Percentage of passengers with a 'Package'

[memoak]

3 hours ago, partybarbie said:

Prior to the “package”, our bar tab was running $100 a day. It sounds like a lot of drinks, but not really when a cheap bottle of wine on the ship costs $40-$50. It’s a money saver for us.

Our bar tab for 2 was about $100 a day back in 2001. I hate to think what it would be now. Thank goodness for the plus package 

[SargassoPirate]

9 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Of course ! Who doesn't like a "gift". 😁LOL

Even better is a FREE gift. 😆

[Cruise Craig]

3 hours ago, BamaVol said:

Not everyone with a package will choose casual dining or watch a show in the theater. Anecdotal evidence says even fewer will order 2 gross deserts a day (am I showing my bias?). I think everything you read here is just an unscientific guess, generally based on what the poster does. I like data to inform my decisions too, but sometimes it’s simply not available. 

Haha thanks, I'll leave my calculator and stats textbook at home and just go with the flow.

[Potstech]

A whille back there was a poll of who would change to the package or who would not change to it. The poll indicated it was about 50-50 on who would change. Not very accurate but at least something to go off of.

[2 cruises a year]

4 hours ago, Bwana Tom said:

My personal belief is that since the Plus package has gone from $40/person/day to $50 then within months to $60, not to even mention the Premier that could double the cost for someone staying in an inside cabin, fewer of us have reached the discussion it really is worth it. Of course, for some folks they will consider it worth the extra cost largely due to their own personal drinking habits. Nevertheless, I am thinking the number of cruisers currently buying into these packages has dropped significantly from only a couple of years ago.   

People love to comment about the price increase.  But what nobody seems to remember is that pre-Covid, the drink package alone was about $67.00 per day per person.  Now you get tips, wi-fi (I know, don't go on about the Elite wi-fi) and beverages for $60.00 per person per day.  Looks like a bargain to me.

[Lady Arwen]

Why do so many people care so much about what other people do or don’t do or how they choose to spend their money?  I live my life according to what I want, what I need and what I can afford.  I don’t feel the need to discuss my choices or justify my choices.  To be honest, I don’t care what you choose to do either.  Your life, your money, your business.

If you choose to purchase a package, great,  good for you!  If you choose not to purchase a package, great, good for you!  

[Marronnier]

On 10/17/2023 at 4:34 PM, Marronnier said:

Without wanting to start another debate on the pros and cons of the Plus and Premier packages, I would be really interested to know what percentage of passengers take up either of the packages.

It seems this thread is going in the very direction I hoped it would not. Perhaps we should bring it to a close.

[Esjung1]

For me it depends on the itinarary. I just came off the 10-day British Isles and it was pretty port intensive so there was minimal time to drink.  I'm glad that I didn't upgrade.  There was 4 of us who split the $200 WIFI package and we each brought one bottle of wine onboard.  Plus, one of us had a mini bar set-up in the cabin (we had two cabins).  I think each of us only spent an additonal $35 on drinks in 10-days because we didn't buy much outside of the wine we brought on board and mini-bar set-up one individual shared.  I did pre-order 4 cases of water for $28 to save money and we drank coffee/tea from the Horizon Court Buffet area or would buy an occasional coffee in port.  Worked out to our advantage this time around not to buy the package.  

[jwattle]

Since the curious Georges are out, we have a 13-day/7-day B2B coming up down under. We have the Premier package for both legs and absolutely get our money's worth. We win, Princess wins, we both walk away happy. I'll leave the doom scrollers to figure out how that happens; talk amongst yourselves, here's the topic (SNL)😂

[gvre]

10 hours ago, memoak said:

Our bar tab for 2 was about $100 a day back in 2001. I hate to think what it would be now. Thank goodness for the plus package 

Always get the plus package. Don't need to be worrying about how much spending on drinks.

Grey Goose and Perrier and 4 will almost pay for the daily cost, and that's before coffee's deserts, fresh juices, internet and cabin tip. 

[fsufancc]

We are just getting back into sailing since we are now retired and Covid shutdowns are behind us.

 

We have sailed on Royal Carib with no package. The drinks package was outrageously expensive and you get nickel and dimed for even minor add-on things like The Key.  With PCL, we were worried about how many drinks we were ordering, no cappuccino. I had to order a 12 pack of water for the room. Wi-Fi. I hated it.  

 

We have sailed on Holland where the package was bundled into the cost.  We now have a reservation for Princess in Feb with a Premier package.  The HAL bundle was great. Gratuities, drinks, Wi-Fi and best of all lack of worry on my part.

 

So, for me, the package is a no-brainer. IMHO, CCL corps has it figured out. Bundle up things that are important and useful (ok, maybe not those awful looking ice cream sundae things).

 

I'd like to convince Princess management to drop the ice cream sundae abomination things and replace that with a cake shop with real (heavy) NY style cheesecake (Juniors), multi-layer carrot cakes (Publix), molten chocolate cake, hummingbird cakes and the like. 

 

 

[p.pete]

I have yet to go on a Princess Cruise and all this is definitely very interesting.

Original question - very likely to get a package once onboard, so not booked yet.  Very likely to be Plus, even on port days I can imagine us having 3+ drinks each; will give the pizza place a go to see what that (different kettle of interesting) is like; will probably use the fitness classes; and hey, I like sugar, I'll give the deserts ago.  We'll probably try to smuggle extra booze on, but actually feels like less need to bother, knowing more about the packages...

More interesting though is the amount of niggle the whole package question raises.  Main themes seem to be:

• budget (boring, that's essentially would you order 3+ drinks from the bars / dining rooms, yes = package, no = no package)
• dislike of change - not the bargain it used to be, nickel & diming etc. - I'm in the very privileged position of having only done two previous cruises, pre 2020, so I'm likely to be able to enjoy it for what it is when I get there.  I know, I'm lucky, but also interesting to hear the evolution of it all
• people wondering why it's anyone's business and can't we all get on with doing things in our own way without worrying about what others might be doing.  Great, but, what else would we talk about?

[ExploringTheGlobe]

23 hours ago, 2 cruises a year said:

People love to comment about the price increase.  But what nobody seems to remember is that pre-Covid, the drink package alone was about $67.00 per day per person.  Now you get tips, wi-fi (I know, don't go on about the Elite wi-fi) and beverages for $60.00 per person per day.  Looks like a bargain to me.

Yes!  My friend and I talk about this often.  It is such a better deal now!

[memoak]

2 hours ago, p.pete said:

I have yet to go on a Princess Cruise and all this is definitely very interesting.

Original question - very likely to get a package once onboard, so not booked yet.  Very likely to be Plus, even on port days I can imagine us having 3+ drinks each; will give the pizza place a go to see what that (different kettle of interesting) is like; will probably use the fitness classes; and hey, I like sugar, I'll give the deserts ago.  We'll probably try to smuggle extra booze on, but actually feels like less need to bother, knowing more about the packages...

More interesting though is the amount of niggle the whole package question raises.  Main themes seem to be:

• budget (boring, that's essentially would you order 3+ drinks from the bars / dining rooms, yes = package, no = no package)
• dislike of change - not the bargain it used to be, nickel & diming etc. - I'm in the very privileged position of having only done two previous cruises, pre 2020, so I'm likely to be able to enjoy it for what it is when I get there.  I know, I'm lucky, but also interesting to hear the evolution of it all
• people wondering why it's anyone's business and can't we all get on with doing things in our own way without worrying about what others might be doing.  Great, but, what else would we talk about?

Why would you want to smuggle on extra booze if you have a package tho at allows 15 alcoholic drinks a day ?

[RDJ]

Before ‘Princess Plus’, we bought the drink package once and kept track of what we drank. We did not drink enough to offset the cost including coffees. But since ‘Princess Plus’ with the addition of wifi and gratuities, we’ve ran the numbers and we have found that we do drink enough for it to be worthwhile in our case. Also, we like the feeling of it being more ‘all inclusive’, we can try a new drink we might not have otherwise been willing to spend money on and order something else if we didn’t like it. We like not having to think about what the bill will be at the end of the cruise. If someone is only 1-2 drinks a day kind of person, then likely doesn’t make sense (specially if just beer/wine). If I had to guess it would be somewhere in the middle, half and half!

[Napagirl]

The math doesn't math for us so we don't buy it. When I used to drink we tried it out once and found that we ended up drinking way too much. haha! It was great fun but we never did it again. Now that I don't drink alcohol, even with the other parts of the package, it doesn't add up to any kind of savings for us, not even close. And I LOVE that hubby doesn't get internet because he'll spend more time relaxing and less time on his phone doing business. 😉

 

Some people like the package so they don't have to bother with the numbers and that's valid too. 

[MacMadame]

On 10/18/2023 at 10:06 AM, Cruise Craig said:

Haha thanks, I'll leave my calculator and stats textbook at home and just go with the flow.

Hey, I have a spreadsheet. We can be friends. LOL

 

On 10/18/2023 at 1:18 PM, Lady Arwen said:

Why do so many people care so much about what other people do or don’t do or how they choose to spend their money? 

Because hearing what people are doing and why brings up points I might not have thought of myself. Such as buying the water package instead of getting bottled water through the Plus fare.

 

13 hours ago, Torfamm said:

The math is not complicated.

The math is not complicated. What is complicated is predicting what you will want to spend money on.

 

Never having been on a Princess Cruise, never having been on a cruise over 7 days in length (16 days), or with so many sea days (more sea days than port days), or any cruise in over a decade (so much has changed), I have no idea how things are going to go.

 

I'm used to cruising where all drinks but alcoholic ones are included, where there are no specialty restaurants and only two seatings for each meal, etc., etc. It's really hard to know how many drinks we'll drink that aren't included, if we'll even go to casual dining, etc.

 

13 hours ago, fsufancc said:

I'd like to convince Princess management to drop the ice cream sundae abomination things and replace that with a cake shop with real (heavy) NY style cheesecake (Juniors), multi-layer carrot cakes (Publix), molten chocolate cake, hummingbird cakes and the like. 

I've read here that they also have some big slices of cake that count as specialty desserts. They sound like a variation of the Motherlode cake at Claim Jumper. It's not cheesecake but it is cake. 😄 

 

ETA forgot to answer the question! We are currently with the Plus package but I waver between downgrading to Standard or upgrading to Premier. I know, that's all the choices. 

Edited October 20, 2023 by MacMadame
forgot something

[kiwimum]

We have done the same itinerary, same ship with and without package.  The difference was not worth worrying about.   We are buying the package for our upcoming cruises.

[Torfamm]

14 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

14 hours ago, Torfamm said:

The math is not complicated.

The math is not complicated. What is complicated is predicting what you will want to spend money on.

 

Never having been on a Princess Cruise, never having been on a cruise over 7 days in length (16 days), or with so many sea days (more sea days than port days), or any cruise in over a decade (so much has changed), I have no idea how things are going to go.

 

I'm used to cruising where all drinks but alcoholic ones are included, where there are no specialty restaurants and only two seatings for each meal, etc., etc. It's really hard to know how many drinks we'll drink that aren't included, if we'll even go to casual dining, etc.

Yes, for sure there are lots of questions if it’s your first cruise with Princess. My take on the Plus Package is this - crew appreciation and Wi-Fi total $31 per person, per day for most cabins. That means you are spending an additional $29/day on everything else if you get the plus package. A specialty coffee is about $4, water and soda are $3.50, beer or mixed drinks are maybe $7 to $15 and wine is about $15. One of each per day plus 18% automatic gratuity is going to have you coming out ahead even if you assign no value to the other benefits.

 

 

[karatemom2]

7 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

Yes, for sure there are lots of questions if it’s your first cruise with Princess. My take on the Plus Package is this - crew appreciation and Wi-Fi total $31 per person, per day for most cabins. That means you are spending an additional $29/day on everything else if you get the plus package. A specialty coffee is about $4, water and soda are $3.50, beer or mixed drinks are maybe $7 to $15 and wine is about $15. One of each per day plus 18% automatic gratuity is going to have you coming out ahead even if you assign no value to the other benefits.

 

 

 

Just off the Sky a couple of weeks ago - we paid $2 for bottled water, $2 for fountain soda, and $2.50 for cans of soda.

[cruisedoctor]

On 10/17/2023 at 10:34 AM, Marronnier said:

Without wanting to start another debate on the pros and cons of the Plus and Premier packages, I would be really interested to know what percentage of passengers take up either of the packages.

I don't suppose there are any official figures available, perhaps we could take a poll of CC Princess board contributors. Or someone might have a 'feel' for the numbers. 

On my last two sailings, I was lucky enough to have been invited to a private luncheon with the Food & Beverage Manager on one sailing, and Guest Relations Manager on the other.  Because I'm a travel agent, I like to ask the officers questions that the home office executives might hesitate to answer.  I did pose the question as to the "take rate" for PLUS and PREMIER.  Not wanting to get someone in trouble, (because they may have told me something "corporate" wouldn't want us to know), I won't reveal the source.  But, I was told it averages around 75% of the passengers.  I thought that was on the high side, but again, these are the top dogs on the ship, who have access to this type of information.

[MacMadame]

2 hours ago, Torfamm said:

A specialty coffee is about $4, water and soda are $3.50, beer or mixed drinks are maybe $7 to $15 and wine is about $15. One of each per day plus 18% automatic gratuity is going to have you coming out ahead even if you assign no value to the other benefits.

Yes but normally when I go to a restaurant, I get an iced tea which is apparently included. My husband will get a soda which is not. Don't drink beer or wine. When I am at a place like Disneyland, I will have one cocktail a day. Will I do that on a 16-day cruise? I don't know. Probably not unless there are lots of cool specialty ones I can't get at home. (That's why I get them at DL -- they have seasonal ones for a limited time only. LOL) Even then, that's a lot of drinking for me.

 

At this point, I'm thinking that if I stick with my Plus package, I won't have to worry about whether or not I'm spending too much and should have just gotten the package. Instead, I can worry about whether or not I'm getting my money's worth. 😄

[2 cruises a year]

17 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

Yes but normally when I go to a restaurant, I get an iced tea which is apparently included. My husband will get a soda which is not. Don't drink beer or wine. When I am at a place like Disneyland, I will have one cocktail a day. Will I do that on a 16-day cruise? I don't know. Probably not unless there are lots of cool specialty ones I can't get at home. (That's why I get them at DL -- they have seasonal ones for a limited time only. LOL) Even then, that's a lot of drinking for me.

 

At this point, I'm thinking that if I stick with my Plus package, I won't have to worry about whether or not I'm spending too much and should have just gotten the package. Instead, I can worry about whether or not I'm getting my money's worth. 😄

I think that this is a good choice.  You won't get an unexpected surprise on your bill at the end of the cruise.  And if you do keep below that unexpected surprise limit, it won't be a very big loss.  To me the amount you MAY lose is a minor investment to alleviate any end of cruise surprises.  Have fun, try that good sounding drink, you are on vacation.

[So_Tweetie]

I think that the number of cruisers being drawn in from other lines due to the highly competitive pricing of these (nearly) all-inclusive options is what Princess is or should be most focused on. I know that for me personally, Princess became much more attractive than Royal Caribbean with the new Plus package. I haven’t purchased any beverage packages for years but just called Princess tonight and upgraded our November sailing to Plus. It is an absolute no-brainer for me on short voyages, and Royal Caribbean charges exponentially more for the same inclusions. 

[Cruisin Oma]

On 10/17/2023 at 9:44 AM, skynight said:

Wild, very wild guesses. Cruisers that take one week cruises, a high percentage. Experienced cruisers that know how they tend to spend their funds, probably a lower number, but still fairly high.

Only Princess knows and I don't believe they will publish that information anytime soon if ever. Princess does not have an annual report. This information may or may not be included in the Carnival Corp stockholder's report. 

Yeppers, I don't think I could manage to sustain the level of drinking required by the packages for longer than a week 😄