What Have You Paid for Drinks on RCI Lately?

[link99]

I found a receipt from this week. the Motto "be prepared" applies here. Cococay

 

 

 

 

 

The thing you all are missing is the TAX. The Bahamas. Now charge a tax ( this is new surprise) did royal tell you that. So you are paying for the increased drink price,the now 18% Grat and tax so it is now more expensive to drink in the Bahamas.

 

What's the Saying it's better in the Bahamas. It should be its more expensive in the Bahamas. Enjoy your stay in Coco Cay and Nassau.

[karl_nj]

It's even worse when you're stuck paying that all year...those are the prices we have to pay in our area for regular cocktails or decent glass of wine at most nicer restaurants (not even top level restaurants, just nicer ones) and most nightclubs. And I enjoy the occasional drink out on weekends - which gets expensive.

 

The only affordable "drink package" around here is buying bottles at the liquor store and staying home! :D

 

Or going on another cruise line? Although i'm booked on two Royal cruises for 2015, my two cruises in 2016 are on a different line.

 

But I've never been "Loyal to Royal."

[LMKakaThing2]

I don't drink enough to warrant an expensive package, and DH doesn't drink at all. I have to say however, that I guess I didn't believe what everybody was saying about the current cost of the alcoholic beverages/frozen drinks. While looking at my receipts from last week's cruise, I was reminded of how crazy those prices are...

Ultimate Colada - $12

BBC - $11.80

D of the D - $13.20

 

What are you all paying for your individual drinks? :confused:

Got off the Radiance a week ago and the DOD was only $8+ gratuity and you got to keep the glass. And the glass was actual glass and not plastic. Martinis were $14.16 and that was with the gratuity.

[Coralc]

I only drink beer, and I purchased a package when we were on Jewel May 2-16, 2015.

 

We were at the Pool Bar and a women next to us ordered a strawberry daiquiri and asked me to read the price on the receipt...because she didn't have her reading glasses.

 

It was $14.61 total price for one strawberry daiquiri. And she said, "Holy Smokes!!! I won't be drinking very many of these"

 

And I sort of tend to agree with her. :rolleyes:

[trogmd]

Got off the Radiance a week ago and the DOD was only $8+ gratuity and you got to keep the glass. And the glass was actual glass and not plastic. Martinis were $14.16 and that was with the gratuity.

 

 

Love Martinis but not loving $14.16. :(

[molly361]

$6 for house brand vodka and cranberry plus tip

$9 for Kettle One and tonic

 

This was on the BR end of April 2015

[bcarney]

Don't get me wrong, it's not enough to prevent me from cruising but it was quite a shocker.

 

It won't prevent me from cruising, but it has caused me to change cruise lines...

[BND]

That's pretty cheap, although I'm sure our local bar is comparable. But going out for dinner, even Chilis a margarita is over $10 / drink.

 

Where CB lives in Fredericksburg is a lower cost of living area than nothern VA and everything is cheaper. My parents live there and we are in NoVA. We pay more for everything from houses to gas to eating out. Drink prices here are definitely more (except happy hour in a couple of mexican restaurants) around here. But, I can also tell you those prices CB quotes are not the average or the norm there, but the lowest I've heard of or seen. In general a beer here is around $5-7, wine is $7 and up per glass and mixed drinks are at least $7-9, some "specialty" drinks are $15, all before any tip.

Edited May 30, 2015 by BND

[pspercy]

What about a 16oz beer (domestic)

 

... or 20oz Heineken or Amstel ?

[Clarea]

What about a 16oz beer (domestic)

 

... or 20oz Heineken or Amstel ?

Around $5 to $6.

[pspercy]

Around $5 to $6.

 

OK, thanks.

We made Diamond on our last cruise:D but when looking at December(5/6) this year Royal was higher than NCL but NCL offered an included drink package too !

 

Now they're about the same but NCL still has the edge so looks like we'll be taking our first cruise out of Houston:eek:

 

Actually preferable as it's also Galveston's "Dickens on The Strand" weekend so hotels there will be sky high.

[DaisyL]

What about a 16oz beer (domestic)

 

... or 20oz Heineken or Amstel ?

 

My brother ordered a domestic 16 oz beer (Coors Light) and it cost $7.08 ($6+18% grat.). He got the Select package after that.... lol. On Liberty, 5-6-15.

[DaisyL]

I'd like to know too, but I've not seen any details on bar gratuity distribution from Royal.

 

We asked the bartender at Squeeze, on Liberty early May, about the gratuities when using a drink package. He said the gratuity paid on the packages is distributed to everyone. If you tip extra, it goes directly to the bartender so we tipped all our regular bartenders extra cash, on the last day.

 

I don't know how the automatic gratuity (18%) on individual purchased drinks are distributed.

[roe2ship]

A ridiculous $14.16 were the cost of many drinks. To top it off, it was the first time that I really felt that the drinks were really watered down. One thing for sure, I had many less drinks this last cruise and not so much because of the high prices but the painfully slow bar service and non-existent pool waiters.:rolleyes:

[joepeka]

We asked the bartender at Squeeze, on Liberty early May, about the gratuities when using a drink package. He said the gratuity paid on the packages is distributed to everyone. If you tip extra, it goes directly to the bartender so we tipped all our regular bartenders extra cash, on the last day.

 

I don't know how the automatic gratuity (18%) on individual purchased drinks are distributed.

 

Our bar waiter in the MDR told us something similar: any cash tip you give him/her directly goes to him/her only; the 18% auto gratuity and anything you add to the tab on top of the 18% is shared among all the bar staff.

[pspercy]

On various ships I've seen cash tips go in a jar so perhaps it's something agreed to amongst themselves.

[joepeka]

On various ships I've seen cash tips go in a jar so perhaps it's something agreed to amongst themselves.

 

The two bartenders in the CL had a jar (actually it looked more like a wine carafe) for their tips which I assumed they split between the two of them only.

Edited May 30, 2015 by joepeka

[Clarea]

On various ships I've seen cash tips go in a jar so perhaps it's something agreed to amongst themselves.

What I've seen is bartenders share tips with the jar, but bar servers put the tips in their pocket.

[BND]

A ridiculous $14.16 were the cost of many drinks. To top it off, it was the first time that I really felt that the drinks were really watered down. One thing for sure, I had many less drinks this last cruise and not so much because of the high prices but the painfully slow bar service and non-existent pool waiters.:rolleyes:

 

The drinks weren't watered down, but they are measuring shots now instead of just free pours. That by itself makes people think drinks are "weak" when they're actually just being measured properly.

[cjdixon4]

So you're comparing cumquats to bolts?

 

What absurdity.

 

Get a sense of humor, will you? Really...