RCL All-Inclusive Alcohol Packages

Hello!

I was wandering if I could get some feedback on the RCL all-inclusive alcohol packages. This will be my third cruise with RCL in August and we are debating if the alcohol packages would be worth it.

Thanks!

Hello!

 

I was wandering if I could get some feedback on the RCL all-inclusive alcohol packages. This will be my third cruise with RCL in August and we are debating if the alcohol packages would be worth it.

 

Thanks!

We've decided to do the premium package on our next cruise. We usually buy the wine pkg, some water and the soda package along with other drinks at shows, casino, etc. I basically looked back at what we spent on those packages and the drinks for our last couple of cruises and found the package would probably be worth it.

I think you'd have to drink a lot of alcohol every day of the cruise to break even.

That's what we were thinking.....we usually buy a water and soda package, so we figured the premium would probably be worth it since bottled water and soda is included.

Hello!

 

I was wandering if I could get some feedback on the RCL all-inclusive alcohol packages. This will be my third cruise with RCL in August and we are debating if the alcohol packages would be worth it.

 

Thanks!

Found this link with great info on all of RCCL's drink packages and individual drink prices!!

http://cruisewithgambee.com/royal-caribbean-drink/

We pre-purchased the Royal Replenish package for me and the soda fountain one for DH on our upcoming Alaskan cruise because we will be off of the ship in port most of the time. Hope to buy the allotted 2 bottles of wine to enjoy on the balcony! We intend to purchase the Premium Package for each of us for the Halloween cruise in the Caribbean because we spend most of our time on board!! Cheers!! You decide what's best for you!!

After you buy soda, water, your wine with dinner, and your drinks I think you will find it to be well worth it!

Elvis

It is a lot of alcohol to break even! There are options to add the package once you are on board, even after a few days. That could cut down on buying it for the full length of the cruise.

I got the package on my last cruise. It paid off as I was with other friends who also had the package. Next cruise, I think I'm just going to let a lot of OBC take care of the bar bill. :cool:

I think you'd have to drink a lot of alcohol every day of the cruise to break even.

Going to buy the $55 package on the second day of cruise. Will prob be tired on first day and not drink much. Then come Monday morning, the party is on. 2 sea days in a row to start things off.

Snappy68

Here is a generalization of what a day could be:

2 coffees with Baileys , or bloody Mary's or mimosa for b/fast

5-6drinks during the day ( say from 11-4) barely a drink an hour

2 Martini's b/4or with dinner

3-4. Drinks after dinner while just walking around or seeing shows.

That's 12-14 drinks a day over a 12-14 hour day . I am 60 and that seems pretty reasonable to me.

Lol. I am in my 40s and 12-14 drinks a day seems insane.

Especially the port days. And the first day since you don't get on the ship until lunchtime at best. And the last day.

Here's the way I look at it: the prices charged weren't arrived at randomly. The cruise line is going to make a profit. Maybe not off of everybody but eventually the house wins.

Some people might drink enough to make the alcohol packages pay off but most people will be paying a premium for not having to think about it and having their cruise truly feel all-inclusive. Which to many people is valuable and worthwhile. That said I like the idea someone else threw out of just putting that much on your account in OBC so you don't have a bill at the end. Pay now or pay later I guess!!!

You have to evaluate what makes sense for you.

Sweet pea

They don't charge you for the last day. Example (Sunday-Sunday) cruise. You would be paying 7 days Sunday-Saturday.

But that is a good ? About Sunday before leaving the ship. Would I be able to get Baileys with my coffee in the morning?

Snappy68

 

Here is a generalization of what a day could be:

 

2 coffees with Baileys , or bloody Mary's or mimosa for b/fast

 

5-6drinks during the day ( say from 11-4) barely a drink an hour

 

2 Martini's b/4or with dinner

 

3-4. Drinks after dinner while just walking around or seeing shows.

 

That's 12-14 drinks a day over a 12-14 hour day . I am 60 and that seems pretty reasonable to me.

Ditto from this 61-year young lady!! Easy peasy!!;) DH and I get the premium package, as we have been to most of the Caribbean islands and spend more time on the ship! Oh, and by the way sweetpea, since Labadee is RCCL's private beach, that day includes the package also!! Love those Labadoozies!!:cool: Cheers!

I thought that your' seapass account was closed after everything on the ship closed on last night of sailing.

I thought that your' seapass account was closed after everything on the ship closed on last night of sailing.

A cash based SeaPass account closes on the last night. A credit/debit card based SeaPass account remains open on disembarkation day.

I think you'd have to drink a lot of alcohol every day of the cruise to break even.

$55/day = ~~$48 in drinks (+$7 in tips.)

I drink 5-7 bottles of water a day. At $4/ea I'm already at $20-28 without touching a drop of alcohol. So let's take low end and say for some reason I only drink 5. That leaves me $28 to spend to "make" my package pay off.

A bloody mary with breakfast, a glass of wine with dinner, and a shot or digestif after dinner takes care of that, easily. Very little alcohol.

Anything I have beyond that is a bonus. Don't worry, RCCL is making money hand over fist on these packages, because the cost to make a drink is absolutely nowhere near the price they sell it for. You can come out ahead without even thinking about it.

Note that I will rarely just drink 1 glass of wine, and I'm likely to have a few umbrella drinks by the pool. And a beer or two. On top of that, it's pre-paid so no bill to deal with after vacation. Win-Win-Win.

Just got off Navigator two days ago and i had the $40 per day beer, wine & soft drink package. My BIL had the $55 per day package.

I only did the beer one because I didn't want to go too crazy drinking in front of the grandkids.

I'd say it's worth it. It's easy to at least break even on port days and the advantage really is noticeable on sea days, but i guess it depends on how much you drink.

Let's say you have a couple of drinks or three on the ship when you get back from port while the wife takes a nap. Let's say you have another drink at the show and a couple of drinks during the long MDR dinner. You're practically at

even before you even go dancing, sing along at the piano bar or watch karaoke....where no doubt you'll have a couple more drinks.

For me I've found the packages to be well worth it. I always get the soda packages - and I've found that the convience of the alcohol package is quite great. I get bottled water for the gym - a couple glasses of wine each night with dinner, and a couple mixed drinks here and there - and while I'm not drinking 55-65/day in pure alcohol, I'm sure between the amount of diet coke I drink and the number of bottles of water I go through in a day I'm definitely getting my money's worth.

Plus what's also nice is I can try different drinks and if I don't like it I don't feel like I just wasted $. I wait a little while and try something else.

Going to buy the $55 package on the second day of cruise. Will prob be tired on first day and not drink much. Then come Monday morning, the party is on. 2 sea days in a row to start things off.

Our exact plans also. We leave on Friday so we will get the package starting Saturday.

Six drinks @ 8.00 or 5 martinis or high end margaritas @ 9.50 plus 15% tip equals the cost of the 55.00 package. Anything else above it, plus bottled water and soda is gravy.

They need a gravy package.... :p

Personally I don't think I'd get my money's worth. I prefer wine and the house wine included in package is not the best. Also it's been my experience that it can be hard to get drinks at dinner which is where I do a lot of my drinking. Thus I prefer a bottle of wine at the table so I can pour it as fast as I want. And I don't drink soda. So I get the wine bottle package and pay for the rest a la carte.

Additionally we bring 4 bottles on (2 cabins) so with that and our package it's 9 bottles of wine, and my wife might drink 2. So that's a bottle a day for me!

Total price of wine package is 189.75 for 5, I'll spend about 60 for bottle to bring, so total price is 249.75 or $35 per day, for both of us. Cheapest package is $40 per day per person.

Now I wouldn't be astonished if my bill at the end of the cruise is slightly more than a package would have cost, but the odds are it will be cheaper for me to do it this way.

Also we have 4 port days, and we tend to be pretty active, so there's not enough time to drink that much.

I don't drink a lot, but I do drink expensive, lol. DH drinks a little more, but still expensive. We had the Premium package last month and loved it.

I usually drank virgin umbrella drinks during the day (which I find pricey compared to the ones with booze, just a buck or so cheaper, I just don't prefer the booze all day), sometimes had a leaded one or a beer later in the day, a martini or two before dinner, a glass of wine with dinner, a Jameson after dinner, and a bottle of water on the way back to the stateroom for bed for when I invariably wake up feeling like I've been walking through a desert instead of sleeping for the last few hours. On average, those drinks for the day would have been somewhere in the neighborhood of $45-50, and that doesn't include the seltzer I was sipping on throughout the day from the Freestyle machine, or the occasional diet coke late in the afternoon when I needed some motivation to wake up, peel myself off my lounger, and not sleep through dinner, lol.

It was a game changer for us when they changed the package to include wine beyond the house swill, and fold the soda package into the deal.

Bottom line, I think I probably broke just about even. DH probably did a bit better. That, combined with the peace of mind that we weren't going to have any unpleasant surprises when checking our account the next day because we had lost track of how much we spent, made it totally worth it for us. We'll do it again for sure.

I don't think it would be worth the extra $10 for us for the Ultimate package. We've had something similar on Celebrity and forgot to get fresh OJ all week, lol. DH is perfectly happy with the free black coffee, and I'd hit Starbucks once a day at most. The $55 was well worth it, but we can't justify the leap to $65.

YMMV, of course, this was just our experience.

I don't drink a lot, but I do drink expensive, lol. DH drinks a little more, but still expensive. We had the Premium package last month and loved it.

 

I usually drank virgin umbrella drinks during the day (which I find pricey compared to the ones with booze, just a buck or so cheaper, I just don't prefer the booze all day), sometimes had a leaded one or a beer later in the day, a martini or two before dinner, a glass of wine with dinner, a Jameson after dinner, and a bottle of water on the way back to the stateroom for bed for when I invariably wake up feeling like I've been walking through a desert instead of sleeping for the last few hours. On average, those drinks for the day would have been somewhere in the neighborhood of $45-50, and that doesn't include the seltzer I was sipping on throughout the day from the Freestyle machine, or the occasional diet coke late in the afternoon when I needed some motivation to wake up, peel myself off my lounger, and not sleep through dinner, lol.

 

It was a game changer for us when they changed the package to include wine beyond the house swill, and fold the soda package into the deal.

 

Bottom line, I think I probably broke just about even. DH probably did a bit better. That, combined with the peace of mind that we weren't going to have any unpleasant surprises when checking our account the next day because we had lost track of how much we spent, made it totally worth it for us. We'll do it again for sure.

 

I don't think it would be worth the extra $10 for us for the Ultimate package. We've had something similar on Celebrity and forgot to get fresh OJ all week, lol. DH is perfectly happy with the free black coffee, and I'd hit Starbucks once a day at most. The $55 was well worth it, but we can't justify the leap to $65.

 

YMMV, of course, this was just our experience.

This! So many people keep saying that a person would have to drink a ton of alcohol or stay drunk the whole cruise for it to pay off but I do not agree. Adding bottled water, sodas and upping the wine by the glass price allowance definitely makes it a good deal for us. I drink a lot of diet Coke/Coke Zero (I know, not good :rolleyes:) along with water throughout the day. Add that to a couple of drinks by the pool, wine with dinner and maybe a drink or two at a show or a late night drink with hubby while wandering the ship and you have $55 easily, especially since that includes tips. I also really enjoy not having to worry about a bill at the end of the cruise. BUT, that's just us. I am sure that there are many people who wouldn't benefit.

I agree with many of the posters that it is worth it. You have to estimate what you will drink and for me the added water, soda, coffee, and OJ makes the ultimate package worth it for me. It is not all about the alcohol, although I am rarely without a frou-frou drink in my hand during a cruise. I also like not having that bar bill hit me at the end of a cruise.

I think you'd have to drink a lot of alcohol every day of the cruise to break even.

The last cruise I took with my wife, we ended up spending $1,120.00 in drinks. That's an average of $80/PP per day, and we didn't drink that much. This time we can get the Premium package and spend $770.00. That's a savings of $350.00.