New today - Extra Stuff in Princess Plus & Premier

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Auscruisefam said:

So the included food will just be the MDR and buffet? 
 

+ International Cafe, on deck pizza/burgers/soft serve ice cream, and breakfast room service via door cards.

[yes!yes!yes!]

Is the activation charge for the use of the medallion on your phone?

I never used it on the 7 cruises I did with princess in the last year. In fact my mother and I didn't even bother loading it on the last 3 cruises. I think it slows down the service you get on board as half the staff are wandering around trying to find someone who has ordered drinks/food from their phone.

[arxcards]

13 minutes ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

Is the activation charge for the use of the medallion on your phone?

I never used it on the 7 cruises I did with princess in the last year. In fact my mother and I didn't even bother loading it on the last 3 cruises. I think it slows down the service you get on board as half the staff are wandering around trying to find someone who has ordered drinks/food from their phone.

Sort of. I think it is only for order/delivery via your phone app. You can still use the other features (reservations, menus etc) without incurring a charge.

[yes!yes!yes!]

4 hours ago, arxcards said:

Sort of. I think it is only for order/delivery via your phone app. You can still use the other features (reservations, menus etc) without incurring a charge.

Okay. I don't think I will bother loading the app for my Christmas cruise. I will be going with the princess plus and my mum wont be.

[Tripmode33]

1 hour ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

Okay. I don't think I will bother loading the app for my Christmas cruise. I will be going with the princess plus and my mum wont be.

I notice on the main Princess Forum, the Princess cruisers in the USA are of the opinion that you can't take the Plus or Premium package for only one member in cabin. How do you book this. Through Princess direct?  I know our independent travel agent recently started offering this to us - one member of a couple.  Strange that it's different in USA!

[yes!yes!yes!]

7 minutes ago, Tripmode33 said:

I notice on the main Princess Forum, the Princess cruisers in the USA are of the opinion that you can't take the Plus or Premium package for only one member in cabin. How do you book this. Through Princess direct?  I know our independent travel agent recently started offering this to us - one member of a couple.  Strange that it's different in USA!

I have done this a few times. I order with a princess rep over the phone.

My mum drinks, but not much, she also doesn't bother with internet.

 

[Tripmode33]

1 minute ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

I have done this a few times. I order with a princess rep over the phone.

My mum drinks, but not much, she also doesn't bother with internet.

 

Thanks. So is this after you've booked with Princess as a standard fare, or during the initial cruise booking over the phone with a Princess rep?

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

Okay. I don't think I will bother loading the app for my Christmas cruise. I will be going with the princess plus and my mum wont be.

If you are going to get plus anyway, the delivery charge is waived with the current package - whether you use the app or not.

[LittleFish1976]

I'm wondering what the cost would be to upgrade from the package I bought 12 months ago to the 'new new' package. Does anyone remember how much the premier package was per day back in August last year? I assume they charge you the difference between what you paid and what the current cost is?

[arxcards]

10 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

I'm wondering what the cost would be to upgrade from the package I bought 12 months ago to the 'new new' package. Does anyone remember how much the premier package was per day back in August last year? I assume they charge you the difference between what you paid and what the current cost is?

I think it would have been $85 per day. We booked our next cruise in June last year, and it was $85 per day then. The current price is $95 per day, so upgrading is $10pp per day.

[OzKiwiJJ]

21 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

I'm wondering what the cost would be to upgrade from the package I bought 12 months ago to the 'new new' package. Does anyone remember how much the premier package was per day back in August last year? I assume they charge you the difference between what you paid and what the current cost is?

It was $50pp per day in August last year. It was $65 last week when a friend added Plus to an upcoming cruise, so you'll pay $15pp per day extra.

 

Whoops, I misread your post. $85pp per day for Premier I think. 

Edited August 2, 2023 by OzKiwiJJ

[yes!yes!yes!]

1 hour ago, Tripmode33 said:

Thanks. So is this after you've booked with Princess as a standard fare, or during the initial cruise booking over the phone with a Princess rep?

I have done both ways.

When I booked my upcoming cruise last week my rep said to add it at final payment as she thinks there might be a sale on before then and she will let me know.

[LittleFish1976]

Just now, arxcards said:

I think it would have been $85 per day. We booked our next cruise in June last year, and it was $85 per day then. The current price is $95 per day, so upgrading is $10pp per day.

 

Thanks Geoff. I was hoping it was $85 per day but didn't they put it up when they introduced the ridiculous desserts and the exercise classes? I booked my cruise prior to that as I wasn't entitled to them when they came in. Wondering if I paid less than $85. It used to say on the website but it's disappeared.

[LittleFish1976]

1 minute ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It was $50pp per day in August last year. It was $65 last week when a friend added Plus to an upcoming cruise, so you'll pay $15pp per day extra.

Thanks Julie but I think you may be referring to the plus package? I have the premier one so I'm enquirig about that. Mine was definitely more than $50 per day

[OzKiwiJJ]

I just did a cost comparison between our two next cruises - one on Diamond Princess and one on Regent Seven Seas Explorer. 

 

Regent is all-inclusive including excursions. We have a mini-suite on Diamond so cabin style should be comparable and I added in all the extras to match what Regent offers. Both cruises were booked during sales. 

 

The difference was less than $50pp per day!

[arxcards]

1 minute ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

Thanks Geoff. I was hoping it was $85 per day but didn't they put it up when they introduced the ridiculous desserts and the exercise classes? I booked my cruise prior to that as I wasn't entitled to them when they came in. Wondering if I paid less than $85. It used to say on the website but it's disappeared.

Yes, they put it up to $95 in December when they added those "awesome" desserts. That is still the current price, as the recent changes are just taking things that were previously N/C and moving them into the packages.

 

In the personaliser it will list your inclusions. Ours says premier85, or did last time I checked early in the week.

[OzKiwiJJ]

6 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

Thanks Julie but I think you may be referring to the plus package? I have the premier one so I'm enquirig about that. Mine was definitely more than $50 per day

Yes, I just realised that and edited my post.

[LittleFish1976]

1 minute ago, arxcards said:

Yes, they put it up to $95 in December when they added those "awesome" desserts. That is still the current price, as the recent changes are just taking things that were previously N/C and moving them into the packages.

 

In the personaliser it will list your inclusions. Ours says premier85, or did last time I checked early in the week.

Oh brilliant. Thanks. I had assumed the price went up over the last couple of days with the 'exciting new inclusions' 😂

 

Mine also used to say something like the premier85 but I can't see it anywhere now.

[arxcards]

It now says Premier Beverage Package - 75/85, listed on the onboard services page.

 

I am pretty sure we paid $85, but this is becoming a blurr (thanks Princess) 😂

[arxcards]

Premier was $AU85 when launched here last May. The $75 was the US price, which for them also included their daily grats.

 

[LittleFish1976]

5 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Premier was $AU85 when launched here last May. The $75 was the US price, which for them also included their daily grats.

 

Thank you. That also answered the question in my mind which was what the 75/85 meant.

 

Am I right that Princess won't add a daily gratuity once I get on board? From what I've read here it's built in to the fare already paid?

[arxcards]

2 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

Thank you. That also answered the question in my mind which was what the 75/85 meant.

 

Am I right that Princess won't add a daily gratuity once I get on board? From what I've read here it's built in to the fare already paid?

Correct. Daily grats in the fare of $AU cruises.

[compozer]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I just did a cost comparison between our two next cruises - one on Diamond Princess and one on Regent Seven Seas Explorer. 

 

Regent is all-inclusive including excursions. We have a mini-suite on Diamond so cabin style should be comparable and I added in all the extras to match what Regent offers. Both cruises were booked during sales. 

 

The difference was less than $50pp per day!

Which cruise line was more expensive?      

[OzKiwiJJ]

21 minutes ago, compozer said:

Which cruise line was more expensive?      

Regent, of course, as you'd expect being one of the luxury cruise lines. The sad thing is that Princess isn't that far behind on pricing for a lesser quality experience. It will be interesting to see just how big the quality gap is. The two cruises are almost back-to-back - we have two days in Tokyo between them.

Edited August 2, 2023 by OzKiwiJJ

[compozer]

16 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Regent, of course, as you'd expect being one of the luxury cruise lines. 

We did our first Regent cruise last January and loved it.   We have always booked full suites with Princess but have been disappointed since the perks are disappearing.  We are also trying out several other lines.  But we will book with Regent again.