Milestone cruises

[blue cow dog]

Good morning, 

I tried to search but am not coming up with anything.  (But then again, I am still figuring out this new format)

 

Would it be possible for someone to list what if anything Princess does for milestone cruises?  ie 25th  50th  75th 

 

Thanks so much

 

[caribcruzin]

Nothing.   It is now.... and has been for awhile.... based strictly on days.  So you are recognized at 500 days, 750 days, 1000 days, etc. 

[skynight]

29 minutes ago, blue cow dog said:

Good morning, 

I tried to search but am not coming up with anything.  (But then again, I am still figuring out this new format)

 

Would it be possible for someone to list what if anything Princess does for milestone cruises?  ie 25th  50th  75th 

 

Thanks so much

 

Believe Princess no longer uses cruises or cruise credits to mark milestones. Milestones are counted as days on board. Believe the first milestone is 500 days and subsequent ones are 750 and 1,000. Also believe you meet with the Captain's Circle host to decide how you want to celebrate. 

Edited October 22, 2018 by skynight

[chrysalis]

Friends of ours, on the 50th cruise, were sent apps to the cabin each day, received flowers in the cabin, were invited to the bridge, and received a special presentation from the Captain at the CC event

[wallyj]

For more info there was an older thread on this topic, I believe the switch to number of days instead of cruise credit was done May 2017, so in the previous post mentioning 50th cruise recognized, I would guess it happen before May 2017. I believe the milestone program is also not in writing anywhere and details are only available from your circle host. Unless you are celebrating one on board , my experience has been the circle host is coy about details since they can change at any time.

[paul929207]

We hit 750 days on our b2b2b to northern Europe in June & July. We got a number of special perks. We got flowers, chocolate covered strawberries, a bottle of the good champagne, tour of the bridge, and breakfast at Sabitini's for the leg we hit 750 days. That was on the first of the legs. Having the breakfast for 18 days was very nice. We were also recognized at the Captain's Circle party.

[Colo Cruiser]

8 hours ago, blue cow dog said:

Good morning, 

I tried to search but am not coming up with anything.  (But then again, I am still figuring out this new format)

 

Would it be possible for someone to list what if anything Princess does for milestone cruises?  ie 25th  50th  75th 

 

Thanks so much

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2562923-on-board-loyalty-credit/

[floridalover5623]

32 minutes ago, wallyj said:

For more info there was an older thread on this topic, I believe the switch to number of days instead of cruise credit was done May 2017, so in the previous post mentioning 50th cruise recognized, I would guess it happen before May 2017. I believe the milestone program is also not in writing anywhere and details are only available from your circle host. Unless you are celebrating one on board , my experience has been the circle host is coy about details since they can change at any time.

The only place I've ever seen it in writing is in the info given to the TA who take the Princess course online. 

That was from a few years ago.

[montgomeryfamily]

4 hours ago, wallyj said:

For more info there was an older thread on this topic, I believe the switch to number of days instead of cruise credit was done May 2017, so in the previous post mentioning 50th cruise recognized, I would guess it happen before May 2017. I believe the milestone program is also not in writing anywhere and details are only available from your circle host. Unless you are celebrating one on board , my experience has been the circle host is coy about details since they can change at any time.

I boarded the Coral Princess 10 Jun 2017 sailing, I was on my 50th cruise and expecting a milestone celebration.  After nothing the first day, I talked to the Capt Circle Hostess who confirmed this was my 50th cruise but said my name was not forwarded to her as a passenger on a milestone cruise and so she had to talk to the head office as she did not understand why the omission.   It took three days additional days for her to get an answer--they had just changed the milestone cruise criteria to days instead of cruises so I didn't qualify.   That was the first the Capt Circle Hostess had heard of this change.  Needless to say, I was quite disappointed as I had expected the milestone celebration. 

 

By changing the milestone to days instead of cruises, Princess has in effect changed the number of cruises required (assuming the average 7 day cruise) to 71 and one/half cruises.

[paul929207]

9 hours ago, montgomeryfamily said:

I boarded the Coral Princess 10 Jun 2017 sailing, I was on my 50th cruise and expecting a milestone celebration.  After nothing the first day, I talked to the Capt Circle Hostess who confirmed this was my 50th cruise but said my name was not forwarded to her as a passenger on a milestone cruise and so she had to talk to the head office as she did not understand why the omission.   It took three days additional days for her to get an answer--they had just changed the milestone cruise criteria to days instead of cruises so I didn't qualify.   That was the first the Capt Circle Hostess had heard of this change.  Needless to say, I was quite disappointed as I had expected the milestone celebration. 

 

By changing the milestone to days instead of cruises, Princess has in effect changed the number of cruises required (assuming the average 7 day cruise) to 71 and one/half cruises.

That is one way to look at it. Another is the change gives better recognition for those spending a lot of time on Princess ships. When we hit 750 days in June, we were on our 47th cruise. That is an average of about 16 days per cruise.

[montgomeryfamily]

How does this give better recognition?  The perks for the milestone cruise have not changed as a result of going from counting cruises to days.  You do not receive a badge or hat or anything to wear publicly proclaiming this is your milestone cruise.  The only place where a passenger on a milestone cruise is publicly recognized is the past passenger party.  However, the three most traveled passengers are still announced at each cruise's past passenger party.  So the milestone cruiser is not the only one recognized.  Do you think it somehow dilutes your recognition to also potentially have someone recognized who has a milestone cruise based on number of cruises?  

 

I do not object to their adding number of days cruised to determine milestone cruises.  I thought that this was only fair when it was added to the criteria for determination of elite status instead of basing elite status only on number of cruises taken. 

 

Although there are some longer cruises and some shorter cruises,  the seven day cruise is the length most offered by Princess.  The length of days does not necessarily make the cruise more worthy to be counted.  Many seven day cruises are more expensive than longer day cruises on a per day basis, especially in the lower categories. 

 

 

[paul929207]

I really do not care if Princess uses days or cruise credits. I figure if we get a perk that is great. If we don't, that is fine too. It might become a bit of a mess trying to do the milestones for both. For instance, in June we hit 750 days and got the appropriate awards. In September, we had our 50th cruise. We (correctly) did not receive any milestone credit.

[montgomeryfamily]

Then why did you say that you thought the change to days gave "better recognition"?   Actually there have been several who have posted that they did get both milestones because they had achieved the 5Oth cruise milestone some time before the change and then a few months later after the change, received the milestone 500 day recognition.  However, I agree that this is not necessary and nor, I believe, what was intended by creating milestone cruise rewards/recognition.

 

I think it could be handled easily by creating levels of milestone cruises.  So level one or 1st milestone is 50 cruises or 500 days, whichever comes first, then level 2 or 2nd milestone is 75 cruises or 750 days , whichever comes first, and so on (following both the original milestone cruise levels and the new milestone day levels).  It is already tracked by computer so it shouldn't be difficult to make this change in tracking (necessary since Princess notifies the Capt Circle Hostess of the upcoming milestone cruise for a particular cruiser rather than the Capt Circle Hostess being required to determined whether there are any milestone cruises on the next upcoming cruise).

[skynight]

26 minutes ago, montgomeryfamily said:

 

 

I think it could be handled easily by creating levels of milestone cruises.  So level one or 1st milestone is 50 cruises or 500 days, whichever comes first, then level 2 or 2nd milestone is 75 cruises or 750 days , whichever comes first, and so on (following both the original milestone cruise levels and the new milestone day levels).  It is already tracked by computer so it shouldn't be difficult to make this change in tracking (necessary since Princess notifies the Capt Circle Hostess of the upcoming milestone cruise for a particular cruiser rather than the Capt Circle Hostess being required to determined whether there are any milestone cruises on the next upcoming cruise).

I think going to days only is a better way to measure. Cruises/Cruise Credits gets messy with customers receiving 2x and 3x cruise credits for 1 night, 2 night and other short cruises. Also, with Princess many of their cruises are not the historically typical one week kind. Princess determines the most traveled passengers with days only, no multipliers and no cruise counts are considered.

[montgomeryfamily]

But Princess uses both cruises or days to measure achievement of elite status (whichever level is met first) and uses cruises only to determine loyalty shipboard credit.  It makes sense to measure most traveled passengers with days because the title of "most traveled" as used by Princess in this context in and of itself seems to be a measurement of time.

 

Frankly, a milestone measured in days (500 days, 750 days, etc) sounds like a situation where the recognition and rewards are given only on that 500th, 750th, etc day, not for the entire cruise.   Princess treats the entire cruise as a milestone, providing rewards for the entire cruise (dining in Sabatinis for the length of the cruise, for example).  So it actually makes more sense to measure the milestone by cruises.  But I recognize that Princess does offer some longer cruises and so it only seems fair to treat this like the elite status situation with cruises or days.

 

[Coral]

I will probably never reach a milestone under the new conditions. I have only traveled on cruises 7 days or longer so it is not like I did a bunch of short cruises to reach any milestones. I could see myself hitting 50 cruises but 500 days will be tough, especially since I am looking elsewhere for cruises.

Edited October 23, 2018 by Coral

[montgomeryfamily]

We are in the same situation as you, Coral.  I don't have any expectation of meeting the new milestone.  We have been cruising with Princess since 1988 and have never done any cruise shorter than 7 days except for a one day cruise which we used as a sort of back to back transportation from Seattle to Vancouver to board another Princess ship doing an Alaska one way cruise.  

 

With the way our milestone-not cruise was handled and getting tired of the same Princess itineraries, cost cutting and disability accommodation issues, we did not take a Princess cruise this year but instead did a land based vacation and a Celebrity cruise to Bermuda (an itinerary Princess no longer offers).  We really enjoyed it as Celebrity actually offers a wheelchair accessible suite (the sky suite) unlike most of the Princess ships and the ship we were on (unlike Princess) had lifts to the higher decks, seating both in the back and in the front in the theatre, a fully accessible atrium area, etc. 

 

We are back on Princess next year for Alaska (who I think does Alaska better than any of the mainstream cruise lines as long as you are not on a ship with a tender port), but we will continue to look at other options for future vacations.

 

[Coral]

30 minutes ago, montgomeryfamily said:

We are in the same situation as you, Coral.  I don't have any expectation of meeting the new milestone.  We have been cruising with Princess since 1988 and have never done any cruise shorter than 7 days except for a one day cruise which we used as a sort of back to back transportation from Seattle to Vancouver to board another Princess ship doing an Alaska one way cruise.  

 

We are back on Princess next year for Alaska (who I think does Alaska better than any of the mainstream cruise lines as long as you are not on a ship with a tender port), but we will continue to look at other options for future vacations.

 

I did a 14 night cruise with Princess this year to Norway and loved Norway. The ship experience was mixed - service exceptional but food was a disappointment. It was on a ship I liked.  I really don't like Princess's new ships or large ships in general so I will continue to see what Princess offers but will no longer be loyal to them. I have had recent changes that allow me to travel more and I will take the time to "look around". My travel agent said that there are a lot of people who are saying similar things to her. People are more apt to try something different now-a-days.

 

I agree about Alaska!

Edited October 24, 2018 by Coral

[floridalover5623]

10 hours ago, montgomeryfamily said:

The only place where a passenger on a milestone cruise is publicly recognized is the past passenger party.

On occasion people that reach Milestone cruises are announced at the passenger parties and are sometimes even given select seating in the front row. This seems to be at the discretion of the Capt circle host. 

[paul929207]

We were seated in the front row on the Pacific Princess for our milestone cruise in June. But we were also number 2 most traveled on that cruise, so we would have been seated in the front anyway.

[floridalover5623]

2 hours ago, paul929207 said:

We were seated in the front row on the Pacific Princess for our milestone cruise in June. But we were also number 2 most traveled on that cruise, so we would have been seated in the front anyway.

Some of the Capt circle hosts let the most traveled people bring additional 2 guests with them. 

[paul929207]

5 hours ago, floridalover5623 said:

Some of the Capt circle hosts let the most traveled people bring additional 2 guests with them. 

When we have made the top 3 we have always been asked if there is anyone sailing with us. If so, they are invited to join us up front.

[geoherb]

12 hours ago, floridalover5623 said:

Some of the Capt circle hosts let the most traveled people bring additional 2 guests with them. 

 

We were invited twice by the most-traveled couple to join them at the Captain's Circle Party. They were our tablemates on the first cruise. We happened to run into them during embarkation on the second. We had lunch with them one day, and they invited us to join them again. They even gave us their crystal piece they received. We went in through the port-side door instead of having to wait in the long line.

 

One time the waiters were very attentive and kept us supplied with plenty of refills. The other time we were lucky to get two drinks apiece. 

[floridalover5623]

10 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

We were invited twice by the most-traveled couple to join them at the Captain's Circle Party. They were our tablemates on the first cruise. We happened to run into them during embarkation on the second. We had lunch with them one day, and they invited us to join them again. They even gave us their crystal piece they received. We went in through the port-side door instead of having to wait in the long line.

 

One time the waiters were very attentive and kept us supplied with plenty of refills. The other time we were lucky to get two drinks apiece. 

Have they started to hand out the crystal pieces once again?   I saw the cheap box they handed out last Feb & it wasn't at all impressive. Someone mentioned that they might give the glass paperweights out in the future. 

[paul929207]

On our Pacific Princess cruises in June & July, the Captain's Circle Rep seemed embarrassed by the worthless black boxes. So she also gave us the crystal pieces that were left over.