Drink package worth it?

[SirRedman]

Definitely worth buying drink package. Regular free coffee tastes like sludge. In addition to alcoholic beverages including wine you get bottled water and canned soda. In all venues and dining rooms. You might want to take bottled water off the ship with you or bring to your cabin. I highly recommend you order. If on sale order asap. Will cost more on board

 

 

Thank you! I got it at 30% off, I think. Will still watch for a better sale!! :)

[95south]

For a Suite guest absolutely no way! You get a lot of free drinks like wine and beer basically all day and open cocktail bar in the evening. This is why RCI is sending you "special promotion" emails for your cruise for a drink package. That promo is not open to everyone just suite guests to get you to buy something you really don't need.

Edited June 7, 2018 by 95south
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[poocher]

For a Suite guest absolutely no way! You get a lot of free drinks like wine and beer basically all day and open cocktail bar in the evening. This is why RCI is sending you "special promotion" emails for your cruise for a drink package. That promo is not open to everyone just suite guests to get you to buy something you really don't need.

 

Suite guests get free wine and beer all day? Never saw this anywhere. How does that work? And I believe the cocktail offerings are limited to more "traditional" drinks ie: Manhattans, Scotch, Martinis etc.?

[Clarea]

Suite guests get free wine and beer all day? Never saw this anywhere. How does that work? And I believe the cocktail offerings are limited to more "traditional" drinks ie: Manhattans, Scotch, Martinis etc.?

Only on Oasis class ships are guests in Grand Suites or better able to get bottled water, soda, and selected beers and wines from 11am to 11pm in the Suite Lounge.

[boscobeans]

For our upcoming 12 day Caribbean on the Anthem we purchased 2 packages.

 

One Royal Replenishment for my wife. If she drinks alcohol it is usually only before dinner (covered by Diamond status).

 

One combination Deluxe Beverage package WITH VOOM for me. we will only be using ONE device at a time.

 

Total $1,082.00

 

Figure they will be used for really 11 FULL days it works out to $98.00 per day for both.

 

Is that a lot??

 

Being a Caribbean cruise we tend to drink as well as perspire a lot more than we do at home. Both on the ship and in ports where we usually spend a few hours soaking up the sun and the warm (hot to us) Caribbean climate.

 

So for $49.00 each we get all the bottled water, canned soda, frozen cocktails (virgin and regular), wine, beer, juices and specialty coffees we could possible want or need along with 24/7 use of one wireless device at a time.

 

Taking into account the prices on land at most bars or clubs that offer venues as nice, with as many forms of entertainment as well as restaurants and dining venues, $49.00 per day is well within reason.

 

Morning coffees, fresh juice and maybe a Bloody Mary at breakfast and a bottle or two of water to take with us off the ship,

 

A cold beer or two and a frozen cocktail or soda on our return and maybe another round at lunch followed by coffees.

 

Afternoon drinks on our veranda, by the pool, people watching or if at sea in the casino another round donating to the one armed bandits.

 

Pre dinner drink and wine, beer or mocktail during dinner and coffees after.

 

A cocktail or two at an evening show or on our late night return to the casino followed by a few bottles of water or cans of soda for our room to end the night watching the stars or islands roll by in the quiet darkness.

 

That plus internet (for late night catching up) and the fact we are on vacation seems to us to be a no-brainer.

 

Sounds like a lot of drinks and it is more than we would be having at home but we are on vacation in the Caribbean and not sitting around by the fireplace wondering if and when I have to get out the snow blower. LOL

 

bosco

[Floating Lanai]

for my cruise in May 2019 (9 day) it is showing $50 per day for the deluxe and $26 for the refreshment, I am assuming these are not sale prices?

[Clarea]

for my cruise in May 2019 (9 day) it is showing $50 per day for the deluxe and $26 for the refreshment, I am assuming these are not sale prices?

$26 is a "normal" price for Refreshment. The Deluxe price might be slightly discounted, but I've seen a bunch of reports with lower prices.

[frank808]

For our upcoming 12 day Caribbean on the Anthem we purchased 2 packages.

 

One Royal Replenishment for my wife. If she drinks alcohol it is usually only before dinner (covered by Diamond status).

 

One combination Deluxe Beverage package WITH VOOM for me. we will only be using ONE device at a time.

 

Total $1,082.00

 

Figure they will be used for really 11 FULL days it works out to $98.00 per day for both.

 

Is that a lot??

 

Being a Caribbean cruise we tend to drink as well as perspire a lot more than we do at home. Both on the ship and in ports where we usually spend a few hours soaking up the sun and the warm (hot to us) Caribbean climate.

 

So for $49.00 each we get all the bottled water, canned soda, frozen cocktails (virgin and regular), wine, beer, juices and specialty coffees we could possible want or need along with 24/7 use of one wireless device at a time.

 

Taking into account the prices on land at most bars or clubs that offer venues as nice, with as many forms of entertainment as well as restaurants and dining venues, $49.00 per day is well within reason.

 

Morning coffees, fresh juice and maybe a Bloody Mary at breakfast and a bottle or two of water to take with us off the ship,

 

A cold beer or two and a frozen cocktail or soda on our return and maybe another round at lunch followed by coffees.

 

Afternoon drinks on our veranda, by the pool, people watching or if at sea in the casino another round donating to the one armed bandits.

 

Pre dinner drink and wine, beer or mocktail during dinner and coffees after.

 

A cocktail or two at an evening show or on our late night return to the casino followed by a few bottles of water or cans of soda for our room to end the night watching the stars or islands roll by in the quiet darkness.

 

That plus internet (for late night catching up) and the fact we are on vacation seems to us to be a no-brainer.

 

Sounds like a lot of drinks and it is more than we would be having at home but we are on vacation in the Caribbean and not sitting around by the fireplace wondering if and when I have to get out the snow blower. LOL

 

bosco

 

Did royal change policy and now allow one person to buy deluxe and the other to buy refreshment package? I thought if one cruiser bought deluxe package, everyone else in cabin that was eligible had to buy it also.

 

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[Clarea]

Did royal change policy and now allow one person to buy deluxe and the other to buy refreshment package? I thought if one cruiser bought deluxe package, everyone else in cabin that was eligible had to buy it also.

I don't think it's a formal change of policy, but they seem to allow that combination if you call and complain.

[thetone]

Just received my entire transcription history from Royal for a 7 day Southern Caribbean trip with my wife. I was able to secure the Deluxe drink package and Voom for $775 ($55 per person, per day). Without divulging what we spent money on, and understanding it was our 10th anniversary cruise, we would have spent almost double if we didn't have the package. Now granted, we probably would not have had as many specialty coffees, waters, and would have probably scaled the drinks back a notch - but it was TOTALLY worth it for us.

 

Cheers.

[caszos]

Just received my entire transcription history from Royal for a 7 day Southern Caribbean trip with my wife. I was able to secure the Deluxe drink package and Voom for $775 ($55 per person, per day). Without divulging what we spent money on, and understanding it was our 10th anniversary cruise, we would have spent almost double if we didn't have the package. Now granted, we probably would not have had as many specialty coffees, waters, and would have probably scaled the drinks back a notch - but it was TOTALLY worth it for us.

 

Cheers.

 

Thats great! Do you have an idea of # drinks for sea days versus port days?

[thetone]

Thats great! Do you have an idea of # drinks for sea days versus port days?

 

Other than the first sea day, which we apparently took full advantage of, it was fairly close. Within 2-3 drinks per person.

[Goodtime Cruizin]

I think he's right...you have to drink a lot of drinks to get your $$'s worth...even using the BOGO offering.

 

Define "a lot".

It's all relative really. I mean everyone is different to a certain degree w/ regards to what one can drink. For us, on a 7 day, 4 port cruise, they're worth it.

 

Adding the bottled water & specialty coffees to the daily intake one can easily hit the mark of the daily dollar figure. But if you don't drink more than two drinks per day, don't buy it.

 

(2) bottled waters $10 day

(2) specialty coffees $10 day

(2) Beers $12 day

(2) cocktails $24 day

That's $56 day.

I can easily do this for 7 days. But 15 days? No.

Five European ports in 7 days? No. But 7 days, 4 caribbean port days, I'm all over the Deluxe Bev Package.

[Cruise a holic]

For my DH and I also well worth it. We each drink at least 6 bottles of water each, including san pelligrino and specialty coffee. Not even adding the 4-6 alcoholic drinks a day or soft drinks.

[traveltilidrop]

I have never purchased the drink packages. For me, it just seems to be too much money and it just encourages you to drink soda pop and juice all day in order to get your money's worth out of the package, with the calories adding up in addition to all that food.

I visited Johnny Rockets when I felt like enjoying a Pibb since the soda pop is included in the $9.95 cover charge ($11.74 with tip). Could enjoy as much of the food and pop as I wanted.

And if you are on a cruise with several port stops, you can always enjoy a beverage while in port as well- perhaps for less than onboard.

[TheGrandSnackoneer]

For me I'll get it if I'm solo only because I drink significantly more alcohol alone. Truth be told over the span of a week I'm probably very close to the break even point but I'm more adventurous on the package than off. Oddly the big decider is that I can use the package for bottled water, juice, coffee, etc. If I ordered a drink I'd get a bottle of water at the same time. Never been so hydrated in my life. Only time this backfired was towards closing time at the Windjammer when I went for a coffee. The gentleman with the drink cart saw I had the beverage sticker and was very generous. Cut to me outside my cabin holding a latte in one of my tiny baby bird hands, cradling 4 super cold bottles of water, and trying to open my cabin door with the RFID Seapass that was oh so conveniently in my butt pocket. Could I have just put down the water? Yes but I also wanted to know if posterior dexterity was a thing. It's not.

 

Also I don't know if this applies to any of the other Quantum class ships but there is another fresh OJ machine in Sorrentos tucked in the corner.

[Wivian]

 

Five European ports in 7 days? No. But 7 days, 4 caribbean port days, I'm all over the Deluxe Bev Package.

 

 

 

We’re going to Symphony in a month and this

convinced me that it was a good idea to get the package.

We will drink water a lot (and take the bottles with us on the land) and only 3,3 alcoholic drinks per day isn’t that big of a deal :D (we paid 55$)

[udivegirl]

I've been going back and forth on purchasing the beverage package. It is on sale for $48/day right now. We are on a 13-day cruise (3 sea days). When I added it to our "Cart" to see the grand total, it was over $1300. I'm not sure we would even spend that much without the package. I'm torn. :/

[boscobeans]

I don't think it's a formal change of policy, but they seem to allow that combination if you call and complain.

 

Yes, CORRECT.

 

Once the packages became available I called since the online purchase was not allowed.

 

Explaining the fact that my wife rarely if ever drinks anything with alcohol, maybe a cocktail before dinner (covered under our Diamond status, the representative put the purchases through with no problem.

 

She enjoys her frozen virgin drinks and I enjoy my draft beers and real cocktails. The BEST of two worlds.

 

When I leave her to finish off her evening in the casino, she can always point me in the right direction back to our stateroom. LOL.;p

 

bosco

[Goodtime Cruizin]

We’re going to Symphony in a month and this

convinced me that it was a good idea to get the package.

We will drink water a lot (and take the bottles with us on the land) and only 3,3 alcoholic drinks per day isn’t that big of a deal :D (we paid 55$)

 

Yes, those prices are expensive. We actually had the package when we did the Liberty out of Barcelona, but we wouldn't do it again. Five days in a row of ports where you get off the ship at 8am and return at 5pm left no time to drink really but at night. We grew tired by the 3rd day. We didn't stay up late during this time knowing we had another full day of touring the next day. For us, the European cruises are sooo different than a Caribbean cruise. Completely a different vibe w/ a lot more walking & exploring. But that's us. Enjoy your cruise!

[mcatmcat]

I bought the refreshment package once and it wasn’t a great value.

 

My friends had the same opinion they were traveling with their family of 4 but one of them had the refreshment package and they might not buy it again. Of course they never shared the package amount them..

 

 

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[mom2tcdx2]

Personally I found the package to be worth it, especially when at a lower sale price. We managed to get it I believe for like $45 a day, drinks being $13 each, really you only need 4 to break even. Sodas, water, coffees just increase the value. Personally I don't even use for the water, coffee or soda, beer or wine. Though I can easily do 4 drinks even on a port day. You figure even if back on board at 4, if I only did a drink an hour, by 10 that could easily be 6 drinks. I do have to say I think the most I have ever managed on any given day would have been 11, but I can't do that all day every day.

 

I have however on most cruises done around 7 a day pretty easily.

[Shrewsbury on Tour]

Hi,

 

We are sailing for the first time on RCL, to be honest it’s a no brainier. I will, without trying drink 10-15 drinks my significant other, 10 drinks. May seem a lot to some. But this is our holiday, never drink in the week but whilst on vacation!!!!

 

Between us easily 25 drinks a day therefore the package is right up our street!!!

 

Cheers

[95south]

With all this talk about is the drink package worth the price, can anyone post the RCI 2018 drink prices? They're consistent across all the ships I think. This could really help in the whole "is it worth it" debate. A frozen speciality drink @ $13.00 and a few of those drinks @ $10.00 per drink you can basically justify the price. Oh, and don't forget the 18% gratuity and tax on every drink!

Edited June 9, 2018 by 95south
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[KansCocoa]

For my sailing in 12 days (Brilliance, 12-night British Isles cruise), the Deluxe Drink Package just went on sale for $39 per person.

 

I had purchased it for $41 a person during the Black Friday sale last November, but I cancelled it and repurchased it.