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Elite Benefits


cruisinggran
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11 hours ago, MissP22 said:

I never realized that there was this much jealousy involved in displaying your status. :classic_ohmy:

 

I believe that a lot of people who make assumptions as to why people do things don't realize that those assumptions are quite often wrong. I use a lanyard because I think it's easier when I don't have to dig in a pocket when I need my cruise card for some reason. Usually I keep the card itself in a shirt pocket but sometimes I have a shirt with no pocket. If that's the case I usually drop the card down inside the shirt but sometimes I forget to and it hangs on the outside and the fact that it's visible has absolutely nothing to do with advertising my status with Princess.

 

Do some use a lanyard so they can advertise their status? Probably so, but that's their option I'd think?

 

Tom

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46 minutes ago, Scorpio41 said:

 

Being a UK cruiser can someone explain to me about the medallion.

Medallions are being rolled out to many ships in the fleet. They are basically a device that replaces the cruise card.

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ocean-medallion/?cid=bm_paidsearch_BKWS_bing_PrincessOceanMedallion_princessmedallion_Exact_isl&msclkid=3b9bf87da0201a9599e0a56fa934a4b4&gclid=CKaK5ZrHhOMCFQnmswodHWsCEw&gclsrc=ds

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44 minutes ago, skynight said:

 

Thank you. Looks like no plans for Sapphire Princess yet.

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On 6/23/2019 at 4:31 PM, cruisinggran said:

we have not sailed with Princess for 10 years. No reason but we are planning a trip in August 2020

beacause of the intinery. My question we need one more credit to become Elite and are the benefits

really much different. Sorry if this has been covered before. 

 

 

 

 

 I don't want to be too controversial here but you are about to get Elite yet have not travelled Princess for 10 years - I am just a little perplexed that this is "loyalty"??. Personally I think the Carnival system is wrong (not your fault) and perhaps unfair. 

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2 hours ago, mandranuc said:

 I don't want to be too controversial here but you are about to get Elite yet have not travelled Princess for 10 years - I am just a little perplexed that this is "loyalty"??. Personally I think the Carnival system is wrong (not your fault) and perhaps unfair. 

As I said I have not travelled with Princess cruise line for 10 years but I have cruised 14 

cruises with Princess some of them 10 day and 15 days cruises. I have also been

Mainly travelling on  Cunard the last one being 56 days and Holland American that last one being 29days. They are under the Carmival unbrella so my Loyalty should not be

be questioned.

my question was is the benefits from platinum to elite really worth me booking another

cruise before our upcoming 19 day transatlantic? 

 

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, mandranuc said:

 I don't want to be too controversial here but you are about to get Elite yet have not travelled Princess for 10 years - I am just a little perplexed that this is "loyalty"??. Personally I think the Carnival system is wrong (not your fault) and perhaps unfair. 

Seems fair to me. Princess is getting what they want. The Captain's Circle program is working as it is supposed to work. Princess is getting returning customers. If Princess produces a good product then maybe the customer will return again in less than 10 years. That is the primary reason for any loyalty program. By the way, Carnival has nothing to do with this. Each cruise line owned by Carnival Corp. operates independently. Each has their own loyalty program. The programs are not interchangable. 

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11 minutes ago, cruisinggran said:

As I said I have not travelled with Princess cruise line for 10 years but I have cruised 14 

cruises with Princess some of them 10 day and 15 days cruises. I have also been

Mainly travelling on  Cunard the last one being 56 days and Holland American that last one being 29days. They are under the Carmival unbrella so my Loyalty should not be

be questioned.

my question was is the benefits from platinum to elite really worth me booking another

cruise before our upcoming 19 day transatlantic? 

 

 

 

 

 

take the money you would spend on that cruise and use it to upgrade to a suite for the TA

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22 minutes ago, cruisinggran said:

As I said I have not travelled with Princess cruise line for 10 years but I have cruised 14 

cruises with Princess some of them 10 day and 15 days cruises. I have also been

Mainly travelling on  Cunard the last one being 56 days and Holland American that last one being 29days. They are under the Carmival unbrella so my Loyalty should not be

be questioned.

my question was is the benefits from platinum to elite really worth me booking another

cruise before our upcoming 19 day transatlantic? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why not maximize your benefits?

Take the money you would spend on that cruise,  and instead use it to book an Owners Suite, and do a World Cruise.  👍👍

Good luck, and enjoy.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/25/2019 at 1:24 PM, cruisinggran said:

As I said I have not travelled with Princess cruise line for 10 years but I have cruised 14 

cruises with Princess some of them 10 day and 15 days cruises. I have also been

Mainly travelling on  Cunard the last one being 56 days and Holland American that last one being 29days. They are under the Carmival unbrella so my Loyalty should not be

be questioned.

my question was is the benefits from platinum to elite really worth me booking another

cruise before our upcoming 19 day transatlantic? 

 

 

I think the only difference from Platinum to Elite is one time minibar set up-  doesn’t matter if both people or all the people in the cabin are Elite.The other perk is upgraded bathroom amenities, complimentary  shoeshine, and priority tender if your ports have that, 10% off in the boutiques,  and complimentary  dry cleaning/laundry service.

So only you can determine if the elite benefits are worth it to book another cruise prior to your 19 day.  If you enjoy a mini bar set up and dry cleaning service it might be worth it ?

Internet benefits are the same for Platinum and Elite.

Enjoy either way.

 

 

 

 

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On 6/24/2019 at 10:55 PM, kywildcatfanone said:

I have never once considered showing my cruise card to someone so  they can see the color, but I do get that it means something to some people.

 

Yes it does, it facilitates payment for your drinks to be added to your cruise account.  Tom post#51 has found a way of getting around this to some extent by dropping it down the front of her shirt completely snookering the waiter.

 

Regards John

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It is not necessary to show others your Black cruise card for them to think you are an Elite passenger.  You may simply attend the Reception Desk when it is very busy and loads of people are queuing up to sort out important issues.  Join the other guy in the "Suite and Elite" queue and when you get instantly called forward in plain sight of everyone ask "HOW DO I PROCURE THE FREE SHOE POLISHING SERVICE FOR ELITE PASSENGERS?"

 

Regards John

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I'm glad we had the free laundry on our transatlantic. But it took three days to get things back because of the number of Elites on the ship. I enjoy the minibar on week-long cruises. It runs out too soon on long ones. I'm looking at booking another transatlantic cruise this year. There aren't any tender ports. When we sailed on a British Isles cruise, the Elites had a separate dining room to meet in for priority tendering. It's more helpful on cruises without a ton of Elites where you can join the end of the line, such as when we were at Princess Cays last year.

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One thing that I believe most people don't realize is that just because someone has a black cruise card does not mean that they have a large number of Princess cruises and just because someone has a blue cruise card does not mean that they are on their first Princess cruise!  That person with that black cruise card that has Elite printed on it may be a travel agent who has very few Princess cruises but has been "upgraded" as a professional courtesy (for lack of a better term.) or for some other reason.  And that person with that blue cruise card that you think means that he/she is on their very first cruise?  That person, if they're very young looking, may be under 21. If they're obviously not that young, they may be a friend or a family member traveling as a guest of a Princess employee and actually have more cruises on Princess than some of of the Platinum and Elite passengers! There might have also been a mix-up in the registration for the cruise or the production of the cruise card and they just got issued the wrong type of card.

 

The end result of all this is don't always believe what you see when you're looking at the color of the cruise card of your fellow passengers! 

 

Tom

 

 

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The days of people sneaking into the priority line at the PSD is coming to an end as the medallions are introduced on all the ships. They'll know immediately what level your are as you approach the desk. 

Although they might not say a word about your level, they will know your level & photo immediately. (just like in the DR)

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On 6/23/2019 at 2:12 PM, karatemom2 said:

 

I don’t think it was sarcastic. Priority tendering is a perk of Elite and you will be escorted to the front if they are doing ticketed tendering. Or you can often just bypass the gathering area altogether and walk right off by showing the Black card.

Ummmm......No.  We have been Elite for 7 cruises.  Never seen that.  (Wouldn't be that arrogant if I did see that!)

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On 6/24/2019 at 1:53 PM, Thrak said:

 

Some people take their "status" very seriously. We don't worry about it. My card lives in my pocket and is only produced when necessary. I'm actually somewhat jealous of those taking their first cruise. After all, you only get one "first cruise" and, at least for us, it was a pretty special thing.

Agree!  I love to talk to first time cruisers and share their wonder at the cruising lifestyle!!

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38 minutes ago, UpcountryTravelers said:

Ummmm......No.  We have been Elite for 7 cruises.  Never seen that.  (Wouldn't be that arrogant if I did see that!)

 

I don’t think that it’s arrogant to use the benefits that are offered to Elite passengers. Priority tendering is a perk and there is nothing bad about it. There have been ports in the past where we have waited over an hour in the dining room waiting for our tender group to be called. Of course I’m going to use our priority tendering perk to get off the ship sooner. Why would anyone who has that option not do so?? I have never seen anyone “flaunt” their status as some are describing here. I certainly couldn’t care less about any perceived status - that’s ridiculous. But I do appreciate that Princess offers me certain benefits as a loyal returning cruiser and I don’t feel bad about lining up in the Elite line at Passenger Services, sending in my free laundry, using my free internet minutes and getting priority tendering. It would be silly not to use the benefits I’ve earned. 

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7 hours ago, UpcountryTravelers said:

Ummmm......No.  We have been Elite for 7 cruises.  Never seen that.  (Wouldn't be that arrogant if I did see that!)

Only once did we have the occasion to be escorted to the front of a waiting terminal line in Ft Lauderdale. It was not a pleasant feeling to be watched bypassing the crowd.

Now since they've eliminated the priority waiting line things are a little different.

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On 7/12/2019 at 7:12 AM, MissP22 said:

Only once did we have the occasion to be escorted to the front of a waiting terminal line in Ft Lauderdale. It was not a pleasant feeling to be watched bypassing the crowd.

Now since they've eliminated the priority waiting line things are a little different.

  Ummm, no.  That's not what we are talking about.  The subject was going ahead of everyone else for the tender, not boarding the ship in the departure port.  There, Platinum and Elite have a different waiting area, sometimes with refreshments, sometimes not. And, as far as I have seen, go aboard with everyone else.  You say they have eliminated that, so we will see next February, when we sail from Ft. Lauderdale again.

  As someone who has applied for, gone through the requirements, and getting the Global Entry, I have no problem walking ahead of everyone else disembarking in Ft. Lauderdale (doesn't help in any of the other ports we have gone to).  That's a totally different thing.  That is the ONLY time I have seen us going ahead of anyone else.

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On 7/12/2019 at 12:24 AM, karatemom2 said:

 

I don’t think that it’s arrogant to use the benefits that are offered to Elite passengers. Priority tendering is a perk and there is nothing bad about it. There have been ports in the past where we have waited over an hour in the dining room waiting for our tender group to be called. Of course I’m going to use our priority tendering perk to get off the ship sooner. Why would anyone who has that option not do so?? I have never seen anyone “flaunt” their status as some are describing here. I certainly couldn’t care less about any perceived status - that’s ridiculous. But I do appreciate that Princess offers me certain benefits as a loyal returning cruiser and I don’t feel bad about lining up in the Elite line at Passenger Services, sending in my free laundry, using my free internet minutes and getting priority tendering. It would be silly not to use the benefits I’ve earned. 

Your mileage may vary.......I will NOT barge ahead of anyone else by flashing a black card.  I enjoy the laundry, the bar setup, the discount and definitely use the free internet minutes.  Those do not diminish anyone else.  But just because I have a black card, that does NOT make me any better than any other cruisers, therefore I will not put them down.

 

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53 minutes ago, UpcountryTravelers said:

  Ummm, no.  That's not what we are talking about.  The subject was going ahead of everyone else for the tender, not boarding the ship in the departure port.  There, Platinum and Elite have a different waiting area, sometimes with refreshments, sometimes not. And, as far as I have seen, go aboard with everyone else.  You say they have eliminated that, so we will see next February, when we sail from Ft. Lauderdale again.

  As someone who has applied for, gone through the requirements, and getting the Global Entry, I have no problem walking ahead of everyone else disembarking in Ft. Lauderdale (doesn't help in any of the other ports we have gone to).  That's a totally different thing.  That is the ONLY time I have seen us going ahead of anyone else.

I have no problem going ahead of everyone else since I've paid for it over the years. I just didn't like walking past 100 people standing in the hot weather waiting in line as they watched us go to the doorway.

Like I've said they have eliminated the priority line outside the building & just let everyone queue up together. Once inside the terminal the platinum/elite go to the waiting room for early boarding.

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