Princess Plus and Galveston Port

[slavigne5577]

How does Princess Plus work while in port in Galveston? Can we use our package to get drinks while in port?

[MagnoliaBlossom]

I could be wrong, but I believe in February the drink package didn’t kick in until the next day.  You are allowed to bring two bottles of wine per cabin so if you are wine drinkers, you can have that on embarkation day.  Of course if you’re u are not driving in it could be more difficult to acquire,etc.

[So_Tweetie]

You will not be able to use your package until the ship reaches international waters. Princess also will not serve you sparkling water, soda, or any other non-alcoholic options without charging you for the same timeline. They give everyone with a package a $25 OBC "for the inconvenience of sailing out of Galveston". I made the mistake of upgrading to Premier on embarkation day when the ship was delayed in leaving port for a few hours. Definitely do not recommend that! 

 

Before people blame Texas for this policy - Princess does NOT strictly follow Texas law on this issue. There is no restriction of service for non-alcoholic beverages by TABC and Royal Caribbean somehow manages to honor packages from the moment you board. 

Edited 21 hours ago by So_Tweetie
Correct spelling of TABC

[sunsetme]

you are gipped with the package at this port coming and going there are restrictions.

[CACruiser1973]

They are now postings on the Princess Elite forum that are alleging CA cruises are also affected and that no alcoholic beverages are included in port now. (see screenshots).  I have over 500 days on Princess and always buy Plus.  Up until now, I have had to sometimes pay sales tax in CA or HI ports, but could still use my package.  I am considering trying to get a refund if these new rules are in place.  On my 10/5 coastal, this would mean we lose four days of seven for embarkation day, Catalina, San Francisco and San Diego. 

 

After seeing it mentioned in the Elite forum, this is the link I found. https://www.princess.com/en-us/cruise-deals-promotions/plus-premier-cruise-packages/terms-and-conditions 

[rheathslc]

This just came up on a group for my Nov 27th sailing out of San Francisco for 5 days with a LONG day in San Diego. Which would mean we would be paying for a package AND drinks on two out of 5 days. That is ridiculous. Does anyone have any experience with this since the new Premier package took effect?

I will cancel my packages if that's the case. 

[rheathslc]

1 hour ago, So_Tweetie said:

You will not be able to use your package until the ship reaches international waters. Princess also will not serve you sparkling water, soda, or any other non-alcoholic options without charging you for the same timeline. They give everyone with a package a $25 OBC "for the inconvenience of sailing out of Galveston". I made the mistake of upgrading to Premier on embarkation day when the ship was delayed in leaving port for a few hours. Definitely do not recommend that! 

 

Before people blame Texas for this policy - Princess does NOT strictly follow Texas law on this issue. There is no restriction of service for non-alcoholic beverages by TABC and Royal Caribbean somehow manages to honor packages from the moment you board. 

I saw your video review of that whole debacle. Truly ridiculous that Princess can't figure this out.

[slavigne5577]

How long before we would be in international waters out of Galveston?

[rheathslc]

1 hour ago, slavigne5577 said:

How does Princess Plus work while in port in Galveston? Can we use our package to get drinks while in port?

Would you be willing to change the name of this thread so that people who are sailing out of ports in the other states listed in the policy will also see it?

We might get better info that way.

Edited 19 hours ago by rheathslc
Typo

[slavigne5577]

15 minutes ago, rheathslc said:

Would you be willing to change the name of this thread so that people who are sailing out of ports in the other states listed in the policy will also see it?

We might get better info that way.

That would be fine with me, but I don't know how to change it.

[cruisinsince75]

34 minutes ago, slavigne5577 said:

How long before we would be in international waters out of Galveston?

90 minutes roughly.  If we leave at 3:00pm drink between 4:30-5:00.  We will bring two bottles of chilled sparkling wine to have in the meantime.

[cruisinsince75]

Adding that the $25 pp OBC will more than pay for the wine. 😉

[rheathslc]

6 minutes ago, cruisinsince75 said:

90 minutes roughly.  If we leave at 3:00pm drink between 4:30-5:00.  We will bring two bottles of chilled sparkling wine to have in the meantime.

But that's not including the time after you board and before the ship leaves port. I'm often on board before 11:30 and usually have several drinks before the ship casts off. So it's more like 5 hours. 

And the new language says that Princess will not offer any refund or comp for times the package is not in effect.

[rheathslc]

19 minutes ago, slavigne5577 said:

That would be fine with me, but I don't know how to change it.

I don't actually know either. 😬

I just know others have done it. Don't worry about it. I'm sure that if this is actually happening on CA sailings we'll know about it soon.

[cruisinsince75]

10 minutes ago, rheathslc said:

But that's not including the time after you board and before the ship leaves port. I'm often on board before 11:30 and usually have several drinks before the ship casts off. So it's more like 5 hours. 

And the new language says that Princess will not offer any refund or comp for times the package is not in effect.

That language has always been there, yet we've been told that the OBC still exists.  At least out of Galveston.  We shall find out in 43 days. 

[coopco]

While you are in port the first day, will you have your minibar set up if Elite? We just made Elite so I’m not sure if it’s there when you get to your cabin or if they don’t stock it until you reach international waters. What if you buy a bottle of booze for the cabin from the website? Will it be there when you get to the cabin?

[arizonaperson]

These photos are from a few years ago, but I think it’s still the same out of Galveston. Limited drink menu( prices may have gone up) and I think you still get

the $25 onboard credit because you’re not allowed to use your package until you get to international waters which can be up until about 6PM give or take.

Alcohol is available,just not a full menu. I think sales tax is also charged before getting to international waters. Takes about 3 hrs. To navigate to the gulf.

 

Edited 18 hours ago by arizonaperson

[rheathslc]

11 minutes ago, coopco said:

While you are in port the first day, will you have your minibar set up if Elite? We just made Elite so I’m not sure if it’s there when you get to your cabin or if they don’t stock it until you reach international waters. What if you buy a bottle of booze for the cabin from the website? Will it be there when you get to the cabin?

Oh good point! I am Elite now. My next cruise will be my 2nd at Elite so I didn't think about the minibar. 🙂 But we also had it in a suite before and yes, it was there when we were first allowed in the rooms. If you try to get into your cabin before the announcement that they are all ready it MIGHT not be there yet. 

[Need-a-vacation]

This sounds like a big downside of bundling the alcohol package into the overall fare - it's hard to address these oddities fairly. 

It's been years, but when I took Carnival out of Galveston, they just didn't sell the drink package for the first day at all -- you paid for 6 days on a 7-day cruise, and just paid directly for your drinks on Day 1. They could easily do that since the drink package was stand-alone. It seems like princess could do something similar - offer the ability to start the bundle on day 2 and just charge the day 1 gratuities as usual. Passengers will definitely feel like they're getting screwed if they pull the full package price but don't get what many consider to be a significant  benefit.

Last year leaving LA on NCL(which has the drinks bundled in the fare), we had to pay the sales tax on alcohol until we got a certain distance away. Seems like it was a couple hours after sail-away.  

 

The oddities of local laws around alcohol (and related tax revenue) will definitely require some creativity from cruise lines as they develop their bundled products.

[Arizona Wildcat]

The laws change regularly it seems.  The California law is new and the issue is the license.  No reasonable way to.license a cruise ship.  While a real bummer for an overnight port call in say SFO;not a big deal in Calalina Islsnd.

Again simply don't buy the package if you think it is a bad deal.

In Galveston, an hour will put you far we enough to sea.

In Florida it is just sales tax.

[memoak]

As far as I can tell the west coast issues are on for the unlimited alcohol permit package. It does not look like plus is an issue. However descriptions on the Princess website do not speak to any of this

[rheathslc]

5 minutes ago, memoak said:

As far as I can tell the west coast issues are on for the unlimited alcohol permit package. It does not look like plus is an issue. However descriptions on the Princess website do not speak to any of this

I noticed that. But the page also says that the terms apply to both the old and new Premier unless otherwise noted. So what about the "old" Premier. That's what I have for my upcoming cruise.

[rheathslc]

8 minutes ago, memoak said:

As far as I can tell the west coast issues are on for the unlimited alcohol permit package. It does not look like plus is an issue. However descriptions on the Princess website do not speak to any of this

 

2 minutes ago, rheathslc said:

I noticed that. But the page also says that the terms apply to both the old and new Premier unless otherwise noted. So what about the "old" Premier. That's what I have for my upcoming cruise.

Not to mention I can imagine that if Plus and Old Premier guests get package drinks covered in CA embarkation ports but new Premier guests do not that's gonna lead to some seriously angry folks.

Edited 16 hours ago by rheathslc
Typo

[memoak]

1 minute ago, rheathslc said:

 

Not to mention I can imagine that if Plus and Old Premier guests get package drinks covered in CA embarkation ports but new Premier guests do not that's gonna lead to some seriously angry folks.

Makes me wonder if they going to enforce a 15 drink limit in some ports ?  Many cruises are in these ports all day long into the evening

[latebloomer56]

3 hours ago, rheathslc said:

I saw your video review of that whole debacle. Truly ridiculous that Princess can't figure this out.

Agree as it is a Carnival holding and Carnival out of Manhattan has the package for six days of a seven day cruise because the package can't be used that first day. We sailed at 4:00 from Manhattan I'm sure we were well away from NY within a few hours but you had to pay on your cabin charge until the next day. Not sure if that started at midnight I was in bed.