Is it really worth it?

[insidecabin]

4 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

In the US, Plus and Premier include gratuities/crew appreciation. Free At Sea does not include this. It may differ in the UK, but it is very hard to find an NCL fare and package that beats Princess, at least in the last year. 

The equivalent of princess crew appreciation is not  included,  the free at sea is actually around £20-£25, service £15.50 giving the total £35-£40.

 

There are differences like

free at sea includes speciality meals(1-3) and shorex credits +...

plus includes  2 casual dining and exercise classes +...

The value of each element will differ for people as not every uses ever feature.

 

High loyalty on both can swing a choice as the benefits are different.

 

Both offer inside discounts attached to accounts, not public which can drive booking timings

 

Last year Princess could not get close to NCL Prices as there were good late discounts that coincided with 50% free at sea and some inside offers on cruises we were interested in.

Year before it was princess, plus was £30 they were winning,

charging £50 went to far and it is obvious as they keep inventing charges to add to try to make it better value for this year.

 

A good inside discount on plus and fare has brought princess back in line for us to book.

 

[insidecabin]

4 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

you can add Princess Plus to the lowest fare, but you cannot get NCL's Free at Sea added to the guarantee rate. And, as mentioned, Free at Sea don't cover gratuities, and the internet is not exactly unlimited/streaming.

UK you can add free at sea to the lowest GTY  rates.

 

The price I mentioned included the gratuities the free at sea is only £20-£25 of the total.

 

For those that remove service NCL offer even lower option  by not including in the package.

 

 

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

5 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

But Princess doesn’t have to divulge all of the details of that representation. If they say 80% of cruisers buy one, then people think that you should. It’s just kind of a convenient statement that teenagers make to their parents … “But everyone is doing it …” 😂 

Yes, I wouldn't rely on the accuracy of any figures made public by Princess or any cruise line. It isn't in their interests to divulge sensitive info such as this IMO. 

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

18 hours ago, Jadn13 said:

If you leave your cabin with a glass there is no-one to charge you, FYI

True... but with a bottle... if you take a bottle of wine into the MDR that hasn't had the corkage paid they will charge corkage. They then mark/label the bottle to show corkage is paid.

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

10 hours ago, MissP22 said:

First of all I don't plan on buying a "package" in the future as it's way to expensive even if you do hit the max number of 15. 

 

Yes we do bring numerous bottles of wine with us on the ship and have never paid them a cent corkage. (you have to know how to get around the charge.)

 

Lastly, I didn't say I drank all of those 15 drinks I ordered. The package is definitely not cost effective for occasional drinkers. 

Sorry, but I don't believe a word she says. 

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

7 hours ago, notadesertgirl said:

Lobster is included on one of the Formal nights in MDR, but it is on the menu also on all the rest of the nights for approx $19 additional. 

So not "on demand" then 🙂 

[MacMadame]

7 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

But Princess doesn’t have to divulge all of the details of that representation. If they say 80% of cruisers buy one, then people think that you should. It’s just kind of a convenient statement that teenagers make to their parents … “But everyone is doing it …” 😂 

They announced it on a quarterly earnings call. But, sure, Princess lies to their shareholders all the time. That's not going to get them in trouble or anything. 😉 

[Lady Arwen]

7 hours ago, Snaxmuppet said:

Sorry, but I don't believe a word she says. 

Join the club.  It’s actually getting pretty sad.

[New2cruise2022]

6 hours ago, MacMadame said:

They announced it on a quarterly earnings call. But, sure, Princess lies to their shareholders all the time. That's not going to get them in trouble or anything. 😉 

I agree that people aren’t going to lie and I didn’t read or hear the statement to parse what was said. If the statement was “80% of travelers across all sailing for the last quarter purchased the Plus or Premier package,” then it would be hard to believe that there is much room for hyperbole. But an overstatement seems plausible if the wording was “Princess is seeing about 80% of passengers buying an upgraded package.” In the latter statement, there is no lie, but it isn’t specific. An upgraded package could be Plus or Premium, a drink package, a picture package, or any number of packages. 
 

Either way, if Princess is doing better than 80% on base fare sailing, they absolutely should cut back on the included offerings for people not paying more. 80% of customers actively handing over more money is impressive upsell. 

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

Either way, if Princess is doing better than 80% on base fare sailing, they absolutely should cut back on the included offerings for people not paying more. 80% of customers actively handing over more money is impressive upsell. 

I wouldn't doubt that they've hashed it over many times to see what else they could remove from a standard sailing.

They seem to have cut the basics to the bone right now.

What's left? Possibly cutting our Elite laundry or at least putting a cap on it. 

Maybe eliminating the cabin setup? 

[New2cruise2022]

2 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

I wouldn't doubt that they've hashed it over many times to see what else they could remove from a standard sailing.

They seem to have cut the basics to the bone right now.

What's left? Possibly cutting our Elite laundry or at least putting a cap on it. 

Maybe eliminating the cabin setup? 

But if their sailings are full, and better than 80% are buying upgrades, why shouldn’t they?

 

I understand loyalty. And I think Princess does too. I think there has always been the business decision to retire one group of loyal customers while you grow a new batch of loyal customers. 
 

If you add more levels (look at the options available on the Sun — should she ever sail the seas) some of the 80% will opt for the top tier. It’s expensive for cruisers like you and me, but the popularity of cruising right now is making everything bigger and more expensive. 

[Musky Ike]

1 minute ago, MissP22 said:

I wouldn't doubt that they've hashed it over many times to see what else they could remove from a standard sailing.

They seem to have cut the basics to the bone right now.

What's left? Possibly cutting our Elite laundry or at least putting a cap on it. 

Maybe eliminating the cabin setup? 

I am amazed that to push the packages they have not already changed/replaced some of the elite perks that are also part of the packages like minibar and reduced WIFI. 

[karatemom2]

7 minutes ago, Musky Ike said:

I am amazed that to push the packages they have not already changed/replaced some of the elite perks that are also part of the packages like minibar and reduced WIFI. 

Well they definitely have done that with the WiFi with the recent price increase that all but erased the 50 percent Elite discount when they raised the price by 65 percent. It’s the slow chipping away of perks. Clearly that was an overt effort to push people into packages. 

[Musky Ike]

15 minutes ago, karatemom2 said:

Well they definitely have done that with the WiFi with the recent price increase that all but erased the 50 percent Elite discount when they raised the price by 65 percent. It’s the slow chipping away of perks. Clearly that was an overt effort to push people into packages. 

True, but a package discount for elites would be a bigger push. 😁

[TheMichael]

I remember when cruising was actually expensive, relative to the value of currency at the time. It was something not everybody could do.

 

Then the cruise lines built bigger and bigger ships, added shorter cruises, and started advertising prices at which you couldn't even book a stay at a hotel at any of the ports, much less meals, drinks, and entertainment. 

 

Now ships are sometimes even overbooked, they're building insanely large super-ships, and have stripped away value for the "budget cruiser," when 30 years ago there was not even any such thing as a "budget cruiser." 

 

People complain about the "high cost" of the cruise lines that fold everything into their price, usually followed with "I don't need/want X, Y, or Z" - and that is precisely why the biggest cruise lines offer budget basic rates and packages. 

[karatemom2]

 

13 minutes ago, Musky Ike said:

True, but a package discount for elites would be a bigger push. 😁

Well that might actually get my attention! 😂 

 

Although given our overall lack of consumption of alcoholic or coffee beverages and the great casino perks DH gets I doubt even that would make them worthwhile for us. For others, that might be enough to make it more attractive. 
 

I do believe the statistics Princess is throwing out though in terms of the percentage of people buying in - clearly they are very successful in selling the packages and it obviously is profitable for them so the push will  continue. 
 

I will note that it seemed to result in my getting a number of freebies on our recent cruise as I think the crew assumption when they are busy is that “everyone” has the package. I often like to pick up a bottle of water or can of Diet Coke on the way back to my room. I just assumed I was being charged - but looking at my folio on the last day it was clear in most of those instances they just handed me the beverage and didn’t even check to see if I was a package participant! 

Edited February 15 by karatemom2

[MissP22]

45 minutes ago, TheMichael said:

People complain about the "high cost" of the cruise lines that fold everything into their price, usually followed with "I don't need/want X, Y, or Z" - and that is precisely why the biggest cruise lines offer budget basic rates and packages. 

They do a great job to convivence most of their passengers to buy into on of their packages. Some folks can't bear the thought of sailing without it even when the cost can be up to 1/3 the cost of the cruise alone.

[insidecabin]

38 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

They do a great job to convivence most of their passengers to buy into on of their packages. Some folks can't bear the thought of sailing without it even when the cost can be up to 1/3 the cost of the cruise alone.

Plus is now 50%+ of the total  cruise price we aim for £100pppd or less.

($126pppd)

[TheMichael]

32 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

They do a great job to convivence most of their passengers to buy into on of their packages. Some folks can't bear the thought of sailing without it even when the cost can be up to 1/3 the cost of the cruise alone.

 

That's largely because the cost of the cruise alone is so low.

 

Cheapest form of vacation possible, including travel, food, room, and entertainment. 

 

The only part of a package that I'd argue shouldn't be an extra charge is gratuity, which should be rolled into the base price, but of course that would raise the base price. 

[Cruisemeister2002]

On 2/12/2024 at 11:48 PM, CruiseLibre said:

First time cruising with my wife and daughter this summer (other daughter refuses to go, too cool for skool!) and starting to have second thoughts as the 14 day cruise which seemed like a good deal to start with now just seems like a way to extract as much money from you as possible, either before you sail or whilst you're on board.

We got one of the ports dropped from the itinerary early on after booking and an extra sea day added on (3 days at sea for one leg), that was the first disappointment as although we understand that these things can happen, this port was one of the main reasons we booked the cruise, what annoyed me is that Princess were completely uninterested and didn't want to know, didn't offer anything in recompense like some other cruise lines do like 'free at sea' etc. (Hello NCL!) and didn't really care what the customer thought, it just felt like a really bad experience for our first cruise. They also hold you to ransom with the deposit by the "You want to cancel? sure, we have pocketed your £600"...so long sucker, so I am hanging in there in the hope that something good happens, although that's not looking too hopeful right now.

The customer experience is something I feel really strongly about as I've worked in customer experience my entire life and this felt like an absolute kick in the teeth and sod the customer. I even spoke to them online and although I don't blame the online agent as they are bound by what they're allowed to do, they didn't want to know, first fail in my book, but they still want more money from me, you can see where this is heading. I totally get they can't just hand out freebies for something that is probably outwith their control but if you want more money from me, I feel I want something it appease my initial disappointment first, is this unreasonable? This experience has tainted the entire cruise for me as I feel I'm just a cash cow right now for Princess when they should be pulling out all the stops.

We are five months from the cruise and although we have paid for a balcony (not much extra tbh and got this because our daughter is not a great sailor and access to fresh air is a bonus) but the not so obvious hidden costs and up selling to plus packages et al. are taking the shine off what should be a nice cruise, but that's before you start paying for onboard services and shore excursions.

Our costs before we even step on ship are £5k approx without the Plus package or any up selling which will occur either closer to the time or on board.

The "Just get the Plus package" advice pushes the costs to £7k, not a small figure for any family and especially during a cost of living crisis, and that's before shore excursions or anything else. I just can't wrap my head about how much do you actually need to spend before it actually feels like a care free all-inclusive experience, which it certainly doesn't feel like it at the moment, it's like there's a toll booth at every turn.

I feel once I'm on board I will be forced to pay for x to fall in line with the rest of the crowd and although shows etc. are included, as are the main dining room and other advertised areas that don't include all the other things that you'll have to pay for by the end of the cruise. Yes, pay up front for Plus which tbh we wouldn't feel we would get the value for money others may get from this but feel that we should pay for it for the more inclusive experience.

What I'm saying is that a £5k cruise involves having to pay nearly half the cruise cost again to get just that little bit closer to more inclusive experience, right now it feels like an economy class experience trying to dupe you into paying more than what you will actually use on board. £5k isn't enough for a speciality coffee, really?

We paid around £600 deposit and although I can easily afford to take the hit if I want to cancel, and can well afford the cruise, I'm just a stickler for getting value for money and right now it's a £8k-£9k cruise realistically by the end with the plus package and excursions. We also have around £1k costs to get to the ship before it sails on top of the cruise cost, so make that £10k as a realistic end of cruise price. Some may say, but your getting a 14 day cruise for £x but the longer you're on a ship the more you'll spend too, and the cruise lines know this.

Some may say, just go on the cruise and enjoy it, but it's pretty hard having had the experience from Princess up to now, knowing how much extra I have to pay to try and have a nice time on board, it's all one way traffic, so to speak. I know itinerary changes happen, it's just becoming a hard pill to swallow based on my experience so far, keep paying for more disappointment later on down to the road?

 

Disgruntled? yes, it feels like a bottomless pit of money I am throwing my money into when Princess have changed the goal posts and I just have to suck it up, I just need someone to change my mind before I hit the cancel button....be gentle. 

 

If you think that's bad you should have been on P&O Ventura early last year. A 35 night cruise from the UK. First port of call fine, La Coruna Spain. Then on to Bermuda or so we thought. Not so, days before docking the Captain had consulted his crystal ball and decided the weather wasn't right to dock so we sailed on to Freeport Bahamas. That took the sail days to 10. Beside this inconvenience we had booked at inside cabin. The day before sailing I received notification via email that we had been upgraded to a sea view. Great. Pity they hadn't told anyone else. Arrived at the new cabin to find the door cards in the envelope were someone else's. I had paid £400 for a Celebration package. Days before we sailed I had contacted P&O to make sure that all the items and tickets for the package would be waiting for us and was told definitely. Nope, they weren't in the cabin and our dining arrangements were incorrect also. It took 17 days to get everything we should have received to complete the Celebration Package. Besides various other incidents that included immigration nightmare in New Orleans, an airbridge problem in Miami, both of us being unwell, probably due to so many coughing, some covid onboard and the splattering, if that's not too graphic of norovirus. Leaving Port Canaveral we then had a further 9 days to Ponta Del Garda and then a further 3 days back to Southampton. Suffice to say P&O received a letter from myself and I have now switch allegiance to Princess in the hope they they do a better job.

[TrixieBel]

On 2/13/2024 at 10:57 AM, Sea Hag said:

It definitely is a bottomless money pit - as long as you keep throwing money into it. We don't book packages. The math for plus or premium just doesn't work for us. We also don't spend much on board either, in fact I refer to us as a couple of freeloaders. We don't do many excursions, and we don't do specialty dining much either. We only do specialty restaurants if they're included in a promo. We have a wonderful time on our cruises and don't feel deprived at all. We find that there's plenty to do on the ship without paying extra, and we enjoy getting off the ship and just walking around. I don't know if you'll be able to have a good time without all the extras. Only you know that. If you can't do that, then you'll either decide whether to pay whatever or just not cruise. It's a tough decision, isn't it.

Do you get wifi? Can you just pay for wifi without having to get one of those packages? I’ve been trying to find out - but nothing on the Princess site or app clarifies this… 

[karatemom2]

Just now, TrixieBel said:

Do you get wifi? Can you just pay for wifi without having to get one of those packages? I’ve been trying to find out - but nothing on the Princess site or app clarifies this… 

 

You do not need the package to buy WiFi. It can be purchased separately, either for a single device or multiple devices. There is a place in the app to purchase that in advance or once you board.

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, insidecabin said:

Plus is now 50%+ of the total  cruise price we aim for £100pppd or less.

($126pppd

Edited February 15 by Lady Arwen
Wrong post, sorry

[BamaVol]

1 hour ago, TrixieBel said:

Do you get wifi? Can you just pay for wifi without having to get one of those packages? I’ve been trying to find out - but nothing on the Princess site or app clarifies this… 

Your best bet on the Princess website is to use the search function.  Type “wifi” and it will get you to a page with pricing ($24.99 daily for one device).  

[Sea Hag]

4 hours ago, TrixieBel said:

Do you get wifi? Can you just pay for wifi without having to get one of those packages? I’ve been trying to find out - but nothing on the Princess site or app clarifies this… 

The last several cruises, we've gotten wifi, which we purchased as a standalone. We get 50% discount for elite, and we share one wifi package. With the price going up, I'll be deciding on a cruise-by-cruise basis. Probably won't get it for Alaska, since shore days I'll have connection through my service provider when we go ashore. Same for California coast.