I guess we missed the announcements. So now we pay for…?

[SargassoPirate]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

I just love the way Princess addressed peoples concerns about how the implementation of the packages will be applied to those that already booked before the change. It was presented on a travel agent, 1 hour webinar on Thursday and they dedicated 50 minutes telling their clients about how great their deal was, only answering a few basic questions at the end.😟

 

 

 

"Keep on telling me about the good life Elton because it makes me puke"  😉

Edited August 13, 2023 by SargassoPirate

[LittleFish1976]

Am I correct in thinking that the Princess Prizes previous Premier perk has vanished???? Thereby rendering the 'old' Premier package even less value that it was when purchased.

[Steelers36]

46 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

Am I correct in thinking that the Princess Prizes previous Premier perk has vanished???? Thereby rendering the 'old' Premier package even less value that it was when purchased.

They are still listed as an item in the package on Princess.com. 

[suzyed]

3 hours ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

Do you think that the Princess Cruise Critic community could be hired on as revenue consultants to find new and diverse ways to upsell and begin charging for features on a Princess ship?

 

Since all passengers have a stateroom with their own private bathroom, maybe public bathrooms could turn into charge stations unless if you Plus or Premiere? Pay restrooms are very common in Europe so the culture shock shouldn't be that much.

 

Also, the ship security team is not without a cost. Maybe bags through the X-ray machine are free for Plus/Premiere, but a nominal charge for all other guests outside of embarkation/disembarkation. Guests with bags really slow down the gangway and Princess needs to encourage people to travel lightly.

Ha ha!  As a stockholder this is of interest to me but as a passenger it will still peeve me to no end!  

[voljeep]

27 minutes ago, suzyed said:

Ha ha!  As a stockholder this is of interest to me but as a passenger it will still peeve me to no end!  

We bought PLUS50 - when we 'bought' the package - how much was the drink limit per drink - $12 or $15? - not what is now, but what we bought?  I think the only thing that actually changes for us is we may have to pay $14.99 for the one time ocean ready/now whatever to deliver items to the cabin thru the app.  No Alfredo's/Gigi's on CB - also no Planks/Steamers when we bought - but that was a pay per anyway.

 

EDIT - We booked under $1 deposits on 10/3/22...

Edited August 13, 2023 by voljeep

[kamelia]

I have this PDF file from November 7 2022 when we booked Princess Plus, which was listed as "Plus Beverage Package - 50" under Onboard Services.  We were charged the difference for all glasses of wine over $12.

 

Plus Beverage Package (prior to February 20, 2023).pdf

[voljeep]

9 minutes ago, kamelia said:

I have this PDF file from November 7 2022 when we booked Princess Plus, which was listed as "Plus Beverage Package - 50" under Onboard Services.  We were charged the difference for all glasses of wine over $12.

 

Plus Beverage Package (prior to February 20, 2023).pdf 565.29 kB · 0 downloads

Great - thanks!  that's what we bought - so if when we go on the CB in October, and we get charged for drinks over $12 - the difference plus 18% - that's OK - that's what we bought.  We also 'bought' the ocean ready/now, whatever deliver to our cabin/wherever order off the app ( we don't use the tv ) at no charge - which now it looks like we will pay the $14.99 on time to continue that ..  it is what it is, and we knew that before we made the final payment yesterday.

 

If we get drinks at $15 - score for us - which will offset the $14.99 delivery

[Cruise Raider]

13 minutes ago, kamelia said:

I have this PDF file from November 7 2022 when we booked Princess Plus, which was listed as "Plus Beverage Package - 50" under Onboard Services.  We were charged the difference for all glasses of wine over $12.

 

Plus Beverage Package (prior to February 20, 2023).pdf 565.29 kB · 2 downloads

 I’m curious as to what ship that was on as we had several cruises so far with the 50-plus package and right from the start, we got all drinks up to $15 in our package,  the only items we didn’t get were the juice bar, fitness classes and ice cream desserts.  
We rarely get those items anyway so, it’s never been a problem.  
We are also on a cruise in a few days and for a cruise under the 50-plus package and I fully expect to get drinks up to $15, as we’ve gotten them on every other cruise we’ve been on so far, including the Royal, Ruby, Diamond.  I have read that the sapphire may have broken out with their own rules, though.  

[memoak]

3 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 I’m curious as to what ship that was on as we had several cruises so far with the 50-plus package and right from the start, we got all drinks up to $15 in our package,  the only items we didn’t get were the juice bar, fitness classes and ice cream desserts.  
We rarely get those items anyway so, it’s never been a problem.  
We are also on a cruise in a few days and for a cruise under the 50-plus package and I fully expect to get drinks up to $15, as we’ve gotten them on every other cruise we’ve been on so far, including the Royal, Ruby, Diamond.  I have read that the sapphire may have broken out with their own rules, though.  

We also got the $15 for drinks on the Emerald and the Discovery this year. When I asked a bartender on the Emerald she said all Plus plans get up to $15 on drinks

[kamelia]

13 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

I have read that the sapphire may have broken out with their own rules, though.  

You called it.  It was indeed on the Sapphire Princess.  It was the first time we'd booked Princess Plus as it appeared that it was going to be good value for us.  Once onboard, however, we discovered that our two preferred varietals had increased in price and are now over the $12 limit. 🙄  

[Cruisintimer]

On 8/6/2023 at 12:56 PM, memoak said:

What company is not run by pencil pushers ?  Look at how much it costs to go to Disneyland. Are there that many new rides ?  I don’t think so

New guy who replaced last CEO worked for Disney and came up with the fast pass, it all makes sense. 

[Thrak]

For those who actually watched the webinar - it's still available online - check out the comments from the various TAs who were in the webinar. Many of them were unhappy with the changes, referenced "nickle and diming", said their customers would be very unhappy about the changes, referenced the fact that it seemed to be simply dumping on those who don't drink or who book the standard fare, etc. Seems a lot of the TA population doesn't like the changes and weren't fooled by the "upgrades" they were making and how wonderful the changes are as they add "even more value" at "no extra cost" (if and only if one has Plus 60 or Premier 80) and even then the TAs pointed out that those "new perks" had always been included previously and were now just being taken away from everybody else.

[mrstmaxx96]

I really do think people need to get on social media and ask someone from Princess about this.  I'm not saying it will change but it  makes more people aware of it.  And I'm going to keep asking on FB, twitter and Instagram until someone answers to tell me  to shut up and go away😀

[CruizinSusan70]

4 hours ago, voljeep said:

We bought PLUS50 - when we 'bought' the package - how much was the drink limit per drink - $12 or $15? - not what is now, but what we bought?  I think the only thing that actually changes for us is we may have to pay $14.99 for the one time ocean ready/now whatever to deliver items to the cabin thru the app.  No Alfredo's/Gigi's on CB - also no Planks/Steamers when we bought - but that was a pay per anyway.

 

EDIT - We booked under $1 deposits on 10/3/22...

We had Plus 40 last May/June on the Majestic and got drinks covered up to 15.00, so you should receive the same, but as usual YMMV.

[suzyed]

6 hours ago, voljeep said:

We bought PLUS50 - when we 'bought' the package - how much was the drink limit per drink - $12 or $15? - not what is now, but what we bought?  I think the only thing that actually changes for us is we may have to pay $14.99 for the one time ocean ready/now whatever to deliver items to the cabin thru the app.  No Alfredo's/Gigi's on CB - also no Planks/Steamers when we bought - but that was a pay per anyway.

 

EDIT - We booked under $1 deposits on 10/3/22...

$12

[suzyed]

6 hours ago, kamelia said:

I have this PDF file from November 7 2022 when we booked Princess Plus, which was listed as "Plus Beverage Package - 50" under Onboard Services.  We were charged the difference for all glasses of wine over $12.

 

Plus Beverage Package (prior to February 20, 2023).pdf 565.29 kB · 8 downloads

15 alcohol drink limit.

[suzyed]

2 hours ago, pugbeary said:

I really do think people need to get on social media and ask someone from Princess about this.  I'm not saying it will change but it  makes more people aware of it.  And I'm going to keep asking on FB, twitter and Instagram until someone answers to tell me  to shut up and go away😀

What exactly should we ask?

 

[Thrak]

On cruises in 2022 the limit was $12. Today the limit is $15. Things have changed...

[LittleFish1976]

10 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

They are still listed as an item in the package on Princess.com. 

That's interesting that you can see that, preseumably on the US site. It's nowhere to be found on the Australian Princess site any more. I can't see it listed under Plus nor Premier inclusions.

 

It's still on my 'Travel Summary' but seems that means nothing in terms of service delivery once on board. On the famous app it says I haven't purchased any package at all! Call me weird but it ends up not being a relaxing holiday for me if I have to spend the whole time negotiating and proving what I have already paid for. I doubt I'd book with Princess again; this company is Hard Work.

 

 

[JGmf]

Funny that I'm still reading these repetitive threads even though the arguments are the same, largely bouncing between the two different camps: the "I'm-never-sailing-with-them-again-they-changed-the-rules-and-Princess-stinks" group versus the "calm-down-it's-not-that-much-money-and-Princess-still-provides-a-great-value" group. 

 

I'm part of the latter group, but nonetheless think Princess fell flat on their face in two big ways:

 

1. They should definitely give longer (10+ day) cruisers additional casual dining meals instead of the hard cap of only two meals under the $60 PP plan - that's ridiculous.

 

2. Not extending the $60 PP benefits to those who bought the older $50 PP packages was not a good move.

 

Both would've been rather easy to implement and way better for the informed public to accept.

 

Then again, we're the 'informed public'; and we're only a small subset of the cruising community.  I'm assuming  the vast majority of Princess passengers won't know any better...and thus not really care.

 

[LittleFish1976]

4 minutes ago, JGmf said:

Funny that I'm still reading these repetitive threads even though the arguments are the same, largely bouncing between the two different camps: the "I'm-never-sailing-with-them-again-they-changed-the-rules-and-Princess-stinks" group versus the "calm-down-it's-not-that-much-money-and-Princess-still-provides-a-great-value" group. 

 

I'm part of the latter group, but nonetheless think Princess fell flat on their face in two big ways:

 

1. They should definitely give longer (10+ day) cruisers additional casual dining meals instead of the hard cap of only two meals under the $60 PP plan - that's ridiculous.

 

2. Not extending the $60 PP benefits to those who bought the older $50 PP packages was not a good move.

 

Both would've been rather easy to implement and way better for the informed public to accept.

 

Then again, we're the 'informed public'; and we're only a small subset of the cruising community.  I'm assuming  the vast majority of Princess passengers won't know any better...and thus not really care.

 

One of the other subsets of cruisers will be those who are unaware of the changes until they board their ship over the next few weeks and months and think 'WTH?' when they come up against an unexpected and unwanted charge on their account for something they had already paid for.

 

 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, LittleFish1976 said:

That's interesting that you can see that, preseumably on the US site. It's nowhere to be found on the Australian Princess site any more. I can't see it listed under Plus nor Premier inclusions.

 

It's still on my 'Travel Summary' but seems that means nothing in terms of service delivery once on board. On the famous app it says I haven't purchased any package at all! Call me weird but it ends up not being a relaxing holiday for me if I have to spend the whole time negotiating and proving what I have already paid for. I doubt I'd book with Princess again; this company is Hard Work.

 

 

Ahh...well I cannot speak for Australia version.  But Travel Summary is wjat counts as that comes from POLAR which is the master booking record.  Take it with you.  App has been proven unreliable and inconsistent from day 1.

[LittleFish1976]

19 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Ahh...well I cannot speak for Australia version.  But Travel Summary is wjat counts as that comes from POLAR which is the master booking record.  Take it with you.  App has been proven unreliable and inconsistent from day 1.

Thanks. That's good to know.

[Thrak]

55 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Ahh...well I cannot speak for Australia version.  But Travel Summary is wjat counts as that comes from POLAR which is the master booking record.  Take it with you.  App has been proven unreliable and inconsistent from day 1.

 

I not only take the Travel Summary but also a copy of my Booking as that shows my OBC whereas the Travel Summary doesn't. (Actually the TS will show any purchased OBC and the Booking won't but the Booking shows all the other OBC.)

[mrstmaxx]

@suzyed  ask why those who already purchased the packages are not being grandfathered in.  I also added we purchased the packages at not on insignificant costs   I also added we have 40 cruises and have spent tens of thousands of dollars with them. And I said even if we were a first time cruisers it just looks bad.   They sold us something that we were supposed to get for free and now they  want to charge us for it.  It’s nothing but greed.  Again I’m not saying it will work but they have to be told this sucks.  And it will let people who don’t pay attention what is going on.  I agree with one of the previous posters that people are going to wonder ‘wth’ is this charge.   By that time it will be too late.   This is just my feelings.