This seems like a deal...or am I just taking the bait? Princess Plus Upgrade

[oregonn8v]

Hello,

 

I am sailing on the Crown Princess next January and when I log into the portal on the web, I am bombarded with a request to upgrade to the Princess Plus Plan for an additional $60 per day. I don't drink alcohol so I thought there would be no point, and I started to look at the Non-Alcohol Beverage Package. Here's what I found.

 

Ala Carte:

• Non-Alcohol Beverage Package: $247
• Crew Appreciation: $112
• WiFi (I heard it is $15/day): $105

TOTAL: $464

Upgrade to Princess Plus Plan:

• Everything on non-alcohol Bev. package
• Alcoholic drinks up to $15 (would not use)
• Crew Appreciation
• WiFi for 1-device
• 2 specialty dessert per day
• 2 fitness classes per cruise
• Unlimited juice bar

TOTAL: $420

 

Seems like a no-brainer to go with the Princess Plus. Is that a good price on that package? Is WiFi $15/day if purchased by itself? Thanks for any tips.

 

Eric

[Guest ldtr]

Take out the non alcohol package and use the value of what you would actually expect to spend on drinks during the cruise. The non alcohol package according to what you list is 35 per day. That is a lot of softdrinks, coffee, water, etc.  Then see if it makes sense for you.

 

 

[cruise_critical]

It was also a lot cheaper for me on my recent booking by getting the Plus or Premier option instead of getting the Alcohol Drink package + Wifi for 4 devices ala carte. So was a no brainer.

 

As for WiFi pricing, it has been recently jacked up to $15 per day for a single-device plan, and $40 per day for a four-device plan.

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ocean-medallion/medallionnet/

[nini]

Just do the math. It is always worth it for us and hubby does not drink alcohol. But he loves his hot cocoa made with almond milk from the International Cafe, , herbal tea, fresh squeezed OJ and maybe a Virgin Pina Colada. Most people always say, "Oh, I do not drink alcohol", but if you do the math on the different aspects which are included, then it is a no brainer for us because we like our WiFi and tipping as well as tipping the crew.

[cr8tiv1]

And … don’t forget to add in those two ($12 each) mouth watering tempting Tyra Banks ice cream splendors and 2 free gym classes that we all will partake in….daily!  (aka Sheldon Cooper).

 

Forgot to mention….free delivery of your Medallion….thank you JP.

Edited May 9, 2023 by cr8tiv1

[CruizinSusan70]

5 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

And … don’t forget to add in those two ($12 each) mouth watering tempting Tyra Banks ice cream splendors and 2 free gym classes that we all will partake in….daily!  (aka Sheldon Cooper).

 

Forgot to mention….free delivery of your Medallion….thank you JP.

There is no free delivery of Medallions these days.  My cc just got charged 10.00 so it'll be a guest services stop late at night when there is no line to get my refund.

And the only exercising we will do are 8-12 ounce curls at Good Spirits at Sea. 😉

[rojojacko]

At the moment Princess Plus is half price, down to £25pppd, in the UK on selected cruises so a real no-brainer for us. 

[billco]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

There is no free delivery of Medallions these days.  My cc just got charged 10.00 so it'll be a guest services stop late at night when there is no line to get my refund.

And the only exercising we will do are 8-12 ounce curls at Good Spirits at Sea. 😉

You don’t need to visit guest services. CrewCall Chat on the Medallion App works just fine.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

There is no free delivery of Medallions these days.  My cc just got charged 10.00 so it'll be a guest services stop late at night when there is no line to get my refund.

And the only exercising we will do are 8-12 ounce curls at Good Spirits at Sea. 😉

We booked Plus for our upcoming cruise.  (We always do)  We received our medallions without a shipping charge.  We have NEVER been charged shipping...we've cruised 5 times since the restart.

[Cruise Raider]

We find the Plus package to be a great value for us but then again, we imbibe, especially with meals.  We also drink a specialty coffee every so often .. you can even order drinks to your room and it’s included.  
Without even looking at the new items such as the juice bar, exercise classes or special desserts, this is a good breakdown 

 

Total package price:  $60 a day pp 

Gratuities:  approx $17 a day pp 

WiFi:  $15 a day pp if not elite 

That leaves you with $28 a day pp for beverages 

Specialty coffee or tea:  $2 - $4.50 plus gratuity 

Bottle of water, juice or soda: $2.50 plus gratuity 

Mocktail:  approx $6 - $8 plus gratuity 

 

Without the package: 

You can always purchase a case of water ahead of time for $7 (in your personalizer)

you can drink the free coffee and tea 

if you don’t use WiFi, you can always eliminate that cost 

you can pick up your medallions at the pier for no cost 

there are plenty of sweets for free in the IC, at the buffet, through room service and in the MDR, etc

there are free Zumba classes every day in the piazza

 

 

Basically, if you want non-alcoholic drinks from bars and drink specialty coffees and teas, and you use WiFi, you’re probably breaking even with the plus package.  If you drink alcohol, the package is a no brainer! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

56 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

We booked Plus for our upcoming cruise.  (We always do)  We received our medallions without a shipping charge.  We have NEVER been charged shipping...we've cruised 5 times since the restart.

How many of those have been since they charge for shipping the medallion without a package went form 0 to 10.  In Feb I believe.

[remydiva]

58 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

We find the Plus package to be a great value for us but then again, we imbibe, especially with meals.  We also drink a specialty coffee every so often .. you can even order drinks to your room and it’s included.  
Without even looking at the new items such as the juice bar, exercise classes or special desserts, this is a good breakdown 

 

Total package price:  $60 a day pp 

Gratuities:  approx $17 a day pp 

WiFi:  $15 a day pp if not elite 

That leaves you with $28 a day pp for beverages 

Specialty coffee or tea:  $2 - $4.50 plus gratuity 

Bottle of water, juice or soda: $2.50 plus gratuity 

Mocktail:  approx $6 - $8 plus gratuity 

 

Without the package: 

You can always purchase a case of water ahead of time for $7 (in your personalizer)

you can drink the free coffee and tea 

if you don’t use WiFi, you can always eliminate that cost 

you can pick up your medallions at the pier for no cost 

there are plenty of sweets for free in the IC, at the buffet, through room service and in the MDR, etc

there are free Zumba classes every day in the piazza

 

 

Basically, if you want non-alcoholic drinks from bars and drink specialty coffees and teas, and you use WiFi, you’re probably breaking even with the plus package.  If you drink alcohol, the package is a no brainer! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can order water ahead? Is a case 6 bottles or the costco sized 24? Is it delivered to your room?

[Guest ldtr]

1 minute ago, remydiva said:

You can order water ahead? Is a case 6 bottles or the costco sized 24? Is it delivered to your room?

12 bottles for 7.05

[memoak]

The biggest difference is that you can order a drink package for just one person. Unless you are sailing alone in your cabin the first 2 in a cabin must take the Plus package not allowed for just one

[Rick&Jeannie]

26 minutes ago, ldtr said:

How many of those have been since they charge for shipping the medallion without a package went form 0 to 10.  In Feb I believe.

Two...but the point of my post was that we always book the Plus fare option.  Some people have been saying that they were charged even though they had done the same.

[memoak]

2 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Two...but the point of my post was that we always book the Plus fare option.  Some people have been saying that they were charged even though they had done the same.

When I ordered the medallion it showed a charge but that charge has never showed up on my credit card

[remydiva]

18 minutes ago, ldtr said:

12 bottles for 7.05

Thank you.
 

We just took a couple of empty bottles with us and refilled ( I brought a small funnel too) from glasses of water at buffet or pool. 
This would have been a good option as well. 

[roadster08]

Regarding the WIFI, it has been hit or miss based on recent threads. Depends on the ship and the itinerary. There are WIFI service upgrades being rolled out so anything anyone writes now may not apply on your cruise next January.

 

Bottom line, is keep you WIFI expectations open. You may get value from it and you may not. Like everything else about cruising.🙂

[Happiest when cruising]

3 hours ago, rojojacko said:

At the moment Princess Plus is half price, down to £25pppd, in the UK on selected cruises so a real no-brainer for us. 

What a good deal that is. I’ll watch for that promotion to show up in Canada. 

[that]

8 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

And … don’t forget to add in those two ($12 each) mouth watering tempting Tyra Banks ice cream splendors and 2 free gym classes that we all will partake in….daily!  (aka Sheldon Cooper).

 

Forgot to mention….free delivery of your Medallion….thank you JP.

Is that SMiZE from Tyra Banks

 

or gelato or ice cream?  

[cruzsnooze]

Bad value to my way of thinking. Mostly high calorie non alcoholic drinks and I only need one wifi for one computer that I can share. I also reduce my gratuity to $12 PP PD so for my way of thinking it's a very poor value

 

[Happiest when cruising]

3 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

Bad value to my way of thinking. Mostly high calorie non alcoholic drinks and I only need one wifi for one computer that I can share. I also reduce my gratuity to $12 PP PD so for my way of thinking it's a very poor value

 

Why do you reduce your gratuities? 

[memoak]

21 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

Bad value to my way of thinking. Mostly high calorie non alcoholic drinks and I only need one wifi for one computer that I can share. I also reduce my gratuity to $12 PP PD so for my way of thinking it's a very poor value

 

Never understand why people change out their gratuities. If you were on land and eating in restaurants, drinking in bars and staying in hotels you would surely pay a lot more than that in tips 

[Happiest when cruising]

13 minutes ago, memoak said:

Never understand why people change out their gratuities. If you were on land and eating in restaurants, drinking in bars and staying in hotels you would surely pay a lot more than that in tips 

I always pay them, and leave extra if I feel I got exceptional service. 
This last 21 day cruise our room steward did her job just fine. She put up those little signs outside our cabin for our celebrations. She also made towel swans… it wasn’t necessary and I actually don’t care for them, but it was nice. I also believe those are not extras, as we marked the celebrations on our booking. I  also told her I had taken her little card and would give her a nice recommendation on the post survey. She was more excited about that, than the extra tip we gave her. 
but…those gratuities are adding up, for sure. As my travel budget is in Canadian dollars, it’s about 44.00 a day now. So, about 925.00 for 21 days, not including any extra gratuities.  I never really added it into the total cost of the trip before, but now I will need to. I probably still won’t add the Plus or Premium booking fare, though. 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Happiest when cruising

[WAvoyager]

2 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Two...but the point of my post was that we always book the Plus fare option.  Some people have been saying that they were charged even though they had done the same.

 

That was the case for us on an April 15th sailing.  The items were in the cart, and the cart showed a shipping charge, aven though we were plus.  We upgraded to premier, and the charge was still there.
 

2 hours ago, memoak said:

When I ordered the medallion it showed a charge but that charge has never showed up on my credit card

 

But then it looks possible that even though the cart showed a charge, we may not have been billed it.  I think it’s unlikely though as there were other charges in the cart as well (customized medallions), so I can’t see them not charging for anything.

 

We changed it to pick up at port, just in case.  I hate spending time waiting in line to fix someone else’s issue.

Edited May 9, 2023 by WAvoyager