Changes coming to Captains Circle Host Position.

[azbirdmom]

Oh dear.  ONE (with staff in the Philippines) has been doing the casino reservations since last fall.  It takes forever for them to actually book a cruise and often they need to escalate issues to supervisory staff when it comes to booking with Princess Plus etc.  It's been a giant mess and I can't fathom how this will be a good thing.

[J13C85]

1 hour ago, Jeter02 said:

Actually for years they were Princess employees and not third party contractors brought in. Back in November I asked the future cruise consultant Who did not give me a friendly answer I was just curious having small talk asking if they got paid based off of commission of the number of cruises they sell, or if it was a set salary.... the response I got was "My financials is none of your business, And I don't need to disclose that." It honestly was just an innocent question as That was just me just being curious and not trying to be rude as I always love learning the ins and outs of the crew who help make our vacations awesome.

In fairness to the FC rep, there are people who would find it rude if you asked them about their employment compensation.  You would not ask your server in a restaurant "do you only make tips or do they pay you salary as well?" In the US, many people feel their employment compensation is an extremely personal matter. Not bashing you but trying to shed some light.

[PacnGoNow]

4 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

CC Host loss only more work for the Diamond and Suite Lounge folks. 
 

Predicted future statement: “No, I Don’t want a Royal Caribbean Cruises timeshare.”

Wrong cruiseline.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Jeter02 said:

Actually for years they were Princess employees and not third party contractors brought in. Back in November I asked the future cruise consultant Who did not give me a friendly answer I was just curious having small talk asking if they got paid based off of commission of the number of cruises they sell, or if it was a set salary.... the response I got was "My financials is none of your business, And I don't need to disclose that." It honestly was just an innocent question as That was just me just being curious and not trying to be rude as I always love learning the ins and outs of the crew who help make our 

Personally I would not appreciate anyone asking me how I get paid. That is between me and my employer 

[memoak]

6 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

Oh dear.  ONE (with staff in the Philippines) has been doing the casino reservations since last fall.  It takes forever for them to actually book a cruise and often they need to escalate issues to supervisory staff when it comes to booking with Princess Plus etc.  It's been a giant mess and I can't fathom how this will be a good thing.

I now book all of my casino comp cruises with my CVP. There is no need to go through the casino department anymore

[SCX22]

2 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

Oh dear.  ONE (with staff in the Philippines) has been doing the casino reservations since last fall.  It takes forever for them to actually book a cruise and often they need to escalate issues to supervisory staff when it comes to booking with Princess Plus etc.  It's been a giant mess and I can't fathom how this will be a good thing.

 

Have cruised 4 Princess cruises, unknowingly until this post was brought up, with the new staff.  They are quite knowledgeable.  On the Sky, all of the consultants were Canadian and Australian, so English was their first language. 

[cruise2relax]

While not thrilled the outsourcing of so many elements of the cruise experience (art program, shops, spa, FCC, etc) I completely understand it.  Simply put it is overhead reduction.  You are seeing it across all industries.  It is far more cost effective to contract out theses services than staff, inventory and manage them.  I would prefer them to spend the money on food and beverage.  We should keep in mind these companies bled money for two years during COVID and it will take years to recover. 

[Jeter02]

14 minutes ago, memoak said:

Personally I would not appreciate anyone asking me how I get paid. That is between me and my employer 

Honestly never meant for it to come off rude, was just curious if they worked off of commission. Never asked  to know how much they make, as that would be rude. I asked the commission question as I was curious maybe that's a position I'm looking forward to doing in the future.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Jeter02

[SCX22]

Totally ignorant about this because, while I have always been aware of the Captain's Circle Host, I never made use of the services they offered.  What was Captain's Circle Host's purview, aside from the Captain's Circle Party for Platinum and Elite Party on formal nights?  The hours of the Captain's Circle desk are/were pretty brief--a couple of hours in the morning and afternoon/evening.

Edited May 6, 2023 by SCX22

[J13C85]

1 minute ago, azbirdmom said:

Oh dear.  ONE (with staff in the Philippines) has been doing the casino reservations since last fall.  It takes forever for them to actually book a cruise and often they need to escalate issues to supervisory staff when it comes to booking with Princess Plus etc.  It's been a giant mess and I can't fathom how this will be a good thing.

The only positive I see is maybe there would be more people available is assist at the future cruise deck.  We sailed Sky during late November/early Dec last year.  FC desk had very limited hours, only had one person manning it, and incredibly long waits.  Problem is that one person is trying to sell future cruises. That person devotes a lot of time to the people who are looking to buy a cruise (as they should).  On our sailing, one time I waited for over an hour and during that time the FCR assisted 2 customers. I gave up because there were still 2 people ahead of me and I didn't want to waste multiple hours. This is not a complaint, merely an observation and a reason to think more bodies would be a good thing.

[Coral]

8 minutes ago, cruise2relax said:

While not thrilled the outsourcing of so many elements of the cruise experience (art program, shops, spa, FCC, etc) I completely understand it.  Simply put it is overhead reduction.  You are seeing it across all industries.  It is far more cost effective to contract out theses services than staff, inventory and manage them.  I would prefer them to spend the money on food and beverage.  We should keep in mind these companies bled money for two years during COVID and it will take years to recover. 

They outsourced their IT. We all know how that went.

[memoak]

4 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

Totally ignorant about this because, while I have always been aware of the Captain's Circle Host, I never made use of the services they offered.  What was Captain's Circle Host's purview, aside from the Captain's Circle Party for Platinum and Elite Party on formal nights?  The hours of the Captain's Circle desk are/were pretty brief--a couple of hours in the morning and afternoon/evening.

The loyalty manager has always arranged Most Traveled lunch and other group events. I really can’t see a salesperson taking on that role

[Guest ldtr]

59 minutes ago, J13C85 said:

The only positive I see is maybe there would be more people available is assist at the future cruise deck.  We sailed Sky during late November/early Dec last year.  FC desk had very limited hours, only had one person manning it, and incredibly long waits.  Problem is that one person is trying to sell future cruises. That person devotes a lot of time to the people who are looking to buy a cruise (as they should).  On our sailing, one time I waited for over an hour and during that time the FCR assisted 2 customers. I gave up because there were still 2 people ahead of me and I didn't want to waste multiple hours. This is not a complaint, merely an observation and a reason to think more bodies would be a good thing.

While this topic was intended to be about the change to the Captains Circle function, not the future cruise sales function. That said i have found that future cruise sales nowv has more people but limited scope. 

 

I tend to do long cruises. I book directly with Princess. Prior to the change in future cruise staff the person in the department was able and willing to do everything that you could do on the phone with Princess. If I was onboard and noticed a drop in the price of a cruise I had booked they would take a look and apply the reduced price. Basically refare the cruise.  This was important because it was not easy to call Princess to address such issues while onboard ship.

 

I asked someone in the new expanded FCS department to check on an existing booking and the price showing a decreases and was told that they do not deal with changes with existing cruises, only new bookings.

[coo359a2]

Just now, memoak said:

The loyalty manager has always arranged Most Traveled lunch and other group events. I really can’t see a salesperson taking on that role

 Wonder if the MTP luncheon and the Captain Circle Party are on the way out too.  The Event and Loyalty (old Captain Circle Hostess/Host) were the MC for both of those events.

[Jeter02]

1 minute ago, ldtr said:

While this topic was intended to be about the change to the Captains Circle function, not the future cruise sales function. That said i have found that future cruise sales nowv has more people but limited scope. 

 

I tend to do long cruises. I book directly with Princess. Prior to the change in future cruise staff the person in the department was able and willing to do everything that you could do on the phone with Princess. If I was onboard and noticed a drop in the price of a cruise I had booked they would take a look and apply the reduced price. Basically refare the cruise.  This was important because it was not easy to call Princess to address such issues while onboard ship.

 

I asked someone in the new expanded FCS department to check on an existing booking and the price showing a decreases and was told that they do not deal with changes with existing cruises, only new bookings.

Oh no that's terrible that they are either unable or didn't want to waste their personal time to do so to help with refaring. It's definitely not a good look. 

[cruzsnooze]

1 hour ago, Jeter02 said:

The next big question is do we think they will add an extra level beyond Elite in the captain circle? It's a number of elites are definitely growing which is great. Also the other question is are they finally going to switch from credits to days only sailed. 

Why would it be fair to a suite passenger paying four times more then  an 

inside cabin? Using both days and type of cabin has been working just fine. Adding another higher tier makes more sense.

Edited May 6, 2023 by cruzsnooze

[Jeter02]

1 minute ago, cruzsnooze said:

Why would it be fair to a suite passenger paying four times more then  an 

inside cabin? Using both days and type of cabin has been working just fine. 

That was all talk back when the pandemic was happening on how to rework the loyalty program. As there was concern of being too many people who work their way up to Elite and then keeping up with Elite benefits was difficult let's say for example with laundry on a lot of sailings.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, SCX22 said:

Totally ignorant about this because, while I have always been aware of the Captain's Circle Host, I never made use of the services they offered.  What was Captain's Circle Host's purview, aside from the Captain's Circle Party for Platinum and Elite Party on formal nights?  The hours of the Captain's Circle desk are/were pretty brief--a couple of hours in the morning and afternoon/evening.

If you have an issue with you credited cruise days or trips they were the onboard point of contact. If you had trouble with any of your benefits they were another avenue to resolve the issue. If you had an issue and ran into a dead end with customer service they could often put you in contact with the appropriate person to address the issue. If you status changed during b2b cruises they were the one to make sure you got the new benefits.

 

Basically they function as an advocate for guests when other avenues fail.

 

A resource that one did not have to use often, but very handy when one had need.

 

Their direct duties include that they were responsible for all loyalty issues. VIP tender tickets, disembarkation lounges, identify loyalty lunch participants. identify and contact most traveled, MC most traveled luncheon and Captain Circle events.

[PacnGoNow]

5 minutes ago, ldtr said:

If you have an issue with you credited cruise days or trips they were the onboard point of contact. If you had trouble with any of your benefits they were another avenue to resolve the issue. If you had an issue and ran into a dead end with customer service they could often put you in contact with the appropriate person to address the issue. If you status changed during b2b cruises they were the one to make sure you got the new benefits.

 

Basically they function as an advocate for guests when other avenues fail.

 

A resource that one did not have to use often, but very handy when one had need.

 

Their direct duties include that they were responsible for all loyalty issues. VIP tender tickets, disembarkation lounges, identify loyalty lunch participants. identify and contact most traveled, MC most traveled luncheon and Captain Circle events.

That probably will have to be GS now.

[Jeter02]

7 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

That probably will have to be GS now.

Which is why having someone from guest services like they do now designated for that one particular role is very helpful, and takes away from having those particular guests who have questions or concerns waiting in the regular guest service line.

[Coral]

They also prepared packets to those who advanced in Capt Circle ranks on the ship.

[gottagocit]

We just disembarked from the Emerald Princess yesterday morning after an 18 day Panama Canal voyage. The future cruise office was staffed with 4 people and was open 8am-8pm on sea days and 4-8pm on port days which was many more hours per day average than we’ve ever seen previously.

They were extremely helpful and able to get great promo rates for us on two ‘25 Australia and New Zealand cruises that were well below rates found at Princess.com

 

[MissP22]

.

[PacnGoNow]

9 minutes ago, gottagocit said:

We just disembarked from the Emerald Princess yesterday morning after an 18 day Panama Canal voyage. The future cruise office was staffed with 4 people and was open 8am-8pm on sea days and 4-8pm on port days which was many more hours per day average than we’ve ever seen previously.

They were extremely helpful and able to get great promo rates for us on two ‘25 Australia and New Zealand cruises that were well below rates found at Princess.com

 

Was it strictly a cruise or was it including hotel packages? TIA

[gottagocit]

2 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Was it strictly a cruise or was it including hotel packages? TIA

All mentioned were strictly cruise only packages. We always make our own hotel arrangements.