Taking alcohol on board

[Britboys]

Its pure greed from P&O .

 

The prices on board are not cheap, £3.95 for a can of beer is daylight robbery and I live in the South. People tend to drink and eat at places that they can afford, and a P&O ship might equate to a once in a month pub or restaurant visit. If you are a captive audience for 14 days then it can be very expensive. Not everyone drinks a £5 glass of wine over dinner - every night.

 

I recall cruising on Ocean Village 2. Apparently this ship took more money in alcohol sales than any other. It catered for the UK market and the alcohol prices were duty free cheap, not some made up South East price.

 

A vast number of people took alcohol onto our recent cruise, likewise the amount coming on board at port stops was plentiful. If this is stopped people will simply go elsewhere once they factor in daft on alcohol board prices.. I'm not sure cruising is the be all and all for large numbers of people. P&O have bust a gut to attract non cruisers to their ships the sort of people who usually holiday all inclusive.

 

Incidentally all the bars on board were extremely busy but they think they can squeeze more from people. Well let the people vote with their feet I guess.

 

P&O is a British-based Company (albeit part of an American Group). As I mentioned earlier, try going into, for instance, a Holiday Inn Hotel anywhere in the UK and see what a drink will cost there. Aboard a P&O ship, you must compare like with like, which means a four-star hotel. On that basis, the alcohol prices are very reasonable.

 

Everyone has the right of choice, so those that feel this likely new policy will ruin their holiday can of course choose to go elsewhere. NCL cruises sail out of the UK and offer an all inclusive product.

[wowzz]

I totally agree that drinking your own wine, spirits etc other than in your own cabin is unacceptable. However, taking on 5 or 6 bottles of wine to drink in your own cabin, over say, a 14 night cruise, does not seem unreasonable, especially as I suspect that those people who do this probably also contribute greatly to the bar takings as well.

The answer is for P&O to clamp down on out of cabin consumption of non-purchased drink, rather than punishing those of us that adhere to the drinks policy.

[Britboys]

IF, for arguments sake, a ban on carrying any alcohol on board was introduced in the new year then could I in theory cancel and ask for my deposits back on cruises booked for 2018 and 19 (not that we'd have any intention of doing so), citing that taking alcohol on was part of the reason for choosing P & O? I suspect there's something in the small print which would let them get around it...

 

The booking conditions and contract use the terminology "significant" or "major" changes. I don't think adding a restriction on the amount of alcohol passengers can take aboard would be considered a significant or major change to your holiday package.

[insanemagnet]

Yes they are which makes a lot of the discussions on this thread difficult to understand. As I posted before standard spirits are around £19/£20. This is for a Ltr. These prices are very close to supermarket standard prices.

 

Even if you get them on special you are only saving around £5 a Ltr. Cannot believe this is a deal breaker.

 

 

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That is now when P&O need to compete with the supermarket price of spirits people can bring on-board.

 

Remove the competition so people can only choose between P&O bar prices and P&O cabin bottle prices and I bet they will take the opportunity to "review our customer offering".

[tinsoldier]

You might be able to cancel your cruises but the chance of getting your deposit back with the excuse that they have put up alcohol since you booked and that is why you chose P&O due to drinks prices will not be successful even if you wanted to do this. Have been cruising for over 20yrs and every year they tinkle with services they offer with no recourse of those booked prior can cancel with full reimbursement. Within the next fortnight P&O will be releasing cruises for Summer 2019 and if you think that if you book P&O will not make any changes is fanciful.

 

 

 

The last post wasn't about cancelling because of drinks prices, it clearly stated the reason as due to a change in drinks policy.

 

 

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[uk338]

Yes they are which makes a lot of the discussions on this thread difficult to understand. As I posted before standard spirits are around £19/£20. This is for a Ltr. These prices are very close to supermarket standard prices.

 

Even if you get them on special you are only saving around £5 a Ltr. Cannot believe this is a deal breaker.

 

 

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Thanks for confirming.

 

We've been expecting P&O to stop providing bottles via room service - if memory serves correctly the bottle prices were dropped from the menus around a year ago.

 

 

Fingers crossed this is still the case in November :D

[daiB]

Thanks for confirming.

 

 

 

We've been expecting P&O to stop providing bottles via room service - if memory serves correctly the bottle prices were dropped from the menus around a year ago.

 

 

 

 

 

Fingers crossed this is still the case in November :D

 

 

 

The prices are on the new in cabin menus as of July this year on Britannia. I understand they came in within the last few months when they introduced paying for most old items.

 

 

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[balf]

IF, for arguments sake, a ban on carrying any alcohol on board was introduced in the new year then could I in theory cancel and ask for my deposits back on cruises booked for 2018 and 19 (not that we'd have any intention of doing so), citing that taking alcohol on was part of the reason for choosing P & O? I suspect there's something in the small print which would let them get around it...

 

No, it's a concession and not part of the contract you accepted when you booked.

 

David.

[balf]

"P&O have bust a gut to attract non cruisers to their ships the sort of people who usually holiday all inclusive "

Where's your evidence for this sweeping statement? I am a first time cruiser and I can tell you that I am definitely not the sort of person who goes all inclusive. In fact I have never been on any kind of all inclusive and would never want to.

Yes it is a captive audience but I am on holiday . If I felt the drinks really were too expensive then I don't buy them. It wouldn't stop me going on a cruise. It doesn't stop me going on holiday to Scandinavia where alcohol prices are prohibitive.

Horses for courses.

 

Of course P&O have looked to the packaged holidaymaker to fill the growing number of cabins they need to fill. Where else will they find them.

 

David

[zoe sproodle]

No, it's a concession and not part of the contract you accepted when you booked.

 

David.

 

Suspected as much, previous post was just a thought anyway. We normally take a bottle of gin but I completely agree with others on here that it's no great problem to get it from room service instead.

[doog442]

"P&O have bust a gut to attract non cruisers to their ships the sort of people who usually holiday all inclusive "

Where's your evidence for this sweeping statement? I am a first time cruiser and I can tell you that I am definitely not the sort of person who goes all inclusive. In fact I have never been on any kind of all inclusive and would never want to.

Yes it is a captive audience but I am on holiday . If I felt the drinks really were too expensive then I don't buy them. It wouldn't stop me going on a cruise. It doesn't stop me going on holiday to Scandinavia where alcohol prices are prohibitive.

Horses for courses.

 

Sweeping statement ?

 

How do you think they fill these ships and why do you think more cruise lines are jumping on the all inclusive bandwagon. We've met numerous first time cruisers on P&0 and Celebrity who holiday all inclusive. Is all inclusive a dirty word in your eyes ? You might want to open them and look at the competition.

 

For example I can travel to Mauritius direct for 2 weeks, stay at a 5 star hotel and eat and drink anything I like for less than a 2 week Med cruise with a balcony on Britannia .The Caribbean and the far east is even cheaper.

 

As you say horses for courses.

 

As for the NCL all inclusive comment from someone else, yes this is the reason cruise ships are attempting to compete with this market, the issue is that when you drill down into NCL / Celebrity all inc, packages they are extortionate and will often add on £500 each to your bog standard cruise price.

 

We love cruising , we spend plenty in the bars , we've never seen people drinking their own drinks in the dining room but the next step will be banning water and soft drinks as well.

 

I came back to cruising, specifically with P&0 because we could take on water (6 large bottles), soft drinks within reason and a small quantity of alcohol...the sort of thing that will hammer you with other cruise lines without a drinks package. We also value buying local drink ashore and sampling it on our balcony, you know contributing to the local economy ?

 

I might be one less booking in future and so be it, there's a whole world to see and I've previously found Celebrity for example to be extremely oppressive in their policy to extract every penny possible by whatever means.

[Mediterranean honeymooner]

We have recently returned from our honeymoon on a princess ship and we ...ehem accidentally brought on board six bottles of wine which we didn't pay corkage on :halo:but we still managed to accrue a $700 bar bill at the end of a 14 night cruise and can assure you we didn't drink loads.

It was the ridiculous bar prices on board plus the 15%gratuity added to the price of the drink that did it for us.

I work for a living and have no problem paying a fair price for a good product and a good service that we received but to be fair we were fleeced on the drinks we had.

 

We didn't deny ourselves on our honeymoon but didn't spend it completely soused! :halo:

We sail on the Britannia next year and are hoping for a good cruise but hoping for a fairer drinks bill or I guess it will be our last cruise. We just can't justify champagne prices for just everyday drinks.

[wowzz]

Well said. These days cruises are part of the mass market holiday market, and have to be priced accordingly. My wife and I can have a 14 day all inclusive holiday, in the Caribbean, in an enormous bedroom with sea views, choice of speciality restaurants at no extra cost, nightly entertainment, and free drinks all day, for less than a balcony cabin on P&O. Yes, it is nice to be at sea and visit new ports, but after a while this experience becomes less exciting. P&O management are walking a tight rope in that they want to maximise revenue and also maintain full occupancy. Changing their on board drinks policy is likely to be counter productive.

[kersh]

I am quite happy to purchase a bottle of gin from room service as long as can still bring my own tonic on board. That Britvic tonic they sell is in my opinion, disgusting and ruins a decent gin.

[insanemagnet]

I am quite happy to purchase a bottle of gin from room service as long as can still bring my own tonic on board. That Britvic tonic they sell is in my opinion, disgusting and ruins a decent gin.

If Carnival Corp are going for uniformity across their brands in regards of taking drink on board, at least one of their brands prohibits ANY food or drink being taken on board.

[grapau27]

If Carnival Corp are going for uniformity across their brands in regards of taking drink on board, at least one of their brands prohibits ANY food or drink being taken on board.

IMO we are spoilt by P&O in how amenable they are regarding the bringing on board of alcohol and the price on board which i think is cheap compared to other Carnival brands and RCCL brands.

Well done P&O lets hope the takers don't spoil it for everyone else.

 

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[sapphire4]

Part of the appeal to us for P and O is the reasonable bar/wine prices. Compared to Princess I would agree they are much lower. We do, however, like to carry on a bottle of wine when in port and it would be sad if the minority abusing this spoilt it for the majority. On one cruise the chaps scanning the bags was tut tutting at two elderly ladies bringing on three bottles each.

[Florry]

It might not necessarily be that the current system is hugely abused, but the potential for this to become more prevalent if P&O make price or package changes.

 

 

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[CCFC]

I am quite happy to purchase a bottle of gin from room service as long as can still bring my own tonic on board. That Britvic tonic they sell is in my opinion, disgusting and ruins a decent gin.

 

They sold Fever Tree Mediterranean tonic on my last cruise, never drunk so many G&T's!

[Cruise Puss]

 

For example I can travel to Mauritius direct for 2 weeks, stay at a 5 star hotel and eat and drink anything I like for less than a 2 week Med cruise with a balcony on Britannia .The Caribbean and the far east is even cheaper.

 

There are obviously different classes of 5 star in Mauritius, as the one we are looking at costs over £20,000 for 2 weeks in high season. Somewhat higher than a balcony cabin on Britannia. Mind you, you cannot take your own booze! :D

[racelover]

Well I always take a box because it's safer than Bottles and my Husband and I enjoy a glass while getting ready, it doesn't stop us from buying wine etc the rest of the evening, so I hope it doesn't happen..

[racelover]

Well I always take a box because it's safer than Bottles and my Husband and I enjoy a glass while getting ready, it doesn't stop us from buying wine etc the rest of the evening, so I hope it doesn't happen..

[kersh]

They sold Fever Tree Mediterranean tonic on my last cruise, never drunk so many G&T's!

We found we could buy that in the bars but order from room service for in cabin drinking only Britvic was offered.

I also need it to be sugar free.

[Thejuggler]

We have recently returned from our honeymoon on a princess ship and we ...ehem accidentally brought on board six bottles of wine which we didn't pay corkage on :halo:but we still managed to accrue a $700 bar bill at the end of a 14 night cruise and can assure you we didn't drink loads.

It was the ridiculous bar prices on board plus the 15%gratuity added to the price of the drink that did it for us.

I work for a living and have no problem paying a fair price for a good product and a good service that we received but to be fair we were fleeced on the drinks we had.

 

We didn't deny ourselves on our honeymoon but didn't spend it completely soused! :halo:

We sail on the Britannia next year and are hoping for a good cruise but hoping for a fairer drinks bill or I guess it will be our last cruise. We just can't justify champagne prices for just everyday drinks.

 

Individual drinks prices are so high to make packages look good value.

 

In reality both are expensive.

[grapau27]

Individual drinks prices are so high to make packages look good value.

 

In reality both are expensive.

I agree all the American ships drinks are very expensive but IMO P&O drinks are very reasonably priced.

 

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