To offer more “all-inclusive” cruise vacations, Princess Cruises offers two packages that guests can upgrade to so that more onboard extras are included in the cost of the cruise. They’re called Princess Plus and Princess Premier. To help you determine if these packages are a good deal, we’re going over the inclusions and crunching the numbers so you know whether to book a package — or skip it.

What’s included in Princess Plus and Princess Premier? (2024)

What’s included with Princess Cruises?

Like most contemporary cruise lines, Princess Cruises’ standard fare includes most onboard amenities. Still, there are additional services and amenities not covered in this cruise price.

When you sail with Princess Cruises, the base fare covers the costs of your accommodations. The type of stateroom category you select will be the main determinant of the total costs of your trip. The most economically priced cabins will be inside rooms or a “guaranteed cabin”. Suites are the most expensive stateroom categories on a cruise ship.

Regardless of the stateroom category you choose, you will have several dining options onboard that are complimentary. On most Princess Cruises ships, this will include a buffet that is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day of the cruise.

There are also other casual options like the 24-hour International Café, serving small bites and to-go items. Additional complimentary venues include poolside grills and pizza.

Yes, the cruise line does have a few specialty restaurants that are an upcharge. However, with the variety of complimentary dining options, you don’t have to pay to dine at one of these specialty venues if you don’t want to.

Other Inclusions

Along with food, basic beverages are included in the standard cruise fare. Coffee, ice water, lemonade, milk, hot tea, and iced tea are among the drinks that are complimentary on Princess Cruises. Other beverages, such as soft drinks or alcoholic drinks, will cost extra.

In addition, the cruise fare covers almost all of the onboard activities. From trivia, game shows, and cruiser competitions to a fitness center and a sports court, all these activities and amenities are complimentary during your trip.

Each evening, there is also live music in several venues and nightly entertainment in the Princess Theater with no cover charge. Of course, there are a few up-charge activities, classes, and experiences too.

What’s included in the Princess Plus Package?

While the Princess Cruises Standard fare is quite inclusive, it is basically a cruise-only rate.

The Princess Plus pricing option provides additional services and amenities that many cruisers have come to expect from premium cruise lines. Guests can upgrade from the Princess Standard fare to the Princess Plus package for $60 per person, per day.

This package includes the crew incentive, also known as gratuities. This daily service charge is based on stateroom category. For Interior, Oceanview, and Balcony, it is $17 per person, per day; for Mini-Suites, Cabanas, and Reserve Collection it’s $18; and for Suites it’s $19.

From stateroom attendants to dining staff, this service charge is shared among all of the hardworking crew.

Next, the Princess Plus package includes MedallionNet wifi for one device per guest. For many, internet connectivity is now a must on a cruise. The days of “disconnecting” on vacation are long gone. Now, everyone wants WiFi to share on social media, check email, or, — gasp! — even do some work.

On Princess Cruises, the single device WiFi package retails at a hefty $25 per day. With the Princess Plus fare, each individual gets unlimited WiFi for one device. If you need more devices connected during your trip, you can purchase an upgrade to a four-device package. Platinum and Elite guests will automatically receive a 50% discount if they decide to upgrade WiFi.

For a cruise ship, Princess’ MedallionNet service is excellent, though keep in mind that connectivity does depend on the region where you’re sailing.

Plus Beverage Package

Perhaps the most important perk for many is the Plus Beverage package. This drink package includes several upgraded non-alcoholic options. Among the additional selections are bottled water, specialty coffees and teas, smoothies, and soft drinks. There is no limit on how many non-alcoholic premium beverages guests can consume.

When it comes to alcoholic beverages, the drink package includes all alcoholic beverages priced up to $15. This includes many cocktails, martinis, signature drinks, and spirits. This allotment also covers all beers and many wines by the glass. However, there is a drink limit of 15 alcoholic beverages per day with this plan.

The Plus Beverage package is priced at $64.99 a day per person plus an additional 18% gratuity.

Through the Princess Plus package, guests also get two premium desserts per day, two fitness classes per cruise, two casual meals per day, and the OceanNow delivery service fee is waived (including room service).

The casual meals are dining at places like Alfredo’s Pizzeria and O’Malley’s Irish Pub. Premium desserts include gelato, candies, toppings, and a pastry or cookie. Depending on your ship, you will find these at the Gelato café, Swirls, Coffee & Cones, or the pastry shop at World Fresh Marketplace. It excludes SMiZE premium ice creams.

As part of Princess Cruises’ partnership with XPonential Fitness, there are several types of classes to choose from: StretchLab, Pure Barre, YogaSix, Club Pilates, and CycleBar. Guests can sign up at the fitness center for these classes.

Per Princess Cruises’ website, the Princess Plus package provides a savings of $93 per day.

Summary of what’s included in Princess Plus package:

• Princess dining, accommodations, and entertainment
• Plus Beverage Package (drinks up to $15 each)
• Wi-Fi (1 device per guest)
• Crew appreciation
• Casual meals (2 per cruise)
• Premium desserts (2 per day)
• Fitness classes (2 per cruise)
• Unlimited room service delivery

What’s Included in the Princess Premier Package?

Princess Cruises’ other inclusive package option, Princess Premier, is a step up from Princess Plus. This upgrade costs $90 per person, per day.

Princess Premier includes the Premier Beverage Package, upgraded MedallionNet Max WiFi for four devices per guest, and crew appreciation. The retail cost of the Premier Beverage package is $84.99 per day, and the cost of WiFi for four devices is $44.99 per day.

The Premier beverage package covers everything from the Plus Beverage Package as well as additional top-shelf premium beverages worth up to $20. Although, there is still a drink limit of 15 alcoholic beverages per day with this plan.

With this fare, guests also get unlimited specialty and casual dining, a photo package, unlimited premium desserts, unlimited fitness classes, unlimited room service delivery, and reserved seating in the theater. Additionally, Premier guests have the chance to win Princess Prizes.

Per Princess Cruises’ website, the Princess Premier package provides a savings of $220 per day.

Summary of what’s included in Princess Premier package:

• Princess dining, accommodations, and entertainment
• Premier Beverage Package (drinks up to $20 each)
• Wi-Fi (up to 4 devices per guest)
• Crew appreciation
• Unlimited specialty and casual dining meals
• Photo package (unlimited digital + 3 prints)
• Premium desserts (unlimited)
• Fitness classes (unlimited)
• Unlimited room service
• Reserved theater seating (for production shows only)
• Potential to win Princess Prizes

Which sailings feature Princess Plus and Premier fares?

Currently, Princess Cruises is offering these all-inclusive packages for all sailings. They are capacity controlled, so it is possible that these fares could sell out on a particular cruise. 

The Princess Plus and Princess Premier fares are also available for all stateroom categories, from suites to inside staterooms.

They are available for purchase pre-cruise or onboard during the first day of the cruise.

When upgrading to Princess Plus, both the first and second guest must select the same pricing option. Third and fourth guests are not required or defaulted to the package. If these guests want to opt in, they will need to contact Princess Cruises to have it applied to the booking.

Even if the 3rd and 4th guests do not have a package, certain items can be shared. For Princess Premier, the WiFi for 4 devices, two specialty dining meals, and the Photo Package are shareable. 

Best of all, this pricing is combinable with other cruise deals and cruise line promotions. So, it is possible to combine these fares with other promotions or deals, such as onboard credit incentives.

Of note, if guest #2 on the reservation is under 21, he/she will receive the Zero-Alcohol Package. No refund is provided for the difference. This non-alcoholic plan includes a variety of beverages like mocktails and sports drinks.

What is not included in the Princess Plus and Premier packages?

While the Princess Plus and Princess Premier packages do include several additional services and amenities, they do not cover everything on the ship.

For example, even though Princess Premier includes specialty dining, there can be exceptions depending on your ship. For example, on Sun Princess, the romance-themed Love by Britto restaurant is not included in Princess Premier.

Also, these fares do not include any shore excursions or onboard credit. For instance, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Free at Sea promotion does include a $50 credit per port to be used for shore excursions.

Of course, other add-ons like spa treatments, shopping, the casino, or special experiences such as Spellbound by Magic Castle (found on Sun Princess) are not included either.

Are the Princess Plus or Premier Packages Worth it?

When you calculate the cost for the three main benefits included in the Princess Plus package (drink package, gratuity, and WiFi), it works out to a total of $107 a day, per person value. So, this brings us back to our original question. Is Princess Plus worth it?

If you will use all three of these benefits, this upgrade is an easy choice. If you are staying in a balcony cabin, gratuities will cost you $17 per day. The WiFi will cost you $25 per day. A Plus drink package is $64.99 per day.

Essentially, if you want to purchase an alcoholic drink package, it’s a no-brainer to upgrade. If just one person in the stateroom wants a drink package, or if the second guest is under 21 years old, it makes the decision a bit harder.

For us, we always purchase a WiFi plan, and gratuities are just a given.

When it comes to a drink package, this is where we have the most variability. Given we have no status with Princess Cruises (i.e. no free drinks), we would have purchased the alcoholic beverage package anyway.

Crunching the Numbers

So, let’s use a seven-night cruise as an example. For an upgrade price of just $60 per person, per day from the Princess Standard to the Princess Plus fare, we each saved $329 for a total of over $650 savings.

Now, what if you wouldn’t normally purchase all of these add-ons? Is Princess Plus worth it still?

Well, if you pre-pay the crew incentive and plan to purchase the WiFi, the total for these two perks is $42. This means, you only need to spend an additional $18 a day on alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks to reach the total cost of the Princess Plus fare.

Even if you are not a big drinker, this would equate to two or less alcoholic drinks per day. Not to mention, you also get non-alcoholic drinks, premium desserts, and fitness classes.

For many, this upgrade makes sense, as it certainly pays for itself after just a few drinks per day. Plus, you have the added convenience of not worrying about the tab at the end of your trip. Further, with the Medallion’s OceanNow technology, you can easily order drinks from anywhere on the ship. How’s that for convenience?

Even if you did not plan on purchasing the WiFi or the alcoholic drink package, but instead a Zero Alcohol package, that will still cost you $30 plus the $17 crew appreciation which puts you back at $47 a day. Or, just a $13 difference from the upgrade price.

The bottom line is, will you spend $43 per day ($60 upgrade minus $17 crew appreciation) on some combination of drinks, WiFi, desserts, or exercise classes? If so, then upgrade to Princess Plus!

Princess Premier

Of course, there is also the Princess Premier option to consider. Even if you planned to purchase just a Plus drink package, along with WiFi or specialty dining, you should consider this upgrade as it does include quite a bit more for only $90 per day.

Ultimately, when comparing inclusions on luxury cruise lines, like Viking Cruises, the Princess Plus (and Princess Premier) cruise fare offers a competitive upgrade. It’s no wonder more cruise lines are starting to offer similar packages. Celebrity Cruises’ ‘All Included’ fare and Holland America’s ‘Have It All’ fare are very comparable.

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