Princess Plus worth the money?

[roxievegas]

11 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

We never buy plus or any drink package because we never, or rarely drink.  Coffee, tea, water, juice at breakfast, usually some kinds of juices at lunch and on the lido deck are all included with your standard fare.  Many people don't care much for the included coffee, but I'm fine with it. 

 

Pop is always extra, as is specialty (or better) coffee, orange juice outside of breakfast, and things like lemonade at lunch or dinner.  I've never ordered ice tea at dinner but I *think* it's included.  Bottled water is extra, but a reasonable price to buy a 12 pack.

you can also get lemonade (very strong and lemony) - my husband will get it with dinner in the MDR

[kywildcatfanone]

12 hours ago, MacMadame said:

plain coffee with breakfast and a small OJ and I have a cup of tea, is any of that included?

yes

 

12 hours ago, MacMadame said:

What about fountain drinks at the buffet? Soda or Ice Tea with Lunch and Dinner in the MDR?

 

Is anything but tap water included with the Standard fare?

Soda is not included.  You can buy, or bring onboard all you want.  Same with water.   Iced or hot tea, lemonadee and water.  For breakfast, juices.  Pro tip:  If you want juices at other times, get glasses and put in your fridge and take them when you want them elsewhere.  

[MissP22]

17 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Pro tip:  If you want juices at other times, get glasses and put in your fridge and take them when you want them elsewhere.  

Especially the orange and cranberry juices. 

[Steelers36]

16 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

or bring onboard all you want.

There is a prescribed limited in the Passage Contract.  To quote:  "A small quantity is considered a maximum of 12 sealed, unopened cans/cartons of 12 ounces each or less per person.". 

 

Something between that and the below might be okay (as I believe guests have been able to carry on a bit more than 12/pp .. say 24?: 

 

[MacMadame]

1 hour ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Iced or hot tea, lemonadee and water. 

So I can have free lemonade but not free soda? That's weird. What about coffee outside of breakfast?

[kywildcatfanone]

Just now, MacMadame said:

So I can have free lemonade but not free soda? That's weird. What about coffee outside of breakfast?

Yes.  Lemonade is available for lunch and dinner (maybe breakfast), but soda is something you pay for. That's why we bring on the soda we like.  They do coke products, but it's limited.  There is free coffee in the buffet area, and there are coffee areas with specialty coffee that you pay for.

[kywildcatfanone]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

There is a prescribed limited in the Passage Contract.  To quote:  "A small quantity is considered a maximum of 12 sealed, unopened cans/cartons of 12 ounces each or less per person.". 

 

Something between that and the below might be okay (as I believe guests have been able to carry on a bit more than 12/pp .. say 24?: 

It's unlimited in the sense that you can bring on at embarkation and then every port stop.  But you can certainly bring on 2-4 12 packs at embaration, at least at FLL.  They never look.  You could also put some in your checked baggage too, but with cans, I worry that handling might make a mess in the suit case, so I typically carry on.  

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Yes.  Lemonade is available for lunch and dinner (maybe breakfast), but soda is something you pay for. That's why we bring on the soda we like.  They do coke products, but it's limited.  There is free coffee in the buffet area, and there are coffee areas with specialty coffee that you pay for.

Sometimes they'll give you the dripped coffee at the IC in the early morning hours without any charge if you don't have the package. 

I also find that their diet soda are limited, so we wind up carrying our own.

[CruizinSusan70]

5 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

There is a prescribed limited in the Passage Contract.  To quote:  "A small quantity is considered a maximum of 12 sealed, unopened cans/cartons of 12 ounces each or less per person.". 

 

Something between that and the below might be okay (as I believe guests have been able to carry on a bit more than 12/pp .. say 24?: 

 

I've seen people bringing them back from port stops as well. There's a CVS right across the street from the pier in San Juan.

[CruizinSusan70]

4 hours ago, MacMadame said:

So I can have free lemonade but not free soda? That's weird. What about coffee outside of breakfast?

The only mainstream cruise lines that I'm aware of that include soda for free are Disney and Virgin.

[HMSDingy]

On 8/22/2023 at 2:14 PM, Steelers36 said:

LOL.  Not quite.  $20 wines are more like $60.  I have priced out all of the Princess menu wines and some are around the $10 - $15 mark at retail (Total Wine or similar).  Markups these days on their bottled wine is often $40 range or even more typically.  That said, one can find a small number of bottles on the list where the cost to buy and pay $20 corkage is under $10 savings over PCL menu price + 18% gratuity.  There was a Merlot that was actually cheaper on the ship, but IDK if they still have it.  Something like that is a rarity on the full wine list.

 

By saying that Princess is marking up their wines by at least $40 I'm rather confused as I've searched 2023 Princess wine prices and they go from $45 to $50 per bottle. Am I missing something?

[Thrak]

19 minutes ago, HMSDingy said:

By saying that Princess is marking up their wines by at least $40 I'm rather confused as I've searched 2023 Princess wine prices and they go from $45 to $50 per bottle. Am I missing something?

 

Apparently you have missed quite a bit. There are many wines that are priced at far more than $50 per bottle. Perhaps some of the "wine folks" here on CC can chime in with pricing.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Thrak

[HMSDingy]

Just now, Thrak said:

 

Apparently you have missed quite a bit. There are many wines that are priced at far more than $50 per bottle.

Then are the price lists I've found for 2023 wrong? Where can I get a current list?

[suzyed]

On 8/15/2023 at 8:53 PM, drwbrt said:

This is how we looked at it. If you plan to use WiFi it is worth it.  It includes your daily gratuities and WiFi.  That is worth $31 per day.  Let's just pause there.  That means you need $29 of value per day to break even.  That's two coffees, two sodas, and a mocktail a day (or two coffees and six waters).  You don't even have to drink alcohol to get your monies worth.  If you do drink alcohol, it's three drinks/day to break even. 

 

In addition to the above, you will also get your Medallion shipped to you for free (otherwise $10), this lets you board smoother.  Plus also allows you to use OceanNow (now this costs $14.99 per cruise).  You will be able to visit the casual dining two times (valued at $14.99 per visit).  You also get desserts (2/day), the juice bar (unlimited), and fitness classes (2/cruise), but these didn't rank as high for us. 

Well done!

[memoak]

2 hours ago, HMSDingy said:

By saying that Princess is marking up their wines by at least $40 I'm rather confused as I've searched 2023 Princess wine prices and they go from $45 to $50 per bottle. Am I missing something?

There are bottles of wine way more than $50, some are upwards of $100

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

There are bottles of wine way more than $50, some are upwards of $100

 

Do they still offer the Chateau Petrus for $5,200 (+18%) or so?

[memoak]

9 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Do they still offer the Chateau Petrus for $5,200 (+18%) or so?

My eyes aren’t allowed to see numbers that high. 

[Steelers36]

18 hours ago, HMSDingy said:

By saying that Princess is marking up their wines by at least $40 I'm rather confused as I've searched 2023 Princess wine prices and they go from $45 to $50 per bottle. Am I missing something?

I am not sure of any recent price adjustments (say by earlier this year), but last year they had 11 bottles under $45.  They had 14 bottles from $45 to under $50.  They had 59 bottles from $50 to under $70.  They had 29 bottles from $70 to $100.  They had 14 in the $100's.  Then they had another 11 from above $200 to the ridiculous.  Obviously wines under $45 are not marked up by quite $40.  You could expect typically a $30 - $40 markup in the lower price ranges.

[voljeep]

48 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I am not sure of any recent price adjustments (say by earlier this year), but last year they had 11 bottles under $45.  They had 14 bottles from $45 to under $50.  They had 59 bottles from $50 to under $70.  They had 29 bottles from $70 to $100.  They had 14 in the $100's.  Then they had another 11 from above $200 to the ridiculous.  Obviously wines under $45 are not marked up by quite $40.  You could expect typically a $30 - $40 markup in the lower price ranges.

what Cab did they have under $45? - didn't really pay attention to bottle pricing with PLUS

[Steelers36]

25 minutes ago, voljeep said:

what Cab did they have under $45? - didn't really pay attention to bottle pricing with PLUS

LOL - none of that varietal.  The closest was a Chilean for $46.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

what Cab did they have under $45? - didn't really pay attention to bottle pricing with PLUS

Many wines ate no available by the glass so with plus we sometimes order a bottle with the 25% discount

[Oxo]

21 minutes ago, memoak said:

Many wines ate no available by the glass so with plus we sometimes order a bottle with the 25% discount

Why is that? If it is in the bottle and you can buy it, with the 25% off, why can't you get a glass if you have the package? Another way of generating more revenue. You paid for a package that includes wine and then you have to buy it by the bottle? LOL

[jwattle]

9 minutes ago, Oxo said:

Why is that? If it is in the bottle and you can buy it, with the 25% off, why can't you get a glass if you have the package? Another way of generating more revenue. You paid for a package that includes wine and then you have to buy it by the bottle? LOL

Because they don't want their higher-end wines opened for just a glass or two...

[Oxo]

2 minutes ago, jwattle said:

Because they don't want their higher-end wines opened for just a glass or two...

So, are you saying that this does not apply to the Plus selection? How many glasses in a 750 bottle, 4?

[jwattle]

Actually, I was going to edit my reply; They don't want every bottle available by the glass, because they would have a ton of wine going bad as it would be sitting around, so they have to choose a selection to make available.