Drink Packages. Worth it?

[TravelinGert]

We have only been on one cruise and this was one item I kept going back and forth on. After some research on drink prices and some tips from people here on cruise critic, I decided it wouldn't be worth it for us. We are not binge drinkers (unless in Vegas...lol) and I didn't want to chase the money I would pay each day for the drink packages for both of us. We took the two bottles of wine which we were allowed and also a duffel bag with a 12 pack of water and 6 pack coke (some bottles were left behind because we didn't drink it all). We shared the bottled drinks we took on board, which we wouldn't be able to do unless we both had the packages. During the evening shows we had our martinis and other beverages and it didn't come close to what we would have spent on the packages.

 

Many port days we wouldn't be back to the ship until the evening and definitely would not have had the time (or the liver) to drink our quota for the day.

 

I can see it being a good deal for people who drink a lot of soda during the day and quite a few drinks in the evening, but that's not us.

 

We have gone back and forth a lot for our next cruise, as well. For me it comes down to style more than $. If I am paying by the glass, I will hesitate and think of the money every time I would like a drink. Most of the time I will in the end not buy it because I am me. I'm not much of a drinker, but what is $200 against enjoying myself without concern on a cruise?

[monctonguy]

The select package on a 7 day is around $45/day. I only drink beer. I cannot drink 7+/day to break even. Shore days would mean even less time to get to seven. I don't think the drink packages are worth it for moderate or less drinkers. I will pay as I go instead.

 

Please keep in mind that you are getting the soda package included..as well as bottled water.....so unless you wouldn't even drink or purchase that, then yes its 7 ish drinks for the beer package.

 

I was talking about the PP and the UP(actually at about $14 with tip, it would only take 4 drinks in a day).....and for those that think 5 drinks a day on a cruise is "binge" drinking....wow, really?

Edited July 3, 2015 by monctonguy

[bobmacliberty]

You probably are not too far off from making it affordable, depending on the amount of soda that you drink. As other's have pointed out, soda and bottled water is included in the premium package. You'll get an insulated cup with the chip in it that you can use in the Freestyle soda machines. We'd also take a bottled water back to our cabin every night. Others have pointed out the convenience of being able to order a drink whenever you want without worrying about price. That was worth it for us. You mention Guiness on tap. What's on tap varies by ship but the only thing on tap for my recent Freedom cruise was Becks for a couple of days, and Stella for most of the cruise. No Guiness on tap that I knew of. Finally, don't forget that you can bring 2 bottles of wine onboard. If those 2 bottles will cover much of your drinking, the package may not be worth it.

[ScottC4746]

After reading all the threads and seeing there is a $12 cap, knowing many product are higher than that, I think I will opt out. This way I don't have to feel like I have to drink a lot to make it pay off. As you can see in my original post, I am not a heavy drinker anyway.

[Grandprix]

Please keep in mind that you are getting the soda package included..as well as bottled water.....so unless you wouldn't even drink or purchase that, then yes its 7 ish drinks for the beer package.

 

I was talking about the PP and the UP(actually at about $14 with tip, it would only take 4 drinks in a day).....and for those that think 5 drinks a day on a cruise is "binge" drinking....wow, really?

 

No soda for me. Bottled water maybe. Bringing my own water. So won't need theirs. Select Package for me means 7 beers. I can't consume that much. Maybe come close if I stuck to pseudobeer ie Coors and Bud. I prefer dos Equis or a good English lager. They are heavy. 7 would make me drunk and fat. I listened to Dean Wormer

[RadioRob]

After reading all the threads and seeing there is a $12 cap, knowing many product are higher than that, I think I will opt out. This way I don't have to feel like I have to drink a lot to make it pay off. As you can see in my original post, I am not a heavy drinker anyway.

 

Just my two cents... but in my last cruise last month, I did not have a single drink that was not covered by my package. Remember... the limit is for the BASE cost of the drink. In addition, if you're drinking a number of more than $12 drinks, you pay just the difference. A $14 drink would be $2 + .36 (18% on 2).

 

My suggestion if you're on the fence... drink like you normally would the first day or so and then make a decision if it makes sense to add it for the subsequent days.

 

For me, between the drinks, the water, soda, etc... it was worthwhile.

[Allie622]

We had the drink package for our cruise in Feb and just didn't find it worth it. Yes, the first few days we drank a lot. We definitely were those people that hit a wall though because on day 4 I was pretty much done. However, I did get hammered in St. Thomas by accident and was turned off from drinking the rest of the trip. I agree that I think it depends on if it is a port intensive cruise. If it is, I say skip it. We are going on Adventure OTS in October and are planning on skipping it since there is only one day at sea. Planning on still getting the soda package though and bringing an empty water bottle with me and filling up on the pool deck if I need it.

[BekkaW]

After reading all the threads and seeing there is a $12 cap, knowing many product are higher than that, I think I will opt out. This way I don't have to feel like I have to drink a lot to make it pay off. As you can see in my original post, I am not a heavy drinker anyway.

 

The $12 is before gratuity. When you're seeing prices of $14 quoted, that is after gratuity on a $12 drink so they are covered by the package. There is very little not covered.

[ScottC4746]

Yeah sounds like it is not worth it. I will be 51 next year and even at home I don't drink like I did when I was 21...that may be a good thing.

[hw1965]

We have a port intensive cruise in February 2016 and I plan on getting the premium package. I have it broken down to what I consider a break even for me and should be able to do this easily:

 

4 bottled waters, 2 frozen (or drink of the day) (I'm still trying to get true price on these), 1 soda somewhere along the line, 1 beer or glass of wine with dinner and our tradition is to always do the after dinner dessert shot in the MDR. If I don't drink as much during the port days, I'm sure the first and last day will not be a problem and I don't drink to get drunk, it's vacation and we splurge.

 

I got the package on the last port intensive cruise and I did break even and I was happy with not having to worry about anything and I could try new stuff that I normally would not have. I remeber one of my cruises I ordred an appletini and it was so strong I couldn't drink it but paid $10 for it so felt I needed to. I was miserable afterwards. With the package, I would not have to force myself to drink it.

[monctonguy]

It does ad up quickly. Not having to worry about a bill at the end, or not having to worry about enjoying a night or two and getting carried away a little with more than your 2 drink limit to stay under your budget..lol. Or ordering a drink you don't enjoy or it goes warm before you finish, but you feel like you have to cause it cost you almost a quarter of what you would have paid for the drink package for the day...

 

Plus with a few soda's....bottled water throughout the day...glass of wine or two at dinner....it adds up very quickly.

 

I think you would have to be more cautious and careful to try and stay under than package amount then worrying about trying to get your "moneys worth" if you buy the package!

[QE2_Fan]

See how you get on paying as you go. If you find your daily drink bill is higher than anticipated you can buy the drink package onboard (and use any OBC towards it) up until the last 4 days of the cruise.

 

Sounds like you won't need to, but it's another option to have up your sleeve!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[bkrickles1]

I just returned from a 9 day LOS cruise that departed 7/2 and I purchased the ultimate package and definitely got my moneys worth. The ultimate came with a refreshment package for my daughter so that was good for me. This was a ship intensive itinerary and I didn't get off the ship in San Juan so that was a big part of my decision to go with the package.

I had at least one fresh squeezed oj every morning and 1 cappuccino every night at dessert.

3-4 bloody marys and at least that many beers made it a slam dunk for me.

We had awesome weather so we were at the pool for long stretches. This allowed for drinking at a fairly casual rate and it adding up pretty quickly.

Jason Morgan at the pool bar was my go to guy and I gave him $5 every morning. In turn, when I brought a person or two to the bar and wanted to buy them drinks, he included their drinks in my package. He probably did this 10 times throughout the cruise.

I also purchased the replenishment package for my wife (I was one of those that got messed up with the promotion but received obc to make up for it so I got this package for free with the obc). My wife loved the package as she likes all the frozen drinks but prefers them without alcohol. She also had several specialty coffees every day.

Anyway, great cruise and the packages made everything seemless

I wouldn't get them if you were getting off the ship every day.

[jahannah]

I just returned from a 9 day LOS cruise that departed 7/2 and I purchased the ultimate package and definitely got my moneys worth. The ultimate came with a refreshment package for my daughter so that was good for me. This was a ship intensive itinerary and I didn't get off the ship in San Juan so that was a big part of my decision to go with the package.

I had at least one fresh squeezed oj every morning and 1 cappuccino every night at dessert.

3-4 bloody marys and at least that many beers made it a slam dunk for me.

We had awesome weather so we were at the pool for long stretches. This allowed for drinking at a fairly casual rate and it adding up pretty quickly.

*********** at the pool bar was my go to guy and I gave him $5 every morning. In turn, when I brought a person or two to the bar and wanted to buy them drinks, he included their drinks in my package. He probably did this 10 times throughout the cruise.

I also purchased the replenishment package for my wife (I was one of those that got messed up with the promotion but received obc to make up for it so I got this package for free with the obc). My wife loved the package as she likes all the frozen drinks but prefers them without alcohol. She also had several specialty coffees every day.

Anyway, great cruise and the packages made everything seemless

I wouldn't get them if you were getting off the ship every day.

 

May want to delete the bartender name to avoid trouble.

Edited July 15, 2015 by jahannah

[mikmouse]

For anyone on a 7 night or longer, seems like you could experiment with doing it for only a portion of the time to try it out, if on the fence. Or, just decide the first day or two to pretend drinks are free, order w/o sweating the cost, swipe away with the seapass card and drink as much as you want.

 

In the morning add up the day befores cost. Was the cost more or less than package? If it's more, you'd be inclined to get it for the rest of the trip. Unless it was only a little cheaper and you had a headache and dry mouth and didn't think you really wanted to keep drinking like that.

 

Some mention hitting a wall after X number of days drinking on the package so maybe, if on the fence, trying it for only 4 days could be a nice "test" the first time.

 

If you buy for only a certain number of days, I assume you pay a prorated amount, correct? If you purchase at the start and find it's not for you, can you cancel and only pay for days that you used it? Thanks.

[Frankmac]

Why would somebody potentially get a crew member in trouble?

[bobmacliberty]

It does ad up quickly. Not having to worry about a bill at the end, or not having to worry about enjoying a night or two and getting carried away a little with more than your 2 drink limit to stay under your budget..lol. Or ordering a drink you don't enjoy or it goes warm before you finish, but you feel like you have to cause it cost you almost a quarter of what you would have paid for the drink package for the day...

 

Did this recently on Freedom. Ordered a Caipirinha as I've always wanted to try one. Didn't enjoy it and didn't feel like I had to finish it. I also brought a beer back to my cabin a few times at night and never finished it. No problem at all with the package.

[monctonguy]

That has happened to me a few times, or more often my drink goes warm before done and I don't want to be sipping a warm drink when its already 80 or hotter out!.

 

I agree there maybe some days that you don't get your money's worth, but on the days that you get more...it's defn worth it at the end.

 

Not heavy drinking schedule..but lets say this is a "average" day:

 

Glass of Fresh squeezed OJ

Shot of baileys in my coffee while sitting on my balcony in the morning

Bottled water to start the day

Fruity drink once around the pool in the am

Beer with lunch

1-2 cold frozen drinks in the afternoon around the pool or bar or wherever

Bottled water before heading back to the room

1-2 glasses of wine while enjoying supper

Specialty coffee after dinner

Perhaps a cpl drinks over the next few hours while dancing or at a show

Bottled water before heading to bed

 

That's well over $100 for the day...and I don't think anyone would consider that to be a heavy drink schedule?!