What is the relative value of included internet?

[AZ Stan (FKA Stan in Chicago)]

I am currently booked on a Sky Princess Transatlantic cruise, Sep, 2021.  When I booked, it included a drink package, Gratuities, and Internet.  With Elite status, we get some sort of internet provided, along with a mini Fridge setup.  We do not drink much, so the stated value of the drink package is seriously overstated.  My real question is this:  Is the booking promo internet, valued at $149.55 according to the travel summary, a serious step-up from the Elite status internet?

 

We might be willing to re-fare, and drop the 3 booking promo features, and reduce the fare.  Thanks in advance for your input.

 

 

 

 

[Sillyjilly]

I believe the free internet is unlimited where as the Elite is 150 free  minutes depending on the length of the cruise.

[iancal]

Free internet is a nice to have for us but we do not put much value on it.   We typically take our ipads with us on shore.  At some point we find a bar or coffee shop, off the beaten path, that has great internet.   Catch up on our email and it's done. 

 

So, when we do a pricing comparison for a ship that includes it we assume a low value.  We do not see enough value paying for ship's internet so would hardly value it at list if doing a price comparison.  Free laundry has more value to us.  We are carry on only travellers.

Edited July 29, 2020 by iancal

[KreinKrunker]

1 hour ago, AZ Stan (FKA Stan in Chicago) said:

  Is the booking promo internet, valued at $149.55 according to the travel summary, a serious step-up from the Elite status internet?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The promo internet is unlimited, whereas the Elite internet is 150 minutes each.  If you can get by with the 150 minutes, go for it.  Just remember you must log out after each use.  If you forget to log out you continue to use your minutes.  It doesn't take too long to use up your minutes.  Ask me how I know.  With the unlimited internet you don't have to worry about logging off.

[Mike45LC]

I have never used all of my free minutes, so to me, the value of the promotional free unlimited internet is zero.

 

Of course, my 'Net usage on board is not as high as it is at home.  At home, I will google strange words on a menu when some pretentious jerk of a chef wants to try to impress his customers (but merely annoys them).   I use the Net for news, to check the stock market, to identify music, for various Boards and Forums, and for entertainment.  On board, I use it only to check my email!

 

[cruzsnooze]

A TA cruise is more then a week so you will get 250 minutes for each elite passenger. If you need more then 500 minutes then I suggest buying daily internet AFTER you use up your minutes so there might only be a few days you need to purchase it. The mini bar in my cabin is switched out for bottled water and diet cokes so the drinks package would be a waste for me. 

[pcur]

Is that $149 per person, or for two people?  

 

I costed the Princess Plus package for one of our cruises, figuring what we would pay for tips, extra internet, average evening drinks for me, and soda package for my husband.  It actually was less expensive for us to the the P+.

 

What was attractive to us is the fact that the internet was unlimited, while our Platinum internet was about 35 minutes per day for us to share.  Also, the drink package included beverages that were so much better than our usual Princess cruise experience: sparkling water, milkshakes, evening drinks I would not usually pay for myself.  Even with an average of 2 drinks per evening for me, the P+ was a better deal.

[donaldsc]

How would we know what the value of the internet is to you.  Some people can't live w/o internet for more than 5 minutes.  Other can go for weeks at a time w/o feeling the need to internet.  I am in group 2.  I have taken extended land cruises and never made any effort to find internet.

 

Only you know if your are a group 1 or a group 2 internet user.  

 

DON

[jennybenny]

If you are wondering what the cost is to buy it beforehand vs getting it with Princess Plus, I think you can see that on the cruise personalizer, it shows the price of the included perks. As Donaldsc mentions, only you can determine how important the internet is to you. I actually love disconnecting when I go on vacation. I used to be one of those people who worked on vacation, maternity leave, whenever "they needed me", but not anymore. I love my job, but I also love my vacation. I now leave my computer home on vacation, but the Sky likely has better internet than the Grand, Ruby, Star. So my tainted experience may be a thing of the past. The loyalty minutes are usually enough for me, checking into flights or checking email late at night/early morning when the connections are good. Lately I've booked my cruises with Princess Plus, so it's not an issue. The packaged perks are a good value for me. 

[CineGraphic]

With the free minutes offered to platinum and elite, you have to sign in and out each time you want to connect, otherwise, you'll burn up your minutes the first day. With the wifi package, you can stay connected all day with no worries.

 

WIFI is free is many places, so when I bought Princess Plus, which includes grats, drinks and wifi for $40 extra per day, I didn't even factor it in.

Grats are currently between $14.50 and $16.50, so drinks are only costing $25.50 per day. You can't beat that with a stick.

 

 

Edited July 30, 2020 by CineGraphic

[caribill]

In our case, the included free Platinum/Elite minutes for the two of us has been sufficient on cruises of all lengths. And this includes voyages with the old, slow Internet, not with MedallionNet which is significantly faster which we have yet to experience.

 

Of course as others pointed out, we have to sign in and out each time we want to use the Internet. We sign in, download any E-mails, sign out, prepare any response and new E-mails, sign on again to send the E-mails and do any surfing we need to, and then finally sign off again. And, yes, signing in/out is more hassle than just signing in once with purchasing the unlimited option for MedallionNet.

 

With the faster MedallionNet, I would expect the included Platinum/Elite minutes to be more than needed for the amount of Internet access we need.

 

As we would not get sufficient benefit from the beverage package, we book the Princess Savers rates and come out ahead even with having to pay the gratuities. Even if we purchased unlimited MedallionNet Internet, we would still save money with Princess Savers rates

 

If you do want to purchase MedallionNet Internet and are Platinum/Elite, wait until you are on board as the first day special for Platinum/Elite is lower than pre-cruise pricing.  If you wait until later in the cruise and need to purchase at the daily rate, it will be at the full daily rate of $19.99/day for one device-at-a-time.

[skynight]

If you never use more than your free platinum minutes then the real value is nothing. If on the other hand you wish to stay connected all the time then the value is around what is stated. We priced out a 2022 29 day b2b, plus fare vs. no frills. We are also Elite. The benefits are the beverage package, grats and specialty dining. For us there is no value for the internet as we have never used more than half of our free minutes. 

[voljeep]

that's why Best. Sale. Ever. ( Best2DG ) was better than Princess Plus for us low internet users ... like someone posted above

at least when onboard ...

[voljeep]

didn't mean to shut the whole board down ??? ⛱️

[cruising deacon]

The relative value of unlimited internet on a cruise for me is ZERO.

Have been elite for a number of years, and I have never used up the free 150 minutes they give me.

I don't go on a cruise to get onto the internet, I go to escape it.

I use it strictly to check my emails every day in case someone is seriously trying to get in touch with me.

[neverbeenhere]

Whatever your internet usage while on a cruise. A man, I met on a street corner in a large city told me that VPNs are cheap and easy and you should always use them as protection. While not 100% protection, they help stop your neighbors from knowing what you are doing while traveling.

[AZ Stan (FKA Stan in Chicago)]

Thanks to all of you for your information and opinions.  I, too, do not use wifi much while cruising, but the unlimited plan does have some stated benefits, since I don't have to constantly log out and back in.  I guess I should factor in the convenience factor.  Does anyone here know how much it would cost to upgrade from the Elite minutes to unlimited for a 15 day cruise?

[msmoger]

10 minutes ago, AZ Stan (FKA Stan in Chicago) said:

Thanks to all of you for your information and opinions.  I, too, do not use wifi much while cruising, but the unlimited plan does have some stated benefits, since I don't have to constantly log out and back in.  I guess I should factor in the convenience factor.  Does anyone here know how much it would cost to upgrade from the Elite minutes to unlimited for a 15 day cruise?

 

My experience has been a 20 or 25% discount off the price listed in your personalizer.  I can't remember which.

[Tak8]

If I have online classes, unlimited is great.  I don't have ti monitor or going over my free minutes. 

[nini]

I have also "costed out" each time I have been booking.

We are Platinum so sometimes it is close. We really do not use

much internet and download our books when we are at home.

However, on a TA that we have booked, 15 days of gratuities is

$435.00 which makes it worthwhile. DH does not drink alcohol, but likes

his hot cocoa 1-2 times a day and maybe some other fun drinks. I enjoy

my decaf and wine. So, it becomes worth it even if I bring two bottles of

wine on board.

[Tucker in Texas]

 My TA  did a comparison on "free" amenities fare vs. non-free amenities fare. .  He basically came up with around $40 a day to pay for the "free" amenities.  He added the tips to the basic fare to make the comparison with the "free" grats which would include them.  He wanted this figure to advise his clients as, most of the time, he can the basic fare for them even if it is not "advertised" so they could make an informed decision if it is worth the $40 a day extra for drinks and wi-fi and, sometimes, on board credit which he, also, factored in when it was being offered on the premium fares but not on the basic fares.

 

[donaldsc]

12 hours ago, cruising deacon said:

The relative value of unlimited internet on a cruise for me is ZERO.

Have been elite for a number of years, and I have never used up the free 150 minutes they give me.

I don't go on a cruise to get onto the internet, I go to escape it.

I use it strictly to check my emails every day in case someone is seriously trying to get in touch with me.

 

A problem w a daily check in is that you may find that someone died.  We have a friend who toured Australia with a friend of theirs.  About halfway through the trip, they found that a close relation of theirs had died and they felt obligated to return home for the funeral.  If they didn't have internet, the relation would. have been just as dead when they got back and they would have enjoyed their Australia trip w/o guilt.

 

DON

[caribill]

18 hours ago, skynight said:

If you never use more than your free platinum minutes then the real value is nothing. If on the other hand you wish to stay connected all the time then the value is around what is stated. We priced out a 2022 29 day b2b, plus fare vs. no frills. We are also Elite. The benefits are the beverage package, grats and specialty dining. For us there is no value for the internet as we have never used more than half of our free minutes. 

 

You can get the specialty dining perk with the Princess Savers rate, so there is no added benefit if you pay for the frills.

[caribill]

11 hours ago, nini said:

I have also "costed out" each time I have been booking.

We are Platinum so sometimes it is close. We really do not use

much internet and download our books when we are at home.

However, on a TA that we have booked, 15 days of gratuities is

$435.00 which makes it worthwhile. DH does not drink alcohol, but likes

his hot cocoa 1-2 times a day and maybe some other fun drinks. I enjoy

my decaf and wine. So, it becomes worth it even if I bring two bottles of

wine on board.

 

It does not matter how many days the cruise is, the frills package costs $40/day/person.

 

So if your cruise is 15 days, the frills will cost you $600/person or $1200 for two people.

 

Basically, the frills are no bargain if all you use are the gratuities and the Internet. However, if you would use the beverage package, then the frills price is a bargain for that alone compared to the regular beverage package pricing.

[caribill]

14 hours ago, AZ Stan (FKA Stan in Chicago) said:

Thanks to all of you for your information and opinions.  I, too, do not use wifi much while cruising, but the unlimited plan does have some stated benefits, since I don't have to constantly log out and back in.  I guess I should factor in the convenience factor.  Does anyone here know how much it would cost to upgrade from the Elite minutes to unlimited for a 15 day cruise?

 

Cost on the first day for 15 days for a passenger with Platinium/Elite status is $112.50 for a single device at a time usage.