Should You Buy Princess Plus or Princess Premier?

Princess Cruises sells two upgrade bundles on top of the standard fare: Princess Plus and Princess Premier. Plus runs from £50 per person per night, Premier from £75. Both bundle drinks, dining, Wi-Fi and gratuities into a single daily rate. The decision turns on three things: how much you’d drink and dine off-menu anyway, whether you’d buy Wi-Fi for multiple devices, and whether the speciality dining and photo credits in Premier are inclusions you’d actually use.

This guide walks through the maths. If you want the full inclusions list and live pricing, our Princess drinks packages page lays out every benefit. For sailings themselves, the Princess Cruises page lists every voyage we hold.

Call our specialists on 020 7947 0270 once you have a shortlist.

30-second view: Plus, Premier or neither?

You typically…	Tier worth shortlisting
Drink wine with dinner and 1-2 cocktails or beers per day	Princess Plus
Prefer premium spirits, prosecco, or want more than 15 drinks per day	Princess Premier
Sail solo and rarely drink alcohol	Skip the upgrade
Need Wi-Fi for multiple devices, video calls or streaming	Princess Premier (Plus is one device only)
Want to try speciality dining more than once per voyage	Princess Premier (unlimited speciality dining)
Sailing 7+ nights and want shore-excursion savings	Princess Premier ($300 per guest credit)
Booking Sun Princess or Star Princess	Same pattern, slightly higher prices (£55 / £80)

The split between the two is essentially a question of speciality dining and Wi-Fi. If you’d visit a speciality restaurant once on a seven-night voyage, Plus probably wins on maths. If you’d visit two or three times and want streaming Wi-Fi on top, Premier closes the gap fast.

What’s in Princess Plus

Princess Plus is the entry-level upgrade. Priced at £50 per person per night on most ships, or £55 on the newer Sun Princess and Star Princess, it bundles six things into one daily rate:

The Plus Beverage Package covers up to 15 drinks per day at a menu price of $15 or less per drink. That includes cocktails, spirits, wine, beer, speciality coffees, soft drinks and bottled water across every Princess bar and lounge.

Unlimited speciality coffees and teas beyond the alcoholic limit, so morning cappuccinos and afternoon teas don’t eat into the 15-drink count.

Casual dining at selected venues with four meals per guest across the voyage. This covers Princess’s quick-service restaurants and gastropubs rather than its full speciality dining inventory.

Unlimited room service and OceanNow delivery with no per-order fees. OceanNow is Princess’s app-based delivery service that brings drinks and food to wherever you are on the ship.

MedallionNet Wi-Fi for one device per guest, with one login that switches between devices but only one connected at a time. Adequate for email and browsing, restrictive for streaming.

Daily crew appreciation (gratuities) included in the package price. On a standard fare these would be charged separately at around $16-$18 per person per day depending on cabin grade.

For a couple on a seven-night sailing, the £50 per person per night Plus upgrade equates to £350 each, or £700 for the cabin. Against the cabin’s worth of drinks, daily gratuities and Wi-Fi at standard rates, Plus pays back for any couple who’d drink more than two drinks per day each.

What’s in Princess Premier

Princess Premier is the higher-tier upgrade, priced at £75 per person per night (£80 on Sun and Star Princess). It includes everything in Princess Plus, plus five further inclusions:

The Premier Beverage Package lifts the drinks allowance to unlimited and raises the per-drink menu price to $20. That covers premium spirits, prosecco, higher-tier wines and the broader cocktail menu.

Unlimited speciality dining across the ship’s restaurants, including Sabatini’s, Crown Grill and the rotating chef’s table experiences. On a standard fare or with Plus, these would carry per-meal cover charges of around $35-$45.

MedallionNet Wi-Fi for multiple devices simultaneously per guest. Enough for streaming, video calls, work-from-sea and sharing photos in real time.

Reserved theatre seating for select shows on board, including the celebrity entertainer programmes.

Unlimited digital photos and prints, which on a standard fare would cost roughly $20-$30 per print or $200+ for a digital package.

Shore excursion credit of up to $300 per guest, applied across Princess’s shore-excursion inventory. On a seven-night Caribbean or Mediterranean voyage with two excursions per port, this is a meaningful saving.

For the same couple on a seven-night sailing, Premier at £75 per person per night totals £525 each, or £1,050 for the cabin. The extra £350 over Plus is justified primarily by speciality dining usage and the shore excursion credit. If you’d eat at speciality restaurants more than once and use the shore credit on a single tour, the Premier upgrade is good value. If you wouldn’t, it isn’t.

When the upgrade is worth buying

The break-even maths is simpler than the brochure makes it look.

Princess Plus is good value if any of the following apply: you’d buy three or more drinks per day at standard onboard prices, you’d use Wi-Fi for email and messaging at sea, or you’d otherwise be paying daily gratuities separately at full rate. For most adult cruisers on Princess, Plus passes the maths test on cruises of three nights or more.

Princess Premier is worth the extra step if you’d visit speciality restaurants more than once per voyage, if you need Wi-Fi for streaming or multiple devices, or if you’d book shore excursions worth £150+ per guest anyway. The shore excursion credit alone covers most of the differential on longer voyages where two or three tours are likely. On a seven-night sailing with a heavy port itinerary, Premier often closes the gap on Plus despite the higher headline price.

Skip the upgrade entirely if you’re a low-volume drinker, you don’t use Wi-Fi at sea, and you’d eat in the main dining rooms throughout. Our specialists always recommend choosing the tier that matches your actual usage rather than picking one by default.

Booking rules worth knowing

Princess Plus and Premier must be added at the time of booking, in advance up to four days before departure, or onboard once you sail. The cheapest option is always at the time of booking. Adding in advance is still cheaper than onboard pricing.

Both adults in a cabin pay the upgrade rate if either chooses it. Princess applies the same all-adults-must-match rule we see across the industry.

You can upgrade from Plus to Premier mid-voyage by paying the per-night difference for the days remaining. Downgrading is not generally permitted once the voyage starts.

The package is non-transferable and tied to your Princess Medallion. Drinks ordered for someone else won’t count against your allowance, but the unused allowance doesn’t roll over either. Use it or lose it.

“The Princess Plus or Premier decision usually comes down to two things: how often the couple would actually book speciality dining, and whether they need streaming Wi-Fi. On a seven-night sailing where they’d visit Sabatini’s or Crown Grill twice, Premier nearly always works. On a four-night Caribbean hop where they’d eat in the main dining room every night, Plus wins. I’ve seen guests default to Premier on a short cruise and leave most of the speciality dining and photo credits on the table, so we always work through the actual usage rather than the headline price.”

— Robin, cruise specialist at Paramount Cruises

How Princess Plus and Premier compare to other lines’ bundled fares

Princess Plus and Premier sit in the middle of the industry’s bundled-fare spectrum, with comparable structures across all the major lines.

Cunard’s Signature Package bundles a Beverage Collection, Essential Wi-Fi and a speciality dining credit. The Premium Signature Package upgrades each component. Closest in structure to Princess Plus and Premier among the lines we sell.

NCL Free at Sea includes drinks, speciality dining credits, Wi-Fi minutes and shore excursion credits in a single fare-length-priced upgrade. Plus tier adds unlimited Wi-Fi and premium drinks. Pricing model differs (per-cruise rather than per-night) but inclusion structure is similar.

P&O Cruises’ Classic and Deluxe packages follow the same three-component structure (drinks + Wi-Fi + dining credit) but at British price points and venues. The most direct UK-fleet comparison to Princess Plus.

MSC Cruises’ drinks packages sit alongside their fare experience tiers (Bella, Fantastica, Aurea) rather than as bundled fares, with a different overall structure.

Whether Princess’s version is better value than a competitor’s depends on the specific sailing, cabin grade and your usage pattern. Our specialists run the comparison for you when you’re choosing between operators.

Talking to a specialist before you book

The Plus or Premier decision is sensitive to itinerary, cabin choice and travelling party. Our specialists book Princess departures every week and can run the maths for your specific sailing, including the speciality dining usage forecast and the shore excursion credit value for your itinerary.

The questions worth bringing into that conversation: how many drinks per day you’d actually consume, how often you’d book speciality dining, whether you need Wi-Fi for streaming or video calls, and whether you’d book shore excursions independently at standard rates.

FAQs

Plan your Princess cruise with Paramount Cruises

Browse our full range of Princess cruises for current itineraries and prices, or call our specialists on 020 7947 0270 to plan a sailing around your dates, preferred ship and package choice.

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By Josh Harris. Last updated: 20 May 2026.