Drinking problem

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

Most of us do not understand why you keep harping on this train of argument.

 

With respect, if a guest is going to be ordering drinks that would take their daily spend over $60/pp (including CA and Internet), then it doesn't matter whether that is three of this or five of that.  The point is the guest is spending less with the package than they would a la carte.  And yet you seem to think they ought to be pushing 15 drinks in order to make sense of it.  

Simple because it's the lowest amount of items I've ever heard of someone using the package for.

I'm sure their happy and so is Princess. 😄

[roadster08]

2 hours ago, Torfamm said:

I think you are mistaken. If the price difference between Zero Alcohol and Plus is $20 or $30, it only takes two drinks to come out ahead.  

True, at the current price. My point, however, was that if the majority of package cruisers switch to a non-alcohol package, then I suspect the cost of the alcohol packages would go up significantly. Why? Because the light drinkers would have moved to the non-alcohol package, thus the remaining drinkers would increase the average drinks per day of the alcohol package cruiser. In other words, if the drinks per day of the average plus cruiser went from say 5  to 10, then princess would raise the price of the plus package. Anyway, that's the logic I was using.

[cruisequeen4ever]

That is a very good point! I would totally buy a nonalcoholic plus style package!

[voljeep]

18 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

That is a very good point! I would totally buy a nonalcoholic plus style package!

how much would you be willing to pay per person per day - and what would you like to see was included?

[Steelers36]

8 minutes ago, voljeep said:

how much would you be willing to pay per person per day - and what would you like to see was included?

My presumption is that the inclusions will be exactly what is in the standalone Zero Alcohol Package.  Clean, simple, consistent.  I cannot name a realistic price for us (no-brainer price), so I won't bother as I know it will be higher.

[voljeep]

2 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

My presumption is that the inclusions will be exactly what is in the standalone Zero Alcohol Package.  Clean, simple, consistent.  I cannot name a realistic price for us (no-brainer price), so I won't bother as I know it will be higher.

uh, OK/ - I will wait for cruisequeen or others who may want this to respond

[MudderBear]

I sort of agree with the OP.  However, I do drink but my lord, no more than 3 glasses of wine a day...so I guess I the package seems to be worth it?

[memoak]

2 hours ago, MudderBear said:

I sort of agree with the OP.  However, I do drink but my lord, no more than 3 glasses of wine a day...so I guess I the package seems to be worth it?

3 glasses of bottom line wine would be $36 or so. Aft in grate and Wi-Fi plus waters, coffee etc and if it added up to more than $60 then it is to your advantage if not don’t buy it

[Bgwest]

14 hours ago, david63 said:

Just make the cruises all inclusive and all such problems go away.

I don’t drink alcohol and don’t want to subsidize your consumption. 

[memoak]

2 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

I don’t drink alcohol and don’t want to subsidize your consumption. 

Then book the standard fare and don’t do any extra things. IC, MDR, Buffet and water don’t cost you anything 

[Bgwest]

5 minutes ago, memoak said:

Then book the standard fare and don’t do any extra things. IC, MDR, Buffet and water don’t cost you anything 

Suggest you re-read post #4. 
That will provide context for my comment. 

[MacMadame]

9 hours ago, MudderBear said:

I sort of agree with the OP.  However, I do drink but my lord, no more than 3 glasses of wine a day...so I guess I the package seems to be worth it?

The Plus is worth it even if you don't drink at all. Here's how it works out:

 

The Zero Alcohol package is 29.99 a day. Crew Appreciation varies but let's say you are in Balcony or lower, that's 16 a day. If you weren't planning to go to fitness classes, eat the specialty desserts, or get internet, that's $45.99 a day which is less than the Plus package. But if you want internet, that's 60.98 a day which is slightly more than Plus. And with Plus you get a few other things thrown in.

 

So just get the Plus and drink as little or as much as you want! 😄

[kywildcatfanone]

23 hours ago, Wblotner said:

Besides trying to earn back all their Covid losses quickly as a stockholder I’m not in agreement with this continual push to bundles. What if you’re not supposed to have alcohol or are an alcoholic. None of the packages make sense if you drink zero alcoholic drinks. Why not come up with a non alcohol package? 

There is tremendous profit in alcohol sales.  Especially if you can get people to buy it for the convenience and not use it.  It's like printing money.

[kywildcatfanone]

19 hours ago, 1965 said:

We're elite. Seldom drink so the free mini bar is more than adequate. I put a pencil to it. Neither plus nor premier is cost effective for us. Obviously for many it does make sense, but not even close for us. I loved being able to swap our mini bar for the 2 coffee pkgs, but no need to go down that sad, disappointing road. 😭

Yep.  Such a huge benefit cut to your most loyal customers, and cost them very little to provide.

[MissP22]

4 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

There is tremendous profit in alcohol sales.  Especially if you can get people to buy it for the convenience and not use it.  It's like printing money.

Same thing I posted & was criticized for it. 😜

[pompeii]

9 hours ago, MacMadame said:

The Plus is worth it even if you don't drink at all. Here's how it works out:

 

The Zero Alcohol package is 29.99 a day. Crew Appreciation varies but let's say you are in Balcony or lower, that's 16 a day. If you weren't planning to go to fitness classes, eat the specialty desserts, or get internet, that's $45.99 a day which is less than the Plus package. But if you want internet, that's 60.98 a day which is slightly more than Plus. And with Plus you get a few other things thrown in.

 

So just get the Plus and drink as little or as much as you want! 😄

The flaw in this analysis is using the $29.99 Zero Alcohol Package as the basis. I would never pay that since I buy my coffee a la carte and a couple bottles of water from the pre-ordered bottled water package for under $10 a day.  Adding in crew appreciation and internet I’m no more than $36 a day. Sure, the no alcohol package would provide a bunch of sugar and calorie-laden options that I don’t need or want, even when “wth, I’m on vacation!”  If I want something extra every now and then I’ll buy it and still be way ahead over the plus fare.  

[PescadoAmarillo]

On 7/29/2023 at 8:29 AM, Steelers36 said:

Most of us do not understand why you keep harping on this train of argument.

 

With respect, if a guest is going to be ordering drinks that would take their daily spend over $60/pp (including CA and Internet), then it doesn't matter whether that is three of this or five of that.  The point is the guest is spending less with the package than they would a la carte.  And yet you seem to think they ought to be pushing 15 drinks in order to make sense of it.  

Exactly this. I am fairly burned out on alcohol after 3 full days. But it’s 9am and I’ve already ordered 4 Perriers from Room service, and drank two cappuccinos and two fresh squeezed juices from the juice bar. That’s about $32 or so of beverages if I had ordered them a la carte. The Plus package is well worth it even without a single alcoholic beverage. But the best part is the change in mentality about drinks. When I’m pre-paid, I don’t feel impelled to finish anything. I just want a taste of things; I’m not looking to get wasted. 

[Steelers36]

3 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Exactly this. I am fairly burned out on alcohol after 3 full days. But it’s 9am and I’ve already ordered 4 Perriers from Room service, and drank two cappuccinos and two fresh squeezed juices from the juice bar. That’s about $32 or so of beverages if I had ordered them a la carte. The Plus package is well worth it even without a single alcoholic beverage. But the best part is the change in mentality about drinks. When I’m pre-paid, I don’t feel impelled to finish anything. I just want a taste of things; I’m not looking to get wasted. 

Must be a sea day today.  Enjoy!

[cruisequeen4ever]

22 hours ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

That is a very good point! I would totally buy a nonalcoholic plus style package!

If the alcoholic plus package costs $60 per person per day, then I think $35 per person per day would be reasonable for a non-alcoholic plus package. I think this package would gain some traction for those of us who don’t really drink alcohol but love the tropical nonalcoholic drinks, lattes, freshly squeezed orange juice, and bottles of water. Princess would be leading the way if they created this, because to my knowledge, the other cruise lines that offer a drink packages don’t offer one for non-alcoholic drinks that include gratuities and Internet. Think of all of the parents who would buy this for their teenagers.

 

I too agree that it should not be based off of the $30 a day zero alcohol package because that price was out to lunch to begin with. I think they only did that because other cruise lines were charging a similar price. I used to always buy the nonalcoholic package known as the ultimate kids package (UKP) and then whatever boring name  they called it after that. Originally, it was $8 per person per day and then eventually went up to $11 per person per day. It even included milkshakes. That was always my first purchase upon setting foot on the ship. I realize that did not include coffee, bottled water, or freshly squeezed orange juice, so I based my $35 per day pricing on the inclusion of all of that. 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by cruisequeen4ever

[voljeep]

38 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

who don’t really drink alcohol but love the tropical nonalcoholic drinks, lattes, freshly squeezed orange juice, and bottles of water.

that can easily be $25 per day by itself. - I'm sure that $35 per day including CA and wifi is not realistic

[MountainEER74]

My wife always questions going with the Plus package so I put together a spreadsheet showing how many drinks/day is needed to break even.  I was surprised with the results.

 

 

 Assuming you pay your gratuity, get wifi internet, utilize casual dining, Ocean now delivery, and Medallion shipping,  you only need to drink less than 3 drinks a day to break even.  We typically have a coffee in the IC, a martini before dinner, and beer or wine at dinner.  The Plus package is a no brainer for us.

[MissP22]

47 minutes ago, MountainEER74 said:

 Assuming you pay your gratuity, get wifi internet, utilize casual dining, Ocean now delivery, and Medallion shipping,  you only need to drink less than 3 drinks a day to break even.  We typically have a coffee in the IC, a martini before dinner, and beer or wine at dinner.  The Plus package is a no brainer for us.

If you remove the charge for wi-fi which I hardly use and the casual dining that I can do without, plus I'll pick up my medallion in the port, that changes you tabulation considerably. 

Now I'll be forcing myself to drink much more that I ever would just to come close to consider it a bargain. 

I forgot the Ocean Now delivery.... another feature that's over rated.

Edited July 30, 2023 by MissP22

[JudithLynne]

MountainEER74:

I love your spread sheet...well done and very useful in my opinion.

[Torfamm]

5 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Same thing I posted & was criticized for it. 😜

The point is that you don’t need to drink a lot to save money by buying the Plus package.

It makes sense even on a busy port day when a passenger may use it for the bare minimum, just grabbing a coffee and bottle of water in the morning and drinking a couple of glasses of wine with dinner.  
 

Those items would cost more purchased individually than the $35 or so that makes up the drink portion of the Plus package.

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

If the alcoholic plus package costs $60 per person per day, then I think $35 per person per day would be reasonable for a non-alcoholic plus package. I think this package would gain some traction for those of us who don’t really drink alcohol but love the tropical nonalcoholic drinks, lattes, freshly squeezed orange juice, and bottles of water. Princess would be leading the way if they created this, because to my knowledge, the other cruise lines that offer a drink packages don’t offer one for non-alcoholic drinks that include gratuities and Internet. Think of all of the parents who would buy this for their teenagers.

 

I too agree that it should not be based off of the $30 a day zero alcohol package because that price was out to lunch to begin with. I think they only did that because other cruise lines were charging a similar price. I used to always buy the nonalcoholic package known as the ultimate kids package (UKP) and then whatever boring name  they called it after that. Originally, it was $8 per person per day and then eventually went up to $11 per person per day. It even included milkshakes. That was always my first purchase upon setting foot on the ship. I realize that did not include coffee, bottled water, or freshly squeezed orange juice, so I based my $35 per day pricing on the inclusion of all of that. 

 

 

It's a nice number, but not realistic because PCL will count $31 of that as CA and MedallionNet.  Only leave $4 for beverage cost.  It would be at least $40/pp/day and I would think max at $45/pp/day.

So, $9 - $14 for beverages.  Maybe $42.50?  Who knows?  Anyway, we don't even know if they are considering it.  Customers can always suggest and say they would buy it for their under-age kids and even for adults.  A revolutionary idea could be to allow cabin guest 1 to book Plus/Premier and guest 2 book this new fictional package based on Zero Alcohol for the beverage portion.