$12 Drinks? No thanks!

[Flatbush Flyer]

Where in the world can you get drinks for those prices?!

 

 

Ditto!

Unless your drinking "well" spirits or cheap beer and "two buck chuck" wine, $5+ for craft beer and $10+ for a single serving of wine/spirits ($12-14 for something decent) is what you'll find at your average restaurant here in the SF Bay Area or in most other cosmopolitan cities.

That said, I do agree that mass market cruise line alcohol package pricing does push the envelope (particularly since they price differentiate by quality/quantity and then tack on the tip).

 

On a premium line, Oceania, the "prestige" liquor package is $60/day and includes unlimited wine and spirits regularly available at the ship's bars including the 18% gratuity. Four to five drinks per day is break even. Of course, all other beverages, including fresh juices, sodas and specialty coffees are always included in the cabin prices. (Anticipating the inevitable- "but cabin prices are high," you may be surprised when you disaggregate the costs (eg., included airfare or credit).

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Ditto!

Unless your drinking "well" spirits or cheap beer and "two buck chuck" wine, $5+ for craft beer and $10+ for a single serving of wine/spirits ($12-14 for something decent) is what you'll find at your average restaurant here in the SF Bay Area or in most other cosmopolitan cities.

That said, I do agree that mass market cruise line alcohol package pricing does push the envelope (particularly since they price differentiate by quality/quantity and then tack on the tip).

 

On a premium line, Oceania, the "prestige" liquor package is $60/day and includes unlimited wine and spirits regularly available at the ship's bars including the 18% gratuity. Four to five drinks per day is break even. Of course, all other beverages, including fresh juices, sodas and specialty coffees are always included in the cabin prices. (Anticipating the inevitable- "but cabin prices are high," you may be surprised when you disaggregate the costs (eg., included airfare or credit).

 

With all due respect, you live in California. I live near Cleveland, OH and am very well-traveled and like nice restaurants. The only places I've seen $14 for a basic cocktail are at very high-end places. Most of which the average person does not patronize on a regular basis.

[WhenIsLobsterNight]

Question on $12 drinks. I know several of the packages cover drinks up to $12. However, how does that work with the gratuity? I already paid an 18% gratuity on the price of the entire drink package when purchasing it. Surely when I buy a drink priced exactly at $12 there is no gratuity again is there? Or would I have a pile of $2.16 (18% of $12.00) gratuities on my statement at the end of the week? Nothing really surprises me anymore on how RCCL will try and get an extra nickel out of my pocket. We sail in 7 weeks and I want to make sure I understand how this works. Thanks.

[HiCSailor]

Am I the only one who wonders if certain threads here are started by employees of competitor cruise lines? lol

 

[emoji23]

 

I need to start reading the other lines threads for Royal propaganda.

[PompeySailor]

Am I the only one who wonders if certain threads here are started by employees of competitor cruise lines? lol

 

[emoji23]

 

I need to start reading the other lines threads for Royal propaganda.

 

I am sure there are hundreds of employees who frequent these boards.:)

Across all of the cruise lines.

 

Getting paid to trash the competitors, sounds like an interesting concept and getting paid to be on CC all day.

Dream job anyone?

[nbsjcruiser]

I am just learning of the outrageous drink prices Royal Caribbean has imposed. I am flabbergasted. The way I look at it, I am a person who drinks 4-5 drinks per day, and by trying to squeeze a few more bucks out of me, they have lost out completely. I will refuse to buy drinks at those prices plus additional gratuity.

 

I'll be putting some floppy flasks in my suitcases for sea days and will be drinking off the in port. I hope people are making an uproar over this and they reconsider their prices.

 

Gotta agree. There's several things going on here IMO.

 

1. The bean counters have taken over this line. Anywhere they can squeeze out a few dollars, they do it. Whether its decreased food quality as we experienced with steaks in the MDR on the Indy or increased speciality dining - they push the limit. They're looking for the line that they shouldn't cross. "How close do we get to the line where people say, enough?". That's the bean counters, looking for the magical line.

 

2. They're pushing people to the drink package. Like you, it won't work for me because I don't drink enough. Instead, I will limit my drinks for the week to 1, maybe 2 instead of the normal 5 or 6.

 

3. I believe they're also taking a page out of Carnival's book by decreasing quality so that they can limit the price increases for the cruise itself. Pretty soon we'll hear the Carnival argument here "I don't care, as long as they keep cruising affordable to me then that's all that matters". You'll know the bean counters have crossed over the magical line once that argument starts appearing.

 

For us the timing is quite bad. For years we have been looking forward to Diamond status. Not that we were exclusively RCI cruisers, I'm not that dumb. But November of this year we will get Diamond on Navigator. You'd think that we'd be jumping right back on RCI next year but we're not. The NCL Getaway is our target for next year. I think things have slipped enough with RCI lately that we're wondering if other lines might not be more to our taste. Guess we'll see

Edited April 13, 2015 by nbsjcruiser

[Flatbush Flyer]

With all due respect, you live in California. I live near Cleveland, OH and am very well-traveled and like nice restaurants. The only places I've seen $14 for a basic cocktail are at very high-end places. Most of which the average person does not patronize on a regular basis.

 

 

When I say "decent," I'm talking about something like Hendrick's gin or Hangar 1 vodka and wine that would not retail for less than $20/bottle. A "basic" alcohol cocktail (made with "bob's booze") does nothing more than give someone a buzz (if you can stand drinking enough of it) and barely a hint of that spirit's nuance.

 

Cleveland actually has some very fine restaurants (not all of which are "high priced") and I can guarantee that, if you request premium spirits or vino, you will be paying more than $10. That bottle of Grey Goose or Lagavulin (scotch) or Templeton rye (for you Sazerac drinkers), costs about the same in SF as it does in Cleveland or Chicago or NOLA or Austin (though local taxes may affect the price +\-).

I suggest that you do a simple experiment at home. Make a real Margarita. Take a decent (not terribly expensive) reposado Tequila like El Tesoro, and add Cointreau, fresh lime juice, and agave nectar. Keep your receipts and keep tabs on the number of 2 oz. tequila pours (plus relative amts. of the other ingredients). When the El Tessoro is empty, do the math and double the "per drink" cost to approximate any normal restaurant's alcohol markup (remember they have labor et al. costs you do not have). At the bottom line, you will find that $10/drink is not unreasonable. Of course, if you make those margaritas with swill like Cuervo Gold and bottled mixer, your prices will drop significantly.

[dpostman]

Question on $12 drinks. I know several of the packages cover drinks up to $12. However, how does that work with the gratuity? I already paid an 18% gratuity on the price of the entire drink package when purchasing it. Surely when I buy a drink priced exactly at $12 there is no gratuity again is there? Or would I have a pile of $2.16 (18% of $12.00) gratuities on my statement at the end of the week? Nothing really surprises me anymore on how RCCL will try and get an extra nickel out of my pocket. We sail in 7 weeks and I want to make sure I understand how this works. Thanks.

 

 

On the 4 day cruise I just did on Liberty last week, I kept a log of all the drinks I had during the 4 days, I counted 42 alcoholic drinks + several specialty coffees and FSOJ. Every single one of those 42 drinks were covered on the UP. I did get a few slips indicating $0, but once the servers knew I was tipping in cash, they stopped bringing the slips. Those drinks varried from cheap Coors light to more substantial craft beers in the Beer area, and Cocktails as simple as a Rye & ginger, Gin & tonics to Manhattans, Old Fashioneds and Frozen Mojitos and UK Elderfire. So Anyone with a premium on Ultimate pkg can relax and be pretty certain their drink will be covered.

 

That does not mean that I think the $12 price tag on a Cocktail made with premixed syrop and served in a plastic glass at the pool is worth $12. $14.16 with the tip.

 

But I looking at my numbers, I pretty much got my monies worth on the UP at around 3pm on day 2 :eek:

 

dp

[seaandsea]

Exactly what I was going to say. I'm not sure what else the OP would expect anyone to say.

I am not sure the OP was expecting anyone to say anything, maybe he was just voicing his opinion, which is one of the things most people do here.

[yolanda1]

Am I the only one who wonders if certain threads here are started by employees of competitor cruise lines? lol

 

[emoji23]

 

I need to start reading the other lines threads for Royal propaganda.

 

 

It's possible, but I suspect that it's more likely to be one of the many Royal Caribbean customers who feel that they have gone a step too far with their pricing this time ;)

[coffee59]

I completely agree with the OP. We used to purchase 2-4 drinks per day each but that stopped on the Vision in February. Drinks were very low quality (cheap mix, plastic beakers, lots of ice, no fruit embellishments). Bar staff at the pool were clueless on how to mix a drink off their own menu. An officer (bars on shoulder) worked some shifts and she could make drinks without reading the menu but others could not. $10 each at the bar and $12 at the Schooner Bar. I never saw a blender being used. It was all pours from jugs containing cheap sugary non-juice mix. An incredible drop in quality from our cruise on the Jewel Feb'14.

 

We can only cruise once a year because it takes that long to save up for the cruise + air. I do envy those with deep pockets that think this issue of increased prices is no big deal. Or Diamonds with access to free drinks.

 

With the added gratuity and conversion to Canadian dollar we realized that cruising will no longer include the beverages. But only increases to the price of the cruise ticket would send us to all inclusive resorts or other cruise lines.

[Justmekaren918]

I can see Royal is pushing people to the packages! Go to any metropolitan city for a drink and you will pay $10+! The few days I was drinking I easily beat the amount. It must be nice to have 3/4+ of your boats pax's alcohol package revenue banked days before sail time.

 

After just coming off Liberty; Royal is pushing quietly hard to get you back to MDR or into Specialty instead of WJ. It was the same food for the 5 days in the WJ! It was bland and not good! You just are not ment to eat up there the whole cruise. JMO.

[marci22]

Of course, if you make those margaritas with swill like Cuervo Gold and bottled mixer, your prices will drop significantly.

 

But what people are saying is that they are using Island Oasis mix and margarita mix to make their drinks. They are not using cointreau and fresh lime juice. And they are still charging $10 plus tip 18%.

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

But what people are saying is that they are using Island Oasis mix and margarita mix to make their drinks. They are not using cointreau and fresh lime juice. And they are still charging $10 plus tip 18%.

 

Thank you!!!

[Caribbeandancer]

I had to laugh at what the $45 admission charge ea. To get into the prohibition event was...the answer i got was it included some drinks. I then asked well what happens if we both already have a drink package? The answer i got was...a pause followed by i dont know. Seems like lots of confusion all around the drinks and packages Anyone who does not see a loss of buisness over drinks, prices, and packages are just plain blind.

[Paul65]

I completely agree with the OP. We used to purchase 2-4 drinks per day each but that stopped on the Vision in February. Drinks were very low quality (cheap mix, plastic beakers, lots of ice, no fruit embellishments). Bar staff at the pool were clueless on how to mix a drink off their own menu. An officer (bars on shoulder) worked some shifts and she could make drinks without reading the menu but others could not. $10 each at the bar and $12 at the Schooner Bar. I never saw a blender being used. It was all pours from jugs containing cheap sugary non-juice mix. An incredible drop in quality from our cruise on the Jewel Feb'14.

 

That's too bad. We didn't have that experience on the Serenade. In fact, the main bar in the Centrum (the R Bar) specialized in using fresh ingredients, including having some house-made infused vodkas, made using fresh fruits and vegetables, and using fresh-squeezed citrus juices.

 

Other bars weren't quite to the same level as the R Bar, but the drinks were still good quality.

[LMaxwell]

So let's summarize

 

- Cheap sugary mixes instead of high quality ingredients and fresh fruits

- Mid grade alcohols instead of premium brands

- Little to nothing in way of garnishes and presentation (is this corporate mandated, or laziness by over worked bar servers?)

- Disappearing servers and less bar tenders; slower services

- 20% increase in mandatory gratuity (15% to 18% is a 20% increase)

- Drink prices rivaling those of upscale land based bars in high priced cities

 

Seem accurate?

[marci22]

So let's summarize

 

- Cheap sugary mixes instead of high quality ingredients and fresh fruits

- Mid grade alcohols instead of premium brands

- Little to nothing in way of garnishes and presentation (is this corporate mandated, or laziness by over worked bar servers?)

- Disappearing servers and less bar tenders; slower services

- 20% increase in mandatory gratuity (15% to 18% is a 20% increase)

- Drink prices rivaling those of upscale land based bars in high priced cities

 

Seem accurate?

 

Yes and remember you can get all this for only $55 plus 18% gratuity per day.

 

Payable now please.

[ragen]

I was in Savannah, GA last weekend and paid $3 each for G&Ts at The Crab Shack on Tybee Island - this was regular price not happy hour - and they were plenty stout!

 

I live in Savannah,.......In the downtown tourist areas. (where prices are higher than most of the city.) on any typical day of the week, simple domestic beers, aka. PBR, Bud, Coors can be found nearly everywhere from noon-6pm for $2-$2.50. Late night full prices, $3-4.

 

You can by literally Hundreds of Craft or Local Brews & international imports all day every day all over downtown bars and restaurants, between $4.00-to-$8.50 (depending on where it's from) for a draft pint or bottle, at the very most.

 

Mixed drinks, aka, Hurricanes, Long Islands Iced and the like with premium brand liqueurs Between, $6-to-$9 everyday.

 

and, even at outdoor street festivals and special events, beers are $4 domestic, and $6 premium Imports and Micro brews.

 

Not to mention many Bars with everyday/all day $2.00 PBR 16oz tallboys or $3 Yuengling's

 

Savannah's a great drinking town,.......and like New Orleans, one of the few you can Walk and Drink legally in public on the streets.

 

ps. we also have large frozen dacorii's at Wet-Willies (Like Fat-Tuesdays for my fellow cruisers) with up to 5 different shots in each one for about $8.50 each.

 

Average simple Well Drink prices (bar brand rum & coke, Gin & tonic, Vodka and soda,etc.) are about $2.50 at happy hour, and $4-$5 bucks the rest of the day depending on the bar.

 

If a huge tourist town can do this at these prices, surely RCI don't need to charge so much.:p

Edited April 13, 2015 by ragen

[Retired LEO]

I completely agree with the OP. We used to purchase 2-4 drinks per day each but that stopped on the Vision in February. Drinks were very low quality (cheap mix, plastic beakers, lots of ice, no fruit embellishments). Bar staff at the pool were clueless on how to mix a drink off their own menu. An officer (bars on shoulder) worked some shifts and she could make drinks without reading the menu but others could not. $10 each at the bar and $12 at the Schooner Bar. I never saw a blender being used. It was all pours from jugs containing cheap sugary non-juice mix. An incredible drop in quality from our cruise on the Jewel Feb'14.

 

We can only cruise once a year because it takes that long to save up for the cruise + air. I do envy those with deep pockets that think this issue of increased prices is no big deal. Or Diamonds with access to free drinks.

 

With the added gratuity and conversion to Canadian dollar we realized that cruising will no longer include the beverages. But only increases to the price of the cruise ticket would send us to all inclusive resorts or other cruise lines.

 

I couldn't agree with you more. Off the Enchantment last week and most of the drinks on the pool deck were pre mixed in plastic jugs. No more watching them make your drink. They just fill it with ice, pour it into a glass, and give it to you. Very poor service and quality.

Edited April 13, 2015 by Retired LEO

[QE2_Fan]

See - that is what gets me. Never, in a million years (in the past), would you ask for something like a banana daiquiri and be told there are no bananas. First of all, how are there no bananas? Second of all, back in the day, they wouldn't tell you that, they'd go and find some and make your drink. And not for $12+ tip, either.

 

 

 

My last time on Majesty I have never heard so many "no, we don't have that, sorry's" in all of my forty cruises on her combined. Same thing with Grandeur before that. No limes, no bananas, no mint, no pineapple juice, no this, no that. How can that be?

 

 

 

We must have really been spoiled with service in the past - because things are so different now. We still have a few crew friends working and they've even said and agreed - things are much different now. Way too many cutbacks.

 

 

They don't use fresh bananas not other fruit anyway,,,,when they say that don't have any, they refer to the cartons of Island Oasis fruit bases. Fresh fruit in a box....plus sugar and preservatives [emoji6]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[American Bear]

I don't pay $14 for a cheap drink in a plastic cup on land and I'm sure as hell not going to on vacation!

 

 

Agreed, it doesn't make sense, these high drink prices.

Last year we did the MSC Divina 7 day Caribbean cruise out of Miami, and they had,,,

all you can drink for $400. PP, 7 days :D

and drink voucher books that were

14 Mixed drink vouchers=$72.00 or about $5.14 per drink including gratuities,:D

15 bottle beer vouchers=$52.00 or about $3.46 per drink including gratuities!:D

That's a lot better then even Carnival!:)

Edited April 13, 2015 by American Bear

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

They don't use fresh bananas not other fruit anyway,,,,when they say that don't have any, they refer to the cartons of Island Oasis fruit bases. Fresh fruit in a box....plus sugar and preservatives [emoji6]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Good point. I know they USED TO, b/c I'd order several banana daiquiris on pool days, and they were made with fresh bananas and lime juice. Back in the day though...

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Just wondering...how are the tropical drinks on other lines, are they any better quality? Only other line I've sailed on is NCL, and I can't really remember...seemed to be about the same I think.

[American Bear]

my preferred wine on shore is $12 a glass. my drinking habits will not significantly change on board.

 

they probably raised to prices to offset the fact that so many others cheat by smuggling alcohol on board or share their drink packages.

 

 

Maybe, but I don't think so.

RCL handed CEO 12 million!:eek:

Should have given him 6 million and left the drink prices alone!:eek: