New today - Extra Stuff in Princess Plus & Premier

[sewgood]

11 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That piddly $25 is fair enough for a short cruise but won't go far on next year's world cruise! 🤬

 

I wonder if they would give it to you per sector 🤔.

$200 per couple for those doing the full world cruise, I'd be surprised if they did.

[arxcards]

19 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That piddly $25 is fair enough for a short cruise but won't go far on next year's world cruise! 🤬

The pddly amount covers your Ocean Now charge for the whole cruise, whether it be 3 nights or 110. It would appear that is where they are targeting the OBC. On a short cruise, that is costing us $7.65 each per day.

 

But yes, it still all seems so wrong.

[OzKiwiJJ]

18 minutes ago, arxcards said:

The pddly amount covers your Ocean Now charge for the whole cruise, whether it be 3 nights or 110. It would appear that is where they are targeting the OBC. On a short cruise, that is costing us $7.65 each per day.

 

But yes, it still all seems so wrong.

Correct, it would cover the Ocean Now charge if you like to have room service (we don't), but not the casual dining charges and those are slightly more interesting to us on a long cruise.

[arxcards]

8 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Correct, it would cover the Ocean Now charge if you like to have room service (we don't), but not the casual dining charges and those are slightly more interesting to us on a long cruise.

Ocean Now charge includes having something bought to you anywhere via the app. Yes, I get that anything on a longer cruise is going to suck - think of all that ice cream you are missing out on 😉 

 

The casual dining bit sucks, but the only ones getting it fully inclusive are those who paid $95 per night. We won't be paying a cent for casual dining on any future cruise out of principle. We have 1/2 a world cruise on Crown with the current plus package, and I think that only gives us two "casual" dining sessions in 60+ days, and we will not get the $25 compo for that either - after paying an extra $15 per night each more than those getting zero casual dining.

[Jean C]

Oh dear, I think my family and I will just miss out on the $25 OBC on our November cruise, although we originally booked it last year, we repriced it a couple of times and ended up with new booking numbers each time, so I guess the date on the latest booking confirmation will be the applicable date. Not to worry though, the cruise was a fantastic price, 3 x mini suites for 4, with 3rd and 4th passengers in each cabin free and a decent OBC.  I won't shed a tear 😢 

[Jean C]

PS, it always surprises me that in some instances Princess can be unbelievably generous with OBC compensation, ie missed ports when their terms and conditions state that itineries are not guaranteed, yet can be remarkably stingy at other times, ie when some, and curiously not ALL, voyages are disrupted due to weather conditions beyond their control. I wish they had a standard approach to various situations 🤔

[LittleFish1976]

I think the email received overnight regarding the 'enhancements' and compo is too little, too late.

 

Surprised they even bothered explaining the changes now, after 90% of people have already heard via social media.

 

I would appreciate the $25 for my short cruise coming up in 4 weeks' time. If, like @arxcards I had a half world cruise booked for two, I'd be insulted at their $25.

 

Just checked my account and there is not yet any sign of the $25 - so we'll wait and see if it's all PR or if it actually materialises.

 

The juice bar is the only 'enhancement' that might possibly interest me so I'll wait until I get onboard and see what the situation is with that, before I throw any more money at this. Looking forward to seeing how different the Aust/NZ wine list is from the Northern Hemisphere one I've been reading about!

[Hammer61]

The whole "New" package makes no sense to me? the cost per day is the same no matter how long your cruise, you still only get 2 of free visits to the now paid casual dining venues included and only 2 gym classes the whole trip if you do those, so it's far better value for anyone on a short trip and less so if you're on a longer one? would have thought it would be the other way around to maximize revenue.....

 

Maybe it's a way to get those on longer cruises to pay for the higher premier package with no restrictions on the paid casual dining, gym classes or those over the top premium deserts, TBH even on the standard package of only being able to have 2 premium deserts a day, anyone doing so on long cruise should get a certificate of achievement (and free medical help if required) if they could manage 2 a day every day! 🤢

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, LittleFish1976 said:

I think the email received overnight regarding the 'enhancements' and compo is too little, too late.

 

Surprised they even bothered explaining the changes now, after 90% of people have already heard via social media.

 

I would appreciate the $25 for my short cruise coming up in 4 weeks' time. If, like @arxcards I had a half world cruise booked for two, I'd be insulted at their $25.

 

Just checked my account and there is not yet any sign of the $25 - so we'll wait and see if it's all PR or if it actually materialises.

 

The juice bar is the only 'enhancement' that might possibly interest me so I'll wait until I get onboard and see what the situation is with that, before I throw any more money at this. Looking forward to seeing how different the Aust/NZ wine list is from the Northern Hemisphere one I've been reading about!

I read above, and the $25OBC will show on your folio on the 1st day of the cruise.

[LittleFish1976]

7 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I read above, and the $25OBC will show on your folio on the 1st day of the cruise.

 

Ah. Thank you. I'm sure that information was embedded in the email - I should slow down and read things properly! (but where's the fun in that?)

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

Ocean Now charge includes having something bought to you anywhere via the app. Yes, I get that anything on a longer cruise is going to suck - think of all that ice cream you are missing out on 😉 

 

The casual dining bit sucks, but the only ones getting it fully inclusive are those who paid $95 per night. We won't be paying a cent for casual dining on any future cruise out of principle. We have 1/2 a world cruise on Crown with the current plus package, and I think that only gives us two "casual" dining sessions in 60+ days, and we will not get the $25 compo for that either - after paying an extra $15 per night each more than those getting zero casual dining.

But again we never bother ordering things outside of a bar, dining area or the Sanctuary, where we order through a waiter.

 

We bought the Plus fare in good faith when we booked the world cruise so it only cost $40pp per day. It offered exactly what we wanted, internet and a basic drinks package. The first big disappointment was being ripped off with the poor selection and quality of the wines by the glass. Now we have to pay extra for things that have always been included in the past. Upgrading the package isn't feasable as we don't want all the other crap - I'm not a big ice cream eater, I didn't have more than about half a dozen single scoops on the whole Round Australia cruise and most of those were for/with dessert in the MDR. Instead we'll end up paying about $5000 above what we budgeted for wines by the bottle on the world cruise - at least we still get 25% discount on the price. But we could drink ourselves silly on cocktails each day and not pay an extra cent. That's just crazy!

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, LittleFish1976 said:

Looking forward to seeing how different the Aust/NZ wine list is from the Northern Hemisphere one I've been reading about!

I'll let you know - we're doing a Japan cruise late next month so I'll get to compare the Northern Hemisphere list with our one. I haven't seen the wines by the glass list for that but they do have some very interesting wines by the bottle. I'm not expecting the wines by the glass to be great though, they tend to reflect US tastes even in the Med. On some cruises we did pre-Covid they used to offer the standard US wine list as well as a separate list of Australian wines on our local cruises.

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Hammer61 said:

TBH even on the standard package of only being able to have 2 premium deserts a day, anyone doing so on long cruise should get a certificate of achievement (and free medical help if required) if they could manage 2 a day every day! 🤢

On a full world cruise they'd probably end up in hospital in a diabetic coma half way through the cruise if they did have 2 of those disgusting things a day. 

[arxcards]

42 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

But again we never bother ordering things outside of a bar, dining area or the Sanctuary, where we order through a waiter.

 

We bought the Plus fare in good faith when we booked the world cruise so it only cost $40pp per day. It offered exactly what we wanted, internet and a basic drinks package. The first big disappointment was being ripped off with the poor selection and quality of the wines by the glass. Now we have to pay extra for things that have always been included in the past. Upgrading the package isn't feasable as we don't want all the other crap - I'm not a big ice cream eater, I didn't have more than about half a dozen single scoops on the whole Round Australia cruise and most of those were for/with dessert in the MDR. Instead we'll end up paying about $5000 above what we budgeted for wines by the bottle on the world cruise - at least we still get 25% discount on the price. But we could drink ourselves silly on cocktails each day and not pay an extra cent. That's just crazy!

We have the $65 plus for a half world cruise, so we get all the extra crap we don't want plus a whole 2 casual meals. So for the extra $25 each per day, we have 55 days where we get nothing else that we wanted, and the other two where we only get what we had already paid for. You get token OBC for that, we don't. I get your miffed, I will raise your miffed with piffed. To not get what you paid for on a one or two week cruise is bad enough. To get it for 2 or 4 months is crazy. We need to back this up by not paying for the things they are now charging for, and via a complaint to the CC loyalty host.

 

We have bought in good faith too. Although our next one is just a shortie, it is Penthouse suite plus premier for an all exclusive booking - now complete with being squeezed for casual dining & Ocean now if we use it. We haven't decided whether to not incur the charge, or whether to hammer it each day with morning coffees through to a night cap.

 

While I absolutely hate what is happening, what really sucks is the value still beats the heck out of the opposition, so it is really hard to jump ship. At present we are ready to pull our $130 x 57 day packages ($7410) and just having random "celebration" days aboard among plenty of conservative ones. Two can play at this game.

Edited September 26, 2023 by arxcards

[arxcards]

44 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

But we could drink ourselves silly on cocktails each day and not pay an extra cent. That's just crazy!

You could also drink yourself silly with bottom shelf wines by the glass - just saying.

[LittleFish1976]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I'll let you know - we're doing a Japan cruise late next month so I'll get to compare the Northern Hemisphere list with our one. I haven't seen the wines by the glass list for that but they do have some very interesting wines by the bottle. I'm not expecting the wines by the glass to be great though, they tend to reflect US tastes even in the Med. On some cruises we did pre-Covid they used to offer the standard US wine list as well as a separate list of Australian wines on our local cruises.

 

 

I'll be really interested to hear what you think and not just of the wine list but of Princess in Japan in general. I've booked for Japan on Cunard for next year - would be fascinating to compare the two.

[robncruise]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I'll let you know - we're doing a Japan cruise late next month so I'll get to compare the Northern Hemisphere list with our one. I haven't seen the wines by the glass list for that but they do have some very interesting wines by the bottle. I'm not expecting the wines by the glass to be great though, they tend to reflect US tastes even in the Med. On some cruises we did pre-Covid they used to offer the standard US wine list as well as a separate list of Australian wines on our local cruises.

 

 

Was on the Diamond Princess in July and the Plus wines by the glass had no name just merlot , cab sav, chardonnay etc !  They were not good and sometimes very bad . No idea what was served sometimes so bought by the bottle only. The cheapest by the bottle was 46USD  + 18% grat.  - wines that would would cost about $12 in NZ.  Different venues had different wine lists so you had to go around each one to find a wine to buy by the bottle. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

We have the $65 plus for a half world cruise, so we get all the extra crap we don't want plus a whole 2 casual meals. So for the extra $25 each per day, we have 55 days where we get nothing else that we wanted, and the other two where we only get what we had already paid for. You get token OBC for that, we don't. I get your miffed, I will raise your miffed with piffed. To not get what you paid for on a one or two week cruise is bad enough. To get it for 2 or 4 months is crazy. We need to back this up by not paying for the things they are now charging for, and via a complaint to the CC loyalty host.

 

We have bought in good faith too. Although our next one is just a shortie, it is Penthouse suite plus premier for an all exclusive booking - now complete with being squeezed for casual dining & Ocean now if we use it. We haven't decided whether to not incur the charge, or whether to hammer it each day with morning coffees through to a night cap.

 

While I absolutely hate what is happening, what really sucks is the value still beats the heck out of the opposition, so it is really hard to jump ship. At present we are ready to pull our $130 x 57 day packages ($7410) and just having random "celebration" days aboard among plenty of conservative ones. Two can play at this game.

I must admit I've been tempted to order cocktails and coffees then either drink the ones I want or just leave them.

[OzKiwiJJ]

And you're certainly allowed to be piffed! I really don't think Princess thought through the ramifications of these changes. Very poor planning.

[arxcards]

46 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

And you're certainly allowed to be piffed! I really don't think Princess thought through the ramifications of these changes. Very poor planning.

Indeed, grandfathering would have at least protected those that booked the product of the day. Surely they must have felt the feedback already, as we are at the end of the chain here anyway. To have come up with a pithy $25 just displays a high degree of arrogance.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

But again we never bother ordering things outside of a bar, dining area or the Sanctuary, where we order through a waiter.

 

We bought the Plus fare in good faith when we booked the world cruise so it only cost $40pp per day. It offered exactly what we wanted, internet and a basic drinks package. The first big disappointment was being ripped off with the poor selection and quality of the wines by the glass. Now we have to pay extra for things that have always been included in the past. Upgrading the package isn't feasable as we don't want all the other crap - I'm not a big ice cream eater, I didn't have more than about half a dozen single scoops on the whole Round Australia cruise and most of those were for/with dessert in the MDR. Instead we'll end up paying about $5000 above what we budgeted for wines by the bottle on the world cruise - at least we still get 25% discount on the price. But we could drink ourselves silly on cocktails each day and not pay an extra cent. That's just crazy!

This is what they are getting for by-the-glass in the US at present. This is Vines menu on Majestic as of June. https://eatsleepcruise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Princess_Vines_Bar_2023.pdf

 

[arxcards]

On 9/26/2023 at 6:30 AM, Hammer61 said:

Received this overnight from Princess, anyone who booked before December 2022 will be getting $25 OBC, also explains all the changes and costs in $A.   At least they have now emailed guests, was thinking it had been pretty poor to announce these changes but not tell anyone, so credit to them for that and for giving a bit of compensation in the form of $25pp won't get you much a meal at Alfredos or the one-time activation of OceanNow, but better than nothing.

·         New charges for Alfredo’s and Gigi’s by Alfredo’s: We've introduced new prix fixe casual dining options at some of our favourite restaurants like Planks, Steamers, Alfredo's, Gigi's by Alfredo, Ocean Terrace and Kai Sushi (availability may vary by ship). Alfredo's and Gigi's by Alfredo join these other locations in adding a nominal cover charge of AU $22.99 per guest for the prix fixe meals, with a la carte items also available for purchase. ·         A diverse array of exceptional culinary choices are available at no cost, ensuring a top-tier dining experience throughout your journey. Choose from multicourse meals in all main dining rooms, buffet-style delights at World Fresh Marketplace and Horizons Court, treats at the International Café, pizza and other poolside offerings at Slice, Coffee & Cones and more, as well as our traditional stateroom breakfast available using the classic door-hanger menus. ·         OceanNow® delivery: A nominal one-time access fee of AU $22.99 per guest per voyage will now apply to access unlimited OceanNow delivery. ·         Room service fee: An AU $7.50 delivery fee per order will be charged for all room service orders (except complimentary stateroom breakfast orders). ·         These new enhancements have been added at no charge to guests booked on new Princess Plus and Princess Premier packages that have been purchased since 14 December 2022.

While you currently are booked on a package that does not include these new benefits, in light of these changes, Princess Cruises is providing an onboard "AU/NZ regional spending credit" of AU $25~ to those on Standard cruise fare or Plus/Premier bundles purchased prior to 14 December 2022. This will be issued on the first day of sailing and is not combinable with the new Plus & Premier packages (purchased since 14 December 2022). Should you prefer to upgrade to a Princess Plus or Princess Premier package to take full advantage of these new perks, you can easily upgrade using the Cruise Personalizer® tool.       To upgrade, please contact your travel agent, or visit Cruise Personaliser here ❯

At this stage, I am yet to receive this email - for a cruise departing in 5 weeks time. We have an old Premier, and I wonder if they have only extended the email notification to affected Plus cruisers?

[LittleFish1976]

13 hours ago, arxcards said:

At this stage, I am yet to receive this email - for a cruise departing in 5 weeks time. We have an old Premier, and I wonder if they have only extended the email notification to affected Plus cruisers?

Offer is extended to 'old' Premier package passengers as well. I expect you'll get your email in about a week.

[Zetta83]

Noticed how it says "AU $25~ "

So it can mean 1 per cabin or 1 per passenger

~ Around can mean A$1 for 2 day cruise and A$25 for WC

 

Can anyone confirm? Thanks.

[boeckli]

On 10/26/2023 at 10:03 AM, Zetta83 said:

Noticed how it says "AU $25~ "

So it can mean 1 per cabin or 1 per passenger

~ Around can mean A$1 for 2 day cruise and A$25 for WC

 

Can anyone confirm? Thanks.

 

I believe the ~ in this case does not mean 'around' but refers to a footnote further down in the dark blue area (talking about onboard spending money)