Princess Plus: Should it always include crew appreciation?

[Scottygirl1]

We have an upcoming cruise booked for 12 nights around the UK.  We have booked the Princess Plus package but my booking is telling me that I also need to pay for crew appreciation separately.  When I look at the general terms and conditions for Princess Plus it clearly states that crew appreciation is included.  Before I phone Princess regarding this could anyone perhaps clarify this?  I am booking from New Zealand and I know NZ and Australian cruises are different and crew appreciation is always included in the fare (I'm sailing in UK though).

 

This is from the Princess Plus Terms and Conditions:  "^General Princess Plus Terms:The original Princess Plus package consists of Plus Beverage Package, Wi-Fi, and Crew Appreciation; the upgraded Princess Plus package includes all of the foregoing original package items plus Medallion shipping, Premium Desserts, Juice Bar, and Fitness Classes. "

[negn]

Go into your cruise and click “manage”. At the top will be travel summary and luggage tags. Go to summary and that will have everything you have included

[robncruise]

If you are on the NZ website the Princess Plus info does not refer to crew appreciation being included. The cost is $65AUD  - $71.50NZD ,  The cost for US passengers is $64.99USD (equivalent to $104NZD approx) which includes crew appreciation.   So the extra $16USD ( $26 NZD approx )per day crew appreciation actually works out quite favourably Crew appreciation is included in the fare for Aust/NZ cruisers on Aust/NZ itineraries but not for other international cruises.

[Steelers36]

11 minutes ago, robncruise said:

If you are on the NZ website the Princess Plus info does not refer to crew appreciation being included. The cost is $65AUD  - $71.50NZD ,  The cost for US passengers is $64.99USD (equivalent to $104NZD approx) which includes crew appreciation.   So the extra $16USD ( $26 NZD approx )per day crew appreciation actually works out quite favourably Crew appreciation is included in the fare for Aust/NZ cruisers on Aust/NZ itineraries but not for other international cruises.

Just to correct.  Plus Cruise Fare option is $60 USD for North/South America and Europe.  (About $88.50 AUD).

 

Otherwise, I am sure you are on the money because the Crew Appreciation is baked into the fare in Australia region and they will have reduced the Plus Fare package cost at least to some degree to compensate for missing that one component.

 

I agree it is a generous reduction for simply removing the Crew Appreciation.

Edited June 22, 2023 by Steelers36

[trinitygirl]

Check out an earlier thread about this.  Other Australian cruisers were able, after boarding, to have the gratuities code inserted onto their portfolios.  There was something about how the Australian computer coding doesn't allow it because of how they are not charged on cruises down under, but this can be fixed once on board.

[Scottygirl1]

Thank you for your replies.  I will look into this further.  It makes sense that the gratuity is taken out of the Princess Plus when booking an Australasian cruise but only if it is then included in the cruise fare.  

[Steelers36]

4 minutes ago, Scottygirl1 said:

Thank you for your replies.  I will look into this further.  It makes sense that the gratuity is taken out of the Princess Plus when booking an Australasian cruise but only if it is then included in the cruise fare.  

PCL does bake it into the fare.  Some of us wish they would just do it everywhere, but then all the cruise lines need to move to that model together, or pricing comparisons go wonky.

[Thrak]

Those of us in the US who book cruises sailing out of Australia still have to pay the gratuities. They are specifically listed in the Plus fare.

[Steelers36]

18 minutes ago, Scottygirl1 said:

Thank you for your replies.  I will look into this further.  It makes sense that the gratuity is taken out of the Princess Plus when booking an Australasian cruise but only if it is then included in the cruise fare.  

 

4 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Those of us in the US who book cruises sailing out of Australia still have to pay the gratuities. They are specifically listed in the Plus fare.

Well yes, right there.  When we book in North America or UK, we are going by booking standards and currency used in those markets.  The ship currency is in AUD. But it is only when book in Australia or NZ that the cruise fare is done with Australian booking standards. 

 

An American and an Aussie on the same cruise out of Sydney have both paid CI - just in different ways.  But both will transact on-board spending in AUD and settle cabin account in AUD.

 

Another unfortunate thing is that the US OBC we might have from a promo us converted dollar-for-dollar to AUD into on-board folio with no consideration of currency exchange.

[Thrak]

7 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Another unfortunate thing is that the US OBC we might have from a promo us converted dollar-for-dollar to AUD into on-board folio with no consideration of currency exchange.

 

It works the other way when Aussies book a cruise out of the US. They get the benefit of having all of their OBC converted dollar-for dollar to USD. You win some and you lose some.

[konatyme]

@Thrak I'm slightly confused by the discussion about AU and USA fares and crew appreciation.

We have an around- Australia cruise booked for Oct. 2024. We used a Future Cruise Deposit and that's all we've paid. For now, we chose the Plus fare, but want to put numbers to it to decide whether to leave it or change to standard fare. After reading the above discussion, I'm not sure whether the fare amt. includes crew appreciation, drinks, and wi-fi or whether all that is even covered for Australia under the Plus fare shown. I hope this question makes sense; as I've said, I'm confused!

[konatyme]

@ThrakAlso, I'm assuming from the talk of OBC, my husband's military credit of $250 will be changed to Australian dollars. Will this be true even if we use it to pay for an excursion we book on the Princess website well ahead of the cruise?

[Thrak]

37 minutes ago, konatyme said:

@Thrak I'm slightly confused by the discussion about AU and USA fares and crew appreciation.

We have an around- Australia cruise booked for Oct. 2024. We used a Future Cruise Deposit and that's all we've paid. For now, we chose the Plus fare, but want to put numbers to it to decide whether to leave it or change to standard fare. After reading the above discussion, I'm not sure whether the fare amt. includes crew appreciation, drinks, and wi-fi or whether all that is even covered for Australia under the Plus fare shown. I hope this question makes sense; as I've said, I'm confused!

 

Since you are in the US you have to pay the gratuities. With the Plus fare they are included as are all of the normal Plus fare benefits. The Plus benefits are different in Australia in that the maximum drink price is quite a bit higher but that is offset by the fact that the prices are in AUD. I can't remember off the top of my head but, I think, Plus covers drinks up to $22AUD.

 

35 minutes ago, konatyme said:

@ThrakAlso, I'm assuming from the talk of OBC, my husband's military credit of $250 will be changed to Australian dollars. Will this be true even if we use it to pay for an excursion we book on the Princess website well ahead of the cruise?

 

All OBC whether Shareholder, FCD, or Military are applied at a one-to-on rate as Australian dollars. If you get $250 Military OBC and are sailing on a cruise out of Australia you will receive $250AUD as your OBC. It is noted on the top of the Shareholder Benefit info page that the Shareholder OBC is in the currency of the region. All other OBC follows this same pattern.

 

We are booked for 32 days this fall around Australia and New Zealand. All of our OBC shows in our Personalizer as having been applied as $AUD. There is no conversion factor - you just get the "normal" amount in a different currency. In our case we lose quite a bit on the deal but that's how Carnival Corp. does it.

 

As for excursions paid in advance: The OBC is automagically converted to AUD and the excursions are charged in AUD. The excursions all seem to be waaaaaaaaaaaay spendy. When you look at the cost (in AUD) of excursions and then check what that actually translates to in USD the excursions are still crazy high priced.  If you pay with USD it will be converted to the appropriate amount of AUD using whatever conversion rate Princess is using at the time. If you pay for them in advance using OBC it will deducted from your already applied - in AUD - OBC.

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by Thrak

[trinitygirl]

5 hours ago, konatyme said:

@Thrak I'm slightly confused by the discussion about AU and USA fares and crew appreciation.

We have an around- Australia cruise booked for Oct. 2024. We used a Future Cruise Deposit and that's all we've paid. For now, we chose the Plus fare, but want to put numbers to it to decide whether to leave it or change to standard fare. After reading the above discussion, I'm not sure whether the fare amt. includes crew appreciation, drinks, and wi-fi or whether all that is even covered for Australia under the Plus fare shown. I hope this question makes sense; as I've said, I'm confused!

If you book an Australian cruise (where the onboard accounting is in AUD) from within Australia or NZ, the gratuities are baked into the cruise fare - they are not part of Plus, they are not charged separately - they are just included in the cost of the basic cruise.  My understanding from reading other pages on this website, is that if you book an Australian cruise outside Australia or NZ (eg you are coming from the US or UK) then if you add Plus to your cruise, it will include drinks, wifi, gratuities and OBC. If you don't book Plus, gratuities will be charged separately to your onboard account.  That does not work in reverse for us - if we book a cruise out of the US or Europe, Plus will include drinks, wifi and OBC but does not include gratuities which are charged separately.   Although some Australian cruisers have reported that once on board they have been told that Plus does in fact include gratuities - although that is news to Australian-based Princess reps. see here for more:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2887167-crew-appreciation-gratuities-and-princess-plus/

Edited June 23, 2023 by trinitygirl

[konatyme]

Thanks to everyone for your help!

[Takka]

Just out of curiosity, what is the cost for the packages once on board? I'm presuming they are in USD? 

 

Based on other info, we're leaning towards getting the plus package once on board - just to keep a little control of the spending, but (exchange rate changes aside) would be good to know roughly what that cost is, rather than pre-paying gratuities & the plus package before we go. 

[skynight]

14 hours ago, Takka said:

Just out of curiosity, what is the cost for the packages once on board? I'm presuming they are in USD? 

 

Based on other info, we're leaning towards getting the plus package once on board - just to keep a little control of the spending, but (exchange rate changes aside) would be good to know roughly what that cost is, rather than pre-paying gratuities & the plus package before we go. 

Plus package is $60/pp/day. Premier package is $80/pp/day. Must be purchased on boarding day. Included items shown in the below mentioned site.

https://www.princess.com/cruise-deals-promotions/plus-premier-cruise-packages/

 

[Steelers36]

14 hours ago, Takka said:

Just out of curiosity, what is the cost for the packages once on board? I'm presuming they are in USD? 

 

Based on other info, we're leaning towards getting the plus package once on board - just to keep a little control of the spending, but (exchange rate changes aside) would be good to know roughly what that cost is, rather than pre-paying gratuities & the plus package before we go. 

You didn't say where cruising to/from.  If closed cruise around Oz/NZ area, then prices will be AUD and exclude CA.  Otherwise the cost on board is same as pre-cruise and you can pay for it with any OBC you have.

[konatyme]

I thought from another thread that on a closed cruise around Oz, standard fares INCLUDED CA. Sorry if I misunderstood your post, Steelers36.

[Shaver John]

I am not sure who to thank, but whoever found out that the cruise appreciation was included in the price of the cruise in Australia and New Zealand you just saved us $1800. We called our Travel Agent and Princess and it was correct that the cruise appreciation is included in the cost of the cruise and that Princess Plus does not cover that amount for the tips. Not sure why no one told us this when we first booked with Princess before we moved it over to our travel agent, but hopefully it was just an error on Princesses part. So, now we are very happy and Thanks to someone out there. We had only booked plus since we were to pay the tips, but without this we do not need to have plus since our drinking and eating are not worth $1800 for 13 days.

[Steelers36]

On 7/20/2023 at 6:44 PM, konatyme said:

I thought from another thread that on a closed cruise around Oz, standard fares INCLUDED CA. Sorry if I misunderstood your post, Steelers36.

I would no longer be confident - without research and not sure I have the backup - that we paid gratuities back in Winter 2019 for our NZ voyage out of SYD.  You are right there.

 

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