Changes Coming to Plus/Premier Packages?

[Steelers36]

On 3/29/2024 at 5:10 PM, memoak said:

Unlimited speciality dinners would max out every venue and have a lot of unhappy people

 

On 3/29/2024 at 5:53 PM, cyndyga said:

With all the people that have the Plus and Premiere package they couldn't do unlimited specialty dining without limiting the amount of Plus/Premiere packages...no way with the limited venues they could fit that inclusion...

 

On 3/29/2024 at 6:13 PM, PacnGoNow said:

Exactly my thoughts.  You would never get a reservation at a SD.

 

 

 

On 3/29/2024 at 6:23 PM, memoak said:

And then we would all be asking for refunds. They may cave in and give a few extra meals on longer cruises but if you add unlimited casual to plus packages it would take things back to having hour long waits to get into Alfredo’s 

 

On 3/29/2024 at 6:37 PM, Thrak said:

Unlimited Specialty Dining = Disaster. What a horrendously stupid idea.

They could just turn one MDR Into a SD location since so many guests would be looking for their "free" meal.  That leads me to concur with @Thrak's assessment.

[Steelers36]

On 3/29/2024 at 7:29 PM, jeromep said:

Having studied marketing research, and worked in organizations that have used marketing research for decision making, a survey doesn't necessarily mean that something is coming.  And if something is coming, it doesn't mean soon.  Marketing research is about answering questions.  Questions usually posed by management in which there is no other way to get a meaningful answer, but to find a sample of consumers and ask them what they think.  Sometimes marketing research tells you valuable things you didn't know before, sometimes it tells you, what you want to hear, and sometimes it leaves you exactly where you started, with unanswered questions.  A skilled company knows how much to rely on marketing research and focus groups and when to not follow the information that comes out of research.  It is an art and skill.

 

Princess does have to be careful, putting more comped dining into Plus and Premier means more difficulty getting reservations in specialty restaurants and those newly minted "casual dining" venues.  It also ads complexity to the on board experience.

PCL already knows the percentage of guests who book shore excursions with them.  It should follow that the same percentage of guests would be interested in the shorex OBC out of those booking a package.  But it comes down to how much extra is one paying to get that OBC, doesn't it.  The survey doesn't discuss that aspect, so the results are not very meaningful IMO.

 

As for the SD question, unlimited SD interest might depend on the number of available options on a particular ship, but again, how much are they charging for all the extra "free" meals?  There are limited number of guest who always dine at SD.  Note that Signature guests already have their own dining venue, so it's all about the money IMO.

[Steelers36]

On 3/30/2024 at 12:37 PM, Guest Snaxmuppet said:

Edit: Just seen that is covered already - sorry 🙂 

 

Water and coffee doesn't count... they are unlimited. It is only alcohol that is limited to 15.

Did you lose your original account?  I recognize your handle.  Your posts are odd in that none of them allow a feedback of Thanks, Like, or Ha-Ha.  Also, no info on your membership or geo-location.  IIRC, you are from the UK somewhere.

[Steelers36]

On 4/3/2024 at 12:21 AM, nasa1974 said:

I don't disagree. But I think some do or it wouldn't be offered. 😀

I was just comparing beverage packages. I guess I should have mentioned that RCL doesn't offer a package like the Princess Plus or Princess Premium. They just offer a beverage package.

The standalone drink packages are "offered" as a marketing ploy so PCL can illustrate what a huge bargain the cruise fare packages are.

[Steelers36]

On 4/3/2024 at 11:32 AM, memoak said:

The only circumstance where a beverage only plan would be useful is if you drink and your cabin mate won’t pay for the package 

And even that can be refuted as long as you want Internet and pay the CA.  Cabinmate also has to pay CA and may also want Internet.  Even with just CA, you may as well book Plus Cruise Fare and pay cabinmate $43/day (Plus, less CA).  Your cost would be $113/day.  With standalone, your cost is $115, unless get Internet discount (which I am sure you do).  Surely cabinmate will consume at least some non-alcoholic beverages.  

 

ETA:  Of course it is also worthwhile considering the CD offer and Ocean Now if it might be used.  We don't, so I overlooked.  Just the basics, I would seriously look at forcing the Plus fare if it means value to one person as I think it will work out better to recompense the cabinmate for a differential between $60 and their actual a la carte costs in most circumstances.

Edited April 24 by Steelers36

[Steelers36]

On 4/3/2024 at 3:24 PM, jagoffee said:

I can see where someone might make that decision.   The Plus Beverage package is $76.90 per day for one person.  The Plus bundle would be $120 a day for two people.  The difference is only $43.10 a day for two people.  But I understand your point.  

But the cabinmate ought to be paying CA of $17/day, so reduced again.  Also, do they want internet.  And, do they drink non-alcohol?  Best to both get the Plus and first person pays the other person part of the package cost ($60 less what they actually spend a la carte).

[carnabombers]

3 hours ago, Mary loves to travel said:

But, you’re exactly getting your wish!   Australians indeed have the “better base wages” included in the actual price of the cruise and there is no gratuity charged onboard.  
😊

We certainly do get charged the onboard gratuity. We have to nominate to not be charged. 

[Mary loves to travel]

Just now, carnabombers said:

We certainly do get charged the onboard gratuity. We have to nominate to not be charged. 

On Australia based cruises?

[carnabombers]

At the end of the day. We all love cruising. If you can't afford the day to day things then don't go cruising. All cruise lines have massive debts to repay due to inactivity during covid. Especially with cruise numbers up these days, prices will continue to increase because they can. 

Land travel through Europe for example has sky rocketed too. Reality is that prices will continue to increase as demand grows. Tgars economics 101. 

Basically, suck it up. 

[Sailaweigh]

We've crunched the numbers many times and Princess still hasn't convinced us to get the Plus or the Premium plus package for several reasons...

1) we get a lot of shipboard credit. We don't enjoy Princess Shore Excursions and we don't need more stuff to buy, so where would we spend it this SBC? 

2) Princess advertises the package costs $60/pp, but did you realize that they roll the cost into the price of the cruise? So you paying 9% (almost $10/day/cabin) more for Vacation Protection due to the added package.  So now the cost of the package is actually $130/day for the two of you.   Princess is essentially increasing the cost of the Vacation insurance for people who buy the packages.

3)We are elite, so we get the stocked bar set up on every cruise.

4) Since we are elite, the wifi fee is $12.50/per day.  We might get it on sea days if we're board.  When we do buy it, we get a single device and my hubby and I share a hot spot. On port days, our Tmobile plan has us covered.

5) We've noticed that the selection of wines in the plus package are limited, so we prefer to bring our wine onboard.  When we are going to foreign ports, we enjoy trying the local wines.  We pay the extra $20/bottle "corkage fee" for the extra wine and bring it to dinner.  A bottle of wine usually lasts us for 2-3 dinners.

6) We go on lots of longer cruises where at least one of us will catch a virus on the ship and be out of commission for a day or 2 or 3.  So on those days, we don't drink (if one of us gets sick, the other one tends to also lay low).

7) And most important reason is that we consciously try not to drink too much. When our doctors ask us how much we drink, we usually respond with " 1 or 2 drinks on weekends and while on vacation". Well, it seems like we're on vacation all the time! Lately, we've been on a cruise ship about 100 days/year and cruising on our own boat about 50days/year.  If we got the drink package, we know that we would try to get our money's worth.  So for the sake of our liver and to prevent other illnesses associated with alcohol, we are very aware of what and how much we drink.

In addition, there are all those empty calories that go along with the package.

A tip for people who want to decrease their alcohol on a cruise, I pick up a couple of the fruit smoothies at breakfast and put them in my refrigerator.  Then I pick up a couple glasses at one of the bars.  Add a little ice and I have a healthy mocktail for Happy Hour. 

 

Princess loves the packages because they are a profit source that they can count on. With the package, they know that "Jane & John Smith" have committed to spend $60pp/day and Princess can count on that revenue.  Princess knows that the Smiths have committed to buy 2 wifi plans(which costs little to operate) and Princess also knows that the Smiths will be "buying" drinks (which cost Princess less than probably $1 each), even if the Smiths normally wouldn't have bought any or as many that day. Drinks have a huge profit margin. 

Then Princess has guests like us who don't buy the package. Princess doesn't know if we will sign up for the 1 or 2 or no wifi plans.  Princess doesn't know how much we may or may not drink every day thus they can't count on how much of a profit they will make on us.

 

We travel with friends that always get the drink package. They love it, they use it, and they feel that they get their money's worth.  For us, the numbers, among other things, don't work.

[Retired-N-Happy]

1 hour ago, Sailaweigh said:

We've crunched the numbers many times and Princess still hasn't convinced us to get the Plus or the Premium plus package for several reasons...

1) we get a lot of shipboard credit. We don't enjoy Princess Shore Excursions and we don't need more stuff to buy, so where would we spend it this SBC? 

2) Princess advertises the package costs $60/pp, but did you realize that they roll the cost into the price of the cruise? So you paying 9% (almost $10/day/cabin) more for Vacation Protection due to the added package.  So now the cost of the package is actually $130/day for the two of you.   Princess is essentially increasing the cost of the Vacation insurance for people who buy the packages.

3)We are elite, so we get the stocked bar set up on every cruise.

4) Since we are elite, the wifi fee is $12.50/per day.  We might get it on sea days if we're board.  When we do buy it, we get a single device and my hubby and I share a hot spot. On port days, our Tmobile plan has us covered.

5) We've noticed that the selection of wines in the plus package are limited, so we prefer to bring our wine onboard.  When we are going to foreign ports, we enjoy trying the local wines.  We pay the extra $20/bottle "corkage fee" for the extra wine and bring it to dinner.  A bottle of wine usually lasts us for 2-3 dinners.

6) We go on lots of longer cruises where at least one of us will catch a virus on the ship and be out of commission for a day or 2 or 3.  So on those days, we don't drink (if one of us gets sick, the other one tends to also lay low).

7) And most important reason is that we consciously try not to drink too much. When our doctors ask us how much we drink, we usually respond with " 1 or 2 drinks on weekends and while on vacation". Well, it seems like we're on vacation all the time! Lately, we've been on a cruise ship about 100 days/year and cruising on our own boat about 50days/year.  If we got the drink package, we know that we would try to get our money's worth.  So for the sake of our liver and to prevent other illnesses associated with alcohol, we are very aware of what and how much we drink.

In addition, there are all those empty calories that go along with the package.

A tip for people who want to decrease their alcohol on a cruise, I pick up a couple of the fruit smoothies at breakfast and put them in my refrigerator.  Then I pick up a couple glasses at one of the bars.  Add a little ice and I have a healthy mocktail for Happy Hour. 

 

Princess loves the packages because they are a profit source that they can count on. With the package, they know that "Jane & John Smith" have committed to spend $60pp/day and Princess can count on that revenue.  Princess knows that the Smiths have committed to buy 2 wifi plans(which costs little to operate) and Princess also knows that the Smiths will be "buying" drinks (which cost Princess less than probably $1 each), even if the Smiths normally wouldn't have bought any or as many that day. Drinks have a huge profit margin. 

Then Princess has guests like us who don't buy the package. Princess doesn't know if we will sign up for the 1 or 2 or no wifi plans.  Princess doesn't know how much we may or may not drink every day thus they can't count on how much of a profit they will make on us.

 

We travel with friends that always get the drink package. They love it, they use it, and they feel that they get their money's worth.  For us, the numbers, among other things, don't work.

The package only costs us 120 because we don't buy any vacation protection nonsense.  We are part of the 75% of cruisers that purchase a package.  As far as I'm concerned, it's the best value at sea.  The 60.00 for plus is cheaper than the drinks packages alone is on other cruise lines.

For us, the numbers work big time.  We don't care about wifi, so just paying 44 for the drinks package is worth it.  That's 3 drinks a day.  All other drinks including the non alcoholic ones are all gravy. As well as all of the other components of the package.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

1 hour ago, Sailaweigh said:

1) we get a lot of shipboard credit. We don't enjoy Princess Shore Excursions and we don't need more stuff to buy, so where would we spend it this SBC? 

2) Princess advertises the package costs $60/pp, but did you realize that they roll the cost into the price of the cruise? So you paying 9% (almost $10/day/cabin) more for Vacation Protection due to the added package.  So now the cost of the package is actually $130/day for the two of you.   Princess is essentially increasing the cost of the Vacation insurance for people who buy the packages.

if you add the Princess Plus package onboard and pay for it with your OBC, you win twice. There will be no increase in your insurance cost to you and you will spend your large amount of OBC.

 

P.S. We are not Elite, so we don't get a well stocked bar or $12 wifi. But we don't drink either, so we don't buy Plus/Premier packages anyway.

P.P.S. We only cruise 2-3 times a year for a week. Not 100 days per year....

Edited May 8 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Cruiselover1159]

On 3/29/2024 at 7:48 PM, BamaVol said:

Is it possible that Princess is exploring a third package with additional benefits?  That would somewhat limit the extra load on SD.

You mean like 'Premier Select' like Delta invented a new 'class' for their 2-3 inch additional leg room and padding to their economy seats!

[MsSoCalCruiser]

On 4/1/2024 at 3:51 PM, memoak said:

Then there would be some that would say I don’t like coffee I want just soda and charge me less.  This could go on and on and on

They should bring back the coffee cards and say that they are only good for that cruise.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

On 4/7/2024 at 10:03 AM, memoak said:

If you have a non drinking partner they probably still drink coffee drinks or sodas. If you drink like I do (minimum of 6-8 drinks a day then the plus would still work for you

One of my friends that I cruise with at times only drinks water, so I am unable to purchase Plus when she is cruising with me. 🙁

[memoak]

15 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

They should bring back the coffee cards and say that they are only good for that cruise.

And then you would hear. “ I bought 15 specialty coffees and didn’t use them all”. Just like we hear about plus cocktails 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

58 minutes ago, memoak said:

And then you would hear. “ I bought 15 specialty coffees and didn’t use them all”. Just like we hear about plus cocktails 

And that would be too bad for them. If they don’t want a coffee card that is good for one cruise, then they don’t have to purchase it, correct? That’s what happened to our old coffee cards some thought they were good for the rest of their life.