Princess virgin, Plus or Premier?

[Lolou127]

I appreciate this is probably very subjective, but for the cruise we are looking at Premier is £15pp pd more, I can see what the extras are, the most important to us will probably be the specialty dining, wifi and drinks package, is it worth the price or could we just book 2 speciality restaurants and pay out of pocket for them for roughly the same cost? 

[HotRoot]

23 minutes ago, Lolou127 said:

I appreciate this is probably very subjective, but for the cruise we are looking at Premier is £15pp pd more, I can see what the extras are, the most important to us will probably be the specialty dining, wifi and drinks package, is it worth the price or could we just book 2 speciality restaurants and pay out of pocket for them for roughly the same cost? 

How many nights is your cruise?  You only get two specialty dinners no matter the length of the cruise.  The two dinners cover 4 days of the additional charge.  You also get unlimited casual dining which could justify the upcharge.  We like the reserved seats for production shows.

[Lolou127]

Thank you, it’s a 7 night cruise, what’s the difference between specialty and casual dining? Sorry for all the questions!

[Alaska05]

What ship?  The casual dining venues varies by ship.

[Bemidji Ty]

Hi.  We enjoyed a 2-week Alaska cruise on the Grand last month.  We had the Plus Program and it was fine for us.  My wife and I found gin, beer, wines, and coffee drinks that we enjoyed.  When we did upgrade some wines, we only paid the difference over the allotted amount.  We really liked one of the casual dining options, Alfredo's and went a couple of times.  Whatever you decide, have a wonderful cruise.

 

Cheers

[Lolou127]

50 minutes ago, Alaska05 said:

What ship?  The casual dining venues varies by ship.

Sky Princess 

[Rick&Jeannie]

The Sky has an Alfredo's Pizzeria.  If you like pizza, many consider the pizza from Alfredo's the best at sea.  (We do!) With Premier, you get unlimited "casual dining"; Alfredo's is considered in that category.  I know there are others...I just can't recall right now.  Also, having reserved seating at the main production shows is somewhat nice.  No need to rush 30-45 minutes before showtime to find a seat.  Now...they may not be the "best" seats in the house...but I'll still take them over fighting the crowds any day!

[HotRoot]

It looks to me like casual dining on the Sky is Alfredo's Pizza and Ocean Terrace Sushi.  Cost is $14.99 plus gratuity if you do not have a package.  I believe you can also order a la carte.  Specialty dining is The Catch, Sabatini's, and Crown Grill.  Cost is approximately $40 plus gratuities if you do not have a package, 

[reedprincess]

5 hours ago, Lolou127 said:

Thank you, it’s a 7 night cruise, what’s the difference between specialty and casual dining? Sorry for all the questions!

Specialty Dining is the sit down, course by course, more upscale dining experience. Crown Grill and Sabatini's on Sky.  "Upscale" steakhouse and Italian eateries respectively..  specialty dining runs $35-39usd +18% when purchasing without a package (on Sky).

 

Casual dining is casual, walkup dining, easy, etc. There's Prix Fixe (fixed price) 3 course meal or a la carte items.  Plus include me 2 casual meals, Premier includes unlimited. Pretty sure Sky is Vines (charcuterie, crudites, truffles), Ocean Terrace Seafood (sushi, etc) and Alfredos/Gigi's (pizza, salads, calzone, etc).   Prix Fixe pricing is $14 99 for the 3 course meal or a la carte pricing per item .

 

Included dining includes Main Dining Rooms (MDR), International Cafe, Lido deck options, buffet, etc.  

 

Which package works for you depends on your wants and needs.  

[Lolou127]

Thank you all, this is really helpful information 

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, reedprincess said:

Specialty Dining is the sit down, course by course, more upscale dining experience. Crown Grill and Sabatini's on Sky.

And The Catch By Rudi. 

[candy4040]

1 hour ago, HotRoot said:

It looks to me like casual dining on the Sky is Alfredo's Pizza and Ocean Terrace Sushi.  Cost is $14.99 plus gratuity if you do not have a package.  I believe you can also order a la carte.  Specialty dining is The Catch, Sabatini's, and Crown Grill.  Cost is approximately $40 plus gratuities if you do not have a package, 

O'Malley's Irish Pub is slated to be on Star.  Kai Sushi (not sure how it differs from Ocean Terrace Sushi.  Alfredo's Pizzeria is also supposed to be one of the other casual dining.  

[reedprincess]

On 7/27/2024 at 1:17 PM, candy4040 said:

O'Malley's Irish Pub is slated to be on Star.  Kai Sushi (not sure how it differs from Ocean Terrace Sushi.  Alfredo's Pizzeria is also supposed to be one of the other casual dining.  

Kai Sushi is not a casual dining venue on Sun. Don't expect it to be different on Star.

 

O'Malley's and Alfredos on Sun, for casual dining.. 

[sandancer]

We had Plus on our last Princess cruise 2 years ago and have Premier on our Regal cruise in 3 weeks. I will be able to give you a more definitive answer afterwards. We were quite happy with Plus but there is a big birthday this time so decided to push the boat out (pun intended). 

[BTfan]

Plus is a no brainer for us since we don't have Elite and enjoy a few adult beverages. We had Plus on the Caribbean a couple years ago and were perfectly happy. We 'splurged' for Premier on our upcoming Discovery. When debating myself over Premier,  I took the mindset of 'days' vs dollars

 

• We usually like a couple specialty dinings..so that's 3 days of upgrade
• I wanted some nice photos, so about 2 days upgrade
• The unlimited casual restaurants might be 2 days 
• Drink upgrades maybe 1 or 2 days? (Bigger sell for wine drinkers as the Plus wines seem more 'house wine' level) 

 

That got us to about even.  Prizes and reserved seating is just sprinkles on the oversized (unlimited) dessert at that point.  Not sure if Premier will be an every cruise splurge.. TBD..

 

Edited July 29 by BTfan