Platinum to Elite is a Huge Leap

[Skai]

Huh? Really? I got rewarded for spending 150 days onboard. Someone else can get the exact same rewards for spending 30 or 40 days onboard. How is that NOT unfair?

 

I'd really like you to explain that to me, other than "Well, that makes it easier for some people who don't sail all that much to become Elite."

 

Simple.

 

You made a personal choice to take a longer time to reach elite.

 

Princess royally screwed the pooch when they decided to grant their most loyal customers with a title that represents:

 

"a select part of a group that is superior to the rest in terms of ability or qualities."

 

It's thread discussions like these that make me want to take a couple of b2b2b2b2bs of 3 and 4 days just to dilute the numbers even more. :p

[Colo Cruiser]

Huh? Really? I got rewarded for spending 150 days onboard. Someone else can get the exact same rewards for spending 30 or 40 days onboard. How is that NOT unfair?

 

 

Some get it without ever cruising at all.

[beg3yrs]

I think that those who bring up the new frequent-flier models as they wax eloquent over the shortcomings of the current system should exercise caution. Because I see one giant soft target: awarding more cruise credits for those of us who actually pry open our wallets after we've paid our fare. How many threads do we read here about the high amounts of OBC passengers begin each cruise with. Plus, the very fact that there are threads asking about how to get refunds on unused OBC is evidence to me of a far greater abuse of the "system" than someone attaining Elite by taking 15 one-day cruises. So, be careful as you start to complain about changing this and changing that, lest Princess decide to have money do the talking in all future tweaks.

 

Very good point rdsqrl. Costa Cruises already does that. Gee, they're part of Carnival Cruise Corporation too. Hmm....

[lovevacadays]

I agree with you. Work tends to interrupt my plans. I would love to take longer cruises but it's just not in the cards.

 

 

 

Looking at my signature you can see that most of my cruises were three or four days. Do I feel like I cheated? No, I don't. Princess let me know when I reached the platinum level, I didn't decide. I'm sure they will let me know when I reach elite status.

 

 

 

Those of you that have reached elite status, no matter how you got there, congratulations. :)

 

 

Agreed !

 

 

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[lovevacadays]

I think that those who bring up the new frequent-flier models as they wax eloquent over the shortcomings of the current system should exercise caution. Because I see one giant soft target: awarding more cruise credits for those of us who actually pry open our wallets after we've paid our fare. How many threads do we read here about the high amounts of OBC passengers begin each cruise with. Plus, the very fact that there are threads asking about how to get refunds on unused OBC is evidence to me of a far greater abuse of the "system" than someone attaining Elite by taking 15 one-day cruises. So, be careful as you start to complain about changing this and changing that, lest Princess decide to have money do the talking in all future tweaks.

 

 

Where is the like button? Lol

 

 

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[PescadoAmarillo]

You made a personal choice to take a longer time to reach elite.

 

Exactly this. First, no one was penalized when Princess changed from counting only the number of cruises to counting either cruises or days. It wasn't like anyone lost anything they had earned. From that point on, everyone had the choice of whether to continue to advance using either criterion. Some might argue that they work so they can't take longer cruises; others say they don't live near a coast so they can't take shorter ones. Here's the thing: you don't have to. Princess makes the rules and they've made them so that either way leads to the same end result. And then they've gone so far as to give the loyalty OBC based on cruises but determine the MTP based on days.

 

When these discussions come up, I am always reminded of the preschoolers I work with, who are often more concerned with keeping someone else from playing with a toy than with enjoying it themselves.

[Pam in CA]

I guess the biggest surprise in reading this thread is to find out that there are people who rely on doing laundry every other day on a cruise. How many dirty clothes can one or two persons accumulate in only 2 days!:rolleyes:

If you've spent two days getting to the port and then another 2-3 days at the port pre-cruise, you start out with dirty clothes. There really isn't any difference after that if you send out two days' of clothes every two days or four days' clothes every four days. On an almost 3-week cruise with a lot of long, hot, tour-intensive port days, I don't like smelly clothes just sitting there so I send 'em out.

 

For a 2-3 week cruise, I don't pack 14-21 shirts, underwear, pants, etc. I pack enough for seven days because everything is mix and match. My bag for a longer cruise isn't any bigger than the bags I've seen on a short 7-day cruise. Heck, I think it's smaller than the huge bags I see outside doors after a week's cruise.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Pam in CA

[Thrak]

This whole thing is like "peace in the middle east". I just don't think there will ever be agreement.

[abbydancer2003]

Huh? Really? I got rewarded for spending 150 days onboard. Someone else can get the exact same rewards for spending 30 or 40 days onboard. How is that NOT unfair?

 

I'd really like you to explain that to me, other than "Well, that makes it easier for some people who don't sail all that much to become Elite."

 

I'm trying not to get sucked in to this, but how about this. You got rewarded for doing probably no more then 10 embarkations and disembarkation. I had to do 15.

 

If you're counting days only, yes maybe not fair, but it's not just days. It could have been dollars spent or something else. I'm glad there are two ways.

 

I guess the biggest surprise in reading this thread is to find out that there are people who rely on doing laundry every other day on a cruise. How many dirty clothes can one or two persons accumulate in only 2 days!:rolleyes:

 

I do it every other day because in 2010 they lost a load of our clothes - about 5 days worth. Now I limit what they can lose.

[abbydancer2003]

This whole thing is like "peace in the middle east". I just don't think there will ever be agreement.

 

Yup, so we can agree to disagree.

[NavyVeteran]

If you've spent two days getting to the port and then another 2-3 days at the port pre-cruise, you start out with dirty clothes. There really isn't any difference after that if you send out two days' of clothes every two days or four days' clothes every four days. On an almost 3-week cruise with a lot of long, hot, tour-intensive port days, I don't like smelly clothes just sitting there so I send 'em out.

 

For a 2-3 week cruise, I don't pack 14-21 shirts, underwear, pants, etc. I pack enough for seven days because everything is mix and match. My bag for a longer cruise isn't any bigger than the bags I've seen on a short 7-day cruise. Heck, I think it's smaller than the huge bags I see outside doors after a week's cruise.

 

I agree. The amount of clothes I take on a cruise is determined by the number of pre- or post- cruise days - not by the number of cruise days. I will normally send my clothes out every day or two in small bags instead of collecting a large pile of laundry. On my last cruise, we spent six nights in London prior to boarding the ship, and we had a bunch of dirty clothes for the laundry when we boarded. What else were we expected to do with our week's worth of dirty clothing?

[shepp]

When these discussions come up, I am always reminded of the preschoolers I work with, who are often more concerned with keeping someone else from playing with a toy than with enjoying it themselves.

 

Sure, except that there's a limited number of toys. I couldn't care less who gets a free drink set-up, or if I have to wait a bit longer for my Stilton in the Platinum lounge. (Actually, I'm not upset about any of this at all, except in a very abstract sense.)

 

But I was on the same TA as Pam, when the laundry had to stop taking in clothes because there were so many Elites aboard making use of their free service. (Though granted, it was the Royal's inaugural TA, and therefore heavily booked by Princess old-timers.) I've had to stay up late to use the WiFi at a time when it wasn't so glacially slow because everybody was burning their free minutes.

 

And when a huge chunk of the passengers have priority boarding or priority tendering, the whole notion of "priority" becomes pretty much meaningless.

 

I've been told that I've "chosen" to use days instead of cruises to earn Elite. I might in turn say that people have "chosen" to work at jobs that allow limited vacation time to cruise. But let's say I was working at a job that earned a lot less than other folks', and therefore unable to afford to cruise as often. Wouldn't it be fairer for Princess to grant me Elite status at 8 cruises? Should retired people be made Elite at 30 cruises?

 

I think what's weirdest is the 150 day/15 cruise equivalence. Back in the day, there weren't so many short-shorts. I'm thinking the average cruise was maybe 7 days? So it was already 150 = 105 days. Now that Princess is offering so many mini-cruises, it can be 150 = 45, or even less. How exactly does that math make sense?

 

Let me wrap this up by saying that I think the whole Elite status-symbol thing is silly, as if our worth is measured by what we buy. (It reminds me of Starbucks saying that my gold card will tell my barista I'm "somebody special when you place an order." Oh please.)

 

I try not to fall into the status-y thing. I put my cruise history in my sig so others will have some idea of where I've sailed, not so newbies will think I'm a BFD. I would never wear that little made-in-China pin that PCL has generously bestowed on me. But I do like the perks.

Edited July 23, 2014 by shepp

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

I guess the biggest surprise in reading this thread is to find out that there are people who rely on doing laundry every other day on a cruise. How many dirty clothes can one or two persons accumulate in only 2 days!:rolleyes:

 

That depends on how many dirty clothes you bring on board with you from home.:D

[Wehwalt]

I made Elite on 76 nights but I paid for both sides of the cabin so it was equivalent to 152 for most of you who share a cabin. I think the use of cruise credits is very fair and that princess has found an adequate compromise they don't base everything on cruise credits they don't be said everything on night spent on board. Some of the posters would like more based on nights I might want the most travel passenger luncheon to be partially determined by cruise credits. Neither side is likely to get everything they want.

 

And yes I send out laundry every two days possibly three whenever a bag is filled I send it out

Edited July 23, 2014 by Wehwalt

[PescadoAmarillo]

The laundry on the Royal TA keeps coming up as the most egregious example of Elite overpopulation. I could understand this more if Princess was like most mainstream cruise lines and didn't offer passenger laundries, but they do. Was trotting down to the laundry at 9pm on a port day (or anytime on a sea day towards the end of the cruise) such a horrible trade off for being on what most of us would consider to be a most memorable cruise? 'Cause I wouldn't see it that way. As most of you know, I prefer to do my own laundry due to past laundry fails, and have often missed entertainment to sit in the laundry room late in the evening. Whether it's due to too many Elites or the ship's laundry being too rough on clothes, I just don't see it as a big deal that I can't collect on everything promised as an Elite perk.

[runnerodb83]

You're close but not quite correct. It's based on cruise credits, not # of cruises. There's a difference.

 

21 - 30 cruise credits $25 onboard cabin credit

31 - 40 cruise credits $50 onboard cabin credit

41 - 50 cruise credits $75 onboard cabin credit

50+ cruise credits $100 onboard cabin credit

 

So whats the difference between a "cruise" and a "cruise credit"? I'm assuming a single supplement counts as 2 cruise credits?

 

I think HAL gives additional credits for the amount of money spent on board once reaching a certain threshold. I could see Princess doing that. Also, the HAL program has much wider teirs but not sure the benefits are any better.

[NavyVeteran]

So whats the difference between a "cruise" and a "cruise credit"? I'm assuming a single supplement counts as 2 cruise credits?

 

I think HAL gives additional credits for the amount of money spent on board once reaching a certain threshold. I could see Princess doing that. Also, the HAL program has much wider teirs but not sure the benefits are any better.

 

Paying single supplement counts as 2 cruise credits. Sailing in a full suite counts as 2 cruise credits. Paying single supplement in a full suite counts as 3 cruise credits.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

The laundry on the Royal TA keeps coming up as the most egregious example of Elite overpopulation. I could understand this more if Princess was like most mainstream cruise lines and didn't offer passenger laundries, but they do. Was trotting down to the laundry at 9pm on a port day (or anytime on a sea day towards the end of the cruise) such a horrible trade off for being on what most of us would consider to be a most memorable cruise? 'Cause I wouldn't see it that way. As most of you know, I prefer to do my own laundry due to past laundry fails, and have often missed entertainment to sit in the laundry room late in the evening. Whether it's due to too many Elites or the ship's laundry being too rough on clothes, I just don't see it as a big deal that I can't collect on everything promised as an Elite perk.

 

Just out of curiosity- did they have a luncheon or cocktail party on the Royal?

 

I believe the laundry is the most overrated perk of being Elite. Yes it nice until they ruin a article of clothing then people will change their minds in a hurry. ;)

[geoherb]

Paying single supplement counts as 2 cruise credits. Sailing in a full suite counts as 2 cruise credits. Paying single supplement in a full suite counts as 3 cruise credits.

And someone could become Elite after five nights on Princess, sailing as a single in a suite on five one-night cruises. If I lived in Seattle like my brother and sister-in-law do, we would have made Elite a lot sooner.

[PrincessLuver]

I think that those who bring up the new frequent-flier models as they wax eloquent over the shortcomings of the current system should exercise caution. Because I see one giant soft target: awarding more cruise credits for those of us who actually pry open our wallets after we've paid our fare. How many threads do we read here about the high amounts of OBC passengers begin each cruise with. Plus, the very fact that there are threads asking about how to get refunds on unused OBC is evidence to me of a far greater abuse of the "system" than someone attaining Elite by taking 15 one-day cruises. So, be careful as you start to complain about changing this and changing that, lest Princess decide to have money do the talking in all future tweaks.

 

Well....I am not going to exercise caution or be intimidated by someone else's point of view that does not agree with mine and I think OBC's are more motivating for encouraging people to cruise then Captain Circle program....

 

I think the Captain Circle program rewards are weak compared to hotel, car, and airline reward programs.

 

I would rather have them give a free upgrade to next level of cabin, let's say after 5 cruises, or even a free 7 day cruise, let's say after completing 70 cruise days then free laundry which probably costs $20.00 max to do on your own on a 7 day cruise. :);):cool:

[Pam in CA]

The laundry on the Royal TA keeps coming up as the most egregious example of Elite overpopulation. I could understand this more if Princess was like most mainstream cruise lines and didn't offer passenger laundries, but they do. Was trotting down to the laundry at 9pm on a port day (or anytime on a sea day towards the end of the cruise) such a horrible trade off for being on what most of us would consider to be a most memorable cruise?

Because it was a big surprise. Princess mishandled the situation from the get-go and didn't inform anyone that there was a problem nor did they notify passengers at any time during the cruise. Everyone just figured that the initial delay was due to no laundry being done in Venice and that they would catch up.

 

The first morning after embarkation day, I sent out four days' worth of clothes. I'd brought eight days' worth of some things. I sent out two days' worth of clothes two days later, expecting the first batch back that day. When my first bag didn't come back for four days, I had run out of underwear. I did a load of laundry myself, expecting my clothes back momentarily. The laundry situation got worse, not better and I did another load myself later in the cruise.

 

I felt badly for the stewards because passengers were taking their frustration out on them. If Princess had said from the beginning that they were limiting laundry to one bag per cabin per day, most would have understood. And, if Princess had done something to control the Elite passengers sending out 5-7 bags a day every day in a variety of sizes, it would have helped. But they didn't and the situation just got worse. :(

[Wehwalt]

Well....I am not going to exercise caution or be intimidated by someone else's point of view that does not agree with mine and I think OBC's are more motivating for encouraging people to cruise then Captain Circle program....

 

I think the Captain Circle program rewards are weak compared to hotel, car, and airline reward programs.

 

I would rather have them give a free upgrade to next level of cabin, let's say after 5 cruises, or even a free 7 day cruise, let's say after completing 70 cruise days then free laundry which probably costs $20.00 max to do on your own on a 7 day cruise. :);):cool:

 

Princess is not quite THAT generous! And the laundry is worth more than $20, it's two to four hours, often on a sea day, a waste of relaxing time when it can be done, "for free" by magic wand. It's the one people care about. Notice the eternal evocation of the Royal TA, "waving the dirty shirt", not some time that the crew allowed some non-Elite to get into the tender before the Elite or the time premium check in was slow.

 

And all this assumes Princess did nothing following that experience. Likely some laundry manager got a downcheck, and they've learned to keep an eye on percentage of Elite when anticipating passenger laundry use.

[shepp]

So answer me this, folks who think the current set-up is fair. Hypothetical: Passenger A takes a 31-day around South America and a 14-day rt to Hawaii, and for that 45 days is still at least another cruise away from mere Platinum. Passenger B takes 15 3-day quickies and for that 45 days becomes Elite. Does that in any way make some sort of sense?

[billco]

So answer me this, folks who think the current set-up is fair. Hypothetical: Passenger A takes a 31-day around South America and a 14-day rt to Hawaii, and for that 45 days is still at least another cruise away from mere Platinum. Passenger B takes 15 3-day quickies and for that 45 days becomes Elite. Does that in any way make some sort of sense?

I'm ok with it. Passenger A possibly has the resources to take a long cruise regularly, so would probably attain elite in 2 or 3 years. Those 3 day cruises are usually repositioning, so it might take passenger B 5-10 years. Its Princess's program and I glad they have it. Whether it is fair depends on how many bookings result from it. Just as I am glad they have several different OBC programs. I don't feel I am "abusing" their programs just because I take advantage of them, including OBC refunds. I don't let other people put their dirty laundry in my bag. That would be abuse. Edited July 23, 2014 by billco

[paul929207]

So answer me this, folks who think the current set-up is fair. Hypothetical: Passenger A takes a 31-day around South America and a 14-day rt to Hawaii, and for that 45 days is still at least another cruise away from mere Platinum. Passenger B takes 15 3-day quickies and for that 45 days becomes Elite. Does that in any way make some sort of sense?

Sorry, but I am not bothered by it. Princess has sold 15 cruises to passenger B. Princess is happy and they make the rules.