Just an Observation

[MixerDave]

I follow both Princess and Royal Caribbean (because we have sailed RCCL before.  What I notice is RCCL Crown and Anchor members are obsessed with their status, while Princess cruisers are not.  They are "loyal to royal" regardless of how they are treated, going so far as to defend royal to the nth degree.  After a recent RCCL cruise, we have vowed never to sail them again, and hope our first Princess cruise will show us a new home.

 

[kywildcatfanone]

There was a thread yesterday about people touting their Princess level, so you might just not have read enough  😀

 

Loyalty should be earned.  I've never cruised another line than Princess, but I have seen the product degrade some in various areas since I took my first cruise in 2006.  I've not looked at other lines very closely, but have been tempted to consider another one just as a reference point.

Just in the last couple of weeks Princess has announced an increase in the daily tips added to your folio, and have increased drink prices for some packages by 40% or more.  My loyalty is waning a bit for sure.

[Cruisercl]

26 minutes ago, MixerDave said:

I follow both Princess and Royal Caribbean (because we have sailed RCCL before.  What I notice is RCCL Crown and Anchor members are obsessed with their status, while Princess cruisers are not.  They are "loyal to royal" regardless of how they are treated, going so far as to defend royal to the nth degree.  After a recent RCCL cruise, we have vowed never to sail them again, and hope our first Princess cruise will show us a new home.

 

This!

I just sailed Royal after 5 years being away; thought I would try it again. The customer service was poor. I won't sail them again (though never say never 😊).

I am not sure if the loyalists to Royal are naive or in denial; it was a bit sad to see the behaviors of some of them on board.

I am Emerald on Royal so I have cruised with them for a few cruises. None of the perks are worth the product they offer.

Good luck in your search for a new cruise home!! It would be a fun search, IMHO.😁

[skynight]

Hope you enjoy the Princess experience. 

[JF - retired RRT]

We've been cruising on Princess since 2013 (not as long as some).

The first thing we did was buy Carnival Stock. Bought it at around $34, received all that back in dividends and OBC.

Second thing we did was send DH's DD214 for the Military OBC.

Third thing we did was buy Future Cruise Deposits.

Really haven't looked at any other cruise line (although Viking is tempting).

Yes, it's changing. Some perks are degrading, grats are going up (again). However, so far, we aren't tempted to leave. When all the ships are 3000+, that will be the end of our cruising.

[Alaskanb]

1 hour ago, MixerDave said:

I follow both Princess and Royal Caribbean (because we have sailed RCCL before.  What I notice is RCCL Crown and Anchor members are obsessed with their status, while Princess cruisers are not.  They are "loyal to royal" regardless of how they are treated, going so far as to defend royal to the nth degree.  After a recent RCCL cruise, we have vowed never to sail them again, and hope our first Princess cruise will show us a new home.

 

I have sailed on Princess since 2011 however I know their newer ships like the Royal are not for me. Cruises like any vacation are what you make of them.

[neverbeenhere]

We’ve learned that sleeping around a bit keeps things fresher. 

[NemoCrownie]

Our first  number of cruises were on RCI (we do have some status) but it became a different experience than we wanted for our precious vacation time and hard earned $'s.  A great vacation is worth a lot more than a few free drinks, in my opinion. We went to Celebrity a few years ago and have loved our cruises with them.  Our 1/31 Celebrity 14 night cruise was recently cancelled and there are no reasonably priced alternatives for February so we are giving Princess a try after hearing good things about them.  One of the things I really like about Celebrity is that I never heard anyone flaunt their status or expect to be treated differently than the next person.  That was a noticeable change from our last few Royal cruises where their were a few very entitled passengers on each cruise.

[getting older slowly]

The only time the colour of your cruise.... is if you are a blue card = first time on princess or a cruise

 

Then if they look lost or confuddled and will always help them and answer any question and point them in the right direction ...

 

Generally cruise card is in a pocket or out of sight....

 

This entitlement thing is an slight issue, but  I like club class dining.... you don't have to watch what you say..... as we travel in suite... but don't advertise the fact.

 

Cheers Don    

[geoherb]

I've seen some Princess passengers try to flaunt their status--ones who actually wear their Captain's Circle pins or who flash their black cards to try to intimidate the staff. I try to steer clear of them.

[ErLee]

I’ve seen on these boards plenty of Princess passengers who are awfully proud of their status!  As if sharing ship space with those of “lower status” is somehow cheapening the experience.  I just have to shake my head and laugh 😆 

[Creekside89]

Yes, on my last Princess Cruise, over half were Elite's. I saw one woman whose card, (attached to her lanyard around her neck), holding the card in front of her as she was walking throughout the ship. Did she think the rest of us "lower status" would stand aside and clear the path for her?

I am Ruby status, in my very early 50's and was asked by a few Elite's on how I could be of that status as I am too young whilst looking down their nose at me. My answer - work hard for my money and not spending my Superannuation.

[Renmar]

2 hours ago, geoherb said:

I've seen some Princess passengers try to flaunt their status--ones who actually wear their Captain's Circle pins or who flash their black cards to try to intimidate the staff. I try to steer clear of them.

Don't worry, the staff won't be intimidated by black cards, there are too many of them. Also, when Medallion is fleet wide there won't be any cards to flash.

 

Theo

[Ep010835]

11 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

We’ve learned that sleeping around a bit keeps things fresher. 

 

🤣

[L454S]

Have tried several lines. There is no such thing as being "LOYAL" to any cruise line for us, as we have mixed them up pretty well over the years.

 

Price and itinerary drive just about all of the sailings we book. 

[MissP22]

Although we have most of our cruises with Princess we continue to sail them because we like their product. We know what the others have to offer and at this point in time don't wish to start over building up seniority. 

We still don't make a point of advertising our status. 

[paul929207]

We like the Princess itineraries. We have been fortunate to sail all over the world with them. Unfortunately, they have cut out some of the great destinations that were offered in the past

[MixerDave]

14 hours ago, NemoCrownie said:

Our first  number of cruises were on RCI (we do have some status) but it became a different experience than we wanted for our precious vacation time and hard earned $'s.  A great vacation is worth a lot more than a few free drinks, in my opinion. We went to Celebrity a few years ago and have loved our cruises with them.  Our 1/31 Celebrity 14 night cruise was recently cancelled and there are no reasonably priced alternatives for February so we are giving Princess a try after hearing good things about them.  One of the things I really like about Celebrity is that I never heard anyone flaunt their status or expect to be treated differently than the next person.  That was a noticeable change from our last few Royal cruises where their were a few very entitled passengers on each cruise.

Last November we sailed on Celebrity with friends.  They are Elite, and he made sure he mentioned frequently.

[NemoCrownie]

15 minutes ago, MixerDave said:

Last November we sailed on Celebrity with friends.  They are Elite, and he made sure he mentioned frequently.

Wow! Thankfully we've never seen that. It's printed on your Sea Pass, for crying out loud- no reason to tell anyone. 

[SargassoPirate]

4 hours ago, L454S said:

Have tried several lines. There is no such thing as being "LOYAL" to any cruise line for us, as we have mixed them up pretty well over the years.

 

Price and itinerary drive just about all of the sailings we book. 

 Same here. We use the travel department of our big box warehouse club to search for cruises based on when and where we want to go. We are Elite with Princess and D+ with Royal, but we only feel as loyal to either of them as they do to us when they continue to cutback their product. It's not personal, it's business and it's a two way street.  We book for the best itinerary for our money.  We've ended up on Cunard, HAL, NCL, and Viking Ocean.

[Doug R.]

11 hours ago, geoherb said:

I've seen some Princess passengers try to flaunt their status--ones who actually wear their Captain's Circle pins or who flash their black cards to try to intimidate the staff. I try to steer clear of them.

 

8 hours ago, Renmar said:

Don't worry, the staff won't be intimidated by black cards, there are too many of them. Also, when Medallion is fleet wide there won't be any cards to flash.

 

Theo

I had one up close and personal encounter with a black card flasher. Several cruises ago when I still dressed in a tux during formal night we were seated at a six top with other cruisers dressed up for formal night. One of the men was dressed decently but not formal. I turned to greet him and he returned my greeting with a sneer and pushed his black card in my face. I retaliated by pretending that I didn't hear him ask to pass the bread basket, instead sending it in the opposite direction. (Petty I know but sometimes rude people must be dealt with in a similar manner 😉).

 

The elite snobs (probably a tiny percentage of all elites) Will still have their appropriately colored medallions to push in your face.

[MixerDave]

31 minutes ago, NemoCrownie said:

Wow! Thankfully we've never seen that. It's printed on your Sea Pass, for crying out loud- no reason to tell anyone. 

 

31 minutes ago, NemoCrownie said:

Wow! Thankfully we've never seen that. It's printed on your Sea Pass, for crying out loud- no reason to tell anyone. 

  On a recent Royal Caribbean cruise I saw a guy with his Diamond + sea pass on a lanyard - along with all his old sea passes as well.

[ldubs]

18 minutes ago, Doug R. said:

 

I had one up close and personal encounter with a black card flasher. Several cruises ago when I still dressed in a tux during formal night we were seated at a six top with other cruisers dressed up for formal night. One of the men was dressed decently but not formal. I turned to greet him and he returned my greeting with a sneer and pushed his black card in my face. I retaliated by pretending that I didn't hear him ask to pass the bread basket, instead sending it in the opposite direction. (Petty I know but sometimes rude people must be dealt with in a similar manner 😉).

 

The elite snobs (probably a tiny percentage of all elites) Will still have their appropriately colored medallions to push in your face.

 

Yikes -- pushed the card in your face, really?   I wonder what kind of reaction he expected.  

[voljeep]

we were in line for the mdr and the lady in front of us commented very loudly to anyone who was listening that she was elite and should be moved to the front of the line without a wait - all the while flashing her black card to anyone who was looking in her direction ...

[Doug R.]

2 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

Yikes -- pushed the card in your face, really?   I wonder what kind of reaction he expected.  

I am not sure if he was using the fact that he was an elite to defend his clothing choice, or was telling me as an insignificant gold card that I should only speak when spoken to. His spouse was just as haughty and the table ignored both of them. Thank goodness for ATD so we didn't have to see them the rest of the cruise.