Changes to Princess Plus, room service fees, Alfredo's and others. Fee changes. Etc

[CATGUY7]

3 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Another slide from the webinar might give you an answer.

 

 

Can you repost?  Unable to see the slide. 

[Coral]

My initial gut thinking - I haven't been happy with my last few cruises on Princess. I should maybe just call and get my FCC's refunded.

 

I don't drink alcohol. I have been mixed on purchasing Plus recently. I have but on the last cruise it was because I had so much OBC and I do drink Mocktails but not enough to justify the cost.

 

I am starting to like my land trips better right now anyway.

 

I really did like Princess at one time. Not so much anymore. It has been a good 25 years....

[CATGUY7]

1 minute ago, CATGUY7 said:

Can you repost?  Unable to see the slide. 

Never mind.  Suddenly I can see it.  😂

[Guest ldtr]

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

We've only sailed twice since the restart. I think we used room service twice on our last cruise but that was unusual for us. Normally we don't ever use room service. As for the "find me" (I forget what it's actually called) we have never use that service. We have 32 days booked this fall. On the first 14 day segment we have Plus 50 so we now no longer have free room service or free Alfredo's. We normally eat at Alfredo's once per cruise and we split a single pizza as that is plenty of food to fill both of us. The second and third segments this fall have the upgraded Plus but only because the cruise fares dropped drastically and we had to rebook with the higher price to get the new fare. We still saved a ton of money and got a bunch more OBC so it was worth the "upgrade". At that time we realized we wouldn't be using the free fitness classes or the snazzy deserts. We had no idea the change regarding Alfredo's was in the offing. For the first 14 day segment (as well as our 12 day next Spring) paying an extra $10 per day each vs paying for a pizza or a possible room service delivery makes no sense at all. Our usage of those things now listed as NEW is just not high enough to justify the difference. We'll just "suffer" with the changes. I think it stinks to take a dump on the Standard fare folks but it isn't really going to affect us much.

 

We're still up in the air about dropping our flight to Melbourne and, instead, booking an additional 31 days (SF to Melbourne) for about the same price. If we do drop the hammer on that option it will be in n inside cabin with Standard fare. If we do that the changes will definitely affect us as, in the 31 days we would definitely hit Alfredo's a few times. I have to wonder how this will play out as our booked cruises and the "possible" cruises are all on Grand Princess and Alfredo's only has pizza on that ship.

Grand has pizza up on the Lido deck, used to be called Prego Pizzeria, now I think that it is Slice.

Edited July 27, 2023 by ldtr

[JGmf]

2 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

For us it's going to be a long 49 days without free Alfredo pizza.

 

Please educate me.  I only sailed on the Emerald, once.  No Alfredo's or Gigi's on that ship, but it did have "Slice" on the Lido deck which I understand is on other ships too. 

 

I thought the "Slice" pizza was outstanding, the best I've ever had on a cruise ship.  Under the new plan it remains free, whether you are having one slice or 15 slices....so what's everyone so upset about Alfredo's being a charge.  Just walk upstairs.

[Level six]

4 minutes ago, Coral said:

I should maybe just call and get my FCC's refunded.

I did that a few months ago after the last cruise with Princess. 

[Jeter02]

4 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

Please educate me.  I only sailed on the Emerald, once.  No Alfredo's or Gigi's on that ship, but it did have "Slice" on the Lido deck which I understand is on other ships too. 

 

I thought the "Slice" pizza was outstanding, the best I've ever had on a cruise ship.  Under the new plan it remains free, whether you are having one slice or 15 slices....so what's everyone so upset about Alfredo's being a charge.  Just walk upstairs.

Alfredo's / Gigi's is a really nice sit down restaurant on the Royal class ships. They offer individual pizzas which there's a wide variety to choose from and it's a different type of style of pizza compared to the pizza on the lido deck. Besides pizza you can get calzones salads along with some other main dish on trays to choose from as well. Lastly they do offer desserts there too.

Edited July 27, 2023 by Jeter02

[Thrak]

13 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

Please educate me.  I only sailed on the Emerald, once.  No Alfredo's or Gigi's on that ship, but it did have "Slice" on the Lido deck which I understand is on other ships too. 

 

I thought the "Slice" pizza was outstanding, the best I've ever had on a cruise ship.  Under the new plan it remains free, whether you are having one slice or 15 slices....so what's everyone so upset about Alfredo's being a charge.  Just walk upstairs.

 

Alfredo's pizza is vastly better than Slice (or Prego). We don't particularly care for the pizza on Lido deck although it does seem to vary from cruise to cruise. I've had some up there that was okay and some that I dropped in the bin after two bites. Unlike some though we don't find Alfredo's to be all that fabulous either. If we want a pizza at Alfredo's or Gigi's we will pay for one. We always just share one pizza anyway as that is plenty of food for the two of us. There is still plenty of "free" food on the ship. Now if they start charging for IC I will become very unhappy.

[CruisinCouple2010]

I personally like the pizza better at Alfredo’s and Gigi’s. Slice is just okay and many times the pizza slices are cold. Guess I am one of those people who will have to just tell them to heat the slices in the oven as I do not buy the package.

[Thrak]

49 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Ah, the New Princess.  Charge for something that once was free and call it "no additional charge."  Padgett thinks we are all dimwits. 😒

 

JP is the "Baby Ruth floating in the pool" of Princess.

[coo359a2]

2 hours ago, Bedruthen said:

I don’t know if this is a stupid question. Can you just go up to the bar and order a drink? Or is everything done via apps now? I have no idea why I would want to order a coffee on an app then wait whilst someone tries to find me, by which time it’s probably cold.

Have never used the app to order food or drink to be brought to wherever I might be sitting.  I like getting the know the bartenders at my favorite bars which changes for each ship or cruise I'm  on.  Really don't want to eat food in a club or bar.  Know I'm probably in the minority for this..

[amandawalker1]

2 questions

where has the Prizes gone from premier?

is plus now $15 or $22 says both on this

[Princessfan20]

All this justification for some by allowing Princess to gouge its' customers.  Princess has made many changes in policies recently which have taken benefits away that passengers had earned based on their Loyalty Program.  Also it made it so Veterans are not entitled to the Shareholders OBC program.  No other group is excluded from stacking their OBC's on Princess.  Then they come out with all these new upcharges unless you buy a product you do not need.  Princess has also raised its' prices substantially.

It is not even close to going out of business based on the performance of CCL stock.

 

All that has happened is there has been new management come from the Carnival side of CCL to run Princess.  We see no reason now to be loyal to Princess with their new direction of greed.  This is just the beginning and I am sure they will have a whole new group of upscale products next year that use to be free.  They really just helped us move on to Viking, Oceania and other lines that do not nickel and dime their passengers.   We have wanted to do it for awhile but had remained too loyal to Princess.  This does not even take into account the UPGRADE they have done to their new off shore call center which is so efficient it is saving their loyal passengers immense amounts of valuable time.  🙂 We are no longer interested in their new programs of the month which are turning into a blatant ripoff.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Princessfan20

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, rpbanks said:

Get ready for the package price increase coming soon,

 

Seems likely but they did make a point of stating that this is not going to be the case. Who knows if that will stay or not but, since they are barfing on the heads of all the Standard fare folks they may well be satisfied with pushing more folks to purchase a package.

 

I was a bit peeved with them when they went on about how they don't understand why anybody would ever not want to book Plus or especially Premier. In their minds anybody who doesn't book Premier is weird and if they don't at least book Plus they are somehow defective. I guess they have no concept of people who have to budget to cruise at all or who simply have no interest in drinking alcohol, mocktails, or snazzy coffee. It was a bit like the folks in Congress who have giant incomes and don't have a clue about people who buy their own groceries, gas, etc.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Thrak

[beg3yrs]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

Unless you upgrade, you do not get the "new  benefits:"

 

Are you sure of this or is it speculation? I see no mention of what's happened to the -50 packages. There used to be a note before this mess explaining what the -50 packages (NEW items) didn't get. Now it is gone..

[Musky Ike]

7 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Seems likely but they did make a point of stating that this is not going to be the case. Who knows if that will stay or not but, since they are barfing on the heads of all the Standard fare folks they may well be satisfied with pushing more folks to purchase a package.

 

I was a bit peeved with them when they went on about how they don't understand why anybody would ever not want to book Plus or especially Premier. In their minds anybody who doesn't book Premier is weird and if they don't at least book Plus they are somehow defective. I guess they have no concept of people who have to budget to cruise at all or who simply have no interest in drinking alcohol, mocktails, or snazzy coffee. It was a bit like the folks in Congress who have giant incomes and buy their own groceries, gas, etc.

Sounds like Princess might just end the standard rate at some point, but they need it for low lead in pricing.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Musky Ike

[grinnin]

20 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Alfredo's pizza is vastly better than Slice (or Prego). We don't particularly care for the pizza on Lido deck although it does seem to vary from cruise to cruise. I've had some up there that was okay and some that I dropped in the bin after two bites. Unlike some though we don't find Alfredo's to be all that fabulous either. If we want a pizza at Alfredo's or Gigi's we will pay for one. We always just share one pizza anyway as that is plenty of food for the two of us. There is still plenty of "free" food on the ship. Now if they start charging for IC I will become very unhappy.

Alfredo's is the only place on the ship you can get Tiramisu everyday.

 

[PacnGoNow]

17 minutes ago, amandawalker1 said:

2 questions

where has the Prizes gone from premier?

is plus now $15 or $22 says both on this

Looks like the Australian/NZ pages are different?

[DougH]

39 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

Please educate me.  I only sailed on the Emerald, once.  No Alfredo's or Gigi's on that ship, but it did have "Slice" on the Lido deck which I understand is on other ships too. 

 

I thought the "Slice" pizza was outstanding, the best I've ever had on a cruise ship.  Under the new plan it remains free, whether you are having one slice or 15 slices....so what's everyone so upset about Alfredo's being a charge.  Just walk upstairs.

Alfredods is much better and you can choose your toppings

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, grinnin said:

Alfredo's is the only place on the ship you can get Tiramisu everyday.

 

Yes and I think the pizza is much better than the slice pizza.

[AlibearNS]

We hover between Celebrity and Princess, Elite now on both. In the last year we've sailed 1x on Celebrity and 3x on Princess because we consider the app features a huge draw, along with the free room service. We also love having Alfredo's as an alternative complimentary dining option.
Now, as I understand it, if you don't have Plus or Premier you have to pay a one off charge just to use the Ocean Now delivery on the app? And, with Plus, we can only use Alfredo's twice for free, even on a longer voyage? 
And they kept those stupid, childish desserts?
I honestly think Princess is going the wrong way with this, devaluing their brand, giving us no reason to choose them now over Celebrity, who, despite the tacky room service charge, do have a classy feel and offer a daily drinks hour for elites. 
Sad times, Princess.

[Sailaweigh]

Princess is getting a lot of dependable revenue with the plus packages and not paying out a lot for the products. They know that they will be getting $60/day everyday from that person. Where as, since we get the standard package, they don't know if we will drink or not that day (maybe we don't feel well that day). They don't know if we will purchase the Internet plan, etc. They can't anticipate our spending.

They push the Plus & Premium packages, because it's cash in hand with little expense to them.

Most people have no more than 5 or 6 drinks/day. Each drink probably costs them $1-$3.

Now, they will offer the free casual dining venues to entice people to eat there. People love stuff for  "free" so Princess is hoping that people will opt to eat a cheaper to prepare meal ( ie pasta, sandwich, etc) instead of going to the MDR and having a full meal. In addition, it will also lighten the load that the busy MDR usually experiences while the casual dining options are like ghost towns.

And BTW... you do realize that when you purchase the plus package $120 ($60x2) and also get the princess insurance, that you are paying the 8% insurance premium on that additional amount for a total of almost $130/day.

[jwattle]

9 hours ago, ldtr said:

Looks like Premier buyers will get the Elite/platinum/suite expedited boarding benefit as well with the changes.

They only get expedited check in, not boarding, with plus and premier 🙂

 

[amandawalker1]

9 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Looks like the Australian/NZ pages are different?

Yet both cruises leave from USA ports

[coo359a2]

39 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

Please educate me.  I only sailed on the Emerald, once.  No Alfredo's or Gigi's on that ship, but it did have "Slice" on the Lido deck which I understand is on other ships too. 

 

I thought the "Slice" pizza was outstanding, the best I've ever had on a cruise ship.  Under the new plan it remains free, whether you are having one slice or 15 slices....so what's everyone so upset about Alfredo's being a charge.  Just walk upstairs.

Slice is ok for pizza.  But the pizza in Alfredo's I get -  Margherita Pizza with no red sauce  - is better than excellent.  Good thing there are lots of  choices  for everyone to try plus it will be  another way to spend all our nonrefundable OBC