First Timer Here

[WhoDatYat]

Aloha y'all - My husband and I are taking a holiday cruise on Norwegian Star over New Year's. This will be a first, on a civilian vessel anyway. (Spent waaay too much time on US Navy cruises!) Just wondering if, in your experience, the Ultimate Beverage Package offered by the boat works out to be a good deal. The offer is unlimited cokes, water, cocktails, wine and beer for $54 per person per day. This cruise is 7 nights and has 3 sea days. Many thanks!

[maureencruiser]

No answer, but, welcome to CC! :D:D You might want to check out the Norwegian Forum, I'm sure this has been discussed before. ;)

[donaldsc]

Aloha y'all - My husband and I are taking a holiday cruise on Norwegian Star over New Year's. This will be a first, on a civilian vessel anyway. (Spent waaay too much time on US Navy cruises!) Just wondering if, in your experience, the Ultimate Beverage Package offered by the boat works out to be a good deal. The offer is unlimited cokes, water, cocktails, wine and beer for $54 per person per day. This cruise is 7 nights and has 3 sea days. Many thanks!

 

I have never bought a beverage package but it is very easy to do a rough calculation. Figure soft drinks at $3.00 each and hard drinks at $7.00 each. Only you know what the ratio of soft drinks to hard stuff will be but I will assume that it is 1:1 to make the math easy. This means that the average cost of your drinks will be $5.00 per drink.

 

This means that you have to drink 10.8 drinks per day every day of the cruise to make the package pay.

 

If you drink more hard stuff, your break even point is fewer drinks. More cokes and the break even point is more drinks.

 

I have not included water as I drink tap water so the water in the package has no value to me.

 

DON

Edited December 26, 2014 by donaldsc

[Scrapnana]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Keep in mind also that, unless you are staying onboard, the port days cut down on your drinking time.

 

Hope you have a great cruise!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

You should ask your question on the NCL board at this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=107

Each cruise line has different rules. For example, HAL requires that each person over 21 buy the Beverage Package. For us who do not drink a lot, it is not worth it.

[GUT2407]

It really comes down to how much you drink.

 

I ALWAYS get the non-alcoholic package, but for me 10 sodas a day is light intake. We usually get a package for herself too, though for her it is usually a waste of money 1 to 3 drinks a day as a rule, but it is convenient and given how much I go through we are streets ahead all round.

[Bonnie J.]

One thing to remember is that each of you must buy the package. You can't buy one package and both use the package. I don't think you can buy just one package for only one day either.

We don't drink beer or drink much during the day (maybe 1 bloody mary) so there is no way we'll have 7 or 8 alcoholic drinks each day. We drink before dinner, maybe in the dining room. I have the house wine, my husband has a Tanqueray & tonic. The cost is $14.52 for both. Figure out drinking $104 worth of alcohol for both of you each day, how many drinks is that?

They do sell a soda package which you use for the whole cruise, not by the day, but unless you drink a lot of soda its not worth it. Each passenger may bring a 12 pack of soda on board as carry ons so do that if you want soda.

[paul929207]

It really depends on the individual. For some it is a great deal, but for others a waste of money. Try to estimate which drinks and how many you will have each day and get the prices. Just do the math. Keep in mind that the package does not cover drinks in ports. So if your cruise is port intensive and you are planning long days off the ship, you will not get as much benefit.

[GUT2407]

It really depends on the individual. For some it is a great deal, but for others a waste of money. Try to estimate which drinks and how many you will have each day and get the prices. Just do the math. Keep in mind that the package does not cover drinks in ports. So if your cruise is port intensive and you are planning long days off the ship, you will not get as much benefit.

 

 

That's the real answer.

 

Remember you'll pay about [and I stress about]

 

$3 a soda

$5-$6 a beer

$6-$8 a glass of wine

$10 a mixed drink

 

About $4-$5 premium tea or coffee.

 

Make sure what your package includes and what t doesn't and as someone else said check f everyone in your cabs has to buy it, some lines do some don't.

[Flatbush Flyer]

I have never bought a beverage package but it is very easy to do a rough calculation. Figure soft drinks at $3.00 each and hard drinks at $7.00 each. Only you know what the ratio of soft drinks to hard stuff will be but I will assume that it is 1:1 to make the math easy. This means that the average cost of your drinks will be $5.00 per drink.

 

This means that you have to drink 10.8 drinks per day every day of the cruise to make the package pay.

 

If you drink more hard stuff, your break even point is fewer drinks. More cokes and the break even point is more drinks.

 

I have not included water as I drink tap water so the water in the package has no value to me.

 

DON

 

 

Interesting math. "Ultimate" suggests all brands of alcohol. So, a better assumption is that folks would be drinking top shelf wines and liquors, which I assume would cost more than $7 per drink. Also, does NCL include the gratuity cost in the package price?

We travel on a different cruise line which doesn't charge for any non-alcoholic beverage. And it does offer an unlimited alcohol package for $60/day. Including better brands and tips, it works out to 4-5 alcoholic drinks per day.

Bottom line of my post is that OP needs to do a bit of research based on what they drink and what is actually included in their cruise line's package.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[cb at sea]

Yes...on top of the $54.pp pd. they will add 15% as tip.

[Bonnie J.]

My wine package on Carnival was $113 but after all tips were added the total I had to pay was $135! So find out if tips are included or not. It is 15% of cost of the drink and probably 15% of a bottle of wine.

Some packages have a top limit for the cost of each drink- like max of $9.95 per drink so ask about that too.

We don't drink enough for the package to be worth while.

[LOVINCRUIZIN]

When gambling, by the second day we usually "earn" free drinks, so the beverage package is never a consideratoin for us. We are essentially paying for the drinks anyway, but feels like you are getting something for nothing:D

[SadieN]

When gambling, by the second day we usually "earn" free drinks, so the beverage package is never a consideratoin for us. We are essentially paying for the drinks anyway, but feels like you are getting something for nothing:D

 

 

Usually the casino free booze is only when you're gambling, not run of ship.

[shovelingsnow]

Hi everybody. This is my first time posting. I'm not sure I'm posting where I'm supposed to be posting but I'm going to ask my question anyway. The last cruise I was on was in 2003 so I might be out of date. We are light to moderate drinkers of alcohol but we wouldn't mind the odd glass of wine or gin and tonic or cocktail by the pool. We are cruising on the Liberty of the Seas on Jan 17 and I want to know if we should purchase a drink package or not. I'm going to purchase a non-alcoholic drink package for each of us for sure.

[LOVINCRUIZIN]

Hi everybody. This is my first time posting. I'm not sure I'm posting where I'm supposed to be posting but I'm going to ask my question anyway. The last cruise I was on was in 2003 so I might be out of date. We are light to moderate drinkers of alcohol but we wouldn't mind the odd glass of wine or gin and tonic or cocktail by the pool. We are cruising on the Liberty of the Seas on Jan 17 and I want to know if we should purchase a drink package or not. I'm going to purchase a non-alcoholic drink package for each of us for sure.

 

Sadie - thanks for clarifying - you are correct. As a non-drinker anyway, I wouldn;t have a drink outside the casino anyway. And, that is where I spend a lot of time on vord anyway!

 

Shovelingsnow - I would NOT purchase a drink package in your situation. You would be better off just paying for the occassional drinks you want.

[GUT2407]

Hi everybody. This is my first time posting. I'm not sure I'm posting where I'm supposed to be posting but I'm going to ask my question anyway. The last cruise I was on was in 2003 so I might be out of date. We are light to moderate drinkers of alcohol but we wouldn't mind the odd glass of wine or gin and tonic or cocktail by the pool. We are cruising on the Liberty of the Seas on Jan 17 and I want to know if we should purchase a drink package or not. I'm going to purchase a non-alcoholic drink package for each of us for sure.

 

 

As a generalisation [and that's what it is] depending on what you drink 4-6 [maybe 8] drinks a day you will at least break even less than that pay as you go.