Princess Plus

[sadiwest]

Shocked I don't see more questions about it but it could be just me who hasn't sailed Princess in years.

 

If Plus applies to guests 1 and 2, with additional guests added as needed on board, what if we don't add our 3rd?

 

At the end of the cruise will just one person's gratuities etc be billed?  If we dont choose to add her (sometimes she'd rather eat at the buffet than dine with us) is that doable or will we be required to add her? If we have to add her can we just not do it in advance? 

 

Zero experience with Plus....it's been a long time. 

[memoak]

5 minutes ago, sadiwest said:

Shocked I don't see more questions about it but it could be just me who hasn't sailed Princess in years.

 

If Plus applies to guests 1 and 2, with additional guests added as needed on board, what if we don't add our 3rd?

 

At the end of the cruise will just one person's gratuities etc be billed?  If we dont choose to add her (sometimes she'd rather eat at the buffet than dine with us) is that doable or will we be required to add her? If we have to add her can we just not do it in advance? 

 

Zero experience with Plus....it's been a long time. 

Only guests 1 and 2 need to have a package. Person 3 can do what they want  They can still eat wherever they want but drinks, WiFi and gratuities would all be ala carte. You can add the plan on embarkation day if you like but not halfway through the cruise 
 

 

 

Edited April 10 by memoak

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

Regarding gratuities... Yes, if you don't add the 3rd person to plus then they won't get the plus benefits one of which is gratuities so that 3rd person would then be charged for gratuities. I think that they are added to the account daily rather than at the end though :).

 

Remember though that when you eat at a casual dining venue for your two included casual dining meals the 3rd person would have to pay if they were with you. Similarly, you won't be permitted to buy drinks on your plus package for that third person... they would have to pay for their own drinks and the crew will be on the look out for potential sharing as it is not allowed.

[mtnesterz]

I think it's a great thing you are doing, this family vacation. As you can tell by my screen name, we are empty nesters. You mentioned elsewhere she is 15. In another year or so, she will not want to vacation with mom and dad anymore. Treasure this family time!!!

JMHO, the package makes little sense for a minor sInce they can't order alcohol drinks.

[jeromep]

If your third person were interested in a Plus or Premier package, they can purchase on board, and they will have their own benefits and included gratuity.

 

1 hour ago, sadiwest said:

At the end of the cruise will just one person's gratuities etc be billed?

 

Yes.

 

1 hour ago, sadiwest said:

If we dont choose to add her (sometimes she'd rather eat at the buffet than dine with us) is that doable or will we be required to add her?

 

You are not required to add third or fourth berths to the Plus or Premier package, but they also don't get any of the benefits.  There is no additional charge for MDR food (unless noted on the menu) or dining at the buffet, so no cost issues there that would be handled by a package.  Without a package they would have to pay for specialty dining and for the "casual" dining venues, even if your meal were comped by your package.

 

1 hour ago, sadiwest said:

If we have to add her can we just not do it in advance?

 

She can be added in advance, but you have to contact your travel agent or Princess to do so.  You can purchase a package for her on embarkation day, there will be plenty of opportunities to do so.

 

You don't state the age of the person that is the third berth in your cabin.  Are they an adult, child?  Depending on age and their independence from you, and their personal desires, that will be a factor in determining if a package is a good value for them or not.

[MTNest93]

From my understanding you can prepay gratuities and maybe look into a non-alcoholic beverage package.  As for wifi, you will have 2 wifi accounts with your Plus packages that you can share amongst the 3 of you, just won't be able to all 3 be on it at the same time.  

 

[jeromep]

2 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

You mentioned elsewhere she is 15

 

I didn't realize that your third berth was likely your daughter.  That said, there are other packages that would work better for a teen.  There are a number of non alcoholic beverage packages you'll want to look at.  If she is a pop drinker, you may want to consider one of those.  If she likes coffee beverages, same thing, look for the NA beverage package that covers that.  Just like Plus and Premier, they are selling beverage packages on board on embarkation day, so you can decide when you are on board to purchase one for her, or do so ahead of time.  Aside from Plus and Premier covering gratuities, gratuities for her will just have to be something you know you are going to pay for at the end of the cruise.

[lahlah57]

That 3rd person will be tracked on their own medallion because all charges are tracked by medallion.

Medallion #1 and 2 will show plus the 3rd will not and all charges and bill will show that.

Edited April 10 by lahlah57

[sadiwest]

1 hour ago, jeromep said:

 

 

 

She can be added in advance, but you have to contact your travel agent or Princess to do so.  You can purchase a package for her on embarkation day, there will be plenty of opportunities to do so.

 

You don't state the age of the person that is the third berth in your cabin.  Are they an adult, child?  Depending on age and their independence from you, and their personal desires, that will be a factor in determining if a package is a good value for them or not.

She'll be 15 at the time.

Last cruise (not Princess) we booked a specialty restaurant in advance and she decided the minute we got there that she didn't want to participate.   At that age, and especially on a ship, we weren't worried about letting her have soome teenager time once in a while.

 

It's hard to say if it'll work better to buy it or not. She doesn't drink soda or coffee/tea, and should not indulge in tremendous desserts anyway on a regular basis (none of us should). I'm still debating but its nice to know 3rd person isn't required. I'm not sure it's worth it for her...

 

One question....the drink package that is "soda"....are those cans or do they have the machines (like Freestyle) where they have non carbonated options?

[jeromep]

13 minutes ago, sadiwest said:

One question....the drink package that is "soda"....are those cans or do they have the machines (like Freestyle) where they have non carbonated options?

Pop can be had fountain or can.  More often than not if you don't have a beverage plan or Plus/Premier, pop will be from the gun behind the bar, served in a tall red cup with ice.  If you don't have a plan you'll probably get a can.  I think the can price is $2.50.  If you are on a beverage plan you can request a can instead of fountain.  Princess does not have any self-serve machines, everything comes through a restaurant or bar, so no non-carbonated, syrup based, beverage options, like a Freestyle machine can do.

 

There is a juice bar on board.  I don't recall the prices, thanks to having Plus or Premier on my last cruise, but juice, smoothies, and mocktails can add up if you consume a number of them for the cash price.  And remember, cash price will also incur an 18% bar gratuity for each beverage in addition to the list price.

 

Oh, and if she is ordering room service from the TV in the cabin, be sure that she is logged onto the TV with one of your profiles, not hers.  Your Plus includes room service, but her profile will not.  If she orders under her profile it will ding the onboard account $14.99 once to cover room service and OceanNow delivery for the entire voyage.  Just some food for thought.

Edited April 10 by jeromep

[CalgonMoment]

6 hours ago, mtnesterz said:

JMHO, the package makes little sense for a minor sInce they can't order alcohol drinks.

My 16 yo had Princess Plus and loved it. This was when everyone in the cabin had to have it, or I might have skipped it.  She had a great time with mocktails and coffee drinks. She even talked with the bartenders and they made her off menu mocktails. Her favorite was a pineapple mojito 

Edited April 11 by CalgonMoment

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

8 hours ago, jeromep said:

If she orders under her profile it will ding the onboard account $14.99 once to cover room service and OceanNow delivery for the entire voyage.  Just some food for thought.

That is slightly wrong...

 

OceanNow delivery is where you order via the app. Room service is where you order by phone. They are different and charged separately.

 

OceanNow is a one-off £14.99 paid when you first use it then it is not charged again for the rest of the cruise. But you have to order via the app. If the 3rd person orders via their app then they will be charged that one-off fee but then there is no additional charge for the rest of the cruise to use it.

 

Room service is where you order by phone. That is a $5 per order charge. You will be charged every time you order room service $5. Of course, if you have a 3rd person in your room that does not have the package but the 1st 2 do then I assume that the whole room will have the room service charge waived (?).

 

Of course, both of these charges are included in the cruise Plus and Premier packages.

Edited April 11 by Snaxmuppet

[skynight]

Each person, adult or child has their own on board folio. When all 3 persons in the cabin are linked to the same payment, credit card, account then there also will be a summary amount. Charges incurred by the 3rd person will be added as they occur and then netted against the other two accounts.

Dining. Just make dining reservations for 3. If the 3rd person does not show, mention to the DR greeter when you show for dinner. No issues. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

14 hours ago, sadiwest said:

She'll be 15 at the time.

I would not get a Plus package for a teen.

 

We will be traveling with a 13 yo in a month, and we are not getting him a Plus or a Premier package in addition to ours. His grats will be charged to our room. When he joins us in a specialty rest, his meal will also be charged to our room.

[555]

"I would not get a Plus package for a teen."

 

Especially when they benefit by others in the cabin that have the Plus package. 

[voljeep]

15 minutes ago, 555 said:

"I would not get a Plus package for a teen."

 

Especially when they benefit by others in the cabin that have the Plus package. 

yes, they can use the one device at a time for wifi if the PLUS user is not.

 

That is what you were refering to, correct?

[555]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

yes, they can use the one device at a time for wifi if the PLUS user is not.

 

That is what you were refering to, correct?

All the benefits of the Plus package without alcohol. 

[voljeep]

33 minutes ago, 555 said:

All the benefits of the Plus package without alcohol. 

 

[BamaVol]

51 minutes ago, 555 said:

All the benefits of the Plus package without alcohol. 

What about crew appreciation?  

[555]

15 hours ago, BamaVol said:

What about crew appreciation?  

What about it? 

Buying into the Plus package is a lot extra just for the sake of getting gratuities included. 

[BamaVol]

2 hours ago, 555 said:

What about it? 

Buying into the Plus package is a lot extra just for the sake of getting gratuities included. 

You said the teen got all the Plus benefits without the alcohol.  They don’t get crew appreciation.  WiFi, yes. Room service, yes. Ordering with the app, yes.  They can use a parent’s Plus for those.  But not alcohol or crew appreciation, casual dining, exercise classes. Soda, desserts, water, coffee are possible if you share and don’t get caught.

[NavyVeteran]

2 hours ago, BamaVol said:

You said the teen got all the Plus benefits without the alcohol.  They don’t get crew appreciation.  WiFi, yes. Room service, yes. Ordering with the app, yes.  They can use a parent’s Plus for those.  But not alcohol or crew appreciation, casual dining, exercise classes. Soda, desserts, water, coffee are possible if you share and don’t get caught.

If you share and get caught, your Plus may be cancelled with no refund. If you share and don't get caught, your teen is learning that it's OK to steal as long as you don't get caught. 

[sadiwest]

20 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

If you share and get caught, your Plus may be cancelled with no refund. If you share and don't get caught, your teen is learning that it's OK to steal as long as you don't get caught. 

In our case the only thing she'd probably do is use wifi but since her phone is on her grandmother's plan (not ours) it's tbd how she's allowed to use it.

 

Besides that she really only drinks water. The rare virgin colada we'd just pay for.  Dh and I dont eat sugar. I can see the one sticky thing being the premium desserts bc we won't eat them but I'm ethically inclined to not let her eat them either. 

[BamaVol]

47 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

If you share and get caught, your Plus may be cancelled with no refund. If you share and don't get caught, your teen is learning that it's OK to steal as long as you don't get caught. 

I wasn’t condoning theft.  I would not personally take something that wasn’t mine to take or share something that wasn’t mine to share.  I was merely pointing out to another poster who seemed ok with it, that it would be impossible to steal some things, difficult to steal others and that there consequences if one was caught.  

[kywildcatfanone]

I don't buy the package, so no issue for me, but how would someone get caught?  If I go buy a drink and walk away and hand it to someone, who is really watching that?  Not condoning it, but not sure how you could get caught.  You think the bartenders care if you order a drink and then hand it to someone when you turn around?  I doubt they pay attention or even care.