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Taking alcohol on board


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Il agree the wine prices are reasonable however the pint and can prices aren't. £4.10 a pint of fosters is at least 30% more expensive than my local. .

 

You're not at you're local though.

 

David

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The point is that many posters keep saying that drink prices are similar to pub prices, but that is patently not the case.

 

 

 

Clearly they are not the same as in all pubs but they are the same as in city centre pubs e.g. Newcastle. They are more expensive than Wetherspoons for example. And a lot cheaper than 4/5* hotels.

 

 

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Clearly they are not the same as in all pubs but they are the same as in city centre pubs e.g. Newcastle. They are more expensive than Wetherspoons for example. And a lot cheaper than 4/5* hotels.

 

 

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I can second what daib is saying about the drink prices in Newcastle.

 

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I do not mind having to buy my drink onboard as long as I can get bottles of spirits and mixers from Room Service to drink on my balcony; I do not always want to go to a noisy bar! I noticed the change to "small" reasonable amount and wonder if they will define what that means; I reckon they won't in case people vote with their feet.

But no hotel has ever stopped me from bringing a bottle in to drink in my room; makes cruasing start to look restrictive of personal freedoms. I'm annoyed because I've just booked 2 more cruises for next year while on Aurora last week; if I'd known about this I may have chosen another line.

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For the first time we took drink on board with us (a wine box per cabin) so we could sometimes enjoy a pre-dinner drink, but we also ordered wine at dinner (not every day) and had post-dinner drinks in the bars and perhaps a cocktail or beer when out on deck during the day. P&O's prices compare favourably with pub/wine bar/restaurant prices here in Hertfordshire, their cocktails are certainly cheaper than our local cocktail bar!

The number of "advantages" to cruising P&O seems to be rapidly dwindling, may investigate Thomson for our next cruise.

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Just a thought. If this proves to be correct , I think it may well annoy some of those who have cabins with a balcony rather than those who have inside or restricted viewwith no balcony.

It must be pleasant to sit on the balcony with a nice chilled glass of vino or g and t.Far more chilled than a noisy pub/bar.

However I think the wine was priced on par with a pub/restaurant and was excellent value and quality.

I didn't take any alcohol on board. Personally I couldn't be bothered to carry it and I certainly wasn't going to buy it in the Baltic countries.

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As with many of the discussion topics here, I think we need to remember that we aren't particularly representative of the majority of the cruising demographic and as time goes on, and more/larger ships are introduced, more people try cruising etc. this will change even more.

When organisations look at their strategic direction and the factors that influence that, they revise policy, terms and process so that they adapt and remain agile.

Whilst many here don't abuse the system and value the benefits, that probably isn't the case overall; so abuse of the system coupled with future pricing strategy is going to be a driver for change.

We don't know yet if prices are going up or if packages will be introduced, but if they do it will be to cover increasing costs whilst keeping the base cost of the cruise low - allowing people to bring on their own alcohol would undermine this and be counterproductive.

Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure, this last year we can clearly see a shift in pricing strategy from P&O and secretly I am actually quite impressed - it feels like they have a good team who are going to keep the shareholders happy for years to come. This won't put most people off P&O, drinks packages will make it more attractive not less.

 

 

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I must admit that I can't quite believe that people want to change to another cruise line if this policy change happens. My feeling is that even if an inclusive drinks package is on offer, the cost on most US-based lines would still end up being much more expensive than an end-of-cruise drinks bill on P&O. When I sail solo, I never drink in the cabin. When I sail with a friend, we usually take one or two bottles of bubbly and have a glass when getting ready for the evening. Also, for me, living in the South East of England, I definitely find prices on board very reasonable - especially when you consider you are drinking in the equivalent of a four-star hotel!

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I do not mind having to buy my drink onboard as long as I can get bottles of spirits and mixers from Room Service to drink on my balcony; I do not always want to go to a noisy bar! I noticed the change to "small" reasonable amount and wonder if they will define what that means; I reckon they won't in case people vote with their feet.

But no hotel has ever stopped me from bringing a bottle in to drink in my room; makes cruasing start to look restrictive of personal freedoms. I'm annoyed because I've just booked 2 more cruises for next year while on Aurora last week; if I'd known about this I may have chosen another line.

 

Can anyone confirm bottles are still available room service?

 

 

If not, aside from the cost, its a real pain in the backside to be on the phone every time you want a drink on the balcony.

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Can anyone confirm bottles are still available room service?

 

 

 

 

 

If not, aside from the cost, its a real pain in the backside to be on the phone every time you want a drink on the balcony.

 

 

 

Yes they are which makes a lot of the discussions on this thread difficult to understand. As I posted before standard spirits are around £19/£20. This is for a Ltr. These prices are very close to supermarket standard prices.

 

Even if you get them on special you are only saving around £5 a Ltr. Cannot believe this is a deal breaker.

 

 

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I do not mind having to buy my drink onboard as long as I can get bottles of spirits and mixers from Room Service to drink on my balcony; I do not always want to go to a noisy bar! I noticed the change to "small" reasonable amount and wonder if they will define what that means

There's an archive.org snapshot of the FAQ from August 2014 which shows that wording: were people worrying about what P&O meant by 'small, reasonable amount' then? The corkage was £11 as well...

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I think this will happen, if not in the New Year it will be soon. There is a new brochure due out, perhaps it will be in there.

 

Having been on Azura last Christmas I was astounded by the amount of people we saw taking their own booze out of bags (especially on deck) and pouring it out, right under the waiters noses..now if we saw it, you can be sure they saw it too. On some FB groups people actively encourage people to not only take a small bar with them when they board but to drink it on the open decks and bars etc without paying corkage (on bottles of wine or champagne etc) because "if the bar waiters don't say anything then it doesn't matter if you do it" wrong attitude and by doing that they will only make p&o change their alcohol policy.

 

We often take a couple of bottles of champagne with us which we take into a bar and tell the waiter we wish to pay corkage, they then get a nice ice bucket and glasses and serve it for us, they get their commission on the corkage and everyone is happy.

 

People need to stop abusing the goodwill or it will, quite rightly, be withdrawn.

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I think this will happen, if not in the New Year it will be soon. There is a new brochure due out, perhaps it will be in there.

 

Having been on Azura last Christmas I was astounded by the amount of people we saw taking their own booze out of bags (especially on deck) and pouring it out, right under the waiters noses..now if we saw it, you can be sure they saw it too. On some FB groups people actively encourage people to not only take a small bar with them when they board but to drink it on the open decks and bars etc without paying corkage (on bottles of wine or champagne etc) because "if the bar waiters don't say anything then it doesn't matter if you do it" wrong attitude and by doing that they will only make p&o change their alcohol policy.

 

We often take a couple of bottles of champagne with us which we take into a bar and tell the waiter we wish to pay corkage, they then get a nice ice bucket and glasses and serve it for us, they get their commission on the corkage and everyone is happy.

 

People need to stop abusing the goodwill or it will, quite rightly, be withdrawn.

I didn't realise the extent people were taking advantage and if P&O follow other cruise lines and limit people to 1 bottle on embarkation people only have themselves to blame.

 

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Its pure greed from P&O .

 

The prices on board are not cheap, £3.95 for a can of beer is daylight robbery and I live in the South. People tend to drink and eat at places that they can afford, and a P&O ship might equate to a once in a month pub or restaurant visit. If you are a captive audience for 14 days then it can be very expensive. Not everyone drinks a £5 glass of wine over dinner - every night.

 

I recall cruising on Ocean Village 2. Apparently this ship took more money in alcohol sales than any other. It catered for the UK market and the alcohol prices were duty free cheap, not some made up South East price.

 

A vast number of people took alcohol onto our recent cruise, likewise the amount coming on board at port stops was plentiful. If this is stopped people will simply go elsewhere once they factor in daft on alcohol board prices.. I'm not sure cruising is the be all and all for large numbers of people. P&O have bust a gut to attract non cruisers to their ships the sort of people who usually holiday all inclusive.

 

Incidentally all the bars on board were extremely busy but they think they can squeeze more from people. Well let the people vote with their feet I guess.

Edited by doog442
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We cruise with cunard a lot and they have totally overhauled their drinks on board, used to be a US measure for spirits (almost a double uk measure) and included the mixer in the cost..they now do single or doubles and you have to pay for the mixer, plus of course the 15% on top...so p&o in comparison are still quite reasonable....a double on cunard is $9 plus $1.75 for the splash and then 15% on top....

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Its pure greed from P&O .

 

The prices on board are not cheap, £3.95 for a can of beer is daylight robbery and I live in the South. People tend to drink and eat at places that they can afford, and a P&O ship might equate to a once in a month pub or restaurant visit. If you are a captive audience for 14 days then it can be very expensive. Not everyone drinks a £5 glass of wine over dinner - every night.

 

I recall cruising on Ocean Village 2. Apparently this ship took more money in alcohol sales than any other. It catered for the UK market and the alcohol prices were duty free cheap, not some made up South East price.

 

A vast number of people took alcohol onto our recent cruise, likewise the amount coming on board at port stops was plentiful. If this is stopped people will simply go elsewhere once they factor in daft on alcohol board prices.. I'm not sure cruising is the be all and all for large numbers of people. P&O have bust a gut to attract non cruisers to their ships the sort of people who usually holiday all inclusive.

 

Incidentally all the bars on board were extremely busy but they think they can squeeze more from people. Well let the people vote with their feet I guess.

"P&O have bust a gut to attract non cruisers to their ships the sort of people who usually holiday all inclusive "

Where's your evidence for this sweeping statement? I am a first time cruiser and I can tell you that I am definitely not the sort of person who goes all inclusive. In fact I have never been on any kind of all inclusive and would never want to.

Yes it is a captive audience but I am on holiday . If I felt the drinks really were too expensive then I don't buy them. It wouldn't stop me going on a cruise. It doesn't stop me going on holiday to Scandinavia where alcohol prices are prohibitive.

Horses for courses.

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IF, for arguments sake, a ban on carrying any alcohol on board was introduced in the new year then could I in theory cancel and ask for my deposits back on cruises booked for 2018 and 19 (not that we'd have any intention of doing so), citing that taking alcohol on was part of the reason for choosing P & O? I suspect there's something in the small print which would let them get around it...

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IF, for arguments sake, a ban on carrying any alcohol on board was introduced in the new year then could I in theory cancel and ask for my deposits back on cruises booked for 2018 and 19 (not that we'd have any intention of doing so), citing that taking alcohol on was part of the reason for choosing P & O? I suspect there's something in the small print which would let them get around it...

 

You might be able to cancel your cruises but the chance of getting your deposit back with the excuse that they have put up alcohol since you booked and that is why you chose P&O due to drinks prices will not be successful even if you wanted to do this. Have been cruising for over 20yrs and every year they tinkle with services they offer with no recourse of those booked prior can cancel with full reimbursement. Within the next fortnight P&O will be releasing cruises for Summer 2019 and if you think that if you book P&O will not make any changes is fanciful.

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