Princess AIBP - stretching the friendship?

[clairebearinaus]

As we start saving in earnest for the cruise/holiday next March, the vexed question of "To AIBP, or not to AIBP?" remains unresolved. It's a 12 day cruise, so a LOT of money for two people - almost as much as the fare for a balcony cabin!

 

I'm exploring the idea of one getting the package, and not the other, and would like to know how I can maximise the benefits to both without being naughty. Cheeky maybe, but not naughty.

 

Are the following things possible if one person has the package and the other doesn't?

- replace bottle of water in mini bar for free

- order more than 1 coffee at a time from café

- order free sparkling water and discounted wine in MDR and share with another

- buy a drink in happy hour and have the other pay just $1

 

Your thoughts on the above, and any other suggestions would be appreciated!

[GUT2407]

As we start saving in earnest for the cruise/holiday next March, the vexed question of "To AIBP, or not to AIBP?" remains unresolved. It's a 12 day cruise, so a LOT of money for two people - almost as much as the fare for a balcony cabin!

 

I'm exploring the idea of one getting the package, and not the other, and would like to know how I can maximise the benefits to both without being naughty. Cheeky maybe, but not naughty.

 

Are the following things possible if one person has the package and the other doesn't?

- replace bottle of water in mini bar for free

- order more than 1 coffee at a time from café

- order free sparkling water and discounted wine in MDR and share with another

- buy a drink in happy hour and have the other pay just $1

 

Your thoughts on the above, and any other suggestions would be appreciated!

 

Not sure what you mean by replace the bottle of water

 

The next two are in my opinion plain wrong

 

Don't think you can get an AIBP drink and pay $1 for the 2 nd pretty sure you have to pay for the 1 st.

[Wastegirl]

We had the AIBP a few weeks ago, it was worth it for my husband and I was lucky if I broken even. In reality I don't drink that much alcohol that a package is worth it. To answer your questions:

 

• Northing in the mini bar is covered by the package, nor is room service but there is nothing stopping the person with the package from bringing back a bottle of water to the room and putting it in the fridge - several times per day. Only the person with the package can order a coffee, one coffee as per their card, nothing stopping them coming back 10 minutes later and ordering another but that defeats the purpose of you both sitting down and enjoying a coffee together.
  
• if you order a bottle of wine in the MDR the person with the package gets 40% off and the person without the package can share it but again it sort of defeats the purpose of the package.
  
• As we both had packages I can't answer the question about the Happy Hour but I understand you have to buy 2 of the same drink, alright if you both like the same cocktail but my husband and I don't.
  

 

My two cents worth, this is what I would do next time for a 14 day or less cruise (longer I wouldn't buy the package at all):

• Buy a AIBP for my husband and a Mocktails & More package (around $8 per day) for me along with a coffee card.
  
• I would take on board my favourite wines, and any over the two we are allowed to take on board without paying corkage, I would pay corkage for and use them for my dinner wine in the dining room.
  
• Buy myself the occasional cocktail.
  
• Use my coffee card for not only the allocated coffees but unlimited quality tea as well.
  

 

If we were on a longer than 14 day cruise my husband and I would take on a larger number of bottles of wine, pay corkage and enjoy them around the ship, have the occassional cocktail, buy coffee cards and I would also purchase the Mocktail and More package. On a longer cruise I would imagine we would not drink nearly as much alcohol as on a shorter cruise.

-

[to_dee]

Not sure what you mean by replace the bottle of water

 

The next two are in my opinion plain wrong

 

Don't think you can get an AIBP drink and pay $1 for the 2 nd pretty sure you have to pay for the 1 st.

 

We had the AIBP a few weeks ago, it was worth it for my husband and I was lucky if I broken even. In reality I don't drink that much alcohol that a package is worth it. To answer your questions:

 

• Northing in the mini bar is covered by the package, nor is room service but there is nothing stopping the person with the package from bringing back a bottle of water to the room and putting it in the fridge - several times per day. Only the person with the package can order a coffee, one coffee as per their card, nothing stopping them coming back 10 minutes later and ordering another but that defeats the purpose of you both sitting down and enjoying a coffee together.
  
• if you order a bottle of wine in the MDR the person with the package gets 40% off and the person without the package can share it but again it sort of defeats the purpose of the package.
  
• As we both had packages I can't answer the question about the Happy Hour but I understand you have to buy 2 of the same drink, alright if you both like the same cocktail but my husband and I don't.
  

 

My two cents worth, this is what I would do next time for a 14 day or less cruise (longer I wouldn't buy the package at all):

• Buy a AIBP for my husband and a Mocktails & More package (around $8 per day) for me along with a coffee card.
  
• I would take on board my favourite wines, and any over the two we are allowed to take on board without paying corkage, I would pay corkage for and use them for my dinner wine in the dining room.
  
• Buy myself the occasional cocktail.
  
• Use my coffee card for not only the allocated coffees but unlimited quality tea as well.
  

 

If we were on a longer than 14 day cruise my husband and I would take on a larger number of bottles of wine, pay corkage and enjoy them around the ship, have the occassional cocktail, buy coffee cards and I would also purchase the Mocktail and More package. On a longer cruise I would imagine we would not drink nearly as much alcohol as on a shorter cruise.

-

 

I agree with GUTs post and I would be surprised if they let you use the AIBP at happy hour to get a drink for $1. Though to be fair I haven't tried.

 

FWIW imo Elise's idea of bringing the wine aboard seems like a good idea financially and saves you having to do the sneaky thing which may not add to your sense of relaxation on the holiday :)

Edited November 27, 2015 by to_dee

[clairebearinaus]

Thank you for the replies so far.

 

I want to make it clear, I'm not trying to cheat the system. To_dee is right, as a fundamentally honest person it's far less stressful for me to cough up some extra $$ than sneak around hoping I won't be caught!

 

But I'm new to cruising, with less than 48 hours at sea under my belt, and just trying to understand the limits of these packages so if I do spend all that money I can maximise the value I can get out of it.

 

I'm sure I read somewhere that it was ok for a package holder to share their San Pellegrino etc with tablemates but can't remember if that was legit from Princess's POV our just that person's opinion.

 

I like the BYO idea but am not leaving from my home port so it will require some extra effort, if there's a decent priced bottlo in Fremantle it'll work!

[to_dee]

The other thing you can do is go to Coles or Woollies at your dep port and buy a slab of water bottles for $7 and then stick a luggage label on & it will be delivered to your cabin. We did that as I dont like the taste of the ship water & you dont have to lug it to your cabin or anything.

 

If you take water out of the equation then I also lean towards not doing the AIBP.

 

If for example you had:

1 x $10 glass wine dinner

2 x $14.95 cocktails

 

You're still only up to $39.90 / day paying as you go. And keep in mind there is a reasonable list of $9.95 cocktails as well. And not all wines are $10/ea some are cheaper.

 

Add to that as Elise mentioned maybe a coffee card and then you can do a bit of a tally to see if the AIBP $59/day is worth it. Dont forget you have to pay $59 for embarkation day.

 

Keep in mind if you are in port all day you may not have those mid afternoon cocktails.

 

So it all depends on how many bevvies you may knock back ... bit of guess work for your 1st cruise.

 

We took the AIBP for our 1st cruise and it was great not having to worry about a bill at the end but we wont take the AIBP on our next trip as I dont drink enough to make it worthwhile. I would break even some days but most not.

 

Also in regards to the sharing thing DH & I both had the AIBP and we would order a large bottle of water for our table at dinner to share (anytime table of 3)& they didnt seem to mind if my son had some of that water. To be honest I didnt even think about it as they just poured it into all 3 of our glasses so I didnt ask them to share it with my son but it was poured so I never really thought about it.

Edited November 27, 2015 by to_dee

[GUT2407]

Like anything you need to do your sums.

 

People have old me a soda package is a waste of money, I couldnt disagree more, I break even about a third of the way into the cruise, do for me it's great for someone else it not be, you have to consider what you are likely to drink and see if it is value for you.

[stingau]

We usually get the non alcoholic package seep if cruising from the states. Tossing up tho about our next cruise as Carnival Australia only includes soft drinks, no water or mocktails or coffee. So not sure if we would get value for money we would need to drink at least 4 soft drinks a day every day. Possible on full sea days but not the first or last days nor while in port. Not sure why carnival doesn't have the same packages acres it's sister lines, would be so much easier to understand lol

[windsor26]

Recently on the Sun Princess sailing out of Freo there was a wine offer (only to be purchased from venues that served food as well - not the bars)

There were half bottles of a quite tasty wine Australian Hunter Valley Cannot remember the name a Merlot another red and a white

These half bottles were good for 2.5 glasses and screw topped so you could take them off the table and finish in your room or elsewhere. We bought bottles and kept them in our room (as is allowed) and when we went to dinner sometimes we had a glass in the bar area before dinner and they were happy to supply glasses and serve it to you (great staff)

 

Are you Sitting down folks THE COST OF THIS half bottle was $7.95 (AS YOU ALL KNOW A GLASS OF HOUSEWINE AT THE BARS IS MORE THAN THAT USUALLY)

I was not keen on the send red but our table friends preferred it to the Merlot so as usual it is horses for courses.

 

Just an edit The same manufacturer of this wine was one of the wineries used at the Grape Wine Tasting as well

 

It wil be great if this is available on all Princess ships from Australia

Edited November 28, 2015 by windsor26

[GUT2407]

Recently on the Sun Princess sailing out of Freo there was a wine offer (only to be purchased from venues that served food as well - not the bars)

There were half bottles of a quite tasty wine Australian Hunter Valley Cannot remember the name a Merlot another red and a white

These half bottles were good for 2.5 glasses and screw topped so you could take them off the table and finish in your room or elsewhere. We bought bottles and kept them in our room (as is allowed) and when we went to dinner sometimes we had a glass in the bar area before dinner and they were happy to supply glasses and serve it to you (great staff)

 

Are you Sitting down folks THE COST OF THIS half bottle was $7.95 (AS YOU ALL KNOW A GLASS OF HOUSEWINE AT THE BARS IS MORE THAN THAT USUALLY)

I was not keen on the send red but our table friends preferred it to the Merlot so as usual it is horses for courses.

 

It wil be great if this is available on all Princess ships from Australia

 

Sounds like a Good deal, and if it was Hunter wine probably not a bad drop.

 

Didn't see any half bottles on Diamond.

 

Also remember that if you buy a bottle and don't finish it thy will store it for you and you can then have it bought to any restaurant not just the one you bought it in.

 

I thought the was a great service.

[OzKiwiJJ]

It really does depend on how much you drink. We enjoy wine with our meals (hubby sometimes had a beer with lunch) and a couple of cocktails - one in the afternoon and one before dinner - so with coffees and water it worked out economical for us.

 

Here's what we had, on average:

Espresso coffees, 2 = $3.50. It would be more for lattes or cappuchinos.

Cocktails, 2 = $28

Wine/beer with lunch, 2 = $16

Wine with dinner, 3 = $24

Bottled water, approx $5

Total = $76.50 so a $59 package worked very well for us.

 

Even on port days, where we usually had lunch off the ship, we still just broke even without the wine for lunch as we usually came back on board in time for a cool cocktail in the late afternoon. Some nights we had drinks after dinner if we were enjoying the music so really got our money's worth on those days. My only complaint is that there is not a great selection of wines by the glass if you don't drink sauvignon blanc or cabernet sauvignon. The chardonnays weren't great. the riesling was way too sweet, and I had to throw a minor hissy fit (in the nicest possible way) in the MDR before they "unearthed" the pinot grigio from wherever it was hidden. There were 2-3 decent reds that I liked luckily.

[to_dee]

Recently on the Sun Princess sailing out of Freo there was a wine offer (only to be purchased from venues that served food as well - not the bars)

There were half bottles of a quite tasty wine Australian Hunter Valley Cannot remember the name a Merlot another red and a white

These half bottles were good for 2.5 glasses and screw topped so you could take them off the table and finish in your room or elsewhere. We bought bottles and kept them in our room (as is allowed) and when we went to dinner sometimes we had a glass in the bar area before dinner and they were happy to supply glasses and serve it to you (great staff)

 

Are you Sitting down folks THE COST OF THIS half bottle was $7.95 (AS YOU ALL KNOW A GLASS OF HOUSEWINE AT THE BARS IS MORE THAN THAT USUALLY)

I was not keen on the send red but our table friends preferred it to the Merlot so as usual it is horses for courses.

 

Just an edit The same manufacturer of this wine was one of the wineries used at the Grape Wine Tasting as well

 

It wil be great if this is available on all Princess ships from Australia

 

Wow great deal! I wish they did that across all the Princess fleet too

[Aussie FF]

On the Golden Princess recently, I took 2 bottles of my favourite wine.

I don't drink anything alcoholic before 5pm.

I drank the free supplied juices & water & coffee until 5pm.

I bought the Platinum/Elite $7 drinks between 5 & 6 pm.

I bought the happy hour BOGO $1 between 10-11pm in the nightclub.

They also had it between 3 & 4pm in the Wheelhouse.

The family we dined with had no problem sharing bottled water and bottles of wine. The waiter just poured it for both of the adults.

My Elite cruising buddy also allowed me to change the mini bar set up for a bottle of wine.

 

Thanks cruising buddy.:)

Edited November 28, 2015 by Aussie FF

[clairebearinaus]

Hmmm, while I really appreciate the advice, I'm no closer to a decision!

 

I think the big problem here is the vast gap between the amount I *should* drink and the amount I probably *will* drink! And perhaps staying away from the AIBP and counting my pennies is a way to keep consumption down.

 

OzKiwiJJ the pattern you described is very similar to how I'd drink on a holiday. Not enough to be rolling drunk and irresponsible or anything, but wow when you lay it out like that it's a fair bit of alcohol, and money, and calories...!

[OzKiwiJJ]

OzKiwiJJ the pattern you described is very similar to how I'd drink on a holiday. Not enough to be rolling drunk and irresponsible or anything, but wow when you lay it out like that it's a fair bit of alcohol, and money, and calories...!

 

It is a holiday so I allow myself to enjoy those extra treats. Spread out from lunch time until bedtime it doesn't seem to be a lot of alcohol.

 

On our Dawn Princess cruise my favourite afternoon cocktail was a long caprioska served over a ton of ice, That kept me happy for a couple of hours of sipping slowly. I also enjoyed the pomegranate martinis which, like a cosmopolitan, have some juice in them so aren't so lethal.

[Cruiser8080]

Hi, do they still charge the gst on the AIBP if you purchase it on board?

[GUT2407]

Hi, do they still charge the gst on the AIBP if you purchase it on board?

 

I didn't think thy charged ZGST on it at all.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Hi, do they still charge the gst on the AIBP if you purchase it on board?

 

No GST. It's $59, no extra taxes, gratuities or anything else.

[Cruiser8080]

Thanks for that, they are charging $64.90 online and the difference adds up on a 13 night cruise. More than the cost for another day.

Also wasn't sure if they charge 59 onboard and hit you with the gst at the end when you settle your account. Hopefully not.

[Aus Traveller]

Thanks for that, they are charging $64.90 online and the difference adds up on a 13 night cruise. More than the cost for another day.

Also wasn't sure if they charge 59 onboard and hit you with the gst at the end when you settle your account. Hopefully not.

No charges on the ship will have GST because it is 'overseas'. Probably the reason the pre-pay cost is higher is that the cruiseline has to charge GST because it is a purchase on land.:)

[Stuartm]

We have purchased the AIBP on both Princess and Celebrity and for us it worked out to be worthwhile. We both enjoy a drink but rarely have anything alcoholic before the evening. So with the beverage package we did have the odd light beer with lunch or a mojito by the pool but the main difference for us was that we had espresso coffees a couple of times a day, a few diet cokes, bottle water, fresh juice at breakfast. In fact what we would not have spent the money on normally, we enjoyed because we had the beverage package.

 

Yes I know, you can say it is false economy because without the package you wouldn't have had those items so therefore wouldn't have spent the money, but what I like about it is that you don't even question whether you should spend that extra couple of dollars on the juice or the coke or whatever. You have paid up front so you can do what you like and one of the great things about cruising is that, pretty much, it is about doing whatever you like.

 

cheers

 

Stu

[OzKiwiJJ]

Thanks for that, they are charging $64.90 online and the difference adds up on a 13 night cruise. More than the cost for another day.

Also wasn't sure if they charge 59 onboard and hit you with the gst at the end when you settle your account. Hopefully not.

 

Definitely not. I checked my onboard account carefully.

 

I've read that they actually refund the difference between the personalizer prices and the onboard price but don't have persoanl experience of that. We just bought the package on board. Very easy.

[OzKiwiJJ]

 

Yes I know, you can say it is false economy because without the package you wouldn't have had those items so therefore wouldn't have spent the money, but what I like about it is that you don't even question whether you should spend that extra couple of dollars on the juice or the coke or whatever. You have paid up front so you can do what you like and one of the great things about cruising is that, pretty much, it is about doing whatever you like.

 

 

The other thing I like is if you try something different, like a cocktail or a different wine, and don't like it, you haven't blown your money on that drink. You can just order another at no extra cost.

[GUT2407]

what I like about it is that you don't even question whether you should spend that extra couple of dollars on the juice or the coke or whatever. You have paid up front so you can do what you like and one of the great things about cruising is that, pretty much, it is about doing whatever you like.

 

cheers

 

Stu

 

so true Stu.

[GUT2407]

The other thing I like is if you try something different, like a cocktail or a different wine, and don't like it, you haven't blown your money on that drink. You can just order another at no extra cost.

 

I tried a few Virgins lat cruise that I wouldn't have gone near at $5 a pop, a couple I even liked.