Which "NEW" Cruise Fare Package Do You Prefer?

[DeeTO]

6 hours ago, frogandtoad said:

FYI, in addition to the changes to Plus and Premium, here are other changes announced.

 

In addition to the changes to our fare bundles noted above, the following changes will also go into effect with new bookings made on or after Dec 14, 2022:

 

• Crew appreciation: The daily Crew Appreciation charge is based on stateroom category, and effective Dec 14, 2022, will increase to: $16 per guest in Interior, Oceanview and Balcony (was $14.50), $17 per guest in Mini-Suite and Club Class (was $15.50), $18 per guest in Suites (was $16.50) for voyages sailing on or after Feb 20, 2023. Whether included in a fare bundle or paid separately, this daily charge recognizes our crew for exceptional service they provide and is shared among the many members of our crew in hotel, dining and entertainment throughout the fleet. Your clients with existing bookings will have the opportunity to pre-pay the crew appreciation for their cruise at the current rate until Dec 13, 2022.
• MedallionNet Wi-Fi: MedallionNet®, the best Wi-Fi at sea, effective with voyages sailing Feb 20, 2023 and beyond, will be priced as follows: $15 per day for single-device plan; $40 per day for four-device plan.
• Medallion shipping: Complimentary Medallion shipping to a guest's home or office will continue for guests purchasing Princess Plus or Princess Premier. Guests who book with Princess Standard on or after Dec 14, 2022, can receive their Medallions at their port of embarkation, or they can elect to have the Medallions shipped for a nominal fee of $10 per stateroom. Be sure to encourage your clients to have their Medallions shipped to them prior to their cruise as this will make their embarkation an even more effortless experience.
•  

[DeeTO]

Just now, DeeTO said:

6 hours ago, frogandtoad said:

FYI, in addition to the changes to Plus and Premium, here are other changes announced.

 

In addition to the changes to our fare bundles noted above, the following changes will also go into effect with new bookings made on or after Dec 14, 2022:

 

• Crew appreciation: The daily Crew Appreciation charge is based on stateroom category, and effective Dec 14, 2022, will increase to: $16 per guest in Interior, Oceanview and Balcony (was $14.50), $17 per guest in Mini-Suite and Club Class (was $15.50), $18 per guest in Suites (was $16.50) for voyages sailing on or after Feb 20, 2023. Whether included in a fare bundle or paid separately, this daily charge recognizes our crew for exceptional service they provide and is shared among the many members of our crew in hotel, dining and entertainment throughout the fleet. Your clients with existing bookings will have the opportunity to pre-pay the crew appreciation for their cruise at the current rate until Dec 13, 2022.
• MedallionNet Wi-Fi: MedallionNet®, the best Wi-Fi at sea, effective with voyages sailing Feb 20, 2023 and beyond, will be priced as follows: $15 per day for single-device plan; $40 per day for four-device plan.
• Medallion shipping: Complimentary Medallion shipping to a guest's home or office will continue for guests purchasing Princess Plus or Princess Premier. Guests who book with Princess Standard on or after Dec 14, 2022, can receive their Medallions at their port of embarkation, or they can elect to have the Medallions shipped for a nominal fee of $10 per stateroom. Be sure to encourage your clients to have their Medallions shipped to them prior to their cruise as this will make their embarkation an even more effortless experience.
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Can someone clarify who pays the new gratuities and when. Above It states it goes into effect for new bookings after Dec. 14 2022 which implies if you already have a booking old rates apply. Then last sentence says, clients with existing bookings can prepay at old rate until Dec13. Makes you think if you don’t prepay by then, even with existing booking, old rate may not apply? 
I’m confused. Am I totally misunderstanding there English and what if existing booking is for cruise after Feb 20, 2023? 

[damiross]

1 hour ago, DeeTO said:

Can someone clarify who pays the new gratuities and when. Above It states it goes into effect for new bookings after Dec. 14 2022 which implies if you already have a booking old rates apply. Then last sentence says, clients with existing bookings can prepay at old rate until Dec13. Makes you think if you don’t prepay by then, even with existing booking, old rate may not apply? 
I’m confused. Am I totally misunderstanding there English and what if existing booking is for cruise after Feb 20, 2023? 

Pay the gratuities on or before 13 December to get the lower rates.  Same thing for the Wi-Fi.

[caribill]

11 hours ago, frogandtoad said:

• MedallionNet Wi-Fi: MedallionNet®, the best Wi-Fi at sea, effective with voyages sailing Feb 20, 2023 and beyond, will be priced as follows: $15 per day for single-device plan; $40 per day for four-device plan.
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[caribill]

4 hours ago, damiross said:

Pay the gratuities on or before 13 December to get the lower rates.  Same thing for the Wi-Fi.

 

I did not see where it said you could do that for the Wi-Fi

[cr8tiv1]

35 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

I did not see where it said you could do that for the Wi-Fi

 

I just did that on my Medallion Class App.  Got the 4 device for $10/day (Elite discount) for a cruise 2023.  You bet I took a screenshot since it is not showing up on my personalizer.

 

And even though I will have enough OBC to cover crew appreciation, I pre-paid it to lock in current rate.

Edited December 3, 2022 by cr8tiv1

[antsp]

5 hours ago, damiross said:

Pay the gratuities on or before 13 December to get the lower rates.  Same thing for the Wi-Fi.

Why pre pay, just goto the desk and adjust rate to your desired amount 

[jennybenny]

33 minutes ago, antsp said:

Why pre pay, just goto the desk and adjust rate to your desired amount 

That is so logical and simple!! Never thought to do that!! Duh!  I just feel like a turd requesting to adjust the gratuities vs pre paying or just paying the new amount. However, the logic works, "I'd like to reduce the gratuities to what they were when I first booked the cruise, thank you".  

Don't know that I would feel comfortable, but something to ponder! Thanks!

[Jeter02]

2 hours ago, caribill said:

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

Sadly that lackluster no longer exists time to buddy up Elon Musk and his Starlink

 

[kitty2264]

1 hour ago, antsp said:

Why pre pay, just goto the desk and adjust rate to your desired amount 

Will they still let you do that?

[billco]

5 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I just did that on my Medallion Class App.  Got the 4 device for $10/day (Elite discount) for a cruise 2023.  You bet I took a screenshot since it is not showing up on my personalizer.

 

And even though I will have enough OBC to cover crew appreciation, I pre-paid it to lock in current rate.

Since Elites will get the opportunity to book the new 2024 cruises on December 13, does that mean they have the opportunity to book at the current rates?

[billco]

22 hours ago, cruzin4us said:

Every time I walk by one of the fitness classes, there are always only about 10 people participating.    So my guess is only .0033333333.... percent of the people would take advantage of that.   Stupid call by Princess.

I took a Yoga class last Spring on the Enchanted Princess. There was one other person in the class. The instructor had to quit after the second class, because he hurt his back. I got a prorated refund.

[jonnyenglish1]

I just got back from a Regal Princess cruise. I enjoy wine and for these purposes i bought the premier package. Across the ship i managed to find enough Premier wines for my perspective as a UK citizen to justify the additional £20 per day, especially if i included the 2 free specialty dinings, princess prizes, where we did quite well, and the photos.

 

If on plus my issue with wine would be the generic wine list in MDR, and in other bars lack of clarity on 12 dollar or less pricing beyond generic. i mainly drink red so helpfully many bars had lined up what was available so you could ask questions what price was wine as many were not on menus. My fear on plus packages would be that you could easily end up with some generic cheap Italian wine worth £5 a bottle in UK prices. I got a little frustrated when servers/waiters seemed to think this was an appropriate substitute for premium wines which are more in the £30 per bottle range. 

[kywildcatfanone]

On 12/2/2022 at 9:24 AM, MissP22 said:

After our last survey I gave up on future ones. It's much to long and no one really pays that much attention to them anyway. 

Those surveys are worthless.  I put in comments before to have someone contact me because  I wanted to discuss something, and you never hear from them.  I doubt most are even read.  They are computer scanned for your selections and then never viewed again by an actual person.

[kywildcatfanone]

22 hours ago, cruzin4us said:

So my guess is only .0033333333.... percent of the people would take advantage of that.   Stupid call by Princess.

It is stupid, but it gives the perception of a "benefit" but it really isn't.  There are a lot of benefits they offer that cost them nothing such as priority tendering or some lounges for some classes of customers.   They could offer DR service to your room for all classes and it still wouldn't cost them anything but a delivery of a meal they are already making.

 

And the idea they making you pay for a medallion to be shipped that you have to use, lol.  What poor customer service.

 

I would much rather then raise the fare than nickel and dime every "benefit" or "package".    But, that is marketing.  Make it look like it's a good deal, then fee people to the extreme.  Going on in every business that can do it, and most customers have no idea that they just paid a lot more because of it.

[Coral]

This is a stupid move on Princess's part.

 

I do not drink alcohol. I do enjoy fresh squeezed OJ and mock tails when on cruises. I did purchase the Princess Plus previously on my last several cruises and they got their money's worth. IMO - I liked not thinking about every single drink charge which was at most 2-3 non-alcoholic drinks per day.

 

Well - I won't be purchasing any package in the future. 

 

Also - when people purchase the drink package, tips are paid. With less people buying the package, the possibility of more people removing the tips exists. I would not do that but from people's posts here on CC, I know people will. They couldn't under Plus.

[ceilidh1]

I always buy the Plus package and have managed to either break even or do better financially than I would without it, even with a teen as passenger two. My last 7 day cruise I upgraded to the premiere, which I justified to myself because I knew I wanted to get some nice pictures. We definitely got the moneys worth out of the pictures but the upgraded alcohol portion was a joke - they literally had nothing in stock that was at the higher pricing. I won $25 OBC in Princess Prizes, and we did use the specialty dining, which we would have paid for otherwise. There is no way I would upgrade on a longer cruise. Now that Plus is going up again, I would need to do the math to find the break-even point and would more likely just go with standard and pay-as-you-go.

 

I wonder what the end game for Princess is here. Is it to make the Premiere look more attractive? To enitce new cruisers who don't know any better? Psychologically, if I was a newbie, faced with ONLY standard or Premiere, I would likely just buy Premiere so I got everything and worried about nothing. With Plus awkwardly jammed in there, it would make me stop and think about what I was actually getting and whether it was worth it. I would do the math and likely opt out of any of them. As a seasoned cruiser, I look at the options and think "Wow! They are charging more for what?" It feels like they are trying to be all-inclusive without being all-inclusive. Personally, I would almost prefer that they just raise the overall cruise price and have everything included...but I guess that doesn't sell cabins.

 

I have loved Princess since day one and they have always been my go-to line. Sadly, they continue to make it harder to keep loving them. Every benefit they do away with, every decline in product or onboard experience, every attempt to nickel and dime, just makes me like them a little less. I'm not saying other lines don't do the same, but I haven't sailed on other lines enough to know the difference - and I'm sure that is what Princess is counting on from their "new" passengers....

[c-boy]

17 hours ago, damiross said:

A few dollars more isn't the point, in my opinion.  The point is nickel-and-diming  

If you look at it as a percentage, these really aren't small increases. 

 

The Wi-Fi is increasing by 50%. 

The gratuities are going up roughly 10%.

The plus is going up 20%

The premier is going up 5%

 

It would be nice if they offered a package with sodas.  We don't drink that much.  And I can't drink more than 4 or 5 drinks a day because I tend to nurse on them rather then drink they fast.    I think Princess is doing their customers wrong by not offering soda program.

If your looking to save money when you go on vacation, your looking at the wrong industry. The cruise  industry got hit hard when the covid shut down took place. This corporation had to make some big financial  decisions and we're going to pay for it .... or not.  The decision is yours. 

[gah_cruise]

58 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

 ....but the upgraded alcohol portion was a joke - they literally had nothing in stock that was at the higher pricing.

What reasons did they give for not having premium drinks?
Did you request a refund?

[ceilidh1]

3 minutes ago, gah_cruise said:

What reasons did they give for not having premium drinks?
Did you request a refund?

Out of stock

I didn't request a refund - I was too busy trying to get the drink charges removed that kept appearing despite my having the package. 🙄

[jennybenny]

I hate when I have to go get drinks removed when I have the package. Get your $h!t together!! 

I've had to do it at least once per cruise, usually more. 

That Out of stock issue would definitely have me requesting a refund. I could have purchased the cheaper package, but if you can't support it, give me back my money!

[MsSoCalCruiser]

The package already includes juices so I’m not sure what the new juice addition  would include.  Is there going to be a juice bar?

[gah_cruise]

17 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Out of stock

I didn't request a refund - I was too busy trying to get the drink charges removed that kept appearing despite my having the package. 🙄

I have heard about the "out of stock" for premium drinks on several forums and pages.....is there anyone here that has actually been able to have premium drinks on Princess?

 

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I just did that on my Medallion Class App.  Got the 4 device for $10/day (Elite discount) for a cruise 2023.  You bet I took a screenshot since it is not showing up on my personalizer.

 

And even though I will have enough OBC to cover crew appreciation, I pre-paid it to lock in current rate.

The last time PCL increased Crew Incentive (it was Gratuities then), I didn't pre-pay since the voyage was somewhat in the future and I thought the crew deserved the increase.  It was well publicized and discussed here at the time.  PCL was going to be paying the crew the new amount at the effective date, even if guest had paid the old rate.  It's a personal choice, but I would likely let it go rather than have PCL pay without me paying.  Either that, or I would give the difference to my steward and waiters on board. 

 

Maybe that last idea is best.  Anyone who is taking advantage of pre-paying Crew Incentive at current rates, why not take that extra $3/cabin/day and give it to Stewart and your waiters?

[damiross]

8 hours ago, caribill said:

 

I did not see where it said you could do that for the Wi-Fi

You need to sign up for Wi-Fi in the Medallion app.  You would think they would indicate this on the website.  At least, I didn't see it mentioned on the site. I had to contact Princess for this via chat.