$12 Drinks? No thanks!

[link99]

That is interesting. You can't even buy a souvenir glass on RCI without having 18% gratuity added. You might think someone was down below actually making the glasses.:rolleyes:

 

NOW that is some funny Stuff.

[Big_G]

It certainly isn't any ship from Silverseas or Crystal. I don't think the NCL EPIC compares to RCI's Quantum or Oasis. There is simply no comparison. Now the cruise experience on one can be better for any individual, but I gaurantee every cruise ship line would swap their flagship for the Anthem of the Seas in a heartbeat. Silverseas are basically large yachts ranging from 16,000 tons to 36,000 tons. Their expedition fleet are even smaller. The Russian Billionair Roman Abramovich owns the Eclipse which is listed at 13,000 tons, and it is the second largest private yacht.

 

Is his yacht better equipped than the Quantum of the Seas. Well, it has less motors, no flowrider, no northstar, no sky diving, unless you take the helicopter, Probably doesn' have a giant theatre. Is the food better, I am sure it is. The wine list undoubtedly. If a $12 cocktail freaks you out... then I can only imagine what the charter cost would be....

 

This is a stupid arquement. Except, there are no ships more advanced or fantastic than RCI's ships. Are they cruises you or I might like more, probably.

 

But please continue to accuse me of joking... or making it up. Because nobody is buying your arguement anyway.

 

Kind of like trying to tell a Christian that Jesus isn't real. Everybody has their own opinion and you are not going to change them, but calling them jokesters is always an excellent debate tool...:D:rolleyes:

 

jc

 

You're sparring with a member that has nothing good to say about Royal Caribbean. :rolleyes:

[xpcdoojk]

You're sparring with a member that has nothing good to say about Royal Caribbean. :rolleyes:

 

I know... I can go weeks without commenting, but I am always amazed at how they can keep it up.:D I just get tired of the constant complaining. If you don't like RCI don't sail RCI, quit trying to convince others that they are stupid if they like RCI.

 

I think I said early on in this thread that (or one of the many previous iterations... ) RCI is tryiing to move us all to an all-inclusive cruise, whether we like it or not. The irony is for years people have said, RCI sucks compared to an AI resort or that RCI is nickel and diming everyone and they suck. Heck someone said they charge for Coca Cola... not if you buy the packages. So, now with the drink packages being pushed and the mechanism being used to get people to convert is pricing of individual drinks is being increased. I am not a fan, but it is an economic decision, if you don't like it move on. If you like it great. I just get sick and tired of the continual trying to make everyone share their opinion that RCI sucks.

 

That said, thanks for the help. Sincerely.

 

jc

[Jiffymom]

I love the idea of buying a package of drinks. Rather than a daily fee. Good idea in my opinion and yes I would buy for sure. Kind of like my Starbucks gift card. Lol

[dcgrumpy]

Disney 7 day cruise scheduled for the same departure date as our next 7 day RCI cruise for a standard inside stateroom is $6639. Our RCI price is $3266 for a inside stateroom that includes gratuity. That is a $3,373 dollar difference before you tack on the DCL gratuity.

 

Exactly

 

We're paying $3046 for a Family Oceanview, Eastern itinerary on 8/30. DCL Eastern 8/29 would be $7039 for a Family Stateroom.

[dcgrumpy]

MSC has a "coupon book" of 12 drinks for $84 (working from memory, so I may not be exactly right). I like this the best as I can use more on sea days, less when off the ship in port. Plus kids sail free.

 

 

 

NCL has free packages from time to time. Not half off second guest, free for all guests. 3/4 pax pricing seems to be a LOT better than RCL as well.

 

 

 

From now on when I book cruises, I'll be tacking on the $700 "drinks" tax when I look at RCL's prices...

 

 

I would love coupon books.

[mapleleafvoyage]

Last week on the Grandeur - 8 night cruise- our friends paid $925.12 U.S. For them to have unlimited drinks-

Now I am Canadian, so I get to add 20% exchange on top- which is why we choose to only purchase as we drank- and at $30 a pop for s couple of drinks-we ended up drinking much less. Cruise was still fine- we just drank on our port days more :)

[Goodtime Cruizin]

Have you ever been on a cruise ship that ran out of alcohol? Though I don't particularly like free pours. I don't drink to get buzzed or drunk. I just want the flavor.

 

Actually yes. But not all alcohol. But last fall on the Liberty while in the Med, there was only 1/2 bottle left of Crown Royal on the ship. I reached out to the Bar Manager and he asked me which bar that I would like it to be at. (It was at the sky Bar). They actually moved it to the Schooner Bar and kept in the back for me. I though that was pretty cool of them and he apologized but the shipment did not make in before we set sail.

[BekkaW]

Probably sounds crazy as much as Ive fussed about drink prices but I have already decided Im getting the Premium Package next cruise and already know I wont even come CLOSE to breaking even. Being able to pay for it months in advance and not worrying about how many 14.00 a day drinks I might drink a day and watching a bar bill is worth it to me. Plus I like that sodas and bottled water are included.

 

Have you considered buying yourself some OBC to the value of the package instead? You can still 'pay' in advance but then at least can get back any $ you don't spend :) just a suggestion

[ThirstyCruiser]

I have nothing new to say that hasn't been said 100 times already. Just bumping the post count so the thread with the most posts on the RCL Forum is about the crazy "Let's price the drinks across the entire ship at minibar-in-a-Manhatten-hotel levels."

 

Maybe the knuckleheads in the Ivory Tower will at least notice this thread, if not actually do anything about it.

 

 

Stay thirsty, my friends.....

[sauvichick]

Suggestions for your research,,

MSC has drink voucher books that bring the price of a drink to less then $5. a drink with gratuities! Beer vouchers bring the price of a beer to less then $3.75 including gratuity!

MSC currently has the Divina in Miami except for the summer months, but is planning to bring to Miami in 2017 a new 'Seaside Class'(check it out online) ship to cruise out of Miami year round.

We're D+ on RCL, but had a great B2B on the Divina.

Another plus is the Divina usually is priced less then most RCL cruises.

 

Carnival's new ships are every bit equal to similar RCL ships, and the 2.0 upgrades for existing ships is a great step forward. Carnivals drink prices have always been less then RCL's plus you can order liquor and beer for your cabin on Carnival that you can't do on RCL.

And again Carnival is usually priced less then RCL.

 

I didn't even think of MSC! Even more options. Carnival is not an option because I know they don't have any suite perks. Thank you for the suggestion!

[bogofman]

Looks like the value of our free drinks packages are getting better and better :(

[Wilson]

...Step 3 just hit on Celebrity. A message in the boards there said the Premium Package is being raised to $65 later this month. Next stop? RCL...

 

Do you have a link to that post?

 

We leave May 3 on Navigator and I might need to buy the package now before the price increase. I was hoping to use my OBC, but will buy it now to save $$$.

[bcarney]

Do you have a link to that post?

 

 

 

We leave May 3 on Navigator and I might need to buy the package now before the price increase. I was hoping to use my OBC, but will buy it now to save $$$.

 

 

 

Unfortunately it's too late:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2190579&highlight=april+20Hi all,I wanted to share some news that we just received regarding our beverage packages. Beginning on April 6, 2015 for all sailings beginning on or after that date, we will be raising most of our beverage package prices onboard. *From April 6, 2016 - April 19, 2015, our current prices will remain pre-cruise, thereby giving a "pre-cruise pricing advantage." *As of April 20, 2015, however, the pre-cruise prices will be raised to match the onboard prices.The following changes will be:

 

Soda Package $8.00 --> $9.00

 

Premium Water Package $14.00 --> $16.00

 

Classic N/A Beverage Package $16.00 --> $18.00

 

Premium N/A Beverage Package $20.00 --> $22.00

 

Classic Beverage Package $49.00 --> $55.00

 

Premium Beverage Package $59.00 --> $65.00

 

Please note that the same beverages will still be available under each package, and that no drinks will be removed from any of these packages. The prices also do not include the 18% gratuity. Lastly, the wine package pricing will not be changing.

[Wilson]

Unfortunately it's too late:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2190579&highlight=april+20Hi ....

 

Looks like we are still okay. That only applies to Celebrity. Royal has not increased yet.

 

Premium is still $49 plus 18% gratuity $57.82

Ultimate is still $55 plus 18% gratuity $64.90

Edited April 23, 2015 by WilsonFamilyNRH

[coldflame]

Disney 7 day cruise scheduled for the same departure date as our next 7 day RCI cruise for a standard inside stateroom is $6639. Our RCI price is $3266 for a inside stateroom that includes gratuity. That is a $3,373 dollar difference before you tack on the DCL gratuity.

 

Yup. For those of us who care about facts and do our research, know DCL was always more expensive and have gotten massively so over RCCL in the latest pricing update. I'm a 7 x DCL (Gold) CC member, and I could not justify the prices anymore and thus why we're cruising RCCL for the foreseeable future. $12 per drink (as opposed to $8) doesn't faze me in the least. Extra $50-60 on a $4000 cruise ain't going to make a difference.

 

So no, I was not exaggerating when I said that DCL was $2000 over RCCL. In fact, I was probably understating it.

[Funky Chicken]

To me, a good bartender is one that doesnt ignore your existence for 20+ minutes as you are waiting on a drink when clearly they arent very busy at all. They serve drinks that you dont have to question whether or not they even have alcohol in them and they do it with a smile.

 

There was plenty of "good" bartenders all over the ship on Freedom three years ago. This year I could count them on one hand and have fingers left.

 

Thank you for this post. That is my point exactly. I like to have a handful of friends behind the bars or on the pool deck for the sake of SERVICE.

Before my first cruise nearly 20 years ago a friend told me to have a handful of 5 dollar bills to use as tips over the first 24 hours onboard. By the end of day one I had a friend on the pool deck, in the Schooner, and in the MDR on Majesty. They knew what I liked (and what my new wife did) and whenever I was around I got a little eye contact and a smile acknowledging us.

That's the piece that I felt was missing on Freedom last week. We weren't on a package. I could have afforded to drink whatever I wanted, but the vibe I got was that the bar staff is bummed out about the direction things have taken.

There was no hustle or upbeat attitude at Labadee-the guys with the Labadoozies were moping around like Eeyore. I hardly saw any bar servers around the main pool or in the solarium. In nearly every instance where in the past bar service would have been offered with some level of interest or enthusiasm (Bingo, Friendly Feud, theater shows, ice show), nobody approached us.

[Tunkhannock]

OMG, 500+ posts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D:D:D

 

And still not a drop to drink.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We did two cruises from Australia this winter. A 14 day to Fiji and the Sun Princess in Feb and a 17 day Australia/NZ cruise on Voyager of the Seas.

 

We cruise often. There was a vast difference in quality and service between these ships. Princess was far, far better in terms of service and food.

 

We really found the RCI cruise prices to be high. Drinks were about 20 percent more costly on RCI AND they were priced in USD. Princess was priced in AUD- a 20 plus percent difference. . So the net difference, adjusted for currency was about 40 percent. Too high. We were not prepared to pay just under $18/19. AUD ( $12 USD plus service) includes service, for a martini on RCI.

 

We do not mind paying. We just do not want to be fleeced. Especially when the rest of the experience was exceptionally mediocre.

 

We had the same experience, iancal. Sun Princess over Christmas, then Rhapsody of the Seas last month. Although we really loved Rhapsody, she's a great ship to sail on and we really like teh layout of the ship, we felt that much of the RCI experience was far below Princess - most service except for traditional dinner, quality of food, variety of cocktails listed, and the most annoying thing which was the "begging" for 10/10 survey results. RCI did win out on musicians, although their production shows were tired, and lacking in energy.

 

I'd picked up a really good deal for the cruise, then had severe sticker shock over the drinks prices. After checking drinks and wine lists onboard we ended up getting packages but even with those our drinks spend was significantly more for nine nights on Rhapsody than it was for 13 nights on Sun Princess.

Edited April 23, 2015 by OzKiwiJJ

[OzKiwiJJ]

I'm well aware that many people do not/could not drink 10 drinks in a day, and that is perfectly fine. But when on vacation, with a whole day ahead of me... well 10 drinks is easy for many people. I had 42 on our 4 day cruise and not one Advil or Tylenol.

 

10 drinks on a 7 day cruise... My wife's 94 year old grandmother drinks more than that :p

 

dp

 

And, of course, they don't all have to alcoholic drinks. Our typical day would be:

 

1 glass freshly squeezed juice

2-3 espressos

2 bottles water

1-2 glasses of wine or a couple of beers with lunch

1-2 cocktails by the pool

1 cocktail before late dinner

2-3 glasses of wine with dinner

1 after dinner drink

 

That's 11-15 drinks per day, spaced out throughout the day.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I

I think I said early on in this thread that (or one of the many previous iterations... ) RCI is tryiing to move us all to an all-inclusive cruise, whether we like it or not.

 

Whilst they continue to charge extra for some restaurants they will never be considered all-inclusive. ;)

[OzKiwiJJ]

Looks like we are still okay. That only applies to Celebrity. Royal has not increased yet.

 

Premium is still $49 plus 18% gratuity $57.82

Ultimate is still $55 plus 18% gratuity $64.90

 

Remember Premium on Celebrity (now $65) is equal to Ultimate on RCI as it includes speciality coffees, sodas, juices etc.

[rimmit]

Yup. For those of us who care about facts and do our research, know DCL was always more expensive and have gotten massively so over RCCL in the latest pricing update. I'm a 7 x DCL (Gold) CC member, and I could not justify the prices anymore and thus why we're cruising RCCL for the foreseeable future. $12 per drink (as opposed to $8) doesn't faze me in the least. Extra $50-60 on a $4000 cruise ain't going to make a difference.

 

 

 

So no, I was not exaggerating when I said that DCL was $2000 over RCCL. In fact, I was probably understating it.

 

 

I love DCL but the price are really painful lately. Esp this coming Oct when the Dream goes to dry dock. Losing those cabins really jacks up the price for the rest of the fleet.

 

I am diamond on RCI and love RCI but the product has really degraded lately. Disney is the closest thing to cruising in the early 90s in regards to service and quality and they know it. They have a unique product. A large ship line with at least service close to the olden days. On top of that, the Disney brand. I am willing to pay 1000-1500 more for that per cruise but not more. Everyone is different in what they will tolerate, but clearly the market is tolerating the DCL prices.

[Funky Chicken]

I love DCL but the price are really painful lately. Esp this coming Oct when the Dream goes to dry dock. Losing those cabins really jacks up the price for the rest of the fleet.

 

I am diamond on RCI and love RCI but the product has really degraded lately. Disney is the closest thing to cruising in the early 90s in regards to service and quality and they know it. They have a unique product. A large ship line with at least service close to the olden days. On top of that, the Disney brand. I am willing to pay 1000-1500 more for that per cruise but not more. Everyone is different in what they will tolerate, but clearly the market is tolerating the DCL prices.

 

Based on the times we are able to sail, the DCL premium is about what you stated ($1000-$1500). DCL's increases seem to be concentrated in high season which is not when we cruise anyway. We also have the option of *GT rates because our sailings tend to not sell out before the 75 day cutoff. Our January 2015 VGT rate for a Fantasy 7 day Eastern was under $3K for 2A1C including port fees and we were assigned a cat 5A cabin that would have run $4700 had we selected it beforehand.

 

And yes, the market is tolerating DCL's high season pricing. The small fleet is not hurting that.

[Carguylee]

Was on Navigator last week and experienced this. I wasn't sure what all the fuss was, but when basic drinks were $12 that was a big difference. We are not big drinkers, so where I might have normally had 5 or 6 drinks on the cruise I only had 2 on this cruise.