Well,
I did it to myself.
All cruise lines have loyalty programs that are tiered depending on how many times passengers have sailed with that line.
All four of us started together on this line as rookies this year. Our first Princess cruise was in September, and we had no status, and were issued Blue keycards. November first, we sailed again, were considered Gold Members, and got Gold keycards. We stayed on board on November sixth, and continued with Gold.
Princess mixed things up a bit by mistake as we continued on board on November tenth. Having sailed three times previously, we were now Ruby Members and should have received Red keycards. We were issued with Gold ones.
This all means nothing. Effectively, Gold and Ruby members are entitled to perks that do not relate to us at all. These are things like 10% off deposits on future cruises, and cruise collector stickers. The only thing that might effect our lives are invitations to repeat-cruiser events on board. We qualified for one of these on our November sixth cruise segment, but nobody wanted to go.
On our current leg, Helen got keen to attend. She thought it would be like one we had on another line that had yummy snacks and drinks. We all went along. It turned out to be more like a sales pitch, and had no snacks. They did give everybody present a drink coupon.
Well, there we were, with inaccurately coloured keycards, and none of us cared. I decided to get mine fixed, and to show up with a fancy schmancy Red card and pretend to be all superior and uppity. I visited the loyalty program desk on board and swapped Gold for Ruby, and then flaunted it before the others. We all laughed, but then Lola wanted one, too.
As a fine friend, I took her up to the loyalty desk where she straightened out her card. All fine so far, but she was also given an invitation to the Ruby-level loyalty event. Next thing I knew, we were all invited to the event, and everybody all excited about going.
We were assured that this, much fancier event, will have snacks.
The big drawing card is the snacks, and likely another drink coupon. This entire ship is a 112,000 ton pile of non-stop snacks. I would much rather lounge about someplace, or maybe eat, or swim, or go to the gym.
Even worse; unlike at the Gold event, I'm going to have to wear long pants.
Did it to myself.
*
So we went for afternoon tea. Keep in mind that three of us prematurely terminated our afternoon naps to do so, and were staggering around just a little.
We had tea. I greatly prefer coffee, but it was afternoon tea.
Around came the trays of tiny, over-mayonnaised, crust-trimmed-off, triangular sandwiches. Following this were several rounds of little, thickly-frosted cake particles.
About halfway through the nibbling, a piercing alarm sounded and the P.A. called for the "first-response" team to a location down on deck three. That's down in the crew area.
A while later the Captain announced that smoke had been discovered on decks three and nine, and that the cause was some welding repair work in the engine area.
So no free cruise, and chance to ride in a lifeboat.
The waiters all seemed very distracted for a while, which is very understandable.
Turns out Helen might have gotten food poisoned by the mayonnaise sandwiches. How can people eat that stuff?
All cruise lines have loyalty programs that are tiered depending on how many times passengers have sailed with that line.
All four of us started together on this line as rookies this year. Our first Princess cruise was in September, and we had no status, and were issued Blue keycards. November first, we sailed again, were considered Gold Members, and got Gold keycards. We stayed on board on November sixth, and continued with Gold.
Princess mixed things up a bit by mistake as we continued on board on November tenth. Having sailed three times previously, we were now Ruby Members and should have received Red keycards. We were issued with Gold ones.
This all means nothing. Effectively, Gold and Ruby members are entitled to perks that do not relate to us at all. These are things like 10% off deposits on future cruises, and cruise collector stickers. The only thing that might effect our lives are invitations to repeat-cruiser events on board. We qualified for one of these on our November sixth cruise segment, but nobody wanted to go.
On our current leg, Helen got keen to attend. She thought it would be like one we had on another line that had yummy snacks and drinks. We all went along. It turned out to be more like a sales pitch, and had no snacks. They did give everybody present a drink coupon.
Well, there we were, with inaccurately coloured keycards, and none of us cared. I decided to get mine fixed, and to show up with a fancy schmancy Red card and pretend to be all superior and uppity. I visited the loyalty program desk on board and swapped Gold for Ruby, and then flaunted it before the others. We all laughed, but then Lola wanted one, too.
As a fine friend, I took her up to the loyalty desk where she straightened out her card. All fine so far, but she was also given an invitation to the Ruby-level loyalty event. Next thing I knew, we were all invited to the event, and everybody all excited about going.
We were assured that this, much fancier event, will have snacks.
The big drawing card is the snacks, and likely another drink coupon. This entire ship is a 112,000 ton pile of non-stop snacks. I would much rather lounge about someplace, or maybe eat, or swim, or go to the gym.
Even worse; unlike at the Gold event, I'm going to have to wear long pants.
Did it to myself.
*
So we went for afternoon tea. Keep in mind that three of us prematurely terminated our afternoon naps to do so, and were staggering around just a little.
We had tea. I greatly prefer coffee, but it was afternoon tea.
Around came the trays of tiny, over-mayonnaised, crust-trimmed-off, triangular sandwiches. Following this were several rounds of little, thickly-frosted cake particles.
About halfway through the nibbling, a piercing alarm sounded and the P.A. called for the "first-response" team to a location down on deck three. That's down in the crew area.
A while later the Captain announced that smoke had been discovered on decks three and nine, and that the cause was some welding repair work in the engine area.
So no free cruise, and chance to ride in a lifeboat.
The waiters all seemed very distracted for a while, which is very understandable.
Turns out Helen might have gotten food poisoned by the mayonnaise sandwiches. How can people eat that stuff?
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