smoke cause you can't break the no smoking rules that they don't seem to enforce on the balconies.

- absolute silence (never heard MUTTS when we used the sanctuary).

 

To many, these services are well worth the $15 per day. I think just as many folks with a balcony use it as much as inside cabin folks.

 

When we cruised the Emerald a few weeks ago, the sanctuary was sold out when we tried to sign up at 12:30! But they said they hold back about 25 spots for daily sign ups. So we did get there at 7am each sea day and signed up for those days. So even if you don't get there in time to sign up for the week, you can sign up daily.

[CruisinChris]

Wow -tons of conversation on this topic. I don't watch the boards all day, so am just now checking in.

 

So - to clear the confusion - the new policy being rolled out from HQ is no cruise-long rentals. I was allowed to as an accomodation after I spoke to Passenger services and stated my disappointment and rational...much along the lines of what Chamima wrote above.

 

I have never seen the Sanctuary full. And for what it's worth, cruise-long reservations were limited to only 10 chairs per cruise. This is a very small proportion of the total seats available.

 

I personally think Princess is in a tough spot on this. They are trying to be fair but they also want and need the space to generate revenue. I don't think the demand is so high that it justifies them turning away guaranteed revenue from cruise-long bookings. Many seats go unsold.

 

I never liked having to sprint aboard to get these seats and am all in favor a more rational approach to handling reservations. I am not in favor of not allowing cruise-long bookings because the pain in the neck factor of having to stand in line every morning updoes to the whole point of the Sanctuary ( to me - my opinion).

 

I can't help but wonder how this will need to work on the new Royal that appears to have many more seats.

[Paula_MacFan]

To go from an inside cabin to a balcony for a week cruise can cost upwards of $1,000 whereas a lounger in the sanctuary costs $15 each per day; a total of $210 for two people for the week.

 

Here's what you get in the sanctuary that you don't get on your balcony:

 

- a six inch thick cushioned lounge chair that is about as comfortable as a heavenly bed.

- an attendant that brings you cold citrus water and continually refills all day long.

- an attendant that brings you ice cold towels when you need to cool off from the heat.

- an attendant that will get any food items and or drinks for a modest fee of $3.

- an attendant that serves you afternoon tea, scones, cookies and cakes at 3:30 every afternoon.

- no second hand smoke cause you can't break the no smoking rules that they don't seem to enforce on the balconies.

- absolute silence (never heard MUTTS when we used the sanctuary).

 

To many, these services are well worth the $15 per day. I think just as many folks with a balcony use it as much as inside cabin folks.

 

When we cruised the Emerald a few weeks ago, the sanctuary was sold out when we tried to sign up at 12:30! But they said they hold back about 25 spots for daily sign ups. So we did get there at 7am each sea day and signed up for those days. So even if you don't get there in time to sign up for the week, you can sign up daily.

 

Thanks for clarifying the rationale of the Sanctuary to me. I have always had a Caribe balcony and never had a problem sitting out there in peace. We had loungers (although I realize now they are replacing them with crappy chairs). I never had a problem with smokers or noise from MUTS, either.

 

As for refreshments, my DH brings me a cold beer from the cabin:) To each their own!

[VOR]

I hope they do make the change and stick with it.

 

It gives more people more chance to use that service.

 

If they allow elite only access (which allowing full cruise reservations to people before most have a chance to board does), they prevent others from using that service, and some of those will go elsewhere to cruise.

[cantwaitfornextcruise]

I have a great idea, sell it for the whole cruise but charge like $25 or $30 a day.:eek:

 

Great idea, we would pay more in a heart beat

 

I agree and don't see what the big deal is. Why not just book a balcony and sit out there all day?

 

Do most people booking the Sanctuary have inside rooms?

 

We do have a balcony mini actually only did an inside once as a late booking - never ever again, would prefer not to cruise YUK :eek:

 

If they allow elite only access (which allowing full cruise reservations to people before most have a chance to board does), they prevent others from using that service, and some of those will go elsewhere to cruise.

 

Good idea make it an elite perk

 

Seriously we would pay more for this facility, it is so nice, so as I said before make the area bigger there is the demand, Princess make more money pax happy win win

[Mrs. Wilburforce]

Our party of three women had no problem booking for a 10 day Panama Canal cruise. We told the employees the days we wouldn't be using our chairs with the thought that others may have a chance. When luck smiles on you, as it did with us getting the whole 10 days, it seemed like a reasonable way to return a little good karma back to others.

One day we were more than a little surprised to find 3 people occupying our chairs. It seems that they were sold with the understanding that if we showed up, the occupants were out of luck. Unfortunately for them, they pretty much threw that money away as we showed up mid morning. So Princess is working this for every dime they can make and, for the record, I don't have a problem with that. As long as they stick to the agreement they made, I'd rather see the chairs not go to waste.

We also never saw it full.

I think people have to try to be consistent. If the folks who just had their cruises cancelled are supposed to suck it up and accept that Princess isn't responsible for things they can't control and the contract is what it is, the

same applies here and it applies to the chair issues on the balconies the Caribbean Deck (sic)...I could go on and on. Let's all have a little more compassion or at least patience, each for the other, on the very real annoyances that effect us all at some point.

[chamima]

And therein lies the debate. Imagine a scenario where it is announced that the ice cream bar will be open from 2:00-2:30 daily, and can only serve 20 customers each day, and that the first 20 people to show up on day one have the option of returning every day to get one of the 20 allotted ice cream cones. A fee is now charged of $2.00 per cone. So the first 20 people to show up on day one do just that. Everyone else on the ship gathers around each day at 2:00 to watch longingly as the lucky 20 are served their ice cream. But to the crowd's amazement, each of the 20 people served takes their cone and immediately dumps it in the nearest trash receptacle without taking so much as a single lick.

 

Some may say that those 20 people paid for those cones and can do whatever they want with them, including throwing them away without so much as a taste. Others would say that this is a terrible waste of resources and that people who weren't going to actually enjoy the ice cream should never have usurped all the allotted cones.

 

Neither of these positions is wrong. But where you come out on the subject largely frames the debate of what is fair and what is proper. It appears as if Princess is moving toward eliminating the "waste of resources" approach and is going to try to sell its resource each day to people who will actually use it, and in so doing, moving away from a system that allows a chair to remain empty during port days. And the cynic might say that this new approach will boost revenue, as the unused chair earns no money for the ship, but a used chair might engender several cocktail orders.

 

 

What you'd have to add to your analogy is that some days it was warm (sea days) and some days freezing (port days). The people who paid for the ice cream for the entire time also paid for those ice cream cones for the freezing cold days when they might not be so refreshing.

Also, you'd have to add that there was ice cream for everyone (there are, after all, loungers all over the ship) but the pay-for ice cream was richer or something. And that there were 20 more allotted ice cream cones that people could get day by day if they got there in time. (They hold half of the seats in the Sanctuary for daily bookings.)

 

I only mentioned the port days because we DIDN'T get off several port days because of having been in the Caribbean a lot and there were MANY days that we were among maybe 4 other people in the whole place. The Emerald has 3 sea days in it's 10 day itinerary and the ONLY days it was full were those 3 sea days. So just how does booking daily help that? I now see the place being TOTALLY empty on port days instead of just mostly empty.

 

I repeat that the main attraction for us is knowing that we will have the same place to sit for the entire cruise. I don't think we are the only people who feel that way and by having it change to a daily booking policy the entire ambience of the place is lost.

[kruisey]

Wow -tons of conversation on this topic. I don't watch the boards all day' date=' so am just now checking in.

 

So - to clear the confusion - the new policy being rolled out from HQ is no cruise-long rentals. I was allowed to as an accomodation after I spoke to Passenger services and stated my disappointment and rational...much along the lines of what Chamima wrote above.

 

I have never seen the Sanctuary full. And for what it's worth, cruise-long reservations were limited to only 10 chairs per cruise. This is a very small proportion of the total seats available.

 

I personally think Princess is in a tough spot on this. They are trying to be fair but they also want and need the space to generate revenue. I don't think the demand is so high that it justifies them turning away guaranteed revenue from cruise-long bookings. Many seats go unsold.

 

I never liked having to sprint aboard to get these seats and am all in favor a more rational approach to handling reservations. I am not in favor of not allowing cruise-long bookings because the pain in the neck factor of having to stand in line every morning updoes to the whole point of the Sanctuary ( to me - my opinion).

 

I can't help but wonder how this will need to work on the new Royal that appears to have many more seats.[/quote']

 

I did not realize that only 10 seats could be reserved for long rentals.

I apologize for my misunderstanding.:o Not being a person who can sit down for that long the Sanctuary has no meaning or needs for me.You would have to tie me down to lie there all that time:D

[lovevacadays]

I totally agree. Why should that space be utilized by only a few folks?

 

Realistically, I seriously doubt that anyone actually sits there from open to close the whole week, so why not plan your usage, and let others benefit too?!!

 

I agree with you. This way more people get the opportunity to experience the Sanctuary should they want to. There are many who don't even know of the sanctuary until they are on the cruise for a day or two. This seems to even the score a bit.

[A&L_Ont]

I think this is a great idea. One of my earliest Economics lessons was about maximizing the area under the demand curve, and auctions are perfect at doing this. Also, the price for non-warm weather cruises or port intensive cruises would naturally end up being lower, which makes far more sense then having a standard price regardless of itinerary.

 

I've never quite understood why Princess didn't raise the price of the Sanctuary. People are falling all over each other to get there...at some price point they wouldn't be.

 

They could do it as a sealed bid auction on embarkation day. You put down your room number and how much you are willing to pay for the week in a sealed envelope. They are opened that night by the people in charge of the sanctuary. Highest bidder gets first pic of lounger location and so on down the line for a week's pass. You can get notified the first night on the ship and chose your lounger on the first morning of the cruise. Any remaining spots that are left over then go on a daily basis.

 

Kind of like bidding for a room on something like price line. You might get it you might not.

 

Only an idea.

[highheel girl]

Good job Princess.

It should be one day at a time first come first served and no online bookings. :cool:

[caribill]

Two suggestions:

 

a) Allow booking for the next day at 5 PM each evening. That way there is no need to get in line at 6 AM.

 

b) Have all those who want the sanctuary for the week get in the six elevators on deck 5 near the atrium and all press for deck 14 at the same time. Those in the first elevator to reach deck 14 get to book for the entire week.