Do you buy a drink package, and why?

With all the posts railing against the cost of drinks, will you buy a drink package. If so, which one, and why? If not, do you buy à la carte, or skip paid drinks all together?

The current costs are:

Ultimate $55 or $455 per person per week with grats.

Premium $49 or $405 per person per week with grats.

Select $35 or $289 per person per week with grats.

Replenish $19 or $157 per person per week with grats.

Refresh $6 or $50 per person per week with grats.

I voted Premium

1) Can budget up front and know the maximum cost I will have for alcohol.

2) can try drinks I wouldn't normally habe and find new things I like

3) I still get Irish or italian coffee at dinner, and don't need the froo froo frapps and those calories (so I didn't need UP)

4) I don't drink fresh squeezed OJ (no need for UP)

5) I drank a TON of water- probably about 8-10 bottles a day. Brought a small soft sided cooler and threw 3 bottles for DH and I for excursions/beach days. That right there is about $20

Cant really vote because it depends on the cruise, sometimes we do, sometimes we don't, largely driven by level of port vs. seaday and who we are with alcoholic friends or quieter family :)

When we do buy; it would be the Premium for me, Ultimate for my wife (1 coffee a day for her pretty much covers the difference).

When we don't the new higher prices definitely reduced our a la carte purchasing.

We will be purchasing the premium package. The main reasons for that one is It maks it easier to budget, we dont have to worry if we don't like one of the drinks, can try new things, and overall cuts down on the worry of the bill at the end. My wife and I can easily make up the money that it costs as we enjoy a few daytime drinks as well as some during dinner. We don't need the ultimate plan because neither of us drink the specialty type coffees, and dont care about fresh squezed OJ

I voted premium because i drink a lot:D No need for specialty coffee for me.

Cant really vote because it depends on the cruise, sometimes we do, sometimes we don't, largely driven by level of port vs. seaday and who we are with alcoholic friends or quieter family :)

 

When we do buy; it would be the Premium for me, Ultimate for my wife (1 coffee a day for her pretty much covers the difference).

 

When we don't the new higher prices definitely reduced our a la carte purchasing.

Soooo, both passengers don't have to buy the same package? If that is the case Select for me and Premium for DW for any 7 day cruise. (And if only one person can buy a package then a la carte for me, Premium for DW.)

Premium. Last 7 day cruise, I walked off the ship with a $52.00 bill. The reason is simply because I prepay for everything. All excursions, all drinks, all tips. Everything is paid for and after I get off, I can start paying for the next one, instead of the past one.

I don't get the next package up, because I like my coffee black and I'm not paying $10 for a glass of orange juice in the morning.....

I love not having to look at my bill at the end of the cruise.

Too often we would have a great 6 days and then the bar tab arrived!!! Too many north of $1,000 bar tabs (including 50-75 $ per day of specialty coffees) made me an immediate convert to the ultimate package,

Nothing to worry about--it is all paid for before we even board!!!

We pay as we go. On a typical 7-night cruise, we probably spend about $200 each on drinks (at current bar prices), so it doesn't make sense to pay twice as much to have an unlimited package.

By the way, I was confused by the last two choices in your poll being "a la carte" and "I don't buy one," as they seemed to be the same thing. I think you meant for the last one to mean don't buy any drinks at all, but I don't know if that's the way people are answering. I chose the a-la-carte response, though.

I voted would not buy one. We purchased drink packages on our first Celebrity cruise and have not done so since. We usually only purchase one or two drinks per day on sea days, none on ship on port days so not sure it benefited us. We don't drink soda or juice, I did like the bottle water as that is all I drink on ship but I can buy that in port for a much cheaper price.

Sherri:)

Replenish for me. Freshly squeezed orange juice, specialty coffees, cold bottled water on request and the occasional frozen cocktail. I really do make the most of this and easily spend more than the daily amount. I always keep a bottle of water by my bed and fill a large water bottle (takes more than one to fill it) for excursions. I get access to one of the lounges in the evening which takes care of my meagre alcohol needs :p

Premium, for the first time this coming November. Reason being, the bar prices have increased to a point that we will at the very least break even if we drink roughly the same as we did last cruise.

Premium for us. I received a half off deal in April (buy one, 2nd one half off). This helped the decision. I may go ultimate if I decide the coffee is worth it. I do love my coffee. I was on the fence if I should even do package but DH says that I will love it.:roll eyes: So.... we will do this. We are doing the soda only package for the kids; I like that they have enough sugar free options in the machines as well, so they won't load up on sugar the entire time (or at least the times I am watching them to make sure). I am not sure if I'll get my money's worth, but I figure it's easier to not have to worry about it.

We pay as we go. On a typical 7-night cruise, we probably spend about $200 each on drinks (at current bar prices), so it doesn't make sense to pay twice as much to have an unlimited package.

 

By the way, I was confused by the last two choices in your poll being "a la carte" and "I don't buy one," as they seemed to be the same thing. I think you meant for the last one to mean don't buy any drinks at all, but I don't know if that's the way people are answering. I chose the a-la-carte response, though.

We don't drink enough to warrant any of the drink packages.

I voted "don't buy one", but would guess I should have selected "a la carte".

Yes, definitely. We get the Premium Package instead of the Ultimate because we don't care about the specialty coffee / fresh juice portion. We've had this package on our last three cruises, and it's easily paid for itself with days to spare. Makes even more sense now, with the individual drink prices going up. With what we usually order, which is a wide variety, the break-even point for us is about four drinks per day. We don't drink like that at home, but it's easy on a cruise. Plus, we mix in several bottled waters along the way.

Stay thirsty, my friends!

Select. Basically a beer drinker. Don't need to "rush" so they don't warm up. Coffee at Cafe Promenade is good enough for me.

Premium for me. No interest in freshly squeezes juice or speciality coffees. On post days I will easily manage the 5/6 drinks needed to break even. On sea days I'm way ahead.

Soda package only for me. We aren't big drinkers. If we do want something it's in the evenings. 3 free for Diamond/night.

We are still on the fence. Our first cruise as well as our honeymoon for October 2015. We are thinking premium because if we did 3-4 a day we would be petty close if not even.

We are sailing Liberty 7/2 on the 9 day itinerary.

With the rising cost of cocktails and with this itinerary keeping us on the ship for much of the sailing, I've chosen the ultimate. Difference in premium and ultimate is just a few dollars and I will have no problem having a fresh squeezed oj in the morning and a cappuccino after dinner every day at the very least.

Several bottles of water every day, 3+ bloody mary's, 4+ beers and I'll easily get value.

If the cruise is more port intensive, the packages are hard to go with.

My wife is going with the replenish as she loves the coffees, will have 6 bottles of water a day, several sodas and really doesn't like alcohol, but likes the virgin version of many drinks. She will kill that package!!

My daughter gets the soda package and will get moneys worth too.

Happy Cruising!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We get the soda package since we aren't big drinkers. There are some nights when I will have a few beers and my wife might have a couple of specialty drinks, but nothing that would justify a drink package. We haven't been on RC for five years and it used to be everyone in the cabin had to get the same package. When did this change? I might have to rethink things.

Does rcl offer any discounts when you get onboard for drink packages or should I just pre purchase them bc it doesn't make a difference in price?

We pay as we go. On a typical 7-night cruise, we probably spend about $200 each on drinks (at current bar prices), so it doesn't make sense to pay twice as much to have an unlimited package.

 

By the way, I was confused by the last two choices in your poll being "a la carte" and "I don't buy one," as they seemed to be the same thing. I think you meant for the last one to mean don't buy any drinks at all, but I don't know if that's the way people are answering. I chose the a-la-carte response, though.

I thought about that afterwards, but essentially I was considering the à la carte as buying any drink types as you go, and the "I don't buy" as "i am content with what drinks are free on the ship and I don't buy anything extra".

We alway end up going à la carte.

On our last cruise we purchased the Premium for me, my wife and my son (we were celebrating his college graduation). For our under-21 daughter, she likes the Refreshment package. We found that it easily paid for itself and allowed us to try things from the drink menu that we normally would not try. On the cruise, I like to have a drink before dinner, wine with dinner, and we also liked the "shot of the day" as part of dessert. We have already added it to our reservation for our cruise on the Freedom next Summer.

I voted unlimited as that is what I did on my last cruise. Lots of sea days means more drinks around the pool and in other venues and the convenience of it was great. No worries about the little extras - fresh OJ in the morning, an extra bottle of water to take on port days - just makes it easier to manage and budget.

Next cruise, I'll be Diamond and on a more port-intensive cruise, so will probably choose something different.