Princess Cruises introduces all-inclusive Premier Package

[suekel]

4 hours ago, phonejock said:

IMHO, the biggest concern will be booking the specialty restaurants. I have reads numerous complaints here and on Facebook about having to pay first and then get reimbursed. More importantly, (at least to me) is just being able to secure a reservation. If a good amount of people have the new package, it will be imperative that you book a dinner as soon as you book your cruise.

 

It would be nice if you could reserve thru your agent (TA or PVP)at the time of booking.  

[cruzin4us]

Maybe I'm just not "getting it".

On the RARE occasion that I wanted a drink that was over the $12 limit, I could order and pay the difference (plus the 18%).    So, if they raise the drink prices to say $14 then why wouldn't I just keep the lower Princess Plus Bev Pkg and pay the $2.00 + .36 = $2.36?    I'd still come out farther ahead.    

 

PS:   And I'm a gambler and I'm not falling for the "chance to win".   I'd probably win a free Specialty Coffee which I'm already getting anyway 🙂

[Tedferg]

Is the Personalizer people refer to the collection of Summary, Check In. Excursions etc. i.e. there is no link called Personalizer.

[BuckeyeMark]

Does everyone in a cabin have to get the Princess Plus or Princess Premiere pkg or can just one person get it?

[Tedferg]

12 hours ago, rheathslc said:

Well apparently I'm in the minority here but I really like this new tier and will be upgrading my two B2B 5-Day cruises in September to the Premier package which Princess confirmed that we can do for $25pp/day once it's available. And since we're on the Plus package currently at the $40 price the total for the Premier will be $65pp/day instead of the full $75.

We drink enough coffee and alcoholic beverages, each use at least 2 devices, and book specialty dining on each cruise that it makes the Premier package a good deal, especially on shorter cruises. On the longer ones it might not be as good of a deal given that some of the benefits are fixed no matter how long the cruise is.

And for us a $10/day increase in the Plus tier isn't the end of the world. $50pp/day is still a good deal when you add up all the inclusions.

Just my take. 🙂

Please explain your logic. Which more expensive drinks would you choose? Also, you could pay $60 for two specialty dinners, how is $25 per day a bargain? Not trying to be a smartass, I am just amazed at how little benefit there is to me for 50% over Plus. I also think $50 for Plus pushes it out of my value range.

[HBCcruiser]

5 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

Maybe I'm just not "getting it".

On the RARE occasion that I wanted a drink that was over the $12 limit, I could order and pay the difference (plus the 18%).    So, if they raise the drink prices to say $14 then why wouldn't I just keep the lower Princess Plus Bev Pkg and pay the $2.00 + .36 = $2.36?    I'd still come out farther ahead.    

I am just guessing here, but Princess may move all top brand drinks/wines that are currently covered under their beverage plan to the Premiere Plan (i.e., increase costs). I say this because on my last cruise in April they did not have many of the wines that were usually available at the $12 price. I had to constantly order wines that were above the $12 price point. I kept wondering why they had "run out" of their regularly offered wines, especially when we were departing from California - wine central - where a Costco run could have easily fixed the wine shortage issue. 😆.  My guess is that they knew they'd be losing income if they offered those wines at $12 as listed on the menu/wine lists. 

[Tedferg]

2 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

I am just guessing here, but Princess may move all top brand drinks/wines that are currently covered under their beverage plan to the Premiere Plan (i.e., increase costs). 

I am afraid you might be right, and so grandfathered current Plus packages lose value.

[ceilidh1]

19 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

I am just guessing here, but Princess may move all top brand drinks/wines that are currently covered under their beverage plan to the Premiere Plan (i.e., increase costs). I say this because on my last cruise in April they did not have many of the wines that were usually available at the $12 price. I had to constantly order wines that were above the $12 price point. I kept wondering why they had "run out" of their regularly offered wines, especially when we were departing from California - wine central - where a Costco run could have easily fixed the wine shortage issue. 😆.  My guess is that they knew they'd be losing income if they offered those wines at $12 as listed on the menu/wine lists. 

Bingo! I think you have hit the nail on the head. I foresee most drinks being over $12 moving forward.

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

I am afraid you might be right, and so grandfathered current Plus packages lose value.

as long as Princess 'keeps available and doesn't run out' of a couple of semi-decent cabs, a chard, a couple of single malt scotches, and a Dunes martini, current beers, and 'fruity drinks' ... well, we can live and enjoy that - even at the soon to be 'extra' $10 pp pd.  I "might" consider the $25 'upcharge' to the premier on a 4 day cruise, just to "experience the thrill" ... and the specialty dinner(s) - but they better come with a 'guaranteed' availability.

 

maybe the Premier Package upgrade could become a 'throw-in' for the super elitist level soon to come.

Sorta like getting the platinum insurance upgrade at the regular price.

 

nah ...

[LACruiser88]

Instead of adding new products, Princess should really be spending their efforts in fixing the current ones!

[Tedferg]

5 minutes ago, voljeep said:

as long as Princess 'keeps available and doesn't run out' of a couple of semi-decent cabs, a chard, a couple of single malt scotches, and a Dunes martini, current beers, and 'fruity drinks' ... well, we can live and enjoy that -

Agree I mostly drink beer but will indulge in a Manhattan on a cruise and don't know enough about wine to care, so, standard Red works for me. Sorry, $50 is a bit too far.

[rheathslc]

28 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Please explain your logic. Which more expensive drinks would you choose? Also, you could pay $60 for two specialty dinners, how is $25 per day a bargain? Not trying to be a smartass, I am just amazed at how little benefit there is to me for 50% over Plus. I also think $50 for Plus pushes it out of my value range.

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. 

🙂

 

[rheathslc]

1 hour ago, Tedferg said:

I also think $50 for Plus pushes it out of my value range.

Plus covers:

the daily gratuity - roughly $15 per day

wifi - let's call this only $5 per day value because I'm platinum and get a 50% discount.

With those taken into account the "cost" of the drinks package on the new plus is $30 per day vs. about $70 (inc service charge) if you buy the drinks package by itself.

 

For someone who doesn't drink wine or cocktails or the specialty coffee it's probably not a good value. But if I wasn't doing Princess Plus I would need to pay a la cart for all the inclusions that I want. And even at the $70ish per day including service charge for the stand along drinks package it's still a good deal for me. Between lattes at breakfast, espresso after dinner (decaf these days but sill), a few cocktails by the pool, and wine with dinner I easily rack up more than that each day.

 

So for me $50/day is still way better than the $90/day I would spend a la cart.

 

And I know a lot of people remove the gratuities which you cannot do if you book with Princess Plus. So for those people it's also for sure not as good a value.  Having worked in the cruise industry and the hospitality and food service industry more generally, I know how important gratuities are and would never remove or reduce them. That's just my stance. I get that there are a lot of strong opinions about gratuities. To each their own.

[insidecabin]

I use what would I do at home to calculate the value of a package not inflated Princess prices.

 

At the old UK price of £30 take of £10 for the grats, wifi I can take or leave, there is some small  value princess refund $5 a day if it does not work.

 

working with £20pp

in my local that's 9 beers(£2.10/pt)

A slightly more normal pub 5 beers(£4/pt)

in a London/city pub  3 beers(£6-£7/pt)

 

As the OH does not drink much we could make it work at the old price for the convenience once we 

add in a few coffee/teas, a cocktail or 2 and maybe the odd longer like a LIIT.

 

Now its gone up by £10 that's 50% more on the drinks bit its starts to get a bit harder to make sense.

I think we will be between more than we would spend at home but still less than PAYG with princess.

 

[thundercleese]

6 hours ago, phonejock said:

IMHO, the biggest concern will be booking the specialty restaurants. I have reads numerous complaints here and on Facebook about having to pay first and then get reimbursed. More importantly, (at least to me) is just being able to secure a reservation. If a good amount of people have the new package, it will be imperative that you book a dinner as soon as you book your cruise.

 

They only let a certain percentage of tables be reserved online, there are enough withheld to just make reservations once you're on the ship. Unless something has recently changed due to medallion stuff.

Edited May 12, 2022 by thundercleese

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, insidecabin said:

Looking at my future UK booking I have the premier drinks package listed and it has been listed on the invoices as well.

 

In the booking  there is an option to purchase a plus drinks package at £50.97pppd

 

 

It's a case of them not yet updating every piece of text in the System.  Your Premier package is now the Plus package.

[insidecabin]

Just now, thundercleese said:

They only let a certain percentage of tables be reserved online, there are enough withheld to just make reservations once you're on the ship.

we solved the potential booking issue by going for the early slot,

planned the day to be hungry at that time.

 

It was great for social distancing as the place was empty, service levels high and we were done as the place was filling up.

Also meant the early even  was quiet in the lounges as  many were eating.  

[thundercleese]

42 minutes ago, rheathslc said:

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.

You wouldn't pay the whole cost though, only the difference in price.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Tedferg said:

I have Plus fare. When I select Beverage Packages in Onboard Services, it points out that I might already have a Beverage package, When I 'Review Confirmed Packages' it shows: I think it always called it Premier, however $685.10 for 10 day cruise - where does that number come from. BTW it always had $685, supposedly compliments from TA, though I paid for it.

 

It's a cooked-up number to make the package pricing look very attractive.  Retailers do the same thing - put out a list price of several items, but if you buy them in a package, you get a "big" discount.  That number is basically the cost of buying the package in Onboard Services for the length of the voyage.  But it does seem a little low and I am not going to analyze the math.  It is roughly $58/day + 18%.

[insidecabin]

2 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

It's a case of them not yet updating every piece of text in the System.  Your Premier package is now the Plus package.

 

They will have difficultly updating the text in the invoice emails that say I have the premier package.

[thundercleese]

3 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

It was great for social distancing as the place was empty, service levels high

Those are great benefits of your planning!

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, cruzin4us said:

Maybe I'm just not "getting it".

On the RARE occasion that I wanted a drink that was over the $12 limit, I could order and pay the difference (plus the 18%).    So, if they raise the drink prices to say $14 then why wouldn't I just keep the lower Princess Plus Bev Pkg and pay the $2.00 + .36 = $2.36?    I'd still come out farther ahead.    

 

PS:   And I'm a gambler and I'm not falling for the "chance to win".   I'd probably win a free Specialty Coffee which I'm already getting anyway 🙂

And not many people want a photo package.

 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, BuckeyeMark said:

Does everyone in a cabin have to get the Princess Plus or Princess Premiere pkg or can just one person get it?

Yes.  The first TWO passengers must include it and optional for any others sharing same cabin.  It's Premier, BTW.

[rheathslc]

5 minutes ago, thundercleese said:

You wouldn't pay the whole cost though, only the difference in price.

You're absolutely right. I got that wrong in my calculations. I still think it's a good value for my style of cruising and what I usually spend money on anyway. 🙂

Now we just have to wait and see if the drink prices increase and make some or even a majority of the drinks previously included at the $12 level only available at the $18 level going forward. That would for sure be a rotten thing for Princess to do. But several lines are increasing their prices right now so I guess we'll see what happens.

[Steelers36]

9 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

 

They will have difficultly updating the text in the invoice emails that say I have the premier package.

Obviously, but the official version will be the System information when you sail.  The Passage Contract lets them do just about anything to us short of having us walk the plank or be keel-hauled.