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UBP price rise to $69 per day

clivep

By clivep,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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Demonyte

Demonyte

Posted
Posted (edited)
Just out of curiosity, what is the price range for drinks were you to buy them "a la carte". I know on Celebrity, the fancy Martini's were about $12 each plus gratuity.

 

Some recent menus here (bar prices on NCL were raised twice last year too, up to about 25%):

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=48642895

 

Wow, just wow. I'm shocked :eek:

 

It makes no difference to us but, for others, is it still worth it at this amount?

 

Hasn't been anymore after the last raise if one compares what's included to other cruise lines' offerings - for example with Celebrity one now can get more for $10pppd less when drinking non-premium brands or wines (just two months ago we spent two weeks on Celebrity Summit with Standard Alcoholic Package and managed just fine).

Edited by Demonyte
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roger001

roger001

Posted
Posted
Just out of curiosity, what is the price range for drinks were you to buy them "a la carte". I know on Celebrity, the fancy Martini's were about $12 each plus gratuity.

 

 

They range from about $5.50 to about $12 or so. Our drinks of choice seem to be in the $10 range...plus 18%.

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All-ready2cruise Holiday Sharing Rare

All-ready2cruise

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I guess the 'a-la-carte' drinks prices will be going up again soon as well - that seems to be the process at the moment. Glad I'm not committed to an NCL cruise at the moment!

 

We aren't committed to an NCL cruise this year and next year we are going with friends on Carnival. If things continue along the lines FDR has chosen, I may cancel DH's BD cruise in Apr. 2017 and find something else.

 

It doesn't matter about the UBP but seems there will be higher prices and less value for other things as well but..... we'll see... nothing is written in stone

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triptolemus

triptolemus

Posted
Posted
If things continue along the lines FDR has chosen...

 

It's pretty safe to say that ship has sailed.

 

Things have been continuing along these lines for quite some time now. Whether the changes were initiated by Del Rio or someone else is really immaterial. NCL owns the decisions and NCL owns the consequences (positive or negative).

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Merriem

Merriem

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Posted

That is getting nuts. I have South America booked the end of this month, and we have all the perks, and the Pride Of America . I am glad I cancelled our nEw Zealand cruise Feb 2017 and I booked a B2B with all the perks on Celebrity in Australia and New Zealand for 2017. I think after our Pride of America that will be our last trip with NCL. Sorry, but that is greedy.

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Desert_ Dweller

Desert_ Dweller

Posted
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Wow, just wow. I'm shocked :eek:

 

It makes no difference to us but, for others, is it still worth it at this amount?

 

https://www.ncl.com/onboard-packages/beverage-packages

 

Hey Connie,

I didn't think we had that much to drink on our transatlantic cruise in October.

But, after listening to the complaints about the lack of bar service and limited selection of alcoholic beverages on the first sailing after the T/A, perhaps we had more than I can remember and they were forced to increase the daily price

of the UBP. :D And all that Pinot Grigio :o

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hugocruiser

hugocruiser

Posted
Posted

As NCL continues to offer this as a freebie, I don't think the price is really that important. In my eyes the price for drinks on board are still fairly reasonable. I understand we do not like change, but this is a business and they are in the business of making money. Yes there is an important tipping point where the increase in cost results in a decrease in customers to the point where the increase no longer brings a high profit. This is basic economics. No business makes these decisions on a whim, nor is it ever the decision of one man. The economics of the situation are evaluated, a comparison of competitors is conducted, and a price is set that will produce the greatest profit for the company.

 

I have paid upwards of $12 for a bottle of beer at a sporting event and I am sure many others have. We are a captive audience in both situations, one venue has chosen to exploit that to the max while NCL still remains comparable to my local bar for their drink prices (minus the 18% auto gratuity) I am not an NCL cheerleader, but I think its important to understand we have a choice to drink or buy the package. I choose NCl for the freestyle dining as my DW does not like to sit with random unknown people on our cruise, a couple $ increase in optional drink prices is worth it to me to have a happy DW. There will be some the choose to not travel with NCL because of this and that is their choice. To me the opportunity cost of switching to another line is higher then staying with NCL (a happy DW is priceless).

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All-ready2cruise Holiday Sharing Rare

All-ready2cruise

Posted
Posted
Hey Connie,

I didn't think we had that much to drink on our transatlantic cruise in October.

But, after listening to the complaints about the lack of bar service and limited selection of alcoholic beverages on the first sailing after the T/A, perhaps we had more than I can remember and they were forced to increase the daily price

of the UBP. :D And all that Pinot Grigio :o

 

Yeah, that must be it Joan :o It's all our fault. :p

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sparks1093 Great Review Rare

sparks1093

Posted
Posted
Does anyone actually buy the UBP?

 

People still buy it and it's a great marketing tool- the cost of the "free" UBP is higher making it look more enticing, encouraging more people to book early for the "free" promo. In theory anyway.:)

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kosweeps

kosweeps

Posted
Posted
Does anyone actually buy the UBP?

 

I have wondered that too. As a promo it's a good deal even with the 18% gratuity (IMO) if one drinks $12.42 or more worth of beverages a day. But as the price keeps rising, the out of pocket costs for the 18% gratuity keeps rising.

 

Lets say it went to $100 a day and it was still offered as a promo. If you had to pay the 18% gratuity that's an $126 pp on a 7 day cruise. Assuming one is not sailing solo that's an additional $256.

 

As it stands now the $5 additional per day is an additional $6.30 in gratuity for a 7 day cruise ($80.64 pp at the price of $64 a day vs. $86.94 pp at $69 a day).

 

Still not a bad deal, but the clip at which the rates are rising in interesting. I saw increases on a few other lines (not recently), but I haven't paid attention to the frequency of the increases.

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roger001

roger001

Posted
Posted
People still buy it and it's a great marketing tool- the cost of the "free" UBP is higher making it look more enticing, encouraging more people to book early for the "free" promo. In theory anyway.:)

 

 

Booking a recent 14 day cruise, the "free" drink promotion will cost us $440 for the 14 days. Still a super deal, if you drink...but the "free" word is a bit misleading much like calling a mini suite a "suite". But...as long as the consumer understands and has choices....all is well...still.

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Jldevlin

Jldevlin

Posted
Posted

We booked a Med cruise on NCL for September only because it had the dates for the times we were meeting friends in Venice. We have had the all you can drink ( hubby calls it ) on Princess ,Celebrity and Holland America... and we were never charged the gratuity on it ... needless to say we were a little shocked at our ..ahem ... free drink promo

We love the program on the other lines where you get your nice coffees but we can go without those..I am just hoping for a few good wines at least lol... if not then we will beer it all the way.

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