Does Oceana's new Drink Package include drinks at the bar

We are trying to decide if the new drink package will work for us. My questions is, does Oceana's new Drink Package include drinks at the bar or only in restaurants and room service.

Yes -- and only Room Service if part of a meal.

There are two different beverage packages as explained on the Oceania website:

http://www.oceaniacruises.com/ships/riviera/restaurants/beveragepackages.aspx

HOUSE SELECT $29.95

Wine & Beer

Per Guest Per Day (Gratuity Included)

This package includes beer and a selection of wines by the glass during lunch and dinner in any dining venue or through room service.*

PRESTIGE SELECT $49.95

Wine, Beer & Spirits

Per Guest Per Day (Gratuity Included)

This UNLIMITED package includes beer, a selection of wines by the glass, most top shelf spirits and cocktails, all of which may be ordered at any onboard venue as well as through room service* during regular operating hours.

The House select is only with meals in the dining rooms or room service.

The Prestige is available at any venue including the bars.

Thanks so much for answering my questions. I am sure we will be ordering the Prestige Drink package.

I may be a light weight but can someone, anyone explain how a couple could drink $100.00 of liquior a day. Given time for sleep, morning hours and 6-8 hour excursions every day with no at sea days and maybe waiting until 10:00 in the moring to inbibe. If the drinks are expensive I guess possibly. How much does a wine or rail drink cost on Oceania? Please treat this as a serious question because I really want to know. Plus they seem to limit any better wines and more expensive drinks. Run the numbers for me. Thanks in advance???

I may be a light weight but can someone, anyone explain how a couple could drink $100.00 of liquior a day. Given time for sleep, morning hours and 6-8 hour excursions every day with no at sea days and maybe waiting until 10:00 in the moring to inbibe. If the drinks are expensive I guess possibly. How much does a wine or rail drink cost on Oceania? Please treat this as a serious question because I really want to know. Plus they seem to limit any better wines and more expensive drinks. Run the numbers for me. Thanks in advance???

My DB & SIL could drink that much & then some :D

If you have 4-5 drinks a day you would probably break even on the Premium package unless you only have the drink of the day then you need more to break even

some will have a drink with lunch, a couple before dinner, a drink or two with dinner then a few after dinner (I would be asleep before dinner) ;)

It depends on your lifestyle whether the package will work for you

It is not mandatory

Just pay as you go if you do not drink much

Lyn

I may be a light weight but can someone, anyone explain how a couple could drink $100.00 of liquior a day. Given time for sleep, morning hours and 6-8 hour excursions every day with no at sea days and maybe waiting until 10:00 in the moring to inbibe. If the drinks are expensive I guess possibly. How much does a wine or rail drink cost on Oceania? Please treat this as a serious question because I really want to know. Plus they seem to limit any better wines and more expensive drinks. Run the numbers for me. Thanks in advance???

Some will tell you drinks on O are reasonable, others like ourselves find them higher than at home with a mandatory 18% gratuity per drink. Bottles of wine start at $32-34, then add 18% on top of that. Glasses of wine are about $8 without gratuity. Beer is somewhere around $6.50 per glass...cheaper for draft....again add 18%. Not sure about cocktails but some where around $10. Happy hour prices are 2 for 1 from 5pm to 6pm in either Martinis or Horizon.

If your cruise is port-intensive and you don't imbibe in a pre-dinner appertif, share a bottle of wine with dinner, and a post-dinner digestive or Irish coffee, perhaps a drink package won't add up for you. If you like to have a couple of beers and share a bottle of wine at dinner plus a nightcap, it might.

Plus they seem to limit any better wines and more expensive drinks.

I don't know about the wine but I've read that the spirits include all but the very top end. I'll find out sometime next week while on board which ones are excluded. If it doesn't include the better single malts I doubt I buy it. If you are drinking cognacs and scotches that are $15 to $20 a pour it could add up fast, a couple of those, a glass of wine with lunch, another for dinner, a beer or mixed drink in the afternoon and you're well over the $50 a day per person.

I may be a light weight but can someone, anyone explain how a couple could drink $100.00 of liquior a day. Given time for sleep, morning hours and 6-8 hour excursions every day with no at sea days and maybe waiting until 10:00 in the moring to inbibe. If the drinks are expensive I guess possibly. How much does a wine or rail drink cost on Oceania? Please treat this as a serious question because I really want to know. Plus they seem to limit any better wines and more expensive drinks. Run the numbers for me. Thanks in advance???

LOL - I, too, am a lightweight -- our bar bill is less than $100 for a 14 day cruise! But I do have cruising friends who "drink well and often" and they are grateful for the opportunity to cap the expense. Celebrity also offers several drink packages and they seem to work well for many.

I am glad O has gone this package route and not made it mandatory all inclusive as on Regent. One of the reasons I do not sail Regent is because I do not want to pay for an all inclusive alcohol policy that will not serve us.

As far as the cost of drinks, I find them quite reasonable (even cheap) - but I am used to New York prices, where a glass of wine in a decent restaurant is now $13-15 and a mixed drink is $12 and up. It all depends on your frame of reference as to whether you consider the drink prices high.

2 martinis before dinner - $20

2 glasses of wine with dinner - $25

1 limoncello after dinner - $10

1-2 single malt scotchs as a nightcap - $30

Total = $85

DW would be similar.

I may be a light weight but can someone, anyone explain how a couple could drink $100.00 of liquior a day. Given time for sleep, morning hours and 6-8 hour excursions every day with no at sea days and maybe waiting until 10:00 in the moring to inbibe. If the drinks are expensive I guess possibly. How much does a wine or rail drink cost on Oceania? Please treat this as a serious question because I really want to know. Plus they seem to limit any better wines and more expensive drinks. Run the numbers for me. Thanks in advance???

I don't know about the wine but I've read that the spirits include all but the very top end. I'll find out sometime next week while on board which ones are excluded. If it doesn't include the better single malts I doubt I buy it. If you are drinking cognacs and scotches that are $15 to $20 a pour it could add up fast, a couple of those, a glass of wine with lunch, another for dinner, a beer or mixed drink in the afternoon and you're well over the $50 a day per person.

The only spirit on the Bar Menu that was excluded was the Louis XIV Cognac. My husband did enjoy a few pours of the 25 year old single malt scotch that is priced on the menu at $25 plus 18% gratuity.

We both purchased the premium beverage package on our recent transatlantic and some days we laughed that it was hard to drink $50 worth each but other days we felt like we made the right decision. That being said we will probably not purchase the package on the Riviera's maiden voyage since we are in port so often, the cruise is only 10 days and we are booked in La Reserve for 2 of those nights where we pay for the wine for dinner with our reservation. Or then again we might since we will be on board with our friends Jim and Stan.

The nicest thing is the ability to choose to purchase the package or not. No need to drink the drinks of the day or even go to happy hour for that matter since it was happy hour all day and all evening. I did miss not being able to purchase a bottle of wine, but the wine by the glass selections were very good and many instances we would probably have purchased a bottle of them if we were purchasing wine for dinner. The glass of port after dinner was excellent and probably something I wouldn't have ordered on a regular basis if it weren't for the beverage package.

Thanks again for all the information. We will probably break even and that is good for us. It's something I can pay for a head of time and already be budgeted for.

Thanks again for all the information. We will probably break even and that is good for us. It's something I can pay for a head of time and already be budgeted for.

I think that in the long run we probably broke even and I think when Oceania priced these packages they probably researched this. I know that some on our cruise definitely came out ahead but I am sure others just broke even or came close to even.

We were on the Insignia in Nov. for a 19 day TA, and I remember that at certain times there were some 2 for 1 deals. Also,the Capt's reception had free drinks for 2 hours. I guess I'm a moderate drinker drinking 4 beers a day,and sharing a bottle of wine over 2 days. However, I spent less then $ 400. So, I guess whether it's worth it or not,depends upon the person. As far as the pricing, I don't see much difference than from what we pay in Fl when we go out to dinner. And as former NYers, compared to NY the prices are WAY lower on Oceania then a NY restaurant. Just my 2 cents

We took the $49.95 per day package as we were on a transatlantic and therefore had many sea days. For us it worked out well and we could have what we liked, where we liked. I would think twice about it though, if we were on a port-intensive cruise. Typical prices - glass of wine $9 - $12 per glass, champagne $15 per glass and then 18% added to everything. We found it to be good value.

Does anyone have any information on the wines? We are from So. Cal. and really enjoy our wines. We are traveling with another couple and would probably have a bottle at least everynight with dinner. I know the full package would work for us and if I understand it you get glasses not bottles. As long as it is no "Two Buck Chuck" for anyone who knows what that is we will be ok, but if someone has some of the names of the winery would love to have them. Still Excited

Does anyone have any information on the wines? We are from So. Cal. and really enjoy our wines. We are traveling with another couple and would probably have a bottle at least everynight with dinner. I know the full package would work for us and if I understand it you get glasses not bottles. As long as it is no "Two Buck Chuck" for anyone who knows what that is we will be ok, but if someone has some of the names of the winery would love to have them. Still Excited

The quality of the wines range from good to surprisingly good, and the variety is such that you'll always be able to find something that will pair well with what you are eating. The variety is not such that you will have a number of choices within a given variety.

It would not be productive to discuss winery's or vintages here, because aside from the wines that are offered by the glass on the Bar Menu, the wines on offer vary dependent on cost, availability, and where the ships are sailing.

In short, if you are a "wine person" who seeks out challenging vintages and enjoys a great deal of variety in the wines that you drink, then this is not the package for you.

These packages represent solid comfort and the ease of knowing that a compatible wine will always be available, but they are by no means a "tasting" experience.

As long as it is no "Two Buck Chuck" for anyone who knows what that is we will be ok, but if someone has some of the names of the winery would love to have them. Still Excited

I am not a wine connoisseur but I do know the difference between "two buck chuck" & a quality wine

Let me just say Oceania wine is no where near the "two buck" level ;)

If you look on Oceania website under the dining rooms they usually have a wine list PDF file there

http://www.oceaniacruises.com/ships/marina/restaurants/default.aspx

What does a regular cocktail cost, like let say vodka and seven or Jack with water cost?

What does a regular cocktail cost, like let say vodka and seven or Jack with water cost?

If you're ok with Absolut, Stoli or Smirnoff as the Vodka, the Vodka & 7 will cost $6.50.

Jack Daniels & water would be $8.00

Plus the 18% gratuity, of course.

If you're ok with Absolut, Stoli or Smirnoff as the Vodka, the Vodka & 7 will cost $6.50.

Jack Daniels & water would be $8.00

 

Plus the 18% gratuity, of course.

Thanks JimandStan, I'm ok with Absolut. Now that 8.00 for Jack would that be for a single shot of Jack.?

Thanks JimandStan, I'm ok with Absolut. Now that 8.00 for Jack would that be for a single shot of Jack.?

Not a "shot" in the way that we think of it in the United States, but yes, a single pour (i.e. not a double).

 

If you look on Oceania website under the dining rooms they usually have a wine list PDF file there

http://www.oceaniacruises.com/ships/marina/restaurants/default.aspx

so the question is with the Premier beverage package are all the wines on the restaurant lists available by the glass? There are some pretty expensive looking wines there.

Thanks

so the question is with the Premier beverage package are all the wines on the restaurant lists available by the glass? There are some pretty expensive looking wines there.

 

Thanks

No, they are not.

Both Beverage packages include all of the wines that are sold by the glass in the ships bars (5 whites, 2 Blush, 11 reds), and a limited number of additional wines that are chosen by the Cellar Master on a cruise by cruise basis.

The key difference is that the lower cost package only covers wine or beer with meals or in your cabin; whereas the Prestige package includes everything except the very top range liquors anyplace on the ship.

Jim & Stan-

With glen & Cenia last night and they had lots of good things to say! We are with them in Asia this in March. We have a question about the beer & wine package and the room service option. My wife likes to have a couple glasses of wine while we relax & dress for dinner. Can she order 2 glasses at once? Makes more sense than ordering again. Better yet would be to give her a bottle to keep in the fridge! Saves times and effort on all. Continually calling room service for a room pour just doesn't seem a win-win for O or the passenger. Your thoughts?