kywildcatfanone

Affording it has nothing to do with it.

With the increased prices of packages, I only bring onboard. Could not pay those prices. I would stop cruising in that scenario for sure. And it will not surprise me if they do stop allowing that at some point.

I'd probably say princess pays way less than $15 for 20 sodas. $15 is me bringing it onboard at embarkation and ports. But I know you mean the $3 plus 18% or whatever the price is now.

Now that would be an interesting thread

Yes, benefits are being reduced from people who had them prior. It's not impossible to think they will do away with any of them of value. Look at the changes you listed and others mentioned by myself and others. If the goal is to show those striving to attain the status, just focus on the current benefits, and ignore any that have changed.

No idea how you got that. I always said benefits were being reduced. As to those who aren't elite yet, they can see what benefits are there when they attain it, as they will surely change more between now and then.

That is great for those who drink. Those who don't get at best $15 of soda, and I now have to pay $80 for coffee. Like I keep saying, value is individual to each person's scenario.

I have no problem with true "chair hogs" being stopped. If you aren't using a chair, but merely coming and going every couple of hours for a few minutes, that needs to stop.

And how do you quantify that on a confined space like a ship. If I get to a good spot on the beach before someone else and I use it all day, should I not be able to keep it all day and they have to find another spot? And like you, I don't dawdle at a restaurant, or on the ship for that matter. When I go in for the day, I remove my towel and take it to the dirty towel bin. Most people just leave them.

Isn't that the point though, benefits are only benefits if you believe them to be and they are useful to you. When I attained elite status, benefits had value to me, and I used them. Now, the removal/downgrade of certain benefits has lessened that value to me. I said that in almost all of my posts. Priority tendering was not a benefit I ever used or needed. Had no value to me. I never said it wasn't a benefit, but it wasn't a benefit to me. I have seen, for the benefits I care about a reduction in their benefit/value. I'm sure if you were to ask those who used to be able to stack shareholder and military benefits, who can no longer do that, they would tell you the benefit still exists, but it's value is diminished. Anyone can read the list of benefits, but benefit value is individualized to each person. And as I have said, they have eroded by similar amounts for me. If someone is new today to elite benefits, they have benefits they never had before, so that is great for them. For loyal cruisers who have had benefits reduced/taken away, well, that story is different. That's all I'm saying.

How far are you willing to take this? Can I not find a spot in a corner and sit and read a book all day as long as I use it. Can I not sit in front of the same game in the casino as long as I use it? If you want to sit in the piazza all day and watch whatever entertainment wonders by, why can't you? The reason the pool deck gets the only attention is that there are simply not enough chairs for everyone who might want one. But if someone claims a chair and uses it, then what is wrong with that exactly? Now, do I see on every cruise people who put stuff on chairs and rarely use them, sure. The only answer to your plan is for princess to institute a rotating schedule to use chairs. But what if I have a morning time, and it's cloudy? Perhaps Princess should simply have their deck attendants monitor chairs at least some, and proactively remove items when their are people looking for a chair if they have deemed that 30 minutes or more has passed.

I said that 2 posts up. Everyone gets to decide for themselves how they feel about the loyalty benefits and how they get changed. The changes are what they are. It's not like discussing it on a message board is going to change what has happened.

It's the one benefit that hasn't changed since I got to elite. With that said, on two separate occasions they lost items of ours, presumably gave them to another passenger, so unless we are on a longer than 7 day cruise, we don't use it. Or I just send stuff that if it doesn't come back, I won't be bothered by.

Maybe to you. Change are changes, and the cruise line can do what it wants. When I earned elite, there were benefits to it that I could take advantage of because I had attained that status. Now, some of those benefits have been changed or removed all together. It it what it is. Someone might view the internet as a big deal, someone might view the coffee as a big deal, someone might view the boutique sales items as a big deal. You can't make a blanket statement, you can only comment on how it impacts you. That has been my point all along. From my perspective, I have lost a couple of hundred dollars in benefits per cruise that I used to have access to, but no longer do.

Yes. for us it used to be a way better deal when we could trade it for coffee. At least then, it was similar price point exchange. Now you aren't getting near the value if you trade it. But it is what it is.

That is the definition of fading. Sorry. I know you have chosen this as a hill to die on by starting your own thread defending the cutbacks, and posting in many others, but since I have been elite we have lost all benefits we see as useful with the exception of the laundry, which we rarely use. Those cuts in benefits cost me over $200 now per 7 day cruise. I've already post that multiple times, so I will leave you to your thread.

Sorry, but this makes no sense to me. People who sit by the pool all day still have to use the bathroom and eat. I can most certainly go anywhere on the ship and get food and be back to my chair in 30 minutes.

Good luck with their being any when you get there. They are fading fast.

I think this is e everyone's complaint, and rightly so. It's poor customer service. Especially when they have your money to earn interest off of while raising your price should you want to eat at casual restaurants onboard.

Yes it was valid for sale items before that was removed.

As expensive as the Princess packages are, they are less than the ones offered on Celebrity. Amazing to me, but I guess people are buying them. So good for the cruise line.

You got an entire thread derailed because you posted this, and people refuted it with the benefit cuts to loyalty programs they have endured. Personally benefit cuts I have experienced now cost me over $200 a cruise. If you are happy with your benefit cuts you may keep your benefit cuts.

Whew, I don't think I could carry 12 cartons of soda, but I typically bring 3-4. Never been an issue.

That will happen when you have assigned chairs that you pay for, which is coming soon.

I agree with this as one of those they would like to get rid of. We take 2 cruises a year, but rarely spend more than $2500-3000 in total for both. We book inside cabins most of the time, do not buy packages, or go to speciality dining anymore, and bring our own soft drinks and water on the ship at embarkation and ports. And we usually have enough OBC to cover tips and wifi. They would love to give my black medallion up for a blue one of someone who is on a first cruise, and is paying for the convenience of everything they offer. They would virtually double their money. They are certainly trying to push me out, and I do have one foot out the door, but I'm not gone yet.