No more free internet for platinum & elite

[PRNole47]

On 6/30/2021 at 7:30 AM, tillys mom said:

The fine print at the bottom says they have the right to change at any time.

So what? They also have the right to remain at home port on embarkation day and not sail anywhere, as long as they provide you with a cabin and meals for the exact # of days and nights you booked the cruise. 

[pompeii]

2 hours ago, Ombud said:

Now that I have that knowledge I can again evaluate which fare type is better for me: 

Best Price: shareholder OBC to pay for

15 Crew incentive

05 internet

00 trade minibar for 2 coffee programs

2.85 carryon 2nd bottle $20/7 -- carry 3 for longer trips)

$22.85

 

Princess➕: $40 qd out of pocket 

Exactly.  Except that I would remove the 2nd bottle and add a bottled water package.  Either way, it comes out to way less than $40/day.  Especially when you figure that we will share an internet package and a bottled water package, so those daily costs get shared between 2 people.  And also, the gratuities and internet will come out of obc, at least on my next cruise where we have $1000 obc.

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/cc/captains-circle-loyalty-benefits.pdf

 

See footnote number 8:

8 Discount only available to Captain’s Circle Platinum and Elite guests, for MedallionNet® Wi-Fi packages on sailings embarking after July 24, 2021. MedallionNet® Wi-Fi packages purchased pre-cruise will be discounted on board and the guest will receive a refund credit in their folio. Discount is not combinable with any other MedallionNet Wi-Fi offers, discounts, or promotions. Discount is not transferable and has no cash value.

 

Also, since the last sentence says the discount is not combinable with any other offer or discount or promotion, I think that means it is not applicable to special first day on board pricing.

Thanks.  I only read it once quickly and must have missed that section.  It certainly was the fine print.  That is good as it lets us pre-order and get the discount - but it becomes additional refundable OBC instead of netting the charge to the credit card.  Not a big problem for me/us to consume refundable OBC. 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

That definitely was the way it used to be, but as footnote number 8 (shown in my previous post above) indicates, the discount does not apply to other specials.

 

And you are 100% correct that no discount for platinum/elite was given pre-cruise. That was the first devaluation of the benefit that time around. Anybody could purchase at the pre-cruise price. The only discount available for platinum/elite was that first day on board.

 

I don't agree with your interpretation.  I realize Princess is making a covering statement in regards to possible situations where people might want to try and claim the 50% discount credit.  In case of any other promos or discount offers, they are simply stating we cannot get both the 50% off, plus whatever the special offer is.

 

However, pre-Covid, the On-Board-Day-1 package prices were higher than the pre-cruise Personalizer offers.  Thus nothing special about it.  If anything, the "special" offer was the pre-cruise one in the Personalizer. 

 

This was a source of frustration for Elites/Platinums since we got our 25% discount only off the higher price packages.  This devalued the benefit in some cases to mere pittance for shorter cruises. 

 

We do not know for sure if on-board-day-1 pricing will continue to be higher, be the same, etc.  We do not really know for sure what the internet packaging is going to be going forward. 

 

Suffice to say, I doubt that we Elites (and Platinums) will be denied our 50% discount if wait to order internet until board the ship.

 

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, Ombud said:

Basically thats what my PVP wrote although she rounded it out to even $$s

Princess internet pricing has been a joke since the get-go with the $0.99 business which fools no one - I would hope.  When I prepared pricing charts I just made it all even $ or to nearest $0.25 as necessary.

 

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, caribill said:

Since it is a device package, not a person package, the answer is yes.

 

I think the original intent was for when three or four people were in a cabin. But even if only two people in a cabin, some people like to have multiple devices online at the same time, for example a lap top and a smart phone used by the same person.

If we were cruising alone and not with our friends, I would still buy the 4-device package for wife and I since it is the same cost as two singles (or, at least it used to be and hoping same going forward).  That would be convenient sometimes for using my laptop and not have logged off the phone.

 

When with our friends, we all share with one device connected at a time.  That works well too. 

[cruisequeen4ever]

Going from free to a discount is a downgrade. $0 would have been spent, and now a certain amount will have to be spent if we want Internet. For some, it’ll be a no brainer because they want to be connected all the time, for others it won’t matter because they get Princess Plus, and for others, it’s a reduced benefit because unlimited Internet isn’t needed but some minutes are. 

[Steelers36]

13 minutes ago, pompeii said:

Exactly.  Except that I would remove the 2nd bottle and add a bottled water package.  Either way, it comes out to way less than $40/day.  Especially when you figure that we will share an internet package and a bottled water package, so those daily costs get shared between 2 people.  And also, the gratuities and internet will come out of obc, at least on my next cruise where we have $1000 obc.

It's interesting how many of us do an analysis on spending habits and check if there is net value to the PLUS add-on. 

 

For me, I consider any OBC as net reduction in overall cruise cost and I would be paying for the Crew Incentive regardless.  So, Crew Incentive is an add-on to our gross cruise cost (i.e. Princess price, less TA fare discount, plus Port Taxes flat amount).

 

OBC is simply a pot of cash for us as a reduction to final bill, or net cash for my casino play. 

 

We get the mini-bar (converted to 8/10 beers and 12/10 Perrier).  (Wish we could get ONE coffee program and HALF a mini-bar as only wife drinks coffee).

I usually bring wine on board.

I normally order the special starter water package (already did so for Fall 2022 as understand water situation might change and I am sure they will give us some sort of containers even if plastic bottles gone by then).  After those bottles are gone, we refill as we go from tap with ship's water which suits us fine and bottles can be re-used for a few refills.  

Internet is now going to average at most $5/pp/day when cruising with friends. 

 

Usually when I do the analysis on the remaining dollars in the PLUS, we would each need to have two additional drinks per day and sometimes we only have two drinks each for a whole week or 10 days since we have the beer and I usually already have wine. 

 

With the new higher internet package discount, I need to spend a little more on drinking to justify the PLUS.

 

For an upcoming 25-night voyage (B2B2B), it would cost $2,000 for us to add the PLUS.  Deduct $725 for Crew Incentive, leaves $1,275 for the rest.  I figure I would spend just over $700 for the rest (internet share, wine purchased pre-cruise, water packages, coffee, bar drinks).  It comes out to each of us having an extra bar drink every day of the voyage and we don't normally do that, so why not keep the $550 - $575 in our pockets?  Or, we could spend some more and still be ahead. 

 

TBH, I would need to do a new/different analysis if not bringing my own wine.  I have looked at that once as well.  I would have about $950 to spend on wine for the above voyage example (admittedly, a long voyage, so many costs per day are lower).  That is $38/day.  Most certainly if ordering by the glass (what you can do with PLUS), that would cover about 3 glasses per day at dinner and that would do us.  A bottle of wine easily lasts us 2 days, so I could buy a $76 bottle of wine (including 18%) every other day and be at least even with the PLUS. 

 

So, I can see PLUS value if I am not bringing any wine on board and almost would be 6-of-1-and-half-dozen-of-the-other type situation.  A good thing about PLUS is any drink cost over the limit is charged to the on board account as a differential and not the entire cost.

 

 

 

 

[Steelers36]

18 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

Going from free to a discount is a downgrade. $0 would have been spent, and now a certain amount will have to be spent if we want Internet. For some, it’ll be a no brainer because they want to be connected all the time, for others it won’t matter because they get Princess Plus, and for others, it’s a reduced benefit because unlimited Internet isn’t needed but some minutes are. 

I do think as a bone throw if you want to call it that, is to grant any Platinum/Elite/Suite not on PLUS package and not purchasing internet, to have a minimal amount of, say 15 mins, that would allow for airline check-in.  Most hotels allow public computer access for this purpose.

Edited July 1, 2021 by Steelers36

[PescadoAmarillo]

12 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Information says they will apply the discount as OBC to a pre-cruise purchase.

Refundable or non-refundable?

 

Here we go again….

[Steelers36]

5 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Refundable or non-refundable?

 

Here we go again….

Has to be refundable.

[LACruiser88]

15 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

A bottle of wine easily lasts us 2 days,

Wow, we must be wino's!  A bottle does not gets us to Dinner!    

[PescadoAmarillo]

3 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Wow, we must be wino's!  A bottle does not gets us to Dinner!    

Your post reminded me of a conversation we had several years ago with a British couple. They were bemoaning the fact that the minibar lasted them less than 2 days. At the time, we were doing a long series of B2B cruises and really needed to purchase some storage tubs to hold our growing inventory. Of course, that was when we still purchased the soda stickers.  We soon learned to cut that out. 

[RRFan]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

Thanks.  I only read it once quickly and must have missed that section.  It certainly was the fine print.  That is good as it lets us pre-order and get the discount - but it becomes additional refundable OBC instead of netting the charge to the credit card.  Not a big problem for me/us to consume refundable OBC. 

 

 

 

 

I don't agree with your interpretation.  I realize Princess is making a covering statement in regards to possible situations where people might want to try and claim the 50% discount credit.  In case of any other promos or discount offers, they are simply stating we cannot get both the 50% off, plus whatever the special offer is.

 

However, pre-Covid, the On-Board-Day-1 package prices were higher than the pre-cruise Personalizer offers.  Thus nothing special about it.  If anything, the "special" offer was the pre-cruise one in the Personalizer. 

 

This was a source of frustration for Elites/Platinums since we got our 25% discount only off the higher price packages.  This devalued the benefit in some cases to mere pittance for shorter cruises. 

 

We do not know for sure if on-board-day-1 pricing will continue to be higher, be the same, etc.  We do not really know for sure what the internet packaging is going to be going forward. 

 

Suffice to say, I doubt that we Elites (and Platinums) will be denied our 50% discount if wait to order internet until board the ship.

 

I’d speculate that unless PCL sends P’s & E’s an email telling them the free minutes were being replaced with a 50% discount on unlimited WiFi, the vast majority of them will only discover that when they board and go to sign on for their free minutes. I bet less than 20% of P’s & E’s are on CC to even know about it. Wouldn’t want to be the Internet guy on these cruises. He’ll be getting an earful and the discount better be on the lowest available price whether pre-cruise or not!  

[Steelers36]

1 minute ago, RRFan said:

I’d speculate that unless PCL sends P’s & E’s an email telling them the free minutes were being replaced with a 50% discount on unlimited WiFi, the vast majority of them will only discover that when they board and go to sign on for their free minutes. I bet less than 20% of P’s & E’s are on CC to even know about it. Wouldn’t want to be the Internet guy on these cruises. He’ll be getting an earful and the discount better be on the lowest available price whether pre-cruise or not!  

Yes, the number of people who really know how the Princess systems work are few and far between. 

 

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

 

However, pre-Covid, the On-Board-Day-1 package prices were higher than the pre-cruise Personalizer offers.  Thus nothing special about it.  If anything, the "special" offer was the pre-cruise one in the Personalizer. 

 

 

 

Yes, the day 1 pricing was higher than pre-cruise offers, but that day 1 price for platinum/elite passengers was then discounted 25% which brought the price (in most cases) to less than the pre-cruise pricing.

 

The savings for platinum/elite over the pre-cruise price that everyone could get could be as little as $4.25, but it was a savings.

[caribill]

34 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Yes, the number of people who really know how the Princess systems work are few and far between. 

 

 

Including at Princess.

[Ombud]

41 minutes ago, RRFan said:

I’d speculate that unless PCL sends P’s & E’s an email telling them the free minutes were being replaced with a 50% discount on unlimited WiFi, the vast majority of them will only discover that when they board and go to sign on for their free minutes. I bet less than 20% of P’s & E’s are on CC to even know about it. Wouldn’t want to be the Internet guy on these cruises. He’ll be getting an earful and the discount better be on the lowest available price whether pre-cruise or not!  

😳I learned about it here,  no email notification

 

[Steelers36]

30 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Yes, the day 1 pricing was higher than pre-cruise offers, but that day 1 price for platinum/elite passengers was then discounted 25% which brought the price (in most cases) to less than the pre-cruise pricing.

 

The savings for platinum/elite over the pre-cruise price that everyone could get could be as little as $4.25, but it was a savings.

Yes, agree.  I did mention the 25% was off that on-board pricing scheme.  But, the on-board pricing was not special in the sense that it would be excluded from 50% discount eligibility by the new language clause for Footnote #8.

 

I will see if I can get any info on new pricing scheme, but we may have to wait until the cruises begin and people report here.

 

ETA - Early report from a Princess rep call.  She didn't have any useful info at all.  She did generally expect the full-cruise length packages would be available.  But what I really need to hear/see is an official pricing chart.  Had a hard time getting that 2-3 years ago when I first posted the info.

Edited July 1, 2021 by Steelers36

[caribill]

53 minutes ago, RRFan said:

I’d speculate that unless PCL sends P’s & E’s an email telling them the free minutes were being replaced with a 50% discount on unlimited WiFi, the vast majority of them will only discover that when they board and go to sign on for their free minutes. I bet less than 20% of P’s & E’s are on CC to even know about it. Wouldn’t want to be the Internet guy on these cruises. He’ll be getting an earful and the discount better be on the lowest available price whether pre-cruise or not!  

 

With a few exceptions, CC members have usually been between 3% and 5% of passengers on a ship, and not all of that 3%-5% are P's and E's.

[mjmalino]

8 hours ago, Roberto256 said:

 

Would princess allow one to purchase a package for more that the number of guests in a stateroom?

 

I would assume so. Last time I purchased a 4 devise plan there were 2 of us in our cabin. We shared it my in-laws in the cabin next door. The only thing is that since it was under my name/cabin they had to log in as such.

[RRFan]

45 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

With a few exceptions, CC members have usually been between 3% and 5% of passengers on a ship, and not all of that 3%-5% are P's and E's.

Sounds right.  I was just making a broad guess.  The vast majority of P & E's will board the Majestic with no idea that they've been stripped of the free WiFi minutes they have been granted for years and years.  Blindsided. They don't routinely check loyalty perks to see if they've changed.  They will NOT be happy and I'm thinking that PCL will be losing some of their most loyal passengers.  I've said for years that it is much too easy to reach Platinum and Elite, but this was not a smart move.  Something kept people coming back.  We've cruised other lines too, but prefer PCL because of the perks and its fits our style.  We made choices to sail with Princess and climb the loyalty ladder, and this sure feels like a slap in the face to us.  Again, it is NOT about the $5 pppd!!

[Therese S.]

So I  did verify with my independent vacation planner that all this is true.  Just got the phone with Princess again to express my displeasure with the Princess Corp.  I have a separate bank account that I use to save for futures vacations, whether its for  cruising or exploring in our travel trailer and keep close track of our spending.  Its a hard pill to swallow to pay for something that  I used to get for free.  I never had a problem logging in/off and watching how many free minutes I had left.  So $75 for my Hawaii cruise and $140 for my 28 day Tahiti cruise to purchase internet that was free!    Thanks Princess for your loyalty NOT!!

 

Princess told me that an email is going out today or tomorrow explaing all the changes. 

Edited July 1, 2021 by Therese S.

[Travlin grrl]

On 6/30/2021 at 5:34 AM, 1965 said:

I can think of 5 perks I would gladly trade to get back my minutes. 

Yeah me too! Internet has become a necessity. Well at least for me. There are workarounds off the ship plugging into wifi. But when I'm on the ship like sea day, I do like to check in to see if there is anything important, like dog stuff, house stuff, or anything else. I only use a few minutes to check in, I don't scroll through my social media or anything. I guess they need to make some more money after all this. haha

[Ombud]

Just got the email. 

[dog]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

😳I learned about it here,  no email notification

 

Received email about this right now from Princess.