Plus package vs Premier package

[koolforkatz]

2 hours ago, Miss-Lizzie said:

I think with Princess if you have unlimited and book and don't cancel 24 hours or a no show you should be charged a cancellation fee. 

 

I just made some specialty restaurant reservations with the new premier package and it specifically said there would be a $10 charge per person for reservations not cancelled within 24 hours.

[Abercrombie2019]

There is a $10 per person fee if you are a no-show or if you cancel with less than 24 hours before your reservation.  There is a warning when you make your reservation on the app.

Edited August 23 by Abercrombie2019

[PR-Texas]

49 minutes ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

There is a $10 per person fee if you are a no-show or if you cancel with less than 24 hours before your reservation.  There is a warning when you make your reservation on the app.

Unfortunately for folks paying $80 or $90 pp/per day an extra one time $10 or $20 may not be a big deal.  I'm not sure that will be much of a deterrent.

Edited August 23 by PR-Texas

[MsSoCalCruiser]

57 minutes ago, koolforkatz said:

 

I just made some specialty restaurant reservations with the new premier package and it specifically said there would be a $10 charge per person for reservations not cancelled within 24 hours.

Within 24 hours of the reservation or within 24 hours of booking the reservation? 

[koolforkatz]

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Within 24 hours of the reservation or within 24 hours of booking the reservation? 

Sorry, within 24 hours of the reservation. I think that’s fair. 

[555]

12 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I probably won't take advantage of room service either unless I can't get seated in the MDR.

To bad it doesn't apply to Specialty restaurants also although I probably wouldn't utilize it. I can't see eating in my room unless you're in a full suite.

[Iamcruzin]

58 minutes ago, 555 said:

To bad it doesn't apply to Specialty restaurants also although I probably wouldn't utilize it. I can't see eating in my room unless you're in a full suite.

Princess rooms aren't conducive to eating meals. No coffee table and only one chair. I'm not trying to eat in bed like I'm in the Hospital.

[Abercrombie2019]

13 hours ago, PR-Texas said:

Unfortunately for folks paying $80 or $90 pp/per day an extra one time $10 or $20 may not be a big deal.  I'm not sure that will be much of a deterrent.

Yet, I still think I’m going to be hearing at least a few people raising their voices at the guest service desk, complaining that they didn’t know and it isn’t fair and they will never step foot on a Princess ship again over the $10. 

 

[asctony]

49 minutes ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

Yet, I still think I’m going to be hearing at least a few people raising their voices at the guest service desk, complaining that they didn’t know and it isn’t fair and they will never step foot on a Princess ship again over the $10. 

 

Good, let them move to another line. Then they will really see a price increase! 

People should check out other lines to see how reasonable Princess is!

[memoak]

6 hours ago, 555 said:

To bad it doesn't apply to Specialty restaurants also although I probably wouldn't utilize it. I can't see eating in my room unless you're in a full suite.

Even in a full suite you only have a coffee table unless you are in an Owners suite. The d2 times I was quarantined it really was not all that comfortable 

[Thrak]

7 hours ago, memoak said:

Even in a full suite you only have a coffee table unless you are in an Owners suite. The d2 times I was quarantined it really was not all that comfortable 

 

Ahhhhhhhhhh.... but the Sky Suites have a dining table and chairs! Of course there aren't a lot of those and they are very spendy. We got to visit one but will never pay to stay in one. (Heck, we don't even spring for a mini suite.) Pretty dang nice setup though. If you get a chance to check one out you might want to do so.

[memoak]

24 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Ahhhhhhhhhh.... but the Sky Suites have a dining table and chairs! Of course there aren't a lot of those and they are very spendy. We got to visit one but will never pay to stay in one. (Heck, we don't even spring for a mini suite.) Pretty dang nice setup though. If you get a chance to check one out you might want to do so.

Since we sail mostly grand class and find sky suites on the big ships well over our price point. Love the suites but there are limits and don’t ever plan on the Sun after friends gave us their take.  We like Royal class but love Grand class

 

[Iamcruzin]

13 hours ago, asctony said:

Good, let them move to another line. Then they will really see a price increase! 

People should check out other lines to see how reasonable Princess is!

This is so true. Princess is already running sails for Europe 2026. I got 40% off, 3rd person free and only $99 deposit. Celebrity hasn't even released summer 2026 yet and the prices are still high on fall 2024.

[dog]

Considering the Plus package for 7 day Sun cruise now. 
Never say never. Did the math again.

[SweetsugarNL]

I read this on the Princess grand site: Remember that your Princess Premier package includes two dinners at any of these restaurants.

 

I thougt it was unlimited speciality dinning?

[Abercrombie2019]

21 minutes ago, SweetsugarNL said:

I read this on the Princess grand site: Remember that your Princess Premier package includes two dinners at any of these restaurants.

 

I thougt it was unlimited speciality dinning?

The new $90 Princess Premier package has unlimited speciality dining.  
There are mistakes throughout the Princess website and on the app.  I suspect the reference to “two” SD visits will stick around until all of the existing $80 packages have been fulfilled.  By then there will be new mistakes to complain about. 😆

[HaveDogWillTravel]

On 8/22/2024 at 9:54 AM, Cruise Raider said:

I seem to have read that Oceania includes all specialty dining and haven’t heard any news that people couldn’t get reservations.  Time will tell if it will work for Princess as I think the ships hold a lot more passengers.  

Oceania has 3 R class ships with about 650 passengers, 2 O class with about 1200 and 1 new class (I forget the name but the ship is called Vista) with 1200 as well. 
All SD is included and it is unlimited. However they handle it very differently from Princess. 
 

Everyone can make only one SD reservation in each of the SD restaurants prior to boarding. The reservation system opens up 75 days before sailing with top suites getting first crack at them. The system opens up on a cascading schedule from suites to insides.  Loyalty status plays no part in this process, it’s strictly the category of cabin booked. 
 

The MDR is walk up and be seated for all. I’ve never had to wait for a table. But I’m pretty new to O so take that with a grain of salt. 
 

A good Oceania TA might be able to secure an extra SD reservation prior to boarding. 
 

Once onboard everyone can ask for as many SD reservations that they want and will get them based on availability.  Sharing tables yields a better chance of more options. 
 

It can be challenging for those in the lower cabin categories to get early private tables for 2 but getting a shared table seems to work. Since everyone is restricted to only one per restaurant prior to boarding it seems to work out. I just looked at my Oct 3rd Med sailing and there are still private tables most evenings in most restaurants but at 8:00 or later. O doesn’t open dining rooms until 6:30. Same with shared tables though a few more 7:30 options are available.  
 

Full suites can get any meal from any restaurant (SD or MDR) served course by course by their butler in their cabin. 
 

I find that I can sail O in a Concierge Verandah or Penthouse full suite (depending on itinerary and dates) for the same money I was spending on full suites with a package on Princess. Princess offers value in their minis and balcony cabins but if I’m spending full suite money then it’s O or Windstar for me from now on. Way better bang for my buck.  
 

I think Princess should limit the number of Premier SD bookings to one per restaurant prior to boarding.  And they should look at Oceania’s SD reservation system. It is really great. Select private or shared, select the SD rest & A calendar pops up with active buttons on all days with reservations available.  Click the button and see the times. Fast and easy. 

[555]

3 hours ago, SweetsugarNL said:

I read this on the Princess grand site: Remember that your Princess Premier package includes two dinners at any of these restaurants.

 

I thougt it was unlimited speciality dinning?

Only the new Premier package has the unlimited specialty dining. The original Premier package was limited to two. 

Edited Sunday at 03:20 PM by 555

[rosevew]

New premier package is ridiculous since you can't get SD slots for upcoming cruises. Why would we want to pay £100's to upgrade if we can only get one slot?! It's only worth it for us if we can get several slots so we've just booked the one that was available and saved loads of money.

[paddingtonbear]

5 minutes ago, rosevew said:

New premier package is ridiculous since you can't get SD slots for upcoming cruises. Why would we want to pay £100's to upgrade if we can only get one slot?! It's only worth it for us if we can get several slots so we've just booked the one that was available and saved loads of money.

So did you get the Plus package instead? 

[555]

11 minutes ago, rosevew said:

New premier package is ridiculous since you can't get SD slots for upcoming cruises. Why would we want to pay £100's to upgrade if we can only get one slot?! It's only worth it for us if we can get several slots so we've just booked the one that was available and saved loads of money.

It seems that headquarters dreamed up an idea that the ships can't live up to. Unless they expand the open hours of all the specialty restaurants this new Premier idea will never be popular. 

We were attracted to it only because of the SD and nothing else. Unless I can get a guarantee that I have reservations before boarding (at close to the times I want), the other benefits of a more expensive package do nothing for us.

[rosevew]

43 minutes ago, paddingtonbear said:

So did you get the Plus package instead? 

Already have that booked.

[rosevew]

30 minutes ago, 555 said:

It seems that headquarters dreamed up an idea that the ships can't live up to. Unless they expand the open hours of all the specialty restaurants this new Premier idea will never be popular. 

We were attracted to it only because of the SD and nothing else. Unless I can get a guarantee that I have reservations before boarding (at close to the times I want), the other benefits of a more expensive package do nothing for us.

Snap

[Abercrombie2019]

1 hour ago, 555 said:

It seems that headquarters dreamed up an idea that the ships can't live up to. Unless they expand the open hours of all the specialty restaurants this new Premier idea will never be popular. 

We were attracted to it only because of the SD and nothing else. Unless I can get a guarantee that I have reservations before boarding (at close to the times I want), the other benefits of a more expensive package do nothing for us.

I think that there has been a bit of a rough start for the $90 Premier (not ready to go live with it when it was announced), and there are issues with Sun Princess that are complicating the implementation of the new Premier in the near term on that ship.

 

Having said that, I've been able to reserve SD for each night, at a time that I want for a cruise on Sun Princess (2025) and Sky Princess (2026).

 

The new package is only appealing (to me) on ships that have more SD and Casual Dining choices (ie Royal Class or Sphere Class).  We tend to book early enough that we are usually able to get the reservations that we want.

[getaway101]

On 7/20/2024 at 6:16 PM, AnyMajorCruiseDude said:

Don’t forget the prizes.  We have won 5k cash, a free cruise, free chefs table, free flowers, 25 and 250 obc.  

We won $250 obc, flowers and a full day at the sanctuary