Free Internet to be Eliminated for Upper Levels of Capt's Club

[Toto2Kansas]

What no one here has commented on is how far out of line the internet prices are to begin with. While drinks, spa treatments, shore excursions, etc. may be 10-20% higher than their non-cruise counterparts, at $30 per hour, internet pricing is TEN TIMES higher than anywhere else (at no expense to the ship, vs. those other items which do have a per-item cost).

-D

 

Princess Internet charges are actually some of the cheapest on any cruise ship. And keep in mind that we are talking satellite link up here, not DSL or landline (they can't find an extension cord long enough) ;)

[Princess Patches]

I am not sure why posters think the change in internet access is due to internet hogs. The internet access change was posted on the Princess website yesterday, simultaneously with the change that reflects sea days will be counted towards the membership levels. That seems to be a strong indication to me that the addition of numerous new members at the Platinum and Elite levels due to counting sea days toward membership triggered the change in free internet access.

[chrysalis]

 

As far as the use of the word "elimination" I believe it is correct. If you go to the internet cafe and swipe your Platinum or Elite card you will be charged from the first minute. It is only if you buy an internet package at a reduced rate where you will get a credit. If you buy a $100 package you will still pay $25. That is not free in my view. You are not getting 20 minutes free daily. You must buy a package.

 

sorry, but you think that the sky is falling......if I buy that same $100 package and I am on the Sun for 10 days, then my $100 worth of internet is free.....if I was on a 7 day cruise, I would buy the smaller package if I wanted all of my internet to be free. And no where did I say that I would be getting 20 minutes per day free...I said it works out to average 20 minutes per day....the sky is not falling

[tech]

Princess Patches,

 

That also makes sense.

 

I doubt if we will know what the reasoning is behind the decision.

 

Except...it will have to do with revenue.

[Toto2Kansas]

sorry, but you think that the sky is falling......if I buy that same $100 package and I am on the Sun for 10 days, then my $100 worth of internet is free.....if I was on a 7 day cruise, I would buy the smaller package if I wanted all of my internet to be free. And no where did I say that I would be getting 20 minutes per day free...I said it works out to average 20 minutes per day....the sky is not falling

 

OK, that is what I thought then. Mainly what this seems to be doing is limiting the number of minutes online free for each passenger (platinum and elite members), which makes total sense to me. Sounds great, I have absolutely no problem or complaints with this new rule at all.

[Princess Patches]

Princess Patches,

 

That also makes sense.

 

I doubt if we will know what the reasoning is behind the decision.

 

Except...it will have to do with revenue.

 

Tech - I am sure you are right about that. It could just be Carnival corporate greed too. I knew the free internet access was too good to be true!! I hope there are no more perk changes to follow.

[LARGIN]

It is still free to the non-abusers...

[Toto2Kansas]

It is still free to the non-abusers...

 

GREAT way to describe it. LMAO

[sonomaphil]

As someone who is heading toward Platinum next September (yeah, I’m one of those who will do it with 3 short cruises included) I couldn’t even imagine wanting to spend my cruise just playing on the internet. I enjoyed being able to "Escape Completely”. We didn’t even pay attention to CNN or care what was going on in the outside world. A quick “Hi” in a “Live from…” thread sounds like fun but there is much more that I want to do onboard then cruise the internet. This from someone who spends his life on the internet.

[sultan_sfo]

The 1-dayers "hopefully" will still get $75 credit. Next change will be -- no credit for cruises less than 7 days! /Sultan

[Toto2Kansas]

I would honestly like to see this thread pulled and restarted with the appropriate subject line. Such as "Princess changes FREE internet from unlimited to limited access" before it really confuses everyone. The title of this thread really is not correct at all and makes it sound like ALL free internet perks have been discontinued.

[chrysalis]

I would honestly like to see this thread pulled and restarted with the appropriate subject line. Such as "Princess changes FREE internet from unlimited to limited access" before it really confuses everyone. The title of this thread really is not correct at all and makes it sound like ALL free internet perks have been discontinued.

 

I agree...that has been my point all along.....

[ccrain]

I am not sure why posters think the change in internet access is due to internet hogs. The internet access change was posted on the Princess website yesterday, simultaneously with the change that reflects sea days will be counted towards the membership levels. That seems to be a strong indication to me that the addition of numerous new members at the Platinum and Elite levels due to counting sea days toward membership triggered the change in free internet access.

 

I don't think this is response to "internet hogs". Our last cruise, 11 days, had an internet bill of $195, mainly posting "live from" threads and checking weather and sea state forecasts. I'm sure someone in corporate did the math, checked the receipts and is now forecasting an increase in revenue by this new method. This also comes in addition to a general increase in drink prices on-board - at least on a couple of ships, a change-over to a 3rd party internet provider - on some ships as well and an increase in internet usage fees.

 

It appears that a major price restructuring and updating across the board is now in process.

 

Obviously, if enough people quit using the internet they would either eliminate it all together or lower the price. This may be a classic case of supply versus demand, corporate policy versus consumer reaction. It will be interesting to see what happens.

 

One thing for sure, no more internet for me, which will make my wife very happy...

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

What no one here has commented on is how far out of line the internet prices are to begin with. While drinks, spa treatments, shore excursions, etc. may be 10-20% higher than their non-cruise counterparts, at $30 per hour, internet pricing is TEN TIMES higher than anywhere else (at no expense to the ship, vs. those other items which do have a per-item cost).

 

-D

 

Where does this information come from? People these days seem to project their opinions as fact. 'No expense to the ship' is completely wrong. There is a very high cost to the ship, this is the reason it is expensive. You can't compare the price of perfume to the price of Internet access, Princess employees don't sit in a conference room and say 'I know let's charge a really high amount for Internet'. They charge the amount they need to pay for the service and yes, make a profit (as every business does).

 

The problem with computer technology is there are lots of people who think they are experts, I am not directing that comment at the person I am responding to but to everyone in general. People tend to compare the Internet access on ships with their own access at home. Whilst this may seem reasonable to do and I can understand the thinking behind that, it is not a comparison that can be made. Just because the end user sees the same Internet does not mean everything in between is the same and it is in fact completely different.

 

As I have said in other similar threads, the expense to use this type of technology is huge. High orbit, geo stationary satellites don’t come cheap neither to the parabolic transceivers at each end of the signal. And then there is bandwidth, which has to be paid for. There is certainly a big payment being made by the cruise line.

 

At the moment there is a change over on Princess. They are changing their cafes over to MTN, the company that provides the satellite service. They are also starting to deck out the ships with wireless for the entire ship. This costs money and this is the reason there has been a modest increase in the price of the service.

[kingsx]

i must say i am sorry about the free internet going away.we just got to the platium level,and was looking forward to the free internet. but i will enjoy the platium checkin. but as long as they don't stop having a bar or the dinning rooms, we will be ok after all we will be on V A C A T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cruise Junky]

Has this changed for Suite passengers or just Elite and Plantinum?

[Toto2Kansas]

i must say i am sorry about the free internet going away.we just got to the platium level,and was looking forward to the free internet. but i will enjoy the platium checkin. but as long as they don't stop having a bar or the dinning rooms, we will be ok after all we will be on V A C A T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

This response is exactly what I am talking about. Please ask this thread to be pulled, it is giving everyone incorrect info.

 

Free internet will still be alive and well, just limited compared to unlimted as before.

[Pam in CA]

Free internet will still be alive and well, just limited compared to unlimted as before.

And, it's not as if the "limited" Internet isn't reasonable. It's enough for most people to check their email daily or every other day.

[bjkTX]

I thought we had it all figured out last week. We have taken 4 cruises, all on Princess. We booked a 15 day Panama Canal cruise on the Coral for Apr 2008 - our 5th. Since we wouldn't get Platinum status until we completed that cruise we were considering taking a 7 day cruise this summer so that we'd be Platinum on the long cruise. Now I can't decide if it's worthwhile spending $3,000 on the cruise this summer if I'm not going to get free internet after that! :-)

 

By the way - always good to see the Admiral jump in and give us the facts!

[Toto2Kansas]

I thought we had it all figured out last week. We have taken 4 cruises, all on Princess. We booked a 15 day Panama Canal cruise on the Coral for Apr 2008 - our 5th. Since we wouldn't get Platinum status until we completed that cruise we were considering taking a 7 day cruise this summer so that we'd be Platinum on the long cruise. Now I can't decide if it's worthwhile spending $3,000 on the cruise this summer if I'm not going to get free internet after that! :-)

 

By the way - always good to see the Admiral jump in and give us the facts!

 

PLEASE! Read down a couple of posts, they are NOT totally taking away free internet, just limiting the minutes to a normal range.

[skarletohara]

What about those with full suites? Is it a limited internet package or

unlimited, or does anybody know the answer to that yet?

 

I reached Platinum on our last cruise 7 months ago, and it was very nice

having the unlimited internet usage, although i only racked up a

$48 bill WHICH they tried to charge me for, I might add. And if I HAD been paying for the service, I would have been stressed, as it took 4-ever to

boot up and get on line. Only a couple of the computers in the room were

truly "moderately speedy" and to pay for that? No way.

 

I have a cruise booked 4/12/07 and I must say, I am bummed that the

perk is being taken away on 4/1/07. Perhaps it's an April's Fool joke. I think cruises should be

based on the number of cruises and NOT accrued days. Of course

that's why we're losing this perk. It's not hard to figure out.

After this 4/12 cruise, I think we'll go back to Celebrity.

In a strange sort of way it's the fact that we get these extra perks

that keeps us coming back, but if the perks are diminished, then there's not a lot to keep us coming back. :cool:

 

I've enjoyed Princess very much, but with each successive cruise it seems that there's yet just another "little thing" that I'm not happy with, didn't complain about, but taken together as a whole picture I guess I'm getting disenchanted with Princess.

[Ula]

This is very doable for us. I might spend 10 minutes a day on the internet. If it is 75.00 per person, and for some reason I go crazy I can use my husbands card since he does not internet.

I do have to say, sometimes the connection is very slow. What I do is just log off and try later or on another day. The most I have spent on the internet and I have always had to pay was 30.00. I do not see that changing.

[LARGIN]

It amazes me that people do not read.. They are not taking the free internet service away. They are limiting the amount of free time and this free time is more than adequate for 99.9% of us. What this does is stops the abusers that sit in from of the ships computers for hours at a time.

[Toto2Kansas]

It amazes me that people do not read.. They are not taking the free internet service away. They are limiting the amount of free time and this free time is more than adequate for 99.9% of us. What this does is stops the abusers that sit in from of the ships computers for hours at a time.

 

Largin, I GIVE UP! Almost everyone is reading the subject on this thread but hardly anyone is taking time to read the responses that actually tell how this is going to work.

 

I have never seen anything quite like this before. :eek: :eek:

[Princess Patches]

What about those with full suites? Is it a limited internet package or

unlimited, or does anybody know the answer to that yet?

 

I reached Platinum on our last cruise 7 months ago, and it was very nice

having the unlimited internet usage, although i only racked up a

$48 bill WHICH they tried to charge me for, I might add. And if I HAD been paying for the service, I would have been stressed, as it took 4-ever to

boot up and get on line. Only a couple of the computers in the room were

truly "moderately speedy" and to pay for that? No way.

 

I have a cruise booked 4/12/07 and I must say, I am bummed that the

perk is being taken away on 4/1/07. Perhaps it's an April's Fool joke. I think cruises should be

based on the number of cruises and NOT accrued days. Of course

that's why we're losing this perk. It's not hard to figure out.

After this 4/12 cruise, I think we'll go back to Celebrity.

In a strange sort of way it's the fact that we get these extra perks

that keeps us coming back, but if the perks are diminished, then there's not a lot to keep us coming back. :cool:

 

I've enjoyed Princess very much, but with each successive cruise it seems that there's yet just another "little thing" that I'm not happy with, didn't complain about, but taken together as a whole picture I guess I'm getting disenchanted with Princess.

 

I couldn't have said it better. It takes me 10 minutes just to log on and get to my email due to the slow system and the frequent system foul-ups.

 

Since Carnival purchased Princess there has been this slow drip of loss of perks and added costs. Someone told me today that Carnival has a profit margin of 24% whereas the other cruise lines have a profit margin of 8%. Can this be true? That would explain a lot.

 

I don't think Carnival should have been allowed to purchase so many cruise lines because it stifles competition. I too have enjoyed Princess immensely and don't want the product changed.