Patter only delivered to staterooms on seadays?? read on

[bassmaster150]

Interesting thread to read......everyone has their opinion and I guess that is what is nice about thee boards that we can have an opinion. From many's perspective, they want their patters delivered every day, and some even keep them after they cruise for memories which is nice for them. I wonder if anyone took into consideration the fact that princess has probably run numbers on this and looked at it from a cost savings perspective. For example, lets assume that Princess on average has to print out 3000 patters a day for a typical cruise. So for 7 days, that is 21,000 copies of the Princess Patters. Now Princess has 18 ships (I know some are smaller and some are larger...that is why I used 3000 as an average). That is 54,000 patters per day, or 378,000 per week. That equates to 19,656,000 patters a year!!! That is quite a huge cost especially since the majority of those Patters wind up in the trash as waste (along with the ads...I get it). Therefore, they can save a significant amount of money by not delivering them every day, thus printing less.....I am one who wouldn't mind using an app or my internal TV to check the daily information....heck, every once in a while, I would probably go down and get one as well. Costs of everything are continuing to go up, and Princess has to adjust to those things. We can either adapt to the changes that they need to make, or allow them to raise prices to cover those additional costs. None of those are popular changes, I get that, but would you be willing to pay an increase in the cost of your cruise just so that your patters can be delivered every day to your stateroom, or would you rather keep pricing the same and simply walk downstairs to get your patters? I would prefer the latter to the former, but that's just me.....

Edited July 24, 2016 by bassmaster150

[pablo222]

Interesting thread to read......everyone has their opinion and I guess that is what is nice about thee boards that we can have an opinion. From many's perspective, they want their patters delivered every day, and some even keep them after they cruise for memories which is nice for them.

 

I completely agree with your assessment of the group opinion.

[Coral]

Interesting thread to read......everyone has their opinion and I guess that is what is nice about thee boards that we can have an opinion. From many's perspective, they want their patters delivered every day, and some even keep them after they cruise for memories which is nice for them. I wonder if anyone took into consideration the fact that princess has probably run numbers on this and looked at it from a cost savings perspective.

 

Since I started cruising, Princess has cut back so much in paper. I think this attempt of an act has more to do with cost cutting and not that prices have gone up in paper. For example, when I started cruising, we got sent a cruise package with a nice shore excursion book, cruise answer brochure, and then a separete mailing with cruise documents in a plastic envelope and luggage tags. There was daily news printed in a few languages available on board daily. Most recently the cruise log has been discontinued.

 

Princess also spends tons on marketing. I probably received 8 different sales through snail mail this week. Three arrived on one day. All shiny color ads.

 

The daily patter is a minimal cost and should be continued. It is a very minimal cost in the scope of cruising. I personally am disappointed Princess even considered this.

Edited July 24, 2016 by Coral

[JimmyVWine]

We can either adapt to the changes that they need to make, or allow them to raise prices to cover those additional costs.

What change do they need to make? When and how did printing become more expensive or burdensome such that a change is inevitable? With the modernization and technological advances in printing, it is actually cheaper today to blast out 1400 (not 3000...it is one per cabin, not one per person, and the average number of passengers is under 3000) Patters than it was 15, 10 or even 5 years ago. A change that results in cutting costs is not the same as a change necessitated by rising costs. This initiative was nothing more than someone saying "Hey. I figured out a way to cut costs."

 

would you be willing to pay an increase in the cost of your cruise just so that your patters can be delivered every day to your stateroom, or would you rather keep pricing the same and simply walk downstairs to get your patters? I would prefer the latter to the former, but that's just me.....

Why would costs go up? That's like saying "would you rather pay more to have a robe waiting for you in your cabin, or bring one from home?" The cost of a daily activity guide has always been built in to the cost of a cruise. And unless there has been some significant increase in production costs, there should be no reason to see a price adjustment. (And even if there were, we would be talking about pennies.) Think about what printing in the pre-computer world was like. Now think about what desktop publishing and printing is like now? Relative to the cost of the cruise, which was more costly, printing in the printing press era or printing today?

 

Instead of a cost increase, why not add a radio button to the Onboard Preferences section where people can indicate if they want a printed copy delivered to their cabin, (just as they do for robes). That way, everybody gets exactly what they want. But based on the results of this poll, they will still end up delivering one to 98% of the cabins.

Edited July 24, 2016 by JimmyVWine

[greenie082756]

I don't necessarily think that its the cost of printing the Patters as much as the Hotel Manager getting feedback from the stewards.

 

Maybe its a bit of both. First they wanted to take away the little papers that have your name by your door. That affects the steward. Now nightly patters..delivered by stewards?? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Next will be the chocolate on the pillows discontinued??:eek:

[Coral]

I don't necessarily think that its the cost of printing the Patters as much as the Hotel Manager getting feedback from the stewards.

 

Maybe its a bit of both. First they wanted to take away the little papers that have your name by your door. That affects the steward. Now nightly patters..delivered by stewards?? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Next will be the chocolate on the pillows discontinued??:eek:

 

I could be wrong but I don't think in the scope of everything, one more piece of paper delivered to each room is not that much (considering it is the same piece of paper and not specialized).

[redtogo]

We could protest and everyone take all those sales brochures down to the passenger's service desk each and every day.

 

Write "Stop these - Bring back the daily patter" on them.

(joking of course - Princess is going to do whatever their Board of Directors decide)

[Ron the Rev]

Since I started cruising, Princess has cut back so much in paper. I think this attempt of an act has more to do with cost cutting and not that prices have gone up in paper. For example, when I started cruising, we got sent a cruise package with a nice shore excursion book, cruise answer brochure, and then a separete mailing with cruise documents in a plastic envelope and luggage tags. There was daily news printed in a few languages available on board daily. Most recently the cruise log has been discontinued.

 

Princess also spends tons on marketing. I probably received 8 different sales through snail mail this week. Three arrived on one day. All shiny color ads.

 

The daily patter is a minimal cost and should be continued. It is a very minimal cost in the scope of cruising. I personally am disappointed Princess even considered this.

 

Totally agree but then in the days of real cruising the market relatively would have been about three times more expensive than today's mass market. There has to be a line that can't be crossed. DW and I have to have a printer patter for activities on board. Our brains along with our aged contemporarys are not tuned up to looking at I pads etc. Shame on you Princess. The cut backs started with the disappearance of those nice little bottles of toiletrys then the butter pats saga, robes without asking for them, then no control over decent dress in the main dining rooms. Signed elite and suite traveller. Just an old big spender. Bring on that nice Camus Special Reserve. I suppose loyalty keeps us going, ( "but then there may be a time to move on ?.):(

[shredie]

None of those are popular changes, I get that, but would you be willing to pay an increase in the cost of your cruise just so that your patters can be delivered every day to your stateroom, or would you rather keep pricing the same and simply walk downstairs to get your patters? I would prefer the latter to the former, but that's just me.....

 

Would you rather they keep pricing the same and charge for the use of the salt shaker or would you rather bring your own from home? If we tell them to go ahead and cut costs at will, it's a slippery slope. Perhaps you could tell them you prefer not to receive a Patter every night and would prefer to walk to another deck to get one. I'm sure the steward would be happy to oblige. Every little bit helps...

[floridalover5623]

Interesting thread to read......everyone has their opinion and I guess that is what is nice about thee boards that we can have an opinion. From many's perspective, they want their patters delivered every day, and some even keep them after they cruise for memories which is nice for them. I wonder if anyone took into consideration the fact that princess has probably run numbers on this and looked at it from a cost savings perspective. For example, lets assume that Princess on average has to print out 3000 patters a day for a typical cruise. So for 7 days, that is 21,000 copies of the Princess Patters. Now Princess has 18 ships (I know some are smaller and some are larger...that is why I used 3000 as an average). That is 54,000 patters per day, or 378,000 per week. That equates to 19,656,000 patters a year!!! That is quite a huge cost especially since the majority of those Patters wind up in the trash as waste (along with the ads...I get it). Therefore, they can save a significant amount of money by not delivering them every day, thus printing less.....I am one who wouldn't mind using an app or my internal TV to check the daily information....heck, every once in a while, I would probably go down and get one as well. Costs of everything are continuing to go up, and Princess has to adjust to those things. We can either adapt to the changes that they need to make, or allow them to raise prices to cover those additional costs. None of those are popular changes, I get that, but would you be willing to pay an increase in the cost of your cruise just so that your patters can be delivered every day to your stateroom, or would you rather keep pricing the same and simply walk downstairs to get your patters? I would prefer the latter to the former, but that's just me.....

If they would just eliminate 1 of the 8 or 10 photo's taken during the cruise it would cover the costs of ALL of the patters delivered to my cabin.

Since I decline photo's at every opportunity, the way I see it is that they own me money at the end of the cruise. :rolleyes:

[geocruiser]

Interesting thread to read......everyone has their opinion and I guess that is what is nice about thee boards that we can have an opinion. From many's perspective, they want their patters delivered every day, and some even keep them after they cruise for memories which is nice for them. I wonder if anyone took into consideration the fact that princess has probably run numbers on this and looked at it from a cost savings perspective. For example, lets assume that Princess on average has to print out 3000 patters a day for a typical cruise. So for 7 days, that is 21,000 copies of the Princess Patters. Now Princess has 18 ships (I know some are smaller and some are larger...that is why I used 3000 as an average). That is 54,000 patters per day, or 378,000 per week. That equates to 19,656,000 patters a year!!! That is quite a huge cost especially since the majority of those Patters wind up in the trash as waste (along with the ads...I get it). Therefore, they can save a significant amount of money by not delivering them every day, thus printing less.....I am one who wouldn't mind using an app or my internal TV to check the daily information....heck, every once in a while, I would probably go down and get one as well. Costs of everything are continuing to go up, and Princess has to adjust to those things. We can either adapt to the changes that they need to make, or allow them to raise prices to cover those additional costs. None of those are popular changes, I get that, but would you be willing to pay an increase in the cost of your cruise just so that your patters can be delivered every day to your stateroom, or would you rather keep pricing the same and simply walk downstairs to get your patters? I would prefer the latter to the former, but that's just me.....

 

I see your point about cutting cost. But how much does it cut per cabin. I am taking the same ship this Dec. as I did last Dec. The same week, and it now cost $600+. more for the cabin. Yes, same cat. So for the higher price I am paying, I get no Patter. For that much more money I am expending a better cruise.

[Coral]

Totally agree but then in the days of real cruising the market relatively would have been about three times more expensive than today's mass market. There has to be a line that can't be crossed. DW and I have to have a printer patter for activities on board. Our brains along with our aged contemporarys are not tuned up to looking at I pads etc. Shame on you Princess. The cut backs started with the disappearance of those nice little bottles of toiletrys then the butter pats saga, robes without asking for them, then no control over decent dress in the main dining rooms. Signed elite and suite traveller. Just an old big spender. Bring on that nice Camus Special Reserve. I suppose loyalty keeps us going, ( "but then there may be a time to move on ?.):(

 

I didn't start cruising Princess until late 90's. So I missed the hey days of cruising when things were elaborate. The prices now are more then what I had paid back then.

 

Everyone tells me that prices would be 3x more then what it was back then but I don't believe it. My Sea Princess cruise in the late 90's was $750 pp/inside over Thanksgiving.

[Country Cruiser]

Agree with all of the above...

 

Regarding the Patter, we sometimes wish we had TWO as each of us would like to have one when we go opposite directions!!! LOL

 

Just ask your cabin steward and they will give you 2 every night. We always ask for 2.

[bassmaster150]

I see your point about cutting cost. But how much does it cut per cabin. I am taking the same ship this Dec. as I did last Dec. The same week, and it now cost $600+. more for the cabin. Yes, same cat. So for the higher price I am paying, I get no Patter. For that much more money I am expending a better cruise.

 

Honestly, I do not know how much it costs per cabin....I don't have a clue. At the end of the day, this is simply a business, and they are in business to make money. If there are opportunities to cut costs somewhere by changing a process, I am sure that they will investigate them. On our first cruise, we received tickets, luggage tags, etc via mail. One day all of the cruise lines stopped that process and moved to an online process where we log into an account and print out all of our boarding passes, luggage tags, etc. Imagine the cost savings that the cruise lines had when they moved to an online process...no more mail fees, no more printing fees, etc. I am sure that as that process started, these boards lit up with people who were upset and wrote to (insert cruise company name here) to demand that they get their mailed luggage tags, boarding passes, etc. But where do we sit now....everyone goes online to get their information and print it out themselves, and they don't even think twice about it. At some point in the future whether we like it or not, Princess will move to this process where they no longer give the patter every day. Some will choose to complain, some will chose to stop cruising Princess altogether because of it, but the ships will still go out full as there will be a whole new generation who are cruising then where this is not that big of a deal. I am sure that I will get flamed for some of those statements, but it is just my $.02....just as others have their opinions.

Edited July 24, 2016 by bassmaster150

[shredie]

Honestly, I do not know how much it costs per cabin....I don't have a clue. At the end of the day, this is simply a business, and they are in business to make money. If there are opportunities to cut costs somewhere by changing a process, I am sure that they will investigate them... At some point in the future whether we like it or not, Princess will move to this process where they no longer give the patter every day. ....I am sure that I will get flamed for some of those statements, but it is just my $.02....just as others have their opinions.

 

Your argument would make more sense if you included the problem with all that excess paper than comes with the Patter--the ads, etc. As long as Princess is dumping thousands of printed ads on passengers, they have no argument for cutting costs by eliminating the Patter. (Well, they can argue it, but it's not a valid one.)

[geocruiser]

Honestly, I do not know how much it costs per cabin....I don't have a clue. At the end of the day, this is simply a business, and they are in business to make money. If there are opportunities to cut costs somewhere by changing a process, I am sure that they will investigate them. On our first cruise, we received tickets, luggage tags, etc via mail. One day all of the cruise lines stopped that process and moved to an online process where we log into an account and print out all of our boarding passes, luggage tags, etc. Imagine the cost savings that the cruise lines had when they moved to an online process...no more mail fees, no more printing fees, etc. I am sure that as that process started, these boards lit up with people who were upset and wrote to (insert cruise company name here) to demand that they get their mailed luggage tags, boarding passes, etc. But where do we sit now....everyone goes online to get their information and print it out themselves, and they don't even think twice about it. At some point in the future whether we like it or not, Princess will move to this process where they no longer give the patter every day. Some will choose to complain, some will chose to stop cruising Princess altogether because of it, but the ships will still go out full as there will be a whole new generation who are cruising then where this is not that big of a deal. I am sure that I will get flamed for some of those statements, but it is just my $.02....just as others have their opinions.

 

No flame here. You made a great point.

I started cruising in the late 1970's. And there have been so many changes, some for the better. I have moved from one line to the other when they change too many things I did not like. I hope that this does not happen to me with Princess. I don't mind paying a increase in fare if the line up holds and/or increases its standard.

 

I wonder about all the other paper ads that are sent to the cabin, if the onboard vendor pay for the cost of them.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

I don't necessarily think that its the cost of printing the Patters as much as the Hotel Manager getting feedback from the stewards.

 

Maybe its a bit of both. First they wanted to take away the little papers that have your name by your door. That affects the steward. Now nightly patters..delivered by stewards?? Please correct me if I'm wrong...

 

Good point. Perhaps the real motive is not saving paper, but to streamline the stewards' jobs in order to give them each more cabins? Or perhaps they have already done so? The stewards did seem more rushed and less chatty on my past couple of Princess cruises.

 

One compromise might be to place copies of the Patter in a holder by the elevators on each deck. It would be more convenient for pax than a rush on the CSD for copies, although I would prefer cabin delivery to continue.

[greenie082756]

Your argument would make more sense if you included the problem with all that excess paper than comes with the Patter--the ads, etc. As long as Princess is dumping thousands of printed ads on passengers, they have no argument for cutting costs by eliminating the Patter. (Well, they can argue it, but it's not a valid one.)

 

Agree. On my first cruise on the Golden Princess - 14 day to Hawaii from LA, I was totally amazed at the amount of flyers we got every day. I immediately thought what a waste! Unless the boutiques pay for it??

 

Even so, most of us do not want the advertisements, just the daily patter. :D

[Go-Bucks!]

if their intent is to save paper...how about fewer sales brochures. We usually get 3-4 pieces of paper daily that go immediately into the trash can. Don't even look at them.:cool:

 

 

 

amen!!!

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Deleted post.

Edited July 24, 2016 by SoCal Cruiser78

[bassmaster150]

Please don't get me wrong...even though I have no issue with either getting an electronic copy of the Patter or going to guest services to get one, I am all for eliminating all of the ads that we get on a daily basis. Our mail slot seems to always be jammed with these advertisements. If I want to use the spa, I will make an appointment....as for the shops, there really aren't any "deals" there.....so do away with it all. :-)

[lidojohnny]

No matter what you do now, one cannot go back to what it was. Cruising of old

Will never come back. This is a substitute for the real thing. After several

World cruises, all the Grand voyages on HAL, and many others, we have

Decided to move on, and leave the waves to the newbies, and those who

Keep trying. Globus, and others awaits. Good luck.