If you’re booking a Princess cruise for 2026 or 2027, one of the decisions you’ll need to make is whether to stick with the standard cruise fare, add Princess Plus, or go all the way up to Princess Premier.
We’ve sailed Princess several times, and for us, Princess Plus has traditionally been the sweet spot. We like having most of our vacation expenses taken care of before we ever step onboard. We don’t have to think about the cost of a glass of wine with dinner, Tara’s specialty coffee in the morning, Wi-Fi, or crew appreciation.
But Princess Premier has become more interesting to us. We really enjoy specialty dining, and some of the Premier benefits have definitely made us wonder whether we should give it a try on a future cruise.
So, which package makes the most sense? Here’s how we look at Standard, Plus and Premier, and why we still think Plus works best for us.
Princess Standard vs. Plus vs. Premier
Princess essentially gives you three ways to cruise.
With Princess Standard, you pay the basic cruise fare. Your stateroom, main dining room meals, buffet, entertainment, pools, fitness center and many of the other things you’d expect from a cruise are included.
You then pay separately for extras like alcoholic drinks, specialty coffees, Wi-Fi, crew appreciation, casual dining, specialty dining and other extras.
For most Princess ships, Princess Plus is $65 per person per day when purchased at least 96 hours before sailing.
On a seven-night cruise, that’s $455 per person or $910 for two people.
There is an important exception.
On Sun Princess and Star Princess, Princess Plus is $70 per person per day. That makes Plus $490 per person or $980 for two people on a seven-night cruise.
That distinction is especially important to us because we’ll be sailing on Sun Princess in January 2027.
Princess Premier also costs a little more on those two ships. Premier is currently $100 per person per day on most Princess ships and $105 per person per day on Sun Princess and Star Princess when purchased before sailing.
So, when comparing package prices, make sure you’re looking at the price for your particular ship.
What Does Princess Plus Include?
Princess Plus includes many of the extras we would probably purchase anyway.
Plus currently includes:
- Drinks up to $15 each, subject to Princess’s daily alcoholic beverage limit
- Specialty coffees and teas
- Fountain sodas and zero-alcohol cocktails
- Bottled water
- MedallionNet Max Wi-Fi for one device per guest
- Crew appreciation
- Four casual dining meals per guest per voyage
- OceanNow delivery
- Room service delivery
For us, that’s a pretty good combination.
Why Princess Plus Is a Good Deal for Us
We don’t buy Princess Plus because we plan to drink 15 alcoholic beverages every day. We definitely don’t!
The value for us comes from everything combined.
We’re going to pay crew appreciation anyway. We both want Wi-Fi. We’ll have some drinks during the day and usually wine with dinner. Tara enjoys her specialty coffee, and we’ll drink plenty of bottled water.
We also get four casual dining meals per person during the cruise.
Once we add everything together, Plus makes sense for the way we vacation.
There’s also something to be said for convenience.
We like getting on the ship knowing most of those expenses are already covered. We can order a drink by the pool, grab a specialty coffee, or have a glass of wine with dinner without thinking about how much we’re adding to our onboard account.
That’s part of the value to us, too.
What Does Princess Premier Add?
Princess Premier includes most of the Plus benefits and then adds some significant extras.
Premier currently includes:
- Beverages up to $20 each
- Unlimited specialty dining
- Unlimited casual dining
- MedallionNet Max Wi-Fi for four devices per guest
- Crew appreciation
- OceanNow delivery
- Room service delivery
- Unlimited digital professional photos plus three prints
- Reserved seating for theatrical shows
- A shore excursion credit
On most Princess ships, Premier costs $35 more per person per day than Plus. The difference is also $35 per person per day on Sun Princess and Star Princess because both packages cost $5 m
For Tara and me on a seven-night cruise, that’s an additional $490 to move from Plus to Premier.
So, we’d want to know we’re going to use those extra benefits.
Why We’re Tempted by Premier
There’s one Premier benefit that really gets our attention: unlimited specialty dining.
We enjoy Princess specialty dining. On our Alaska cruise, we had great meals at Crown Grill and The Catch by Rudi. Specialty dining is something we’re likely to spend money on anyway.
That makes Premier much more tempting to us.
There is one catch, though.
You still need reservations.
We’ve found that it’s important to make specialty dining reservations early, especially if there are particular restaurants and times you want.
If we were paying extra for Premier because of unlimited specialty dining, we’d want to make those reservations as soon as possible. Having unlimited specialty dining isn’t nearly as valuable if the restaurant you want is booked at the times you want to eat.
That’s something we’d definitely plan for if we decide to try Premier.
Traveling With Our College-Age Son Changes the Math
There’s another reason Plus tends to work better for us.
We often cruise with our college-age son, who doesn’t drink alcohol.
Instead of buying him Plus or Premier, we typically purchase Princess’s Classic Soda Package for him. It includes sodas, fruit juices, mocktails and smoothies and works well for the way he cruises.
But that also changes the math when we look at Premier.
If Tara and I purchased Premier, our specialty dining would be included. Since our son wouldn’t have Premier, we’d still have to pay the specialty dining charge for him whenever he joined us.
And we’re probably not going to go off to specialty dinner every night and leave him behind!
So, when we calculate whether Premier is worth the additional cost, we have to look at what it would actually cost our family, not just the advertised value of the package.
For us, that’s another point in favor of Plus.
What About Cruising Without a Package?
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with choosing Princess Standard.
For some cruisers, it could easily be the least expensive option.
Your regular dining, entertainment and many of the things you’d expect from a cruise vacation are already included in your cruise fare. You simply pay separately for the extras you want.
If you don’t drink much, don’t need Wi-Fi, and aren’t interested in casual or specialty dining, Standard may make perfect sense.
The best way to decide is to think about what you would actually purchase without a package.
Would you buy Wi-Fi?
You’re probably going to pay crew appreciation anyway.
Do you drink specialty coffee every morning?
Will you have a couple of cocktails, beers or glasses of wine during the day?
Do you drink soda and bottled water?
Would you use the casual dining restaurants?
If the answer to several of those questions is yes, Plus starts looking pretty attractive.
When Does Premier Make More Sense?
If you’re already considering Plus, we think the better comparison is Plus versus Premier rather than Standard versus Premier.
Would you eat at specialty restaurants several times during your cruise?
Will you use the Princess shore excursion credit?
Do you order drinks that cost more than the Plus limit?
Would you use the photo package?
Do you need Wi-Fi for multiple devices?
Does reserved theater seating appeal to you?
Would you take advantage of unlimited casual dining?
If you’re going to use several of those benefits, Premier may start making more sense.
For us, the specialty dining and shore excursion credit are the two benefits that make us seriously consider it.
What Are We Choosing?
For the way we normally cruise, Princess Plus is still our sweet spot.
It includes the things that matter most to us: crew appreciation, Wi-Fi, drinks, specialty coffee, bottled water and four casual dining meals per person.
We can then pay separately for specialty dining when we want it and purchase the Classic Soda Package for our son.
Most importantly, we’re paying for benefits we know we’re going to use.
Premier is definitely becoming more tempting, though.
We enjoy specialty dining enough that we could see ourselves trying Premier on a future cruise, especially if we know we’re going to eat at several specialty restaurants and use the shore excursion credit.
For our January 2027 Sun Princess cruise, we’ll also get to see how we feel about Plus at the higher $70 per person per day price.
Will it still feel like the sweet spot?
We’ll let you know after we sail!
For now, our advice is simple. Don’t choose a package just because it includes the most benefits. Look at how you actually cruise, what you would pay for anyway, and which benefits you’re really going to use.
For Tara and me, that’s why Princess Plus continues to make the most sense.
Which would you choose for your next Princess cruise: Standard, Plus or Premier?