Changes to Princess Plus, room service fees, Alfredo's and others. Fee changes. Etc

[wilsonhold]

40 minutes ago, Tiredandgrumpy said:

I dont believe thats the case for one minute, there will be without doubt a huge contingent of people who don't use the medallion app to order drinks and food. Its very risky business to now monetise something you're having an issue with in an attempt to rectify a problem. In a nutshell…if they're  selling something to the masses it should work. 

It is not the technology but the staffing required to deliver the food/drink.

[villauk]

5 minutes ago, Tiredandgrumpy said:

Same as, im UK and also dont offer shipping. 

Which has annoyed me, not because I can’t have it shipped, because I’ve paid for the Plus package but still they want more money from me to upgrade yet I can’t even receive the items that are included in the package 🧐!

[caribill]

2 minutes ago, villauk said:

Which has annoyed me, not because I can’t have it shipped, because I’ve paid for the Plus package but still they want more money from me to upgrade yet I can’t even receive the items that are included in the package 🧐!

 

But you can still have two 10,000-calories special desserts a day.

[villauk]

Just now, caribill said:

 

But you can still have two 10,000-calories special desserts a day.

 🤣. Luckily, I can’t as I’m on the ‘old’ Plus. I don’t want all the spin, just the items I originally bought and paid for.

[BlerkOne]

15 minutes ago, Tiredandgrumpy said:

The worse that can happen is you alienate even more people but this time they've actually paid for it with hard cash rather than it being part of a package 

It seems that Princess is betting the impact is minimal. Bookings across Carnival Corp brands are up and so would mitigate some loss. As I said, Time will tell.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Carmen Roig is the VP of Sales.  I would think the top dog ought to know what is what.  TPTP my not have sorted through some of the nitty-gritty on these changes. 

 

 

Past webinars with the VP of sales have said things that turned out not to be what was implemented once onboard the ship.

 

One example is the 50% discount for platinum/elite members for Internet. Initially if you booked it pre-cruise, you had to pay 100% in advance and the VP on the webinar said you would get the 50% back as refundable OBC.

 

Turned out as implemented it was non-refundable OBC until enough passengers complained.

 

So in my mind, the VP of sales has no more idea of how things really work on board than a VP of marketing. (Still waiting for those dual glass pianos that sales and marketing said would be in the atrium on the Royal class ships.)

[Tiredandgrumpy]

17 minutes ago, wilsonhold said:

It is not the technology but the staffing required to deliver the food/drink.

Absolutely but the net result stays the same. My point was that if you monetise something in an attempt to fix an issue you stand a good chance of that biting you on the backside. As someone else said, it may be now that actually more people pay for the service but the system stays the same or gets worse and they cant cope. All it will do is make people complain and demand their money back and quite rightly so. Last year on Enchanted i used it a handful of times, some success some not…was i that bothered, No.

I simply went to the bar its no biggy, but if i had just paid $14.99 i would be quite rightly complaining about it and wanting my money back. 

[CruizinSusan70]

12 hours ago, Caligirl33 said:

I have tried to follow this thread to figure out how or if this change will effect us on our cruise in 54 days. And for this life of me I just can’t figure it out….  Can someone more informed than I help a sister out? 

 

We booked our cruise in January 2023 with Princess Plus and are well past final payment.  Will these changes effect us? 

 

Thank you in advance 

Each of you will receive two visits for the 14.99 prix fix menu at Alfredo's (which used to be free) or another possible casual option which varies by ship.  Since you have the Plus package you get room service or ocean now included.

[caribill]

On 7/28/2023 at 12:12 PM, Ombud said:

Hoping someone on a cruise after the updates posts the (Alfredos) menu with a la carte pricing (but I've got $29 SD credit to use up)

 

Casual dining (such as Alfredos) is not Specialty Dining (such as Crown Grill).

 

I have seen nothing that says SD credit can be used at CD venues, either in the past or with these new changes.

[CruizinSusan70]

11 hours ago, bobrxlex said:

This really sucks considering that I am booked for a September cruise on royal and now I will have to pay for Alfredos.  Now that your booked you have no choice but to pay $30 for 2 people.  Good Job Princess

No, the items are a la carte.  The pizzas are 12.00.  If you split one for lunch that is all you pay.  So it's 6.00 pp.  The 15.00 charge is for an app, a pizza, calzone or agnolotti and a dessert.

[caribill]

3 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

No, the items are a la carte.  The pizzas are 12.00.  If you split one for lunch that is all you pay.  So it's 6.00 pp.  The 15.00 charge is for an app, a pizza, calzone or agnolotti and a dessert.

 

So that, for two people, is $24 more (+ mandatory crew appreciation?) per visit than previously needing to pay for standard fare passengers.

[CruizinSusan70]

10 hours ago, spunks said:

but I am not happy with the idea that my morning coffee will have a$5.00 fee.

It won't if you order it via the paper hang tag.  If you decide to order during the remainder of the day, that cost is eliminated if you pay the 15.00 charge for Ocean Now. So you will not have the 5.00 RS charge if you order something later in the day.

[CruizinSusan70]

10 hours ago, Tiredandgrumpy said:

what isn't fair is the blatant changes to anyone who has been loyal and booked early versus anyone who decided to book late and receive everything. 

If someone booked standard fare they are receiving the same no matter when they booked.  If someone booked recently, they paid the 60 per day to get plus.  If someone booked plus at 40 or 50, they would need to pay the extra 10 or 20 per day to get the same benefits.  So no matter when you book, the costs would be the same.

[caribill]

2 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

If someone booked standard fare they are receiving the same no matter when they booked.

 

No !

 

They are no longer getting free pizza at Alfredos, but whenever they booked their cruise, it was included for free.

 

 

[CruizinSusan70]

9 hours ago, spunks said:

 

....and I am completely mystified how you can think hanging out  a door hanger is in ANY way accecptable? How do you know what time you will wake up the next day?

Well, you can set a clock alarm on your cell phone for a specific time that would correlate with the time you wrote on the hang tag.  If you're against this, then pay the $15.00 to activate Ocean Now and have it delivered to your cabin.  Either way, if you think your coffee will not be hot whenever they deliver it to you, you can always get dressed and walk to the buffet and get it nice and hot.

[CruizinSusan70]

9 hours ago, plantnoob said:

 $15 per OceanNow activation adds up when there’re thousands of passengers per cruise.

It was reported earlier in the thread that about 75% of the passengers purchase either the plus or the premier package.  So, that means that only 25% are standard cruisers that would have the option of paying the $15.00 for Ocean now.  If there are 4000 passengers on the ship, only 1000 would have the option to buy the Ocean now activation.  Not everyone needs to get room service or have a drink delivered to them and the purchase is 100% optional, so basically it's less than a 1000 people that may have to pay the 15.00.  Maybe 600 and that estimate could be high.  If people are frugal and don't want to purchase a package that 75% of the cruisers buy, what makes you think they'll fork over another 15.00.  Many are going to remove 112 in tips to make their overall cost cheaper.

[Gwendy]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

No !

 

They are no longer getting free pizza at Alfredos, but whenever they booked their cruise, it was included for free.

 

 

And free room service

[caribill]

On 7/29/2023 at 7:34 AM, chamima said:

 

 

And we've always been told that if you leave the automatic gratuities on your account the steward or waiter, etc. get to keep the cash.

It's only when they've been removed from your account that the crew member has to turn the money into the general pot.

 

That was true pre-Covid shutdown.

 

After the restart, with Princess expecting about 75% of passengers to have Plus/Premier package which include gratuities that cannot be removed, and with most of the other 25% of passengers not reducing what they pay for "crew appreciation," Princess decided it was not worth the effort to have every cash tip checked to see if gratuities had been reduced.

 

Thus now cabin stewards and dining room staff can keep cash tips without having to first check if a passenger has reduced what they are paying into the general tip pool.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, Wanderers2 said:

We don’t eat multiple courses at Alfredo’s just share a salad & a pizza. I’m hoping we can still do that 🤞

Yes, should be able to with no problem. Nothing was mentioned on the pdf files of the new menus about there being a sharing charge.   If you don't have the package, it will cost you 5.00 for the salad and 12 for the pizza for a total of 17, but since you get three courses for 15, that is what you would pay and you have the option to eat the included dessert or not order it. 

[CruizinSusan70]

2 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Supposedly cans are not included on any beverage package except the Zero-alcohol package, but are available at a discount.

 

I assume that when you did get the cans you were not charged anything, not even the discount price.

 

From the Princess web site: The package includes sparkling or still bottled water (500ml or less), fountain sodas, fresh juices and healthy smoothies (unlimited juice bar), specialty coffees and teas, Frappés at Coffee & Cones, and Red Bull energy drinks.

 

In the past canned soda has also not been available as part of a package on Princess Cays. I wonder if that has changed.

I am just reporting from my first hand knowledge that my DH and myself ordered multiple cans of Coke Zero or Sprite Zero on a daily basis in the MDR or Alfredo's.  We would also get a can from Good Spirits to take back to the cabin. 

 

The only loophole I can think of is that Coke Zero and Sprite Zero were not available on the gun as a fountain option and that is why we were not charged for them in the can.

[CruizinSusan70]

2 hours ago, caribill said:

 

So that, for two people, is $24 more (+ mandatory crew appreciation?) per visit than previously needing to pay for standard fare passengers.

Yes, if two people eat their own pizza, it will now cost them 24.00 when previously it was free. Don't know about tips since we  never ate in a casual dining place on the Discovery or the Majestic.

[3Green3]

We are one off “once in a lifetime” Alaska cruisers coming from France so this isn’t the biggest deal for us. However, Princess had not informed me. Luckily I saw this post. I booked direct and Princess are able to use my email to send me marketing emails! But they could not send an email informing me of this? 
 

That is not so good. What a surprise on board having watched YouTube videos of our ship this season. We would have thought we we’d having a technical issue if a pop up asked us to pay to have the drink delivered etc Very rushed rollout with very poor communication. 

[CruizinSusan70]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 Also free delivery if booked with Plus or Premier fare option.

Not necessarily.  On our recent Majestic cruise, we got charged the 10.00 even though we had the plus package.  I reported it to guest services and midway through our cruise, the 10.00 was given back as refundable OBC.  On our final check out bill that was emailed to me, the credit had disappeared.  We've been home for 7 weeks and we're still patiently waiting for our refund check of refundable OBC of over 300.00.

[CruizinSusan70]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

No !

 

They are no longer getting free pizza at Alfredos, but whenever they booked their cruise, it was included for free.

I was responding to a post about plus purchases early vs late.  But thanks for taking a single line out of context and spin doctoring it to prove your point.  Everybody no longer gets Alfredo's for free whether they have a package or not. Package members get two per cruise, whether it's 7 days or 30 days long.

[Zetta83]

This is a very fast moving thread and I like to put in my 5 cents worth. I will be on the Majestic in Dec 23 on a standard fare. This ship does not have Slice so Alfredo is the only option for pizza. With kids, we do not want the 3 course meal, only pizza. Resolution in my opinion is:

 

Look at the app and see if pizzas are available for order at complimentary.

Pay the one time fee (USD14.99) and order unlimited pizzas from then on

 

If pizza is not available, do Al carte pizza from Alfredo

 

Let me know if you think my thinking is flawed. Thanks.

 

The packages are not valuable for us as:

- We do not drink alcohol 

- Soft drinks can be brought on (and this limits us to lesser soft drinks)

- Premium Desserts are not required as we have suffice sugar though other means

- No room service = more exercise

- More exercise from previous point = no need for additional fitness classes

- No gratuities in Australia as included in fare 

 

I understand casual dinner used to be part of standard fare. But will charging make venues less attractive, hence less crowded?

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Zetta83