Princess Plus and Premier Packages: When the Bundle Beats À La Carte Add-Ons

Three fare columns at Princess checkout

A couple on princess.com has a Regal Princess 7-night Western Caribbean sailing at about $716 inside — then checkout adds a second column: Princess Plus at roughly $65 per person per day. One clicks "see what's included" while the other opens a spreadsheet to see whether MedallionNet and prepaid tips alone justify the bump.

That is the decision Princess forces on nearly every booking now. You pick Standard, Princess Plus, or Princess Premier — three fare columns on the same cabin, not a free upgrade buried in fine print. The headline cabin price looks good, but the final value depends on whether you would buy Wi‑Fi, crew appreciation, drinks, and excursions à la carte anyway.

If you read our Spring to Summer sale deadline guide, you already know promo timing. This post is the permanent package framework: what each tier adds and when the daily bundle rate clears break-even.

What Plus and Premier actually bundle

Standard is base fare plus whatever you buy onboard or pre-cruise. Princess Plus folds in MedallionNet Wi‑Fi, crew appreciation (gratuities), a shore-excursion credit, and specialty dining meals. Princess Premier keeps those and adds unlimited drinks, photos, and larger excursion credits. Unlimited alcohol is Premier only — Plus does not include a drink package.

On 6–9 night cruises, Plus typically carries a $100 shore-excursion credit per Princess's package page. Credits step up on longer sailings ($200 and $300 tiers on longer itineraries — confirm the tier for your cruise length on princess.com before you count it in your math).

Standard crew appreciation runs $18–$20 per person per day depending on stateroom category. Plus and Premier include that charge so you are not paying it separately at checkout or settlement. If gratuity mechanics are new to you, Mark Bennett's gratuities primer walks through how crew appreciation works outside the package columns.

Seven nights on Regal Princess: the math

When we checked on June 20, 2026, princess.com showed Plus at about $65–$70 per person per day and Premier at about $100–$110 per person per day. Promotional asterisks can shift slightly by sailing — always confirm the daily rate on your exact departure.

Take the Regal Princess 7-night Western Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale departing Aug. 8, 2026. Inside from about $716 landed per person when we searched. Plus at ~$65/day adds roughly $455 per person for the week ($65 × 7).

Stack that against realistic à la carte spend before you flirt with Premier's ~$100/day drink tier:

• Crew appreciation at $18/day × 7 nights ≈ $126 (inside/balcony baseline; suites run higher)
• MedallionNet pre-cruise often lands around $25/day on a full-cruise plan — call it ~$175 for seven days
• Plus's $100 shore-excursion credit only helps if you book a qualifying tour through Princess

Add gratuity and Wi‑Fi alone and you are already brushing $300 per person before specialty dining or extra excursions. Plus starts to look rational if you were going to buy Wi‑Fi and prepay tips anyway. Premier's jump to ~$700 per person ($100 × 7) only pencils if unlimited drinks and the larger Premier inclusions match how you actually cruise — not because the label sounds nicer.

The better comparison is price per night on the full landed stack, not the inside lead-in alone. Run Standard plus your expected add-ons against Plus or Premier on the same sailing date.

Quick break-even checklist

Ten minutes at checkout beats a surprise when the upgrade column costs more than your drink tab.

Run this pass on your shortlist:

• Note Standard landed fare on your cabin category, not the inside teaser
• Multiply Plus or Premier daily rate × nights × travelers — everyone in the cabin picks the same package tier
• Add up à la carte crew appreciation, MedallionNet, and any drink plan you would realistically buy on Standard
• Credit Plus or Premier excursion and dining inclusions only for activities you would book anyway
• Compare Premier only if Plus already clears break-even and you want unlimited drinks

Package daily rates and base fares change. Re-open checkout on your sailing before you deposit — the ranges here are a framework, not a quote.

When Standard beats the upgrade

Plus and Premier only make sense if you would actually buy the bundled items. Light drinkers, guests who skip ship Wi‑Fi on port-heavy weeks, or travelers who never book specialty dining should compare Standard fare plus only the add-ons you need.

I've seen couples upgrade for MedallionNet, then spend six of seven days on cellular in Cozumel and Roatan. That is $455 of Plus spend for two sea days of Wi‑Fi. Same story if you drink a glass of wine at dinner — Premier's unlimited bar math never catches up.

This is only a deal if the dates and cabin type work for you. Run the numbers on your sailing, because princess.com promotional rates can differ from the ranges quoted here. Standard plus a single add-on you will use beats a package column full of perks you skip.

Compare Princess Caribbean sailings

When we checked June 20, 2026, 524 Princess Caribbean sailings started around $709 per person including taxes on inside lead-ins — package tiers stack on top of that base fare.

Filter sailings you can actually take, open checkout, and toggle Standard vs Plus vs Premier on the same stateroom before you put money down. Pick your sailing, note the Standard fare, then add the Plus or Premier daily rate only if your typical onboard spend clears the break-even line.