Go With Princess Plus - Lose Onboard Credit?

[wallyboag]

Hello-

 

Has anyone had a fare that denied onboard credit if you purchased the Princess Plus plan?

 

For those wondering about why I would want to do this, here is the math:

 

When I priced the booking without Princess Plus it gave me a $100 per person stateroom credit. When I priced it with Princess Plus, it removed that stateroom credit.

 

I am sailing with my daughter who is under 21, so the beverage package does nothing for her.

 

So here is my math on why I am about to book without Princess Plus:

1. The cost of Princess Plus is $50 per night, or $350 per person, so $700 for the entire cruise.

2. Tips are $14.50 each per day, WiFi is $10 per day. For two people, that would be $171.50 for the 7 day cruise. 

3. The adult beverage package is $70.79 per day, the kids beverage package is $11.79 per day. That would be $578.05 for the 7 day cruise

4. The net cost for buying these things ala carte would be $749.55, less the $200 on board credit = $549.55, $150 less than going with Princess Plus.

 

So going with Princess Plus would save us $50 if we could keep our onboard credit, but cost us $150 more if we lose the credit. I called Princess and the customer service rep seemed confused by all of this and said that Princess Plus would save us money no matter what. But clearly it won't if you have someone that does not drink alcohol and you lose a decent amount of onboard credit if you use it.

 

Is this normal, or did I somehow find an exception to the Princess Plus rule?

[skynight]

They are different fares, one could have OBC while the other does not.

Princess needs to correct plus  and other inclusive fares to allow for your situation, 1st passenger over 21, 2nd passenger under 21. It makes no sense for the passenger to pay the cost of an alcoholic fare for a non alcoholic package. 

[wallyboag]

That is interesting. I never thought of it as a fare class and not just an add-on to any fare.

 

I guess that explains why it took away the OBC. I had just always seen it as an add-on on the past since it usually just took whatever fare I had and added $45 per night.

[Tedferg]

I am surprised that OBC was not available with Plus, were these bookings done at the same time? I thought promos like OBC were for the cruise and Plus, Premiere were additional options.

[wallyboag]

2 hours ago, Tedferg said:

I am surprised that OBC was not available with Plus, were these bookings done at the same time? I thought promos like OBC were for the cruise and Plus, Premiere were additional options.

 

That is what I thought too, but when you go to check out and click on the "View Applied Promo" on the non-Princess Plus reservation, it lists out the onboard credits for both guests. When I click on that link as if I am going to purchase Princess Plus, it lists the Princess Plus perks but not the OBC. On previous reservations where there was OBC involved it would list both the Princess Plus perks and the OBC.

[Steelers36]

5 hours ago, wallyboag said:

Hello-

 

Has anyone had a fare that denied onboard credit if you purchased the Princess Plus plan?

 

For those wondering about why I would want to do this, here is the math:

 

When I priced the booking without Princess Plus it gave me a $100 per person stateroom credit. When I priced it with Princess Plus, it removed that stateroom credit.

 

I am sailing with my daughter who is under 21, so the beverage package does nothing for her.

 

So here is my math on why I am about to book without Princess Plus:

1. The cost of Princess Plus is $50 per night, or $350 per person, so $700 for the entire cruise.

2. Tips are $14.50 each per day, WiFi is $10 per day. For two people, that would be $171.50 for the 7 day cruise. 

3. The adult beverage package is $70.79 per day, the kids beverage package is $11.79 per day. That would be $578.05 for the 7 day cruise

4. The net cost for buying these things ala carte would be $749.55, less the $200 on board credit = $549.55, $150 less than going with Princess Plus.

 

So going with Princess Plus would save us $50 if we could keep our onboard credit, but cost us $150 more if we lose the credit. I called Princess and the customer service rep seemed confused by all of this and said that Princess Plus would save us money no matter what. But clearly it won't if you have someone that does not drink alcohol and you lose a decent amount of onboard credit if you use it.

 

Is this normal, or did I somehow find an exception to the Princess Plus rule?

In step 2, your figure is wrong.  Crew Appreciation is $14.50 x 2 people x 7 nights and MedallionNet is $10 x 2 people x 7 nights (assuming you do not get the 50% discount as Platinum or Elite).  The result is $343.

 

In Step 4, your a la carte total should be $343 + $578 = $921.  Then, less $200 = $721. 

 

 

If you analyze value of Princess Plus using the bloated Plus Drinks package, Plus will always look better.  A more realistic approach is to calculate your cost for Crew Appreciation and MedallionNet.  In your case this is $343 from Step 2.

 

Subtract that from the cost of PLUS fare option.  Result is $700 - $343 = $357.  This is $51/day of the cruise.  Considering port days vs sea days, how much to you think you and daughter will spend in non-free beverages per day?  (Normal situation).

 

In your specific situation, you mentioned the $200 OBC only comes with the Standard fare.  That means the $343 in fixed costs is only net $143.  Compare that to $700 for PLUS, and you have to drink $557 worth or almost $80/day in drinks between the two of you.  If you are going to spend that much, then go with PLUS.  If not, just pay-as-you-go.

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by Steelers36

[caribill]

Do you already have a reservation without the Plus package and you want to add it or are you looking at a new reservation and comparing the standard and plus pricing?

 

If a new reservation, normally any OBC perk would be the same with or without the Plus package.

 

If you have an existing reservation without the Plus package but do have OBC, then looking at current Plus pricing would include current perks which may not include any OBC.

 

On the other hand, there are booking codes to upgrade an existing Standard priced booking to be a Plus booking and would not cause the loss of any original perks such as OBC. When you speak with Princess (or your TA), make sure they know you want to add the Plus package, not cancel what you have and rebook.

[wallyboag]

10 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

In step 2, your figure is wrong.  Crew Appreciation is $14.50 x 2 people x 7 nights and MedallionNet is $10 x 2 people x 7 nights (assuming you do not get the 50% discount as Platinum or Elite).  The result is $343.

 

In Step 4, your a la carte total should be $343 + $578 = $921.  Then, less $200 = $721. 

 

 

 

Good catch! The difference is closer than I calculated. I appreciate the bottom line there. I could drink 8 drinks a day, but it is not worth paying that much just to try and break even. Had the plus package included the $200 OBC then I definitely would have gone for it, but because it is not, princess is losing out on the money I would have spent on the drink package/plus package.

[wallyboag]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

Do you already have a reservation without the Plus package and you want to add it or are you looking at a new reservation and comparing the standard and plus pricing?

 

If a new reservation, normally any OBC perk would be the same with or without the Plus package.

 

If you have an existing reservation without the Plus package but do have OBC, then looking at current Plus pricing would include current perks which may not include any OBC.

 

On the other hand, there are booking codes to upgrade an existing Standard priced booking to be a Plus booking and would not cause the loss of any original perks such as OBC. When you speak with Princess (or your TA), make sure they know you want to add the Plus package, not cancel what you have and rebook.

I booked the cruise without Princess Plus because it didn't make sense. But if I go to rebook the same, it is still happening.

 

Below examples are from the Aug 21 sailing of Discovery princes.

 

Here are the "Applied Promos" when I price the cruise as an Inside GTY without Princess Plus:

 

And here are the applied promos when I price the same Inside GTY on the same cruise with Princess Plus:

 

The onboard credit is gone on Princess Plus!

 

[Tedferg]

Did you discuss with Princess? When I do a test booking 'View Applied Promos' shows Military OBC for both passengers but only one of us qualify. Another poster said our actual booking, versus a test booking, would show different results. Try a Princess Chat.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, wallyboag said:

I booked the cruise without Princess Plus because it didn't make sense. But if I go to rebook the same, it is still happening.

 

Below examples are from the Aug 21 sailing of Discovery princes.

 

Here are the "Applied Promos" when I price the cruise as an Inside GTY without Princess Plus:

 

And here are the applied promos when I price the same Inside GTY on the same cruise with Princess Plus:

 

The onboard credit is gone on Princess Plus!

 

 

When I look at that same cruise, I see no OBC for the Inside cabin standard pricing.

 

I checked without and with signing in.

 

I wonder if you have some special offer that is not available to everyone.

[wallyboag]

49 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

When I look at that same cruise, I see no OBC for the Inside cabin standard pricing.

 

I checked without and with signing in.

 

I wonder if you have some special offer that is not available to everyone.

 

That may be? Is there a way to find out what offer you are on? I don't see it anywhere on my confirmation document.

[wallyboag]

1 hour ago, Tedferg said:

Did you discuss with Princess? When I do a test booking 'View Applied Promos' shows Military OBC for both passengers but only one of us qualify. Another poster said our actual booking, versus a test booking, would show different results. Try a Princess Chat.

 

I did call my PVP. They just told me that I should do Princess Plus instead of taking the onboard credit. She didn't say why, but I suspect it is because she wanted the higher commission.

[geoherb]

49 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

When I look at that same cruise, I see no OBC for the Inside cabin standard pricing.

 

I checked without and with signing in.

 

I wonder if you have some special offer that is not available to everyone.

 

That's what I saw as well. I'd also suggest looking at various travel agencies to see if you can get a better price than by booking directly with Princess. Mine gave me a nice bit of onboard credit for my upcoming cruise. 

[Steelers36]

15 minutes ago, wallyboag said:

 

That may be? Is there a way to find out what offer you are on? I don't see it anywhere on my confirmation document.

 

You can call whoever you are booked with and ask them.  The Promo Fare Code you are booked under is not revealed on Princess.com, but it is in your reservation record.  Sometimes you can know what it is if booking under a sales promotion and you bring up the small print Terms & Conditions.

 

Fare promos are 3-alphanumeric codes.  Some are generally applicable, some are targeted to specific geographic markets, and some are targeted at specific set of guests meeting whatever criteria they dreamed up. 

 

If you access a good 3rd party booking engine website, it will be showing all possible fares that you are eligible for and will indicate the fare code. 

 

 

14 minutes ago, wallyboag said:

 

I did call my PVP. They just told me that I should do Princess Plus instead of taking the onboard credit. She didn't say why, but I suspect it is because she wanted the higher commission.

Of course she said that.  It's what they do - just like a robot.  I am surprised she didn't try and push you into Premier.  (Maybe that's what she does to the ones thinking of booking Plus - LOL).