Elite Perks Tips and Suggestions

[ccrain]

Our 16th and 17th cruise has now been paid for and we received the coveted black cards on Friday along with our membership guides.

I've read all the literature about the new perks, but I have some questions and I'm sure there are a few tips and tricks to getting the most out of them. Here are a few questions:

1 - For priority tendering do you just go down to the tender, flash the card and get on?

2 - Deluxe Canapes? - Do you order them and they get charged, then credited to your bill?

3 - Mini-Bar Setup - What's in it and what can you trade out?

4 - Complimentary wine tasting - There are typically two, which one? Or Both? Just show up and flash the card?

5 - Free Laundry (Oh YEAAHHHH!) - Do you get the priority "day of" at no additional charge? How long do you typically wait for laundry to come back? With free laundry, how many days of clothes do you pack now?

6 - Priority Disembarkation - I assume if you have a transfer you still have to get off when the transfer is called? I assume you can't get off with the self help crowd if you have luggage waiting on shore?

7 - Traditional Afternoon Tea - Is this different from High Tea or is it delivered to your stateroom.

Any other tips, tricks or suggestions are welcome!

[f-mattox]

Congratulations, ccrain;  it's a good feeling, isin't it.

In discussing this with some other cruisers, we have discovered there is some variation from ship to ship; but I can tell you what my experience has been on my last few cruises, most recently last April on Island Princess, Exotic Panama Canal.

1.  We had "Priority Tender Embarkation" tickets waiting for us in our cabin.  The one port where we tendered, we had a shore excursion booked which met onboard, so we gave the tickets to another couple, who said they just presented them at the tender.

2.  The evening before each of the three formal nights there was an order form left on our pillow with the chocolates and room service breakfast menu.  We filled it out, hung it outside the door with the breakfast order form; and the tray was delivered at exactly the requested time the next afternoon.  I think you would be charged if you ordered them on a night other than a formal night.  Maybe not--we didn't try.

3.  We had two 1.5 oz. mineratures each of gin, vodka, Canadian whiskey and V.S.O.P.;  we also had two 12 oz. cans each of Coke, Diet Coke, Squirt, tonic water and Miller's MGD; and two bottles of Perrier and two bottles of Crystal Geyser.  We didn't think about trading anything out, but I'm sure we could have.

4.  There were two complimentary tickets to a wine tasting waiting in the cabin;  we didn't use them but the instructions were to present the tickets at the door.  There was a second wine tasting later in the cruise, but it was for "Premium" wines;  it was fairly pricy as I remember and we did not receive tickets for that one.

5.  We used the laundry service three times, but not the "same day" service;  we left the bag on the bed when we went out in the morning and it was back the next afternoon.  And in spite of some horror stories I've heard, they did an excellent job.  We sent in one dry cleaning order and it also came back the next day, very nicely done. 

6.  You are correct on both points.  The new disembarkatin precess works so well there is really no need for the special Platinum/Elite lounge anymore.  We had breakfast in the dining room; them picked up our hand luggage from the cabin and it was time to go to our assigned lounge.  We were escorted from there to the Immigration check, and then off.  Of course this was San Pedro and the procedure could vary by port.

7.  You may have the Traditional afternoon tea delivered to your cabin;  but unless you have a suite and want to entertain friends, I don't see much point to it;  you miss the elegance and ambiance of the dining room and the lovely live music, usually a string quartet. 

Don't forget the 10% boutique discount;  and be sure to show your little black card before the sale is written up.  I didn't once, and if looks could kill . . . .

Rick

[Suzy Cruisy]

My additions...

2)  I didn't get the little card to be filled in for the 'free' canapes and when I called to get them ordered on my first Elite trip, I went through hell.  Even though my steward didn't give me the form, it was my fault for not knowing about it.  You have to order them the day prior, and you only get them on formal night and if you fill in the special Elite form.  Stay on top of it if you don't get it from your steward on the first day.

3)  We informed our steward which things we wanted switched out in the bar, and it was done the first full day.

5)  I am a laundry service feind!     I send out my stuff every single day on regular service, so it comes back tomorrow night if given today.  Express is also free, so I turn stuff in Express on the last day so I can have an entire suitcase of clean clothes on my way home.  The only thing that comes home dirty is the clothes we wore on the last day.   And I do pack less, but it's still tricky to pack the right number of things because of the 'end of the next day' time thing.  I'd say I cut my packing by 1/3 on a 7-night cruise.  But I was still a bit challenged and had to send out Express one time midweek for my hubby to have dockers to wear to dinner.   

I've had no problems with the dry cleaning of the formalwear either for free. 

The only thing I sent out that came back not as wonderful as when I sent it was a bra.  I guess for that kind of delicate thing, you shouldn't be a laundry feind.  LOL!  I had so much success up to that point though, I decided to try it.

The paper laundry bags don't hold a lot and are not as sturdy as I think they should be.  Therefore, piling up your laundry is less convenient than sending out out a little at a time every day.

Also, on my last Princess cruise the steward actually brought me laundry tickets that were pre-printed with Elite in yellow, so I didn't have to write it manually.

And if only one person in your cabin is Elite, be SURE to send out the laundry under the Elite person's name.  I've heard stories of folks sending it out under the wrong person's account and it not being free.  How  is that?


7)  I had Traditional Afternoon Tea delivered to my cabin once, just to try it.  I thought it was fun, but prefer the atmosphere in the main salon better like f-mattox said.


Suzy's side point - I'm sure you already know this from being Platinum, but be SURE to buy the interent minutes 'package' and don't start paying 'by the minute' before you get your package.  It's a huge amount of difference in minutes you'll end up getting.  Doesn't matter that you might not use them all.  Also, if you're a WiFi lover, the free minutes work for that on ships that have SeaMobile installed now, so it's all good!

Cheers!

~Suzy

[Host Mike]

Our 16th and 17th cruise has now been paid for and we received the coveted black cards on Friday along with our membership guides.

I have completely paid for our 16th and 17th Princess cruise and have received absolutely nothing from Princess.  No black cards, no membership guides.  No nothing.  Captains Circle web page shows them all.

[ccrain]

Our 16th and 17th cruise has now been paid for and we received the coveted black cards on Friday along with our membership guides.

I have completely paid for our 16th and 17th Princess cruise and have received absolutely nothing from Princess.  No black cards, no membership guides.  No nothing.  Captains Circle web page shows them all.

Mike - Maybe they don't like you! Nah...

We were supposed to get our membership cards during our last cruise, but they didn't show up, so I mentioned this to the Princess rep on a call about 2 months ago and she asked when I would like them, and I said sooner rather than later. 6 weeks later they show up.

They really don't mean anything other than a neat gesture. I just can't wait to walk up to the counter and get the real thing...

[f-mattox]

I received mine onboard at the end of my 15th cruise.

But I had to call to get my status on the website updated.  Just the opposite of Host Mike's experience.  Go figure.

[NSWP]

We got our black cards on embarkation on Sun Princess, last June.  The 'canapes on formal nights' were just delivered to our cabin, no asking, they just arrived, nothing great, just 3 each.

Without doubt the laundry and internet are the best Elite perks.   Princess do not seem to take any notice of the drinks request you enter ono the Princess Circle site, we got nothing like we asked for, but got our steward to change it all for beer and scotch, no problem.   

Princess Elite now kicks in at 150 days..we have only done 8 cruises but longer ones, several were 3 or 4 weeks long that got us to the 150 days.

The lunch for the most travelled pax is also good, we made it on our Sun Princess cruise, there were only 25 or so Elite pax out of 2000 on board.    All 25 'black cards made the lunch.

I think the Princess loyalty scheme is OK, not great but OK.

[f-mattox]

It seems to vary by ship, dosen't it.  I've never heard of a lunch for the "most traveled" passenger--maybe because I have only been on the larger ships since reaching Elite, and there are usually around 80-150 of us.  But my mini-bar had exactly what I had checked in the "onboard preferences" in the Cruise Personalizer.