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Rci fleet drink prices .


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Hi Everyone ,

 

I was just thinking , its fair to say that Royal Caribbean are not the cheapest cruise line when it comes to drink prices . As a British citizen boarding Indy in Southampton , we really feel the pinch as it costs around £5.00 for a pint of beer . Our local pub charges only £ 2.60 . I also sympathise with our American / Canadian fellow cruisers because I also know having visited both countries that is costs you considertably more on-board .

 

My question is : Do Royal Caribbean have the same drink prices across the entire fleet or does it vary depending on the cruise ?

 

Many thanks... :cool:

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Hi Stephen,

Here are the prices we were charged on Jewel earlier this year. I believe I read somewhere that prices WEREN'T consistent across the fleet. This would mean printing separate menus but clearly not impossible as they do printing in house. Maybe someone has a list from a different ship.

Drinks prices from Jewel of the Seas.pdf

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Hi Everyone ,

 

I was just thinking , its fair to say that Royal Caribbean are not the cheapest cruise line when it comes to drink prices . As a British citizen boarding Indy in Southampton , we really feel the pinch as it costs around £5.00 for a pint of beer . Our local pub charges only £ 2.60 . I also sympathise with our American / Canadian fellow cruisers because I also know having visited both countries that is costs you considertably more on-board .

 

My question is : Do Royal Caribbean have the same drink prices across the entire fleet or does it vary depending on the cruise ?

 

Many thanks... :cool:

 

 

Drink prices on Indy from Southampton are higher due to the crew in the past getting less tips on sailings from Southampton.

 

I think it is very unfair that this happens on the Indy. :mad:

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Hi Linda ,

 

Good to hear from you again , Jewel is a beautiful ship , she actually sailed past my house in Belfast lough a few months after her launch . Thanks for the drinks prices from Jewel , as you know I will be on Indy In a weeks time and will post a review when I return .

 

I am quite interested to know if the drink prices are the same across the fleet so if anyone else has any more info from any recent RCI cruises , dont be shy let us all know .

 

Cheers everyone ... :cool::cool::cool:

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Drink prices on Indy from Southampton are higher due to the crew in the past getting less tips on sailings from Southampton.

 

I think it is very unfair that this happens on the Indy. :mad:

 

I know you have a contact at RCCL so assume you heard this from them. However, I find it very hard to believe that they would make only one sailing particularly higher in price of drinks due to the British not tipping as well as any other country.

 

Do the Italians, Spanish, Greeks, Portuguese etc all tip well, hence the price of drinks out of any of those countries are also less than the UK.

 

Would a cruise line target one country in particular, due to its reputation as poor tippers :confused: And what about the cabin crew, wait staff etc - are the cost of cruises higher on the Indy to compensate those staff who are (presumably) not getting tips

 

I have no doubt that drinks prices are higher than on the Caribbean routes, as I've seen it mentioned on these boards before, but I thought that was Europe in general and due to the fluctuating exchange rates, rather than to disciminate against one particular country.

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I know you have a contact at RCCL so assume you heard this from them. However, I find it very hard to believe that they would make only one sailing particularly higher in price due to the British not tipping as well as any other country.

 

Do the Italians, Spanish, Greeks, Portuguese etc all tip well, hence the price of drinks out of any of those countries are also less than the UK.

 

Would a cruise line target one country in particular, due to its reputation as poor tippers :confused: And what about the cabin crew, wait staff etc - are the cost of cruises higher on the Indy to compensate those staff who are (presumably) not getting tips

 

From what I have heard from various contacts, it was very hard for RCCL to get staff on the sailings from Southampton. This actually goes back to when the Navigator first sailed from Soton. The crew were very upset at the lack of tips and many wanted to leave RCCL.

 

Some Brits have actually contacted UK office demanding the 15% automatic gratuity be removed from the bar invoice. :eek:

 

I dont know exactly how it works with regard to other staff members and not being tipped..sorry. I am just going by what I have been told with regard to the drink prices being higher from Soton.

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From what I have heard from various contacts, it was very hard for RCCL to get staff on the sailings from Southampton. This actually goes back to when the Navigator first sailed from Soton. The crew were very upset at the lack of tips and many wanted to leave RCCL.

 

Some Brits have actually contacted UK office demanding the 15% automatic gratuity be removed from the bar invoice. :eek:

 

I dont know exactly how it works with regard to other staff members and not being tipped..sorry. I am just going by what I have been told with regard to the drink prices being higher from Soton.

 

thanks ;)

 

yet another argument for

1) US companies paying a decent living wage whereby employees don't have to rely on customers to make up their earnings

2) tips being included in the whole cost of the cruise

 

We always pre-pay our tips but have travelled with friends who pay in cash at the end (and often well below the recommended tipping guides), and I know they are not unusual in doing that. :rolleyes:

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Hi Stephen,

 

Here are the prices we were charged on Jewel earlier this year. I believe I read somewhere that prices WEREN'T consistent across the fleet. This would mean printing separate menus but clearly not impossible as they do printing in house. Maybe someone has a list from a different ship.

 

I touched on this in another thread, the Indy on the April transatlantic had a cheaper drinks menu than the cruise I took on her in Sep. On the Med cruise our average round of 2 drinks was 15.50 (a wine and draught beer) in April it was 12.75 (same wine and draft beer!) (we're creatures of habit :p) The transatlantic bills showed the breakdown of drink and gratuity and it was no where near as expensive as the Med one. It would seem on the Sat morning we arrived in Southampton they literally must have run round the ship substituting all the drinks menus for the expensive one as there have been a few grumblings about the prices from pax who were on the sailing after.

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We just sailed on the INDY and if the drink prices where not so high then I think people would be in a postion to tip more ?

 

Many people we spoke with said that whilst like us there not big drinkers they do enjoy 2-3 drinks a day whilst on holiday but because of the prices they was only haveing one drink and making it last.

 

We spoke to the member of staff who ran the pool bar and he said the bar had only made $100.00 that day because the prices where to high....

 

And you need to remember this was a lovely hot med day by the pool with plenty of people sunbathing and enjoying the weather.

 

The bottom line (I Think) is that us Brits don't mind paying a little extra for drinks but we refuse to be ripped off...................

 

Beer anyone ?

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I think its just the Indy that charges different prices. On the 4 night Vision from Harwich the drink prices were exactly the same as they were a couple of weeks earlier on Explorer in the Caribbean. It was noticable that the prices of spirits in the duty free shop were much higher though.

 

Julie

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thanks ;)

 

yet another argument for

1) US companies paying a decent living wage whereby employees don't have to rely on customers to make up their earnings

2) tips being included in the whole cost of the cruise

We always pre-pay our tips but have travelled with friends who pay in cash at the end (and often well below the recommended tipping guides), and I know they are not unusual in doing that. :rolleyes:

 

I think it would be a bit difficult to include bar tips in the cost of the cruise. The use of bar services can vary greatly from one person to the next. It is different from including dinining and cabin service tips as that is an area that would receive the same amount of use, more or less, from person to person.

 

I don't understand the logic that bar prices would be higher on Indy sailing out of England to make up for lower tips. Tips are added to the price of a drink. So either the British people drink less and that is accounting for the decrease in tip money or this is another urban legend people are stating as fact here. Judging by my experiences in London pubs I doubt that British people drink less than the rest of us. So how do we account for "less tip money" being the reason for higher drink prices? If anything, folks might drink a bit more if prices are lower which would increase the amount tipping. Adding $1.00 to a drink produces less tip money then someone buying a second drink at a lower price.

 

And for the record, it is not customary to tip in an English pub. So when British people board a ship leaving from an English port it is very understandable that they may not be so in tuned with "ship board culture". Over and over I read on these boards about how Americans need to be more understanding about other cultures that we encounter on the ships. There are countless threads about Adventure of the Seas leaving out of Puerto Rico and the latino culture the locals bring aboard and how we should be understanding of that. Why should we not be understanding of the British and the culture that they bring aboard? And that is especially true on sailings departing from their own country.

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I think it would be a bit difficult to include bar tips in the cost of the cruise. The use of bar services can vary greatly from one person to the next. It is different from including dinining and cabin service tips as that is an area that would receive the same amount of use, more or less, from person to person.

 

I don't understand the logic that bar prices would be higher on Indy sailing out of England to make up for lower tips. Tips are added to the price of a drink. So either the British people drink less and that is accounting for the decrease in tip money or this is another urban legend people are stating as fact here. Judging by my experiences in London pubs I doubt that British people drink less than the rest of us. So how do we account for "less tip money" being the reason for higher drink prices? If anything, folks might drink a bit more if prices are lower which would increase the amount tipping. Adding $1.00 to a drink produces less tip money then someone buying a second drink at a lower price.

 

And for the record, it is not customary to tip in an English pub. So when British people board a ship leaving from an English port it is very understandable that they may not be so in tuned with "ship board culture". Over and over I read on these boards about how Americans need to be more understanding about other cultures that we encounter on the ships. There are countless threads about Adventure of the Seas leaving out of Puerto Rico and the latino culture the locals bring aboard and how we should be understanding of that. Why should we not be understanding of the British and the culture that they bring aboard? And that is especially true on sailings departing from their own country.

 

What a great post thank you:)

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It's a fact that all drink prices were increased on Indy when she started sailing from S'ton, we were on the last US sailing and the bar staff were telling us that once they got to S'ton, they had new drink menus with the new prices to put out.

 

I also noticed on the Navigator out of Rome last year, that the drink prices were higher that when she sailed from the US.

 

I don't know if it has to do with tips or not, the British and to a certain extent, all Europeans, are not a tipping culture like the US. I have a friend who performs on RCI ships, and his tips are almost nothing when sailing out of a European Port, including S'ton.

 

It may also have something to do with the fact that RCI still sells in US$, but probably buys in £ or Euro's, they then convert it back to dollars and the cruisers, in their mind, convert it back to £ or euro's. It may also have to do with having to charge VAT when sailing out of Europe. When a ship sails from Miami, there is a 6% sales tax added to drinks that are bought when in the Port of Miami, or FLL or PC. Once the ship is in international waters the sales tax is not charged, however, I am led to beleive, that VAT is charged on all purchases made onboard, per the EU.:confused:

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It may also have to do with having to charge VAT when sailing out of Europe. When a ship sails from Miami, there is a 6% sales tax added to drinks that are bought when in the Port of Miami, or FLL or PC. Once the ship is in international waters the sales tax is not charged, however, I am led to beleive, that VAT is charged on all purchases made onboard, per the EU.:confused:

 

I understand that it is the case that VAT has to be charged when cruising in Europe and it is at an average rate of the European countries. This is EU regulations. It was definitely charged when we sailed Brilliance out of Barcelona and was at a rate of 16%. This may explain the higher costs of drinks as the VAT will have already been added, so the price charged includes this. Unlike in the US where the sales tax is added at the register, in Europe the price already includes tax.

 

When we were last on FOS out of Miami, sales tax of 7% was added before we sailed into international waters. Has this been reduced to 6% now?

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I think all you Brits should boycott until they lower the prices.......then we might get a year round ship in Texas!;):p Since Mr. Goldstein has said the reason we don't is because they get more revenue from Europe for their cruises. Is this fair? NOT! Nor is it fair that you guys miss most of the promotional stuff like contests, etc. Yeah, Boycott!!!!

When we first began cruising in 2004, the drink of the day for sailaway cost us $4.75 and the beers were $3.25 a piece.:( Shame things can't just stay the same right!:rolleyes:

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Maybe some of it is exchange rate, when the dollars weak the cruise lines have to jack up the prices charged in pounds to make a profit. On Sept '08 it was $1.80 to the pound, in April '09 it was $1.48.

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The VAT reason makes sense. Perhaps thats why the ships that sail to the Baltic are not the higher prices as some of those countries are not in the EU.

 

Julie

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The VAT reason makes sense. Perhaps thats why the ships that sail to the Baltic are not the higher prices as some of those countries are not in the EU.

 

Julie

 

 

Hi Julie

 

If it was because of the VAT then why didnt they charge the higher drink prices when the Navigator first started sailing from Southampton a couple of years ago? :confused:

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