Premium Package is it worth it?

[NebrFarmer]

We are on a 15day HI cruise and I keep wondering if the extra $750 for both of us be worth it?   There are the 4 meals, 4 wifi, $200.00  plus the pictures and gifts?  What in heavens name are the gifts?  With so many sea day I know we will be using more than I wifi.   Any information would be appreciated.

[Sea Hag]

You just need to run the math for your individual situation. We don't drink, we don't want any more photos of us on or around a ship, we share on half-price internet package, and it's doubtful we'd want the gifts. So, obviously not worth it to us. But it might be to you. Do the math, leaving out any notion of "gifts" and that ought to give you a better handle on it.

Edited September 27, 2022 by Sea Hag

[Mary Ann 2]

The gifts are randomly given as you enter your room each day. If you have the Premier package, it will tell you if you won anything.  It could be $25 onboard credit or greater amounts. I've seen posts of people who won specialty dining. I think I've only seen one post where a passenger won $5,000. 

 

It's not a reason for us to sign up for Premier, but the other perks are.  We always do at  least two specialty dining reservations.  We buy pictures and have paid $200 or more for a picture package that included all pictures though that's not been offered lately as I use the digital pictures in my digital scrapbooks made after we get home. Primarily, it's for the wine.  On our last cruise, we only found wine greater than the Plus package amount that we liked, so we were paying the overage amount multiple times a day. Hubby also dislikes having to sign out and sign in when he switches from iPad to computer or phone.  Doesn't bother me, but he is happy to have 4 devices.  He also uses the coffee benefit a lot but that's in both packages.

 

In the end, one has to decide whether it is worth it for them.  If we didn't drink wine, we probably would go with Plus again as the cocktails are almost all included.

Edited September 27, 2022 by Mary Ann 2

[NownZen]

32 minutes ago, NebrFarmer said:

We are on a 15day HI cruise and I keep wondering if the extra $750 for both of us be worth it?   There are the 4 meals, 4 wifi, $200.00  plus the pictures and gifts?  What in heavens name are the gifts?  With so many sea day I know we will be using more than I wifi.   Any information would be appreciated.

A few things. The $50/day plus package is each so so $1500 dollars total. Wifi is 1 each. The pictures, gifts and meals are with the Premiere package which is $75/day each.

The Plus package includes tips and wifi so you end up paying about $25/day each for drinks. That is two glasses of wine each so it can be a good deal if you drink more. Beer is three drinks per day. The Premiere package includes higher priced drinks than the $12 each for the plus package. For us the Plus package makes sense, the Premiere does not.

 

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, NebrFarmer said:

We are on a 15day HI cruise and I keep wondering if the extra $750 for both of us be worth it?   There are the 4 meals, 4 wifi, $200.00  plus the pictures and gifts?  What in heavens name are the gifts?  With so many sea day I know we will be using more than I wifi.   Any information would be appreciated.

It sounds like the gifts are random, some worth more than others.  Does everyone get a gift?  It's just another form of gambling.  Maybe you'll get dinner in Salty Dog pub or maybe you'll get $1000.  I'm passing on this.

 

[Bobbiegentry]

Useless to us. Neither of us drink alcohol. We don’t want their photos. We share one Wi-Fi connection with the 50% elite discount. 
 

We can but a lot of $29 specialty dinners with the cost delta. 
 

Do the math. YMMV

[cruzin4us]

if drinking higher priced liquor is one of the things that interests you, be prepared for them to be out of many choices.   I opt for the Plus pkg, because I can just pay the difference in price.   Pictures are of no interest to me and I can buy a specialty dinner and be much farther ahead.    Prizes.......you could win.....maybe

 

[lx200gps]

We tried it on our recent trip on the Enchanted. Utter and total waste of money for us. We certainly did use the 2 Specialty dining meals, which we would have paid for anyway, but everything else was a wate. The $18 drink limit was not very useful as there were very few wines more than about $12 and many of those we asked for were not available. We didn't use the photo option, and the 4 wifi wasn't overly useful as I only had one tablet with me. The "game" is simply a message that pops up on the door screen each time you enter the cabin. Usually says "Better Luck Next Time" but occasionally said I was entered in some end of cruise draw. Never heard anything so I assume we didn't win anything. If they had actually had a wide selection of better wines, we could have made it worthwhile, but since their inventories are so limited, we got little to no use out of it.

[Martha1974]

We were on the Sky Princess last week - here are a few observations:

 - at the ‘Princess Prizes’ draw on the last day there were several $25 / $50 /$100 prizes (I wasn’t counting but maybe 10 in total) plus one $5000 prize. We were Plus not Premier so weren’t included in the Prizes scheme and I have no idea how many OBC /SD type prizes were awarded

- availability of wines included in the Plus package was variable! I usually drink Pinot Grigio or Sav Blanc (absolutely won’t touch Chardonnay - don’t judge me). Some venues had one or the other but few had both. Personally I was happy as long as I could get one or the other (and I’m happy drinking a House wine) If you are happy to drink Prosecco you will get that anywhere.
- we’re not really interested in buying photos (particularly “posed” photos with backdrops) but I was surprised that there weren’t more photographers around the ship to take more casual pictures - it seemed to be on embarkation day and after that just the backdrop photos that were available.

- this was our first Princess cruise so we wanted to try all three SD venues and were happy to pay the upcharge for all of them. When we sail on Sky Princess again we would be happy to eat at 2 of the 3 SD venues.

So the decision for us based on our first Princess cruise is that the Premier package wouldn’t be for us! DH drinks beer (easily within the Plus package) and I’m happy to drink wine that’s included in Plus as long as it’s Sav Blanc or Pinot (again, don’t judge me!). The photo

package doesn’t appeal, don’t need the WiFi for more than one device each and we’d pay for 2xSD anyway. The possibility of winning something with Princess Prizes isn’t enough to sweeten the deal for us. 

[Murray's Pop]

We always do the Plus package and don't think that the Premium is worth the extra.  We are very happy with the $12 drinks and have no interest in the "prize" package.

[wowzz]

Seems cheaper to buy Carnival shares and get the shareholder obc rather than pay for the Premium package ! (Unless you want photographs that you will never look at again,  and hope to win an unspecified prize in an unspecified game).

[SiliconCruiser]

The Plus package requires that at least two people in a cabin participate.  So each person is required to consume about 3 alcoholic beverages per 24 hour day to break even, or up to 15 drinks per person per day.  My DW does not consume alcohol, and she will not let me consume her share.  So bollocks to that scheme.  It might be better for me to visit that gathering with Friends of Bill W. and Doctor Bob (yeah, i know that is not how it is listed in the Patter.)

 

[cruzsnooze]

10 hours ago, NebrFarmer said:

We are on a 15day HI cruise and I keep wondering if the extra $750 for both of us be worth it?   There are the 4 meals, 4 wifi, $200.00  plus the pictures and gifts?  What in heavens name are the gifts?  With so many sea day I know we will be using more than I wifi.   Any information would be appreciated.

If you don't drink then it's not worth it.

[c-boy]

8 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

If you don't drink then it's not worth it.

4 stars on Yelp for you sir.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

19 hours ago, NebrFarmer said:

We are on a 15day HI cruise and I keep wondering if the extra $750 for both of us be worth it? 

no. It's not even worth it to us to us to get Princess Plus, let alone a much more expensive Princess Premium.

[JF - retired RRT]

21 hours ago, wowzz said:

Seems cheaper to buy Carnival shares and get the shareholder obc rather than pay for the Premium package ! (Unless you want photographs that you will never look at again,  and hope to win an unspecified prize in an unspecified game).

Yeah...when the eventually start paying it again.

[cruzsnooze]

6 hours ago, c-boy said:

4 stars on Yelp for you sir.

Ask a silly question get a silly answer.

Only the OP can do the math to see if it's worth it. 

[sonomaphil]

The shorter the cruise the more "worth it" it becomes.  Say it's a three day cruise, $75 per person for Premier over Plus.  Two meals at Crown Grill would be $58. Of that $75, now we have to cover only $17.  Picture package is worth $89 (they say) so we're there already and haven't talked about higher end drinks, prizes or WiFi yet. 

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Yeah...when the eventually start paying it again.

The shareholder obc has never stopped. 

Do you mean the dividend?  

[JF - retired RRT]

16 hours ago, wowzz said:

The shareholder obc has never stopped. 

Do you mean the dividend?  

Yes. Brain fade. Patiently waiting for dividends.  🙏

[NebrFarmer]

5 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Yes. Brain fade. Patiently waiting for dividends.  🙏

I think we are lucky to still get the OBC.  I'm sure we are ahead of the original cost.  

If it wasn't for the 10 sea days I wouldn't have any questions.  $25 PER DAY FOR BOTH seems like a decent deal.  Just having 2 wifis may be OK.  We do drink and could try some of the other wines.  I was really asking about the PRIZES?

[jwattle]

2 hours ago, NebrFarmer said:

I think we are lucky to still get the OBC.  I'm sure we are ahead of the original cost.  

If it wasn't for the 10 sea days I wouldn't have any questions.  $25 PER DAY FOR BOTH seems like a decent deal.  Just having 2 wifis may be OK.  We do drink and could try some of the other wines.  I was really asking about the PRIZES?

Prizes, including, but not limited to, limited availability prizes, cruises, an entry into an end-of-voyage drawing, and prizes provided and/or sponsored by third parties, may be available to Authorized Guests on more than one Participating Vessel during the Promotion Period and win(s) by Authorized Guest(s) on the same Participating Vessel or another Participating Vessel may impact the availability of prizes

Any prize(s) awarded during Game Play, which may be credited to a guest account, will be credited to the guest account of the Primary Guest of an Enrolled Stateroom regardless of which Authorized Guest of an Enrolled Stateroom activated Game Play. Prizes awarded to a guest account shall be considered claimed at the time of credit. Prizes awarded in the form of shipboard credit, whether or not otherwise restricted, have no cash value, are non-refundable, cannot be redeemed for cash or a cash equivalent and must be used on the Current Cruise

[smilesonfaces]

The speciality dinners - worth no more than $120

Photos - do you really want them ? You can buy 5 for $99 or just take your own

Drinks - more than enough choice on Plus

Wifi- You can both use a device each just not both at the same time. It is fairly rubbish anyway.

Prizes - you may win, you may not.

 

It’s up to you obviously but I cannot see the value in the Premier.

 

 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

5 hours ago, smilesonfaces said:

Wifi- You can both use a device each just not both at the same time. It is fairly rubbish anyway.

Actually, you can both use your device at the same time. With Princess Plus it’s one device per person.

[jasbo49]

Premium is not worth the extra money to us. The Plus category covers everything we want.

 

Jim