We drink wine at dinner - how big should our bar tab be?

[beachtango]

We’re cruising on Scarlet Lady for 6 days in December and it’s our first experience with VV.   If we each like to have a couple of glasses of wine with dinner each evening, how large a bar tab should we purchase?  Thanks for helping us decide.

[Eric&Pam]

A glass or two with dinner or bottles?

By the way, you can bring 2 bottles of wine in your carry-on luggage.

 

[kaysha2004]

You don't need to buy a bar tab unless you're trying to get a bonus on the prepaid tab; otherwise, you can just pay as you go and it charges to your onboard account.  As mentioned above, you can also bring your own wine.  Here's a bar tab calculator link:

https://vvinsider.com/bar-tab-calculator/

 

How Much Is It?

To help make drinks more affordable; Virgin Voyages offer sailors the opportunity to buy a ‘Bar Tab’ before they sail. Bar Tab can be purchased in a number of ‘chunks’ each with a corresponding bonus to incentivise sailors pre-purchasing the beverage credit.

• $200 Bar Tab: Bonus $25 (12.5% extra)
• $300 Bar Tab: Bonus $50* (16.7% extra)
• $500 Bar Tab: Bonus $100 (20% extra)
• $750 Bar Tab: Bonus $175 (23.3% extra)
• $1000 Bar Tab: Bonus $250 (25% extra)
•  

Average Drinks Prices for 2024

• $9.00 per glass of wine
• $8.00 per beer
• $14.00 per cocktail
• $8.00 per measure of spirits / liquor (mixers are free)
• $9.00 per juice or smoothie
• $5.00 per specialty soft drink (non-filter coffee, energy drinks and mocktails)

 

These prices are what you pay; no 20% tip on top of that.  Note that soda is included with Virgin as part of your cruise fare, as opposed to other cruise lines that do not offer it unless you have a drink package.  Soda is dispensed via fountain, so no cans or bottles.

 

Since your first-timers, remember to bring your own refillable water bottle to use at the refill stations throughout the ship.  Virgin doesn't have single-use plastics.

[cantgetin]

As above, the only benefit of a "bar tab" in advance is the bonus that you get. The down side is that it is "use it or lose it."  You have the basic prices above. We would each have a glass or 2 of wine at dinner and didn't use anywhere near to our free bar tab.  If you don't have a bar tab, the cost goes to any "loot" you have and then to your folio (credit card charged at end of cruise).  Remember that VV prices already include the tip, so that $8 glass of wine really costs $8.THe prices above really are correct....the most expensive we got of anything was no more than $2 above what is listed....cocktails were $11-16, $14  is a good average.

So....buy a small tab to get the bonus or decide that it isn't worth the risk of not using all the "paid" amount, your call.

[Cruise Gopher]

Does anyone know how much a top shelf martini like Grey Goose would be?

[jon81uk]

14 hours ago, Cruise Gopher said:

Does anyone know how much a top shelf martini like Grey Goose would be?

The old casino bar menu showed it as $14. But the new May 2024 menu doesn’t list martini prices (they will still be available as will all other classic cocktails). Based on the prices increases that happened May 2024 I would guess at $16 for the Grey Goose martini (which includes gratuity).

 

Bar menus can be found here https://vvinsider.com/bar-menus/ but the menu doesn’t show classic cocktails or simpler spirit and mixer. Absolut vodka is the house/well option at $9 for 1.5oz with a soda/juice mixer being free.  Then I think Tito’s is $11 and Grey Goose will be $13+.