Drinks package or not?

[KaDarr]

First time cruising on Viking Ocean for my husband and I on September 2 of 2023 BIE. We have a PV room which, if I am not mistaken, gets us little bottles of liquor stocked in our mini fridge plus mixers like tonic. (Please advise if I'm wrong about this). 

So, because we stop at a port every day, wouldn't it be cost effective to just buy a bottle (or two) of wine and vodka or whisky in port than paying for the drinks package for both of us? I'm mostly just a couple glasses of wine in evening and hubby likes beer during the day and vodka/tonics or scotch in the evening.

Please forgive me if this question has been asked before.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, KaDarr said:

First time cruising on Viking Ocean for my husband and I on September 2 of 2023 BIE. We have a PV room which, if I am not mistaken, gets us little bottles of liquor stocked in our mini fridge plus mixers like tonic. (Please advise if I'm wrong about this). 

So, because we stop at a port every day, wouldn't it be cost effective to just buy a bottle (or two) of wine and vodka or whisky in port than paying for the drinks package for both of us? I'm mostly just a couple glasses of wine in evening and hubby likes beer during the day and vodka/tonics or scotch in the evening.

Please forgive me if this question has been asked before.

 

Welcome to the Viking Board, where you will find many diverse opinions on the pros/cons of the Silver Spirits Beverage package. Many do not see value in the package, while others purchase it for the convenience or overall savings.

 

Unlike other cruise lines, Viking have a very reasonable policy in bringing drinks onboard. Many other cruise lines ban bringing drinks onboard or charge significant corkage fees. Viking have no restrictions and will even serve you any wines brought aboard at meals, with no corkage fee/service charge. Same in the bars, where they will provide glasses, you only pay for mixers.

 

In addition, you get unlimited included beer/wine/soft drinks during meals and they will normally fill your glass at the end of a meal. At lunch/dinner you have a selection of red or white wine, which changes most days. A rose may be available upon request and if you prefer one of the included wines not being served that day, they can probably find a bottle. Specialty teas & coffee is available any time the bars are open and are included. They only charge for coffee, if it includes a liqueur, or other alcohol.

 

All drinks available on the SSBP are available for purchase, to those not signed up for SSBP. The cost of the SSBP is about US $20 pp/day. You will find Viking bar prices are also reasonable, please see the attached wine list and bar menu, which are a few years old, so prices may have increased slightly.

 

In determining if SSBP is worth it, based on the bar prices you can estimate the total bar bill based on drinking habits. If you come out ahead, or close to break even, it is worth purchasing the package. The other rational is convenience, which is why we purchase the package. Everything is paid up front, and in my experience drinks just arrive. When sitting at the same table in the MDR and you are consistent with what you order, the drinks are often at the table before you arrive. Had similar experiences in the Star Theatre, where our favourite bar waiter always delivered another round just prior to the lights going down. Didn't have to order. Note - you may not find this level of service on shorter cruises.

2022 Apr Viking Orion Wine List 8 pages.pdf 354106221_VikingOceanCruisesBarMenu2018.pdf

[Moonlion]

On our two Viking river cruises (pre-pandemic), it was very easy to purchase bottles of wine when at port.  That worked out well for us and we didn't purchase the SSBP.  In your situation, you may want to consider doing the same.  On our January '22 ocean cruise in a DV cabin, we purchased the SSBP because we had a substantial amount of on-board credit from our TA which could only be used while onboard.  We were very happy that we did since we couldn't go outside the "Viking bubble" on that pandemic cruise to buy wine or beer while at port.  As a word of warning, we were totally spoiled with the convenience of the package 🙂 and will probably use OBC to purchase it again on future cruises.  

[FetaCheese]

On V Sea now.  From wine list, $8./Glass if avail. by glass.

[M.Travels]

We have bought it for both of our cruises and enjoyed the package, but it is mostly because we are both fairly fickle people when it comes to alcohol and we don't want to think about it. 

 

We also enjoy trying new and different things on vacation, and the package makes that easy. If you do not like what you ordered then just get a different thing, etc.

 

But not everyone has the same attitude, and I met plenty of folks who were very happy they brought their fave choices on board with them. It's just a personal decision.

[Mich3554]

It very much depends on how you drink.  With the old price list, we found that it was rare for both of us to drink over $20 each every day.  On our 54 day cruise, there were only 10 days where both of us exceeded the cost, so for us it is not cost effective.  
 

We have the package on the WC, so will have to see if our drinking habits change any.  

[Moonlion]

49 minutes ago, Mich3554 said:

We have the package on the WC, so will have to see if our drinking habits change any.  

We did find that we more "freely" imbibed with the package 😉

[SLSD]

I think it all depends---on where you would like to have your drinks and/or glasses of wine.  If you wish to just drink in your suite--by all means buy your wine/liquor and bring it onboard.  But, if you are social drinkers, you may want to have your glasses of wine/drinks in lounges/bars on the ship, while visiting with others.  If this is the case, (as it would be for us), buying the package would make sense.  

[fount]

We will also be first time Viking cruisers.  We'll be in a PV in May.  Do we get a choice of what little bottles will be in our fridge?  Also, is there a limit?  We probably won't get the SSP.

Thank you

[duquephart]

You can request all this, all that, two and two, etc. Whatever is consumed is replaced once daily. So ----- four little bottles a day tops.

Edited December 11, 2022 by duquephart

[CCWineLover]

This is likely one of the very most common topics that has been discussed on Viking threads over the years.  Do a search as well and you'll find even more information.   In reality it comes down to personal taste, habits, or budget so to speak!

[CCWineLover]

18 minutes ago, fount said:

We will also be first time Viking cruisers.  We'll be in a PV in May.  Do we get a choice of what little bottles will be in our fridge?  Also, is there a limit?  We probably won't get the SSP.

Thank you

Yes!  Not only that, even if you don't finish them all in a given day, take the remaining out of the fridge and you can start stockpiling them!

[fount]

14 minutes ago, duquephart said:

You can request all this, all that, two and two, etc. Whatever is consumed is replaced once daily. So ----- four little bottles a day tops.

Thank you!  I appreciate you answering my question.  Obviously, I didn't take the time to research first.  

[Mich3554]

When we took the South American cruise, we collected nearly a case of wine from visiting multiple wineries on the tour we took from Santiago to Valparaiso, before we hit the dock.  We unloaded our purchases from the back of our tour van onto the trolly that Viking staff met us with.  Our alcohol tab on board was squat on that cruise!

Edited December 11, 2022 by Mich3554

[Pushka]

We have multiple sea days so the package will work out well for us.
 

One thing to consider, do you want to spend valuable time in a port looking for alcohol? 

 

Or simply do the maths as to whether you will consume more than $20 each every day on alcohol. 

[Moonlion]

Another thing to consider is the "included" wines at lunch and dinner - they generally offer only one choice each of red and white. That said, the choices are usually of decent quality (others may disagree) and they rotate which wines are available on different days.  If you prefer to "upgrade" to Viking's extended selection of wines at lunch and dinner, you can purchase by the glass (or purchase a bottle).  If you have the SSBP, you can order any of the wines on the extended list without an additional charge (by the glass wines only; the SSBP offers a 15% discount on wines by the bottle). Also, at the Chef's table, you get the premium selection of paired wines without additional charge with the SSBP; without the package, the cost to upgrade to the premium list is $25 pp.  We enjoyed taking advantage of the extended wine list at lunch and dinner and at the Chef's Table. 

[duquephart]

57 minutes ago, fount said:

Thank you!  I appreciate you answering my question.  Obviously, I didn't take the time to research first.  

 

Yeah ----- reviewing several hundred posts would have been time consuming.

[Vineyard View]

We enjoy nice wine. We also, when on vacation enjoy a cocktail before dinner. We buy the SSBP because of the convenience, and easy variety of wines offered on the package that we can choose from at each meal,  rather than the red or white being offered that day. Yes, you can  purchase those non-included wines by the glass as well. Geography plays into wine buying in port if you choose to do that, as we have at times, particularly in Europe. We’ve even brought a favored bottle with us from home for a special occasion while on board. Viking makes it easy, it just depends on what works best  for you and your personal preferences. 

[Twitchly]

You can’t really go wrong either way. We’ve stayed in PV rooms and have cruised with and without the drinks package. We spent more with the drinks package than without it, but we had a lot of fun with it and would do it again. It just felt nice not thinking about running a tab because everything had already been paid for.
 

With the package we definitely drank more than we otherwise would’ve — I think I tried every red wine they had — but managed to avoid falling off the gangplank. 

[janetcbl]

4 hours ago, fount said:

We will also be first time Viking cruisers.  We'll be in a PV in May.  Do we get a choice of what little bottles will be in our fridge?  Also, is there a limit?  We probably won't get the SSP.

Thank you

If you are a wine drinker, you can request wine instead of the liquor.

[Mich3554]

6 hours ago, SLSD said:

I think it all depends---on where you would like to have your drinks and/or glasses of wine.  If you wish to just drink in your suite--by all means buy your wine/liquor and bring it onboard.  But, if you are social drinkers, you may want to have your glasses of wine/drinks in lounges/bars on the ship, while visiting with others.  If this is the case, (as it would be for us), buying the package would make sense.  

We just took our bottles of wine with us to the Explorer lounge or dinner.  Some, we shared with others.

[SJD117]

I could set my watch by the regular appearance of Silver Spirits posts. Viking cruisers do love their cocktails and do love talking about them. It’s always time to tipple!

[PasadenaDave]

Like others posted to each his own.  We did a fifteen day Viking Cruise last May.  We are not heavy drinkers and found the provided beer and wine at lunch and dinner acceptable.  We also bought a bottle of gin for pre-dinner drinks in our cabin.  The price of the bottle and purchased drinks on board was less than $150.  The Silver Spirits package for two, $600.

 

We had a great cruise and had more alcohol to drink than we planned to.

[SWFLAOK]

4 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Yes!  Not only that, even if you don't finish them all in a given day, take the remaining out of the fridge and you can start stockpiling them!

We've never been on a cruise where your fridge was filled with little bottles of liquor. We've cruised on Regent many times), SilverSea, PG (now Ponant), Sea Dream, Holland America (Neptune Suite), and Viking River. We've never seen small bottles of liquor in our fridge onboard. We have seen 2 large bottles of our favorite liquor in our fridge, and when either starts to get near empty, a new one appears, on all but Viking River.

On Viking River, we had a Veranda Suite. which was very nice,  with a separate living room and bed room. It had a nice balcony off the living room, and a sliding glass door with a railing looking our from the bedroom. We had a bottle of red and a bottle of white, along with soda and beer included with the cabin. There was no selection (it was the same bottle of so so wine served with meals), but you could bring your own bottle on board from the local port. We did not expect to have time looking for a bottle of wine in the local ports rather than seeing the local sights. Most people who did not have a cabin with wine included, and didn't purchase the beverage package, took a full glass of wine with them back to their cabin at dinner.

We had already decided to purchase the beverage package when we boarded, and we did so. If your purchase it ahead of time as part of your cruise fare, and purchase insurance for your cruise,  your insurance will cost more to cover the bevarage package. After boarding (and testing negative for Covid back in May), we had lunch, and tasted the included wine. It was not good. We were offered something else that tasted better, and thought we were having 2 glasses. As it turned out, we had unknowingly payed for the bottle, and it cost more than the beverage package for the day. When we stopped at the bar for a pre dinner cocktail, we found out that our onboard registration for the beverage package hadn't been put into effect. Since it was obvious that we would not be happy with the included wine, and that we would often want to visit the bar for a before dinner cocktail, or an after dinner drink, or both, the 40 dollars a day for the 2 of us was insignificant, just as we had expected it to be.

We have our first Viking Ocean cruise booked for next December through the Panama Canal. We're in an Explorer Suite, with alcoholic beverages in our cabin, but we will still purchase the beverage package for better wine with our meals, and drinks outside of our cabin to socialize before and after dinner.

[CCWineLover]

16 minutes ago, SWFLAOK said:

We've never been on a cruise where your fridge was filled with little bottles of liquor. We've cruised on Regent many times), SilverSea, PG (now Ponant), Sea Dream, Holland America (Neptune Suite), and Viking River. We've never seen small bottles of liquor in our fridge onboard. We have seen 2 large bottles of our favorite liquor in our fridge, and when either starts to get near empty, a new one appears, on all but Viking River.

On Viking River, we had a Veranda Suite. which was very nice,  with a separate living room and bed room. It had a nice balcony off the living room, and a sliding glass door with a railing looking our from the bedroom. We had a bottle of red and a bottle of white, along with soda and beer included with the cabin. There was no selection (it was the same bottle of so so wine served with meals), but you could bring your own bottle on board from the local port. We did not expect to have time looking for a bottle of wine in the local ports rather than seeing the local sights. Most people who did not have a cabin with wine included, and didn't purchase the beverage package, took a full glass of wine with them back to their cabin at dinner.

We had already decided to purchase the beverage package when we boarded, and we did so. If your purchase it ahead of time as part of your cruise fare, and purchase insurance for your cruise,  your insurance will cost more to cover the bevarage package. After boarding (and testing negative for Covid back in May), we had lunch, and tasted the included wine. It was not good. We were offered something else that tasted better, and thought we were having 2 glasses. As it turned out, we had unknowingly payed for the bottle, and it cost more than the beverage package for the day. When we stopped at the bar for a pre dinner cocktail, we found out that our onboard registration for the beverage package hadn't been put into effect. Since it was obvious that we would not be happy with the included wine, and that we would often want to visit the bar for a before dinner cocktail, or an after dinner drink, or both, the 40 dollars a day for the 2 of us was insignificant, just as we had expected it to be.

We have our first Viking Ocean cruise booked for next December through the Panama Canal. We're in an Explorer Suite, with alcoholic beverages in our cabin, but we will still purchase the beverage package for better wine with our meals, and drinks outside of our cabin to socialize before and after dinner.

I can't speak for the River Cruises, which seems to be your experience.

I do know that many things are different on Viking between River and Ocean.  We did a Viking River last May, but we did not get the River drinks package since we were so busy with excursions and also had our own wine we brought onboard in Amsterdam.  

 

On Ocean, we usually bring a bottle on board for a special occasion.  If we have many sea days, like we have in our upcoming Panama Canal cruise in a couple weeks, we'll get the Silver Spirits package.  We enjoy not having to worry what time it is to have a drink, and especially at 5 PM or even at 9 PM after dinner at the Atrium Bar!   I also agree that the wines are a bit better on the Premium Package.  We also do drink beer and are not cocktail drinkers, so sometimes not having SSP isn't that bad.   I've noticed the heavy cocktail drinkers get the SSP a lot, since only beer and wine (and sparkling wine) comes free with meals.  And only 1 red and 1 white per meal (rotates), but pretty much any beer you want.