Changes Coming to Plus/Premier Packages?

[Redwing55]

I haven't re-evaluated since the WIFI prices have changed, but a lot of platinum and up passengers get 1/2 off the WIFI.  That pushed me to opt out of Plus since my spouse doesn't drink alcohol.  It was close, but we took a 14 day in Feb. and it worked out fine for us without Plus.  

 

What I really would like to see is a cost effective coffee option.  It's not that costly of an option for Princess, yet there is no way I could justify buying any of the current drink packages that have coffee... it's just too much of an adder.  Yeah, I miss the coffee cards.

[memoak]

10 hours ago, Redwing55 said:

I haven't re-evaluated since the WIFI prices have changed, but a lot of platinum and up passengers get 1/2 off the WIFI.  That pushed me to opt out of Plus since my spouse doesn't drink alcohol.  It was close, but we took a 14 day in Feb. and it worked out fine for us without Plus.  

 

What I really would like to see is a cost effective coffee option.  It's not that costly of an option for Princess, yet there is no way I could justify buying any of the current drink packages that have coffee... it's just too much of an adder.  Yeah, I miss the coffee cards.

If you have a non drinking partner they probably still drink coffee drinks or sodas. If you drink like I do (minimum of 6-8 drinks a day then the plus would still work for you

[Redwing55]

37 minutes ago, memoak said:

If you have a non drinking partner they probably still drink coffee drinks or sodas. If you drink like I do (minimum of 6-8 drinks a day then the plus would still work for you

That's my issue.  I rarely would hit that many drinks/day.  I think the plus is a good value.  My issue is that I'm not a big drinker.  We had Plus on a 15 day Hawaii, and I think we broke even.  But with 1/2 savings wifi (at the time) it was barely a win.  Plus we had tons of sea days.  

On our recent 14 Carr. cruise, I didn't drink much at all..less than 10 total drinks.  I brought some pop on board.  Wife got the soda package.  We spent quite a bit less.  But I agree, I would have had a lot more specialty coffees and alcohol drinks if I had Plus.  So for me, I do see it as a value... but it does increase the cost of the cruise.  Is that increase worth it is the issue for me.

[nasa1974]

The bottom line is you have to do the math and see if it's a right fit for you. You know your limits I don't. It might be a benefit it might not. 

[Teechur]

We choose cruises with many port days and as few sea days as possible. As a result, we are off of the ship much of the time and often have drinks onshore in ports. So far, we have not purchased any packages. If we did, I'm sure we would drink a lot more than we do now, "to get our money's worth". 😉

Since we usually get some OBC, that is our "drink money". We will also purchase the 4-device internet package (at half price) on our 3 upcoming cruises and split it with friends in other cabins.

[scili]

.Is adding gratuity to the Princess Plus package coming next?  We are on Majestic Princess now.  The ice cream bar wants to charge us $2 for the premium dessert with alcohol included in our plus package.  They claim that the charge is because the dessert with alcohol have a list charge of $14 adding 18% gratuities it exceeded my free premium dessert by $2.

[carnabombers]

14 minutes ago, scili said:

.Is adding gratuity to the Princess Plus package coming next?  We are on Majestic Princess now.  The ice cream bar wants to charge us $2 for the premium dessert with alcohol included in our plus package.  They claim that the charge is because the dessert with alcohol have a list charge of $14 adding 18% gratuities it exceeded my free premium dessert by $2.

Geez, anything for a dollar. Princess needs to get real and be customer centric. The server should have just given you the ice cream. 

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

On 4/7/2024 at 4:03 PM, memoak said:

If you have a non drinking partner they probably still drink coffee drinks or sodas. If you drink like I do (minimum of 6-8 drinks a day then the plus would still work for you

Plus works for us and my DW only has 3 or 4 cocktails a day but she drinks nice coffees throughout the day. Even so, it is still financially worthwhile for us to have the package.

[RDJ]

We like the Plus package. We are drinkers and we by no means worry about the 15 drink limit or feel like we have to drink more to justify. What we like is that we get to try different drinks, things we don’t normally drink or try at home. We can try it and if we don’t like it then we order something else! One day might be no alcohol and one day might be 10 drinks. When we did the math we found that as long as we averaged a certain amount overall, it would at least be a wash. Sometimes there’s not a savings, but the benefit is the cruise feels more all inclusive with the package. Without it we felt guilty on the days we chose to drink more. Now with that being said we only do that on Princess! The drink packages on other cruises we’ve tried cost way more than the Plus deal (just learned that lesson on Carnival).

[MacMadame]

13 hours ago, scili said:

We are on Majestic Princess now.  The ice cream bar wants to charge us $2 for the premium dessert with alcohol included in our plus package.  They claim that the charge is because the dessert with alcohol have a list charge of $14 adding 18% gratuities it exceeded my free premium dessert by $2.

The Plus fare for my cruise says it includes 2 premium desserts, not 2 at $12 or less. I bet that guy is wrong.

[scili]

The $2 charge for premium dessert with alcohol could be Majestic specific. Even though the menu at the ice cream bar still says "..., these desserts (original or with alcohol) are included in your package."  The $2 is apparently a directive from the manager.  I did point out to the statement in the menu and that they should honor the published fare and which is still in Princess published package. The attendant had to call her supervisor and the supervisor then had to call the manager.  The package allowance limit could be just an excuse for the charge.   ..

[Retired-N-Happy]

On 4/11/2024 at 2:15 AM, scili said:

.Is adding gratuity to the Princess Plus package coming next?  We are on Majestic Princess now.  The ice cream bar wants to charge us $2 for the premium dessert with alcohol included in our plus package.  They claim that the charge is because the dessert with alcohol have a list charge of $14 adding 18% gratuities it exceeded my free premium dessert by $2.

Since it had alcohol in it, the 14.00 charge is less than the 15.00 alcoholic drink limit covered by the Plus package.  Would have demanded to see the beverage manager to see how he can explain that a 14.00 alcohol involved purchase is not covered by a 15.00 package limit.

[Retired-N-Happy]

On 4/2/2024 at 7:17 PM, karatemom2 said:

 

I'm sure that Princess has evaluated the financials of the packages and there is no doubt they are making money on them, which is why they are marketing them so aggressively. Keep in mind, the mark up on the alcoholic beverages, WiFi, and other package benefits is probably quite high - so even though it seems like a savings to the consumer, just by virtue of locking people into a set extra price for these items, Princess is likely ensuring that lots of people are investing more in onboard expenses then they would have prior to the packages. Plus, Princess is getting this money upfront and far in advance in many cases, and they are collecting more on the Princess Insurance for those who buy the packages in advance due to the increased cost of the overall trip investment. This improves their financial position and strengthens the bottom line because it is money in hand gathering interest before services are even delivered while before the prepaid packages, they would not have been collecting that money until people actually cruised.

 

While most people who buy the packages feel they are getting a savings, which is likely true for many, there are probably equally as many people who buy the packages who also "underuse" them once onboard, especially on port days. Also, the packages definitely negate some level of the Elite benefit, but many Elite passengers still buy into them for the perceived added value and convenience. So this is a whole group of people that Princess is making more money on then they might if they didn't buy the package because they are in essence paying full price for a WiFi benefit that purchased ala carte would be half price.

 

So, Princess is definitely making money and people are buying them and seem to really like them - win/win scenario. I doubt Princess will make any other adjustments that might make the current packages less attractive by offering something at a lower cost. If anything, it's likely the cost of the current packages might increase at some future point, especially if they throw in more benefits to try to make them more attractive.

 

In the meanwhile, we continue to cruise package free as it doesn't add up for us. But I do appreciate that those who are purchasing the packages are likely contributing to keeping the overall cruise fares lower because it offers another big revenue stream to Princess which is good for those of us who aren't interested in buying them and prefer to apply that money toward other expenses we may value more like shore excursions and experiences, or pre and post cruise land travel.

Kind of difficult to under use the plus package even on a port day.  After factoring out tips and wifi, the magic number is 29.  Two alcoholic drinks and one nonalcoholic one and you're ahead of the game. Or a single glass of wine and 3 nonalcoholic drinks after factoring in the grats would also put you ahead of the game.

 

The real easy line in the sand is that 90% of teetotalers should avoid packages and those that like to imbibe on vacation have a great value option compared to the comparable cost on all of the other main stream cruise lines.  It's the main reason why 11 of our 15 current future booked cruises are on Princess.

[Retired-N-Happy]

On 4/3/2024 at 11:51 PM, MacMadame said:

 

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

Five drinks at Good Spirits and a bottle of water has that covered, and is not a lot at all for those that imbibe on vacation.

[carnabombers]

I find that the on board credit we get for our cruises covers us for a few drinks a day and that is fine. Like on our 21 day med trip, we had $700 on board credit. That was plentry for us so we didn't need a package. I couldn't give too hoots for fancy cocktails. A good beer or wine is fine It's horses for courses I guess. Each to their own.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

when did Princess change the price to $70/$90 pppd?

I could swear it was just $60/$80...

[reedprincess]

Just now, Itchy&Scratchy said:

when did Princess change the price to $70/$90 pppd?

I could swear it was just $60/$80...

They haven't changed the price.

It's 60/80.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

6 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

They haven't changed the price.

It's 60/80.

not what their website says right this moment:

 

[kywildcatfanone]

Increases are overdue, surprised it hasn't happened already

[reedprincess]

6 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

not what their website says right this moment:

 

60/80 on my website 

 

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Man, their website is glitching big time. It's back to $60/$80 just 10 minutes later.

 

That, and the 3/4 person which is supposed to be free, is so not free. Not even close.

[Retired-N-Happy]

1 hour ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Increases are overdue, surprised it hasn't happened already

Need to make up for the 25% of teetotalers on board that abstain from purchasing packages.  Even at 70, still a great value.

[suzyed]

On 3/29/2024 at 3:32 PM, LACruiser88 said:

The big change that most folks are hoping for is changing the 2 casual dining meals on the Plus Package for longer voyages.  It should probably be 2 per week?

I have been pushing for that since they first implemented the changes.

 

[suzyed]

On 3/29/2024 at 6:43 PM, Hillmom said:

I wish they'd just fix the issue that whether your cruise be a 5 day or a 35 day - you still get only two meals.....  Yes, of course, drinks and tips scale with number of days, but much of the rest does not. 

Totally agree.  I have had this presented to Corporate by a contact I have and she said they are aware of the issue but don't wish to change it "at this time" (about 10months ago)

[Mary loves to travel]

On 4/4/2024 at 6:23 PM, carnabombers said:

In Australia ……

 

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, you’re exactly getting your wish!   Australians indeed have the “better base wages” included in the actual price of the cruise and there is no gratuity charged onboard.  
😊