Is Princess Plus Really Worth It?

[roadster08]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Neither myself or any of my friends could get by on 5 drinks a day. In fact that wouldn’t even get us to pre dinner drinks. Love the Plus package

I was suggesting an additional package not a replacement. Some of us are built for distance, not for volume. Princess could make their margin just the same on light drinkers with a lower limit as heavy drinkers with the higher limit. 

[that]

On 3/13/2023 at 4:00 PM, EDH75 said:

Wife and I are sailing on the Regal Princess TransAtlantic cruise in April.  We have sailed about 12 times and never have purchased their drink packages before. We usually cruise with another couple, but this time it us just the 2 of us.   But on a 14 day cruise with only 4 ports, that means lots of sea days just lounging around and relaxing and drinking (even though we normally are not big drinkers)

 

For $70 per day including tax ( Total of $1960 for both), here is what the Princess Plus provides.

• Princess® dining, accommodations and entertainment
• MedallionClass® experience
• Plus Beverage Package
  (drinks up to $15 each)
• Wi-Fi (1 device per guest)
• Crew appreciation
• NEW Premium desserts (2 per day)
• NEW Fitness classes (2 per cruise)
• NEW Unlimited juice bar
•  

Wifi is normally $10 per day each and crew appreciation is $224 each so that comes out total of $728.  So the question is can we drink a total of $1200 in 14 days?  That divides out to basically $44 per day each for alcohol / juice?  So basically we need drink 3 or 4 cocktails each per day.

 

Just looking for replies / comments/ thoughts for members that have purchased drink packages in the past!  Was it worth it to them?  Thanks

$70 a day?

hmmmm

 

yes, at $40

then $50

mow $60

the Princess Plus Fare worth it

to us

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, lois1112 said:

is this included in the plus package?

I have seen you ask this a couple of times.  I recommend you go on Princess.com and look at the Plus and Premier packages.  They are fully described, plus the terms & conditions.

[lois1112]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

I have seen you ask this a couple of times.  I recommend you go on Princess.com and look at the Plus and Premier packages.  They are fully described, plus the terms & conditions.

I've only asked the one time, and it was not clear to me on the web site (I did look) sorry if my question upset you

[nini]

5 hours ago, lois1112 said:

is this included in the plus package?

ABSOLUTELY!!!

 

 

It's

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, lois1112 said:

I've only asked the one time, and it was not clear to me on the web site (I did look) sorry if my question upset you

It didn't upset me.  I like to direct people to where there is detailed information on Princess.com and perhaps they have not found it or have not looked.

 

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/food-and-dining/beverages/

 

https://www.princess.com/cruise-deals-promotions/plus-premier-cruise-packages/

 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, lois1112 said:

I've only asked the one time, and it was not clear to me on the web site (I did look) sorry if my question upset you

Sorry .. maybe it was another poster.  Just saw the same thing 2x, but perhaps I was looking at the same post, but from two different references.

[Tedferg]

15 hours ago, roadster08 said:

I was suggesting an additional package not a replacement. Some of us are built for distance, not for volume. Princess could make their margin just the same on light drinkers with a lower limit as heavy drinkers with the higher limit. 

I think the charge is well thought out by Princess to optimize the number of drinks it takes to convince most people to sign up for the package. I also think the 15 drink maximum confuses the issue, it is not to say 'here is the price for your 15 drinks' and so if you only take 10 drinks the price is lower. I think that confuses the calculation. I think for many, especially on a port day, a drink before dinner, two glasses of wine during dinner and a night cap are the norm. And those four drinks just about clinch the package price. It did at $40 for me, $50 was just OK, $60 is too much. I actually wondered if there would be a drop off at $60 and they would revert to $50.

[memoak]

40 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

I think the charge is well thought out by Princess to optimize the number of drinks it takes to convince most people to sign up for the package. I also think the 15 drink maximum confuses the issue, it is not to say 'here is the price for your 15 drinks' and so if you only take 10 drinks the price is lower. I think that confuses the calculation. I think for many, especially on a port day, a drink before dinner, two glasses of wine during dinner and a night cap are the norm. And those four drinks just about clinch the package price. It did at $40 for me, $50 was just OK, $60 is too much. I actually wondered if there would be a drop off at $60 and they would revert to $50.

That may be your norm but not the norm for many of us so the new price will still be a good deal for many of us

[WAvoyager]

44 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

I think the charge is well thought out by Princess to optimize the number of drinks it takes to convince most people to sign up for the package. I also think the 15 drink maximum confuses the issue, it is not to say 'here is the price for your 15 drinks' and so if you only take 10 drinks the price is lower. I think that confuses the calculation. I think for many, especially on a port day, a drink before dinner, two glasses of wine during dinner and a night cap are the norm. And those four drinks just about clinch the package price. It did at $40 for me, $50 was just OK, $60 is too much. I actually wondered if there would be a drop off at $60 and they would revert to $50.

We tend to drink a little less alcohol, but we also plan for a coffee, fresh juice or mocktail and a couple of bottled waters during the day, which further tip the equation.

[Redwing55]

For me it's tough.. One, the spouse doesn't drink but maybe 1 drink or two all week. On a cruise, rarely.  Same goes for me.  So there likely is value if one is a drinker.  And one that actually drinks multiple ones a day. So, like 3-4 drink... boom I'm ahead.

But I can also look at what I'm spending.  Our typical cruise tab is rarely in triple digits... yeah, less than $100.  So, the question that I keep having trouble answering is do I want to spend "X" dollars on drinks.  Simple question, but not sure what I actually want.  It's vacation on one hand, but we go almost annually.    I suspect a few others have the same dilema.

 

In the end, I think it's a personal decision as to if one wants to drink freely without concern of the bill..  Or does one just not want to spend those discretionary dollars on drinks? 

[Prometheus1]

So before Princess had the drink package we spent about $750 between the two of us on drinks ala carte. At the time we had only been on a few cruises, and we were constantly thinking about the cost of every drink. Fast forward a decade later, after spending $24 on a double white russian (I assumed would just be a few dollars upcharge, my fault for assuming!), I wished Princess had a drink package. Fast forward again and now they do have a package. If you are constantly trying to add math in your head and thinking " okay what is our total on drinks", just get the plus package. If you are particular about specific brands get Premier. For me, at some point I just want to enjoy and not stress about every drink and the total price. Are they making a profit? Probably, but I work hard and I just want to go on a cruise, have many drinks on some days and a few other days and not stress. The first time I got a drink package I said never again because I felt like I needed to drink more to get my moneys worth and I did. Now I just remind myself I'm paying for the convenience of no worries and no huge tab at the end.  Of course Plus includes things other than drinks but beverages seem to be the sticking point. 

Just my opinion, not right or wrong

[WAvoyager]

57 minutes ago, Prometheus1 said:

The first time I got a drink package I said never again because I felt like I needed to drink more to get my moneys worth and I did. Now I just remind myself I'm paying for the convenience of no worries and no huge tab at the end.  Of course Plus includes things other than drinks but beverages seem to be the sticking point. 

Just my opinion, not right or wrong

Same discussion my family and I have with high end buffets (like the Bacchanal at Caesars in Vegas) - some people feel like they really only get value if they eat a ton of food.  To me the value is all in the tons of things I can have (or not) whenever I want to.  Vacations where you only have to think “do I want to?” and not “should I?” are priceless to me.

[happy42cruise]

Some will not see the value in the packages. For myself & my husband the major value is the ability to not have to think about things, like the tipping, or if a drink sounds interesting but ends up tasting nasty so not drinking it, fresh juices when we want them, a glass of wine or 2 at dinner. As WAvoyager posted the ability to not think about "should I or do I really want to" is priceless.  I agree that many of the new additions are not worth much to us but the cruise lines are trying to recoup major losses from Covid so they are raising prices on things that they can while still filling the ships.