Standard or Plus ?

[travellovers2]

We're trying to decide if to take the Standard or Plus ? We don't want the Premier.

 

Does anybody know what is the cost for the wifi (1 device) and the gratuities for a balcony for 2 on a 14 days cruise? 

The difference in value is $700, we just want to see if this is worth it. The drink package, up to $12, is also included.

 

Thank you for your help!

[travellovers2]

Regular balcony. We may consider the deluxe. Thank you.

[Paula_MacFan]

https://www.princess.com/html/global/disclaimers/crew-appreciation/

All those prices are on the Princess website.  

[Itchy&Scratchy]

13 minutes ago, travellovers2 said:

gratuities for a balcony for 2 on a 14 days cruise? 

$14.50 pp per day.

 

 

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ocean-medallion/medallionnet/

Unlimited and Affordable Internet

Choose from one-device or four-device packages, starting at just $9.99 USD per day when you purchase pre-cruise through the MedallionClass app. Platinum and Elite guests get an exclusive discount of 50% off.*

*Discount will be applied on board in the form of an onboard credit.

Multi-device up to 4 - $19.99 per day.

 

And now you calculate if the alcohol+coffee+soda+mocktails package price is worth it to you.

[voljeep]

31 minutes ago, travellovers2 said:

We're trying to decide if to take the Standard or Plus ? We don't want the Premier.

 

Does anybody know what is the cost for the wifi (1 device) and the gratuities for a balcony for 2 on a 14 days cruise? 

The difference in value is $700, we just want to see if this is worth it. The drink package, up to $12, is also included.

 

Thank you for your help!

consider what your 'beverage intake' is on a normal sea day and port day.  do the math

[travelin.sisters]

the question is will you spend the extra $25ish a day on drinks or is the not having to worry about it worth it to you...there are several good threads where people discuss this in detail, but while it was nice to have the package & not have to worry about what we were ordering, it wasn't worth it for us but others love it either because they use that much or they like not having anything more to pay on the ship (also consider how much OBC you have to spend, ours usually pays for gratuities & if you are Platinum or Elite the wifi is 1/2 price) 

[pompeii]

Here's a recent thread on this topic that might help you out. 

For us, it's not at all worth it because we don't drink alcohol.  We get the loyalty discount on our internet so that's $5/day per person, and we trade our minibar in for coffee packages.  Plus we always have plenty of obc to cover gratuities.  But the math works out differently for everyone and plenty of passengers find it to be well worth it.  

 

 

[macmax]

1 hour ago, travellovers2 said:

We're trying to decide if to take the Standard or Plus ? We don't want the Premier.

 

Does anybody know what is the cost for the wifi (1 device) and the gratuities for a balcony for 2 on a 14 days cruise? 

The difference in value is $700, we just want to see if this is worth it. The drink package, up to $12, is also included.

 

Thank you for your help!

Also consider how port intensive it will be.

(ie) how much time will you be on the ship to take advantage of the bev & wifi pkgs.

[travellovers2]

I went on the Princess website and all I got was an explanation of the three options. Thank you for your responses.

 

We're considering the May 2023 - 14 nts cruise to Norway and Iceland. We will have 6 sea days.

 

My husband drinks wine with every meal.  I may order a strawberry daiquiri. We do love to drink cappuccino and remember doing that a lot when we had a package.

 

We are platinum. I do need to get the wifi. Since we're going to have so many sea days,  I will need to do some work.  It eases the return to the office. 🙂

 

I will put the numbers together and see if it's worth it. I like the convenience of not having to worry about it, but it's $1,400 more, so if we're not going to use it to the max, I'd rather save the money to spend it on something else. 😁

[skynight]

Gratuity is $15.50/pp/day, for the two of you totals $31/day.

One device is $10/day. If you pre-purchase and if you are Platinum loyalty level or higher it would be $5/day.

Basically it turns out that around two to three alcoholic beverages/pp/day is the breakeven point. This assumes that you will be getting some specialty coffees and other non alcoholic beverages.

If you have lots of OBC then it may not pay to take the plus fare. 

[SantaFeFan]

37 minutes ago, travellovers2 said:

I went on the Princess website and all I got was an explanation of the three options. T

 

If you click on the blue text above the price at the bottom of the 2nd package option a pop up window will open with the details of what the package includes. Then click on the blue text "Full terms and conditions ..." to open up yet another window with even more details of what is included. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2022 by SantaFeFan

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, skynight said:

Gratuity is $15.50/pp/day, for the two of you totals $31/day.

One device is $10/day. If you pre-purchase and if you are Platinum loyalty level or higher it would be $5/day.

Basically it turns out that around two to three alcoholic beverages/pp/day is the breakeven point. This assumes that you will be getting some specialty coffees and other non alcoholic beverages.

If you have lots of OBC then it may not pay to take the plus fare. 

I show $14.50 per person, per day for a balcony rate. 
 

[skynight]

2 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

I show $14.50 per person, per day for a balcony rate. 
 

Yes, correct, mis typed. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

3 hours ago, travellovers2 said:

I do need to get the wifi. Since we're going to have so many sea days,  I will need to do some work.

just an FYI - I have read on this forum that Princess Wifi was all but non-existent on European and Med cruises. May want to read up on that.

[travellovers2]

19 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

just an FYI - I have read on this forum that Princess Wifi was all but non-existent on European and Med cruises. May want to read up on that.

Do they make you go to a certain area of the ship to have better reception?

[Coral]

I can tell you that I was in Norway in 2018 and internet was a crawl. It was difficult to even read emails.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

30 minutes ago, travellovers2 said:

Do they make you go to a certain area of the ship to have better reception?

I don't know, I wasn't there. I read it on this subforum.

[PacnGoNow]

27 minutes ago, travellovers2 said:

Do they make you go to a certain area of the ship to have better reception?

I don’t think that will matter. 2023 may be better, but no one knows. TA, Northern Europe and Iceland have been pretty difficult this year for the internet.

You may want to look at the roll calls for the Norway, Iceland cruises this summer.

 

[capriccio]

2 hours ago, Coral said:

I can tell you that I was in Norway in 2018 and internet was a crawl. It was difficult to even read emails.

We had the same problem as you on the same ship (Sapphire Princess) and itinerary (Land of the Midnight Sun) in 2019.  Based on that and the addition of Iceland to the OP's itinerary I wouldn't be holding out much hope for reliable WiFi.

[nasa1974]

4 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

just an FYI - I have read on this forum that Princess Wifi was all but non-existent on European and Med cruises. May want to read up on that.

The farther north and south of the equator the slower and spottier the satellite connections are for

Wi-Fi. It all depends on which satellites the ship can connect to.

[nasa1974]

Also the Princess drink packages are cheaper than Royal Caribbean

[cruzsnooze]

9 hours ago, skynight said:

Gratuity is $15.50/pp/day, for the two of you totals $31/day.

 

That's  an inflated suggestion. It can be changed at guest services to a more reasonable amount. I think $10-$12 is enough but I wanted to point out it's only a suggestion. 

[travellovers2]

We watched a video last night of a frequent cruiser that was on the Sky Princess. He said the wifi was very good and one of the fastest he has ever used. From your comments, I think the main problem is the location. .I am not basing our trip on whether I have wifi or not, if it's bad then I will do less work or none at all. The difference is that I will return to more work waiting for me. But, it will be worth it. 🙂

 

Thank you very much for your help.

[Coral]

2 hours ago, travellovers2 said:

We watched a video last night of a frequent cruiser that was on the Sky Princess. He said the wifi was very good and one of the fastest he has ever used. From your comments, I think the main problem is the location. .I am not basing our trip on whether I have wifi or not, if it's bad then I will do less work or none at all. The difference is that I will return to more work waiting for me. But, it will be worth it. 🙂

 

Thank you very much for your help.

I think it is more complicated than that. A friend was on Discovery Princess (a newer ship) off of California coast and they could barely use it. I think there are more issues than the location currently. Not sure what they are but right now several ships are having internet issues.

[SargassoPirate]

8 minutes ago, Coral said:

I think it is more complicated than that. A friend was on Discovery Princess (a newer ship) off of California coast and they could barely use it. I think there are more issues than the location currently. Not sure what they are but right now several ships are having internet issues.

Since I'm an early riser, when internet has been sketchy on a ship, I've found it helpful to go to the centrum/atrium and try there early in the morning.  I don't stay connected all day and usually only check emails once a day if that much, but it has seemed to help on transocean curises and a cruise around South America.