I'm booked on a Princess cruise to NZ on the STANDARD FARE. Lots of questions...

[CDaze71]

I am booked on the Royal Princess to NZ in December, and as I'm booked on a standard fare I would like to know current pricing of the extras. Plus any tips specifically related to Royal. 

I didn't book the PLUS FARE because I'm travelling with my teen this time and didn't think it'd be worth it. Hubby will join us in Sydney for Christmas on disembarkation. So it'll just be 1 Adult and 1 Child. Plus I am Elite and get those benefits too. 

 

So with that in mind, what are the current costs of:

* Bottles of water (only needed if the tap water is not nice). 

* OceanNow $ per person. 

* Cheapest bottle of house white wine

* Is corkage for my bringing on more than the first "free" bottle $30 per bottle now? 

* Cans of Soft Drinks - was thinking it'll be too heavy to bring some onboard with me in Sydney as we are flying in. 

* Cocktails - Anyone have AUD price lists? 

* How much is an Alfredo's Pizza? I need to be able to order a no cheese pizza, and was hoping the pizza by the slice place would allow special orders, but can't be sure on this. 

* Cocktails prices and lists. 

* Elite Lounge (5pm to 7pm in the Vista Lounge - how much are the discounted cocktails (list)? I had Plus previously, so I didn't look for the discounted drinks. 

 

I am sure as this thread gets going I will have more questions, but the could also help others now that Princess ships are returning to Australia for the summer. Thanks. 

 

 

[Cbtours]

4 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

I am booked on the Royal Princess to NZ in December, and as I'm booked on a standard fare I would like to know current pricing of the extras. Plus any tips specifically related to Royal. 

I didn't book the PLUS FARE because I'm travelling with my teen this time and didn't think it'd be worth it. Hubby will join us in Sydney for Christmas on disembarkation. So it'll just be 1 Adult and 1 Child. Plus I am Elite and get those benefits too. 

 

So with that in mind, what are the current costs of:

* Bottles of water (only needed if the tap water is not nice). 

* OceanNow $ per person. 

* Cheapest bottle of house white wine

* Is corkage for my bringing on more than the first "free" bottle $30 per bottle now? 

* Cans of Soft Drinks - was thinking it'll be too heavy to bring some onboard with me in Sydney as we are flying in. 

* Cocktails - Anyone have AUD price lists? 

* How much is an Alfredo's Pizza? I need to be able to order a no cheese pizza, and was hoping the pizza by the slice place would allow special orders, but can't be sure on this. 

* Cocktails prices and lists. 

* Elite Lounge (5pm to 7pm in the Vista Lounge - how much are the discounted cocktails (list)? I had Plus previously, so I didn't look for the discounted drinks. 

 

I am sure as this thread gets going I will have more questions, but the could also help others now that Princess ships are returning to Australia for the summer. Thanks. 

 

 

Hi there. As you elite you’ll get the mini bar set up? Not sure if you use these but I know you can swap to soft drink cans if that helps.

The rest I can’t help with but I’m sure plenty of others will give info.😁

 

have a great trip 🥰🥰🥰

[MMDown Under]

11 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

I am booked on the Royal Princess to NZ in December, and as I'm booked on a standard fare I would like to know current pricing of the extras. Plus any tips specifically related to Royal. 

I didn't book the PLUS FARE because I'm travelling with my teen this time and didn't think it'd be worth it. Hubby will join us in Sydney for Christmas on disembarkation. So it'll just be 1 Adult and 1 Child. Plus I am Elite and get those benefits too. 

 

So with that in mind, what are the current costs of:

* Bottles of water (only needed if the tap water is not nice). 

* OceanNow $ per person. 

* Cheapest bottle of house white wine

* Is corkage for my bringing on more than the first "free" bottle $30 per bottle now? 

* Cans of Soft Drinks - was thinking it'll be too heavy to bring some onboard with me in Sydney as we are flying in. 

* Cocktails - Anyone have AUD price lists? 

* How much is an Alfredo's Pizza? I need to be able to order a no cheese pizza, and was hoping the pizza by the slice place would allow special orders, but can't be sure on this. 

* Cocktails prices and lists. 

* Elite Lounge (5pm to 7pm in the Vista Lounge - how much are the discounted cocktails (list)? I had Plus previously, so I didn't look for the discounted drinks. 

 

I am sure as this thread gets going I will have more questions, but the could also help others now that Princess ships are returning to Australia for the summer. Thanks. 

 

 

The small cans of soft drink aren't heavy, so might suit you.

[arxcards]

As above. You can also sub bottles of water into your mini-bar. You will get a couple by default anyway. Can't help with price, but it isn't Carnival - you can also take some aboard. Pity you are flying down. I am a bit vague on some of the prices, as we are usually preloaded with plus.

 

Ocean Now - If you are thrifty and only one of you uses the app to order with, you will only pay one charge of $22.99. If both use, it will be double that. I can't be sure whether kids also incur the charge, or if capped at first two per cabin.

 

Corkage - yes, I believe $30 is the current price.

 

I have screen caps of last years prices. I am also keen to see if these have been tweaked this season. 

 

Alfredos - For an allergy, I believe you can still pre-order a dairy free pizza in the dining room for delivery there the following day - NC. Ask your head waiter during dinner on the first night. You will need to touch base about the dairy allergy in general, and they do try to bend over backwards in providing great alternate meals. Until a couple of years ago, you would just spec what you wanted at Alfredo's for no charge, but alas. Now you can get the 3 course prix casual meal, but you can also just order a pizza on its own, which I believe is $18. It is difficult for the pool deck to do small individual pizzas. They are usually rotating through three different large pizzas for slicing and can have trouble keeping up. Maybe if they are a bit quiet, give them a try. Once again, your head waiter will have all the tips and shortcuts you can try.

 

PES Lounge - We don't do the lounge much these days. I thought they had done away with the cocktail of the day. Last time I had them, they were only about $2 cheaper than the everyday price. Looks like you need to schedule the champagne waterfall and the Captain's cocktail event into your calendar.

[OzKiwiJJ]

The cheapest white wine on our recent world cruise was a semillon /sauvignon blanc at $14 a glass, $59 a bottle. If you're drinking it in the MDR buy it by the bottle as it works out at $11.80 a glass that way - standard glass serves are 150ml so 5 glasses to a bottle. The waiters will store the bottle for you between meals. 

[Ozwoody]

Last I heard cans were $4 each, soda fountain $3.75 per glass/disposable cup.

 

Below are menus I'm told are from March this year cruise.

 

 

 

[cruiser3775]

You can bring one bottle of wine on board free of charges. You can also bring more wines, but they incur a charge of $A30.  However, the cheapest wines onboard are fairly poor quality, so you might be paying $70 or more to get a reasonable choice. In that case, you might consider it worth your while to buy one or two extra bottles, and pay the corkage charge.  You can get some good Australian wines for under $25.  There's a small liquor store at Circular Quay, behind pier 4, with a reasonable range. So you can pick up last minute bottles and then just walk down with them to the ship at the OPT.

Edited October 17 by cruiser3775

[CDaze71]

8 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

You can bring one bottle of wine on board free of charges. You can also bring more wines, but they incur a charge of $A30.  However, the cheapest wines onboard are fairly poor quality, so you might be paying $70 or more to get a reasonable choice. In that case, you might consider it worth your while to buy one or two extra bottles, and pay the corkage charge.  You can get some good Australian wines for under $25.  There's a small liquor store at Circular Quay, behind pier 4, with a reasonable range. So you can pick up last minute bottles and then just walk down with them to the ship at the OPT.

Yep. I was planning on doing this if I stick with the Standard fare (considering Plus). We're staying at World Square the night before and it has a Liquorland so I was going to buy some from there. And possibly some soft drinks too. 

Edited October 17 by CDaze71

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, CDaze71 said:

Yep. I was planning on doing this if I stick with the Standard fare (considering Plus). We're staying at World Square the night before and it has a Liquorland so I was going to buy some from there. And possibly some soft drinks too. 

That highlights our main plus with plus. We travel heaps lighter with no bottles of cabin wine and cans of soft drink, and avoid the runaround of picking some up in port. That is part of the value we consider when we pay the higher price. We can choose either way, which we do to some degree with Carnival.

 

If you go with plus, does your teen still have to pay that fare? That would be harsh.

[Ozwoody]

2 minutes ago, arxcards said:

That highlights our main plus with plus. We travel heaps lighter with no bottles of cabin wine and cans of soft drink, and avoid the runaround of picking some up in port. That is part of the value we consider when we pay the higher price. We can choose either way, which we do to some degree with Carnival.

 

If you go with plus, does your teen still have to pay that fare? That would be harsh.

 

I agree it would certainly make things easier than carrying half a dozen bottles, but for a light drinkers like us, we could not justify $65/day in drinks and WiFi, the rest of the so called sweeteners does not interest us. If your doing a short 7 or 8 day cruise it probably does not seem a big deal, but we tend to do longer cruises of 25+ days and then $65/day starts to make me blink  little.😂

[arxcards]

12 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

 

I agree it would certainly make things easier than carrying half a dozen bottles, but for a light drinkers like us, we could not justify $65/day in drinks and WiFi, the rest of the so called sweeteners does not interest us. If your doing a short 7 or 8 day cruise it probably does not seem a big deal, but we tend to do longer cruises of 25+ days and then $65/day starts to make me blink  little.😂

For sure. Convenience is just a non-itemised part of that balance, which is different for everyone. While it doesn't have a dollar value attached, but is personally more of a sweetener than most of the listed bloat. We aren't heavy drinkers either, and won't even consider paying for drink packages on the other lines. We would also seek some almost dry days on longer cruises, particularly on port days. $910 per couple for a week isn't a negligible number for most of us, so it depends on how much you would otherwise spend. No package and we can be happy with beer and soft drinks - but we do love a good martini.

[Ozwoody]

8 minutes ago, arxcards said:

For sure. Convenience is just a non-itemised part of that balance, which is different for everyone. While it doesn't have a dollar value attached, but is personally more of a sweetener than most of the listed bloat. We aren't heavy drinkers either, and won't even consider paying for drink packages on the other lines. We would also seek some almost dry days on longer cruises, particularly on port days. $910 per couple for a week isn't a negligible number for most of us, so it depends on how much you would otherwise spend. No package and we can be happy with beer and soft drinks - but we do love a good martini.

 

Ahh yes, martini's there is the danger......

I think if I had the plus package, that could get out of hand, and a tipsy me is not a good thing, I'm a happy person normally, but tipsy I'm very very Happyeeee person.🤣

[Relaxing Robbies]

Princess tend to ignore 1 bottle of wine brought back onto the ship on port days.  They also allow cans of soft drink. We normally pick up supplies at ports. Last cruise to New Zealand we found bottle shops in small supermarkets in Auckland and Maunganui (Tauranga) easy walking distance from the port while we were wandering around. We didn’t search any other ports, but I am sure they would be there. If we took that wine to the Main Dining Room we were charged $30 corkage. If we had a glass in our cabin we were not charged.

[CDaze71]

8 hours ago, arxcards said:

...... 

If you go with plus, does your teen still have to pay that fare? That would be harsh.

Yes, hence my hesitation. 1 Adult and 1 Child.

If it was hubby and I as the first two passengers and the teen as the third, then yes, we've done PLUS on Coral previously. 

It's a 14 night cruise from Sydney (flying down) and would cost us $1,820 to upgrade. 

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, CDaze71 said:

Yes, hence my hesitation. 1 Adult and 1 Child.

If it was hubby and I as the first two passengers and the teen as the third, then yes, we've done PLUS on Coral previously. 

It's a 14 night cruise from Sydney (flying down) and would cost us $1,820 to upgrade. 

$1820 is a lot of sangria.

[CDaze71]

24 minutes ago, arxcards said:

$1820 is a lot of sangria.

Dirty bananas lol. The bottled wine prices are through the roof. Still thinking I'll stick to standard for now and buy WiFi x 1 and pay as I go. 

[resordanis]

We have 2 cruises booked in January and didn’t take the package. I take it with the mini bar set up, our 2 bottles of wine plus our OBC we should be right. We don’t drink during the day and have a drink prior to dinner, possibly

a bottle at dinner. I did the sums and I think we will be fine, I didn’t take into account WIFI as ours are both coastal cruises, but any longer I would need WIFI. I won’t be activating the medallion app. On our 21 nights on Royal Princess to Japan I felt we didn’t justify having the package. We will see how we go this time. One thing I have found is that Princess are not very generous with OBC of late, so things might be different in the future with Princess.

[Ozwoody]

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

$1820 is a lot of sangria.

When I add up $65/day for 26 days = $1690 for our cruise, I think "That's Another Cruise".

Nar I'll do with juice and soda and lots of water.😄 Then think another cruise coming up.🤗

[OzKiwiJJ]

I've crunched the numbers based on what we normally drink on a cruise and the fact that we don't like the Plus wines so end up buying wine by the bottle with the 25% Plus discount. It works out marginally cheaper to book a Plus fare and extra bottled wine than to book a Standard fare and buy internet packages (even with the Elite discount), bottled wines at full price, and other drinks including coffees and bottled water. 

[buchhalm]

Cans of soft drink:

There is a large Woolworths supermarket a few train/light rail (or a 20 minute walk) away at Town Hall.

No need to schlepp that stuff from overseas.

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

5 hours ago, buchhalm said:

Cans of soft drink:

There is a large Woolworths supermarket a few train/light rail (or a 20 minute walk) away at Town Hall.

No need to schlepp that stuff from overseas.

 

 

There's a Coles at World Square where Cilla is staying. Easy peasy!

[buchhalm]

If the cruise line let's you take more than one bottle of wine (per person? Cabin?), as some do, some don't, you could either enjoy it in the cabin for which there can't really be a "corkage" fee, or you borrow some glasses from a bar (or cabin) and take a glass to wherever you are dining.

The staff will assume that you got it at ac different bar.

[Jean C]

How old is your teen, do they look old enough to also bring a bottle of wine in hand luggage on embarkation day? It's usually chaotic enough going through the scanners that you'd probably get away with it, if not you pay the additional $30 but at least get something drinkable, if you're going to drink anyway.

 

We always pack an empty 2 litre bottle in our luggage for our cabin water supplies, and get staff to fill it up in the buffet, they are very obliging. I believe you can safely drink the cabin sink water, but I prefer not to. We also each take on our own empty 500ml water bottles and refill them as needed from our 2 litre supply. 

 

At the Captain's cocktail function he mentioned the number of water bottles consumed on average in a 7 day period, the number went in one ear and promptly departed out the other, but it was a staggering number. Our tight-wad way is also more environmentally friendly.

[ceeceeDee]

Unfortunately, the one thing that invariably will leave me with (as Terry Pratchett so succinctly puts it) 'dire rear' is tap water (we boil ours at home, problem solved). On our last cruise I had a couple of glasses of water from the glass water dispenser in one of the bars and hey presto spent most of the night in the bathroom in between swallowing Gastro Stop.🥴 So sadly it's bottled water for me.

Edited Sunday at 10:35 PM by ceeceeDee

[CDaze71]

I'm leaning towards sticking with STANDARD FARE. Thanks everyone. 

We're usually fine with ships tap water. I'll take on a bottle of wine in Sydney from Liquor land at World Square. And any extras I buy I'm happy to pay the $30 corkage. I'll have to win at the champagne hooplaaaaa lol. Plus I'll attend the Grapevine wine tasting, use the mini bar and captains cocktail event. Then pay as I go cocktails. 

Edited Sunday at 11:01 PM by CDaze71