Platinum Member

bikevegas

2nd Officer
My Wife and I are cruising on the Ruby Princess in March. This will be our first cruise has a Platinum Member. Any special perks we need to be aware of? We really enjoy cruising on Princess by the way!
 

RichC

Lecturer
Other than the Internet service the only thing you can hope for on 7 day trips is that there won't be a lot of higher numbered people sailing which might make you eligible for an invite to the Captains special lunch or cocktail party for the top 40 people. The people with higher numbers tend to go for longer voyages.
 

bob

Community Manager Part Time Dinosaur
Staff member
You do get priority check in, priority boarding, cocktail party in skywalkers every night prior to dinner. you still pay for your drinks but the ordurves are usually pretty good, you will get a menu of the nightly program for the week in your cabin. As Rich said, if you like to stay in touch the free internet is a real plus, you can use it either in the internet cafe or wireless, both you and your wife will get if my memory serves, about two and a half hours each free plus you can buy extra at a discount when you first sign up. Those are the biggies. You won't miss much by missing the captains lunch or a cocktail party.

Just looked it up, here is what you get.

Includes all Gold Member benefits plus:

Complimentary Cruise Atlas^
Every year you will automatically receive a copy of our Princess Cruise Atlas. It includes details on all itineraries and sailings for that year, making it easy for you to plan ahead.

Princess Platinum Vacation Protection Upgrade^^
As a Platinum Member, when you purchase Princess Vacation Protection at the standard rate, Princess will purchase an upgrade to Princess Platinum Vacation Protection automatically on your behalf. Click here to learn more about the Vacation Protection program.

Preferred Check-In
When you arrive at the port, don’t wait in line. If you are a Platinum Member, you and your family or guests will be invited to use the Preferred Check-In desk to help expedite your embarkation.

Platinum Disembarkation Lounge
In recognition of your loyalty, and to make your last morning with us more enjoyable, we invite Platinum Members to use the Platinum Disembarkation Lounge, offering light refreshments and peace while you await disembarkation. Don't kid yourself, it is PACKED but at least they have coffee ice tea and you don't have to drink your water out of the fountain

Complimentary Internet Packages#
Each Platinum Princess Cruises Captain’s Circle member will receive a complimentary Internet credit to be used either on the computers in our Internet Cafés or wireless Internet on the passenger’s personal wireless device. The amount of complimentary Internet is determined by the length of the sailing.

VOYAGE DURATION MINUTES
7 days or less 150
8-20 days 250
21+ days 500
 

bikevegas

2nd Officer
I wanted to make a quick comment on being a Platinum Member. When we got to the cruise terminal the check in line was very long! Princess rep took us to the check in that is for Platinum members and we were on the ship in maybe 5 to 10 minutes! Others were still sitting around waiting to board. That alone was well worth being a Platinum member! We also enjoyed the daily "happy hour" for Platinum members. Special price on selected drinks and appetizers. Lounge for disembarkation was nice. Coffee , juice, and snacks served. We were very pleased with the benefits!
 

RichC

Lecturer
I wanted to make a quick comment on being a Platinum Member. When we got to the cruise terminal the check in line was very long! Princess rep took us to the check in that is for Platinum members and we were on the ship in maybe 5 to 10 minutes! Others were still sitting around waiting to board. That alone was well worth being a Platinum member! We also enjoyed the daily "happy hour" for Platinum members. Special price on selected drinks and appetizers. Lounge for disembarkation was nice. Coffee , juice, and snacks served. We were very pleased with the benefits!
Not to belittle being a Platinum member but the logjam you describe only happens occasionally and the "special" boarding is becoming less valuable as the years go on since more & more people are now included in the group. In the future years I have got to believe they limit it to only Elite members as it gets more crowded. On our last trip the disembarkation lounge was so crowded if you didn't arrive before 8 AM there was hardly a seat until they began calling luggage tag colors. :(
 

Cruise cutie

Staff Captain
it does so happen that the jamming up is going to continue as folks cruise numbers rise...and they may have to have a Platinum AND Elite lounge as you say..we made Platinum in 2005 and Elite in 2009, and it does make a HUGE difference in that the perks are worth it to say the Least.... ..

and it seems conjecture is; Elite may not be the final "top" group..there is floating talk of a newly created "Higher" tier...we shall see..but as cruise sailings numbers rise...they may need to add a top one, they already added a new "middle one"-Maroon...:)..Joanne
 
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Cruise cutie

Staff Captain
ooooopps make that "Ruby".. I knew it looked like a maroonish on the Sign and Sail Card stripe though..lol....
 

RichC

Lecturer
The only reason they added the new level recently is to encourage business from the lower tiered people. Unfortunately the way I see it is that the upper levels don't need any encouragement to continue cruising so why bother introducing a new upper level until it becomes so crowded they're force to just to alleviate congestion. (which might not be to far away with all the 4 & 5 day trips this season out of Ft Lauderdale):scratch:
 
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