Any thoughts on the changes coming to Princess Plus and Princess Premier packages coming 12/14

[bladerunner6]

I am thinking we might stick with the current packages if we do Princess Plus.

[SargassoPirate]

My only thought is to put the pencil to it them and compare the packages to going ala cart for the items that I will use - such as tips.  I don't drink enough to make a drink package pay, don't need internet while cruising, and get by just fine with included beverages and food.  

 

I suspect I may be in the minority amongst cruisers, though.

[Sea Hag]

40 minutes ago, bladerunner6 said:

I am thinking we might stick with the current packages if we do Princess Plus.

I'll be sticking with my current "package" choice which is no package. The math tells me that neither plus nor premier pay off for us.

[Lady Arwen]

We just added Plus to our existing reservation to avoid the daily increase on December 14th.  For us, the extra $10 per day per person is worthless.  However, if we add a glass of wine and and one cocktail each day for both of us and the cost of specialty coffees, water, soda, wifi and gratuities, we save about $200.  Add more wine and cocktails,  and we save big time.  No brainer for us to add Plus.

[RetAF98]

We don't drink alcohol, so the packages don't make sense financially for us.  I did go ahead and pay for wifi for an upcoming cruise to aviod the price increase on Dec 14.

[dog]

I have prepaid crew incentive, wifi ( elite discount was applied) ordered water, will get elite mini bar set up—- only had plus package once and did not drink much, so these desserts, fitness, seating in theatre mean nothing to me.

[cruisingrob21]

The whole plus promo has gone from a nice option to an outright money grab.  You can "pencil it out" but the only value you are getting is whether you will use exercise classes (which will likely be really crowded or capacity controlled), get some "fancy" deserts (can't see getting more than 1x or 2x, if at all) and then how much you can drink, or how many expensive drinks you can get. 

 

So taking out the inflated tips and wifi costs $60-$16-$15 (or $7.5 if you are platinum or elite) = $29 - is $29 per day worth all you can drink, some classes that might be really crowded or require you to show up 25 minutes before to get a spot, and some extra sweet deserts?  I'm just frustrated because it feels like they are increasing the tips and wifi to push people into the princess plus program.

 

But I get it, CCL has creditors, who smell a recession, are trying to get whatever they can before cruise fares have to slide and payment back to the creditors gets shaky.

[memoak]

Plus will always work for us. 6+ drinks a day per person plus grats and WiFi make this a No brainer

[Guest ldtr]

2 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

My only thought is to put the pencil to it them and compare the packages to going ala cart for the items that I will use - such as tips.  I don't drink enough to make a drink package pay, don't need internet while cruising, and get by just fine with included beverages and food.  

 

I suspect I may be in the minority amongst cruisers, though.

Certainly does not pencil out for us. With the amount of OBC one can get on Princess (veterans, shareholder, fcds), together with captain circle benefits (internet discount, mini bar traded for coffee packages) means that we often end a cruise with a very small or zero balance, even with buying ship excursions at some ports. 

 

Currently on 15 day cruise. Will end with a negative balance, compared to the 1500 the packages would have called us for this cruise.

[LACruiser88]

Lots of discussion on this topic on the below thread...

 

 

 

[MissP22]

We've also decided that their "package" just isn't worth it any longer and we'll return to just cruising line we used to a few years ago & purchase just what we need.

Maybe it's attractive for newbies, but for us it's the straw that broke the camels back and we certainly can live without it. 

[HikaruTsuki]

I'm still confused about the wording on the email from Princess regarding keeping our "rate" by paying by December 14th. Are they talking about the rates for individual items (gratuity, wifi, etc) or the packages? I wish they would use consistent wording/language because this confusion is so unnecessary. I've asked my Princess rep so many times and she won't reply to my emails. 

 

 

[caribill]

25 minutes ago, HikaruTsuki said:

I'm still confused about the wording on the email from Princess regarding keeping our "rate" by paying by December 14th. Are they talking about the rates for individual items (gratuity, wifi, etc) or the packages? I wish they would use consistent wording/language because this confusion is so unnecessary. I've asked my Princess rep so many times and she won't reply to my emails. 

 

 

 

If you already booked with a Plus or Premier package, your rate will not change unless you choose to "upgrade" to get the newer "benefits" at the higher pricing.

 

If you already booked with the Plus or Premier package, your gratuity and Wi-Fi are included and there is no change in their pricing for you.

 

If you booked with the Standard rate and have not pre-paid already for gratuity and/or Wi-Fi, then the rates will go up unless you pre-pay for those options by Dec.14. This does not affect when the final payment for your cruise is due.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, bladerunner6 said:

I am thinking we might stick with the current packages if we do Princess Plus.

 

The current Princess Plus pricing ends when the new Princess Plus pricing $60/day/person) goes into effect.

 

So if you want Princess plus at the current ($50/day/person), book it now.

[HikaruTsuki]

11 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

If you already booked with a Plus or Premier package, your rate will not change unless you choose to "upgrade" to get the newer "benefits" at the higher pricing.

 

If you already booked with the Plus or Premier package, your gratuity and Wi-Fi are included and there is no change in their pricing for you.

 

If you booked with the Standard rate and have not pre-paid already for gratuity and/or Wi-Fi, then the rates will go up unless you pre-pay for those options by Dec.14. This does not affect when the final payment for your cruise is due.

 Oof. I just got a hold of Princess via their live chat. The rep informed me that if my booking was not paid in full by Dec 14th, my Plus cost will increase to the new amount. I really, really hope he's wrong. 

[ldubs]

  

 

2 hours ago, cruisingrob21 said:

The whole plus promo has gone from a nice option to an outright money grab.  You can "pencil it out" but the only value you are getting is whether you will use exercise classes (which will likely be really crowded or capacity controlled), get some "fancy" deserts (can't see getting more than 1x or 2x, if at all) and then how much you can drink, or how many expensive drinks you can get. 

 

So taking out the inflated tips and wifi costs $60-$16-$15 (or $7.5 if you are platinum or elite) = $29 - is $29 per day worth all you can drink, some classes that might be really crowded or require you to show up 25 minutes before to get a spot, and some extra sweet deserts?  I'm just frustrated because it feels like they are increasing the tips and wifi to push people into the princess plus program.

 

But I get it, CCL has creditors, who smell a recession, are trying to get whatever they can before cruise fares have to slide and payment back to the creditors gets shaky.

 

I'm not sure I follow.  Is not the price of the Plus package also going up $10/day?  I'm not following how the increase to Grats and wifi encourage purchase of a higher priced package.   I don't normally purchase these kinds of packages so may not fully understand.    

[caribill]

2 minutes ago, HikaruTsuki said:

 Oof. I just got a hold of Princess via their live chat. The rep informed me that if my booking was not paid in full by Dec 14th, my Plus cost will increase to the new amount. I really, really hope he's wrong. 

 

He is very, very, very, very wrong.

[caribill]

6 minutes ago, ldubs said:

  

 

 

I'm not sure I follow.  Is not the price of the Plus package also going up $10/day?  I'm not following how the increase to Grats and wifi encourage purchase of a higher priced package.   I don't normally purchase these kinds of packages so may not fully understand.    

 

Most people purchase the Plus or Premier package for the alcohol beverage part of it.

 

When the Plus package was first introduced at $40/day/person, that was significantly less than the price of the beverage package by itself. So for those who like the beverage package, the tips and Internet was a bonus, not an incentive.

 

Same was true when the package price went up to $50.day/person, just not as big a savings.

 

And it is true now with the $60/day/person which has the added beverage benefit of including dricks that cost up to $15, not the older limit of $12.

 

For those who do not buy significant amounts of beverages on board (non-alcohol or alcohol), booking the Standard rate and then paying for tips and Internet continues to be the way to go.

[billco]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

We've also decided that their "package" just isn't worth it any longer and we'll return to just cruising line we used to a few years ago & purchase just what we need.

Maybe it's attractive for newbies, but for us it's the straw that broke the camels back and we certainly can live without it. 

We've decided Princess Cruises isn't worth it any longer.

[SargassoPirate]

3 hours ago, memoak said:

Plus will always work for us. 6+ drinks a day per person plus grats and WiFi make this a No brainer

If I tried to drink that much or tried to max out the daily allowance, it would have to come with a free shuttle to the nearest Betty Ford clinic for a rest.

[Tedferg]

2 hours ago, HikaruTsuki said:

I'm still confused about the wording on the email from Princess regarding keeping our "rate" by paying by December 14th. Are they talking about the rates for individual items (gratuity, wifi, etc) or the packages? I wish they would use consistent wording/language because this confusion is so unnecessary. I've asked my Princess rep so many times and she won't reply to my emails. 

 

 

I would need to double check, but I believe prices of Packages AND Individual items will increase. So if you are on the fence about a Package, the increase might encourage you to add it now. If no package, then you might be encouraged to pre-pay Gratuities etc. now.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

4 hours ago, dog said:

I have prepaid crew incentive, wifi ( elite discount was applied) ordered water, will get elite mini bar set up—- only had plus package once and did not drink much, so these desserts, fitness, seating in theatre mean nothing to me.

I purchased Plus for our next cruise before the increase.  This will probably be my last time purchasing Plus and I’m sure I will do exactly what you are doing.  I have a dairy allergy and I am just about positive that they will not have anything plant-based for their desserts.

[JackHamilton]

1 hour ago, HikaruTsuki said:

 Oof. I just got a hold of Princess via their live chat. The rep informed me that if my booking was not paid in full by Dec 14th, my Plus cost will increase to the new amount. I really, really hope he's wrong. 

I read the letter as saying that you have to pay for the Princess Plus package before December 14 to get the old pricing.  Other places seem to say that you have to pay for everything by that date.  But either way, it doesn't matter what you reserved, it only matters whether you paid for Princess Plus by the December date.  I don't think it matters what the price was when you reserved if you haven't paid for it.  I guess we'll be able to find out on December 14.

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

He is very, very, very, very wrong.

Someone just posted on that "other" site that Princess told them the same thing (pre-pay in full prior to Dec 14th). Maybe the same person that posted here. Not sure. I haven't heard anything about that officially from Princess, but nothing would surprise me at this point.

[Steelers36]

18 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Someone just posted on that "other" site that Princess told them the same thing (pre-pay in full prior to Dec 14th). Maybe the same person that posted here. Not sure. I haven't heard anything about that officially from Princess, but nothing would surprise me at this point.

I'm with @caribill on this and yourself is doubtful as well.  I don't see this situation as any different when fares increase.  Guests do not have to immediately pay their cruise in full to avoid a fare increase.  Plus and Premier are cruise fare options.  

 

What will happen is Dec 14 and forward, if a guest wants to re-fare to take advantage of a new promo (such as B.S.E.), they are going to be paying the new pricing for Plus or Premier.