Princess Plus - 2 casual meals included and purchased 1 Specialty dining... Is the 18% Service charge included or added on?

[PaulC29]

Dumb questions - is the 18% service charge included with the 2 casual meals for having the plus package? Also do we have to do Appetizer/main course/dessert or can we do just main course as the included meal? 

Booked Sabatini's and it's only showing as $70 ($35 x 2 people) Do they include the 18% after we eat or is it part of the $35 each? 

 

[wallyj]

When u use your 2 casual meals with plus, you do not have to order all 3 courses. You will not be charged any ‘service(18%)’ fees.

 

Your specialty dining at Sabatini’s will incur an 18% service charge if booked after Dec 1, 2023. 

[Crystabel]

If sailing in a full suite, dining in a specialty restaurant is free on the first night of the cruise. I wonder if they’ll add on the 18% and charge the folio. 

[Steelers36]

3 minutes ago, Crystabel said:

If sailing in a full suite, dining in a specialty restaurant is free on the first night of the cruise. I wonder if they’ll add on the 18% and charge the folio. 

Seriously doubt it.  Included means included.

[memoak]

2 minutes ago, Crystabel said:

If sailing in a full suite, dining in a specialty restaurant is free on the first night of the cruise. I wonder if they’ll add on the 18% and charge the folio. 

I really doubt they would charge the 18% because it is called a complimentary meal. I will know for sure on the 23rd when we sail on the Crown we will probably be in Sabatini’s 

[wallyj]

3 hours ago, Crystabel said:

If sailing in a full suite, dining in a specialty restaurant is free on the first night of the cruise. I wonder if they’ll add on the 18% and charge the folio. 

No 18% charge for ‘free’/included meals, example the 2 SD meals that come with Premier pkg.  I also was gifted a SD from my travel agent and again no 18% charge. This was on Sapphire after December 1, when the 18% went into effect.

[RocknRoll22]

OK, dumb question.

 

What's the difference between Casual Meals (the two meals included in the Plus package) and Specialty Dining? I see these two mentioned on different threads? Does it depend on the restaurant, or just a different way to name it?

Edited January 3 by RocknRoll22

[Ms Brats]

1 hour ago, RocknRoll22 said:

OK, dumb question.

 

What's the difference between Casual Meals (the two meals included in the Plus package) and Specialty Dining? I see these two mentioned on different threads? Does it depend on the restaurant, or just a different way to name it?

Casual Meals, depending on ship, consists of Steamers, Planks, Alfredo's, etc. These use to be free but have been added to the packages.

 

Specialty restaurants, once again depending on the ship, consists of Crown Grill, Sabatinis and were extra ($35/pp currently). If you purchase the premium package you get 2 (I believe) free.

 

Heres a good article for reference https://www.cruisewith.co.uk/cruise-tips/princess-cruises-dining

Edited January 4 by Ms Brats

[t&atravel]

3 hours ago, Ms Brats said:

Casual Meals, depending on ship, consists of Steamers, Planks, Alfredo's, etc. These use to be free but have been added to the packages.

This is a bit of a misstatement.  Out of all the casual restaurants on any ship only Alfredos use to be free.

[RocknRoll22]

4 hours ago, Ms Brats said:

Casual Meals, depending on ship, consists of Steamers, Planks, Alfredo's, etc. These use to be free but have been added to the packages.

Thanks for that.

 

I was confused, but after some digging, figured out that there were a few casual places and a few specialty places on some ships. Although, we are going on the Caribbean Princess in a few months, and looking at the details of the ship and deck plans, there doesn't seem to be any casual dining restaurants on that ship, just the specialty ones.

 

We were going to take the Plus package (which includes two nights of casual meals), but if the ship doesn't have any casual restaurants, we don't get that extra perk of the Plus package. So then what...

[MacMadame]

All the ships have at least one casual dining place. It may not be a permanent location but a pop-up. The Caribbean Princess has four:
 

Vines Wine Bar

Steamers Seafood (a popup)

The Salty Dog Gastropub

Planks (a popup)

 

This document lists all the dining options for all the ships

dining-options.pdf

Edited January 4 by MacMadame

[RocknRoll22]

12 hours ago, MacMadame said:

The Caribbean Princess has four:
 

Vines Wine Bar

Steamers Seafood (a popup)

The Salty Dog Gastropub

Planks (a popup)

That's interesting.

 

When I pulled up the actual dining choices on the ship detail page for the Caribbean Princess, it doesn't list any of them. It shows just Complimentary Dining and SD dining, no Casual Dining like in that list you attached.. I even looked at the different deck plans of the ship, and didn't see them. It has Vines only listed for the wines only, under SD, but not food.

 

What is a "popup" dining?

[memoak]

3 minutes ago, RocknRoll22 said:

That's interesting.

 

When I pulled up the actual dining choices on the ship detail page for the Caribbean Princess, it doesn't list any of them. It shows just Complimentary Dining and SD dining, no Casual Dining like in that list you attached.. I even looked at the different deck plans of the ship, and didn't see them. It has Vines only listed for the wines only, under SD, but not food.

 

What is a "popup" dining?

You do not make reservations pre cruise for any casual restaurants. We just do walk up to Vines and Salty Dog. Pop ups are restaurants that take over an area (usually in the buffet area) on occasion. You can look on the patter to see which and where they are offered

[MacMadame]

11 hours ago, RocknRoll22 said:

When I pulled up the actual dining choices on the ship detail page for the Caribbean Princess, it doesn't list any of them

I'm not surprised. Princess is very bad about updating the website and there are pages that contradict each other all over.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Does the 18% gratuity cover the tip or does that need to be paid in addition? Thank you so much.