Changes Coming to Plus/Premier Packages?

[disneyochem]

Yes, we’ve started to book more cruises with HAL based on their package.  Booking HIA Early Bonus gives us upgraded drink package, WiFi, crew gratuities, shore excursion credits (varies based on cruise length) and specialty dining.  Add to that, we also get loyalty OBC, shareholders OBC, AARP OBC and Educator OBC.  Compare that to the Plus /Premier package on Princess.  Don’t want or need the desserts, exercise classes or the casual dining meals.  Also didn’t like that Princess didn’t grandfather in those of us who had already purchased a package prior to the roll out of the new and improved Princess Plus.

 

We love Princess (elite) and will continue to sail with them, but we’ve found better values with HAL.

[Ken the cruiser]

Just for reference the HAL Have It All Early Booking Bonus, which is around $65 pp/day, offers the following perks. For my $$$ these perks are worth more than what is provided with Princess Plus for $60 pp/day. It’s interesting Princess is surveying folks about a similar Excursion OBC option.

 

Edited March 30 by Ken the cruiser

[memoak]

6 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just for reference the HAL Have It All Early Booking Bonus, which is around $65 pp/day, offers the following perks. For my $$$ these perks are worth more than what is provided with Princess Plus for $60 pp/day. It’s interesting Princess is surveying folks about a similar Excursion OBC option.

 

Since we almost never book excursions this is not for me plus it doesn’t tell me limitations on drink.  Dollar amount or number of drinks 

[Ken the cruiser]

12 minutes ago, memoak said:

Since we almost never book excursions this is not for me plus it doesn’t tell me limitations on drink.  Dollar amount or number of drinks 

OTOH we always book cruise line excursions at most every port. So an excursion OBC perk would definitely interest us, especially since we stopped booking the Plus package once we made Elite.

 

Edited March 30 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

21 minutes ago, memoak said:

Since we almost never book excursions this is not for me plus it doesn’t tell me limitations on drink.  Dollar amount or number of drinks 

[memoak]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thank you that was not specified on the earlier post

[nasa1974]

34 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

The elite beverage package reads like it is limited to 15 beverages a day including alcoholic and non-alcoholic. So, any combination of alcohol, soda, water and coffee your limit is 15. Am I reading that right?

[Ken the cruiser]

29 minutes ago, nasa1974 said:

The elite beverage package reads like it is limited to 15 beverages a day including alcoholic and non-alcoholic. So, any combination of alcohol, soda, water and coffee your limit is 15. Am I reading that right?

That sounds correct, if there is an individual charge for the beverage. For example, I’m sure regular coffee is free and doesn’t count towards the total. But some specialty coffees might have an associated charge and count towards the daily limit of 15.

[startedwithamouse]

10 hours ago, nymshowdown said:

Princess sending out surveys about Plus/Premier packages. Looks like they might be considering some new benefits such as shore excursion credits (meh) and unlimited specialty dining (woah)

 

 

 

You agreed when you opted in to this survey to not share it, correct?

[SunshineCoast]

10 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

I concur when it comes to the Sun.  That really sucks!

 

We have at least 6 future bookings (not on the Sun) of 30+ days in length where we could use more included casual meals with our Plus Package.

It's worth checking with Kai Sushi on the Sun.  We had casual dining with our Premier package and as O'Malleys never opened for lunch and we could get pizza in several locations on the ship we asked at Kai Sushi and had a multi-course 'tasting' lunch.  We really enjoyed the experience - much better than our evening at Butchers Block which in our opinion was a lot of 'hype' over quality -  but that's probably because we prefer good quality meat balanced with fresh vegetables.  We also weren't fans of the cooked meat being paraded around all the tables prior to carving - especially as 2 guests the evening we were there had 'streaming' colds.  Oops- I've digressed.   Anyway - try asking and I hope they are still doing it.  

[TenneSea]

On 1/8/2024 at 2:28 PM, taflavin said:

   

 

17 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Any "additional" perk will have to be offset with a price increase (to justify adding more perks.  Look what they did to the $50/pp for Plus increase.  Added specialty desserts (2 x a day) and gym classes.  Both of which I would not partake in.

 

Then they added 2 specialty dinners to the Premier, making it harder for everyone to get reservations at the Crown Grill/Sabatini's.  Let's do some math here.  An extra $20 a day for 2 specialty dinners.  

 

10 day cruise = $200 extra for 2 dinners (per person).  Without the package, you could independently book 5 dinners at the Crown Grill (5 x $40).  I know....there were other inclusions, mostly costing Princess nothing (photos, reserved seating, higher beverages costs, etc).  Princess wins ALL the time.

 

 

Absolutely.  Prices will go up (was inevitable when internet prices soared) - now it's just a matter of "how are we going to sell this pig"?  We have the power to stop this slow creep to becoming the new "airline" if we all would just stop buying these packages.

Edited March 30 by TenneSea

[TenneSea]

Next will be charging for "bags".  Wait for it.  Cruising is the new Airlines.

[nasa1974]

If the plus and premier packages go up it's one less thing I'll purchase. 

[TenneSea]

leck57: That is pretty much fact but 5 drinks a day hardly makes you an alcoholic

 

5 Drinks a day is a problem !  Talk to your liver.

[phabric]

With Unlimited Specialty Dining, you will not be able to get any reservations.

 

With OBC for excursions, would you be able to use pre cruise to book any excursions?

[chamima]

4 hours ago, SunshineCoast said:

It's worth checking with Kai Sushi on the Sun.  We had casual dining with our Premier package and as O'Malleys never opened for lunch and we could get pizza in several locations on the ship we asked at Kai Sushi and had a multi-course 'tasting' lunch.  We really enjoyed the experience - much better than our evening at Butchers Block which in our opinion was a lot of 'hype' over quality -  but that's probably because we prefer good quality meat balanced with fresh vegetables.  We also weren't fans of the cooked meat being paraded around all the tables prior to carving - especially as 2 guests the evening we were there had 'streaming' colds.  Oops- I've digressed.   Anyway - try asking and I hope they are still doing it.  

 

Thanks for the idea but , because you had the Premier package, I wonder if they just counted that as one of your Specialty dinners. We "only" have the Plus package.

The placement of Kai Sushi really doesn't warrant it as a Specialty to me. It's open to the Piazza, similar to Crooners. It's nothing like the experience you'd get in the Crown Grill or Sabatinis but has the same designation and all inclusive $39 price.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, phabric said:

With Unlimited Specialty Dining, you will not be able to get any reservations.

 

With OBC for excursions, would you be able to use pre cruise to book any excursions?

You can when you book a HAL cruise with the HIA option I posted at post #27.

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, phabric said:

With Unlimited Specialty Dining, you will not be able to get any reservations.

 

With OBC for excursions, would you be able to use pre cruise to book any excursions?

Its not unlimited on HAL. It's 1 or 2 nights based on cruise length per post #30. I'm still confused as to how this is different from Plus / Premier other than replacing over the top sundaes with excursion OBC. 

 

Adding: is this bc not enough ppl book Plus / Premier OR ppl don't drink as much as thought so it's more profitable  OR CC is getting ready to increase packages across all lines ? (C, HAL, PCL etc)

 

 

Edited March 30 by Ombud

[Ken the cruiser]

26 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Its not unlimited on HAL. It's 1 or 2 nights based on cruise length per post #30. I'm still confused as to how this is different from Plus / Premier other than replacing over the top sundaes with excursion OBC. 

 

Adding: is this bc not enough ppl book Plus / Premier OR ppl don't drink as much as thought so it's more profitable  OR CC is getting ready to increase packages across all lines ? (C, HAL, PCL etc)

First, it's just a survey. But for us once we made Elite, we stopped purchasing the Plus package. Doing the math, given that we're over 70 and really don't drink all that much alcohol or use any of the other "extra" Plus options, paying the equivalent of $60 per day for both of us for the beverage package seemed a little steep (i.e., $25 per day for the internet at the Elite rate, $34 per day for gratuities, with the remaining $61 per day for the beverage package).

 

Now, if they added some excursion OBC to offset that $60 per day for the beverage package, then it might make economic sense for us to purchase the Plus package again, as we do go on quite a few excursions.

[phabric]

I talked to a Beverage Manager, I asked him why not have a package with the same perks for soda or coffee as a lot of people don’t drink alcohol.  He thought that was great idea and said he would bring it up.

[SunshineCoast]

2 hours ago, chamima said:

 

Thanks for the idea but , because you had the Premier package, I wonder if they just counted that as one of your Specialty dinners. We "only" have the Plus package.

The placement of Kai Sushi really doesn't warrant it as a Specialty to me. It's open to the Piazza, similar to Crooners. It's nothing like the experience you'd get in the Crown Grill or Sabatinis but has the same designation and all inclusive $39 price.

Definitely was classed as a 'Casual' meal.  We used our 2 Specialities at Butchers Block and The Catch. 

Hope you have a wonderful holiday. 

[MTNest93]

I would not be in favor of either of these changes.  Perhaps adding OBC, but not designated for excursions.  OBC would be more flexible, can be used for specialty dining, casual dining, etc..  I would not want to feel obligated to book an excursion just to not waste this "perk". 

[memoak]

12 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That sounds correct, if there is an individual charge for the beverage. For example, I’m sure regular coffee is free and doesn’t count towards the total. But some specialty coffees might have an associated charge and count towards the daily limit of 15.

I would not make it into late night if they counted all drinks in the 15

Edited March 30 by memoak

[memoak]

3 hours ago, TenneSea said:

 

Absolutely.  Prices will go up (was inevitable when internet prices soared) - now it's just a matter of "how are we going to sell this pig"?  We have the power to stop this slow creep to becoming the new "airline" if we all would just stop buying these packages.

If you would like to pay for our 8-10 drinks a day which would be well over $200 feel free to until then we will sail with plus

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, memoak said:

I would not make it into late night if they counted all stinks in the 15

late afternoon getting close to the 15 if counting waters (4-5) coffee (1) beers (3-4)  ... that's 10 and not even pre-dinner ...