Clear something up for me because I'm not a drinker?

[JAMESCC]

I got into a discussion today about cruises with a few people today and the conversation turned to "drink packages". I have no experience with them because I am not a drinker even though I had the free unlimited package from NCL last year as a perk. The one guys said those packages suck because they limited you to 12 drinks per day. I never heard that but never looked into it because I have no need to, NO WAY I come close to 12 drinks a day, may 12 by the end of a 7 day cruise. So what is the answer, limited to an amount or not?

[George C]

RCCL has no limit, some other lines do, I was told by a friend he was cut off at 15 drinks on Carnival

[mike123abc]

I suspect most will not serve you more drinks if you are falling down drunk.

 

I suspect they will be suspicious if they think you are ordering drinks for others using your package. 15 drinks in a night and not appear very drunk? They probably would guess that you are passing on the drinks to others.

[KG1924]

Carnival is definitely a limit of 15 per person per day. At least that's how it was on our last Carnival cruise. If you are on say drink 14 for the day, you can pay for a few drinks and then still get your "free" drink #15, but once you officially received 15 drinks through the package you will be cut off, drunk or not. I only hit the limit once, my husband hit it a few times on sea days. It's actually not as hard as you may think and while he never has 15 drinks on a normal life kind of day, on vacation it's a handful by the pool all day, a few before dinner, with dinner and then even a few more after dinner considering we also stay up much later on vacation as opposed to at home.

 

Royal does not have a limit, but of course any cruise line can/will cut you off if they feel you are too drunk. Thank goodness I've never witnessed it myself even after the hubster's 15+ drinks on Carnival ;p

[shipgeeks]

There is no reason to buy a drink package if you are not a drinker. You can still purchase individual drinks if and when you want them.

[cb at sea]

Only Carnival limits your drinks....15 per day. RCI doesn't and as far as I've experienced..NCL doesn't either. The "break even" on drink packages is about 4-7...depending on what you're drinking and the "a la carte" price.

[leono1]

a limit and 15 drinks a day is a joke.

[JAMESCC]

There is no reason to buy a drink package if you are not a drinker. You can still purchase individual drinks if and when you want them.

 

I didn't buy a drink package, I got it free on NCL and even though I'm not a drinker it was nice to get whatever few drinks I did have free plus soda and everything else. I would choose a different package next time though.

To everyone else, thank you for the replies. Interesting information.

[chape19714]

Royal does not limit the number of drinks on the package. They may restrict to prevent over-intoxication. Although there's no "set in stone" rule, Royal Bartenders are able to see when your last drink was ordered, I've heard a certain amount of time needs to pass between drinks, but that's never happened to me. Some of the Spring Breakers around us doing shots at the pool had to wait.

[crzndeb]

I didn't buy a drink package, I got it free on NCL and even though I'm not a drinker it was nice to get whatever few drinks I did have free plus soda and everything else. I would choose a different package next time though.

To everyone else, thank you for the replies. Interesting information.

 

Did you pay the gratuity on that drink package? If you did, I wouldn't consider it free, although much cheaper.

[papaflamingo]

Holland America also limits you to 15 drinks per day. This includes not only alcoholic, but also water, sodas, and specialty coffees. So if you grab a bottle of water, that's "one drink." HAL is owned by Carnival, so, same rules.

Another difference on Royal Caribbean is not everyone 21 or over in a cabin has to buy the drink package. Right now, on Carnival, HAL, etc. everyone in the cabin of age must buy a drink package or no one buys one. On Royal, anyone who wants one can buy it regardless of cabinmate choices.

[SailAwayInAugust]

I got into a discussion today about cruises with a few people today and the conversation turned to "drink packages". I have no experience with them because I am not a drinker even though I had the free unlimited package from NCL last year as a perk. The one guys said those packages suck because they limited you to 12 drinks per day. I never heard that but never looked into it because I have no need to, NO WAY I come close to 12 drinks a day, may 12 by the end of a 7 day cruise. So what is the answer, limited to an amount or not?

 

Inaccurate. At least for NCL. I'm not sure about the other lines. I bet they cut that guy off because he was drink as funk, not because there was a drink limit.

[George C]

Inaccurate. At least for NCL. I'm not sure about the other lines. I bet they cut that guy off because he was drink as funk, not because there was a drink limit.

 

I have seen on a few occasions, people drunk on RCCL and not being cut off when they should have been

[bar1068]

Holland America also limits you to 15 drinks per day. This includes not only alcoholic, but also water, sodas, and specialty coffees. So if you grab a bottle of water, that's "one drink." HAL is owned by Carnival, so, same rules.

Another difference on Royal Caribbean is not everyone 21 or over in a cabin has to buy the drink package. Right now, on Carnival, HAL, etc. everyone in the cabin of age must buy a drink package or no one buys one. On Royal, anyone who wants one can buy it regardless of cabinmate choices.

 

Wow, thats odd...different provisions for the 2 cruise line. I've not yet cruised on HAL, but Carnivals 15 day limit is for alcoholic beverages...no limit on soft drinks...specialty coffees...etc..

[dasi11]

I was on Navigator the middle of March. There were plenty of spring breakers on the ship. I did see kids walk up to the bar and get their drinks and come back to the hot tubs and hand the drink to someone in the tub. Plenty of drink package sharing going on. My daughter was with us and she said many kids bought the drink package and had a friend that did not. They shared the package. The spring breakers were taking advantage of the program. I can see why Carnival, and in the future other lines, will limit the number of drinks you can get in a day. I am not a drinker so I stick to a drink or two in the diamond lounge. Enough for me. Plus, cruising in March, getting to the bar to get a drink can be a 30 minute ordeal. Having the package does not mean drinks immediately. It can be a long wait in lines due to the volume of spring breakers.

[BecciBoo]

I have seen on a few occasions, people drunk on RCCL and not being cut off when they should have been

 

Exactly...intoxication depends on many factors, weight for instance, habit, time and tolerance. We have seen RCCL cut off a woman on our roll call before. But for certain people, this could happen at 4 drinks, don't think a specific limit is viable. Need to be more a monitoring behavior sort of thing IMHO.

 

Of course if you are able to self monitor you're ahead of the game. On cruises I limit myself to 3 drinks within say a couple hrs time because I know I can't handle more. Some people do not have the inner limit clock to be able to do that. At home, I may not have 2 glasses of wine a week. But to say you're not a drinker when you are consuming them on a cruise is purely semantic. Technically, if you have one, you are a drinker. Better say a little to moderate drinker or heavy drinker;p

[tomatecerise]

We just saw an intoxicated Mennonite women on boat. It was hilarious. Probably don't drink very much at home lol! Her husband watch her with smile like "she deserve to have fun".

[Doug S]

I've sat at a bar with few overly intoxicated cruisers, and in each case the bartender did not actually cut them off but instead served them virgin drinks and the drunks never suspected. Bartender would do a fake pour and give me a big smile cuz he saw me watching. Better than having to deal with an indignant passenger, and in each case the passenger was on a package, so not really charging them. Just got cut off on the sly. These were not marginally drunk people. These were people that were gonna need help getting back to their cabins.

[BecciBoo]

I could never get to that point...too much a control freak.:D At least I'm honest.

 

Once I was actually throwing up drunk....that was 1968~and a stupid 18 yr old. Never since!

[mike123abc]

https://www.carnival.com/FunShops/item/SQA/cheers

 

Carnival's T&C says 15 alcoholic drink limit (day is 6am to 6am).

 

Norwegian https://www.ncl.com/terms/ultimate-beverage-package does not have a stated limit, but they name their "ultimate" not "unlimited"

[TiiiSailor]

I didn't buy a drink package, I got it free on NCL and even though I'm not a drinker it was nice to get whatever few drinks I did have free plus soda and everything else. I would choose a different package next time though.

To everyone else, thank you for the replies. Interesting information.

 

It wasn't free drinks. Everyone paid for the drinks in the cost of the cruise. So you having a few drinks over the length of the cruise paid for those that had many drinks a day and added to the profit (and there's nothing wrong with profit) made by the NCL.

 

Just like those on RCL that have access to the Suite, Concierge, and Diamond Lounges having "free" drinks. Those drinks are paid for in the cost of their suites or in the multiple cruises paid for to reach diamond status.

[Sky616]

I'd be asleep and miss my vacation if I drank 12+ drinks a day. Wow, I couldn't do that in my younger years.

[ONECRUISER]

I've sat at a bar with few overly intoxicated cruisers, and in each case the bartender did not actually cut them off but instead served them virgin drinks and the drunks never suspected. Bartender would do a fake pour and give me a big smile cuz he saw me watching. Better than having to deal with an indignant passenger, and in each case the passenger was on a package, so not really charging them. Just got cut off on the sly. These were not marginally drunk people. These were people that were gonna need help getting back to their cabins.

Seen bars do that before, long time ago though...

[chape19714]

I've sat at a bar with few overly intoxicated cruisers, and in each case the bartender did not actually cut them off but instead served them virgin drinks and the drunks never suspected. Bartender would do a fake pour and give me a big smile cuz he saw me watching. Better than having to deal with an indignant passenger, and in each case the passenger was on a package, so not really charging them. Just got cut off on the sly. These were not marginally drunk people. These were people that were gonna need help getting back to their cabins.

 

Wow. Not sure the legality of that at Sea, but that would never be allowed on Land. When someone needs to be cut-off, you cut them off hard. You can lose your liquor or bartending licence for selling an alcoholic beverage with no booze in it. It's to protect against the "placebo effect". I guarantee you those cruisers thought they were becoming more intoxicated, which is just as dangerous.

[time4u2go]

Wow. Not sure the legality of that at Sea, but that would never be allowed on Land. When someone needs to be cut-off, you cut them off hard. You can lose your liquor or bartending licence for selling an alcoholic beverage with no booze in it. It's to protect against the "placebo effect". I guarantee you those cruisers thought they were becoming more intoxicated, which is just as dangerous.

Really? How?