Cost of drinks on Cunard line ships

[vettprincess]

34 minutes ago, jsn55 said:

The drinks package we were offered was close to $1400 for two on a 10-day cruise.  I couldn't agree more that Cunard is out for the money.  They charge outrageous prices for shore excursions ($59 for a 2-hour walking tour of a small Norwegian town???), refuse to give you any meaningful port information in order to sell these excursions, strongly encourage (tell you it's required) you to pay the $138 drinks package for the first day ... and we didn't board until 5.  Who would pay $69 for a glass of champagne and a couple glasses of wine with dinner?   Once we boarded, I found out that you could buy the drinks package for the 9 days.  Chiselers, I hate chiselers.   HOWEVER, the absence of tattoos, loud voices, and people dressed like bums makes Cunard a favorite choice now that we've sailed on QV.  Not to mention her elegance, which I reveled in every day. 

 

I appreciate everyone's input on the cost of alcohol in the UK.  We live in San Francisco and are used to high prices, so I didn't take that into consideration.  My favorite anecdote on this subject is looking to buy a bottle of wine in Flam.  One market, no wine.  No wine at all in Flam.  I asked the clerk what he drank with dinner and he told me "milk".  I grew up in northern Minnesota and drank milk with my meals until I was about 40 ... I've always credited that to my extremely good health.  But milk can't come close to a nice Chardonnay with dinner.

Funny,  you grew up in northern MN. I grew up in southern MN and still here. Just had to comment about the prices of drinks. We were on the QM2 2 yrs. ago for 5 day cruise. We were surprised that they charged you separately for a mix for your liquor drink. I know the drinks were expensive but do not exactly remember the specific cost. We drink wine and some beer. We just got off the Mariner of the Seas and it came to about $20 for 2 beers. Outrageous.

 

I have spoken with Cunard and they just instituted the drink package and the reps I spoke with did not know a lot. But the cost for the liquor package is $69 a day so $483 for the week for one person and in the fine print it says both cabin mates must buy a package. The rep wrongly said only one person needs to buy it and it is supposed to include tips. She also said I did not have to buy it for the first day and the last day-do not drink on the last day-trying to get off the ship.  So $966.00 for the week. Now that is crazy. We can't drink that much on the 5 cruises on the 4 cruise lines we have this year.  As per our experience the prices for Cunard's excursions in Canada and USA are not that bad compared to RCL, NCL and CCL. etc.

 

I agree about the tattoos etc and since we have been sailing for 47 years we have watched the change in demographics and know which lines we enjoy more that others. 

 

Milk: very hard to get at dinner on any ship and I need it for all the acid in the food and wine. I do wander around the ship at night looking for leche and rarely find it. If we find a box of milk at breakfast we bring it back to cabin for my late night "drinking".

 

So that is my 2 cents for the Cunard cost of drinks.

Have a lovely cruise whichever one you sail on.

 

 

 

 

[PORT ROYAL]

10 minutes ago, vettprincess said:

Funny,  you grew up in northern MN. I grew up in southern MN and still here. Just had to comment about the prices of drinks. We were on the QM2 2 yrs. ago for 5 day cruise. We were surprised that they charged you separately for a mix for your liquor drink. I know the drinks were expensive but do not exactly remember the specific cost. We drink wine and some beer. We just got off the Mariner of the Seas and it came to about $20 for 2 beers. Outrageous.

 

I have spoken with Cunard and they just instituted the drink package and the reps I spoke with did not know a lot. But the cost for the liquor package is $69 a day so $483 for the week for one person and in the fine print it says both cabin mates must buy a package. The rep wrongly said only one person needs to buy it and it is supposed to include tips. She also said I did not have to buy it for the first day and the last day-do not drink on the last day-trying to get off the ship.  So $966.00 for the week. Now that is crazy. We can't drink that much on the 5 cruises on the 4 cruise lines we have this year.  As per our experience the prices for Cunard's excursions in Canada and USA are not that bad compared to RCL, NCL and CCL. etc.

 

I agree about the tattoos etc and since we have been sailing for 47 years we have watched the change in demographics and know which lines we enjoy more that others. 

 

Milk: very hard to get at dinner on any ship and I need it for all the acid in the food and wine. I do wander around the ship at night looking for leche and rarely find it. If we find a box of milk at breakfast we bring it back to cabin for my late night "drinking".

 

So that is my 2 cents for the Cunard cost of drinks.

Have a lovely cruise whichever one you sail on.

 

 

 

 

 

We travelled with a friend who had the same Leche requirement.  We asked the MD if she could assist.  Guess what?  Every night a French carton was delivered to their refrigerator.

[vettprincess]

1 minute ago, PORT ROYAL said:

 

We travelled with a friend who had the same Leche requirement.  We asked the MD if she could assist.  Guess what?  Every night a French carton was delivered to their refrigerator.

Thank you. I will try that on the QM2 and the other ships.

[jsn55]

 

You're reminding me about two other factors that tell me that Cunard is taking the route of the airlines in creating as much revenue as possible.  Charging extra for the Coke to go with my rum?  And the communication factor ... the worst I've ever seen.  The drinks package was a joke, nobody knew WTH was going on.  They forced me to call rather than buy it online, and that request was done backwards, we ended up with only one drinks package.  Nobody on the ship could fix this, they ran me around in circles for almost 24 hours.  I have a review in on our cruise that gives a couple of really awful examples.  It strikes me that Cunard employees call center people who can't get a job anywhere else.  They define clueless.  But I'm willing to overlook all that because of the elegance and positive attributes of the other passengers.  I understand that Cunard is in the business of making money ... fortunately the power of knowing what's going on allows a passenger to make the situation work.  

 

Is it against the rules for you to state what other cruise lines you like?  Enjoy springtime in Minnesota!

[bluemarble]

22 minutes ago, jsn55 said:

... The drinks package was a joke, nobody knew WTH was going on.  They forced me to call rather than buy it online, and that request was done backwards, we ended up with only one drinks package.  Nobody on the ship could fix this, they ran me around in circles for almost 24 hours. ...

 

Hi, jsn55.

 

Sorry you got the run-around about the drinks packages. I must say this comment has me more than a bit confused though. It sounds like you called to purchase the drinks package prior to your voyage. I didn't know that was even possible to do. I was under the impression the drinks packages could only be purchased once on board. Maybe that's why no one seemed to know what they were doing trying to handle a purchase that isn't normally done prior to the cruise. Or perhaps I'm just misinformed about how purchasing the drinks packages work.

Edited May 29, 2019 by bluemarble

[vettprincess]

23 minutes ago, jsn55 said:

 

You're reminding me about two other factors that tell me that Cunard is taking the route of the airlines in creating as much revenue as possible.  Charging extra for the Coke to go with my rum?  And the communication factor ... the worst I've ever seen.  The drinks package was a joke, nobody knew WTH was going on.  They forced me to call rather than buy it online, and that request was done backwards, we ended up with only one drinks package.  Nobody on the ship could fix this, they ran me around in circles for almost 24 hours.  I have a review in on our cruise that gives a couple of really awful examples.  It strikes me that Cunard employees call center people who can't get a job anywhere else.  They define clueless.  But I'm willing to overlook all that because of the elegance and positive attributes of the other passengers.  I understand that Cunard is in the business of making money ... fortunately the power of knowing what's going on allows a passenger to make the situation work.  

 

Is it against the rules for you to state what other cruise lines you like?  Enjoy springtime in Minnesota!

HI: Happy to give you lots of information but I must leave the house now. Do not know how much I can say but will try. Later.

[vettprincess]

2 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

 

Hi, jsn55.

 

Sorry you got the run-around about the drinks packages. I must say this comment has me more than a bit confused though. It sounds like you called to purchased the drinks package prior to your voyage. I didn't know that was even possible to do. I was under the impression the drinks packages could only be purchased once on board. Maybe that's why no one seemed to know what they were doing trying to handle a purchase that isn't normally done prior to the cruise. Or perhaps I'm just misinformed about how purchasing the drinks packages work.

Most reps at Cunard do not know what is going on. I had mentioned that they just started the drinks package a while ago and have lots of work to do on it. Cannot do anything with Cunard online. Have to call them. That is really behind the times. Some time they will have to move into the way things are nowadays or lose more cruisers, probably more from the USA. We speak from 50 years of cruising.

[bluemarble]

2 minutes ago, vettprincess said:

Most reps at Cunard do not know what is going on. I had mentioned that they just started the drinks package a while ago and have lots of work to do on it. Cannot do anything with Cunard online. Have to call them. That is really behind the times. Some time they will have to move into the way things are nowadays or lose more cruisers, probably more from the USA. We speak from 50 years of cruising.

 

So, I guess you are saying we can order the drinks packages prior to the cruise by calling Cunard Customer Service (like I do if we want to book a Cunard airport transfer prior to the voyage, which is another purchase that cannot be done online). But from the sounds of it, we might be better off waiting to purchase the drinks packages on board anyway for the time being. Thanks for that info.

[Host Hattie]

13 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

 

Hi, jsn55.

 

Sorry you got the run-around about the drinks packages. I must say this comment has me more than a bit confused though. It sounds like you called to purchase the drinks package prior to your voyage. I didn't know that was even possible to do. I was under the impression the drinks packages could only be purchased once on board. Maybe that's why no one seemed to know what they were doing trying to handle a purchase that isn't normally done prior to the cruise. Or perhaps I'm just misinformed about how purchasing the drinks packages work.

The UK website says this about purchasing a drinks package before a cruise, I have no personal experience of trying but I did buy a wine package easily a few years ago.

 

[bluemarble]

I have clearly been misinformed (and that's not the first time). The Cunard US FAQ also has similar wording for the question "Do you offer a drinks package?". It invites me to call the "Customer Contact Center" (with the US spelling) if I would like to purchase a package. Thanks everyone for setting me straight about that.

[jsn55]

27 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

 

So, I guess you are saying we can order the drinks packages prior to the cruise by calling Cunard Customer Service (like I do if we want to book a Cunard airport transfer prior to the voyage, which is another purchase that cannot be done online). But from the sounds of it, we might be better off waiting to purchase the drinks packages on board anyway for the time being. Thanks for that info.

It never makes any sense to me to stand in a line to do something I can take care of before boarding.  Cunard really does seem to be technology challenged.  Once you're booked, just signing into your account is beyond cumbersome.  I didn't mind calling, but 3 calls from me and 3 from my travel agent got inaccurate information.  Important things like drinks packages or airport transfers need to be bookable on line to avoid mistakes.  If we cruise again with Cunard, I will wait until on board if my requests can't be done online.   Annoying, but I'm not the type to beat my head against the wall,  if they can't hire and train competent agents, I'll deal directly with the ship's personnel.  

 

We liked Victoria so much we would have booked another cruise while onboard.  But their book uses small off-black print and yellow(!) for the headers.  I could barely read it.  Cunard doesn't seem to realize that their customers are mostly over 40 and would like to be able to read their book.

[Underwatr]

What is "their book"?

 

FYI, for browsing future cruises you can access cunard.com (the UK version last time I was on, but in the past the US version) while aboard without logging in and running the connection time clock.

[jsn55]

"The book" lists all the cruises for the 3 queens.  Cruise lines publish them every season.  Except for Viking, of course, who publishes something three times a day as far as I can tell.  I would have used Cunard's  website while onboard, but I travel with a little laptop ... she doesn't like the internet much!

[Underwatr]

There are also computer terminals in the library and in Connexions (deck 2 forward, under the planetarium) Free to browse Cunard from any of those as well.

[vettprincess]

6 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

So, I guess you are saying we can order the drinks packages prior to the cruise by calling Cunard Customer Service (like I do if we want to book a Cunard airport transfer prior to the voyage, which is another purchase that cannot be done online). But from the sounds of it, we might be better off waiting to purchase the drinks packages on board anyway for the time being. Thanks for that info.

The only thing I have found out for sure! from the reps on the phone is that I can purchase a drink package now for our 6/30 sailing. No discount, no sale, flat rate. Shore excursions are a different thing. At this point I am very leery of doing that, even though we would like to book one or two.

Drink package way too expensive- Total for 2two is about $966 for a week. Absurd.

Good luck with what you choose to do.

[bluemarble]

3 minutes ago, vettprincess said:

The only thing I have found out for sure! from the reps on the phone is that I can purchase a drink package now for our 6/30 sailing. No discount, no sale, flat rate. Shore excursions are a different thing. At this point I am very leery of doing that, even though we would like to book one or two.

Drink package way too expensive- Total for 2two is about $966 for a week. Absurd.

Good luck with what you choose to do.

 

I probably won't be booking any drinks packages prior to our next voyage. I usually order the low-end soft drinks package and would prefer to use OBC for that. One of the disadvantages of purchasing anything ahead of time is that you can't use OBC for that. When I choose to book Cunard airport transfers, I do that ahead of time because they offer a discount for doing that prior to the voyage.

 

I have not had any issues booking Cunard shore excursions ahead of time via the voyage personaliser. They have been doing that for quite a few years now, so they seem to have that process down pretty well -- unlike the new drinks packages where they are apparently still learning the ropes.

[vettprincess]

7 hours ago, jsn55 said:

 

You're reminding me about two other factors that tell me that Cunard is taking the route of the airlines in creating as much revenue as possible.  Charging extra for the Coke to go with my rum?  And the communication factor ... the worst I've ever seen.  The drinks package was a joke, nobody knew WTH was going on.  They forced me to call rather than buy it online, and that request was done backwards, we ended up with only one drinks package.  Nobody on the ship could fix this, they ran me around in circles for almost 24 hours.  I have a review in on our cruise that gives a couple of really awful examples.  It strikes me that Cunard employees call center people who can't get a job anywhere else.  They define clueless.  But I'm willing to overlook all that because of the elegance and positive attributes of the other passengers.  I understand that Cunard is in the business of making money ... fortunately the power of knowing what's going on allows a passenger to make the situation work.  

 

Is it against the rules for you to state what other cruise lines you like?  Enjoy springtime in Minnesota!

HI: I will say what I can-50 years of cruising and experiences so I will say what I currently have found on the ships.

Have done the 5 major lines-not the fancy ones that do not pass CDC inspection. In this 21st century each line caters to different cruisers.

We have enjoyed most of our cruises but it is also a matter what ship, new or old, time of year-no kids, ports, service and if we are with a group.  Top is Princess-been on the Regal 3 times and have booked the Sky for Dec. Good in every aspect of what expect on a ship. Yes, the cruise lines do need to enhance their revenue but some do it much better than others. Cunard fails. When we did the Queen Mary 2 7/17 there was definitely a downward trend in elegance.  WE used to bring 6-7 gowns for out week long cruises in the old days on CCL, NCL RCL. I was shocked on what I saw being worn on the QM2 for our 7/1/2017 cruise. But as you probably know life everywhere is more casual.  

Only other things I can tell you is that CCL caters to a different demographic, RCL caters to an international base, NCL  caters to a more athletic crowd with kids, Celebrity is concerned with food, Holland America with the older demographic Disney families and kids, that is all I can think of now.

Cruising is great and we love all of it and after so many years we can now chose what we prefer.

Spring time in MN is not happening.

Please no comments from the other posters about what I have shared with jsn55-she asked and I complied.

Edited May 30, 2019 by vettprincess
grammar

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Hi Vettprincess,

Just a point of information.  Cunard always charged for the mixer back in the “old days”.  The soda/tonic and the liquor, in a separate glass, would arrive on a silver tray.  The soda/tonic came in a small 6 oz. bottle.  I believe this practice was abandoned around the time that Cunard introduced the QE2.  OBTW...CCL has built their empire on the sale of alcoholic beverages.  So much so that they were able to build new ships.  They, HAL and Windstar are just about the last lines not offering some form of discounted booze package or inclusive program.  Funny how Cunard, Hal, and Windstar are all owned by CCL...what a coincidence!  

[naturelovergirl]

12 hours ago, vettprincess said:

Shore excursions are a different thing. At this point I am very leery of doing that, even though we would like to book one or two.

 

We ordered two different excursions from Cunard from the online Voyage Personaliser... very simple purchases made with our computer and a credit card... and then the excursions show up in our Voyage Personaliser calendar. 
 

[Underwatr]

4 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Just a point of information.  Cunard always charged for the mixer back in the “old days”.  The soda/tonic and the liquor, in a separate glass, would arrive on a silver tray.  The soda/tonic came in a small 6 oz. bottle.  I believe this practice was abandoned around the time that Cunard introduced the QE2.  

Before their current practice of charging for all mixers, mixer in a bottle was charged but mixer from the "gun" was included in the price. Around 2012 I ordered a Jack (Daniels) & Ginger (Ale) and paid more for it than for my wife's martini.

[vettprincess]

5 hours ago, naturelovergirl said:

We ordered two different excursions from Cunard from the online Voyage Personaliser... very simple purchases made with our computer and a credit card... and then the excursions show up in our Voyage Personaliser calendar. 
 

Thank you, will decide later what to chose.

[vettprincess]

6 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Hi Vettprincess,

Just a point of information.  Cunard always charged for the mixer back in the “old days”.  The soda/tonic and the liquor, in a separate glass, would arrive on a silver tray.  The soda/tonic came in a small 6 oz. bottle.  I believe this practice was abandoned around the time that Cunard introduced the QE2.  OBTW...CCL has built their empire on the sale of alcoholic beverages.  So much so that they were able to build new ships.  They, HAL and Windstar are just about the last lines not offering some form of discounted booze package or inclusive program.  Funny how Cunard, Hal, and Windstar are all owned by CCL...what a coincidence!  

Hi Normandie from the S S France:

I was not familiar with the charge for a mixer so surprised when on the QM2-2017. We could not drink all that liquor that the packages include. We drink mostly beer and wine with dinner. Not many mixed drinks at all. Not just CCL but also RCL and NCL., Celebrity, MSC have lots of packages but we do not buy. 

 

We are very high level with CCL NCL RCL so were get some extra perks, especially with NCL. as far as drinks go. 

Funny story for you-on the 3 day we just took with RCL we were quite surprised at the cost of drinks and a different price for a glass of wine in the crown lounge as other venues on the ship. On the private island we actually shared a frou frou cocktail cause did not want to pay for 2 fpr $30.00. We are saving for the trip on the QM2.(and the Symphony and the Sky later this year)

 

Almost at the end of The Only Way to Cross. All about the fire on the Normandie and the work done to raise it.  Kind of like the Concordia raising but much different era of technology.

Bye for now

[david,Mississauga]

On 5/27/2019 at 1:00 AM, MarkBearSF said:

...
Cunard is priced according to US expectations, but served with UK measures.

...

 

It has been a little over a year since I was on Cunard and in Britain, but I recall the liquor measures on board were a choice of one ounce or two ounces. In my experience in Britain, a standard measurement was 25 ml (.8 of an ounce) with a double being 50 ml (1.6 ounces) which is the usual amount in  a miniature bottle served on planes and trains.

Edited May 31, 2019 by david,Mississauga
Typo

[Underwatr]

Whether an ounce is generous by UK standards, a standard US "shot" is 1.5 ounces.

[fabnfortysomething]

being a long term NCL cruiser we have booked transatlantic QM2 next July

 

I was surprised by complaints about drink prices as similar to NCL and indeed most USA cruiseships

 

in fact NCL drink package is $20 more per day than Cunard!