Princess It's Time For A New Tier

[Ombud]

OTOH the simplest thing to do is to just reinstate loyalty credit once they return to turning a profit

[MissP22]

6 minutes ago, Ombud said:

OTOH the simplest thing to do is to just reinstate loyalty credit once they return to turning a profit

Yea, that was a real letdown. 😢

[generichandle]

This old chestnut!

 

I promise that Princess is aware that old loyalty Elites are antsy for new rewards. And WHEN that will pay more than it loses it WILL come. 

 

That is not to say you shouldn't remind them to keep it in mind. Be patient.

[Steelers36]

18 minutes ago, Ombud said:

OTOH the simplest thing to do is to just reinstate loyalty credit once they return to turning a profit

At that time, I'd like to see my dividends again.

[Ombud]

54 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

At that time, I'd like to see my dividends again.

Agreed. But right now they're still disposing of ships to cover everything. Sailing at 50% capacity is a start but not turning a profit

 

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by Ombud

[cruzsnooze]

8 hours ago, MissP22 said:

What about the anger of all the people who had to get there 45 minutes to see a popular show and then see you walk in 3 minutes before show time for a reserved seat? 😄 LOL

RCL has reserved seating in a middle section roped off with a crew member present. There are never any problems. I have enjoyed this perk for a long time and appreciate it.  NCL also has a reserved section for their Haven suites. It's being done on other cruise lines so proves it's practical and doable.

[MissP22]

21 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

RCL has reserved seating in a middle section roped off with a crew member present. There are never any problems. I have enjoyed this perk for a long time and appreciate it.  NCL also has a reserved section for their Haven suites. It's being done on other cruise lines so proves it's practical and doable.

Oh, believe me, I was only being sarcastic and I wouldn't have any problem walking past 500 people on the way to my reserved seat 1 minute before showtime. If some of the people were upset, to bad. Work your way up & enjoy the perks of being the level of being able to enjoy that perk.

Unfortunately I doubt if Princess will even begin such a level for fear of upsetting some of the lower classes.

In the mean time I'll just have to arrive early as I usually do & get the seats I want. 

[smbt1]

45 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

RCL has reserved seating in a middle section roped off with a crew member present. There are never any problems. I have enjoyed this perk for a long time and appreciate it.  NCL also has a reserved section for their Haven suites. It's being done on other cruise lines so proves it's practical and doable.

To be honest I have several hundred cruise days with Princess and will cruise about 70 days this year. If they started going with such  rewards on board ship I would take my business else where.  For me one of the attractions of Princess is they have not gone that route.  One of the reasons that I moved most of my cruises from Celebrity and RCL to Princess and HAL.

[Daniel A]

36 minutes ago, smbt1 said:

To be honest I have several hundred cruise days with Princess and will cruise about 70 days this year. If they started going with such  rewards on board ship I would take my business else where.  For me one of the attractions of Princess is they have not gone that route.  One of the reasons that I moved most of my cruises from Celebrity and RCL to Princess and HAL.

Agreed.  If Princess wants to reduce the availability for me to get what I'm paying for so that they can give it away to people who did some one- and two-day cruises out of Seattle in an inside cabin, then that will be the time I walk.

[coo359a2]

Wouldn’t it be easier to find a cruise line with loyalty perks that satisfies you rather than stay with a cruise line that makes you so unhappy with the current perks or diluted perks. Would be nice to see a comparison chart between the 3 bigger cruise lines showing  OBC given and other perks. 

[Daniel A]

16 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

Wouldn’t it be easier to find a cruise line with loyalty perks that satisfies you rather than stay with a cruise line that makes you so unhappy with the current perks or diluted perks. Would be nice to see a comparison chart between the 3 bigger cruise lines showing  OBC given and other perks. 

Frankly, the perks aren't why I sail with Princess.  But, if they start to take away my ease of enjoyment on my cruise then I'm gone.  I just want to get what I'm paying for.  🤷‍♂️

[skynight]

Might have been mentioned in this thread. Any change should be by days sailed, not cruises. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

2 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Oh, believe me, I was only being sarcastic and I wouldn't have any problem walking past 500 people on the way to my reserved seat 1 minute before showtime. If some of the people were upset, to bad. Work your way up & enjoy the perks of being the level of being able to enjoy that perk.

Unfortunately I doubt if Princess will even begin such a level for fear of upsetting some of the lower classes.

In the mean time I'll just have to arrive early as I usually do & get the seats I want. 

I would be totally fine with that type of reserved seating. Of course it would take me several more years to get to that point but that’s ok.  

[MsSoCalCruiser]

1 hour ago, coo359a2 said:

Wouldn’t it be easier to find a cruise line with loyalty perks that satisfies you rather than stay with a cruise line that makes you so unhappy with the current perks or diluted perks. Would be nice to see a comparison chart between the 3 bigger cruise lines showing  OBC given and other perks. 

I think the problem is that people thought they had found a cruise line with loyalty perks that satisfied them and then things changed. That can happen with any cruise line but it’s still a bummer.  Just before I was to be eligible for my loyalty onboard credit,  they took it away.  Yes, I’m bummed because I was looking forward to that.

[MissP22]

7 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I think the problem is that people thought they had found a cruise line with loyalty perks that satisfied them and then things changed. That can happen with any cruise line but it’s still a bummer.  Just before I was to be eligible for my loyalty onboard credit,  they took it away.  Yes, I’m bummed because I was looking forward to that.

The people say "Wouldn’t it be easier to find a cruise line with loyalty perks that satisfies you" haven't spent years building up their loyalty on Princess. 

Sure, if a person were just starting to cruise they might shop around to fine one that meets their expiations but when you slowly grow into a line over the years it's a little late to change now.

[smbt1]

15 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I think the problem is that people thought they had found a cruise line with loyalty perks that satisfied them and then things changed. That can happen with any cruise line but it’s still a bummer.  Just before I was to be eligible for my loyalty onboard credit,  they took it away.  Yes, I’m bummed because I was looking forward to that.

Actually for some of us we are not looking for loyalty perks to change.  What we have is sufficient.  The last thing we want is for the loyalty perks to change in a way that actually would be a negative to the current cruise experience which is pretty much that everyone on board gets pretty much the same access.  The places where loyalty gives a visible benefit is mostly either before you board, at check in, or pretty much out of sight unless one goes looking for it (the tender process, the disembarkation lounge, the platinum afternoon snacks).

 

There are so many people on Princess in with hundreds of cruise days, that making any additional benefits based upon days would just turn into "so many people qualify that it is really not much of a benefit".  On my most recent cruise the top 3 cruise couples all had over 1700 days. According to the Captains Circle Host most (around 65%) of the Elite on board had over 500 days.  Have been on cruises (TA) with over 1000 Elite on board.

 

All adding benefits like reserved seating or bypassing the line on return tenders will do is to provide more for people to complain about because "there are so many people that qualify that the benefit is worthless" if not this year then in a year or two.

 

As far as the changes  we lost out on the loyalty OBC but on the other hand we get more OBC from Princess with non-loyalty veterans and shareholder than other lines would provide.  We gave up some free minutes, but are actually finding we get more value from the discount for full time access.

The OBC returned as discount from excursions is also a plus which was not there before.  That discount is pretty much offsets a good portion of the loyalty benefit loss.

Edited February 8, 2022 by smbt1

[MissP22]

6 minutes ago, smbt1 said:

Actually for some of us we are not looking for loyalty perks to change.  What we have is sufficient.  The last thing we want is for the loyalty perks to change in a way that actually would be a negative to the current cruise experience which is pretty much that everyone on board gets pretty much the same access.  The places where loyalty gives a visible benefit is mostly either before you board, at check in, or pretty much out of sight unless one goes looking for it (the tender process, the disembarkation lounge, the platinum afternoon snacks).

 

There are so many people on Princess in with hundreds of cruise days, that making any additional benefits based upon days would just turn into "so many people qualify that it is really not much of a benefit".  On my most recent cruise the top 3 cruise couples all had over 1700 days. According to the Captains Circle Host most (around 65%) of the Elite on board had over 500 days.  Have been on cruises (TA) with over 1000 Elite on board.

 

All adding benefits like reserved seating or bypassing the line on return tenders will do is to provide more for people to complain about because "there are so many people that qualify that the benefit is worthless" if not this year then in a year or two.

 

As far as the changes  we lost out on the loyalty OBC but on the other hand we get more OBC from Princess with non-loyalty veterans and shareholder than other lines would provide.  We gave up some free minutes, but are actually finding we get more value from the discount for full time access.

The OBC returned as discount from excursions is also a plus which was not there before.  That discount is pretty much offsets a good portion of the loyalty benefit loss.

If another level were to be introduced it certainly wouldn't have to include hundreds of current elite cruisers but only a very small percentage of the top. If that were the case then why bother at all?

It would certainly be nice to have another carrot to aspire to after reaching an upper level. 

[smbt1]

14 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

If another level were to be introduced it certainly wouldn't have to include hundreds of current elite cruisers but only a very small percentage of the top. If that were the case then why bother at all?

It would certainly be nice to have another carrot to aspire to after reaching an upper level. 

At what level.  If you add it at 1500 cruise days then it would only be for a very few today. On my most recent cruise about 20 would have qualified even at that level

 

It you set it at 500 you are probably dealing with about half of the current elite tier, so hundreds each cruise.

 

Then you also run into what is the payback for the cruise line for the effort.  Do you really think that they benefit much if they set it for only a few.  It is still something they have to keep track of and make sure they offer.  If they set it at 1500 I am pretty sure those folks are locked into the cruise line extra benefits or not.

 

 

[Daniel A]

1 hour ago, skynight said:

Might have been mentioned in this thread. Any change should be by days sailed, not cruises. 

I agree but, I also think it should take into account the cabin type as well for each of those cruise days.  One can spend 3 to 5 times as much for a balcony or minisuite than one booking an inside.

[MissP22]

52 minutes ago, smbt1 said:

At what level.  If you add it at 1500 cruise days then it would only be for a very few today. On my most recent cruise about 20 would have qualified even at that level

 

It you set it at 500 you are probably dealing with about half of the current elite tier, so hundreds each cruise.

 

Then you also run into what is the payback for the cruise line for the effort.  Do you really think that they benefit much if they set it for only a few.  It is still something they have to keep track of and make sure they offer.  If they set it at 1500 I am pretty sure those folks are locked into the cruise line extra benefits or not.

 

 

I have no idea what would be an acceptable number to set it at.

But it would still be nice to have that carrot to shoot for. 

I doubt if they'll ever make a change anyway.

We'll be lucky to hold on to what they offer right now.

[coo359a2]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

The people say "Wouldn’t it be easier to find a cruise line with loyalty perks that satisfies you" haven't spent years building up their loyalty on Princess. 

Sure, if a person were just starting to cruise they might shop around to fine one that meets their expiations but when you slowly grow into a line over the years it's a little late to change now.

I’ve spent 18 years building up mine but still like the Princess brand. Guess i am just to easy to please and prefer  where Princess sails best. 

[dweeb]

21 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

I agree but, I also think it should take into account the cabin type as well for each of those cruise days.  One can spend 3 to 5 times as much for a balcony or minisuite than one booking an inside.

Be careful of what you ask for.  Most businesses that offer loyalty perks are going by the amount you spend, and you have to requalify each year, or lose it all.  

 

Maybe it'll be spend  $5k per year and sail at least 3 times per calendar year to maintain status.

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by dweeb

[cruzsnooze]

4 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Oh, believe me, I was only being sarcastic and I wouldn't have any problem walking past 500 people on the way to my reserved seat 1 minute before showtime. If some of the people were upset, to bad. Work your way up & enjoy the perks of being the level of being able to enjoy that perk.

 

RCL takes down the rope and the crew member leaves 5 minutes prior to showtime and anyone can sit in the unoccupied seats. The reserved seats are not the best in house but good enough. Very few people sail based on perks alone but they do contribute to the decision of which cruise line to sail all things being relatively similar. Now that RCL is back on the west coast I enjoy them just as much as Princess so price and perks will play a roll in my choosing which cruise to book.

[Daniel A]

4 minutes ago, dweeb said:

Be careful of what you ask for.  Most businesses that offer loyalty perks are going by the amount you spend, and you have to requalify each year, or lose it all.  

 

Maybe it'll be spend  $5k per year and sail at least 3 times per calendar year to maintain status.

I wouldn't have a problem with that.  At least it puts all on a level playing field.

Edited February 8, 2022 by Daniel A

[Ombud]

2 hours ago, skynight said:

Might have been mentioned in this thread. Any change should be by days sailed, not cruises. 

So she called back today and whereas I agree with you in principle,  solos pay dbl and get dbl cruise credits but not cruise days. So I stated that if future enhancements happen then solos need to get dbl cruise days as well. 

 

FWIW I still want loyalty OBC as cruiser and dividends as investors and said so ... crickets but I expected that