What do y'all think of the Captain's Circle benefits?

[AE_Collector]

Hi,

 

in what way's do you find the Princess loyalty program superior to Celebrity?

 

In all ways for us though as I said in my previous post (#64) above, I agree that Celebrity's 5-7 free drinks is technically "worth" more than Princesses free Elite Mini Bar. However we drink so little that the free alcohol isn't a factor for us. The Mini Bars 10 alcoholic and 10 non alcoholic items by the way, not "four airline bottles and a couple of mixers". And you get them all even on short cruises.

 

What is a factor for us is:

 

Combinability of OBC on Princess always gets us a bigger total than it does on Celebrity.

 

More free internet on Princess than on Celebrity. I cant cruise without reasonable communications with home to keep our business going. I dont have to buy any on Princess and the free internet starts at Platinum, not Elte.

 

More free laundry on Princess than on Celebrity. We go pretty easy on the laundry anyway but not having to carefully ration what gets laundered and what can wait until we are home is just easier.

 

Terry

Edited January 6, 2015 by AE_Collector

[PunkiC]

Before we retired we sailed mostly on Princess, but are now also sailing on Cunard. We get great OBC on both lines. We always get a balcony and usually take at least a 14-day cruise.

 

Princess OBC:

 

Military x 2 = $500

Stockholder = $250

Future Cruise = $200

Loyalty = $50

 

Total $1,000.00 per cruise OBC

 

Plus whatever we get from our travel agent or for special Princess promotions. With Princess we also each get some free internet, free laundry and dry cleaning, mini bar set up, priority boarding for both the ship and tenders, free wine tasting, Captains Circle party, etc.

 

 

Cunard OBC:

 

Military x 2 = $500

Stockholder = $250

Future Cruice = $600

 

Total $1,350.00 per cruise OBC

 

We are only gold with Cunard so all we get over and above the generous OBC is some free internet. Even at the highest level, the laundry discount on Cunard only kicks in AFTER all OBC is spent. Isn't that the silliest thing ever? :confused: We also get invited to the Gold party and sometimes to the Senior Officers party which is way above our status level, but we sometimes have friends in high places. :p

 

We always check our OBC when we board to make sure it is correct and then figure the amount of our auto tip and how much it will cost for dinner wine during the voyage, and then decide what to do with our balance.

 

On Princess we usually have a couple of specialty restaurant dinners, and on our last Cunard cruise we did the Ultimate Ship's Tour. That was very interesting. DH didn't think he wanted to go but then he loved it--I knew he would as he has an engineering kind of mind and asked at least 1,000 questions during the tour.

 

We like that we can bring as much wine on board as we want on either line. Of course on Princess we have to pay a $15 corkage fee on all bottles over the first two, but that's fine with us as that is also covered by our OBC.

 

We are thinking of taking an Antarctica cruise and, since neither Princess nor Cunard go there, are looking at Celebrity or HAL. Celebrity doesn't let you take more than two bottles of wine on board even if you are willing to pay corkage which is really lame so, if we go that route, we will have to find a cruise with a drink package included.

 

We have heretofore taken only one Celebrity cruise and it was fine, but we have no status.

[Cruise Junky]

We are thinking of taking an Antarctica cruise and, since neither Princess nor Cunard go there, are looking at Celebrity or HAL. Celebrity doesn't let you take more than two bottles of wine on board even if you are willing to pay corkage which is really lame so, if we go that route, we will have to find a cruise with a drink package included.

 

We have heretofore taken only one Celebrity cruise and it was fine, but we have no status.

 

HAL wine policy is now the same as Princess's

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5711

Edited January 6, 2015 by Cruise Junky

[Iamcruzin]

We are thinking of taking an Antarctica cruise and, since neither Princess nor Cunard go there, are looking at Celebrity or HAL. Celebrity doesn't let you take more than two bottles of wine on board even if you are willing to pay corkage which is really lame so, if we go that route, we will have to find a cruise with a drink package included.

 

We have heretofore taken only one Celebrity cruise and it was fine, but we have no status.

What really makes it lame is the fact that they have been giving away the drink package for anyone who books an ocean view or higher for over a year now. I would think that it would be in their best interest to let and passengers with the drink package bring on their own wine as they wouldn't be dipping into the ships stock.

 

If you have sailed with Celebrity before you would be a Classic Member and you are entitled to the following which is better than Princess Gold or Ruby status. You have to ask for the one category upgrade at the time of booking.

 

Classic Member Benefits* (after completing your first sailing**)

 

• • Exclusive Captain's Club Celebration event
  
• • Access to Reunion Cruise and President's Cruise events
  
• • One category upgrade through AquaClass® (prior to sailing, when available, restrictions apply) ***
  
• • One Complimentary scoop of gelato from the Gelateria (not available on Celebrity Century®)
  
• • 10% off any single Internet package (restrictions may apply)
  
• • 10% discount on any digital or print photo package at the Photo Gallery
  
• • Access to Captain's Club newsletter online
  
• • Use of the Loyalty Desk service center between cruises
  
• • Access to the onboard Loyalty Host during your cruise
  
• • Eligibility for Captain's Club promotions when booking a future cruise onboard
  
• • Earn Double Club Points if you travel solo in a stateroom (as of July 1, 2014)
  
• • Receive Hertz Gold Plus Rewards membership (earn free rentals) with weekly rental discounts, free upgrades, and other special offers. Learn more.
  

[PunkiC]

HAL wine policy is now the same as Princess's

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5711

 

Well not quite the same. Princess only charges $15.00 per bottle corkage and HAL charges $18.00. It also sounds as though you must take you wine on board in your carry-on luggage on HAL, whereas on Princess we usually check a case of wine on longer cruises and put wine in our checked bags on shorter cruises.

 

Moreover there isn't really much to do on HAL except play bridge and go to cooking demonstrations and the people seem to be really, really old. Although when we got to know some of those really old people, we discovered that they were younger than we are. :D

[tere247]

[quote name='PunkiC']Well not quite the same. Princess only charges $15.00 per bottle corkage and HAL charges $18.00. It also sounds as though you must take you wine on board in your carry-on luggage on HAL, whereas on [COLOR=Red][COLOR=RoyalBlue]Princess we usually check a[/COLOR] case of wine [/COLOR]on longer cruises and put wine in our checked bags on shorter cruises.
[/quote]


A case of wine???? I thought only 2 bottle per stateroom is allowed. What am I missing?

Royal Caribbean no longer charges corkage fees. Only 2 bottles allowed

[rdsqrl]

[quote name='tere247']A case of wine???? I thought only 2 bottle per stateroom is allowed. What am I missing?

Royal Caribbean no longer charges corkage fees. Only 2 bottles allowed[/quote]
[COLOR=Indigo][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Passengers are permitted one bottle of wine per person [U]at no fee[/U]. Any number of bottles are allowed beyond that, at a $15/bottle fee. So a person could take on a case of wine; they'd simply be paying $165 in corkage fees. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[Cruise Junky]

[quote name='PunkiC']Well not quite the same. Princess only charges $15.00 per bottle corkage and HAL charges $18.00. It also sounds as though you must take you wine on board in your carry-on luggage on HAL, whereas on Princess we usually check a case of wine on longer cruises and put wine in our checked bags on shorter cruises.

Moreover there isn't really much to do on HAL except play bridge and go to cooking demonstrations and the people seem to be really, really old. Although when we got to know some of those really old people, we discovered that they were younger than we are. :D[/QUOTE]

According to industry experts Princess has a higher average age than HAL, surprising!

[tere247]

[quote name='rdsqrl'][COLOR=Indigo][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Passengers are permitted one bottle of wine per person [U]at no fee[/U]. Any number of bottles are allowed beyond that, at a $15/bottle fee. So a person could take on a case of wine; they'd simply be paying $165 in corkage fees. [/FONT][/COLOR][/quote]

Did not know that. Thanks for the info;)

[shepp]

[quote name='geoherb']As long as I get the benefits, I don't care how others got to the same level as us. I have read that on some cruises there are way more Elites than the ship can handle--leading to long turnaround time for laundry, crowded Platinum/Elite/suite events, and no true priority tendering but tickets instead. We have not experienced any of these. On our recent Caribbean Princess cruise, there were 55 Elites according to the Captain's Circle hostess. We walked to the back of the tendering line for Princess Cays. Our laundry came back the next day. There was never a crowd at the party.[/QUOTE]

Having sailed as Platinum on the black-card-packed Royals' inaugural TA, I know that the laundry simply stopped accepting Elite's freebies toward the end of the cruise. On t'other hand, on the Coral last month, there were only around 45 Elites, including us, and our laundry [I]still[/I] took two or three days to come back. We did make it into the most-traveled-passenger luncheon, though. :)

[Woobstr112G]

[quote name='Cruizer Bill']Princess has probably the best perks of any Cruise Line. At the Elite level you get free laundry and internet minutes. RCCL only offers a free Happy Hour and Lounge. Celebrity offers one bag of laundry, some internet, a Happy hour and a Lounge so they are pretty good, HAL only offers free laundry. If you are not a big drinker, Princess offers the best plan.[/QUOTE]

[I][SIZE="4"]You get free internet at Platinum level.....

Bob[/SIZE][/I]

[Love.II.Cruise]

When we travel we unplug and tell family we will not check email. Our jobs our stressful and we seek to get completely away (we are in our mid 30s). We may look at weather, but that is it. So the internet minutes are not valuable to us.

We are Platinum on Princess and I don't see much value in it. We do not sail any lines for loyalty programs and we have traveled many lines. However, Oceania does give a free cruise after 20 cruises. The bad thing is it was just sold to NCL. Who knows what that line will turn in to. Even Princess changed when it was acquired by Carnival.

[LabGuy64]

Well technically you can't 100% compare the programs as Celebrity has 5 levels and Princess 4 but, having said that.....no matter how many cruises you do with Princess Elite is all you get while on Celebrity...

Elite which I will equate to platinum on Princess you get
complimentary Internet and laundry services and complimentary Captain's Club cocktail hour.

At Elite Plus....Princess Elite level
discounts on beverages and specialty dining, unlimited complimentary cappuccinos and lattes, 200 free internet minutes and much more.
The cappuccinos and lattes might interest you more than the alcohol.

Zenith members get... access to Michael's Club Concierge Lounge, a beverage package of your choice, complimentary laundry, and 1600 minute internet package.
[B][/B]

and I am sure you will agree that at gold and ruby level the benefits are worthless....or damn near ..at least by the time you hit select level (Princess ruby) you get discounted internet and laundry service

just seems to me you do get more on Celebrity...or the upside potential is higher...

And like for us...we happen to be booked in a Deluxe Suite this time and just as part of that get, access to Michaels club, a dedicated specialty restaurant, premimum drink package included, laundry, unlimited complimentary minibar,complimentary internet, plus the usual like priority tender service,embarkation etc.....which is much nicer than you would get in a Grand Suite......which princess seems to be phasing out of their ship designs. (thinking it is a Mistake...I like the Grand suites)

But, to each their own....and don't get me wrong...I LIKE Princess I just think if you are persuing loyalty status you can ultimately get more on Celebrity......And for The top level Suite passengers it is becomming (nearly) all inclusive


[quote name='AE_Collector']In all ways for us though as I said in my previous post (#64) above, I agree that Celebrity's 5-7 free drinks is technically "worth" more than Princesses free Elite Mini Bar. However we drink so little that the free alcohol isn't a factor for us. The Mini Bars 10 alcoholic and 10 non alcoholic items by the way, not "four airline bottles and a couple of mixers". And you get them all even on short cruises.

What is a factor for us is:

Combinability of OBC on Princess always gets us a bigger total than it does on Celebrity.

More free internet on Princess than on Celebrity. I cant cruise without reasonable communications with home to keep our business going. I dont have to buy any on Princess and the free internet starts at Platinum, not Elte.

More free laundry on Princess than on Celebrity. We go pretty easy on the laundry anyway but not having to carefully ration what gets laundered and what can wait until we are home is just easier.

Terry[/quote] Edited January 7, 2015 by LabGuy64

[flamomo]

[quote name='Ryndam2002']I heard a frequent cruiser once say that he'd spent thousands of dollars to get free laundry ;).
[/QUOTE]


Yeah, but Sooooo worth it in the long run!

I have loved seeing the world one cruise at a time, and benefitting from it by achieving the Princess perks of elite status that I now enjoy every time I cruise.

[PunkiC]

[quote name='Cruise Junky']According to industry experts Princess has a higher average age than HAL, surprising![/QUOTE]

Yes, but we Princess old people, look, act and think young. :D

If you check a case of wine, they will only charge corkage on 10 bottles, which is $150, but that is still a bargain and well worth it to have the wine you want. After they stamp the bottles, you can take them anywhere on the ship, i.e. into the dining room, with no extra charges.

Sometimes they just deliver the case with no charges, but it doesn't matter because then we pay the corkage in the dining room. It's six of one and half a dozen of the other.

It is nice to have free laundry, but it isn't that big a deal. On Cunard I just do hand laundry and dry things on the deck and only send DH's tux shirts to the ship's laundry. I don't iron tux shirts. :p On our last Cunard cruise we did one load of self-service laundry toward the end of our cruise because we were then spending time in Rome and Paris before returning home and wanted everything clean when we disembarked.

It is really nice to have lots of OBC so you aren't looking at a huge bill at the end of the cruise.

[UpcountryTravelers]

[quote name='iluvcruzin']Each one of them is unique with commonality generally being priority check in.

The stamp is cute but end up losing or tossing it out after the cruise. [/quote]

We put the stamp in the book as soon as we board, then add the comments sometime during the cruise. That way nothing gets lost.

They only put one per cabin and we both have the "Princess Passport", so I go to the service desk and get another one for Rachel. Makes a great cruise history. We filled up the book last cruise, so will request another in March.

[AE_Collector]

We will have to agree to disagree! But that is the theme for this whole thread! Some mention a specific perk of one line or the other followed by a statement that it is TOTALLY USELESS. Then someone else mentions the same perk saying that they make good use of it. Thats how perks usually work, some are great and others not so much. The next person might see it completely the opposite.

Trying to equate a Celebrity level with a Princess level isn't easy. I suspect that princess will add another level eventually.

Overall for most people i think that both Elite levels are reasonably comparable to achieve now that Celebrity has slowed the progression down a bit. But you are only comparing Princess Platinum to Celebrity Elite so of course Celebrity elite sounds better.

There will be some situations where Celebrity Elite Plus gives you more internet (200 minutes) than the MUCH easier to achieve Princess Platinum (150, 250 or 500 minutes) but you can only really claim that Celebrity Zenith level trumps Princess Platinum for free internet time. And lets face it, there will be a thousand cruisers with Princess Platinum status for every one Celebrity Zenith passenger.

Now maybe the come back for that is "I don't use it anyway, or I only use a few minutes as we cruise to get away from work. If so, fair enough....as I mentioned one persons BEST perk is "worthless" to the next guy. A decent amount of free internet is my most important perk. Not because I am glued to my phone or tablet while away but because I cant go away on a trip if I cant stay connected to home to keep my business going while we are away so that I can pay for our next cruise. We also do a fairly extensive trip email (with 5 to 10 pictures in each) to friends and family every 3 to 5 days while away. I have had it take up to 30 minutes to send this email on occasion.

Sure I could buy internet and I have but it makes me cringe paying $200 for a bunch of slow internet and since we are taking some pretty long cruises lately I need more than a few dollars worth.

We like Celebrity as well, that is really the only other cruise line we have been on. But for what we really like versus what is "worthless" to us, we like what we get on Princess.

Iamcruzin said:
If you have sailed with Celebrity before you would be a Classic Member and you are entitled to the following which is better than Princess Gold or Ruby status. You have to ask for the one category upgrade at the time of booking.

I agree that there isn't a lot of value in Princess Gold and Ruby levels. Thats because it is only for 2-5 cruises. I went through Iamcruzin's list and failed to see anything that struck me as "much better than Princess Gold or Ruby status". I guess it is just me....

I agree that with Celebrity's new higher levels there is much more to work at to get there, but.....Zenith is a long long way out on the horizon for almost everyone. We did 8 cruises for a total of 88 days in 2014. This doubled our previous 4 cruises in a year in 2013 and 2010. Our first for 2015 is 3 back to backs over 49 days on Ruby. Even so, Zenith on Celebrity would be a long way off for us.

Terry

[quote name='LabGuy64']Well technically you can't 100% compare the programs as Celebrity has 5 levels and Princess 4 but, having said that.....no matter how many cruises you do with Princess Elite is all you get while on Celebrity...

Elite which I will equate to platinum on Princess you get
complimentary Internet and laundry services and complimentary Captain's Club cocktail hour.

At Elite Plus....Princess Elite level
discounts on beverages and specialty dining, unlimited complimentary cappuccinos and lattes, 200 free internet minutes and much more.
The cappuccinos and lattes might interest you more than the alcohol.

Zenith members get... access to Michael's Club Concierge Lounge, a beverage package of your choice, complimentary laundry, and 1600 minute internet package.
[B][/B]

and I am sure you will agree that at gold and ruby level the benefits are worthless....or damn near ..at least by the time you hit select level (Princess ruby) you get discounted internet and laundry service

just seems to me you do get more on Celebrity...or the upside potential is higher...

And like for us...we happen to be booked in a Deluxe Suite this time and just as part of that get, access to Michaels club, a dedicated specialty restaurant, premimum drink package included, laundry, unlimited complimentary minibar,complimentary internet, plus the usual like priority tender service,embarkation etc.....which is much nicer than you would get in a Grand Suite......which princess seems to be phasing out of their ship designs. (thinking it is a Mistake...I like the Grand suites)

But, to each their own....and don't get me wrong...I LIKE Princess I just think if you are persuing loyalty status you can ultimately get more on Celebrity......And for The top level Suite passengers it is becomming (nearly) all inclusive[/QUOTE] Edited January 8, 2015 by AE_Collector

[floatn]

I'm Elite on Princess and Diamond on RCCL (Elite on Celebrity since they match status) and think the onboard benefits are better on Princess. I like the free laundry, too, and the mini bar set up is great (I usually have them trade sodas for water). Afternoon tea is nice and love the canapes on formal nights delivered to the room. The evening cocktail lounge on Princess tends to have better munchies to go with cocktails but you do have to pay for cocktails with Princess and you don't have to on RCCL.
But I cruise for itinerary generally so whatever (and whoever) they give me, I'm happy!