Changes Coming to Plus/Premier Packages?

[jagoffee]

9 hours ago, nasa1974 said:

As stated by many, some buy the packages some don't. You have to do the math and determine if it is for you and in your budget. 

My personal opinion I would not purchase a Plus or Premium Beverage package vs. a Princess Plus or Princess Premium package. Personal note: I wish they would change the name, very confusing.

Just comparing the Plus and Premium Beverage packages to the Royal Caribbean Beverage package.

Plus Beverage $64.99/day plus gratuity.

Premium Beverage $84.99/day plus gratuity.

I'm booked on an RCL cruise early 2025.

The beverage package currently, is $87.99/day plus gratuity. This price varies by ship and length of cruise and can change in price up until sailing. So, you may or may not get a great deal.

Personally, I'm getting the better deal with the Princess Plus package.

Everyone has their own opinion, but you have to make sure you are doing your due diligence and compare correctly.

Good luck.

Wish granted:  Princess Plus and Princess Premier.  (Not Princess Premium)

 

I agree that there would certainly need to be a strange set of circumstances for the Beverage packages purchase to make any sense.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

Wish granted:  Princess Plus and Princess Premier.  (Not Princess Premium)

 

I agree that there would certainly need to be a strange set of circumstances for the Beverage packages purchase to make any sense.

The only circumstance where a beverage only plan would be useful is if you drink and your cabin mate won’t pay for the package 

[jagoffee]

3 hours ago, memoak said:

The only circumstance where a beverage only plan would be useful is if you drink and your cabin mate won’t pay for the package 

I can see where someone might make that decision.   The Plus Beverage package is $76.90 per day for one person.  The Plus bundle would be $120 a day for two people.  The difference is only $43.10 a day for two people.  But I understand your point.  

[voljeep]

2 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

I can see where someone might make that decision.   The Plus Beverage package is $76.90 per day for one person.  The Plus bundle would be $120 a day for two people.  The difference is only $43.10 a day for two people.  But I understand your point.  

but with the Plus Beverage package - you have the option to remove Grats ...

 

j/s

[memoak]

2 minutes ago, voljeep said:

but with the Plus Beverage package - you have the option to remove Grats ...

 

j/s

As far as I know the package price is not going to change   Have you ever done it ?

Edited April 3 by memoak

[AZjohn]

34 minutes ago, voljeep said:

but with the Plus Beverage package - you have the option to remove Grats ...

 

j/s

[Retired-N-Happy]

11 hours ago, memoak said:

The only circumstance where a beverage only plan would be useful is if you drink and your cabin mate won’t pay for the package 

That's when you leave them at home and buy the package as a solo. 😉

[MacMadame]

Pricing is the hardest part of owning a business IME and there are a lot of data and formulas that go into it. When I had my event photography business, I sold a single CD with all pictures in digital format for way less than selling a single print. I made a lot more money selling something that didn't cost me much to make to people who never would have spent that much in single prints, which cost more to make. Sure, some of those people may have spent more a la carte if I didn't offer the package but most wouldn't so I came out ahead.

 

On 4/2/2024 at 3:47 PM, kywildcatfanone said:

I'm just saying they could offer a package that includes non alcoholic drinks to guests that don't drink.

Crew appreciation, wifi, and the zero alcohol package = 16 + 25 + 35 = $76/day. The Plus package is cheaper than that. If they were to offer those 3 things as a package, what would you pay and would it be worth it to Princess?

 

The drink portion of Plus is about $20 a day. 16 + 25 + 20 = $61. So the same cost as Princess Plus!  How about only $10 more for the drinks? That's still around $50 pp / day. And it wouldn't include free room service, free Medalion shipping, free OceanNow, 2 fitness classes, 2 casual dining, etc. that you get with Plus. Would that make sense for you? It seems a bit expensive to me.

 

I think the packages are great and have Princess Plus myself even though dh and I aren't big drinkers. But they just don't add up for some people. 20-25% of the people, it appears according to Princess' numbers.

 

11 hours ago, memoak said:

The only circumstance where a beverage only plan would be useful is if you drink and your cabin mate won’t pay for the package 

I don't think it would be useful for that. Can you drink $76+ worth of drinks in a day? That's a lot.

[memoak]

2 hours ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

That's when you leave them at home and buy the package as a solo. 😉

Or when you are sailing with a cheap friend at least a friend for now

[voljeep]

7 hours ago, MacMadame said:

Pricing is the hardest part of owning a business IME and there are a lot of data and formulas that go into it. When I had my event photography business, I sold a single CD with all pictures in digital format for way less than selling a single print. I made a lot more money selling something that didn't cost me much to make to people who never would have spent that much in single prints, which cost more to make. Sure, some of those people may have spent more a la carte if I didn't offer the package but most wouldn't so I came out ahead.

 

Crew appreciation, wifi, and the zero alcohol package = 16 + 25 + 35 = $76/day. The Plus package is cheaper than that. If they were to offer those 3 things as a package, what would you pay and would it be worth it to Princess?

 

The drink portion of Plus is about $20 a day. 16 + 25 + 20 = $61. So the same cost as Princess Plus!  How about only $10 more for the drinks? That's still around $50 pp / day. And it wouldn't include free room service, free Medalion shipping, free OceanNow, 2 fitness classes, 2 casual dining, etc. that you get with Plus. Would that make sense for you? It seems a bit expensive to me.

 

I think the packages are great and have Princess Plus myself even though dh and I aren't big drinkers. But they just don't add up for some people. 20-25% of the people, it appears according to Princess' numbers.

 

I don't think it would be useful for that. Can you drink $76+ worth of drinks in a day? That's a lot.

noone is buying wifi at $175 for a 7 day cruise - way overpriced to fluff the package.

 

Our package evaluation has wifi at zero value for us ... so we really gotsta up that drinkin', huh?

[Retired-N-Happy]

6 hours ago, memoak said:

Or when you are sailing with a cheap friend at least a friend for now

And hope that the drink package upgrades the relationship to a friend with benefits 

[Retired-N-Happy]

8 hours ago, MacMadame said:

Can you drink $76+ worth of drinks in a day? That's a lot.

Every single person purchasing the drink package on RCI better do substantially more than that if they expect to break even with Royal's Dynamic Pricing policy that fluctuates depending upon the ship and sail date.

[kywildcatfanone]

9 hours ago, MacMadame said:

But they just don't add up for some people. 20-25% of the people, it appears according to Princess' numbers.

Count me among those I guess.  I can pay for tips and wifi (which is a huge profit center itself for the cruise lines), and bring my own soft drinks onboard and save a lot over the cost of 2 plus packages, so it works for us.  On our current 10 day cruise plus would be $1200 and I paid $520 for tips and wifi so they are still making a lot of profit off me, and that's okay.  You can't cruise without expecting them to.

As I said, a coffee/soda package with tips and wifi for say $35 a day would make me think about it, although they would need to offer coke zero and sprite zero for me to consider it.  It would still cost me about $150 more than I spend now (bringing my own onboard), but I might find that worth it for the convenience.

It's all about everyone's threshold for the value they perceive in what the onboard costs are.  No issue at all for me if someone doesn't drink and finds the plus a good value, that's everyone's individual decision.  

[rowingmachine]

On 4/2/2024 at 2:28 AM, Retired-N-Happy said:

Even if you eliminate the new additional stuff you don't want, after factoring out gratuities and wifi, the 60 is reduced to 29.  If you can't consume 29 worth of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks on a daily basis, stick with the no frills fare.  We never had the 50, just the 40 and the 60.  

Currently think the 60 is the best value at sea.  You basically get wifi and gratuities for free as far as we're concerned since most cruise lines charge over 60 per day for their drinks package. And the two casual visits is nice as well.

Very much agree.  We were bumped up to  Premier package from Plus on a special offer, but I think we would have chosen Premier anyway for our first time Princess cruise.  I do think there's a substantial  difference between your first trip on a cruise line and subesequent ones

My first ever cruise was on Costa and for that one we bought a really cheap drinks packagein ignorance.  We had to abandon the cruise with 3 nights to go as DW’s back seized – she couldn’t lie down.  However,  adding up the paper receipts afterwards we were well in credit for 7/10 of a cruise.

Since then, first time on a new cruise line we have taken whatever  package is available.but not always for the next one. For this first 14 day cruise,  I should not like to be spending my days envying those with more or less unlimited options whist I had to count everything up and make so many decisions.  I don't know how we shall spend our oceans of  time, but for us the package worth comes in at:

Wi Fi  £12 pppd –  for one device between us, but lovely to be able to take 8 devices

?

Gratuities £16 pppd

Two speciality restaurants £4.50 pppd  Would never try them if I had to pay hard cash so n/a

Casual dining £4.50 pppd.  Likewise. so n/a

Princess Prizes with the door. £0  Would never normally  touch it. But a fun enhancement for free.

Reserved seating for shows. £0 Would not normally go to a show because we always get rotten seats. Glastonbury was terrible last year.   A  possibly useful  enhancement

The much maligned Princess deserts  £0– but I’m dying to try one, the full Monty.  I would never pay for one though.

The fitness classes.  £1 pppd.  I do use the gym, but baulk at joining in with others  to loud music.  I shall give it a go on this cruise and who knows ... a potentially life changing experience?

The delivery options. £1pppd.  Never ever had anything delivered when I could walk, but DW may use the Breakfast in cabin option, she is less embarrassed than I .

Water bottles £7 pppd

Nice coffee £5 pppd

Juices etc £2 pppd

Alcohol/drinks.  Here's where it gets silly.  I have no idea really.  The fizzy bottled American or European beer bloats me up, so I dare not drink much although I do like it.  Let's say 5 x £15 expensive wines. DW likes cocktail experiments.  With the package £75 pppd, without the package £30 pppd.

So that equals £74 pppd for us, pretty close to the £75 premier package charge.  We shall see.

For a Princess newbie I would recommend wholheartedly taking the premier package and seeing how it goes.  You will at least have tried most things.

 

[rowingmachine]

Whoops!  UK price for Premier is £65 pppd.

[satxdiver]

On 4/3/2024 at 12:29 PM, voljeep said:

but with the Plus Beverage package - you have the option to remove Grats ...

 

j/s

OMG!!  Never remove the gratuities.  If you cannot afford them stay home and save the total cost.

[Retired-N-Happy]

1 hour ago, satxdiver said:

OMG!!  Never remove the gratuities.  If you cannot afford them stay home and save the total cost.

People are going to do what they wish to do.  There are a certain % of cruisers that are just against giving gratuities.  They have a multitude of excuses but shaming them isn't going to change their philosophy one bit.

[memoak]

27 minutes ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

People are going to do what they wish to do.  There are a certain % of cruisers that are just against giving gratuities.  They have a multitude of excuses but shaming them isn't going to change their philosophy one bit.

But if you buy a package gratuities are part of the package you cannot remove them otherwise there would not be a package 

[Retired-N-Happy]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

But if you buy a package gratuities are part of the package you cannot remove them otherwise there would not be a package 

Fully aware of the situation.  Have been getting packages for years now ever since X started them years ago.  Not letting them be removed is an excellent stipulation of the Plus and Premier packages. Glad to hear that about 75% of cruisers purchase a package, that reduces the possibility of people removing them.  It's one of our pet peeves while cruising.

Edited April 5 by Retired-N-Happy

[carnabombers]

Interesting subject re gratuities. It's very much an American thing. In Australia, we actually pay hospitality workers a very good wage. The minimum wage is $23 per hour, the average wage for a hospitalitry worker is probably closer to $25/$26 however on weekends and public holidays (penalty rates) that rate can go to $65 per hour for an unskilled server. If the service is exceptional, they might get a tip. We believe that people are employed to do a joib and if they do that job well, then great. They shouldn't be paid a pittance and then forced to smile because their livelihood depends on it.

We are very much a "user pay" bunch and when we get outstanding, "above and beyond" service, we will give those people a nice bonus. The fares we pay for cruises are more than what Americans pay which annoys me as well. Anyway, I would prefer that cruise lines actually pay all their staff a better base wage, include that in the actual price of the cruise and then dump the gratuity payment. But hey, Americans are the most travelled cruisers so I guess it's what works for them that will count.

[chamima]

1 hour ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Fully aware of the situation.  Have been getting packages for years now ever since X started them years ago.  Not letting them be removed is an excellent stipulation of the Plus and Premier packages. Glad to hear that about 75% of cruisers purchase a package, that reduces the possibility of people removing them.  It's one of our pet peeves while cruising.

 

And now Celebrity has removed gratuities from their packages so that insurance for the crew is gone. 🥵

[upwarduk]

4 hours ago, chamima said:

 

And now Celebrity has removed gratuities from their packages so that insurance for the crew is gone. 🥵

It’s one of the reasons we have swapped Cruise line.

Together with them taking an ‘S’ class ship away from Southampton.

[memoak]

14 hours ago, carnabombers said:

Interesting subject re gratuities. It's very much an American thing. In Australia, we actually pay hospitality workers a very good wage. The minimum wage is $23 per hour, the average wage for a hospitalitry worker is probably closer to $25/$26 however on weekends and public holidays (penalty rates) that rate can go to $65 per hour for an unskilled server. If the service is exceptional, they might get a tip. We believe that people are employed to do a joib and if they do that job well, then great. They shouldn't be paid a pittance and then forced to smile because their livelihood depends on it.

We are very much a "user pay" bunch and when we get outstanding, "above and beyond" service, we will give those people a nice bonus. The fares we pay for cruises are more than what Americans pay which annoys me as well. Anyway, I would prefer that cruise lines actually pay all their staff a better base wage, include that in the actual price of the cruise and then dump the gratuity payment. But hey, Americans are the most travelled cruisers so I guess it's what works for them that will count.

If they upped the price to cover the crew appreciation then people would complain that the cruise lines are raising prices and it is unfair. No matter which way you go someone will be unhappy

[Retired-N-Happy]

17 hours ago, chamima said:

 

And now Celebrity has removed gratuities from their packages so that insurance for the crew is gone. 🥵

That's one of two reasons why X is in our rearview mirror.  The other being the doubling of the price difference between their drink packages and the forcing of both cabin occupants to upgrade.  What was once a 12.00 difference for one to upgrade per day became a 48.00 difference for two to upgrade per day 

[Potstech]

23 hours ago, satxdiver said:

OMG!!  Never remove the gratuities.  If you cannot afford them stay home and save the total cost.

Wrong