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Drinks package

web1948

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  • 3 weeks later...
web1948

web1948

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To be quite honest Dr Dave, my husband and I are not really drinkers, it's just that I like everything to be paid for up front. I didn't realise until after I'd booked the drinks package that it worked out as over £40 per day, we never spend £40 on drink in a twelve month. If anyone on the ship sees two people absolutely slammed out of their mind 24 hours a day it will be us, feel free to come and introduce yourselves and we'll get you a drink.

 

I'll be doing a review of the cruise when I come back (if I can remember anything about it)

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kruzseeka

kruzseeka

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Hi Wendy,

 

Don't forget that your AI also includes soft drinks, virgin cocktails (the virgin Pinacolada is lovely), cappuccinos/hot chocolate in the showbar, Blakes and the Oklahoma Lounge, so you can drink lots of other things - just to dilute the effects!! (The cappuccinos are good - with a little biscuit too.) Hopefully you will have some lovely weather and will appreciate plenty of cool drinks - and at least get a bit more value out of your AI.

 

We'll look forward to seeing your review. Not long now - have a great time!

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steelerannie

steelerannie

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Bacardi and Tia Maria - definitely!! I sampled 1 or 3 or 5 or 6 during our cruise. Don't know about the others though.

 

One other thing - you can order a cappuccino and a tia maria and it's free, but if you order a tia maria coffee special you have to pay!!

 

Ann

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ladyjayneq

ladyjayneq

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Do you get a list of drinks not included in the AI ? How will i know if i'm ordering an included drink or not.

 

My husband & i are first time cruisers going on the Spirit in October doing the Mediterannean Renaissance and the Moorish Delights.

Any other hints would be appreciated.

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kruzseeka

kruzseeka

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Hi,

 

Yes, the drinks menu on the tables in the lounges are clearly marked with AI/non AI drinks. If I remember correctly, those not included are marked with a * They will also tell you how much extra you would have to pay for these drinks - you pay a reduced price. For example many spirits are included but special malts may carry a surcharge. You can have unlimited wine by the glass in the dining room (not bottles - I think this is to avoid you having a bottle and sharing it with those who haven't got AI) but we're red wine drinkers and think it's very palatable.

 

I'm sure you'll love your first cruise - all the Med trips we've done with Thomson have been great. If you've got any specific questions about ports/excursions/how things are organised etc. I'm sure someone will be able to answer them. We've done Moorish Delights (but the itinerary has changed a lot from when we went last year) and Med Renaissance so I'll help if I can.

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  • 3 weeks later...
vwgolf

vwgolf

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I paid for the AI package two years ago and found it a waste of money. Unless you spend all day drinking, I can't see how you can make it pay. Last year we had a free AI upgrade but this year, there is no AI upgrade available, free or otherwise. Very odd.

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web1948

web1948

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Having now returned from the cruise I kept all of my receipts, and it's worked out that we've paid over £100 more by buying the AI package than we would have done by paying for our drinks at the end of the cruise. Never mind I've learned by my mistake.

Wendy

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  • 2 weeks later...
scarymary555

scarymary555

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Thanks for this valuable lesson Wendy (sorry it was costly for you guys though!).

 

We're going on our first cruise in September and although we both like a drink I did wonder if you would get value for money from the drinks package or not. This answers my question ~ thanks.

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  • 3 weeks later...
kruzseeka

kruzseeka

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Yes, I'd say that sounds pretty good and I'd buy it at that price. We don't drink a great deal, but wine with dinner, cocktail in the show, drink in Horizons plus a couple of cappuccinos and a virgin cocktail/smoothie during the day and you'd be well in pocket. If you drink more than this it will be even better value. Some of the drinks package costs are about £150 for the week. These are the ones which are not worth it unless you drink a lot.

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kruzseeka

kruzseeka

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AI availability varies.

 

These are my observations - but it's a bit unpredictable as Thomson alters the availability - a bit like prices and other posters may be able to add more from their experiences/observations.

 

I've never seen AI offered on any of the ex-UK sailings (Baltic, Norway etc) I was once told this had something to do with the fact that they were leaving from UK ports - but I'm not sure whether that's right or not.

 

Mediterranean trips sailing out of Palma often have AI - especially when the next season's brochure is first released (probably to try to get some early bookings secured - AI is a bit of a 'sweetener').

 

The AI offers can disappear at any time (Thomson probably have a 'quota' depending on how sales are progressing.) This has to be balanced by how the prices may be dropping though. Close to departure, prices can be quite low if they have some cabin availability but the 'perks' have disappeared (AI, free parking etc.)

 

I don't know whether AI was offered early season on the Emerald/Calypso this year - but it's not offered in the brochure and doesn't seem to be available on these itineraries (Eastern Med) for next year. Perhaps they don't need to offer it on these - i.e. sales are good enough.

 

The Canaries itinerary often has AI early on but again, it will probably disappear the closer you get to departure.

 

You can buy the package on some routes - but interestingly not on the ex-UK sailings. At the moment, it's £149 in the Eastern and Western Med for a week. Quite expensive!

 

P.S. I think it's also the case that occasionally AI will re-appear if they want to 'push' a particular trip and promote sales for given dates/itineraries. But for us, it's very difficult to predict and you can easily lose out as the offers come and go.

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kruzseeka

kruzseeka

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Mmmmm.. don't know, sorry. But it may be they would find it a bit expensive to offer AI over Christmas and New Year when I think we would all perhaps drink a bit more than usual. Do you think this could be the case? Has anyone ever had AI for the festive period? Of course, if sales are good, they won't need to 'give' anything away in the form of free drinks.

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sobral

sobral

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Just returned from cruise on the Spirit and found that some AI drinks that were included on the Celebration were not included on the Spirit- e.g. Baileys and Jamesons were on AI on Celebration but not on the Spirit. I asked a waiter and he said it could be that Thomsons own the Celebration and only charter the Spirit and so the companied that run the bars are different. Does that make sense to anyone? Anyway we were lucky enough to have the free AI upgrade so didnt have much of a bar bill after 14 days, save for a few Baileys which was only 90p supplement so cant complain.

Had a good time anyway!

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