Response from Princess to email re changes

[roadster08]

Second response from Princess....

 

[JGmf]

42 minutes ago, san diego sue said:

Sometimes we book a suite. I think we should not be  charged for room service while in a suite.

Benefits  for being in a suite are less and less now.We are already paying a higher daily gratuity too.

 

Totally agree.  That said, do we know from anyone's actual experience on-ship that suite passengers without the Plus program are being charged for room service?  I have to believe that they wouldn't be.  It doesn't compute give the high relative cost of suites.

[Thrak]

14 hours ago, suzyed said:

Not if you have  Plus or Premier.

 

Not exactly... You must have the $60 Plus or the $80 Premier. Those who have paid for Plus or Premier prior to the price increase will still have to pay $5 per call for most room service phone calls. For the included Elite perks I doubt there will be a charge.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Thrak

[suzyed]

3 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

We were on the Sky Princess June/July.  Had purchased the Plus package prior to Dec 2022.  For some reason, I stopped by where the juice bar is and ordered a juice.  My Medallion was scanned and the crew guy said I had the $50 package and it didn't included the "free juice".  I knew that but just totally forgot.

Where is the Juice Bar anyway?

 

[coo359a2]

2 minutes ago, suzyed said:

Where is the Juice Bar anyway?

 

On the Sky,  it is at the specialty coffee/pastry aisle in the buffet.  Think it closes down a bit before noon. The Plus package for our 15 Nov Grand P. cruise has the juice bar so will be the first time to try one.  The juices on the Sky were all the healthy type

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

You know what... yes, Princess has sprung this on everyone... yes, it affects some and not others... yes, it could affect a small number of people significantly and a lot of people a bit... and yes, they could have (should have IMO) grandfathered the new benefits to everyone that was inside the 90 days.

 

But this is the take away for me...

 

Cruising is meant to be a vacation... a holiday... a time to relax and enjoy an amazing ship, visiting amazing places, often with amazing friends and family. Why turn it into something to complain about? Yes there are principles at stake here but why make your hard-earned holiday be the battleground for what will for most people be a trivial impact given the overall cost of the cruise?

 

I just don't understand why anyone would want to make such a big thing out of it... that is all.

[nnzz]

1 hour ago, san diego sue said:

we always tip room service deliveries and probably still will do it. Wondering  how people will feel if we are charged $5 for each delivery.

Sometimes we book a suite. I think we should not be  charged for room service while in a suite.

Benefits  for being in a suite are less and less now.We are already paying a higher daily gratuity too.

As of this morning, I checked the new list of suite benefits and it now states that "OceanNow delivery and Call Chat included for whatever you need from food to service" so I can not see how they can possible charge.  I plan on printing out the "new " brochure and bringing it with me next month but I honestly did not expect that they would have charged for those things in the suites.

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

Not exactly... You must have the $60 Plus or the $80 Premier. Those who have paid for Plus or Premier prior to the price increase will still have to pay $5 per call for most room service phone calls. For the included Elite perks I doubt there will be a charge.

Once again, that is what I was referring to.  At this point in time, while there are still Plus 40/50 and Premier 75 packages out there that were purchased last year.  What is now being offered in way of a package are Plus 60 and Premiere (80). So when we are talking about delivery to the cabin of High Tea, sandwiches, etc. there will not be a $5 delivery charge with either package now being offered.

[suzyed]

41 minutes ago, Snaxmuppet said:

You know what... yes, Princess has sprung this on everyone... yes, it affects some and not others... yes, it could affect a small number of people significantly and a lot of people a bit... and yes, they could have (should have IMO) grandfathered the new benefits to everyone that was inside the 90 days.

 

But this is the take away for me...

 

Cruising is meant to be a vacation... a holiday... a time to relax and enjoy an amazing ship, visiting amazing places, often with amazing friends and family. Why turn it into something to complain about? Yes there are principles at stake here but why make your hard-earned holiday be the battleground for what will for most people be a trivial impact given the overall cost of the cruise?

 

I just don't understand why anyone would want to make such a big thing out of it... that is all.

For me, it is ALL about the principle.   They sold one thing and are delivering another....period.

 

It is not going to affect my vacation in the least (we have tons of OBC) but is going to affect which cruise line I will choose going forward.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, san diego sue said:

we always tip room service deliveries and probably still will do it. Wondering  how people will feel if we are charged $5 for each delivery.

Sometimes we book a suite. I think we should not be  charged for room service while in a suite.

Benefits  for being in a suite are less and less now.  We are already paying a higher daily gratuity too.

I and others have posited this question.  Does any of the $5 RS fee or the ON $15 service fee go into the tip pool?  I am not aware if Princess has made a statement on this, but we might ASSUME they are doing so since they do with other fees, services, cover charges.

[startedwithamouse]

16 minutes ago, suzyed said:

Once again, that is what I was referring to.  At this point in time, while there are still Plus 40/50 and Premier 75 packages out there that were purchased last year.  What is now being offered in way of a package are Plus 60 and Premiere (80). So when we are talking about delivery to the cabin of High Tea, sandwiches, etc. there will not be a $5 delivery charge with either package now being offered.

They only have Afternoon Tea available for delivery to elite guests. 

[Steelers36]

16 minutes ago, suzyed said:

Once again, that is what I was referring to.  At this point in time, while there are still Plus 40/50 and Premier 75 packages out there that were purchased last year.  What is now being offered in way of a package are Plus 60 and Premiere (80). So when we are talking about delivery to the cabin of High Tea, sandwiches, etc. there will not be a $5 delivery charge with either package now being offered.

But you seem to suggest in several posts that there (at least) could be a charge for Elite Afternoon Tea if guest doesn't have a package that covers RS $5 fees.  There is no delivery charge for Elite benefits no matter what package guest has.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

I and others have posited this question.  Does any of the $5 RS fee or the ON $15 service fee go into the tip pool?  I am not aware if Princess has made a statement on this, but we might ASSUME they are doing so since they do with other fees, services, cover charges.

Those are charges not tips so they would not go into the tip pool. In my opinion 

[cheetosrevil]

1 hour ago, suzyed said:

For me, it is ALL about the principle.   They sold one thing and are delivering another....period.

 

It is not going to affect my vacation in the least (we have tons of OBC) but is going to affect which cruise line I will choose going forward.

I'm reading an FAQ that I hadn't seen previously on the Princess site and found this entry "interesting" (I bolded and italicized the pertinent part).

 

Will I receive the new perks if I purchased Princess Plus or Premier at the old rate of $50/$75 per day?
You can absolutely upgrade to the new perks at the new price! If you do not wish to upgrade, you can enjoy the package with the original perks as you initially purchased them.

 

Seems like a case could be made that folks could get the perks they purchased prior to the changes to me.

[c-boy]

5 hours ago, san diego sue said:

we always tip room service deliveries and probably still will do it. Wondering  how people will feel if we are charged $5 for each delivery.

Sometimes we book a suite. I think we should not be  charged for room service while in a suite.

Benefits  for being in a suite are less and less now.We are already paying a higher daily gratuity too.

I'm hopeful the sphere class will have better accommodations for suite guests 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Those are charges not tips so they would not go into the tip pool. In my opinion 

I never suggested the full amount.  However, RS and ON are involving ship crew to get the goods to the guest.  There is gratuity baked into SD covers and other service fees, so I would think it logical that SOME amount of the RS fee and ON fee will be going to the pool.  It would be nice to know this from Princess.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, cheetosrevil said:

I'm reading an FAQ that I hadn't seen previously on the Princess site and found this entry "interesting" (I bolded and italicized the pertinent part).

 

Will I receive the new perks if I purchased Princess Plus or Premier at the old rate of $50/$75 per day?
You can absolutely upgrade to the new perks at the new price! If you do not wish to upgrade, you can enjoy the package with the original perks as you initially purchased them.

 

Seems like a case could be made that folks could get the perks they purchased prior to the changes to me.

But RS and Casual Dining were not items in the packages and were the same for everyone on board.  I don't see a case here on this ground - other than a case for ALL guests if one was to advocate grandfathering.

[cheetosrevil]

2 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

But RS and Casual Dining were not items in the packages and were the same for everyone on board.  I don't see a case here on this ground - other than a case for ALL guests if one was to advocate grandfathering.

Ah, yes...thanks.

[B_A_H]

3 hours ago, Snaxmuppet said:

You know what... yes, Princess has sprung this on everyone... yes, it affects some and not others... yes, it could affect a small number of people significantly and a lot of people a bit... and yes, they could have (should have IMO) grandfathered the new benefits to everyone that was inside the 90 days.

 

But this is the take away for me...

 

Cruising is meant to be a vacation... a holiday... a time to relax and enjoy an amazing ship, visiting amazing places, often with amazing friends and family. Why turn it into something to complain about? Yes there are principles at stake here but why make your hard-earned holiday be the battleground for what will for most people be a trivial impact given the overall cost of the cruise?

 

I just don't understand why anyone would want to make such a big thing out of it... that is all.

Amen. Like you, I get the principle thing. What I don't get is futilely beating something to death that can't be changed.  I 100% agree Princess not grandfathering people in to the new programs was overtly hostile.

 

But like you said, if someone's at the point in their booking that they can't cancel without penalty, letting these changes ruin a several thousand dollar vacation seems counterintuitive. Princess will make the same amount of money whether someone sails happy or miserable.    

 

For those aggrieved, retribution comes in never booking Princess again.  If enough of you walk the talk maybe it'll send a message. But honestly, if there's enough new blood to replace you, Princess won't care. They clearly didn't care when they made the decision not to grandfather anyone in the first place.  

[coo359a2]

2 hours ago, cheetosrevil said:

I'm reading an FAQ that I hadn't seen previously on the Princess site and found this entry "interesting" (I bolded and italicized the pertinent part).

 

Will I receive the new perks if I purchased Princess Plus or Premier at the old rate of $50/$75 per day?
You can absolutely upgrade to the new perks at the new price! If you do not wish to upgrade, you can enjoy the package with the original perks as you initially purchased them.

 

Seems like a case could be made that folks could get the perks they purchased prior to the changes to me.

We only have the perks that went with the  $50 per day rate (amount we paid for Plus in 2022).  When they changed the rates at the beginning of this year, we had an email that if we wanted the juice bar, desserts, gym we would need to pay extra $10 per day to equal the $60 rate that now included those 3 new  items. We didn't upgrade so only have the perks offered when we booked the Plus in 2022 (gratuities, internet and drinks).

Edited August 26, 2023 by coo359a2

[Normanville]

5 hours ago, suzyed said:

Where is the Juice Bar anyway?

 

On Grand it is at the back, aft, bar lido deck just outside Horizon court.

[B_A_H]

Celebrity just removed features from Aqua Class including for people under final payment.  As you'd imagine the thread in their forum has hit six pages in twelve hours.  The e-mail they sent guests said:
 

"We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or discomfort this might cause you."

 

That's corporate speak for "because we can and you can go pound sand if you don't like it."  These last minute degradations suck.  But clearly demand is strong enough the cruise lines feel they can get away with it.  If multiple cruise lines are doing the rest have no incentive not to follow.   

[suzyed]

58 minutes ago, B_A_H said:

Celebrity just removed features from Aqua Class including for people under final payment.  As you'd imagine the thread in their forum has hit six pages in twelve hours.  The e-mail they sent guests said:
 

"We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or discomfort this might cause you."

 

That's corporate speak for "because we can and you can go pound sand if you don't like it."  These last minute degradations suck.  But clearly demand is strong enough the cruise lines feel they can get away with it.  If multiple cruise lines are doing the rest have no incentive not to follow.   

Following Princess' lead.
Such distain for their loyal customers.

[suzyed]

5 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

They only have Afternoon Tea available for delivery to elite guests. 

Yes, I know.  But I believe the question was whether there is a $5 delivery charge if you don't have a package?

[cheetosrevil]

1 hour ago, coo359a2 said:

We only have the perks that went with the  $50 per day rate (amount we paid for Plus in 2022).  When they changed the rates at the beginning of this year, we had an email that if we wanted the juice bar, desserts, gym we would need to pay extra $10 per day to equal the $60 rate that now included those 3 new  items. We didn't upgrade so only have the perks offered when we booked the Plus in 2022 (gratuities, internet and drinks).

For some reason I was thinking of the casual restaurants going from included to the new structure and not factoring that they weren't part of any packages, but fares.