O Life Drink package - good value or not

Ive done 6 cruises on Oceania and am booked on the 28 day Athens to Miami next August. I have opted for the OLife drink package which includes some wines and beers by the glass at lunch and dinner (only). This is amounting to $30/day per person.

Ive not had this on prior cruises. Drinks with dinner are important to us. What are your impressions of this value compared to simply buying wine and drinks? I recall from prior experience, drinks are pretty expensive.

Is O offering any kind of a corkage option?

Is $10/drink $40/wine bottle what Ill likely pay if we order at the bar or has it gone higher?

There are quite a few threads about the subject. I'm just chipping to note that the value is $39.95, per person, per day.

Ive done 6 cruises on Oceania and am booked on the 28 day Athens to Miami next August. I have opted for the OLife drink package which includes some wines and beers by the glass at lunch and dinner (only). This is amounting to $30/day per person.

 

Ive not had this on prior cruises. Drinks with dinner are important to us. What are your impressions of this value compared to simply buying wine and drinks? I recall from prior experience, drinks are pretty expensive.

 

Is O offering any kind of a corkage option?

 

Is $10/drink $40/wine bottle what Ill likely pay if we order at the bar or has it gone higher?

It is an excellent value, but the included package ONLY covers beer &/or Wine while you are eating a meal. Mixed drinks are excluded, as is anything else while one is not eating.

The good news is that, using that package as a base, you may upgrade to the Prestige Package @ $20 additional per person per day, and that includes full open bar whenever any bar is open on the ship.

Ive done 6 cruises on Oceania and am booked on the 28 day Athens to Miami next August. I have opted for the OLife drink package which includes some wines and beers by the glass at lunch and dinner (only). This is amounting to $30/day per person.

 

 

 

Ive not had this on prior cruises. Drinks with dinner are important to us. What are your impressions of this value compared to simply buying wine and drinks? I recall from prior experience, drinks are pretty expensive.

 

 

 

Is O offering any kind of a corkage option?

 

 

 

Is $10/drink $40/wine bottle what Ill likely pay if we order at the bar or has it gone higher?

This was the offer on our cruise. I am learning to use tapatalk. I hope is fine.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The wines, beers and champagne and sparkling wines were included. Only cocktails and liquors not. The most demanded wines were not available during the whole cruise though.

Ivi

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Another consideration is that the liquor package price includes gratuity. When you purchase drinks without the package, an 18% gratuity is added the price of the drink.

<snip picture>

 

This was the offer on our cruise. I am learning to use tapatalk. I hope is fine.

Look at you posting pictures like a pro. Bodogbodog would be pleased :)

Thanks for recent menu. Always helpful to see something current

Ive done 6 cruises on Oceania and am booked on the 28 day Athens to Miami next August. I have opted for the OLife drink package which includes some wines and beers by the glass at lunch and dinner (only). This is amounting to $30/day per person.

 

Ive not had this on prior cruises. Drinks with dinner are important to us. What are your impressions of this value compared to simply buying wine and drinks? I recall from prior experience, drinks are pretty expensive.

 

Is O offering any kind of a corkage option?

 

Is $10/drink $40/wine bottle what Ill likely pay if we order at the bar or has it gone higher?

As StanandJim wrote O prices that "house select" package at $40. And as per others, you can upgrade to the full Prestige package for an additional $20 pp/pd. And bear n mind that each pax in a cabin can choose if they want to upgrade or not.

O has a $25 per bottle corkage fee for wines brought to public spaces. They will store for another day what is not consumed. The fee is charge on opening the first time.

 

This was the offer on our cruise. I am learning to use tapatalk. I hope is fine.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

La Terre under Red Wines is the most disgusting wine I've ever had. Royal Caribbean serves this as their house wine in their loyalty lounges. I cannot even drink it, it is so gross. And if its true, the better wines aren't available, this is going to be one miserable meal after another for my 24 day trip.

So with the photo posted by travelberlin you are realistically looking at a minimum of $12 per glass of wine if you pay a la carte (since there is the 18% mandatory gratuity added to the per glass price on the wine menu). For bottles from the wine list, I think the realistic starting point is $40 + 18% mandatory gratuity = $40 + $7.20 = $48, although you can save any unfinished bottle for another time.

I think your question is which O-Life option is best for you, and if you go with the current SBC of $1400 for the cabin, assuming $13 a glass average, that would cover about 107 glasses of wine, or almost but under 4 glasses a day (for the cabin) for the 28 days.

If you and your cabin-mate drink wine at lunch and dinner, it looks like the drink package is a better value than the SBC

The other option is for 14 shore excursions, but if you prefer private excursions then you probably don't see the paper value of the excursion (up to $200 per excursion, so paper value is $2800) as the actual value.

Look at you posting pictures like a pro. Bodogbodog would be pleased :)

Thanks for recent menu. Always helpful to see something current

Yes YoHoHo, since I am back and have more time I am learning how to use tapatalk. I was able to post the picture but I still do not know how to search for threads on that application.

Ivi

La Terre under Red Wines is the most disgusting wine I've ever had. Royal Caribbean serves this as their house wine in their loyalty lounges. I cannot even drink it, it is so gross. And if its true, the better wines aren't available, this is going to be one miserable meal after another for my 24 day trip.

I agree. The only reds that were tolerable for us were the Chateau St. Jean Cab and the Noble Vines Merlot. We switched to champaign after a few days. Because of the lousy wine selection, the name of the drink package should be changed from "Prestige Package" to "Less Than Ordinary Package".

I agree. The only reds that were tolerable for us were the Chateau St. Jean Cab and the Noble Vines Merlot. We switched to champaign after a few days. Because of the lousy wine selection, the name of the drink package should be changed from "Prestige Package" to "Less Than Ordinary Package".

Perhaps the takeaway here is that the Beverage Packages aren't being marketed towards the wine connoisseur. This makes sense as Oceania would not want to compete with bottle sales from their own cellars.

Also, there is a largish segment who don't care what they drink as long as it is poured into Reidel and burns going down.

Those people need options too!

Perhaps the takeaway here is that the Beverage Packages aren't being marketed towards the wine connoisseur. This makes sense as Oceania would not want to compete with bottle sales from their own cellars.

 

Also, there is a largish segment who don't care what they drink as long as it is poured into Reidel and burns going down.

 

Those people need options too!

Why is it that almost all of your posts make me laugh?

To return to a serious vein ...

This is one reason why we opt NOT to get the package. It's not that we are connoisseurs, but for one thing we don't really drink enough each day to justify the package (at least in our minds). This is especially true of DH since he may have a little wine at dinner but never drinks anything harder. And I prefer to choose the wine I want to drink from a wider choice.

So I will buy wine by the bottle or bring some of my own on board. Even with the liquor package in the top suites, while the hard liquor is good quality, I'm not that impressed with the wines. Are they drinkable? Sure. But definitely not my favorites.

Mura

Just off the Nautica, and the List posted was actually better than what we had, even though there was some overlap. Our wine by the glass list was chalked full of really low grade South African wines. Even though I had the Premium Package, I ended up buying two bottles of wine, on separate nights, in the Specialties, plus paying corkage on two more I bought ashore and brought aboard because of the particularly poor selections this cruise.

Thinking about a rip off. I had the Premium Package, therefore I could have drank any of their alcohol I choose, at anytime. Yet, they still charged me corkage on a bottle of wine finished the evening opened! It was a great Barolo that I even shared a bit with the sommelier. That’s just cheap on their part!

To return to a serious vein ...

 

This is one reason why we opt NOT to get the package. It's not that we are connoisseurs, but for one thing we don't really drink enough each day to justify the package (at least in our minds). This is especially true of DH since he may have a little wine at dinner but never drinks anything harder. And I prefer to choose the wine I want to drink from a wider choice.

 

So I will buy wine by the bottle or bring some of my own on board. Even with the liquor package in the top suites, while the hard liquor is good quality, I'm not that impressed with the wines. Are they drinkable? Sure. But definitely not my favorites.

 

Mura

Exactly Mura - we all have choices. Instead of one miserable meal after another one can buy a bottle or bring on ones own. Pick up something local that you can't get at home for a new experience. Or be miserable. Choices.

Thinking about a rip off. I had the Premium Package, therefore I could have drank any of their alcohol I choose, at anytime. Yet, they still charged me corkage on a bottle of wine finished the evening opened! <snip>. That’s just cheap on their part!

I agree that a reduced corkage is on order if one had the package. I know another line that "includes" basic wine (so in effect a forced purchase of O's "House" package) which does have a much lower corkage fee based on the premise that you are not drinking their (your complaint of O: low cost) wine but are getting additional service.

I think it would be good if O had a lower corkage with a drinks package and a discount on a per bottle purchase. It would encourage a purchase for as special moment, or as in your case, any moment. But then they haven't asked me yet.

With the Premium Package we did get a 15% discount on the bottle purchase. Not that the bottle wasn’t still highly overpriced, but some relief.

For those with the Premium Package, I’d say a $10 corkage fee for wine totally consumed after opening, and $15 for those requiring storage would be appropriate.

I fully understand that a function of the price of their onboard wines comes from helping to pay for the services of retrieving and restoring single bottles up to 4-6 times for certain customers. I believe if cruisers wants to milk a bottle that long their should be a separate service based fee to accommodate that, in lieu of all of us paying for their practices.

understand that a function of the price of their onboard wines comes from helping to pay for the services of retrieving and restoring single bottles up to 4-6 times for certain customers. I believe if cruisers wants to milk a bottle that long their should be a separate service based fee to accommodate that, in lieu of all of us paying for their practices.

+1. well said! :D

Shopperfiend,how does one get $1400 SBC? :eek:

Shopperfiend,how does one get $1400 SBC? :eek:

She was basing it on a 28 day cruise :)

Shopperfiend,how does one get $1400 SBC? :eek:

It happens, but usually not just with Olife. Golds, which many Oceania cruisers are, or higher, get $500 right off the bat. Then there can be the Olife amount, varies according to cruise length. Sometimes you get ship board credit when you double dip on gratuities, amounts vary depending on when you turned Silver, perks from your TA etc.

Depending on your room level and pricing $1400 is not unheard of at all. Some people can easily get twice that.

La Terre under Red Wines is the most disgusting wine I've ever had. Royal Caribbean serves this as their house wine in their loyalty lounges. I cannot even drink it, it is so gross. And if its true, the better wines aren't available, this is going to be one miserable meal after another for my 24 day trip.

Agree and Woodbridge is also on our Don't Drink list; that by the glass list is worse than Celebrity's which we had trouble with. I know wine by the glass is usually very ordinary but one would hope with the package being promoted as a perk to book that the choices would at least be middle of the road. No packages for us. I also wish they would remove the weasel words about only 3 bottles to carryon - just annoying. OK, I will put my Happy Face back on now :).

Shopperfiend,how does one get $1400 SBC? :eek:

On our 3rd O cruise we had $1,800, and the cruise was 'only' 18 days. Just a bunch of $300-400 things that added up. As we are not drinkers, we had a lot of massages in the spa. :-)

Kathleen