Another Elite Benefit Bites the Dust AFAIK

[Princess Chatterer]

Elites can no longer join the tender boarding line at will for tendering from the ship to the shore.  Elites must now wait in a ship waiting room until called.  This policy change was confirmed in writing from three Emerald Princess admin. sources and by personal observation.  Maybe this is old news to some but for us it was a brand new Elite befit reduction.

[Happiest when cruising]

9 minutes ago, Princess Chatterer said:

Elites can no longer join the tender boarding line at will for tendering from the ship to the shore.  Elites must now wait in a ship waiting room until called.  This policy change was confirmed in writing from three Emerald Princess admin. sources and by personal observation.  Maybe this is old news to some but for us it was a brand new Elite befit reduction.

I’d love to see the letter. We finally get to the status that qualifies us for that and away it goes. Also kinda sad about the coffee card…

Edited June 10, 2023 by Happiest when cruising

[neverbeenhere]

Better update the loyalty pdf soon or folks will be bringing copies aboard. 

[snoozecrooze]

12 minutes ago, Princess Chatterer said:

Elites can no longer join the tender boarding line at will for tendering from the ship to the shore.  Elites must now wait in a ship waiting room until called.

We saw this in practice on our most recent cruise and we have to say it worked quite seamlessly for us. YMMV, I suppose. I'm pretty sure this is how it's been for months now.

[cr8tiv1]

That's how it worked a long time ago.  You waited in a separate room and they would send x amount of Elites down to join the the next tender.

 

Once...I had a suite "priority boarding pass" and was elite status.  I went down to deck 4 to board a tender (in Mexico).  I was told to go to the back of the line.  I "displayed" my "documents" to no avail.  Wait time would have been about 30 minutes.

 

I went back to my cabin since I was in no hurry.  I did stop at the Customer Service desk and mentioned to them that they needed to get an officer down to the tender area since it was pretty chaotic.  People coming off of elevators.  People coming down multiple stairs.  Passengers in a hurry...me, me, me.  

 

If they are going to regroup this perk,  I would love to see it apply to tenders coming back to the ship.  Surely, adding 20 - 40 elite to an outgoing tender would not create an issue.  And it would cost Princess nothing, zero, $0.  

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, Princess Chatterer said:

Elites can no longer join the tender boarding line at will for tendering from the ship to the shore.  Elites must now wait in a ship waiting room until called.  This policy change was confirmed in writing from three Emerald Princess admin. sources and by personal observation.  Maybe this is old news to some but for us it was a brand new Elite befit reduction.

I’m not at all sure how this is a removal of a benefit if the Elites are ushered in to the next tender to depart. I’d much rather wait in a nice room, seated, and taken down to Deck 4 when a tender is ready for boarding than simply walk down to Deck 4 only to stand in line in the bowels of the ship waiting for the next tender to be ready for boarding. The perk is only removed if non-Elites can cut in front of you and nothing in your post suggests that this is the new procedure. 

[capriccio]

6 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

That's how it worked a long time ago.  You waited in a separate room and they would send x amount of Elites down to join the the next tender.

That's been our experience too.  It is much more civilized than the congested free for all of the past.  On our recent Coral Princess cruise one of the tender days we were sitting very comfortably in the Wheelhouse Bar near the staff communicating with the tender area and the staff in the dining room with the other passengers.  They had the entire process - including a delay - down to a science.  When the tender was ready for boarding the elites were led down first followed by the group from the dining room.  There was no congestion since everyone had been waiting in their assigned locations and not milling around the steps and elevators.

[Princess Chatterer]

Our Captain’s Circle rep wasn’t especially pleased by the Elite policy change.  The reduction in Elite benefits apparently has been kept very quiet by Princess headquarters.  Our Elite waiting group was sent to join non Elite group(s) without giving us boarding tickets. Boarding tickets were asked for in the very chaotic tender lobby due to multiple groups being called all at the same time.

[Astro Flyer]

For a long time when there were many elites (1500 on one cruise) we went to another entrance of the dining room to quickly be brought to a tender. Wonder if that was a factor for the author or it’s the new normal.

 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, Princess Chatterer said:

Elites can no longer join the tender boarding line at will for tendering from the ship to the shore.  Elites must now wait in a ship waiting room until called.  This policy change was confirmed in writing from three Emerald Princess admin. sources and by personal observation.  Maybe this is old news to some but for us it was a brand new Elite befit reduction.

It has been that way for years.  You go to the Elite designated area to get your priority ticket and usually they will send you down pretty quickly.  Usually to join the next tender.  I have had very little waiting involved. Certainly must faster than the non-priority tickets.  So the benefit is still there.

 

This has been policy for several years.  Certainly works better to get sent to a specific tender that is ready for you then to try and guess which tender location might be able to hold you.

 

Quite comical what gets called a reduction.  Especially since we still have priority tendering.

Edited June 10, 2023 by ldtr

[Torfamm]

1 hour ago, Princess Chatterer said:

Elites can no longer join the tender boarding line at will for tendering from the ship to the shore.  Elites must now wait in a ship waiting room until called.  This policy change was confirmed in writing from three Emerald Princess admin. sources and by personal observation.  Maybe this is old news to some but for us it was a brand new Elite befit reduction.

This has been true for a long time. I certainly haven’t seen it done any other way since the restart. It seems much more efficient.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Torfamm

[kiwimum]

1 hour ago, Princess Chatterer said:

Elites can no longer join the tender boarding line at will for tendering from the ship to the shore.  Elites must now wait in a ship waiting room until called.  This policy change was confirmed in writing from three Emerald Princess admin. sources and by personal observation.  Maybe this is old news to some but for us it was a brand new Elite befit reduction.

Has been this way for years.

[MissP22]

10 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I would love to see it apply to tenders coming back to the ship.  Surely, adding 20 - 40 elite to an outgoing tender would not create an issue.  And it would cost Princess nothing, zero, $0.  

I've said the same thing for years now and most people here on CC disagree with that idea. I suppose if it were to happen, people standing on line to return would get upset seeing people cut in line. The disgruntled passengers would flock to the Capt. circle host desk to complain. 

[coo359a2]

We are currently on the Sky Princess. Elites and Suites go to one lounge to get tender tickets and all others get there tender tickets at another location. Tickets are called by name (using English city names) and elites are sent down in a group by the Loyalty Manager. Has worked this way for a long time 

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

 I suppose if it were to happen, people standing on line to return would get upset seeing people cut in line. The disgruntled passengers would flock to the Capt. circle host desk to complain. 

This. On board the ship the preference can be meted out discreetly. On shore, it would be open and obvious. I know that it’s not the same thing, but once when we were in the hour-long line to board the cable car to go down the cliff in Santorini, a private guide took her 4 customers straight to the boarding area, bypassing thousands of people. When the expected shouts of protest started, the guide kept saying: “They paid for a private licensed guide!” as if that was supposed to mean something. There was pushing and shoving and nearly a brawl. Princess does not need that aggravation.
 

The priority boarding is functionally a limited need perk—needed only at the earliest stages of disembarking. After the first 90 minutes or so the pace has slowed down such that tickets are no longer dispensed and people just walk down to deck 4. There is rarely a need for priority at that time. Returning to the ship tends to be similar. People return at a staggered pace such that priority isn’t really needed. Every single time I have returned to the ship I have either boarded the tender that was currently loading or the one that followed that. I don’t think that anyone needs a privilege that betters that outcome. 

[skynight]

13 hours ago, Princess Chatterer said:

Elites can no longer join the tender boarding line at will for tendering from the ship to the shore.  Elites must now wait in a ship waiting room until called.  This policy change was confirmed in writing from three Emerald Princess admin. sources and by personal observation.  Maybe this is old news to some but for us it was a brand new Elite befit reduction.

Are you saying there is no longer any priority tender service for elites, and that elites now have to wait in the full que? Pre-covid we never really "joined the line." Depending on the ship we had two different experiences. 1) went to the normal tender ticket location and were placed in a priority line which received priority, but maybe not immediate boarding. 2) Went to a separate location and waited for the staff member to release us to the tender. Again depending on the number of people there we could wait for a short time. 

[Bgwest]

2 hours ago, MissP22 said:

The disgruntled passengers would flock to the Capt. circle host desk to complain. 

Let them!

[memoak]

If I recall the verbiage has always been expidicted tender not jump the entire line by waving your medallion 

[coo359a2]

27 minutes ago, memoak said:

If I recall the verbiage has always been expidicted tender not jump the entire line by waving your medallion 

On the Sky Princess it says to enjoy priority ship to shore water shuttle embarkation. 

[Princess Chatterer]

We waited in the deck five waiting room while the previous three groups were called.  It was around 11 am.  When the next three groups were called the Elite group was merged into the scrum of the next called three groups coming down the stairs from deck seven.  After we got to deck four passengers from the elevators and other sides of the stairs made up their own separate line and then pushed themselves into to single ticket taker line at the door.  When we were asked for our ticket we had none but the ticket taker allowed us to pass her without a ticket.  On the way back to the ship the tender had too many people apparently for three person seating so the tender guy switched to four person seating.  Seas were rough at the pontoon and the crew dealing with six walkers and a suitcase slowed things up even more in what I considered to be a risky situation. For us, if we had received the exact promised in writing Elite benefit then the whole thing would have gone much better.  Your mileage may vary.

[memoak]

37 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

On the Sky Princess it says to enjoy priority ship to shore water shuttle embarkation. 

Yes and nothing says you can go directly to the head of the line or get priority from shore to ship. What kind of elite perks have been lost ?

[Guest ldtr]

21 minutes ago, Princess Chatterer said:

We waited in the deck five waiting room while the previous three groups were called.  It was around 11 am.  When the next three groups were called the Elite group was merged into the scrum of the next called three groups coming down the stairs from deck seven.  After we got to deck four passengers from the elevators and other sides of the stairs made up their own separate line and then pushed themselves into to single ticket taker line at the door.  When we were asked for our ticket we had none but the ticket taker allowed us to pass her without a ticket.  On the way back to the ship the tender had too many people apparently for three person seating so the tender guy switched to four person seating.  Seas were rough at the pontoon and the crew dealing with six walkers and a suitcase slowed things up even more in what I considered to be a risky situation. For us, if we had received the exact promised in writing Elite benefit then the whole thing would have gone much better.  Your mileage may vary.

tenders are usually 4 to a bench.

 

How many elite on your ship?

 

That would have solved the rough seas? The mobility limited individuals on the tender? the number of people on the tender? All of that has nothing to do with the benefit.

 

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by ldtr

[Jersey42]

Recently on the Caribbean Princess we had two tender (aka water shuttle) ports.  Elites went to the Crown Grill and everyone else went to a designated dining room.  On both days, they did a good job at quickly moving elites out of the Crown Grill to a tender.  I was a little lucky, but I waited less than 5 minutes in the Crown Grill on both occasions.  If I arrived just after a group left, I'm sure it would have been a little longer.  On one day I was one of the first to board the tender (tenders at Grand Cayman and Belize are big ones provided by the port) and I had to wait almost 15 minutes for the tender to fill up before we departed.  This process has pretty much been the norm for us although years ago, I do remember at least once where we were told to show our black card and "jump the line".  Although my experience is somewhat limited, I have never had priority boarding on tenders returning to the ship.  The benefit currently says "priority ship-to-shore water shuttle embarkation". In the 10 years we have been elite, I don't any recall different language except for the change from tender to water shuttle.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Jersey42

[XBGuy]

I just tried to search for the .pdf file that itemizes the Captain's Circle benefits. but I failed.  Can anybody else find it?

 

My recollection is that the Elite tender boarding benefit is described as something like "Priority (It may say'Preferred.') tender boarding from the ship."  I await somebody's confirmation of or correction to my septuagenarian memory.

 

Since this is the internet I can state my opinion with great conviction with confidence.  While my memory of the exact phrasing is faulty, I know that it does not say anything like, "Elite passengers can go to the tender boarding location,, whenever they are good and ready, walk past all other passengers and board the tender immediately.

 

I have not cruised on Princess as much as many others here on this but I have experienced different procedures to give Elite passengers priority tender boarding;

 

• All passenger wishing to tender ashore meet at a common assembly area--e.g., a dining room.  At the entrance of the assembly room, ship's personnel hand each passenger a numbered ticket.  Nobody can receive more than one ticket.  So, that discourages a large group from dispatching a designated person to collect two or five or ten tickets.  Passengers are then instructed to make themselves comfortable in the assembly room and wait for their number to be called.  When a tender is ready to be filled, an announcement is made in the room that all Elite and Suite passengers may exit the room and proceed to the boarding station.  Once all these passengers have left the room a second announcement is made that all passengers with tickets with numbers less than X may leave the room and proceed to the boarding station.
• I have experienced the exact same procedure the OP reports.  Elite passengers are directed to assemble at one station and all other passengers are directed to assemble at a different station.  Each group receives numbered tickets and follow the instructions of ship's personnel.
• As an Elite/Suite paassengerI have also received instructions to proceed directly to the boarding station. present my key card/,medallion to ship's personnel and follow their instructions

 

In all these scenarios Elite and Suite passengers are given priority.

 

My suspicion is that each ship's command decides what procedure will be used.  I further suspect that the Chief Security Officer has the final vote.

[MissP22]

3 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

The priority boarding is functionally a limited need perk—needed only at the earliest stages of disembarking. After the first 90 minutes or so the pace has slowed down such that tickets are no longer dispensed and people just walk down to deck 4. There is rarely a need for priority at that time. Returning to the ship tends to be similar. People return at a staggered pace such that priority isn’t really needed.

Many time at Princess Cays the line is definitely long, also at G. Cayman island. 

I still think it would be a great perk and something to be aspired to.