AIBP changes survey

The new T&C does state:

 

if dining at a specialty venue, a large one-liter bottle of water, still or sparkling, is covered by the package

 

What a "specialty venue" consists of remains to be seen.

 

But should I ever get the package I will order bottle after small bottle of San Pellegrino at every lunch and dinner until they get the message. Thinking the large bottle will be restored at least in the MDR once they figure out how cost-ineffective the small ones are.

This speaks to my question above. Are you sure they have small bottles of Pellegrino?

I'm wondering if they will introduce a budget AIBP next

They already have a budget version. It's called "PAGO", ie, Pay As You Go.

You will find that you save money and still get all you want to drink.

The new T&C does state:

 

if dining at a specialty venue, a large one-liter bottle of water, still or sparkling, is covered by the package

 

What a "specialty venue" consists of remains to be seen.

 

But should I ever get the package I will order bottle after small bottle of San Pellegrino at every lunch and dinner until they get the message. Thinking the large bottle will be restored at least in the MDR once they figure out how cost-ineffective the small ones are.

The restaurants - Crown Grill, Sabi's SHARE, etc.

from Australia at $59 yes we always bought it but now at an increase of 45% no way wont buy it anymore, on a 12 dayer that's an increase of $630.

I'm with you 100% ,Marty. Tradewinds and Windjammers will be a quieter place from now on.

From the package info:

"The package is not available for voyages of fewer than 7 nights for Australia-based itineraries or fewer than 2 nights for all other itineraries"

It is available on a 3 day cruise.

Thrak .......Pellegrino comes with the elite bar set up in small bottles.....so my guess would be it is available ship wide??

No way.

The new T&C does state:

 

if dining at a specialty venue, a large one-liter bottle of water, still or sparkling, is covered by the package

 

What a "specialty venue" consists of remains to be seen.

 

But should I ever get the package I will order bottle after small bottle of San Pellegrino at every lunch and dinner until they get the message. Thinking the large bottle will be restored at least in the MDR once they figure out how cost-ineffective the small ones are.

Yup, my wife and I usually order a 1L bottle of sparkling water in the MDR for dinner. (We both have the AIBP package, so no illicit sharing going on). I know for sure that they have small bottles of Perrier aboard (just not sure about the size though) so we'll probably just order a few of those at a time for dinner (and hopefully there are small bottles of San Pellegrino available too).

As for breakfast, we would typically have a mimosa or two, especially on sea days. It's not even a full glass of alcohol, so no way would I now use 2 of the 15 drink limit on those, so from now on, it's stop off at the IC on the way to breakfast, grab a small bottle of Korbell and a glass each and I'll order the OJ at the table. Should be able to get 3 mimosasa each for 1 drink "chit" ;)

I'm used to to brining wine from Vines to the MDR as the wine options are so much better there than what's available on the MDR by the glass wine list, so no biggie to also do it for breakfast.

At these prices? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

this kind of money for the privilege of drinking sodas, waters, coffee drinks, milkshakes,mediocre wine, and cocktails? Crazy. IMHO. We don't drink a lot of that anyway.

If it isn't included in the promption (without the price being totally jacked up) on Princess or HAL, I will sail with a different cruise line. I hate the nickel and dime routine.

I still prefer to bring up to 6 bottles of wine onboard @ the corkage fee then worry about the package.

Maybe a coffee card to boot as well but most of my drinking is just before and during dinner.

I will still continue to consider X as they offer a similar package as Perk with water included. You know you do have choices.

I still prefer to bring up to 6 bottles of wine onboard @ the corkage fee then worry about the package.

 

Maybe a coffee card to boot as well but most of my drinking is just before and during dinner.

 

I will still continue to consider X as they offer a similar package as Perk with water included. You know you do have choices.

I like this option as well. The corkage fee is minimal for a good bottle of wine.

Nope, we haven't ever had it before. Are looking forward to trying it out on our next cruise since we have Sip and Sale. But neither of us drink alcohol.

If no Sip and Sale I like the PAGO (Pay As You Go) mentioned above.

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From the package info:

Thrak .......Pellegrino comes with the elite bar set up in small bottles.....so my guess would be it is available ship wide??

Many thanks! Not being Elite I've never gotten the mini bar setup. Someday... :D

I still prefer to bring up to 6 bottles of wine onboard @ the corkage fee then worry about the package.

 

Maybe a coffee card to boot as well but most of my drinking is just before and during dinner.

 

I will still continue to consider X as they offer a similar package as Perk with water included. You know you do have choices.

I can't see 6 bottles of wine lasting us on a 28 day cruise... Nope. Not gonna happen. :p

Nope, we haven't ever had it before. Are looking forward to trying it out on our next cruise since we have Sip and Sale. But neither of us drink alcohol.

 

If no Sip and Sale I like the PAGO (Pay As You Go) mentioned above.

 

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If neither of you drink alcohol why not trade it in for the OBC instead?

If neither of you drink alcohol why not trade it in for the OBC instead?

That's an idea. I didn't realize that was an option until I re-read the fine print after final payment. Our thought process was that we would enjoy the fresh squeezed orange juice at breakfast, teas and coffees at IC, and mocktails at the piano bar. The OBC isn't the full value of the AIBP.

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Won't buy it.

I have never purchased the alcohol package as I don't drink enough to make it pay. I have received the S'n'S benefit several times and have it on my next few cruises and have found it very convenient. However not convenient enough to pay for it. I will continue to pay for my drinks if I don't have the S'n'S. So the price raise does not impact me.

Does Princess offer Pellegrino in smaller bottles or is this simply not an option any longer?

They most definitely do! Hubby and I just got off Coral today and we each went through several of those smaller bottles on every day of the cruise.

They most definitely do! Hubby and I just got off Coral today and we each went through several of those smaller bottles on every day of the cruise.

We board on the 8th for 28 days. 18 of those are sea days and we booked under the Sip and Sail last year. Glad I can have some Pellegrino. (Did you know it's owned by Nestle? The list of companies owned by Nestle is long...)

No!!!

They most definitely do! Hubby and I just got off Coral today and we each went through several of those smaller bottles on every day of the cruise.

So, as several have suggested, it's rather short-sighted of Princess to restrict AIBP users to small bottles as they will simply ask for more and more and Princess incurs higher cost per ounce for small containers. What's the difference between giving someone one large bottle versus two small ones? IDK, maybe they feel the large bottles get taken away to other places or cabins and shared with non AIBP types???? It must be a hard balance for them to try and have a fair program and at the same time not make it easy for cheaters.

As a compromise on cans I don't see why not include cans where product not served by other means and then just open the can and provide a straw or pour into a glass (if they are concerned the can is passed off to someone else).

I am just looking at it as someone from the outside looking in as there is no value in a AIBP for me.

No!

To spend that much each and every day is just not going to happen on our 14 day cruise. The total price would be too silly to contemplate.

Besides, if you spend a lot of time off the ship you wouldn't get a chance to spend it anyway, in all probability you'd be drinking high value cocktails just for the sake of getting your monies worth and probably not feeling 100% up for it the next day!

No. We've bought the drinks package on previous cruises. At $59 it was borderline for us but as we enjoy fresh OJ for breakfast, espresso coffee, sparkling mineral water, as well as cocktails and wine, it was worth it especially for the convenience.. However we are bored with the below average quality of the wines by the glass so, given the price hike, we will no longer bother buying the package.

What I'd like to see is Princess Australia offering the wine packages. We've had one of those on our current Royal cruise at it was great until they ran out of 25% of the wines on the MDR wine list. Note: Carnival has two very good wine packages so why can't Princess offer them here?

If there is a wine package I'll buy in to that, we will usually drink a bottle between us with dinner. Maybe buy the beer basket before and a G&T after dinner and that will do us nicely. Half the cost of the package.