Premier package

[Cruiselyne]

Hi,

We just booked our first Princess cruise in a Suite on Discovery Princess with the Premier package.

Is the package worth it if you have a suite?

Thank you,

Lyne

 

[jennybenny]

The package covers gratuity, wifi and drinks. We have the Premier package on our suite booking in August. If wifi I is important to you and you do some moderate drinking, the price covers itself. There are other things included with Premier, for example, the unlimited casual dining. there are all kinds of discussion on that on cruise critic. We have traditionally gotten the drink packages on our cruises.  This will be our first since covid, with premier. Premier vs plus- I'm not sure yet if we must keep doing premier vs plus. 

The question of it being worth it, depends on your likes. 

 

[avonlady6390]

Don't forget about the 2 specialty dinners a well. The suite does have a mini bar but it's nothing compared to ordering drinks from the bars. Rd

[memoak]

We always sail in suites with the plus package. The embarkation night free specialty dinner is often forgotten by people. Just call the dine line when you board. The packages really don’t copy suite benefits. We get plus for WiFi, gratuities and drinks. The premier at $40 per couple per day really doesn’t give us enough of a benefit over the plus

[Cruiselyne]

We paid around $2000 for the two of us in Canadian dollars for 12 days.  Is it a good price?

[flhokie]

A couple other things premier also includes that I didn't see mentioned...3 printed photos & digital download of all photos (to purchase additional printed is really inexpensive as well with premier) and unlimited specialty desserts

[azbirdmom]

We've had the Premier package on our last two cruises in suites.  We certainly didn't make use of much of the drinks part as we went to the nightly happy hour in the Suite Concierge lounge where for up to two hours you can get all the drinks you want complementary.  Also the first night of specialty dining is included when you book a full suite.  We did enjoy the unlimited casual dining.

[memoak]

33 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

We've had the Premier package on our last two cruises in suites.  We certainly didn't make use of much of the drinks part as we went to the nightly happy hour in the Suite Concierge lounge where for up to two hours you can get all the drinks you want complementary.  Also the first night of specialty dining is included when you book a full suite.  We did enjoy the unlimited casual dining.

If you didn’t use the drink part of the package do you really think it was worth $160 per day per person ?  Also only some ships have the concierge lounge every ship under Royal class do not have them nor do suite guests get free drinks on other ships

[azbirdmom]

4 minutes ago, memoak said:

If you didn’t use the drink part of the package do you really think it was worth $160 per day per person ?  Also only some ships have the concierge lounge every ship under Royal class do not have them nor do suite guests get free drinks on other ships

I said we didn't make use of much of the drinks part of the package.  We did use it but probably overspent on the Premier for these cruises as a result of what we had to drink in the Suite Concierge Lounge.  And the OP was asking about the Discovery Princess which is what I responded to and which has a Suite Concierge Lounge (as do all other Royal Class ships).

[Papa Yoda]

Premier also includes Princess Prizes, we've won >$500, spa credit, and trinkets just going in and out of the cabin.  Of course the downside is DW went out to scan medallion to "enter" and found out her medallion battery had died and was locked out, barefoot in her nightgown, (we were in our usual aft suite out of traffic view but still the embarrassment was intense). 

 

The $20 difference vs Plus is worth it to us.

 

I do think that on longer cruises the 2 specialty dinners should be 1 per week at least.

[memoak]

20 minutes ago, Papa Yoda said:

Premier also includes Princess Prizes, we've won >$500, spa credit, and trinkets just going in and out of the cabin.  Of course the downside is DW went out to scan medallion to "enter" and found out her medallion battery had died and was locked out, barefoot in her nightgown, (we were in our usual aft suite out of traffic view but still the embarrassment was intense). 

 

The $20 difference vs Plus is worth it to us.

 

I do think that on longer cruises the 2 specialty dinners should be 1 per week at least.

All of our cruises are 14-21 days and mostly on Grand class ships 

  We will stick with Plus. 90% of our drinks are covered and we use about 8-10 drinks a day each

Edited June 15 by memoak

[sandancer]

11 hours ago, Cruiselyne said:

We paid around $2000 for the two of us in Canadian dollars for 12 days.  Is it a good price?

Yes. We paid £1560 for 12days Premier package. That’s Cad $2720 at todays exchange rate. 

[Cruiselyne]

Thank you everyone for your help, we decided to keep the Premier package.

Lyne

[reedprincess]

16 hours ago, Cruiselyne said:

Hi,

We just booked our first Princess cruise in a Suite on Discovery Princess with the Premier package.

Is the package worth it if you have a suite?

Thank you,

Lyne

 

What makes Premier "worth it" to me over Plus is the photos (unlimited, and downloaded, plus 3 prints), the extra WiFi access and the unlimited casual dining..   the 2 specialty dinners, of course, which alone is $80-90usd pp anyways... 

Throw in the Prizes and reserved seating at production shows and, for me anyways, it more than makes it worthwhile, particularly on shorter cruises.

 

Longer, 14 night or more - maybe not quite as much, but then - that's where the unlimited casual options and unlimited photos are "worth" more overall, to me.

 

The desserts and classes are nice and all, but a wash between 2 a day/cruise and unlimited..  

 

Worth is in the eye of the beholder. 

[Cruiselyne]

26 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

What makes Premier "worth it" to me over Plus is the photos (unlimited, and downloaded, plus 3 prints), the extra WiFi access and the unlimited casual dining..   the 2 specialty dinners, of course, which alone is $80-90usd pp anyways... 

Throw in the Prizes and reserved seating at production shows and, for me anyways, it more than makes it worthwhile, particularly on shorter cruises.

 

Longer, 14 night or more - maybe not quite as much, but then - that's where the unlimited casual options and unlimited photos are "worth" more overall, to me.

 

The desserts and classes are nice and all, but a wash between 2 a day/cruise and unlimited..  

 

Worth is in the eye of the beholder. 

It's a 12 night cruise so would be worth it.  I also booked a 15 night cruise on Sky Princess but didn't purchase the package.  Does the Premier package ever go on sale?

[geoherb]

I had Plus last week on the Island. I did not go to any specialty restaurants and used my two casual dining meals at the popup Salty Dog Gastro Pub and Alfredo's Pizzeria. On a ship with stand-alone casual dining venues that are open for lunch and dinner, upgrading to Premier might be worth it for me. I paid extra for a couple of cocktails during the 10 days. 

[memoak]

After 60 cruises we no longer take any pictures at all. We never did do gym classes just work out on our own. We sail in suites which gives us embarkation speciality dinner. The desserts are way too much don’t even look good. We mostly sail grand class ships so casual venues are limited. 95% of our drinks are  covered by plus   Almost all over our cruises are 14 days or more. We rarely go to production shows anymore. The extra $20 per day per person is just not worth it for us. We sail with plus

[1025cruise]

And here I am still debating whether or not to pay for plus. We're not heavy drinkers, plus being in a full suite on the Enchanted we'll have the mini bar as well as the Concierge Lounge happy hour. While the 2 casual eateries are a nice to have, they aren't a deal breaker for me. I've already prepaid my gratuities and plan to buy wifi. What I'm still debating on is whether or not I need to get my wife the soda package. If I do, then the cost delta makes plus worth it. Otherwise, I may just pay a la carte.

[reedprincess]

3 hours ago, Cruiselyne said:

It's a 12 night cruise so would be worth it.  I also booked a 15 night cruise on Sky Princess but didn't purchase the package.  Does the Premier package ever go on sale?

Not yet 

As of yet, there have not been any sales on any of the bundled Cruise Packages (I'm the US market. Um market has had one or two times where the sale is Premier for price of Plus).

 

[reedprincess]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

After 60 cruises we no longer take any pictures at all. We never did do gym classes just work out on our own. We sail in suites which gives us embarkation speciality dinner. The desserts are way too much don’t even look good. We mostly sail grand class ships so casual venues are limited. 95% of our drinks are  covered by plus   Almost all over our cruises are 14 days or more. We rarely go to production shows anymore. The extra $20 per day per person is just not worth it for us. We sail with plus

Some Grand class ships have more casual dining than Royal class ships - and twice as many as the newest Sun (Emerald, for instance).... go figure...

[memoak]

1 hour ago, reedprincess said:

Some Grand class ships have more casual dining than Royal class ships - and twice as many as the newest Sun (Emerald, for instance).... go figure...

The only permanent casual locations on the Emerald are the Salty Dog Gastropub (usually only open for dinner) and Vines. Any others would be pop ups which may or not be open on your cruise. Please note what venues you are referring to 

[MacMadame]

On 6/14/2024 at 6:14 PM, Papa Yoda said:

I do think that on longer cruises the 2 specialty dinners should be 1 per week at least.

I do too! (And the 2 casual dinners and 2 fitness classes if you have Plus.)

[MsSoCalCruiser]

9 hours ago, reedprincess said:

Some Grand class ships have more casual dining than Royal class ships - and twice as many as the newest Sun (Emerald, for instance).... go figure...

Do you know if the casual dining venues on the Emerald are ever open for lunch? 

[memoak]

22 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Do you know if the casual dining venues on the Emerald are ever open for lunch? 

I have only seen the Gastropub open for dinner and I do not care for the food

[MsSoCalCruiser]

16 minutes ago, memoak said:

I have only seen the Gastropub open for dinner and I do not care for the food

We went to the Gastropub on the Discovery and weren’t really that thrilled with it either. I wonder if Planks or Steamers is ever open for lunch? Vines won’t work for me because I am allergic to dairy.