To Plus or not to Plus.., our experience

[CruizinSusan70]

22 minutes ago, MTNest93 said:

Haha, so much angst over someone getting a deal 😂. 

You just need to be realistic that your "deal" is a one time thing because it was your daughters first booking with Princess and someone at Princess's marketing department hooked her up with the comp for you.  It has nothing at all to do with the volume of business that her agency does with Princess.  

 

Agencies can kickback a portion of their commissions as either OBC or through a discount or possibly as free gratuities.  But even if her agency was the number one selling agency in the country they would not be in business very long by giving out 700 or more in perks on each booking.  There's a sliding scale that they can kick back depending upon the type of cabin, the length of cruise and their volume with Princess.  

 

Just be prepared for a substantially less of a perk on any follow up cruises.

[MTNest93]

3 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

You just need to be realistic that your "deal" is a one time thing because it was your daughters first booking with Princess and someone at Princess's marketing department hooked her up with the comp for you.  It has nothing at all to do with the volume of business that her agency does with Princess.  

 

Agencies can kickback a portion of their commissions as either OBC or through a discount or possibly as free gratuities.  But even if her agency was the number one selling agency in the country they would not be in business very long by giving out 700 or more in perks on each booking.  There's a sliding scale that they can kick back depending upon the type of cabin, the length of cruise and their volume with Princess.  

 

Just be prepared for a substantially less of a perk on any follow up cruises.

Never said I expected it in the future, just grateful for the perk. 

[MissP22]

57 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Agencies can kickback a portion of their commissions as either OBC or through a discount or possibly as free gratuities.  But even if her agency was the number one selling agency in the country they would not be in business very long by giving out 700 or more in perks on each booking. 

That's the kind of travel agent I'm looking for but as you say, they can't stay in business very long giving away the store. 😄

[Coral]

9 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

She did not bring up wifi so neither did I.   I think she is better off by spending the 600 in OBC on tips, hot chocolate, mocktails and her fresh squeezed OJ each morning.  But, she can't have alligator arms and just get water.

She is me. Again - I have $600 OBC and will be buying tips and WIFI regardless. Still undecided. I did order a 12 pack of bottled water yesterday in case I don't buy Plus. If I don't get Plus - I will probably just drink water. It is what I have done in the past. I guess I will find out Friday what I do. Part of me thinks I will buy Plus or I will look at every charge for a drink.

[CruizinSusan70]

10 hours ago, Coral said:

She is me. Again - I have $600 OBC and will be buying tips and WIFI regardless. Still undecided. I did order a 12 pack of bottled water yesterday in case I don't buy Plus. If I don't get Plus - I will probably just drink water. It is what I have done in the past. I guess I will find out Friday what I do. Part of me thinks I will buy Plus or I will look at every charge for a drink.

Good luck with your decision and have a great cruise.  If you're not going to buy things independently, go for Plus and enjoy yourself.

[roadster08]

My response to those who say just do the math.

[Steelers36]

32 minutes ago, roadster08 said:

My response to those who say just do the math.

 

Not following the above?  

[Lady Arwen]

9 hours ago, roadster08 said:

My response to those who say just do the math.

??????  What are you trying to say?

[roadster08]

2 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

??????  What are you trying to say?

It's like when the great American heavyweight boxer turned philosopher Mike Tyson said " Everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the face."

 

The average person is going to typically spend more than what they expect.

Edited May 10, 2023 by roadster08

[Coral]

On 5/7/2023 at 6:44 AM, MTNest93 said:

I’m just happy our Plus packages are included at no additional cost as a gift from our TA.  No math required 😀

When travel agents price a cruise with Princess using POLAR, often the first price that comes up is with PLUS. Travel agents have to dig down to get a non-Plus price. 

 

It is entirely possible that your daughter saw the PLUS price and continued to book with out digging down to non-Plus pricing to see the difference. Especially if she is not familiar with Princess's booking engine (POLAR). This seems to make the most sense.

[MissP22]

11 minutes ago, roadster08 said:

The average person is going to typically spend more than what they expect.

You've hit that on the head.

[Tedferg]

Must the 12 bottles be purchased pre cruise?

[Coral]

2 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Must the 12 bottles be purchased pre cruise?

Yes (if talking about water).

[voljeep]

2 hours ago, roadster08 said:

It's like when the great American heavyweight boxer turned philosopher Mike Tyson said " Everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the face."

 

The average person is going to typically spend more than what they expect.

pack - then take out half the clothes - replace with twice the amount of money you planned on taking.

[madre2]

Can someone please explain this….if we have the Plus package including the gratuity and wifi, do we have to pay 18% gratuities per drink on top of that?  If we DO NOT get the Plus package, the cost of the drinks will have the 18% gratuity added to that?   Thanks for your help!

[canadarocks]

25 minutes ago, madre2 said:

Can someone please explain this….if we have the Plus package including the gratuity and wifi, do we have to pay 18% gratuities per drink on top of that?  If we DO NOT get the Plus package, the cost of the drinks will have the 18% gratuity added to that?   Thanks for your help!

No you do not. And yes it will be. 

[memoak]

55 minutes ago, madre2 said:

Can someone please explain this….if we have the Plus package including the gratuity and wifi, do we have to pay 18% gratuities per drink on top of that?  If we DO NOT get the Plus package, the cost of the drinks will have the 18% gratuity added to that?   Thanks for your help!

The gratuity on drinks is included with your plus package. The daily charge is it

[kywildcatfanone]

The drink packages only work if you drink a fair amount.

 

We went packageless on our last cruise.  I took on 3 packs of coke and sprite zero with no issue, and we drank those for the 8 days we were onboard.  Very easy, and only about $15 spent.  Since Princess doesn't offer the zero drinks, that is now our preferred method.  We pay for wifi and gratuities, so our total cost for 2 was around $300, whereas the plus package would have been over $800.  Easy decision for us.  It's our new normal.

[BamaVol]

52 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

The drink packages only work if you drink a fair amount.

 

We went packageless on our last cruise.  I took on 3 packs of coke and sprite zero with no issue, and we drank those for the 8 days we were onboard.  Very easy, and only about $15 spent.  Since Princess doesn't offer the zero drinks, that is now our preferred method.  We pay for wifi and gratuities, so our total cost for 2 was around $300, whereas the plus package would have been over $800.  Easy decision for us.  It's our new normal.

It shouldn’t be difficult for anyone to populate an equation based on what elements of a package they would purchase separately.  In your case, 0 coffee, 0 bottled water, 0 alcoholic beverages makes for a low result.

[CruizinSusan70]

4 hours ago, BamaVol said:

It shouldn’t be difficult for anyone to populate an equation based on what elements of a package they would purchase separately.  In your case, 0 coffee, 0 bottled water, 0 alcoholic beverages makes for a low result.

It doesn't make much sense for teetotalers to purchase the package at all.  But on the other hand, it's fairly easy to hit the numbers if you have 2 coffees, 2 bottled waters, 2 sodas and 2 glasses of wine combined with wifi and tips.

[madre2]

Is regular coffee in the dining room, International Cafe and room service free?  Is it just the specialty coffees that are one of the benefits of the Plus package?

[justafem]

2 minutes ago, madre2 said:

Is regular coffee in the dining room, International Cafe and room service free?  Is it just the specialty coffees that are one of the benefits of the Plus package?

Dining room yes, regular coffee only.  International cafe no.  Room service, free with breakfast only.  

[BamaVol]

1 hour ago, justafem said:

Dining room yes, regular coffee only.  International cafe no.  Room service, free with breakfast only.  

Free in the buffet too.  Worth every penny. 

[Buckeye10640]

On Royal right now with no package. We pre-ordered water and are buying a couple coffees in the morning at IC. I am finding that at least 75% of the time, when ordering a soft drink at a bar, particularly on Lido deck,  they wont  ask for a room number or medallion.  They serve it  and move on to the next order. At one bar I even ordered a can of diet coke and was not charged. At Alfredos, ordered diet coke and was not charged.  Alcohol drinks, yes, they are asking for room number/medallion each time.  

Edited May 19, 2023 by Buckeye10640

[kywildcatfanone]

7 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

they wont  ask for a room number or medallion.  They serve it  and move on to the next order. At one bar I even ordered a can of diet coke and was not charged. At Alfredos, ordered diet coke and was not charged.  Alcohol drinks, yes, they are asking for room number/medallion each time.

They don't have to. The plus package is purchased by 75% of guests, and they are making huge amounts of profit on it, so they can let some go for free.  I would guess this occurs when the bars are busy.  The medallion isn't perfect, as if there are 10 people squeezing into a space at the bar, it's still time consuming for the bartenders to determine who you are, and for a coke or water, if you are busy, why bother.