Drinks packages

After doing 2 Thompson Discovery cruises we are looking for a change of scenery ship wise.

As the Discovery is all inclusive we haven't needed to worry about drinks packages.

This appears to be very cloak and dagger regarding finding out what the price is.

Can anyone give me a dummies guide to what's what?

There are only 3 different packages.

1. Soda only about $8 per day

2. Non alcoholic (includes soda) about $26 per day

3. Alcoholic.

The alcoholic packages include all drinks up to $12 or $13 (you pay the difference if you buy a more expensive drink). The cost of this package varies by ship and sail date and they do go on sale. You could see prices in the $40 to $60 per day range.

An automatic 18% gratuity I'll be added to the total cost of the package when purchased. No additional gratuity is required when getting drinks on board although it is appreciated.

Excellent. This is exactly the info I need.

My experience has been the on board price for a deluxe drink package if you wait is about $8-$10 more per day. So it's always better to buy the Deluxe drink package before you sail. If you ever see it under $40 per day on your cruise BUY IT as that's a really good price. If it goes lower you can cancel and repurchase.