OzKiwiJJ

Thanks. That's an excellent summary. I hope I can get that on our upcoming world cruise. It's all very confusing but hopefully those who read this thread and the post I put on the world cruise toll call will at least be aware of the potential issue and check exactly what they are entitled to.

But many still come. We did a few NZ cruises on Celebrity pre-pandemic and there were a lot of people from either the US or the UK on those cruises, a higher percentage than I expected. It's not so noticeable on the Australia or South Pacific itineraries though.

Sorry, Jacster99, the way this forum works it's easy to miss a post. Did you have to go to Guest Services to get that booklet? That's the sort of thing that should be in your cabin when you board. Many people wouldn't realise there was such a thing. It's getting more and more confusing. - Some people have been getting the $22 limit, others have been restricted to $16 - someone on Coral right now has experienced that. - Some people have received emails confirming they will get the $22 limit but I just got a sales pitch to upgrade email and there is no way we'll be paying over $5000 to do that (we're doing the world cruise) given the poor quality wines by the glass. - there may even be some variance from ship to ship, or possibly even depending on the length of the cruise. People can only report their own experiences but forget that curcumstances can change, often without notice, which is why I put up this thread. I'll find out for real in just over five weeks!

No, I'm not going off half cocked. I had a discussion elsewhere with someone who is currently on Coral, who had booked the Plus fare before December 2022, and who is limited to $16 without paying extra. I didn't believe it at first then I checked the T&Cs on the website which, as shown in my original post, now have two different sets of conditions depending on when you booked your Plus fare. I don't know exactly when this changed but it wasn't like that last time I looked although that was probably a few months ago. However there seems to be some variation as to what people are experiencing. It may be ship-dependant. It seems like a total mess. Since we only paid $40pp per day, as long as we get our internet, bottled water, coffees, some of our favourite cocktails abd liqueurs, and 25% discount on wines by the bottle we'll have got our money's worth. I've given up expecting Princess to offer decent wines by the glass. Go to the bottom of those T&Cs and you'll see the weasel clause which gives Princess the right to change as much as they like about the drinks package, with no notice, and whatever version of the T&Cs are in place when your cruise starts is what you're stuck with.

No, I've heard of a few instances where they've played the outbid card.

Ditto! We have significant FCCs from the world cruise itinerary change. Once we've used those up it will probably be "Bye, Bye, Princess".

We paid $40pp per day and it was before cruising actually restarted here. Unfortunately by the time cruising did restart they had switched to the new wine list with all the rubbishy de Bortoli wines. I hit the roof when I saw the poor selection of wines they were offering under Plus. They have never honoured the 25 wines by the glass as promised. Now two of the reds are over $16 which leaves me with one drinkable wine on the list - the rose.

We only bid for a mini-suite, and it was a fairly low bid. We got an email today saying we had been outbid and did we want to increase our bid. Nope, we only have a certain amount we can spend on an upgrade as it's the world cruise. We have a BA balcony so that will have to do us. There is only one way around the wine problem unless you want to haul wine onboard with you and pay $30 per bottle corkage. Buying wine by the bottle at the discount seems the best option to me and they do have some decent wines by the bottle. Seriously overpriced though.

Originally they announced the room service charge would only apply if you phoned Room Service but who knows what they really mean. How much did you pay for the Plus fare. If it was $65pp per day I think you'll get the lot. It's the $40 and $50 versions that they are restricting. The thing that really irritates me is that they hiked the drinks prices, to the point of ridiculousness in some cases, when they bought in the first $65 version. That's why they originally allowed all versions to have the new $22 limit. We have no intention of upgrading our Plus fare as we would be paying an extra $25pp per day for just the higher drinks limit. We aren't interested in all the other rubbish. If we want a drink above the limit we'll just pay the difference. However we will probably try to get a meeting with one of the senior food and beverage people about this plus the fact they still haven't fulfilled their promise of 25 wines by the glass under Plus.

This is the latest drinks list on Coral at the moment. Two of the red wines are now over the $16 limit - the only two I can drink! 🤬 Anyway I've already budgeted to buy wines by the bottle at the 25% discount you get with Plus. I just hope I can still get my favourite cocktails and after dinner drinks.

My apologies - it appears the information I posted above is out of date. See my new post re Plus/Premium drinks value limits.

Interestingly following email landed in my inbox today. Although it mentions all the new stuff it does not mention the change back to the original Plus drinks value limit. We wanted to let you know about updates we’ve made to our cruise experience to help you make the best choice for your upcoming voyage. · We've introduced new prix fixe casual dining options at some of our favorite restaurants like Planks, Steamers, Alfredo's, Gigi's by Alfredo, Ocean Terrace, and Kai Sushi (availability may vary by ship). Prix fixe cover charge is AU $22.99 per guest, with a la carte items also available for purchase. · A diverse array of exceptional culinary choices are available at no cost, ensuring a top-tier dining experience throughout your journey. Choose from multicourse meals in all main dining rooms, buffet-style delights at World Fresh Marketplace and Horizons Court, treats at the International Café, pizza and other poolside offerings at Slice, Coffee & Cones and more, as well as our traditional stateroom breakfast available using the classic door-hanger menus. · OceanNow® delivery: A nominal one-time access fee of AU $22.99 per guest per voyage will now apply to access unlimited OceanNow delivery. · Room service fee: An AU $7.50 delivery fee per order will be charged for all room service orders (except complimentary stateroom breakfast orders). · These new enhancements have been added at no charge to guests booked on new Princess Plus and Princess Premier packages that have been purchased since 14 December 2022. While you currently are booked on a package that does not include these new benefits, in light of these changes, Princess Cruises is providing an onboard "AU/NZ regional spending credit" of AU $25~ to those on Standard cruise fare or Plus/Premier bundles purchased prior to 14 December 2022. This will be issued on the first day of sailing and is not combinable with the new Plus & Premier packages (purchased since 14 December 2022). Should you prefer to upgrade to a Princess Plus or Princess Premier package to take full advantage of these new perks, you can easily upgrade using the Cruise Personalizer® tool. To upgrade, please contact your travel agent, or visit Cruise Personaliser here ❯

For those who booked with Princess Plus or Premier before December 2022, it looks like Princess has pulled a swifty over drinks value limits. Using Plus as example: Princess originally offered the Plus Fare at Standard plus $40pp per day with a drinks value limit of $16 (AUD). In all fairness to Princess this probably was a bit on the low side so they increased it to $50pp per day extra. The drinks value limit didn’t change. In December 2022, Princess released a new version of Plus, at $65pp extra, and including speciality desserts, fitness classes etc. The drinks value limit was raised to $22 and this new limit applied to earlier versions of Plus although those weren’t eligible for the extras. At the same time prices for most drinks increased. This was certainly the case when we cruised on Grand Princess in March 2023 and we enjoyed the $22 value limit on that cruise. However it appears that Princess have now reneged on this drinks limit increased for Plus packages bought before December 2022. No notification of this change has been announced to my knowledge. I only became aware of it during an online discussion. I checked the website under Drinks Packages and there are now two links for T&Cs: For packages bought before December 2022 it states this at the beginning of the T&Cs: Packages bought after that time have this at the beginning of the T&Cs: Princess have also added a “weasel” clause which I don’t recall ever seeing before under drinks packages T&Cs, but I might be wrong on this. Similarly Premier Fares booked before December 2022 have had their drinks value limit reduced back to $22. I suspect this change was introduced recently when they brought out the latest versions of Plus/Premier. I haven’t been able to easily find current drinks price lists, the latest I have is from March 2023, so I’m not sure how this will affect the range of drinks available under the older Plus fares. However if you choose a drink over the limit you still only pay the difference so that’s some consolation.

To add further clarification: - Once you have reached the summary page you will receive an email stating your application has been created. - You need to press "End" after which you will receive an email in English stating your application has been received, and another in Spanish which essentially says the same thing. - A few days later you will receive an email like the one below and this is the one you need at check-in.

We'll be embarking on a world cruise at the end of April. I'll probably be taking 12-13 pairs of shoes. My feet can be a bit fussy about what I put on them so I try to vary things as much as possible so: - 3 pairs casual sandals, two of which aren't quite broken in yet - 3 pairs of black evening sandals, two of which are quite new - 2 pairs of metallic evening sandals, one pair is a bit higher than I usually wear but which I need for a couple of my formal outfits - 2 pairs of Skechers. One pair are black so can be worn if going ashore in the evenings when I can't wear sandals - 1 pair of lace-up trainers - 1 pair of pool-side sandals - 1 pair of reef shoes

And then all the ports would ban them because they have too many passengers - it's not the number of ships that is the problem, it is the number of passengers they carry.

They've always been hard boiled when I've had them in the past but on a MasterChef episode a while back someone made one and the expectation was that the egg yolk would still be gooey, and it was I think. That may be why they aren't seen much any more. It would be too hard to make them with soft yolks.

Do you have a record of what the original prices were? If so take that and a printout of the email and once onboard demand to have that rectified. Princess should not be charging extra for excursions that were already paid for.

Is she travelling solo? If so the online system may not be able to handle that properly. She shpuld contact Princess directly, by phone or live chat, to check whether she can get the Plus fare at the correct rate for one person. I'm sure they can do it manually as I've heard of one person of a couple being able to get it as their partner couldn't drink alcohol for medical reasons.

Celebrity work their show times differently to Princess. The 7pm show was aimed at late diners and the 9pm show at early diners. That was one of the things that annoyed us about Celebrity as we prefer to dine late then go to a show.

Usually the show times in our region are 7:30pm and 9:30pm, timed so that you can have dinner before going to the show. But until Crown starts operating here you won't know if they are following this pattern. Unless the late show is too late for you I'd recommend booking dinner for around 7pm or 7:20pm then going to that show.

That's got to be an error. She should call Princess to check. But, yes, one of the non-alcohol drinks packages might be better value for her. Does she need internet all the time? If not she could just purchase that on board on days when she does want it.

Is that for one person or two? USD or Canadian?

I did a reality check based on what we actually drink - one cocktail before dinner, wine with dinner, a digestiv or liqueur after dinner, plus coffees and bottled water - and internet and it works out marginally cheaper to get the Plus package and then buy wines by the bottle at the 25% package discount.

If Princess hadn't increaded the drinks limit for the packages when they increased the package cost and the drinks prices they would have had a heck of a lot of cancellations and may even have ended up facing a class action on that issue.