Deluxe Drinks Package

[Girlsgocruising]

Hi - newbie here, sailing Odyssey of the Seas in June Greek Islands.  Im looking at the deluxe drinks package is currently £64.99 per person per day. 

Is it worth shopping around, are there ever any offers?  presume best to buy before we go rather than on board?

 

[sparks1093]

Royal sometimes uses dynamic pricing which means that sometimes the packages go on sale, but the price before the cruise is less than it would be to purchase it onboard. I know that some people will buy it and then check periodically for a sale. They then cancel the first order and buy at the sale price. (It has been a while since we've cruised with Royal so you may want to ask on the Royal forum.) Welcome to Cruise Critic!

[John Bull]

Another thought.....................

I don't know if they still offer it, but RCI used to allow you to buy a drinks package partway through a cruise at the pro-rata daily rate.

Has to be bought a minimum period before the end of the cruise (3 days? 4  days?) and can't be stopped short of the end of the cruise.

 

JB 🙂

[CruiserBruce]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Take a look over on the portion of Cruise Critic devoted to RCI, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/51-royal-caribbean-international/

 

 

[Mangrove Snapper]

1 hour ago, Girlsgocruising said:

Hi - newbie here, sailing Odyssey of the Seas in June Greek Islands.  Im looking at the deluxe drinks package is currently £64.99 per person per day. 

Is it worth shopping around, are there ever any offers?  presume best to buy before we go rather than on board?

 

 

Both Royal and Celebrity do have sales in the cruise planner.  Sometimes they are "flash" sales which last a few days and often they are planned around holidays.  Sometimes you will get an e-mail advertising the sales.  If you buy a drink package and it later goes on sale for a lower price, you can cancel and re-purchase.  If you've used OBC for the purchase, it will become available again almost immediately.  If not, the refund will go back to your card. 

[Girlsgocruising]

Thanks all for your replies 

really appreciated - mangrovesnapper sorry daft question- where can I find the cruise planner? 

Many thanks 

[Mangrove Snapper]

1 hour ago, Girlsgocruising said:

Thanks all for your replies 

really appreciated - mangrovesnapper sorry daft question- where can I find the cruise planner? 

Many thanks 

When you sign on to RCCL’s site you should have an option to manage your reservation and in the reservation there should be an option to go to the cruise planner. It might show up as an option to book excursions and drink packages. All of that is in the cruise planner.

[TwinMamainMN]

Consider your itinerary first before spending the money. For a port intensive cruise with long days, it may not make financial sense for you to have the drink package (cost of the package plus the service charge) and instead you can just order as you wish and put them on your onboard account which gets paid/charged before you disembark.

[sparks1093]

19 minutes ago, TwinMamainMN said:

Consider your itinerary first before spending the money. For a port intensive cruise with long days, it may not make financial sense for you to have the drink package (cost of the package plus the service charge) and instead you can just order as you wish and put them on your onboard account which gets paid/charged before you disembark.

A drink package calculator will help with this. https://cruisespotlight.com/drink-package-calculator/ Just put in the number of drinks you expect to average per day and it will tell you how much you can save (I think this is set up per person). (Our first drink package was with Royal and in one of the ports we were ashore for a long time and were wiped out by the time we returned to the ship. Only had a couple of drinks each on the package that day but overall we still saved money.)

[K32682]

On 3/20/2024 at 8:29 AM, sparks1093 said:

A drink package calculator will help with this. https://cruisespotlight.com/drink-package-calculator/ Just put in the number of drinks you expect to average per day and it will tell you how much you can save (I think this is set up per person). (Our first drink package was with Royal and in one of the ports we were ashore for a long time and were wiped out by the time we returned to the ship. Only had a couple of drinks each on the package that day but overall we still saved money.)

 

Very helpful link. To make a drink package pay I'd have to drink more than I typically would. My wife would have to pay for the package too because we're in the same cabin and she drinks less than me. 

[mamafun]

19 minutes ago, K32682 said:

A drink package calculator will help with this. https://cruisespotlight.com/drink-package-calculator/ J

Just a note that this calculator is for only the drink package (at least on Princess) and not for the full $60/day Plus package.  (Their naming is confusing because there is the Plus beverage package and the Plus cruise package that includes gratuities, wi-fi, etc.)

[navybankerteacher]

On 3/19/2024 at 1:50 PM, Girlsgocruising said:

Hi - newbie here, sailing Odyssey of the Seas in June Greek Islands.  Im looking at the deluxe drinks package is currently £64.99 per person per day. 

Is it worth shopping around, are there ever any offers?  presume best to buy before we go rather than on board?

 

“We” implies a couple - which means £130 per day (unless, as is likely, tips would be added on).   Are you planning to spend any time ashore at ports (or much time on board sober)?
 

Talking about before you go on board: try dusting off your elementary school arithmetic and figure how many drinks you really need to enjoy a week or so away - and compare total one-at-a-time beverages with the package