Celebrity Premier Pass

[ORV]

On 7/21/2019 at 5:19 AM, Mynki said:

 

I'll tell you a secret. In Southampton and Fort Lauderdale the cruise terminals are staffed by semi retired part time workers as I'm sure you know. The different lines for zenith, elite.  aqua class, concierge class, cattle class  and those who got a priority boarding pass free with the purchase of a box of Kellogs Cornflakes are all pointless. 

Once you're through security and looking at the lines, no one ever checks if you switch line. The staff at the check in desk do not care who you are. We've gone through the suite line when in aqua and vice versa because the aqua line was shorter than the suite line at the time and no one cared. I've been with those who had no priority boarding through the elite line too with no issues.... 

The embarkation loyalty perk is really just an illusion created to make regular cruisers feel special. It's really just pointless. 🙂

 

All that said we once boarded in San Juan where there was only ourselves and one other couple in the check in area! In June I set my stopwatch going outside the Southampton cruise terminal and was sipping bubbly onboard within seven and a half minutes later going through the elite line. I can live with that too. 

Perhaps it's an honor system. Call me stupid but I always tend to get into the line I'm supposed to be in. Other than once in San Diego, when everyone waited, I've hardly ever had much of a wait. 

[hcat]

On EDGE, there is NO line at the terminal.

.

Suites, Zeniths have a sep waiting area and priority entrance to the ship..

 

For others reps wander about and check you in.  After that, everyone sits in a big warehouse- like waiting rm and groups are called in some order of priority. Some respect that, others try to charge ahead...

 

When we boarded in January, the  process was  a step backwards for order and civility!

[Georgia_Peaches]

14 hours ago, hcat said:

For others reps wander about and check you in.  After that, everyone sits in a big warehouse- like waiting rm and groups are called in some order of priority. Some respect that, others try to charge ahead...

Wow, that really doesn't sound very efficient.  So those who are walking around checking people in are doing it randomly?  I'm picturing crowds of people milling about until someone approaches them with a clipboard to do the check in process.  I sure hope this isn't the new format for the S-class ships.

[CruisinNole]

5 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Wow, that really doesn't sound very efficient.  So those who are walking around checking people in are doing it randomly?  I'm picturing crowds of people milling about until someone approaches them with a clipboard to do the check in process.  I sure hope this isn't the new format for the S-class ships.

It wasn't like that when we boarded Edge in March. The check in people weren't milling around. We went through the bag check and walked up to a woman with an iPad. We'd already uploaded our photos which were accepted. She scanned our Set Sail pass and we boarded. Our friends had not uploaded their photos. The check in person took their photos with the iPad and they followed us in. I don't think it took 10 minutes from arrival at check in to stepping on the ship. This was around noon.

[hcat]

6 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Wow, that really doesn't sound very efficient.  So those who are walking around checking people in are doing it randomly?  I'm picturing crowds of people milling about until someone approaches them with a clipboard to do the check in process.  I sure hope this isn't the new format for the S-class ships.

No crowds as you get to that first area.. the i pad people catch you as you come up , scan you in.  .There were no lines at windows for check in or paperwork... that was a plus.They then sent us  to the seating area for boarding to be called...That's where it was  very noisy and chaotic...no one was sep by Cabin type or Cap Club Levels as we previoysly have experienced.  Just  a big waiting room...no creature comforts .

 

We did arrive early.. around 10 :30  a.m, due to heavy  storm predictions for the area so next time, we'll try a later arrival after the mad rush.

[mahdnc]

I guess Premier Pass is subject to dynamic pricing.  The price dropped from $649 to $600 USD.

[ShawninFL]

Add me to the list of those who see very little value in this.

 

I get on the ship when I arrive which is never before they start boarding.  I self disembark almost always.  I have no need to dine with an officer or get my picture with the captain.  I don't normally buy an internet package, but do sometimes get it packaged in as park of our booking.  What they're offering just is worth very much to me.

[hcat]

This was posted recently on the Back from Summit ( from Bayonne) thread by WWCruisers:  After this post there were some comments started by Arno  about  being treated like liver  and  "Who Moved My Cheese."..not many  new facts but interesting!

 

By WWCruisers

Posted 14 hours ago (edited)

I have a theory (and I hope I'm wrong) about the OP's observation that the ONLY priority line at check-in was for suites. With X getting ready to float out their new 'Premiere Pass' -- they may very well be planning to re-arrange their priorities, and put the 'PP" guests in line ahead of the E/E+, Aqua and Concierge guests. I recently experienced something similar on RC -- with their new "Key" program. At embarkation, the 'Key" people got to board immediately after the 'upper-level' suites and the Pinnacles. Yep, those of us who were merely D+, and also happened to be sailing in a Jr Suite, found out that we really WERE chopped liver!😡

Edited 14 hours ago by wwcruisers

1

[Pennstatedj]

We were on the July 7 cruise to Bermuda celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary and we bought 5 rooms for our family to celebrate with us. We all had drink packages. We are also elite and two rooms were the one time cruisers with X.  Anyway, I was checking each pass as I saw each family board and meet us at the area near the gelato station. The father of the family had Premier on his pass not select like the others in his family. I did not know what this classification meant. All the others in his family were select. As the week went on we found out we were top cruisers and attended the CC event. We were curious that he was invited  to the senior officers party. At dinner when we all met, we told the group we were invited to that event and the father said he was invited also. I was surprised. I thought maybe there was some kind of mistake. The father never got any list of the benefits he would receive. We should gone to Guest Relations but we had some other problems that kept us from doing that.  Reading this thread,  X was probably testing this program on the Summit since that is their Beta test ship for most things. . The bad thing is no one knew the perks to even evaluate the program..  He did not pay extra for this perk. Since we were all together he did not enjoy any of the perks. They could have used the internet. They used ours when they needed it. I will ask him if X sent him any questionnaire about having the perk. I know he does not know what it was.  

Thanks for the post. At least I know what my son-in-law was given. Thank you X. 

Edited August 1, 2019 by Pennstatedj
spelling

[mahdnc]

If it was a test, it would be ridiculous if the father was unaware of the perks !  On the other hand, it could have been a mistake?

[Pennstatedj]

We could not figure out why our son in law was not being charged extra for Evian and premium wine at dinner. We thought our sommelier was nice. It was not smart of us who have been on 57 cruises with X not to know to ask. Stupid us now that we see this. 

By the way the cruise was great. We were in md and food was outstanding and service was very good. We had a nice table. It had a Tuscan view(like on S class ship) but on the Summit. There are some great views in the MD in the aft section. We had such a great time we turned down a Tuscan reservation and a captains table because out experience in MD was so good. 

 

[wwcruisers]

5 hours ago, hcat said:

This was posted recently on the Back from Summit ( from Bayonne) thread by WWCruisers:  After this post there were some comments started by Arno  about  being treated like liver  and  "Who Moved My Cheese."..not many  new facts but interesting!

 

By WWCruisers

Posted 14 hours ago (edited)

I have a theory (and I hope I'm wrong) about the OP's observation that the ONLY priority line at check-in was for suites. With X getting ready to float out their new 'Premiere Pass' -- they may very well be planning to re-arrange their priorities, and put the 'PP" guests in line ahead of the E/E+, Aqua and Concierge guests. I recently experienced something similar on RC -- with their new "Key" program. At embarkation, the 'Key" people got to board immediately after the 'upper-level' suites and the Pinnacles. Yep, those of us who were merely D+, and also happened to be sailing in a Jr Suite, found out that we really WERE chopped liver!😡

Edited 14 hours ago by wwcruisers

1

 

LOL -- HCAT -- thank you for moving my remarks to the appropriate thread -- with a very accurate summary of the ensuing discussion. If you ever want to 'run for moderator' -- you have my vote! 😉

[mahdnc]

4 hours ago, Pennstatedj said:

We could not figure out why our son in law was not being charged extra for Evian and premium wine at dinner. We thought our sommelier was nice. It was not smart of us who have been on 57 cruises with X not to know to ask. Stupid us now that we see this. 

By the way the cruise was great. We were in md and food was outstanding and service was very good. We had a nice table. It had a Tuscan view(like on S class ship) but on the Summit. There are some great views in the MD in the aft section. We had such a great time we turned down a Tuscan reservation and a captains table because out experience in MD was so good. 

 

 

The double deck wall of glass at the back of the main dining room is one of the outstanding design features of Summit, her sisters in Millennium class, and Century class (which were the first Celebrity ships to have it).  

Summit at Kings Wharf, Aug 2010

Edited August 1, 2019 by mahdnc

[hcat]

4 hours ago, wwcruisers said:

 

LOL -- HCAT -- thank you for moving my remarks to the appropriate thread -- with a very accurate summary of the ensuing discussion. If you ever want to 'run for moderator' -- you have my vote! 😉

Thanks,

I think the current moderators do a great job...but will always miss Andy!

 

I think your post fit both threads and was glad I could  successfully move it....not always easy for low tech  me!

 

I am interested in this topic because we will not be in AQ Class for our next 3 cruises (  2 from port Ev and 1 Bayonne) , so all we have is E + status.....to help us get priority boarding...and possible disembarkation  .

 

We have given up on " self disembark "   b/c so many do it now. it is not worth it to line up early and stand on line,

[mahdnc]

12 minutes ago, hcat said:

We have given up on " self disembark "   b/c so many do it now. it is not worth it to line up early and stand on line,

 

I agree.  We had an early international flight to return home from Sydney at the end of our Solstice cruise last year.  It was the first and only time we have used the self disembark option.  I think 10% of the passengers used it and so we had like 300 people in line.  The line was very long and snaked around the ship.  At some point, I think people gave up looking for the end of the line and just started lining up where they pleased.  

[hcat]

My take on  the evolution of Celeb "loyalty" to its  customers:

 

Act 1..

We love you...keep booking with us and you will move up the ladder  and receive more perks!

 

Act 2..

We love Cap Club loyal guests, but if you book a suite we will love you  even more and lavish you with even better perks!

 

Act 3...

We love Cap Club loyal guests and suite guests  too,  but if you pay  extra for the Premier Pass, we will really love you  even  more and much  quicker!!

 

Who says money can't buy love??

[Januarysent]

Just heard from Celebrity re the premier pass and was told the following:

 

On embarkation day, you can go through the priority pass embarkation line.  Your SeaPass will have special treatment allowing you to enter the priority line on port days.  You will receive special luggage tags on the last night of the cruise to ensure your priority debarkation.  The pass is for 2 guests in a stateroom.

 

Edited September 10, 2019 by Januarysent
spelling

[vtcruising]

A little more info:

 

 

 

[Angua]

On 7/21/2019 at 8:55 AM, cruisingator2 said:

Cruise lines have sat back and watched something similar that Carnival started a few years back called “Faster to the Fun”. They saw how popular it became. RCI and now X have decided to come up with their own version. 

 

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1374/~/faster-to-the-fun-(fttf)

We are Platinum on Carnival, but before we reached that level we purchased FTTF a couple of times when they first started offering it.  It started out relatively inexpensive for a 7 day cruise (about $50).  It was worth it to me solely for being able to get on early and dump my carry-ons in the cabin, and having our luggage early to unpack was nice as well.  We really didn't use any of the other perks (i don't know why people fuss about the priority guest service line, we rarely have to ever go to guest services)  

 

On one cruise, the priority guest service phone number came in handy when we were in a spa suite and the morons next door were smoking on their balcony.  Regular guest services said they couldn't do anything but once i called the "special" line they sent someone right up to deal with it.  This was before the smoking ban on all balconies, but the spa cabins had a ban, and you had to sign an agreement to not smoke on the balconies or pay a $250 fine. There was a lot of yelling and door slamming after security came up but they didn't smoke on their balcony again ;-). It was stupid that it took a call to the FTTF line to get appropriate service, but it worked.

 

We also got it on a couple of the early Journey's cruises but they don't offer it on those itineraries anymore because so many platinum and diamonds travel on those cruises that the priority boarding and early luggage promises can't be fulfilled.  I think they actually say P&Ds shouldn't expect their luggage early on those cruises and there is no early access to cabins because there are so many P&Ds that they can't get the cabins ready in time or deliver that much luggage that fast.

Now it is $90 for a 7 day cruise and it would not be worth it for us (it's even more for their newer ships, like the Horizon and the upcoming Panorama).  It's definitely a cash cow, none of the "perks" cost them anything and so it is pure profit.  I have read they sell up to 50 passes for FTTF, depending on the number of P&D passengers on the cruise, and it could potentially be more. $4500 of profit for no cost isn't bad.

 

Looking back, it probably wasn't worth it to buy, but it seemed like it was good for us at the time.  I am glad we have the platinum status now so we don't need it anymore.  Once we hit platinum, we decided to try out some other lines, which is why I have been looking at the Celebrity boards. ;-).

 

I saw these Celebrity offers on our November cruise and with my now cynical eye don't think these are at all worth it, even if it is a per cabin price.  I have always wanted to do the ship tour, and booked one last time they had an excursions sale so i got it for 25% off, so that reduces the "value" of the package even more.

 

If someone else finds value in it, that's great for them, I am sure there will be buyers.  The more profit that a cruise line can get with minimal cost to them hopefully slows down any new cutbacks in service/amenities. One can hope!  We have only been cruising for about 10 years bu we have definitely noticed cutbacks that are mentioned on these boards and any slowdown to the decline would be good.

 

 

 

 

[jelayne]

Just checked our CP for a cruise in 5 weeks and all of the Perks packages are discounted about 30%.  Still not worth the $ for us.  

[vtcruising]

25 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Just checked our CP for a cruise in 5 weeks and all of the Perks packages are discounted about 30%.  Still not worth the $ for us.  

I saw that and thought it meant that it costs 30% less to buy the package instead of separately - I will need to go back and check. 🙂

[jelayne]

5 minutes ago, vtcruising said:

I saw that and thought it meant that it costs 30% less to buy the package instead of separately - I will need to go back and check. 🙂

The price of the packages  I saw was 30% less than a few weeks ago.  But a 30% savings on something that has no value to me isn’t a savings.  

We never board before noon, have never waited to get on a ship so to pay for priority boarding would be a waste.  Same with laundry, we each get 2 bags & a  35% WiFi discount.  Have had dinner with Captains, Hotel Directors, Staff Captains  certainly very nice but not something I would pay for.  Whoever said the target market for the packages is the 1st time X cruiser had it right.