Advice please re New Zealand Cruise.

[Lauale]

We are two couples planning a 3 week holiday cruising NZ in November. We have narrowed this down to the 19th November sailing. I have a couple of questions re your advice on the drinks packages and cabins.  We are experienced cruisers but have not cruised for 13 nights before. Would we appreciate the additional space and bath in a mini suite or should we just book a balcony. What are your thoughts? Additionally we are undecided whether or not to book the plus package or premium package.  We do like nice wine, and wonder if the premium package would be worth it for us. Does anyone have any recent wine lists showing the difference between the plus and premier packages. Thank you. 

[arxcards]

Which ship?

 

We like the minis on Princess for the bit of extra space, and reasonable value vs balcony cabins. We rarely use the bath though.

 

There are wine lists in an earlier thread with the per glass package wines listed. I will see if I can find it when I get a chance. The general consensus is the package wines for this season are largely bottom shelf offerings. These may change for next season, or maybe not.

[arxcards]

@Lauale Here goes

 

[arxcards]

Personally, the premier package is only of value on the shorter cruises (the specialty dining and photo inclusions are per cruise, regardless of the number of nights). All of the extra bibs and bobs that have recently been added don't appeal to us, but maybe they do for you.

 

For the wines, it does open the per glass choice a bit, but if you have the plus package, you only need to pay the extra above the plus price cap for those wines.

 

The per glass prices will almost certainly be going up in February, as the cap in the packages has also been increased.

[Lauale]

Thank you for the prompt reply.  We are looking at the Royal out of Sydney on 19th November. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

10 hours ago, Lauale said:

Thank you for the prompt reply.  We are looking at the Royal out of Sydney on 19th November. 

Bear in mind that balcony cabins on Princess only have a single desk chair, there is no other seat other than sitting on the bed. Also Princess shower cubicles are quite small (although Royal isn't too bad), so having the shower over the bath in a mini-suite gives you more space.

 

The other point to consider is that the weather and seas around NZ can still be quite variable in November so there is slightly more risk of not being able to do the Fiordland scenic cruising - the entrances to the Sounds are quite narrow so not viable in rough seas. February/March is the best time to visit NZ in my opinion.

 

Currently the wines in both packages aren't great apart from one or two exceptions. We also like nice wine and were disappointed however the Plus package may still be a reasonable deal as you can still get the more expensive wines by the glass and only pay the difference. Plus you get 25% off buying wines by the bottle and there is a better selection of wines by the bottle. We've found it still cost effective to have the Plus package and budget an extra $10 pp per day on average for better wines, which still comes out cheaper than buying the Premium package since we're not interested in the other extras.

 

Note onboard costs are in AUD on our cruises and there is no additional service charge added to drinks prices, it's all built in so what you see is what you pay.

[Bubbeh]

For my money, it's a balcony every time.  13 days is not a long cruise and I think that a balcony gives you plenty of space and amenity for this period of time.  We've never cruised for less than two weeks (last one to South Africa for 47 days) and never once felt confined in a balcony cabin.  Having said that, if you should happen to be unlucky enough to test positive for COVID (ugh!) you might very much appreciate the additional space provided by a mini suite.

[cruiser3775]

Are you talking about two cabins or four people in one cabin?

The drinks packages on Princess cruises from Australia are not good value, unless you drink a lot of very expensive spirits.  Both people in a couple have to take the package - you can't order drinks for another person not on the package.  The prices quoted from cruises departing from Australia are in AUD and include the 18% gratuity.  The wine lists on Princess are awful, mostly cheap irrigation belt stuff at high prices.  You can BYO wine for $A15 corkage per bottle.

On other lines such as Holland America, where prices are quoted in USD, plus gratuity, there is some point in taking the drinks package, given the poor exchange rate.   They also have a much better range of wines to choose from on the package. However, if you order a more expensive wine, you pay the whole cost, not just the difference in price.

Edited January 4, 2023 by cruiser3775

[MicCanberra]

I love having a bath so would opt for the mini suite and have the extra room if pricing is reasonable.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, cruiser3775 said:

Are you talking about two cabins or four people in one cabin?

The drinks packages on Princess cruises from Australia are not good value, unless you drink a lot of very expensive spirits.  Both people in a couple have to take the package - you can't order drinks for another person not on the package.  The prices quoted from cruises departing from Australia are in AUD and include the 18% gratuity.  The wine lists on Princess are awful, mostly cheap irrigation belt stuff at high prices.  You can BYO wine for $A15 corkage per bottle.

On other lines such as Holland America, where prices are quoted in USD, plus gratuity, there is some point in taking the drinks package, given the poor exchange rate.   They also have a much better range of wines to choose from on the package. However, if you order a more expensive wine, you pay the whole cost, not just the difference in price.

No, they don't! It's deceptive. Most of the interesting wines were over the package limit, but they have changed from paying the whole price to just paying the difference.

[cruiser3775]

3 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

they have changed from paying the whole price to just paying the difference.

Is that right?  I can' find any information on Holland America Signature Beverage Package that says that.  All the info I can find says you pay the full cost PLUS the 18% gratuity if you order a drink over the $15/glass price limit.  How do I check the current regulations, please?

[OzKiwiJJ]

6 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

Is that right?  I can' find any information on Holland America Signature Beverage Package that says that.  All the info I can find says you pay the full cost PLUS the 18% gratuity if you order a drink over the $15/glass price limit.  How do I check the current regulations, please?

I don't know but it was mentioned all over the place onboard Westerdam including on the drinks lists. I'll see it I can find it in print - we kept a lot of that stuff. They promo'd it as "Have It All And More".

[Aussieflyer]

5 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

Are you talking about two cabins or four people in one cabin?

The drinks packages on Princess cruises from Australia are not good value, unless you drink a lot of very expensive spirits.  Both people in a couple have to take the package - you can't order drinks for another person not on the package.  The prices quoted from cruises departing from Australia are in AUD and include the 18% gratuity.  The wine lists on Princess are awful, mostly cheap irrigation belt stuff at high prices.  You can BYO wine for $A15 corkage per bottle.

On other lines such as Holland America, where prices are quoted in USD, plus gratuity, there is some point in taking the drinks package, given the poor exchange rate.   They also have a much better range of wines to choose from on the package. However, if you order a more expensive wine, you pay the whole cost, not just the difference in price.

I actually like the Plus drink package on Princess and see it as good value - a couple of coffees or hot chocolates a day, if it is hot a virgin mojito or two and a couple of cocktails before dinner. Agreed the wine choices aren't good though. It makes it a lot easier IMO. But we are on Cunard in a couple of weeks and no way for a drink package - on a 5 day cruise it came out at over $AU1,000 for the two of us as it was $US70 pppd.

[Aussieflyer]

4 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

I love having a bath so would opt for the mini suite and have the extra room if pricing is reasonable.

I hate having to clamber in and out of the bath when they have the shower over. I guess a suite with a separate shower is the way to go.

[OzKiwiJJ]

10 minutes ago, Aussieflyer said:

I actually like the Plus drink package on Princess and see it as good value - a couple of coffees or hot chocolates a day, if it is hot a virgin mojito or two and a couple of cocktails before dinner. Agreed the wine choices aren't good though. It makes it a lot easier IMO. But we are on Cunard in a couple of weeks and no way for a drink package - on a 5 day cruise it came out at over $AU1,000 for the two of us as it was $US70 pppd.

It is good value and there were three reasonable wines - the rosè, the pinot noir and the merlot. But they promised 25 wines by the glass but only had 9 which stinks! And only another 9 on the Premium list. Double stink!!!🤬 But at $40, or even $50, pp per day it was still good value. It's getting borderline at $65 pp per day though.

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

12 minutes ago, Aussieflyer said:

I hate having to clamber in and out of the bath when they have the shower over. I guess a suite with a separate shower is the way to go.

Definitely! 🤣

 

Although I found getting in and out of the bath was easier than I expected.

[cruiser3775]

19 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

it was mentioned all over the place onboard Westerdam including on the drinks lists. I'll see it I can find it in print - we kept a lot of that stuff. They promo'd it as "Have It All And More".

Thanks, OZKiwi, I found the answer on another thread - "HAL for Dummies", which is about right for me.

"If the beverage is over $11 menu price, you pay the difference plus 18% of the difference. The 18% is included in the Signature beverage package for all drinks with a menu price of $11 or less.

It was tested on the Westerdam over the summer and went fleetwide in the fall" (US seasons).