New Princess Premium desserts...

[PescadoAmarillo]

2 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

What those who pan these fail to appreciate is their inherent Instagram-readiness.   These aren’t so much for eating as for signalling what a wild and crazy over-the-top time you’re having on your ocean vacation.  Princess has rapidly developed a keen understanding of the value of “doing it for the ‘Gram” - it’s literally an extension of Good Spirits and the smoking cocktails and the feature-walls-as-selfie-backgrounds.  
 

 

They’d better beef up that MedallionNet. 

[Thrak]

9 hours ago, stoneharborlady said:

And this is the brain child of Mr. Padgett?  

 

Brain? J. P?? Really???

[Thrak]

My wife was extremely disappointed on our last two cruises. She always ordered the ice cream for desert at dinner and loved the varied flavors. They also various flavors of sorbet that were good. On our last two cruises the only way to get any decent ice cream was to have lunch in MDR. What a rotten way to cut back.

[Z0nker]

When we booked an April, 2023 cruise last fall, Princess Plus was still $50. When the price went to $60 they told us they’d honor the old price but “no desserts for you!!”  

[donswife]

2 minutes ago, Z0nker said:

When we booked an April, 2023 cruise last fall, Princess Plus was still $50. When the price went to $60 they told us they’d honor the old price but “no desserts for you!!”  

You will probably have an opportunity to upgrade in case you are suffering from FOMO!

[cr8tiv1]

7 minutes ago, Z0nker said:

When we booked an April, 2023 cruise last fall, Princess Plus was still $50. When the price went to $60 they told us they’d honor the old price but “no desserts for you!!”  

 

What a hardship.  I wish they would give all of us that option to choose between a $50 and $60 option.  How many do you think will opt for the $50????????

[VibeGuy]

22 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

They’d better beef up that MedallionNet. 

I agree 100%.  They may attract new first time cruisers with the Best WiFi At Sea, but retaining them after the crushing disappointment of the experienced speeds is a headwind they need to address. 
 

The fact that the SES contract is not exclusive is some small comfort.  SES has, however, managed to get two mPower birds within something approaching a useable orbit  and they *probably* can get four more up and online by the stated Q3 goal. (Which I take to mean 23:59:59 on September 30, and they’ll wish they had a September 31).  It takes six to provide coverage between 60°N and S with eleven being optimal, and SpaceX has been getting stuff into orbit with a reliability that looks a lot like FedEx Next Day Air.   Cross this with the Carnivore Corp very public dalliance with Starlink and I think things are pretty solid by the holidays this year.  Costa and Aida really need the Starlink upgrade first though because of how criminally SES has overbooked their capacity in Europe +\- their higher-priority government payloads into Ukraine. 
 

I don’t exactly blame Princess for anything but the continued BS marketing.  I didn’t have pandemic, rise of digital nomads, loss of Russian launch capacity due to sanctions, and a HUGE increase in wireless uptake on my 2020-2022 bingo cards.  
 

I will say that Discovery, around the first of the month, was delivering 2.5mbps to my phone with some regularity, at the lower latency that indicated the MEO O3B legacy network, so the parts that are in the control of Princess are capable of delivering on the hype. 

[VibeGuy]

On 2/23/2023 at 10:08 PM, cruisingrob21 said:

Out of 3600 passengers on a royal class ship, assuming just 1000 get Princess Plus/Premium

 

Princess has been clear that they expect 80% uptake on Plus and Premium.   My casual read across a half dozen 7-10 night MexRiv cruises is that they are roughly there.   
 

Obviously longer itineraries that cater to more experienced cruises or are particularly port-intensive will vary, but executives would have already been looking for new jobs at a 27% take rate.  
 

My back of envelope calculations are that the price increase from $40 to $60 represents roughly $20 million in extra revenue per Royal class ship on an annual basis, and the new perks *mjght* cost them $5M

Edited March 1, 2023 by VibeGuy

[jwattle]

2 hours ago, malba2366 said:

That is the most ridiculous part...they have pictured the deserts with mini bottles of liquor in them, so someone at Princess believes that adults will want these deserts.  

Some adults do want to enjoy them...maybe not tons of them, but sharing here and there with my sweetie on our cruise in Oz? Yes please, and thank you! ❤

[brisalta]

13 hours ago, HikaruTsuki said:

Am I the only one excited about those cakes?! Nice unexpected surprise, especially since so many of our favorite desserts have gone away or have been reduced in quality. 

 

The cakes look like some of the cakes that used to be served no charge in the Horizon Court on the Grand Princess.

[brisalta]

13 hours ago, cruzin4us said:

The juice bar menu looks pretty good and I'll partake in those if they are included in my package.

 

The desserts.....why would they put a candy cane in them?   Are they on sale at the Dollar Store after Christmas?   How do you even hold the sucker after it's been drenched in ice cream and chocolate?   What a mess.....

 

What a time consuming process for the crew members to make.   It's not like they can make them in advance.   

 

Just give me a free scoop of gelato and I'm good.

 

Gelato used to found on the MDR menu at no charge.

[brisalta]

12 hours ago, stoneharborlady said:

And this is the brain child of Mr. Padgett?  

 

That seems like an oxymoron.

[Torfamm]

11 hours ago, Jeal said:

The great thing about these desserts is you are not forced to eat them. There are many other perks included in the package or you can skip the package all together. 
Some of you commenting on the how unhealthy the desserts are will happily consume a 12 ounce steak without a thought or eat two or three sugar free desserts because they are sugar free. As someone who eats a healthy diet (my whole life) and would not knowingly eat something with artificial sweeteners, has weighed about the same since high school, and walks 2 miles every morning and then another 2 miles throughout the day, I can assure you that I will be trying these concoctions. I’ll let you know how they taste! 

I’ll be interested to hear your report! 

[Thrak]

17 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

What a hardship.  I wish they would give all of us that option to choose between a $50 and $60 option.  How many do you think will opt for the $50????????

 

In a heartbeat. The new "perks" are of zero interest to me.

[Bill B]

On 2/28/2023 at 4:54 PM, Jeter02 said:

"The ice cream sundaes are enormous and filled with things like brownies and candy. They have giant lollipops as decorations. I was even given a mini bottle of vodka to pour over it! The cake options are giant slices that are close to a foot high. The slice is too tall to stand on its own without falling!"

Don't worry - they'll get smaller and smaller over time.

[JimmyVWine]

On 2/28/2023 at 2:41 PM, caribill said:

 

You can always get one of the desserts and bring it to eat at the fitness class.

[dides]

An interesting video from Hillary who is on Caribbean Princess and experiencing long lines at Coffee and Cones because of this launch

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

Good one. 

[MissP22]

Interesting. 

[JimmyVWine]

52 minutes ago, dides said:

An interesting video from Hillary who is on Caribbean Princess and experiencing long lines at Coffee and Cones because of this launch

Nice to see them "in person", but man, could she BE any more melodramatic??

[caribill]

1 minute ago, JimmyVWine said:

Nice to see them "in person", but man, could she BE any more melodramatic??

 

I like where she essentially said "Two a day? One in a lifetime is more than enough."

[Shippy]

Interesting video...

She says no demand for this & then complains about all the people waiting in line for it !

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

Interesting. 

I agree. 

Assuming you are thinking the same as me !

 

[cyndyga]

I think I'll ask to just skip alot of the toppings...hope they would do that and just enjoy the gelato and maybe the pastry that is included

[HikaruTsuki]

41 minutes ago, Shippy said:

Interesting video...

She says no demand for this & then complains about all the people waiting in line for it !

That video was so cringe. LOL

 

It's a new offering, of course there's going to be demand! And her rambling about the time investment is really premature when this is brand new. Of course it will initially take longer as the employees get into their new groove. I would not be surprised to be the toppings change over time, but it's new and the best thing passengers can do is be patient and understanding.