VA5Stones

Oh one of our favorite (unfavorite) topics.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2652968

We recently posted and commented on the UBP and not one person could state an improvement of the current UBP over NCL's prior $12 allowance (2015 and prior). Yes Makers Mark and Hendricks were previously under $12 and included. Now Maker Mark (which only costs NCL 10 cents more per drink than their low rate bulleit bourbon) is priced at $19 (a $4 upcharge), and a couple other bourbons which were $1 or $2 more, are now $5-$8 per drink upcharge. Not sure what inflated rate they now use for Hendricks. It would be fine if they charged an extra $1.50 or $2.00 for these upgrades, but $4-8 per drink more is ridiculous. They would probably make a lot more money with a smaller upcharge, because more people would chose to upgrade.

With regard to wine, NCL is worse than ANY other cruise line, it's not even close. Their "included" wines are atrocious and they have almost no reasonable upgrades to chose from. They don't have one single cabernet upgrade from their basic undrinkable option.

When it comes to beer drinkers, the package is great. You can pretty much get any beer you want. For the rest of us, the UBP is becoming more expensive and delivering fewer options.

Thank you BirdTravels, we looked for hours and couldn't find a recent list of wine.

This is helpful. The only respectable mid level cabernet is the Oberon. It was $13.95 a glass in 2015 ($1.95/glass with the drink package), now it's not available by the glass. NCL had no intention of actually providing $15 in value, they only wanted the optics...so they removed any options that would cost them more (Oberon Cabernet, Makers Mark bourbon, etc.) We effectively lost value and now pay $18/day extra in tips.

We did notice a few red wines by the glass for an extra fee. That's new and exciting, but take a look at the much higher mark ups on these wines by the glass. Wines by the glass are usually about 30% of the bottle price. The $29 Merlot is $8.95/glass (31% of the bottle price). The $35 Tempranillo $10.95/glass (31% of the bottle price) an now look at the Terazas Malbec upgrade for $17.50/glass; that's 41% of the bottle price for one glass !!!! Insane. If it was priced properly it would be $13.50/glass and covered by the new "enhanced" drink package.

Don't get me wrong, having the drink package is better than not having it, otherwise we would now have to pay NCL's even more inflated prices. My point in this thread is to see if anyone can point to ANY increased benefits of the "new and enhanced $15 UBP"...and so far, none have been pointed out.

NCL really needs to provide a few more red wines by the glass priced at $2.50- $5 for us to purchase. The other option that would make more sense is to provide a $35/bottle credit (based on the wines they are currently providing for free), and let us choose any bottle we want and pay the price differential.

 

 

 

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Good point regarding beer. Beer drinkers saw no change under either package since there weren't beers over $12 in 2015 and they aren't over $15 now.

Thank god I’m good with a cold beer of a crown and coke

 

 

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Well stated "fastpitchdad", the lack of good wines by the glass at any price is the big issue for wine lovers. A 20% bottle discount on a 250% mark up is a joke. NCL seems to be saying if you like good wine, cruise with another line.

We are curious about your experience with the pre-2016 package in comparison to the new package. Here are our thoughts.

In 2016, Norwegian “enhanced” their drink package from $12per drink to $15 per drink, but the new drink package has been anything but anenhancement, it has actually been somewhat of a disappointment in a few areas.

Several enjoyable mid-range ($2-3 upgrade) wines were removed from the “bythe glass” wine list, because Norwegian doesn’t want to pay the slightly highercost associated with their new $15 “benefit”. The only wines remaining by theglass are very low entry level wines. Norwegian doesn’t even offer a list of“upgrades” or “higher priced” wines by the glass, even if you were interestedin paying a few dollars more per glass. RC by contract, boasts a substantiallylarger wine list by the glass within their $12/$13 allowance, and approximatelytwenty upscale wines at a higher cost per glass

In the area of bourbons, we also saw a major cutback. A Manhattan made with Makers Mark was $11.95in 2016 prior to the change in the drink package and was covered completely bythe $12 drink package allowance. At that time Knob Creek, Woodford Reserve and few other bourbons were $1-3more per drink, very reasonable. Today, after the new $15 drink package“enhancement”, the only bourbon available that’s “included” in the drinkpackage is very low end bulleit bourbon. The new price for a Makers Mark Manhattan on Norwegian is $18.95, higherthan most restaurants in Manhattan NY charge.

When it comes to bringing unopened bottles of wine on board,they want to confiscate your bottles and charge you a $15 corkage fee even ifyou have the drink package. Ridiculous.

Norwegian now appears to have the highest cost drink package in theindustry, with the lowest value in the industry; particularly for wine drinkers.

Thoughts or comments?

Yes to water, and coffee like everyone else. No to bottled water and specialty coffee. Yes to soda, not aware of any cans available. When they increased the allowance from $12 to $15 they took away many options, including mid level liquors and upgraded wine by the glass. All beers are covered.

Here's an overview of the changes.

in 2016, Norwegian “enhanced” their drink package from $12per drink to $15 per drink, but the new drink package has been anything but anenhancement, it has actually been somewhat of a disappointment in a few areas.

Several enjoyable mid-range wines were removed from the “bythe glass” wine list, because Norwegian doesn’t want to pay the slightly highercost associated with their new $15 “benefit”. The only wines remaining by theglass are very low entry level wines. Norwegian doesn’t even offer a list of“upgrades” or “higher priced” wines by the glass, even if you were interestedin paying a few dollars more per glass. RC by contract, boasts a substantiallylarger wine list by the glass within their $12/$13 allowance, and approximatelytwenty upscale wines at a higher cost per glass

In the area of bourbons, we also saw a major cutback. A Manhattan made with Makers Mark was $11.95in 2016 prior to the change in the drink package and was covered completely bythe $12 drink package allowance. At that time Knob Creek, Woodford Reserve and few other bourbons were $1-3more per drink, very reasonable. Today, after the new $15 drink package“enhancement”, the only bourbon available that’s “included” in the drinkpackage is very low end bulleit bourbon. The new price for a Makers Mark Manhattan on Norwegian is $18.95, higherthan most restaurants in Manhattan NY charge.

When it comes to bringing unopened bottles of wine on board,they want to confiscate your bottles and charge you a $15 corkage fee even ifyou have the drink package. Ridiculous.

Norwegian now has the highest cost drink package in theindustry, with the lowest value in the industry; particularly for wine drinkers.

In 2016, Norwegian “enhanced” their drink package from $12per drink to $15 per drink, but the new drink package has been anything but anenhancement, it has actually been somewhat of a disappointment in a few areas.

Several enjoyable mid-range wines were removed from the “bythe glass” wine list, because Norwegian doesn’t want to pay the slightly highercost associated with their new $15 “benefit”. The only wines remaining by theglass are very low entry level wines. Norwegian doesn’t even offer a list of“upgrades” or “higher priced” wines by the glass, even if you were interestedin paying a few dollars more per glass. RC by contract, boasts a substantiallylarger wine list by the glass within their $12/$13 allowance, and approximatelytwenty upscale wines at a higher cost per glass

In the area of bourbons, we also saw a major cutback. A Manhattan made with Makers Mark was $11.95in 2016 prior to the change in the drink package and was covered completely bythe $12 drink package allowance. At that time Knob Creek, Woodford Reserve and few other bourbons were $1-3more per drink, very reasonable. Today, after the new $15 drink package“enhancement”, the only bourbon available that’s “included” in the drinkpackage is very low end bulleit bourbon. The new price for a Makers Mark Manhattan on Norwegian is $18.95, higherthan most restaurants in Manhattan NY charge.

When it comes to bringing unopened bottles of wine on board,they want to confiscate your bottles and charge you a $15 corkage fee even ifyou have the drink package. Ridiculous.

Norwegian now has the highest cost drink package in theindustry, with the lowest value in the industry; particularly for wine drinkers.