No drink package for us.

[BND]

1 hour ago, RSS from SF said:

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For those of you who might consider Princess:

 

The Princess Plus Package is $40 per person per day and includes:

• Unlimited Wi-Fi (usually $9.99* per day);
• All Gratuities (minimum $14.50** per person per day);
• The Premium Beverage Package (usually $70.79 per person per day).

 

Subtracting the above Wi-Fi and Gratuity charges, Princess' Premium Beverage Package comes out to $15.51 per person per day.

 

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*Wi-Fi:  $5.00 per connection per day for Platinums or Elites.

 

**Gratuities:  $15.50pp per day for Mini-Suites & Club Class; $16.50 per day for Suites.

 

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They, of course, make up for it in other ways.  

[not-enough-cruising]

2 minutes ago, BND said:

They, of course, make up for it in other ways.  

Thank You; there is no "free lunch"

[RSS from SF]

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The difference between Princess and Celebrity in this regard is that Princess does not require you to purchase the Plus package. 

 

We in fact rarely spring for the Princess Plus package*:

Instead, we pay for the gratuities separately ($14.50 pp per day), $5.00 for one Wi-Fi connection shared between both of us per day (Platinum/Elite price), and usually zero to two** drinks pp a day.

 

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*We will purchase the Princess Plus package on cruises longer than 7 nights if there are more sea days than port days.

 

**We're also Elite on Princess and get up to 10 mini-bottles of hard liquor (and 10 non-alcoholic beverages) per cabin per cruise segment -- but of course this pales to what we get on Royal Caribbean as Diamond+ with 5 drinks pp per day.  🙂

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Edited April 27, 2022 by RSS from SF

[baelor]

Everyone is different, but at least for this poster, I will be making a substantial amount of money off RCI (compared to per-drink pricing) just off of booze, let alone the other components of the UBP.  And this is with a price of $73 per day per guest.

[neverlaysup]

2 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

Celebrity used to be our line of choice. Over the years, their cutbacks and raising prices have resulted in us cutting our cruising by 80%, from about 42 days per year, to 14 days, total, between December 2016 and the pandemic. Since we have no use for the drink package, internet, or obc, the Always Included has pushed us back to land vacations. We are Elite Plus on Celebrity which entitles us to four drinks per day each (twice what we normally have), 240 minutes of internet each (we’ve never used all of them).

I use a travel agent that specializes in discounts for certain industries and it allows me to book any Celebrity cruise with no perks. The difference in price between the no perks and the all included for a 7 day cruise is at best $300 for an inside to about $600 for AQ. You would think the price difference between the cabin alone and all in would be the same for all cabin levels but each category of cabin higher than the basic inside, the price for all in increases as well.....clueless as to why. For an extra $300, I have been booking insides with the All included because after tips are factored in, I am only paying about $175 for drinks and basic WIFI. Once booked, I can upgrade bid to a Veranda or Aqua Class for far less than it would have cost to book initially.

[ShawninFL]

10 hours ago, neverlaysup said:

Celebrity now prices out substantially cheaper than similar RCL sailings because of the inclusions. Adding drinks, tips and WIFI has made Celebrity the "most bang for your buck" cruise line that I have sailed on.

I completely agree.  Our upcoming 12-night Norwegian Fjords cruise on Jewel OTS is significantly more expensive than our 12-night Europe, 12-night Japan or 12-night New Zealand cruises booked on Celebrity once comparing apples to apples (cruise in comparable cabin, drink package, WIFI and prepaid gratuities).  If we didn't have a FCC we had to use, I would have cancelled the Jewel cruise.  We nearly always find Celebrity to be a better value.  Celebrity doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Royal ships do, but in all honesty we don't use most of the amenities on Royal ships.  And we've come to enjoy the Celebrity experience over Royal over the last 5+ years.

[renji]

12 hours ago, ShawninFL said:

I completely agree.  Our upcoming 12-night Norwegian Fjords cruise on Jewel OTS is significantly more expensive than our 12-night Europe, 12-night Japan or 12-night New Zealand cruises booked on Celebrity once comparing apples to apples (cruise in comparable cabin, drink package, WIFI and prepaid gratuities).  If we didn't have a FCC we had to use, I would have cancelled the Jewel cruise.  We nearly always find Celebrity to be a better value.  Celebrity doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Royal ships do, but in all honesty we don't use most of the amenities on Royal ships.  And we've come to enjoy the Celebrity experience over Royal over the last 5+ years.

I’m traveling with young adults in their 20s, cruising for the first time.  It will be interesting to see how they like Oasis. I will be trying Celebrity and NCL this year too!  But I actually love Royal, because other than Cunard there isn’t much partner dancing on cruises these days. At least with Boleros we can Latin…so I guess I would rather dance than drink 🙂. 

[RSS from SF]

5 hours ago, renji said:

At least with Boleros we can Latin . . .

---

Agreed! -- Boleros is our favorite music venue on Royal Caribbean.

-- Too bad about Boleros' PITIFULLY SMALL dance floor! 🙄

---

[renji]

6 hours ago, RSS from SF said:

---

Agreed! -- Boleros is our favorite music venue on Royal Caribbean.

-- Too bad about Boleros' PITIFULLY SMALL dance floor! 🙄

---

I haven’t understood why dance floors on RCCL and Princess are all so tiny.  Was on the Mariner with a big group squeezing on to Bolero’s and the Star Lounge sat entirely empty most of the cruise, no music at all…

[Hammer61]

I’m not sure what the thinking is from RCI for these big hikes in Beverage and Dinning packages? Other lines seem far more reasonable, If I had booked Celebrity, a beverage package is included, granted I pay a higher fare but given these price hikes it may have been worth the extra dollars, if Princess, it seems more reasonably priced and not everyone in the cabin HAS to book it, my wife doesn’t drink, so although i can call up, i still have to buy her a none alcohol refreshment package that has also gone up significantly in price! Then we have Virgin entering the scene, they don’t have beverage packages but drinks are pretty reasonable, a beer for example that is US$8 plus 18% on Royal is US$5 on Virgin inclusive.....

[jean87510]

On 4/26/2022 at 10:11 AM, sgmn said:

Luckily everyone's different.

I'm happy with ships free iced water, have my own refillable bottle. Happy with free coffee, tea, hot chocolate, herb tea during the day.  Maybe a beer or two in port. Then a few diamond drinks in the evening, and if I go over I'll pay as I go, got to be cheaper than the drink package. 

Generally I prefer wine or gin and tonic over sweet cocktails 

The all inclusive model like Celebrity is all well and good if you're a drinker but why should you pay for something you don't use if you're not.

lol, you sound like us!

[SpeedQuest]

On 4/25/2022 at 9:58 AM, smokeybandit said:

I'd be curious how many people do the math after the fact to see if the drink package actually ended up making financial sense.

We cruised in January/Feb on Independence for a 4-Night. We bought the Deluxe Drink Package on the Promenade as we sailed out for $612 (including gratuities). By the end of day 1, we'd each had 10-12 drinks. End of day 2, we each had 12-16 drinks. Even if we were only drinking $10 drinks we were well ahead by day 3. It just depends on what you drink and how much you drink for it to make sense.

[trey420]

Wow that seems like you got your money worth. Was that mostly alcohol.  How toasted were y'all on day 2 lol?  No hate, party your way.

[FPP777]

This is what my drink day looks like at sea

 

Americano with Baileys

FSOJ

2 bottles of water

3-4 beers/drinks midday by the pool

Nap

2 more bottles of water

2 pre dinner cocktails

1- glasses of wine with dinner

Coffee with Baileys with dessert

1-2 nightcaps

2 more bottles of water

 

On excursion days, the mid day drinks are cut out.

 

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

On 4/25/2022 at 7:02 AM, hazeleyes46 said:

It all depends on how much you drink. I find if makes more financial sense for me because it is an opportunity for me to try different drinks and if I don't like them, I can get something else. It is so easy to drink a few by the pool in the hot sun which cost $12 and $13/piece.

Totally agree with that thought process.  Plus, it's a fixed cost no surprises at the end.  A couple of bloody mary's, 3-4 beers during the day around the pool or with a lunch dog, pre-dinner martini, glass of wine at dinner, and evening cocktail at a show or before going back to the cabin; it's easy at $14 each to at least make the $70 per day cost effective.  

[clskinsfan]

We bought the drink package for our upcoming cruise on Allure in October. The main reason we did is because this cruise goes to both Labadee and CoCo. And our package will work in both ports. We also got it on sale for a decent price. Just under $1000 for the two of us for the week. With the 7 nights and the 2 ports we will make our money back.

 

We have been Celebrity cruisers almost exclusively for the past decade. But we wanted to try one of the Oasis class ships. And this cruise including the beverage package was less than a comparable 7 nighter in October with Celebrity. 

[ReneeFLL]

On 4/26/2022 at 10:29 PM, neverlaysup said:

I use a travel agent that specializes in discounts for certain industries and it allows me to book any Celebrity cruise with no perks. The difference in price between the no perks and the all included for a 7 day cruise is at best $300 for an inside to about $600 for AQ. You would think the price difference between the cabin alone and all in would be the same for all cabin levels but each category of cabin higher than the basic inside, the price for all in increases as well.....clueless as to why. For an extra $300, I have been booking insides with the All included because after tips are factored in, I am only paying about $175 for drinks and basic WIFI. Once booked, I can upgrade bid to a Veranda or Aqua Class for far less than it would have cost to book initially.

We are also able to get the same discounts along with military. That sounds like a good deal but since we haven’t cruised on Celebrity in a while I haven’t checked lately. What are your chances of getting upgraded? That would be my concern. BTW, love your avatar. 🤣

[Shrewsbury on Tour]

Good morning, managed to get the following deal..thanks to a fellow forum member..

The current price is almost double.  Best to buy early I guess??

 

[John&LaLa]

Alway amazed how much bottled water some folks drink. I do like 3 for the whole week.

 

Do enjoy ice water with meals

[Biker19]

16 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Alway amazed how much bottled water some folks drink. I do like 3 for the whole week

What did those folks do when bottled water was not a thing (less than 20 years ago)?

[poocher]

15 hours ago, SpeedQuest said:

We cruised in January/Feb on Independence for a 4-Night. We bought the Deluxe Drink Package on the Promenade as we sailed out for $612 (including gratuities). By the end of day 1, we'd each had 10-12 drinks. End of day 2, we each had 12-16 drinks. Even if we were only drinking $10 drinks we were well ahead by day 3. It just depends on what you drink and how much you drink for it to make sense.

My 31 year old son did that on our 7 night Harmony cruise & spend day 3 in the room!

[neverlaysup]

13 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

We are also able to get the same discounts along with military. That sounds like a good deal but since we haven’t cruised on Celebrity in a while I haven’t checked lately. What are your chances of getting upgraded? That would be my concern. BTW, love your avatar. 🤣

For the cruises that I have booked, I am able to use the Move Up program for my booking. We have been booking the cheapest inside cabin lately and upgrading to Aqua most of the time. Once cruises are back to normal capacity, this strategy may not be so good but now, it works well. Cost of the upgrade is normally much less than paying for the cabin. I understand I will be assigned a cabin but for us it's worth that gamble to save $1500.

[neverlaysup]

45 minutes ago, neverlaysup said:

For the cruises that I have booked, I am able to use the Move Up program for my booking. We have been booking the cheapest inside cabin lately and upgrading to Aqua most of the time. Once cruises are back to normal capacity, this strategy may not be so good but now, it works well. Cost of the upgrade is normally much less than paying for the cabin. I understand I will be assigned a cabin but for us it's worth that gamble to save $1500.

Oops, thought I was on the Celebrity forum. For RCL, the same applies although we just Royal Up to a Spacious Balcony and save the extra cash.

[volk904]

I think Royal could probably generate more revenue by lowering the drink package.  Make it cheaper and you sell more.   The reality is most drinks cost them less than $3 so if you sold a package for about $50 per day you are way ahead.  

[time4u2go]

It would be interesting to know what percentage of customers currently purchase the drink package.