Free-at-Sea Open Bar ???

[adreyer]

I'm about to book on Pride of America.  I noticed the drink gratuity with the free drinks promo was rather large considering 2 in my cabin are minors and I read that minors can't have that package.  Additionally, I'll have maybe a glass of wine each night and hubby won't drink at all.  It is possible to get the soda package for free instead of the booze package and just pay out of pocket for the occasional cocktail or wine?  I'd never drink enough to rationalize that kind of gratuity.

 

[adreyer]

23 minutes ago, adreyer said:

I'm about to book on Pride of America.  I noticed the drink gratuity with the free drinks promo was rather large considering 2 in my cabin are minors and I read that minors can't have that package.  Additionally, I'll have maybe a glass of wine each night and hubby won't drink at all.  It is possible to get the soda package for free instead of the booze package and just pay out of pocket for the occasional cocktail or wine?  I'd never drink enough to rationalize that kind of gratuity.

 

I've self-discovered that on POA, this beverage package is for all ages.  So I understand why I'm paying gratuities for all four of us.  What a waste.  What child is going to go through $99 worth of soda a day?  I still do wonder though if I can downgrade it, or if the Soda package is even offered on POA given the Hawaiian drink package is for all ages. Anyone know.

[TrumpyNor]

Can't you just remove the beverage package perk entirely, and then "pay as you go" instead? If I try to do a "mock" booking, I can choose myself which (if any)  Free-at-Sea-products I want or not. Don't you get that option as well?

Edited August 18, 2022 by TrumpyNor

[Sailing12Away]

Definitely better to skip the free drinks package then when you book and call NCL. I've never had that issue as we personally won't sail without a drink package, but that's us. 

 

POA has slightly different rules as it's a US based ship.

[adreyer]

5 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

Can't you just remove the beverage package perk entirely, and then "pay as you go" instead? If I try to do a "mock" booking, I can choose myself which (if any)  Free-at-Sea-products I want or not. Don't you get that option as well?

Yes I did that when I was pricing it.  But I could use the soda package for sure with WAY lower gratuity price.  I was just wondeing if anyone had experience with NCL allowing that or if it was even offered.

[graphicguy]

So…you want the soda package without the alcohol package?  I think it’s $9.95/day.

[trivimp]

You can't replace the alcohol beverage package with a soda package, they are not interchangeable.  But if you decline the alcohol package, and then purchase the soda package for $9.95/day, it still comes out about half price of the alcohol package.  

[Liljo22]

11 hours ago, adreyer said:

I've self-discovered that on POA, this beverage package is for all ages.  So I understand why I'm paying gratuities for all four of us.  What a waste.  What child is going to go through $99 worth of soda a day?  I still do wonder though if I can downgrade it, or if the Soda package is even offered on POA given the Hawaiian drink package is for all ages. Anyone know.

Is that true or is it the same as other cruises?  All adults in the cabin now get the drink package and the system doesn’t know there are minors until you enter their information after the initial pricing.  Once you enter their ages, the system will remove the gratuities for the minors.  

[Sue Do-Over]

We always decline the unlimited/premium drinks package.  Even if it was 'free', the auto-grats are killer. 

 

Casino guests like us and light drinkers are much better off to decline the package, and simply pay as you go. 

 

NCL won't activate the premium drink package for children; you need to buy them the soda package instead. 

 

Bartenders/servers see your picture when they scan your card, and are supposed to only serve the card holder alcohol (to reduce sharing/let them monitor consumption), but we rarely/never get even get a second glance when ordering 'extra' soda on a single card.  Hubby simply offers his card with the soda-code first, and they don't bother to ask to see my no-code card for an occasional diet Pepsi.

[tallnthensome]

1 hour ago, Liljo22 said:

Is that true or is it the same as other cruises?  All adults in the cabin now get the drink package and the system doesn’t know there are minors until you enter their information after the initial pricing.  Once you enter their ages, the system will remove the gratuities for the minors.  

^^^^ This 

[dandelpino]

13 hours ago, adreyer said:

I've self-discovered that on POA, this beverage package is for all ages.  So I understand why I'm paying gratuities for all four of us.  What a waste.  What child is going to go through $99 worth of soda a day?  I still do wonder though if I can downgrade it, or if the Soda package is even offered on POA given the Hawaiian drink package is for all ages. Anyone know.

I don't know about that. I just did a mock booking with 2 adults and 2 kids in a balcony room and it's only charging $277.20 for open bar gratuities. This corresponds to the amount for 2 adults only. 

 

The package is $99/day and the gratuity is 20% so $19.8 per person per day. 19.8 x 7 days x 2 people = 277.20

 

 

[cruiserbear55]

28 minutes ago, Sue Do-Over said:

We always decline the unlimited/premium drinks package.  Even if it was 'free', the auto-grats are killer. 

 

Casino guests like us and light drinkers are much better off to decline the package, and simply pay as you go. 

 

NCL won't activate the premium drink package for children; you need to buy them the soda package instead. 

 

Bartenders/servers see your picture when they scan your card, and are supposed to only serve the card holder alcohol (to reduce sharing/let them monitor consumption), but we rarely/never get even get a second glance when ordering 'extra' soda on a single card.  Hubby simply offers his card with the soda-code first, and they don't bother to ask to see my no-code card for an occasional diet Pepsi.

   The wife and I order a drink for sailaway- I'll order a Kahlua sombrero and she'll order whatever umbrella drink is available- and those are our drinks for the cruise. Also, those are our drinks until the next cruise!! Obviously, we don't drink much! .We do get the casino drink cards with which we get our cartons of water. As Sue Do-Overs hubby, I also buy the soda package. ( used to be Diet Pepsi but now will be Coke). Have always ordered two sodas at a time, one for me and one for the DW. No-one on any ship has ever questioned it.

 

[adreyer]

1 hour ago, Sue Do-Over said:

We always decline the unlimited/premium drinks package.  Even if it was 'free', the auto-grats are killer. 

 

When you pay as you go, do they auto tip 20% per drink, or do you get to decide the tip?

[cruiserbear55]

20 minutes ago, adreyer said:

When you pay as you go, do they auto tip 20% per drink, or do you get to decide the tip?

 Someone mentioned, I think, on the Coca-Cola thread from a few days ago that they had paid $3.60 for a soda. $3.00 plus .60 cent gratuity.

[KeithJenner]

33 minutes ago, adreyer said:

When you pay as you go, do they auto tip 20% per drink, or do you get to decide the tip?

Auto tip. You can add more if you want, but can't reduce it (as far as I know, I have never tried).

[dandelpino]

34 minutes ago, adreyer said:

When you pay as you go, do they auto tip 20% per drink, or do you get to decide the tip?

Auto tip. Every F&B transaction onboard has a mandatory 20% gratuity. 

[MotownVoice]

We’re recovering alcoholics and got the premium drinks because of the promo pack we bought.   So I called and had it taken off and they refunded 500 some dollars a couple days later.   Plus, just yesterday I happened to notice that our two free specialty dinings for passengers 1 and 2 had been changed to FOUR dinners!   Woo hoo!   Sometimes it’s worth waiting the 10 or 20 minutes on hold to talk to someone.    

Edited August 18, 2022 by MotownVoice

[Sue Do-Over]

19 hours ago, MotownVoice said:

We’re recovering alcoholics and got the premium drinks because of the promo pack we bought.   So I called and had it taken off and they refunded 500 some dollars a couple days later.   Plus, just yesterday I happened to notice that our two free specialty dinings for passengers 1 and 2 had been changed to FOUR dinners!   Woo hoo!   Sometimes it’s worth waiting the 10 or 20 minutes on hold to talk to someone.    

I've asked every time to replace the 'free' drink package with more dining credits, but always got told no, there are no substitutions.  Wonder what magic words you used?

 

Assumed the no-subs rule was to keep people from claiming some other discount if they didn't take the airfare deal, for example. 

 

[MotownVoice]

1 hour ago, Sue Do-Over said:

I've asked every time to replace the 'free' drink package with more dining credits, but always got told no, there are no substitutions.  Wonder what magic words you used?

 

Assumed the no-subs rule was to keep people from claiming some other discount if they didn't take the airfare deal, for example. 

 

Honestly, if I had to guess I would say it had almost everything to do with rapport I developed with the customer service person before I got to my request.   She was very pleasant and it made her easy to talk to.   When someone in service says “we don’t do that” I believe they’re really saying “I won’t do that because I’m not going to spend that much time on this issue.”   They have more latitude than they let on sometimes.