Elite Benefit Erosion

[Happy2cruise]

If you remember it hasn't been that long ago that suite passengers lost their free internet so don't get complacent and think that it can't happen.

 

 

Mike:)

Wasn't it similar to the Internet...Elites were letting other people use the Internet under the Elites sign in:(. IMO, can't blame Princess if it's being abused:mad:

Edited March 24, 2014 by Happy2cruise

[Pam in CA]

I agree. We know how to maximize our OBC and minimize our spending. Our onboard account is often $10 to $25 dollars per day, and that includes the autotip and a bottle of wine most evenings.

I don't need to have statistics or an expert to know that Elite usually know how to get the maximum OBC. They usually don't buy photos, cameras, flowers, clothing or jewelry in the shops, go to the massive "outlet" sale in the dining room, pay for laundry or Internet, etc. They are experienced travelers who tend to book independent tours.

[paul929207]

Wasn't it similar to the Internet...Elites were letting other people use the Internet under the Elites sign in:(. IMO, can't blame Princess if it's being abused:mad:

There were reports that people were selling their access codes. I can see Princess limiting the laundry perk like they have done with the internet.

[Roses2]

There is a significant difference between fact and opinion. While I may agree with your opinion and the reasons you reached your opinion, that does not make it fact. If I cite an opinion, I clearly state it as such.

 

Here are some factual data about Cruise demographics that may or may not surprise those who read them. I can find no factual data regarding amount spent by cruise passengers and how that correlates positively or negatively with number of cruises taken. It would be helpful if someone has such data to be able to see it.

 

Cruise Demographics:

 

Cruise Passenger Demographic Statistics Data

Average age of a cruise passenger 50 +

Average household earnings $109,000

Percent of passengers who are college graduates 86 %

Percent who are married and work full time 62 %

Percent of people age 25+ with earnings of $40,000+ who have taken a cruise 44.6 %

Percent of the total US population who have taken a cruise 19.9 %

Average spent per person per week on their cruise $1,770

Average spent per person per week on a non-cruise vacation $1,200

 

Source: American Association of Port Authorities, Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association

Research Date: 1.1.2014

 

[heddyjan]

Interesting discussion. As an Australian cruiser I agree with a few of your stats. However, there are a couple of points I'd like to make. The age of the passenger here depends on the length of the cruise. As most of the cruises I take are longer ones, the average age of the cruises is 55+ and retired or nearing retirement. Circumnavigating Australia last time the average age was 70+. This was because older cruisers who couldn't get travel insurance could get off anywhere for Medicare help if unwell.

As to elite benefits. They are a privilege not a right! Abuse it .... lose it.

Although I have said to Princess before ..... Elite cruisers are your best advertisement or your worst nightmare. .... you choose.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Putterdude]

Certainly of all the Elite perks we appreciate the free laundry the most. The second most appreciated perk is the internet package. We could live without the other benefits but the above two and particularly the laundry have real value to us. We would hate to see the benefit eliminated due to abuse.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Friends don't let friends send their valuable clothing to the Princess laundry.

[IfishSitka]

While on the subject of elite benefits, do you still receive the mini bar setup on a one day (repo) cruise?

[Sunviking]

As a friendly reminder, as a class, the most experienced travelers on a given line are the least profitable on a per cruise basis (please do not quote how much YOU spend, I am talking in aggregate). They know the deals and how to avoid costs, plus they get perks that others pay for. They make it up by being a fairly reliable source of revenue for the line, even at a lower margin and having a lower acquisition cost.

 

That said, if the margin on a given class of cruisers drops, costs associated with that class will be cut. People abusing a benefit decrease the margin for elite customers. You do the math.

 

We have sailed enough that we are elite and we also always book suites. Given that those cabins rarely see price reductions and we always have quite sizeable shipboard charges I can tell you that the cruise line makes a nice profit off us. We have been on cruises where we know for a fact that some of our shipmates paid less than 25% of what we did for our cabin. That's okay because we chose what we wanted and expected to pay that. But to say that there was no profit from us is incorrect. We enjoy our laundry perk (entitled to it for being both elite and in a suite) and we send it out as often as we need to. We have never sent anyone else's laundry and would not consider it. We were upset when the internet perk went away for suite passengers because we also never abused that.

[Ethel5]

I don't need to have statistics or an expert to know that Elite usually know how to get the maximum OBC. They usually don't buy photos, cameras, flowers, clothing or jewelry in the shops, go to the massive "outlet" sale in the dining room, pay for laundry or Internet, etc. They are experienced travelers who tend to book independent tours.

 

Add to the list.....we have already experienced the specialty restaurants and don't do them often. We stay out of the art auctions. The grandkids already have the Princess T-shirts etc. Jewelry is cheaper at home and easier to return. BUT, we keep coming back to Princess time after time.:)

[Caribensun]

I thought it was one bag per cruise regardless of days. Even when a full suite that is how we used our laundry. Sorry to hear people may be abusing it.

I take my own laundry wash and do most in the sink anyway. I hope they do not do away with it as it is a nice perk.

[Colo Cruiser]

I thought it was one bag per cruise regardless of days. Even when a full suite that is how we used our laundry. Sorry to hear people may be abusing it.

I take my own laundry wash and do most in the sink anyway. I hope they do not do away with it as it is a nice perk.

 

 

No limit as far as I know.

[Putterdude]

Friends don't let friends send their valuable clothing to the Princess laundry.

 

Wiser words were never spoken, clearly from a sage(et) who has great wisdom.

[spunkie4]

I think the Royal T/A was an extreme example of the laundry abuse yet Princess did nothing to control it which resulted in massive delays, immense frustration and upset just about everyone on the ship, from the stewards to passengers paying to have their laundry done. The excuse given was that there were a lot of Elites onboard and that laundry couldn't be done while docked in Venice. Hogwash! I've taken quite a few cruises with as many or more Elites onboard.

 

What happened is that some people were sending 5-7 bags a day, every day and many were sending multiple bags a day. Granted, there was a delay due to Venice so that the first day, there was a delay of a couple of days to get your laundry back. By the end of the cruise, laundry was taking 7-8 days between sending it out and getting it back. People were literally screaming and crying for their clothing, even if it was wet, so they could pack. It was a disaster.

 

IMHO, Princess could have easily controlled this by limiting laundry to one bag a day per cabin. That's very reasonable even for people spending several days pre-cruise touring. You can fit 2-3 days' worth of clothing in a bag per couple. As a single, I often send 4-5 days' clothing in one bag. To me, the situation was controllable/fixable but Princess chose not to do anything which resulted in everyone mad, angry and upset.

 

Pam:

 

Agree with you 100%

 

We were on the Royal T/A for 30 days. No problem with the laundry until the last portion of the cruise. We finally washed our clothes, but listened to many gripe about the cost, time spent, etc. There were certainly a large number of "entitled elite", as opposed to the Elite who are thankful for every benefit.

 

The entire problem could have been solved with limited bags per cabin.

 

Shirley

[abbydancer2003]

While on the subject of elite benefits, do you still receive the mini bar setup on a one day (repo) cruise?

 

Yes. At least as of 2012, when I last did one.

[pris993]

[quote name='Cruise Amuse']Thanks so much for posting this! We are not yet Elite but we have sailed with friends who are Elite and they have frequently offered to send our laundry out with their laundry. We have always refused their offer because I can just imagine the logistical nightmare that would pose for the laundry staff. I also know of others who send all their stuff toward the end of the cruise so they go home with clean clothes. I'll just visit the dry cleaners when I return; however, looking forward to the service on long cruises so I don't have to pack as much.

One thing I do disagree with is the Shareholders benefits. I think if each person in the cabin has 100 shares of stock, they should both get the benefit.[/quote]

We are elite, have never used the laundry service, only pressing because we are heavy packers and do laundry when we get home.

Agree elites need to respect the benefits received, Princess gives the best perks of any line.

[Ethel5]

I'm not in favor of the one bag per day idea. I don't want to be bothered doing a laundry bag/list every day. On my last cruise of 28 days, I got a large plastic bag from Stewart (old joke) and sent laundry out only 3 times. Besides, the flimsy paper bags make me crazy.

[notentirelynormal]

Reading the laundry benefit comments - I just realized that neither my DH and myself or either of my kids have ever used this service. We've all been elite for at least 15 years too LOL. We just never think about it.

[waltd]

Have to say we have only used the laundry once in all the years we have been cruising with Princess. I would rather do my own laundry.

[AE_Collector]

Lots of good stuff here, just like the last virtually identical topic on the subject. Too bad they couldn't be merged into one big topic full of good info.

[url]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1977101[/url]

Laundry: Celebrity Elite benefit is one bag of laundry per cruise up to 11 days long and a second bag if 12 days or longer. Not certain if that is per Elite passenger or per cabin. In any event, a big difference from Princess. My opinion, be smart and don't abuse or even over use it. Over using IMHO includes having all your laundry done to take home clean.

Elite Minibar: Princess is fairly generous in ths area though not as generous as Celebrity's Elite Happy Hour. Argueably maybe each Elite should get one rather than one per room. But there are other silly situation such as the one day reposition cruise getting one where most likely the minibar is being dumped into the passengers suitcase to take home with them. Seems kind of silly to me. Then other couples with different last names report each getting a minibar setup in a single room. Not right in my mind either.

Shareholder Benefit: (since it was discussed here earlier) For an investment of only 100 shares it is very lucrative. If there were changes it would be very unlikely to be doubled for two shareholders in a cabin unless it were significantly reduced in value first. I would not be at all surprised in the future to see the number of shares needed to qualify increased to maybe 1000 or more. The shareholder benefit is no longer a benefit enjoyed by a very small number of serious shareholders. It s now used by ever increasing numbers of people who own only 100 shares for no reason other than to get the OBC. There is a significant amount of office manpower to administer it as well since try have to confirm tat you own the hares each time you cruise.

It seems to me that Princess is most often compared to Celebrity here on CC. Celebrity allows very little stacking of OBC. They give 1 bag of laundry to Elites. They have recently cut back on the OBC for Future Cruise Deposits where an actual cruise isn't booked onboard. They just significantly reduced the rate that most cruisers progress to the next loyalty level. This isn't the way it has always been with Celebrity but most are recent reductions to the perks on Celebrity.

Therefore, my opinion is that we have it good on Princess and need to be very reasonable in our demands and most certainly NOT abuse or overuse any of the benefits. We have a lot to lose.

Terry

[caribill]

[quote name='AE_Collector']
Elite Minibar: Princess is fairly generous in ths area though not as generous as Celebrity's Elite Happy Hour. Argueably maybe each Elite should get one rather than one per room. [/quote]

Be careful what you ask for.

They could change it so that if there is only one elite in a cabin there is only one of each item.

And if there are two elites, it would have two of each item, just like it is now.

[EddieCruzer]

[quote name='AE_Collector']Lots of good stuff here, just like the last virtually identical topic on the subject. Too bad they couldn't be merged into one big topic full of good info.

[url]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1977101[/url]

Laundry: Celebrity Elite benefit is one bag of laundry per cruise up to 11 days long and a second bag if 12 days or longer. Not certain if that is per Elite passenger or per cabin. In any event, a big difference from Princess. My opinion, be smart and don't abuse or even over use it. Over using IMHO includes having all your laundry done to take home clean.

Elite Minibar: Princess is fairly generous in ths area though not as generous as Celebrity's Elite Happy Hour. Argueably maybe each Elite should get one rather than one per room. But there are other silly situation such as the one day reposition cruise getting one where most likely the minibar is being dumped into the passengers suitcase to take home with them. Seems kind of silly to me. Then other couples with different last names report each getting a minibar setup in a single room. Not right in my mind either.

Shareholder Benefit: (since it was discussed here earlier) For an investment of only 100 shares it is very lucrative. If there were changes it would be very unlikely to be doubled for two shareholders in a cabin unless it were significantly reduced in value first. [COLOR="Red"]I would not be at all surprised in the future to see the number of shares needed to qualify increased to maybe 1000 or more. [/COLOR]The shareholder benefit is no longer a benefit enjoyed by a very small number of serious shareholders. It s now used by ever increasing numbers of people who own only 100 shares for no reason other than to get the OBC. There is a significant amount of office manpower to administer it as well since try have to confirm tat you own the hares each time you cruise.

It seems to me that Princess is most often compared to Celebrity here on CC. Celebrity allows very little stacking of OBC. They give 1 bag of laundry to Elites. They have recently cut back on the OBC for Future Cruise Deposits where an actual cruise isn't booked onboard. They just significantly reduced the rate that most cruisers progress to the next loyalty level. This isn't the way it has always been with Celebrity but most are recent reductions to the perks on Celebrity.

Therefore, my opinion is that we have it good on Princess and need to be very reasonable in our demands and most certainly NOT abuse or overuse any of the benefits. We have a lot to lose.

Terry[/QUOTE]

No one is going to be willing to plunk down $40,000 for $100 OBC. The only thing I disagree with on the shareholder benefit is if 2 non-related passengers share a cabin, only one is entitled to the OBC.

[AE_Collector]

[quote name='EddieCruzer']No one is going to be willing to plunk down $40,000 for $100 OBC. The only thing I disagree with on the shareholder benefit is if 2 non-related passengers share a cabin, only one is entitled to the OBC.[/QUOTE]

My point exactly. The shareholder benefit was a benefit of some extra OBC for shareholders who in many instances owned much more than 100 shares. Now it has become a situation where many many more buy only 100 shares only for the OBC.

I WOULD "plunk down $40,000" for it in my retirement fund if it were a good stock paying a decent dividend which is the reason to buy shares, not just because the OBC is worth the risk!

So changing it to 1000 shares minimum would be a good move for CCL as they would save a lot of OBC yet still give the benefit to real shareholders rather than OBC collectors who "wouldn't plunk down $40,000".

Not what anyone wants to hear but I am just saying that I could easily see a change like that in the future. Or the elimination if it or maybe just making it non combinable with other OBC.

My wife and I own more than 100 shares each and we still get one OBC for it per cabin. Why should two unrelated shareholders in a cabin be different?

Terry Edited March 24, 2014 by AE_Collector

[caribill]

[quote name='AE_Collector']
My wife and I own more than 100 shares each and we still get one OBC for it per cabin. Why should two unrelated shareholders in a cabin be different?

Terry[/quote]

So, how about $50 (7-13 day voyage) for each of the first two elite in a cabin that own 100 shares?

[Skai]

[quote name='AE_Collector']

So changing it to 1000 shares minimum would be a good move for CCL as they would save a lot of OBC yet still give the benefit to real shareholders rather than OBC collectors who "wouldn't plunk down $40,000".

Not what anyone wants to hear but I am just saying that I could easily see a change like that in the future.

Terry[/QUOTE]

Why would they want to do that when RCCL is currently offering a similar shareholder benefit as CCL?

CCL's is not unique, nor is it excessively generous in comparison to other shareholder perks that abound in the business world. Edited March 24, 2014 by Skai