Princess plus package

[Traderboy]

We have used this before but now it seems to include a few more items:

 

2 free exercise classes    - fairly clear

2 premium desserts a day  - not sure what this means especially if you are Club class already

2 casual dining meals  - is this speciality dining for free?

 

Any explanation of the latest changes would be much appreciated.

I still think it is very  good value at £50 per day

 

 

[memoak]

Desserts are the large gross sundaes. More calories than taste you don’t get them in the dining riom

 

casual dining is not Crown Grill or Sabatini’s. It varies on the ship but covers things like Vines, Gastropub, Sushi and fit down pizza restaurants 

[beg3yrs]

Premium desserts are not served in Club Class (now called Reserve I think). They are available at different venues on different ships. I've seen a list here on CC but can't recall the particular thread.

 

Casual dining isn't specialty dining. It's Alfredo's / Gigi's (which used to be free) and a few other venues. The on-deck pizza and grills are still free.

 

[DUCHESSRN]

Includes the big showcase cakes in International Cafe also …lots of empty calories .

[Torfamm]

The desserts are ice cream sundaes or cakes and they are not available in the dining room.

 

Casual dining includes Gigi’s, Alfredo’s, O’Malleys, Planks etc

 

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

They do NOT allow enough fitness classes to make up for the premium desserts!

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by Rick&Jeannie

[Cruisintimer]

1 hour ago, Torfamm said:

The desserts are ice cream sundaes or cakes and they are not available in the dining room.

 

Casual dining includes Gigi’s, Alfredo’s, O’Malleys, Planks etc

 

 

We had a sundea last time, a few bites anyway but I didn't see cake option, are they in another place?

[memoak]

54 minutes ago, Cruisintimer said:

We had a sundea last time, a few bites anyway but I didn't see cake option, are they in another place?

On grand class ships the cakes are displayed by the IC I believe. You get a slice 

[Cruisintimer]

3 minutes ago, memoak said:

On grand class ships the cakes are displayed by the IC I believe. You get a slice 

Appreciate your reply, going to try one out in about a week. 

[reedprincess]

4 hours ago, Traderboy said:

We have used this before but now it seems to include a few more items:

 

2 free exercise classes    - fairly clear

2 premium desserts a day  - not sure what this means especially if you are Club class already

2 casual dining meals  - is this speciality dining for free?

 

Any explanation of the latest changes would be much appreciated.

I still think it is very  good value at £50 per day

 

 

The exercise classes are specialty classes like StretchLab, Pure Barre, etc. Not regular classes like Zumba or yoga or such 

 

2 premium desserts are the large specialty sundaes at Coffee and Cones or Gelatos or Swirls, or the specialty cakes from International Cafe

 

Casual dining area the casual venues like Salty Dog Gastropub, O'Malleys, Alfredos, Ocean Terrace Seafood, Vines, Planks, Gigis, Steamers, Kai Sushi etc.  You have 2 prix fixe meals which includes an appetizer, main, dessert or 2 small plates and dessert or whatever combo for each restaurant..  2 per length of sailing, regardless how long of a sailing..

 

There's a detailed FAQs section on the Cruise Packages at the website..  

 

 

[milogurd]

11 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

They do NOT allow enough fitness classes to make up for the premium desserts!

 

 

 

 

No, they don't, but they keep trying! 

[essmeier]

Looking at the Princess Website today, it appears that they have recently raised the price for Princess Plus again.  We're currently on the Royal Princess and paid U.S. $60 per day when we booked 8 months ago.  Today the price listed at the Princess site says:

 

The Plus Beverage Package is US $64.99 per day plus 18% service charge (totaling $76.70 per day) for all itineraries except Australia. For all Australian-based vessels, the package is AUD $110.00 per day which includes a service charge. You will be charged the full amount for the complete voyage at the time of purchase.

 

Two years ago, in November 2021, the price was U.S. $40 per day.  Then $50.  Then $60.  Now it's $65 plus an 18% service charge ($76.70.)

 

While on the Royal last week, I booked a cruise for October 2024, and the price quoted by the Future Cruise Consultant on the ship was $60/day, so the change appears to have happened since then.

 

$60 works for us, but based on the three or so drinks we consume each day, that's about where Princess Plus stops being a bargain.  If it's higher than that, we'll save money buying drinks a la carte.

 

Premier has gone up as well:

 

The Premier Beverage Package is US $84.99 per day plus 18% service charge (totaling $100.30 per day) for all itineraries except Australia. For all Australian-based vessels, the package is AUD $140.00 per day which includes a service charge. You will be charged the full amount for the complete voyage at the time of purchase.

 

https://www.princess.com/en-au/ships-and-experience/onboard-experience/food-and-dining/beverages

 

It's worth noting that for the twelve days we've been on the Royal this trip, Alfredo's has pretty much been empty all the time.  I don't know if that's what Princess had in mind when they decided to start charging to eat there, but that's what I'm seeing every day.  The attached photo was taken at 1 PM.

 

So it goes.  Just thought I'd mention these things.

[Steelers36]

1 minute ago, essmeier said:

Looking at the Princess Website today, it appears that they have recently raised the price for Princess Plus again.  We're currently on the Royal Princess and paid U.S. $60 per day when we booked 8 months ago.  Today the price listed at the Princess site says:

 

The Plus Beverage Package is US $64.99 per day plus 18% service charge (totaling $76.70 per day) for all itineraries except Australia. For all Australian-based vessels, the package is AUD $110.00 per day which includes a service charge. You will be charged the full amount for the complete voyage at the time of purchase.

 

Two years ago, in November 2021, the price was U.S. $40 per day.  Then $50.  Then $60.  Now it's $65 plus an 18% service charge ($76.70.)

 

While on the Royal last week, I booked a cruise for October 2024, and the price quoted by the Future Cruise Consultant on the ship was $60/day, so the change appears to have happened since then.

 

$60 works for us, but based on the three or so drinks we consume each day, that's about where Princess Plus stops being a bargain.  If it's higher than that, we'll save money buying drinks a la carte.

 

Premier has gone up as well:

 

The Premier Beverage Package is US $84.99 per day plus 18% service charge (totaling $100.30 per day) for all itineraries except Australia. For all Australian-based vessels, the package is AUD $140.00 per day which includes a service charge. You will be charged the full amount for the complete voyage at the time of purchase.

 

https://www.princess.com/en-au/ships-and-experience/onboard-experience/food-and-dining/beverages

 

It's worth noting that for the twelve days we've been on the Royal this trip, Alfredo's has pretty much been empty all the time.  I don't know if that's what Princess had in mind when they decided to start charging to eat there, but that's what I'm seeing every day.  The attached photo was taken at 1 PM.

 

So it goes.  Just thought I'd mention these things.

 

You are not looking at the right page and are making an apples/oranges comparison.

 

The Plus and Premier Cruise Fare packages have NOT increased in price recently.  Neither have the STANDALONE Plus & Premier beverages packages which are one of the perks included in the CRUISE FARE package.

 

Re-check on Princess.com.   You can read details about both the beverage packages and the cruise fare packages.  You should never buy a standalone drink package - the pricing is artificial extreme high in order to make the cruise fare package look like more of a bargain.

[cheetosrevil]

For references to casual dining locales being empty…didn’t Princess make their money from package buyers who didn’t/don’t utilize them?

Edited November 3, 2023 by cheetosrevil

[leck57]

43 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

You are not looking at the right page and are making an apples/oranges comparison.

 

The Plus and Premier Cruise Fare packages have NOT increased in price recently.  Neither have the STANDALONE Plus & Premier beverages packages which are one of the perks included in the CRUISE FARE package.

 

Re-check on Princess.com.   You can read details about both the beverage packages and the cruise fare packages.  You should never buy a standalone drink package - the pricing is artificial extreme high in order to make the cruise fare package look like more of a bargain.

Thanks for clarifying. Based on figures quoted in $AUD it would have been a massive price hike for us.

[kywildcatfanone]

You can expect those prices to increase soon.  Royal Caribbean just raised their gratuity and removed CA from their AI package.  Carnival will follow suit, probably in both ways. Just a matter of time. 

Edited November 3, 2023 by kywildcatfanone

[p.pete]

7 hours ago, cheetosrevil said:

For references to casual dining locales being empty…didn’t Princess make their money from package buyers who didn’t/don’t utilize them?

So they used to be free, and were popular and busy.  Now they're fully included with Premier, partially with Plus, and they're empty - yet we reckon ~70+% of people are on a package?  Definitely making money off them now if they're being subsidised by people buying packages and then not using them.  I'm looking forward to giving them a try at least 🙂

 

<edit> I guess they've totally got the price structure wrong for people who don't want to buy a package / trying to make it seem like more of a saving than it really is for people adding up the value of a package [I know the sensible people here only add up the things they assign value to when doing the math]

Edited November 3, 2023 by p.pete
c

[kywildcatfanone]

25 minutes ago, p.pete said:

So they used to be free, and were popular and busy.  Now they're fully included with Premier, partially with Plus, and they're empty - yet we reckon ~70+% of people are on a package?  Definitely making money off them now if they're being subsidised by people buying packages and then not using them.  I'm looking forward to giving them a try at least 🙂

 

<edit> I guess they've totally got the price structure wrong for people who don't want to buy a package / trying to make it seem like more of a saving than it really is for people adding up the value of a package [I know the sensible people here only add up the things they assign value to when doing the math]

You are going to upset some people 😀

[CruizinSusan70]

55 minutes ago, p.pete said:

 🙂 trying to make it seem like more of a saving than it really is for people adding up the value of a package [I know the sensible people here only add up the things they assign value to when doing the math]

It's simple math.  Plus is 60, factor out gratuities and it's 44 per day.  We consider WiFi as gravy, we never buy it a la carte on any cruise we take, so it's of no value to us.  So we get the drinks package with grats for 44 per day, which is cheaper than any other cruise line, especially compared to Royal.  If wifi brings value to others, then the 44 is 29 after including wifi.  So anything over 29 per day between alcoholic drinks, coffee based drinks, soda and bottled water makes the plus package worth it.  There have been reports of teetotalers that still get value from purchasing the package.  And I never even mentioned the two visits at Gigi's/Alfredo's.

The bottom line is that there are various ways of looking at it and it brings value to different cruisers depending upon which aspects of the package bring value to them.  Unless you're a bare bones cruiser that doesn't drink alcohol, brings on their own soda, pays for a case of water, is ok with MDR coffee and doesn't want to eat at Alfredo's. There are ways to please everyone.

[p.pete]

6 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

It's simple math.  Plus is 60, factor out gratuities and it's 44 per day.  We consider WiFi as gravy, we never buy it a la carte on any cruise we take, so it's of no value to us.  So we get the drinks package with grats for 44 per day, which is cheaper than any other cruise line, especially compared to Royal.  If wifi brings value to others, then the 44 is 29 after including wifi.  So anything over 29 per day between alcoholic drinks, coffee based drinks, soda and bottled water makes the plus package worth it.  There have been reports of teetotalers that still get value from purchasing the package.  And I never even mentioned the two visits at Gigi's/Alfredo's.

The bottom line is that there are various ways of looking at it and it brings value to different cruisers depending upon which aspects of the package bring value to them.  Unless you're a bare bones cruiser that doesn't drink alcohol, brings on their own soda, pays for a case of water, is ok with MDR coffee and doesn't want to eat at Alfredo's. There are ways to please everyone.

Simple math from my and your perspectives - I'm going to have x drinks, and I'm going to pay gratuities - I do or don't value having wifi, classes, desserts, casual dining etc - what are they each worth to me and add it all up.  

 

Less simple for Princess.  They have to consider who is going to put their hand in their pocket and stump up $15 for a 'casual' pizza when the alternative is perfectly good choice of food for free from multiple locations elsewhere.  They are plucking numbers from the air, they can make it $30 dollars and some people who don't do the math as well as we do would think wow, that alone is paying for a full day of my Plus package - they still wouldn't sell any pizzas.  Or they could charge $5, sell a few more but probably there's more food waste at the buffet and people think why have they bothered to include that in a Plus package.  I assume it's a full time job for someone to worry about these things, and if you're reading this as part of that job - well done.

[kywildcatfanone]

1 hour ago, p.pete said:

They are plucking numbers from the air

While I agree with your premise, with the medallion they know have every purchase and every move, every customer has made on their ships for the last several years now.  They use that to determine how they price things.  I'm quite confident that they know that X% of people buy a package.  I'm sure they also know that X% of those people never bought wifi before, or perhaps removed gratuities at least some of the time.  

With the package, they are building in those items and are making even more money, as they are providing items some people don't use.  And if people are getting 2 meals at a casual restaurant and aren't using them, it's even more.  

I'm sure they also know how many people buy the package but only get a small number of drinks and how many actually do more plus soda plus mocktails, etc.  They have every data point possible on every passenger.

 

 

 

[p.pete]

22 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

While I agree with your premise, with the medallion they know have every purchase and every move, every customer has made on their ships for the last several years now.  They use that to determine how they price things.  I'm quite confident that they know that X% of people buy a package.  I'm sure they also know that X% of those people never bought wifi before, or perhaps removed gratuities at least some of the time.  

With the package, they are building in those items and are making even more money, as they are providing items some people don't use.  And if people are getting 2 meals at a casual restaurant and aren't using them, it's even more.  

I'm sure they also know how many people buy the package but only get a small number of drinks and how many actually do more plus soda plus mocktails, etc.  They have every data point possible on every passenger.

Absolutely - while I'd still assert that they're plucking numbers from the air, they are definitely doing it with all the information possible at their disposal.  It's quite impressive that we subject ourselves to this level of digitisation for someone else's benefit.  At home I'm nearly buying two bottles of wine for the equivalent of $15 (obviously vastly different when I drink somewhere beyond my front door), whereas they're making me do (simple) math that makes me think I come out ahead if I have only 3-4 glasses of the stuff. 

 

They're doing a very different math that involves wholesale prices and how we consume more or less if they can shift us round to different parts of the ship at different times of the day.  Given we're only likely to have one (point-five to two) lunch(es) per day, it probably costs them more or less the same amount for us to go to the MDR or the buffet as Alfredos.  If they filled Alfredos - selling the same product for $5 instead of $15 - they could have the MDR be the quiet place, or ease the bunfight for seats at the buffet, and have Alfredos generating money.  It is more important to them to advertise the Plus & Premium packages as including free visits to Alfredos, even though the anecdotal evidence here is that they are empty.  They are looking at a different picture than we are.  Interesting all the same.

[kywildcatfanone]

3 minutes ago, p.pete said:

Absolutely - while I'd still assert that they're plucking numbers from the air, they are definitely doing it with all the information possible at their disposal.  It's quite impressive that we subject ourselves to this level of digitisation for someone else's benefit.  At home I'm nearly buying two bottles of wine for the equivalent of $15 (obviously vastly different when I drink somewhere beyond my front door), whereas they're making me do (simple) math that makes me think I come out ahead if I have only 3-4 glasses of the stuff. 

 

3 minutes ago, p.pete said:

If they filled Alfredos - selling the same product for $5 instead of $15 - they could have the MDR be the quiet place, or ease the bunfight for seats at the buffet, and have Alfredos generating money.  It is more important to them to advertise the Plus & Premium packages as including free visits to Alfredos, even though the anecdotal evidence here is that they are empty.  They are looking at a different picture than we are.  Interesting all the same.

You and I probably look at this in similar ways.  I couldn't pay the prices they charge for a drink in good conscience knowing they are making probably 500% profit on each one or more.  I've posted comments about that in other threads on this.  I get ridiculed, but I'm okay with it.  I sleep well at night.  I have no issue with them making profit off me because they do, just not that much profit.

 

With that said, my take is packages are a Win/Win/Win.  Princess wins because they sell a lot of them, and make very good money from them, so it helps them out.  Win.  Customers seem happy generally that buy them for whatever their reasons.  Win.  I, like to hope, that because of the profits driven from packages, it keeps the cruise fare down for someone like me.  Win.  

 

So everyone wins.  

[p.pete]

18 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

 

You and I probably look at this in similar ways.  I couldn't pay the prices they charge for a drink in good conscience knowing they are making probably 500% profit on each one or more.  I've posted comments about that in other threads on this.  I get ridiculed, but I'm okay with it.  I sleep well at night.  I have no issue with them making profit off me because they do, just not that much profit.

 

With that said, my take is packages are a Win/Win/Win.  Princess wins because they sell a lot of them, and make very good money from them, so it helps them out.  Win.  Customers seem happy generally that buy them for whatever their reasons.  Win.  I, like to hope, that because of the profits driven from packages, it keeps the cruise fare down for someone like me.  Win.  

 

So everyone wins.  

Similarish - I am able to say all of the above but will still probably have a plus package.  I don't cruise very often, my next time will be my third, so it's definitely a case of spoiling myself.  I think if it was a longer cruise, or I had the luxury of spending more time cruising, I would definitely be assessing the cost of the packages differently - per day it definitely adds up quickly.  I accept that it's a service industry - I'm paying more to not be sat at home drinking cheap plonk from a dirty glass I've bought and poured myself. 

 

Anyone ridiculing you for speaking sense, more fool them!

[Traderboy]

A fascinating discussion about the maths involved.

I do value the WiFi (though I  get it free already as an elite member).

I always pay the tips  so pre-paying makes sense ( though I’m more inclined to give tips on top for added service)

I used to use Alfredo’s  a couple of times but it was always very crowded (so this sounds an improvement)

My wife might go to the free exercise classes.

We eat very well in the club class dining  and have plenty of premium dishes and desserts (so I doubt whether we will have the special sunshades and premium cakes).

I love special coffee all day (though I used to get this with a coffee card)

Hopefully it will prove to be WIN, WIN and WIN for everyone.

we do love Princess though we also like Celebrity and Cunard.