Bar drink price increase and Classic Beverage Package

[Magnelasagne]

As a Norwegian I find it too good to be true that I can pay only 60$ Per day and get premium+ that also includes the minibar. This weekend I paid 14$ for a GT(beefeater/bombay) and 11$ for regular craft beer at the local pub.

I have only cruised once before, this summer on Symphony, and the deluxe dp was well worth it, even without the minibar. I spent 20-25$ per day only on non alcoholic beverages. 

That said I can understand the frustration when prices go up and gelato etc is taken away. 

 

 

[citizenfrank]

3 hours ago, sidari said:

Frank ... I believe you may well be right about 2019, we are in the process of deciding if we will actually take our booked 2019 Xmas Meraviglia cruise despite having upgraded to the Deluxe from the Classic for our Aurea Suite. Until the changes it was Europe that had a hefty and almost double price increase to buy the Deluxe package, now it has been reversed for some unknown reason other than dragging people onto the Miami based cruises.

The £6 pp pd price to upgrade to Deluxe was not an issue and if Aurea now had premium the jump to P+ would be £13 pp pd which at a pinch we would have been ok with, but the ridiculous jump from Easy to P+ is never going to happen at £34 pp pd.

A much simplified system would have been as I have said elsewhere would have been D.o.U. for Bella, Easy for Fantastica, Premium for Aurea and P+ for YC with upgrades allowed between them. That though would have needed someone with a modicum of common sense, but sadly it appears that none exists in the MSC world.

I missed that idea! But agree it makes good sense. Even if you were upgrading say to PP from Easy within Bella the route is transparent. Plus I don't get why the prices should differ so greatly from region to region & if you are fighting to crack the USA, why load those prices so much!

[citizenfrank]

3 hours ago, Magnelasagne said:

As a Norwegian I find it too good to be true that I can pay only 60$ Per day and get premium+ that also includes the minibar. This weekend I paid 14$ for a GT(beefeater/bombay) and 11$ for regular craft beer at the local pub.

I have only cruised once before, this summer on Symphony, and the deluxe dp was well worth it, even without the minibar. I spent 20-25$ per day only on non alcoholic beverages. 

That said I can understand the frustration when prices go up and gelato etc is taken away. 

 

 

Obviously not a Norwegian, but I get exactly where you are coming from, the reality is still that if you like a drink on vacation there is excellent value in cruise line drinks packages! I was in a bar here in Manchester last night, nice bar & a girl brought drinks that yes included cocktails & shots, there were 12 I guestimated & it was £99!!!

[hamrag]

19 hours ago, Beamafar said:

 

Depends on what MSC are going to leave on the top shelf, Frank!

Indeed! For the previous Super Premium (** on menu) some of the prices were well above the Deluxe limit so, I guess they might include those a few dollars or euros above that and remove the very high end of top shelf! So, in reality 'no price limit' on Premium + might be 20 or thereabouts. Time will provide the real answer.

[hamrag]

3 hours ago, sidari said:

.....A much simplified system would have been as I have said elsewhere would have been D.o.U. for Bella, Easy for Fantastica, Premium for Aurea and P+ for YC with upgrades allowed between them. That though would have needed someone with a modicum of common sense, but sadly it appears that none exists in the MSC world.

 

That would make abundant sense so, on that basis, sadly it's not gonna happen! 

[sidari]

14 minutes ago, hamrag said:

 

That would make abundant sense so, on that basis, sadly it's not gonna happen! 

And don`t we know it !

[Triciadf]

Question:   I booked in March 2018 a Aurea Suite for January 5, 2019. It comes with Classic drink package. I have been reading this thread and I see they will honor the no longer offered classic drink package. My question is are they honoring the old prices as well? Seems they have raised all the prices of drinks. So do I now have to pay the difference if a cocktail is over $8 or glass of wine over $7.50 as stated in the classic drink package? Just want to be able to know what I am getting into before we get on the ship.

[Até]

So far people on the ships are reporting that for the most part MSC is giving Classic package purchasers the same beverage choices they had before the drink price increases.  There are inconsistencies regarding bottled beer and what the actual new price limit will be.  Your cruise is close enough that I wouldn't worry too much, I'm of the opinion that as time passes MSC may start enforcing the original Classic price limitations.  Keep an eye on what package you are shown to have.  Some people, including myself, had Aurea bookings changed to Easy.  I had to call to get that fixed.  There is no paying the difference on MSC, it is either included or you pay full price.

[jess_2012#1]

Sailed Nov 24 - Dec 1st and MSC was amazing!  We had the deluxe drink package and weren't once told we couldn't get something.  The staff on the ship was amazing and would let me order two drinks at a time even if my hubby wasn't there.  The gelato was amazing!!

[GUEST080219]

On 12/10/2018 at 10:58 PM, Triciadf said:

Question:   I booked in March 2018 a Aurea Suite for January 5, 2019. It comes with Classic drink package. I have been reading this thread and I see they will honor the no longer offered classic drink package. My question is are they honoring the old prices as well? Seems they have raised all the prices of drinks. So do I now have to pay the difference if a cocktail is over $8 or glass of wine over $7.50 as stated in the classic drink package? Just want to be able to know what I am getting into before we get on the ship.

 

All the bar staff is very much aware of the situation and will check the drink package code on your card before making you the drink. The only drawback I felt is that you have to trust them unless you are an experienced MSC cruiser or have all the old bar menus and old terms and conditions on your phone. 

[sidari]

We have printed off a copy of the Old Deluxe package to take with us next week.

[Beamafar]

20 minutes ago, sidari said:

We have printed off a copy of the Old Deluxe package to take with us next week.

 

Will be very interested to hear how you get on, Dave.

 

Having never done an MSC US-based cruise before, I'm miffed at the timing of these changes to the packages - just a couple of months before finally doing one!    Though, on the positive side, I had upgraded the included Classic to Deluxe, so am hopeful that it will be honoured.

 

I have a feeling that MSC will discontinue the grandfathering in at some stage in the following months.  They never grandfathered in the old Black Card dining benefit when they changed it and it didn't matter a hoot how much noise was made about it onboard.  Methinks they'll adopt the same approach to this in time.

 

It's disappointing to think that you can book a cruise in the belief that you will receive onboard what's supposed to be included at the time of booking, then find that MSC can make changes and basically tell you to "suck it up"!  😡

Edited December 14, 2018 by Beamafar

[Epos Man]

They should in theory have all the details of the people who booked the drinks packages before the 12th and up till the 5th December, once those have been on the cruise thats when they will stop it

 

[jess_2012#1]

It will be just fine. We didn’t have one issues with our deluxe drink package.  

[jess_2012#1]

58 minutes ago, sidari said:

We have printed off a copy of the Old Deluxe package to take with us next week.

We did the same but didn’t have to pull it out.  

[Beamafar]

After 21 cruises with MSC, I have grounds to be cynical!  

[ziggyuk]

1 hour ago, Beamafar said:

I have a feeling that MSC will discontinue the grandfathering in at some stage in the following months.  They never grandfathered in the old Black Card dining benefit when they changed it and it didn't matter a hoot how much noise was made about it onboard.  Methinks they'll adopt the same approach to this in time.

 

I do hope you are wrong, I have a whole year to go.

[Beamafar]

16 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

I do hope you are wrong, I have a whole year to go.

 

I would be very happy to be wrong - believe me!  We have 3 cruises booked, up to and including into November next year - all booked long before these changes.  I, too, am hoping that we'll get what we thought we were booking!

[ziggyuk]

8 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

 

I would be very happy to be wrong - believe me!  We have 3 cruises booked, up to and including into November next year - all booked long before these changes.  I, too, am hoping that we'll get what we thought we were booking!

 

We will both keep our fingers crossed, I only have one but mine is December 2019.

[nealjr]

21 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

We will both keep our fingers crossed, I only have one but mine is December 2019.

Our cruise isn't until May aboard the Opera with the Aurea package and when I called MSC to confirm our drink package she told me that it was the "easy" plan that use to be called the "classic" package.  I tried looking on my booking but no where does it state the package that was standard back in April when I booked our cruise.  At this point I'm totally confused if they (MSC) has switched packages and are  lying to me.

Edited December 14, 2018 by nealjr

[Até]

2 hours ago, nealjr said:

Our cruise isn't until May aboard the Opera with the Aurea package and when I called MSC to confirm our drink package she told me that it was the "easy" plan that use to be called the "classic" package.  I tried looking on my booking but no where does it state the package that was standard back in April when I booked our cruise.  At this point I'm totally confused if they (MSC) has switched packages and are  lying to me.

For your non-Caribbean sailing booked before November 12th you had the "All Inclusive Restaurant & Bar" package sometimes referred to as 431.  Often it was also referred to as the All Inclusive Classic package, but there were some minor differences between the 431 and the US Caribbean 534 classic packages that aren't really relevant.  You did not have the Easy package, only Aurea bookings made after November 12th got Easy.  The Easy package is a much cheaper package than Classic and covers far fewer beverage choices.  See the linked thread below which has a chart of the differences between Easy and 431.  The same thing "happened" to my Aurea bookings and I had to call to get it changed back to the 534 US Caribbean Classic package.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2613904-preziosa-drinks-package-info/

[nealjr]

14 hours ago, Até said:

For your non-Caribbean sailing booked before November 12th you had the "All Inclusive Restaurant & Bar" package sometimes referred to as 431.  Often it was also referred to as the All Inclusive Classic package, but there were some minor differences between the 431 and the US Caribbean 534 classic packages that aren't really relevant.  You did not have the Easy package, only Aurea bookings made after November 12th got Easy.  The Easy package is a much cheaper package than Classic and covers far fewer beverage choices.  See the linked thread below which has a chart of the differences between Easy and 431.  The same thing "happened" to my Aurea bookings and I had to call to get it changed back to the 534 US Caribbean Classic package.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2613904-preziosa-drinks-package-info/

Thank you so much in clarifying what has taken place in November.  I guess I will have to call customer service to be sure that we get the package that was in infect at time of booking.  I wonder how long they will honor pre November bookings for drink packages?

[Beamafar]

9 hours ago, nealjr said:

Thank you so much in clarifying what has taken place in November.  I guess I will have to call customer service to be sure that we get the package that was in infect at time of booking.  I wonder how long they will honor pre November bookings for drink packages?

 

Only time will tell.  Hopefully people will report their experiences throughout the year so that those who have very advanced bookings will be kept appraised of the situation.

[citizenfrank]

11 hours ago, Beamafar said:

 

Only time will tell.  Hopefully people will report their experiences throughout the year so that those who have very advanced bookings will be kept appraised of the situation.

Exactly this. I was hoping to read more already to be honest, but I'm sure we are not far away from gaining an understanding & on the majority of the fleet as different boats for different folks! Of course the next issuer will be inconsistency within the reviews, now that will frustrate me!

[Beamafar]

15 minutes ago, citizenfrank said:

 Of course the next issuer will be inconsistency within the reviews, now that will frustrate me!

 

Same here!  The ongoing issue is the Black Card complimentary meal for 2 and the fact that only 1 member gets the benefit if 2 BC members are in the same cabin on some ships, yet they get the benefit each on others.

 

I remember being peeved at the time of Seaside's launch when Venchi items were included for YC and deluxe package holders when items from the Jean Philippe venue on Meraviglia weren't.  It felt like MSC was pandering to the US market (again - as they certainly got a more extensive range of drinks on the Deluxe package and some better MDR menus, too).  The exclusion of Venchi now is just bringing it into line with the policy re franchises on other ships.

 

In fact, the new drinks packages at least levels everything out, now.  It was a real headache on here, sometimes, trying to explain the different packages because it depended on the region the ships were sailing, which ones applied.