Rhapsody out of OZ - REALLY high drink prices !!!!!

[cage keeper]

Looks like we will be cutting back on the amount of drinks we will buy. On a 12 nighter if we have one martini a night our bar bill will be $250.00. That's insane. Where do I order those rum runners? :D:D:D

[chiguy67]

We just got of the Liberty last Saturday and the drink prices were higher than when we were on the Mariner in May.

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

Surely whilst the ship is cruising from Sydney they would restock alcohol etc with local products purchased with the Australian dollar, and are re-selling at their prices based on the US dollar.

For instance my DH normally purchases beer at a retail price of between A$1.00 and $2.00 per 375ml can. The ship would be purchasing it at wholesale prices and yet are charging the equivalent of US$6.50. To us Australians a considerable markup don't you think?

OK I do appreciate prices vary with the brand and the size of the can/bottle but overall it still remains a considerable markup.

 

Must say though, the reason we are going is to enjoy the cruise, as we always do, not just to drink alcohol. Well that's my pennies worth.:)

 

Jillybean:)

[Yvonne]

wow that's insane. How about the non-alcoholic drinks? I would love to get a virgin pina colada on my cruise this month. Any idea how much those are going for these days?

 

I just checked my receipt, I got off the Mariner on Sunday and my Mom's virgin pina colada was exactly the same price as my mango lava flow which I thought wasn't right since her drink didn't have any alcohol in it. $15.53 for two drinks.

[cruisinfanatic]

You bet the prices are up and really not justified. Here is a quote I made in my January 2006 Mariner review comparing drink prices (regular glass) from our Monarch cruise in 1995.

 

Beer (Coors Light) then $2.50, now $3.00

Frozen drinks then $3.75, now $4.75

Whiskey Sour then $3.25, now $4.25

 

Now

Beer $3.95

Frozen Drinks $6.75

Whiskey Sour (Smaller Glass) $5.00

 

What RCL did was to stop serving you drinks in souvenir glasses unless you asked for, and paid the extra for it.

The raised the prices almost to what drinks used to cost in the glasses.

[Hlitner]

Great topic for those of us booze nuts. We cruise on many different cruise lines (11 so far) but still love RCI (Diamond). However, the drink prices on RCI are quite a bit higher than what we find on Princess, HA and several other cruise lines. Its the same with wine prices where we find that on RCI the prices are higher for comparable wines, and the packages do not provide much quality. Of course since we are Diamond we do take advantage of the free cocktail hours in the concierge lounge, so this helps counter the high drink prices. As to the $12 Cosmos, keep in mind that these are large drinks and heavily promoted. Many are not aware that you can simply order a regular Cosmo (or other Martinis) and they will be served in a normal martini glass for about $7 or $8. On our last RCI cruise we noticed that the regular priced martinis were not listed on the cocktail menus...so its one of those things where you have to ask.

 

Hank

[flames]

Are you able to buy a bottle of Rum on the ship for your Cabin and if so how much would that cost? does anyone know?

 

Carol:)

[wrp96]

Are you able to buy a bottle of Rum on the ship for your Cabin and if so how much would that cost? does anyone know?

 

 

Sorry. Not allowed.

[flames]

Sorry. Not allowed.

 

What do you mean "not allowed":confused: years ago when we sailed we were able to buy a bottle on the ship but they charged us more for it than the duty free ones.....

 

Carol:)

[KelJ]

My Mom and I just got off the Mariner of the Seas on Sunday and I thought the drinks were pretty expensive too. One afternoon we went up to Ellington's to enjoy the view, and decided to get drinks. I had a Mango Lava Flow and she had a virgin Pina Colada and it was $15.53, including tip. I thought that was pretty steep for only one drink having alcohol in it!! Those are the only "special" drinks we had all week. We stuck to tea, lemonade and coffee the rest of the time.

 

wow that's insane. How about the non-alcoholic drinks? I would love to get a virgin pina colada on my cruise this month. Any idea how much those are going for these days?

 

I just checked my receipt, I got off the Mariner on Sunday and my Mom's virgin pina colada was exactly the same price as my mango lava flow which I thought wasn't right since her drink didn't have any alcohol in it. $15.53 for two drinks.

 

On recent cruises, we have paid the same for virgin frozen drinks as we did for those containing alcohol. No price difference.

[KelJ]

What do you mean "not allowed":confused: years ago when we sailed we were able to buy a bottle on the ship but they charged us more for it than the duty free ones.....

 

Carol:)

 

You can no longer do this. That's what Wrona meant by "not allowed."

[GrannyLorr]

actually theose signs have been used for a very very long time. I want to say--of course I am usig my memory:eek: ont his---it says in little print--off original price or somethig ot other. the price tag on the jewelry says the origianl price and then the 50% off price. It does catch your eye thoough because the 50% off is soooooooo large. I'll check it out on Monarch next week

 

The watch we bought certainly didnt have a tag saying original price then discounted price....there was only ONE price on it...thats why we thought we would then be paying 50% of the marked price.

People have been mentioning the "virgin" cocktails so here is the current price list as per the Drinks Menu.

Oreo Cookie.................$5.25

Bora Bora Brew.............$3.99

Berry Banana Colada........$5.25

Passion Papaya Crush.......$3.99

Pineapple Blast..............$4.50

[gatour]

What do you mean "not allowed":confused: years ago when we sailed we were able to buy a bottle on the ship but they charged us more for it than the duty free ones.....

 

Carol:)

 

You no longer have the option of buying a bottle of hard liquor on most if not all cruise ships. It is a matter of policy that they each have instituted over the last several years. RCCL does allow you to buy a wine package that is fairly reasonably.

[flames]

You no longer have the option of buying a bottle of hard liquor on most if not all cruise ships. It is a matter of policy that they each have instituted over the last several years. RCCL does allow you to buy a wine package that is fairly reasonably.

 

Are you allowed to have the wine sent to you room or do you have to have it in the dinning room?

 

Carol:)

[wrp96]

Are you allowed to have the wine sent to you room or do you have to have it in the dinning room?

 

You can have the wine anywhere on the ship.

[mamacat3]

So is this fleetwide or just certain ships out of certain locations? Guess I'll have to refigure my budget if prices went up. Bye bye souveniers, hello DODs.;)

 

 

I wouldn't count on having too many DODs as I just got off Sovereign and the DOD prices have gone through the roof!! Not one less than $9.29 before gratuity. The frozen drinks are all much more expensive thn the non frozen ones. Martinis are also very expensive. We will all have to learn to drink alternative drinks!!:eek::(

[mom2NnB]

I wouldn't count on having too many DODs as I just got off Sovereign and the DOD prices have gone through the roof!! Not one less than $9.29 before gratuity. The frozen drinks are all much more expensive thn the non frozen ones. Martinis are also very expensive. We will all have to learn to drink alternative drinks!!:eek::(

 

 

Forget that - this is my birthday celebration - I'll just bring ALOT more money.:D

[mamacat3]

That definitely sounds like a great plan to me!!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!:)

Have a great birthday and a great cruise!!:D

[AllieInMD]

http://www.rumrunnerflasks.com/

 

use discount code REPEAT for 15% off

 

 

Looks like we will be cutting back on the amount of drinks we will buy. On a 12 nighter if we have one martini a night our bar bill will be $250.00. That's insane. Where do I order those rum runners? :D:D:D

[mom2NnB]

http://www.rumrunnerflasks.com/

 

use discount code REPEAT for 15% off

 

 

 

Maybe I'm too tired but there are 4 or 5 kits that are the same sizes (2 8oz & 1 16 oz) but for 2 different prices (9.95 or 10.95). Are they all the same? Seems they all offer the same sizes. Why the different prices? Are the different thicknesses of plastic? What am I missing??:confused: LOL

 

Also, once you :confused:get them and fill them - how do you get them onboard? Do you hide them in your clothes? Wrap them in towels?

 

Not sure if I want to even bother? But its a thought right now.

[AllieInMD]

Good question! No idea - I only bought a couple of the small ones - we're not big drinkers. Write them and ask - they have the most awesome customer service ever. One poster wrote them about some confusing wording on their website and they sent them free flasks.

 

Most people just put them in their checked luggage, stuffed tween clothes mostly - no other real efforts at concealment. A lot of people put the small ones in their pockets, especially after they've refilled them in port - they walk through metal detector and there's nothing to set it off.

 

There are several threads on Saving Money board - most have dropped to page 2 lately, but some of the threads have been around a long time.

 

 

Maybe I'm too tired but there are 4 or 5 kits that are the same sizes (2 8oz & 1 16 oz) but for 2 different prices (9.95 or 10.95). Are they all the same? Seems they all offer the same sizes. Why the different prices? Are the different thicknesses of plastic? What am I missing??:confused: LOL

 

Also, once you :confused:get them and fill them - how do you get them onboard? Do you hide them in your clothes? Wrap them in towels?

 

Not sure if I want to even bother? But its a thought right now.

[jimm]

If you click on my Photo Album link below, you will see the latest Drinks Menu.

Another thing we found quite confusing on the Rhapsody was the pricing in the shops.......for example.....they had a watch sale.....big signs up....40% off....50% off etc etc.....now maybe I just get easily confused, but we looked at a watch marked, say $100US....50% off would be $50US.....nope, it was still $100US...they said they had already taken the 50% off......so dont take any notice of the "sale" signs.....

 

Are the drink prices in this drink menu in US$ or Australian$ because $1.00 US is worth about $1.48 Australian?

[lizzy77]

Unfortunately for us in Aus, the drink prices are in US dollars:mad:.

 

They have very kindly added the gratuities to the prices:(

 

So a $7.50 glass of wine will cost us $11.15 )I hope it's a big one)

 

A $30 bottle of wine will cost us $44.61. so you could say there won't be as many drinks as we would normally have.

[HorrorFan]

What is the point where people will just say thats ridiculous and refuse to buy drinks. I'm already there, seeing these prices.

I'm not really much of a drinker but I will normally still have the odd one. Not with these kind of price tags though. I'd have to REALLY want one to pay those prices. Call me cheap if you wish but I`ll just stick with having a few beers, until they start charging $10.00 for them anyway.

There must be a breaking point at which if they raise prices they sell less. Guess they haven`t reached that point yet. I`m surprised.

[ChevyCruiser]

It's Economics 101, The basic law of the marketplace is to charge what the traffic will bear.

 

If people will pay those outrageous prices, that's were RCCL will set the price. If they are left holding the bag with a bunch of unsold booze, you'll see the price come down.

 

Case in point - plummeting oil prices. Demand dropped and so did the price of oil. OPEC tried to stem the drop by cutting production, and the price of oil still plummeted because demand was off.