Purchasing packages onboard

[dreaminofcruisin]

37 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

If the price is the same on board where are they discounting the original price from?  Are they taking a page from Royal Caribbean'a and Celebrity's made up prices. Princess is more creative as the most I ever saved on either of those lines was 40% off of the fake price.

 

Princess Premier        Princess Plus

$310 now $90.            $153 now $60

save 71%                    Save 61%

 

 

I think this is mis-leading. Neither Plus nor Premier is "On Sale".

$60 is the regular price for Plus and now $90 is the regular price for Premier.

The "Savings" they are trying to claim is if you bought the 'pieces' of the packages separately. So, they are pricing out Wi-Fi, drinks, etc.

 

 

[Beamafar]

Just now, arizonaperson said:

I think  what Princess is advertising is if you were to purchase all of the things included separately and add it up -that would be what their discounting is based on. My opinion. I haven’t actually added it up per se.

Saw it added up on a YouTube video which showed how substantial a saving it is to purchase the packages. 

[arizonaperson]

@Beamafar here is a Princess Patter a.k.a. the newsletter from day one on somebody’s cruise.  A little difficult to read in the dark blue section at the bottom, but it basically says you can do it on your app or with a crew member once onboard .

[Beamafar]

1 minute ago, arizonaperson said:

@Beamafar here is a Princess Patter a.k.a. the newsletter from day one on somebody’s cruise.  A little difficult to read in the dark blue section at the bottom, but it basically says you can do it on your app or with a crew member once onboard .

Thank you. 🙏 

[voljeep]

3 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

Saw it added up on a YouTube video which showed how substantial a saving it is to purchase the packages. 

how does youtube value unlimited?

[Beamafar]

Just now, voljeep said:

how does youtube value unlimited?

No idea.  Perhaps you should pose your question there?

[Scottdalfonso]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

huh?

I booked a special rate (free- minus the taxes,fees and gratuities) through the cruise line. So now I'm just wondering how they get refunded when I buy the package 

[Iamcruzin]

1 hour ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

I think this is mis-leading. Neither Plus nor Premier is "On Sale".

$60 is the regular price for Plus and now $90 is the regular price for Premier.

The "Savings" they are trying to claim is if you bought the 'pieces' of the packages separately. So, they are pricing out Wi-Fi, drinks, etc.

 

 

 That makes sense but it doesn't allude to that.

Edited August 22 by Iamcruzin

[Captain-John]

Hi Bea, nice to see you on these boards. We are following you to Princess next March (Pacific Coast), so be interesting to hear your thoughts after you have sailed. It will be our first time with them too.

 

I think the last time we spoke was on the X boards. Suffice to say our first experience with them was not the best, although the itinerary was fantastic (Japan).

Happy cruising!

[Beamafar]

Hi Cap’n.  Yeah - we did the Retreat on Edge.  We’ve booked 21 nights on X for late next year, but wouldn’t do Retreat again.  Doesn’t come near YC. 

 

Speaking of, we did a week in YC on Seascape last May, following a week in steerage.  Enjoyed steerage more.  Think we’re done with MSC (after 28 cruises with them).  Booked this Christmas/New Year on Princess due to a great deal on offer.  Never been to Hawaii, so really looking forward to it.

 

We’re also giving Explora a go next March while the rates were within budget, what with it being a new line.  Fares have gone crazy, since. 
 

Sorry to hear your first X wasn’t such a great experience.  Our first (which was Singapore 14 night) was poor, too (and that was a Sky suite, too, which was doubly disappointing as it was the most we’d ever spent on a cruise up until then).  Great that you enjoyed Japan, though.  We disembarked there (on a Splendida repo) and did a quick Tokyo city tour before heading for the airport.  It wouldn’t appeal as an itinerary for me. 

[MacMadame]

On 8/22/2024 at 9:42 AM, Beamafar said:

If the price is increased, I’m wondering what could possibly be added on to the inclusions (should there be any). The only thing I can think of would be unlimited casual dining (which would be of no use to me as the ones on the Grand don’t appeal to me). 

People have been speculating and the ideas I've seen are:

-Unlimited premium desserts

-Unlimited casual dining

-2 Specialty Dinners

 

IOW, people think they may add in some of the premier benefits to Plus and raise the price to $70. But it's all speculation. No one knows.

[Beamafar]

10 hours ago, MacMadame said:

People have been speculating and the ideas I've seen are:

-Unlimited premium desserts

-Unlimited casual dining

-2 Specialty Dinners

 

IOW, people think they may add in some of the premier benefits to Plus and raise the price to $70. But it's all speculation. No one knows.

Thank you!

 

There’s no question that the Princess Plus is one of the best inclusive packages available - certainly for us, as we always purchase drinks packages.  I had originally just wanted to know if it would cost extra to purchase Plus onboard.

 

With the very recent increase in the cost of Premier the issue has now morphed into whether I should lock in the current price for Plus now; an increase of just $5 pppd would add another $160 to the overall cost.   Also, there’s the talk of crew appreciation rates increasing.  I guess I’ll need to make a decision sooner rather than later. 😝

[Abercrombie2019]

It would be very strange to not raise the Premier and Plus prices at the same time.  Better to rip the bandaid off with one swift pull.

[Beamafar]

25 minutes ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

It would be very strange to not raise the Premier and Plus prices at the same time.  Better to rip the bandaid off with one 

 

Totally agree.  I reckon that Princess may have been kite-flying when they increased the Premier first.  From my experience with other lines, package prices are usually increased across the board. 

[voljeep]

PLUS - $10pppd - typical 7 day cruise - $70

 

$1 day increase in CA = $7  leaving $63

 

Adding a specialty dinner - 1 each, not 2 = about $53 with 18% service charge

 

unlimited casual dinners - up from 2 each - really no value to us

 

new wifi speed - meh, to us

 

now whatcha going do

Standard?

PLUS 70

Premier 90

 

staycation?

[Steelers36]

On 8/22/2024 at 11:19 AM, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

Do you have a source for this?

Thx.

 

🤣🤣

[memoak]

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

PLUS - $10pppd - typical 7 day cruise - $70

 

$1 day increase in CA = $7  leaving $63

 

Adding a specialty dinner - 1 each, not 2 = about $53 with 18% service charge

 

unlimited casual dinners - up from 2 each - really no value to us

 

new wifi speed - meh, to us

 

now whatcha going do

Standard?

PLUS 70

Premier 90

 

staycation?

Been booking over the last week and plus is still only $60. Isn’t $70 speculation ?

[voljeep]

1 minute ago, memoak said:

Been booking over the last week and plus is still only $60. Isn’t $70 speculation ?

yes, sorry

would you book the above with the current PLUS and the changes I mentioned if it did go to $70

[memoak]

3 minutes ago, voljeep said:

yes, sorry

would you book the above with the current PLUS and the changes I mentioned if it did go to $70

Yes because I drink at least 8 cocktails every day of every cruise.

[Mara4166]

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

PLUS - $10pppd - typical 7 day cruise - $70

 

$1 day increase in CA = $7  leaving $63

 

Adding a specialty dinner - 1 each, not 2 = about $53 with 18% service charge

 

unlimited casual dinners - up from 2 each - really no value to us

 

new wifi speed - meh, to us

 

now whatcha going do

Standard?

PLUS 70

Premier 90

 

staycation?

I doubt they will add SD to Plus.  They will already have capacity issues at venues with the new premier.  Adding unlimited casual dining is very likely to justify an increase in the Plus package - or increasing it to 2 per week of cruise like they should have done with SD on premier.

[Beamafar]

1 minute ago, Mara4166 said:

I doubt they will add SD to Plus.  They will already have capacity issues at venues with the new premier.  Adding unlimited casual dining is very likely to justify an increase in the Plus package - or increasing it to 2 per week of cruise like they should have done with SD on premier.

That would be my guess, too, which would add zero value for us as neither of the casual dining venues on Grand appeal, so we probably won’t even utilise those inclusions as they stand. 

[voljeep]

5 minutes ago, Mara4166 said:

I doubt they will add SD to Plus.  They will already have capacity issues at venues with the new premier.  Adding unlimited casual dining is very likely to justify an increase in the Plus package - or increasing it to 2 per week of cruise like they should have done with SD on premier.

P could just raise PLUS from 60 to 70 with no changes to the packages also

 

well, whatcha gonna do?

 

PLUS70 x 2 x 7 days = $980 for drinks and selected tips

Edited August 25 by voljeep

[memoak]

35 minutes ago, Mara4166 said:

I doubt they will add SD to Plus.  They will already have capacity issues at venues with the new premier.  Adding unlimited casual dining is very likely to justify an increase in the Plus package - or increasing it to 2 per week of cruise like they should have done with SD on premier.

If they add more casual meals to plus it would be even harder to get into venues on Grand class ships. 2 weeks ago on the Grand they were having to hand out beepers at Alfredo’s   An extra $10 per day really wouldn’t work if all you get is a few more $14.99 meals and if they went to unlimited you would never get into any of them 

[Beamafar]

23 hours ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

It would be very strange to not raise the Premier and Plus prices at the same time.  Better to rip the bandaid off with one swift pull.

Took your advice and added the Plus back on to the booking. Now Princess can do as it pleases.  I’ll at least save on the CA increase.

 

Being at the mercy of currency exchange doesn’t help (we use Euros), plus I get charged transaction fees on the credit card on top of a poor exchange rate, so it would have been a double gamble to wait and pay onboard (a) if the Plus increases in price and (b) if the dollar strengthened by next February (when my cc bill fell due) I could end up paying even more. 

[MsTabbyKats]

On 8/22/2024 at 12:33 PM, Beamafar said:

Thank you for that.
 

I’m not keen on giving a TA/cruise company any more money upfront than I need to.  Final payment for us is 15 weeks prior to sailing. If I wait til onboard, my credit card bill for onboard spending won’t be due for payment til the end of February.  I’d rather have the money earning interest in my account than in theirs. 

 

I’ll keep an eye out for any news about Plus cost being increased;  I’ll consider pre-payment if and when that happens. 

Just a comment:  When I added the Plus package when booking a 10 day cruise...$1200...my TA reduced my total fare by $160.  No bank is giving that rate of interest!  Otherwise, I would have waited.........