No upgrades available

[AF-1]

I sailed Grand on 4 Oct.  We had 713 passengers.  The dining room on deck five was being used by crew members;  so DaVinci and Botticelli were open for passengers.  Due to maintaining proper distancing crew members are using inside cabins;  another possible reason for the small load factors

[Thrak]

5 hours ago, c-boy said:

I enjoy your enthusiasm and raise my cup of Kopi Luwak  to you ☕

 

If you can afford to drink that stuff what the heck are you doing on the Princess boards? Shouldn't you be sailing the high class lines?

[jimbo1683]

23 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

OMG … that’s awful!  I sure hope they can start selling more cruises!  That’s a big ouch for Princess!  

Shows how few passengers are required for the ship to still make enough money to be worth sailing no?

[Cruise Raider]

1 minute ago, jimbo1683 said:

Shows how few passengers are required for the ship to still make enough money to be worth sailing no?

 

I think they are better off not canceling some of these sailings with very low bookings.  Better to lose money than to have people ditch the line completely.  But, somewhere I read that they have to be a third full to break even.  I noticed there haven't been a lot of deep discounts since they've resumed.  

[CruzDayz]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

If you can afford to drink that stuff what the heck are you doing on the Princess boards? Shouldn't you be sailing the high class lines?

Haha, I had to Google what that was.

[pms4104]

31 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

I think they are better off not canceling some of these sailings with very low bookings.  Better to lose money than to have people ditch the line completely.  But, somewhere I read that they have to be a third full to break even.  I noticed there haven't been a lot of deep discounts since they've resumed.  

But I would guess many pax are sailing on FCCs ... money long ago spent.

 

Not sure 1/3 is break-even.  If that were true, the line and corp. would not be lacking $$$ in spite of the long shutdown.  

 

 

[victory2020]

I've noticed all the small capacity ships have not resumed (had Oceania 650 pax  & Volendam1600 pax) cancelled on me, so those probably don't make money with reduced capacity. I'm guessing with the Grand etc size they may be just barely making a small profit - at least I hope so, I'm a shareholder!

[c-boy]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

If you can afford to drink that stuff what the heck are you doing on the Princess boards? Shouldn't you be sailing the high class lines?

they're no fun

[Jmanly]

23 hours ago, victory2020 said:

When & who did you ask? I'm on the Oct 23rd

Go to Guest Service after boarding. 

[caribill]

9 hours ago, pms4104 said:

But I would guess many pax are sailing on FCCs ... money long ago spent.

 

Not sure 1/3 is break-even.  If that were true, the line and corp. would not be lacking $$$ in spite of the long shutdown.  

 

 

 

It could be break-even for the ship's operating cost, but it does not cover corporate expenses related to the cruise.

[john1970]

I am amazed they would give an upgrade for free unless they had to. It's not an incentive to passengers to buy a decent cabin if they here they might get it for nothing.

[Daniel A]

Initially, I thought it would be a bad business decision to give free upgrades as who would pay for a good stateroom if you can get a free upgrade into one?

 

I do think there could be some good will benefit for upgrading those who waited a long time for refunds/credits arising from pandemic cancellations and are still willing to return to Princess.

 

Maybe another solution would be to limit any upgrades to some Platinum/Elites but not all.  That could be a good incentive for some to return to Princess after such a trying time.

[voljeep]

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

Initially, I thought it would be a bad business decision to give free upgrades as who would pay for a good stateroom if you can get a free upgrade into one?

 

I do think there could be some good will benefit for upgrading those who waited a long time for refunds/credits arising from pandemic cancellations and are still willing to return to Princess.

 

Maybe another solution would be to limit any upgrades to some Platinum/Elites but not all.  That could be a good incentive for some to return to Princess after such a trying time.

or first time cruisers on Princess in an inside or oceanview - free upgrade to balcony to 'set the hook'

[pms4104]

7 minutes ago, voljeep said:

or first time cruisers on Princess in an inside or oceanview - free upgrade to balcony to 'set the hook'

That likely makes the most sense ... takes out of the equation the sense of deserving or entitlement.

 

Worked for us ... free upgrade mini to full suite on first Princess sailing ... many, many Princess cruises since.

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

That likely makes the most sense ... takes out of the equation the sense of deserving or entitlement.

 

Worked for us ... free upgrade mini to full suite on first Princess sailing ... many, many Princess cruises since.

mini to a full suite experience  is a great upgrade

[pms4104]

6 minutes ago, voljeep said:

mini to a full suite experience  is a great upgrade

Yep ...

 

Offered freely ...

 

Didn't beg.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

It’s crazy that they will upgrade you for free on the ship.  I have been calling to see if I can pay for an upgrade and they are wanting approximately $700 total for us to upgrade from an interior to an obstructed balcony on a four day cruise.

[victory2020]

8 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

It’s crazy that they will upgrade you for free on the ship.  I have been calling to see if I can pay for an upgrade and they are wanting approximately $700 total for us to upgrade from an interior to an obstructed balcony on a four day cruise.

I wanted to move 4 rooms away which brought me to a higher category & my agent said it would be about $200 higher, even though the difference in prices was $16 on the website.

[Daniel A]

5 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Maybe another solution would be to limit any upgrades to some Platinum/Elites but not all.  That could be a good incentive for some to return to Princess after such a trying time.

 

4 hours ago, pms4104 said:

That likely makes the most sense ... takes out of the equation the sense of deserving or entitlement.

From a strictly emotional point of view, I agree.  I have always been put off by Elites constantly referring to the Platinum level perks grandfathered into the Elite tier as being the "Elite" perks.  (i.e.: Calling it the Elite Lounge, Elite Priority embarkation, as if they are Elite benefits on which coattails the Platinum level passengers are riding.)  This is why I was suggesting that any upgrades be limited to some, but not all higher tier passengers.  This way, it's more like being entered into a lottery at that level rather than an automatic entitlement.

 

Looking at it from a business perspective however, there is something to be said for incentivizing frequent customers to want to reach higher loyalty levels.

[pms4104]

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

 

From a strictly emotional point of view, I agree.  I have always been put off by Elites constantly referring to the Platinum level perks grandfathered into the Elite tier as being the "Elite" perks.  (i.e.: Calling it the Elite Lounge, Elite Priority embarkation, as if they are Elite benefits on which coattails the Platinum level passengers are riding.)  This is why I was suggesting that any upgrades be limited to some, but not all higher tier passengers.  This way, it's more like being entered into a lottery at that level rather than an automatic entitlement.

 

Looking at it from a business perspective however, there is something to be said for incentivizing frequent customers to want to reach higher loyalty levels.

Incentivizing newbies with free upgrades likely to bring those folks back ... and, I suspect, they spend more $$$ (photos, shops, etc.) than seasoned Princess pax.

[AVCruzers]

5 hours ago, pms4104 said:

Incentivizing newbies with free upgrades likely to bring those folks back ... and, I suspect, they spend more $$$ (photos, shops, etc.) than seasoned Princess pax.

That happened to us on very first cruise as went from obstructed to regular balcony.  We have now done 18 cruises with 6 more planned and it was our only upgrade.  We now just book Club Class and get where we want on the ship.  

[MsSoCalCruiser]

10 hours ago, victory2020 said:

I wanted to move 4 rooms away which brought me to a higher category & my agent said it would be about $200 higher, even though the difference in prices was $16 on the website.

That’s crazy. It doesn’t make sense to me.

[caribill]

16 hours ago, victory2020 said:

I wanted to move 4 rooms away which brought me to a higher category & my agent said it would be about $200 higher, even though the difference in prices was $16 on the website.

 

Is the current pricing for the category you have the same as when you booked?

[caribill]

13 hours ago, Daniel A said:

 

I have always been put off by Elites constantly referring to the Platinum level perks grandfathered into the Elite tier as being the "Elite" perks.  (i.e.: Calling it the Elite Lounge, Elite Priority embarkation, as if they are Elite benefits on which coattails the Platinum level passengers are riding.) 

 

When the Elite/Platinum/suite lounge was first started, it was only for Elite and full suite passengers.

 

Relatively low attendance caused Princess to add Platinum passengers to that "perk."

[awhcruiser]

On 10/17/2021 at 7:14 AM, john1970 said:

I am amazed they would give an upgrade for free unless they had to. It's not an incentive to passengers to buy a decent cabin if they here they might get it for nothing.

Exactly