JimmyVWine

They do if you don't live in that city. If you live in Maine and want to go to a mid/upper class steakhouse in Santorini, add up your airfare and hotel accommodations to get to that venue, and then add in the cost of the meal itself. If I want to enjoy a meal while overlooking a Santorini sunset, I either pay the cruise line or I pay an airline and resort hotel. The point being, the cost of the cruise itself is irrelevant in this discussion. Dining in a mid/upper class steakhouse in your own town isn't replicating your experience while on a cruise vacation. I haven't seen it discussed here, but I think that a valuable component of this cost discussion is the price that competitors are charging. Princess is certainly not oblivious to those numbers when it sets its price. I'm sure that others will chime in, but I'd be surprised if Princess was not at or below its market competitors.

There's your answer. No matter how much anyone tries to overcomplicate things!

You are trying to make too many points at once and are tripping over yourself. Go back to the post that you quoted and responded to. It said: "All else being even (wifi and crew appreciation), it comes down to how many cocktails will you have a day." To which you replied: "But it is really not this simple." And from there you went on to discuss how some people don't drink, and that the numbers I used weren't accurate for you. But step back and look at the post you quoted and your immediate response. It all comes down to how much one drinks. (Including all beverages, not just alcohol.) That is a true statement and it isn't worth debating the point further. THAT is the key consideration. Full stop. If you don't drink beverages, you don't benefit from Plus. If you do drink beverages, it is very easy to determine if Plus will work for you. None of the other discounts really matter. Now, all that said, this assumption has built into it the notion that one is going to pay a gratuity that is in line with the suggestion. I can certainly see that if one refused to pay any gratuity, the $16 per day "savings" will move the meter on the value of Plus. But no one is ever going to do that, right? As shown above, IF ONE DRINKS BEVERAGES, even lowering the tip still makes Plus a value. If one ELIMINATES the tip, then things change. And I am beginning to think that this is what this debate is really about. And yes, Princess is a publicly traded company. But last time I checked, such companies use loss leaders all the time to generate other sales. You can believe what you want. In my most recent Journal and Review I detailed day by day what our out-of-pocket costs for alcohol alone would have cost in comparison to having Plus and it wasn't even close. And our drinking habits were not unusual among people who have Plus. Around 4 drinks per day on average. More on Sea Days, fewer on long Port Days. Look. If teetotalers are buying Plus then I surrender and you are correct. But I just don't see that happening. But people who consume coffee, soda and alcohol and who intend to pay the suggested gratuity are paying less on Plus than without it. That is not an opinion.

Simply put, seasoned cruisers know how to game the system more so than less seasoned cruisers, and sit on their wallets when it comes to things like ship-run excursion, gift shop purchases (that aren't made using up hundreds on OBC) and events like wine tastings. The cruise lines are well aware of this and tolerate high elite level guests more than they celebrate them. If I were CEO for a day, I would revisit how benefits are doled out, increasing them on longer cruises and all but eliminating them on shorter cruises. Cruise lines need long-term customers to fill ships on longer itineraries that newbies don't book. But a typical 7 day Caribbean cruise out of Port Everglades? Princess would probably just as soon sail without anyone on board who is on their 24th cruise.

I'm sure that what he was implying is that having spent thousands of dollars with Princess to earn a Captain's Circle loyalty level that is so high that he gets a discount on Wi-Fi, he knows that value that the crew brings to the overall experience, has seen first hand how hard they work, and that he intends to reward them with a gratuity that EXCEEDS the suggested amount. Right? It couldn't possibly be the other way around.

Actually, no. The are a loss leader to get people to choose Princess over the competition. Yes, in a way they are a profit center, but only because the sunk cost of the component parts is less than the price of the package, but that would be true even if they offered the Package at $30 per day. The wholesale price of coffee beans and the per-once cost of liquor would make these plans profitable at half the current cost. But Princess would make more money per passenger if each passenger paid out-of-pocket for all that they get in the package. See my post above. $66.50 is more than $60. Princess "loses" $6.50 per day on the hypothetical customer I described above. And I don't think that the assumptions that I built in for that hypothetical are extreme. People who aren't going to consume much if any alcohol simply aren't going to buy the packages. But if one is a drinker at virtually any level, Princess is not "making a profit" on selling Plus in comparison to out-of-pocket spending. It is only making a profit based on the wholesale sunk cost of the items offered. Yes, Princess is making money on Plus. But just not as much as it would if guests paid out of pocket. The value to Princess is that it is selling Plus at quite a bit below the cost set by other cruise lines in the hopes that Princess can capture more market share.

But it is still easy to do the math. Just plug in what you plan to tip to see if buying Plus and using its tip amount makes more sense to you. For example, let's say that the suggested gratuity is $16 for your level of cabin. You don't plan to tip that amount, and instead plan to tip $20 per day. It would still make sense to get the Package and then add in $4 per day to get to your planned tip amount. And let's say that you were planning to tip only $12 a day. It would still make sense to get the Package with its $16 gratuity if the rest of the package was going to save you $4 or more per day in drinks and coffee. The same holds true for WiFi discounts. Here's he math: I get WiFi for $7.50 per day with my discount. I plan to tip $12 per day I am going to consume $8 in coffee drinks per day I am going to have 2 glasses of wine at $15 per day and one cocktail for $9 each day. My daily total is going to come to $66.50. Eschewing the Plus Package so that I can monetize my Wi-Fi discount that I spent thousands of dollars earning, and shaving down the gratuity amount because...well...I won't go there, is cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. Better to get the Plus Package even if you won't sleep well at night knowing that you over-tipped.

Thanks. The link in the original post just kept taking me to a page asking me to download Apple News.

Is there another news source for this that does not require downloading an app? And would it be asking too much to know what your thoughts are on this? Are you questioning the need for the evacuations? Are you writing to thank and praise the brave response teams? Without more, this comes off as potential spam.

There aren’t a lot of first hand reports, but I think it is safe to say that you won’t pay MORE once you are on board unless Princess is required to charge sales tax. When you add the package ahead of time it is $60 per day, flat rate. It appears that some have paid this same flat rate on the first day of their cruise as well. But it would not shock me to read a report here from someone saying that they paid $60 plus tax. Still, if you have a lot of OBC, additional tax if any is still worth it.

I thought that “The Upside Down” was in Hawkins, Indiana and not Cohb. 🤪

Independent tour operations live and die by the ship’s schedule. I’d be surprised if they didn’t adjust their schedule to fit yours. After all. Everyone on that tour is coming from your ship. If they don’t adjust, then they have to refund everyone’s money* and they earn no revenue. Contact them to see if they can figure out a workaround. I don’t know what you were planning to do so I don’t know if it’s time sensitive. *I’ve never booked an independent tour that didn’t have a money back guarantee if the ship doesn’t make it to port as planned.

Lots of outside seating located at the buffet. Tables extend out towards the pool area (that are outside, but have a floor to ceiling window next to them) and also extend out to the aft of the ship that are fully covered from above but open to the outside with only a small window and railing on the perimeter. Dance music is entirely dependent on which bands are booked for your particular cruise. No way to predict that in advance. But there will always be at least two “wedding type bands” on board.

How is this relevant to your question? Do you think the app behaves differently based on CC status?

No one ever looks at the name, nor could they. The print is much too small. The Security people would need a jeweler’s loupe to look at everyone’s name. They just rely on the electronic reader. I wouldn’t give it a moment’s thought.

I almost forgot our other oddity. PLUTO!! This was my daughter's favorite stuffed animal when she was 2 years old and she carries it with her on all of her travels even today. Pluto has been to four continents and countless countries. We even made up a dog tag for him in case he is ever lost or misplaced. Here he is at Olympia:

Not very successfully. When we arrived in our cabin on our most recent cruise, there was a sweater (neatly folded) and a pair of ladies Formal Night shoes on the nightstand between the bed and the sofa (in a Mini-Suite) with a note on top that said "Please donate these items or give to a crew member." The clothes and note were right there in the open, and the cabin steward could not have overlooked this. Indeed, he had to have cleaned around it. And yet, the items were not removed from our cabin. So the steward obviously had either the interest nor the ability to find these items a new home. During the course of our journey, I bought a new coat and wanted to retire my old one, which was still in "donatable" condition. When we departed, we place the coat alongside the sweater and shoes with the same note that the previous guest had written and left it all on the bed. I have no confidence that the clothes met any fate other than a trash bin somewhere.

A small roll of black electricians tape for the evil sensors. Rechargeable (by usb) votive candles. Great as a soft nightlight kept on the lower shelf in the bathroom by the threshold so toes do not get smushed in the middle of the night. Real maple syrup. The elementary school glue served in the buffet at breakfast is simply not suited for human consumption. A small bunge cord. As noted above, if it moves and shouldn't, duct tape. But sometimes a bunge cord is the better choice. A chip clip with a magnet on one side to hold the Daily Schedule of Events up on the wall. Recently, a notepad that I have acquired from a civilized hotel chain that still provides such luxuries, since Princess has decided that it will no longer supply same. A pen that I don't really care about, because I will want to write on the aforementioned pad of hotel paper, and I am sure to lose said pen at some point along my journey. Lots of ziploc bags. I never seem to run out of uses for them.

On the night when the Surf and Turf was an included option, they also had Escargot available. So we doubled up on appetizers, creating a four-course meal consisting of a selected Starter, a mid-course of Escargot, the Surf and Turf and then a dessert, all included at no extra cost. That was plenty of food such that spending another $10 wasn't even a consideration. I know that that does not answer your question, but I just wanted to throw out there that the night when the filet and lobster tail makes an appearance is one of the better menus of the week with lots of choices such that spending extra money might seem wasteful.

The “Retreat Pool” area is an adult only pool/lounge chair area that is free for any adult to use on a come-and-go basis. It is away from the large movie screen known as “MUTS” or Movies Under The Stars and as a result is a bit more peaceful. It has the same lounge chairs, its own bar, but no free food or drinks. (Well, if you have a drink package, drinks are already paid for so they seem free). The Sanctuary on the other hand, is a completely separate, enclosed solarium that one must book and pay for once on board either for the length of the cruise, or by the day, or by the half day (am or pm). It cannot be reserved in advance online or on the app. As others have noted, on any given cruise there are usually enough people staying on for the following cruise who will beat newcomers to the punch and reserve most of the area. But there will be some spots open on departure day and those will sell out within an hour of the commencement of the boarding process. Sometimes within 10 minutes. Hope this helps.

Southampton had one a few weeks ago. But honestly, the terminal started allowing people in at 10:15 and the PES people who were there at that time were processed and checked in by 10:25 and boarding began at 10:45. Any PES people who arrived after 10:45 went straight from the checkin area to the ship. At most, one would have gotten 15 minutes to “enjoy” the coffee and pastries. So is it really relevant? Once you check in you are literally minutes from better coffee and better food on the ship. The PES lounge really affords no great benefit any more. The bottom line is PES people shouldn’t be all that concerned with getting non-PES people into the lounge area and the PES people who are using the lounge area shouldn’t be all that concerned if others are brought in as “guests”.

White Dinner Jackets were rare. The men who "dressed up" tended to wear black tuxes, suits or sport coats. The photos that I posted earlier that I took with my phone were very representative of what we saw in the MDR and in the evening entertainment lounges. I imagine that had we gone up to the Lido Deck on Formal Night we would have seen something very different, but we did not do so. So it becomes impossible to assess percentages.

Opposite. Going north the sun will always rise from the east casting a nice morning glow on the western shores in the early morning which is the best time for photography. Looking east (starboard) at that time you get dark shadows . If you are up taking photos between 6:00-8:00 you will almost exclusively be taking shots of the port side when going north. And with a port cabin going north you get the sunsets. And yes, the ship will flip around in Glacier Bay, but the port side gets the view first with the softened light reflecting from the east while the sun is still low in the sky when it casts the best light. By the time the ship flips, the sun is higher in the sky and far less flattering for photography. Here are a couple of photos that make the point. They are commercial photos of a NCL ship in Glacier Bay. See in the first photo how the port side has great lighting sailing in? Now look at the darkness off the starboard side sailing in.

Thanks.

Are you positive that the free/reduced guest is not going to be offered by Princess directly? I don’t care so much about the OBC. But the free extra guest is a big deal to me. Princess ran its “Kids Sail Free” (which they also branded as “3rd and 4th Guests Sail Free”) and that promo was very popular and saved me a bundle. I’d love to see that pop up again. Thanks.