how to get the best deal for a drink package?

[xav-stargate]

Good morning! I took a 7-day cruise in the Caribbean (Miami, Nassau, Ocean Cay, Belize, Cozumel), I bought the package with internet and drinks (plus package) for only 779 Cad (579 USD).
 

Unfortunately, I have never seen such an offer again.

 

today with the increase in prices, how to get the best price for a drink package?

 

thanks!

[RandomUser123]

The best deal is typically when you book when MSC has a fare that includes Easy Plus and WIFI for 1 device and sometimes OBC. If you know you want the drink package then you should purchase it when you book as that is almost always much cheaper than buying it separately afterwards.

[cruisegeek1974]

Last week I booked a December 2024 cruise and today I noticed that MSC on the same cruise is offering drinks, OBC and wifi.  I priced out the cruise and for the extra cost for these "free" extras it's worth it to add this on.  I emailed the travel agent i booked with to ask about having this added or whatever she has to do to get this added.  Typically the drink packages aren't worth it for me, but with the OBC and the fact we usually buy an internet package, it makes sense to try and get this special added to our cruise.

[Stockjock]

I recently booked a Norway Fjords cruise at a pretty good price, but drinks and wi-fi were not offered as an included option.  I suspect that will change at some point, so I'll just check periodically and rebook when I see that option.

Pro Tip: Unless you have a cabin that you absolutely cannot lose, if you've booked Fantastica and later see a better promotion, you're usually better off cancelling the original booking (only if there's no penalty) and rebooking.  That's because Fantastica allows for one free change.  So if you change the original reservation, you've used up your one free change.  Conversely, if you simply do a new Fantastica booking, you'll still have that one free change option in your pocket.

Edited January 26 by Stockjock

[cruisegeek1974]

As an update, my travel agent called MSC and we had to do a cancel and rebook.  I think what was done by MSC was, the same cabin but on the port side of the ship was reserved/booked, and then my original reservation was cancelled.  I just spoke to my travel agent and she said she would look into getting us moved back to the original cabin, but it's not a huge deal if that can't be done.  I will definitely not be looking to make any other changes.