Retired-N-Happy

I know, it's a northeast thing. I grew up in Philly and have traveled to both NYC and Boston for work when I did work. I got into a discussion with my wife's daughter about the difference between sauce and gravy and I said the difference is when you add meat, the simmering tomato sauce instantly becomes gravy. She then understood.

Isn't it SOS?

So basically you could possibly make the package work without consuming alcohol but if you did buy the package you would over consume on fresh OJ and espresso and you figure you can just do without. Understand.

I was under the impression that you were allowed to bring a single bottle of wine on board on embarkation day only while cruising in the Caribbean. Did not realize that you could bring on additional bottles via each port visit. We don't drink wine, so it doesn't matter to us one way or another. I know things are different with European ports.

There is no tax or gratuities on the plus and premier packages, so it's a flat 60 or 80 per day. We're not wine drinkers, so I'm very surprised you're able to just bring a bottle back on board at a Caribbean cruise port. You certainly can't bring back a bottle of Grey Goose. Everything gets scanned and then you have the naughty table that you're supposed to deposit your goodies so they hold it until the last night. We're currently 8 points shy on RCI. Have a 7 day booked for March on the Odyssey out of Bayonne. Frustrating that our next cruise would not let us achieve the Diamond status perks.

But if you cruised on any "damn" ship, that would lock you into HAL. 😄

Not kidding at all. Talk to some Italian grandmothers in South Philly, the little Italy section of Manhattan or the Back Bay in Boston. Sunday pasta with assorted included meats is served with gravy, not sauce.

Yep. 80 nights needed to reach Diamond. Most of RCI's cruises are 7 days, so 11 cruises @ 7 days and a short 3 day , so it could take a dozen cruises to reach Diamond. Even if you somehow averaged 8 days with a few longer ones, it would still take 10 cruises to become Diamond and you'd get those free four drinks on cruise 11.

Sunday pasta with marinara sauce is just that, marinara sauce. Once you factor in the addition of meatballs or sausage, it becomes gravy because of the introduction of meat.

LOL. And if tomato sauce on pasta contains meatballs, it's gravy since meat is involved, not sauce.

No, drinks are cheaper on Princess. A bottle of Blue Moon or a bottle of Michelob Ultra is 7.50 on Princess. They are both 11.00 on Celebrity and not covered by their standard drink package.

I feel the same way. Have never bought wifi and never will. So our 44 is covered by 3 drinks at Good Spirits. Then all of the other components of the package is gravy.

I never said anything about spending 35 per day on soda pop. But if you take the reduced price 15 for WiFi and add 16 for gratuities, you need 29 for all of the other aspects to make it worthwhile. If you put 4.00 towards casual meals, you're at 25 per day. If you don't care about any of the other components of the package, it's 25 towards any of the other drinks that are not free. Fresh juice(8) fancy coffee(4) San Pellegrino(3.5) etc can easily hit that 25 even without a drop of alcohol.

You need to hit 80 nights on RCI to get your four free drinks once you earn Diamond status. And it starts on the first cruise after 80, not during the cruise you hit 80 on. And RCI, just like Carnival have no cost saving packages. The big two get enough cruisers without needing to have packages as a marketing ploy.

The discussion is not about a soda package. It's about all of the various components of the Plus package @ 60.00. Over 50% of the package is gratuities and wifi. You then have medallion shipping, casual meals, and ocean now activation as three different components before you even start mentioning the drinks package. You state that the beverages in the package are not healthy. Is fresh squeezed OJ, an espresso or bottled water not healthy? I can see if you only drink hot tea, hot coffee and tap water, so you'd be against the package but please don't blow smoke and imply that all of the components of the drinks package are all unhealthy.