Should Private Lounges Be for Elite Level Only?

[Colo Cruiser]

Which lounge are we talking about? Embarkation? Disembarkation? PES nightly? I am confused.

 

 

 

 

We quit using the disembarkation lounge the first year. :(

Edited July 1, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[Renmar]

We became Elite before our last cruise. I remember when we became Platinum we were very excited because we could do priority boarding-have some free internet- happy hour etcetera.

I think we should not take this away from our fellow cruisers who are now becoming Platinum. We, "Elites" came all through the stages of Blue-Gold-Grey & Black (there was no Ruby yet) and most of us enjoyed and took advantage of the perks that came with it. To deny the new Platinum members some of those perks now would be highly unfair.

 

 

Theo

[Colo Cruiser]

We became Elite before our last cruise. I remember when we became Platinum we were very excited because we could do priority boarding-have some free internet- happy hour etcetera.

I think we should not take this away from our fellow cruisers who are now becoming Platinum. We, "Elites" came all through the stages of Blue-Gold-Grey & Black (there was no Ruby yet) and most of us enjoyed and took advantage of the perks that came with it. To deny the new Platinum members some of those perks now would be highly unfair.

 

 

Theo

 

Hi Theo........I see it as adding something. What's being taken away?

[blkspy]

Which lounge are we talking about? Embarkation? Disembarkation? PES nightly? I am confused.

 

I thought Early Boarding made things clear. Sorry for your confusion.

 

The conversation was only about Boarding......at least thats what it was when I joined it.

 

IMHO the other included perks for Elite or Platinum do not collide at all. The Disembarkation lounge is no big deal one way or the other. Lounges like New York feel at times like a cattle pen its so small and crowed before a cruise.

 

Not once in the original question was eliminating Platinum perks mentioned other than a 'Dedicated' Boarding lounge for Elite members in departure cities world wide as a loyalty reward.

Edited July 1, 2015 by blkspy

[shredie]

I thought Early Boarding made things clear. Sorry for your confusion.

 

...

Not once in the original question was eliminating Platinum perks mentioned other than a 'Dedicated' Boarding lounge for Elite members in departure cities world wide as a loyalty reward.

Thanks for the clarification! I think if you suggest the lounge be only Elite, that automatically eliminates Platinums from the equation, and that might mean the "slippery slope" to some. My "usual" port is San Pedro where Elites already have their own lounge. It doesn't really matter to me. Some ports, like Rio, are such a mess, an Elite only lounge would get lost in the confusion. It was some roped off couches when I saw it. My goal is to get on the ship. If I'm in time for MDR lunch, all the better. I guess there might be some amusement in stepping out of the room in San Pedro, thumbs in ears and tongue out, wiggling my fingers at the steerage. ;):p At least until they find me on the ship and chuck me overboard. :D:p

[Putterdude]

We are Elite members but certainly have no issue with sharing the lounges with the Platinum folks....we have never experienced any crowiding problems.

[Steelers0854]

We were on the Emerald in April and it was our first time as Platinum members. We went each night to the lounge for drinks and hors d'oeuvres. We never found the lounge crowded or even busy expect for right when it opened. There were always seats available and while popular, it was never a concern.

 

As for the disembarkation lounge we thought it was excellent. While others struggled to find seats in other areas of the ship we easily found seats (near a power plug even) and had room around us plus the provided drinks and pastries. Again, while popular we never felt like there were too many people in the lounge.

 

Elites get laundry service, mini-bar setups, priority tenders amongst other things. I think there is more than enough room to go around on the ship for platinum and elites to share lounges. Maybe it depends heavily on the itinerary as some cruises will inherently draw more seasoned cruisers versus new people.

 

I agree with an earlier post that suites do not seem to get enough "perks" so to speak. Suites are fairly pricey and while the rooms are huge there aren't a whole lot of benefits you get in a suite that an elite member in an inside cabin wouldn't get. If I were paying that much for a cabin I would like a little more.

 

Just my thoughts. YMMV

[JimmyVWine]

I think the "benefit" tug of war in the departure area is way overblown. You are about to get on a ship and take a cruise. Whether one boards at noon or 12:30 should not be the basis for hand wringing and status trumping. Leave things the way they are. If 400 people get to wait in the ultra-luxurious, perk-laden lounge, so be it. Who is getting hurt by this? Is the need to be/feel superior really that important?

[elliair]

No!

[satxdiver]

Things are great just the way they are. The departure lounge in quite a few ports is simply a roped off area with few perks. The elite/platinum lounge on the ship many times has not been all that crowded so again not a problem. The departure lounge also has never been crowded so again no problem. In short don't change anything.

[GUT2407]

Seems you will get all the Elites saying yes and the Platinums, especially the newer ones will say no.

 

We are Elite, so sure.

 

 

You would expect Platinums to disagree unless they are close to Elite.

[timetravler]

A Most interesting post. Lets see where this goes.

[Corfe Mixture]

I did not see it that way, thought the OP was commenting on adding something.

 

Sadly the OP question was ambiguous.

 

I also read it as the OP proposing a change to make the embarkation lounge should be reserved only for Elite, meaning that, as it is currently available to only Suite and Elite, they were suggesting that suite passenger's entitlement to use the lounge be withdrawn.

 

However, I now also see that it could be read as being a proposal that the entitlement be widened. Imperfect world this written communication thing.

[Gabrielle R.]

DH and I are Platinum. We were thrilled with the perks that came with it. As others noted there are some ports that get some of us on quicker than others. I guess I felt like I was lucky to get on a little quicker. I felt like a valued customer by being able to go to the nightly lounge for a nice drink and snacks. I guess I never saw this lounge as crowded. Quite often it wasn't. Getting on or off the ship I didn't see it as crowded. I'm sorry if being "just a platinum member" who chooses an inside cabin offends an elite passenger or a suite passenger.

 

When I reach elite I'll be happy to share with the new platinum members.....Just as others had welcomed me.

 

That's my thoughts......

[mariakitty]

I would be fine with adding a separate Elite only lounge, but don't take away my Platinum perks now that we just earned them! 😀

[Woobstr112G]

Seems you will get all the Elites saying yes and the Platinums, especially the newer ones will say no.

 

We are Elite, so sure.

 

I'm almost Elite and say sure. Now if they would just jaze it up a bit as I thought the lounge was nothing to write home about.....:):):)

 

Bob

Edited July 2, 2015 by Woobstr112G

[candycaramel]

Fisrt come first served. In other words if you get to pier and checked in first then you get on board first.

 

While we wait... Let's all sit together prior to boarding. I want to meet folks who can afford suites and cruise travel often. :p

[greenie082756]

Heard this discussion recently.

 

With so many Platinum level cruisers and Private Early Boarding lounges small and over flowing in some cruise ports. Would it be welcomed if Princess made the lounges a strictly Elite level benefit?

Back on topic.

What I am gathering from this is that Princess has been able to get enough customers to come back that their cruising level has increased.

 

One of the Thank You's that Princess gives is the private lounges until time to board. I think that's great.

Now the question is are these rooms too small to adequately and comfortably accommodate the guests? :eek: As a stockholder, I think that's great to hear however if they are getting this many people to return they need to take that into consideration.

 

 

I like Princess and like others, I will continue to spend our hard earned money on this company for my vacations. Eventually, Princess will expand their gifts of thank you for returning gifts as time goes on.

We are gold level and any extras we get are appreciated. :)

[nukesubsailor]

Correct me if I am wrong but it has been my belief that cruise ship terminals are owned by the cities in which they are located, not by the cruise lines. If that is true then a cruise line choice but to use the space provided or quit using that port for embarkations. If the number of passengers and the size of cruise ships continues to grow and the terminal remains the same size, then the ability to provide separate boarding lounges of adequate size for the various loyalty program levels will diminish. The only thing the cruise line could do is ask the owners of the terminal to expand it. That would have to pass muster with the city's tax payers. So there is no point in complaining to the cruise line unless they own the terminal.

One thought to consider as a solution to over-crowded boarding lounges in the terminal building would be to allow one loyalty group to go ahead and wait for their rooms to be readied in one of the ships bigger lounges.

[shredie]

Some "lounges" in terminals are just a roped off section of seats. There isn't always an enclosed room to go to.

[MGAfhc]

Or Princess could solve all the problems by enforcing staggered boarding. Be careful of what you wish for.

[IECalCruiser]

It depends upon where you embark. In our experience:

San Pedro may or may not have separate Elite and Platinum waiting areas with food and drink in the Elite area only.

FLL Pier 2 has separate Elite/Suite area with food and drink and Platinum with nothing.

Copenhagen had open waiting area with water for everyone. Don't know about the new terminal.

Seattle had separate waiting area for Platinum/Elite with nothing for anyone.

Vancouver had separate waiting area for Platinum/Elite with water for everyone.

Barcelona had a separate Platinum/Elite waiting area with food and drink.

Buenos Aries had one waiting area for everyone with nothing for anyone.

We sailed out of Pier 35 in San Francisco but arrived after boarding started. There appeared to be a separate area for at least Elites but don't know about Pier 27.

Edited July 3, 2015 by IECalCruiser

[Pierlesscruisers]

I'm a blue card holder (unfortunately only until this first cruise is over)

 

Hey, that's okay, every one of those Elite's and Platinum's were once blue card holders just like you! Hang on, my friend, you'll get there! ;)

 

Tom

[Pierlesscruisers]

Correct me if I am wrong but it has been my belief that cruise ship terminals are owned by the cities in which they are located, not by the cruise lines. If that is true then a cruise line choice but to use the space provided or quit using that port for embarkations. If the number of passengers and the size of cruise ships continues to grow and the terminal remains the same size, then the ability to provide separate boarding lounges of adequate size for the various loyalty program levels will diminish. The only thing the cruise line could do is ask the owners of the terminal to expand it. That would have to pass muster with the city's tax payers. So there is no point in complaining to the cruise line unless they own the terminal.

One thought to consider as a solution to over-crowded boarding lounges in the terminal building would be to allow one loyalty group to go ahead and wait for their rooms to be readied in one of the ships bigger lounges.

 

I don't know how it is in other cities, but that's the case in Seattle, the terminal is owned by the city. In our case it's a fairly small terminal and during a normal Saturday we'll have as many as 5300-5400 people disembarking in the morning and the same amount embarking in the afternoon. On Sunday it's down to about 4700-4800. There is simply no room to put everybody in a private area. Believe me, we wish we could, as much as the passengers do because that makes our job easier and makes the passengers happy and their cruise experience better.

 

 

As to your suggestion, that's sounds like a good idea on the face of it, but I suspect that, like most things, there are other factors that enter into the situation that would effectively make it impractical.

 

First of all, nobody is allowed onto the ship until ALL debarking passengers are already off the ship ("zero count".) Now whether that is a cruise line policy or a Customs and Border Patrol policy or what, I don't know but I suspect that it may well be related to security of some sort.

 

I believe that one other thing that would work against your plan would be that a large percentage of the crew/staff are in the process of cleaning up dining areas from the morning meal and preparing for the big group coming on board while another large group are busy cleaning staterooms, hallways, common area, etc. before the new cruisers come on board and another large group are working packing bags into containers to move them to shore and then moving the new bags from shore and distributing them, etc. With all this, it may be simply a question of available manpower.

 

Now whether any of this is, in fact, part of the reason the way things are they way are, I don't know, but it sure would be nice if they could put another floor or something on the building at Pier 91 wouldn't it! :D

 

Tom

[elliair]

We sailed out of Pier 35 in San Francisco but arrived after boarding started. There appeared to be a separate area for at least Elites but don't know about Pier 27.

 

Pier 27 when you enter into the terminal, you enter in with everyone regardless of your status. After you fill out your health papers, you are directed to the platinum or elite line. Once you're signed in you are directed to a lounge area along with elite/platinum/suite. You are given a number before entering into the "lounge" area. There's plenty of seating. Most people just stand around, get coffee, snacks, etc., that Princess offers us. When ready to board the numbers are called. Elites go first, suites, then platinum. Works very smoothly.

Edited July 3, 2015 by elliair