Premier Package Specialty Dining on multi-week cruises

[PS0DSH]

I am booked on a 22 night cruise of the Enchanted in October and I was wondering if I book the Premier package, will it only come with 2 nights of specialty dining ?  I thought possibly it might come with more, since it's a 3 week cruise.  Thanks for any info !!

[jwattle]

It will only come with the two nights unless your cruise is booked as more than one "leg", such as a B2B.

[skynight]

Believe you will receive 2 dinners. Believe this benefit goes by booking number. If you booked the two voyages separately you would receive 2 dinners per voyage. The benefit is not provided by length of cruise. It most likely is provided by booking number, and if you are lucky by voyage number which is different than booking number. 

[memoak]

It is per cruise not based on the length of the cruise

[voljeep]

1 minute ago, memoak said:

It is per cruise not based on the length of the cruise

cray, cray - same for our 5 day as a 15/16 day Hawaiian cruise

[J13C85]

We are booked on a 14D (booked as a 14D but it is essentially a B2B). To upgrade to Premier from Plus would cost me $20 per person per day), $560 total.  For this cruise I would get 2 free specialty dining meals.

 

Had the cruise been booked as 2 7D, for the same $560 I would get 4 specialty dining meals. Next year's cruise is 7D and as such the upgrade cost me $280. For that $280 I get 2 specialty dinings. Why would I pay $560 for the exact same benefits I am getting for $280.  That is crazy.  I am not complaining, just not upgrading this year.

[Steelers36]

20 hours ago, memoak said:

It is per cruise not based on the length of the cruise

 

20 hours ago, voljeep said:

cray, cray - same for our 5 day as a 15/16 day Hawaiian cruise

 

10 hours ago, J13C85 said:

We are booked on a 14D (booked as a 14D but it is essentially a B2B). To upgrade to Premier from Plus would cost me $20 per person per day), $560 total.  For this cruise I would get 2 free specialty dining meals.

 

Had the cruise been booked as 2 7D, for the same $560 I would get 4 specialty dining meals. Next year's cruise is 7D and as such the upgrade cost me $280. For that $280 I get 2 specialty dinings. Why would I pay $560 for the exact same benefits I am getting for $280.  That is crazy.  I am not complaining, just not upgrading this year.

 

It is a poor way to have included this benefit.  It should have been implemented by length of voyage in some manner.  Such as 2 per week, 3 on a 10-night, etc.

[PS0DSH]

On 7/7/2023 at 10:30 PM, J13C85 said:

We are booked on a 14D (booked as a 14D but it is essentially a B2B). To upgrade to Premier from Plus would cost me $20 per person per day), $560 total.  For this cruise I would get 2 free specialty dining meals.

 

Had the cruise been booked as 2 7D, for the same $560 I would get 4 specialty dining meals. Next year's cruise is 7D and as such the upgrade cost me $280. For that $280 I get 2 specialty dinings. Why would I pay $560 for the exact same benefits I am getting for $280.  That is crazy.  I am not complaining, just not upgrading this year.

That's exactly my point...makes no sense to me.

[Thrak]

People are already reporting that Sabatini's reservations made, confirmed, and paid for months ago are not being honored due to a glut of people in the specialty dining venues. I don't see that adding even more "free" dinners would do anything but exacerbate that issue.

[PS0DSH]

Just wanted to post an update...we did a 22 nite cruise on the Enchanted this past October.  We ended up getting 4 'complimentary' specialty dinners...not 2.  Not sure if this is always the case, but it was for me.

[versuco]

3 hours ago, PS0DSH said:

Just wanted to post an update...we did a 22 nite cruise on the Enchanted this past October.  We ended up getting 4 'complimentary' specialty dinners...not 2.  Not sure if this is always the case, but it was for me.

We had a similar experience on Enchanted in January.  We booked a 20 day cruise and expected 2 complimentary dinners, but ended up getting 4, 2 for each 10 day segment.

[tserface]

I think this is the biggest complaint people are making about the new packages.  The same is true for the Plus package and casual restaurant visits.  It's kind of unfair since they charge you the same amount for each day regardless of the length of the cruise.  Hopefully, Princess is getting this message.  We plan to put it on the survey after our cruise next month (15 days, 2x to Gigi's only)

[Thorpe]

Would seem a bit unfair for the World Cruises and other long ones : - 2 dinners for a 20 day segment ( or how ever long they are )  , and folks on a 7 day also get 2. 
Hopefully as some have said, put it in a survey and maybe Princess can work out a fairer system. 
 

[MacMadame]

10 hours ago, Thorpe said:

Would seem a bit unfair for the World Cruises and other long ones : - 2 dinners for a 20 day segment ( or how ever long they are )  , and folks on a 7 day also get 2. 
Hopefully as some have said, put it in a survey and maybe Princess can work out a fairer system. 
 

If the 21-day segment is also divided into 3 7-day segments, wouldn't they get 6 free dinners? That's my understanding of how it works.

[So_Tweetie]

The old rule still applies (more so, it seems) to the new packages - The longer the cruise and the more ports, the less valuable the package. 

[memoak]

47 minutes ago, So_Tweetie said:

The old rule still applies (more so, it seems) to the new packages - The longer the cruise and the more ports, the less valuable the package. 

Which is why we always take the plus package instead of the premier. An extra $40 per day for 2 on a 16 day cruise really doesn’t cut it

[So_Tweetie]

6 minutes ago, memoak said:

Which is why we always take the plus package instead of the premier. An extra $40 per day for 2 on a 16 day cruise really doesn’t cut it

They send me some pretty fantastic offers but I always have to add $120 per day to the price because I really don't think it's worth sailing without a package these days. But the longer cruises just get so expensive without much return. I am sticking with 7 day trips for now to get the most for my money. 

[memoak]

44 minutes ago, So_Tweetie said:

They send me some pretty fantastic offers but I always have to add $120 per day to the price because I really don't think it's worth sailing without a package these days. But the longer cruises just get so expensive without much return. I am sticking with 7 day trips for now to get the most for my money. 

I want all the sea days from the longer cruises. We both average probably 10-12 drinks a day please several coffee drinks. Saves us tons of money and we usually can use the casual meals for 4 charcuterie boards at vines since every grand class ship we have been on encourages sharing them

[Nelsj099]

This is part of why I booked the Voyage of the Glaciers 14 nights as 2 bookings of 7 days each.  I figured this scheme last year when they were shocked that I got more free prints in the photo studio.  I was like it is a different booking so I get a new round of benefits.  I also get 4 cruises on my status (sailing solo) instead of 2.  It was more deposit money... as a casino comp that went up by 200$ but I get that back as OBC when I board.  All in all a good deal.  But, it should be fixed by Princess. 

 

 

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

What I don't understand is why some people are saying they wouldn't buy a package simply because they only get 2 casual dining meals. Yes, I agree, the policy is crazy and unfair, but surely the decision to buy the package can't possibly swing on the number of casual dining meals you might get... 2 or 4 on a B2B? Do people value these meals so much that they are a major part of the buying decision?

 

For me the decision to buy the package is primarily justified by the other benefits.

[voljeep]

oh, you want the drink and dine package? - a total of 10 combined alcoholic drinks or casual dining meals per person, per day for the same price as the 15 included drinks on the PLUS

  In your dreams ...