Unlimited Drink Options Included with other lines: will you still book Carnival?

On the newer, bigger ships, like Vista and Horizon, I’ve found Carnival more expensive or about the same when you add on Cheers vs the other lines drink package options on their newest, biggest ships. Just my observation. Will it make a difference? No. Not unless the difference is astronomical. Carnival’s “unlimited” drink package is the cheapest out there from that I’ve found if you pay the going rate vs it being a “free” add on.

Unlimited drink packages are NOT included free on NCL. It's built in to the price and they are often more expensive accordingly. As always, compare pricing for several different cruises at the same time. Even with a drink package, sometimes Royal will be cheaper, sometimes Carnival, and sometimes NCL.

Should also be noted that NCL has a substandard drink package that includes less than other lines. No bottled water and no premium liquors on NCL.

This topic comes up enough, and I see some posters have already given examples. NCL is almost always quite a bit more expensive with their "free" perks... But the marketing is obviously extremely effective.

Did you see my price? If it was incorporated into my cruise price, my cruise rate would have been a lot higher. I was cruising a newer ship of theirs, not an old one, and for 7 days. It’s as plain as day. Where on Carnival can you pay $549pp AND have a drink package included? You can’t. I just paid over $600pp for my Carnival inside cabin with NO drink package.

 

 

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I see you sailed Getaway last January. So I did a mock booking for Getaway this January vs a comparable Carnival ship, same port, same duration, same dates, same cabin type (standard/cheapest balcony)

You want to tell me the free perks aren't built in to the price? Lol. Come on. These threads come up often enough and we do these comparisons often enough. It's really pretty consistent that NCL is much more expensive, but hey, you get "free" perks!

NCL:

Carnival:

I see from your signature that you booked the Anthem of the seas for 4/6/19 That is a 7 day Bahama cruise from NJ. Looks like the $1770.00 rate is an interior NCL escape leaves the next day from NYC to Bahamas..Interior on NCL escape with included ultimate drink package is $2605 including port and beverage service charge. I agree that adding a 7 day drink package to the Anthem will bring those two fares to about equal. Carnival doesn't sail from NYC in April so I assume your $2200.00 quote is on the Pride out of Baltimore..Add 7 night drink package to Carnivals $2200.00 fare and NCL would still come out on top. For me Carnival with an added drink package or NCL with included drink package end up about the same. I like both lines. Usually sail NCL in the Winter and Carnival in the Summer out of NYC as I do not like to fly !!

Sorry for not mentioning it but those prices were for a balcony cabin. Ordinarily we book 1 and a half years ahead of time but I've now returned to school so am subject to a school schedule and they don't publish the schedule that far in advance. Thing is we have never purchased Cheers so it rarely impacts our thinking. When I booked the prices were $1770, $2200 and $3600 for a balcony cabin on Anthem, Pride and Escape. Cruise fare fluctuates so much that when someone can book can greatly affect the price (so looking at those sailings now will return different results from what I saw when I booked).

My wife's cousin went on the breakaway last fall with the included drink package.He said it took forever to get a drink because of this, never again. The bars were swamped with people trying to get a drink and the bar staff was slow because of this.

Carnival’s “unlimited” drink package is the cheapest out there from that I’ve found if you pay the going rate vs it being a “free” add on.

Royal does sales all the time and you can often get their drink package cheaper than Carnival's Cheers. We paid $44/day for our upcoming Allure cruise.

Royal does sales all the time and you can often get their drink package cheaper than Carnival's Cheers. We paid $44/day for our upcoming Allure cruise.

And on Royal if one wanted to a call can be made to customer service and you can buy a deluxe package for one person in the cabin and a soda package only for the other person in the cabin (as in the case when a drinker is traveling with a non-drinker or light drinker).

For us the answer is a definite yes. Not only that, we have already done so! We were loyal to Royal for many years, mainly out of habit and were always satisfied and saw no reason to change up. Last year (June) we tried Carnival and have taken 4 Carnival cruises since then so obviously we liked them. We have upcoming cruises on Magic and Royal's Brilliance of the Seas booked this year. We have wanted to try MSC with the new Seaside and so we booked that for next May. With our matching loyalty status from Royal we will be at their top tier which is Black. We also got the included unlimited drink package. All in all, it is a great bargain. It is very aggressive marketing from MSC as they try to break open their presence in the US market and I do not expect these promotions to last forever. We never buy the unlimited packages on any line because we don't consume enough to justify it but my wife sometimes gets the soda package. We do have a bar tab though and it can run on up there, but it does not equal the cost of the package. We probably would not have gotten the package on MSC if it was not included, but having it will save us the money we would have spent on a single pay basis so it does have value. As previously mentioned, it is a very basic package with limited selection and you can upgrade for $12-20 per day if you want to. The included package is fine for us. Now, to the OP's question. A few weeks after booking the MSC cruise we saw the schedule for the Sunshine out of Charleston and being that we really liked that ship and live 3 1/2 hours from Charleston we have booked a Sunshine cruise for later next year. So yes, we will cruise other lines, probably including MSC, in the future Now that our kids are grown we can afford to go more often and we find we like the variety. We still shop for great deals regardless of line. As they say, price is not everything (but it is important!).

Will continue with Carnival. We drink very little if any and so have never purchased the drink package. I can't imagine choosing a vacation based on how much booze I can get. I like to remember my vacations. ;) But that's just me.

I agree, but I am grateful to those who buy Cheers since it helps keep the price of cruising down.

I see you sailed Getaway last January. So I did a mock booking for Getaway this January vs a comparable Carnival ship, same port, same duration, same dates, same cabin type (standard/cheapest balcony)

 

You want to tell me the free perks aren't built in to the price? Lol. Come on. These threads come up often enough and we do these comparisons often enough. It's really pretty consistent that NCL is much more expensive, but hey, you get "free" perks!

 

NCL:

 

 

Carnival:

In this case if you add Cheers and a wifi package to the Carnival, the prices are identical. No more or less expensive.

That was exaxctly my point. It's built in to the price on NCL and not a free perk. It's just marketing. Similar to royals neverending greatest sale ever.

But for those who don't want wifi or a drink package, carnival is a better deal. Also consider carnival has a better drink package and the wifi on NCL is only 250 minutes vs unlimited on carnival. Carnival offers a better value.

But again, the point is that the free perks aren't really free perks. And for a cruiser not interested in a drink package or specialty dining, that NCL cruise is 50% more expensive than a comparable carnival cruise. I would call that substantial.

I revisited BNBR's Norwegian Getaway example to try to book without any "freebies" in order to get a stripped-down, apples-to-apples comparison. It only presented options to pick 2. Apparently NCL doesn't allow you to just book a cabin anymore?

We typically sail Carnival once or twice a year but got a crazy good deal on NCL Escape 2 years ago. It included kids sailing free and unlimited drinks (with no service charged - they have since changed that policy). The ship was beautiful and the entertainment was very good, but the overall feel of the ship was not friendly to families. Kids weren't allowed in a very large number of places (main pool, aft sun deck with waterfall feature, sports brew pub, etc.), it made us feel very claustrophobic in our options onboard. Additionally, the kids club had some very archane rules - our 10 year old could check himself out of the club, but only after being there for 2 hours. Now, the club was only open for 3 hours at a time, so it made no sense to us. Additionally, you needed a reservation for all of the entertainment on the ship. This led to a system where some people reserved anything and everything they could at the start of the cruise, and then would no show for the event. The rest of the ship was left to the standby lines in case those with reservations did not show up.

2 things that we love about Carnival - they promote having FUN - which is what we like to do on vacation, and they are very family friendly, with families being allowed to do activities together.

MSC has intrigued me, and their new ship looks really nice, but I still can't get past their class levels and perks that go along with each class - would rather do an a la carte system.

I revisited BNBR's Norwegian Getaway example to try to book without any "freebies" in order to get a stripped-down, apples-to-apples comparison. It only presented options to pick 2. Apparently NCL doesn't allow you to just book a cabin anymore?

Of course you can't book without the perks, because the perks are FREE! LOL.

Of course you can't book without the perks, because the perks are FREE! LOL.

You can book without the perks, but you don't get a break in price by doing so. When we looked at MSC I believe they had multiple price points based on what perks you chose to get, which to me makes them must more customer friendly.

We typically sail Carnival once or twice a year but got a crazy good deal on NCL Escape 2 years ago. It included kids sailing free and unlimited drinks (with no service charged - they have since changed that policy). The ship was beautiful and the entertainment was very good, but the overall feel of the ship was not friendly to families. Kids weren't allowed in a very large number of places (main pool, aft sun deck with waterfall feature, sports brew pub, etc.), it made us feel very claustrophobic in our options onboard. Additionally, the kids club had some very archane rules - our 10 year old could check himself out of the club, but only after being there for 2 hours. Now, the club was only open for 3 hours at a time, so it made no sense to us. Additionally, you needed a reservation for all of the entertainment on the ship. This led to a system where some people reserved anything and everything they could at the start of the cruise, and then would no show for the event. The rest of the ship was left to the standby lines in case those with reservations did not show up.

 

2 things that we love about Carnival - they promote having FUN - which is what we like to do on vacation, and they are very family friendly, with families being allowed to do activities together.

 

MSC has intrigued me, and their new ship looks really nice, but I still can't get past their class levels and perks that go along with each class - would rather do an a la carte system.

No daughters two years ago like you. Kids sailed free and no service charge on the beverage package then. The MSC Seaside, which we sailed in April, is great. One of the best ships at sea for kids. The class or "experience" really meant nothing to us. We booked the lowly Bella experience and were treated wonderfully with no apparent difference than anyone sailing Aurora or higher. Must of the stuff included was fine for us and we got the dining time

Of our choice.

Interesting. Is that everything on RCCL or just beer and wine? In any case, re: NCL's, yes, they don't include water or specialty coffee but I found they included most premium brands of hard liquor and they had an outstanding selection of draft beers in the District Brewhouse. And bottled beers. I forget the number but you could have easily had a six pack of beer each day for a week and never try the same thing twice if you didnt want do. I can't find it right now but there was a list of the "super-premiums" they excluded at the time but it was a very short list. I think I paid $1 more twice when I ordered a $16 martini made with some very, very good things. Seems like many more choices and variety of liquors and drinks on NCL (on paper/sample menus). Perhaps I'll change my mind once on board Carnival for the first time.

Interesting. Is that everything on RCCL or just beer and wine? In any case, re: NCL's, yes, they don't include water or specialty coffee but I found they included most premium brands of hard liquor and they had an outstanding selection of draft beers in the District Brewhouse. And bottled beers. I forget the number but you could have easily had a six pack of beer each day for a week and never try the same thing twice if you didnt want do. I can't find it right now but there was a list of the "super-premiums" they excluded at the time but it was a very short list. I think I paid $1 more twice when I ordered a $16 martini made with some very, very good things. Seems like many more choices and variety of liquors and drinks on NCL (on paper/sample menus). Perhaps I'll change my mind once on board Carnival for the first time.

As I understand it Royal's deluxe package includes specialty coffee, soda, smoothies, water, beer, wine and liquor. I think the price limit is $13 for any drink.

Sorry for not mentioning it but those prices were for a balcony cabin. Ordinarily we book 1 and a half years ahead of time but I've now returned to school so am subject to a school schedule and they don't publish the schedule that far in advance. Thing is we have never purchased Cheers so it rarely impacts our thinking. When I booked the prices were $1770, $2200 and $3600 for a balcony cabin on Anthem, Pride and Escape. Cruise fare fluctuates so much that when someone can book can greatly affect the price (so looking at those sailings now will return different results from what I saw when I booked).

Wow, that's a great price for a balcony on Anthem.. What I notice is Royal and Carnival offer lower fares when you you book early and in many cases slowly climb. NCL starts with fares high and then starts slashing after their 120 day final payment window..

That is good then if it includes mixed drinks and specialty drinks. We are not "big drinkers" but on vacation, like to have 2-4 fru fru drinks during the day depending on the day and then usually at least two glasses of wine during dinner. Then I get a port while my wife gets a specialty coffee with dessert. It puts us on the bubble for Cheers (with morning specialty coffees and milkshakes, water, powerade, all of which we will utilize) really but I like being able to just order an expensive glass of wine at dinner and not worrying about it. Since I am an analyzer, I do plan to do an analysis on if we will have saved or lost money with Cheers this first time using it. I wouldn't consider it work but fun and will post my results hopefully unless I say to he$$ with it after a few too many. lol.

Wow, that's a great price for a balcony on Anthem.. What I notice is Royal and Carnival offer lower fares when you you book early and in many cases slowly climb. NCL starts with fares high and then starts slashing after their 120 day final payment window..

I've noticed the same sort of trend. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the price for Anthem and booking it didn't require a lot of thought. When I checked the price a couple of weeks later it had gone up to the $2200 range. (And as a side note I had to call to change cabins because I had originally booked an obstructed view and once DW saw what they looked like she nixed it immediately. When I called I fully expected to have to pay more, but the rep was actually able to save us $15 to move to an unobstructed balcony, so I am more than happy with the price.)

We have traveled on 4 cruise lines (mainly Carnival) and the ports and pricing make our decision for us. Over the last 3 years we have not cruised on Carnival because other cruise lines were of similar or less coast but included drink packages and hefty OBC. While we like to have 4 or 5 drinks a day once we worked out the price of this on Carnival, it just didn't make sense for us. We love Carnival and just wish they would become more competitive in this area.

My cruise in February is solo, and because of the solo suite and the drink package, I went with NCL. I tried hard to find a comparable cruise on Carnival for the price, but couldn't come close. I have two other cruises booked with a friend on Carnival, and since one is a Journey Cruise and the other a B2B, we wouldn't be doing Cheers anyway.

NCL is who we have been looking at recently. We booked a transatlantic with them and the free drinks option was a big reason why. I agree, when you add in the cost of the Carnival drink package, the prices don't even come close. I'm just wondering if Carnival is going to have to make some changes.

When we ordered Belvediere Vodka martinis up, she poured 3 shots of vodka and 1 shot of Vermouth. We are going to try MSC as they are matching cruise level perks. So they will honor my Platinum status. MSC also has upgraded Yacht Club status, not cheap, but the perks look wonderful. The reviews appear to be very good

Oh, I did not know this...so if you are Platinum on Carnival, MSC will honor that? That is definitely something to consider.

Thank you!

Hi:

 

We are platinum on Carnival, but have taken a few years off from cruising. In the time we've been away, both NCL and MSC have started to offer fares with the Unlimited Drink Option included as a perk. Now that we are looking to book another cruise, I have to admit that these perks are very enticing and swaying us away from Carnival, whose drinks package is very expensive to book. I'm just wondering if others are feeling the same?

Booked a 12 nt cruise with Celebrity a couple of years from now. First time with Celebrity. Picked their classic package as our perk. Cruise fare for concierge class sunset veranda (a.k.a aft balcony) was comparable to Carnival 14 day Journeys cruise in a suite. Plus, we can upgrade to the premium beverage package (or pay the difference + tip) if we stick with the classic package.

Carnival can't touch this with their offerings at the present time. The loss of a day and a half is minimal, considering we are seeing a lot more places that Carnival doesn't port at.