Club class impact

[bobby3334]

People on every cruise I go on start lining up early.

 

A few questions.

 

 

 

#1. Did they have Club class initiated?

 

#2. Were they giving out reservations in the AT DR and did people reserve the same seats each night?

 

#3. What was the typical passenger age?

 

In regard to #1, I am not sure since I cruise with Princess several times a year and had never seen anything like it (i.e. The lines) before. I definitely would have noticed since they completely took up the atrium from 445-545 and I normally do anytime dining around 530

2. Yes they did and this was a big part of the problem, to me anytime means you come anytime with your group and take your chances. Seeing the problem I along with everyone else called for reservations early the next morning and received a variety of answers a) reservations were full for the entire cruise; b) reservations were only able to be made for 30% and if I would have called a half hour earlier at 800 I may have been able to reserve or c)no reservations could be made for anytime dining ever.

3. The average age was 60-70.Recall the baby boomers are just beginning And most of the folks on this SA trip were from CA or FL

and apparently used to "early bird" specials. A note of levity??? Mike

Edited January 9, 2017 by bobby3334

[bobby3334]

The second largest language group even though we were going to South America were the Chinese speakers and apparently they eat early. Most did not speak English nor do I speak Chinese. I never saw them during the day at Horizon Court, bars, casino, English lectures but they came out in large numbers for early dining and early shows. Strangely enough the cruise director and his assistant were Spanish and that was the second language. I kept wondering what the Chinese were doing but then thought perhaps they had organized their own excursions? Is there a Chinese version of CC? In any case thing were going to be in for a big change. 2,000 English speakers got off to be replaced by 2,000 South Americans families and 600 children.. Rather a surprise for the 1,000 that remained on board. I think SA eat much later but do the children? Another though I read elsewhere....at least in the short term those with US$ and Chinese money are in a very strong position to travel and their money will go a long way. How do you factor this in. As I understand Princess has different web sites in different countries, with different prices and different promotions.

Edited January 9, 2017 by bobby3334

[jeromep]

Several observations:

 

Princes forum members tend to not like change, be it new specialty choices, menu changes, updated livery, or added options. Not sure if it's the demographic, but you have to change your market to meet the next generation of cruisers or die. Talk of adding a waterslide my send some over a cliff.

 

As cruises have become more active at ports, be it scuba, hiking, snorkeling, off shore fishing, booze cruize, the excursions are starting earlier, which means to bed earlier, and dining earlier in preparation for the next day.

 

TD is dieing and gets smaller every year. People don't care for the same time eating every night. They like flexibility depending on the events of te day. In the past dinner was the 'event' of the day, not so much anymore. In addition they would like to be able to place a reservation at different times depending on days activity.

 

Compared to other lines Princess could improve/smooth out Anytime dining demand by:

*Allowing reservations on-line pre-cruise even, just like any other restaurant. This alone would greatly even out times

*Increase alternative dining whether paid or complimentary to funnel off more of the MD traffic. I was on the Norwegian Dawn six months ago, and in addition to MD, there were Suchi, Japaneses, Brazilian, Chinese, Irish pub, Steak House, and a French place to choose from some charging some complimentary, but they help to smooth out the MD demand. And the Dawn is not a mega ship

*Post wait times on monitors throughout the ship based upon reservations for each dining room, including specialty and time. Other lines do this successfully and this tends to even out the traffic

 

The complaints are that cruising is not what it used to be, well neither is the price. One has the option to dine like it used to be, whether its club class or speciality restaurants, one has to pay for it though. One can't expect 1980's service on the same 1980's fare or lower they were changing in the 1980's. Bring on club class, if it adds value to you, pay for it, if not no big deal. But now one has a choice. And the added choice is an add.

 

I myself won't be purchasing club class unless the meals are better than specialty restaurants, but it is fantastic to have options.

 

I like all of your points. The last thing I want to see is Princess going the way of Oldsmobile and Pontiac, and where Buick has been trying not to go for the past 20 years, which is oblivion. Why are those marquees gone, because they were no longer unique and the folks that used to be brand loyal to them disappeared.

 

I've commented in other threads that Club Class is Princess's way to address what they lack compared to lines they compete directly with. It sure seems to me that Princess completes directly with X and to a lesser extent with RCCL. RCCL and X have "regular" staterooms with elevated dining options and Club Class looks very similar. The biggest difference is that on RCCL and X they have carved out space on board with restaurant venues that are specifically for guests that book an elevated cabin class. Princess hasn't had the time to evaluate the impact of CC and determine if creating a dining venue just for CC would be the right thing to do. It will be expensive to carve out an exclusive dining room out of some other space on board during a dry dock, but if CC is successful, my money says that they will do this once they determine what they want CC dining to look like, long term.

 

Now, assuming that in 3 to 5 years CC dining venues are designed and begin installation on board ships as they go in for drydock, you'll see some of the "pressure" on the MDR relieved and possibly fewer crowds. In this future model, CC has the potential to further distribute evening dining demand across more venues freeing up space in the MDR.

 

As for demand for ATD, I do find it interesting that so many people eat so early on a cruise. Whether I'm on a cruise or some other kind of vacation, I often find myself dining later than I do at home, not earlier. I also find that I end up having two (2) much smaller meals mid-day on vacation rather than my normal lunch meal during my hour of freedom from my office. Again, for lunch it doesn't matter if it is a cruise or some other type of travel, lunch tends to be a snack and later on a light meal or vice versa.

 

I agree with you that TD demand is reducing, especially with the newer generation of cruisers. I think there will always be a place for TD, but in a reconfiguration of dining rooms on board, TD needs to afforded the proper amount of space it needs. Right now, it sure seems that most of Princess' ships have TD venues which seem excessively large relative to the number of TD diners that I perceive there are. Maybe when CC dining rooms are created, TD dining rooms also be right sized.

 

I really don't want cruising to be what it used to be. I'm of the younger cruise generation and the ships of the past, with few or no balconies, limited swimming pools and hot tubs, one dining room, one buffet, assigned seating times and formal wear every night, or nearly ever night, for dinner, would not be attractive to me. "The Love Boat" is a cute show and when it is on I watch it, but the Pacific Princess I see on TV from way back when is not a ship I'd want to spend a week or more on.

 

I choose cruising as a vacation over many other kinds of vacations because it is still one of the best values out there, and because it gets me away from it all, especially the always on lifestyle us working stiffs deal with. I don't mind formal nights, I don't mind wearing nice pants and a polo for other evenings, but I still want to rest and relax on my vacation and just get away from everything. And I do want to feel special on vacation. If I don't feel special on vacation, then it is just regular life, but occurring at a location that isn't home.

Edited January 9, 2017 by jeromep

[jeromep]

Do people still go to Church?

I wouldn't worry about what they wear when going, I would be thankful if they are still going! It's a generation thing. Our generation did it one way and the next generations will do it another way and we will most likely not like it 100%.

Things change and as the previous poster said, Club Class will be an added feature that some of us want that should be offered. I am looking forward to enjoying it when we sail Jan 2018.

Happy cruising.

 

I haven't dressed up for Mass in years, but we go every weekend. Oh, let me take that back, I dressed up for my daughter's baptism, and for a wedding we attended a couple of months back, but for a Saturday night vigil or Sunday Mass, no, we don't dress up. Not wearing a tie to church doesn't change the validity I perceive of the sacraments or the impact of the words in the homily.

 

In much the same way, I think that all of us as cruisers should be cheer leading others to join the vacation style we enjoy. So long as there are people that want to cruise and put down money on it, there will be cruise lines and cruise vacations. When the money dries up, so will the cruises. So some of the folks coming on board wear baseball caps backward and with the labels still attached and have holes in jeans in places that they probably shouldn't, somehow they found the money to pay the cruise line to be there. My guess is that "baseball caps and holey jeans" might the the folks paying for Club Class. Who knows?

[shepp]

Just curious, why do you think this is the case. Why have U.S. cruisers tended to follow the trend toward preferring to dine earlier?

 

One factor is that many evening activities, such as trivia games, are scheduled for 9 or 9:30, making it near impossible for those of us who prefer to eat late to make there it on time.

[shepp]

So some of the folks coming on board wear baseball caps backward and with the labels still attached and have holes in jeans in places that they probably shouldn't, somehow they found the money to pay the cruise line to be there. My guess is that "baseball caps and holey jeans" might the the folks paying for Club Class. Who knows?

 

Yes, indeed. Money outweighs adherence to social norms. It's The New American Way.

[bobby3334]

One more thought....one cruise line can not be all things to all...it has to decide to which group it wants to cater: RCL to the Disney crowd, Carnival to the younger drinking crowd; HAL to the older and more feeble crowd. Princess to the ??? Presently I would say to the younger and healthier crowd by about 10 years than HAL. I am certain that many of you will disagree with my characterizations. They are just opinion not proven fact but the point is what part of the market do you want...an earlier poster used an auto analogy...do you want to be a Buick, Vogeswagon, or Toyota? Mike

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[msmoger]

One factor is that many evening activities, such as trivia games, are scheduled for 9 or 9:30, making it near impossible for those of us who prefer to eat late to make there it on time.

 

I agree with you, but for us, cocktails and a nice leisurely dinner will always take precedence over most night time activities. ;) Also, generally the performance schedules take late diners into consideration. I just could never imagine eating regularly that early when on vacation, but understand why many disagree.

 

I just make it my business to lose at the afternoon trivia. :D

[chamima]

One factor is that many evening activities, such as trivia games, are scheduled for 9 or 9:30, making it near impossible for those of us who prefer to eat late to make there it on time.

 

We are also late diners.

When we started cruising everyone wanted to eat late and if you didn't book early enough you were "stuck" with early. (Of course breakfast and lunch were also assigned and early dinner meant early breakfast. :eek:) I don't remember any buffets.

We are happy that most people like to dine early because it affords us a relaxed, non-crowded dinner.

However the problem you mentioned above DOES bother me! I enjoy many of the game shows and it's extremely difficult to make a 9:00 show with an 8:15 dinner.

 

And to the person who asked why or when it changed - I have no idea but it's been at least 10 or more years.

[bobby3334]

I had the good fortune to study in Europe starting about 49 years ago. . At that time the middle class did not travel much outside their town or State. Only students and the very wealthy traveled (with some exceptions). There were no crowds of tourists not many studying abroad. After four years in Europe where there were no lines or crowds I noticed a change occurring. I could walk from the street into the Louvre in Paris and be in front of the Mona Lisa alone with only a guard in 2 minutes. I arrived home in 1972 to find the West Side piers of NYC just as I had left them. There was an Italian Line, NYC to Naples weekly and reverse. The same for Cunard, the French Line, the US line etc. some years later when I returned to the city I found they were torn down. There was no more need due fast reliable jets and the preference of the middle class to get there fast and see as much as possible. I found the ship I had returned on had been sold to the Shah of Iran as a get away for his military officers. The the cruise industry began to arise. That is the sequence; if someone could find out when the west side piers in NYC were abandoned then the previous question would have an answer...I would guess about 35 years ago. Mike. (I realize we are wandering from topic but it is interesting since it is so new....like many things we assume have been around forever.

Edited January 9, 2017 by bobby3334

[oskidunker]

If it is going away and no one wants it? doesn't make sense.

[shredie]

It seems to be conventional wisdom around here (often with precious little in the way of evidence) that traditional dining is on the way out in favor of anytime dining. I like to form my opinions based on empirical evidence, and that shows me that every time I book a cruise, there is a waiting list for early traditional dining. There are two dining rooms dedicated to early traditional dining, so perhaps the waiting lists indicate something. I sometimes encounter waiting lists for late traditional dining, too. If there are waiting lists for all traditional dining times (and anytime is the default when you don't clear the list) it seems to me that maybe, just maybe, there is a demand for traditional dining and it's not on the way out. Of course, I go around looking for evidence instead of doing the typical CC thing which is say "What I think is the way it is because I think it's the way it is." :p:rolleyes:

 

If you always opt for anytime, then you have no reason to look at traditional dining times, and you will not see the waiting lists. I guess if you don't see it, it doesn't exist and only your reality exists.

Edited January 9, 2017 by shredie

[jeromep]

If it is going away and no one wants it? doesn't make sense.

 

I'm not sure if you are referencing my earlier comments, but I think that demand is starting to wain. Do I have empirical evidence, no. In all of my cruises I've never chosen TD, although my dining party has been taken to the TD dining room on numerous occasions because the TD dining room had open tables that they could utilize and the AT dining rooms were full.

 

This is totally qualitative, but on those particular nights at the times we were dining it seemed like there may have been a lack of an optimum utilization of resources which left tables empty in TD. I was appreciative of the staff choosing to seat us in the TD dining room, and it was a logical choice as it eliminated a party that was waiting for a table and more fully utilized tables and staff in a dining room which seemed to be underutilized at the time we were seated.

 

It seems to be conventional wisdom around here (often with precious little in the way of evidence) that traditional dining is on the way out in favor of anytime dining. I like to form my opinions based on empirical evidence, and that shows me that every time I book a cruise, there is a waiting list for early traditional dining. There are two dining rooms dedicated to early traditional dining, so perhaps the waiting lists indicate something. I sometimes encounter waiting lists for late traditional dining, too. If there are waiting lists for all traditional dining times (and anytime is the default when you don't clear the list) it seems to me that maybe, just maybe, there is a demand for traditional dining and it's not on the way out. Of course, I go around looking for evidence instead of doing the typical CC thing which is say "What I think is the way it is because I think it's the way it is." :p:rolleyes:

 

If you always opt for anytime, then you have no reason to look at traditional dining times, and you will not see the waiting lists. I guess if you don't see it, it doesn't exist and only your reality exists.

 

I have looked at traditional dining times for my next cruise, in fact just a couple of minutes ago just to make sure. So far there are wait lists for 5:30, 6:15 (the longest wait list) and none for 8:15. So, TD is obviously not going away, but are wait lists a good indicator of actual demand. Maybe. But consider that those that never get off the wait list are probably going to end up in ATD anyway.

 

So, let's say I'm all washed up on TD demand. I'm fine with that, but then I have to ask, if TD isn't dead and in fact is expanding in preference, why doesn't Princess allocate more dining room resources to TD? Why not move back to scheduled dining entirely and give up on AT? I can't answer those questions. Can anyone else?

 

I actually view this as an efficiency issue. ATD is run like a restaurant where you fill all possible tables and then when a table leaves you seat the next applicable party, either by size of party or by wait time depending on the size of the table.

 

TD is less efficient in terms of table usage because you start with an empty room, then fill it up in one shot at an assigned time. Assume that most meals will last 1.25 hours, and most dining engagements will end within 30 minutes of that target time. Then the room empties out and you start all over again with a new timed dining. So, in TD, when a table empties, the staff refresh it as normal, but it will remain unoccupied until the next seating. If you have fast eaters who are in and out in 45 minutes, you have a table that could remain empty for 15, 30, 45 minutes, maybe even as much as an hour. If that table were in an AT dining room, it would have been refilled as soon as it was refreshed.

 

I guess my only point is that traditional dining isn't as efficient a way to seat and feed thousands of guests as anytime dining is. The trade off is that if you book traditional, and adhere to your assigned times, there should be no table wait. With anytime you may encounter a wait, especially if you are eating at early bird special times. So far, I've never seen an early bird special on an MDR menu. Maybe Princess is missing out on something.:D

[KruzeKrazy!]

IPrincess hasn't had the time to evaluate the impact of CC and determine if creating a dining venue just for CC would be the right thing to do. It will be expensive to carve out an exclusive dining room out of some other space on board during a dry dock, but if CC is successful, my money says that they will do this once they determine what they want CC dining to look like, long term.

 

Totally agree. What they are doing is a logical way to test demand, price elasticity, pax reaction, space needs, menu planni g, operarional concerns, etc. without a large capital investment.

 

Once they learn how to best proceed spending "soft costs" they will, depending on the outcome, spend the "hard dollars" and institutionalize it - perhaps with another name to distinguish the trial from the real.

[KruzeKrazy!]

I just make it my business to lose at the afternoon trivia. :D

 

I hear ya - we make our business to lose at bingo so others can win! [emoji26]

[KruzeKrazy!]

I like to form my opinions based on empirical evidence...

 

Oh, Shredie - there you go being logical again... [emoji4]

[shredie]

Oh, Shredie - there you go being logical again... [emoji4]

 

I never learn. ;)

[USNUZULOOSE]

I like my TD. I guess I can express my view on my cruise in a certain way.

[Wichenford Wolf]

I'm not sure if you are referencing my earlier comments, but I think that demand is starting to wain. Do I have empirical evidence, no. In all of my cruises I've never chosen TD, although my dining party has been taken to the TD dining room on numerous occasions because the TD dining room had open tables that they could utilize and the AT dining rooms were full.

 

This is totally qualitative, but on those particular nights at the times we were dining it seemed like there may have been a lack of an optimum utilization of resources which left tables empty in TD. I was appreciative of the staff choosing to seat us in the TD dining room, and it was a logical choice as it eliminated a party that was waiting for a table and more fully utilized tables and staff in a dining room which seemed to be underutilized at the time we were seated.

 

 

 

I have looked at traditional dining times for my next cruise, in fact just a couple of minutes ago just to make sure. So far there are wait lists for 5:30, 6:15 (the longest wait list) and none for 8:15. So, TD is obviously not going away, but are wait lists a good indicator of actual demand. Maybe. But consider that those that never get off the wait list are probably going to end up in ATD anyway.

 

So, let's say I'm all washed up on TD demand. I'm fine with that, but then I have to ask, if TD isn't dead and in fact is expanding in preference, why doesn't Princess allocate more dining room resources to TD? Why not move back to scheduled dining entirely and give up on AT? I can't answer those questions. Can anyone else?

 

I actually view this as an efficiency issue. ATD is run like a restaurant where you fill all possible tables and then when a table leaves you seat the next applicable party, either by size of party or by wait time depending on the size of the table.

 

TD is less efficient in terms of table usage because you start with an empty room, then fill it up in one shot at an assigned time. Assume that most meals will last 1.25 hours, and most dining engagements will end within 30 minutes of that target time. Then the room empties out and you start all over again with a new timed dining. So, in TD, when a table empties, the staff refresh it as normal, but it will remain unoccupied until the next seating. If you have fast eaters who are in and out in 45 minutes, you have a table that could remain empty for 15, 30, 45 minutes, maybe even as much as an hour. If that table were in an AT dining room, it would have been refilled as soon as it was refreshed.

 

I guess my only point is that traditional dining isn't as efficient a way to seat and feed thousands of guests as anytime dining is. The trade off is that if you book traditional, and adhere to your assigned times, there should be no table wait. With anytime you may encounter a wait, especially if you are eating at early bird special times. So far, I've never seen an early bird special on an MDR menu. Maybe Princess is missing out on something.:D

 

After a number of years cruising on American lines we have booked to go with P&O for the first time. As we have chosen a Saver Fare, we will have our dining option allocated to us when on board - presumably TD at one or other sitting. Following this board's interesting debate, I'll keep a close eye on the dining habits on a "British" ship.

[Reader0108598]

The cruise companies are on a mission:

 

TD is going to be an added cost!

Then ATD is going to be an added cost!

Then Buffett dinning is going to be an added cost!

 

You will eventually be allocated to, pay as you go food!

 

But hey CC is a great ides! :)

 

Reader

Edited January 10, 2017 by Reader0108598

[pablo222]

It seems to be conventional wisdom around here (often with precious little in the way of evidence) that traditional dining is on the way out in favor of anytime dining. I like to form my opinions based on empirical evidence, and that shows me that every time I book a cruise, there is a waiting list for early traditional dining.

 

Early traditional seems very popular.

 

A few years ago, most princess ships had one traditional dining

room, and 2 anytime dining rooms.

 

This has evolved into 1 traditional, 1 anytime, and 1 that starts

out traditional and becomes anytime.

 

That would seem to indicate that early traditional has grown.

 

I really do think (particularly) in the caribbean that people eat

earlier than they did 20-30 years ago.

 

This puts more pressure (and causes more lines) between

5:30 - 7:30.

 

Generally, if you show up at anytime at 9:00, there is no line.

[bUU]

People pay extra for Club Class dining. If you think this creates a class system, then you must think a cruise ship must make all cabins identical; eliminate preferred boarding for those who have sailed 5 times or more with Princess; eliminate free laundry for those who have sailed 15 times with Princess; quit offering premium beverages; eliminate the sanctuary; and make all spa services free. All of these are "perks" that people voluntarily spend more money to receive.

Yes, very true, but the reality is that all these things create a "class system". A "class system" has existed on cruise ships going back to the old ocean liners and. As a matter of fact, many of the concerns expressed by folks who have cruised for decades are a reflection of loss of certain aspects of what is unequivocally reflections of a "class system". (I'm not sure that cruise ships are getting any more egalitarian, but the specific nature of the distinctions are changing, and in some cases, because some distinctions being individually monetized.)

 

That extra spending by those people helps keep the fares down for the rest; even those who devote themselves to finding anything they can to be offended by.

That's both an inaccurate and inappropriately confrontational perspective. Each offering stands on its own; premium offerings don't subsidize mainstream offerings. If anything, the opposite is true: In the interest of maintaining touchstones to the legacy (which is leveraged for promotional purposes), certain aspects of the cruising experience may be maintained past the time that there is no (direct) business case for doing so.

 

I think there is a difference between paying extra for a service which does not impact other cruisers

No such thing: Every dollar of investment competes with every other way that dollar could be spent. Exclusive portions of the ship could instead have been offered as public areas. The difference with Club Class is that the trade-off Princess made is more obvious to previous cruisers because they remember how things were the other way. There's an erroneous expectation that whatever is offered today is at least the same as what was offered last year, when the reality is that every year the offering is new.

 

CC dining is like everything else new on Princess--it takes a while to either get the bugs out

And takes a while for customers to get used to the new value propositions offered by non-CC accommodations. Go back in the Cruise Critic forum archives a decade or so and you'll see consternation about changes that are taken for granted today. As caribill said later in the thread:

Actually there have been a number of what I consider bad ideas implemented which others have embraced so much they are permanent.

 

Likewise, things like priority embarkation/disembarkation, access to the already crowded priority disembarkation lounge, priority tendering...those are kinda more or less zero-sum games. (If two-thirds of the pax has priority embarkation, what does "priority" mean?) By changing Captains Circle rules so someone who's sailed 30 days can get the same Elite bennies as those of us who've sailed 150, many of those benefits are already watered down. And now this.

What you're highlighting is something that I'm surprised it has taken the cruise industry so long to realize. I used to work for Bell Laboratories in a lab that was for a time called the Customer Loyalty Lab. It was a very upbeat and positive place to work for the mid part of the 1980s. By the end of the 1980s it wasn't so fun because our research was revealing that customer loyalty was actually worth a lot less than expected. As the research became clearer, we realized that it wasn't loyalty that was worth less but rather that most of the things we thought were loyalty were not. Most notably, being willing to take advantage of loss-leaders and such wasn't loyalty, but perhaps something closer to customer exploitation of commercial offerings. Customer loyalty is the willingness to pay top dollar for what you offer, not the willingness to buy what you offer only when deeply discounted. The egalitarian way elite status was granted by service providers in all industries was counter-productive. That's why you see airlines now excluding certain fare classes from earning frequent flyer miles. Eventually, cruise lines will have to do the same.

 

Think about it; what level would you be with at Princess if you only got credit for full-fare bookings? More importantly: How many fewer folks would there be at each elite level if only full-fare bookings earned elite status. Think about how achievement of elite levels could be changed if achievement of elite levels was based on dollars instead of days.

 

Actually, I am on your side.

We're all on the same side: We're all (presumably) cruisers here.

 

It certainly is not to obtain any benefits that we are not entitled to. We are long term Elite Members with 60 cruises and 652 days so have fully earnt in our own right the club class benefits.

Except Club Class benefits are not earned by elite status, but rather by paying a higher fare for the current journey. Let's be clear: The mass market cruise lines don't offer elite status benefits based on your past cruises but rather based on how much they expect your past cruises to translate into current and future revenue. The research I did at Bell Labs back in the day indicated clearly that businesses have traditionally tended to overvalue such probabilities. That's why we see so many of them coming up with creative ways (like Club Class) to mitigate the error.

 

Just do the math to appreciate the impetus behind Club Class (numbers below for example purposes):

 

$400 per 7-day cruise per pax upcharge

x [30 to 80] CC cabins per ship

x 2 px per cabin

x 52 weeks

= [$1.25 to 3.5] million per ship annual incremental revenue potential

 

And for items that bear limited incremental cost that yields a strong profit contribution opportunity.

More importantly, that number represents what not having Club Class (i.e., leaving elite benefits to elite cruisers) had to compete against - in other words, how much lost business would be justifiable, that lost business being due to in part elite cruisers abandoning the cruise line due to how Club Class adversely impact elite benefits.

 

I want to add that the people who book Suites do it for good reason.

And let's be clear: Being able to "buy into" elite benefits without being at an elite level with the service provider is a good reason.

 

Not the same. A person buying a coach ticket would get the same experience, even if first class did not exist on the plane.

However, along the lines that TracieABD alluded to, Premium Economy permits folks to pre-board, thereby giving those passengers first shot at the overhead compartments, resulting in a lower probability of having to check one's carry-on.

 

And don't worry about the inconvenience to those who can't afford it?

Isn't that what we're all doing when we cruise, in general, vis a vis those who cannot afford such a nice vacation? We feel blessed to be able to afford such nice things; not many make the decision to live their lives as those least fortunate are forced to, eschewing comforts that they could afford. Edited January 10, 2017 by bUU

[floridalover5623]

 

Generally, if you show up at anytime at 9:00, there is no line.

 

That's about the time we're going back to the DR to get our dessert after the show. ;)

[Bruinboy]

Very thoughtful analysis, bUU. I appreciate the time you took to weigh in on what has previously been said.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[framer]

 

What you're highlighting is something that I'm surprised it has taken the cruise industry so long to realize. I used to work for Bell Laboratories in a lab that was for a time called the Customer Loyalty Lab. It was a very upbeat and positive place to work for the mid part of the 1980s. By the end of the 1980s it wasn't so fun because our research was revealing that customer loyalty was actually worth a lot less than expected. As the research became clearer, we realized that it wasn't loyalty that was worth less but rather that most of the things we thought were loyalty were not. Most notably, being willing to take advantage of loss-leaders and such wasn't loyalty, but perhaps something closer to customer exploitation of commercial offerings. Customer loyalty is the willingness to pay top dollar for what you offer, not the willingness to buy what you offer only when deeply discounted. The egalitarian way elite status was granted by service providers in all industries was counter-productive. That's why you see airlines now excluding certain fare classes from earning frequent flyer miles. Eventually, cruise lines will have to do the same.

 

You are so right. It took me years to get a grasp on that concept. I've been a retailer for 45+ years so I look back and see that so clearly. I'm currently training a person to take over my business and have been trying to get that message across. I'd guess the debate on this subject is beyond to scope of this thread.

 

Now it boils down to this question for those in any business. Am I leaving money on the table?

 

framer