Drink Package Limit?

[OCruisers]

Unlimited $10 and under. A double would cost more than $10 . You can't order two drinks at the same time but you don't have to finish one drink before ordering another.

Way less regulations than other cruise lines have on their all-inclusive sort of drink packages.

[jagoffee]

Unlimited $10 and under. A double would cost more than $10 . You can't order two drinks at the same time but you don't have to finish one drink before ordering another.

Way less regulations than other cruise lines have on their all-inclusive sort of drink packages.

 

I have only experienced a drink package on two cruise lines. Celebrity and Princess. The Princess drink package was much more regulated than Celebrity's package. On Princess I had to sign a receipt for every drink and when buying drinks with two cards I had to sign two receipts. Once I had a double and a drink for my wife and I had to sign three receipts. On Celebrity I never had to sign anything. I figured the terrible process on Princess was because it was new and it will change at some time in the future.

 

Although the Princess limit of $10 is lower than Celebrity's $13 limit for the premium package that Princess had only a few drinks/wines that cost more than $10. The drink prices on Princess are significantly lower than Celebrity's drink prices. Therefore the choices are much clearer on Princess.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Jagoffee, isn't Celebrity premium package much more expensive than Princess' package?

[caribill]

I have only experienced a drink package on two cruise lines. Celebrity and Princess. The Princess drink package was much more regulated than Celebrity's package. On Princess I had to sign a receipt for every drink and when buying drinks with two cards I had to sign two receipts.

 

I suspect this is done to keep accurate track of inventory and prevent disappearing spirits.

[hawkeyetlse]

On Princess I had to sign a receipt for every drink and when buying drinks with two cards I had to sign two receipts. Once I had a double and a drink for my wife and I had to sign three receipts.

They let you sign someone else's receipts?

[southpawsdakota]

Can anyone confirm that if you purchase the All-Inclusive drink package when boarding will you be charged TAX for that particular state or area. We will be boarding in Ft. Lauderdale and I seem to recall when purchasing the soda card while in port we had to pay tax. If we had waiting when out to sea we would not have had to. Thanks for any info on TAX.

[Colo Cruiser]

Can anyone confirm that if you purchase the All-Inclusive drink package when boarding will you be charged TAX for that particular state or area. We will be boarding in Ft. Lauderdale and I seem to recall when purchasing the soda card while in port we had to pay tax. If we had waiting when out to sea we would not have had to. Thanks for any info on TAX.

 

Best to pre purchase.

[Colo Cruiser]

Would glasses of wine at Vines also be covered up to the $10 limit?

 

Key word "ANY" drink under $10. ;)

[OCruisers]

Would glasses of wine at Vines also be covered up to the $10 limit?

 

Yes, and almost all of the glasses of wine are less than $10.

The All Inclusive Beverage Sticker can also be used at Princess Cays. :)

LuLu

[hawkeyetlse]

Can anyone confirm that if you purchase the All-Inclusive drink package when boarding will you be charged TAX for that particular state or area.

I can confirm that we were not charged sales tax when buying the package upon boarding (in San Francisco). There was a table set up for selling the drink packages and they had a stack of purchase forms already filled out by hand with the cost of the package for one person for the cruise (base price plus 15% tip but no additional tax) and we each signed one. I don't know when they actually entered the purchase into the computer, but we were able to start using the package right away, before sailaway. No tax.

Key word "ANY" drink under $10. ;)

How about the drinks in the mini-bar? :p

[OCruisers]

I can confirm that we were not charged sales tax when buying the package upon boarding (in San Francisco). There was a table set up for selling the drink packages and they had a stack of purchase forms already filled out by hand with the cost of the package for one person for the cruise (base price plus 15% tip but no additional tax) and we each signed one. I don't know when they actually entered the purchase into the computer, but we were able to start using the package right away, before sailaway. No tax.

 

Same is true for Florida ports when purchased on the ship the day we arrived. Just the base price plus the 15% tip. We used ours immediately while still in port. :D

LuLu

[Colo Cruiser]

Same is true for Florida ports when purchased on the ship the day we arrived. Just the base price plus the 15% tip. We used ours immediately while still in port. :D

LuLu

 

I think they may wait until they are outside the reaches of the (Ft Lauderdale) city/state tax area until they actually ring it through.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[OCruisers]

I think they may wait until they are outside the reaches of the (Ft Lauderdale) city/state tax area until they actually ring it through.

 

You are probably right! ;)

LuLu

[janecambridge]

Mini bar and room service are not included in the AI.package.

we used some drinks from the mini bar without knowing and as we check our bill daily,noticed we had been charged.We refilled the mini bar free from the bars and they took the charge off.Bit petty really but easily rectified at no cost.

All Vines wines under 10$ are free.The wines we tried in Vines for those prices,weren't any better then the wines by the glass anywhere else in our opinion.Didnt much rate the tapas either.

[hawkeyetlse]

All Vines wines under 10$ are free.The wines we tried in Vines for those prices,weren't any better then the wines by the glass anywhere else in our opinion.

It's nice to have a different selection, and to actually see the bottles. Ordering wines by the glass in the MDR, who knows if they bring you exactly what you order…

 

Also, they serve the wine in Riedel glasses at Vines. This apparently makes a huge difference :p They certainly look nicer than the other glasses, especially the ones up in the buffet.

 

And in case anyone is wondering, it's drinks up to and including $10. So the wines listed at $10 a glass at Vines are included in the package. :)

[jagoffee]

Jagoffee, isn't Celebrity premium package much more expensive than Princess' package?

 

Yes, it is. No need for a premium one on Princess because IMO the regular Princess one is already premium. A much better bargain.

 

I suspect this is done to keep accurate track of inventory and prevent disappearing spirits.

 

They should be able to keep accurate track by just scanning the card and inputting the drink. Like I said it might be a training issue with the staff and Princess wants a paper trail. I suspect it will change at some point. I did notice that all bar tenders did not do it the same way.

[jagoffee]

They let you sign someone else's receipts?

 

I signed my wife's receipts many times. You can take both cards to a bar and get one drink on each card. We did this often when enjoying drinks on our balcony. We were in an aft balcony on the Riveria Deck. Up two flights to the aft Oceanview bar.

[jagoffee]

They let you sign someone else's receipts?

 

Mini bar and room service are not included in the AI.package.

we used some drinks from the mini bar without knowing and as we check our bill daily,noticed we had been charged.We refilled the mini bar free from the bars and they took the charge off.Bit petty really but easily rectified at no cost.

All Vines wines under 10$ are free.The wines we tried in Vines for those prices,weren't any better then the wines by the glass anywhere else in our opinion.Didnt much rate the tapas either.

 

We thought several of the wines were better, but not all of them. The wine glasses were more upscale. They were certainly more expensive than the regular wines by the glass list. But we thought the wines by the glass list was good and the most expensive wine on the regular list was $7.95 if I recall correctly. Although we did stop and buy wine by the glass in Vines in a regular glass to take out. We thought the Vines was very nice.

 

Do some of the Princess ships have a stocked mini bar? They did not on the Royal. They only had one large bottle of water and we had the cabin steward remove it.

[Colo Cruiser]

Do some of the Princess ships have a stocked mini bar? They did not on the Royal. They only had one large bottle of water and we had the cabin steward remove it.

 

 

No stocked mini bar.

[Cruise Junky]

Jagoffee, isn't Celebrity premium package much more expensive than Princess' package?

 

The Premium Package on Celebrity is $59 a day before gratuities. Hard to compare them though as Celebrity S class has the Molecular bar which is included in the Premium Package. All their drinks are $12 and deserve to be, they're amazing. Nothing like that on Princess. Celebrity's classic package is the same price as Princess's

[Wehwalt]

No stocked mini bar.

 

Well, there is the Elite minibar setup

[Colo Cruiser]

Well, there is the Elite minibar setup

 

For the passenger that does not qualify then my Russian friend would say "net".

[jagoffee]

The Premium Package on Celebrity is $59 a day before gratuities. Hard to compare them though as Celebrity S class has the Molecular bar which is included in the Premium Package. All their drinks are $12 and deserve to be, they're amazing. Nothing like that on Princess. Celebrity's classic package is the same price as Princess's

 

I agree. The standard drink package on Princess is clearly better than Celebrity's Classic package both at the same price. Not really surprising since Celebrity's drink prices are significantly higher than Princess's drink prices.

[hawkeyetlse]

No stocked mini bar.

We had one on the Star (and we are not elite). I didn't really look what it included, I just remember that whenever we needed to put something in the fridge, there was all this other stuff already in there. And I seem to remember that it only showed up there on the second day of the cruise.

[janecambridge]

It's nice to have a different selection, and to actually see the bottles. Ordering wines by the glass in the MDR, who knows if they bring you exactly what you order…

 

Also, they serve the wine in Riedel glasses at Vines. This apparently makes a huge difference :p They certainly look nicer than the other glasses, especially the ones up in the buffet.

 

And in case anyone is wondering, it's drinks up to and including $10. So the wines listed at $10 a glass at Vines are included in the package. :)

 

Oh yes,the glasses were alot better in Vines.no doubt about that.