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UBP price increase, $15 per drink? But...

Jbrattoncruise

By Jbrattoncruise,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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Jbrattoncruise

Jbrattoncruise

Posted
Posted

So, we have a cruise coming up in January on the escape with the current UBP (drinks up to $11). So, since the UBP is allegedly increasing in price and the limit per drink is allegedly increasing to $15 per drink, one can only speculate that the prices of drinks will go up.

 

My question is this; will the UBP we have be upgraded to the new package which covers $15 drinks or be stuck with a limit of $11? If that is The case, along with multiple other changes, we will be highly inclined to cancel this cruise, since the UBP will become much less valuable (especially since we could cruise celebrity and get whatever we wanted on their premium package).

 

Hopefully people at NCL read these blogs.

 

Thanks for your input, and no snarky replies are necessary.

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Demonyte

Demonyte

Posted
Posted (edited)

That is interesting because doing that would mean that NCL would raise bar prices again, second time this year - in March the raise was already about 10-20%. Raising prices again would make NCL's bar prices at least one of if not the highest on seas - even Celebrity's premium package only covers up to $13.

 

But what comes to pre-purchased or booking promo UBPs, they do not have means to find out what price (if any) has been paid for any given passenger's package so onboard the current terms apply.

Edited by Demonyte
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detroitlions

detroitlions

Posted
Posted
So, we have a cruise coming up in January on the escape with the current UBP (drinks up to $11). So, since the UBP is allegedly increasing in price and the limit per drink is allegedly increasing to $15 per drink, one can only speculate that the prices of drinks will go up.

 

My question is this; will the UBP we have be upgraded to the new package which covers $15 drinks or be stuck with a limit of $11? If that is The case, along with multiple other changes, we will be highly inclined to cancel this cruise, since the UBP will become much less valuable (especially since we could cruise celebrity and get whatever we wanted on their premium package).

 

Hopefully people at NCL read these blogs.

 

Thanks for your input, and no snarky replies are necessary.

I think you may be looking at the Euro prices?

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Demonyte

Demonyte

Posted
Posted (edited)
The price is listed with a comma instead of a period.... $15,00 vs $15.00...hmmm :confused:

 

Completely normal in some European locales.

 

"The 22nd General Conference on Weights and Measures declared in 2003 that "the symbol for the decimal marker shall be either the point on the line or the comma on the line"."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_mark

 

Also the list of countries using decimal comma vs countries using decimal point:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_mark#Hindu.E2.80.93Arabic_numeral_system

Edited by Demonyte
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Linda the Book Lover

Linda the Book Lover

Posted
Posted
Completely normal in some European locales.

 

"The 22nd General Conference on Weights and Measures declared in 2003 that "the symbol for the decimal marker shall be either the point on the line or the comma on the line"."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_mark

 

Also the list of countries using decimal comma vs countries using decimal point:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_mark#Hindu.E2.80.93Arabic_numeral_system

 

Thanks a bunch!:)

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Demonyte

Demonyte

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Posted (edited)
All I can say is WOW on those new prices, especially if they make you buy it for everyone in the cabin. I think the new price per day ($64) is around the Royal Caribbean price, but that's their top tier package which includes water bottles and coffee drinks.

 

Exactly. It's the same for both RCCL and Celebrity (as well as canned sodas so one can stock their cabin fridge with those and water bottles from bars and still be covered by the package):

 

https://secure.celebritycruises.com/celebrity/media/celebrity/shared_assets/pdf/Classic-Premium-Bev-Pckgs.pdf

Edited by Demonyte
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LrgPizza

LrgPizza

Posted
Posted
So, we have a cruise coming up in January on the escape with the current UBP (drinks up to $11). So, since the UBP is allegedly increasing in price and the limit per drink is allegedly increasing to $15 per drink, one can only speculate that the prices of drinks will go up.

 

My question is this; will the UBP we have be upgraded to the new package which covers $15 drinks or be stuck with a limit of $11? If that is The case, along with multiple other changes, we will be highly inclined to cancel this cruise, since the UBP will become much less valuable (especially since we could cruise celebrity and get whatever we wanted on their premium package).

 

Hopefully people at NCL read these blogs.

 

Thanks for your input, and no snarky replies are necessary.

The UBP has changed several times since it's inception. Each time, everyone on the ship with UBP is treated the same, using whatever the current terms are. No reason whatsoever to think this will be any different than the last changes.

 

Does anyone remember when beer was only covered to $5.50 and mixed drinks were only covered to $8? Then it was changed to everything covered $10 or under. Then changed to $11, but a change was also made that only the difference over $11 needed to be paid on more expensive drinks. (Previously the entire amount had to be paid if the drink was over the allowed amount.)

 

Anyway, with all these changes, everyone on board with UBP has been treated exactly the same regardless of when it had been purchased.

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hawkeyetlse

hawkeyetlse

Posted
Posted
The price of UBP and the drink price limit were both raised already about six months ago.
The price of the UBP has not changed at all so far this year. It went from $49/day to $59/day (with $5/day discount if pre-purchased) in May 2014. Which is why I think this increase to $64/day is catching up with the increase in bar prices last March; I don't believe it is in anticipation of a new round of bar price increases.
That is interesting because doing that would mean that NCL would raise bar prices again, second time this year - in March the raise was already about 10-20%.
Back in March, the increase in drink prices was reported as 6.7%. (I don't know if anyone has ever verified this independently.) Again, the UBP price did not go up then, but they are certainly making up for lost time. From $49/day + 15% in May 2014 to $64/day + 18% in October 2015, that is a 34% jump in less than 18 months. :mad:
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Jbrattoncruise

Jbrattoncruise

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Regardless of what the EU website says, as has mentioned previously, the prices are in U.S. Dollars.

 

Wouldn't it be a little unfair to charge our European friends more for the package, but give them more leeway with the price per drink?

 

I'm just speculating, but I HIGHLY doubt this has anything to do with currency or international website issues... The package details will change here shortly is my guess, maybe next month.

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AtlantaCruiser72

AtlantaCruiser72

Posted
Posted (edited)
Does the European $15 include the tip maybe.

 

It states that an 18% service charge is additional to the package price. Based on that I'd expect the $15/drink cap to be pre service charge as well. I'd expect US site to be updated in next few days

Edited by AtlantaCruiser72
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MaryLS

MaryLS

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Posted

Does anyone know if the price increase is really true or is it rumor?

 

Also, for someone who doesn't get the drink package, are the individual drink prices going up significantly or does the increase in the UBP now include premium drinks which were not included before?

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AtlantaCruiser72

AtlantaCruiser72

Posted
Posted (edited)
Does anyone know if the price increase is really true or is it rumor?

 

Also, for someone who doesn't get the drink package, are the individual drink prices going up significantly or does the increase in the UBP now include premium drinks which were not included before?

 

 

The price increase has already been published on the UK/EU sites w/ no "official" announcement from NCL. The US site has not yet been updated and could happen at any time. Again I would not expect any annoucement, just a change to the website showing the new prices, probably sometime early this week.

 

Some people think drink prices will increaase, other believe the new per-drink limt is being put in to make those paying the higher price feel they are getting more value for $ spent. Time will tell. If they don't increse prices this will really benefit wine drinkers as almost all the glass and a half options are under $15 and all the standard glass options will now be included (some were not before).

 

Also - let's not forget that NCL are charging everyone who books w/ the bev package promo an 18% service charge on the value of the promo, so I'd expect the price change to go into effect sooner rather than later. I really feel this is the main reason they are doing this - to enhance the revenue stream off the service charge for the "free" package. At $54/day that is $136.08/week/cabin in service charge; at $64/day that is $161.28/week/cabin in service charge - an increase in revenue of $25/cabin/week - which on a full year basis is significant (possibly in excess of $4.5-5 million in additional revenue)

Edited by AtlantaCruiser72
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littlelulu01

littlelulu01

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Posted

It sure would be nice if they would include things like speciality coffee, canned soda and water bottles at that price point. It's pretty silly that if booked in a suite and you don't drink alcohol you can't get a specialty coffee but all the alcohol you won't be consuming is included. I'm hoping if the price is raising on the package they could at least throw in a bone for non drinkers.

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AtlantaCruiser72

AtlantaCruiser72

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It sure would be nice if they would include things like speciality coffee, canned soda and water bottles at that price point. It's pretty silly that if booked in a suite and you don't drink alcohol you can't get a specialty coffee but all the alcohol you won't be consuming is included. I'm hoping if the price is raising on the package they could at least throw in a bone for non drinkers.

 

Except for Carnival all the other lines include bottled water of some sort in their packages, and often times also speciality coffees as well. At $64pp/day this is not a good value without those inclusions and is another reason I would not give NCL a first look when booking a cruise.

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