Response from Princess to email re changes

[c-boy]

3 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

Maybe that's Princess' point...out with the old cruising style and old passengers to welcome a new cruising style and new passengers.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's a long term agenda with PCL.

[caribill]

9 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Aha .. now you just made my point for me!  
I think they are trying to get away from customizations to every order!  That still requires extra resources.  Adding that to the app would open a whole new can of worms!  
Extra resources = an extra charge .. that’s exactly what they’ve done!  

If I can walk up to a bar and order something, then the app should be able to allow me to order the same thing.

 

Promotional advertising for the app does not limit what you can order to a limited subset of what is available if you go to the venue itself.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, tothemall&beyond said:

Not any longer - unless you give them money to ship it to you ahead of time. Something that was advertised as free and touted as a huge benefit. Now you have to wait to get the medallion just like we had to do back in days of cruise cards.

Done 4 cruises so far this year picking up the medallions at the port including at San Pedro, Vancouver and Seattle.  In all 4 cruises picking up the medallion added maybe 2 minutes.  In all 4 cruises was on board before 11.  Prior to the Medallion systems implementation one was lucky if the ships was even cleared prior to 11-11:30 and getting onboard was more of a noon event.  Biggest problem these days is the wait after you get on board before the buffet opens for lunch.

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, tothemall&beyond said:

I didn't say I have only sailed on one line. I have actually sailed on 5 lines other than Princess - just not so much in the past 23 years. In my first post, I said only two times on other lines in those 23 years, but I realize now I was in error as it was actually 4 times.

While we have spent more days on Princess during the past two years than any other one line, we spend less than half of our cruise days on Princess.  We did 8 different cruise lines last year and will do 7 in the next 12 months.  It is really what is going on today since the restart on all of the various lines.  Not much 5 to 10 years ago.  

[caribill]

46 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

Exactly.  If Princess were to change their demographic, which they are trying hard to do so, they will also have the younger demographic that RC/NCL/C have, not having to depend on the retired/about to retire to fill their ships in the off season.  I wouldn't mind this change.  It would give my group more people to connect/hang out with.

 

Princess advertising in our area is not aimed at younger people with families. 

 

The visuals are all of adults, mostly doing very adult activities such as holding alcoholic beverages or fine dining. Not a kid (or even a person looking under age 30) in the entire ad.

 

Yes, the adults are what looks to be in their 40s and 50s, not elderly.

[SCX22]

6 minutes ago, caribill said:

If I can walk up to a bar and order something, then the app should be able to allow me to order the same thing.

 

Promotional advertising for the app does not limit what you can order to a limited subset of what is available if you go to the venue itself.

 

App developers don't design Apps to take every single combinations/possibility in mind.  Too complicated.  You can't expect the App developer to think of all customizations/exceptions/changes when developing and App.  For example, if you have a complicated order with lots of customizations, you can't place a mobile order the Starbucks App; you have to place it in person at the store.

[kywildcatfanone]

14 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

Maybe that's Princess' point...out with the old cruising style and old passengers to welcome a new cruising style and new passengers.

They simply want passengers that buy packages and go to pay venues onboard. Nothing else matters including loyalty.  It is what it is.

New or old passengers, it's about the pocket emptying and nothing else.

[caribill]

Just now, SCX22 said:

 

App developers don't design Apps to take every single combinations/possibility in mind.  Too complicated.  You can't expect the App developer to think of all customizations/exceptions/changes when developing and App.

\Which is why I suggested a comment field when ordering so that the available customizations can be requested.

[SCX22]

1 minute ago, caribill said:

 

Princess advertising in our area is not aimed at younger people with families. 

 

The visuals are all of adults, mostly doing very adult activities such as holding alcoholic beverages or fine dining. Not a kid (or even a person looking under age 30) in the entire ad.

 

Yes, the adults are what looks to be in their 40s and 50s, not elderly.

 

The ads mentioned are shown on YouTube/Facebook/Cookies based ads, where it is more likely that young people will watch them.  I've only ever seen the "Come Feel the Love" campaign shown as TV commercials.

[SCX22]

5 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

They simply want passengers that buy packages and go to pay venues onboard. Nothing else matters including loyalty.  It is what it is.

New or old passengers, it's about the pocket emptying and nothing else.

 

Well inflation has something to do with it.  Not sure where you shop, but it's seen everywhere--gas, food, everything have all increased in price in recent time.  Cruise lines are feeling the pain too.

Edited August 21, 2023 by SCX22

[caribill]

Just now, kywildcatfanone said:

They simply want passengers that buy packages and go to pay venues onboard. Nothing else matters including loyalty.  It is what it is.

New or old passengers, it's about the pocket emptying and nothing else.

 

Actually, they want people to buy packages and then not use them.

 

How many people with Plus or Premier actually line up to get two or more of the included special desserts included?

 

Or utilize the fitness classes included?

 

Or approach the 15 drink limit/day for alcoholic beverages?

 

 

[SCX22]

5 minutes ago, caribill said:

\Which is why I suggested a comment field when ordering so that the available customizations can be requested.

 

Easy ordering doesn't translate into complicated orders.

[caribill]

1 minute ago, SCX22 said:

 

Well inflation has something to do with it.  Not sure where you shop, but it's seen everywhere--gas, food, everything have all increased in price in recent time.  Cruise lines are feeling the pain too.

 

And are raising the base cruise fares while reducing what is included in them.

 

And while noone likes to pay a higher cruise fare, many would do so without big complaints if the onboard experience did not lessen. 

[SCX22]

1 minute ago, caribill said:

 

And are raising the base cruise fares while reducing what is included in them.

 

And while noone likes to pay a higher cruise fare, many would do so without big complaints if the onboard experience did not lessen. 

 

Goes to the debt they the cruise lines took during the pandemic as well.  There was a lot of debt and interest rates are up.  Pretty sure no financier would lend that amount of money with a fixed rate.  They need more money to increase revenue to meet debt servicing obligations.

[kywildcatfanone]

15 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Actually, they want people to buy packages and then not use them.

 

How many people with Plus or Premier actually line up to get two or more of the included special desserts included?

 

Or utilize the fitness classes included?

 

Or approach the 15 drink limit/day for alcoholic beverages?

 

 

While I agree, the drink limit doesn't matter much.  They are making money either way.  But you are right, most people are probably drinking 5 or less.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

On the Discovery in June there were a bunch of people with 6:30 reservations were told they would have to wait because the early diners were not done. Many tried to talk there way into the reserved class dining room to no avail 

I know there are always going to be exception circumstances.  It seems they filled the DR with walk ups and stiffed the ones with res by not holding tables.  BTW, 6:30 did not used to be a valid res time.   Did they start at 5:30 or 5?  Doesn't matter if you know.

[memoak]

58 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

How soon we forget.

 

Last year the Plus Package changed (in two steps) from $40/day to $60/day, a 50% increase.

And many of my grocery items have also increased a lot. I am now paying $6 for a quart of half and half

[memoak]

39 minutes ago, caribill said:

If I can walk up to a bar and order something, then the app should be able to allow me to order the same thing.

 

Promotional advertising for the app does not limit what you can order to a limited subset of what is available if you go to the venue itself.

 Believe me my order to the bartender standing in front of me will get filled before your app order

[memoak]

6 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I know there are always going to be exception circumstances.  It seems they filled the DR with walk ups and stiffed the ones with res by not holding tables.  BTW, 6:30 did not used to be a valid res time.   Did they start at 5:30 or 5?  Doesn't matter if you know.

They filled up the dining room by 5:30

[memoak]

26 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Actually, they want people to buy packages and then not use them.

 

How many people with Plus or Premier actually line up to get two or more of the included special desserts included?

 

Or utilize the fitness classes included?

 

Or approach the 15 drink limit/day for alcoholic beverages?

 

 

Nope just 10 drinks every day

[SCX22]

16 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I know there are always going to be exception circumstances.  It seems they filled the DR with walk ups and stiffed the ones with res by not holding tables.  BTW, 6:30 did not used to be a valid res time.   Did they start at 5:30 or 5?  Doesn't matter if you know.

 

Some ships list the MDR dinner time starting at 1730, but if they are ready will start seating at 1700.  Noticed this on the Sky ex Southampton, probably because the dining room stayed open till 2130 instead of 2100.  Most ships open the MDR at 1700.  The app currently accepts 1800 to 1900 reservations.

[Steelers36]

8 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

Some ships list the MDR dinner time starting at 1730, but if they are ready will start seating at 1700.  Noticed this on the Sky ex Southampton, probably because the dining room stayed open till 2130 instead of 2100.  Most ships open the MDR at 1700.  The app currently accepts 1800 to 1900 reservations.

 

Yes, those 20 minute intervals are what I saw late 2022 and began at 5pm.  I know there were ships supposedly not starting dinner service until 5:30pm, but DMW had allowed 5pm and 5:20pm res.  No idea how that was sorted out, except I seem to recall one DR did start at 5pm.  This is not current info.  Wish I knew more current details but I also think different ways on different ships.

[Guest ldtr]

55 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

They simply want passengers that buy packages and go to pay venues onboard. Nothing else matters including loyalty.  It is what it is.

New or old passengers, it's about the pocket emptying and nothing else.

More about having passengers that are willing to spend enough such that they can turn a profit and actually keep operating.  The fare amount does not even cover ship operations.  Not with only 65% of revenue coming from Fares and 35% coming from on board spend.  They can deal with some fare only and still turn an over all profits, but they cannot deal with a lot of fare only

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

Actually, they want people to buy packages and then not use them.

 

How many people with Plus or Premier actually line up to get two or more of the included special desserts included?

 

Or utilize the fitness classes included?

 

Or approach the 15 drink limit/day for alcoholic beverages?

 

 

ON my Alaska cruise on Majestic there were a number of those being sold.  No way to tell if people were purchasing them or getting them on the package, but it was enough that they at two lines at cones.  One for soft serve and one for the special desserts.  Walking around Lido you could usually see between 4 to 10 of the glasses on tables at any given time during the day when cones was open.

 

that cruise had 75% of passengers new to Princess and only 3% Elite.

[SCX22]

13 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Wish I knew more current details but I also think different ways on different ships.

 

Yes different ways on each ship.  The one with 1730 opening is from the Sky.  The one with 1700 opening is from the Majestic.