Beverage Package Usage

[300dtc]

Hi There!

This may be somewhere in a thread but I was wondering about the Princess Beverage package...my DH will be purchasing the package on our next cruise in May, but I do not drink enough to bother with it, so will not be getting one. My question is, if he purchases a bottle of wine in the restaurant at a 40% discount can I also share that bottle? I know that he can't buy drinks for me:rolleyes: but it seems that if you buy the bottle even at a discount that may be different?

Thank you

[sydneyguy]

Yes you can share the bottle.

 

 

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[jak378]

On the Regal in December I purchased the Unlimited package, my wife did not. As a practical matter every time I ordered a cocktail in a bar or the MDR along with a glass of wine for her, I was not charged for either. Both were shown on the slip with a 0 entered for both, obviously with a total of 0. On the Caribbean in February I again bought the package and she did not. Each time I ordered a cocktail along with a glass of wine for her, the wait person asked for her card and charged her glass of wine on it.

 

Go figure

[Thrak]

On the Regal in December I purchased the Unlimited package, my wife did not. As a practical matter every time I ordered a cocktail in a bar or the MDR along with a glass of wine for her, I was not charged for either. Both were shown on the slip with a 0 entered for both, obviously with a total of 0. On the Caribbean in February I again bought the package and she did not. Each time I ordered a cocktail along with a glass of wine for her, the wait person asked for her card and charged her glass of wine on it.

 

Go figure

 

The first time was wrong. You are not supposed to be able to share the card. Period. You should have been charged for the wine on the first cruise.

 

A bottle of wine at 40% off however is totally different. You can share it with anybody - perhaps treat your table mates. :)

[Pam in CA]

On the Caribbean in February I again bought the package and she did not. Each time I ordered a cocktail along with a glass of wine for her, the wait person asked for her card and charged her glass of wine on it.

This is the way it's supposed to work. It's not shareable. You got away with it. As a Princess officer said to me last year after the package was introduced, "We know that our Princess passengers are honest and won't share." It's essentially on the honor system although some waitstaff will allow you to share the package. They won't be reprimanded for doing so. But you'll know whether it's right or not.

 

As for the bottle of wine, if you purchase a bottle with the package, yes, you can share that. Same way you would if you ordered a cocktail for yourself and offered others a sip. :)

[Thrak]

It's essentially on the honor system although some waitstaff will allow you to share the package. They won't be reprimanded for doing so. But you'll know whether it's right or not.

:)

 

Pam, are you sure about this? I believe you were pretty high up in management in your past life. Would you have tolerated behavior of that sort? Perhaps Princess figures a bit of shrinkage is inevitable but, if I had a policy such as they have with their alcohol package, I would really expect my employees to (politely) follow the rules.

[dreamcruiser53]

Having just disembarked from a Caribbean cruise I witnessed first hand the sharing of a drinks package amongst the college kids. I don't think the bar tenders could keep up with it!

[Rancher Dave]

Pam, are you sure about this? I believe you were pretty high up in management in your past life. Would you have tolerated behavior of that sort? Perhaps Princess figures a bit of shrinkage is inevitable but, if I had a policy such as they have with their alcohol package, I would really expect my employees to (politely) follow the rules.

 

Agree they should remind folks nicely to not break the rules...

 

Not sure how they can measure real shrinkage vs. wastage. If rules were strictly enforced at least drinks in one bar after the other or should I say one for buyer and one to put on the counter that is consumed by someone else back in the cabin...not right but even harder to enforce than the more blatant shrinkage in the MDR allowed by servers, who of course are mostly compensated by tips thus are economically incentivized to allow rule breaking.

 

As long as the economics of the rule breaking and overindulgence still is profitable for Princess, likely nothing will happen. If profits slip either strict enforcement comes about or the price of the package edges up slightly.

[Pam in CA]

Pam, are you sure about this? I believe you were pretty high up in management in your past life. Would you have tolerated behavior of that sort? Perhaps Princess figures a bit of shrinkage is inevitable but, if I had a policy such as they have with their alcohol package, I would really expect my employees to (politely) follow the rules.

No. The company I worked for considered this fraud/theft of service. The employee would have been talked to and the consequences of continued actions discussed. Yes, I fired several employees for fraud/theft of service. Unfortunately, the employees didn't take it seriously and thought it was NBD. They found out otherwise.

 

However, I did not work for Princess and they do not appear to have the same standards or operating procedures.

[Cali_Mum]

Yes you can share the bottle.

 

 

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So glad to hear this! I know my DH will be getting the beverage package but don't know if I will...getting this deal on wine will be nice either way.

[Camelia-]

I'm surprised that there was a choice in purchasing the package at all.

 

I was recently on an MSC cruise and they offered beverage packages as well. The rule though is that both people sharing a cabin must buy the package - obviously to eliminate the "sharing"..course..if you're travelling with a group then I'm sure that sometimes the rules are broken. I did see several times that one person of the group (who had the card) would go to the bar to get a drink and then 10 minutes later return to get another to hand over to his friend. Don't know how it worked though when placing an order. I think then he would have been refused if he ordered two drinks at once..at least I would expect that to be so.

 

Camelia

[caribill]

I'm surprised that there was a choice in purchasing the package at all.

 

When Princess first tested the concept, all adults in the same cabin had to buy it. Also, anyone under 21 in the cabin had to buy the soda and more sticker.

 

I suspect that the tests showed many who would have purchased the package did not because the other adult in the cabin did not consume alcoholic beverages and was not going to pay $49 + tip a day for a specialty coffee or two.

[alreadypacked]

No. The company I worked for considered this fraud/theft of service. The employee would have been talked to and the consequences of continued actions discussed. Yes, I fired several employees for fraud/theft of service. Unfortunately, the employees didn't take it seriously and thought it was NBD. They found out otherwise.

 

However, I did not work for Princess and they do not appear to have the same standards or operating procedures.

 

Pam, you are a wealth of knowledge on these boards! Out of curiosity, did you work for a cruise line or in another branch of travel/hospitality?

[Aramis]

We have been discussing getting this for both of us, but having an aft balcony we are trying to work out if we can get a couple of drinks each to take to our cabin since we can't use it for room service. The majority of the time onboard when not dining we want to be on the balcony. We plan on both getting the package after using the calculator that was kindly posted but if we can't grab a few drinks for the balcony it won't be worth it.

[crochetcruise]

We have been discussing getting this for both of us, but having an aft balcony we are trying to work out if we can get a couple of drinks each to take to our cabin since we can't use it for room service. The majority of the time onboard when not dining we want to be on the balcony. We plan on both getting the package after using the calculator that was kindly posted but if we can't grab a few drinks for the balcony it won't be worth it.

 

Visit a bar, each get your preferred drink,, then take the glasses back to the cabin and put them in the fridge, then go to another bar for more drinks to enjoy on the balcony with a refill ready waiting in the fridge is my suggestion. HTH. Newbie cruiser, but have learnt such LOTS from the different threads, including some things I personally would NOT have thought of!

 

Crochetcruise :cool:

[jennyg2610]

Hi There!

 

This may be somewhere in a thread but I was wondering about the Princess Beverage package...my DH will be purchasing the package on our next cruise in May, but I do not drink enough to bother with it, so will not be getting one. My question is, if he purchases a bottle of wine in the restaurant at a 40% discount can I also share that bottle? I know that he can't buy drinks for me:rolleyes: but it seems that if you buy the bottle even at a discount that may be different?

 

Thank you

 

 

My husband bought the package and I didn't. He bought me bottles of wine at different bars for me to drink. He never shared it with me, he just got his glasses.