Putting The Pencil To Princess Plus

[SargassoPirate]

I have a cruise booked with the Princess Plus package.  I am Elite with Princess.

 

I'm having second thoughts about the value of the Princess Plus package.  First of all, I don't drink that much, maybe a wee dram or two of scotch in the evening.  I don''t drink many chi chi coffees either.  I don't wifi much on board.  Specialty restaurants are not a big deal to me.

 

With my Elite wifi package discount and mini bar setup that I can swap for a coffee card, I'm thinking paying gratuities, wifi, and drinks ala cart may make more sense.

 

Thoughts?  Experience?

[DUCHESSRN]

We are pondering the same issue , sure is convenient though .

[PacnGoNow]

9 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

I have a cruise booked with the Princess Plus package.  I am Elite with Princess.

 

I'm having second thoughts about the value of the Princess Plus package.  First of all, I don't drink that much, maybe a wee dram or two of scotch in the evening.  I don''t drink many chi chi coffees either.  I don't wifi much on board.  Specialty restaurants are not a big deal to me.

 

With my Elite wifi package discount and mini bar setup that I can swap for a coffee card, I'm thinking paying gratuities, wifi, and drinks ala cart may make more sense.

 

Thoughts?  Experience?

We just figured it out for us also, for each cruise.  We don’t drink much either, I think it  would be worth it if we drank 3+ drinks a day.  We also look at port intensive as opposed to a lot of sea days.

So, just figure out your expenses a la carte and compare to the $50 PP per day.
 

 

[partybarbie]

It is definitely worth it to us. We have five cruises booked under the old pricing of $40 PP per day. Before Princess Plus, our bar tab would run at least $100 per day (no judgement, lol). It's a money saver for us. 

[Cruise Raider]

3 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

I have a cruise booked with the Princess Plus package.  I am Elite with Princess.

 

I'm having second thoughts about the value of the Princess Plus package.  First of all, I don't drink that much, maybe a wee dram or two of scotch in the evening.  I don''t drink many chi chi coffees either.  I don't wifi much on board.  Specialty restaurants are not a big deal to me.

 

With my Elite wifi package discount and mini bar setup that I can swap for a coffee card, I'm thinking paying gratuities, wifi, and drinks ala cart may make more sense.

 

Thoughts?  Experience?

The cost of the Plus and even the Premier package makes total sense for us .. but, I also travel with friends that don’t get any real value from it.  
We almost always book specialty dinners, we drink wines over the $12 limit, we use the WiFi, as I’m doing right now while currently onboard and the prizes are kind of an extra perk if you win.  
We haven’t purchased the premier package on longer sailings as it really adds up.  I think adding specialty dining based on the number of days to the cruise might be a better idea…  1 for a 3-6 night cruise, 2 for 7-10 night cruise and 3 for 11-16 and maybe 4 for 16+ nights.  
 

Anyway, from what you describe above, I don’t think you’d find great value in the package.  As your title suggests, each person really has to put the pencil to the paper.  
I think you are at the break even point with the Plus package if have a specialty coffee and at least two alcohol drinks per day, that is if you use WiFi.  
The premium package is only of value if you drink fine wines and like to eat at the specialty restaurants.  


 

[Coral]

I have added it to my cruises recently.

 

I don't drink coffee or alcohol. I also don't drink soda frequently.

 

So it probably doesn't make sense. Though if I don't have it - I will think "do I really want to spend money on fresh squeezed OJ?". Also - I live on water at home. It is sort of fun to have cute Mock-tails on the cruise. Something special for me - a treat. I have never ordered them at a land based restaurant or hotel. So I do order the mock-tails on cruises and don't feel guilty about it. Am I getting what I paid for, probably not but if I don't - I probably would skip the fresh squeezed OJ and Mock-tails and this way, I don't feel guilty!!!

 

I have also gotten pretty good pricing on my last couple of cruises so it didn't seem like a huge stretch to get it. I do use WIFI when it works.

 

I am Elite and get Elite setup. I usually swap it for water (don't do soda often) and I usually don't go through the water bottles. 

Edited October 1, 2022 by Coral

[cruzin4us]

I would think......unless you are into the photographs, Princess Prizes and the 4 devices of Wifi, the Premier package does not make sense.   From reports from others, many of the "Premium Drinks" aren't even available (stocking issues).    

Just buy the Princess Plus and pay the difference if you find a cocktail that goes over the $12 limit.    Even the Specialty Dining has it's woes.....unless you book it online, half the time the desired time slots are gone by the time you board.    Princess Prizes.....I haven't heard of many people winning anything important.

Like others said, "maybe" if you are going to go on a short cruise it would be worth it.

Drinking fresh OJ, coffee or mock-tails only would not make the Premium Pkg  pencil out in my opinion because you can get those on the Princess Plus Pkg.

[Coral]

8 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

I would think......unless you are into the photographs, Princess Prizes and the 4 devices of Wifi, the Premier package does not make sense.   From reports from others, many of the "Premium Drinks" aren't even available (stocking issues).    

Just buy the Princess Plus and pay the difference if you find a cocktail that goes over the $12 limit.    Even the Specialty Dining has it's woes.....unless you book it online, half the time the desired time slots are gone by the time you board.    Princess Prizes.....I haven't heard of many people winning anything important.

Like others said, "maybe" if you are going to go on a short cruise it would be worth it.

Drinking fresh OJ, coffee or mock-tails only would not make the Premium Pkg  pencil out in my opinion because you can get those on the Princess Plus Pkg.

The Premier package just seems greedy on Princess IMO. Unless it is a family trip and you plan on having a lot of pictures taken, it just doesn't make sense IMO!

 

I thought the OP was asking about Plus.

[SargassoPirate]

I figured the difference in my booking with and without Princess Plus and the plus package comes out to $64 per day extra.  It may be worth it just to stick with the Plus package and not have to worry about the small stuff.

[Coral]

1 minute ago, SargassoPirate said:

I figured the difference in my booking with and without Princess Plus and the plus package comes out to $64 per day extra.  It may be worth it just to stick with the Plus package and not have to worry about the small stuff.

Always look at both. I booked a 16 night TA recently. The price was $1700 for an inside and a balcony with Princess plus (as a single) - same price! I didn't even bother to look at pricing for non-Princess plus as this seemed like a steal. There was no single supplement on this cruise at the time I booked.

[travelin.sisters]

we have Plus for the first time on our current sailing (Sapphire--Baja & Sea of Cortez) because it was somehow much less expensive when I booked so thought we'd try...I would not get it again (it came with the Hawai'i I booked onboard in the sale they were offering, but will probably refare with my TA once I compare prices ashore)...gratuities & internet are less than 20/day so whatever else is drinks we can get 12 water bottles/about $7 preboarding so that's not a big deal, don't drink alcohol so just coffees & virgin pina coladas but didn't drink one a day (a couple a few days but just because they were paid for), had to search for diet coke that wasn't flat because cans aren't included & when it isn't flat the glasses are tiny...next cruise elite so can exchange the bar setup, so for us it's not a deal, like the not seeing gratuities add up day after day, but now at the end, have to figure out what to do with all the OBC we still have...oh & our TA gives us  2 photo vouchers which we have trouble using & 2 nights each specialty dining...so while it was fun, it is not a good financial choice (for us) at the current pricing

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, partybarbie said:

It is definitely worth it to us. We have five cruises booked under the old pricing of $40 PP per day. Before Princess Plus, our bar tab would run at least $100 per day (no judgement, lol). It's a money saver for us. 

That’s why your “Party Barbie!”  Just kidding. 😆🎉🍾🎈

[Alaskanb]

We chose to go a la carte on our coming cruise. I have pre-booked wifi and have one specialty dinner as we are in a suite. Rarely drink anything alcoholic but do enjoy a cappuccino. So plus not worth it for us. 

 

[partybarbie]

3 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

That’s why your “Party Barbie!”  Just kidding. 😆🎉🍾🎈

I do like a good martini, but that's not how I got my nickname.  Everyone in my family has cruise names. We used to call our formalwear "party" dresses and my stepmom said that I had more clothes than Barbie.  The name kind of just stuck, lol.

[Coral]

16 minutes ago, partybarbie said:

I do like a good martini, but that's not how I got my nickname.  Everyone in my family has cruise names. We used to call our formalwear "party" dresses and my stepmom said that I had more clothes than Barbie.  The name kind of just stuck, lol.

We like your screen name 🙂 

[dog]

Worth it on my last 4 day cruise. Not worth it on my next port intensive 7 day cruise.

[PacnGoNow]

30 minutes ago, partybarbie said:

I do like a good martini, but that's not how I got my nickname.  Everyone in my family has cruise names. We used to call our formalwear "party" dresses and my stepmom said that I had more clothes than Barbie.  The name kind of just stuck, lol.

Love it!  

[BDevilCruiser]

Just booked a week on Regal.  I don’t drink alcohol, so the Plus package doesn’t appeal to me.  Adding up crew “appreciation”, one device Wi-Fi and the soda package, it’s ~$250 instead of the ~$350 for Plus.

[MustangGT]

We decide each cruise individually.  Next year we have B2B Scandinavia/Norway/Iceland. Twenty eight days with lots of ports.  We passed on the Plus fare.  
In 2024 we are cruising 32 days from LA to Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, Tahiti with 22 sea days.  Yup, bought the Plus for that one!

Edited October 1, 2022 by MustangGT

[memoak]

The plus package works out well for us. Even in the old days before drink packages we would budget $50 per person per day for drinks. So we were overjoyed when packages came out. 

[justafem]

For us, we utilize the heck out the plus, but don't think we'd get the value out of the premium.

 

Difference is $25 per person per day.  For that, we can eat specialty dining every night or not and get a photo (we have stacks of photos, probably not going to get any ever again, that $99 unlimited photo package was the bomb!). 

 

Hubs only drinks 1-5 cocktails the entire trip, but he loves his coffee and nonalcoholic drinks.  While I love boozing while cruising (and I only drink while cruising, figure that one out).  He probably drinks 5 specialty coffees a day and at least 4 nonalcoholic drinks.  While I drink 2 coffees and 6 boozes.  That's not counting the unlimited bottles of water. 

 

It's also great for the middle of the night, when international is closed, so we order (free) through room service. 

 

Hubs doesn't use internet, but I do. 

 

Just hubs coffee habit would be $30 per day and his mocktails are another $20, so it's worth it for him.  My booze is $70, coffee $10.  More than worth it for me. Then add the prepaid gratuities. 

 

Don't get me wrong, before plus, we made due with coffee cards and paid our gratuities.  But we don't have to, so why.  

[LACruiser88]

Buying or not buying the packages is definitely a personal choice and does not work for everyone.

 

For us it is a big plus.  We don't drink martinis like @partybarbie but we do like our wine!  🍷🍷🍷

[Dar & Bob]

1 minute ago, LACruiser88 said:

Buying or not buying the packages is definitely a personal choice and does not work for everyone.

 

For us it is a big plus.  We don't drink martinis like @partybarbie but we do like our wine!  🍷🍷🍷

Unfortunately on our last cruise they had increased the price of some of the glasses of wine. They were already over the Plus but still a couple of $$ more than the cruise in January.  

[roxievegas]

We took a B2B cruise Aug 31 - Sept 20 - (10 days each)

 

lst cruise - no plus package.  I purchased two cases of water for $14.14 for the cabin.  Paid the gratuities in advance.  We were on a VIP casino cruise and we did not know that we were given free drinks while in the casino.  So we had a card to show to the drink server or bartender in the Casino and we could get anything - We probably had one alcohol drink per day, the rest was diet soda or water.  We did not get any coffee unless we were in the buffet

 

2nd cruise - had the plus package.  We had our coffee from the coffee/ice cream place on the Lido deck (our cabin was on Lido).  We probably drank less alcohol, but it was convenient that we could get drinks in the dining room.

 

Overall - cheaper not to pay extra for the plus package, but the convenience of having it makes it nice - just not worth the bucks for us.

[cali-croozer]

1 hour ago, dog said:

Worth it on my last 4 day cruise. Not worth it on my next port intensive 7 day cruise.

Agree! Was just going to post pretty much word for word.