Princess 'Plus' and 'Premier' packages

[Over from NZ]

14 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

This thread is about Princess. I don't know why you say there are less seats available to the shows if you don't spend extra. I haven't found that Princess have the option of paying for seats at shows.

 

We have found that the food available is great, even without paying extra.

As relaxing robbies has pointed out - if PRINCESS are taking seats out of the mix to offer specifically to package buyers.. there's less available to everybody else. The food is mostly great.. but if they're starting to move towards a scenario where more of the menu becomes chargeable (which other lines in the Carnival stable are doing), then it's just "death by a thousand cuts" if you understand the saying. Already we're seeing a persistent move towards a class type system with perks and so-on for suite customers.. and if they go too far down that pathway.. they can take a flying leap. There's plenty of ways to spend the leisure dollar without needing to put up with that!

[Tripmode33]

Agree. $65 spells the end of the Plus Package for us.  We still have it on future cruises at $30/$40 but going forward, not for us now on new bookings.

[Aus Traveller]

At the moment, I wouldn't consider reserved seating to be of any value at all. On our cruises, we went to the show every night and on most nights, there were plenty of seats available even when the show started. The only exceptions were two shows in the (smaller) Universe Theatre. We arrived close to start time and found seats but there weren't many available when the show started.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Aus Traveller

[icat2000]

You have to price it out. Its not worth it to me. I take standard and just pay extras as I go. I don't need the fancy desserts. Extra gym sessions. Nope. Juice bars. I buy as I need. Thearte. Not really a must have. Photos. Same. I buy if I like it.

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, icat2000 said:

You have to price it out. Its not worth it to me. I take standard and just pay extras as I go. I don't need the fancy desserts. Extra gym sessions. Nope. Juice bars. I buy as I need. Thearte. Not really a must have. Photos. Same. I buy if I like it.

Agreed.👍

[bretts173]

1 hour ago, Over from NZ said:

As relaxing robbies has pointed out - if PRINCESS are taking seats out of the mix to offer specifically to package buyers.. there's less available to everybody else. The food is mostly great.. but if they're starting to move towards a scenario where more of the menu becomes chargeable (which other lines in the Carnival stable are doing), then it's just "death by a thousand cuts" if you understand the saying. Already we're seeing a persistent move towards a class type system with perks and so-on for suite customers.. and if they go too far down that pathway.. they can take a flying leap. There's plenty of ways to spend the leisure dollar without needing to put up with that!

Have you ever missed out on seeing a show on Princess because it's full. The same people who went to the show before are the same people who will be going now.

[Over from NZ]

6 minutes ago, bretts173 said:

Have you ever missed out on seeing a show on Princess because it's full. The same people who went to the show before are the same people who will be going now.

Yeah it happens a bit. 

[Aus Traveller]

44 minutes ago, bretts173 said:

Have you ever missed out on seeing a show on Princess because it's full. The same people who went to the show before are the same people who will be going now.

We haven't ever missed a show because we couldn't get a seat. On one or two occasions, we haven't been able to find seats together in the part of the theatre where we want to sit.

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, icat2000 said:

You have to price it out. Its not worth it to me. I take standard and just pay extras as I go. I don't need the fancy desserts. Extra gym sessions. Nope. Juice bars. I buy as I need. Thearte. Not really a must have. Photos. Same. I buy if I like it.

Before the price rise, the current deal for Premier package only prices OK for us when compared to the plus package for up to 4 nights.

 

We generally only get an embark photo, but went with a premier fare in October for our anniversary to get the value from specialty meals and portraits. Getting 3 prints each plus downloads of all photos as well as 2 specialty meals each put us way in front on a 3-nighter. Many of these benefits are per cruise, so the price difference between plus and premier gets bigger for each extra night. To top things off, half our package price was refunded due to the door prize thingy, which they were no longer able to have on domestic cruises.

 

Plus will still be good value for us - 4 drinks and 2 coffees to break even instead of 3 drinks and a coffee.

[Ozwoody]

2 hours ago, bretts173 said:

Have you ever missed out on seeing a show on Princess because it's full. The same people who went to the show before are the same people who will be going now.

 

2 hours ago, Over from NZ said:

Yeah it happens a bit. 

We usually do longer cruises, and we found most shows were repeated at least twice.

Didn't seem to be a problem to get to see the 2nd if we missed the 1st.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

This thread is about Princess. I don't know why you say there are less seats available to the shows if you don't spend extra. I haven't found that Princess have the option of paying for seats at shows.

 

We have found that the food available is great, even without paying extra.

When they launched premier, one of the pluses was 2 specialty meals. That is all wonderful, and we have made use of that in October. On the down side, the specialty restaurants on the shorter cruises are sold-out before boarding, filled with premier package bookings and the first night suite package.

 

If you have 40 or 50 reserved seats in the theatre, that isn't a big restriction on other passengers. Some of these cruises are having over 100 cabins booked on premier, so losing 100 seats per show will place a significant squeeze on seating. It is nothing new though, as Royal's suites have had various reserved spots for some of their shows for some time.

[bretts173]

47 minutes ago, arxcards said:

When they launched premier, one of the pluses was 2 specialty meals. That is all wonderful, and we have made use of that in October. On the down side, the specialty restaurants on the shorter cruises are sold-out before boarding, filled with premier package bookings and the first night suite package.

 

If you have 40 or 50 reserved seats in the theatre, that isn't a big restriction on other passengers. Some of these cruises are having over 100 cabins booked on premier, so losing 100 seats per show will place a significant squeeze on seating. It is nothing new though, as Royal's suites have had various reserved spots for some of their shows for some time.

I don't see this as an extra 100 seats as these people were still going to the show anyway. Like Royal I'm sure that if this reserved section is not full near show time they will open them up.

[MicCanberra]

100 cabins is more likely to be closer to 200 pax than 100.

[arxcards]

35 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

100 cabins is more likely to be closer to 200 pax than 100.

Princess usually has two shows each night, so figured on 100 for early and 100 for late.

[arxcards]

8 hours ago, bretts173 said:

I don't see this as an extra 100 seats as these people were still going to the show anyway. Like Royal I'm sure that if this reserved section is not full near show time they will open them up.

If the theatre looks busy, no way we will rush dinner to get there 1/2 hour early in the hope of getting a prime seat. If we had that package, we would be more likely to stroll up for one of the good seats.

 

 

[subaru94]

On 12/8/2022 at 4:12 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

So far we've booked at $30 (unbelievable value), $40 (still very good value), and $50 (OK but the limited selection of wines gets very boring). I think $65 will be too borderline for us.

 

On Sea Princess in 2019 our average drinks cost pp per day was under $54 and we didn't stint on the wines we bought by the bottle. Add in $7.50 or so for internet and that's only $61.50. Plus we're spending $5-7 pp per day extra for decent wines occasionally and other drinks over the Plus limit. I think wine by the bottle is more expensive now but even so it won't be worth getting the Plus fare.

Wow how did you manage to get a $30 a day deal thats fantastic?

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

29 minutes ago, subaru94 said:

Wow how did you manage to get a $30 a day deal thats fantastic?

 

It was a brief Elite perk on one of the promos. 

[Tripmode33]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It was a brief Elite perk on one of the promos. 

Yes, all our Princess Cruises through to 2024 were booked on the $30 per day. Incentive I guess to get used to it so you still want it at higher prices.

If you have future cruises without a package, you can add it on now at $50 to lock in price and still have option to remove it before final payment. Confirmed that with our TA this week.

[Justsayin]

On 12/7/2022 at 11:10 PM, Relaxing Robbies said:

We certainly will not be interested at $65 per day. We have paid forthe package on 3 cruises this year and 2 future cruises, and got value from it. However the 5 or 6 drinks we consumed per day when we had the package is more alcohol than we think it is healthy to drink per day. I do not drink coffee ever, and do not drink bottled water because the cruiseship water tastes ok to me. I understand that the $65 is still value to those who like to party, but not for me thanks.

My thoughts exactly. The drink allowance is too generous, driving the costs up for those of us that are generally fine with coffee, water, tea and lemonade and a glass of wine or two a day.  The increase in price may drive some to drink more heavily to get their money's worth.  

[arxcards]

26 minutes ago, Justsayin said:

My thoughts exactly. The drink allowance is too generous, driving the costs up for those of us that are generally fine with coffee, water, tea and lemonade and a glass of wine or two a day.  The increase in price may drive some to drink more heavily to get their money's worth.  

Not in my experience. You know when you commit to a package whether it works out better than your daily spending pattern. If a package is good value, as this one is, I like them because I don't have to scrutinise prices to justify our next drink. We just order a drink when we want a drink, and don't drink to get max value out of the package. There is also internet, which is another reason this works for us. 

The prices are comparatively generous if you look at wine by the glass prices, or for cocktails and spirits. But when you figure that most of their spirits cost them $10-15 per litre, and the bottle of wine is recouped with the first 2 glasses from it.

 

Maybe they are increasing the price of the package so that other passengers are not wearing the cost. Surely the extra $15 per day results in more profit, not more consumption.

The same can be said for food. Some are like the old seafood nights at Sizzler, jamming their plates full because it is included, while others just grab a normal meal. Some will have 2 or 3 desserts after dinner, which puts the costs up for the rest of us. Really? No. At least those with a drinks package are paying the premium for it.

[MicCanberra]

Agreed , some will always chase a tab while others won't Some will overdo it, most won't 

[subaru94]

22 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It was a brief Elite perk on one of the promos. 

Not sure how I missed that one, we are elite too, and I always check the promos.  Well done on getting such a great deal.

[joejoe 59]

7 hours ago, subaru94 said:

Not sure how I missed that one, we are elite too, and I always check the promos.  Well done on getting such a great deal.

We got it as well...bargain. 

It was during an extended wave season which starts around Xmas time. I think it was an extra  incentive to book a cruise as cruising hadn't started back in Australia when this perk was offered. 

Fingers crossed they offer a deal again this Xmas/boxing day sale season...but I won't hold my breath.

We weren't elite at the time of getting the $30 deal but are now 😃

Edited December 12, 2022 by joejoe 59
Remembered something else

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, joejoe 59 said:

We got it as well...bargain. 

It was during an extended wave season which starts around Xmas time. I think it was an extra  incentive to book a cruise as cruising hadn't started back in Australia when this perk was offered. 

Fingers crossed they offer a deal again this Xmas/boxing day sale season...but I won't hold my breath.

We weren't elite at the time of getting the $30 deal but are now 😃

If my memory is correct it was listed as a 25% discount on the Plus deal for Elites, not as a fixed amount.

 

If they offer that again based on the new Plus price it would be $48.75.

[subaru94]

7 hours ago, joejoe 59 said:

We got it as well...bargain. 

It was during an extended wave season which starts around Xmas time. I think it was an extra  incentive to book a cruise as cruising hadn't started back in Australia when this perk was offered. 

Fingers crossed they offer a deal again this Xmas/boxing day sale season...but I won't hold my breath.

We weren't elite at the time of getting the $30 deal but are now 😃

I will have to keep my eye out, we have a number of cruises booked at the moment and was waiting until we had caught up on them, however, if there is a bargain around Xmas with special deals always up to booking another ha! ha!