Booking a Princess Cruises holiday comes with an extra decision: do you stick with the standard cruise fare, add Princess Plus or go one step further with Princess Premier?
There isn’t one answer that works for everyone. If you enjoy a few drinks each day, want Wi-Fi and would normally pay your crew appreciation separately, Princess Plus can be relatively easy to justify. Princess Premier costs more, but the addition of unlimited speciality dining, premium drinks and several other benefits can make sense if you are actually going to use them.
The key is not to look at the longest possible list of inclusions. It is to work out which ones you would genuinely pay for without the package.
If you are looking for the complete list of benefits, prices and standalone beverage options, our guide to Princess Plus, Princess Premier and Princess drinks packages has the latest details. This guide is about something slightly different: which package is likely to suit you?
Princess Plus, Princess Premier or Neither?
For most guests, the choice becomes easier once you think about how you normally spend your time on board.
Princess Plus is likely to suit you if you enjoy drinks throughout the day, want Wi-Fi, expect to use some casual dining and like having Princess Crew Appreciation already taken care of.
Princess Premier becomes more interesting if speciality dining is an important part of your holiday, you prefer premium drinks, want Wi-Fi across several devices or expect to make use of benefits such as the included shore excursion credit and photo package.
And there is nothing wrong with choosing neither. If you rarely drink alcohol, are happy to disconnect at sea and mainly eat in the restaurants already included within your cruise fare, paying separately may work out better.
How Much Do Princess Plus and Premier Cost?
Princess Plus currently costs £50 per person, per day on most Princess ships, while Princess Premier costs £75 per person, per day when purchased at the pre-cruise rate.
On Sun Princess and Star Princess, the prices are slightly higher at £55 per person, per day for Plus and £80 for Premier.
For a seven-night cruise on most ships, that works out at:
Princess Plus: £350 per person
Princess Premier: £525 per person
For a couple, you are therefore looking at £700 for Plus or £1,050 for Premier over a seven-night cruise.
That might initially sound like a considerable addition to the fare, but the useful comparison is what you would otherwise spend on drinks, Wi-Fi, dining and crew appreciation during the same holiday.
Is Princess Plus Worth It?
For many guests, Princess Plus is probably the easiest package to justify because its main benefits are things you are likely to use every day.
The Plus Beverage Package covers up to 15 included drinks per day priced at up to $15 each, alongside unlimited speciality coffees and teas and a separate daily allowance of smaller bottled waters. You also receive Wi-Fi for one device, four casual dining meals during the cruise, Princess Crew Appreciation and included OceanNow and room service delivery.
You certainly do not need to get anywhere near 15 alcoholic drinks a day for Plus to make sense. A morning coffee, soft drinks or water during the day, wine with dinner and a couple of drinks in the evening can soon add up when purchased individually.
The Wi-Fi and Crew Appreciation are important too. If those are things you would have paid for anyway, the amount of the £50 daily rate that effectively needs to be justified by drinks and dining becomes considerably smaller.
Princess Plus is likely to work well if you:
- Enjoy a few alcoholic drinks each day
- Drink speciality coffee, soft drinks or bottled water regularly
- Want Wi-Fi throughout your cruise
- Expect to use the included casual dining meals
- Prefer having Crew Appreciation included before you sail
It becomes less compelling if you drink very little, are happy without Wi-Fi and mainly plan to eat in the restaurants already included within your standard cruise fare.
Is Princess Premier Worth the Extra Cost?
Princess Premier is a different calculation.
On most ships it costs £25 per person, per day more than Princess Plus, so on a seven-night cruise the difference is £175 per person or £350 for a couple.
The question is therefore not really whether Premier offers more, it clearly does, but whether you will use enough of those additional benefits to justify that extra £25 each day.
The biggest difference for us is dining. Princess Premier includes unlimited casual and speciality dining, while Princess Plus includes four casual dining meals and no speciality dining.
If you enjoy trying different restaurants and can see yourself eating at venues such as Crown Grill or Sabatini’s several times during the cruise, that immediately makes Premier more attractive. If you are perfectly happy eating in the main dining rooms most evenings, the value is much harder to find.
Premier also raises the included drink price to $20 and removes the 15-drink daily limit, while Wi-Fi increases from one device per guest to four.
There are then the additional extras: unlimited digital photographs plus three prints, reserved seating for selected theatre shows and shore excursion credit.
Don’t Overvalue the Princess Premier Shore Excursion Credit
This is one inclusion where it is worth looking at the detail rather than simply seeing the headline “up to $300”.
For current Princess Premier packages, the shore excursion credit is:
6–9 day cruises: $100 per guest
10–20 day cruises: $200 per guest
21 days or longer: $300 per guest
The credit can be used towards eligible Princess shore excursions for that voyage, but unused credit cannot be refunded or carried over.
So on a typical seven-night Mediterranean or Caribbean cruise, you should value the benefit at $100 per person, not $300.
It is still useful if you were going to book a Princess excursion anyway, but I wouldn’t choose Premier purely because you have seen the $300 headline.
The Dining Difference Could Make the Decision for You
If I were comparing Plus and Premier, this is probably where I would start.
Princess Plus now includes four casual dining meals per guest per voyage, which is generous enough for many guests who simply want a little more variety during the week. Princess Premier gives you unlimited casual dining and unlimited speciality dining.
That makes Premier considerably more appealing to someone who sees dining as a big part of their holiday.
If your ideal week involves trying several speciality restaurants, returning to a favourite later in the cruise and mixing those with casual venues at lunchtime, Premier has a clear advantage.
If you are just as happy having most dinners in the main dining room and perhaps paying separately for one speciality meal, Plus may still make considerably more sense.
What About the Drinks?
The drinks packages sound similar until you look at what you actually order.
Princess Plus includes alcoholic drinks priced up to $15 each, with a maximum of 15 included alcoholic beverages during the daily package period. Speciality coffees and teas are unlimited and do not count towards that limit, while smaller bottled waters have their own allowance.
Princess Premier increases the individual drink limit to $20 and removes the daily alcoholic drinks limit.
For most people, I don’t think the unlimited quantity should be the reason to upgrade. Fifteen alcoholic drinks is already a substantial daily allowance.
The more relevant question is whether the wines, cocktails and spirits you prefer regularly sit above the $15 Plus limit. If they do, Premier starts to become more interesting.
What About Wi-Fi?
Both packages include Princess’ MedallionNet Max Wi-Fi, but there is an important difference in the number of devices.
Princess Plus includes access for one device per guest, whereas Princess Premier allows up to four devices per guest. Princess describes MedallionNet Max as suitable for activities including streaming and video calling.
For many couples, one device each will be plenty.
Premier becomes more useful if you regularly switch between a phone, tablet and laptop, need to work during the cruise or simply don’t want to keep changing which device is connected.
Are the Princess Premier Photos Worth Anything to You?
Premier includes unlimited digital photographs taken by Princess’ onboard photographers, plus three printed photographs for each eligible package guest.
This is one of those benefits that is either genuinely valuable or worth almost nothing depending on how you holiday.
If you enjoy having professional photos taken during formal evenings and around the ship, it is a nice inclusion. If you normally walk straight past the photographers, don’t include the full retail value of the package when convincing yourself Premier is a bargain.
The same logic applies to reserved theatre seating. It is useful if you value having a dedicated Premier section for selected productions, but it shouldn’t be what swings the decision on its own.
When I Would Choose Princess Plus
For a fairly typical seven-night Princess cruise, I think Plus is the natural starting point.
If you’re going to have coffees during the day, a drink around the pool, wine with dinner and a couple of drinks in the evening, while also wanting Wi-Fi, Plus starts to make sense without having to deliberately “get your money’s worth”.
It also keeps the holiday simple. Drinks, Wi-Fi, Crew Appreciation, delivery and some casual dining are already covered, but you’re not paying for a long list of Premier extras you may never use.
For plenty of Princess guests, that is probably the sweet spot.
When I Would Choose Princess Plus
For a fairly typical seven-night Princess cruise, I think Plus is the natural starting point.
If you’re going to have coffees during the day, a drink around the pool, wine with dinner and a couple of drinks in the evening, while also wanting Wi-Fi, Plus starts to make sense without having to deliberately “get your money’s worth”.
It also keeps the holiday simple. Drinks, Wi-Fi, Crew Appreciation, delivery and some casual dining are already covered, but you’re not paying for a long list of Premier extras you may never use.
For plenty of Princess guests, that is probably the sweet spot.
“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
When I Would Skip Both Packages
There are guests for whom neither package makes much sense.
If you don’t drink alcohol, only want the occasional coffee or soft drink, enjoy disconnecting while you’re away and plan to eat mainly in the included restaurants, a standard Princess fare may be all you need.
Princess also sells standalone beverage options, including alcohol-free packages, so Plus and Premier are not the only choices available.
That’s why I wouldn’t start with the question “Which package is better value?” I’d start with “What would I actually buy if I didn’t have a package?”
That usually makes the answer much clearer.
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.
Booking a Princess Cruise & Stay with Paramount Cruises?
There is one important difference if you’re looking at one of our own Princess Cruise & Stay packages.
Princess Plus is included as standard across Paramount Cruises’ Princess Cruise & Stay packages, so you don’t need to add the package separately when comparing the overall holiday price.
That means drinks, Wi-Fi, casual dining benefits and Princess Crew Appreciation are already built into the package. You can then decide whether the additional benefits of Princess Premier make upgrading worthwhile for your particular cruise.
Plan your Princess cruise with Paramount Cruises
There is one important difference if you’re looking at one of our own Princess Cruise & Stay packages.
Princess Plus is included as standard across Paramount Cruises’ Princess Cruise & Stay packages, so you don’t need to add the package separately when comparing the overall holiday price.
That means drinks, Wi-Fi, casual dining benefits and Princess Crew Appreciation are already built into the package. You can then decide whether the additional benefits of Princess Premier make upgrading worthwhile for your particular cruise.
Princess Plus vs Princess Premier: Our Verdict
I wouldn’t automatically choose Princess Premier simply because it includes more.
For many guests, Princess Plus offers the better balance. It covers the things you are most likely to use every day without pushing the package cost too high.
Premier is most compelling when you can immediately identify the extras you’ll use: several speciality dining meals, premium drinks, multiple Wi-Fi devices and a Princess shore excursion. If those are already part of how you intend to holiday, paying the difference makes much more sense.
And if you aren’t going to use the drinks, Wi-Fi or dining benefits regularly, skip both. The best package isn’t the one with the longest list of inclusions; it’s the one that most closely matches how you actually spend your time on board.
Find Your Princess Cruise
Ready to start planning? Browse our latest Princess Cruises or explore our full guide to Princess Plus, Princess Premier and Princess drinks packages for the latest inclusions and pricing.
Our cruise specialists can also help you compare the fare options for a particular sailing and work out whether Plus or Premier makes the most sense for your holiday.
By Josh Harris. Last updated: 9 Sep 2026.
