Another Elite Benefit Bites the Dust AFAIK

[GonzoWCS]

I luv it so. Good stuff. 

 

Cheers

[DCThunder]

12 hours ago, fpsphil said:

Think this thread should get its title changed since it’s completely false

Hey, the title of the thread got me to check it out. That's why they call it "click bait".

[JimmyVWine]

13 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

For the life of me, I can not understand why 3000 passengers want to get off in Lahaina. 

For the life of me I cannot understand why people take cruises to Hawaii spending 10 days at sea and just mere hours at each island/port. But that is a topic for a different thread. 

[XBGuy]

3 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Is this perk really such a big deal?  Tenders aren’t so common and we’ve never really waited in line long to get one

 

 

 

HERETIC!!!  

 

😉

[DCThunder]

As someone else mentioned up-thread, when over 50% of the passengers are Elite, the benefit of the perk starts to decline a bit.  Perhaps on a run-of-the-mill 7 day Caribbean cruise with lots of lowly Rubys or, heaven forbid, NO COLOR medallions, it's a big deal to have tender priority, but otherwise, NBD.

[cr8tiv1]

16 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

For the life of me I cannot understand why people take cruises to Hawaii spending 10 days at sea and just mere hours at each island/port. But that is a topic for a different thread. 

I do this voyage BECAUSE of the sea days.  It is a nice way to get a taste of the islands, even in small plate bites.  I have to admit, that I have the best of all worlds!  

[Bgwest]

18 hours ago, Redwing55 said:

I ask myself what actually changed?   

As pointed out in Post #27, NOTHING changed. 

[Steelers36]

CC Mods ought to just shut this thread down and delete it.

[MissP22]

3 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

For the life of me I cannot understand why people take cruises to Hawaii spending 10 days at sea and just mere hours at each island/port. But that is a topic for a different thread. 

Why so? people fly to Ft Lauderdale to see the Caribbean and have to spend time on the ship also. People enjoy a trip to Hawaii just for the sake of cruising.

 

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

CC Mods ought to just shut this thread down and delete it.

The OP learned that there was no loss of any Elite benefits.

Is that so bad?

[Teechur]

17 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

For the life of me, I can not understand why 3000 passengers want to get off in Lahaina.  Same foods can be found on the other islands.  There is a small Hilo Hatties.  Getting back on the tenders is a nightmarish line.  There are no whales in the summer and in the winter you can see them from the ship.  The shops will all be waiting for you when you get off at 11 AM.  But there is a huge banyan tree and a little bit of history.

I can't imagine traveling all the way from the mainland to stay on the ship while in Lahaina. I live in Honokowai, just north of Lahaina, and think Maui is the best place I've ever been, after visiting more than 100 countries. 👍

[coo359a2]

36 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Why so? people fly to Ft Lauderdale to see the Caribbean and have to spend time on the ship also. People enjoy a trip to Hawaii just for the sake of cruising.

 

The OP learned that there was no loss of any Elite benefits.

Is that so bad?

But it took almost 59 posts to say it been this way for some time and no change for this perk and still posts are going on. Time to unfollow 

[memoak]

4 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

For the life of me I cannot understand why people take cruises to Hawaii spending 10 days at sea and just mere hours at each island/port. But that is a topic for a different thread. 

My mother was born and raised on Maui and we always tender over to pay homage to her at the Bayan Tree

[Princess Chatterer]

On 6/10/2023 at 7:36 AM, ldtr said:

 

 

How many elite on your ship?

 

In the 300 range. The tender port was Lahaina.

 

The Elite benefit says “priority ship-to-shore water shuttle embarkation.”  It there was any priority at 11am at Lahaina on the Emerald Princess then I completely missed it.  In fact, the ship wide newsletter about water shuttle procedures never mentioned the word Elite, nor did the Princess event listings aka The Patter.  One would think that, lacking any written or verbal ship instruction, an Elite passenger would follow the old tradition of simply walking down to the scanner area near the pontoon and just get at the very back end of the existing 4th deck tender waiting line.

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Princess Chatterer

[Guest ldtr]

33 minutes ago, Princess Chatterer said:

 

In the 300 range. The tender port was Lahaina.

 

The Elite benefit says “priority ship-to-shore water shuttle embarkation.”  It there was any priority at 11am at Lahaina on the Emerald Princess then I completely missed it.  In fact, the ship wide newsletter about water shuttle procedures never mentioned the word Elite, nor did the Princess event listings aka The Patter.  One would think that, lacking any written or verbal ship instruction, an Elite passenger would follow the old tradition of simply walking down to the scanner area near the pontoon and just get at the very back end of the existing 4th deck tender waiting line.

 

On the 8 cruises I have been on in the past year they have provided instructions for the tender process for Elites. Either in the patter or in some cases on a sheet distributed to the cabin.  Also available by asking customer service either in person or using the App chat function. When in the patter it is usually just a single line under the general tender instructions saying that the location for tender tickets for Elite and Suite guests is ...

 

 

Lahaina is usually one of the worst tender ports. Due to limited capacity at the pier, conflicts with the ferry and tour boats and the length of the tender.

 

Surprised at 300. On a Hawaiian cruise out of San Pedro we had almost 1000. Though thar one docked on the other side of Maui.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by ldtr

[Princess Chatterer]

I VERY carefully read and reread every word on the Princess “Dear Guest” Lahaina Water Shuttle Hints & Tips as well as the Princess Water Shuttle Operation for Lahaina in Princess event listings, These are in front of me right now.  As nothing was written in either document for Elite priority procedures I asked CrewCall Chat what were the Elite tendering instructions?  They said we were to proceed to Michelangelo MDR (instead of Club Fusion Deck 7 aft) In Michelangelo we were met by a crewman and the Captain’s Circle representative and were asked to take a seat.  As previously posted here when the next three groups were called, we were taken down the stairs mergining into the scrum (my words) of three groups that had been called from Club Fusion.  In was Club Confusion on deck 4 between the stairs/elevators leading to the ticket/no ticket taker on the far side of the door leading to the scanners.    

Edited June 12, 2023 by Princess Chatterer

[Mike45LC]

On 6/11/2023 at 6:36 AM, Cruise till you drop said:

Is this perk really such a big deal?  Tenders aren’t so common and we’ve never really waited in line long to get one

On Lahaina, people were complaining that the wait for a tender ashore was 2 hours.   We went to the MDR and were immediately sent to the tender to board.  So, yes, this is an important perk!

 

In Cabo, I often do not go ashore until they stopped issuing tender tickets, but it is the same experience for elites, go to the meeting place and get escorted down to the tender.

[memoak]

22 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

On Lahaina, people were complaining that the wait for a tender ashore was 2 hours.   We went to the MDR and were immediately sent to the tender to board.  So, yes, this is an important perk!

 

In Cabo, I often do not go ashore until they stopped issuing tender tickets, but it is the same experience for elites, go to the meeting place and get escorted down to the tender.

The biggest problem with Cabo is the long wait for tenders shore to ship 

[Mike45LC]

33 minutes ago, memoak said:

The biggest problem with Cabo is the long wait for tenders shore to ship 

Many years ago, when I first made Elite, it was that long line at Cabo for the tenders back to the ship that caused me to read the fine print about Elite benefits, to learn that the priority was only TO shore.  So I started to sit at one of the bars right near the tender dock waiting for the tender queue to get reasonable.

[fpsphil]

1 hour ago, Princess Chatterer said:

I VERY carefully read and reread every word on the Princess “Dear Guest” Lahaina Water Shuttle Hints & Tips as well as the Princess Water Shuttle Operation for Lahaina in Princess event listings, These are in front of me right now.  As nothing was written in either document for Elite priority procedures I asked CrewCall Chat what were the Elite tendering instructions?  They said we were to proceed to Michelangelo MDR (instead of Club Fusion Deck 7 aft) In Michelangelo we were met by a crewman and the Captain’s Circle representative and were asked to take a seat.  As previously posted here when the next three groups were called, we were taken down the stairs mergining into the scrum (my words) of three groups that had been called from Club Fusion.  In was Club Confusion on deck 4 between the stairs/elevators leading to the ticket/no ticket taker on the far side of the door leading to the scanners.    

Did you read your Captain Circle welcome letter? It clearly states out water shuttle procedures for elites

[memoak]

10 minutes ago, fpsphil said:

Did you read your Captain Circle welcome letter? It clearly states out water shuttle procedures for elites

Yes along with info on elite/platinum lounge and captains circle party

[Guest ldtr]

25 minutes ago, fpsphil said:

Did you read your Captain Circle welcome letter? It clearly states out water shuttle procedures for elites

About half of the cruises I have been on had it there.  The other times it was in the patter

[MissP22]

Aside from the tendering process, did you make the cutoff for the MT passenger affair?? If so was it a luncheon or cocktail party?  

[cruisequeen4ever]

We had this happen on a Europe cruise pre-pandemic. We still received priority tendering; we just had to wait in an Elite holding area right at the exit of the dining room. That way they’d put us at the start of whatever tender group was being called and file out. It’s not as wonderful as just joining the tender line like before, but it at least still gives us priority. 

[memoak]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

Aside from the tendering process, did you make the cutoff for the MT passenger affair?? If so was it a luncheon or cocktail party?  

Not sure who you asked this of. We are one the Discovery right now and MT is a luncheon on the last day

[infoteknerd]

AWE!!! First Elite cruise is planned for next year and I was so looking forward to the "Rite of Passage" that is shoving some poor Platinum member into the sea as I shuffled onto the tender clutching my black medallion, Princess is taking away all the fun... They better have some tea and biscuits in the waiting room! /s