Princess Rewards Loyal Past Passengers with Additional Benefits. Wireless Internet, New Vacation Protection Plan and Exclusive Phone
Line Now Available to Princess Captain's Circle Members.

Read the details here

<edit to replace "framed" information with a link>

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dave Beers,

Thanks for posting this, Rich.

These are awesome perks in my opinion.

Dwayne

Yes & no.
The wifi is a neat benefit for checking my e mail on my ipod in the cabin when it's available but I still don't want to haul my laptop on a cruise.
I don't understand the $400 internet allowance part. Perhaps it's for both husband & wife combined.
The Princess Vacation Protection sounds like an up-sell of something I don't use to begin with.

So all in all it's just a big public announcement to entice more people to cruise with much giving much in compensation. They could have started a new level for pax with 30 or more cruises & have provided something like the Concierge Club similar to RCI. Now that would be something to get excited about & shoot for.
I guess I want to much.

RichC, I have to agree: this is all smoke and mirrors. Dwayne, there are some very nice perks, but there is not really anything new here.

The special phone number to the "Circle Desk" probable goes to the same bank of operators at 800-PRINCESS; option 6 has always taken you right to the Circle Desk.

The vacation protection upgrade is just new terminology; the free upgrade used to be to "Gold"; now it's to "Platinum".

The free WiFi is just an extension of the previous internet credit to wireless--which it should have been all along.

The "Launch Savings" is just another name for the past-passenger discount that has always been available.

Don't get me wrong; there are some very nice perks, especially for Elite: free laundry, dry cleaning and shoe polishing; free mini-bar set up and deluxe canapes on formal nights; free wine tasting and 10% discount in the shops; priority tender embarkation and preferred boarding and debarkation.

But there are really no "additional benefits" as trumpeted in this "new" program.

I want priority tender re=boarding.

Now that would be something useful!

Regarding the free Wifi, we used this on our 20 day Grand Princess cruise this past April. On that ship, they had extended Wifi to cover all the cabins on the ship (this is not yet available fleet-wide). As a Platinum/Elite member, you are given a credit depending the length of the cruise. You than can use that credit to purchase the appropriate on-line package (you can do this the first time you log-on). On our cruise (and I believe they do this on all their cruises) if you purchase the internet package on the embarkation day, you also get bonus minutes (I believe it added 10% more minutes). We were able to purchase two 200 minute packages and we also got the 10% so we had 440 minutes of free internet on our cruise.

Hank

I guess I'm the only one alive, but when I get on board a ship, the LAST thing I want is internet access. I am NOT going to read or send emails, I don't want to know about anything from home, I don't want to contact my work, friends, or family. If there's an emergency, call me. You can pay the charges for interupting my vacation. But, I must be the only one on the face of the earth that feels that way.

If the speed wasn't so painfully slow I would actually use my allotted minutes but being the way it is I doubt if I use 1/4 of my free time.

Penny, I have come around to your way of thinking. You are not alone.

I used to try to go online, or at least check my mail; but like RichC says, it is so slow (painfully slow is a good way to put it) I usually walk away in disgust; especially after waiting 5 minutes for a connection, then losing it right away. I don't need that kind of aggravation on my vacation, free or not.

I always take my laptop. I enjoy working on photos as time permits. I have to say any connection we have had onboard (any line) has been so very slow.
Now if they give away minutes it is going to put more people on and slow it down more.

Penny,

I'm with you on this. On a cruise I drop out of sight from the real world. I enjoy every minute of being free of an electronic leash.