To Plus or not to Plus.., our experience

[EightFurryPaws]

Thanks for responding.

Not lazy, just thinking if I brought my coffee up from the IC, it would be cold by the time I went through the buffet line and had an omlet made.

That's the reason I was asking if a crew member can deliver.

 

[CruizinSusan70]

1 hour ago, EightFurryPaws said:

Thanks for responding.

Not lazy, just thinking if I brought my coffee up from the IC, it would be cold by the time I went through the buffet line and had an omlet made.

That's the reason I was asking if a crew member can deliver.

 

You could always go to the IC post breakfast and sit and enjoy a hot one.

[MissP22]

14 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

If you're lazy and don't wish to get your coffee at the IC or get an alcoholic drink at a bar, yes, you can order it on your cell phone and your app will kick in with your location as to where you're at so your drink of choice can be delivered to you.  We always go to the IC for espressos or to our bar of choice to get a drink instead of having it delivered.

I'm not sure if the app will allow for delivery of items in the DR.

Have you tried it?

[justafem]

On 5/19/2023 at 10:19 AM, reedprincess said:

Tour wish is granted. Zero Proof package is $29.95 and includes specialty coffees, sodas, mocktails, etc:

"Zero Alcohol Package

Enjoy premium and specialty coffees and teas along with sodas, fresh juices and healthy smoothies (juice bar), hot chocolate, "zero-proof" mocktails, bottled water, San Pellegrino, Evian and Red Bull Energy Drinks throughout your entire cruise with this zero-alcohol beverage package.

 

The Zero-Alcohol Drink Package is $29.99 USD* per person, per day." 

 

If you're meaning $30 total, yeah - that's wildly unrealistic, unless it was for a specific amount of drinks, like the old coffee card. And even then, it's only be 5 or so drinks, at current pricing. 

For that reason, we keep getting the plus package.  

Internet $15 per day (yeah, I know there's a discount if you've traveled enough)

Grats $16 per day

$31

Which leaves $29 per day towards the cost of beverages.  

Zero-Alcohol Drink Package is $29.99 per day PLUS 18% gratuity, total $36 per day.  

 

Internet $15 per day 

Grats $16 per day

$31 plus $36.  $67 per day. Even if the discount on the WIFI is figured in, it's exactly the same price.  
And there's the opportunity to have a booze (or 7) if you want with plus.

 

Plus works for us. 

 

 

[Steelers36]

18 hours ago, EightFurryPaws said:

Thanks for responding.

Not lazy, just thinking if I brought my coffee up from the IC, it would be cold by the time I went through the buffet line and had an omlet made.

That's the reason I was asking if a crew member can deliver.

 

It will be the same risk with a crew member bringing you coffee.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, justafem said:

For that reason, we keep getting the plus package.  

Internet $15 per day (yeah, I know there's a discount if you've traveled enough)

Grats $16 per day

$31

Which leaves $29 per day towards the cost of beverages.  

Zero-Alcohol Drink Package is $29.99 per day PLUS 18% gratuity, total $36 per day.  

 

Internet $15 per day 

Grats $16 per day

$31 plus $36.  $67 per day. Even if the discount on the WIFI is figured in, it's exactly the same price.  
And there's the opportunity to have a booze (or 7) if you want with plus.

 

Plus works for us. 

 

 

I don't see any value in any of the distinct drink packages offered by Princess.  IMO, they are over-priced beyond making any sense to purchase so they can make it appear to guests that they are saving lots of money buying Plus and Premier fare options.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Steelers36

[gah_cruise]

18 hours ago, EightFurryPaws said:

Thanks for responding.

Not lazy, just thinking if I brought my coffee up from the IC, it would be cold by the time I went through the buffet line and had an omlet made.

That's the reason I was asking if a crew member can deliver.

 

get yourself a travel mug, decant IC into said cup, carry to buffet.

[memoak]

2 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I don't see any value in any of the distinct drink packages offered by Princess.  IMO, they are over-priced beyond making any sense to purchase so they can make it appear to guests that they are saving lots of money buying Plus and Premier fare options.

So you don’t order drinks so the packages are not designed for you. For those of us who like to have a few cocktails (or many) they help us save money. Each to their own

[voljeep]

5 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I don't see any value in any of the distinct drink packages offered by Princess.  IMO, they are over-priced beyond making any sense to purchase so they can make it appear to guests that they are saving lots of money buying Plus and Premier fare options.

for a 7 day cruise - what is you Total Wine bill when you lug on your own wine and "pay corkage"

I know, I know, you rarely pay corkage as you have stated numerous times.  but you do buy the wine

[Steelers36]

13 minutes ago, memoak said:

So you don’t order drinks so the packages are not designed for you. For those of us who like to have a few cocktails (or many) they help us save money. Each to their own

You did not understand my post.  Please re-read it.  I was saying that the distinct drink packages offered have no value to anyone and are artificially priced so high in order to indicate value for the Plus/Premier cruise fare packages.  I do acknowledge that the cruise fare packages do provide value to many guests, but purchasing one of the drinks-only packages would be a financial mistake.

[Steelers36]

11 minutes ago, voljeep said:

for a 7 day cruise - what is you Total Wine bill when you lug on your own wine and "pay corkage"

I know, I know, you rarely pay corkage as you have stated numerous times.  but you do buy the wine

I have done various analyses over recent years comparing the cost of Princess wine list (plus the 18%) to same wines available from Total Wine and adding in the corkage (was $15 and now $20) and the value is there - no question.  It isn't even worth doing it in future with the pricing Princess has now. 

 

At five glasses per bottle, the value holds versus the per glass cost of decent wine (not the no-name swill list).  

 

A bottle of wine lasts us two meals for sure as my wife doesn't drink very much anymore and never really had as much as I do.  Might even have an extra glass beyond the two meals for in cabin. 

 

So, if we were going on as short a voyage as 7 nights, I would probably take only 3 bottles because we sometimes have beer with dinner instead.  (Two of our free 10 in mini-bar after exchanging). 

 

My TW bill can vary, depending on what I decide to buy, but I would say the average would end up in the $20 - $25 range typically.  Not considering any corkage.  I really look at the bottle cost on the ship because I would be buying wine that way from Princess and not BTG.  I do consider the corkage and it is just a bonus if I don't have to pay it on every bottle.

[CruizinSusan70]

6 hours ago, MissP22 said:

I'm not sure if the app will allow for delivery of items in the DR.

Have you tried it?

No.  We had a club sandwich delivered around 1030 pm to Good Spirits.  That was the lone delivery of food or drink we had done on our 14 nights on the Discovery last year.

[CruizinSusan70]

48 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I don't see any value in any of the distinct drink packages offered by Princess.  IMO, they are over-priced beyond making any sense to purchase so they can make it appear to guests that they are saving lots of money buying Plus and Premier fare options.

If you think that the Princess drink packages are over priced, check out NCL, Celebrity and especially RCI.  At least with the first two, it can be bundled instead of the outrageous dynamic pricing policy of RCI.

This is just one more hurdle that those that like to imbibe need to deal with when deciding on which cruise line to cruise on.  Teetotalers don't need to factor this into their decision making process.

[memoak]

26 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I have done various analyses over recent years comparing the cost of Princess wine list (plus the 18%) to same wines available from Total Wine and adding in the corkage (was $15 and now $20) and the value is there - no question.  It isn't even worth doing it in future with the pricing Princess has now. 

 

At five glasses per bottle, the value holds versus the per glass cost of decent wine (not the no-name swill list).  

 

A bottle of wine lasts us two meals for sure as my wife doesn't drink very much anymore and never really had as much as I do.  Might even have an extra glass beyond the two meals for in cabin. 

 

So, if we were going on as short a voyage as 7 nights, I would probably take only 3 bottles because we sometimes have beer with dinner instead.  (Two of our free 10 in mini-bar after exchanging). 

 

My TW bill can vary, depending on what I decide to buy, but I would say the average would end up in the $20 - $25 range typically.  Not considering any corkage.  I really look at the bottle cost on the ship because I would be buying wine that way from Princess and not BTG.  I do consider the corkage and it is just a bonus if I don't have to pay it on every bottle.

One point is that for us a bottle of wine would last one dinner   We also like to have wine or beer with lunch, specially coffees, two cocktails before dinner and also drinks while listening to music at bars and in the casino   We used to lug a case of wine on board for a 14 day cruise and it was a big pain and we were still paying around $50 per person per day. Ergo we save lots of money with packages

[MissP22]

20 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

No.  We had a club sandwich delivered around 1030 pm to Good Spirits.  That was the lone delivery of food or drink we had done on our 14 nights on the Discovery last year.

My husband often had desserts sent to our table in the buffet (key lime pie), but never to the DR. 

They did take 30 to 40 minutes to arrive, sometimes never. 

[memoak]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

My husband often had desserts sent to our table in the buffet (key lime pie), but never to the DR. 

They did take 30 to 40 minutes to arrive, sometimes never. 

It can’t.be real easy to find someone in the buffet   LOL

[MissP22]

Just now, memoak said:

It can’t.be real easy to find someone in the buffet   LOL

For us it was since we ALWAYS sat at one of 3 tables every day. We arrive before the buffet opens sitting there for the opening bell.

We usually got the same waiter each day so they knew where we sat. 

 

[gah_cruise]

49 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

For us it was since we ALWAYS sat at one of 3 tables every day. We arrive before the buffet opens sitting there for the opening bell.

We usually got the same waiter each day so they knew where we sat. 

 

what time does the buffet open?

 

[Curtzilla]

Has anyone added the Plus AFTER embarkation?  If so, did they charge your card directly or post to the onboard account?  I have over $350 OBC that I want to offset the cost of the Plus (about $420 for this cruise) against.

[CruizinSusan70]

10 minutes ago, Curtzilla said:

Has anyone added the Plus AFTER embarkation?  If so, did they charge your card directly or post to the onboard account?  I have over $350 OBC that I want to offset the cost of the Plus (about $420 for this cruise) against.

It's been reported on the boards that you can use your OBC to offset part of the cost of the Plus package if you purchase it on board.

[MissP22]

12 hours ago, gah_cruise said:

what time does the buffet open?

 

On the Enchanted is was 6 AM.

[kywildcatfanone]

On 5/19/2023 at 3:41 PM, MissP22 said:

They've raised the price so high that sharing seemed to be common on our last cruise. It's hard to feel that you're getting you money's worth if you only have 5 or 6 drinks a day.

My prediction is that $70 per day will soon arrive. 

I suspect they are making most all of the profits on the drink/plus packages and will continue to increase the price as long as the uptake is there.  There is a lot of profit to be made, and it helps to keep the cruise price down to entice more bookings.

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, kywildcatfanone said:

I suspect they are making most all of the profits on the drink/plus packages and will continue to increase the price as long as the uptake is there.  There is a lot of profit to be made, and it helps to keep the cruise price down to entice more bookings.

I'm still amazed at the number of people who buy the package. It seems like just about everyone has it.

Since it's that popular, there's no reason why Princess wouldn't increase the price, a little at a time of course.

[gah_cruise]

2 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

I'm still amazed at the number of people who buy the package.

Why are you still amazed?
People do the sums and based on what they consider they will consume, decide it's right for them.
No rights or wrongs, just the maths.

[MissP22]

1 minute ago, gah_cruise said:

Why are you still amazed?
People do the sums and based on what they consider they will consume, decide it's right for them.
No rights or wrongs, just the maths.

Simply because it isn't like adding a cost of say $150 to the cruise total. In our case for our Dec cruise it was more like a $2,000  package. 

That's quite a bit.