Princess New Premier Plus

[caribill]

1 hour ago, startedwithamouse said:

 Whatever Princess has done in the past, is in the past.  Princess has also NEVER been through a 1.5 year pause, right?

 

But after the pause, right up to June 25, Princess did specify what the wine brands were served and included in the beverage package.

[smilesonfaces]

On 6/25/2022 at 9:52 PM, DHP1 said:

Can you find out for us the cost of a glass of white wine (Pinto Grigio)?  Thank you

On the MDR menu kindly posted above there is one Pinot Grigio for $10. The other wines would appear to be sold by the bottle only. It makes sense  to limit the number of unfinished bottles left open.

[Cash123]

14 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

Thanks for posting the menu.
 

Absolutely unacceptable that the “Plus” wine list does not describe the producer or bottling but the “Premier” menu does. I’m never going to order a “Pinot Noir” without knowing anything about it. I hope the this isn’t a ship wide issue and is unique to Explorers Lounge. 
 

 

You do have 15 hits in a 24 hour period so Im sure if you pick a glass of wine you find unacceptable just chuck it or give it to one of your companions, also I keep seeing people referring to a beverage package for $50 or $75 but bear in mind these packages include wifi, gratuities, specialality dining etc so in fact the plus package for example is probably coming in around $20-$25 a day for drinks so you would only need a few drinks to make it worthwhile.

[jeno]

We prefer New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.  I see very little of that wine offered by the glass.  We have the Plus package for the 2023 World Cruise.   Sure hope we’ll be coming up with some Plus wines we like for 111 days. We bought the package 16 months ago when many wines by the glass were shown as covered. 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

@prmssk thank you for getting back to me. I am not surprised by the confusion over what is and isn’t covered. I’m sure it will all get sorted out over the next few months. I am sailing twice in Sept.  The  first sailing is bare bones ……no plus no CC. The second has both. I’ll probably be able to decide if the package is worth it for me now after those two sailings. I don’t think the premier is a good fit since all I care about is grats and wine. I don’t even need internet. 

 

 @PacnGoNowthank you for trying to help me. I believe that earlier post you linked is a preliminary menu and they changed since posted 

[JimmyVWine]

9 hours ago, caribill said:

But after the pause, right up to June 25, Princess did specify what the wine brands were served and included in the beverage package.

This is exactly the point.  It cannot be a coincidence that the practice of not publishing the names of the wines occurred at exactly the same time as the introduction of the Premier Plan.  This does not smack of "supply chain" or "return from the pause" one bit.  It smacks of:  "I can order a Chardonnay within my price point without knowing what I will be getting, or level up to a Sanford or Beringer Chardonnay and know that I will be getting a very dependable wine. Heck, it's only a few bucks more, so why take the chance on the unknown when I can order a sure thing."  That is EXACTLY what this is about and it stinks!

Edited June 27, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[Texter2]

55 minutes ago, jeno said:

We prefer New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.  I see very little of that wine offered by the glass.  We have the Plus package for the 2023 World Cruise.   Sure hope we’ll be coming up with some Plus wines we like for 111 days. We bought the package 16 months ago when many wines by the glass were shown as covered. 

Agreed. I can confirm that the NZ SB was included in the Plus package availability before Covid. If the reports are correct, it will now be $19 per glass. Thus, it will cost an incremental $7 plus gratuity for anyone on the Plus package per pour. 

[PacnGoNow]

47 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

@prmssk thank you for getting back to me. I am not surprised by the confusion over what is and isn’t covered. I’m sure it will all get sorted out over the next few months. I am sailing twice in Sept.  The  first sailing is bare bones ……no plus no CC. The second has both. I’ll probably be able to decide if the package is worth it for me now after those two sailings. I don’t think the premier is a good fit since all I care about is grats and wine. I don’t even need internet. 

 

 @PacnGoNowthank you for trying to help me. I believe that earlier post you linked is a preliminary menu and they changed since posted 

What?  You’re not doing a “LIVE” like your AK cruise?  😂 

[startedwithamouse]

10 hours ago, caribill said:

 

But after the pause, right up to June 25, Princess did specify what the wine brands were served and included in the beverage package.

Still rolling out ships too. This is a solution to the out of stock problem. Have you cruised since the pause? We've been many times, and Princess is always out of beverages. International Cafe is just an example of we didn't get this delivery, maybe tomorrow stores will bring- multiple cruises.  Same with wine which was listed on the menus. Well, now there's not a brand name attached, so problem solved. 

[JimmyVWine]

7 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

This is a solution to the out of stock problem.

The numbers don't support this conclusion.  The old Explorer's list that was linked in an earlier thread showed that the Plus-eligible Chardonnay was the Mer Soleil.  The annual case production of that wine is in excess of 60,000 cases.  One of the new Premier Chardonnays in Explorers is Sanford.  The annual case production of that wine is just under 5,000 cases.  And you conclude that it makes sense to print the list offering the Sanford, secure in the knowledge that they won't run out of that wine, but they hesitate to print a list showing the Mer Soleil (which they have had on printed lists for ages) because they might run out of that wine, which is produced in 12x quantity.  That is a curious conclusion to reach, to say the least.   

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

This is exactly the point.  It cannot be a coincidence that the practice of not publishing the names of the wines occurred at exactly the same time as the introduction of the Premier Plan.  This does not smack of "supply chain" or "return from the pause" one bit.  It smacks of:  "I can order a Chardonnay within my price point without knowing what I will be getting, or level up to a Sanford or Beringer Chardonnay and know that I will be getting a very dependable wine. Heck, it's only a few bucks more, so why take the chance on the unknown when I can order a sure thing."  That is EXACTLY what this is about and it stinks!

They can easily change out what is readily available for the non-specific wine category for Plus.  Agreed that there's a larger inventory of the less expensive wines, and they are easily changed out.  Maybe they're giant wine bags?  Princess doesn't have to let us know as it's house wine.  Again, if it's super important to you, you have a choice in packages. What has changed in the last 20 years you ask? Everything has.  It's the new normal. Inflation. Supply Chain. The fuel prices to bring the wine and supplies to the port have doubled. Compare the fuel prices, also wages in California have gone up too. These costs are passed to the customer,  Princess, who in turn passes it on to their customer- YOU. Princess STILL has very good value. We've upgraded to wines over $12 at Vines, and paid the difference ALWAYS. It clearly states in the new package this is something you can do too. How many cruises have you been on since the pause? We've been on many and lots of missing items in the beverage department, especially wine and International Cafe beverages.  

[startedwithamouse]

1 minute ago, JimmyVWine said:

The numbers don't support this conclusion.  The old Explorer's list that was linked in an earlier thread showed that the Plus-eligible Chardonnay was the Mer Soleil.  The annual case production of that wine is in excess of 60,000 cases.  One of the new Premier Chardonnays in Explorers is Sanford.  The annual case production of that wine is just under 5,000 cases.  And you conclude that it makes sense to print the list offering the Sanford, secure in the knowledge that they won't run out of that wine, but they hesitate to print a list showing the Mer Soleil (which they have had on printed lists for ages) because they might run out of that wine, which is produced in 12x quantity.  That is a curious conclusion to reach, to say the least.   

It doesn't matter how much of something is produced if there's a break in the supply chain. 

[JimmyVWine]

1 minute ago, startedwithamouse said:

What has changed in the last 20 years you ask? Everything has.

The better question is: "What has changed in the past month?"  And the answer is the introduction of the Premier Plan and new sales strategies to get people to level up to it.  And one of those strategies is to serve Plus wines in the blind for the very first time with the hopes that peoples' eyes move over to the higher priced wines with familiar names.

[JimmyVWine]

1 minute ago, startedwithamouse said:

It doesn't matter how much of something is produced if there's a break in the supply chain. 

I'm in the business.  I know where there is and isn't a break in the supply chain.  And it isn't with table wine made in 50,000-150,000 case productions.

[startedwithamouse]

2 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I'm in the business.  I know where there is and isn't a break in the supply chain.  And it isn't with table wine made in 50,000-150,000 case productions.

Know delivery schedules for every truck and ship? If you're in the business, you should be familiar with multiple cost increases?  If it's so important to you, there is a solution. Get Premier or pay the difference.  They're not going back. 

[JimmyVWine]

5 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

If it's so important to you, there is a solution. Get Premier or pay the difference.  They're not going back. 

And there it is.  You have landed on where this was headed all along!

[startedwithamouse]

11 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

 

If you're in the business, you should be familiar with multiple cost increases? Should Princess just keep absorbing the increases or pass to their customer?  You can cherry pick quotes, but turn a blind eye to the elephant in the room, cost increases of bringing a product to market.  How interesting...  

If you are concerned about what you're drinking and nickels and dimes, bring your own cases, which being in the business, you get them at cost.  

[JimmyVWine]

35 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

If you're in the business, you should be familiar with multiple cost increases? Should Princess just keep absorbing the increases or pass to their customer?  You can cherry pick quotes, but turn a blind eye to the elephant in the room, cost increases of bringing a product to market.  How interesting...  

If you are concerned about what you're drinking and nickels and dimes, bring your own cases, which being in the business, you get them at cost.  

This has nothing to do with price.  I don't care what the price is of the Plus wines, as I know that they are going to be $12 or less.  I just want to know whether I am ordering Yellowtail, Two Buck Chuck, or Mer Soleil.  That isn't asking a whole heck of a lot, because it really does matter.  And it is information that has previously been provided without a second thought, and information that you will find in any bar or restaurant higher than a pizza joint where they have a table tent advertising "Red" or "White".  

 

And most of the time I do bring my wine.  But when sailing from a European port, the logistics don't add up.  You seem to have the point twisted in the wind.  I am perfectly fine with the wine selections offered by Princess.  This is not an issue of snobbery.  I actually think that Princess (CCL actually) and Intervine have a good partnership and stock excellent selections at every price point.  It is simply a matter of informing the customer in advance of what they are buying.  Imagine going to the Spa and paying for a massage and not knowing what type of massage you are about to receive.    

[toofewcruises]

3 hours ago, jeno said:

We prefer New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.  I see very little of that wine offered by the glass.  We have the Plus package for the 2023 World Cruise.   Sure hope we’ll be coming up with some Plus wines we like for 111 days. We bought the package 16 months ago when many wines by the glass were shown as covered. 

If I were you, I would bring as many bottles onboard as possible.  That way, yes, you would have to pay the corkage fee, but you would be assured to have it available to you

[caribill]

3 hours ago, Texter2 said:

Agreed. I can confirm that the NZ SB was included in the Plus package availability before Covid. If the reports are correct, it will now be $19 per glass. Thus, it will cost an incremental $7 plus gratuity for anyone on the Plus package per pour. 

 

So much for the webinar where Princess said they were not planning price increases to push choices into the Premier plan. If it was $12 before, then $7 more is a 58% price increase.

 

Even if the cost to Princess went up, considering that there are about 16 normal pours in a 750ml bottle, there is no way the cost went up by $112 a bottle.

 

I looked up New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc pricing on the Internet. I do not know what label Princess uses, but highly rated ones such as Fire Road Sauvignon Blanc go for about $15-$17/bottle which includes Federal and state taxes, taxes that Princess does not pay.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

  Same with wine which was listed on the menus. Well, now there's not a brand name attached, so problem solved. 

 

Maybe they can do the same with the itinerary on a cruise.

 

For example, sell a cruise to Alaska but not list any of the ports.

 

Then those on the Crown would not be disappointed as they would not have any idea in advance what ports they would be missing.

[JimmyVWine]

7 minutes ago, caribill said:

I looked up New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc pricing on the Internet. I do not know what label Princess uses, but highly rated ones such as Fire Road Sauvignon Blanc go for about $15-$17/bottle which includes Federal and state taxes, taxes that Princess does not pay.

Cloudy Bay is a fan favorite (deservedly so) and can be purchased in the States with all applicable taxes for between $22-$26 in most places.  At $19 per glass, Princess is achieving a profit on the bottle after pouring just one glass.  

[JimmyVWine]

4 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Maybe they can do the same with the itinerary on a cruise.

 

For example, sell a cruise to Alaska but not list any of the ports.

 

Then those on the Crown would not be disappointed as they would not have any idea in advance what ports they would be missing.

Brilliant!  Problem solved by selling goods and services, but not telling people what it is that they are buying.  New advertising slogan:  "Pig in a poke??  Hold my beer!"

[vjmatty]

22 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

The menus clearly stating what is included in which package, are are most welcome to people who are trying to beat the system, blaming their server saying they didn't know it wasn't included, and demanding the charge be removed at guest services. 

 

Wait....what? Knowing in advance what is included in your beverage package is for those wanting to "beat the system?" How about those not wanting to buy blind?  May as well just have mystery cruises with that logic.

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

Maybe they can do the same with the itinerary on a cruise.

 

For example, sell a cruise to Alaska but not list any of the ports.

 

Then those on the Crown would not be disappointed as they would not have any idea in advance what ports they would be missing.

Wait until they introduce their primo dining package - buy the package and you choose between steak, chicken, pork, and lamb. No package, you get "meat"....😜