Princess Plus vs Premier: The Drink Package Math

Written By Mark Jackson

Quick Take

Princess Plus and Princess Premier both bundle drinks, Wi-Fi, and gratuities into one daily price, so the decision comes down to how much you drink and how you cruise. Plus runs around $65 per person per day, and Premier runs around $100 per person per day on most ships. If you mostly want beer, wine, and standard cocktails covered, Plus almost always wins. Premier only makes sense if you order pricier drinks, want unlimited specialty dining, and value the extras like multiple device Wi-Fi.

I am a travel advisor and a cruise YouTuber, and I run this math for clients every week. Below I will walk you through exactly how to figure out which package fits your trip. I will keep the numbers in ranges because Princess adjusts pricing over time and it varies by ship.

cocktail bar tropical

What Each Package Actually Includes

Both packages start from the same idea, which is bundling the stuff most cruisers buy anyway. Each one includes a drink program, Wi-Fi, crew appreciation, and waived delivery fees for room service and OceanNow orders. The differences live in the ceilings and the extras, and that is where the math gets interesting.

Princess Plus covers drinks priced up to about $15 each, with a cap of 15 drinks per day. It includes unlimited Wi-Fi for one device per guest and a set number of casual dining meals per voyage. For most people, that drink ceiling covers the entire bar menu they would normally order.

Princess Premier raises the drink ceiling to about $20 each and removes the casual dining limits, giving you unlimited specialty dining too. It bumps Wi-Fi to several devices per guest and adds a shore excursion credit that scales with cruise length. Premier is the package for people who want the top shelf pours and the full dining run.

The Core Math: When Plus Pays Off

Start with the simplest question, which is how many drinks you realistically order in a day. Count everything, because the package covers coffee drinks, bottled water, sodas, smoothies, and mocktails, not just alcohol. A morning latte, two waters, an afternoon soda, and three cocktails is already six items before dinner.

Plus costs roughly $65 per person per day, and that price has to beat what you would spend a la carte. Cocktails on Princess generally run in the low teens, specialty coffees a few dollars each, and sodas a couple of dollars. If you land somewhere around five or six drinks a day across that mix, Plus usually pays for itself before you even factor in the Wi-Fi and gratuities.

Here is the part people forget. Plus also covers your daily crew appreciation, which is a real charge of roughly $16 to $18 per person per day on its own. Once you subtract that from the package price, the drinks and Wi-Fi only need to cover the remaining gap, and that gap is small.

When Premier Is The Smart Buy

Premier costs about $35 more per person per day than Plus, so it has to earn that difference back. The drink ceiling jump from $15 to $20 only matters if you actually order drinks in that 16 to $20 range. Top shelf spirits, premium wine pours, and some specialty cocktails live up there, so wine drinkers and spirit enthusiasts are the people who benefit most.

The dining upgrade is the other half of the case. Premier gives you unlimited specialty dining, and those restaurants typically carry cover charges in the 30 to $40 range per person per visit. If you and your partner plan to eat at the specialty venues several nights, that alone can justify the upgrade without touching a single drink.

Add the multiple device Wi-Fi and the shore excursion credit, and Premier starts to make sense for a specific traveler. That traveler drinks premium, dines specialty often, and wants everyone in the cabin connected. If that is not you, the extra spend is hard to recover.

princess cruise ship

The One Rule You Cannot Skip

Princess requires that all adults in the same stateroom buy the same package. You cannot put Plus on one person and skip it for the other, and you cannot mix Plus and Premier in one cabin. This rule changes the math a lot for couples where one person barely drinks.

If your travel partner only wants a couple of sodas and a glass of wine, you are still paying the full package price for both of you. In that situation, run the combined daily spend for both people against the combined package cost. Sometimes two people paying a la carte beats two packages, and that is a perfectly valid answer.

Buy Ahead Versus Onboard

The prices I quoted are the pre cruise rates, and buying ahead is almost always cheaper than waiting until you board. Onboard pricing tends to run higher, and the package value math gets worse when the price climbs. If you already know you want a package, lock it in before you sail.

There is one more reason to decide early. Cabin fares sometimes come bundled with Plus or Premier built in, which changes the real cost of the package to almost nothing. When you compare fares, always check whether a package is already included before you buy one separately.

How To Run Your Own Number In Two Minutes

You do not need a spreadsheet to make this call, just a real look at a normal cruise day. Picture your typical morning, afternoon, and evening, and list every drink you would actually order across all three. Be realistic rather than aspirational, because the goal is the number you will hit.

Once you have that list, rough out the a la carte cost using low teens for cocktails, a few dollars for specialty coffees, and a couple of dollars for sodas and waters. Add that to the gratuity charge you would pay anyway and the Wi-Fi you would buy. If the total beats the package price, the package wins.

Do this once for yourself and once for your travel partner, since the cabin rule means you both pay. The exercise takes about two minutes and it removes all the guesswork. That is the same simple method I use with clients before I tell them which way to go.

✈️ WORK WITH ME

Want help deciding if a package pays off for your sailing? I'm a travel advisor and I book cruises at no extra cost, and I'll run the math with you. Get a free quote and grab my free tips on Substack: substack.com/@jacksonjetsetting.

A Quick Worked Example

Picture a seven day cruise for two people who each order a morning coffee, a couple of waters, and three or four standard cocktails per day. That is roughly six or seven covered items each, mostly in the low teens for the cocktails. At a la carte prices that easily clears $65 per person before you add Wi-Fi or gratuities.

For that couple, Plus is the clear winner, and Premier would be wasted money since none of their drinks hit the 16 to $20 tier. Now swap in a couple who drinks premium wine and plans four specialty dinners. That second couple recovers the Premier upgrade through dining and pours, so the same trip flips the answer.

The Hidden Value People Forget To Count

When most people compare these packages, they only think about drinks, and that is a mistake. The package is three things bundled together, which are beverages, Wi-Fi, and your daily crew appreciation. Pricing out all three separately is the only fair way to judge whether the package saves you money.

Wi-Fi on Princess is not cheap if you buy it on its own, and a week of connectivity adds up fast. Crew appreciation runs roughly $16 to $18 per person per day no matter what, so it is a cost you cannot avoid. Once you stack those two fixed pieces against the daily package price, the drinks only have to cover a surprisingly small remainder.

This is why so many cruisers who think they barely drink still come out ahead with Plus. You are not paying $65 a day for cocktails alone. You are paying for the whole bundle, and a big slice of that bundle is money you would spend regardless.

Light Drinkers And Mixed Cabins

The trickiest case is the cabin where one person drinks and the other mostly does not. Because Princess requires everyone in the room to buy the same package, the non drinker still pays full price. That can quietly turn a good deal into a bad one if you are not paying attention.

Here is how I think through it for clients. Add up the realistic daily spend for both people combined, including coffee, water, and any sodas the lighter drinker would buy. Then compare that combined number to two package prices, and let the bigger number lose.

Often the package still wins because the gratuities and Wi-Fi are baked in for both people anyway. But not always, and on a longer sailing the gap can swing either way. The point is to actually run it rather than assume, because the cabin rule changes the answer more than anything else.

cocktail bar tropical view

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to buy a package at all? No. Standard fare lets you pay for drinks, Wi-Fi, and gratuities a la carte. Packages only save money if your spending would otherwise exceed the daily price.

Does everyone in the cabin have to buy the same package? Yes. All adults in a stateroom must purchase the same tier, so you cannot split Plus and Premier or have one adult skip it.

What counts toward my daily drink limit on Plus? Alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks both count, including specialty coffees, bottled water, sodas, and mocktails. The cap is 15 drinks per day, which most people never reach.

Is Premier worth it just for the drinks? Rarely. The drink ceiling only rises from about $15 to $20, so Premier earns its keep through unlimited specialty dining and the extras, not drinks alone.

Can I buy a package after I board? Usually yes, but onboard pricing runs higher than the pre cruise rate. Buying ahead protects the value math, so decide before you sail when you can.

Is the package price the same on every ship? Not quite. The newest Sphere class ships carry slightly higher daily rates for both packages, so check your specific sailing before you assume a number.

Final Thoughts

The answer is that Plus fits most cruisers and Premier fits a narrower group. If you drink standard cocktails, beer, wine, coffee, and sodas, Plus almost always pays off once you account for the gratuities baked in. Premier is for premium drinkers who also plan to live in the specialty restaurants.

Run your own day in your head, count every drink, and add the cover charges you would actually pay. If you want a second set of eyes on the numbers for your specific cabin and sailing, that is exactly the kind of thing I help clients with at no extra cost.

More cruise reads:

Mark Jackson
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