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Is Princess losing

BCCRUSINGCOUPLE

By BCCRUSINGCOUPLE,
in Princess Cruises

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BCCRUSINGCOUPLE

BCCRUSINGCOUPLE

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Hello everyone I am a long term princess cruiser and have been lucky enough to sail many other lines. However is it me seems like princess is cutting back and other lines are giving free drink packages and better value any thoughts.

 

 

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Tatka

Tatka

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I agree I think it was separate from ccl would be better

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I am not a fan of Carnival at all, but lines are sold for a reason. Princess , Cunard, Holland prosper because Carnival acquired them.

 

I still find Princess to be one of the best (best for us).

A bit upset Princess basically abandoned Northeast except for Canada/New England cruises. It is an amazing market. :(

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fishywood

fishywood

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Hello everyone I am a long term princess cruiser and have been lucky enough to sail many other lines. However is it me seems like princess is cutting back and other lines are giving free drink packages and better value any thoughts.

 

Princess gives a fine value for the fares they charge. If you really think that a "free" drink package that requires you to pay a service charge of 18 to 20% on its ridiculously inflated "retail value" (as much as $90/pp/pd on some lines) constitutes better value, then a remedial maths course may be in order.

 

I agree I think it was separate from ccl would be better

 

 

Princess Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line are two of ten cruise lines that simply are owned by the same parent company, Carnival Corporation & plc. They are separate and autonomous. And as noted above the market share and financial resources of said parent have proven a huge advantage in such a competitive low margin industry. But I guess since the name "Carnival" has negative associations for some, all of us should hope for divestiture--and the accompanying loss of our shareholder OBC.

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moki'smommy

moki'smommy

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Princess took a drop when they merged with Carnival. But they took a much bigger one when they were recently transferred to "HAG", Holland America Group.

 

Now they are the third tier line, behind HAL and Seabourn.

HAL management is squeezing every penny they can get out of Princess, to the detriment of the Princess product and Princess passengers.

This is the first thing that has made sense to me; I knew I was seeing changes; drops in service, etc. but I couldn't figure out why. This totally explains it.

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BCCRUSINGCOUPLE

BCCRUSINGCOUPLE

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Princess gives a fine value for the fares they charge. If you really think that a "free" drink package that requires you to pay a service charge of 18 to 20% on its ridiculously inflated "retail value" (as much as $90/pp/pd on some lines) constitutes better value, then a remedial maths course may be in order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Princess Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line are two of ten cruise lines that simply are owned by the same parent company, Carnival Corporation & plc. They are separate and autonomous. And as noted above the market share and financial resources of said parent have proven a huge advantage in such a competitive low margin industry. But I guess since the name "Carnival" has negative associations for some, all of us should hope for divestiture--and the accompanying loss of our shareholder OBC.

 

 

 

Well I can confirm

I don’t need a math course. I do agree sometimes you need to do your math however I think in time princess is losing the value that so many likes about the line

 

 

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pris993

pris993

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Hello everyone I am a long term princess cruiser and have been lucky enough to sail many other lines. However is it me seems like princess is cutting back and other lines are giving free drink packages and better value any thoughts.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I do not book any line for free drink packages, I think Princess offer a very good value, that is why I have 27 Princess cruises over and above any of the other 9 lines I have cruised on. I book a mini suite, go to the Crown Grill many nights and am very happy with food and service on board.

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moki'smommy

moki'smommy

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That's funny...when we cruised Celebrity, we found it to be a much older crowd than Princess. The wider demographic is one of the things we like about Princess. I'm sure that someone will present average age of passengers and it is totally possible that our Celebrity cruises were flukes...but that was our experience.

 

FWIW, Celebrity is also decreasing what they offer. For instance, there used to be a lovely buffet brunch. It is no longer offered. Their tea is much more elaborate than on Princess, but it also has a significant cost while on Princess there is no upcharge for the afternoon tea.

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AnnieB925

AnnieB925

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Hello everyone I am a long term princess cruiser and have been lucky enough to sail many other lines. However is it me seems like princess is cutting back and other lines are giving free drink packages and better value any thoughts.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I will be watching this with interest, having just returned from my first Princess cruise.

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moki'smommy

moki'smommy

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Sorry... I should restate that. Celebrity is targeting a younger demographic.

That makes sense. If you can attract cruisers in their 30s, they have many years to come back to that line. If you attract a new 60 year old cruiser, they have a lot fewer years to contribute to the company's bottom line. On the other hand, they have a lot more date flexibility and disposable income.

 

We cruised the family oriented lines for lots of years. I have no objection to kids or to families, but we have noticed that on the lines that market themselves as family oriented, there seems to be a lot less parental supervision of these little darlings, while on Princess it is rare to see an unsupervised child or teen.

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4cats4me "Live from...." Rare

4cats4me

Posted
Posted (edited)
Hello everyone I am a long term princess cruiser and have been lucky enough to sail many other lines. However is it me seems like princess is cutting back and other lines are giving free drink packages and better value any thoughts.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

I’ve come to the conclusion that nothing is really free. We were originally booked on Celebrity with a “free” drink package and a $500 OBC for this April, and have since switched over to Princess for the same date. The X cruise would have cost $2,574. This year, since the hurricane has damaged the islands that we were to go to, I’ve seen prices as low as $704 pp for the same category that we had booked, so $1,200 less, with fewer freebies. .

 

(The Princess Cruise is only $1,600 BTW) so

The it is apparent that freebies are worked into the price of the cruise.

Last year, the price for a cruise we went on wouldn’t drop below $4,200 for the category that we were in, but it included a bunch of “freebies” like $775 OBC, free grats, and all inclusive premium alcohol package. Yesterday I checked pricing for the same cruise, same category, and it is $1,200 LESS than last year’s price, does include a little shipboard credit and a lesser alcohol package, but not all the other “freebies.”

Nothing is really free. It is all marketing hype.

 

I have felt that Princess has been charging a lot more over the last couple years, with few incentives, but I also feel there has been s correction in the prices since the hurricane in Sept damaged a lot of islands, so at least for many Caribbean itineraries the prices are very competitive

 

X had better prices for the European cruises a few months back, but Princess has better itineraries, at least for us, so we are paying more than we would have on X.

Edited by 4cats4me
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Lynniepoo

Lynniepoo

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Wow. I hadn't heard that Princess had been shuffled over to HAL. DH and I have not cruised any other line except Princess, so I'm always curious as to what people say about other lines!

 

We were on the Regal over Christmas and while everything was generally good (and we had a wonderful time), I noticed a large uptick in rude/poopy face/"seriously unhappy and I don't care if you know it" crew. One fellow was so shockingly rude to me, on day 1 of the cruise, that I was tempted to formally complain.

 

I also noticed a concerted effort to try and steer us towards the high ticket items. This has always been there (and I'm sure its the same on the other lines), but we got corralled into a "guided" tour of the spa that included a mandatory stop at each station, with high pressure pitches for signing up for classes / services / super expensive stuff. Honestly, I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could go have some fun!

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moki'smommy

moki'smommy

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Exactly as above. When a cruise line includes perks with a booking, it is really helpful to have a history on the prices. Or if you book it with perks, track your pricing up to the penalty date; you may find that after a promotion ends, you can book the cruise at a much lower cost. You also must think about the value of a perk TO YOU rather than the listed value. For instance, if you don't drink alcohol, an "unlimited beverage" deal is of less value than to someone who does drink. Sometimes you can trade a perk for some OBC, other times not.

 

Example; we booked an upcoming cruise with OBC and a specialty dinner. At booking, I found that we also qualified for complimentary gratuities. At the end of the promotion, the price of the cruise dropped by a few hundred dollars. I could quickly calculate that we had a better deal with the perks than the new price, but that was only due to the gratuities.

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paul929207

paul929207

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Wow. I hadn't heard that Princess had been shuffled over to HAL. DH and I have not cruised any other line except Princess, so I'm always curious as to what people say about other lines!

 

We were on the Regal over Christmas and while everything was generally good (and we had a wonderful time), I noticed a large uptick in rude/poopy face/"seriously unhappy and I don't care if you know it" crew. One fellow was so shockingly rude to me, on day 1 of the cruise, that I was tempted to formally complain.

 

I also noticed a concerted effort to try and steer us towards the high ticket items. This has always been there (and I'm sure its the same on the other lines), but we got corralled into a "guided" tour of the spa that included a mandatory stop at each station, with high pressure pitches for signing up for classes / services / super expensive stuff. Honestly, I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could go have some fun!

As son as the "guided tour" exposed itself, I would have bailed

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

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We disembarked from the Regal Princess this morning. It was a great cruise. I thought the food was better than we had on the Royal in December. Service was almost always friendly and helpful. A drink package would not be of much value to me. We brought on a few bottles of wine (two for the cabin and two for the dining room). We bought drinks a few times at the evening cocktail event and a couple of times during the BOGO happy hour.

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