Changes to Princess Plus, room service fees, Alfredo's and others. Fee changes. Etc

[Steelers36]

44 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Two seats are being used each time. I'm talking people taking up tables (going 4 times instead of the allotted 2). Announced yesterday and people are already trying to work the system. 

My wife and I share a pizza for lunch there if we have something else with it.  We'll just pay a la carte I expect.  IDK what PCL will do when people are sharing a meal of $15.  I don't think it will work like CG where everyone pays a flat fee no matter what is ordered.  The casual dining places have per-item costs, but also a "whole meal deal" and I am thinking guests will be charged what they order.  There should be no debating this if we had info from someone who has dined at O'Malley's or Salty Dog and bought an item or two to share.

[emeraldlake]

49 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Two seats are being used each time. I'm talking people taking up tables (going 4 times instead of the alloted 2). Announced yesterday and people are already trying to work the system. 

Not trying to work the system.  We always go into Alfredos/Gigis and order 1 meal to share and 2 drinks.  So why should we get 2 meals and waste 1.

[CruizinSusan70]

5 hours ago, dsukid said:

 

I'm not buying Plus or Premier till I have an option that doesn't include alcohol. I have zero desire to subsidize others intoxication. 

There are a plethora of non alcoholic choices as part of the Plus package.  But more importantly, how does the fact whether you purchase the package or not have to do with any other cruiser on board and whether they consume alcoholic beverages or if they are a card carrying, flag waving teetotaler like yourself?

[CruizinSusan70]

4 hours ago, awatt said:

Take a look at MSC Yacht Club. Its wonderful and no nickel and diming.

Not so wonderful when you venture out into the general pop.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Someone was kind enough to share the new menu pages ago but here it is again.  Agree with you on the fact that it's two with the Plus package regardless of the length of the cruise.

 

What I haven't seen yet is if they plan to upgrade the menus on ships like the Sapphire which have Alfredo's but currently only service pizza.

Gigis Pizzeria by Alfredo_EX-XP_2023-7-24.pdf 1.26 MB · 55 downloads

When I saw the menu pdf earlier this evening, my cell phone would not download it, but I can see it now that I'm on our PC.  Not really thrilled with the fact that a pizza or the calzone is 12 bucks.  The apps and the desserts are nothing to get thrilled about.  If we were able to order a calzone and a pizza and pay the 9 bucks price difference over the 15, that would be slightly palatable, but still leave a queasy feeling knowing that we had enjoyed these items as much as we wanted on our previous 28 days sailing on Princess.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

This was posted earlier with a 7/24/23 date…it shows $14.99 for a 3 course meal.

EDIT: azbirdmom was faster than me. ☺️

 

It shows $5 à la carte appetizers, $3 à la carte desserts and $12 à la carte pizzas.
 

Gigis Pizzeria by Alfredo_EX-XP_2023-7-24(1).pdf 1.26 MB · 15 downloads

Thanks.  Was able to download it on my PC.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Not much less, Pizza is reportedly $12. If they are charging me $12 I might want a to-go box!

But cold pizza is for college students, not cruise worthy adults. 😁

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, Yowman said:

 I'll likely pay $15 x 2 for Ocean Now and then pay the $5 for RS probably a max of 4 times.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I could have sworn I read that if standard fare cruisers pay the 15 for Ocean now as long as they order room service without using their cabin phone it's free.  Doesn't apply to us either way since we never use room service and used Ocean Now once to get club sandwiches at 1030 at Good Spirits on the Discovery.  EDIT...Yup, last sentence of the posting in 989 confirms that the 15 covers room service charges if ordered through the app.

Edited July 29, 2023 by CruizinSusan70

[CruizinSusan70]

2 hours ago, LeeW said:

Actually entering the lifeboat will be considered as booking a new cruise.  And eating the rations on that lifeboat will be considered casual dining.

But if the rations are considered casual dining, then we only get the rations twice, whether we're at sea for 7 days or 14.

[CruizinSusan70]

2 hours ago, Megamixer said:

We were on the refurbished NCL Dawn for Xmas and that was actually very nice even with the gazillion kids onboard. 

We were on the NCL Prima for 25 days and had a blast.

[CruizinSusan70]

2 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

What if everyone did this? Alfredos couldn't handle the volume. 

They currently have wait times of about an hour on busy sea days for lunch.  It certainly couldn't be longer than that since now it's no longer free.

[CruizinSusan70]

1 hour ago, Kay S said:

After adding up all the nickels and dimes, it might not be too far off from an Oceania fare.😁

Doesn't interest me, but if you were to compare an apple to an apple, I would still think that Oceania would be a premium cost.

[Gwendy]

9 hours ago, Jeter02 said:

Which now the speech has shortened to less than 10 seconds since the benefits are almost all gone. 😂

That’s if anyone from the officers section actually turn up.  On Enchanted in April the Captains circle person was there and the Captain eventually turned up and stayed for maybe 5 minutes.

[Jeter02]

1 hour ago, Gwendy said:

That’s if anyone from the officers section actually turn up.  On Enchanted in April the Captains circle person was there and the Captain eventually turned up and stayed for maybe 5 minutes.

That's really sad. Nothing for nothing though, those captain circle events are not what they used to be. I remember years and years ago when I would attend, a lot of times they would talk about not just about thanking you for your loyalty, but also about the new ships that were to come out amongst other things. I went to the first few in my early cruising days. Up to this point, I haven't been to one in years.

[CanadianCruiser21]

I am surprised it’s $12 a pizza. A whole pizza on ocean now delivery used to be $3, and recently changed to free (though with limited options). I wonder if Alfredo’s will now be treated like a specialty restaurant and listed in Ocean Now for a La carte delivery. 

[Jeter02]

3 minutes ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

I am surprised it’s $12 a pizza. A whole pizza on ocean now delivery used to be $3, and recently changed to free (though with limited options). I wonder if Alfredo’s will now be treated like a specialty restaurant and listed in Ocean Now for a La carte delivery. 

Which ship was that that started offering a full pizza on the oceano app for free? I've only ever seen it with a fee on a few of the princess ships.

Edited July 29, 2023 by Jeter02

[Bedruthen]

6 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Taking money out of the pockets of employees will sure make management stand up, realize why you're doing what you're doing and take an about face with their newly implemented policy. 🤔🤔🤔

According to Princess, tips are distributed fleet wide so removing them on your one cruise will actually have very little impact. However removing them and distributing cash to your room steward and waiters directly, can benefit the individual staff. I don’t know how it works on Princess but the one time it was explained to me by a room steward on another line, they are guaranteed a minimum wage, made up of basic salary and an amount for expected tips. If the tips don’t materialise the employee still gets paid as if tips were received. So if you remove the automatic gratuity and then tip them directly it’s a win win. Buts that’s for another discussion!

[CanadianCruiser21]

1 minute ago, Jeter02 said:

Which ship was that that started offering a full pizza on the oceano app for free? I've only ever seen it with a fee on a few of the princess ships.

It was a recent change. I saw a screenshot from the Crown, but they only had cheese or pepperoni. 
 

Prof cruise made a post about it and their screenshot had more options

https://profcruise.com/princess-oceannow-food-delivery-menu/

 

Photo from prof cruise’s post:

 

[Jeter02]

1 minute ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

It was a recent change. I saw a screenshot from the Crown, but they only had cheese or pepperoni. 
 

Prof cruise made a post about it and their screenshot had more options

https://profcruise.com/princess-oceannow-food-delivery-menu/

 

Photo from prof cruise’s post:

 

WOW! That's amazing! I wonder if that's only available through the app if the ship does not have a physical Alfredo / Gigi's on board. I'm extremely impressed by this by the way. Thank you so much for sharing!

[CanadianCruiser21]

To make matters more complicated regarding pizza on OceanNow, another thread here has reported that the pizza that was $3, and then changed to free, is being removed and replaced with $8.50 pizza with specialty toppings. 
 

 

 

[dsukid]

3 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

There are a plethora of non alcoholic choices as part of the Plus package.  But more importantly, how does the fact whether you purchase the package or not have to do with any other cruiser on board and whether they consume alcoholic beverages or if they are a card carrying, flag waving teetotaler like yourself?

Ah you see. I'm not exactly to that extreme the issue. I have a pretty firm idea of what the costs of the alcohol "everyone" is downing to excess to get their monies worth and the ship is still making a profit on it. All these other perks have very little incremental costs associated with them. Thus if one who doesn't really drink but fiends caffeine takes plus they are providing a huge margin of profit for the line. 

[Jeter02]

20 minutes ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

To make matters more complicated regarding pizza on OceanNow, another thread here has reported that the pizza that was $3, and then changed to free, is being removed and replaced with $8.50 pizza with specialty toppings. 
 

 

 

Oh boy! They really are pulling out all the stops at once. I think it's different if things slowly got integrated in versus surprise everything in one shot. One can also look at it it's almost kind of like ripping a Band-Aid off too at this point. 

 

For some reason I feel like when the app initially came out it used to be $3 for one of those full pizzas and I want to say recently cuz I always just like to browse not that I ever do anything with it that they were probably $8.50 on the sky recently. I'll have to report back what it says a pizza cost on the Discovery tomorrow. 

[mtt]

54 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

Which ship was that that started offering a full pizza on the oceano app for free? I've only ever seen it with a fee on a few of the princess ships.

Was free on the regal last month via room service

Edited July 29, 2023 by mtt

[Gwendy]

7 minutes ago, dsukid said:

Ah you see. I'm not exactly to that extreme the issue. I have a pretty firm idea of what the costs of the alcohol "everyone" is downing to excess to get their monies worth and the ship is still making a profit on it. All these other perks have very little incremental costs associated with them. Thus if one who doesn't really drink but fiends caffeine takes plus they are providing a huge margin of profit for the line. 

Many Australians don’t see the 15 alcoholic drinks per day in the package as something to be enjoyed, most on the local P&O cruises see it as a challenge which means some very messy people at the end of the day. Lol

[Jeter02]

3 minutes ago, mtt said:

Was free on the regal last month via room service

WOW! Well there goes my theory about the original post coming from the crown stating that maybe it was the ships that didn't have Alfredo's or Gigi's. I feel like back on my March sailing on the Regal they still were at a cost. Hmmm. It makes sense for them to really to be free considering it's complementary will at least as of now when you sit down at Alfredo's or Gigi's. I always found it awfully silly that they would charge you for that same exact pizza just to have it delivered to you.