Revamped Tier Levels Coming Soon

[BarbinMich]

30 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

This was sent to TAs last week....

 

 

New exclusive benefits for Elite and Platinum members If Dine My Way dining perks weren’t enough, we’re also excited to announce new benefits for clients who are Elite and Platinum members: • 10% off spa treatments and photo offerings • An exclusive 50% discount on MedallionNet® Wi-Fi (With this fast, reliable internet now offered on all our ships, no need to limit your time worrying about minutes anymore!) • 10% off shore excursions for Elite members

 

Looks good to me!  Have always gotten several spa treatments + the thermal suite on our TAs, not so much on cruises to the Caribbean.

[LACruiser88]

We have heard Sooooo many times before that the Captain Circle levels were going to change!  It needs to happen, but I'll believe it when I see it.

[maggie777]

2 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

Scrapping the whole program would motivate us to seriously look at other cruise lines, even those not in the Carnival family. We'd especially look at Azamara and Oceania as they have the R class ships that Princess no longer has. Might as well if we've got no perks on Princess.

Just booked our first Oceania and plan to book another Azamara on the Azamara Onward ( formerly Pacific Princess )

[Tak8]

Stop handing out levels likes it's cheap Halloween candy.  You read on this board and hear passengers talk about being awarded level X even though they haven't reached that level.  If Princess wants to slow down the level obtainment, don't give them away for free. 

[PasadenaDave]

Reward levels are a bore.  How valuable have frequent flier miles and cruise perks really worth?  We have three cruises on the books now, 2 with Viking (no elite perk/levels) and 1 with Princess which is an Uber ride to the ship.

 

We don't make cruise decisions based on the cruise line or perks.  To us it is destination and while we are not fans of Mexico, we are going in November as it is a convenient cruise, Uber to the ship and there are many sea days in comparison to length of trip.

 

We like being on the ship

[dog]

45 minutes ago, PasadenaDave said:

Reward levels are a bore.  How valuable have frequent flier miles and cruise perks really worth….

frequent flier miles with Aeroplan Air Canada have been worth it to me. 1-2 business class seats to Europe each year. I have flexibility & always pay with credit card where possible. 

[SLC1954]

Being Elite, I enjoy the benefits provided, including the non-advertised OBC given to you as you add number of cruises/days. Combined with the CCL Shareholder makes it worth sailing with Princess.  

[LACruiser88]

1 hour ago, PasadenaDave said:

Reward levels are a bore.  How valuable have frequent flier miles and cruise perks really worth?  We have three cruises on the books now, 2 with Viking (no elite perk/levels) and 1 with Princess which is an Uber ride to the ship.

 

We don't make cruise decisions based on the cruise line or perks. 

We have enjoyed many a Perk thru our Frequent Flier Mile programs (with many airlines) and our Elite status with Princess.  Once you accrue some cruises with a particular cruise line, I see your opinion changing down the road.  Cruise On!

[Syracusefan44]

7 hours ago, suekel said:

Also curious as to whether # of cruises or # of cruise days will both be counted.  I only have 13 cruises but I have 202 sea days.  Guess time will tell.  

In my opinion sea days are the best way determine a persons Captains Circle level like Holland America (One point for every sea day). The 4-star Mariner with Holland America offers free laundry but no mini bar setup like Elite with Princess:

 

There are five tiers to the Mariner Society program:

• Star Mariner (after one cruise)
• 2-Star Mariner (30 to 74 cruise day credits)
• 3-Star Mariner (75 to 199 cruise day credits)
• 4-Star Mariner (200 to 499 cruise day credits)
• 5-Star Mariner (500-plus cruise day credits)

Edited June 7, 2021 by Syracusefan44
Additional info

[satxdiver]

I have wondered many times why Princess stays with number of cruises when most if not all the other lines went to days cruised.  It makes more sense to do it based on days cruised and hopefully Princess will see the light and change.    Also I could see a level above elite which seems to have become very bloated.  No matter what there will be complaints and people moving to other cruise lines.  

[Syracusefan44]

I went to my Princess account and it still shows my level as “Elite” but below the “Membership Benefits” are now blank.  
 

Seems to indicate changes are indeed on the way.  We shall see. 

Edited June 7, 2021 by Syracusefan44

[dreams_of_travel]

I did a few solo cruise to get the double cruise points in order to get to Elite.  I would like to keep the free internet as a perk.  I know that internet is often offered as a perk bundle for some bookings, I have nothing against that.  I stayed with Princess b/c of the Elite perks, though I have sailed with other lines.  I was looking foward to reaching the "magic" 20th cruise perk a couple cruises from now.  At least i still have the shareholder OBC, for now.  

[getting older slowly]

the basic problem with the current tier system is it is too easy to get to top... and as a lot of people have found     when everybody is elite... nobody is elite....

 

Also number of days is more important than number of cruises, in my way of thinking...

 

Question is it the perks or the status level or you really don't care  and go with the flow??

 

To us on our first cruise, got free laundry, mini bar, access to pre-dinner canapes

plus a great breakfast.. front of the tender line...... all on a blue card..... In a suite

 

you can pay for what you want 

[helby]

Celebrity counts both days and level of Stateroom. For example if you are in a balcony you get 3 points per night times the number of days so a 7 day cruise gets 21 points and a 10 day gets 30 points. It's 10 points per day for a suite times the number of days. This accounts for both the length of the cruise and the level of stateroom booked. 

[cruzsnooze]

I don't feel the number of nights is any better then the cruise credit system. Why should I get the same 10 nights in a suite VS 10 nights in an inside cabin. There needs to be some measurement for bigger spenders.

  I see the Princess site states there will be maintence on the site June 6-7 so I think they're working on the tier level ???

Edited June 7, 2021 by cruzsnooze

[Thrak]

We made Elite after 13 cruises due to days at sea. Then we did one cruise as Elite and the next 5 booked cruises were cancelled due to the stupid virus. Our next 3 that are booked for January 2022 are going to get cancelled as well. We're still hoping our cruise in May of 2022 will happen. Hopefully there will be some perks left by then but maybe they will all be reserved for the new PLUTONIUM level members.

[4cats4me]

Been away from cruising for so long had forgotten about perks. 

We don’t  I have loyalty to any one particular cruise line, even though we’ve sailed on princess the most, but it would not be a dealbreaker for us if some of these perks disappeared.   It absolutely would not surprise me, in light of all the money these cruise lines have lost, if some of these perks like a mini bar set up, disappear.    Like someone above posted, on our second cruise we got all the elite perks because we were in a full suite.   For our next cruise, we are on the all inclusive package, so it wouldn’t matter to us whether we got the free mini bar set up or not and as for laundry, I like to do my own because I don’t trust the laundry with certain unmentionables of mine  

 Since we will be on the all inclusive, it is in material how many free elite minutes we get for the Internet, immaterial if we get a free bar set up    

 The best perk to me being elite is priority tendering and priority boarding, and 10% off in gift shops.  

[PrincessLuver]

5 hours ago, PasadenaDave said:

Reward levels are a bore.  How valuable have frequent flier miles and cruise perks really worth?  We have three cruises on the books now, 2 with Viking (no elite perk/levels) and 1 with Princess which is an Uber ride to the ship.

 

We don't make cruise decisions based on the cruise line or perks.  To us it is destination and while we are not fans of Mexico, we are going in November as it is a convenient cruise, Uber to the ship and there are many sea days in comparison to length of trip.

 

We like being on the ship

We find our airline perks to be of tremendous value.  We fly only FC or BC and mostly international.

 

The Princess perks are basically worthless to us except for maybe free laundry on a long cruise.  However, that is debatable because we have had a number of clothes damaged .  For what people pay to ge to Elite on Princess offers very little in return.  Would be much happier if could earn concrete rewards like free cabin upgrades and free cruises.  

 

Also, Princess should not make it so easy to get lifetime status.  They should require people to sail at least 14 days a year to maintain their status or revert back to a lower level like the airline programs do.

 

We agree with the other posters who have noted that there have always been rumors from someone at the top that changes are coming to the Princess program but it has never happened.....still believe that this is all much ado about nothing.....

Edited June 8, 2021 by PrincessLuver

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, dreams_of_travel said:

I did a few solo cruise to get the double cruise points in order to get to Elite.  I would like to keep the free internet as a perk.  I know that internet is often offered as a perk bundle for some bookings, I have nothing against that.  I stayed with Princess b/c of the Elite perks, though I have sailed with other lines.  I was looking foward to reaching the "magic" 20th cruise perk a couple cruises from now.  At least i still have the shareholder OBC, for now.  

I cruise solo - I pay double. Not to get to any status but I'm single 

[susancruzs]

I'm a bigger spender because I'm sailing single and like previous poster, paying double.  I don't get the "bigger spender" insinuation. 

 

I've had people make comments about getting double points, don't care, none of their business.  Do they want to pay what I pay?  I take longer cruises, never 7 days, usually 14 or more and have never cruised with points as my intension.

 

I'm Elite and whatever they decide to do is fine, don't care about the laundry, rarely use it.  I like the internet minutes, exchange the mini bar, that's about it. Basically it is no big deal.

[snoozecrooze]

49 minutes ago, PrincessLuver said:

The Princess perks are basically worthless to us except for maybe free laundry on a long cruise.  However, that is debatable because we have had a number of clothes damaged .  For what people pay to ge to Elite on Princess offers very little in return.  Would be much happier if could earn concrete rewards like free cabin upgrades and free cruises.

I think you're hitting the nail on the head here, but I'm no expert so my opinion may be as good as blah. But I've been thinking - the competition, namely Celebrity, didn't change their loyalty rankings last year, but did redesign the way they sell their cruises (basically "all-inclusive") and it seems like people have all been very much willing to pay a premium for an experience marketed as more offerings and better service.

 

If Princess does away with, what has basically been the easiest loyalty ladder to climb in the cruise industry, perhaps they're going to begin offering more substantive rewards per rank. The one caveat (and the big if in this situation) is that, like airlines, cruise lines have been devaluing their perks/privileges, though much more slowly in comparison. Will Princess make these perks worth seeking? Or even feasible to reach for a good enough amount of people? Time will tell if customers continue to remain meaningfully loyal and adapt to the changing cruise experience in this next decade and it's up to Princess to make a good-faith attempt to meet rising expectations. 

[pris993]

We have 30 Princess cruises out of 60+, lost count on total number of cruises sometime ago.  We are elite on X, 2 star on HAL, not sure on other lines, we cruised on a total of 9 different lines over the years.   I don't recall when cruise lines started offering perks.  I do know we did not give perks much thought, we picked cruises based on the ship and tours.   Whatever Princess does will be fine.  We are now seniors, so have less travel $, have seen most places we wish to see and stick with Princess because it goes out of our home port, San Francisco.  

 

I get a kick out of comments here that other lines do a better job.  One of the reasons we have more cruises on Princess is not because of perks but because of excellent service.  We never used the laundry option, have had jackets pressed a couple of times.  Typically never do cruises longer than 16 days, so don't need to use the laundry. Do like the free internet minutes, mini bar, 10% discount in on board shops but if these go away no big deal one way or the other.  We have booked the all inclusive with internet and drink package for our next cruise.  We cruise to enjoy ourselves, not for perks. 

[azbirdmom]

9 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

This was sent to TAs last week....

 

 

New exclusive benefits for Elite and Platinum members If Dine My Way dining perks weren’t enough, we’re also excited to announce new benefits for clients who are Elite and Platinum members: • 10% off spa treatments and photo offerings • An exclusive 50% discount on MedallionNet® Wi-Fi (With this fast, reliable internet now offered on all our ships, no need to limit your time worrying about minutes anymore!) • 10% off shore excursions for Elite members

 

The terminology used here (Elite, Platinum) certainly doesn't suggest that there will be new tier levels coming.  But I wouldn't be surprised if at some point Princess changes the formula for attaining these levels.  As has been mentioned, Princess does bestow higher levels on some guests (such as high spenders on the ship or in the casino) for either one cruise or permanently.  So it does not seem that they are particularly worried about the number of guests in these categories.  They may just want to change eligibility for these levels to link it to the profits that they can expect to make from a guest.

Edited June 8, 2021 by azbirdmom

[Alabaster Cruiser]

4 hours ago, dreams_of_travel said:

looking foward to reaching the "magic" 20th cruise perk

I'm not familiar with this.  What perk is that?

[Ombud]

Loyalty OBC as of my last cruise:

21-> 25 OBC 

31-> 50

No idea after that. Basically 2 glasses of wine 🍷 🍹. And yes, solos get there in 1/2 time but as said before we pay double 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2021 by Ombud
Typo