The "new" Platinum/Elite Cocktail Lounge

[cruzsnooze]

Cruising was once our favorite way to travel. Everyone we knew knew it was our favorite way to travel. And Princess was our favorite line.

 

In the last two months, we have cancelled three booked cruises, and booked two land-based vacations.

 

I understand companies have to change to increase their bottom line, but it seems to me that Princess is hell-bent on changing everything all at once, and I'm tired of the changes.

 

It's clear they won't miss me.

You're not alone. I just got off the Crown this week and passengers were not happy. The entertainment was awful and the menu in the MDR was cheap foods covered with Herbs. I also am cancelling some future cruises with Princess and looking to book with Azamara which was good a few years ago.

[BabsinTX]

Just off two sailings on the Crown. First sailing the lounge was in skywalkers, and we love that venue for sail away. Had a drink every day, or even two. Floradora is good on the new menu.

But the second sailing they moved the lounge to club fusion. Who wants to go to the venue with basically no windows for sail away??? We didn't go even once in 15 days. Skywalkers is such s great spot and so woefully unused, it makes us sad... it sat empty, with a few book readers. That's where they should put the BOGO and watch revenues soar, instead of having the bar closed till 11 pm... SMH

 

I was on those cruises also. They moved the lounge because so many more platinum and elite cruisers were the second cruise.. And BOGO was very popular; don't know if it would have fit into Skywalkers (also my favorite place onboard).

 

It appears that Princess is offering cheaper drinks in the lounge; more mixer, less alcohol. We discovered the "Chairman of the Board" at the elite lounge long ago and order that rather than the new drinks.

[By The Bay]

The Elite Lounge and the drinks are not a problem on the Australian based Sun and Sea Princess. No Elite Lounge, they do not exist. :mad:

[boca7]

Will be taking my 1st PCL cruise on the Royal Princess in November as a Platinum Status cruiser. Would you please explain what this lounge is? This isn't a perk I remember seeing for this status. Thanks!

Its a perk we once had & now its gone.

[jennybenny]

The "new" Platinum/Elite Cocktail Lounge - UGH! Just off the Grand and experienced this first hand. They are using the Elites as Guinea Pigs and are charging us more for the privilege. None of these drinks can be found on any other drink menu on the the ship, nor are they likely to be. Some very odd combos. Deep Sea Martini - Vodka, Curacao and Pineapple Juice, an odd green color. Cherry Blossom, uses strawberry puree and has a cherry in it. Ports Lemonade, port and Citron Vodka. The only ok one was Tito's Lemon Drop, Tito's and Citron with a spring of mint. We have been pretty faithful attendees of the Cocktail lounge and always enjoyed a discounted pre-dinner cocktail with a view, but this drink menu is not worth it, especially with the new pricing. The BOGO +$1 is a much better deal. It's a shame they think this is a benefit for their loyal passengers.

 

Feels like they are trying to discourage people wanting to attend these events.

 

Less people will attend, and eventually they can say they got rid of it because of lack of participation :rolleyes:

 

We noticed a different set of drink options at the Platinum/Elite lounge on the Emerald in September. It is not something we had done in some time, but since the kids were not with us this cruise, we went. Unimpressed.

[ABoatNerd]

Greetings Princess cruisers.

 

The comments on the degraded product offering from Princess seems consistent with posts on other mass cruise line sites.

 

The cruise lines are quite optimistic that we all will continue cruising while they cheapen the product and increase their profits - evidenced by the new ships on order and announced.

 

We are former Celebrity guests which have switched to Oceania. Just got off the Oceania Marina Sept 24. Now that is a product worth paying for. For seasoned cruisers - may I suggest you pay a bit more and actually get some quality - steak versus the hamburger now being offered by Princess.

 

Our household has really cut back on our cruising partially due to the incredible arrogance of the cruise industry - when we cruise in the future - it will be on Oceania and above.

[Shoalwater]

This is why we have moved over to Viking Ocean cruises.

[compozer]

On our cruise last month, I spoke to the future cruise consultant and mentioned that I was not happy with the none refundable deposits for cruises. I normally book two years out. I use fcc's and normally have 6 cruises booked at a time. My husband does not like to plan ahead so I don't tell him about them until a month or so before final payment. I do this so I can get a specific cabin and I also find the best prices. In the last eight years, I have only cancelled one cruse but i did book a different itinerary for that date.

I have one cruise that I would like to book but right now my dh says no to that date. I really would like to put a fcc on it but don't want to do it under the none refundable. Yes, I know the $200 won't kill me but it is just the principle.

The cruise consultant agreed with me saying he has lost so many reservations because of this. He has mentioned it to the head office. He also said there have been so many people stopping in and expressing the same issue.

 

I just purchased six more fcc's each but they may be the last.

[lambs2]

We saw this on the Crown this past July and these drinks didnt appeal to us.

 

Went to get the BOGO for drinks and brought them to platinum/elite lounge to enjoy the view before dinner.

 

Great idea! Plan to do that some days on our upcoming Crown sailing at the end of October! ESPECIALLY shrimp fountain night! :D

[Cruise Raider]

My next cruise on Princess isn't until April so hope they have come around by this time and corrected the issues they have created for their loyal and high paying customers.

Although I have booked 2 of the 3 future cruises on Princess under the Sip and Sail package, I am disappointed I may not be able to use this package in the PES lounge. I read that in another post that Princess is putting limitations that don't allow the use of the AIBP during scheduled events. One thing I always enjoyed about sailing on Princess was our nightly visit to the PES happy hour and were so happy when the opened the offered menu items for each day rather than only offering the 'drink of the day' and was actually hoping they would expand on this to offer a couple of choices of wine and beer as well. I've also enjoyed the nightly appetizers, especially the Stilton cheese with port wine reduction. Most of all, I liked meeting others onboard in this venue. It has always just been factored into my cruise experience and making it a better one. I'm disappointed to hear that this is all changing ... most likely to wipe out interest and ultimately close it down completely. :(

 

Celebrity offers their elite and above patrons 'complimentary' cocktails in a similar venue, as does RCCL for their diamond and above pax. Too bad Princess couldn't go more in this direction. It's also too bad that it is relatively difficult to find a west coast sailing on Celebrity or RCCL, although usually RCCL has a couple of offerings in Sept.

[floridalover5623]

Great idea! Plan to do that some days on our upcoming Crown sailing at the end of October! ESPECIALLY shrimp fountain night! :D

They do offer shrimp at the buffet occasionally in the evening.

[memoak]

My next cruise on Princess isn't until April so hope they have come around by this time and corrected the issues they have created for their loyal and high paying customers.

Although I have booked 2 of the 3 future cruises on Princess under the Sip and Sail package, I am disappointed I may not be able to use this package in the PES lounge. I read that in another post that Princess is putting limitations that don't allow the use of the AIBP during scheduled events. One thing I always enjoyed about sailing on Princess was our nightly visit to the PES happy hour and were so happy when the opened the offered menu items for each day rather than only offering the 'drink of the day' and was actually hoping they would expand on this to offer a couple of choices of wine and beer as well. I've also enjoyed the nightly appetizers, especially the Stilton cheese with port wine reduction. Most of all, I liked meeting others onboard in this venue. It has always just been factored into my cruise experience and making it a better one. I'm disappointed to hear that this is all changing ... most likely to wipe out interest and ultimately close it down completely. :(

 

 

 

Celebrity offers their elite and above patrons 'complimentary' cocktails in a similar venue, as does RCCL for their diamond and above pax. Too bad Princess couldn't go more in this direction. It's also too bad that it is relatively difficult to find a west coast sailing on Celebrity or RCCL, although usually RCCL has a couple of offerings in Sept.

 

I really don't know why you will not be able to use the AIBP during the Elite Lounge time - my understanding is that it is not to be used during "private" functions like meet and greets, weddings etc. That would be like not allowing it in the club class dining room because it it limited to suites and some mini-suites

[Cruise Raider]

I really don't know why you will not be able to use the AIBP during the Elite Lounge time - my understanding is that it is not to be used during "private" functions like meet and greets, weddings etc. That would be like not allowing it in the club class dining room because it it limited to suites and some mini-suites

 

I hope this is correct ... even though, I still believe it should be available anywhere at anytime on the ship. I will check it out on my April cruise up in the PES lounge.

thanks!

[Waynetor]

We are doing 54 days of Caribbean cruising in Dec and Jan. We will put our negative comments on the changes to the lounge on our end of cruise comments. If enough others do the same, hopefully the message will get through.

[abbydancer2003]

I really don't know why you will not be able to use the AIBP during the Elite Lounge time - my understanding is that it is not to be used during "private" functions like meet and greets, weddings etc. That would be like not allowing it in the club class dining room because it it limited to suites and some mini-suites

 

We just got off the Star, and one of our roll call friends had the drink package and was told she had to pay for the special drink. She said she was told it was because it had a special price, though.

[satxdiver]

We had the PBP (ex AIBP) last month on the Ruby. We had no problem ordering drinks in the PES lounge (skywalkers) any night. However I had my usual chairman of the board and my partner had wine. We were definitely not thrilled by the new drink menu (actually it was quite disgusting). We had our M&G in skywalker's one afternoon and the bar was open and serving so I had my usual chairman and partner had wine. The food offered in the PES lounge appeared to be what has been offered in the past with some good and some bad. Therefore the only thing "new" about the PES lounge was the special drinks offered and the price increase for the special drinks.

[chamima]

My next cruise on Princess isn't until April so hope they have come around by this time and corrected the issues they have created for their loyal and high paying customers.

Although I have booked 2 of the 3 future cruises on Princess under the Sip and Sail package, I am disappointed I may not be able to use this package in the PES lounge. I read that in another post that Princess is putting limitations that don't allow the use of the AIBP during scheduled events. One thing I always enjoyed about sailing on Princess was our nightly visit to the PES happy hour and were so happy when the opened the offered menu items for each day rather than only offering the 'drink of the day' and was actually hoping they would expand on this to offer a couple of choices of wine and beer as well. I've also enjoyed the nightly appetizers, especially the Stilton cheese with port wine reduction. Most of all, I liked meeting others onboard in this venue. It has always just been factored into my cruise experience and making it a better one. I'm disappointed to hear that this is all changing ... most likely to wipe out interest and ultimately close it down completely. :(

 

Celebrity offers their elite and above patrons 'complimentary' cocktails in a similar venue, as does RCCL for their diamond and above pax. Too bad Princess couldn't go more in this direction. It's also too bad that it is relatively difficult to find a west coast sailing on Celebrity or RCCL, although usually RCCL has a couple of offerings in Sept.

 

 

This is a false rumor !!!

It must have been started by someone who misunderstood the change to not being able to use the package during private functions.

We just recently sailed on the 28 day Emerald Tahiti cruise and I can tell you for fact that i and many others were able to get drinks (including the "special" PES drinks) using our package .

I wanted to check if we could also use the package during our Meet and Greet but couldn't find a bartender there to ask. (It was at 10 am so it was understandable that there were no bartenders.)

[boca7]

Princess often have a Buy One Get One more drink the same for a dollar.

Sometimes 3pm -4pm in one bar and 10 to 11pm in the disco.

Yes on most ships but not on the Caribbean Princess. Nothing happens on that ship.

[DrivesLikeMario]

We rarely ever go either. We've met some really nice people at the lounge but it's just not worth it when all drinks aren't discounted and you can get the same food just about anywhere on the ship.

[paul929207]

We were on the Emerald in October/November. My wife had the Lemon Drop several nights. It was covered by the beverage package.

[nukesubsailor]

Last July we spent 24 days aboard the Caribbean Princess. We went to the Platinum-Elite lounge several times. We never get the drink specials. The wife prefers wine to cocktails. I drink only Gentleman Jack or Grey Goose. We go mostly for the food. Our favorite evenings to attend are when the menu card in our cabin list shrimp or Stilton. We used to go on the evening they offered salsa and tortilla chips. It is safe to say that Princess hasn't a clue when it comes to making any Mexican dish. I really got excited the day I saw onion rings on the menu. I love onion rings so we were there that evening. Sure enough they had onion rings piled high on the buffet. The only problem was they forgot to batter and fry them. Just rings of raw onion.

I certainly let Princess know what I thought of that when I did my post cruise survey.

[jeanandjim]

I love onion rings Just rings of raw onion.

I certainly let Princess know what I thought of that when I did my post cruise survey.

 

Did you ever get the onion rings up on lido deck on our 28 day hawaii/tahiti cruise in October? Certainly proved that Princess not only has a clue, but has developed a way to present them in a fast food environment. Yum, Yum, Yum!!! :D:D:cool:

 

Jim

[paul929207]

Did you ever get the onion rings up on lido deck on our 28 day hawaii/tahiti cruise in October? Certainly proved that Princess not only has a clue, but has developed a way to present them in a fast food environment. Yum, Yum, Yum!!! :D:D:cool:

 

Jim

Yes, they were great. Just needed them more often.

[chamima]

Did you ever get the onion rings up on lido deck on our 28 day hawaii/tahiti cruise in October? Certainly proved that Princess not only has a clue, but has developed a way to present them in a fast food environment. Yum, Yum, Yum!!! :D:D:cool:

 

Jim

 

 

Those onion rings were WONDERFUL :hearteyes:(y)!!!!!

[nukesubsailor]

Did you ever get the onion rings up on lido deck on our 28 day hawaii/tahiti cruise in October? Certainly proved that Princess not only has a clue, but has developed a way to present them in a fast food environment. Yum, Yum, Yum!!! :D:D:cool:

 

Jim

 

Yes I did. I believe I got them every day they were offered. Sure wish they had them every day like they did with the fries. They may be a contributing factor to the 6 pounds gained during that Tahiti cruise.