Princess Beverage Package for Non-Alcoholic Drinkers...

[Davis2010]

Hi friends!

We are going to be on-board the Ruby Princess in May 2020 to Alaska. Celebrating our 10 year anniversary. It's been 10 years since we cruised too. I don't remember the drink packages being as expensive as they seem to be now. We do NOT drink alcohol, but do love coffee, sodas, SWEET tea, etc. From what I've found, it's $11.79 per day per person for the basic soda beverage package and $23.59 per day per person for the premier coffee and soda package.

 

Basic: $11.79 x 7 days x 2 people = $165.06

Coffee/Soda: $23.59 x 7 days x 2 people = $330.26

 

It just seems like a lot of money and I'm not sure it would be worth it. What are your thoughts? We do have some OBC, which would cover the costs.

[GUT2407]

Really depends how much you drink.

[Davis2010]

Just now, GUT2407 said:

Really depends how much you drink.

We can put some serious drinks away. Especially coffees and sodas. But at the same time, we could totally limit ourselves to water and other free beverage options. I'm just torn on if I want to spend my OBC on this... Most of our excursions we are booking independently since costs are lower. So I'm struggling to find something to spend the OBC on and feel like it's not being wasted.

[GUT2407]

I generally break even 1/3 of the way into my cruise, if y have OBC to herwise will go to waste I say go for it.

[Storm Monkey]

Mocktails are about $5 each - so it doesn’t take long to justify the $11.79/day if you like those. if you drink just basic coffee and not the fancy ones, then there isn’t a need to upgrade to the coffee and soda. 
 

can you use the best sale ever add ons to include drinks and wifi for $25/day? Or one of the other combinations available to add on? It might be an easier decision if you can get some other benefit for the same amount of money - depending what you already have with your booking. But you pay for this ahead of time, not with OBC. So this wouldn’t help with spending your credit on-board 
 

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Storm Monkey

[Davis2010]

13 minutes ago, Storm Monkey said:

Mocktails are about $5 each - so it doesn’t take long to justify the $11.79/day if you like those. if you drink just basic coffee and not the fancy ones, then there isn’t a need to upgrade to the coffee and soda. 
 

can you use the best sale ever add ons to include drinks and wifi for $25/day? Or one of the other combinations available to add on? It might be an easier decision if you can get some other benefit for the same amount of money - depending what you already have with your booking. But you pay for this ahead of time, not with OBC. So this wouldn’t help with spending your credit on-board 
 

 

We have already booked with a TA and from what I understand, we would have to completely unbook everything and rebook with the Best.Sale.Ever to get the add ons. Therefore, losing the OBC from the sale during the 2019 year.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Davis2010

[LB_NJ]

Depending on how much specialty coffee you drink you could each buy a soda package (if you think you will drink enough soft drinks) and split a coffee card.

 

It has been a couple of years since my last Princess cruise and I personally did not like the mocktails and I don't think I will drink enough soda to make the soda package make sense for me.

 

In our case my wife is going to get the soda package and I am going to get the coffee card.

[Storm Monkey]

7 minutes ago, Davis2010 said:

We have already booked with a TA and from what I understand, we would have to completely unbook everything and rebook with the Best.Sale.Ever to get the add ons. Therefore, losing the OBC from the sale during the 2019 year.

You don’t have to cancel and rebook. You add promo code BEST2DW and it adds $25/day per person for drinks and wifi. Both people have to get it. But you keep all your other original booking perks. We booked under 3 for free, so we kept free gratuities and OBC when we added this promo to our booking. 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Storm Monkey

[Davis2010]

6 minutes ago, LB_NJ said:

Depending on how much specialty coffee you drink you could each buy a soda package (if you think you will drink enough soft drinks) and split a coffee card.

 

It has been a couple of years since my last Princess cruise and I personally did not like the mocktails and I don't think I will drink enough soda to make the soda package make sense for me.

 

In our case my wife is going to get the soda package and I am going to get the coffee card.

What is a "coffee card"? I have looked online and have not seen anything about that!

[Davis2010]

2 minutes ago, Storm Monkey said:

You don’t have to cancel and rebook. You add promo code BEST2DW and it adds $25/day per person for drinks and wifi. Both people gave to get it. But you keep all your other original booking perks. We booked under 3 for free, so we kept free gratuities and OBC when we added this promo to our booking. 

Seriously? Why is our TA telling us we can't then? How would I do this myself? This is our first time using a TA and so far I've been impressed, except for this.

[Colo Cruiser]

3 minutes ago, Davis2010 said:

Seriously? Why is our TA telling us we can't then? How would I do this myself? This is our first time using a TA and so far I've been impressed, except for this.

Sounds like you might need a new TA.

You cant do it yourself. The TA has the control over the booking.

[Storm Monkey]

3 minutes ago, Davis2010 said:

Seriously? Why is our TA telling us we can't then? How would I do this myself? This is our first time using a TA and so far I've been impressed, except for this.

you can’t do it online yourself. Your travel agent has to do it for you or in our case I had to phone Princess since we booked direct. 
The original thread here on cruise critic linked to the travel agent info which is accessed from Princess.com. I will see if I can find it

[Davis2010]

3 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Sounds like you might need a new TA.

You cant do it yourself. The TA has the control over the booking.

Can I get a new TA without losing my booking?

[RMMariner]

7 minutes ago, Davis2010 said:

Seriously? Why is our TA telling us we can't then? How would I do this myself? This is our first time using a TA and so far I've been impressed, except for this.

 

The BSE is all new. Many of the travel agents don't seem to understand it all yet. I actually had to walk my Princess rep through the add on process. I don't think Princess did a very good job of communicating what is a very good promotion.

[Davis2010]

1 minute ago, Storm Monkey said:

you can’t do it online yourself. Your travel agent has to do it for you or in our case I had to phone Princess since we booked direct. 
The original thread here on cruise critic linked to the travel agent info which is accessed from Princess.com. I will see if I can find it

THank you!

[Storm Monkey]

1 minute ago, Davis2010 said:

THank you!

the info is posted at

https://book.princess.com/BookingSystem/goToUrl.do?srcURL=marketing/pc/promotional/promotions/index.jsp

 

click on the retro guidelines PDF and it lists the different add on code combinations

https://book.princess.com/pdf/onesource/pc/sales_marketing/PC_Best_Sale_Ever_Retro_Guidelines_FINAL.pdf

[Davis2010]

4 minutes ago, Storm Monkey said:

the info is posted at

https://book.princess.com/BookingSystem/goToUrl.do?srcURL=marketing/pc/promotional/promotions/index.jsp

 

click on the retro guidelines PDF and it lists the different add on code combinations

https://book.princess.com/pdf/onesource/pc/sales_marketing/PC_Best_Sale_Ever_Retro_Guidelines_FINAL.pdf

Thank you! I will be forwarding this to her immediately!  

[Storm Monkey]

1 minute ago, Davis2010 said:

Thank you! I will be forwarding this to her immediately!  

I hope it works out for you.

 

but you still need to find something to spend your OBC on. Perhaps specialty dining or photos ? A few games of bingo? Massage? Sanctuary? Something from the shops?

[Davis2010]

Just now, Storm Monkey said:

I hope it works out for you.

 

but you still need to find something to spend your OBC on. Perhaps specialty dining or photos ? A few games of bingo? Massage? Sanctuary? Something from the shops?

If this works, we will find SOMETHING to spend it on. LoL! We've thought about using it on an excursion, but they're so much more expensive than going independent. For example, the helicopter and dog sled tour, 2.5 hours, is $670 on board and the independent is $665 for the helicopter, dog sledding, and an additional glacier stop and walkabout for 3.5 hours.

[Storm Monkey]

Just now, Davis2010 said:

If this works, we will find SOMETHING to spend it on. LoL! We've thought about using it on an excursion, but they're so much more expensive than going independent. For example, the helicopter and dog sled tour, 2.5 hours, is $670 on board and the independent is $665 for the helicopter, dog sledding, and an additional glacier stop and walkabout for 3.5 hoursIn

one of the other PDFs available from the first link I included is a voyage list of eligible sailings - you might want to confirm your sailing is on the list. 

i agree with you on Alaska excursions. We booked our helicopter dog sled tour independently and saved enough on the difference to almost pay for our fourth person’s tour!

 

[Davis2010]

2 minutes ago, Storm Monkey said:

one of the other PDFs available from the first link I included is a voyage list of eligible sailings - you might want to confirm your sailing is on the list. 

i agree with you on Alaska excursions. We booked our helicopter dog sled tour independently and saved enough on the difference to almost pay for our fourth person’s tour!

 

So if it's on that list, it's eligible for the sale? I found it listed. How would I determine which code she would need to use? I don't know which type of we booked lol

[Storm Monkey]

Just now, Davis2010 said:

So if it's on that list, it's eligible for the sale? I found it listed. How would I determine which code she would need to use? I don't know which type of we booked lol

yes if sailing is on the list it is eligible.

 
you use the sale code to add the perks you want- I think most of the past sales are in the chart. If you don’t know which sale/fare you booked under,  base it off what you currently have and what you want to add. 

[crystalspin]

Remember you're going to pay the gratuities anyway -- unless that's what you want to spend your OBC on -- if not already included, your TA can apply BEST3 for $40pppd for grats, wifi, beverages. Subtract 14.50 or 15.50 from $40 it's about $25 for beverages plus wifi.

 

If you absolutely don't want internet, it's BEST2DG for Drinks&Gratuities for $30pppd.

 

The amount times two times your itinerary days may seem high, but when you look at it as a daily benefit (about $15pp for all you can drink) it suddenly seems pretty darn good!

[kywildcatfanone]

8 hours ago, Davis2010 said:

It just seems like a lot of money and I'm not sure it would be worth it. What are your thoughts? We do have some OBC, which would cover the costs.

They raised the drink package costs a year or two ago.  We had always bought the non alcoholic soda and more package, but I can't justify the price now.  To me it's too high.

We now take some soda and bottled water on with us and our own insulated drinks cups and it's been fine, and I've saved a ton of money over the sugary drinks from the packages.  We now spend that money on the ship for swag or in ports and don't miss it a bit. 

[tillys mom]

We’re taking our granddaughter on a graduation gift cruise, and the package might be worth it for her and her friends even without the alcohol. Not sure kids can survive without WiFi these days.