New Unlimited Features Make Princess Cruises' Premier Package the Best Value in Cruising

[Retired-N-Happy]

21 hours ago, Knickearth said:

 All I know is if my next cruise has too many drunks at any time day or night, I will be cruising other lines.

You can scratch Celebrity, Royal, NCL & MSC from your possible lines since they all have unlimited drink packages.  

In reality, with the exception of the two Sphere Class ships, the number of people that will get the Premier package should be low since the other ships in the fleet don't have as many specialty venues and don't have the higher priced and expanded drink menus like the Sphere Class has.

[Retired-N-Happy]

21 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Unlimited alcohol, even 15 drinks is just ridiculous.  No one wants to be around that.  I may have to look for a new line myself.  Doubling the price of some cruises now with packages.

Eliminate Celebrity, Royal, MSC and NCL since they all have unlimited drink packages.

With mainstream lines, that leaves you with HAL and Carnival that still have the 15 drink limit. Since we all know you are against packages, the doubling of the price shouldn't concern you at all since you prefer bareback bones, package free cruising.

[Retired-N-Happy]

20 hours ago, Hobby3333 said:

Sorry if I missed it but, I booked Sun Princess for Oct 26 in DO cabin that included Premier.  Price should stay the same and have the included benefits?

I believe you're sadly mistaken if you think you'll get the additional benefits of the new Premier without paying the extra 10.00 pops.  You will be coded a certain way with your medallion while those that pay the 90 per day will be coded a different way.

[beg3yrs]

Regarding concerns about drunks, I once was told by a crew member that there is a safety policy in place to not serve obviously intoxicated passengers regardless of whether they have more drinks left on their package. I tried searching Princess.com and found nothing about this. Anyone know more?

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

Regarding concerns about drunks, I once was told by a crew member that there is a safety policy in place to not serve obviously intoxicated passengers regardless of whether they have more drinks left on their package. I tried searching Princess.com and found nothing about this. Anyone know more?

And reputable bar/establishment would follow those rules.  
Never saw it written.  
Are you going to try it out?  🤪

Just kidding!

[Hobby3333]

59 minutes ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Eliminate Celebrity, Royal, MSC and NCL since they all have unlimited drink packages.

With mainstream lines, that leaves you with HAL and Carnival that still have the 15 drink limit. Since we all know you are against packages, the doubling of the price shouldn't concern you at all since you prefer bareback bones, package free cruising.

I am not sure if the extra benefits are worth the extra dollars.   We enjoyed eating in the Signature Dining.  I never reach the 15 drinks, close but no cigar.   It was difficult enough getting reservations at a decent time with the three dining options.   

[dog]

4 hours ago, FLAlaska said:

I have an S9 that doesnt show the UPgrade button . My minisuite(non sanctuary) does show the upgrade button. What does that mean? something ? nothing? who knows 

Does your S9 have sanctuary collection and premier package on the app? Was it a freebie package?

 

My D0-aft has no way to do any upgrade.

 

My Vista suite booked with premier last week has the blue upgrade button on the app but it doesn’t work.

 

my 2 TA cruises only offer Plus.

[FLAlaska]

11 minutes ago, dog said:

Does your S9 have sanctuary collection and premier package on the app? Was it a freebie package?

 

My D0-aft has no way to do any upgrade.

 

My Vista suite booked with premier last week has the blue upgrade button on the app but it doesn’t work.

 

my 2 TA cruises only offer Plus.

It does. And yes, was added when it was upgraded to Sanctuary. Not sure it should but it does and I can't upgrade it

 

My TAs only have the plus available as well

[Abercrombie2019]

1 hour ago, beg3yrs said:

Regarding concerns about drunks, I once was told by a crew member that there is a safety policy in place to not serve obviously intoxicated passengers regardless of whether they have more drinks left on their package. I tried searching Princess.com and found nothing about this. Anyone know more?

It is in the terms and conditions for Plus and Premier.

 

• Shipboard management reserves the right to add additional restrictions and revoke or cancel the Plus Beverage Package at any point during a guest’s voyage for any reason with or without a prorated refund. Additional actions may be taken if guests:
  • Become intoxicated
  • Provide beverages to other guests or do NOT comply with the terms, conditions and limitations of the package
  • Exhibit behavior that is inappropriate, a safety risk to themselves or others, or become offensive or disruptive to other cruise guests or staff
  • Exceed, or attempt to circumvent, the daily limits and service limitations outlined

 

Edited August 16 by Abercrombie2019

[Crown Cruiser]

My PVP tried to upgrade my premier to the new premier - guess what:  technical issues.

 

She is going to try them again on Monday.

 

 

[MacMadame]

22 hours ago, beltsbear said:

On the Sapphire Princess CHURRASCARIA BRAZILIAN GRILL is in place of the steakhouse.  It does not seem to be listed as an unlimited choice for specialty, which means there is just one choice Sabatini’s??

It's a specialty dining offering so it has to be included IMO. I don't think the list was meant to be exhaustive and it leaves out many of the SD venues that are one-offs (only exist on one ship). But they are still classified as Specialty Dining and it says Unlimited SD.

 

21 hours ago, SCX22 said:

This development is scary.  What happened to the "we have high bookings" schpiel?  Clearly Princess needs cash flow.  

That's a big leap.

 

Princess has made it clear in public pronouncements that they love it when people buy packages. They have continually improved the offerings, sometimes with a price increase and sometimes without.

 

IMO this change is designed to get more people to switch from Plus to Premier. And to compete with all-inclusive lines at least in marketing.

 

14 hours ago, clarky213 said:

I was looking at upgrading from Plus to premier before the change,  12 days  x £15 x 2 would have been £360. The difference is now £25 per night so a total of £600. 

I don't think will be upgrading now as I can make better use of that £600 and still enjoy my Plus Package.

We are in the same boat. We have Plus which saves us money -- how much depending on what we drink and how it is charged (like if DH orders a refill of his soda in the MDR, is that a 2nd drink?) Premier would not save us money but provided some items that can't be gotten elsewhere. Plus some stuff we'd do more of if it was included. So it was tempting. But not at $90 pp per day.

 

7 hours ago, BamaVol said:

My projection of increased benefits with the next Plus price increase:

 

Unlimited mega-desserts

16 drinks per day

2 device Wi-Fi

Party hats for everyone 

Okay, I'm sold! I'm a sucker for a party hat! 🥳  🥳 

[SCX22]

9 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

Princess has made it clear in public pronouncements that they love it when people buy packages. They have continually improved the offerings, sometimes with a price increase and sometimes without.

 

Princess loves it when people buy packages because it costs them very little to provide the included amenities and the revenue is exponential.  At $90 per day for the Premier Fare, passengers would be paying $630 per week; the cost to Princess to provide those amenities for that week are a fraction of that.  They wouldn't be doing this if they were losing money.

 

14 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

IMO this change is designed to get more people to switch from Plus to Premier. And to compete with all-inclusive lines at least in marketing.

 

The all-inclusive lines also include some type of rudimentary excursions with the price.  Not sure how Princess can compete with that.  Princess also doesn't have the small ship luxury vibe that the all-inclusive lines have.

[Hobby3333]

I really don’t know what I don’t know but….we just got off the Sun Princess and couldn’t book the CG even though we had a suite (except for a very late dining).  I don’t care how good of a deal the new package is if can’t make the reservations then it is not a good deal.  Again, I have a Sun Princess cruise in Oct 26 and think I will leave my package as is.   Princess can’t be all things to everyone.

[suzyed]

9 hours ago, 555 said:

They're giving up on satisfying their loyal customers & catering to the almighty dollar. It's evident by the change in packages & designs of their newest ships.

Of course the old ships will be around for a while or at least until the old elites are phased out by attrition. 

Are you referring to the Package upgrades?   It's not just on the new ships....I heard they are phasing them in over the next few months with the Coral being the last one on Oct. 17th.

[memoak]

7 minutes ago, Hobby3333 said:

I really don’t know what I don’t know but….we just got off the Sun Princess and couldn’t book the CG even though we had a suite (except for a very late dining).  I don’t care how good of a deal the new package is if can’t make the reservations then it is not a good deal.  Again, I have a Sun Princess cruise in Oct 26 and think I will leave my package as is.   Princess can’t be all things to everyone.

Wen you day late dining what times are you referring to we eat usually between 7:30 and 8:15 and never had an issue after talking to either a suite concierge or the manager of suite breakfast 

[Sea Hag]

On 8/15/2024 at 5:29 PM, memoak said:

MTG lunch’s were once again awesome 

We got back from sailing on the Grand on Wednesday. We were very surprised to make the cut for the MTG luncheon, our first and probably only. 🤣 It was, as you say, awesome!

[Hobby3333]

8 minutes ago, memoak said:

Wen you day late dining what times are you referring to we eat usually between 7:30 and 8:15 and never had an issue after talking to either a suite concierge or the manager of suite breakfast 

The suite concierge did try but I believe it was later than 8:30..  it was on the first day.   I gained 6lbs so I didn’t go hungry.  The food was really good.  Didn’t like the pot where you cooked you own food at the table.  Not as good as Simply Fondue.  

[PescadoAmarillo]

23 hours ago, SCX22 said:

Clearly Princess needs cash flow. 

 

2 hours ago, MacMadame said:

That's a big leap.

 

Ok, let’s try this. Princess doesn’t not need cash flow. Princess also doesn’t not need revenue. Always. I can understand them struggling with the former what with all that debt retirement, but there is no way they’re not doing very well with the latter. Spending per diem has to be way up (more than double in our case). I haven’t sat in on recent analyst calls (where’s @caribill when we need them?), but it has to be their debt load keeping their stock price low when revenue is up 18% and COS is up 11% YY. 
 

Princess is doing the right thing with this new package…if they can accommodate the demand for SD (remains to be seen) and their main dining room food doesn’t become too repulsive as a result. 

[memoak]

9 minutes ago, Hobby3333 said:

The suite concierge did try but I believe it was later than 8:30..  it was on the first day.   I gained 6lbs so I didn’t go hungry.  The food was really good.  Didn’t like the pot where you cooked you own food at the table.  Not as good as Simply Fondue.  

The first night will always be a hard one because all full suites get a complimentary speciality dinner on embarkation night  We always eat late and never had problems but yes those who feel they have to eat by 6:00 have a bigger problem 

[Hobby3333]

6 minutes ago, memoak said:

The first night will always be a hard one because all full suites get a complimentary speciality dinner on embarkation night  We always eat late and never had problems but yes those who feel they have to eat by 6:00 have a bigger problem 

We had a full suite.  But no big deal..it was a very good cruise.  I am from Texas and can eat a good steak anytime even if I have to grill my own.  The issue to me would be there are a lot more people trying to get reservations at different restaurants.   

[MacMadame]

2 hours ago, SCX22 said:

They wouldn't be doing this if they were losing money.

Agreed.

 

OTOH, you can't convince me they don't make money on *everything* they sell. Internet at $25/day? No way that's a money loser! And the drinks... drinks are marked up big time everywhere with a bar (restaurants, cruises, casinos, etc). They are a known money-maker.

 

So there must be something about packages that makes them more attractive than letting people buy things a la carte or Princess wouldn't push them so much. I think it's that getting a predictable revenue stream upfront (i.e., before the ship even embarks) is a benefit to them.

 

There are probably people who don't break even but want the convenience too. But there can't be too many of those because the Plus is such a good deal for included stuff that most want (CA, wifi, drinks). You can break even with just one cocktail/mocktail and 1 or 2 sodas/bottled waters/fancy coffees a day even if you don't eat a single "premium" dessert or attend a fitness class. This is especially true if you want OceanNow and plan to use Room Service.

 

The people who it doesn't make sense for are the ones who don't want wifi because that's a big cost and don't drink much except water/coffee/tea and juice with breakfast.

 

2 hours ago, SCX22 said:

The all-inclusive lines also include some type of rudimentary excursions with the price.  Not sure how Princess can compete with that.  Princess also doesn't have the small ship luxury vibe that the all-inclusive lines have.

Yeah, but I think that's okay. Not everyone wants that but most people like not having to worry about extra charges at the end of the cruise. And lots of their direct competitors are starting to have "all-inclusive" packages too. It's the trend in the industry.

 

1 minute ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Princess is doing the right thing with this new package…if they can accommodate the demand for SD (remains to be seen) and their main dining room food doesn’t become too repulsive as a result. 

Agreed on all 3 points.

[caribill]

23 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

 

Ok, let’s try this. Princess doesn’t not need cash flow. Princess also doesn’t not need revenue. Always. I can understand them struggling with the former what with all that debt retirement, but there is no way they’re not doing very well with the latter. Spending per diem has to be way up (more than double in our case). I haven’t sat in on recent analyst calls (where’s @caribill when we need them?), but it has to be their debt load keeping their stock price low when revenue is up 18% and COS is up 11% YY. 
 

From the 6/24/24 stock analysts presentation: (remember, this covers all of CCL Corp brands, not just Princess)

 

Inside of two years, we've made incredible strides in improving our commercial operations, strategically reallocating our portfolio composition, formulating growth plans, and strengthening even further our [global team ship and shore], the best in the business. Off the back of these efforts, we've closed yet another quarter delivering records, this time across revenues, operating income, customer deposits, and booking levels, exceeding our guidance on every measure. Yields increased over 12% in Q2, over 1.5 points more than March guidance, as we continue to drive strong per diem growth, up over 6%.

 

Coupled with flat cruise costs, excluding fuel on a unit basis, which David will elaborate on, we delivered $500 million more to the bottom line year over year and outperformed our earnings guidance by $170 million. Based on continued strong demand trends, we are also taking up our expectations for the full year by $275 million, driven by double-digit yield growth. Now, this would get us to double-digit ROIC this year. And while that will be a strong outcome for 2024, it is nowhere near what our business is capable of delivering.

 

Our current booking trends are a testament to that. We are hitting records on top of previous records, which clearly tells us the strength and demand we have been building is continuing into next year and beyond. In the near term, pricing on bookings taken in the second quarter has continued to run considerably higher for each of the third and fourth quarters. And again, that's on top of record per diems last year.

 

There was an improvement in net interest expense of $60 million, driven by our second-quarter refinancing, repricing, and debt prepayment activities. The strong 10.25% improvement in 2024 yields is a result of the increase in all the component parts, higher ticket prices, higher onboard spending, and higher occupancy at historical levels with all three components improving on both sides of the Atlantic.

 

Our efforts to proactively manage our debt profile continued throughout the quarter. We prepaid $1.6 billion of secured term loan facilities. We also repriced approximately $2.75 billion of the same secured term loan facilities. And we issued $535 million of unsecured notes due 2030, refinancing our unsecured notes due 2026, extending those maturities and reducing interest expense.

 

These transactions simplified our capital structure, reduced net interest expense in the second quarter by $10 million, will reduce net interest expense for 2024 by 55 million and 85 million on an annualized basis. Our decision to prepay 1.6 billion of debt during the second quarter was based on our strong liquidity, our improved financial performance and our optimism about the future. We will continue to look for more opportunistic refinancings over time.

 

 

[caribill]

On 8/15/2024 at 2:18 PM, gailisacruzin said:

Not so sure sure about New Premier has reserved seating for all shows or just production shows cause there is conflicting wording in several places

"

• Unlimited reserved seating in the Princess Theater: Enjoy premium seating for all shows and performances."

 

Says "unlimited," but like the specialty restaurants, there is limited seating capacity in the rows reserved for this benefit. Show up if those seats are taken and the benefit is zero.

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, Hobby3333 said:

we just got off the Sun Princess and couldn’t book the CG even though we had a suite (except for a very late dining)

Not sure what is going on but I board the same ship in a few weeks and I made 2 CG reservations today both at 6:30, a Sabatini’s reservation for 6:50 and moved a Love By Britto reservation from one day at 6:00 to a different day at 6:00 all on the app with no problems whatsoever. The only ressie that is unobtainable is Teppenyaki which can only booked on certain days, and always at 5:00. No interest in having a late lunch and no desire to pay more for a teppanyaki experience that I can get down the road from my house for half the price. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

23 hours ago, So_Tweetie said:

I feel like this new update to the Premier package may have some specific benefit to Elite passengers.

 

This new package, which adds $10 to the daily Premier cost, gives you the option of dining in specialty venues EVERY NIGHT of your cruise.

 

We are given access to dining reservations well ahead of non-elites (who can access them <90 days out), so we are receiving an understated but quite significant recognition by Princess. So, we have first dibs on the tables in specialty venues!

 

If Princess knows what they are doing, they might promote this in the near future.

 

I know many, MANY cruisers are opposed to these packages and I do not want to offend anyone with this post. That said, for the first time in about five years I feel like Princess is making a move that's mutually beneficial to our group. Elites have priority access, and Princess makes $10 more per person, per day regardless of our status.

 

Are you going to upgrade?

 

First they took away our lotion, then they took away our priority boarding, but NOW they give us (pay-to-play) priority specialty dining! 

 

Is this a win? 

I think so!

😜

I’m Elite status and I had a really hard time booking Speciality Dining. I was able to book one reservation for the Crown Grill at 8:50 PM towards the end of our b2b Sun Princess cruise (we usually go the first night). It constantly shows that nothing is available. We like to dine around 5pm so 8:50pm really won’t work for us. I made the reservation with hopes that I can change the date and time once I am on the ship. I don’t see how having Elite status helps at all.