Princess Beverage Package Evaluator

[Cruise Junky]

Very useful thread and comparison tool. Question - does the bev package cover wine at Vines whereby you still get the sushi/tapas?

 

yes.

[kwahl1]

Here is my initial rev of a beverage package evaluator - if you see items that are incorrect/missing, please let me know so I can improve this spreadsheet. All of the soda/water/juice prices are estimates for now, I can't seem to find current actual prices. Hope this is useful!

 

Are we sure this package includes the International Café. I understood from my TA it did not include the coffee specialty drinks, ONLY coffee drinks from the bar like Irish Coffee and Kaluha and coffee,etc. A 15 punch coffee card would have to be bought separately. Can anyone confirm? I don't think there is a problem with me getting my money's worth on this package. Brandi and Greg had it right, a bottle of wine at dinner for a few nights sharing with your table mates, would help to make it worth it. 32 days until the Regal!

[eldridchapman]

Think u missed Long Island Iced Tea

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1994125

[CaptData]

I thing this is a good idea and needs to be moved back to page one.

[Gilly's Daughter]

oh good a pina colada is only $5.50 - cheap by london standards!!

[IECalCruiser]

Here is my initial rev of a beverage package evaluator - if you see items that are incorrect/missing, please let me know so I can improve this spreadsheet. All of the soda/water/juice prices are estimates for now, I can't seem to find current actual prices. Hope this is useful!

You might need to revise your prices. I just saw this post on another thread.

Just got off the 5 day Caribbean Princess yesterday and four of us purchased the Unlimited package. There are not many drinks that only cost $7. $6.95 will buy you just a regular drink, i.e. rum & coke, gin & tonic. Margarita's, daiquiris, and other mixed drinks cost $7.95 each and many of Princess's speciality drinks, i.e. Caribbean Cooler, Bahama Bay Breeze, cost $8.95 each. A glass of wine costs $7.25 and up. Almost all the martini-type drinks in Crooners are $8.95 each. It really isn't hard to drink enough to reach the $49 mark. Plus we got speciality coffees each day and it even included the large bottles of water they sell. The only day two of didn't reach the $49 mark was on the day we were in Cozumel, probably because we did the Cozomel Bar Hop!

 

Our only complaint is that so many people are getting the package that the bartenders at the pools are overwhelmed and service there was very lacking.

The above were prices before the 15% gratuity. It looks like Princess just raised the price of drinks about $1 each.

[pklein9747]

The prices in my previous referenced post were correct and I wish I had taken photos of the bar menus. We were surprised that the prices had gone up so much and it really made our decision an easy one as to whether we should purchase the All Inclusive package.

[lone_stranger]

It appears that the prices of the beverages have increased, but without hard numbers it is difficult to use the beverage package evaluator to learn whether the Ultimate Package is a worthwhile expense. Would someone who is going on a cruise in the near future please capture the new prices for us? If the prices go up, is the price of the Ultimate package going up too?

[SeaCBear]

I didn't take a photo of any bar menus, but I snap a shot of the coffee menu last week on the Regal, in case it's of any use.

 

 

 

It appears that the prices of the beverages have increased, but without hard numbers it is difficult to use the beverage package evaluator to learn whether the Ultimate Package is a worthwhile expense. Would someone who is going on a cruise in the near future please capture the new prices for us? If the prices go up, is the price of the Ultimate package going up too?

[mytime53]

It appears that the prices of the beverages have increased, but without hard numbers it is difficult to use the beverage package evaluator to learn whether the Ultimate Package is a worthwhile expense. Would someone who is going on a cruise in the near future please capture the new prices for us? If the prices go up, is the price of the Ultimate package going up too?

 

I guess I deleted the other prices I had, but this is the one photo I kept. For me, it wasn't about "what do I usually spend" or "what do I normally drink". Although I wouldn't want to do this for more than 1 week, I loved having the package on the cruise we just got off. I'm the kind of person who weighs the cost of each drink compared to drinking in my own home, and even in my own home, I'm fairly careful of cost of drinking. Go to buy beer...I'll take any one of my 5 favorites that's on sale. Out of scotch, yeah I'll wait for a better price. So to have this package was freeing! I got it because I figured it would be great for DH, but he didn't want to feel bad drinking more than I was. I never buy specialty drinks, but with this I could without guilt (okay, there was the calorie guilt, but for one week, oh well). I tried all the different scotches, and found a new favorite (now I just have to see if it's a reasonably priced one in the store...probably not). I tried a Bombay Sapphire martini one day...a drink I never would have even tried before...and found out I loved them...had one (or two) every day. By the end of day 5, we didn't have to drink anymore to get our money's worth. Diet soda...we usually go without when cruising, but not this time. I have to admit that it was really nice to not think about the price of every drink before ordering.

[calvin31]

By the end of day 5 you drank enough to not spend the $100 for day 6 & 7 ($50 each day...approx 5 drinks per day)?? Wow....I salute you as a true professional drinker (seriously! :) ). That's especially impressive when port days count as well....so there's less time to drink.

 

I just returned from a 7 day Alaskan cruise and found the package to be nowhere near worth it for my own consumption. This Evaluator spreadsheet helped immensely in making that decision.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mytime53]

By the end of day 5 you drank enough to not spend the $100 for day 6 & 7 ($50 each day...approx 5 drinks per day)?? Wow....I salute you as a true professional drinker (seriously! :) ). That's especially impressive when port days count as well....so there's less time to drink.

 

I just returned from a 7 day Alaskan cruise and found the package to be nowhere near worth it for my own consumption. This Evaluator spreadsheet helped immensely in making that decision.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I used the spreadsheet before we left and figured DH would about break even and I would lose some. Didn't turn out that way:D

By the last few days I wasn't bothering to count soda, coffee, water...any of those things that cost less than $5. Normally we don't buy water on board, but this time we were traveling ultra-light, ultra-small, and didn't bring water bottles, so a bottled water each was great for our hikes. We only brought 1 suitcase between the 2 of us and our small backpacks. We had a tough time fitting in the small souvenirs and carrying the alcohol we bought at duty free at the end of the trip!

 

I don't drink at home like I do on vacation...I never have alcohol before 5 at home, when I'll often have a beer. But on vacation I'll have a beer with lunch, and on this trip we added a shot of Irish creme to the late morning or early afternoon latte. Our cruise was only 3 port days, one of which was over by 2. The only one we stayed off ship most of the day was Juneau. But you're right...on an intensive port cruise where we're off the shiip most of the day I could never do my share. I could have fun trying, though! If someone mainly drinks beer, it would be difficult, probably. But I prefer not so cheap wine and not so cheap scotch. I found a new wine I just love...$10/glass. I'm going to look for it in the store. So, 2 glasses of wine with dinner, and 2 scotch for a nightcap, a beer with lunch, latte with shot....not that hard! There's $50 right there. So pretty easy to find room in that schedule for 2 extra drinks/day for 5 days. But like I said, not for more than 7 days!

Edited June 2, 2014 by mytime53

[kelly94942]

Very interesting updates. From the coffee and whiskey menus that were posted, it does look like things have gone up on average about 25 - 50 cents each. I also wonder if they will be raising the price of the beverage package. If someone can post pics of the complete bar menu, I will certainly update the spreadsheet!

[Sunviking]

I'm sure this has been stated somewhere but when I tried a search I gave up. Is gelato from the IC included in the package? Just wondering. Thank you in advance for an answer. :)

[IECalCruiser]

Very interesting updates. From the coffee and whiskey menus that were posted, it does look like things have gone up on average about 25 - 50 cents each. I also wonder if they will be raising the price of the beverage package. If someone can post pics of the complete bar menu, I will certainly update the spreadsheet!

The coffee menu appears to be unchanged from prices at the IC last year.

 

 

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[likeadisguise]

Gelato from the IC is not included. Gelato from Gelato's on Royal and Regal is supposed to be included, but a poster on Regal's inaugural voyage said she had problems with that.

[dbeckett]

Just wondering which is the latest (and most current) excel spreadsheet. It sounded like it had had the gratuity added in and more drinks added but I couldn't find it.

 

Thanks

[kelly94942]

I guess I deleted the other prices I had, but this is the one photo I kept. For me, it wasn't about "what do I usually spend" or "what do I normally drink". Although I wouldn't want to do this for more than 1 week, I loved having the package on the cruise we just got off. I'm the kind of person who weighs the cost of each drink compared to drinking in my own home, and even in my own home, I'm fairly careful of cost of drinking. Go to buy beer...I'll take any one of my 5 favorites that's on sale. Out of scotch, yeah I'll wait for a better price. So to have this package was freeing! I got it because I figured it would be great for DH, but he didn't want to feel bad drinking more than I was. I never buy specialty drinks, but with this I could without guilt (okay, there was the calorie guilt, but for one week, oh well). I tried all the different scotches, and found a new favorite (now I just have to see if it's a reasonably priced one in the store...probably not). I tried a Bombay Sapphire martini one day...a drink I never would have even tried before...and found out I loved them...had one (or two) every day. By the end of day 5, we didn't have to drink anymore to get our money's worth. Diet soda...we usually go without when cruising, but not this time. I have to admit that it was really nice to not think about the price of every drink before ordering.

 

This is funny because this is the exact reason my DH is encouraging me to get the drink package. When we are out, I often drink vodka & cranberry because it is a fairly inexpensive well drink. But I'd always prefer a cosmopolitan or some other "specialty" type drink (or perhaps a nicer vodka in my vodka cran). He really wants me to be able to enjoy drinking whatever drink I want because of the package. I'm glad to hear there are others like me!

 

Also - thanks for the post of the new whiskey prices!

[IECalCruiser]

Gelato from the IC is not included. Gelato from Gelato's on Royal and Regal is supposed to be included, but a poster on Regal's inaugural voyage said she had problems with that.

The package states all beverages under $10 are included but there is no mention of gelato which is not a beverage. The confusion on the Royal and the Regal is that the coffee card can be used to buy gelato (one punch) and alcoholic ice cream drinks (two punches). It would seem that the alcoholic ice cream drinks should be included, but why the gelato?

 

 

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[likeadisguise]

Anything you can buy with a punch of a coffee card is supposed to be included in the All-inclusive Beverage Package.

[pennst8r]

Thanks for the beverage package calculator. In addition to the usefulness, I learned about available drinks I've never tried. I guess if I ever got the package I'd try 'em! :D

 

So, after entering on the spreadsheet the drinks I'd like to have, I find I SHOULD get the package. However, what I'd LIKE to drink may not be the same as what I CAN actually drink! :eek:

 

I usually have two to three foo-foo drinks a day on a cruise; but, to achieve the goal, I have selected seven cocktails a day. Not sure I could keep up the pace for seven whole days. In my "real" life, I probably have one cocktail every month or so. The two-to-three drinks on a cruise are when I'm in vacation mode. Still, it would be fun to try!

 

Thanks again!

Edited June 3, 2014 by pennst8r

[IECalCruiser]

Anything you can buy with a punch of a coffee card is supposed to be included in the All-inclusive Beverage Package.

Where did you see that? Per the Princess website:

 

"Take advantage of our All-Inclusive Beverage Package which includes any individual beverage item, such as soda, water, cocktails, spirits, wines, beers, coffee and tea, up to $10 (retail value). Bottles of wine are NOT included in the package; however, when purchased in the bars, dining rooms, or in the stateroom, will be available at a 40% discount from the menu price. Applicable to all bottles below $100 retail. Note: This package is available for consumption at all bars, public areas and dining venues (not room service and excludes mini bar items)."

 

There is no mention of gelato which is not a beverage or that anything you can buy with a punch of a coffee card is supposed to be included in the All-inclusive Beverage Package.

 

Now what is done onboard a specific ship can and does vary from what is on the Princess website, but only going be what is offficially stated.

 

This is the information on the package as offered on the Grand.

 

[likeadisguise]

I've seen people report that they were included on Royal. And they were mentioned in the CC news item about the expansion of the pacjage, which was based on a press release from Princess: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5769

[rdsqrl]

That "Food retail items" under items Not included seems a pretty definitive answer: No gelato.

[IECalCruiser]

I've seen people report that they were included on Royal. And they were mentioned in the CC news item about the expansion of the pacjage, which was based on a press release from Princess: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5769

A Cruise Critic News article also said that the Regal's center staircase would be opened for use above the Promenade deck which didn't happen. As I said, what is on the Princess website and what actually happens on board are not always the same. Just stating what the website actually says.

 

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Edited June 4, 2014 by IECalCruiser