No Alcohol for Health Reasons--Exemption from purchasing drink package?

[disneyochem]

Quick question--I'm going on a sisters' cruise in January to Mexico.  There are four of us staying in a mini suite and have purchased the Princess Plus for all.  Just found out that one of my sisters cannot have any alcohol due to health reasons.  She can get a note for her physician if that would help.    

 

Can she just get the Quench package while the rest of us still have the full beverage package?  Just trying to save her a few bucks so we can go on more of these trips!

 

Thanks!

[partybarbie]

Princess plus includes gratuities, wi-fi, and all non-alcoholic beverages.  Lots of choices for coffee, soda, juices, and mocktails. It's probably still a better value for her to keep what she has. Princess won't exclude one person. 

[partybarbie]

I would also double check your reservation and make sure that the third and fourth persons in the cabin have Princess Plus. The current Princess Plus offerings only include the first two people in the cabin, so unless you paid extra for the third and fourth persons, you may not have it. 

Edited August 30, 2022 by partybarbie

[cr8tiv1]

Please do confirm:  But I understood that the first 2 had to have the same package and that Passengers 3 & 4 did not.  

 

@partybarbiebeat me to this.  You may need to re-orgainze who is Passengers 1 & 2 and Passengers 3 & 4.

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by cr8tiv1

[Mike45LC]

Party Barbie has not done the math.  As a non-drinker, I have done the math.

 

The Plus package includes Wi-Fi ($10 per day, or $5 per day for Elite), tips (I seem to recall $14.50 per day per person for mini -- is this the same for 3rd and 4th passengers?), and for a non-drinker, the Soda and More package is $10 per day per person -- I think plus 18% on the soda package.  So $36.30 per day for the non-drinker.  The plus package costs more.  

 

Thanks, I will pass on the Plus package if I can.  (My last cruise, it came with the Plus Package and I could not get a better fare without it.  For free, it was worth getting.)

[partybarbie]

@Mike45LC Actually, I did do the math according to what would work best for the majority of passengers. The crew appreciation for a mini-suite is $15.50 per day, non-elite/platinum wi-fi is $10 per day, and the coffee and soda package (including gratuities) is $23.59 per day. That makes at total cost of $49.09 per day. I currently have five cruises booked with Princess Plus that were only an additional $40.00 per day, over the non plus price. I will get everything I mentioned, plus 15 alcoholic beverages per day and all the bottled water I want to drink too. I think I will stick with Princess Plus. 

[Coral]

34 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

Party Barbie has not done the math.  As a non-drinker, I have done the math.

 

The Plus package includes Wi-Fi ($10 per day, or $5 per day for Elite), tips (I seem to recall $14.50 per day per person for mini -- is this the same for 3rd and 4th passengers?), and for a non-drinker, the Soda and More package is $10 per day per person -- I think plus 18% on the soda package.  So $36.30 per day for the non-drinker.  The plus package costs more.  

 

Thanks, I will pass on the Plus package if I can.  (My last cruise, it came with the Plus Package and I could not get a better fare without it.  For free, it was worth getting.)

As a non-drinker, on my next cruise, it made more sense to go with Plus. I did the math also. It also was the same price to go with a balcony as an inside. Each situation is different.

[Vexorg]

Neither me or my wife drink, and when I did the calculations on Princess Plus I found that with the tips for an inside cabin ($14.50 each per day), non-alcoholic drink package ($11.80 per day) and sharing a 4 device Internet package ($10 per day with Platinum/Elite discount, comes out to $5 each) we would be at around $31.30 each per day, compared to $50 per day for the Plus package.

 

That said, I'm also Elite so I could replace the minibar with sodas and water, and I suspect between that and occasionally ordering drinks ala carte we'd probably spend less than that anyway.

[Mike45LC]

Vex, most of the time I want a soda, I am out and about on the ship.  For me, the convenience of having the Soda and More Package, and getting my soda from any bar, is worth the extra $10.00 plus $1.80 per day.  But your point, that by trading in my minibar for sodas I can skip the Soda Package, is valid.

[Steelers36]

6 hours ago, disneyochem said:

Quick question--I'm going on a sisters' cruise in January to Mexico.  There are four of us staying in a mini suite and have purchased the Princess Plus for all.  Just found out that one of my sisters cannot have any alcohol due to health reasons.  She can get a note for her physician if that would help.    

 

Can she just get the Quench package while the rest of us still have the full beverage package?  Just trying to save her a few bucks so we can go on more of these trips!

 

Thanks!

 

5 hours ago, partybarbie said:

I would also double check your reservation and make sure that the third and fourth persons in the cabin have Princess Plus. The current Princess Plus offerings only include the first two people in the cabin, so unless you paid extra for the third and fourth persons, you may not have it. 

 

I thought the 3rd & 4th persons in a cabin were not required to have the PLUS, so if this sister is designated 3rd or 4th, she could not have the PLUS.  I know it is designed for youth, but Princess will charge the regular PLUS price AFAIK and then the youth only gets the non-alcohol package. 

 

Perhaps the sister drinks other things and will get value out of the package.  

 

One of the sisters on the PLUS could upgrade to a 4-device package and share it with the other(s).  Every guest has to do their own math based on their own habits on board and whether they get a mini-bar or not.  For many the PLUS is a no-brainer and for others it's not the best thing to do. 

 

If you really want to get some advice, we could talk about 4 adults in a mini-suite.  I will just say one thing.  Not sure where you are all going to sleep.  You might want to know that the sofa bed is not really made for an adult.  One bed will come down from the ceiling.  Other quad rooms with balcony at least have two beds coming down from the ceiling.

[partybarbie]

The third and fourth persons aren’t required to have Princess Plus now, however, earlier this year, we booked a promotion for a May 2022 cruise that required all three of us in the cabin to have it. We could have chosen not to take it, but then none of us would have had it. I know it sounds strange, but those were the options at the time we booked. The OP said that they all have Princess Plus, so maybe it was the same when she booked the cruise?

[disneyochem]

23 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

If you really want to get some advice, we could talk about 4 adults in a mini-suite.  I will just say one thing.  Not sure where you are all going to sleep.  You might want to know that the sofa bed is not really made for an adult.  One bed will come down from the ceiling.  Other quad rooms with balcony at least have two beds coming down from the ceiling.

Yes, it’s certainly a concern but we need to keep costs down in order for one of us to even be able to cruise!   I also booked a casino comped interior cabin directly opposite of the mini suite. Then we would have two bathrooms!  My other sisters don’t know this—they would be very upset that I’m proposing splitting us into two cabins!  So I have to be careful with family politics!   But, they don’t cruise so they don’t know what it is to have four adults in one room!
 

As we get closer to final payment, I’ll look into want is the best of us.  Which seemed to be after our latest Zoom meeting was “one family, one room!”

[disneyochem]

6 hours ago, partybarbie said:

I would also double check your reservation and make sure that the third and fourth persons in the cabin have Princess Plus. The current Princess Plus offerings only include the first two people in the cabin, so unless you paid extra for the third and fourth persons, you may not have it. 

Booked the cruise over a year ago so we all have the Princess Plus with speciality dining.

 

Thanks for the reminder about the other things included in the promotion.  I think she should keep the drink package but she’s a little concerned that she might be tempted to drink!  (As if having three older sisters present keeping tabs on her isn’t enough!)

[disneyochem]

6 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Please do confirm:  But I understood that the first 2 had to have the same package and that Passengers 3 & 4 did not.  

 

@partybarbiebeat me to this.  You may need to re-orgainze who is Passengers 1 & 2 and Passengers 3 & 4.

 

The Live Chat woman told me today it wasn’t possible for #3 & #4 to do something differently.  I’ll bite the bullet and call Princess tomorrow.

[Steelers36]

38 minutes ago, disneyochem said:

The Live Chat woman told me today it wasn’t possible for #3 & #4 to do something differently.  I’ll bite the bullet and call Princess tomorrow.

Again, she may get value from the package without consuming alcohol.  Can also order virgin bar drinks, coffee, hot chocolate, sodas, waters.  (Smart move since you can get a casino Inside).