New all included drinks package...worth it?

[clcurry]

Finally cut off around 7:00PM....It is not unusual to see folks being "slowed down" and then cut off once you reach those magic hours of 3PM to 7PM. Bartenders were encouraging naps before a return to action....

 

I'm not sure I understand. Were your friends actually cut off when they had the inclusive package? If so, were they cut off because of their behavior? Or could bartenders see how many drinks they had in the day and were just judging that X amount was too much for that time of the day?

 

If so, then I would take issue with that. I can hold my alcohol well and if I am acting okay, then I see no reason for someone to cut me off or encourage me to "take a break" from a package I paid quite a bit for during my vacation. :rolleyes:

Edited February 8, 2013 by clcurry

[uscgwife]

We have both the $45 and $55 package available on our repositioner this April (San Juan to Baltimore). It is a 9 day cruise so there is no way the cost makes sense.

 

I am intrigued by one thing with these packages.... what if one person in your cabin is pregnant? I totally get that all parties in the room must be on the same package (so no sharing drinks), but what if one person cant drink?

 

 

I was told by a RCL rep that anyone with a medical condition keeping them from drinking alcohol (pregnancy included) doesn't have to purchase the package. I think you just need a doctors note.:)

[joe6666]

So is this only if you are sailing from Spain or to Spain? We will be Rome, Crete, Greece, Turkey, etc but never Spain. So we won't have this tax?

 

We figure the MOST we ever spent and felt we had all we wanted to drink the tab for 7 days for both of us was less than $400. This amount is excessive for us. We will probably buy a bottle or 2 of wine for dinner, then add the gatherings with some free drinks plus a few of our own, then we will be good. "I personally am not fond of paying to feel bad the next day or to be ill." ;)

 

2 bottles of wine at dinner $70 and $32 for a couple of $8 drinks each comes to $102

The premium package would be $110.

 

If drinking makes you feel bad, by all means, don't do it.

[firts]

RCL website states that all beers are included with the premium package. Has this been a problem? I am sailing freedom in march and we like the IPA which is more than 6.25

[joe6666]

I know! :eek: We actually had the waiter give us a bottle of an expensive wine the last cruise! Of course he was tipped very nicely. We looked at the wine packages and decided we could buy a couple of nice bottles then take the left overs to our room if we desired. We usually eat at a specialty place one time but will see, I don't have to have that if the service is good in the dining room. I really prefer to spend my money on something lasting much longer and making me feel better, not worse!:p

 

It sounds like you have a problem with drinking.

If it makes you feel bad, why are you doing it?

[Hawaii_Flyer]

Thanks for the responses. Was disappointed to hear it only included house wines and they aren't any good. I recently saw an offer for the beverage package on celebrity and it was all wines up to 12$. And if you wanted something better than that you could pay the difference.

 

But it is really disappointing to hear about the "slow service". I have worked in the service industry for MANY years and believe in tipping. But if I am already tipping 15% on the package I shouldn't have to tip more just to get service. I know they won't return any of that 15% to me if I don't drink one day.. But I guess thats just the way the things go..

[fishtaco]

RCL website states that all beers are included with the premium package. Has this been a problem? I am sailing freedom in march and we like the IPA which is more than 6.25

 

Not "All" Beers are included as RCI advertising suggests ?

 

The cheaper package states all beers up to $6.25 which is the majority of beers sold.

 

The premium package states "All Beers" so that should mean "All Beers" but it doesnt?

 

I have read that Guinness is not included and some of the premium expensive Belgian beers as well as the Fosters Oil Can, not sure about IPA?

[Bead Pirate]

Our friends were not "over the top"... the system seems to track the number of drinks and make some judgement about when a threshold has been reached... I am sure internally that RCI has a "limit" to what they think is enough (applied to the geneal population...

 

I did see that Carnival (no thank you) is being sued for having an internal 15 drink limit per day. The suit alleges that 15 drinks is a "joke" and that something substanilly less would be more appropraite.

 

I suspect that we will see a limit of all you can drink soon (if nothing else just to control lawsuits)

[VirtualRain]

Some of you may have seen this in my recent Oasis review, but in case you haven't... here's my recent experience with it...

 

The "un-inclusive" package (as I like to refer to it) is not all that great. My key problem with it was the lack of wine selection. Being a wine enthusiast, especially with meals, the selection of house wines included was a total disappointment. They use a French brand called St. Martin which in my opinion was drinkable but not up to the standard of food I was pairing it with. (They dont even serve it in Vintages... the wine bar).

 

Other premium liquors are excluded like Patron, a couple of specialty martini liqueurs and all cognac except the lowest Courvosier VS. I didn't pay attention to what types of Scotch we're included or not but I believe anything aged over 12 years is NOT included (cognac is more my thing). So, while its nice to not have to worry about it, it left me feeling like it was not living up to it's "all inclusive" name.

 

I won't repeat getting it in the future unless it becomes more" inclusive" with more wines ($12-14/glass?). It would be to RCIs advantage as expanding it would likely draw more buyers. As is, wiser folks than I would opt to pay as you go in moderation, resulting in less net revenue per guest.

 

Since my GF has a slight reaction to alcohol (she goes flush red after half a glass of wine) I came prepared with a Dr. note to that effect. When I approached the sales desk for the package after embarkation on deck 5 (middle of the promenade) I told the guy there that I wanted to buy the package "solo" as my GF had an alergy to alcohol and I had a Dr note. He deferred me to the guy in charge who said... "No problem" without even looking at the Dr. note. And they signed me up... Solo. Nice

 

While I didn't have trouble getting value out of it, it will be challenging for moderate drinkers to get value out of it without being hung over every day. At $7-$8 per drink, you need to have 6-7 drinks a day to make it worth while. I would generally have a couple of glasses of sparkling or white wine with lunch, a few glasses of red with dinner, a few umbrella drinks or beers during the day, and another couple of cognac or martinis in the evening... Giving me a max of about 10 drinks per day on sea days and maybe 6 or so on port days. I consumed exactly 51 drinks over the week which would have cost me about $385 before tips or about $440. Which means I only saved about 15% with the package... And drank poorer wine than I'd like.

 

While we didn't really test this, none of the waiters or bar staff seemed concerned if I was going to buy a drink for someone else. In fact, on more than one occasion a bartender asked me if my GF wanted a drink as well (with my all inclusive card). I guess they assume she has the package as well, so it doesn't matter who's card is used to fund the purchase.

 

A couple of other things about the drink package: watch out for those guys walking around the pool areas selling drinks with a tray full of them. I waved one guy over and said I'd take one... He handed it to me as i handed him my seapasss card with my sticker on it... and he said "take a sip of that for me". I did, wondering why, and then it became obvious... He said, "oh, your package doesn't cover drinks in the souvenir glass". I was annoyed. I knew the package didn't include the special glasses but didn't realize this was one. He knew full well when he took my seapass card but asked me to take a sip anyway. Jerk. Had I not taken a sip, I could have just handed it back to him. Annoyed at his attempt to trick me into buying this glass, I asked him instead to pour it into a regular cup. Which he then strolled off to do... equally annoyed at that point. So beware of the extra cost souvenir glasses.

 

Also, I had a couple of bartenders pour me a drink I knew was included only to tell me it wasn't, but they would do me a favour and include it for me... Do these guys think they are the only bar on the ship?! Their bar computer will tell them if its $0 or not, there is no guess work or favours required. If you have any doubt you can ask them to check the computer if the drink would be included in the package or not.

 

Lastly, I'll add that I never felt treated like a second-class citizen by any bartender or server... the service was always great and they often didn't know I was on the package until they had already served my drink and I passed them my sea card anyway.

Edited February 9, 2013 by VirtualRain

[DaNana]

2 bottles of wine at dinner $70 and $32 for a couple of $8 drinks each comes to $102

The premium package would be $110.

 

If drinking makes you feel bad, by all means, don't do it.

 

I have absolutely no issue with others drinking and I do drink when I desire. I am just not sold on spending that much of my money on it. My DH likes a better wine and for us a bottle or two is all we will need. Nice they have something for everyone! ;)

[DaNana]

It sounds like you have a problem with drinking.

If it makes you feel bad, why are you doing it?

 

:p No problem with drinking for you or others, I just learned at an early age, I did not like paying to puke or have a headache. I can drink without doing too much and still remember what I did the night before. Each to their own!;)

[fishtaco]

I have absolutely no issue with others drinking and I do drink when I desire. I am just not sold on spending that much of my money on it. My DH likes a better wine and for us a bottle or two is all we will need. Nice they have something for everyone! ;)

 

This doesn't make sense?

 

You are saying that you are not sold on spending that much money on Alcohol to a poster

who had just pointed out how much you usually drink on a cruise and that it added up to almost the same amount as you would not spend?

 

I understand the wine bit though.

[joe6666]

This doesn't make sense?

 

You are saying that you are not sold on spending that much money on Alcohol to a poster

who had just pointed out how much you usually drink on a cruise and that it added up to almost the same amount as you would not spend?

 

I understand the wine bit though.

 

Sounds like the Wife is doing the posting and the Husband is doing the drinking.

[fas64]

Hi

 

The $55 per day drink package includes the tip. ie for a 7 day cruise it will cost you $385 each which includes the tip.

[Dan1113]

I'm leaning a bit toward the cheaper package, the only thing of course is that we will be in port every day except for one day! So we'd only really be on the ship in the evenings, and one full play plus embarkation...

[clcurry]

Hi

 

The $55 per day drink package includes the tip. ie for a 7 day cruise it will cost you $385 each which includes the tip.

 

This would be the cost per person. If there are two 21+ year olds in a cabin (with no medical conditions preventing one from purchasing a package) then the total for both would be $385 x 2 or $770.

 

The more I think about it, the more I realize that it would be rare that my BF and I would have a week long alcohol bill more than $770.

[pipeye1]

Guest one: 334.81

Guest two: 334.81

 

subtotal: 669.62

Gratuity: 100.44

 

Total: 770.06

[Bella99]

With just a couple months to go I was looking at the drinks packages, and I noticed that now there are these all included packages (on top of the wine ones -- which I always thought were so expensive anyway).

 

At 55 dollars per day (with the 15% tip they charge when you book), you get beers under 6.25 (so really about 7.20 with the tip), wine by the glass, and soft drinks.

 

So that would work out to something like 6 beers per day plus a couple soft drinks or whatever. Other than the day at sea, I imagine we'll be having lunch somewhere on shore. 6 a day seems like a good amount...haha.

 

How much are drinks on board? And what sort of beers are under 6.25? I went on RC chat but they weren't able to give me any sort of drinks list - how convenient, haha. Just trying to figure out if this package is worth it or if we'd be cheaper just buying individual drinks.

 

 

Hi

 

There is a thread about a year of called "cost of drinks on RCI ships". It has a link in one of the first few comments which will take you to a copy of the drinks menu which should give you a rough idea. Sorry I can't work out how to cut and paste it here. Remember the gratuity of 15% would be added to these prices.

[Hawaii_Flyer]

I would also really like to see Royal Caribbeans price lists if anyone has them. Being from Hawaii I tend to think in Waikiki prices where you could easily be over 6.50 just for a bud light, a fancy drink like a mai tai or specialty martini is easily 12-16$ and I just paid 10$ this weekend for a gin and tonic. So for us, I would think it's more like 4 drinks a day to break even.

 

Maybe my price expectations are out of wack though.

 

A wine list would be helpful also.

[SteveSRQ]

With Celebrity's Classic Drink Package, the maximum for beer is $5, for liquors $8 and for wine $8. Does anyone know if the maximums are the prices before the 15% service charge is added or after (assuming you were buying the drinks a la carte)? Thanks!

[hellsop]

With Celebrity's Classic Drink Package, the maximum for beer is $5, for liquors $8 and for wine $8. Does anyone know if the maximums are the prices before the 15% service charge is added or after (assuming you were buying the drinks a la carte)? Thanks!

 

Wow, talk about a misplaced thread-jack... = ;)

 

But, to answer the question Celebrity's limits were before the auto-gratuity. Haven't sailed on them in a couple of years, though.

[CruiseAddict1982]

With just a couple months to go I was looking at the drinks packages, and I noticed that now there are these all included packages (on top of the wine ones -- which I always thought were so expensive anyway).

 

At 55 dollars per day (with the 15% tip they charge when you book), you get beers under 6.25 (so really about 7.20 with the tip), wine by the glass, and soft drinks.

 

So that would work out to something like 6 beers per day plus a couple soft drinks or whatever. Other than the day at sea, I imagine we'll be having lunch somewhere on shore. 6 a day seems like a good amount...haha.

 

How much are drinks on board? And what sort of beers are under 6.25? I went on RC chat but they weren't able to give me any sort of drinks list - how convenient, haha. Just trying to figure out if this package is worth it or if we'd be cheaper just buying individual drinks.

 

I had the premium package on a 4 day cruise and it was well worth it. I has about 10-12 drinks a day which included soda beer and mixed drinks and a frozen drink and I loved it . Even tried a few drinks I've never had before. Well worth it to me

[mzk90]

With Celebrity's Classic Drink Package, the maximum for beer is $5, for liquors $8 and for wine $8. Does anyone know if the maximums are the prices before the 15% service charge is added or after (assuming you were buying the drinks a la carte)? Thanks!

 

Celebrity put the limits up recently.

[sophiecruiser]

RCCL has made some changes to their drink packages recently. The biggest change is that all passengers in same cabin are no longer required to purchase a package.

 

They now have a 'premium' @$55/day which includes wine by the glass up to $12. They also have 'ultimate' which says it includes 'virtually unlimited options'. Not sure what they mean by that!

[CruiseAddict1982]

RCCL has made some changes to their drink packages recently. The biggest change is that all passengers in same cabin are no longer required to purchase a package.

 

They now have a 'premium' @$55/day which includes wine by the glass up to $12. They also have 'ultimate' which says it includes 'virtually unlimited options'. Not sure what they mean by that!

 

Does anyone know what exactly unlimited includes?