Princess appears to have pulled a swifty with Plus/Premier drinks value limits

[resordanis]

2 hours ago, Jean C said:

That's a worry - you could phone and ask for your issue to be referred to their technical team. That worked like magic for me, although different issue.

THanks I did just speak to Princess. Still trying to rectify but won’t be a problem at the Port, we have to right luggage tags though.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, resordanis said:

I can answer this one as we had a standard package in February. I did pay the fee to activate the OceanNow for one of us only and got food delivered anywhere on the ship. We didn’t have room service except for breakfast (free). I understand the $7.50 if for every order. We then paid as we went and felt that was the better option for us at the time. Quite honestly we didn’t need to activate the OceanNow as we really didn’t use it a great deal. Depending on the length of cruise I probably would not activate again for a short cruise. Considering our next is 21 nights we will activate one only! Hope that helps

The only time we've ever ordered anything through OceanNow was when we were in isolation with Covid in 2022. And I am still in awe that they managed to get perfectly made single espressos to us still piping hot. 

 

Like you, if we do decide to use OceanNow on the world cruise we'll just activate one device.

[joejoe 59]

On 3/23/2024 at 8:42 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

No, I'm not going off half cocked. I had a discussion elsewhere with someone who is currently on Coral, who had booked the Plus fare before December 2022, and who is limited to $16 without paying extra. I didn't believe it at first then I checked the T&Cs on the website which, as shown in my original post, now have two different sets of conditions depending on when you booked your Plus fare. I don't know exactly when this changed but it wasn't like that last time I looked although that was probably a few months ago. 

 

However there seems to be some variation as to what people are experiencing. It may be ship-dependant. It seems like a total mess. Since we only paid $40pp per day, as long as we get our internet, bottled water, coffees, some of our favourite cocktails abd liqueurs, and 25% discount on wines by the bottle we'll have got our money's worth. I've given up expecting Princess to offer decent wines by the glass.

 

Go to the bottom of those T&Cs and you'll see the weasel clause which gives Princess the right to change as much as they like about the drinks package, with no notice, and whatever version of the T&Cs are in place when your cruise starts is what you're stuck with. 

When did the change come in? We cruised last month on Coral with an old plus package, we paid $30 for. We had no trouble getting $22 long Island ice teas at no extra cost to us.

[Jacster99]

2 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The only time we've ever ordered anything through OceanNow was when we were in isolation with Covid in 2022. And I am still in awe that they managed to get perfectly made single espressos to us still piping hot. 

 

Like you, if we do decide to use OceanNow on the world cruise we'll just activate one device.

Did you know there is a separate galley for room service? It is on deck 9?   I am not sure how far back it goes, but the entrance I saw was on the port side forward. Don't know if there are others, probably not, as deck 9 is centrally located. It is not a good idea to be near the door.

[Jean C]

1 hour ago, joejoe 59 said:

When did the change come in? We cruised last month on Coral with an old plus package, we paid $30 for. We had no trouble getting $22 long Island ice teas at no extra cost to us.

Hi, my SIL had the plus package on Coral and his favourite drink was above the price cap. He was occasionally charged the extra but more often than not, the bar/wait staff didn't add the surcharge. So it's anybody's guess what they'll do on any particular day! 

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, joejoe 59 said:

When did the change come in? We cruised last month on Coral with an old plus package, we paid $30 for. We had no trouble getting $22 long Island ice teas at no extra cost to us.

I'm not sure. Someone on the Coral Round Australia cruise which is just about over reported not getting the $22 limit, they were limited to $18, so I suspect that change came in for that voyage.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Jacster99 said:

Did you know there is a separate galley for room service? It is on deck 9?   I am not sure how far back it goes, but the entrance I saw was on the port side forward. Don't know if there are others, probably not, as deck 9 is centrally located. It is not a good idea to be near the door.

Yes, I did know that. We were mid-aft on deck 9. But even so getting an espresso from galley to a cabin piping hot is an achievement, better than they do sometimes in the MDRs, or buffet.

[LittleHeady.11]

My husband I are cruising with Princess, Melbourne to New Zealand return 26.10.24.  We are Australian citizens, and have done this cruise a few times before [we love just cruising, and also New Zealand!]. My query is to any other Aussies who can make sense of the prices of drink packages [we are not using P. Plus or P. Premier].  When we did this trip last year, I bought a 'Zero Alcoholic Package', just for me and my husband bought no package of any type.  I am very confused about pricing - I have looked at about 4 web sites which all have differing amounts for this package, and I have also talked to someone at Princess, but I am a bit deaf, the lady had a foreign accent, and I just could not understand her properly.  Has any other Aussie out there bought this package recently for this or similar cruises with Princess? 14 days is the length of our cruise.  I just need clarification on what the correct price is, if anyone knows.  Thanks

[resordanis]

On 3/25/2024 at 5:28 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

I'm not sure. Someone on the Coral Round Australia cruise which is just about over reported not getting the $22 limit, they were limited to $18, so I suspect that change came in for that voyage.

I am on the 6th April, so it will be interesting to see what they say on Royal. I am guessing the same as Coral.

[OzKiwiJJ]

14 hours ago, LittleHeady.11 said:

My husband I are cruising with Princess, Melbourne to New Zealand return 26.10.24.  We are Australian citizens, and have done this cruise a few times before [we love just cruising, and also New Zealand!]. My query is to any other Aussies who can make sense of the prices of drink packages [we are not using P. Plus or P. Premier].  When we did this trip last year, I bought a 'Zero Alcoholic Package', just for me and my husband bought no package of any type.  I am very confused about pricing - I have looked at about 4 web sites which all have differing amounts for this package, and I have also talked to someone at Princess, but I am a bit deaf, the lady had a foreign accent, and I just could not understand her properly.  Has any other Aussie out there bought this package recently for this or similar cruises with Princess? 14 days is the length of our cruise.  I just need clarification on what the correct price is, if anyone knows.  Thanks

On the Princess website the Zero Alcohol Package is $65.25pp per day (AUD), so that would be $913.50pp for the whole cruise. 

 

At that price you'd be better off upgrading to a Plus fare at $65pp per day. Not only will you save whole 0.25 cents per person per day 😉, you'll get the internet package and all the other stuff. If you phone Princess or use their Live Chat you should be able to get the Plus fare for just you, not your husband, unless they've changed the rules about that recently. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

4 hours ago, resordanis said:

I am on the 6th April, so it will be interesting to see what they say on Royal. I am guessing the same as Coral.

It will be interesting to hear what they are doing on Royal. At least $18 covers the price of all the wines on that pathetic Plus list.

[resordanis]

3 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It will be interesting to hear what they are doing on Royal. At least $18 covers the price of all the wines on that pathetic Plus list.

I am wondering on our cruise if they might have other wines too. Might try and get rid of all the Australian wine before Vancouver. Will report next week though. We are prepared to start off with the Willowglen and see how the OBC goes.

[OzKiwiJJ]

11 minutes ago, resordanis said:

I am wondering on our cruise if they might have other wines too. Might try and get rid of all the Australian wine before Vancouver. Will report next week though. We are prepared to start off with the Willowglen and see how the OBC goes.

I hate to tell you but the US Plus wines may be worse than Willowglen, and that's saying something! We only tried three on Diamond:

- the pinot noir which wasn't as good as the Australian one

- the pinot grigio which had no pinot grigio characteristics and was even more bland than the Willowglen Semillon/Sauvignon

- the chardonnay which, like the Willowglen, was overly oaky with that raw new oak flavour. 

 

Luckily I'd budgeted for wines by the bottle and we had some very nice ones, made even more enjoyable by our wonderful waiter sourcing Riedal glasses for us. We were very spoilt!

[LittleFish1976]

20 hours ago, LittleHeady.11 said:

lady had a foreign accent, and I just could not understand her properly.

 

Does Princess have a chat function via their website or app? That way you could have it in writing. I also struggle with some of them; recently had a call with someone from another cruise line and her English was so limited that she didn't know the words in English for the things I needed her to explain (issues about the rules for particular types of FCC). Unbelievably bad customer service. And yes, the accents often made them difficult to understand on the phone.

 

[resordanis]

3 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I hate to tell you but the US Plus wines may be worse than Willowglen, and that's saying something! We only tried three on Diamond:

- the pinot noir which wasn't as good as the Australian one

- the pinot grigio which had no pinot grigio characteristics and was even more bland than the Willowglen Semillon/Sauvignon

- the chardonnay which, like the Willowglen, was overly oaky with that raw new oak flavour. 

 

Luckily I'd budgeted for wines by the bottle and we had some very nice ones, made even more enjoyable by our wonderful waiter sourcing Riedal glasses for us. We were very spoilt!

We are only on to Yokohama so hopefully after that all might change. They then go to US dollars. Believe me I know from Cunard some US wines need a lot to be desired! I think our OBC will stretch to bottle wine occasionally.

Edited March 27 by resordanis

[OzKiwiJJ]

9 minutes ago, resordanis said:

We are only on to Yokohama so hopefully after that all might change. They then go to US dollars. Believe me I know from Cunard some US wines need a lot to be desired! I think our OBC will stretch to bottle wine occasionally.

We didn't have a drinks package on Cunard so just bought wines by the bottle, and found some very nice ones I must say. Most were reasonably priced (compared with Sydney restaurant prices) but we did lash out one night on an expensive burgundy. However our final account was definitely a bit too much on the high side! 🤣 But we had a wonderful and rather indulgent cruise on Cunard.

 

Even at $65 the Princess Plus fare is still good value for money even if you have to pay extra for decent wine. The 25% discount on wine by the bottle means it just works out cheaper for us to have the package and buy bottled wine for dinner, than to pay for internet (even with the Elite discount), coffees, bottled water, cocktails, after dinner drinks, and bottled wine at full price, however I'm so happy we got the basic Plus fare at $40pp per day when we booked the world cruise.