"Ultimate Drinks Package" on Iona

[steeldrumsteve]

Booked on Iona in October drawn in by the "Ultimate drinks package"

I have now emailed P&O twice to ask for clarification regarding their drinks package. They advertise this as "The Ultimate Drinks Package" 

"Say ‘yes’ to an intriguing cocktail or simply sip your ‘usual’ as you drink in the magnificent views. With our generous Ultimate drinks package you can enjoy anything you fancy. Nearly every drink we serve is included for a fixed price per person, per day, and you can pay with on-board spending money"

This seems to be far from the truth with the majority of cocktails excluded now because they have put the prices up and therefore out of the range and £6.95 limit. I totally understand that prices do go up but they should have adjusted the price of the package and threshold as well in order to meet their claim that nearly every drink is included. In my opinion the current advertising on their website may well contravene consumer standards especially as they do not publish a list of included and excluded drinks.

I have asked them for this in my two emails sent over 2 weeks ago but not even had the courtesy of a reply. 

Very poor P&O, really not looking forward to the cruise if this is going to be indicative of their customer service level

.

[Eglesbrech]

If you do a general Google search you will probably find fairly current drinks menus. Folks on here sometimes have them, anyone got recent ones they could share with the op?

 

P&O shore side customer service is not always the best, don’t expect a reply quickly as they can take up to 28 days to respond to non urgent enquiries.
 

You will find onboard service much, much better so don’t let this spoil the anticipation of your cruise.

[wowzz]

Try this.

https://cruisingkids.co.uk/po-drinks-prices-and-menus-2020/

[newbie cruissy]

Looks like almost all cocktails are above the £6.95 limit 😔

[wowzz]

5 minutes ago, newbie cruissy said:

Looks like almost all cocktails are above the £6.95 limit 😔

And only small glasses of wine are allowed.

Not much of a deal really.

[Guest ccpm]

The drinks package is what my Dad would have called a cleft stick. I buy it and it works for me. BUT you also have to work to make it work. One thing I do know is that whoever thought it up has absolutely no common sense and I fed that back to P&O in great detail when asked to do so but of course heard nothing further.

 

Lets get the basics out of the way I drank a lot of coffee in Costa of a morning on my last cruise. 3+ iced decaff lattes each morning and once 11am arrived added in a brandy. Lunch in the Glass House maybe 4 x Peller Ice over 2-3 hours. I have drunk all I need to to break even, Peller Ice being £6.95 per small glass. Rest is "paid for"

 

What is the problem? Well lets take Peller Ice as an example it costs around £36.95 a bottle and at 6 glasses per bottle £6.95 is a fair/equitable price. I can not remember the names of the wines but there were many they were on sale at £23-£27 a bottle but on sale for minimum £7 per glass so out of range of the drinks package, so meaning £42 per 6 glasses for the standard bottle. This an absolute nonsense and I challenged P&O to come back to me with their rationale of course no reply. Nor can I understand why when I have paid for the package and can have 15 alcoholic drinks I cannot just pay the extra if a drink is above that cost. Then the bars now have their own "drinks range" so I can buy Peller Ice in the Glass House but i can't buy it in Epicurean. 

 

Would I recommend buying the drinks package? Only you will know. I always will as for me it is a large saving. Do I drink 15 alcoholic drinks? Nope but I drinks lots of decaff coffees, mocktails and soft drinks. What makes me so cross is the way you have to be constantly on top of what is available and what is in the package and what is not. I buy it to forget all that. 

[steeldrumsteve]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I did do a Google search and found some menus that showed a lot of cocktails in the price range. Problem is that it seems that they put the prices up since then without making any adjustments to the package. It would seem they have done that to take them out of the range. My wife and I really do like our cocktails and like to pay for thr packages so that everything is hassle free. I probably would not have booked this cruise had I known that Nearly all the cocktails are not included rather than the claim in the advertising that nearly all the drinks are included. I am pretty sure that this contravenes consumer law as below from government website;

Regulations that affect advertising

Advertising to consumers

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations mean you cannot mislead or harass consumers by, for example:

• including false or deceptive messages
• leaving out important information
• using aggressive sales techniques

[wowzz]

It is strange that Princess, the sister company to P&O, with a similar fare structure, can offer a drinks package costing £30pppd, that also includes autotips and wifi and virtually all drinks. 

The latest increase in drinks prices on P&O makes the drinks package uneconomic.  

Seems as if the f&b department raised the prices without realising the impact on the drinks package.

Pure management nincompoopery! 

Edited January 30, 2022 by wowzz

[davecttr]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

It is strange that Princess, the sister company to P&O, with a similar fare structure, can offer a drinks package costing £30pppd, that also includes autotips and wifi and virtually all drinks. 

The latest increase in drinks prices on P&O makes the drinks package uneconomic.  

Seems as if the f&b department raised the prices without realising the impact on the drinks package.

Pure management nincompoopery! 

Carnival ships must have broadly similar operating costs. Why is it P&O does not seem to compare well in the value for money area?

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Carnival ships must have broadly similar operating costs. Why is it P&O does not seem to compare well in the value for money area?

Despite Wowzz's comment I dont agree that Princess and P&O have similar fare structures.  Currently both  are discounting their cruise prices, but normally Princess cruises are higher fares than P&O, and overall P&O prices are lower than Princess, and probably only beat P&O for customer service.

[welshy74]

In addition, P&O have a generous take on policy - 1lt spirit per person and unlimited soft drinks and mixers.  Yes, this is for in room consumption only, but it can make a big difference.  

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Despite Wowzz's comment I dont agree that Princess and P&O have similar fare structures.  Currently both  are discounting their cruise prices, but normally Princess cruises are higher fares than P&O, and overall P&O prices are lower than Princess, and probably only beat P&O for customer service.

I know it is always difficult to compare like with like, given constantly changing prices, promotions etc, but I have been looking at various Caribbean cruises for January 2023.

A 14 night cruise on Britannia, balcony cabin, select price, is working out at a total fare of around £5600, with £360 obc. 

14 nights on Regal Princess, same cabin, but with Princess Plus [so drinks included] is coming in at £4038. Obviously air fares have to be added on, but even so, Princess will still work out cheaper and you get the benefit of free drinks.

In the past I would agree that Princess would always be dearer, but I am less convinced that is the case nowadays. 

 

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, welshy74 said:

In addition, P&O have a generous take on policy - 1lt spirit per person and unlimited soft drinks and mixers.  Yes, this is for in room consumption only, but it can make a big difference.  

Although the Princess Plus package is far more generous than the parsimonious P&O drinks package.

[welshy74]

33 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Although the Princess Plus package is far more generous than the parsimonious P&O drinks package.

Princess is certainly much MUCH better, and includes wifi.  

[terrierjohn]

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

I know it is always difficult to compare like with like, given constantly changing prices, promotions etc, but I have been looking at various Caribbean cruises for January 2023.

A 14 night cruise on Britannia, balcony cabin, select price, is working out at a total fare of around £5600, with £360 obc. 

14 nights on Regal Princess, same cabin, but with Princess Plus [so drinks included] is coming in at £4038. Obviously air fares have to be added on, but even so, Princess will still work out cheaper and you get the benefit of free drinks.

In the past I would agree that Princess would always be dearer, but I am less convinced that is the case nowadays. 

 

I think covid definitely continues to be having a major impact on pricing, so unless Princess have had a complete rethink and are now intending to start off low and increase later, like P&Os pre covid pricing policy, then I suspect they will revert to type as normality resumes, and that probably will include a major increase on the current drinks, tips and wi fi package.

[wowzz]

10 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I think covid definitely continues to be having a major impact on pricing, so unless Princess have had a complete rethink and are now intending to start off low and increase later, like P&Os pre covid pricing policy, then I suspect they will revert to type as normality resumes, and that probably will include a major increase on the current drinks, tips and wi fi package.

As you may have seen from another post of mine,  Princess have just reduced their prices for this summer.

The Princess Plus price of £30 pppd is available on all sailings into 2023, so no immediate evidence of any price increases.

[MX-Drew]

I'm in contact with a crew member currently working on Iona and I'm due on it on the the 12th Feb. He has advised me not to buy the drinks package this time (I usually do and it works for my wife and me).

[newbie cruissy]

1 hour ago, MX-Drew said:

I'm in contact with a crew member currently working on Iona and I'm due on it on the the 12th Feb. He has advised me not to buy the drinks package this time (I usually do and it works for my wife and me).

Any particular reason they've advised against? 

[wowzz]

23 minutes ago, newbie cruissy said:

Any particular reason they've advised against? 

Perhaps because recent price increases have taken many drinks over the maximum price limit, and cannot therefore be ordered  if you have the package.

[MX-Drew]

1 hour ago, newbie cruissy said:

Any particular reason they've advised against? 

As Wowzz says, the cocktails and many other drinks are above the limit now, this means you have to pay for the drink with a 20% discount I believe (if you have the drinks package) and not just the difference between the limit (£6.95) and whatever the cost of the drink is.

The crew member knows what we drink so it would not be worth it for us.

[Bazrat]

On 1/31/2022 at 11:40 AM, wowzz said:

I know it is always difficult to compare like with like, given constantly changing prices, promotions etc, but I have been looking at various Caribbean cruises for January 2023.

A 14 night cruise on Britannia, balcony cabin, select price, is working out at a total fare of around £5600, with £360 obc. 

14 nights on Regal Princess, same cabin, but with Princess Plus [so drinks included] is coming in at £4038. Obviously air fares have to be added on, but even so, Princess will still work out cheaper and you get the benefit of free drinks.

In the past I would agree that Princess would always be dearer, but I am less convinced that is the case nowadays. 

 

I'm doing the 15night TA on Britannia this October, balcony cabin select price is closer to £4000 for us that includes flights

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

I'm doing the 15night TA on Britannia this October, balcony cabin select price is closer to £4000 for us that includes flights

Thats a good price, but a TA, in October, is not really comparable to a Caribbean cruise in January.

[Bazrat]

27 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Thats a good price, but a TA, in October, is not really comparable to a Caribbean cruise in January.

You are totally correct in your reply, I offer my apologies for ever doubting you, till the next time 😁

[AndyMichelle]

On 1/31/2022 at 4:13 PM, wowzz said:

As you may have seen from another post of mine,  Princess have just reduced their prices for this summer.

The Princess Plus price of £30 pppd is available on all sailings into 2023, so no immediate evidence of any price increases.

Just watched a YT video of a Princess cruise and they seem to imply that if you order a drink above the $12 limit of the drinks package, you only pay the difference? 

Seems fairer than the P&O offering... 

Andy 

[wowzz]

Just now, AndyMichelle said:

Just watched a YT video of a Princess cruise and they seem to imply that if you order a drink above the $12 limit of the drinks package, you only pay the difference? 

Seems fairer than the P&O offering... 

Andy 

Yes, plus 18% service charge on the difference.