Diamond Plus - pre-buy drink package or wait for 30% on board discount??

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, Ready2SailAway said:

 

Any idea what the C&A deluxe beverage pkg coupon discount would be for Diamond (not Diamond+)? ...

 

No onboard beverage package discount for less than Diamond Plus.

[twangster]

Just as a point of reference.  On recent Empress sailings the 6 & 8 night price on board rate was $63.

 

The best cruise planner "sale" I saw was 25% off or $47.

 

Using D+ discount on board it was $44.10.

 

6 Nights

Cruise Planner 6 x 47 *1.18 = $332.76

C&A D+ on board rate 6 x 44.10 * 1.18 = $312.23

 

$20 savings (each).

 

8 Nights

Cruise Planner 8 x 47 *1.18 = $443.68

C&A D+ on board rate 8 x 44.10 * 1.18 = $416.30

 

$27 savings (each).

 

When buying it on board you can wait until day 2, use happy drinks on day 1 and save some extra $$$.  Plus you can use the BOGO beer/wine coupon on day 1 to supplement happy hour drinks. 

 

On the 6 night the DX was available on day 1 & 2 only.

On the 8 night the DX was available on day 1, 2 & 3 only.

 

So the D+ discount can save you some money unless the cruise planner goes down to 30% which does happen from time to time.

 

The 10 drink card for $79 plus 18% only appeared on the 8 night cruise on day 7. 

 

Be aware that a cruiser last week discovered that Mariner was not offering the D+/P C&A drink package discount.  inquiries with Diamond Concierge and Loyalty Ambassador did not resolve it.  No C&A drink package discounts on Mariner.

 

[Clarea]

1 minute ago, twangster said:

 ...

Be aware that a cruiser last week discovered that Mariner was not offering the D+/P C&A drink package discount.  inquiries with Diamond Concierge and Loyalty Ambassador did not resolve it.  No C&A drink package discounts on Mariner.

 

 

Thanks for mentioning this, I had not seen this before.

[twangster]

17 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Thanks for mentioning this, I had not seen this before.

 

On Ovation in May I noted it was missing from the D+ letter but when I asked about it they were willing to offer it.  I didn't buy the DX for that cruise but at least it was available if you knew to ask for it.

 

I'm told that follow up on Twitter for Mariner was that it is supposed to be available on Mariner and "they" will talk to Mariner to find out why it wasn't offered.

Edited August 6, 2019 by twangster

[Clarea]

23 minutes ago, twangster said:

 ...

I'm told that follow up on Twitter for Mariner was that it is supposed to be available on Mariner and "they" will talk to Mariner to find out why it wasn't offered.

 

I'll be interested to see if this talk" has any effect.

[Ready2SailAway]

32 minutes ago, Ready2SailAway said:

For our upcoming cruise next month, the online price is USD $44 per person x 7nts x 2ppl x 18% service charge = USD $727 -and this is purportedly 30% off the onboard price.

 

At first glance the total price seems insane for the Deluxe Pkg above, but assuming $15/drink incl service charge (e.g. wine or scotch rocks) = 3-4 drinks/day/person, plus 40% discount for bottles of wine (<$100/btl), plus bottled water/soda/premium coffee drinks...

 

Is $15/drink about right for estimating the ROI?

 

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, Ready2SailAway said:

 ...

Is $15/drink about right for estimating the ROI?

 

 

Depends on the drink.  Beer is considerably less.  However, if you mainly drink upper shelf, frozen, or blender cocktails, figure at least $12 before the 18% tip is added.

[Ready2SailAway]

...plus as Diamond we have the use of the lounge, so free drinks there plus a daily 3-drink voucher for other bars from 5:30-8pm. And can bring 1ea 750ml bottle of wine per person on board.

 

I found my cost spreadsheet from our 7nt on Liberty of the Seas last year, where we opted not to purchase the Deluxe Drink Pkg.  Total out of pocket including 18% service charge was:

• $200 for drinks + 1ea soda, and
• $200 for 4ea bottles of wine (would have been $120 w/40% Deluxe Drink Pkg discount)

Based on this consumption rate it would seem we'd lose money with the Deluxe Drink Pkg.

 

[twangster]

Sometimes I get bored with the happy hour menu.  Love me some Guinness, Kraken rum, Gray Goose vodka and Mojito's.  Throw in some frozen lemonade with Gray Goose by the pool, a beer at lunch, better wines and a mimosa some mornings.    A martini with NewAm vodka is hard to swallow.  A few days of happy hour Cabernet gets old very quickly.

 

So I mix it up.  Buying the DX a day or two into the cruise softens the blow.  Sometimes I scale back my consumption and barely touch my happy hour coupons for an entire cruise.

 

I like the on board D+ discount because I can see how I feel on board and decide to buy the DX or decide to skip it based on how I feel.  

[frank808]

9 hours ago, twangster said:

 

On Ovation in May I noted it was missing from the D+ letter but when I asked about it they were willing to offer it.  I didn't buy the DX for that cruise but at least it was available if you knew to ask for it.

 

I'm told that follow up on Twitter for Mariner was that it is supposed to be available on Mariner and "they" will talk to Mariner to find out why it wasn't offered.

Got off Ovation July 12 and there was the 30% off for D+ on the C&A letter left in room on boarding day.

[frank808]

10 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

No onboard beverage package discount for less than Diamond Plus.

I remember reading about D having 20% off deluxe package about 1.5 years or so ago.  Did the D discount go way of the dodo bird?

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, frank808 said:

 Did the D discount go way of the dodo bird?

Yes. 

[AustinCruise]

I get the drink package.  I find a drink a lot less and feel a lot better.  Value?  Not sure, probably close.  But if I get a bad drink I'm happy to put it down and try something different.

 

Do have access to the free drinks in the DL - but then tend to try to get a lot of "value" in a small amount of time and regret it.

 

 

[dswallow]

On 8/7/2019 at 12:47 AM, frank808 said:

I remember reading about D having 20% off deluxe package about 1.5 years or so ago.  Did the D discount go way of the dodo bird?

 

The drink package is pretty much by default on sale in advance for 20% off onboard prices most of the time, at a minimum. So I can understand getting rid of it -- probably annoyed Diamond members more as a "fake discount" available to everyone more than being thought of as a benefit... though maybe back whenever that was they didn't discount the drink package the same way they do now. But in that respect, definitely no real need to bring it back nowadays since it's so readily available in advance to anyone. Now if they'd let Diamond get 30%, Diamond Plus 40% and Pinnacle 50% off... 🙂

Edited August 9, 2019 by dswallow

[Clarea]

On 8/6/2019 at 11:47 PM, frank808 said:

I remember reading about D having 20% off deluxe package about 1.5 years or so ago.  Did the D discount go way of the dodo bird?

 

Some ships continued it for a while, don't know if there's still one or two doing it.

[Merion_Mom]

On 8/6/2019 at 5:37 PM, Ready2SailAway said:

...plus as Diamond we have the use of the lounge, so free drinks there plus a daily 3-drink voucher for other bars from 5:30-8pm. And can bring 1ea 750ml bottle of wine per person on board.

 

I found my cost spreadsheet from our 7nt on Liberty of the Seas last year, where we opted not to purchase the Deluxe Drink Pkg.  Total out of pocket including 18% service charge was:

• $200 for drinks + 1ea soda, and
• $200 for 4ea bottles of wine (would have been $120 w/40% Deluxe Drink Pkg discount)

Based on this consumption rate it would seem we'd lose money with the Deluxe Drink Pkg.

 

 

A couple of clarifications and corrections.

 

The "happy hours" are three and a half hours long, either 4:30 - 8 or 5 - 8:30 in 99.99999% of cruises.  (you wrote a time that is two and a half hours long)

 

The wine allowance is 2 750 ml bottles of wine PER CABIN.  This is regardless of how many adults are in the cabin.

 

 

[Ready2SailAway]

On 8/6/2019 at 11:26 AM, Ready2SailAway said:

For our upcoming cruise next month, the online price [for the Deluxe Beverage Pkg] is USD $44 per person x 7nts x 2ppl x 18% service charge = USD $727 -and this is purportedly 30% off the onboard price.

 

So today's Deluxe Beverage Pkg online promotion is 50% off for the second person = 25% per person off the onboard price, so total is over $800 -not as good a deal.

 

Question: Has anyone seen a better offer than 30% online discount for the Deluxe Beverage Pkg, perhaps closer to sail date? (We're 30 days out...)

Edited August 11, 2019 by Ready2SailAway

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, Ready2SailAway said:

 

 ...

 

Question: Has anyone seen a better offer than 30% online discount for the Deluxe Beverage Pkg, perhaps closer to sail date? (We're 30 days out...)

 

Percentages mean very little, just compare bottom line pricing.

[dswallow]

9 minutes ago, Ready2SailAway said:

Question: Has anyone seen a better offer than 30% online discount for the Deluxe Beverage Pkg, perhaps closer to sail date? (We're 30 days out...)

 

30% off the onboard pricing of the Deluxe Beverage Package (which varies by ship and sailing between about $64 and $72 these days) is the maximum discount that's normally offered online. You may sometimes see a net 35% discount on a combo Deluxe Beverage Package + VOOM SURF+Stream, which may be more dependent on certain ships/classes where the VOOM discount gets higher, probably because it isn't O3b.

 

As always, though, don't worry about waiting; buy it now, if you think it's worthwhile to you, and if the price drops before sailing, just cancel your purchase and re-buy it at the lower price. If you wait, you risk it going up and not down again before you sail.

[Ready2SailAway]

13 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Percentages mean very little, just compare bottom line pricing.

 

Agreed!  Never trust unit-less data...