Is princess plus worth it?

[HotRoot]

We do not drink coffee.  We hit the $20 a day on sodas, bottled water, and mocktails.  Yes, you can preorder the waters and have all of those waters in your way every day.  We find it is easier to just order 10 bottles every day.  

[memoak]

2 hours ago, Georgeny said:

Without dealing with whether Plus etc value which is really an individual accounting, but the fact of doin all this math and pre=planning becomes stressful. I much preferred the long ago cruising math. Paid fare based on cabin style. Onboard paid for drinks, excursions, shop purchases, on, onboard account. Gratuities paid cash with a recommendation per day, per category, at end of cruise your discretion.

 

Now, math for fare checking continual alleged SALE rates. Then multiple fare categories and inclusions. Just feel like sitting with a calculator all months up to cruise final. New rules, rates all the time. More ala-carte all the time. Really starting to ruin the whole cruise experience fir restful vacation.

 

Now you can you tube and find dozens of breakdowns of these costs if you really want a headache.

 

CRUISING - for ACCOUNTANTS ONLY coming soon

 

George in NY

In reality the old days were totally ala carte. We still pay for the cabin we want and can have ala carte if we want. But now we have options that may or may not suit your personal style. In the old days we had to pay per drink for some of us that added up to lots of money now I can get a package that takes care of that. Packages are designed for people who want the items included not for everyone 

[Interestedcruisefan]

If you both need Wi-Fi then I think it's worth it

 

If not then it's a tougher decision

 

(Should add that assumes you don't intend to remove gratuities)

Edited May 22 by Interestedcruisefan

[nini]

2 hours ago, PMGS247 said:

Honestly it's the right call for most people. 

 

Where it's not the right call are: People who remove gratuities or don't use or share wi-fi AND they don't drink much. 

 

$60/day is low for a stand-alone drink package compared to the rest of the cruising industry so just drinks alone it's not that hard to justify it, but when you factor in the other inclusions it really is the right thing for most people.  Not judging it any way and not saying they don't exist, there's plenty of people who's vacation style doesn't justify the $60/day, but it's safe to say it makes sense more often than not.

 

If you plan to pay your gratuities and would purchase wi-fi anyway, you only need to get usefulness out of about $20 of premium coffees, sodas, and alcohol per day for the package to make sense.  With on-board prices as they are $20 isn't much. A lot of people get this out of just coffee/water/soda before even factoring in a single sip of alcohol.  If you take out wi-fi and/or gratuities it's a higher bar for how much you need to drink to justify the package.

 

Very well stated! The breakdown is excellent.

An exception I can think of is if the person is Platinum or Elite and can get the WiFi for half off. However, we are Platinum and really enjoy the convenience of the Plus package and not stressing about our beverages. AND, we still enjoy tipping extra to crew members.

[Interestedcruisefan]

Just now, nini said:

 

Very well stated! The breakdown is excellent.

An exception I can think of is if the person is Platinum or Elite and can get the WiFi for half off. However, we are Platinum and really enjoy the convenience of the Plus package and not stressing about our beverages. AND, we still enjoy tipping extra to crew members.

Also if you do a few fitness classes then premium plus becomes very worth it as well

[Georgeny]

11 minutes ago, memoak said:

In reality the old days were totally ala carte. We still pay for the cabin we want and can have ala carte if we want. But now we have options that may or may not suit your personal style. In the old days we had to pay per drink for some of us that added up to lots of money now I can get a package that takes care of that. Packages are designed for people who want the items included not for everyone 

 

Drinks certainly were, but depends what the " old days" were to each of us. For us mid 80's 90's. In my old days ALL food was included and MDR was equal or frankly better than today's " speciality restaurants. " There were no upcharges to be had versus food or service. No "special" private areas, or add on experiences on board. Everyone had equal food and service, only big thing that spending some $$ would get you was cabin size and amenities. No lounge only I could go to, no fancy cabana's by the pool, no special embarkation or disembarkation privileges. I found that to be a better situation especially when traveling with others. Oh the spa has always been an added fee of course.

 

Also remember when you do the math. Varies if worth it depending on number of port days when your package is not available to you if ashore all day etc.

[memoak]

9 minutes ago, Georgeny said:

 

Drinks certainly were, but depends what the " old days" were to each of us. For us mid 80's 90's. In my old days ALL food was included and MDR was equal or frankly better than today's " speciality restaurants. " There were no upcharges to be had versus food or service. No "special" private areas, or add on experiences on board. Everyone had equal food and service, only big thing that spending some $$ would get you was cabin size and amenities. No lounge only I could go to, no fancy cabana's by the pool, no special embarkation or disembarkation privileges. I found that to be a better situation especially when traveling with others. Oh the spa has always been an added fee of course.

 

Also remember when you do the math. Varies if worth it depending on number of port days when your package is not available to you if ashore all day etc.

Even on port days we will average at least 2 drinks before dinner, wine with dinner and at least 3-4 drinks in the casino if not more. Specialty restaurants started showing up in the late 1990’s. Even in those days things like chefs dinner were available for extra money. The major difference was that there was no anytime dining. If you didn’t like the 2 times available for dinner your only option was the buffet. 

[sound_guy0918]

It's really all about which perks are important to you - i.e. which ones would you definitely be paying for -  along with a dash of "how much is convenience worth to you when you are on vacation?"

 

After gratuities and wifi, it's pretty easy to casually spend $20-30 on drinks.  Enjoy a specialty coffee in the morning, grab a bottle of water before your excursion, have a cocktail by the pool and a glass of wine with dinner...you've made up the difference in cost.

 

Now add in the food and drink delivery (convenient but not necessary IMHO), enjoying an extra cocktail at Good Spirits at Sea, a specialty coffee in the MDR after dinner...

 

Then you also delete any feelings that you are "obligated" to finish that $15 cocktail or maybe you didn't like the glass of wine you ordered at dinner so you want to try something else...

 

We find that not worrying about any of that makes the vacation a superior experience overall.

[555]

52 minutes ago, Georgeny said:

 

Drinks certainly were, but depends what the " old days" were to each of us. For us mid 80's 90's. In my old days ALL food was included and MDR was equal or frankly better than today's " speciality restaurants. " There were no upcharges to be had versus food or service. No "special" private areas, or add on experiences on board. Everyone had equal food and service, only big thing that spending some $$ would get you was cabin size and amenities. No lounge only I could go to, no fancy cabana's by the pool, no special embarkation or disembarkation privileges. I found that to be a better situation especially when traveling with others. Oh the spa has always been an added fee of course.

 

Also remember when you do the math. Varies if worth it depending on number of port days when your package is not available to you if ashore all day etc.

So true. On port days we always were playing catchup trying to at least break even after buying into a package. Even considering coffee, soda & mocktails it becomes a task, not to mention using Wi-Fi which we get free off the ship in most ports.  

[memoak]

9 minutes ago, 555 said:

So true. On port days we always were playing catchup trying to at least break even after buying into a package. Even considering coffee, soda & mocktails it becomes a task, not to mention using Wi-Fi which we get free off the ship in most ports.  

Then on a port intensive cruise you probably shouldn’t take the package. We would use it since we don’t ever go to bed before midnight or 1am

[Lady Arwen]

11 minutes ago, 555 said:

So true. On port days we always were playing catchup trying to at least break even after buying into a package. Even considering coffee, soda & mocktails it becomes a task, not to mention using Wi-Fi which we get free off the ship in most ports.  

For you the package doesn’t work.  That’s fine.  However, for many more of us, they are a great value add a lot to our enjoyment of our cruise.  To each their own.  There is no wrong or right.

Edited May 22 by Lady Arwen

[doghog]

20 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

For you the package doesn’t work.  That’s fine.  However, for many more of us, they are a great value add a lot to our enjoyment of our cruise.  To each their own.  There is no wrong or right.

Agree. And that goes for all things cruise related.  

[PR-Texas]

48 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

 they are a great value add a lot to our enjoyment of our cruise. 

We'll be half a world away from our families so WiFi to keep up with them is important.  Lowering gratuities isn't something we would even consider.  We have six sea days so a fitness class or two might be fun.  Having OceanNow so we can order a water or soda delivered to wherever we are sounds like a benefit as does free delivery for room service. Will we use enough benefits to equal the cost of the package?  No clue.  Will I keep up with it.  Absolutely not. For us the biggest benefit is Pay it and Forget It.  We're on vacation.  

[Lady Arwen]

34 minutes ago, PR-Texas said:

We'll be half a world away from our families so WiFi to keep up with them is important.  Lowering gratuities isn't something we would even consider.  We have six sea days so a fitness class or two might be fun.  Having OceanNow so we can order a water or soda delivered to wherever we are sounds like a benefit as does free delivery for room service. Will we use enough benefits to equal the cost of the package?  No clue.  Will I keep up with it.  Absolutely not. For us the biggest benefit is Pay it and Forget It.  We're on vacation.  

I like your thinking!  Exactly us, too.  Cheers!

[PMGS247]

2 hours ago, nini said:

 

Very well stated! The breakdown is excellent.

An exception I can think of is if the person is Platinum or Elite and can get the WiFi for half off. However, we are Platinum and really enjoy the convenience of the Plus package and not stressing about our beverages. AND, we still enjoy tipping extra to crew members.

Agreed.  In OPs example they do not have access to the Elite discounted wi-fi pricing, but yes, access to cheaper wi-fi might leave you a larger gap that you won't utilize enough coffee/soda/alcohol to justify.  Elite discount 50% so that's like a $13 impact.  It's one additional alcoholic beverage basically.  Probably not likely to change the result for most people, but for some, sure.

[nini]

14 minutes ago, PMGS247 said:

Agreed.  In OPs example they do not have access to the Elite discounted wi-fi pricing, but yes, access to cheaper wi-fi might leave you a larger gap that you won't utilize enough coffee/soda/alcohol to justify.  Elite discount 50% so that's like a $13 impact.  It's one additional alcoholic beverage basically.  Probably not likely to change the result for most people, but for some, sure.

 

Your analysis is brilliant. I think it is so strange that most see it as- "I don't drink alcohol" or I don't drink". It is not a beverage package per se.

[ExploringTheGlobe]

As MANY of the other threads on this topic show, it is worth it for most people.  But ultimately only YOU can decide if it is worth if for you. 

[memoak]

1 hour ago, nini said:

 

Your analysis is brilliant. I think it is so strange that most see it as- "I don't drink alcohol" or I don't drink". It is not a beverage package per se.

If you only have a few sodas or coffees it would pretty hard to justify that is why most of us think of it in cocktail terms. 

[nini]

19 minutes ago, memoak said:

If you only have a few sodas or coffees it would pretty hard to justify that is why most of us think of it in cocktail terms. 

 

It truly depends on the types of beverages.

[memoak]

38 minutes ago, nini said:

 

It truly depends on the types of beverages.

Yes it is hard to compare $2.50 cans of coke to $12 cocktails. Apples and Oranges

[nini]

19 minutes ago, memoak said:

Yes it is hard to compare $2.50 cans of coke to $12 cocktails. Apples and Oranges

Very different fruit items, for sure.

[jeromep]

There was another thread on here talking about the value of Plus and Premier, and my takeaway from it (and it was a good takeaway), was that if you try to do the math to justify the daily cost of Plus or Premier, most cruisers would not be able to justify it, although Plus is mathematically pretty solid in terms of the value to the average cruiser.  On the other hand, if you view it beyond the transactional aspect of number of beverages purchased, cost of standard gratuities, cost of Internet and such, and move toward thinking about how you will actually enjoy your cruise more knowing that you aren't going to be billed for every beverage you drink, that you can try that fruity drink you'd never order at your local townie bar, and not feel guilty if you don't like it, or that you can freely connect your phone and iPad and any other devices to the Internet and not worry about logging them out when you are done using them, that has a benefit, too.

 

When we are out there living life and buying the things we need we all do so understanding that every transaction we enter into, the seller is attempting to make a profit, and is likely doing so.  If I'm selling something to sustain my life and I'm not making a profit doing so, I won't be selling things for very long and will be shuttering my doors and moving onto something else.  At least on a subconscious level we understand that businesses exist, and products and services come to market, because the seller believes they can make a profit and improve their standard of living.

 

Therefore, I find it quite odd that folks approach things like a feature or benefits package, or some kind of upgrade, and expect that what is included in the package is going to be valued at par or greater than the price paid for the package.  There is no difference between a cruise package and a frozen pizza, the cost to make or supply either is quite a bit less than what is being charged.  Nobody seems to mind the price of frozen pizza, and those that do, just don't buy it.  Same with cruise add-on packages, those of us that purchase them understand that somebody is making a profit, but psychologically we get benefits from the purchase beyond the number of beverages we consume or the daily gratuity that isn't showing up on our folio.

 

I guess my summary is that choosing to buy a package is a good deal to some, not such a good deal to others, and the way we decide which way to go is as subjective as our opinions on cruise food.

[555]

14 hours ago, nini said:

 

Your analysis is brilliant. I think it is so strange that most see it as- "I don't drink alcohol" or I don't drink". It is not a beverage package per se.

Yes but at the same time it is a major part of the 60 or 80 dollar per day charge.

[mistyPA]

On 5/18/2024 at 11:41 AM, HappyPlace1 said:

I am trying to decide whether to get the plus package or not.  If you don’t get the package does Princess periodically run sales for the internet?  Also is it possible for one person in the cabin to buy internet package and not the other?  

For me, it's definitely worth it. Gratuites and internet are only part of it. I enjoy Pelligrino and at $5 for an 8oz bottle - I can drink 4 or 5 a day. Also, enjoy good coffee and a chai tea on my way to my room at night. Then with having a couple of drinks per day, it is worth it. 

 

If you don't do any of these things then not worth it.

[warthog2608]

40 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

We add a package because we want to have the freedom it allows us.  We do not want the burden of trying to analyze how Princess, or any cruiseline, comes up with their numbers relating to gratuities nor do I care if they make money on the package.  

Exactly!  'Nuff said!