10 drinks card - say cheers and save. Is this new?

[jean87510]

So apparently it's $90 plus 18% gratuity for anything up to $14.  I'm currently on the Vision and we are at CocoCay tomorrow.  Wondering if I should just buy this tomorrow when we are there.  We have 3 days left.  I do get 4 free drinks a day with Diamond but wouldn't mind getting some extras at CocoCay tomorrow plus the 2 remaining days.  Has anyone seen and done this package before?

[Biker19]

Just now, jean87510 said:

Has anyone seen this package before?

Yes, there have been reports of it but still quite rare.

[HaveWeMetYet]

Just now, jean87510 said:

So apparently it's $90 plus 18% gratuity for anything up to $14.  I'm currently on the Vision and we are at CocoCay tomorrow.  Wondering if I should just buy this tomorrow when we are there.  We have 3 days left.  I do get 4 free drinks a day with Diamond but wouldn't mind getting some extras at CocoCay tomorrow plus the 2 remaining days.  Has anyone seen and done this package before?

These offers used to be common. I suspect a drop off in the number of people wanting to pay 1000+ for the drink package is bringing back there return.

[jean87510]

Just now, Biker19 said:

Yes, there have been reports of it but still quite rare.

It must be that my fellow passengers are just not buying anything.  This is the same cruise where there was a diamond and above discount at CocoCay for the cabanas.  

[GimmeOcean]

Who would use one of these for fountain sodas? 

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, GimmeOcean said:

Who would use one of these for fountain sodas? 

Someone who can't do math or doesn't care about the cost of the card.

[Husky1987]

I think in the past this used to be pretty common in the last days of a cruise...but haven't seen or heard of it in quite some time.  Good deal if you're going to use the 10!

[c-leg5]

Agree used to be common towards end of the week.

[Beer Belly]

I'd be careful on Coco Cay with the wording of this offer stating "Onboard"

[sgmn]

We did it a few times pre covid and pre Diamond as we don't drink enough to justify the DP.

It was a good deal if you drink mainly the more expensive wines or cocktails, not so much if you just drink beer. It was usually offered in the last three or four days of the cruise. Seem to remember you could share the card. 

I haven't seen it since the restart and probably wouldn't bother now as four Diamond drinks are enough. In the rare occasion I go over I'll just PAYG

Edited November 1, 2023 by sgmn

[cruisegirl1]

Surprised that it is still $90. I think that was the price pre-Covid and drinks were not as expensive as they are today. 

 

[Engineroom Snipe]

5 hours ago, sgmn said:

We did it a few times pre covid and pre Diamond as we don't drink enough to justify the DP.

It was a good deal if you drink mainly the more expensive wines or cocktails, not so much if you just drink beer. It was usually offered in the last three or four days of the cruise. Seem to remember you could share the card. 

I haven't seen it since the restart and probably wouldn't bother now as four Diamond drinks are enough. In the rare occasion I go over I'll just PAYG

Oasis cruise, September this year, it was for sale. You could share the card. The ship occupancy was a few hundred short of rated capacity (to the point of exceeding double occupancy easily, many three and four to a room as I walked by stewards doing cabins).

 

I do not know exactly what days it was offered but I saw people using them on Friday of a Sunday through Saturday cruise.

[HxFx]

Is the card separate from your ship card? If not, when you buy it, does it automatically go towards your next drink(s) or can you designate which drinks to put on it? Thanks!

[surfclam2003]

It would be great to get them again! We are Diamond so use our vouchers for drinks after dinner. The drink package would cost us more than what we paid for the cruise all in (ins and gratuities).

[MandyMooToo]

They were available on our Mariner cruise last fall.  

[Ashland]

I thought they were available towards end of cruise when they could see drink sails were down. We purchased it once a long time ago and it was a waste of $'s.

[c-leg5]

44 minutes ago, Ashland said:

I thought they were available towards end of cruise when they could see drink sails were down. We purchased it once a long time ago and it was a waste of $'s.

It is only a waste of money if you bought something you didn’t need or use.
 

It is of value to those who want a few extra drinks at a discounted price especially since it can be shared.

[smokeybandit]

They probably offer this on cruises to allow Diamonds who are kicked out of the happy hour to drown their sorrows in.

[marci22]

They offered it on a recent 9 nt Liberty.

[livingonthebeach]

In the past, it was quite common but lately I haven't seen it. I'm glad they're bring the card back. It's a very good value if you buy $14 drinks. You save $50. 

[Engineroom Snipe]

Just an hypothesis:

 

The cruisers who bought premium beverage packages on a seven day cruise are getting a bit "saturated" about three days into the cruise. The bars seem to have a bit of "free" time on their hands.

 

The bean counters who get a computerized spreadsheet on every bar instantaneously realize they are not meeting quotas.

 

Let us set some bait on the hook so people feel like they can save money and we can make money.

 

Break out the discount card.

[livingonthebeach]

2 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

....Let us set some bait on the hook so people feel like they can save money and we can make money.

 

But you do actually save money -- If you bought 10 drinks at $14 that's $140 versus $90 for the card. That's a $50 savings. 

[Ashland]

4 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

It is only a waste of money if you bought something you didn’t need or use.
 

It is of value to those who want a few extra drinks at a discounted price especially since it can be shared.

We thought we would use it...we didn't...so it was a waste for us.

[Engineroom Snipe]

11 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

But you do actually save money -- If you bought 10 drinks at $14 that's $140 versus $90 for the card. That's a $50 savings. 

@livingonthebeach You are correct, there is a money savings off the full price.

 

I never remember having that card available at the beginning of any cruise. I do not think RCI is doing this to save the cruisers money. If they wanted to do that, they would offer it at the beginning of every cruise.

 

The intent of my sarcasm was that RCI normally only makes it available when they are not making drink quotas beyond the drinking packages already bought and paid for.  As some people have mentioned, not everyone uses all of the drinks punches before the cruise ends after they buy these cards. To the best of my knowledge, they are only offered about two days or less of the end of the cruise. Even at this discount, RCI must be making a reasonable profit or they would not offer it.

 

If people who are not using drinking packages consume products at full price and the ship is meeting quota expectations, the cards are not offered.

 

There have been discussions on many topics about after the first three days, cruisers with unlimited drink packages start decreasing their consumption. This was why the drink package per day price is higher on the three and four day cruises referred to as "booze cruises". They are drinking hard for most of their cruise. The seven days or more cruises tend to have cheaper per day prices because there is peak use during the first few days which declines afterwards.

 

I can also see how C&A higher tier members might be prime targets for this card as it allows drinks to be shared and encourages them to buy a bit more than their daily tier quota which they enjoy at no cost.

 

 

[marci22]

13 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

But you do actually save money -- If you bought 10 drinks at $14 that's $140 versus $90 for the card. That's a $50 savings. 

These are usually sold near the end of the cruise and it's an impulse buy after spending $14/drink all week. People on another group were posting that they were trying to give their leftover drinks away so as not to waste them.