? for Regular "Old" Cruisers Like Me!

[JimmyVWine]

20 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

You can certainly still cruise with the PLUS package.

It will include your special coffee drinks, juice, soda, etc...  alcohol up to the limit, which is $15.00 right now.  You will get two visits to the Casual Dining, like Alfredos, and the other Casual dining options onboard.   

Of course, this includes your gratuities, Wi-Fi, as well.

You would probably break even????

I think this too often gets overlooked, and what is often forgotten is how big the guest folio was at the end of the cruise before the Packages were introduced.  The "Good Old Days" were the days when you received a bill for your gratuities, coffees, beer, wine and cocktails and your heart sank because you didn't realize that you had spent so much. The cost of Plus is largely the same when  you factor all this in, only you pay it up front and budget for it well before you take your cruise.  Plus is still a loser if one is absolutely not going to use Wi-Fi and absolutely not going to drink alcohol.  But other than those people, it is, as you say, a break even proposition that has the benefit of being paid off before you board the ship (unless you buy it on board.)  

[kywildcatfanone]

6 hours ago, susancruzs said:

Where is Princess headed for those of us not in suites, reserve dining, meal charge venues, everything I read seems to be catering to a passenger different from me? 

You and I aren't remotely their target anymore.

[arizonaperson]

I agree about the only food was tapas at Vines previous to starting the included plus & premier, but a glass of wine and complimentary tapas was fine with me. But yes, I understand what it is now as well. As far as Half eaten pizza -can never control any of that. If Alfredo/Gigi’s Started making the portions smaller and the price still at $14.99 for the 3 courses,passengers would complain about that as well. So I say eat what you want &  leave the rest behind ,no sense worrying about it. 
As far as sharing a pizza -ask if they say no, then just have the other person leave and come back later .would that work and then you could just use your one casual meal  & the other person can come along later and share the pizza with you. Are you able to order all three courses and get them to go and go sit somewhere else and then two people can share? I know I’ve seen posts that some ships allow people to share their one casual meal and then come back and have the other person’s meal at another day or time. Maybe that would help those of you that don’t want to waste a pizza??

I don’t see very many posts about the other casual venues that people are wanting to share food, so those portions must be a little bit better for one person?

Edited August 16 by arizonaperson

[MacMadame]

On 8/15/2024 at 1:41 PM, Retired-N-Happy said:

Sorry Jon, Carnival still has a 15 drink limit.

They need it!

 

7 hours ago, dog said:

Line ups at bars. And the Crews are overworked even more.

I'm confused as to how giving unlimited specialty dining to Premier people would impact the bars. Or how much the crew is overworked for that matter. All that should happen is that more people will be in the Specialty restaurants which means fewer people in the MDR and buffet. So it should even out in terms of bars and staff.

 

1 hour ago, Dee_Jay said:

When Alfredo's was free, my husband and I would split a pizza.

Now, if we have the Plus package, they're most likely going to force us to get two pizzas and leave half the slices on the table.

I think you can still order one pizza. They may charge you for two casual dining visits though. That's okay with me. I'd rather that than wasting so much food.

[mtnesterz]

8 hours ago, susancruzs said:

I haven't cruised since 2019...

Where is Princess headed for those of us not in suites, reserve dining, meal charge venues, everything I read seems to be catering to a passenger different from me?

...people that don't need or care to pay for extras, where is this all going, what direction is Princess headed, away from their loyal base or not?

There are many here thinking as you do. You and I can't change the line, but we can change lines.

As it turns out, other cruise lines are only too happy to take on new cruisers. Though we're Elite with Princess, we are trying Azamara next year. With AZ and Oceania, you pay more up front, but more is covered. AZ is growing in the 60+ market share. A couple of my senior friends love Silversea. Everything is included but we're talking serious money. If I lived in the UK I'd be looking at Saga, 50+ only. Point is, none of us are locked in to a company that doesn't meet our needs anymore. Sooner or later, this bubble of ships going out full is going to burst and loyalty will have been lost.

Edited August 16 by mtnesterz

[asctony]

17 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

I think you can still order one pizza. They may charge you for two casual dining visits though. That's okay with me. I'd rather that than wasting so much food.

SORRY, NOT OK WITH ME!

I personally believe that you should be able to order one pizza and split it. You paid for your meal and are not consuming 2 pizzas! 

It's totally different when you are a solo and booking a cabin that holds 2 people. It's also totally different when you buy a beverage package and should not share.

Why should they dictate that you must each order a pizza?

If we accept that and then agree that what we don't eat is trashed, we are being Wasteful! 

If we only eat 1 pizza and never order the other one, Princess is ahead. We paid for 2, Princess only made us one.

Why don't we stand up and be counted? If this was a discussion on Formal wear, shirts in MDR, would we be so acceptance of Princess suggestion? NO! 

HAPPY CRUISING!

 

[dog]

37 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

They need it!

 

I'm confused as to how giving unlimited specialty dining to Premier people would impact the bars. Or how much the crew is overworked for that matter. All that should happen is that more people will be in the Specialty restaurants which means fewer people in the MDR and buffet. So it should even out in terms of bars and staff.

 

I think you can still order one pizza. They may charge you for two casual dining visits though. That's okay with me. I'd rather that than wasting so much food.

The New Premier Packages are more than Specialty dining. They include Unlimited drinks.

 

 

[Knickearth]

6 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

There are many here thinking as you do. You and I can't change the line, but we can change lines.

As it turns out, other cruise lines are only too happy to take on new cruisers. Though we're Elite with Princess, we are trying Azamara next year. With AZ and Oceania, you pay more up front, but more is covered. AZ is growing in the 60+ market share. A couple of my senior friends love Silversea. Everything is included but we're talking serious money. If I lived in the UK I'd be looking at Saga, 50+ only. Point is, none of us are locked in to a company that doesn't meet our needs anymore. Sooner or later, this bubble of ships going out full is going to burst and loyalty will have been lost. As they say 

 I completely agree.  I also believe those “ younger” passengers they want to appeal to still work so longer cruises are generally out.  Families can cruise on family friendlier cruise lines.  I have thought for quite sometime princess feels like cruising probably was in the very olden days - only for people with a lot of excess monies but they want higher level cruise lines so princess won’t attract them.  I don’t doubt that princess might be trying to become an all inclusive line.  Just my opinion

[MacMadame]

10 minutes ago, dog said:

The New Premier Packages are more than Specialty dining. They include Unlimited drinks.

Ah, that makes sense.

 

I personally think the 5 people who used to stop at 15 but now willkeep going aren't going to have much impact. 😉 

[Sprocket]

I think Princess is trying to address one of the biggest complaints passengers had when booking longer cruises with the Premium Package.  Only 2 specialty dinners no matter how long the cruise was, unless it was a B2B with different booking numbers. We do at least 30 days in December this year we are on the Emerald for 12 days with Plus then the Sun for 21 days (14+7) days with Premium. I have already booked the 4 included SD's now just need to decide if its worth it to us to upgrade, we are Canadian and the exchange rate is not great but its definitely an attractive upgrade.

 

We are in our 70's and always have the Plus package at a minimum,  thanks to the casino offers I receive.

[BamaVol]

7 hours ago, memoak said:

Then where do you put all 3 types of MDR dining ?  I book suites so I am guaranteed no wait dining. Also the ambiance of the MDR should not cost as much as Crown Grill

So maybe half an MDR.  If Premier purchasers aren’t using the dining room, it will be available to generate revenue.

[memoak]

3 hours ago, Dee_Jay said:

When Alfredo's was free, my husband and I would split a pizza.

Now, if we have the Plus package, they're most likely going to force us to get two pizzas and leave half the slices on the table.

On the Grand over the last 2 weeks we shared one pizza 3 times and charcuterie plates at Vines 2 times no charges at all. In fact at Vines they suggest sharing

[memoak]

2 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

So maybe half an MDR.  If Premier purchasers aren’t using the dining room, it will be available to generate revenue.

If that is the case I will propose having a bunch of folks take premier for a short cruise and using no specialty dinners to jam the MDR would that send them for a loop ?

[Retired-N-Happy]

1 hour ago, dog said:

The New Premier Packages are more than Specialty dining. They include Unlimited drinks.

So?  What percentage of people do you think would actually consume 16+ alcoholic drinks on Princess?  

The unlimited specialty is the main attraction, the unlimited drinks is the added cherry on top for those small percentage of people that need 16+ over the course of the day.

[BamaVol]

13 minutes ago, memoak said:

If that is the case I will propose having a bunch of folks take premier for a short cruise and using no specialty dinners to jam the MDR would that send them for a loop ?

If they don’t create more SD space, there will be unhappy Premier purchasers who are unable to take advantage of their package benefits.  I would expect Princess to attempt to please cruisers who paid an extra $90 a day over those sailing with standard or Plus at $30 less.

[memoak]

3 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

If they don’t create more SD space, there will be unhappy Premier purchasers who are unable to take advantage of their package benefits.  I would expect Princess to attempt to please cruisers who paid an extra $90 a day over those sailing with standard or Plus at $30 less.

Sorry but as a suite / Plus plan customer I will expect them to roll over for me like they do now. I was told point back last week on the Grand not to worry about the app that they would always find room for me at Crown

[paddingtonbear]

8 hours ago, Sprocket said:

I think Princess is trying to address one of the biggest complaints passengers had when booking longer cruises with the Premium Package.  Only 2 specialty dinners no matter how long the cruise was, unless it was a B2B with different booking numbers. We do at least 30 days in December this year we are on the Emerald for 12 days with Plus then the Sun for 21 days (14+7) days with Premium. I have already booked the 4 included SD's now just need to decide if its worth it to us to upgrade, we are Canadian and the exchange rate is not great but its definitely an attractive upgrade.

 

We are in our 70's and always have the Plus package at a minimum,  thanks to the casino offers I receive.

That would have been a sensible upgrade - 2 specialty dinners per 7 days, not per cruise. 

 

Maybe no one is prepared to pay for the specialty restaurants so Princess is happy to have the seats filled?

 

Edited August 17 by paddingtonbear

[Mara4166]

1 hour ago, paddingtonbear said:

That would have been a sensible upgrade - 2 specialty dinners per 7 days, not per cruise. 

 

Maybe no one is prepared to pay for the specialty restaurants so Princess is happy to have the seats filled?

 

I agree 2 speciality per week would be better.  On many cruises Crown Grill gets fully booked very early.  Sabitini's always appears to have space, but we do not really care for their menu.  Personally I think there are going to be a lot of unhappy premier cruisers if they cannot book into the SD restaurants of their choice at least 2 times a week.

[Cruisemeister2002]

21 hours ago, susancruzs said:

Maybe I should post this after I get back from Emerald Oct. 17th cruise.  I haven't cruised since 2019, but have taken 32, most over 7 days, never liked short cruises, over half with Princess.

 

I'm in my upper 70s, travel alone, don't need specialty dining, trying Plus because I like special coffees, wine at lunch, dinner, Margaritas, drink a lot of water.  I know I can purchase water ahead of time, and coffee card is gone.  With prices for a glass of wine, coffees, trying Plus this cruise.

 

Where is Princess headed for those of us not in suites, reserve dining, meal charge venues, everything I read seems to be catering to a passenger different from me?  Yes, I know they are in business to make money, took my 1st Princess cruise in '86 so I've seen the changes, I get it.  I'm glad they brought back TD, I'm a set in my ways early diner.

 

There are many cabins that aren't suites, people that don't need or care to pay for extras, where is this all going, what direction is Princess headed, away from their loyal base or not?

 

 

As someone who is also in my 70's I started cruising a bit later than yourself. We have also for the first time took out the Plus package. We normally travel with P&O, but decided due to a less than satisfactory cruise last year to switch to Princess. We did our other cruise with Princess in 2005 on Sea Princess. Just as you say many things are changing. The best graded cabin we have had in 17 previous cruises was a balcony, but we are back to an inside on our upcoming cruise. Many of the things we got as standard have either disappeared completely or now involve payment. My wife used to get toiletries in a little bag, galley and bridge tours were free. chocolates on our pillows at night and Princess used to supply a free fruit bowl in your cabin. P&O had a chocoholics afternoon in the MDR where buffet style you had cakes and desserts which you helped yourself to and tea and coffee was served at your table. I suppose some of this charging for everything came about due to Covid and the vast amount of money used by cruise company's to keep them afloat, so to speak.

[Wanderfully]

In answer to the OP question, I think Princess is doing very, very well for many of us in our 70's.

It seems food and dining is a big concern for many, but as we age and the OP notes, many of us don't need speciality dining.... we eat far less than we did in our 50's and drink less too. Princess offers it for those who choose to pay extra for it. Perfect! 

I love that between my husband and me, we can take 4 bottles of Prosecco on board....not an option on many ( if any) other lines and thats my drinking covered.

We can have a Caribe deck balcony for $1300 apiece for 8 days where I can sit and read and sun all afternoon on sea days. Others can pay for the Sanctuary and that's great.

We don't need Wifi and those who do have options to get it and pay extra or get a package.

The Grand class ships give me a promenade deck still that I love to walk.

I'm not crazy about the Medallion but it allows Princess to gauge better how their ship's offerings are being used so maybe that's a good thing.

I wish there wasn't smoking in the casino, but if that's all I have to suffer through, I can handle it for an hour or two.

My next cruise is 8 days with 4 ports, none of which use a tender. For 3 of those 4 ports, we are the only ship in that day. It leaves from Port Canaveral so we have a few days in the cute town of Cocoa before we even get on the ship. What's not to love about that itinerary?

For me, Princess keeps giving me the perks I want....a great price, wonderful balcony rooms, enough food choices, drinks I bring myself, easy access to ports, entertainment and to top it off, kind interactions and exchanged smiles with those on board to help provide it all.

And all I have to pay (happily) are gratuities. 

[susancruzs]

Thanks for the responses and I was on the Sea Princess in '05 for a Coastal + TA!

 

I'm really looking forward to my Emerald cruise, and I, too, enjoy the promenade decks on the "older" ships.  Haven't minded Regal/Royal cruises but if I'm in an inside cabin miss the promenade deck.

Edited August 17 by susancruzs

[voljeep]

13 minutes ago, Wanderfully said:

In answer to the OP question, I think Princess is doing very, very well for many of us in our 70's.

It seems food and dining is a big concern for many, but as we age and the OP notes, many of us don't need speciality dining.... we eat far less than we did in our 50's and drink less too. Princess offers it for those who choose to pay extra for it. Perfect! 

I love that between my husband and me, we can take 4 bottles of Prosecco on board....not an option on many ( if any) other lines and thats my drinking covered.

We can have a Caribe deck balcony for $1300 apiece for 8 days where I can sit and read and sun all afternoon on sea days. Others can pay for the Sanctuary and that's great.

We don't need Wifi and those who do have options to get it and pay extra or get a package.

The Grand class ships give me a promenade deck still that I love to walk.

I'm not crazy about the Medallion but it allows Princess to gauge better how their ship's offerings are being used so maybe that's a good thing.

I wish there wasn't smoking in the casino, but if that's all I have to suffer through, I can handle it for an hour or two.

My next cruise is 8 days with 4 ports, none of which use a tender. For 3 of those 4 ports, we are the only ship in that day. It leaves from Port Canaveral so we have a few days in the cute town of Cocoa before we even get on the ship. What's not to love about that itinerary?

For me, Princess keeps giving me the perks I want....a great price, wonderful balcony rooms, enough food choices, drinks I bring myself, easy access to ports, entertainment and to top it off, kind interactions and exchanged smiles with those on board to help provide it all.

And all I have to pay (happily) are gratuities. 

4 bottles carryon?  

[Wanderfully]

1 carryon suitcase, I backpack and a 4 bottle wine bag ..........oh and that's right, another thing, the laundry rooms on Princess. Love them! 

[arizonaperson]

4 minutes ago, Wanderfully said:

1 carryon suitcase, I backpack and a 4 bottle wine bag ..........oh and that's right, another thing, the laundry rooms on Princess. Love them! 

So do you pay the extra bottle charges? ( for 2 bottles)

Thought the “rule” was one 750ml bottle of champagne or wine for each passenger 21+.

Yes, I like the self laundry as well even though I am Elite and can send out, which we do.

Edited August 17 by arizonaperson

[disgirl]

@susancruzs  I travel solo and with friends.  We are traditional diners - we have tried and havent enjoyed the anytime dining.  We enjoy the MDR and dont feel the need to eat at the specialty restaurants.  I drink a ton of water and sparkling water, my friends drink specialty coffee.  We do partake in a few adult wobbly pops on the trip (some trips, more than others).  I/we travel with the Plus package.  

 

I also look at the Plus vs the Standard rate and take the difference in the price.

From that difference, I subtract the gratuities and wifi cost.  I will take a bit off for the 2 casual dining as well.  With what is left, I look at as the drink package cost and divide that by the number of days to see if it makes sense for me/us, and the Plus usually is (plus the deposit is refundable which is what we always try to book)

 

For example, my friends and I are booked on an 8 night in March.

Standard was $1300, Plus was $1850, so $550 difference (CAD)

Gratuities are apx $200 (which we would prepay anyway)

Wifi is apx $200 (which we we add anyway and now we get the upgraded one with Plus)

Casual dining is apx $30 (which we may or may not do anyway)

That leaves me with apx $120 which is apx $15 per day for the beverage package - a no brainer to upgrade for our trip.

 

When I cruised to Hawaii last year, the difference was $1600 for 9 nights so it didnt make sense for me.  

 

I hope you have an awesome cruise and enjoy your trip!