Thoughts & Observations about the Princess Premier Package

[Boiler Cruiser]

I have seen a number of questions recently about the Princess Plus and Princess Premier packages.  For those that did not see my original post some months ago, I thought I would share it again.

 

My wife and I bought the Princess Premier Package on our 15-day cruise to Hawaii in March on the Royal Princess.  Before and during our cruise we heard much about the Premier Package, and I wanted to share my experiences and thoughts about it.

 

 

Overall, it had many benefits for my wife and I, and, in the end, we saved a lot more money than the added cost of the Package.

 

 

Medallion Class Experience

 

 

When we first got on the ship, the Medallion app had issues on each of phones.  Not the same issues, however.  We went to the Internet Café, and the personnel there were very helpful, and got the app on each of our phones running like clockwork. 

We were advised that the tech’s in the Internet Café, were finding that many of the issues guests were having with their Medallion app when they first got on the ship happened because they did not update their app after their last cruise.  Running the update on my wife’s phone was all she needed.  So, before our next cruise, we will run an update of our app’s and I expect all will be well.

 

 

Premier Beverage Package

 

 

This is the part of the Premier Package that everyone is interested in and seems to talk about most.

My wife and I appreciated having the Premier Beverage Package very much.  She and I each drink 4-5 cups of coffee a day, not including the Café Mocha or Cappuccino we enjoy from time to time.

  We also drink a couple of beers with lunch, or a soda.

 

Where the Premier Beverage Package really paid off for us was for liquor and wine.  We enjoy a couple of drinks before dinner, and usually, we had a glass of wine with dinner.  We also had a drink of two during the evening, as well.

 

The Premier Beverage Package allowed us to get premium brands of bourbon, scotch and gin that we would not be able to get, even at home, otherwise.  The $20 and under allowance per drink helped with this very much.

 

This all worked for us, but if you are not a person who is looking to drink high-end cocktails, more than the average amount of coffee each day, specialty drinks from Good Spirits at Sea, the Premier Beverage Package may deserve a second thought.

 

By the way, the bar waiters and those at the International Cage and in the restaurants, all knew were had the Premier Package, just from “reading” our medallions.

 

 

Wifi

 

 

The Wifi allowance with the Premier Package was well worth it.  While we did not have 4 devices each, we did have 4 between us.  Having Wifi available 24 hours a day, was a convenience that paid for itself handsomely.

  If you have more than 1 device each, or if you are a family traveling with kids, the Wifi portion will pay for itself.

 

 

Crew Appreciation

 

 

It goes without says, I think, that not having to pay the per diem gratuity out of pocket is a definite plus.

 

 

2 Specialy Meals

 

 

 

We really enjoyed this feature.  My wife and I enjoy going to the Crown Grill or Sabatini’s (especially now with the new menu), so having 2 included was very nice.

 

By the way, on this last cruise (March, 2023), we learned that Sabatini’s had just rolled out it’s new menu.  It was a very nice improvement over the prior menu…a nice variety of entrees and choices for salads, sides and desserts.

 

 

The Photo Package

 

 

 

To be honest, the Photo Package was not anything to get excited about.  True, you were able to get 3 prints (we got 3 8x10’s), but the only plus was that we were able to download all the portrait photos of us taken on the cruise, which we will get printed ourselves (no need to wait for the photo staff to get around to doing it for us).

 

 

Princess Prizes

 

 

 

Princess Prizes was a bit of fun, but seemed gimmicky.  For me, it was like someone bought a number of lottery tickets for me, with the same long odds of winning anything.

 

 

Premium Desserts

 

 

 

It was nice to be able to get a dish of ice cream, or an ice cream sundae at Gelato’s, but the so-called Premium desserts where oversized, over decorated (with sugary décor), and over the top.  I saw one or two people get the big elaborate sundaes, but other than that, regular dishes of ice cream seemed most popular.

 

 

Reserved Theater Seating

 

 

 

In the “fine print”, they note that Reserved Theater Seating in the Princess Theater is only available for what they call production shows.  Since on our 15 day cruise, there were only 3 shows that fell into this category, Reserved Theater Seating was not the perk that Princess makes it out to be, IMHO.

 

 

Unlimited Juice Bar

 

 

 

I felt taken in by this item on the Princess Premier Package.  The juices offered were veggie juices and fruit/ grasses juices, which I would have only had an interest in if it were a dietary necessity.  I was expecting some premium juices, such as papaya, guava, or some special fruit blends, but no such luck.  I was very disappointed.

 

 

Fitness Classes

 

 

 

My wife and I did not participate in the fitness classes.

 

 

Final Thought

 

 

 

I do a spreadsheet budget for each cruise we go on.  So, knowing what we usually would spend on liquor, beer, coffee and other drinks, as well as knowing what we would have spent on the crew gratuity and Wifi, this plan was ideal for us.  On this cruise, we saved easily a few thousand dollars.

 

 

Do your own calculations, and see if it is right for you.

 

Edited August 19, 2023 by Boiler Cruiser

[Steelers36]

11 minutes ago, Boiler Cruiser said:

In the “fine print”, they note that Reserved Theater Seating in the Princess Theater is only available for what they call production shows.  Since on our 15 day cruise, there were only 3 shows that fell into this category, Reserved Theater Seating was not the perk that Princess makes it out to be, IMHO.

Just wondering if you had a good comedian one night and was that show just as popular as the "production" shows?  I have been wondering why they don't have the reserved seating for comedians as they usually draw a big crowd in my experience.

[memoak]

Still don’t see the advantage of premier over plus. Our preferred bourbon and vodka are covered as well as  the Pinot Grigio boot great but ok. There is one red wine we like that is $18 so we just pay $3 plus 18%. We don’t do production show or take photos. The only thing of value would be 2 specialty dinners but that is only worth no more than $80 per person and you are paying $20 per day more than plus. Dollar value just doesn’t give enough extras. We would rather put the money into something else

[voljeep]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

Still don’t see the advantage of premier over plus. Our preferred bourbon and vodka are covered as well as  the Pinot Grigio boot great but ok. There is one red wine we like that is $18 so we just pay $3 plus 18%. We don’t do production show or take photos. The only thing of value would be 2 specialty dinners but that is only worth no more than $80 per person and you are paying $20 per day more than plus. Dollar value just doesn’t give enough extras. We would rather put the money into something else

wines over $15 - lots of those 

PRIZES

unlimited casually dining

depends on length of cruise and OBC, of course

[koolforkatz]

Thanks for posting this. I have been trying to decide whether it is worth it to upgrade or not. My husband and I both like the wines covered by the premium package and have enough OBC that we could upgrade onboard.

 

I wonder if Rudi’s restaurant is included as one of the specialty restaurants. 

[memoak]

17 minutes ago, voljeep said:

wines over $15 - lots of those 

PRIZES

unlimited casually dining

depends on length of cruise and OBC, of course

We are mostly cocktail drinkers and can live with most plus wines, do my gambling in the casino and sail on Grand class ships mostly which do not have pizza restaurants or sushi and would rather eat in club class than Salty Dog in the wheelhouse and cruise usually for 14-20 days. Plus works for us

Edited August 19, 2023 by memoak

[voljeep]

13 minutes ago, memoak said:

We are mostly cocktail drinkers and can live with most plus wines, do my gambling in the casino and sail on Grand class ships mostly which do not have pizza restaurants or sushi and would rather eat in club class than Salty Dog in the wheelhouse and cruise usually for 14-20 days. Plus works for us

PLUS50 works for us on our October cruise this year (CB)

Premier works for us on our October cruise 2024 (SUN P)

[jwattle]

19 hours ago, koolforkatz said:

Thanks for posting this. I have been trying to decide whether it is worth it to upgrade or not. My husband and I both like the wines covered by the premium package and have enough OBC that we could upgrade onboard.

 

I wonder if Rudi’s restaurant is included as one of the specialty restaurants. 

Rudi's is included as a specialty restaurant 🙂

[Sprocket]

The Premier package never interested me until they enhanced it.  I have already upgraded one of my upcoming cruises and being solo the upcharge was worth it to me.  I have already made my specialty restaurant reservations, the app cooperated and I was not charged so I count that as a win.

My next cruise is in 15 days and because I have their insurance I will wait until I board to upgrade

being Canadian there is the extra extra factor.

 

Looking forward to trying some new to me cocktails and Vines has a wine listed and a charcuterie platter I would like to try at least once.  Salty Dog Gastropub also has some options I'd like to try and being this is a 10 day cruise I won't need to feel like I am cramming these in.

 

I also use room service mornings and most evenings so one less thing to worry about.

 

I get that the packages are not for everyone nor are they designed to be but I intend to make full use of mine and yes even have at least one specialty dessert and maybe a slice of cake.  YOLO lol.