Charges for Crown Grill on Princess

[bonox55]

Posted this on the Princess forum. 

Last time I cruised with Princess, the cost to eat at the Crown Grill was $42 pp. Noticed recently that the cost is now $63pp. I believe that represents an increase of 50 percent. I don't think I will be troubling the wait staff at that venue on my upcoming trip on the Royal in March.

Paul 

[arxcards]

Half of the difference is that the Aussie dollar has tanked since it was $42, which was the price 2 years ago. The US price is currently $39 plus gratuity, which is much more stable. In comparison, Chops Grill on Royal is over $100, and I know which I would rather have. Salt Grill on P&O is around $70.

 

I get it, it is more expensive. I am glad more passengers are opting against dining there. At $42 and at $50, it was too popular and difficult to get a booking. Food in the MDR is more than adequate, but we are happy to pay the current charge for a special occasion.

[OzKiwiJJ]

14 hours ago, arxcards said:

Half of the difference is that the Aussie dollar has tanked since it was $42, which was the price 2 years ago. The US price is currently $39 plus gratuity, which is much more stable. In comparison, Chops Grill on Royal is over $100, and I know which I would rather have. Salt Grill on P&O is around $70.

 

I get it, it is more expensive. I am glad more passengers are opting against dining there. At $42 and at $50, it was too popular and difficult to get a booking. Food in the MDR is more than adequate, but we are happy to pay the current charge for a special occasion.

Pre-pandemic Princess tended to just use the US price for Australian cruises, ie if it was US$29 it would be AU$29, since it was more of a token extra payment. Since this new wally became CEO they started to convert the USD to AUD which means the prices aren't always realistic for our region - the $30 corkage being one classic example, and don't get me started on wine prices!!!

[arxcards]

17 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Pre-pandemic Princess tended to just use the US price for Australian cruises, ie if it was US$29 it would be AU$29, since it was more of a token extra payment. Since this new wally became CEO they started to convert the USD to AUD which means the prices aren't always realistic for our region - the $30 corkage being one classic example, and don't get me started on wine prices!!!

Yep. Certainly a dud for corkage. Personally, I am not so much concerned with the specialty restaurants though, as a quality Aussie steak is pretty much double the US equivalent. Our local charge also has an inbuilt gratuity as well.

 

It is a lot easier to go dollar for dollar when ours is above 80 cents US. Over the past couple of years, our dollar has been at the lowest level since Princess has been based here.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

Yep. Certainly a dud for corkage. Personally, I am not so much concerned with the specialty restaurants though, as a quality Aussie steak is pretty much double the US equivalent. Our local charge also has an inbuilt gratuity as well.

 

It is a lot easier to go dollar for dollar when ours is above 80 cents US. Over the past couple of years, our dollar has been at the lowest level since Princess has been based here.

True and Princess does need every cent to recoup the pandemic losses but when their pricing becomes unrealistic in the local market all they are doing is tempting their regular passengers to look for better deals elsewhere, particularly when there is also a decrease in the quality of certain things like food and wines. 

 

I was not surprised when the Plus and Premium packages increased in price from the original deals. $40pp per day was ridiculously low for drinks and internet packages. However when they raised the prices of drinks just because they'd raised the package prices, to the point where the mark-up on some of the Australian wines is around 1500%, then it becomes a rip-off rather than a sensible financial decision. 

[sewgood]

On 3/11/2024 at 6:40 PM, bonox55 said:

Noticed recently that the cost is now $63pp.

We usually go to at least one speciality restaurant per cruise but at that price x 2 for a couple, I will be passing.

I don't know if they will be adding the 18% surcharge (tip) to the price as well, which was introduced on the Princess cruises operating in US dollars last year.