Princess urges agents to push 2025 as 2024 capacity ‘maxes out’

[Host Mike]

"Princess Cruises has encouraged its agent partners to push its 2025 itineraries as capacity for this year “maxes out”

This was the message from the line’s vice president of UK and European sales Eithne Williamson, who told Cruise Trade News the launch of its most recent vessel, Sun Princess, has led to a sharp uptick in consumer demand for the brand."

"Across Sun’s first two cruises, the line welcomed more than 200 UK agents, which, Williamson said, highlights their importance."

https://www.cruisetradenews.com/princess-urges-agents-to-push-2025-as-2024-capacity-maxes-out/

Ed: Free cruises will get a TA's full attention.

[RichC]

Well if they're at max capacity then it may be a good time to try HAL or even go back to Celebrity for a change. We've lost so much of our Elite benefits it wouldn't make much difference to us at this point and might even be a welcomed change to see how the other people are living.

[obendus]

Agreed Rich. Elite doesn't carry much 'humph' anymore, eg: Priority Embarkation waiting area, free internet time, and a 3 day turnaround on laundry service. The 'new' structure is clearly pay to play, with epic charges for bundled packages. Clearly there is less resistance to consideration of other lines.

[RichC]

I'm waiting for even more cutbacks of the remaining Elite benefits, like laundry & possibly the setup.
I just heard last night about Carnival doing the same with a few of their upper perks- priority boarding & disembarkation. They claimed they had to many people in the upper classification.

[obendus]

"They claimed they had to many people in the upper classification."
Ah, the pox of a successful promotion. Let's hope that Princess doesn't follow, but every indication is that cruises are moving to an a-la-carte sale structure. Bids for cabin 'upgrades' now have a base level for the offer, ie: last December we snagged a balcony 'upgrade' for $200pp. This year, it's a sliding scale, where the minimum bid is $370 'ish per person. For a blind upgrade. Yuck!