Those awful wine and drink prices

We just returned from a 16 day Pacific Princess Cruise whick served to reinforce my previous thoughts about RCL drink and wine prices. As a general rule, wine prices on Princess were approximately 40% below prices of similar wines on RCL. This was the same with most drinks. Princess also offers a soda "sticker" for $2 per day which gives the passenger unlimited soft drinks. It was interesting to hear some of the British passengers on our Pacific Princess voyage blasting Princess for their "high drink prices." They were truly shocked when I told them that Princess was far cheaper than RCL. My wife and I figured we saved about $25 per day on our drink tab on the Princess cruise vs RCL. By the way,,, we are certainly not RCL bashers (Diamond C&A) and have been on two RCL cruises in the past 9 months.

Hank

they are still cheaper than ATLANTIS or a LOT of other land based resorts

Hmmm, that's something to consider for future cruises.

(Our "bar tab" runs about $150 / day on average with RCI)

Stretch

on the voyager last year i had a 4 digit bar bill and the first digit was a 2

Thank god for miles cards

(that did include a horse "purchase" at the horse race :)

on the voyager last year i had a 4 digit bar bill and the first digit was a 2

Thank god for miles cards

 

(that did include a horse "purchase" at the horse race :)

Yeh, I had a horse on my tab too, but wasn't taking that into consideration. I also bought 3 large bottles of booze in the duty free shop onboard the first night for incabin consumption. As you can see, it didn't hurt their liquor revenue a bit in my case! :D

Stretch

I just want to thank all of you who have such high bar bills. You help to keep cabin prices down for the rest of us.

I just want to thank all of you who have such high bar bills. You help to keep cabin prices down for the rest of us.

see stretch now we are useful :D

I just want to thank all of you who have such high bar bills. You help to keep cabin prices down for the rest of us.

You're welcome, it's a tough job, but you know, somebody's got to do it! :D Everyone needs a special purpose in life.

Stretch

Princess drink prices are lower... but for those of us who drink a lot, Princess bartenders will never do anything more than a measured pour and certainly no freebies. Send a few bucks a good RCI bartender's way, and you'll generally be taken care of. I found I purchased more individual drinks on Princess.

Princess drink prices are lower... but for those of us who drink a lot, Princess bartenders will never do anything more than a measured pour and certainly no freebies. Send a few bucks a good RCI bartender's way, and you'll generally be taken care of. I found I purchased more individual drinks on Princess.

you are right about that.

I tipped heavy on the Grandeur and it paid off ..big time. Not on Princess.

you are right about that.

 

I tipped heavy on the Grandeur and it paid off ..big time. Not on Princess.

i can i gave a 20 to a pool bartender one time and never surrendered my card unless a boss was behind the bar (at least twice) he then got a 50 at the end

AND I STILL HAD A 4 DIGIT BILL

DAMN HORSES/CASINO/ONBOARDSHOPS/ OTHER BARS

:D

Tipping... well the first day I try to get a feel for what will be my "main" bar, and see if the bartender will be there throughout the trip (sometimes the first day schedules are off)... and then I give him an extra buck on my first drink and see if it makes an impression. If it does, then he keeps getting the extras. I tend to tip extra per drink because often there will be multiple bartenders at the same bar, and this spreads the wealth and their goodwill towards me.

For the dining room, I hand the drinks waiter $5 the first night to make sure he finds me all the time. Then I give him another bigger tip the last night depending on his service.

DH and I aren't big drinkers and we were using our buy one get one coupons from the C&A book. We gave the bartender a $5 tip after the first drink and had buy one get ones the rest of the night. They were also the best margaritas I've ever had. I also walked away with several specialty glasses.

(Our "bar tab" runs about $150 / day on average with RCI)

Stretch

Stretch, I am becoming more and more endeared by you!!!

We have a fairly large family group that cruises every year. There are 4-5 of us who live at the pool bar. First day we pick the friendliest bartender and give him $50. We get best service, freebies here and there. One year I went home with two complete sets of RCI specialty shots glasses (you know, those colored metallic ones). We usually give them a couple hundred at the end of the week. Yes, I've had 4-figure tabs, but a rip roaring good time, as well. And no, we are not the obnoxious loud mouths at the pool that everyone hates.

Stretch, I am becoming more and more endeared by you!!!

Thanks for your support, but I'm already spoken for. ;)

Stretch

Okay all you tippers I am confused!

We would like to try the pre tipping of a bartenders(s) on our next cruise. We enjoy going to the same bar before dinner each night for martinis. My question is this: in the past we have pretty much sat at a table and were "waited" on by a waitress or waiter who took our order and then went to bar to have it filled. So who am I tipping, a "BARTENDER" or a waitperson?

Okay all you tippers I am confused!

We would like to try the pre tipping of a bartenders(s) on our next cruise. We enjoy going to the same bar before dinner each night for martinis. My question is this: in the past we have pretty much sat at a table and were "waited" on by a waitress or waiter who took our order and then went to bar to have it filled. So who am I tipping, a "BARTENDER" or a waitperson?

The bartender is the person who's mixing the drinks, guess who I tip??? I did find that on our last cruise, (with a new bar manager on board) that the "freebies" and extra shots in the glass were few and far between. It also depends on how long the bartender has been bartending, the real veterans are more likely to do you favors than the newbies.

Stretch

I actually don't think the bar prices are too bad. Ok, you get fleeced for cocktails etc. but for a pint of house lager for $3 plus 15% isn't bad. This compared with about £2.20 in an English pub ($3.30). For a monopoly I can't complain..hic!

They smack you bum on the wine prices though :(

Well Stretch,

maybe you can become my obe one kanobe (I apologize for the spelling) and teach me all you know about how to make friends with the bartenders on the ships.

The bartender is the person who's mixing the drinks, guess who I tip??? I did find that on our last cruise, (with a new bar manager on board) that the "freebies" and extra shots in the glass were few and far between. It also depends on how long the bartender has been bartending, the real veterans are more likely to do you favors than the newbies.

Stretch

good point stretch

ive also found that 7 day cruises have more liberal bartenders then 3 or 4 day

I have yet to experience 10 to 12 but i could imagine they would be just as good

Well Stretch,

 

maybe you can become my obe one kanobe (I apologize for the spelling) and teach me all you know about how to make friends with the bartenders on the ships.

I'd be honored but........ as fast as things have been changing, my techniques may not work anymore. Did I mention how disappointed I was when I found out the all the bartenders from our first Brilliance cruise got off the ship as we were boarding for our second cruise?? :( :confused:

We were a couple of sad puppies!!

Stretch

Stretch, that's awfull!! Were the new bartenders as good as the old ones? I would suppose that it is not the same. Specially since you must have been looking forward to seeing them again.

It was sad not to be able to see our old friends again, especially when I brought extra "Brilliance Barcrawler" shirts for them.

I'm sorry to say that the new batch of bartenders were nowhere close to their predicessors. It's hard to compete with the likes of Eddie (Sports Bar / Asst. Bar Mgr.), Clayne (Pool Bar), Hugh (Sky Bar), Erik & Arvin (Schooner Bar). The only one left was Rusty in the champagne bar but we didn't go there very much. The one new bartender that showed promise was Kirk (Capt. Kirk) in the Schooner Bar. He was a lot of fun, but the bartenders in the Casino were right out of the book. ( One guy asked for a J&B and water and got Jim Beam! :eek: I did teach Erik how to make a "Beam me up Scotty"... there's no intelligent life on this planet!

We managed though, somehow! :rolleyes:

Stretch