Booking Fare Survey: Which Cruise fare do you book? With or Without the Princess Plus Pacakage

[beg3yrs]

4 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

IDK how they pick people.  I do know the hours I spend in evenings at the poker table don't count for diddly-squat.

I have to agree. I enjoy games like 21 and the like. Rather sit with a nice bunch of people chatting and having a good time, losing slowly. Never got an offer but DW is a slot player and she gets the offers.

[susancruzs]

I'm looking forward to my April cruise with Plus Package.  I do a specialty coffee (or 2) in the a.m., wine with my lunch in the IC and wine at dinner.   I usually go by the glass in the dining room instead of a bottle.  I like to change, Merlot, Malbec, Chardonnay, and I do white wines, too sometimes.

 

I also like to have an apple mint ice tea (or other tea) with cookies in the afternoon, and I have more people ask what I'm drinking!  Plus sounds like a great plan for me.  Instead of exchanging my mini bar for coffee package, I'll ask for water for the cabin, this is a win win situation for me.

Edited July 3, 2021 by susancruzs

[dreams_of_travel]

4 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

There is a big flaw there.  No one is going to pay for the Premium Beverage Package at $479.57 (assuming you have the correct total price), when they can have that and more for $280.  You would have to be out of your mind.  I don't understand why they even offer it.  I suppose it it less than 2 people paying $40 each for PLUS if only one is a big drinker and the other drinks mostly/all the free stuff.

 

A fairer comparison would be to understand how much YOU will normally spend on drinks of all types per cruise and add that to the other two numbers and see if total exceeds $280.  You can likely purchase internet for less than $70 if they keep same package offers as before.

 

Perhaps I wasn't clear on how I was explaining the numbers.  In my cruise planner, after I upgraded to Plus for $280, the numbers for each item was listed in my onboard purchases. The numbers I cited were Princess' evaluations of cost.  The drink package comes out to more if you figure the 70.79/per day listed in the terms and conditions.  And yes, I agree no one should pay the full price, but people do b/c they don't know better.  

 

I have a cruise with another cruise line this month without any perks, and I am trying to weigh my future drink cost.  I would like to have a simple cruise without having to sign all those chits, but I also don't see how I could spend what they want for the premium drink package.  It is about $100 more than what the Princess package costs.  🤷‍♀️   

[Steelers36]

17 minutes ago, dreams_of_travel said:

Perhaps I wasn't clear on how I was explaining the numbers.  In my cruise planner, after I upgraded to Plus for $280, the numbers for each item was listed in my onboard purchases. The numbers I cited were Princess' evaluations of cost.  The drink package comes out to more if you figure the 70.79/per day listed in the terms and conditions.  And yes, I agree no one should pay the full price, but people do b/c they don't know better.  

 

I have a cruise with another cruise line this month without any perks, and I am trying to weigh my future drink cost.  I would like to have a simple cruise without having to sign all those chits, but I also don't see how I could spend what they want for the premium drink package.  It is about $100 more than what the Princess package costs.  🤷‍♀️   

Like any other company, PCL is bloating up the "value" of individual items to the max possible in order to make the "deal" behind Door #1 irresistible.

[CynCyn]

8 hours ago, Jeter02 said:

The other issue I have with the princess Plus for me is, I book a cabin just for myself as a solo traveler. So technically I'm paying for double  princess Plus package (double gratitudes, wifi and drink package)  for my cabin. which typically has two occupants. Huge reason why I always do the princess saver. 

I’ve cruised solo and was only charged for one set of gratuities.  I also paid for kne person for plus for an upcoming cruise.  It is just the cabin rate that is doubled.

[caribill]

15 hours ago, BabySarge said:

 

Also, I personally think under the Plus pricing you have a different and possibly better selection of cabin locations than under the Saver pricing.  No specific study done just a general sense when looking at cabins under both offerings.

 

I have never seen a difference in cabin availability when I have compared both savers and plus fares for the same cruise.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Like any other company, PCL is bloating up the "value" of individual items to the max possible in order to make the "deal" behind Door #1 irresistible.

 

Pre-plus fares, the beverage package did cost what Princess is valuing it at and many people did pay that.

 

So for those who did previous pay for the beverage package, $40/day is worth it even if it did not include tips and WIFI.

 

And since the plus part of the plus fare is commissionable, Princess does not get to keep the entire $40/day/person. Yet, I am sure, Princess is making a profit on the plus part of the fare.

[Jeter02]

8 hours ago, susancruzs said:

I'm looking forward to my April cruise with Plus Package.  I do a specialty coffee (or 2) in the a.m., wine with my lunch in the IC and wine at dinner.   I usually go by the glass in the dining room instead of a bottle.  I like to change, Merlot, Malbec, Chardonnay, and I do white wines, too sometimes.

 

I also like to have an apple mint ice tea (or other tea) with cookies in the afternoon, and I have more people ask what I'm drinking!  Plus sounds like a great plan for me.  Instead of exchanging my mini bar for coffee package, I'll ask for water for the cabin, this is a win win situation for me.

I too always, exchange my mini bar out for a case of water. Works out perfectly for me for my water supply during the week.

[Jeter02]

7 hours ago, CynCyn said:

I’ve cruised solo and was only charged for one set of gratuities.  I also paid for kne person for plus for an upcoming cruise.  It is just the cabin rate that is doubled.

Good to know. I'd have to recheck my calculations but I was like calculating it the other night randomly just out of curiosity. I found it hard to believe that they were double charging for the package piece.

[dog]

2 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

I too always, exchange my mini bar out for a case of water. Works out perfectly for me for my water supply during the week.

How many water do you get this way?

 

I usually buy the 12 pack for cabin $8

[Jeter02]

Just now, dog said:

How many water do you get this way?

 

I usually buy the 12 pack for cabin $8

24 bottles

[deliver42]

We booked with the Plus package. Nice not to have a bar bill at the end of the cruise, and not worry about grats. With the small OBC plus my wife's military OBC, it won't cost us anything extra except maybe an excursion.

[Jeter02]

1 hour ago, deliver42 said:

We booked with the Plus package. Nice not to have a bar bill at the end of the cruise, and not worry about grats. With the small OBC plus my wife's military OBC, it won't cost us anything extra except maybe an excursion.

Oh, that military OBC definitely comes in handy. 

[Jeter02]

Looks like day two the survey it still remains roughly the same as yesterday with about a third of the votes for a saver and 2/3 for the Plus.

[BabySarge]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

 

I have never seen a difference in cabin availability when I have compared both savers and plus fares for the same cruise.

Like I said, it was just a general sense I got when I was searching for cabins and comparing pricing between the two fare schemes.  I looked at a specific cabin under the Plus pricing and then backed out and tried looking at the same cabin under the Saver pricing and on several occasions the exact same cabin was not available under the Saver pricing within minutes of searching but was still available under the Plus pricing.  Didn't happen every time, just enough that it makes me a bit suspicious.  Of course, that is my nature as a general rule so I am probably reading more into it than there is.  No harm, no foul.

[Jeter02]

2 minutes ago, BabySarge said:

Like I said, it was just a general sense I got when I was searching for cabins and comparing pricing between the two fare schemes.  I looked at a specific cabin under the Plus pricing and then backed out and tried looking at the same cabin under the Saver pricing and on several occasions the exact same cabin was not available under the Saver pricing within minutes of searching but was still available under the Plus pricing.  Didn't happen every time, just enough that it makes me a bit suspicious.  Of course, that is my nature as a general rule so I am probably reading more into it than there is.  No harm, no foul.

Also could very easily call up the travel agent you're working with or princess directly however you're booking it and you can easily hand select a cabin within the same category you paid for and they can check to see if it's available. Because usually it's just a random cabins that pop up when you go through the booking process online.

[Orange Yuzu]

Husband and I decided to do princess plus since we usually get the soda package anyways and it's just a bit on top of that to have 1-2 alcoholic drinks a day.  Other people cruising with us don't drink except for the occassional coffee so they didn't book princess plus.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, BabySarge said:

Like I said, it was just a general sense I got when I was searching for cabins and comparing pricing between the two fare schemes.  I looked at a specific cabin under the Plus pricing and then backed out and tried looking at the same cabin under the Saver pricing and on several occasions the exact same cabin was not available under the Saver pricing within minutes of searching but was still available under the Plus pricing.  Didn't happen every time, just enough that it makes me a bit suspicious.  Of course, that is my nature as a general rule so I am probably reading more into it than there is.  No harm, no foul.

 

Did you just look at a list of available cabins or actually click on that cabin?

 

If you clicked on it, the software assumes you want to reserve that cabin and for about 45 minutes makes it unavailable to others so your selected cabin will not be snatched up by someone else while you complete the booking.

 

If you back out and look for that same cabin again, it considers it still unavailable and does not know it is unavailable because it is temporarily reserved for you! If you looked at the Plus price for that cabin again within that 45 minutes, it would show as unavailable, even to you.

[lesnpatty]

At a cost of $40 pp a day, we have started doing the plus fare.  After WiFi and gratuities it is about $15.50 a day.  We don't drink alcohol, but that is a great price for my partner's  daily Red Bull, coffees, water, sodas, milk shakes and virgin drinks.   Our normal TA and Military OBC pays for every else.  We would never purchase the drink package alone at $59.99 a day because it would not be cost effective for us.  

Edited July 3, 2021 by lesnpatty
wrong info

[Jeter02]

7 hours ago, Jeter02 said:

Good to know. I'd have to recheck my calculations but I was like calculating it the other night randomly just out of curiosity. I found it hard to believe that they were double charging for the package piece.

I just finished going to the motions again with different bookings between solo and double occupancy in a cabin in regards to the plus package and according to the right time seeing it's I'd be paying double for the package. The next time I talk to my travel agent I might randomly ask her that if she was to call the cruise line would they be able to adjust that. We're always curious to learn more how everything operates.

 

Question for you is the book directly with princess? Because I would be the next thing for me to investigate is booking directly with Princess if they charge you automatically for the double or not but the package.

[Jeter02]

So I just did the triple check by going on the princess to book directly to check the so-called not being charged double occupancy on the package portion of like the $270 or $280 when traveling solo. I'm still seeing a Solo traveler is still stuck paying for double packages even through the princess site. So I still don't see how someone mentioned that you're only being charged one which I concluding to be false through my research.

[Steelers36]

6 hours ago, BabySarge said:

Like I said, it was just a general sense I got when I was searching for cabins and comparing pricing between the two fare schemes.  I looked at a specific cabin under the Plus pricing and then backed out and tried looking at the same cabin under the Saver pricing and on several occasions the exact same cabin was not available under the Saver pricing within minutes of searching but was still available under the Plus pricing.  Didn't happen every time, just enough that it makes me a bit suspicious.  Of course, that is my nature as a general rule so I am probably reading more into it than there is.  No harm, no foul.

When you "pulled" that cabin, it may not have immediately shown up back in inventory, but I have not seen that happen recently.

 

ETA - Sorry, did not see @caribill's note before posting.  I do not think that just checking will block cabin for anything near 45 minutes.  I have jumped in and out of checking pricing (without switching to PLUS and back) and cabin is back quickly.  There is a current hitch with display of CAD pricing in that it is incorrect until you actually pull the cabin up and get the detail amounts to be invoiced.  IDK why this is, but it has been happening of late and is most annoying and grates on me as I really just want to see the "real" USD pricing anyway.

Edited July 3, 2021 by Steelers36

[southamptoncruisers]

14 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

So I just did the triple check by going on the princess to book directly to check the so-called not being charged double occupancy on the package portion of like the $270 or $280 when traveling solo. I'm still seeing a Solo traveler is still stuck paying for double packages even through the princess site. So I still don't see how someone mentioned that you're only being charged one which I concluding to be false through my research.

Just checked in the UK on the princess site. A solo person is being charged £1,098 for the princess fare on a 7 night cruise. The princess plus fare is £1,308 so an extra £210 which is the £30pp per night for the plus fare for 7 nights. So at least in the UK you are not charged double for the princess plus package as a solo traveller.

[Steelers36]

28 minutes ago, southamptoncruisers said:

Just checked in the UK on the princess site. A solo person is being charged £1,098 for the princess fare on a 7 night cruise. The princess plus fare is £1,308 so an extra £210 which is the £30pp per night for the plus fare for 7 nights. So at least in the UK you are not charged double for the princess plus package as a solo traveller.

Your note prompted me to do a mock pricing as a solo cruiser. 

 

The Saver Fare was equal to the quotation when booking for 2.

However, the PLUS fare was not.  It was only higher by the PLUS fare for one person.

 

It would seem that indeed a solo cruiser does not pay for 2 PLUS add-ons.

 

E.G. A Saver Fare is $1,000.  PLUS is $1,400 for a 10-night cruise.

 

Solo Saver = $2,000

Solo PLUS = $2,400

Edited July 3, 2021 by Steelers36

[Jeter02]

40 minutes ago, southamptoncruisers said:

Just checked in the UK on the princess site. A solo person is being charged £1,098 for the princess fare on a 7 night cruise. The princess plus fare is £1,308 so an extra £210 which is the £30pp per night for the plus fare for 7 nights. So at least in the UK you are not charged double for the princess plus package as a solo traveller.

Interesting