What am I missing, SIP n SAIL vs THREE for FREE

[caribill]

I think they cut you off at 15 drinks per day even tho they figure 68.99 per day.

 

Only drinks with alcohol have the 15 drink limit. Unlimited use for all the other included beverages.

[nbist]

Interesting reading others experiences. We are platinum so are familiar with playing the re-fare game. We booked an Alaska cruisetour for late-May 2019 under the Sip and Sail promotion and received the Premium Beverage Package, AND Free gratuities (cruise portion), +$50/obc per person to use on land portion. We booked a window suite (cheaper than club class mini), so also received 1 night in a specialty restaurant and all suite benefits.

 

When I saw the new 3 for free, I checked pricing and the fare is exactly the same as the price I have and actually would be a little more when factoring in everything. I haven't seen anyone else mention the free gratuities under the Sip and Sail promotion. Wondering if we got that because we booked a suite or a cruisetour? I booked directly on the Princess website, in case anyone wonders if this was a TA deal - it wasn't.

 

We are staying with what we have and looking forward to no booze bill at the end, unless they come up with some super sale before final payment.

[jennybenny]

It all depends. We booked the Sip N Sail for a cruise, and checked pricing with the 3 for free, it was THE SAME for our particular 2020 cruise. We try to have a Future Cruise Deposit always available, and we pay attention to non refundable deposits. We don't book the non refundable deposit cruises. There are times when a cruise will require a 10% refundable deposit, but we've found our FCD is treated as the deposit, so we don't need to actually come up with the 10%.

We prefer to book early and watch for price drops, always paying attention NOT to change to a non refundable deposit.

 

We find the earlier you book, the better your pricing usually is, and for sure the better the cabin selection. Then when/if you refare you get your same cabin.

[caribill]

We booked an Alaska cruisetour for late-May 2019 under the Sip and Sail promotion and received the Premium Beverage Package, AND Free gratuities (cruise portion), +$50/obc per person to use on land portion. We booked a window suite (cheaper than club class mini), so also received 1 night in a specialty restaurant and all suite benefits.

 

We are staying with what we have and looking forward to no booze bill at the end, unless they come up with some super sale before final payment.

 

When you have a cruisetour booked and there is a sale on cabins, it will not apply to the cruisetour. Sales on Alaska cruisetours are rare because of the demand.

[USCcruisecrazy]

For a 28 day cruise:

 

Sip + Sail perk value $68.99 * 28 = $1931.72

 

3 for FREE perk value ($13.50 * 28 = $378) + $200 = $578

 

So the OP would need the difference to be $1354 or greater per person.

(Not taking into account whatever intangible value one places on the 'FREE Stateroom Location Upgrade')

The OP says their savings is $600 total; don't know if that means per person or total for both in the cabin. So savings are only 1/2 to 1/4 of what it needs to be depending on that.

 

Just crunching the numbers for a 7 night cruise, the difference needs to be $289 per person. That could be a bit more achievable than a near $50/pp/pd price drop on the high demand 28 day Hawaii/Tahiti/Samoa sailings.

 

The value of the Sip and Sail is only that high if you drink $70 (okay, $68.99) worth of drinks each for the entire 28 days. Here's how ours broke down and why we went from Sip and Sail to 3 for Free:

 

We went from a Balcony room to a mini-suite and saved $160 per person = $320

We have our Grats included $14.50 x 2 x 7 (# of days of our cruise) = $203

We have $100 each of OBC = $200

 

So, we get a value of $723 and upgraded to a mini. If we had stayed in the balcony, it would have been around $1000 total value.

 

Since we have 4 port days on the 7 day trip, I see no way we average $100+ a day on drinks (besides the wine we always carry on).

 

Bottom Line: figure out your own numbers and it will be obvious which deal is better for you...everyone is different!

[cruisinnorth]

We booked our March, 2020 Hawaiian cruise on the Emerald during the sip and sail program. Since drinking is not a big issue for us I talked to our TA and asked if we would save any money rebooking with the 3 for free package. She crunched the numbers for us and we saved $1500. The cost of the booking went from $7300 down to $5800 for the Mini Suite. The OBC was about the same so for us it was a no brainer to change.

Dave

[ExploringTheGlobe]

I have always booked Sip n Sail in the past but this year it actually didn't work for me. I noticed the fares had gone up quite a bit for the sale. So I ended up booking under 3 for Free. It actually ends up saving me quite a bit of money even when I factor in purchasing the drink package separately. But here is why it is a better deal for me: I sail solo! So only one drink package to purchase and I get double the OBC offered. If there were two of us in the cabin and we both would get the drink package, Sip n Sail probably would have been a better deal.