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

[555]

2 hours ago, sunviking90 said:

Unlimited drinks? 15 wasn’t enough I guess. More and more we feel like we are on a “party cruise” on Princess as people try to get their moneys worth out of their packages. May be time to move on.

You would have though they learned their lesson from the Carnival line, but I guess not. Maybe they though it was an older crowd & more reserved. 😄

[Lolou127]

I’ve just checked our booking, it says you can make dining reservations once your paid in full, is that date the same for everyone on the cruise? (First time Princess cruisers) so is everyone trying to book dining on the same day for their cruise?
 

[rosevew]

2 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

We had premier for one 4 day voyage, was unable to get into any specialty dining, completely sold out.  We were given the OBC instead. 

Clearly on very short cruises, it's going to be nigh on impossible to get any SD as it is, nightmare going forward, even for 14 night cruises, I'd imagine. Once again, Princess have gone totally overboard, would have been so much better to give just 1 or 2 per week.  UK office have no idea about this yet!

[Paula_MacFan]

2 hours ago, sunviking90 said:

I guess it will fill up Alfredo’s which has become a ghost town since they brought in the charges. 

We've sailed on Regal and Sapphire in the past few months and neither time was Alfredos a ghost town. A few weeks ago on Sapphire there was a waiting line and full tables both times we ate there. 

 

[JimmyVWine]

Just now, 555 said:

You would have though they learned their lesson from the Carnival line, but I guess not. Maybe they though it was an older crowd & more reserved. 😄

Big data.  They know EXACTLY what the people with packages are ordering, and they obviously concluded that the number of people who were hitting 12+ drinks a day and who were within striking distance of maxing out the Package was small enough to make this new change meaningless.  For 99% or guests, "unlimited" drinks is no different than 15.  This new change is purely a SD play.  I wonder if they plan on adding more SD venues on older ships.  Probably not.  But future builds will all have 5+ options, no doubt.

[JimmyVWine]

10 minutes ago, Lolou127 said:

I’ve just checked our booking, it says you can make dining reservations once your paid in full, is that date the same for everyone on the cruise? (First time Princess cruisers) so is everyone trying to book dining on the same day for their cruise?
 

Guests with a higher Captain's Circle loyalty level (Platinum and Elite) can make reservations immediately upon having a confirmed booking irrespective of payment.  So no, not everyone on the cruise is working off of the same date. 

[reedprincess]

16 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Big data.  They know EXACTLY what the people with packages are ordering, and they obviously concluded that the number of people who were hitting 12+ drinks a day and who were within striking distance of maxing out the Package was small enough to make this new change meaningless.  For 99% or guests, "unlimited" drinks is no different than 15.  This new change is purely a SD play.  I wonder if they plan on adding more SD venues on older ships.  Probably not.  But future builds will all have 5+ options, no doubt.

Sun has 7 SD venues, but only 2 Casual.. Go figure.  Star remains to be seen..

[JimmyVWine]

3 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

Sun has 7 SD venues, but only 2 Casual.. Go figure.  Star remains to be seen..

7 SD venues that are included in this promotion and 2 that are not as far as I can tell.  They've already cut the price of Love By Britto in half to $79.  I's like to see them remove some of the "included" cocktails and drive the price down further to $45 and make this another SD option.  The food menu doesn't seem to justify elevating this over Crown Grill or Sabatini's.  Looks like the alcohol is what takes it over the top.

Edited August 15 by JimmyVWine

[voljeep]

3 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

Sun has 7 SD venues, but only 2 Casual.. Go figure.  Star remains to be seen..

looking forward to O'Malleys on SUN P - hope it is open for lunch

[555]

29 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Will this finally kill the elite lounge/ MTG luncheon?  

 

Our last few cruises, venues were understaffed. 

 

Seems they'd need to move those crew members to paying venues. 

No worry, they'll move them from the main DR. 

[cruisinsince75]

Interesting!  That must be why only Plus is listed online for future bookings.  They must be  updating the system for the new Premier pricing and benefits.

[Seafan22]

For my upcoming trip this would only cost $5,580, for my wife and me what a deal.

[555]

37 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Big data.  They know EXACTLY what the people with packages are ordering, and they obviously concluded that the number of people who were hitting 12+ drinks a day and who were within striking distance of maxing out the Package was small enough to make this new change meaningless.  For 99% or guests, "unlimited" drinks is no different than 15.  This new change is purely a SD play.  I wonder if they plan on adding more SD venues on older ships.  Probably not.  But future builds will all have 5+ options, no doubt.

Of course they realize that for most people it means nothing but it just looks good on paper. It's just like the unlimited trips for SD. 

After a certain point all the extras they include become meaningless. How much can a person eat & drink? 😆 LOL

We'll be traveling with no package & enjoying all the free stuff. 

[whitecap]

2 minutes ago, 555 said:

Of course they realize that for most people it means nothing but it just looks good on paper. It's just like the unlimited trips for SD. 

After a certain point all the extras they include become meaningless. How much can a person eat & drink? 😆 LOL

We'll be traveling with no package & enjoying all the free stuff. 

Never purchased a package yet never went hungry or thirsty! 😁

[rheathslc]

8 minutes ago, 555 said:

After a certain point all the extras they include become meaningless. How much can a person eat & drink? 😆 LOL

 

Just like those ridiculous desserts. It's just to give the impression of "value". For something most people don't want or use.

[Cruiser Nonna]

51 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Guests with a higher Captain's Circle loyalty level (Platinum and Elite) can make reservations immediately upon having a confirmed booking irrespective of payment.  So no, not everyone on the cruise is working off of the same date. 

We are Elite on the Sun for September - have been trying for 6 months to make reservations and each time on the APP - not available at this time and calling into Dining weekly still not available and yesterday people said - sorry but everything is reserved - will have to do once onboard the ship? Sailed on  Sapphire in March 32 days and we had reservations before we ever left and each night watching the "crowds"line up everywhere trying to get in and very unhappy passengers" cannot even imagine the lines with the ship this size - so being Elite has not helped us

[JimmyVWine]

18 minutes ago, 555 said:

It's just like the unlimited trips for SD.

Not sure I agree with this, at least for the Sun and all ships that follow.  With 7SD venues, it is easy to see how bumping "2" up to "Unlimited" will be a much more meaningful change than bumping "15 Drinks" up to "Unlimited."  

[JimmyVWine]

4 minutes ago, Cruiser Nonna said:

We are Elite on the Sun for September - have been trying for 6 months to make reservations and each time on the APP - not available at this time and calling into Dining weekly still not available and yesterday people said - sorry but everything is reserved - will have to do once onboard the ship?

I am also sailing in September and I have been able to make every reservation I want, and could do so well before final payment.  Even today, roughly 30 days out from my cruise, I can make any reservation I want except for Umai Teppanyaki.  Every other venue is wide open. 

 

Edit to add:  I am not on the TA.  If you are, it could be that SD fills up much more quickly on a TA given the nature of the itinerary.  Without many ports, dining becomes more of a focus of the cruise.  Just a theory. 

Edited August 15 by JimmyVWine

[Mara4166]

I wonder if there will be any compensation if you purchase premier and are not able to make any SD reservations in advance or on the ship.  We have always booked premier and usually booked our cruise early.  Booking early will now be more important in order to book a few nights.  We like the MDR so will probably stay with 2 SD per week of cruise at most.

[reedprincess]

54 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

7 SD venues that are included in this promotion and 2 that are not as far as I can tell.  They've already cut the price of Love By Britto in half to $79.  I's like to see them remove some of the "included" cocktails and drive the price down further to $45 and make this another SD option.  The food menu doesn't seem to justify elevating this over Crown Grill or Sabatini's.  Looks like the alcohol is what takes it over the top.

The 2 experiential dining experiences, Love and Spellbound, wouldn't be included in specialty dining any more than 360 or Chef's Table or Caymus Wine Dinner or UBD would be.. different types of dining, obviously... Would you argue the same on Spellbound or UBD or such?  Possibly knock $10 or so off for non-drinkers, like Chefs Table, but that would be about it...

 

Those who've tried Love seem to have loved it and found it well worth it. YMMV 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 15 by reedprincess

[JimmyVWine]

2 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

Would you argue the same on Spellbound or UBD or such?

No.  Spellbound, 360, Chef's Table and UBD are all very different experiences.  But Love By Britto is simply another SD venue with a menu that frankly, is below the level of Crown Grill, Sabatini's or Catch by Rudi.  I'm not at all sure what it is about the dinner that makes Princess think that it is "experiential."  It is "just dinner."  But they add in a lot of cocktails to justify the price.  I'll report back after I dine there, but I have yet to see a YouTube video that convinces me that this is a dinner that is culinarily elevated from the three other SD venues I mentioned. 

[sunviking90]

1 hour ago, Paula_MacFan said:

We've sailed on Regal and Sapphire in the past few months and neither time was Alfredos a ghost town. A few weeks ago on Sapphire there was a waiting line and full tables both times we ate there. 

 

Our cruises are mostly longer itineraries with the last being 21 days. Believe me, there were very few people eating there. I’m sure it can still fill on 7 day itineraries.

[Stosh68]

Too many people here concerned about 

1 hour ago, startedwithamouse said:

Can we get rid of the Premium Desserts already?  

 

Nobody is forcing you to eat them, I will continue to order them regardless of the forum karen's who are concerned about what other's are doing. 

[CruisinChandlers]

39 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I have been able to make every reservation I want, and could do so well before final payment.

 

@JimmyVWine I'm curious, do you have the Premier package? If so, were you able to make reservations without paying for them? We have Premier, but every time I try to make a specialty dining reservation, the app wants to charge me. Just curious if I'm doing something wrong. I have been able to make MDR reservations.

[rheathslc]

14 minutes ago, Stosh68 said:

Too many people here concerned about 

 

Nobody is forcing you to eat them, I will continue to order them regardless of the forum karen's who are concerned about what other's are doing. 

I don't think most people care at all if anyone else eats them. I think it's just that a lot of us don't find them appealing and think they aren't a value as part of the package. You're the first person I've seen who has said they enjoy them. But more power to you that you do! You can have mine too. 😀