Steelers36

They need one of these things to run around and clean up all the other space junk up there:

Even then, they won't have the best internet at sea - they will just be in a tie. (BTW, PCL most often claims they have the "best Wifi at sea" and that is technically a whole different beast than the WWW internet. "Best Wifi" could refer to the access point network and the ease of a good connection and maintaining that connection as move about the ship.

Never a formal night on a 4-night voyage. Has to be minimum 5 nights.

IF a guest wants the Plus now, the best idea could be to plan to buy it on board and purchase discounted gift cards ahead of the cruise (sufficient to cover the cost of Plus), order it on Day 1 and then cash in the GC's to on board account. That could result in 10% off the cost, plus savings of insurance premiums, depending on policy. I think Princess Premium is about 8% of fare cost, so $4.80/day on the Plus portion. OTOH, a person who gets a discounted fare from their TA should know whether their savings would be better than using discounted gift cards. Of course, if guest has to pay full price of $60/day on board, but guest gets 12% or more off cruise fare from TA, they are going to be better off booking the fare and not waiting until on board. I guess one ought to factor in insurance if purchased (I don't purchase the insurance for example as we have an annual plan and I figure by FP Date I don't need the CFAR feature any longer).

Once you are on the cruise, you wouldn't be able to adjust insurance coverages in any case.

Hopefully all the folks who posted when the voyage came out will be by to see this news and thanking the common sense that had prevailed at Santa Clarita HQ.

Best to call early in the morning as lines are less busy. You have not explained what the OBC is from. If it is a TA rebate of some sort - since you mentioned "healthy" - it may not be available until you board the ship. Princess OBC can be used towards excursions ahead of the cruise.

Yes - I do it all the time if I prefer a veggie garnish from another main dish. Yes, you should be able to get some simple custom requests without advance notice, but best to ask the day ahead.

Viator is like a broker. Why not find a reputable tour operator and book directly with them?

Everything is open. You can also order food using Princess App to your location.

Yes, you can buy it on a per diem basis. The old cost was $20/day. I was not informed of the pricing with the new increases, but I believe we can assume it is something higher now. I would expect at least $25/day now. I am still looking for confirmation on this from a ship's Internet Cafe Mgr.

My bad. Thanks for setting me straight.

I wouldn't get my knickers in a twist over this one. It is the guest who loses out on free drinks after embarkation (unless they are reversing those back out). Some folks board late and are busy setting up cabin and getting oriented and getting dining, etc. As far as I am concerned, a guest could buy the package on any day - as long as they pay full price and don't get rebated for all drinks previously purchased. AFAIAMC, this is similar to past practice on on-board purchasing. I could also support a deadline of noon on Day 2, but often Day 2 is a port call and folks are off the ship and busy until dinner time again. Besides, the policy wasn't that strictly written.

The Plus and Premier FARE options will not show in Onboard Services. Only shows something there if you actually purchased the stand-alone beverage packages (don't do it - bad economics). As some others pointed out above, you need to download your Travel Summary from the Cruise Personalizer in order to see all of your included options.

I would say this is false in number 1. You CAN do #1, but you can also exchange like-for-like and get different alcohol or non-alcohol choices (there are 10 of each).

The only reason there has been a rebate of refundable OBC on board was during times when the Princess App was not applying the discount at point of purchase, or when the guest's true CC Member Level was not properly recognized in the App. With the new pricing, you can book on-board at the same price.

Yes, you have justified the package for your situation. Forget the fitness classes as they are not an every-day things and you wouldn't use them anyway on your own initiative. It's no different than a guest who had zero interest in MedallionNet and so they should not include that cost for their valuation analysis. I do have a comment on a very large amount of OBC. I would be looking at that as my cruise fare discount (I get a cash discount off the the fare paid). I wouldn't just go and spend it on drinking that we don't normally do. But that is my mind - why change habits instead of keeping my cruise discount cash to offset my credit card bill? Usually these large sums are refundable OBC, but I don't claim to know your situation. If it wasn't, I'd be looking for a new TA and also finding other ways to extract my rebate. My thinking is not necessarily someone else's thinking. I imagine some folks think they would have booked the cruise at the full fare, so why not spend the agency OBC rebate? To each their own makes the world go round.

This is explained because Princess has a CAD at par promotion going on for Canada market. The booking codes are RLW/RJW/RKW. The numbers are not precise, but generally what they did was reduce the USD fare Americans pay by the exchange rate they are using and then factor it up again to the CAD you see on the website. As an example, a 10-night cruise I looked at in FEB 2024 indicates an American would book the voyage for about $1,371/pp at Standard Fare. Plus Fare would be $600 more as expected. A Canadian would book the voyage at about $1,432/pp at Standard Fare. Plus Fare would be about $594 more, virtually $600. This situation doesn't last forever, but a Canadian can look at it as paying only $440 USD, or $44/pp/day. Subtracting out $23.50 for Crew Appreciation and MedallionNet (at 50% off), leaves $20.50 USD for drinking each day. This is a whole different viewpoint I would agree (note that drinking and other things provided on the ship are not sold at par).

Forget the fitness which isn't daily. You have justified the Plus to yourself based on average daily consumption. My only comment is that if I had that much OBC, for me it would be a discount off the cruise fare and deciding to spend it on drinking I don't normally do wouldn't make sense to me. I am never tempted that way as we get a cash discount off the fare and, sure, we have OBC, but I always just look at the package portion for drinks and how much do we drink per day over the cruise. That's just my thinking and doesn't need to be anyone else's. I always bring on wine and we have mini-bar (exchange it out for custom beverages) and I get a water pkg.

It has been a while since you could pay only $60 CAD equivalent for Plus - unless you are getting a CAD At Par deal. The price for Plus is $60 USD for a little while now. It appears you don't get the MedallionNet discount, so your drinks portion is $60 - $32 = $28 USD.

Or, if done on Day 2, they won't deduct the day lost from the total owed.

Of course those old marketing quotes are from when the MedallionNet was first rolled out. I am sure reviewers gushed over the first Model T when it hit the streets. I suppose you could try filing a false advertising claim report.

Hey, we are also outlier's in the GWN (that's nickname for Canada, especially this time of year).

PCL's published T&C's on the Plus and Premier Fare options state that the under-age guest will receive the zero-alcohol package. There is no mention of a lower price, so it would seem that the guest must pay $60 for that as well. Anyone hear that a Princess rep can alter that rate?

What I meant was the cost of a package in CAD is basically irrelevant because the cost of purchasing drinks and other things on board is in USD as well. So, if one is comparing separate expenses versus a package, may as well do the compare in USD. You can think of any differential then in CAD as well as USD. I always think of cruising costs in USD since that is what the actual pricing is. I know it costs more in CAD, but often less than what Princess converts at.