Would you go P&O Plus / Premium?

[molecrochip]

Having read the thread about a better tier of drinks package, being more expensive, but including more; and seeing the generally positive responses, it got me thinking. Princess have introduced their Plus and Premium bundled packages over the last couple of year. They have been a big success - that's been stated in public. I remain convinced that P&O will follow suit and launch a similar package - and I'm keen to know people's reactions.

 

I suspect that at this point you may see a move away from Early Saver, Select and Saver with a Guarantee grade cabin being the cheapest grade irrespective of package, with personally chosen rooms at a higher price. Re internet: I know that the satellite internet coverage needs sorting, however trials are underway at improving this.

 

You end up with a package like: Drinks + Wifi + Port Shuttles + Dining Choice (where club exists) + Embarkation time choice. Your no package option essentially becomes the Early Saver/Saver fare type.

 

Which then begs the topic of gratuities . If, as with Princess, the add on packages are really popular then including gratuities within the package won't impact most people. It does then allow P&O to change policy and add gratuities back on to the basic cabin for those who don't take the package.

 

And then what about OBS, Car-Parking, Coach travel? Most of Carnival's brands don't offer such benefits? I only ever ask for OBS when booking so I'm not in touch with how much people value these.

 

Would love to hear peoples thoughts.
 

Disclaimer: I'm asking this out of personal curiosity - I'm not asking this on behalf of anyone; I know people will wonder if the company are asking me to ask.

[Mad4WDW]

I personally don’t think they will go back to gratuities not being included. This caused way to much resentment etc 

 

I think they might eventually go for a bundled package with the new deluxe drinks package, starlink, and a specialty dining option included for each 6 or 7 days and also throw in some fitness classes etc

 

[jaydee6969]

From the Princess packages, we would always take the Plus package.  The Premium adds little extra value for what we would use from it.  As a F&F passenger, we have to pay gratuities regardless, so the package is great value.

 

For P&O, certainly with the current no waiting policy that I have heard about, being able to select your embarkation time as Princess does would be a good addition.  Add into this the more unrestricted drink package and access to a Starlink internet service, nice little package.  But needs to be marketed at a reasonable price to give good value for money.

[Ardennais]

As long as passengers who don’t want a drinks package are disadvantaged. I don’t want a drinks package or wi-fi and don’t care about early boarding. I do want choice of dining and car parking and I like included gratuities. 

[Josy1953]

19 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

As long as passengers who don’t want a drinks package are disadvantaged. I don’t want a drinks package or wi-fi and don’t care about early boarding. I do want choice of dining and car parking and I like included gratuities. 

On Princess the passengers not taking the package are not disadvantaged, anyone not wanting the package can still pay for drinks WiFi etc according to what they want to use, they can still use the app to book their dining time. Parking can be booked directly with any parking company that you choose, gratuities are added to your final bill but you can remove or change how much you want to pay.

We have had the package 3 times now and even though we are not big drinkers (2 or 3 alcoholic drinks is the maximum per day for us),  we do drink the coffees from the coffee shop rather than the sludge from the buffet.   We find it  convenient to take the package.

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Josy1953

[zap99]

41 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Having read the thread about a better tier of drinks package, being more expensive, but including more; and seeing the generally positive responses, it got me thinking. Princess have introduced their Plus and Premium bundled packages over the last couple of year. They have been a big success - that's been stated in public. I remain convinced that P&O will follow suit and launch a similar package - and I'm keen to know people's reactions.

 

I suspect that at this point you may see a move away from Early Saver, Select and Saver with a Guarantee grade cabin being the cheapest grade irrespective of package, with personally chosen rooms at a higher price. Re internet: I know that the satellite internet coverage needs sorting, however trials are underway at improving this.

 

You end up with a package like: Drinks + Wifi + Port Shuttles + Dining Choice (where club exists) + Embarkation time choice. Your no package option essentially becomes the Early Saver/Saver fare type.

 

Which then begs the topic of gratuities . If, as with Princess, the add on packages are really popular then including gratuities within the package won't impact most people. It does then allow P&O to change policy and add gratuities back on to the basic cabin for those who don't take the package.

 

And then what about OBS, Car-Parking, Coach travel? Most of Carnival's brands don't offer such benefits? I only ever ask for OBS when booking so I'm not in touch with how much people value these.

 

Would love to hear peoples thoughts.
 

Disclaimer: I'm asking this out of personal curiosity - I'm not asking this on behalf of anyone; I know people will wonder if the company are asking me to ask.

Forgive me for being a cynic,  but P&O will do what they perceive to be best for their margin. Savvy bookers will look at the options and decide what they are prepared to pay. Easy cruise got it wrong and P&O would be making a mistake to go that route. I know that if I book early, I will get stuffed,  if I book late I may need to take pot luck, or go somewhere else. I won't pay £1000 extra to book select and get £220 OBC. If it goes the easy cruise route I will go elsewhere.  If P&O offer a decent cruise at a fair price I will continue to book P&O. Folk will see through the gimmicks. Push the price up towards Celebrity and the choice is an easy one.

[Selbourne]

Interesting subject. We did our first Cunard cruise recently. There were many areas where we felt that the experience was far better than P&O (e.g. embarkation, disembarkation, food quality and choice, dining times, staff levels, cabin servicing etc) and, consequently, we are now prepared to pay more for the better experience.
 

The one thing that I really didn’t like was that gratuities are still charged and you pay 15% gratuity on top of drinks as well. I didn’t feel comfortable removing the auto tips (as it would deprive the staff who enhanced our experience but didn’t interact with us personally, such as kitchen staff) but equally I didn’t feel comfortable not tipping our dedicated steward and waiting staff, so I ended up doing both auto gratuities and personal tips, so I ended up spending around £50 a day on tips! I would be very unhappy if P&O reverted to charging extra for tips as it’s one remaining positive for us and would be a difficult sell with the new to cruising market that P&O are so desperately targeting. 
 

We are still cruising with P&O as well, but have set a cap of £100 pppn for a balcony cabin on a Select basis with free parking, simply because we no longer feel that the product offered by P&O is worth more than that. We may take a different view once we have done some post Covid cruises with P&O, of which we have 3 over the next 5 months on Britannia, Iona and Ventura. We should then have a good idea of what the post Covid P&O looks like, in particular the MDR experience (menu choices, portion sizes, virtual or physical queues for Freedom dining etc). 
 

We never pay for WiFi (use it free when ashore) and we get priority embarkation anyway. We always want to choose our cabin (not have what is left). We prefer Freedom dining, but are concerned from what we’ve been reading that P&O seem to have lost control of that, and what once worked really well now sounds like disorganised chaos! Personally, I would like an included drinks package (without all the daft restrictions of the current one) but my wife wouldn’t get value from it. I could therefore see us ending up with a dilemma. The top level package would make P&O too expensive for what we now perceive it to be worth, and would push us to other (better) cruise lines, yet the lower tier offer wouldn’t tick our boxes. 🤔

[daiB]

11 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Interesting subject. We did our first Cunard cruise recently. There were many areas where we felt that the experience was far better than P&O (e.g. embarkation, disembarkation, food quality and choice, dining times, staff levels, cabin servicing etc) and, consequently, we are now prepared to pay more for the better experience.
 

The one thing that I really didn’t like was that gratuities are still charged and you pay 15% gratuity on top of drinks as well. I didn’t feel comfortable removing the auto tips (as it would deprive the staff who enhanced our experience but didn’t interact with us personally, such as kitchen staff) but equally I didn’t feel comfortable not tipping our dedicated steward and waiting staff, so I ended up doing both auto gratuities and personal tips, so I ended up spending around £50 a day on tips! I would be very unhappy if P&O reverted to charging extra for tips as it’s one remaining positive for us and would be a difficult sell with the new to cruising market that P&O are so desperately targeting. 
 

We are still cruising with P&O as well, but have set a cap of £100 pppn for a balcony cabin on a Select basis with free parking, simply because we no longer feel that the product offered by P&O is worth more than that. We may take a different view once we have done some post Covid cruises with P&O, of which we have 3 over the next 5 months on Britannia, Iona and Ventura. We should then have a good idea of what the post Covid P&O looks like, in particular the MDR experience (menu choices, portion sizes, virtual or physical queues for Freedom dining etc). 
 

We never pay for WiFi (use it free when ashore) and we get priority embarkation anyway. We always want to choose our cabin (not have what is left). We prefer Freedom dining, but are concerned from what we’ve been reading that P&O seem to have lost control of that, and what once worked really well now sounds like disorganised chaos! Personally, I would like an included drinks package (without all the daft restrictions of the current one) but my wife wouldn’t get value from it. I could therefore see us ending up with a dilemma. The top level package would make P&O too expensive for what we now perceive it to be worth, and would push us to other (better) cruise lines, yet the lower tier offer wouldn’t tick our boxes. 🤔

I am interested in how you come to the conclusion that P&O have lost control of freedom dining? That was not the case on Iona. The photos of long queues on Arvia from what I have gleaned are all the same photo. It is the queue for the MDR before it opens at 5.30. We have seen these on other ships at the start of the evening meal in freedom. The reason. Many people want fixed dining and first sitting therefore they turn early dining on freedom into first sitting. Resulting in no spaces in the dining room until they have been served. So no freedom if you go at 6.30 to 7.00. So should they go back to club dining in at least one restaurant? Certainly we went to the MDR about 7 times on Iona in our 3 weeks and apart from the first night it worked well

[bobstheboy]

A very interesting subject. I am not impressed with the current drinks package/price. Too many restrictions and ok if yoo are a beer drinker but not enough cocktails included. I will buy it on my Arvia cruise in September, but then I have £1100 OBC so it is their money. If P&O added more to their currents drinks package and charged another fiver, that would be okay.

 

I Stay away from lines charging grats and adding a percentage on drinks. We all have our red line.

[daiB]

2 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Having read the thread about a better tier of drinks package, being more expensive, but including more; and seeing the generally positive responses, it got me thinking. Princess have introduced their Plus and Premium bundled packages over the last couple of year. They have been a big success - that's been stated in public. I remain convinced that P&O will follow suit and launch a similar package - and I'm keen to know people's reactions.

 

I suspect that at this point you may see a move away from Early Saver, Select and Saver with a Guarantee grade cabin being the cheapest grade irrespective of package, with personally chosen rooms at a higher price. Re internet: I know that the satellite internet coverage needs sorting, however trials are underway at improving this.

 

You end up with a package like: Drinks + Wifi + Port Shuttles + Dining Choice (where club exists) + Embarkation time choice. Your no package option essentially becomes the Early Saver/Saver fare type.

 

Which then begs the topic of gratuities . If, as with Princess, the add on packages are really popular then including gratuities within the package won't impact most people. It does then allow P&O to change policy and add gratuities back on to the basic cabin for those who don't take the package.

 

And then what about OBS, Car-Parking, Coach travel? Most of Carnival's brands don't offer such benefits? I only ever ask for OBS when booking so I'm not in touch with how much people value these.

 

Would love to hear peoples thoughts.
 

Disclaimer: I'm asking this out of personal curiosity - I'm not asking this on behalf of anyone; I know people will wonder if the company are asking me to ask.

Personally I am not keen on drinks packages of any kind. I certainly do not want to go back to paying for tips at the end of a cruise. As long as there’s is not a massive price hike to accommodate drinks, tips, wifi, cabin choice and dining choice I am happy to stay as we are.

[molecrochip]

6 minutes ago, daiB said:

I am interested in how you come to the conclusion that P&O have lost control of freedom dining? That was not the case on Iona. The photos of long queues on Arvia from what I have gleaned are all the same photo. It is the queue for the MDR before it opens at 5.30. We have seen these on other ships at the start of the evening meal in freedom. The reason. Many people want fixed dining and first sitting therefore they turn early dining on freedom into first sitting. Resulting in no spaces in the dining room until they have been served. So no freedom if you go at 6.30 to 7.00. So should they go back to club dining in at least one restaurant? Certainly we went to the MDR about 7 times on Iona in our 3 weeks and apart from the first night it worked well

Interesting point. Main dining rooms on Iona now open at 17:30 on busier cruises to ease the flow of guests. To do this has required axing afternoon tea in the Aqua restaurant to free up waiters / galley staff for the earlier opening.

 

I believe something similar on Arvia is also now in place.

[Selbourne]

2 minutes ago, daiB said:

I am interested in how you come to the conclusion that P&O have lost control of freedom dining? That was not the case on Iona. The photos of long queues on Arvia from what I have gleaned are all the same photo. It is the queue for the MDR before it opens at 5.30. We have seen these on other ships at the start of the evening meal in freedom. The reason. Many people want fixed dining and first sitting therefore they turn early dining on freedom into first sitting. Resulting in no spaces in the dining room until they have been served. So no freedom if you go at 6.30 to 7.00. So should they go back to club dining in at least one restaurant? Certainly we went to the MDR about 7 times on Iona in our 3 weeks and apart from the first night it worked well

Primarily due to all the reviews I’ve read (90 minute virtual queues etc), but also for some of the reasons you describe. It seems as though there is still a strong demand for people wanting to dine at the same time every night and an awful lot of those seem to like to eat very early. As there is no Club Dining option on the newer ships, this is clogging up Freedom Dining for the first hour or two. On Arvia, people have been able to book MDR tables at set times (albeit early). That’s Freedom dining pretending to be Club, but doing neither well! As I said, we will see for ourselves over the next few months and hopefully our experiences will be as positive as yours. 

[daiB]

1 minute ago, molecrochip said:

Interesting point. Main dining rooms on Iona now open at 17:30 on busier cruises to ease the flow of guests. To do this has required axing afternoon tea in the Aqua restaurant to free up waiters / galley staff for the earlier opening.

 

I believe something similar on Arvia is also now in place.

But it just moves the queue to 5.30 instead of 6.00

[daiB]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Primarily due to all the reviews I’ve read (90 minute virtual queues etc), but also for some of the reasons you describe. It seems as though there is still a strong demand for people wanting to dine at the same time every night and an awful lot of those seem to like to eat very early. As there is no Club Dining option on the newer ships, this is clogging up Freedom Dining for the first hour or two. On Arvia, people have been able to book MDR tables at set times (albeit early). That’s Freedom dining pretending to be Club, but doing neither well! As I said, we will see for ourselves over the next few months and hopefully our experiences will be as positive as yours. 

My experience of the VQ is that i did not refresh the app and had missed the call from the restaurant. I suspect that some of the long waits are down to that. After that was explained to me we never waited more than 10 mins. If fact hardly time to get a drink.

[No pager thank you]

Keen not to turn this in to a tipping thread.  However, despite the "Americanisation" of the brand which is suggested in some of the proposals around how to create packages and boost company margins, I wouldn't accept paying gratuities again.  They would come off, even if this was felt to be rude, sorry!

 

Gratuities need to be included with whatever the basic package is as, save for taking the above, it is not an optional feature of the product.  Drinks, WiFi, Shuttles, Cabin and Restaurant choices are.  If I am paying for a package, either basic, or a top up, then standard service should come as standard, even at the basic level "entry" product.  Exceptional service can be rewarded and recognised.

 

As context, the gratuities and cost of the Princess Plus package puts me off travelling with them again, as does the ridiculous price for shuttle busses (£18 for a 10 minute journey in Le Havre, cheaper to get a cab).  Its what I think of first when it comes to that brand (plus dollars).

 

As a pricing structure, if not the product, Marella is more attractive - there is a better alternative for P&O there perhaps if it is looking to modernise.

 

With Marella, all inclusive, with some "top ups" comes as standard (usually), which means non drinkers aren't as directly penalised (or don't feel that way).  Again, with Marella, certainty of budgeting is provided for at the time of booking, whereas, with basic Carnival brand packages, there us a more complex formula to work out which is more beneficial.  I think that this will put people off. The same can be said of Saga (good base package), even though the price point is much higher.

 

New P&O cruise passengers will be attracted by the basic fare and inside cabins, but they won't be expecting either £550 per couple a week on drinks, or £8+ a go, which is where Princess goes.  They also won't expect to pay lots more for evening meals to avoid a "Ticketmaster" experience with MDRs now.  I wonder how many think twice about cruise two!

 

In terms of "perks," the value of free car parking is typically more generous than OBC, particularly when travelling over 10 days, so I would like to keep this.  Sometimes P&O make themselves appear stingy by offering only £30-50 per cabin OBC for insides, or sometimes nothing at all, whereas, strangely, if the fare was £100 more expensive at entry level, and OBC was at least £130-150, then this would appear to be more generous, even though the value of OBC is significantly less than face value to the company.  More OBC, more retail spend.

 

In any event, I won't be paying £45pppd for drinks - hard to say that's good value when comparable brands like Marella and Fred charge much less.  Fred is expensive, unless booked late.  For what P&O offer, making it half price as standard, like Princess sometimes do I.e., £20-25pppd would be more reasonable.  Easier to incorporate it in to headline pricing though.

 

[Selbourne]

2 minutes ago, daiB said:

My experience of the VQ is that i did not refresh the app and had missed the call from the restaurant. I suspect that some of the long waits are down to that. After that was explained to me we never waited more than 10 mins. If fact hardly time to get a drink.

That’s a great tip. Thanks. We are on Britannia first (in Freedom). Iona in August but, other than the one formal night (and breakfast), I think we shall avoid the MDR like the plague 😂 

[zap99]

24 minutes ago, daiB said:

My experience of the VQ is that i did not refresh the app and had missed the call from the restaurant. I suspect that some of the long waits are down to that. After that was explained to me we never waited more than 10 mins. If fact hardly time to get a drink.

I found that refreshing the page myself worked. Every 10 minutes, swipe down, refreshed.

[Happy afloat]

39 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Interesting point. Main dining rooms on Iona now open at 17:30 on busier cruises to ease the flow of guests. To do this has required axing afternoon tea in the Aqua restaurant to free up waiters / galley staff for the earlier opening.

 

I believe something similar on Arvia is also now in place.

Or they could just ditch the app and go back to the old system of two sittings and proper freedom dining. It worked. It didn't need fixing.

As for gratuities, we always leave a tip, particularly for the cabin steward. We have always found the vast majority of staff to be worthy of tipping,  but, very occasionally, have met with individuals clearly not suited to front of house roles. Why would we reward them? Surely it would be retrograde to reinstate and would lead to more work for the reception staff with people opting out during the cruse.

 

[happy v]

I don't think it would work for us. I want to choose my cabin so would have to pay premium. For Wi-Fi I don't use. Alcohol I don't drink, and loose coach travel which is essential. Even if it was affordable. Which it won't be. I begrudge paying for something I won't use.

I left Marella when they became all inclusive 

[daiB]

1 hour ago, molecrochip said:

Interesting point. Main dining rooms on Iona now open at 17:30 on busier cruises to ease the flow of guests. To do this has required axing afternoon tea in the Aqua restaurant to free up waiters / galley staff for the earlier opening.

 

I believe something similar on Arvia is also now in place.

On tipping, now the genie is out I think it would be very difficult to get it back in again. You could get to the position where the majority of the passengers would take the tips off. Not a situation P&O would want.

[kalos]

9 minutes ago, happy v said:

I don't think it would work for us. I want to choose my cabin so would have to pay premium. For Wi-Fi I don't use. Alcohol I don't drink, and loose coach travel which is essential. Even if it was affordable. Which it won't be. I begrudge paying for something I won't use.

I left Marella when they became all inclusive 

 

Yep we did the did the same but it was still Thomson soon to be Marella.

We would drink a fair amount one night (not a daytime drinker) but hardly anything the

next night . I want to be in control ,not tied to some bundle package , it's our holiday.

When away I do not need WI FI as I want to get away from all of that whilst away.

If I want something I like to ask for it and pay for it as I go along .

Even down to A I hotels, we tried a few but it's not for us and I hope the ships leave 

something for us who like to holiday this way .I don't mind them catering for those 

who do . Just don't turn P&O into another cruise brand copy, as if you do, we may as

well just go cruise with them anyway.

[Cathygh]

The price of the package is key. The original Princess Plus package( upto 15 drinks, wifi and tips) was about $35/£35,  Now it is £50 per day and much harder to break even so I am not sure we will take it if we go with Princess again. I know the tips are from $16 ppd, and 18% is added to drinks. They had a flash sale for 3 days offering the package at half price and and have now extended it. I don't have the exact details to hand but it looks like the half price package is really popular. Princess cocktails are much better than P&O IMHO, there is a huge choice and with Medallion you can order any drink from any bar and it is brought to you where ver you are.

 

So regarding P&O the current drinks package is far too expensive, but for £30 I would consider it if it included wifi (I use it a lot). And if a wider selection of wines by the glass were included. Bringing back tipping is a no-no-didn't they stop that because too many removed tips on the first day, and the new way means all staff who are entitled to tips get them? 

 

Another point is to make the package simple and not over complicate things with too many variables, like MSC who also offer different deals to different TAs.

 

As for boarding times I do believe the Princess system is great- select your own time (no extra charge for this) and it seems to work well. I also like MSC's boarding from 10am, your cabin won't be ready but who cares? 

P&O do need to sort the boarding out - there are pictures on social media of very long queues to get into the building and even those arriving on time are queuing down the escalators and outside. There never used to be this problem so why is there a problem now? 

 

 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, kalos said:

 

Yep we did the did the same but it was still Thomson soon to be Marella.

We would drink a fair amount one night (not a daytime drinker) but hardly anything the

next night . I want to be in control ,not tied to some bundle package , it's our holiday.

When away I do not need WI FI as I want to get away from all of that whilst away.

If I want something I like to ask for it and pay for it as I go along .

Even down to A I hotels, we tried a few but it's not for us and I hope the ships leave 

something for us who like to holiday this way .I don't mind them catering for those 

who do . Just don't turn P&O into another cruise brand copy, as if you do, we may as

well just go cruise with them anyway.

In my very humble and ill informed opinion the cruise companies, airlines, hotels ,shops etc are trying to rebuild the finances that took a massive hit over the last few years. Looking at some of the deals popping up for the rest of 2023. Folk aren't spending as much as these companies would like, so they are examining ways to reduce costs. Customers finances took a hit which hasn't gone away yet. Consumers are not being fooled as much as the providers would like.

[Ardennais]

4 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

On Princess the passengers not taking the package are not disadvantaged, anyone not wanting the package can still pay for drinks WiFi etc according to what they want to use, they can still use the app to book their dining time. Parking can be booked directly with any parking company that you choose, gratuities are added to your final bill but you can remove or change how much you want to pay.

We have had the package 3 times now and even though we are not big drinkers (2 or 3 alcoholic drinks is the maximum per day for us),  we do drink the coffees from the coffee shop rather than the sludge from the buffet.   We find it  convenient to take the package.

 

On Princess, yes. However I was responding to Moley’s comment regarding the no package option becoming the Early Saver/Saver type. That would put me as a disadvantage as someone who doesn’t drink, isn’t bothered about wifi or embarkation but who likes to select my cabin and have the free parking option. 

[CarlaMarie]

47 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

The price of the package is key. The original Princess Plus package( upto 15 drinks, wifi and tips) was about $35/£35,  Now it is £50 per day and much harder to break even so I am not sure we will take it if we go with Princess again. I know the tips are from $16 ppd, and 18% is added to drinks. They had a flash sale for 3 days offering the package at half price and and have now extended it. I don't have the exact details to hand but it looks like the half price package is really popular. Princess cocktails are much better than P&O IMHO, there is a huge choice and with Medallion you can order any drink from any bar and it is brought to you where ver you are.

 

So regarding P&O the current drinks package is far too expensive, but for £30 I would consider it if it included wifi (I use it a lot). And if a wider selection of wines by the glass were included. Bringing back tipping is a no-no-didn't they stop that because too many removed tips on the first day, and the new way means all staff who are entitled to tips get them? 

 

Another point is to make the package simple and not over complicate things with too many variables, like MSC who also offer different deals to different TAs.

 

As for boarding times I do believe the Princess system is great- select your own time (no extra charge for this) and it seems to work well. I also like MSC's boarding from 10am, your cabin won't be ready but who cares? 

P&O do need to sort the boarding out - there are pictures on social media of very long queues to get into the building and even those arriving on time are queuing down the escalators and outside. There never used to be this problem so why is there a problem now? 

 

 

 

Regarding the boarding, there is a problem because many cruisers, particularly first timers, are not turning up at their allotted time. Staggered boarding is needed due to the vast amount of passengers to process in a short time, especially for Iona and Arvia. To be fair to P&O they are trying to deal with this well by having two queues - one for those who have arrived on time and the other for those who haven't. I'm not sure what else they are meant to do. They had passengers turning up at 10am for Iona not so long ago, so a queue began before boarding even commenced.