Princessfan20

Maybe their only solution would be to overnight in Honolulu if they are not already. Maui and Hawaii Island are having the National Guard brought in today. Their resources are going to be extremely stressed and basically not available. Most flights from the mainland to Kahului Airport have already been canceled today through August 11, 2023. Visitors (4,000) are being evacuated to Honolulu to make housing available for the thousands of locals who have lost their hokes. I am sure the Emerald Princess is a low priority for the state.

We are on Hawaii Island and newscast are reporting that the town of Lahaina has been destroyed by fire and many boats in the harbor burned. Many many burn victims. Fires are still burning on Maui and in Kohala area of Hawaii. State is asking visitors not to come to Maui. Situation is still fluid. Doubt cruise ships will be allowed there for the foreseeable future.

Please cite your source. I know of no major travel company that does not value repeat customers and does not have rewards programs to keep them coming back. Or is this just more hyperbolizing on your part?

We were on 21 day Med on Enchanted and wore Tommy Bahama shirts and slacks every evening, even on formal nights and never a problem. Got lot's of compliments though. :-)

Just more of the new Princess and I would say this is another cut in services. We were always able to choose our cabin on any booking if available but now Princess is charging a fee if you are lucky enough to do so. On several cruises there is no choice and we have to pay up front for a mini-suite or higher and not get what we want. I think the new Princess term is "Cabin Roulette." But I am sure that there are those who think it is a brilliant idea by Princess because now they get to have a scavenger hunt after boarding to find what cabin they got n where and it just makes cruising so much more exciting. 🙂

OMG! I am pretty sure just about everyone on the Princess CC boards are a shareholder. Next!

Not the best analogies. In the casino a player can leave a stack of chips where they are playing and dealer will hold spot. Looks like Princess is now reserving chairs in theaters for certain guests whether they show up or not. We do Reserve Class dining and there is always a chair waiting for us. Often the same chairs every night. Also, let's not even talk about your own special lounger in the Sanctuary. It does happen.

Princess is taking the art of nickeling and dining to a whole new level.

Are people really sure these Premium packages are really that popular. The only thing I have noticed that the Reserved seats on our last three cruises never even came close to filling up on the nights Princess reserved them.

The only Elite benefit we cherish is the free laundry. The Loyalty program was really weak IMHO. We are more interested in the different ways you can earn OBC's on Princess. I do not think Delta is a good representation of speaking for all loyalty programs or airline reward programs. Delta Sky Miles has always been referred to by many frequent flyer's as Sky Pesos. Also, as you are probably aware Delta has tightened its' rules on who can enter their clubs because of the over-crowding that was occuring.

Thanks for sharing the article. It spells things out pretty clearly.

Many restaurants did change their menus because of the increase in eggs. Supposedly Princess uses almost 10,000 eggs a day on a cruise according to the procurement officer when we did a ship tour on the Regal.

I am really surprised how little you literally do not know about travel reward programs and us normal people’s travel opportunities. Now hitting ignore button.

If you would have read my post correctly you be aware that I said airlines, hotels and rental car companies treat their Elite customers much better then Princess does now. Last summer we flew from west coast in international first class, stayed in Hilton hotels for three weeks and had a free Hertz rental using their loyalty reward programs. Princess’ loyalty program was weak to begin with and then they weakened it even more by making cuts. Cannot understand why people are fanning over how great these cheap charges are. Princess is not the company it use to be and that is because it is being run by executives who came from Carnival. Drink up. But love how enthusiastic the Princess cheerleaders are being on paying Princess for extras that use to be part of the cruise price. BRILLIANT!

I agree with what you posted and I think there are a number of Princess (cruise) travel agents on these boards who always have to pitch how great cruising is no matter what the cruise lines do.....it's their livelihood. The good thing is there are so many other forms of travel that are just as good or not better than cruising and we have never been solely locked into cruising. The airlines, hotels and rental car companies treat their elite travels way better than Princess does now.

Agree. We have been loyal Princess cruisers for many years but we have lost all the perks you mentioned. It is not a small change as some have suggested. We had always cruised at least 50 days a year and these perks were significant motivators. With those gone and these new cheap charges Princess has lost our reliable loyalty. Appreciated your spot on summary.

Doubt Princess’ new inefficient and scripted off shore call center would even know what is going on or what to do. Supposedly more of the new and improved Princess product.

We would tell our friends who sell Viking, Oceania, etc that Princess is an excellent cruise line. We were always a little baffled when they all would say that "they do not want to be nickeled and dimed" which we told them that it was not true. Boy were we wrong. Princess has gone from the Love Boat to the Cheap Boat. Welcome aboard suckers! 🙂

This may be a problem for Princess if passengers who book suites decide that instead of being nicked and dime to death their money will go much further and be more appreciated on the luxury brand cruise lines. We are certainly looking at those lines now. Princess has certainly lost its' panache with these ridiculous new resort fees so to speak.

Is it true that people with the Standard package will now pay for theater seats to see a show?

All this justification for some by allowing Princess to gouge its' customers. Princess has made many changes in policies recently which have taken benefits away that passengers had earned based on their Loyalty Program. Also it made it so Veterans are not entitled to the Shareholders OBC program. No other group is excluded from stacking their OBC's on Princess. Then they come out with all these new upcharges unless you buy a product you do not need. Princess has also raised its' prices substantially. It is not even close to going out of business based on the performance of CCL stock. All that has happened is there has been new management come from the Carnival side of CCL to run Princess. We see no reason now to be loyal to Princess with their new direction of greed. This is just the beginning and I am sure they will have a whole new group of upscale products next year that use to be free. They really just helped us move on to Viking, Oceania and other lines that do not nickel and dime their passengers. We have wanted to do it for awhile but had remained too loyal to Princess. This does not even take into account the UPGRADE they have done to their new off shore call center which is so efficient it is saving their loyal passengers immense amounts of valuable time. 🙂 We are no longer interested in their new programs of the month which are turning into a blatant ripoff.

I really doubt the ones being escorted are the ones making snide comments. Sour grapes maybe???

Agree. This story is all based on hearsay. What is creepy are people who post things they “heard” about others on a cruise ship on CC.

Apologize. Post was not directed at you but in reference to OP.

The Princess cruises we have been on it has not even been an issue. People get preferred treatment most places when they travel like airplanes, rental car, hotels, etc. The sensitivity of some passengers is just beyond on belief. Let it go because it is just not what this thread is accusing Princess of.