From a recent reader email:
Hi MJ:
Thank you very much for writing me back. I am a blog subscriber and I want to first thank you for all the information your blog provides folks like me. I am writing you because you seem to be the only one who writes about cruises. Thus, I am hopeful that you can assist me with my cruise-related question. Please feel free to blog your response to my question.
FACTS:
My wife and I live in Southern California. We plan on taking an 11-day cruise to Scandinavia in the Spring of 2014 via Princess Cruises. I have not booked the cruise yet. I likely will not book the cruise until next year. I noticed that Princess Cruises gives status and a discount to former Princess cruisers/customers. Neither my wife nor I have ever cruised before. Thus, we do not have status with Princess Cruises and we are not currently eligible for any discounts.
QUESTION:
Should one or both of us take a really short/cheap cruise with Princess Cruises off the coast of CA to get status and thus, a discount on our 11-day cruise to Scandinavia?
MJ Responds:
Hi XXXX. Thanks very much for your email. I appreciate hearing from you. I took a quick look at some of the short cruises on Princess from the west coast. Honestly, I would probably try a short cruise if you have the time, but not because of the discounts. Your 11 night Scandinavian cruise sounds absolutely phenomenal!!! I want to go! 🙂 Here’s the thing…. if you’ve never cruised before, I think it’s a good idea to try a short cruise first. It will let you get your feet wet, sample a bit of what cruising has to offer, and best of all…. if for some reason you find that cruising isn’t necessarily for you or you have motion sickness issues you can either not book another cruise or make preparations to deal with motion issues in advance of your longer cruise. Now, these big ships don’t move around that much, but for the motion sensitive, it can be an issue.
I’m betting you’ll like your first cruise, and with that, you’ll be looking even more forward to your 11-night adventure. As I read the discount rules, it doesn’t appear to me that you’ll be able to receive a discount on your cruise unless you book by August 31, 2013. You can look at the chart here. So unfortunately, unless I’m missing something, I don’t think you’ll be able to take advantage of an early booking discount for your Spring 2014 cruise. If you aren’t worried at all about whether you’ll like cruising, and are certain you won’t have motion issues, then I’m not sure it’s worth taking short cruise just to get the Gold status prior to your Spring 2014 cruise unless the other benefits that come with it are appealing to you. I hope this is helpful, and I appreciate your offer to blog about your email. I will do that as I expect others have had the same question. Of course, I won’t include any names. Feel free to write back if you have other questions.
So, what do you think of my advice? I’m especially interested in hearing from other Princess cruisers. I don’t think I’m misinterpreting the discounts offered to gold status cruisers, but want to hear from you if you think I’m wrong.
-MJ, September 2, 2013
I do a reasonable amount of cruising, most on Princess (we’re platinum, my mother is elite). The short cruise won’t give you enough status to make very much of a difference – platinum and up is where it really makes a difference (free Internet minutes, and free laundry service & mini-bar at elite level, etc.). But I think it’s an excellent idea to try out a shorter cruise to make sure you enjoy cruising – the motion of the ships, the social aspects of cruising, whether you enjoy having people waiting on you, etc.
I would agree with getting in a short cruise before hand. Unfortunately all the small details about cruising may be ship specific so you won’t be able to leverage it on your longer cruise but there are some aspects of cruising that is good to know ahead of time. MJonTravel covers a lot of it on his posts.
Looking at the benefit lists, what would be the “Members Only Onboard Events” on their cruise? Also, how valuable would the Circle Host be? The Circle passport, destination stamps sound kind of cool.
Skwok,
I’m not a Princess guy, but the members only onboard events are likely pretty similar everywhere. Typically includes a cocktail party or two along the way.
I totally agree. My wife and I took our first cruise this summer — a five night cruise — to ensure we’d like cruising and would want to take our children on a future cruise. If you’re in a position to “sample cruising”, it’s a great choice — especially if you have concerns about motion sickness or if cruising is your type of travel.
Adam,
What did you think of your cruise?
Minor edit: “unless you book by August 31, 2014” should be “unless you book by August 31, 2013”
Oops! Thanks much for catching that Bucky!
I agree about taking a short cruise to see if it is something the writer would like. IF this is his first cruise, the status likely will not be much other than coupon book. It’s only when you get to the third or fourth level of status that you get some nice discounts. On HAL, after your first cruise you get invited to a special captain’s luncheon where Deft tiles are passed out. Also get are able to attend the embarkation luncheon in the diningroom.
I would second going on a short cruise first. I love vacationing on cruise ships, but it is not for everyone. I know some people who didn’t care for it for various reasons. I’d hate for you to spend all that money and time on a trip you didn’t enjoy.