Princess raising prices of plus and premier packages

[Itchy&Scratchy]

we've just completed a 10 day cruise with a standard fare and $90 OBC per cabin. I had a fancy coffee every day, DS had a raspberry gelato (vanilla and chocolate gelatos are free at MDR), DH and I had several alcoholic drinks. And I still had $1.95 left at the end, which I donated to the crew appreciation fund.

We did prepay for a soda/mocktail package for the kiddo, and he did use it a lot (but not near as much as he used the cheaper soda package on the Allure, because most bars were closed in the morning on Enchanted and Enchanted didn't have a free style coke machine).

It didn't make sense for us at $40. It didn't make sense for us at $50. And it sure doesn't make sense for us at any more than that. We are going to try MSC next time - alcohol and wifi are included.

[MissP22]

5 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Princess expects about 25% of bookings to include the Premier package.

 

So for a ship like the Royal class with around 3600 passengers, that could be 900 seats needed.

 

Of course they will not reserve 900 seats at a performance for this, so like DMW which promises you a time to show up and be seated, but no table is available when you show up, many who book the Premier package will be disappointed when they cannot get the reserved seating they paid extra to get.

 

I didn't hear that 25% number but if so, I guess they'll have to either take reservations or section off a load of seats.

Either was it'll be loads of fun to see the mad scramble prior to the show. If it works as well as the DMW has, I wonder if Princess has thought this out yet. 😁

[Wishing on a star]

Yes, I too have wondered just how much seating will be set aside for this 'reserved seating'.

Somebody asked this back at the beginning of this.

 

I don't know, but I would be surprised if over 20% of passengers were Premium Package.

Only certain passengers would benefit from paying this higher cost.

Also, there are multiple shows, At least two per night on at least one night.  Right.  And not every Premium passenger will reserve for every show.

 

To me, I am assuming that reservations are required.  That this isn't just a big Premium seating area, but actually, as it says, 'Reserved' seating. 

 

I would imagine that Princess would block off the number of rows to cover those who had actually reserved seats for that show.   There might be a few extra seats in the mix,  and there might be a few no-shows.  (don't know why that many would reserve and then not make it.  A few I am sure...)

 

I don't know why Princess would automatically block off seats for all (just an estimate to throw out) 500 Premium passengers for all shows. 

 

I don't know how much impact this would have on availability of other seating.

We aren't ones to want to crowd in stage-front anyhow. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Wishing on a star

[caribill]

2 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

 

I didn't hear that 25% number but if so, I guess they'll have to either take reservations or section off a load of seats.

Either was it'll be loads of fun to see the mad scramble prior to the show. If it works as well as the DMW has, I wonder if Princess has thought this out yet. 😁

 

At presentations to stock analysts, management has said they expect 50% of bookings to be with Plus and 25% with Premier.

 

Of course this was before the just announced price increase which make Plus cost 50% more than a few months ago when it was $40/person/day.

[Wishing on a star]

Don't company 'analyst' always shoot for the moon!!!!

[mfanderso]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

So, do people line up hoping to get one of the released seats or do people who are already seated relocate to the newly released seats when they see they are available?

There are always people standing there waiting for the seats to be released. Once the ropes are dropped, the seats are filled up. In my opinion, the seats aren’t the best, it is just nice to know they are there without having to go early. The cruises that I have been in a suite with this benefit, they reserved the middle of the front of the balcony. 

[caribill]

5 minutes ago, mfanderso said:

There are always people standing there waiting for the seats to be released. Once the ropes are dropped, the seats are filled up. In my opinion, the seats aren’t the best, it is just nice to know they are there without having to go early. The cruises that I have been in a suite with this benefit, they reserved the middle of the front of the balcony. 

 

As I remember reading about this on the RCI boards, in addition to the special section for suite passengers, RCI allows all passengers to reserve a space at a performance. This is not for a specific seat, but for being sure a seat was available somewhere.

 

This led to lines long before the theater opened.

 

One line was for those with a reservation and people lined up early in order to get a "good" seat once the doors were opened.

 

The other line was for people without a reservation who lined up early and had to wait until unused seats were released a few minutes before the performance. These people could be on line for an hour or more with no assurance there would be room for them in the theater.

[caribill]

30 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

I would imagine that Princess would block off the number of rows to cover those who had actually reserved seats for that show.   There might be a few extra seats in the mix,  and there might be a few no-shows.  (don't know why that many would reserve and then not make it.  A few I am sure...)

 

That does bring up a question.

 

Will the Premier passengers need to reserve space in advance or will there be no advance reservations and it will be first come, first served with the possibility more will show up than there are seats set aside for this?

[mfanderso]

2 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

As I remember reading about this on the RCI boards, in addition to the special section for suite passengers, RCI allows all passengers to reserve a space at a performance. This is not for a specific seat, but for being sure a seat was available somewhere.

 

This led to lines long before the theater opened.

 

One line was for those with a reservation and people lined up early in order to get a "good" seat once the doors were opened.

 

The other line was for people without a reservation who lined up early and had to wait until unused seats were released a few minutes before the performance. These people could be on line for an hour or more with no assurance there would be room for them in the theater.

Yes, Royal Caribbean does require reservations for some of their shows. It has been awhile since I have sailed on them so don’t remember which ones. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

14 minutes ago, caribill said:

As I remember reading about this on the RCI boards, in addition to the special section for suite passengers, RCI allows all passengers to reserve a space at a performance. This is not for a specific seat, but for being sure a seat was available somewhere.

 

This led to lines long before the theater opened.

but at least RCI has the same show repeatedly during the cruise, so if you missed your reservation, you could show up again without one and still have a good chance of seeing it.

On Enchanted last week each show appeared on one day only, with two showings. We constantly missed the 7:30 showing due to slow service in MDR, so our only chance to see the show was to show up at 8:45-9 pm for a 9:30 showing.

[HBCcruiser]

13 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

How about enhancing some of the suite perks for your passengers?

I wonder if they plan on doing that with the new Sphere class. The experiment was/is the Sky Suite experience with the added perks, including reserved seating and priority access to certain events. 

[cr8tiv1]

I can just envision the chaos this will bring to the theater.  Princess, in the past, has not really think things through to the nth degree.

 

Like DMW, there will be growing pains.  

 

It would have been much simpler to have 3 shows a night.

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

21 hours ago, Thrak said:

I once "looked at" the gym but that's it. I couldn't use the exercise programs if I wanted to as I'm not physically capable of doing so. I've seen a lot of Princess passengers who couldn't make use of the new fitness "perks". This is  just more John Padgett BS to help push out the older cruisers.  As for the new desserts... It's worth almost nothing and you get a whopping 2 deserts for the entire cruise. We have no need for extra dessert items. Bah. What a non-perk.

 

I will definitely have to discuss with my wife to decide whether or not to purchase FCD. We have a B2B2B booked for next Fall and are also booked on the Solar Eclipse cruise in 2024. We had no FCD (totally blew it on our last cruise) and I was thinking I might buy more, rebook those cruises, and then cancel the current bookings. That way we could add the OBC from the FCD to the cruises. The way things will be now I will have to do the math to see if that even makes any sense with the new charges.

If you like the terms under which you booked the current cruise you can apply FCDs at any time before the cruises are paid in full as part of the payment to get the OBC from the fcds.  While they do have the additional benefit of reducing deposits, the OBC can still be gotten by applying to already booked, but not fully paid cruises.

Edited December 2, 2022 by ldtr

[Steelers36]

12 minutes ago, ldtr said:

If you like the terms under which you booked the current cruise you can apply FCDs at any time before the cruises are paid in full as part of the payment to get the OBC from the fcds.  While they do have the additional benefit of reducing deposits, the OBC can still be gotten by applying to already booked, but not fully paid cruises.

Hmm.. have to disagree.  Unless a recent policy change I missed?  The only way to earn the associated OBC from a FCD is to use the FCD as the initial deposit.  After that, it is just a down-payment towards the balance and no benefit accrues.

[caribill]

16 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I can just envision the chaos this will bring to the theater.  Princess, in the past, has not really think things through to the nth degree.

 

Like DMW, there will be growing pains.  

 

It would have been much simpler to have 3 shows a night.

 

 

 

History:

 

o Princess originally had two performances an evening, each about an hour in length. Seat supply could not meet the demand.

 

o So Princess went to keeping those two performances and having a third performance the next evening.

 

o Then Princess reduced the length of the shows to about 35 minutes and had three performances in one evening.

 

o And then (and until now) Princess changed to only having two shows an evening.

[gah_cruise]

We have a cruise Jun 2023 with Princess Premier package.............will we get these "new perks" or will the crew realise we have the "old" package?

Edited December 2, 2022 by gah_cruise

[iamaqt2]

26 minutes ago, gah_cruise said:

We have a cruise Jun 2023 with Princess Premier package.............will we get these "new perks" or will the crew realise we have the "old" package?

If I had to venture a guess, the crew won't have to bother with knowing what package anyone has.   If you order anything the computer will do all the work of knowing whether or not to charge your onboard folio.  So if you have the old Premier package and order one of the new dessert offerings you'll be charged for it and if you have the New Premier package you won't.  

 

[gah_cruise]

17 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

If I had to venture a guess, the crew won't have to bother with knowing what package anyone has.   If you order anything the computer will do all the work of knowing whether or not to charge your onboard folio.  So if you have the old Premier package and order one of the new dessert offerings you'll be charged for it and if you have the New Premier package you won't.  

 

You may well be correct, but I will be annoyed if when I go to place an order, that the server cannot inform if I am going to be charged......dessert/alcohol/exercise class etc...that would be poor service.

[Level six]

Most of the Princess theaters only have 650 seats or less. 

[iamaqt2]

3 minutes ago, gah_cruise said:

You may well be correct, but I will be annoyed if when I go to place an order, that the server cannot inform if I am going to be charged......dessert/alcohol/exercise class etc...that would be poor service.

Why would you be annoyed if they couldn't tell you?  If there was an accounting issue based on the package that you chose to purchase Guest Relations would handle that.  I wouldn't expect any server or attendant to know that.

[frogandtoad]

I have not read through this entire thread so i apologize if this has been mentioned but there are other changes being made.

 

In addition to the changes to our fare bundles noted above, the following changes will also go into effect with new bookings made on or after Dec 14, 2022:

 

• Crew appreciation: The daily Crew Appreciation charge is based on stateroom category, and effective Dec 14, 2022, will increase to: $16 per guest in Interior, Oceanview and Balcony (was $14.50), $17 per guest in Mini-Suite and Club Class (was $15.50), $18 per guest in Suites (was $16.50) for voyages sailing on or after Feb 20, 2023. Whether included in a fare bundle or paid separately, this daily charge recognizes our crew for exceptional service they provide and is shared among the many members of our crew in hotel, dining and entertainment throughout the fleet. Your clients with existing bookings will have the opportunity to pre-pay the crew appreciation for their cruise at the current rate until Dec 13, 2022.
• MedallionNet Wi-Fi: MedallionNet®, the best Wi-Fi at sea, effective with voyages sailing Feb 20, 2023 and beyond, will be priced as follows: $15 per day for single-device plan; $40 per day for four-device plan.
• Medallion shipping: Complimentary Medallion shipping to a guest's home or office will continue for guests purchasing Princess Plus or Princess Premier. Guests who book with Princess Standard on or after Dec 14, 2022, can receive their Medallions at their port of embarkation, or they can elect to have the Medallions shipped for a nominal fee of $10 per stateroom. Be sure to encourage your clients to have their Medallions shipped to them prior to their cruise as this will make their embarkation an even more effortless experience.

[mycruisey]

12 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Another question is where in the theater the reserved area will be.

 

Not all passengers like to sit in the same area. Some like up front, some in the middle, some in the rear. I assume they would just have one area set aside, so not all those eligible will like where that area is.

 

Before this new price increase, Princess expected that 25% of passengers would book the Premier package, so on the larger ships, that could be more than the capacity of the Princess theater for a single show time.

We were recently on the Sky and were told by the officer in charge of Food and Beverage that 70% of the passengers are routinely taking the Packages (Plus/Premier).  I guess Princess is confident that this increase will not deter many.  I don't think the extra perks will affect much.

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, iamaqt2 said:

If you order anything the computer will do all the work of knowing whether or not to charge your onboard folio.

This would be true for items that have a cash value, such as drinks.  But unless the new desserts are going to be sold as upcharge a la carte items, this would be impossible, (or complicated) as they have no equivalent cash value.  That said, I think that those of us who already have Plus Package cruises booked for dates after February, we can all expect emails from Princess informing us that we can keep our current Plus Plan, or pay $10 per person per day to upgrade to Plus 2.0.  

[iamaqt2]

12 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

This would be true for items that have a cash value, such as drinks.  But unless the new desserts are going to be sold as upcharge a la carte items, this would be impossible, (or complicated) as they have no equivalent cash value.  That said, I think that those of us who already have Plus Package cruises booked for dates after February, we can all expect emails from Princess informing us that we can keep our current Plus Plan, or pay $10 per person per day to upgrade to Plus 2.0.  

I feel fairly confident that the desserts will be sold as upcharge a la carte, just as the Gelato is.  

[JimmyVWine]

4 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

I feel fairly confident that the desserts will be sold as upcharge a la carte, just as the Gelato is.  

Gelato is not sold a la carte as a dessert in the MDR.