How much more are you willing to pay for ...?

[nimiq]

This is my question how much more would you be willing to pay for to make cruise lines a bit more All-Inclisive ?

 

If so would that cover only the soft drinks,Alcohol or alternative dining ?

 

regards

 

Eric

[sapper1]

We are very light drinkers and prefer to pay as we go. If cruise prices were to be all inclusive they would have to cover the people who want to drink their "money's worth". I am not willing to subsidize the party animals by paying higher fares which would no doubt amount to more than we are now paying with our bar bill included.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I am happy with he way things are now. We are not big drinkers. No way would I want to be paying indirectly for someone else to be having multiple drinks.

 

Even though we do use the alternative restarants - we don't use it as much as some other people I have read here. So again -- why would I pay for them to eat all the time in the a;ternative restaurants?

 

We don't even drink sodas or anything along that line.[/b]

[Steamboatin]

Zero extra payment.

 

We drink only ice tea.

 

We eat only in the MDR at night and buffet line for breakfast and lunch.

 

Do not wish to pay for other peoples excessive spending!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sparky-elpaso]

Looks like we're on roll on this one. DH and I are light drinkers too - occasional glass of wine / beer and maybe one soda a day for each of us. I'd rather not pay for other passengers multiple drinks.

[English_in_Spain]

We do like to drink when on a cruise :o. Mainly wines but also the occasional cocktail.

 

Even so, I prefer the way things are now. Here in Spain, there are a lot of 'all inclusive' hotels. Unfortunately, some people see this as a chance to drink more than they really should.

[cruz chic]

I would also not be willing to pay to pay to make it all inclusive. I'm not a big drinker nor do I drink soft drinks.

[tangerinebunny]

The current system works for us too. We don't even drink soft drinks.

 

And I'm not all that trusting about the quality of free wine and spirits.

[GmaPajama]

I've not done anything all-inclusive since I was 28 - and had an iron stomach. :)

[Cruising-along]

I feel the same way everyone else does. It would be wasted money out of our pocket IMO.

[DaveOKC]

Same here - it would not pay for us since we are light drinkers and I think it encourages over-drinking.

 

Keep it as it is now.

 

DaveOKC

[cruisinggranmama]

Like things the way they are. All you can eat seems like enough. All you can drink would turn cruises into something we would not like.

 

We don't drink much alcohol or sodas at home or on vacation.

 

We prefer to pay as we go.

[TheCalicoCat]

My answer - I don't know - What is the going rate on an all-inclusinve line? (They have never hit my radar while I was shopping for a cruise.)

 

Which brings me to a secondary question, with "everyone" naying the "subsidizing" then why are Silversea, etc. (AKA all inclusive cruise ships) considered more of a top tier line... They do not appear to attract over drinking raucus crowds...

[sail7seas]

We drink wine but wine of our choice, not a Navigation Package. I would not want 'all inclusive' if we could not select the wines we want.

I drink very little soda.... once in a while a diet coke but hardly enough to desire it 'be included'.

 

I would not be enthusiastic about AI.

I want to choose what things I want and wish to pay for. I don't want a pre-determined 'grab bag'.

 

[Randyk47]

We'll have our first "all-inclusive" cruise this coming March on Silversea so we'll see how it goes. Interestingly, through a combination of incentives and sales, we got the cruise for almost exactly the same cost as a Prinsendam cruise we were researching and considering so it didn't cost us extra so to speak for the "all-inclusive" part. We also got a cabin very comparable in size and layout to a deluxe suite so no significant difference there. I can't speak to the wine quality or quantity but through research I do know that Silversea's well liquour is actually HAL's call liquour so no degradation from that standpoint. I have to say it wasn't the "all-inclusive" aspect that attracted us to Silversea, it was the itinerary first and cost second.

[sail7seas]

Randy,

Was the ban on cabin smoking on HAL part of your decision making?

I truthfully do not know their smoking policies.

 

I was invited to lunch and a tour on Silversea a few years ago. The ships are lovely but it was only the largest cabin that compared to HAL's "S and SA" Suites. The others are nice but measurably smaller on the ship I visited.

 

PLEASE let us know your experience. I'd love to read your comparison.

Hope you have a great cruise.

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

OP has asked this question on quite a few cruise lines -- it has been removed from Princess.

[sail7seas]

I almost never read other cruise line forums here on CC.

I only cruise HAL and rarely care what is happening on boards for lines we won't be likely to be sailing.

[startwin]

Another light drinker here.... we go with a beverage card, and pay for soda as we go. So I'm with the majority on this one.... no all-inclusive for me. I really think the AI concept encourages over-drinking as some want to be sure to get their "money's worth".

[peaches from georgia]

I can't speak to Silversea, but on Seabourn liquors included were all top brands and wines were excellent and expensive. No relation to what you would get in a Navigation package at all. Long long lists of both liquor and wines and I can't imagine anyone having a problem with the selections. You just told your cabin steward what you would like delivered to your cabin throughout the cruise and of course all drinks in bars and in the restaurants you could select whatever you wished.

 

We did not have the largest cabin on Seabourn and it was exactly the size of an SA.

 

You also should include the food in any decision as to whether AI is 'worth it'. The food in the main dining room far surpasses anything offered on mass market lines, including HAL, and there are terrfic alternative venues also. Plus tipping included. It really is not just the booze that needs to be considered when it comes to AI in cruising. These lines are considered luxury for a reason.

[Viesczy]

Which brings me to a secondary question, with "everyone" naying the "subsidizing" then why are Silversea, etc. (AKA all inclusive cruise ships) considered more of a top tier line... They do not appear to attract over drinking raucus crowds...

 

Cali Cat has a great question, quoted above for truth.

 

Personally I don't think that if HAL went all inclusive you'd see the booze hounds roll to HAL.

 

We are light drinkers while on board as our choice of spirit isn't available on most ships. Even if it was, I'd not go through more than half a bottle on anything short of a month on board, figure that's approx $70. What's the soda pass cost again--6 a day or something? If HAL increase $70 for Absinthe only + soda, I'd pay that, but if not I'll pass as there isn't anything else we'd want to drink to justify paying for the price of booze.

 

We're not the largest wine drinkers. Why? I can taste the FEET of the guy who stomped the grapes! I swear I can! ;):D

 

As for the specialty restaurant, sure the food's good but if you're including that like we're going every night they should just dump MDR and have the speciality restaurant and the MDR menus combined, but the MDR food quality would need to be increased to justify the price increase.

 

So if they're going to rachet up the MDR food quality, provide Absinthe & soda, and airfare (let's truly go all inclusive), I'd pay if the quality of the food was worth it.

 

Derek

[sail7seas]

I can't speak to Silversea, but on Seabourn liquors included were all top brands and wines were excellent and expensive. No relation to what you would get in a Navigation package at all. Long long lists of both liquor and wines and I can't imagine anyone having a problem with the selections. You just told your cabin steward what you would like delivered to your cabin throughout the cruise and of course all drinks in bars and in the restaurants you could select whatever you wished.

 

We did not have the largest cabin on Seabourn and it was exactly the size of an SA.

 

 

It will be interesting to see what, if any, changes start appearing on Seabourn seeing they have moved their headquarters into HAL's headquarters building and many of the top positions are duplicated with those who are responsible for those departments on HAL.

[iancal]

We prefer pay as you go.

[peaches from georgia]

It will be interesting to see what, if any, changes start appearing on Seabourn seeing they have moved their headquarters into HAL's headquarters building and many of the top positions are duplicated with those who are responsible for those departments on HAL.

That of course is Seabourn pax fear. It makes no sense for Carnival Corp to turn Seabourn into another HAL. It fills a totally different niche for Carnival and if management cosst and overhead can be reduced for Seabourn by sharing headquarters and some department officials, that's fine.

[Randyk47]

Randy,

Was the ban on cabin smoking on HAL part of your decision making?

I truthfully do not know their smoking policies.

 

I was invited to lunch and a tour on Silversea a few years ago. The ships are lovely but it was only the largest cabin that compared to HAL's "S and SA" Suites. The others are nice but measurably smaller on the ship I visited.

 

PLEASE let us know your experience. I'd love to read your comparison.

Hope you have a great cruise.

 

 

We booked the Silversea cruise back in February of this year so at the time we made the decision HAL had not announced their new smoking policy so that was not an issue. Right now Silversea permits smoking in their cabins but not on their verandas which you know from my personal posts makes a whole lot more sense to us. Public areas are more or less comparable to HAL with some limited smoking permitted in some bars and not in others and no smoking in any of the eating venues. The decision was based on the fact that the itineraries available within our cruising window. A big deciding factor was that the Prinsendam cruise we were looking at went to Egypt and my wife's security clearance with the government did not allow her to visit Egypt. This is kind of an on again, off again situation and I'm not sure exactly what the status is today but it wasn't worth the chance for us.

 

As for the cabin we picked a Medallion Suite. It's maybe 25 square feet or so smaller than a deluxe on the S and R class ships. I don't know exactly when but I think these cabins were added to the smaller Silversea's ships a couple of renovations ago so they might be new in terms of when you visited. There are a couple of cabin categories above the Medallion, one of which is kind of between the HAL deluxe suite and penthouse and another that's pretty much comparable to HAL's penthouse suite. The cost goes up considerably for those and I've been led to believe Silversea isn't into upgrading per se so I'm pretty sure we'll stay right where we're at.

 

Right now there isn't much to report in terms of perceived differences between HAL and Silversea. We're some 85 days out from the cruise as I type this and have paid our final payment, actually paid that at about the 120 day mark as I recall. We've really not changed our cruise planning process, etc., because of the cruise line and have made our own arrangements for transport to and from the cruise and pre and post cruise hotel arrangements so I can't speak to whether or not Silversea is better or worse or whatever than HAL on those aspects. I've had a couple of minor questions and I've been able, either through a phone call or email, to get those answered quickly and efficiently. So far so good.