There’s nothing like changes to specialty packages to get cruisers talking. And Princess Cruises’ changes over the last 12 months have sparked a lot of comment.
The line offers two bundles; Princess Plus and Princess Premier. They offer inclusions such as a drinks package, WiFi, specialty dining meals, and more. Both packages have a range of unlimited and limited inclusions.
What’s got the What’s App and Facebook groups upset is that the packages are not adjusted for the length of the cruise.
Susain Andruskin has booked the Princess Plus package on her world cruise for 2025. But it gets her just two casual dining meals in 113 days.
“We have booked the 2025 world cruise with the Plus Package, it’s 113 days, yet still only two casual dining meals, how fair is that? Surely it should be at least per sector?”
What’s making her angry is that someone booking a short cruise gets exactly the same.
The Princess Plus package includes two casual dining meals and two fitness classes. Included in the Princess Premier are two specialty dining meals and three print photos.
But if you do a 30-day cruise with Princess Premier, despite paying the full cost of the package (USD$80 per day), you will still only be entitled to two specialty dining meals in total.
Regular Princess cruiser Sherri Joy brought this to other cruisers attention in an online cruise forum.
“So let me get this straight, Princess Premier entitles you to a photo package with three photos and speciality dining for two meals. I cruise for seven days, get three photos and two specialty meals, fair enough.
“However, I cruise for 14 days, pay double for my drinks package but still only receive three photos and two specialty meals, I cruise 21 days and the same deal, 28 days and the same deal, and on.
“Should there not be more incentive to pay for the premier package on longer cruisers?”
How do the Princess packages stack up against others?
Princess offers an interesting alternate offering to other major lines, as their drinks packages are most valuable when bundled with other perks as well. In AUD, the packages are approximately AUD$91 and AUD$122 respectively.
This creates an interesting situation for cruisers. Besides alcohol, the most critical inclusion in the Princess Packages is Wi Fi. Separate from the bundled packages, the Wi Fi packages on Princess cost USD$25 for one device, or USD$45 for four devices.
How does that stack up against Royal Caribbean and P&O?
Royal Caribbean’s drinks package can vary in price, but generally start from around AUD$115 per day and Wi Fi starts from around AUD$30 per day. P&O drinks packages are available for either AUD$109 or AUD$119 per day, and premium Wi Fi starts at AUD$30 per day for one device, or AUD$90 per day for four devices.
Even forgoing the other extras of Princess Plus and Premier, the packages appear to offer more value than separately purchasing the drinks package and WiFi on cruise lines like Royal Caribbean or P&O.
However, there are more considerations to make. The first is flexibility, if one adult member of a cabin purchases a Princess package, all other adults in the cabin have to do the same. Whereas Royal Caribbean and P&O offer more flexibility, as not all adults have to get an alcohol package.
Furthermore, when both members of a cabin are buying Princess Plus or Premier, it means they are both paying for and receiving a WiFi package. However, WiFi can be shared, and many cruisers are content to share their Wifi throughout a cruise.
Let’s take a cruising couple who wish to go on a 10-day cruise, one of which is a big drinker and the other not so much. They wish to use the internet during their cruise, but only occasionally.
For a Princess Cruise, the couple would both have to pay for Princess Plus, equalling $182 per day between the two of them, or AUD$1820 in total for the cruise.
Whereas if this couple took a P&O cruise, they could buy one drinks package for the partner more keen on drinking, for $109 per day, or $1090 for the entire cruise. Then they could share one device of Wi Fi for $30 per day, or another $300 for the cruise. This would equal AUD$1390 for everything they would need.
Our advice: Before purchasing any package with any line, carefully consider your wants and needs for the cruise, then examine the offerings and flexibility of the available packages.
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I’m not sure where you got your prices from, but Princess Plus package is AU$65 and Premier is AU$95 for cruises out of Australia (not AU$91 and AU$122 that your article has quoted above).
We are currently on coral princess 2024 world cruise and are having problems finding out exactly what the “2×casual dinning experiences entails?
S
Fair? I’m not sure if it’s fair or not. It’s certainly cheap of Princess to not give you at least 1 each for every 10 days. Yes, I think cheap is a better word to use.
Another thought…these packages make eating at these restaurants more difficult…so many people enrolled. Last cruise we waited to make Crown Grill reservations until we got on…it was full for the whole 10 day cruise!
We Brits have tried Princess Cruises for the first time. Our gripe has been poor-quality food at the buffet.
Example for this evening on Sky Princess’s final night after Nordic Fjords.
Sent to Sky Princess customer relations.
What a delight-NOT in culinary adventure it was! The Lancashire hotpot was as exciting as watching paint dry on a rainy day, while the Shepherd’s pie was a masterclass in blandness, leaving me yearning for any semblance of flavor. The Vindaloo, supposedly a fiery delight, was more like a lukewarm bath of disappointment, and the Masala’s attempt at spice was about as authentic as a plastic crown at a dollar store. And don’t even get me started on the Tandoori; it was so dry, I wondered if it had been cooked in the Sahara desert. Oh, and the onion barge? Well, let’s just say it sank faster than my hopes for a decent meal. Bravo, British theme afternoon, for reminding me why some foods are best left untouched!culinary adventure it was! The Lancashire hotpot was as exciting as watching paint dry on a rainy day, while the Shepherd’s pie was a masterclass in blandness, leaving me yearning for any semblance of flavour. The Vindaloo, supposedly a fiery delight, was more like a lukewarm bath of disappointment, and the Masala’s attempt at spice was about as authentic as a plastic crown at a $ store. And don’t even get me started on the Tandoori; it was so dry, I wondered if it had been cooked in the Sahara desert. Oh, and the onion barge? Well, let’s just say it sank faster than my hopes for a decent meal. Bravo, British theme afternoon, for reminding me why some foods are best left untouched!
Princess, once great, now known as “Cutback Princess” owing to so many things that made Princess better, are slowly being eroded or being charged for. Think carefully about Drink Packages, not for me as a light drinker but you have to nearly get sloshed daily to get value. Internet I use every 2nd or 3rd day on a daily (24H) basis. Works for me. Elite extras have been cut back. Past passengers are starting to look elsewhere Princess’ best feature is their wonderful crew who work so hard for you. BTW I’ve done 51 Princess Cruises so feel authorised to speak!!
My husband and I are in the one alcohol drinker and one teetotaller category. We never buy a drinks package as even with my husband buying his drinks when he wants them, and my iced coffees we pay less, and the drinks are full size and full price.
I don’t know if people realise that on a package the drinks are smaller, and the number of drinks is limited.
When on a cruise with 2 other couples we noticed quite by chance that the couple who had paid for the drinks package eventually paid more and received less than the couple who decided to pay as they went.
It is definitely necessary to investigate what you are paying for.
I’m on the world cruise with princess now and yesterday we were told our free dining and photos were by sector.
The cost of wi fi is extremely high in my opinion
I agree that the perks should be adjusted to the length of the cruise.
It aLos annoys me that the Princess Captain ‘s club loyalty system is unfair. You can do 15x 3 day cruises ( 45 days in total ) and become and elite member ai th all the perks . Yet you can be doing 14 + day cruises and then the 150 days will have to apply in order to get to elite level……and sometimes you may have only done 10 or 11 cruises. You need to do 15 cruises or 150 days…. This really does not reward people taking the longer cruises. Perhaps one should only be counting number of days as this will be much fairer.
Cruised with Princess this year. First time since 2004. Didn’t purchase any of their packages. A bill for drinks at the end of the cruise of around $400. Have to say will never cruise with Princess again. My usual cruise line us Viking. Yes a litte more expensive but no hidden extras, drinks etc all included.
I don’t understand these packages . I dine in the specialty restaurants when I want to but not because I have too.That goes for a drink package…..
We are doing that World Cruise too.We are very loyal Princess passengers. In 22years, they are the only cruise line we have used. Here is a correspondence a recently sent to Princess.
“The Plus and Premier packages seem to be unfair in relation to multi segment cruises eg World cruise, 3 week Mediterranean cruise, Around Australia cruise. These are cruises that can be sold as one long cruise or broken into segments so client can take only certain segments. I would class these as ’back to back’ cruises The revised packages includes eg 2 casual dining eg Alfredos per “cruise”. As an Elite, we have been rewarded on each segment of a multi segment cruise with things like a mini bar, a Captain’s party and a Grapevine wine tasting PER SEGMENT indicating that Princess sees each segment as a separate cruise which are joined back to back. Considering the financial aspect, where is the fairness in a 14 day New Zealand Cruise costing us about AU$xxxx and a 116 day world cruise costing us 10 times as much both having the same inclusions eg 2 casual dinings. I propose a fairer way.
PLUS: 1 casual dining per continuous week at sea
PREMIER: 1 Specialty Dining per continuous month at sea.
What also needs to be looked at with a new Plus package is ship size and facilities… if for example you are on the Coral Princes vs say the new Sun Princess there are very few venues in which to use those meagre 2 casual dining experiences…. So, for longer cruises on Coral…. The worst deal of all
It pays to shop around now between cruise companies now for better deals. Loyalty to one line is becoming a thing of the past as incentives offered by Princess are no longer value for money. Also seeing too many people drinking way much alcohol per day because they bought a drinks passage and this is also leading to behaviour issues of said people in addition, ships bartenders not adhering to “responsible serving of alcohol”.
On the issue of WIFI we go on cruises to disconnect and enjoy the cruises & destinations, not to be scrolling on a mobile or checking emails. If we require mobile service, it is cheaper to buy an ESIM to use in overseas ports of call rather than pay exorbitant fees cruises companies charge for WIFI.