MacMadame

Pricing is the hardest part of owning a business IME and there are a lot of data and formulas that go into it. When I had my event photography business, I sold a single CD with all pictures in digital format for way less than selling a single print. I made a lot more money selling something that didn't cost me much to make to people who never would have spent that much in single prints, which cost more to make. Sure, some of those people may have spent more a la carte if I didn't offer the package but most wouldn't so I came out ahead. Crew appreciation, wifi, and the zero alcohol package = 16 + 25 + 35 = $76/day. The Plus package is cheaper than that. If they were to offer those 3 things as a package, what would you pay and would it be worth it to Princess? The drink portion of Plus is about $20 a day. 16 + 25 + 20 = $61. So the same cost as Princess Plus! How about only $10 more for the drinks? That's still around $50 pp / day. And it wouldn't include free room service, free Medalion shipping, free OceanNow, 2 fitness classes, 2 casual dining, etc. that you get with Plus. Would that make sense for you? It seems a bit expensive to me. I think the packages are great and have Princess Plus myself even though dh and I aren't big drinkers. But they just don't add up for some people. 20-25% of the people, it appears according to Princess' numbers. I don't think it would be useful for that. Can you drink $76+ worth of drinks in a day? That's a lot.

I've always sailed with inside cabins before. They were all Caribbean cruises that were port intensive so we were only in the cabin to change clothes and sleep and I prefer to sleep in the darkest dark. And also save money. 🤣 For our Panama Canal cruise, we decided on a balcony because I figured after being out and about for the first set of locks and at least part of Gatun Lake, we might want a bit of a rest and to enjoy the view from the balcony before going out again to experience the second set of locks. And having a balcony to enjoy sunsets on multiple evenings might be fun too. I was also thinking of setting up a time-lapse camera from the balcony to capture the whole thing.

Princess has started heavy advertising on my local Alt Rock radio station which appeals mostly to the 18-34 demographic. They seem to actively be going after a younger demographic.

My wish is to stop talking about children in bars. 🤣

If they could make more with this kind of package, then they would. IMO. Companies make money on bundles when a certain amount of the offerings in the package don't get used by everyone. For example, most of us won't drink 15 drinks a day. Many won't use the fitness classes. Hardly anyone uses the 'premier' desserts, at least not 2 per day. If you make a cheaper package that only includes the things everyone wants at a price cheaper than buying them a la carte which is then closer to the actual costs, how do they make money?

Boones Farm. Am I dating myself? 🤣 I love a good spreadsheet!

Some of them are for the better IMO. I am happy that I don't have to figure out who and how much to tip, for example. You are comparing apples to broccoli. If you want a fair comparison, compare it to the sailing the Titanic. 😉

That's on my Princess wish list. 😄

They do on some ships.

So appropriate! 😄 It sounds like there is still 2x a day cabin service but what most of us think of as "turn down" might not be part of it. i.e., the bedclothes turned down with the chocolate on the pillow is not exactly happening 100% of the time. It's been *so long* since we cruised that pretty much everything is different! No more set serving times for dinner, a 24/7 buffet, gratuities automatically added to the folio, non-alcoholic drinks not included, and many, many more add-ons such as specialty dining, extra food in the MDR, and special activities. Some of these changes did throw me for a loop but some are welcome. None of them are going to stop us from having a good time but they are going to make cruising more like a regular vacation where you have to think more about your choices.

Are you sure about this? I've seen people who were sure they were going to stop doing it but not that they actually had.

They wouldn't even have to fine them to make me happy. Just have the medallion emit a sound when you get near so you can change directions! 🤣 Their disclaimer page says alcoholic drinks are limited to 15 but doesn't say anything about limiting any other drinks: https://www.princess.com/html/global/personalizer/ssv/beverages/disclaimer/

You live in the UK. That *is* a different world than the US, especially when it comes to tipping. 😉 I can't really decide what would be an appropriate amount to tip the concierge per request because it would depend on the request. I can see tipping $20 if they got you into something pretty much impossible to get into such as on the bridge. But I can see a lot of other things that wouldn't get a tip at all (reserving your free night specialty dining on the first night) or would get one much lower (making sure you got a lounger in the Sanctuary), say $5-10.

FYI: non-alcoholic drinks are already unlimited.

🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 That show was my guilty pleasure in my 20s. 🤣

I really want to take a cruise on a ship with an ice skating rink! Especially if one of the skaters in the show is someone I know or was a fan of their skating when they were competing. When I was a kid, I remember going to hotels and the pools seemed fine but they seem so small now. Same with cruises. At least with cruises, they are open most of the time. You go to hotels and half the time the pool is closed for the season or just because at least since Covid hit.

Sometimes the beds come down from the ceiling. I haven't been able to figure out how to tell if our cabin has them from the ceiling or on the walls. But it looks like the cabins in our section have them in the ceiling. 🤞

Let us know! 😄

I think it's perfectly fine for a company to make a promotion only for new customers or with other restrictions. What I don't think is okay is to give you the promotion and then take it away. If it turns out they gave it by mistake, they should have just eaten the cost and updated the software so that the promotion codes work properly for anyone trying to apply them going forward. Princess's IT does not impress me. If you weren't eligible for the code, the software should not have let you (or your CVP) apply it. It's not that hard to do.

From their marketing materials, it looks like food is an important part of the experience. For example, they are going to have all these culinary classes and events involving their chefs. So I would expect restaurant quality, maybe not a Michelin Star restaurant but better than Hometown Buffet and better than I get at home. 😄

And they would a FlowRider?

I have not made my final payment but I have made dining reservations. The new app let me so I did it. Could it be a bug? Possible. But I'm not going to complain about it. I do think some people with certain loyalty levels can do it but this is my first Princess cruise so that isn't why it let me. It just did.

I am someone who swims as part of fitness and also training for races/events. Therefore, the lack of a lap pool bugs. It's too bad that ships don't have an endless pool, maybe in the gym. If ships can have a FlowRider, I don't see why they couldn't have an endless pool. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to swim laps on vacation!

I just noticed my message was missing the word "Not". LOL Yeah, I am NOT worried they'll make big changes. OTOH, seeing some of the cool stuff on the new ships makes me wish they'd put them on older ships. But these are public areas where maybe one would be expanded or contracted or replaced by a new one. This is not adding more cabins! I have a wish list though. It includes more electric outlets and more USB-C outlets. 🤣🤣

Ouch. Now *that* is some bad luck!