Just Cruised With Premium Plus Beverage Package - Happy to Answer Questions

[Lionkingrichard]

46 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

Technically it's $20x2=$40 plus 20% is $48. The free at sea package covers the first $15.

Math?

 

I was going by the Menu price.

 

Yes that is for a Double.

[smplybcause]

1 hour ago, Lionkingrichard said:

Math?

 

I was going by the Menu price.

 

Yes that is for a Double.

 

Because if you're upgrading to the PPBP I'm assuming you already have the PBP that includes drinks up to $15 - but it also covers the first $15 if you order a drink over $15. So you already have a package that pays for the first $15 of any alcoholic drink you order. Which means upgrading to the PPBP is to cover anything over $15* since, again, the PBP pays for the first $15. So to see whether PPBP is worth it you need to compare the cost above what PBP covers to the package price. Which is why I subtracted $15 from the prices you mentioned.

 

  $35   (menu price of the drink)

- $15  (the amount the PBP covers)

-----------

  $20  (price you'd have to pay if you ordered the drink with just the PBP you already have)

*  20%  (gratuity you'd have to pay on the amount over $15 if you just kept the PBP)

------------

  $24   (the total price you'd pay per drink if you didn't upgrade to PPBP and kept just the PBP)

           

This is the price (x # of drinks you'd order) you should use to accurately determine if the upgrade to PPBP is worth it

 

 

And thus concludes everyone's math lesson for today. You can stop rolling your eyes and/or beating your head against the wall. 

 

 

 

*I'm excluding the other things included in PPBP like coffee for this example 

[MNcruisingcouple]

 

As the previous post highlights it comes down to if you like higher end whiskey or wine.  If you do and drink a couple drinks a day it easily pays for itself as our math lesson in the previous post shows.  I had the premium plus on the Epic and yes I drank double shots of Johnnie Walker blue in the evenings.  In another thread someone said that was $50 per shot.  You add a couple coffees and a couple bottles of water and you are well over a $100 per day in value.

[hamrag]

48 minutes ago, MNcruisingcouple said:

.....I had the premium plus on the Epic and yes I drank double shots of Johnnie Walker blue in the evenings.  In another thread someone said that was $50 per shot.  You add a couple coffees and a couple bottles of water and you are well over a $100 per day in value.

Disagree that is well over $100 per day in value.....perhaps in 'cost' but definitely not value IMHO.

[MNcruisingcouple]

11 minutes ago, hamrag said:

Disagree that is well over $100 per day in value.....perhaps in 'cost' but definitely not value IMHO.

 

As I said it is worth it in "value" if you prefer higher end whiskey or wine.  Really value is subjective to each person.  But if you prefer high end wine or scotch, it is very worth it rather than paying for it as you go.  As you can see from a previous poster who did the math for you.  If you are fine with the drinks closer to the $15 or below price, stick to the regular package or, if you do not drink, do not do any package.  Really it comes down to doing the math for what you like to drink.  There is no one answer for everyone as everyone's preference is different, which is the beauty of many options.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

On 1/9/2020 at 4:31 PM, moviegal said:

We had no problem ordering multiple bottles of wine / champagne at dinner in the dining rooms. We would often have several different options on the table, a red and a white, for example. Most times when we'd order a glass, the waitstaff would push the "free" bottle on us. I think it makes it easier for them to serve, but we did waste a bunch of wine. We are definite wine snobs, and none of the wine choices were that good, to be honest. Except for the champagne selections. (We also did after dinner glasses of port, spiked coffee, etc.)

Compared to most, we are wine snobs as well which is one of the reasons I’m considering upgrading. However, we’re on an 11 night cruise so our price is $382.80 each! 😮 We like dry red wines. Is there anything drinkable on the other list?  My husband also likes an occasional whiskey or bourbon.  It really stinks you have to upgrade for bottled water because water is all we drink besides coffee, which also isn’t included (the good stuff).  We could have a lot of fun with that much money!  I assume both would have to upgrade. 

[HeatherLynne]

19 hours ago, smplybcause said:

 

Officially that's against the rules of the drink package on both lines (probably all cruise lines that have packages). Ordering drinks with your package and giving them to someone that doesn't have the package (your kids) is strictly verboten. Both lines can, and have, revoked drink packages for sharing and then charged you individually for each drink you had.

 

There will be plenty that have gotten away with sharing, but it's still a risk. On NCL there's also some that when they tried to pay for their kids drinks the bartender/server just rang it up under the adults package anyways. 

 

People sharing drinks as you have are why Royal now requires everyone over 21 in the cabin to have the drink package. I also think it's why NCL has currently changed their free at sea package to include everyone in the room over 21 for the same reason. 

I appreciate your feedback. I never looked too closely at the "rules" of the drink package. And as our kids are part of our immediate family, reservation, and staying in our same cabin, I thought it was fine to get them drinks once in a while too. 

 

The problem really is that my kids drink bottled water, fancy coffee/tea drinks, and fresh juice...and those virgin fruity drinks because they're like slushies. There is no drink package I can buy for them. And at the $$ of buying drinks individually, it seems like a lot of added cost for a week long cruise and 2 kids. I think it's silly that the ONLY package for kids is SODA ONLY. How unhealthy is that? If it included bottled water, I'd buy it. But it doesn't.

 

So not sure where that leaves me for our upcoming cruise. "rule breaker" or "high onboard charges payer". lol.

[smplybcause]

1 hour ago, HeatherLynne said:

I appreciate your feedback. I never looked too closely at the "rules" of the drink package. And as our kids are part of our immediate family, reservation, and staying in our same cabin, I thought it was fine to get them drinks once in a while too. 

 

The problem really is that my kids drink bottled water, fancy coffee/tea drinks, and fresh juice...and those virgin fruity drinks because they're like slushies. There is no drink package I can buy for them. And at the $$ of buying drinks individually, it seems like a lot of added cost for a week long cruise and 2 kids. I think it's silly that the ONLY package for kids is SODA ONLY. How unhealthy is that? If it included bottled water, I'd buy it. But it doesn't.

 

So not sure where that leaves me for our upcoming cruise. "rule breaker" or "high onboard charges payer". lol.

 

Unless you're talking black coffee - both soda and any virgin drinks have more calories and sugar than a soda. So if you consider soda unhealthy than besides water and maybe the juice everything else is more unhealthy than soda. 

Edited January 15, 2020 by smplybcause

[HeatherLynne]

5 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

Unless you're talking black coffee - both soda and any virgin drinks have more calories and sugar than a soda. So if you consider soda unhealthy than besides water and maybe the juice everything else is more unhealthy than soda. 

 

My point was not that fancy coffees and virgin frozen drinks are healthier than soda. That's just stupid. All are full of sugar. Juice at least has some nutritional value.

 

I said a SODA ONLY package is unhealthy. Because it is. But so is the basic drink package without water being included.

 

My point was that bottled WATER isn't included on any plan except the premium plus, which is a completely UNHEALTHY offering on NCLs part, and that NCL should do better. At least RCCL included bottled water with their drink package, and I could still pay to order more to my room.

[smplybcause]

6 minutes ago, HeatherLynne said:

 

My point was not that fancy coffees and virgin frozen drinks are healthier than soda. That's just stupid. All are full of sugar. Juice at least has some nutritional value.

 

I said a SODA ONLY package is unhealthy. Because it is. But so is the basic drink package without water being included.

 

My point was that bottled WATER isn't included on any plan except the premium plus, which is a completely UNHEALTHY offering on NCLs part, and that NCL should do better. At least RCCL included bottled water with their drink package, and I could still pay to order more to my room.

 

RCCL only includes it in their more expensive packages. They also have a SODA ONLY package that does not include bottled water.

 

I just don't see how having BOTTLED water somehow makes a package filled with not so healthy choice suddenly healthy. Especially since there's water every where on the ship. And at most bars NCL is usually pretty good and having ice water carafes out self-service to fill up a cup or your reusable bottle with water. There's not a dearth of water on NCL ships.

 

But I've never been one that's fixated on bottled water and much prefer to refill my water bottle with iced water than have a bottle of water. 

[HeatherLynne]

3 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

 

But I've never been one that's fixated on bottled water and much prefer to refill my water bottle with iced water than have a bottle of water. 

 

In real life, I'm not a fan of bottled water either. You should see my collection of reusable water bottles. But on a cruise, a communal carafe of water makes me nervous because of all the germs that float around a ship with 4000 people on it. I don't want to pour out of something that may have touched the mouth piece of another person's water bottle. Whether or not you could actually get germs that way, I'm not sure.

 

I sound germaphobic, but I'm really not. However, on a cruise, I sort of am.

[Zippeedee]

2 minutes ago, HeatherLynne said:

 

In real life, I'm not a fan of bottled water either. You should see my collection of reusable water bottles. But on a cruise, a communal carafe of water makes me nervous because of all the germs that float around a ship with 4000 people on it. I don't want to pour out of something that may have touched the mouth piece of another person's water bottle. Whether or not you could actually get germs that way, I'm not sure.

 

I sound germaphobic, but I'm really not. However, on a cruise, I sort of am.

I always order a case of water for my room. Easy and I have it when I need it in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning. It would be annoying to have to go to a bar to get a bottle of water even if it were included in a package. 

[hamrag]

2 hours ago, HeatherLynne said:

....on a cruise, a communal carafe of water makes me nervous because of all the germs that float around a ship with 4000 people on it. I don't want to pour out of something that may have touched the mouth piece of another person's water bottle. Whether or not you could actually get germs that way, I'm not sure....

 

Absolutely, multi germs that way. I am always worried when someone posts something like a recent poster on this thread did as follows:  '....and having ice water carafes out self-service to fill up a cup or your reusable bottle with water.' 

 

The only way to fill up a reusable bottle, to safeguard against your germs contaminating the dispenser, is to dispense the water into one of the available clean plastic glasses and then to pour that into the reusable bottle! 

[smplybcause]

1 hour ago, hamrag said:

 

Absolutely, multi germs that way. I am always worried when someone posts something like a recent poster on this thread did as follows:  '....and having ice water carafes out self-service to fill up a cup or your reusable bottle with water.' 

 

The only way to fill up a reusable bottle, to safeguard against your germs contaminating the dispenser, is to dispense the water into one of the available clean plastic glasses and then to pour that into the reusable bottle! 

 

That was me and that's what I meant. Besides a few water dispensers in the buffet, NCL's water carafes only have enough space to fill the water glasses they stack next to it. You can't get your refillable waterbottle under it. They likely do it by design. 

[HeatherLynne]

11 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

That was me and that's what I meant. Besides a few water dispensers in the buffet, NCL's water carafes only have enough space to fill the water glasses they stack next to it. You can't get your refillable waterbottle under it. They likely do it by design. 

That's great! I'm glad to hear it. I'll feel more comfortable filling reusable bottle that way.

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, smplybcause said:

 

That was me and that's what I meant. Besides a few water dispensers in the buffet, NCL's water carafes only have enough space to fill the water glasses they stack next to it. You can't get your refillable waterbottle under it. They likely do it by design. 

 

That is correct, but some passengers angle their waterbottle and squeeze it right up against the water nozzle.....gross, and the reason I would never use them!