We love cruising but going forward...

[norwega]

On 7/15/2021 at 7:41 PM, 1965 said:

My DH gets military veteran obc, up to $250, depending on cruise length.

My DH does as well, served in 1980s.  He ordered a veterans id card so he doesn't have to carry his original paperwork.  I know some say he doesn't need it, but our TA has said otherwise, so a card will work.  

[Times Prince]

On 7/15/2021 at 2:14 PM, oldracer said:

We love cruising and have used Princess for our last 10 cruises. With the recent changes, I'm not sure if loyalty (ours to Princess) means anything anymore as the benefits of loyalty are being removed. United Airlines did the same thing a few years ago and I have not flown them since. Is recognition of your loyalty important to you?

While some of the loyalty changes are discouraging, we still see Princess as offering a quality vacation that fits our desires.   The one Elite perk that would impact us is the free laundry and they have kept it as a benefit.   The other benefit we used was free internet minutes, and losing that is an inconvenience that we will now have to pay for.   However, having sailed with Royal Caribbean we found ourselves paying not only internet but also for things that are included by Princess, like movies on demand in our stateroom.

The Carnival Corp shareholder benefit certainly helps maintain our loyalty to their brands.

 

Interesting that you mention United Airlines - our experience has been that almost every time we near the number of miles for a flight, they raise the requirement, or expired the miles accrued.  The only time I was able to cash in was when I was a frequent business traveler - and then I used the flight for a trip my daughter needed to take.   At least Princess has benefits that one can actually use.

 

Edited July 24, 2021 by Times Prince

[CruiseCrabs]

On 7/23/2021 at 8:32 AM, norwega said:

My DH does as well, served in 1980s.  He ordered a veterans id card so he doesn't have to carry his original paperwork.  I know some say he doesn't need it, but our TA has said otherwise, so a card will work.  

My husband and father have never had to show their paperwork! 

[piper28]

On 7/23/2021 at 2:12 AM, Steelers36 said:

The new WC ship is the ISLAND and it has done the Christmas/NY voyage you mention prior to the WC.

It's doing it in Dec 2021 and Dec 2022.

 

Yeah, and to me, that's not what I'd call a great substitution.  Oddly I'm not seeing the 2021 version at the moment although I know it was there (maybe it's been dumped), but the 2022 one is an uninspiring itinerary that lacks what you used to get on the R ships - namely stopping at smaller less traveled islands.  

 

My expectation is that we'll start looking at Oceania, Viking, Azamera, lines along those types.  I know there's an argument that they might be more expensive, but when you looked at what those R class 14 days trips at christmas cost, I'm not sure the argument holds up there (yeah, other times it's more pronounced).  Probably means we'll get to cruise less as a result.

 

December 2022 trip doesn't fit our vacation schedule anyways, so we wouldn't have been able to take it (and I'm too skeptical to believe that the 2021 if it still exists will operate in a manner I'm willing to deal with, hell, I'm skeptical that my 30 days on the Island next summer will operate normally enough for me to deal with it).  I'm seriously considering a wind star trip for december 2022.  There's an 11 day itinerary that looks interesting to me that's similar to what I would have expected for the 14 days on Pacific.  

 

I'm not going to actively avoid Princess, and if I see something that I think looks interesting, I'll still book it.  But that'll take more interesting trips given that I have no real interest in the largest ships they're operating now.