Drink Packages- Princess vs. NCL/Celebrity

[Highlander1]

We enjoy Princess the most of any of the major lines, however, both NCL and Celebrity offer beverage and dining packages on most of their cruises. Surely, Princess, RC and Carnival will need to make some changes to their current policies to stay competitive. Just off an NCL Caribbean trip and the drink package was fantastic.

 

Buying the package for my wife and myself would have cost around $1600 for a 10 day, way more than we would ever consider paying, and if we ran the tab, our bar bill probably would have been around $500-700. Loved the idea of not concerning ourselves with the cost of an after drink Baileys or two, or the before dinner Martini's that we usually wouldn't have if we were paying.

 

Has Princess offered drink packages with little or no increase to their current rates? Seems the other lines have figured out that they can increase their fares slightly, include dining and beverage packages and still maintain the profit margin they need to stay afloat. Afterall, how much does the average person drink, at the ships cost, $20 a day would seem excessive. Its a way of getting tips from 80% of passengers to their staff automatically, and keeps the specialty restaurants busy, and everyone wins. And, I only saw one person in 10 days that drank too much, he was wacked a few times so I place the blame on him and not the booze package, everyone seemed to love it. If the drinking or dining packages aren't for you, perhaps OBC would be your choice of reward.

 

Princess needs to get on board before they get passed up.

[Thrak]

Princess has offered promotional sailings with the All Inclusive Beverage Package as a perk. On cruises where that isn't offered "free" one can purchase it for $56.35 per person per day - which includes the 15% gratuity. There is no restriction in place saying that everybody in the cabin has to purchase the package but there is no "sharing" of the package and it must be purchased for the duration of the cruise.

[skynight]

We enjoy Princess the most of any of the major lines, however, both NCL and Celebrity offer beverage and dining packages on most of their cruises. Surely, Princess, RC and Carnival will need to make some changes to their current policies to stay competitive. Just off an NCL Caribbean trip and the drink package was fantastic.

 

Buying the package for my wife and myself would have cost around $1600 for a 10 day, way more than we would ever consider paying, and if we ran the tab, our bar bill probably would have been around $500-700. Loved the idea of not concerning ourselves with the cost of an after drink Baileys or two, or the before dinner Martini's that we usually wouldn't have if we were paying.

 

Has Princess offered drink packages with little or no increase to their current rates? Seems the other lines have figured out that they can increase their fares slightly, include dining and beverage packages and still maintain the profit margin they need to stay afloat. Afterall, how much does the average person drink, at the ships cost, $20 a day would seem excessive. Its a way of getting tips from 80% of passengers to their staff automatically, and keeps the specialty restaurants busy, and everyone wins. And, I only saw one person in 10 days that drank too much, he was wacked a few times so I place the blame on him and not the booze package, everyone seemed to love it. If the drinking or dining packages aren't for you, perhaps OBC would be your choice of reward.

 

Princess needs to get on board before they get passed up.

 

Princess does have an all inclusive beverage package. It is $56.35/day which includes the grat. and includes all alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages priced $10 and under, which is about 95% of all beverages on the ship. It also includes 40% discount on any full bottles of wine $100 or less. The package is individual and does not have to be purchased by all occupants of the cabin. Not sure where you are going.

 

Regarding dining, Princess has and does offer promos that include a free specialty restaurant meal. Their dining model is to provide quality dining in their DR and other no charge venues, and offer the special restaurants as a change at reasonable surcharges.

 

Actually I think Princess is ahead in their dining model and are not getting passed up. On a recent cruise I dined with a passenger that normally cruised on another line. She preferred the Princess model and quality of the DR food much better.

Edited March 29, 2016 by sknight

[Cruise Junky]

To clarify, the OP is asking about drink

Packages as an included perk

 

They have done it in the past. The cruise we had booked did not go up but it was a bit of a dog itinerary that they changed and wasn't selling very well. I would expect a nominal increase in the cruise price if it's a popular itinerary. Friends of ours got a very large drop in price when they dropped the drink

Package promo and opted for a different sale.

[cynbar]

Princess does sometimes off the beverage package as an included perk, they just don't do this very often. We booked our upcoming British Isles cruise under the Sip and Sail promotion last fall, which included the package. I know sometimes it seems that you pay more with the package but we didn't find that for our cruise, the price has only gone up since then for those with no package attached. However, I haven't seen that promotion offered since so I don't know how often it appears. Keep your eyes open for sales.

[cruisebie]

Sure hope that Princess doesn't start using NCL as a model for drink packages. Their cruise prices have increased more than a nominal amt due to the current pricing scenario with all the so called "free" options. Plus they add an 18% service fee based on the cost of the drink package to your cruise fare. And they recently raised the cost of the package so they could recoup more from the 18% charge. There is no such thing as a free lunch (or free drink package-lol) as they say.

 

The Princess pkg has a lot more included which makes it a much better value, imo.

[jennybenny]

I am happy with Princess' current offering of the AIBP and feel it's reasonably priced, for me and my family. I have seen it added as a perk, but not very often (I've never gotten it as a perk). I see free gratuities and specialty dining offered more often than the drink package (and we have benefited from those in the past).

 

Princess does market research to figure out how best to market things to be most advantageous to the cruise line. Also, the practice of heavy discounting last minute cruises has gone away and now they offer things like the AIBP, gratuities, specialty dining, OBC, etc. as incentives to get those last minute bookings. Princess does a great job of selling out their cruises (so I've been told).

 

I do understand the OP's issue of not wanting to "think" about the price of a drink when ordering. I don't want to think about it either. It's why I prepay drinks and gratuities before I get on board. If everyone were to have drinks included then the price of the cruise itself would have to increase for everyone and there are some people who don't want those perks. So I like that we all have the option of including them or not.

 

I have discussed with DH about doing an all inclusive luxury line so we don't even have to think of any additional perks, but as he explained it, we could book a Suite, do all the massages, drink packages, excursions, etc. we wanted and still spend less on Princess.

 

Overall, I think Princess does OK marketing their product and what they offer. That Celebrity and NCL offer something "more" does not make me want to try their cruise lines.

[cruisequeen4ever]

I too wish Princess would offer the AIBP perk more frequently and keep the cruise fare down at the same time. The only time I saw it offered, the price was higher than the value for DH and me, so we passed on the promo. Sometimes it's seem like a good deal on Celebrity, and sometimes it's seemed higher.

 

 

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[ellieocb]

Hi I have never cruised with princess but I am looking at them for next year, can someone explain what aibp means please?

[memoak]

AIBP is the Princess all inclusive beverage package that is for sale on all cruises. There was a short time last year when they offered the package as a free perk, I was lucky enough to snag it for a 17 day TA coming up in December and still got a decent price

[paul929207]

Hi I have never cruised with princess but I am looking at them for next year, can someone explain what aibp means please?

AIBP = All Inclusive Beverage Package

[ellieocb]

AIBP is the Princess all inclusive beverage package that is for sale on all cruises. There was a short time last year when they offered the package as a free perk, I was lucky enough to snag it for a 17 day TA coming up in December and still got a decent price

 

 

Wow that sounds like a great deal ! Enjoy your holiday

[cynbar]

The AIBP costs about $50 per day/pp, but it includes just about everything you might drink: cocktails and beers and glasses of wine up to $10, soda, bottled waters, specialty coffees, fresh brewed coffee, fresh squeezed juices. It sounds like a lot of money until you add up how much you drink of all the above during the day.Plus, no slips to sign, and you get the chance to try things you might not if you were paying per drink. It does not include room service or the mini bar, but otherwise it's hard to find a drink that is not on the list. If you get the package as a perk, the gratuity is include, so it is worth more than $400 pp on a 7 day cruise.

Edited March 31, 2016 by cynbar