Princess Plus question

[mrell345]

I understand that when you order a drink at the bar they add the tip automatically.  Does that count towards the value of the drink ?  I.E. if the drink costs $10.00 and they add the tip, the amount of the cost of the drink plus the tip has to be under the amount the package allows ?

[NavyVeteran]

No, the posted price of the drink needs to be under the package limit. With Plus, if the posted price is $15, then you pay nothing more. If the posted price is $16, then you pay the extra $1 plus the service charge on the extra $1 - not on the posted price.

[mrell345]

Thanks

 

[HMSDingy]

On 8/25/2023 at 8:02 PM, NavyVeteran said:

No, the posted price of the drink needs to be under the package limit. With Plus, if the posted price is $15, then you pay nothing more. If the posted price is $16, then you pay the extra $1 plus the service charge on the extra $1 - not on the posted price.

Does that mean that with Plus the 18% tip is covered for any drink under $15? Does Plus also cover the 18% tip on bottles of wine?

[NavyVeteran]

29 minutes ago, HMSDingy said:

Does that mean that with Plus the 18% tip is covered for any drink under $15? Does Plus also cover the 18% tip on bottles of wine?

Plus includes the 18% service charge on anything covered in the package. If the price is $15, you pay nothing. If the price is $16, you pay $1.18 (the difference plus 18% of the difference).

 

I have not purchased a bottle of wine using a beverage package, so I can't answer that question from personal experience. I would expect to pay 18% of the 75% cost of the bottle, but I don't know for sure.

[HMSDingy]

1 hour ago, NavyVeteran said:

Plus includes the 18% service charge on anything covered in the package. If the price is $15, you pay nothing. If the price is $16, you pay $1.18 (the difference plus 18% of the difference).

 

I have not purchased a bottle of wine using a beverage package, so I can't answer that question from personal experience. I would expect to pay 18% of the 75% cost of the bottle, but I don't know for sure.

Thanks. On the Princess website it does specify that Plus takes care of the tips. Actually it states...."whatever you want. Tips included." I assume bottles of wine as well.

[kapsgp]

With the Plus Package when you order a bottle of wine they deduct 25% and then add the 18% gratuity on the discounted price.

[memoak]

45 minutes ago, HMSDingy said:

Thanks. On the Princess website it does specify that Plus takes care of the tips. Actually it states...."whatever you want. Tips included." I assume bottles of wine as well.

Whatever you want up to $15. There is no bottle of wine under that 

[HMSDingy]

39 minutes ago, memoak said:

Whatever you want up to $15. There is no bottle of wine under that 

I think your confusing things. According to the Princess website and to an agent I spoke to, drinks up yo $15 are free with Plus and all tips are also included. There is a 25% discount on bottles of wine and the tip on those bottles of 18% is also included. This is a screen shot from their website.

[mrell345]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Whatever you want up to $15. There is no bottle of wine under that 

At least nothing above decks with the passengers 😉 

[SKCruiser007]

1 hour ago, HMSDingy said:

I think your confusing things. According to the Princess website and to an agent I spoke to, drinks up yo $15 are free with Plus and all tips are also included. There is a 25% discount on bottles of wine and the tip on those bottles of 18% is also included. This is a screen shot from their website.

I think you're going to have a hard time convincing guest services that the underlined statement includes the service charge on the portion of the price of the bottle of wine you purchase.

[HMSDingy]

Just now, SKCruiser007 said:

I think you're going to have a hard time convincing guest services that the underlined statement includes the service charge on the portion of the price of the bottle of wine you purchase.

Maybe but I got a transcript of my conversation with the rep where he states that the tip for the bottle of wine is included. Have you had a Plus Package?

[t&atravel]

The 18% IS charged on the 75% remaining amount of the bottle purchase.  Any drinks over the $15 also incurs the 18% on the difference in price above the $15.  The person you spoke too was not correct.  Tips are included only on the amounts that are included in the package (i.e. up to $15 and the 25% of the bottle).

 

i have had the plus package for all cruises since the restart.

Edited August 28, 2023 by t&atravel

[SKCruiser007]

5 minutes ago, HMSDingy said:

Maybe but I got a transcript of my conversation with the rep where he states that the tip for the bottle of wine is included. Have you had a Plus Package?

Yes, I always get the Plus or Premier package. I think the rep was incorrect. If you want to argue your case with guest services, have at it. To me, it would not be worth the time, trouble or aggravation of the argument. Princess clearly charges for the service charge above the $15 drink cost, and almost certainly charges the service charge for the 75% paid on a bottle of wine. Hopefully, someone who has purchased wine under one of the packages will come along.

[t&atravel]

1 minute ago, SKCruiser007 said:

Hopefully, someone who has purchased wine under one of the packages will come along

Yes my post before yours was my experience with bottle purchases.  We always purchase at least one bottle per cruise.  Any $$ amount charged for a beverage on your folio will have the 18% applied! 

[HMSDingy]

1 minute ago, SKCruiser007 said:

Yes, I always get the Plus or Premier package. I think the rep was incorrect. If you want to argue your case with guest services, have at it. To me, it would not be worth the time, trouble or aggravation of the argument. Princess clearly charges for the service charge above the $15 drink cost, and almost certainly charges the service charge for the 75% paid on a bottle of wine. Hopefully, someone who has purchased wine under one of the packages will come along.

In the long run, I'm still saving money even if they add the tip. I can always have several glasses of wine instead of a bottle since I'm allowed up to 15 drinks per day and I believe the tip is covered here.

[Sn0cruiser]

We were trying to use up a small amount of non-refundable OBC by buying a bottle of wine and found on that ship at least the bartender will give you the bottle and charge your medallion for 5 of the 15 drinks instead of the 75%.   So we had to use the OBC for chocolates instead !
 

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Sn0cruiser said:

We were trying to use up a small amount of non-refundable OBC by buying a bottle of wine and found on that ship at least the bartender will give you the bottle and charge your medallion for 5 of the 15 drinks instead of the 75%.   So we had to use the OBC for chocolates instead !
 

That may be on lower cost wines but I will bet if you ask for a $200 bottle of wine that is not going to happen 

[NavyVeteran]

41 minutes ago, memoak said:

That may be on lower cost wines but I will bet if you ask for a $200 bottle of wine that is not going to happen 

If they charge you for five drinks instead of the bottle, each drink would be at least $40. If you have plus, that would be five drinks at $25 each ($40-$15) or $125. Also you would not be able to share the bottle with anyone else, since it would be five drinks from the package, so they couldn't let you take the bottle with you.

Edited August 28, 2023 by NavyVeteran

[Sn0cruiser]

We were allowed to take the bottles the two times we tried to use the OBC.  We didn’t have much OBC left so it was a lower priced bottle - can’t remember the price but I assume the per glass rate was the same or lower than the Plus max.

[Thrak]

3 hours ago, Sn0cruiser said:

We were trying to use up a small amount of non-refundable OBC by buying a bottle of wine and found on that ship at least the bartender will give you the bottle and charge your medallion for 5 of the 15 drinks instead of the 75%.   So we had to use the OBC for chocolates instead !
 

 

The only way this would be possible for the wine steward to do is if the wine is available both by the bottle and also by the glass. If it's only available by the bottle they would have no way to charge for 5 glasses instead of a bottle.

[Steelers36]

16 hours ago, HMSDingy said:

Maybe but I got a transcript of my conversation with the rep where he states that the tip for the bottle of wine is included. Have you had a Plus Package?

You may recall we were discussing this in another thread.  I found it difficult to believe there would be no 18% gratuity on the 75% net cost.  I mentioned waiting to see if other CC members who have bought wine would post and clear it up.  I think it is clear from the above variety of posts that guests are indeed charged 18% on the net cost of each bottle of wine.  Princess phone reps often don't get their information correct nor know as much as some seasoned guests know.

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, Sn0cruiser said:

We were trying to use up a small amount of non-refundable OBC by buying a bottle of wine and found on that ship at least the bartender will give you the bottle and charge your medallion for 5 of the 15 drinks instead of the 75%.   So we had to use the OBC for chocolates instead !
 

There is some logic there as they most likely do 5 x 5oz pours from a bottle (not so great, but typical I suppose), rather than 4 x 6oz pours (better).

[Steelers36]

18 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

The only way this would be possible for the wine steward to do is if the wine is available both by the bottle and also by the glass. If it's only available by the bottle they would have no way to charge for 5 glasses instead of a bottle.

If a glass from such bottle was no more than $15, it could work for Plus plan.  The bartender must have had a way to do it, so I guess we don't know if they just rang up some generic glass of wine 5X or if they can manually adjust the drink limit.  But I do understand the inventory matter - and I have no idea how closely PCL monitors inventory and if an unaccounted-for bottle or two or three ends up in the reports.

[sultan_sfo]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

... If it's only available by the bottle they would have no way to charge for 5 glasses instead of a bottle.

Thrak -- you are absolutely 100% correct.

 

Based on real  experience:
Bartender will get into trouble if the the wine is available ONLY BY bottle and he/she tries to ring it up as 5 glasses. In fact the bar cash register will not allow it. We have a few times requested the BAR MANAGER to make an exception -- eg. for CAYMUS which was served in the wine tasting --  and the BAR MANAGER said she can do it in MDR for $27 per glass (so our cost became $27x5 minus $15x5 or  $12x5 ($60) instead of $180x0.75  for the  bottle).  Then the bottle cannot be shared. The BAR MANAGER  can make exceptions but will do so very seldom. I think recently on some ships now CAYMUS is officially available @$28 per glass. The reason we prefer 5 glasses per bottle is because we are then sure the bottle is opened in our presence and not leftover from 2 or 3 days.

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by sultan_sfo