Casual Dining with Plus package

[startedwithamouse]

52 minutes ago, cruise_critical said:

Technically yes, but not to the extent that I was expecting unfortunately.

 

e.g., I'm currently on the Royal and with premier. Ocean Terrace has a fixed menu which is a small bowl of salad, beans, pickes, 2 salmon nigiri, 1 prawn nigiri, 1 tuna nigiri, and spicy tuna aburi roll (8 pcs). There is no other choice or selection that you can or are allowed to have as part of the plus / premier package. (anything differen is charged at ala carte rate) So you can have unlimited of what I've listed (even can order them individually, and not as a set) but nothing else on their menu can be ordered for free. (e.g. can't have any other type of nigiri such as hamachi, octopus etc, nor any of their other rolls or sashimi etc)

 

Alfredos is better, as you can pretty much order anything and everything on the menu, as a 3 course set or in an individual manner as many as you want. (e.g. can just sit in, and order the tiramisu and nothing else, or order 3 pizzas and nothing else etc.) Same for Vines with their limited food menu.

 

 

We skipped the intros at Ocean Terrace and just stuck with the sushi offerings. They'll bring as much as you want with the premier.

[thinfool]

I don't want to spoil this pity party but on the Sky Princess, last week, Dec 9-16, our Plus package allowed us two casual dining options PER DAY.

And our folio print outs that we received after disembarked in Ft Lauderdale make the same note.  2 per day.

[hsmom]

How did you discover this while on board?

 

[wallyj]

5 hours ago, cruise_critical said:

Technically yes, but not to the extent that I was expecting unfortunately.

 

e.g., I'm currently on the Royal and with premier. Ocean Terrace has a fixed menu which is a small bowl of salad, beans, pickes, 2 salmon nigiri, 1 prawn nigiri, 1 tuna nigiri, and spicy tuna aburi roll (8 pcs). There is no other choice or selection that you can or are allowed to have as part of the plus / premier package. (anything differen is charged at ala carte rate) So you can have unlimited of what I've listed (even can order them individually, and not as a set) but nothing else on their menu can be ordered for free. (e.g. can't have any other type of nigiri such as hamachi, octopus etc, nor any of their other rolls or sashimi etc)

 

Alfredos is better, as you can pretty much order anything and everything on the menu, as a 3 course set or in an individual manner as many as you want. (e.g. can just sit in, and order the tiramisu and nothing else, or order 3 pizzas and nothing else etc.) Same for Vines with their limited food menu.

 

 

Unfortunately, each ship has decided how to enforce the packages, as there are differences and I expect further changes and inconsistencies. I had Premier Pkg on the following ships in the past few months after the roll out of casual dining options became effective for that ship on Majestic, Discovery and just recently Sapphire Dec 1-19.
 

Majestic just introduce Ocean Terrace at The Catch during lunch hours on Sea days in early October. Majestic does have an Ocean Terrace, but it is a bar space only. The original iteration of the Ocean terrace menu gave you choices and you could mix the various roll options. I have not been back on Majestic since, but it seems Princess is now trying to standardize the included price fixed menu to the above fixed choices for Ocean Terrace.
 

While on the Discovery in late October on a 7 day voyage, Ocean Terrace allowed me to customize my nigiri selections to any combination of the included ‘types’ so I then opted for 5 prawn nigiri. I believe you now only get 4 pieces of Nigiri instead of 5. They also let me order any maki ‘rolls’ so I decided on California roll instead of the spicy tuna roll. Since Ocean Terrace on Discovery makes the sushi to order at the venue, is why I believe they were more flexible of what was allowed to be ordered with the packages.
 

Now my latest experience on the Sapphire as they have introduced Ocean Terrace at Vines on Sea days, and then towards the end of the sailing moved service to the extra dining Alfredo’s space that was not being utilized.  When that space is filled, they will use available Vines seating if needed. On the Sapphire these spaces are next to each other and it makes sense. The Sapphire has one ‘set’ menu, as mentioned in the quote,  no substitutions or customization, as the sushi is prepared probably in the galley for the Vivaldi dining room. 
 

I will be back on the Discovery in Feb 2024, so I am curious if they will allow substitutions like I did in October with the package or will I be subjected to my package choice of having the ‘set’ options only and will be charge ala carte for any deviations.

[2and2]

My answer after spending the last fourty years working fifty six hours work weeks at a factory is to go ahead and get the premium package. Raid the 401k and eat wherever I want to eat. Marketing seen me coming.

[thinfool]

16 hours ago, hsmom said:

How did you discover this while on board?

 

Not hard, it was in the app where our expenses were listed.

[suzyed]

On 12/21/2023 at 5:44 PM, startedwithamouse said:

We skipped the intros at Ocean Terrace and just stuck with the sushi offerings. They'll bring as much as you want with the premier.

But not with Plus.

[suzyed]

On 12/21/2023 at 6:59 PM, thinfool said:

I don't want to spoil this pity party but on the Sky Princess, last week, Dec 9-16, our Plus package allowed us two casual dining options PER DAY.

And our folio print outs that we received after disembarked in Ft Lauderdale make the same note.  2 per day.

Wish that was true on all of the ships.

 

[startedwithamouse]

5 minutes ago, suzyed said:

But not with Plus.

If you read up in the conversation you'll see the person I was answering, who had premier. 

[suzyed]

2 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

If you read up in the conversation you'll see the person I was answering, who had premier. 

I was just adding my 2 cents...LOL

 

[beltsbear]

On 12/22/2023 at 9:50 AM, cruise_critical said:

Technically yes, but not to the extent that I was expecting unfortunately.

 

e.g., I'm currently on the Royal and with premier. Ocean Terrace has a fixed menu which is a small bowl of salad, beans, pickes, 2 salmon nigiri, 1 prawn nigiri, 1 tuna nigiri, and spicy tuna aburi roll (8 pcs). There is no other choice or selection that you can or are allowed to have as part of the plus / premier package. (anything differen is charged at ala carte rate) So you can have unlimited of what I've listed (even can order them individually, and not as a set) but nothing else on their menu can be ordered for free. (e.g. can't have any other type of nigiri such as hamachi, octopus etc, nor any of their other rolls or sashimi etc)

 

Alfredos is better, as you can pretty much order anything and everything on the menu, as a 3 course set or in an individual manner as many as you want. (e.g. can just sit in, and order the tiramisu and nothing else, or order 3 pizzas and nothing else etc.) Same for Vines with their limited food menu.

 

 

And ocean terrace is closed on most port days for lunch. We love sushi but have had very limited availability as it’s opening at 5pm most days.

[dewayneg]

I'm probably late to the party here, but we are on the 111 day world cruise next month.  We have the Plus package and we paid much less than $60 per day for it (maybe a bit more than half of that).

 

So, with WIFI, drinks and gratuities included I can deal with having to pay for casual dining if that is what we opt for.

[Hlitner]

On 12/21/2023 at 6:59 PM, thinfool said:

I don't want to spoil this pity party but on the Sky Princess, last week, Dec 9-16, our Plus package allowed us two casual dining options PER DAY.

And our folio print outs that we received after disembarked in Ft Lauderdale make the same note.  2 per day.

My quick response is "so what!"  Why?  We had the Premiere Package which gave us unlimited casual dining options.  Again,,,,so what?  What does that mean on the Sky?  You can dine at Alfredos all you please.  And the pizza at Alfredos, although there were more options, was not as good as the pizza on deck!  And how many times a day do you want pizza at Alfredos?   We truly found the Alfredos pizza somewhat disappointing (when compared to prior Princess cruises).  And that so-called "pepperoni" used on the Sky was really sad (kind of like ring bologna).

 

After 2 weeks with the Premiere package, we did fine because DW and I enjoyed the more expensive wine options and I drink expensive scotch and Remy XO (both covered by the Premiere Package).  We never bothered with the photo stuff (after 50 years of cruising we do not need another photo) and the gelato stuff was fine (a few times) but we never had it more than once a day (covered by the Plus Package) and were not impressed with the quality.  

 

Bottom line, for us, is that the Premiere Package was worth it (we actually got a free upgrade from the Plus Package) because we do enjoy the better wines.  And having all the Remy XO I wanted, was a great perk.  On most ships, a single glass of Remy will cost over $25.

 

Hank

 

Hank

[MsSoCalCruiser]

On 12/21/2023 at 5:30 AM, MountainEER74 said:

I do think they need to change the details of this policy. How is a voyage defined? My next cruise is a 17 day cruise consisting of 10 day and  7 day cruises b2b but booked as a single cruise. As far as loyalty program it counts 2 cruises. Does this qualify as on or two voyages?

 

On 12/21/2023 at 7:32 AM, Cruise Raider said:

I’ve read, but have no person experience with this, that it will be treated as 2 sailings.  

Our Sun Princess cruises are a 7 day Eastern Caribbean and a 7 day Western Caribbean but it was booked as a 14 day cruise so we could keep the same cabin. The same cabin supposedly was not available if we booked it as two 7 day cruises. It counts as 2 credits towards loyalty but we only get 2 Casual Dining credits and not the 4 that we should. It makes absolutely no sense to me but that’s what we have been told. 
 

I’m sure what I order in the MDR (shrimp, salmon, steak and everything else) will cost way more than a pizza with no cheese (dairy allergy). Seriously, who comes up with this stuff? 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

On 12/21/2023 at 5:59 PM, thinfool said:

I don't want to spoil this pity party but on the Sky Princess, last week, Dec 9-16, our Plus package allowed us two casual dining options PER DAY.

And our folio print outs that we received after disembarked in Ft Lauderdale make the same note.  2 per day.

Can you share this in writing? 

[jagoffee]

2 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

 

Our Sun Princess cruises are a 7 day Eastern Caribbean and a 7 day Western Caribbean but it was booked as a 14 day cruise so we could keep the same cabin. The same cabin supposedly was not available if we booked it as two 7 day cruises. It counts as 2 credits towards loyalty but we only get 2 Casual Dining credits and not the 4 that we should. It makes absolutely no sense to me but that’s what we have been told. 
 

I’m sure what I order in the MDR (shrimp, salmon, steak and everything else) will cost way more than a pizza with no cheese (dairy allergy). Seriously, who comes up with this stuff? 

From my experience, you have beer given incorrect information.  Go on line and pull up your reservation.  Click the luggage  tags/summary. Click on the travel summary and on the last page you will find what is included on B2B cruise sold as a single 14 day cruise.  You will see that you get the number of benefits with your 14 day cruise as you would with two 7 day cruises.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

18 hours ago, jagoffee said:

From my experience, you have beer given incorrect information.  Go on line and pull up your reservation.  Click the luggage  tags/summary. Click on the travel summary and on the last page you will find what is included on B2B cruise sold as a single 14 day cruise.  You will see that you get the number of benefits with your 14 day cruise as you would with two 7 day cruises.

It doesn’t even list the Casual Dining but it does list Fitness Classes and it only shows 2 classes for the entire 14 days. 

[MountainEER74]

My travel summary for a 17 day b2b (10 and 7) does not show casual dining, ocean now delivery, or free room service. It does show only 2 fitness classes, 2 premium deserts per day, and free medallion shipping.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

6 hours ago, MountainEER74 said:

My travel summary for a 17 day b2b (10 and 7) does not show casual dining, ocean now delivery, or free room service. It does show only 2 fitness classes, 2 premium deserts per day, and free medallion shipping.

Same here. 

[jagoffee]

18 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

It doesn’t even list the Casual Dining but it does list Fitness Classes and it only shows 2 classes for the entire 14 days. 

 

7 hours ago, MountainEER74 said:

My travel summary for a 17 day b2b (10 and 7) does not show casual dining, ocean now delivery, or free room service. It does show only 2 fitness classes, 2 premium deserts per day, and free medallion shipping.

 

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Same here. 

Sorry that I confused the situation.  My printed summary does not show Casual dining on either the 14 day print summary or the two seven day print summaries.

 

Also I have the Premier package and not the Plus.  But my 14 day single booking did reflect a dollar amount for four speciality restaurants.  The same amount as the sum of my B2B seven day versions.   Others have reported the same.  
 

obviously not exactly the same situation,