Yes, you can purchase the non alcoholic package for only one person but not the Plus package, all adults in the cabin must buy it. (Tips -18% are already included)
Unless your a big drinker the alcohol package is questionable.
I always hit the buffet at lunch when they first open. There's no one there at that time. The food is always fresh & people haven't had the time to mess up the place. 😉
That might explain a lot since I don't eat sushi or pizza and mostly sail the Caribbean and I'm never in a rush to get off the ship at any port.
We'll be sailing on the Ruby this year so I'll be able to experience a smaller ship once again.
And no to MSC- I've heard to many so-so comments about them.
They sound like the some of the old Costa ships from years ago which we hated.
I can recall many cabins when we sailed on the older ships that AC problems. We NEVER had an incident on a Royal class ship yet and all our trips have been in the warm Caribbean. I attribute it to each cabin having it's own AC system in addition to the ships central AC.
True, that they have less people but at the same time the they provide services based upon the number of people sailing.
It's been so long that we've sailed on anything other than Royal class ships I may have forgotten how it was.
I think a lot of your crowding problems were caused by the fact that it is Alaska's busy season and possible the time of day you arrived at each venue. Even if you were on the Crown, Ruby or Emerald you might have experienced the same delays.
Many of the stories people read about AC that doesn't work properly are usually on the older class ships. Every since the introduction of the Royal class, the AC problems have been minimal, from the posts I've read.
The package obviously doesn't make sense for everyone.
At home I hardly drink anything in between each cruise and find myself forced to drink (alcohol) when it's already paid for.
Do people actually drink that much at home?
I just emailed my requests today. We still have our stock in joint names but I'm ready to change it as soon as I hear people have been denied credit. 😉
An easy way to trim the price is eliminating the Plus package & buying exactly what you want when the mood strikes you. Surely you can easily live without 15 drinks a day and reserved seating. If not, then cruising has become just another inflated vacation option.
We've got only 2 future cruises booked & haven't sent in the request for stock OBC yet. Today is the day.
Oh, I realize it's easy to put the stock account in my name only but I think I'll wait it out until others have posted their experiences after June 29th.
It shouldn't be necessary but you'll never know with Princess.