Drinking soft drinks outside of cabin?

Hi everyone,

We are on P&O cruise N302 from Belfast in Jan 2013 and have a question about soft drinks.

When we arrive at Barbados and if we can find somewhere to stock up on soft drinks at the port at a good price (can anyone help with a location for this?) are we allowed to take these tins up on deck/at lunch/at dinner/around the ship or are they exclusively for use inside the cabin only?

Hi,

There is a shop in the cruise terminal in Barbados where we picked up a 6 pack of bottles of coke light (diet coke by another name) for 6 US dollars if I remember correctly. They also had ordinary coke. The shop is on the left of the building, about half way down as you come in from the ship, and it sells alcohol as well, but not much else. It was cheaper here than the other shops.

Have a great cruise!

Hi,

 

There is a shop in the cruise terminal in Barbados where we picked up a 6 pack of bottles of coke light (diet coke by another name) for 6 US dollars if I remember correctly. They also had ordinary coke. The shop is on the left of the building, about half way down as you come in from the ship, and it sells alcohol as well, but not much else. It was cheaper here than the other shops.

Have a great cruise!

Thanks for that, one less thing to do now. Did you take any bottles with you in a cool bag etc on deck or to dinner etc?

Thanks for that, one less thing to do now. Did you take any bottles with you in a cool bag etc on deck or to dinner etc?

You might get away with it on the sun-deck without staff noticing but never seen anybody in MDR with a cool bag. Why would you want to take it to dinner and not order from the waiter?? After all, you wouldn't take a cool bag into the dining room in a hotel or a restaurant at home.

Thanks for that, one less thing to do now. Did you take any bottles with you in a cool bag etc on deck or to dinner etc?

I wouldn't have walked around the ship with a bottle in hand personally, but I don't see why you couldn't take a cool bag to the pool deck with some in. Just get a plastic glass from the ship and use that. Although I have also never taken pop to the dining room with me, there is nothing stopping you from putting some in a glass and taking it to the dining room with you that way. Just my personal opinion.

You can take as much soft drinks as you like on the ship. I was recently on Arcadia 31 nights from Singapore to Sydney. I saved a fortune by taking my own drinks on the ship. I kept cans cool in the cabin fridge as well as 600ml bottles. I was able to take them to the buffet and deck areas for lunch and was never questioned about them.

You would be crazy to pay P&O's prices for soft drinks as they are a major rip off. I bought their wine package for the restaurant and a few glasses of wine througouht the cruise but on a long voyage I had to maintain a budget and bring my own drinks.

You would be crazy to pay P&O's prices for soft drinks as they are a major rip off. I bought their wine package for the restaurant and a few glasses of wine througouht the cruise but on a long voyage I had to maintain a budget and bring my own drinks.

I dont think their soft drink prices are a rip off at all. I think they are very reasonable. I cant believe people on this thread are talking about taking their own soft drinks into dinner or the buffet. In fact I think its a cheek to do so. Given the cost of a cruise surely people should factor in the cost of soft drinks?

Take your own soft drinks aboard - yes

Drink them on the open decks - yes

Take them in any restaurant - no no no

Would you take them to a restaurant at home, even a buffet one, of course not because if you did you might be thrown out

The same applies to people taking their own drinks to a bar etc - no no no

Try a few experiments before your cruise.

Take half-a-dozen bottles of Newcastle brown to your local, drink it in the beer garden. Mebbe take a few sandwiches as well.

Take a cooler with a nice chilled Chablis to your favourite restaurant. Remember to take a corkscrew, you don't want to be faced with a corkage fee.

And take some Tesco pop from your hotel room to the bar to drink while watching the footie on the big screen.

If those establishments are happy for you to do so, there's no reason why you shouldn't do likewise on a P&O ship.:rolleyes:

P & O have by far the most liberal (unwritten) drinks policy of all major cruise lines, which allows you to drink your own stuff in your cabin/balcony, same as the policy in most hotels.

That's a privilege which can be withdrawn without notice, and there's a lot of us who'll be well hacked-off if that happens because of cheapskates who wander the ship, the decks, the bars, the buffet, with their own drinks in hand.

JB :mad:

I dont think their soft drink prices are a rip off at all. I think they are very reasonable. I cant believe people on this thread are talking about taking their own soft drinks into dinner or the buffet. In fact I think its a cheek to do so. Given the cost of a cruise surely people should factor in the cost of soft drinks?

Where on earth do you buy your drinks from??? P&O are rip off merchants!!! I can buy a 2 litre bottle of coke for the price they charge for a skimpy glass with the contents diminished by loads of ice!

I know for a fact that they can afford to reduce the price of their drinks as they are making a massive profit on every single glass that is sold.

Thanks for the feedback everyone - I totally agree about the restaurant(s) comments. In hindsight it was perhaps silly of me to be expected to be allowed to bring in own drinks.

Apologies for appearing like a cheap skate or for any bad feelings my question caused - this was not my intention!

Where on earth do you buy your drinks from??? P&O are rip off merchants!!! I can buy a 2 litre bottle of coke for the price they charge for a skimpy glass with the contents diminished by loads of ice!

 

I know for a fact that they can afford to reduce the price of their drinks as they are making a massive profit on every single glass that is sold.

Hi sutho,

As you should know Australia is very expensive ,try buying soft drinks at a bar or hotel in Sydney at cheaper prices......

Thanks for the feedback everyone - I totally agree about the restaurant(s) comments. In hindsight it was perhaps silly of me to be expected to be allowed to bring in own drinks.

 

Apologies for appearing like a cheap skate or for any bad feelings my question caused - this was not my intention!

No worries.

You didn't know, so you asked.:)

You would be crazy to pay P&O's prices for soft drinks as they are a major rip off.

Don't ever try to run your own business, Sutho. :p

The concept of overheads clearly goes over your head (pun intended) :rolleyes:

Think of it this way:

Pubs, cafes, restaurants, cruise lines, hotels, etc all buy at much lower prices than you're paying your supermarket.

So by your own logic, your supermarket must be ripping you off.

Unless your supermarket provides you with a comfy seat, a bit of live music, waitress service each time you want a glass (make mine chilled, with a slice of lemon but no ice), & someone to clean up behind you.

JB :)

Hi sutho,

As you should know Australia is very expensive ,try buying soft drinks at a bar or hotel in Sydney at cheaper prices......

I can get them at cheaper rates where ever I go. Even street vending machines are cheaper than what P&O charge. I saved a massive fortune by taking my own on a 31 night Arcadia cruise back in February. I was able to take my cans and bottles into the buffet without even being questioned.

Even street vending machines are cheaper than what P&O charge.

I think I've lost the will to live :rolleyes:

JB :D

I can get them at cheaper rates where ever I go. Even street vending machines are cheaper than what P&O charge. I saved a massive fortune by taking my own on a 31 night Arcadia cruise back in February. I was able to take my cans and bottles into the buffet without even being questioned.

I don,t think you are on the same planet as us.Nobody is as cheap as a vending machine,and as for saving a massive fortune you must drink a lot and have a massive bladder to hold it all because if you had to pay for the toilet onboard P.O. you would have spent a lot.What constitutes a MASSIVE FORTUNE anyway 31 nights spent drinking soft drinks does not cost that much.....

Try a few experiments before your cruise.

Take half-a-dozen bottles of Newcastle brown to your local, drink it in the beer garden. Mebbe take a few sandwiches as well.

Take a cooler with a nice chilled Chablis to your favourite restaurant. Remember to take a corkscrew, you don't want to be faced with a corkage fee.

And take some Tesco pop from your hotel room to the bar to drink while watching the footie on the big screen.

 

If those establishments are happy for you to do so, there's no reason why you shouldn't do likewise on a P&O ship.:rolleyes:

 

P & O have by far the most liberal (unwritten) drinks policy of all major cruise lines, which allows you to drink your own stuff in your cabin/balcony, same as the policy in most hotels.

That's a privilege which can be withdrawn without notice, and there's a lot of us who'll be well hacked-off if that happens because of cheapskates who wander the ship, the decks, the bars, the buffet, with their own drinks in hand.

 

JB :mad:

Totally agree with what you say JB. I cannot believe that someone who has spent £1k's on a cruise would try and save the odd £1 here and there by doing this. As JB says they do not have to allow this. If they get wind that this is what too many people are doing, (and don't think they don't know what you are doing), that is some of their profit down the swanney, so what happens . They will not want to put up cruise prices too much, so they recoup the money by banning any drinks taken on board. That will be a popular move,wouldn't it!! I believe I am correct in saying the American ships do not let you take any on board, and if you read those lines boards on here some people are pathetic in what they will do to try and smuggle some on board.

I don,t think you are on the same planet as us.Nobody is as cheap as a vending machine,and as for saving a massive fortune you must drink a lot and have a massive bladder to hold it all because if you had to pay for the toilet onboard P.O. you would have spent a lot.What constitutes a MASSIVE FORTUNE anyway 31 nights spent drinking soft drinks does not cost that much.....

Average price for street vending machine here is $2.50 to $3.00 for a 600ml soft drink. You are paying a similar price to that on P&O ships for a skimpy glass with ice consuming most of the volume.

As far as my waist line goes it is 70cm and I can do a 6km run in 20 minutes daily by running at 18km/h:)so my health is probably better than most people in the world.

Saving a small fortune on drinks is important. It would be a few $100 Aus to sit on a P&O ship and have one soft drink a day with lunch for a 31 night cruise.

Which is what I am not understanding. A 31 night cruise is not cheap. If you can afford that sort of money ,why are you saying you cannot aford soft drinks on board. You do realise it is auto tipping as well now, don't you-have you taken that into account?

When we plan a cruise we look at prices for the cabins ,work out which one we can afford , knowing we will have a bill at the end-we have wine with dinner and a drink pre and after dinner, and we average between £600-800 on board account for a 21 day-longest cruise so far....we know we will be spending it so include that in our calculations. As I said in my previous post hard times hit everyone, and Pando is a business ,so has to turn a profit....if that profit is reduced by people not just taking drink onboard,but also drinking it around the ship and not just in the cabin, they will find a way to stop it....

Some on these boards will take wine -for in cabin, not worth spirits-cheaper on the ship..but to take soft drinks -and drink then around the ship, sorry I cannot agree wityh that. Hubby and I have just retired. if we cannot afford to cruise as we always have-we will not cruise.....

We were expecting high bar prices on Oriana, but it was not so. OK they get their supplies cheaply and duty free, but we expected prices to be much higher.

We run an entertainments bar at weekends, and the prices were about the same. People look at supermarket loss leaders and think they are being ripped off in bars but they forget overheads and enormous rates bills etc.

We were on board for l7 nights and with three trips (£240), £16 bottle of wine with dinner, after dinner brandies, and a few more, some costume jewellery (quite a bit), Steiner make up, photos and other bits a pieces our bill was just over £900. We were surprised as we had everything we wanted.

Soft drinks were freely available in the buffet. Why smuggle them on board

At no time did we feel ripped off by P & O considering the wonderful service received everywhere.

When P&O start serving our soft drink of choice I'll stop taking my own..

In fact the staff were trying to buy cans from my teens last cruise.

When P&O start serving our soft drink of choice I'll stop taking my own..

In fact the staff were trying to buy cans from my teens last cruise.

have you tried writing to them before your next cruise and asking if they can stock it??

If P&O stick to the prices they advertise on the website, then they are comparable (in fact I would say identical) to UK pub prices and compare very favourably with RCI, which won't let you bring drink of any kind on board and last year tried to charge me $22 for a glass of Merlot from a bottle which would retail for around £6.99 in the UK. I also objected to be charged extra in the MDR for a capuccino instead of a normal coffee. RCI is a total rip off.