Princess Cruises introduces all-inclusive Premier Package

[rheathslc]

2 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

It's Premier, BTW.

I've been spelling it wrong too. Haha!

Premier = top, leading, foremost

Premiere = a first performance

 

[Tedferg]

1 hour ago, rheathslc said:

Well, I like nice wine and champagne and have mostly avoided getting the ones I like that were over the $12 limit in the past except for 1 or 2 times each cruise if we're celebrating something so I'm happy to have the $18 limit. If I order just two of the higher priced drinks that I would normally have to pay the whole cost of, it basically pays for itself. And we already uprgade to the 4 device wi-fi. Usually just one of us, but still. I also do like to get photos. I'm sentimental and like the cheesy on board photos. It's more of a value on shorter cruises for sure. We're on two B2B 5-day cruises in September. I did the math. For an extra $250 total for one 5-day cruise ($25 x 5 days x 2 people) we would be getting a value of $231 ($29x4 for specialty dinning, roughly $90 for the photos, and $25 for the wifi plan since I'm platinum and get the 50% discount on the upgrade - I only counted the value of one 4 device upgrade since we certainly don't need 8 devices and would not pay a la cart for it) not including the drinks. The for that extra $19 I get to order the more expensive wines and champagnes I like. 

On the Facebook post announcing this new tier Princess has responded to people and said they are not increasing the price of beverages on board. Now maybe they aren't being honest but we'll have to wait and see on that. If they DO increase prices and many of the items that were previously available at the $12 limit aren't anymore, that would be pretty lame. 

If you don't want pictures and don't upgrade wifi and don't drink several higher priced drinks I get that it isn't a value. These are things I would pay for anyway so it is a value to me.

And if I were on a tighter budget I wouldn't upgrade. But we only get two weeks of vacation per year and I like to splurge. Whether at sea or on land. And splurging on a cruise is way more affordable than most of our other vacations. 

🙂

 

Thank you for a comprehensive reply. 

[Coffeeluvr05]

I think I would feel less complainey about all of this if I could opt to purchase it for myself and not my husband (either Plus or the stupid "Premier").  Or offer a non-alcohol version of both packages for the individuals who do not drink.  Believe it or not, Princess, not everyone in the same cabin wants the same thing and isn't just wanting to opt out of the purchase to cheat the system and share a package! 

 

I can only imagine how confusing this is going to be for the servers.  I imagine getting lots of Premier drinks even if I have the Plus package in the beginning of this 😁

[Tedferg]

It is easy for Princess to analyze data and see how many drinks each passenger orders and compare Plus pricing with By-the-Drink pricing. Figuring moving from $40 to $50 will not trigger much fallout. Even then, Princess only loses the difference in revenue. Premier is harder to figure. It would seem they must raise drink prices and leave Plus at $12. Unless there are additional premium drinks to tempt people.

[ceilidh1]

9 minutes ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

I think I would feel less complainey about all of this if I could opt to purchase it for myself and not my husband (either Plus or the stupid "Premier").  Or offer a non-alcohol version of both packages for the individuals who do not drink.  Believe it or not, Princess, not everyone in the same cabin wants the same thing and isn't just wanting to opt out of the purchase to cheat the system and share a package! 

 

I can only imagine how confusing this is going to be for the servers.  I imagine getting lots of Premier drinks even if I have the Plus package in the beginning of this 😁

I would be less complainy if I could get a lower price option for my kids who CAN"T drink alcohol. Lol. 

[HBCcruiser]

1 hour ago, rheathslc said:

On the Facebook post announcing this new tier Princess has responded to people and said they are not increasing the price of beverages on board.

Interesting how Princess worded that. NCL did something similar years ago. The price for drinks did not increase but the types of brands made available in the basic package did change. The "basic" package (Premium Package) includes more common brands for drinks and lower priced wines,  whereas the Premium PLUS package includes higher-end brands (see attached lists). I wonder if Princess is going to do something similar and release a list of brands included in each package.

premium-beverage-package.pdf premium-plus-beverage-package.pdf

Edited May 12, 2022 by HBCcruiser

[rheathslc]

5 minutes ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

I think I would feel less complainey about all of this if I could opt to purchase it for myself and not my husband (either Plus or the stupid "Premier").  Or offer a non-alcohol version of both packages for the individuals who do not drink.  Believe it or not, Princess, not everyone in the same cabin wants the same thing and isn't just wanting to opt out of the purchase to cheat the system and share a package! 

 

I can only imagine how confusing this is going to be for the servers.  I imagine getting lots of Premier drinks even if I have the Plus package in the beginning of this 😁

I get that and I think the reason they do this is to fix the potential problem of people sharing drinks with someone who doesn't have the package. 

I hope it won't affect the servers but I know some people take out their frustration on the server even though it's totally out of their control. Everything is done with the medallion now and the charges and who gets what is based on what information is in their system for each guest. It very well might present issues for passenger services though if they don't get all the information straight in the system and lots of people are complaining about thier folio charges being wrong. I for one will be waiting to see how things go after June 25th. I hope it'll be a smooth transition. 

[atexsix]

On 5/11/2022 at 9:43 AM, muchofamuchness said:

Nice way to hide a considerable increase in the Princess Plus fare (probably enough of an increase to make it not worth it for us, to be honest). Who can foresee a lot of drinks magically drifting above the $12 threshold?

I can, maybe even higher, I paid that much for a special sailaway drink 20 years ago.

[Tedferg]

6 minutes ago, rheathslc said:

I get that and I think the reason they do this is to fix the potential problem of people sharing drinks with someone who doesn't have the package. 

I don't think 'Sharing' was as prevalent as people think. Can some confirm, if there was a time limit before you can order a second drink.

[rheathslc]

14 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I would be less complainy if I could get a lower price option for my kids who CAN"T drink alcohol. Lol. 

They really should have a lower priced options for Plus for anyone under the legal drinking age. Even with the Camp Discovery kids clubs, Princess isn't really about catering to kiddos and their families. They pretend they are but they really aren't. I don't have kids but I do have nieces and nephews and if I wanted to take them on a cruise I would choose a different line tbh. Even though I personally LOVE Princess.

[rheathslc]

Just now, Tedferg said:

I don't think 'Sharing' was as prevalent as people think. Can some confirm, if there was a time limit before you can order a second drink.

I think you're probably right. It's more of a situation of all of us having to pay the price for a few people who were always going to bend/break the rules.

When I was onboard in October and November I could and often did place back to back orders through the app or my stateroom TV. I never experience any kind of time limit.

[Tedferg]

21 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

Interesting how Princess worded that. NCL did something similar years ago. The price for drinks did not increase but the types of brands made available in the basic package did change. The "basic" package (Premium Package) includes more common brands for drinks and lower priced wines,  whereas the Premium PLUS package includes higher-end brands (see attached lists). I wonder if Princess is going to do something similar and release a list of brands included in each package.

premium-beverage-package.pdf 159.1 kB · 0 downloads premium-plus-beverage-package.pdf 723.29 kB · 1 download

I see the coffees and water only come with the higher package.

[Tedferg]

Just now, rheathslc said:

When I was onboard in October and November I could and often did place back to back orders through the app or my stateroom TV. I never experience any kind of time limit.

Plus package? If so then both pax had Plus and so no need to sweat sharing.

[rheathslc]

Just now, Tedferg said:

I see the coffees and water only come with the higher package.

Do you mean with NCL or with Princess? 

Per the info on princess.com Plus will still include specialty coffee, tea, smoothies, and bottled water and Premier will include everything Plus does with the higher price limit on alcohol.

[rheathslc]

Just now, Tedferg said:

Plus package? If so then both pax had Plus and so no need to sweat sharing.

Right, and the complaint of the person I was responding to was that they are required to purchase Plus for both people even though their husband doesn't drink. 

[HBCcruiser]

6 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

I see the coffees and water only come with the higher package.

The higher package includes specialty coffees and Starbucks on select ships. Regular coffees are included with both. Also, if in the Haven you can get French Press, Cappuccinos and espressos at no additional cost.  

[Tedferg]

8 minutes ago, rheathslc said:

Do you mean with NCL or with Princess? 

I responded to the post referring to NCL

[rheathslc]

Just now, Tedferg said:

I responded to the post referring to NCL

Got it! Sorry for unnecessarily over explaining. 🙂 

[Coffeeluvr05]

Why are we talking about what another cruise line offers?  This is a Princess discussion.  Way to confuse the topic peeps!

[Tedferg]

1 minute ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

Why are we talking about what another cruise line offers?  This is a Princess discussion.  Way to confuse the topic peeps!

The person was giving an example of how another cruise line had 'raised prices' without raising prices.

[1emerald1]

20 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

I feel the same way & that’s why I’m exploring other options for cruising & are about 50/50 on canceling our 24 days in the Fall.

 

Too many decreases in the type of cruise experience many of us previously enjoyed on Princess. Those marketing slogans you wrote are what attracted many of us to be longtime loyal Princess passengers. I feel like President Reagan who stated that he didn’t leave the Democratic Party but they had left him…Princess is leaving me.

 

If I wanted a booze cruise would book Carnival…NOT!!! 🤨

 

I've always wanted to try Cunard, maybe this will push me to finally do it. 

[rheathslc]

2 minutes ago, 1emerald1 said:

I've always wanted to try Cunard, maybe this will push me to finally do it. 

I also want to try Viking. I compared the prices for comparable cabins and all the things that Viking includes and it was only about $10pp/day more than a Princess cruise and I love that they have no smoking, no art auctions, no people under 18 , no casino and very few shops with none of the big sales events. The one drawback for us right now is that with Viking you basically have to pay in full upon booking. We like that we can book well in advance with Princess and then make monthly payments up until the final payment date.

[Sunwanabe]

1 hour ago, HBCcruiser said:

Interesting how Princess worded that. NCL did something similar years ago. The price for drinks did not increase but the types of brands made available in the basic package did change. The "basic" package (Premium Package) includes more common brands for drinks and lower priced wines,  whereas the Premium PLUS package includes higher-end brands (see attached lists). I wonder if Princess is going to do something similar and release a list of brands included in each package.

premium-beverage-package.pdf 159.1 kB · 13 downloads premium-plus-beverage-package.pdf 723.29 kB · 18 downloads

That would make sense and be useful info. I was wondering what  types of liquor are in each category.

[Tedferg]

1 hour ago, rheathslc said:

I also want to try Viking. I compared the prices for comparable cabins and all the things that Viking includes and it was only about $10pp/day more than a Princess cruise 

Were you comparing the cabin you would normally pick on Princess?

[jgd3rdbcfd]

I manage to watch their presentation with my TA.  What a bunch of up sell ... Wonder what you will get in beverages with Plus.