Booking Fare Survey: Which Cruise fare do you book? With or Without the Princess Plus Pacakage

[Jeter02]

Curious to take a poll to see which way you prefer to book your Princess Cruise fare. With the Princess Plus Package, (offering free gratuities, unlimited wi-fi, and the premiere beverage drink package) Or do you prefer to book strictly the Cruise fare only,  better known as the Princess Saver.

 

Edited July 2, 2021 by Jeter02

[chabad]

I strictly book with the princess saver (cruise Fair only), because I only drink water on board unless I'm getting juice in the morning with breakfast which is complimentary. 

Edited July 2, 2021 by chabad

[billco]

My next five cruises were booked with FCCs I received from cancelled cruises. It made sense to me to book Princess Plus, otherwise I would be paying cash or OBC for drinks, gratuities and WiFi.

[Alaskanb]

Always the Saver 

[Jeter02]

2 minutes ago, billco said:

My next five cruises were booked with FCCs I received from cancelled cruises. It made sense to me to book Princess Plus, otherwise I would be paying cash or OBC for drinks, gratuities and WiFi.

I think the princess plus definitely makes sense for those who do take advantage of the drink packages. Unfortunately myself personally I don't drink at all. I'm a water drinker so with the cost of what gratuities is on its own and then with the new loyalty benefits with my 50% off The medallion at which will come out to be like $30 a day the princess plus doesn't seem to pay for me.

[Jeter02]

Just now, Alaskanb said:

Always the Saver 

Same with me!

[CruisinFinsUp]

We love the Plus.  It gives us what we want, for less than the a-la-carte price.   Makes sense for us.  And no, we don't drink 15 alcoholic drinks a day.  We enjoy sodas and coffees and a few drinkies.  The price of what we would enjoy anyways individually equals the discounted Plus fare for sure.    I'm an accountant.  I've done the math every possible way! 🤣🤣

 

I saw a documentary before covid - I wish I could recall what it was called or where I saw it .....    it explained how the base fares are priced below break even, and that every ship, every cruise,  requires a certain level of on board spending in order to be profitable.   They track it every cruise! 
 

So "loyal" customers who pay base fare only and don't spend at all are not contributing to the bottom line. They are in fact costing $$ as the cabin could possibly instead be booked by someone who would spend more.  
 

Cruising is still an expanding market.  There is more demand than supply.  They are building more and more ships.    Customer loyalty does not matter to the companies when spending customers are lining up to get on board.    Loyalty will only matter again once the market cools off, and they cannot fill the ships. 
 

We figure the Plus fare is good for the ship's profitability and for us.  Its the middle ground.  
 

 

[Sea Hag]

With us, there isn't a standard "we always do this" answer. Currently, we have 5 cruises booked. Two of them are plus. We're non-drinkers, so the plus pricing doesn't work well for us. I wish they offered a different pricing where we could choose benefits, rather than just the either/or plus or saver pricing.

[Tak8]

It depends, but my next 2 are Princess Plus. With the changes to elite Internet, it seems like a good choice. 

[Yehootu]

We book the plus. After Wifi and Grats, the drink package comes out to around $17.00 a day. That's the cost of a couple waters and specialty coffee for the wife and alot of beers for me.😀

[BabySarge]

Must admit since they started offering it we have chosen Plus over the Saver even though we were elite and rcvd the "free" internet minutes.  Plus still ended up being a better, or at least equal, deal cost wise when I did the math and compared bar/wine bills; coffee card costs; and gratuities from previous cruises of same duration to plus pricing.

Also, I personally think under the Plus pricing you have a different and possibly better selection of cabin locations than under the Saver pricing.  No specific study done just a general sense when looking at cabins under both offerings.

[Jeter02]

1 minute ago, BabySarge said:

Must admit since they started offering it we have chosen Plus over the Saver even though we were elite and rcvd the "free" internet minutes.  Plus still ended up being a better, or at least equal, deal cost wise when I did the math and compared bar/wine bills; coffee card costs; and gratuities from previous cruises of same duration to plus pricing.

Also, I personally think under the Plus pricing you have a different and possibly better selection of cabin locations than under the Saver pricing.  No specific study done just a general sense when looking at cabins under both offerings.

I'm not sure about the possibility of better selection of cabin locations as I always hand select my cabins when I book with my travel agent.

[dog]

45 minutes ago, Alaskanb said:

Always the Saver 

 

same

except 

current booking. Had FCC to cover Plus Package 

[voljeep]

PLUS - with or without FCC's to cover

 

it's a vacation, or a long weekend getaway

 

will "skrimp" elsewhere to make up the $25 pp pd ( now different without the 'free' internet minutes

[ProfMHC]

Plus works for us.  My.husband can have as many sodas as he wants for lunch! And we can enjoy the select coffees each and every morning and sometimes after dinner too. Not huge drinkers but usually have one cocktail before dinner and wine with. And I’ve been known to have a glass of wine with lunch on sea days before my nap! Every time I do the math we come out ahead with plus and my husband loves to have next to nothing on our final statement as we disembark. 

[LACruiser88]

We are Elite (50+ cruises) and book the Princess Plus package.  We are wine drinkers and regulars at Vines before dinner.  The Plus pkg is a very good deal for us. 

[Jeter02]

1 hour ago, Jeter02 said:

I think the princess plus definitely makes sense for those who do take advantage of the drink packages. Unfortunately myself personally I don't drink at all. I'm a water drinker so with the cost of what gratuities is on its own and then with the new loyalty benefits with my 50% off The medallion at which will come out to be like $30 a day the princess plus doesn't seem to pay for me.

Sorry wouldn't let me edit it, I meant $30 a week for the length of the cruise for the wi-fi. Not per day. 

[Jeter02]

Thank you to all those so far who have voted on my online poll here. I'm always intrigued to see which way people sway and I appreciate any extra at it detailed comments explaining to reasons behind their choice preference.

[southamptoncruisers]

As an alcoholic plus fare every time.  

[greenie082756]

I am so glad they had this option of the Plus fare. Seems logical to prepay in the fare and have a more relaxing cruise. 

 

I do not have to worry so much about how much each soda, specialty coffee, glass of wine(or 2), margarita is going to cost. I figured it out that my daily drinks (alcoholic and nonalcoholic) came to about $40 a day.

 

We would get the coffee card and would have to figure out how many a day we could use without using them all up before the cruise was over (we take longer cruises). 

 

We use to always get cases of bottled water and now we do not have to.

 

Gratuities are usually taken out of our OBC and now we can use that money for Princess overpriced excursions. 😏WIFI was 250 minutes for each of us as Platinum cruisers and I usually bought extra because I like to play games online.

 

Our first cruise is not until April 2022 to Hawaii using the Plus option. Looking forward to using it and hopefully by then cruising will be back to normal.

 

[chabad]

I personally think dependent on what type of cruiser you are the Princess Plus fare is not a winning situation for most who opt for this package. I am sure that some can meet the daily quota of beverages in a day to break even.  But I don't see most people breaking even with this package as you would have to drink like a fist all day. Whether it's mocktails, alcohol, soda, coffee or juices. 

[Jeter02]

1 minute ago, chabad said:

I personally think dependent on what type of cruiser you are the Princess Plus fare is not a winning situation for most who opt for this package. I am sure that some can meet the daily quota of beverages in a day to break even.  But I don't see most people breaking even with this package as you would have to drink like a fist all day. Whether it's mocktails, alcohol, soda, coffee or juices. 

I'm on the same mindset as you. As I am very big on my calculations to see what the winning proposition is. I agree with most that yes a clean invoice is always beautiful and it's nice to prepay for things. But as mentioned before from my own personal sake gratuities and 50% off The medallion it still was going to save me a boatload of money since I will never touch the drink package.

[JerrySueW]

We book the Plus package even though neither of us drinks alcohol. I'm a coffee snob and can't stand the free stuff, so the specialty coffees alone make it worth it to me. We also enjoy soft drinks and hubby likes  hot chocolate. The unlimited internet is also a great benefit for us.

[chabad]

Just now, Jeter02 said:

I'm on the same mindset as you. As I am very big on my calculations to see what the winning proposition is. I agree with most that yes a clean invoice is always beautiful and it's nice to prepay for things. But as mentioned before from my own personal sake gratuities and 50% off The medallion it still was going to save me a boatload of money since I will never touch the drink package.

I agree! I too don't see it as a winning proposition for those who really are not going to order an over abundance of drinks

[chabad]

1 minute ago, JerrySueW said:

We book the Plus package even though neither of us drinks alcohol. I'm a coffee snob and can't stand the free stuff, so the specialty coffees alone make it worth it to me. We also enjoy soft drinks and hubby likes  hot chocolate. The unlimited internet is also a great benefit for us.

They do offer a specialty coffee card where you can get 15 coffees or teas. I have seen several people at times order 2 cards. Now they no longer over physical cards, but it will be all preloaded on your medallion account.