Just an Observation

[pris993]

We like the mini suites; Crown Grill, especially the Sea Bass on the menu; level of service on Princess more responsive to special requests; we have cruised most places we wanted to see @87/72 years if age, Princess home ports in San Francisco, love taking a taxi to the ship as much as possible.  Over the years we have flown to Istanbul, Athens, London, Barcelona and Rome to board ships.    Our needs at our age are pretty simple.    We are doing a Panama Canal on the Coral, something we have not done before.  Always felt we could  do the Panama Canal any time... so the time has come.  

 

 

 

[KruzPrincess]

I like Princess, but I’ve also sailed on HAL and NCL in the last year. I enjoy my loyalty perks and it does sometimes affect which cruise line I select. I think Princess offers a good product, but it’s not what it used to be. I think that’s true for most cruise lines that I’ve been on recently. As for loyalty snobs...... I have seen a few. It mostly has been with people trying to get on tenders faster. I do wear my card on a lanyard because I often don’t have pockets and don’t want to carry a bag. I actually have found that non-elite people sometimes have more issues with the loyalty level than elites. People try to look at my card and when I give them a questioning look they say their trying to see how many cruises I have. I’ve had other people give me a hard time about being elite. It’s mostly in the form of jokes, but I’ve never teased anyone about their loyalty level. I just tell people that being elite just means that I’ve spent too much money on cruising. Princess cards used to have a picture of your ship on it. I wish it was still that way. I was disappointed when they switched to colored cards. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a Royal Caribbean cruise, so no personal experience there. 

[getting older slowly]

It would be nice just to have white cards.... and your CaptainCircleStatus it just a word in the corner like, green, puce  or some other colour.

 

I like the old way with a picture of the ship.

 

Cheers Don

[MissP22]

7 hours ago, KruzPrincess said:

People try to look at my card and when I give them a questioning look they say their trying to see how many cruises I have.

Well you won't have that problem with the Medallions since it's not printed on them. 

[Orangefan]

51 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Well you won't have that problem with the Medallions since it's not printed on them. 

 

Actually , my  ocean medallion on the lanyard I received 3 weeks ago on Carib Princess doesn't have the word elite on it but the medallion has the black background. All  the other levels also match your color to the medallion.

Sali

[pablo222]

On 5/30/2019 at 5:28 PM, 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. 

 

I have seen many cruisers wearing their black cards around their necks...

 

Many times, someone has started a conversation with me, intent on impressing me with how

many princess cruises they have been on.     

 

They ask me -- knowing they will top my answer.

 

I just show them my cruise card which has 70+ on it now.

 

They generally scuttle off to try and impress some one else.

 

I don't know how one can do this with a medallion....

 

We were at a top-40 cocktail party.  Other folks asked us what we have planned.

Nothing.

 

They then detailed what they had -- live in canada; fly to some ship for 2 weeks; fly home;

fly to someother ship for 10 days; fly home;

Repeat...

 

Afterwards I said to Mrs. Pablo ... they must really hate where they live.

That sounded absolutely exausting...

 

Mrs Pablo:   I think they were bragging...

 

Dear Party Attendee -- if you're reading, I'm sorry I wasn't suitably impressed.

 

 

 

[pms4104]

1 hour ago, Orangefan said:

 

Actually , my  ocean medallion on the lanyard I received 3 weeks ago on Carib Princess doesn't have the word elite on it but the medallion has the black background. All  the other levels also match your color to the medallion.

Sali

Interestingly, when the medallion debuted, some peeps were very upset that all of them seemed to be the same generic color ... regardless of one's level.  

[SargassoPirate]

On 5/31/2019 at 6:51 PM, Kruzer Zuker said:

Never understand the need to "flaunt" status.  It is not like it needs intelligence, or hard work, or a lot of money.  

 

What is it to be proud of?

 

The only thing to be proud of is that they spent a lot of money to get their status. So what?  

[Orangefan]

I think some are reading more into the medallion wearing. I exercise daily at home and on cruises. I enjoy zumba, line dancing and other dance classes. I was thrilled to have the medallion on the lanyard. My exercise clothes do not have pockets so wearing the lanyard is easier. Some other cruisers bought colorful watch bands on Amazon prior to the cruise  and put the medallions in the special band.  I saw a gentleman with the medallion in a clip on to attach to his shirt. I never considered people were showing off but merely putting the medallion where they were most comfortable.

Sali

[KruzPrincess]

14 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Well you won't have that problem with the Medallions since it's not printed on them. 

I’m going on my first Medallion cruise this year.

[pms4104]

I've enjoyed two truly memorable encounters on Princess with those afflicted with black-card-itis.

 

On our first Princess cruise, we received a free upgrade from a mini-suite to a full suite.  Our first port IIRC was Princess Cay, a tender port that I understood from my research to have very limited shade.  So, to get some of that shade, we went really early to where we were instructed to queue for the tenders ... in fact, we were first in line, and in a very short while others lined up behind us.

 

Then, an elevator just in front of us arrived and disgorged one just-beyond middle aged dude ... and he stood directly in front of us, making himself the first in line.  So I kindly mentioned that the line formed behind us.  "Hrumph" or something similarly inarticulate from him.  I repeated myself ... and he replied "I have a black card, and I can go anyplace I want." My response was that the line still formed behind us ... another "hrumph" and he moved back, either in line or back to his cabin.  No clue where he went ... and he had no way of knowing if we were blue cards or the king and queen of wherever.

 

The second instance was a bit over a year ago on the Royal ... a self-identified "snowbird" who was repeating the same two 10-nt itineraries over and over and over.  There we were in the elevator lobby where her husband, who was driving (and I use that term loosely) a scooter ... darn near ran over my feet.  In an attempt to impress us (really?) she wove in to her elevator-waiting blah-blah-blah comments to us something about how she had spent over $50,000 to get her black card (yes, she was waving it around for us to see) blah- blah-blah.  I almost told her that her money would have been better spent on either a chauffer or driving lessons for her spouse.  Again, she had no clue our status ... not that it matters at all.

Edited June 3, 2019 by pms4104

[elliair]

On 5/30/2019 at 8:55 PM, 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.

Oh NO!!!!  I put that elite pin on my walking hat, I didn't know what else to do with it.  My hat says "BOSS" on the front of it (I got it on Princess), so that makes me equally intimidating.  Then there's that black name tag on my mailbox outside of my cabin.  I'm pretty sure that p*sses people off who walk by my door.  I suppose some feel inferior for no reason, or they're looking for it.  I don't get it.

[mevs904]

13 hours ago, Orangefan said:

I think some are reading more into the medallion wearing. I exercise daily at home and on cruises. I enjoy zumba, line dancing and other dance classes. I was thrilled to have the medallion on the lanyard. My exercise clothes do not have pockets so wearing the lanyard is easier. Some other cruisers bought colorful watch bands on Amazon prior to the cruise  and put the medallions in the special band.  I saw a gentleman with the medallion in a clip on to attach to his shirt. I never considered people were showing off but merely putting the medallion where they were most comfortable.

Sali

 

Thanks for mentioning this.  I, too, wear my card or medallion on a lanyard because many of my outfits don’t have pockets and I like being “bag free” when onboard.  For me it’s just a convenience and is in no way intended to impress anyone.

[pamwigs]

On 5/30/2019 at 1:43 PM, kywildcatfanone said:

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.

 

Gratuities went from 15 to 18 percent. There was no 40 percent increase. The increase in gratuities includes any drink packages

[MissP22]

22 hours ago, Orangefan said:

 

Actually , my  ocean medallion on the lanyard I received 3 weeks ago on Carib Princess doesn't have the word elite on it but the medallion has the black background. All  the other levels also match your color to the medallion.

Sali

Well there's nothing anyone can do about the black background other than put it in your pocket, although you won't be alone showing yours. 

[geoherb]

Some of the nicest people we have met were the most-traveled passengers. We ate dinner with one couple who were the most-traveled on that cruise. They invited us to join them at the Captain's Circle party. We ran into them on another cruise and they invited us to join them again. Another most-traveled passenger was on our trivia team on another cruise. We had a great time with her.

[kywildcatfanone]

5 hours ago, pamwigs said:

There was no 40 percent increase.

I said the increase was in drink package cost, not gratuities.

[kywildcatfanone]

23 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

The only thing to be proud of is that they spent a lot of money to get their status. So what?  

 

Exactly.  I see people with black cards (and medallions although you can't really tell without staring), and my first thought is they have spent a lot of money with Princess.

We are elite, but I'm most proud of thinking that I probably spent the least amount of money to get there that I could. 

[seastheday]

On May 30, 2019 at 6:43 PM, neverbeenhere said:

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

Oh I see what you did there. 😉😂

[SargassoPirate]

Waving the black card around or sailing in a big suite and flaunting speaks to the need for validation that person has.  I keep my card in my pocket and don't mention what class of cabin I'm sailing in (inside if it's just me - standard balcony if She Who Must Be Obeyed is sailing).  If someone is rude enough to ask in a way that I perceive is a qualifier for social status, I'll say something like "I'm a guest of the Captain this cruise" and let them chew on that one.  If the same type of person asks what do you do as another social status qualifier, I'll say I'm unemployed ( true since I'm retired) or I'll say I'm in the witness protection program.

 

 

 

 

[neverbeenhere]

On Princess a black card represents cruise experience of 5 to 15 cruises (and more) or large Casino play or some other method of receiving a black card, so flaunting a black card shouldn’t be too impressive to many cruisers. 

 

On Royal... they have the Pinnacle Pins. 🤪

I’m waiting for some line to have a ring suitable for kissing. 

[c-boy]

22 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

On Princess a black card represents cruise experience of 5 to 15 cruises (and more) or large Casino play or some other method of receiving a black card, so flaunting a black card shouldn’t be too impressive to many cruisers. 

 

On Royal... they have the Pinnacle Pins. 🤪

I’m waiting for some line to have a ring suitable for kissing. 

also known as "Big Fish or high roller" cards

[pamwigs]

4 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

I said the increase was in drink package cost, not gratuities.

 

You also mentioned gratuities saying 'Just in the last couple of weeks Princess has announced an increase in the daily tips added to your folio.'

The gratuities are what increased (not the package itself) from 15 to 18 percent. Nothing increased 40 percent.

Edited June 3, 2019 by pamwigs

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 5/30/2019 at 6:04 PM, Cruisercl said:

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 😊).

we sailed on RCI after a 5 year break, and were pleasantly surprised by wonderful, speedy customer service, and will certainly cruise with them again.

[memoak]

11 hours ago, pamwigs said:

 

Gratuities went from 15 to 18 percent. There was no 40 percent increase. The increase in gratuities includes any drink packages

I believe they are referring to a change in the "soda" packages which now include things other than soda and there was an increase - this did not affect the PBP package