elite minutes when you purchase unlimited internet promotion

[Daniel A]

On ‎1‎/‎7‎/‎2020 at 5:46 PM, compozer said:

I thought there were some older threads about this but I can not find them.   I just added free wifi and drink package to our upcoming Alaskan cruise tour.  Our son is booked in our cabin  and a married couple are cruising with  us.  This will be their first cruise and they are not getting the wifi package.   Is there any way the three of us can give them our elite minutes since we have the unlimited?   

As someone said in another post  "we earned those minutes " .

 

I would appreciate any comments from people who tried to transfer them

 

Thanks so much.

I doubt this will be the final word but Princess does have the final word.  When you look up the Captain's Circle Platinum Benefits the Complementary Internet Package has a caveat: "¹³Subject to availability. Not combinable with any other Internet offer."  If Princess actually follows their own policy (which is a BIG if...), once you booked the Drinks and Wifi package under BSE, you no longer have those internet minutes you want to share.  Sorry   

[Steelers36]

Agree with @Daniel A.  You cannot have both free internet minutes and a discount on the unlimited packages.  Two in a cabin could make different choices however. 

 

It will be interesting to see how this works when a cruise comes around.  If the package purchased as part of a cruise fare or Add-On is provided as a credit on account, then passenger is charged the same amount once connected an signed in.  The other way is that the system will recognize the package is pre-ordered and paid for and passenger has one package choice (single-device) that shows as $0 to select.  I would expect the 4-device package to show at it's normal rate. 

 

I am thinking if such a passenger was also presented with the free minutes option and took it, they would be declining the free single-device package and GL getting it back later.  You would have to explain to the IC Manager that you made a mistake and they could switch you to unlimited and then the minutes would be gone.  I just don't see how the minutes can exist at the same time as the unlimited for a passenger.

 

Some people might think to use their minutes up and then go and buy unlimited later in the cruise.  You can do that, of course, but then if you come back to buy the unlimited, expect it to be at a daily rate.  (I did read one report where someone used minutes for a day or two at most and then the length of the cruise remaining dropped the unlimited to a lower price bracket the IC sold them a package at that lower rate.

 

 

[compozer]

7 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

I doubt this will be the final word but Princess does have the final word.  When you look up the Captain's Circle Platinum Benefits the Complementary Internet Package has a caveat: "¹³Subject to availability. Not combinable with any other Internet offer."  If Princess actually follows their own policy (which is a BIG if...), once you booked the Drinks and Wifi package under BSE, you no longer have those internet minutes you want to share.  Sorry   

I missed that but it does answer the question.   

[Coral]

I think Princess solved their issue so that people don't give their "Platinum/Elite" minutes to others. People then are not able to abuse that privilege. 

[richsea]

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

I doubt this will be the final word but Princess does have the final word.  When you look up the Captain's Circle Platinum Benefits the Complementary Internet Package has a caveat: "¹³Subject to availability. Not combinable with any other Internet offer."  If Princess actually follows their own policy (which is a BIG if...), once you booked the Drinks and Wifi package under BSE, you no longer have those internet minutes you want to share.  Sorry   

So what if my wife & I both qualify for wifi minutes. She chooses to buy an unlimited package at a discount using her minutes, but I choose not to. Are not my minutes still mine to use? What if a relative traveling in another cabin wants to check mail. Am 
I not allowed to give them my password to use? We can still only have one person signed on to one device at a time, so it’s not like anyone is stealing minutes. Total minutes are the same regardless of who uses them. Am I wrong here?

[Daniel A]

39 minutes ago, richsea said:

So what if my wife & I both qualify for wifi minutes. She chooses to buy an unlimited package at a discount using her minutes, but I choose not to. Are not my minutes still mine to use? What if a relative traveling in another cabin wants to check mail. Am 
I not allowed to give them my password to use? We can still only have one person signed on to one device at a time, so it’s not like anyone is stealing minutes. Total minutes are the same regardless of who uses them. Am I wrong here?

My earlier post was in reference to PAX who get the unlimited Wifi as part of a promotion which would cover everyone in your booking, not when making a purchase using the 25% discount instead of the free limited minutes.  If each of you are Platinum or above and only one person purchases the discounted Wifi onboard and the other person elects to get the limited minutes, I suspect Princess wouldn't know if somebody other than you or your wife are signing in to that limited account.  You should beware of doing this because you need to sign off when using the limited minutes.  If you are permitting another person to use your limited internet account and they forget to sign out and burn up all of the free minutes then your folio will be charged for the excess minutes.  People do forget to sign out or sign out improperly all the time...

 

I hope this answers your question.

[richsea]

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

My earlier post was in reference to PAX who get the unlimited Wifi as part of a promotion which would cover everyone in your booking, not when making a purchase using the 25% discount instead of the free limited minutes.  If each of you are Platinum or above and only one person purchases the discounted Wifi onboard and the other person elects to get the limited minutes, I suspect Princess wouldn't know if somebody other than you or your wife are signing in to that limited account.  You should beware of doing this because you need to sign off when using the limited minutes.  If you are permitting another person to use your limited internet account and they forget to sign out and burn up all of the free minutes then your folio will be charged for the excess minutes.  People do forget to sign out or sign out improperly all the time...

 

I hope this answers your question.

Gotcha. If both have wifi included in a promotion, Elite minutes are effectively lost; makes sense. On our upcoming cruise we’ll probably go for the 4device unlimited plan. It’s so much easier than signing in & out all the time. On our Sky cruise in November, our TA asked us if we wanted to upgrade from 3 for free & add the wifi & drink package for $25pp per day. Not worth $500 as only one of us inbibe.

[cruzsnooze]

On 1/7/2020 at 5:42 PM, steelers36 said:

 

 

Here is one more option for you to consider if the above just doesn't work at all.  If those of you with the free internet do not all need to be online at once, then you could give your friends one of your login credentials to use (Cabin and BDate), while two of you also share a login using another BDate.  

Another perk that undoubtedly will get eliminated due to abuse.  Did ethics go the way of the dodo bird?

[Steelers36]

6 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

Another perk that undoubtedly will get eliminated due to abuse.  Did ethics go the way of the dodo bird?

If someone has purchased internet package or got it as part of their cruise fare deal, and let a friend use their device or their login, that means one different person for those moments in time is using the unlimited internet in lieu of said passenger.  I don't see it the same as having the PBP, ordering two drinks, and handing one to a friend who is not on the drink package. 

 

I had not considered the original post I replied to as something someone was doing to "game the system".  Maybe I need more convincing.  I also don't see that this is a perk.

 

Perhaps you refer to using the old free internet minutes Platinums and Elites get for CC status.  I recall posts in regards to Elites used to have unlimited internet (the old slow thing) and were accused of rampant sharing and that benefit was taken and replaced with a limited number of minutes by cruise length.  I don't see a problem if a cabin-mate was using it instead.  But, really, who could afford to share those old minutes with snail-like internet?  There aren't enough to share!!!

 

We don't get free unlimited internet.  We just get a discount.

 

[cruzsnooze]

1 hour ago, steelers36 said:

If someone has purchased internet package or got it as part of their cruise fare deal, and let a friend use their device or their login, that means one different person for those moments in time is using the unlimited internet in lieu of said passenger.  I don't see it the same as having the PBP, ordering two drinks, and handing one to a friend who is not on the drink package. 

 

 

 

It's called a theft of services when you allow someone else to use an unlimited perk that cost money. You have denied the company, in this case Princess Cruises of the revenue the person who did not contract for service is receiving. It like two people splicing a line to steal a signal from a paid service like TV or wifi at their houses. When the service is abused enough the company will put an end to it like Princess did with the paper coffee cards that gave forever free brewed coffee. 

 

[Steelers36]

13 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

the paper coffee cards that gave forever free brewed coffee. 

That was a false idea some people had.  Once the card was used, on subsequent cruises, all you could use was punches for regular coffee or specialty coffee.

 

[Steelers36]

16 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

It's called a theft of services when you allow someone else to use an unlimited perk that cost money. You have denied the company, in this case Princess Cruises of the revenue the person who did not contract for service is receiving. It like two people splicing a line to steal a signal from a paid service like TV or wifi at their houses. When the service is abused enough the company will put an end to it like Princess did with the paper coffee cards that gave forever free brewed coffee. 

 

I get what you are positing.  But to suggest that partners in a cabin couldn't/shouldn't share an internet login is a bit far-fetched IMO and impossible to detect or enforce.  There is a login (cabin nbr and bdate) and can only be one person logged in at a time on a device.  Princess doesn't limit the number of devices - just one at a time.  I don't even think it would be a policy of theirs that cabin mates could not share an internet access - whether it was an old "minutes" plan or a new MedallionNet plan.  

 

I think where it crosses into what you are suggesting is if a cruiser has their own access point connected to Princess and that device provides access for multiple people to be connected at the same time while paying for a single-device plan.

I am neither advocating nor decrying that, but it would take more monitoring and such I imagine on the cruise line part to detect and prevent such activity.  But, enough said as this could go on and on I imagine.

 

[cruzsnooze]

43 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

I get what you are positing.  But to suggest that partners in a cabin couldn't/shouldn't share an internet login is a bit far-fetched IMO and impossible to detect or enforce.  There is a login (cabin nbr and bdate) and can only be one person logged in at a time on a device.  Princess doesn't limit the number of devices - just one at a time.  I don't even think it would be a policy of theirs that cabin mates could not share an internet access - whether it was an old "minutes" plan or a new MedallionNet plan.  

 

 

 

I agree about cabin mates, I would also share my perks and I do with my spouse who is not elite tier while I am.  The OP was asking about a married couple traveling with them who  wanted to share the services. At one time full suites had unlimited internet and discontinued it. It wasn't stated that they discontinued the perk from abuse but it was assumed. 

[Daniel A]

11 hours ago, steelers36 said:

If someone has purchased internet package or got it as part of their cruise fare deal, and let a friend use their device or their login, that means one different person for those moments in time is using the unlimited internet in lieu of said passenger.  I don't see it the same as having the PBP, ordering two drinks, and handing one to a friend who is not on the drink package. 

IMHO if Princess were being consistent, (which they rarely are...) I would think they would view this the same way as they do the New Grounds Coffee Package.  The terms of the package state you can share the limited Specialty Coffee with another since your are limited to how many you get. (When they're used up, they're gone.) You cannot share the unlimited fresh brewed coffees with another person (even your cabin mate.)  I would think Princess would have the same approach to internet minutes.  When they're a limited number of minutes they wouldn't care if you shared them but when it comes to unlimited, I think they would have a problem with that.  Just my opinion.

[Iamcruzin]

Internet pricing is so cheap now. I remember paying more for a few minutes than the price is now for unlimited.  It's not even worth the hassle and valuable cruise time of trying to give the platinum/elite minutes away.  The married couple should just buy one unlimited package and share it.

[Steelers36]

26 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

IMHO if Princess were being consistent, (which they rarely are...) I would think they would view this the same way as they do the New Grounds Coffee Package.  The terms of the package state you can share the limited Specialty Coffee with another since your are limited to how many you get. (When they're used up, they're gone.) You cannot share the unlimited fresh brewed coffees with another person (even your cabin mate.)  I would think Princess would have the same approach to internet minutes.  When they're a limited number of minutes they wouldn't care if you shared them but when it comes to unlimited, I think they would have a problem with that.  Just my opinion.

I do not disagree with your example.  Every drink - whether coffee package or PBP - has an individual value and a cost. 

 

The internet is a flat up-front fee for a non-specific set of unlimited hours.  You could use it for 15 minutes per day or 15 hours per day - there is no cost difference since it is unlimited 24 hrs per day. 

 

Examples could go on ad nauseam, but this one came to mind.  Couple has a cellular plan with one of the major companies.  They add an international calling option to one phone line since they have family or friends they are in touch with.  Would you suggest that only the person assigned to that phone number is allowed to make and talk on an international call?  Obviously, the other partner is going to use that phone if/when they want to call someone.  It is another example of a feature provided for a flat fee (monthly).  OTOH, I could have a golf membership at a club entitling me to unlimited golf seven days per week.  Doesn't mean my wife can go in my place one day.  I guess some things are just naturally individualistic and others not.  Have you ever given your friends or family your Wifi id/pswd when they visit you?  I think there has to be some reason and common sense to all of this.