Princess Plus

[trbarton]

Does anyone know if the Princess Plus has to be added before the cruise or can you add it the 1st day?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom😀

[Steelers36]

There was a policy change some time back that was widely discussed on here.  I forget the effective date, but it is in effect now that you can purchase on board.

[wallyj]

38 minutes ago, trbarton said:

Does anyone know if the Princess Plus has to be added before the cruise or can you add it the 1st day?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom😀

Currently on the Emerald and it was announced you can purchase ‘plus’ or ‘premier’ on day1 or day2 at current price. Buying before cruise will add to Princess insurance cost, as packages are consider part of cruise fare, waiting runs risk of package price increase, so how far out your cruise could matter as we do not know when Princess will increase prices for the packages again.

[Rick&Jeannie]

We have always just done the Plus "fare" option.  I know it affects the insurance, but being Platinum we get the better insurance for the price of standard.  I prefer to just get as much out of the way up front so as to not have to deal with anything on board.

[trbarton]

Thanks for everyone’s reply. 
 

If I add it now I will have to pay $600 but once on board my OBC will cover a lot of the cost. 
 

Tom😀

[justafem]

13 minutes ago, trbarton said:

Thanks for everyone’s reply. 
 

If I add it now I will have to pay $600 but once on board my OBC will cover a lot of the cost. 
 

Tom😀

That's what we've started doing since we can buy it on the ship.  Normally have so much onboard credit that we have to use the casino trick, so being able to buy it with onboard credit is a game changer for us!

[mtnesterz]

1 hour ago, trbarton said:

If I add it now I will have to pay $600 but once on board my OBC will cover a lot of the cost. 

OK, now here's a question and I'll keep it to paying for Plus onboard so this post doesn't get deleted for going off topic.

You have almost $600 OBC at boarding? We get some OBC money for our FCDs and there's always a few dollars, not enough to make a deal one way or the other, offered at a Princess sale. Once we got specialty dining, which was nice, but nearly $600 is serious OBC. Please do tell!

@justafem, you too. I know the Casino trick, but that's not worth doing for small money. Even for a couple hundred, I'd just buy a watch or something. Care to share?

[wallyj]

Depending on the length of cruise and cabin type booked and if one or both are military and shareholders, which we have been warned will no longer be combinable with military, so $600 OBC is quite obtainable and if your TA has group or other promo OBC.

[mtnesterz]

21 minutes ago, wallyj said:

Depending on the length of cruise and cabin type booked and if one or both are military and shareholders, which we have been warned will no longer be combinable with military, so $600 OBC is quite obtainable and if your TA has group or other promo OBC.

Appreciate the response. Not a stockholder, usually book an OV, no Veteran benefits, book through a CVP and shorter 14 to 17 day cruises. I can see where it could add up.

Edited June 20, 2023 by mtnesterz

[reedprincess]

1 hour ago, mtnesterz said:

Appreciate the response. Not a stockholder, usually book an OV, no Veteran benefits, book through a CVP and shorter 14 to 17 day cruises. I can see where it could add up.

If you're going to cruise Princess regularly, it definitely behooves you to consider becoming a stockholder.

100 shares gets you between $50-250 in OBC, depending on length of cruise. 

 

And also, to buy a Future Cruise Deposit or 2 (or 3 or 4) on each of your cruises. $100 each, they're good for two years, can be used as your deposit - and gets you OBC on your next sailing. How much depends on cabin and length of cruise, but it's more than not doing it! 

 

We use a TA who usually offers some OBC in addition to whatever Princess may be offering at the time also ... 

 

Edited June 20, 2023 by reedprincess

[Thrak]

42 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

And also, to buy a Future Cruise Deposit or 2 (or 3 or 4) on each of your cruises. $100 each, they're good for two years, can be used as your deposit - and gets you OBC on your next sailing. How much depends on cabin and length of cruise, but it's more than not doing it! 

 

This has changed. FCD are only good for 1 year now.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

This has changed. FCD are only good for 1 year now.

True that I have $1,200 in FCC from Covid that must use by May 2024. But if you have FVD you can get a refund unlike FCD

[Buckeye10640]

6 hours ago, memoak said:

True that I have $1,200 in FCC from Covid that must use by May 2024. But if you have FVD you can get a refund unlike FCD

I know FCC=Future Cruise Credit and FCD=Future Cruise Deposit.   What is FVD?  That one is new to me.....

[voljeep]

just guessing but it may have something to do with actual cash that was paid on a cancelled cruise.  As I understand, those monies are fully refundable, but the added FCC is lost if not used by the due date - whatever that happens to be

[mtnesterz]

10 hours ago, reedprincess said:

If you're going to cruise Princess regularly, it definitely behooves you to consider becoming a stockholder...

And also, to buy a Future Cruise Deposit or 2 (or 3 or 4) on each of your cruises...

We use a TA who usually offers some OBC in addition to whatever Princess may be offering at the time also ... 

Thanks for the suggestions. Actually, we're Elite with Princess and I'm regretting I didn't buy Carnival at around 7 during Covid, because they'll open near 16 this AM.

As mentioned in #14, we buy FCDs.

The TA money to your OBC is the thing. We can't mention specific TA's here. Knowing which TA's do that is the mystery. We tried using a big online TA once and no money. Big box gift cards would be equally nice.

[memoak]

3 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

I know FCC=Future Cruise Credit and FCD=Future Cruise Deposit.   What is FVD?  That one is new to me.....

Typo. Please ignore

[justafem]

On 6/19/2023 at 4:49 PM, mtnesterz said:

OK, now here's a question and I'll keep it to paying for Plus onboard so this post doesn't get deleted for going off topic.

You have almost $600 OBC at boarding? We get some OBC money for our FCDs and there's always a few dollars, not enough to make a deal one way or the other, offered at a Princess sale. Once we got specialty dining, which was nice, but nearly $600 is serious OBC. Please do tell!

@justafem, you too. I know the Casino trick, but that's not worth doing for small money. Even for a couple hundred, I'd just buy a watch or something. Care to share?

We book through 3rd party TA's, get our bids at cruise compete, cheaper fares and always onboard credit.  Then there's FFD and stock.  Most of the time I also get some as a casino core.  It's not casino credit, actual onboard.  It all adds up.