Plus/Premier Package itemized by travel agent

[PensFan1028]

I've been looking for the answer to this but haven't found much. Looking at our upcoming cruse we booked through a travel agent, I see the benefits of our Plus package broken down into individual purchases under our "Reservations and Purchase". Also the fitness classes included in the package are showing as "gifts" from our travel agent. Are they getting some kind of benefit out of booking everything under the package separately? We also noticed in the past that our included specialty dining (Premier) showed up as vouchers to our room courtesy of our travel agent as a "gift".

 

If this is truly the case could I benefit by having the things we will never use (ie. $300 in premium desserts and $220 in fitness classes)

 

[memoak]

Don’t believe the dollar amounts shown as savings. The Plus package for us is really the drinks, WiFi and tips. For people who like cocktails it is a great deal for non drinkers it is questionable 

[Mike A]

The prices you are showing are on both the Travel Summary from Princess and what I received from my T/A. The prices shown are what Princess would charge for each item separately which would be MSRP. As @memoak said above the true saving to you would subject to your actual usage. Personally, we do Premier as we like the higher end drinks, as well as the 2 Specialty Dinners and the Unlimited Casual Meals. However, we will probably never use the Fitness Classes or Premium Desserts.

[memoak]

15 minutes ago, Mike A said:

The prices you are showing are on both the Travel Summary from Princess and what I received from my T/A. The prices shown are what Princess would charge for each item separately which would be MSRP. As @memoak said above the true saving to you would subject to your actual usage. Personally, we do Premier as we like the higher end drinks, as well as the 2 Specialty Dinners and the Unlimited Casual Meals. However, we will probably never use the Fitness Classes or Premium Desserts.

The casual meals depend on the ship we sail mostly Grand class ships so it is only Vines and Gastropub on most ships and we are not fond of the Gastropub. On some ships like the Coral the only casual venues are pop ups I believe. Because of that and the fact that I drink Woodford bourbon and my wife drinks Grey Goose Vodka so we are fine with te Plus package and we rarely cruise for less than 2 weeks

[startedwithamouse]

54 minutes ago, PensFan1028 said:

I've been looking for the answer to this but haven't found much. Looking at our upcoming cruse we booked through a travel agent, I see the benefits of our Plus package broken down into individual purchases under our "Reservations and Purchase". Also the fitness classes included in the package are showing as "gifts" from our travel agent. Are they getting some kind of benefit out of booking everything under the package separately? We also noticed in the past that our included specialty dining (Premier) showed up as vouchers to our room courtesy of our travel agent as a "gift".

 

If this is truly the case could I benefit by having the things we will never use (ie. $300 in premium desserts and $220 in fitness classes)

 

That's straight from Princess.

 

Don't shoot the messenger (TA).

[PensFan1028]

Thank you for the replies. Sorry my basic question was... If I booked this cruise myself and chose Plus/Premier, would it show the package broken down into individual purchases on my Princess travel summary?

[Arizona Wildcat]

3 minutes ago, PensFan1028 said:

Thank you for the replies. Sorry my basic question was... If I booked this cruise myself and chose Plus/Premier, would it show the package broken down into individual purchases on my Princess travel summary?

Are you asking if the details are shown on my booking confirmation from Princess?  Not on mine.

I purchased Plus.  No breakdown.

[jean-lynd]

This section of your Travel Summary would be exactly the same if you had booked directly with Princess. Your Travel Agent is not "booking everything under the package seperately" so they are not "benefitting". This is just how Princess reflects the "value" of the items included in the package. I hope this helps!

[Paula_MacFan]

20 minutes ago, PensFan1028 said:

Thank you for the replies. Sorry my basic question was... If I booked this cruise myself and chose Plus/Premier, would it show the package broken down into individual purchases on my Princess travel summary?

Yes, my Travel Summary looks exactly like that when I log into the Princess site. I'd advise you to log into the Princess site and save your docs, regardless of how you booked (TA or direct).

Edited April 4 by Paula_MacFan

[memoak]

3 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Are you asking if the details are shown on my booking confirmation from Princess?  Not on mine.

I purchased Plus.  No breakdown.

Not al of the benefits show on the summary but there should be an indication if you have the old Plus-50 or the Plus-60

[reedprincess]

7 minutes ago, memoak said:

Not al of the benefits show on the summary but there should be an indication if you have the old Plus-50 or the Plus-60

Juice Bar, exercise classes and desserts are Plus 60. Those show on a summary, the person has purchased at $60usd (or $80usd for Premier).

[JimmyVWine]

14 minutes ago, PensFan1028 said:

If I booked this cruise myself and chose Plus/Premier, would it show the package broken down into individual purchases on my Princess travel summary?

Yes.  The Travel Summary shows all of the wonderful (and useless) things that I get with my Premier Package, listed at MSRP prices to make me feel really good about the fact that I am only paying $80 per day.

[Mike A]

4 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Yes.  The Travel Summary shows all of the wonderful (and useless) things that I get with my Premier Package, listed at MSRP prices to make me feel really good about the fact that I am only paying $80 per day.

@JimmyVWine That is exactly what my Travel Summary does for Premier😀

[PensFan1028]

Ok that answers my question. Kind of an odd tactic by Princess to show the $150 pp on ice cream that probably less than 5% of people take advantage of. You think maybe just tucking that into a "Plus Package Benefits" or whatever line item might make people the value a little less questionable. ** again I'm not worried about the value as we will continue to book either Plus or Premier as the other offerings do make it worth while to US, but just just some thoughts**

Edited April 4 by PensFan1028

[memoak]

I don’t know very many people who make use of the desserts or gym classes. On Grand class ships we may do Vines a few times. We mostly find benefits in Plus packages for drinks , WiFi and gratuities 

[jagoffee]

I wonder why the two casual restaurants are not included on this Plus list.

[Mark_K]

2 hours ago, PensFan1028 said:

Thank you for the replies. Sorry my basic question was... If I booked this cruise myself and chose Plus/Premier, would it show the package broken down into individual purchases on my Princess travel summary?

When I log in and click on beverages, the page looks like this, and if I go to review confirmed packages, the details show up.

 

 

[Crookshanks]

1 hour ago, PensFan1028 said:

Ok that answers my question. Kind of an odd tactic by Princess to show the $150 pp on ice cream that probably less than 5% of people take advantage of. You think maybe just tucking that into a "Plus Package Benefits" or whatever line item might make people the value a little less questionable. ** again I'm not worried about the value as we will continue to book either Plus or Premier as the other offerings do make it worth while to US, but just just some thoughts**

 

The 5% that do get the desserts sure must get a lot of them, when I was on the Regal in January, the line for the Gelato was crazy more often than not and I saw many people enjoying those huge desserts. 

 

I asked at the International Cafe about how many of the massive cakes they went through per day and he said 6-7 chocolate, 4-5 red velvet and 3-4 Black Forrest cakes, at least that he knew of.

 

I expect there are quite a few people who have been judged by their 'gluttony' on this site(and FB) and just don't freely admit to enjoying the desserts.  I personally really enjoy them, though we generally shared 1 slice of cake.  But the chocolate cake goes amazingly well with the espresso martini as a night cap!  When on vacation, I go all in, but I don't utilize the fitness classes!  😂

 

 

[SCX22]

The way that Princess packaged the Plus/Premium fare packages is like they created solutions for non problems.  Before these packages all you really need was the drinks, wi-fi, and crew appreciation.  Now, they throw in all of these ancillaries (some of which Princess just made up, like the "Premium Desserts" and "Juice Bar") to try and make make the value of the packages go up.  Not to mention they failed to take into account that adding these aspects require more manpower.  I feel so sorry for the crew at Gelato and Coffee and Cones who have to make these sundaes that most passengers don't even finish.  Even if they do finish the toppings and ice cream, I've never seen anyone lick the chocolate drip off the rim of the glass.

[skynight]

Forget all those costs, they mean nothing. They are just marketing promotion. Like others have indicated the value of the plus fare is NOT related to the cost of the individual items included in the fare. It does not matter if you book yourself or through a T.A. The cost of the plus package is $60/pp/day, that is it.

I have found, no matter how I calculate, that the breakeven point for the plus fare is somewhere around 2 to 3 alcoholic beverages per day. The 3 basic items are the daily gratuity, the unlimited wifi and the beverage package. Take for example the casual meals. You may never have one, or if you are on a cruise with Alfredo's you may go twice and use both. So that value could be zero or around $35 over the cruise. I was just off 24 day b2b cruise. I saw very few people ever order one of their premium desserts, let alone 2 per day. In reality you may try a few. That value may be again zero or maybe $40/$50 over a cruise, maybe higher if you like lots of calories, and goppy sundaes. 

[chamima]

I'll ask again about what choices a minor traveling as a third in stateroom with 2 adults has.

We are taking our 9 year old granddaughter. We usually get the Plus package for the two of us. We never get the desserts and don't use the fitness classes .We are all vegetarians so the casual meals are of dubious value for us. 

If she had a package she would use the gratuities, the Wifi,  those gross desserts and  probably the juice bar. She's not even old enough for the fitness classes and doesn't drink soda or ,obviously, alcohol.

So what options do we have for her? Pay as you go?

[NavyVeteran]

2 hours ago, chamima said:

I'll ask again about what choices a minor traveling as a third in stateroom with 2 adults has.

We are taking our 9 year old granddaughter. We usually get the Plus package for the two of us. We never get the desserts and don't use the fitness classes .We are all vegetarians so the casual meals are of dubious value for us. 

If she had a package she would use the gratuities, the Wifi,  those gross desserts and  probably the juice bar. She's not even old enough for the fitness classes and doesn't drink soda or ,obviously, alcohol.

So what options do we have for her? Pay as you go?

It sounds like you've made most of the calculations. You need to add up the cost of the things she will use and compare it to the cost of the package. If she doesn't drink soda or mocktails, I doubt that the package would be beneficial, but you should do the math.

Does she really need a wifi package. If the two adults have Plus, you each have one-device wifi. That is one device at a time - you can change devices at any time. Unless all three of you are using a device at the same time, you may not need a third wifi package. Remember that the wifi package is actually misnamed. Wifi on the ship is free, and you use it to log on to the app, to find members of your party, and to do other things shipboard. The package is for access to Internet off the ship.

[BamaVol]

17 hours ago, chamima said:

I'll ask again about what choices a minor traveling as a third in stateroom with 2 adults has.

We are taking our 9 year old granddaughter. We usually get the Plus package for the two of us. We never get the desserts and don't use the fitness classes .We are all vegetarians so the casual meals are of dubious value for us. 

If she had a package she would use the gratuities, the Wifi,  those gross desserts and  probably the juice bar. She's not even old enough for the fitness classes and doesn't drink soda or ,obviously, alcohol.

So what options do we have for her? Pay as you go?

I’m taking 2 minor grandchildren on our next cruise. I’ll pay their gratuities and buy them a few sodas. They’ll share internet access with us and won’t need anything else from the Plus package. 

[reedprincess]

21 hours ago, chamima said:

I'll ask again about what choices a minor traveling as a third in stateroom with 2 adults has.

We are taking our 9 year old granddaughter. We usually get the Plus package for the two of us. We never get the desserts and don't use the fitness classes .We are all vegetarians so the casual meals are of dubious value for us. 

If she had a package she would use the gratuities, the Wifi,  those gross desserts and  probably the juice bar. She's not even old enough for the fitness classes and doesn't drink soda or ,obviously, alcohol.

So what options do we have for her? Pay as you go?

How many of those desserts will she eat?  Will she drink mocktails or sodas? Would she want the juice bar - and how many?  Will she want to order some food while sitting on her lounge chair? 

 

Your three choices are: 

*Plus Cruise Package. $60usd per night. 

*Buy the different components that she may use separately - ie classic soda or zero proof beverage package, WiFi package and her crew appreciation.

*Pay as she goes for individual drinks and desserts, buy the WiFi package and pay the crew appreciation separately.

 

Costs:

Xrew apprecireciation: $16-18

One device WiFi: $24.99

So, you're at $41-43usd a day for her already - before any beverages or other add-ons..

Will she hit $17-19 a day in desserts, drinks, bottled water, etc?   

Keeping in mind, the desserts run $12.  Mocktails, around $8-11. Juices - $8 or $12 individually (and drinks individually incur an automatic 18% service charge).  

 

Do the math. If she enjoys one $8 juice and one dessert a day, you're $1 short of the daily Cruise Package price. Or 2 juices and a mocktail  - you're there also...

 

It's up to you to figure out which works best for you and yours.. personally, given what you've written, looks like the Plus Package may work out for her. There's vegetarian options at the casual venues, room service and Ocean Now have intrinsic value, those desserts apparently appeal to her, etc. 

 

Good luck! Happy sails... 

 

 

Edited April 5 by reedprincess

[cr8tiv1]

Agree that the breakdown is a marketing tool to make the buyer believe they are getting more for their money.  It is very deceiving to a newbie.  
 

I am 99% sure a TA or PCP or agent will receive a commission for selling a package or bundle.  Why else would they graciously offer to add one to your booking when you call in.  Or price it in automatically when you book a cruise by default.
 

It says “gift” but is another misnamed information.  You bought it, no one “gave” it to you.
 

Finally, you can choose not to use any part of the bundle, but nothing is refundable nor can it be exchanged for OBC.