Not Again!

                   I hope that all of you are almost packed and ready to embark on one more cruise this year.

                   “What?”

                   “Another Cruise?”

                   “Four months on board wasn’t enough for you, Don?”

          Actually, the answer is No , it isn’t.

          Because….. all I need is an additional FIVE sailing days and I attain the ELITE Level of Passenger Status on Princess Cruise Lines!

                   “And what does that mean? Do you get to dine with the Captain? Can you pilot the ship? Are there extra chocolates involved?”

                   The answers to those questions are Maybe, No, and Hopefully.

                   The Backstory.

                   Originally, when I calculated what I needed to attain that ELITE level, I told Paula that I would just get an inside cabin of any Princess ship leaving Galveston for anywhere and it would cost me around $500. I probably wouldn’t even get off of the ship. This turned into Paula coming along for the ride, and then Danny, Kaitie, and Maddie hitching on as they were planning to take a vacation/cruise when Danny got back home from the Mid-West, and then Barb, Paula’s sister, asked if she could tag along (she’s feeling quite spry after her medical issues took a relative back seat). So, my cheap, one person attempt at attaining Elite has evolved just a tad!  😊

                   Like most Transportation Organizations, Princess has its own Loyalty Program (Frequent Flyer miles to use the embedded generalized term for this kind of reward program) and since most of my cruising experience has been on Princess, this program was the easiest to attain the highest level of.

                   Of course, this attainability was hugely impacted by the 111-Day World Cruise at the beginning of this year. Up til then I had 79 days of Cruising spread over several different Lines, but even then, over 30 of those days were with Princess, so that left me with just a handful needed to get to that ELITE Level.

                             “Well, you still haven’t answered our questions, Don. What does all of that get you anyway?”

                   OK, for starters I get free laundry. I can bring a minimal amount of clothes on a Cruise and just have the nice folks in the Laundry Department wash, dry, iron, and fold anything that goes down there. The turnaround on a normal cruise is about a day. So, if you wanted to bring two or three pair of undies, a few shirts, a pair of pants and a swimsuit, you could go on a Cruise with just a paper bag filled with your clothes.

                             Sounds tempting doesn’t it?

                             Until…..

                             Until you embark on a Cruise where the percentage of ELITE Cruisers is higher than normal.

                             “What does that mean?”

                   Let’s take for example your everyday 7-day Cruise in the Caribbean, like the one that we’re going on next week. As a percentage of passengers, those ELITE members are far fewer than what you will find on a longer cruise, say 21, 30, 45, and of course that World Cruise. It just makes sense. Older, more experienced Cruise folk tend to spend more time doing just that.

                   The rub is this. The more ELITE Level cruisers there are on any particular Cruise, the longer it takes for your laundry to arrive all clean, back in your stateroom. They don’t beef up the staffing in the Laundry Department just so your shorts come back quickly. It will just take longer as there is so much more to do including the really important stuff like sheets, tablecloths, and towels.

                   I’m sure that you get my drift here.

                   The scuttlebutt on the World Cruise was about that it took three or four days for laundry to be returned to your room.

Horrors!

That’ll teach you to pack more that that paper bags worth of clothes!

          Anyway, that seems to be the most favorite aspect of attaining that level of loyalty. Some of the others are I get a 50% discount on the Wi-Fi package (which is really good!), significant discounts on the Travel Insurance, early selection of the excursions, early embarkation and disembarkation of the ship, preferred dinner reservations, and complimentary Mini-Bar set-up’s in your Stateroom. This last one would be Highly Significant to me if I were only able to substitute the liquor bottles for Monster Energy Drinks and Chocolate Milks!

                   But…. do you want to know the best thing about the Program?

                             The “around-your-neck-on-your-wrist-or-otherwise-displayed-Medallion”  that has a color-coded indication of your Loyalty Level. Now, on the World Cruise the majority of passengers were in the ELITE category which made it no big deal. But, on these smaller, shorter cruises where ELITE(ists) don’t bother to go, well, now that’s a different story! When the elevator door opens you are greeted with a fanfare worthy of being composed by John Williams and maidens shower you with rose pedals as you walk along the Promenade Deck.

                   The only downside here is that I’ve heard that sometimes a few of those rose pedals get stuck in one of your pockets and don’t get removed by the laundry department.

                             Double Horrors!