Changes to Princess Plus, room service fees, Alfredo's and others. Fee changes. Etc

[dlh015]

6 minutes ago, ldtr said:

As well as potentially helping get an employee flagged for having higher than normal gratuity removal rates

And that is a very good point...

[dlh015]

3 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Over on Celebrity there are complaining about butlers getting removed from Sky suites and apparently someone there was told that they would not be any notification.

And that is also very true. And there will be no 'grace' for those with NRD and/or are past final pay date. And there be no compensation (ie OBC) for not getting what you paid for.

 

 

[caribill]

2 hours ago, ldtr said:

Actually they changed the entire system and nolonger tracked minutes.

Also keep in.mind when they made that change they added the excursion 10% discount.

 

They are eliminating benefits that were free to you. (Example: Free Internet (once was unlimited free.))

 

They are adding benefits you only get if you first pay $$$ to Princess. (Example: Book an excursion through Princess for up to 100% more than if you booked the same experience directly with a provider and then get 10% back.)

 

By the way, note that Princess does not allow you to book an excursion in advance for 90%. Must pay the full 100% in advance and get the 10% back as OBC with Princess hoping you will spend that OBC instead of actually getting a cash refund.

[Guest ldtr]

2 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

If I had a crystal ball, I would say that these chnages will result in the following:

 

- Long time Princess cruisers that don't usually venture to other lines will now start shopping around and dipping their toes in the water. Remember, if you have never experienced the "before" with these other lines, the changes everyone on the other lines are complaining about are irrelevant as you don't know any different.

 

- Same as above, cruisers from other lines that are unhappy with whatever is going on there, will try out Princess. As above, new cruisers on Princess won't know that these fees didn't exist previously so will just be happy with whichever option/package they choose.

 

- Both above points result in "flux" with new passengers across the lines as opposed to loyal passengers on one line. Maybe this is what the lines want? I don't know. I do know, that I work for a theatre company and we fight every year to get our loyal/repeat customers to come back as it costs far less to keep a repeat customer than it does to go out and market for a new customer. I also know that our customer base is getting older (likely true for Princess) and what was once an art form for older adults is now being heavily marketed to the young population, mainly those under 40 (also seems to be the angle Princess is going for judging by their website pictures and language).

 

- Time will tell how this will play out for Princess. My best guess is that for every loyal guest they lose, they get a new guest in who is willing to pay. The thing is, will that new guest come back for more or just continue to shop around? If you charge a new guest to use ocean now and then the drinks never come, or you charge a guest for room service and it takes 3 hours...how will that play out? As a repeat cruiser, I'm more likely to say "It's just a bad day/glitch. This didn't happen on my last cruise". A new cruiser will think this is normal and not be happy.

 

- Personally, I am a TA and was elite on Princess long before that. I sell far more Princess product than anything else, primarily because they are/were a line that I felt was an excellent product and I had no hesitation promoting them as such. These fees, on top of all the other changes over the past few years, coupled with the disastrous medallion app rollout are making it harder to keep pushing for them.

I have no idea why someone is not already looking at different lines.

 

For those on Princess, unfortunately in many cases the costs will be higher on the competition (at least for those below suites and maybe for those depending upon what they look at).  For those coming from other mass market lines (except HAL) they already have many of those charges.

 

The nearest price point, without a class system, and free room service is HAL.  The complaint over there is entertainment and the lack of activities.  Not sure how that would appeal to those that have only sailed Princess.  We like them for unique longer itineraries. Just do not count on much entertainment, though we do like their MDR food a little better than Princess.  They just raise the prices of their specialty dining venues this week.

[Guest ldtr]

4 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

And that is also very true. And there will be no 'grace' for those with NRD and/or are past final pay date. And there be no compensation (ie OBC) for not getting what you paid for.

 

 

I was hoping for no notification to be sent out since it would make the likely hood of getting some OBC on board to be a little higher.

[CruzeQueen2]

25 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

In the Webinar, Princess said they would be emailing all booked passengers with the info and upgrade options. If booked through a TA, the TA will get the email and forward it on (though it's possible it would still come directly from Princess as well - that often happens with "important" emails). As a TA, I have nothing official from Princess either for my own bookings or for my client's bookings. While I have discussed this with clients that have asked, I have not reached out to inform those that have not yet as I would prefer to defer to the official Princess communication. Hopefully it will come this week!

@ceilidh1Thanks for the new wine list for Vines. I'm sailing soon, so won't see those new wines till September. Appreciate you sharing the info, as usual!

My next cruise ends before the new plans start on the Crown. Since there is no Alfredos on that ship, I'm ok with free room service with my Plus fare - for now. Last sailing, I upgraded some of my wine choices for the little bit extra cost. Works for me.

[Guest ldtr]

3 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

They are eliminating benefits that were free to you. (Example: Free Internet (once was unlimited free.))

 

They are adding benefits you only get if you first pay $$$ to Princess. (Example: Book an excursion through Princess for up to 100% more than if you booked the same experience directly with a provider and then get 10% back.)

 

By the way, note that Princess does not allow you to book an excursion in advance for 90%. Must pay the full 100% in advance and get the 10% back as OBC with Princess hoping you will spend that OBC instead of actually getting a cash refund.

Sure but you still get the OBC.  One can use the benefits or complain about them I tend to use them.  

 

One can minimize the cost sharing 1 single device plan drops the cost to $3.75 per day for 2 people with still far more time then the old minute system..  Find that on the competition without a package.   

[Oxo]

1 hour ago, ldtr said:

That is right.

 

Take for example my last cruise on Majestic. 2 B2B so 14 days. This was 2 and from Alaska which we have done several times so only 1 excursion. which was $200 for both of us and generated $20 obc from the 10% excursion rebate

 

We received $400 in veterans and Shareholder obc. We received another $100 in FCDs . So a total of $500 in OBC. As part of Elite benefits we got 50% of our internet, free laundry, 40 soft drinks (2 minibar set ups)

 

Costs gratuities  448, Excursions 200, Internet $105 a single device package shared.  Those cost a total of $753 minus the 520 OBC leaves 233 out of pocket. Out total bill at the end of two weeks was 363. so another 130 in spend during the 14 days.

 

So in this case was $13 dollars over the $25 dollars per day total of 350.

 

Our recent 22 day TA and BI ran less.

Thank you.

OK, now that you clarified what you got in OBC plus other perks.

Totally misleading in your original posting.

I assumed that you were talking about the total cost of cruise plus other expenses.

We just got off Celebrity B2B total 14 days and had OBC of $450 and $550.

I always add cruise cost plus other cost on cruise minus OBC.

Happy Cruising! 

[caribill]

2 hours ago, ldtr said:

 

 

Let's see the Internet change was around  7 to 10 years ago. The recent change and the only real removal was the bag of toiletries.

 

Maybe going from unlimited Internet to a number of free minutes was about a dozen years ago, but going from a number of free minutes to having to start paying $$$ for any Internet at all was relatively recent.

 

And do not forget, that the retail cost of those free minutes was not that different that what Platinum/Elite passengers are now paying to access the Internet. So about the same $$$ value, but now paying for it.

[portiemom]

1 hour ago, tothemall&beyond said:

August 12th!

Depends on the ship.

[pompeii]

50 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

 

 

That being said, I think it’s easy to criticize the complainers if these changes aren’t relevant to you. But the question is, what happens next time, when Princess makes their move, and the spinner lands on something you do care about?

 

So, while the changes might not affect me personally, I’m still sympathetic to those who care. You never know what’s next 🤷🏻‍♀️

 

 

Thank you for this comment.  When the price of Plus goes up or Princess changes how many drinks or the $$ value included, it won't affect me at all because I don't book Plus.  But I won't belittle anyone's complaints or their right to make them.  In other words, you won't hear from me "If you don't like it, it's simple, don't cruise with Princess."  

[portiemom]

1 hour ago, ldtr said:

One can either complain about it, or can adapt and maximize the value they can get from however the system exists....

 

In the end the goals of the business may not be the same as your goals. It comes down to in the end is the product enough of a value for you to continue to buy.

Agreed.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, spookyfudge said:

I am ok with the new prices and downgrade of free stuff if my stock price continues to go up.  With the new charges I think the CCL bottom line and profits will go up! Keep rising prices until you see a drop in bookings and then turn back just a bit to maximize profits and thus raise stock price!

 

Closing stock prices on 2/26/2020, just before the country (and cruise industry) shutdown due to the pandemic:

RCL  $81.53    CCL  $33.14

 

Closing stock prices 7/30/2023

RCL $108.57   CCL  $18.49

 

So, which company do you think managed their way better through the pandemic and the post-pandemic environment?

[kywildcatfanone]

25 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Maybe going from unlimited Internet to a number of free minutes was about a dozen years ago, but going from a number of free minutes to having to start paying $$$ for any Internet at all was relatively recent.

 

And do not forget, that the retail cost of those free minutes was not that different that what Platinum/Elite passengers are now paying to access the Internet. So about the same $$$ value, but now paying for it.

Yep, but you still are getting tremendous value, and even though you aren't saving anything and it's costing you more, value, value, value, savings, savings, savings.

[gah_cruise]

55 minutes ago, ldtr said:

As well as potentially helping get an employee flagged for having higher than normal gratuity removal rates

and if that Room steward cannot be arsed to hoover properly for 14 days and ignores requests for an ice bucket...then so be it

Edited July 30, 2023 by gah_cruise

[kywildcatfanone]

12 minutes ago, tothemall&beyond said:

Not sure how you can say that "loyalty OBC was not an Elite benefit and "was an entirely different program". It was something given ONLY to Elite loyalty level members after we achieved a certain number of cruises over and above the 15 required to make Elite level. For those of us who previously had it, we have now lost anywhere from $25 to $100 on each cruise, the amount depending on whether we had 20+, 30+, 40+ or 50+ cruises.

Facts

[kywildcatfanone]

1 hour ago, tothemall&beyond said:

The internet change was not 7-10 years ago. It was AFTER covid!!!! We sailed a TA in Nov 2019 still on the minutes plan. And the free laundry may not be around for long with the way they're taking away Elite benefits -- more than just the loss of the toiletry bag. Also lost the loyalty OBC for having 21+, 32+, 42+ or 52+ cruises ($25-$100). And the ability to trade the minibar for coffee packages. The 10% discount in shops can no longer be used on ANYTHING as it used to be. Elites without packages have lost priority boarding if you don't pay for medallion to be shipped.

Elites are losing priority boarding without a package?

[4cats4me]

42 minutes ago, LeeW said:

 

It really isn't necessary for you to respond to every post on this thread.  Would be half the length without it.

Now-now, that Poster has only responded 175 times, thus far, 1 out of 9,5 times.  

LOL 

Edited July 30, 2023 by 4cats4me

[Oxo]

30 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Actually if you read my original post I said on board spend after OBC and Elite benefits.  Which should have been pretty clear.

Sorry, but your posting was misleading to me. You sounded as if you cruised for x$\day.

Like I said, I always include cost of cruise plus what I spent minus OBC\perks.

We are Elite on Princess and have been in top 3 Most Traveled cruisers many times.

Happy Cruising 

[jennmaybe]

No issue for us.  We have always been the steerage cruisers that cruise lines hate.  We never spend money on board.  Plenty of complimentary food options for us.  No room service, beverage packages, ship excursions, etc.

 

Bottom line—-as long as cruisers are willing to pay, they will continue with this insanity. 😡

[nasa1974]

OK so I'm having a brain freeze. When did Princess Plus go from $50/day to $60/day? Thanks.

[portiemom]

27 minutes ago, ldtr said:

instead of shorting the crew by not paying the well established and well known daily gratuity.

Apparently I would be shorting the crew by such a miniscule amount that it would not make an iota of difference. But you do you and I'll "maximize the value" I get from "the system that exists." As far as "removing" anyone, that would be Princess' decision, not mine. I always thoroughly answer the after cruise surveys, and occasionally write a note of support on behalf of my room steward, while still on board. My conscious is clear.

[spunks]

1 hour ago, ldtr said:

Not an Elite benefit. A different program.  I miss the $50 dollars per person per cruise I used to get as well. But still not an Elite benefit.  So lets see $50 over a 7 day cruise a little over $7 per day, over a 14 days cruise $3.57 per day.  Really not a major impact compared to the 30 to 35 dollars per day that I get from the rest of the Elite benefits.  That program, I think, was getting far too top heavy than they expected with the number of people exceeding 1000 days on board.  It was due to collapse under its weight.  With the number of Elite reaching 35 to 40% on some cruises and the number qualifying for the loyalty benefit being half that amount, it was changing from a little extra program for really frequent cruises to a major expense.

 

Only if you want to pay $5 each morning.  Order by door hanger - free.  Pay the one time change of 14.99 and order by app  and it become $2.14 per day for a 7 day cruise even if that is the only thing you order. 

 

Is it a cost increase sure, but in the entire scope of cruise fare, on board spend, etc a pretty small one. A change that seems to be more focused at behavior than anything else.

of course it is an Elite benefit! Tell me one person that was ever eligible for it that was not Elite. You are somehow saying it is not an Elite benefit even though only Elites were eligible for it. That does not even make good non sense.

....and I am completely mystified how you can think hanging out  a door hanger is in ANY way accecptable? How do you know what time you will wake up the next day?

[caribill]

11 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Elites are losing priority boarding without a package?

 

No.

a) If checked in before boarding has started, can still wait in Elite/Suite area and have priority boarding. Has never made a difference if boarding has already started.

 

b) Check-in no longer has Platinum/Suite/Elite lines. Lines now are simply have Medallion or do not have Medallion. Not have Medallion line moves slower because of the short time it takes to collect each person's Medallion.

[Guest ldtr]

59 minutes ago, spunks said:

of course it is an Elite benefit! Tell me one person that was ever eligible for it that was not Elite. You are somehow saying it is not an Elite benefit even though only Elites were eligible for it. That does not even make good non sense.

....and I am completely mystified how you can think hanging out  a door hanger is in ANY way accecptable? How do you know what time you will wake up the next day?

because it was not an Elite benefit. It was never listed as an Elite benefit  It was a separate program above the Captain Circle programs. One had to have cruised more than Elite to qualify certainly. But it was never part of the Elite benefits.