Complimentary Internet for Suites?

[skf]

I was told the suites did in fact have a CD/DVD player when they did not.

We were not pleased with the lack of captioning on the non-suite TV and raised unholy HE** with Customer Service until they agreed to get us a DVD player so we could watch movies.

Point of story...they are available to be installed.

Steve

[azbirdmom]

I still have the postings from Princess with the explanation they gave at the time and this was one of them which was posted on their Facebook page on July 11, 2012:

 

Princess Cruises wrote: "We apologize for any disappointment. We do periodically review our programs and determined that the benefit was not sustainable given the limited bandwidth available on the ship.

 

**I wanted to give everyone an update:

For those passengers who have a suite booking made prior to July 15, 2012, we will honor the offer of complimentary internet for that voyage. Please see the Passenger Services Desk during your cruise and they will waive any internet charges."

Edited June 20, 2014 by azbirdmom

[Iamcruzin]

You very well may not have given your password out but I'm very sure that their records have documented that many others did. It was probably shown that people who had unlimited internet service had astronomical amounts of time spent surfing the web which could only be that numerous people were sharing it.[/quote]

 

Given then fact that the internet is so slow how could they come to this conclusion. Pages that take seconds to load at home can take quite a few minutes on the ships internet. People who are paying for the internet will download all of their mail and answer it off line. Folks with free internet don't have to be so conservative of the minutes and probably don't even log off the system when they are through Heck I know people who have paid for minutes and have burned them just by forgetting to log off. The bottom line is that they know that passengers will pay for the internet especially those who can afford a suite so why give it as a perk if they can make a profit on the service.

[azbirdmom]

Folks with free internet don't have to be so conservative of the minutes and probably don't even log off the system when they are through Heck I know people who have paid for minutes and have burned them just by forgetting to log off. The bottom line is that they know that passengers will pay for the internet especially those who can afford a suite so why give it as a perk if they can make a profit on the service.

 

My behavior did not change when I had the free internet. I still composed emails, Facebook, and CC updates offline and pasted them into the appropriate windows when connected. If you type in any of these locations while connected, you run the risk of the system going down and losing what you've typed. That has happened to me before. I probably used a tiny amount more than my free Platinum minutes (and it was a 16 day cruise). And my DH didn't even use all of the free minutes. It's still a cruise and there are exotic places to see and trivia contests to win, so having the free unlimited minutes didn't mean we were tied to our laptop. It only meant that the stress to quickly sign off was alleviated a little.

Edited June 20, 2014 by azbirdmom

[bhopal21]

I was told the suites did in fact have a CD/DVD player when they did not.

We were not pleased with the lack of captioning on the non-suite TV and raised unholy HE** with Customer Service until they agreed to get us a DVD player so we could watch movies.

Point of story...they are available to be installed.

Steve

 

What suite was this?

 

We have never had a suite that didn't have a DVD player.

 

Mike:)

[fishywood]

What suite was this?

 

We have never had a suite that didn't have a DVD player.

 

Mike:)

 

On one of the versions of the Suite Benefits Flyer there was a footnote saying that on ships with on demand movies suites will not have a DVD player. Not mentioned on the online version du jour at this moment (which predates the Royal and Regal).

Edited June 20, 2014 by fishywood

[bhopal21]

I don't think they were referring to the Royal/Regal but on second read who knows what they were referring to.

 

They started off saying the suite didn't have a dvd player and then said they were not happy with the lack of captioning on the non suite tv.

 

It seems they were just unhappy in general.

 

Mike:)

Edited June 20, 2014 by bhopal21

[Pam in CA]

Considering that at least on the Royal Princess last October when some Elite passengers were sending out 5-7 bags of laundry each day in a variety of sizes and that some were observed on the Sapphire with an "all-inclusive" sticker buying drinks for 5-6 other people by one person going up to the bar every couple of minutes until everyone in the group had a drink, I have absolutely no doubt that a few used the Internet excessively and allowed friends and family to use it as well. As always, it's a case of a few ruining it for everyone. In this case, there was probably enough abuse that Princess reached the breaking point and canceled the perk. I'll guarantee Princess analyzed usage and data used.

Edited June 21, 2014 by Pam in CA

[fishywood]

I don't think they were referring to the Royal/Regal but on second read who knows what they were referring to.

 

They started off saying the suite didn't have a dvd player and then said they were not happy with the lack of captioning on the non suite tv.

 

It seems they were just unhappy in general.

 

Mike:)

 

They were actually referencing this post from way back on page 1:

 

I highly doubt it's back. Don't think you'll get any good/correct info if you call a CSR either. Two days before we flew to Venice to board the Royal I was told the suites did in fact have a CD/DVD player when they did not.....:mad::mad::mad:

 

Bob

[GrammyKati]

Just found that my DH and I have a Goodwill credit of $50 each for our sailing on the Grand Princess next year. Thanks Princess for listening to our complaints about your old/new flyer's promises!

[rdsqrl]

You keep posting this but you don't know for sure. You never stay in suites so how do you really know? We always book suites and don't offer our password to others and I truely don't think many people do. The free internet being taken away comes up many times during Sabitini's breakfast and you would be surprised how many people said they hardly used any minutes at all. If anyone does, it is people that get upgrades. They know that will be the only time they will e in a suite so they take advantage of every perk and they do let friends use their password.

You could say the same thing for laundry - many people post that they send laundry out for friends and family - that is abuse - why isn't it taken away as a perk?

So, you're saying that they didn't discontinue the perk because there was no abuse. Except that there may have been abuse, but it was only from those people who were upgraded. Because you can tell the difference just by looking?

 

I'm in awe of both your convoluted logic and your haughty scorn for those who receive upgrades.

[Woobstr112G]

Considering that at least on the Royal Princess last October when some Elite passengers were sending out 5-7 bags of laundry each day in a variety of sizes and that some were observed on the Sapphire with an "all-inclusive" sticker buying drinks for 5-6 other people by one person going up to the bar every couple of minutes until everyone in the group had a drink, I have absolutely no doubt that a few used the Internet excessively and allowed friends and family to use it as well. As always, it's a case of a few ruining it for everyone. In this case, there was probably enough abuse that Princess reached the breaking point and canceled the perk. I'll guarantee Princess analyzed usage and data used.

 

So you observed all of this with your own eyes.....:rolleyes:

 

Bob

[dickinson]

Just found that my DH and I have a Goodwill credit of $50 each for our sailing on the Grand Princess next year. Thanks Princess for listening to our complaints about your old/new flyer's promises!

 

Did you ever get contacted about the email you sent? How did you find out that you now have a Goodwill credit of $50 each? I emailed them the same day you did (yesterday I think) and have not heard back from them. I checked my cruise personalizer and didn't see anything.

[shredie]

It's human nature to want to take advantage, so I have no doubt some people do.

Edited June 21, 2014 by shredie

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

You very well may not have given your password out but I'm very sure that their records have documented that many others did. It was probably shown that people who had unlimited internet service had astronomical amounts of time spent surfing the web which could only be that numerous people were sharing it.[/quote]

 

Given then fact that the internet is so slow how could they come to this conclusion. Pages that take seconds to load at home can take quite a few minutes on the ships internet. People who are paying for the internet will download all of their mail and answer it off line. Folks with free internet don't have to be so conservative of the minutes and probably don't even log off the system when they are through Heck I know people who have paid for minutes and have burned them just by forgetting to log off. The bottom line is that they know that passengers will pay for the internet especially those who can afford a suite so why give it as a perk if they can make a profit on the service.

 

The point I was trying to make was not that it slowed down the internet as a whole, which it probably did, but that the total amount of minutes for a particular account probable was outrageous, indicating that they were sharing passwords.

Either way it's a perk of past times which was probably abused by some so why even worry about it. ;)

[Corfe Mixture]

.. if the internet is being abused from the MAC address.

 

When you log on the server (network controller) has to record the MAC address of the computer making the connection (it is a fundamental part of the handshake and is needed to enable the server to know which computer on the network to send the incoming data to).

 

So, if someone used a computer on their personal account, which is chargeable to their own cabin and then uses the same computer on the account of the suite, it is obvious that the same computer is being used on two accounts.

 

Conclusion

either

a) the person in the suite has loaned their computer to a friend who has used it on their own account, or vice versa

or

b) the person in the suite has used the friend's minutes (unlikely - why would they do that when they have unlimited free minutes) or the friend has used the suite account (much more likely)

 

Add this to the fact that they can see how many different computers have connected to each account and they will have more than enough evidence to work out that someone has been misusing the system.

 

Were they to analyse the data in real time, they could of course block the offending accounts, but in truth it is the sort of thing that they will not discover until, at the end of a cruise, they decide to investigate why a specific account used lots of minutes.

Edited June 21, 2014 by Corfe Mixture

[skrodle]

well they changed up the flyer, its the old one with "escape completely" on top. I took a screen shot yesterday of it with the time and date stamp of the new one that shows the unlimited internet (this one has the "come back new") on top... we have two suites booked, one for this august and one for next April. We booked the suites because my husband is a professor (online classed) and needs the unlimited internet... Im gonna raise some heck with princess customer service on Monday because we need the internet for his teaching.

[caribill]

.. if the internet is being abused from the MAC address.

 

When you log on the server (network controller) has to record the MAC address of the computer making the connection (it is a fundamental part of the handshake and is needed to enable the server to know which computer on the network to send the incoming data to).

 

So, if someone used a computer on their personal account, which is chargeable to their own cabin and then uses the same computer on the account of the suite, it is obvious that the same computer is being used on two accounts.

 

 

The logic does not work if the suite passenger or anyone else using the same password is using computers in the Internet Cafe. In this case the same password will be used on multiple computers (at different times) that are each also being used by others with different accounts.

 

The benefit of unlimited minutes included the Internet cafe computers. Sometimes those with the benefit would sit in front of one of those computers and use it for hours on end, preventing those without the benefit for using the computer at all.

[MustangGT]

After posting my disappointment on Princess' Facebook page, we received $50 OBC each for our upcoming sailing in a Window Suite. I knew better than to expect that they had brought back free unlimited internet for the suites.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

After posting my disappointment on Princess' Facebook page, we received $50 OBC each for our upcoming sailing in a Window Suite. I knew better than to expect that they had brought back free unlimited internet for the suites.

 

Then why did you post your disappointment if you knew better? :confused:

[dickinson]

After posting my disappointment on Princess' Facebook page, we received $50 OBC each for our upcoming sailing in a Window Suite. I knew better than to expect that they had brought back free unlimited internet for the suites.

 

How did you find out? Did they notify you? I emailed late on Thursday but have not heard back.

[MustangGT]

Then why did you post your disappointment if you knew better? :confused:

 

I posted my disappointment after I posted thanks for bringing it back as a perk and they replied that it was published in error. I replied I was disappointed because firstly, we were denied the current OBC for all cabins on our cruise except the 6 Window Suites and secondly, they gave and took away the free unlimited internet. Others have also posted they received the OBC after letting Princess know they really blundered on this issue.

Guess I should have stated "I should have known better"

[MustangGT]

How did you find out? Did they notify you? I emailed late on Thursday but have not heard back.

 

On my Facebook comment, Princess asked me to email them my booking information so someone could contact me ASAP. I did and the following day, I received a generic "about your upcoming cruise" email but when I checked the booking summary, I noticed the additional OBC for each of us. Then checked my Cruise Personalizer and it was there.

[dickinson]

On my Facebook comment, Princess asked me to email them my booking information so someone could contact me ASAP. I did and the following day, I received a generic "about your upcoming cruise" email but when I checked the booking summary, I noticed the additional OBC for each of us. Then checked my Cruise Personalizer and it was there.

 

Thanks. I emailed them Thursday night around 9 pm or so Eastern time. Haven't heard back. I basically said I read that it was back on the suite perks and was thrilled but then saw something on their Facebook page that it was in error and wanted to know what was correct. Maybe I'll hear Monday. Obviously I would love the OBC but mostly because it was given to others. It is not the main reason I emailed them.

[Iamcruzin]

Considering that at least on the Royal Princess last October when some Elite passengers were sending out 5-7 bags of laundry each day in a variety of sizes and that some were observed on the Sapphire with an "all-inclusive" sticker buying drinks for 5-6 other people by one person going up to the bar every couple of minutes until everyone in the group had a drink, I have absolutely no doubt that a few used the Internet excessively and allowed friends and family to use it as well. As always, it's a case of a few ruining it for everyone. In this case, there was probably enough abuse that Princess reached the breaking point and canceled the perk. I'll guarantee Princess analyzed usage and data used.

 

When Princess offered the unlimited internet for suites it was different times. I really don't think they could have anticipated the the impact of Facebook,Twitter and other social media. I am sure some abused it but now it's a matter of everyone wanting to be connected 24/7. My wife and I went out to dinner last night and we were seated next to a table of six. All six had their heads face down into their phone. There was no eye contact or conversation the entire time at that table. Now with WiFi and portable electronic devices the cruise lines realize that they can cash in and there is nothing wrong with that. On our last cruise we carried our cell phone because we used them to take pictures. At any given time we could log on and post pictures to FB, read mail or text our children. Internet WiFi service is a big business and people are willing to pay the same way they are willing to pay in my opinion an exorbitant amount for a lounge chair in the Sanctuary. I just hope that they don't change the free Platinum and Elite free minutes.