Unlimited Drink Options Included with other lines: will you still book Carnival?

[jimbo5544]

Though not always, I booked a cruise in 2020, looked at the Escape, Harmony and the Horizon, all balcony cabins.

 

 

 

The Harmony was $2800 with me buying the drink package, Escape was $3100 and the Horizon with the drink package was $4000. So no Carnival was by far the most expensive option. We booked the Harmony.

 

 

 

Not always, but certainly the majority of the time.

 

 

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[BNBR]

Though not always, I booked a cruise in 2020, looked at the Escape, Harmony and the Horizon, all balcony cabins.

 

The Harmony was $2800 with me buying the drink package, Escape was $3100 and the Horizon with the drink package was $4000. So no Carnival was by far the most expensive option. We booked the Harmony.

 

Horizon is getting a pretty ridiculous premium so that's not a great comparison. But yes, Harmony, even with a drink package is less than Escape with the "free" drink package...

 

Compare a Carnival sailing on a Dream-class or maybe even Vista for the same dates.

[jimbo5544]

TANSTAAFL

 

(look it up)

 

 

 

There sure ain’t.

 

 

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[cruziJenn]

I booked my first Carnival cruise (Breeze). Some of this banter makes me a bit nervous. We tend to be more conservative and don’t watch the contests on pool deck, obnoxious drunks, people dancing provocatively and grinding on others, etc...So what is meant by “more fun”? Can we just avoid such things by staying in the family areas, waterslides? Or is that type of stuff rampant throughout? We do love other activities like the game shows, trivia, kids contests, Q&As with crew.

 

 

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No it isn't rampant at all and I'm very sure that you'll love your cruise on Breeze. We really don't see that 'grinding' stuff or anything like that on any Carnival cruise that we've been on. Sometimes people do get up and spontaneously enjoy a good song and so on but it's usually all in good fun....and fun to watch or even join in without worrying about some drunk mashing on you. No worries at all.

[AAAAmerican]

Are the Unlimited Drink Plans really UnLimited?

 

Is Free actually fee free?

Is the so called free really free or just charge including in what you pay?

 

The Nickle and Dime line, NCL , charges even for American Cranberry as well Apple too.

[SNJCruisers]

"they can not drink alcohol and they can walk off and not spend a dime if they choose to"

Lol. Just don't tell them they already paid for the drink package in their inflated cruise fare...

There is an option called the sail away rate, which can be obtained for a cheaper cost before the quantity of cabins at that rate sell out. Some times they are guaranteed cabins and other times they are not, depending upon whether it's an "X" rate or not. This way you can get a basic cabin and not feel that you're subsidizing a thing.

[SNJCruisers]

The NCL drink package is "included" so yes I selected that as one of the "free perks" when price comparing. And correct I did not add the additional fees for the Carnival drink package. The OP stated that NCL was including the drinks "free". Simply not true. The ships were Carnival Magic and I don't remember on NCL since I have no clue what ship is what on there. I chose an in between quote.

Your comparison was worthless and besides having no clue about which ship you chose from the NCL fleet, you also have no clue regarding the free drink perk. The drinks perk on NCL costs 125 pp for the 20% gratuities for a 7 day cruise, while Cheers costs 418 pp for a 7 day cruise.

You need to factor in everything and compare an apple to an apple. Comparable quality ships, same or close departure port, same dates or a day apart, same type of cabin and include the Cheers package if you're including the drinks perk on NCL.

There are no blanket guarantees as to which line will be cheaper. On many sailings, NCL will come out ahead and on certain sailings Carnival will come out ahead, even with Cheers.

[SNJCruisers]

Not sure what business that is of yours, but a number of cruise lines including Royal and NCL. I cruise Carnival by choice.

It's his business to inquire because people that have cruised on multiple lines will be more credible on the boards with their opinions instead of those who like to bash cruise lines without ever having sailed on them. An example will be those Loyal Royals that have never stepped foot on a Carnival ship, yet love to bad mouth anything Carnival. And if you had your cruise history listed in your signature like many do, then he would not have needed to ask you.

[SNJCruisers]

The NCL package does not appear to include bottled water, or discounts on bottles of wine. Not sure about energy drinks, specialty coffees, etc.

Let me educate you...no, it does not include bottled water, energy drinks, espresso based coffees or discounts on bottles of wine. And at the same time, nobody in their right mind would pay 89.00 pp per day, plus 20% tip for a drinks package. The only people that have the drinks package on a NCL sailing are those that got it included as a perk and they pay 125 pp. The price of their package as well as the gratuity percentage has increased multiple times over the past few years, but 125 is still cheaper than 418 for Cheers. Now, if after comparing a comparable inside to inside cabin, NCL is 300 more than Carnival, then you're doing better booking Carnival with Cheers, otherwise, NCL is a better deal. As usual YMMV depending upon which sailing you're comparing.

[sparks1093]

Your comparison was worthless and besides having no clue about which ship you chose from the NCL fleet, you also have no clue regarding the free drink perk. The drinks perk on NCL costs 125 pp for the 20% gratuities for a 7 day cruise, while Cheers costs 418 pp for a 7 day cruise.

You need to factor in everything and compare an apple to an apple. Comparable quality ships, same or close departure port, same dates or a day apart, same type of cabin and include the Cheers package if you're including the drinks perk on NCL.

There are no blanket guarantees as to which line will be cheaper. On many sailings, NCL will come out ahead and on certain sailings Carnival will come out ahead, even with Cheers.

 

Actually no one has to factor in anything if they don't want to. Many have said that they don't normally buy Cheers so the cost of the drink package means zilch to them, so why include it in the calculations? I know for my sailing for next April Escape was $1400 more than Pride. Now, the Escape is a bigger, newer ship with many more bells and whistles. Meh. It comes with perks. Meh. To others those might be huge selling points, but to me they are not. But even if I did purchase Cheers, or wanted to, I could quite easily add it to the calculation and still come out ahead of the game. Turns out though that there was a third alternative for us this time around- Anthem at $1800 less than Escape and $400 less than Pride. So it pays to shop around because you never know what you'll find.

[tallnthensome]

Actually no one has to factor in anything if they don't want to. Many have said that they don't normally buy Cheers so the cost of the drink package means zilch to them, so why include it in the calculations? I know for my sailing for next April Escape was $1400 more than Pride. Now, the Escape is a bigger, newer ship with many more bells and whistles. Meh. It comes with perks. Meh. To others those might be huge selling points, but to me they are not. But even if I did purchase Cheers, or wanted to, I could quite easily add it to the calculation and still come out ahead of the game. Turns out though that there was a third alternative for us this time around- Anthem at $1800 less than Escape and $400 less than Pride. So it pays to shop around because you never know what you'll find.

All of this is true and most of it comes down to drinking with Cheers and free drink packages.

If you don't drink most of this doesn't even apply. Like said, there are deals to be found and shopping around while booking way way in advance is when the best deals are found. These deals can be found on most lines granted some may be more expensive depending on the overall experience and expectations.

[BNBR]

There is an option called the sail away rate, which can be obtained for a cheaper cost before the quantity of cabins at that rate sell out. Some times they are guaranteed cabins and other times they are not, depending upon whether it's an "X" rate or not. This way you can get a basic cabin and not feel that you're subsidizing a thing.

 

The perks are "free" - therefore the sail away package is not discounted the actual value of the "free" perks. It's basically a guarantee cabin with a slight discount. You essentially get to pay for the packages and with the sail away pricing, not get them at all! Again, really, really brilliant marketing by NCL. I would copy them with my business but I am too ethical.

[BNBR]

Actually no one has to factor in anything if they don't want to. Many have said that they don't normally buy Cheers so the cost of the drink package means zilch to them, so why include it in the calculations? I know for my sailing for next April Escape was $1400 more than Pride. Now, the Escape is a bigger, newer ship with many more bells and whistles. Meh. It comes with perks. Meh. To others those might be huge selling points, but to me they are not. But even if I did purchase Cheers, or wanted to, I could quite easily add it to the calculation and still come out ahead of the game. Turns out though that there was a third alternative for us this time around- Anthem at $1800 less than Escape and $400 less than Pride. So it pays to shop around because you never know what you'll find.

 

Anthem will blow Escape out of the water. But as far as comparing Escape to Carnival, note that Escape is just a slightly bloated version of Dream class.

[ray98]

IMO, the problem with NCL is they make the free experiences (such as the MDR) horrible to drive people to the specialty restaurants and therefore increase revenue. Carnival still has a good MDR so one does not feel the need to go to the specialty restaurants. To me, that is the difference.

 

 

Strange accusation....never encountered that and I have probably had 20 meals in a NCL dining room in the past 2 years or so to go along with at least 20 on Carnival and 10 on RCCL. I find them all comparable.

Edited July 25, 2018 by ray98

[Tatka]

IMO, the problem with NCL is they make the free experiences (such as the MDR) horrible to drive people to the specialty restaurants and therefore increase revenue. Carnival still has a good MDR so one does not feel the need to go to the specialty restaurants. To me, that is the difference.

Ehh.. it's a personal opinion.

We always use included options and haven't noticed that NCL's MDR is worse than Carnival's.

We actually prefer NCL in this regard, never felt a need to use per fee restaurants, granted that neither matches premium lines.

 

If I want to use additional restaurants on NCL it is only because I am interested in a different cuisine.

[ray98]

I'm happy you received acceptable service but I have completed 5 NCL cruises (the last being 4 days ago) and again, I spent only 1 night out of 7 in the MDR and had horrible service with so-so food. 25 min after being seated finally got orders put in, water glasses never refilled, ordered salad never brought even though it was mentioned, took 90 minutes just to get through the appetizer and entree courses and wasn't about to waste another hour trying to get through dessert. Been the same way on the other NCL cruises and have never had that kind of service on the other 4 cruise lines I've sailed. Now, maybe it's the businessman in me but if I were running a ship and wanted to upsell my specialty restaurants, I would probably lower the level of service in the free venues which would push people to want to go and spend money at the specialty locations. It's just common sense. Now, it's true, maybe their MDR staff just suck in general and it has nothing to do with upselling but if that is the case, it's rather convenient, again, IMO. Thankfully their buffet was pretty good.

 

 

Great story....all that is missing is a natural disaster.

[SNJCruisers]

Actually no one has to factor in anything if they don't want to. Many have said that they don't normally buy Cheers so the cost of the drink package means zilch to them, so why include it in the calculations?

Fully realize that, but it's not a fair comparison if someone is comparing the price of a regular Carnival cabin versus one on NCL that has the drinks package factored in. If you want a bare bones proper comparison, it needs to be a true apples to apples comparison, which would be a sailing on NCL with the sail away, no frills rate versus a regular cabin on Carnival. And it should be comparable ships, dates, embarkation ports, etc. As well as perks. You can't even compare an OV or higher on NCL with Carnival because of the two perks that would need to be added to the Carnival ledger to make it a true comparison. Any other comparison is worthless and of course many people do it to prove their point that their comparison shows that their choice comes out ahead each time. We both know this is total BS as it all depends on the specific dates you're looking at. You lucked out with the Anthem deal you got for the particular sailing date, but I would imagine that the numbers will vary greatly with your 3 line comparison depending upon which date is chosen.

[SNJCruisers]

Third, tips at land based restaurants are voluntary, not mandatory so if you have a free certificate for a restaurant, you are not required to tip your server. Granted, it makes you a douche but it is not mandatory unlike NCL.

Keep drinking the Carnival Kool-Aid, wave those pom poms and pray at the altar of John Heald. I know that 125 for NCL grats is cheaper than 418 for the entire Cheers experience comparing drink packages. We can agree to disagree regarding whether mandatory tips no longer makes an included perk free. Happy cruising on all of your future Carnival sailings.

[BNBR]

Fully realize that, but it's not a fair comparison if someone is comparing the price of a regular Carnival cabin versus one on NCL that has the drinks package factored in. If you want a bare bones proper comparison, it needs to be a true apples to apples comparison, which would be a sailing on NCL with the sail away, no frills rate versus a regular cabin on Carnival. And it should be comparable ships, dates, embarkation ports, etc. As well as perks. You can't even compare an OV or higher on NCL with Carnival because of the two perks that would need to be added to the Carnival ledger to make it a true comparison. Any other comparison is worthless and of course many people do it to prove their point that their comparison shows that their choice comes out ahead each time. We both know this is total BS as it all depends on the specific dates you're looking at. You lucked out with the Anthem deal you got for the particular sailing date, but I would imagine that the numbers will vary greatly with your 3 line comparison depending upon which date is chosen.

 

Lol. You don't get it, do you? A "regular" cabin on NCL includes FREE perks. That is the comparison. If you are "factoring the drink package in" then it's not a free perk, is it?

 

A "sail away" is a guarantee cabin, which is only comparable to other guarantee cabins. And even then, NCL is significantly more expensive on literally every cruise I have compared (I just did 4 mock bookings). Point is, most people don't like guarantee cabins and want to select on themselves. A few of you keep implying "sail away" is just a cabin without the free drink package/perks. But it's a guarantee, not the same. And even then, the guarantee cabins on NCL are significantly more than a choose your own on Carnival... go figure.

 

By all means, show us a typical 7 day cruise for similar dates, ports, etc. where NCL is cheaper than Carnival. I'm genuinely curious. I haven't seen on yet. I'm having a hard time finding a single example where NCL isn't almost 50% higher than Carnival, too. I never actually realized just how obnoxiously expensive NCL is for their subpar product. Again, a testament to just how fantastic their "free perk" scam marketing really is.

Edited July 25, 2018 by BNBR

[SNJCruisers]

Anthem will blow Escape out of the water. But as far as comparing Escape to Carnival, note that Escape is just a slightly bloated version of Dream class.

And have you actually sailed on either of these ships so that you have first hand experience to make this statement? Lay your cards on the table and let people know how many times you have cruised and on how many different lines. This way it might make what you type seem a bit more credible. Anybody can blow smoke...it's done on a daily basis over on the Royal boards.

[BNBR]

And have you actually sailed on either of these ships so that you have first hand experience to make this statement? Lay your cards on the table and let people know how many times you have cruised and on how many different lines. This way it might make what you type seem a bit more credible. Anybody can blow smoke...it's done on a daily basis over on the Royal boards.

 

Yes, I have.

 

Both have 3 main/interior decks with an outdoor promenade, a mid pool, aft pool (Escape doesn't even have an aft pool) - with a buffet/marketplace between. Ropes course/mini golf above, etc. Is this even a controversial or debatable fact here? Lol. The ships are very similar in design but obviously have the touches and differences that make them unique to their brand. But the overall design/layout of the ships is very similar. The point was that a ship like Escape isn't some sort of "mega ship" like it's made out to be.

 

By the way, I don't quite care if you find me credible, especially if it's based on a cruise history. If something is non-factual about my posts and you can point that out, I will happily admit a mistake and correct it.

Edited July 25, 2018 by BNBR

[sparks1093]

Fully realize that, but it's not a fair comparison if someone is comparing the price of a regular Carnival cabin versus one on NCL that has the drinks package factored in. If you want a bare bones proper comparison, it needs to be a true apples to apples comparison, which would be a sailing on NCL with the sail away, no frills rate versus a regular cabin on Carnival. And it should be comparable ships, dates, embarkation ports, etc. As well as perks. You can't even compare an OV or higher on NCL with Carnival because of the two perks that would need to be added to the Carnival ledger to make it a true comparison. Any other comparison is worthless and of course many people do it to prove their point that their comparison shows that their choice comes out ahead each time. We both know this is total BS as it all depends on the specific dates you're looking at. You lucked out with the Anthem deal you got for the particular sailing date, but I would imagine that the numbers will vary greatly with your 3 line comparison depending upon which date is chosen.

 

I (and others) have repeatedly said in this thread that a lot depends on when you are booking, where you are sailing from, etc. Again, if someone isn't interested in paying for the perks in the first place then they don't really need to factor them in at all. Now, if the cruise fares were very similar then yes, the perks could very well sway the deal. In the pricing that I saw that wasn't the case because even adding in the cost of the perks the other lines were still hundreds less. I'm sure that had I checked those same ships and those sailings 6 months ago Carnival would likely have been the lowest. If I were check them again 75 days before sailing NCL might be. Of course my comparison is only valid to me and may not have value for anyone else. I'm okay with that.

[sparks1093]

Keep drinking the Carnival Kool-Aid, wave those pom poms and pray at the altar of John Heald. I know that 125 for NCL grats is cheaper than 418 for the entire Cheers experience comparing drink packages. We can agree to disagree regarding whether mandatory tips no longer makes an included perk free. Happy cruising on all of your future Carnival sailings.

 

LOL, as opposed to the NCL Kool Aid that it's all "free". Yep, sure.

[SNJCruisers]

By all means, show us a typical 7 day cruise for similar dates, ports, etc. where NCL is cheaper than Carnival. I'm genuinely curious. I haven't seen on yet. I'm having a hard time finding a single example where NCL isn't almost 50% higher than Carnival, too. I never actually realized just how obnoxiously expensive NCL is for their subpar product. Again, a testament to just how fantastic their "free perk" scam marketing really is.

Ask and yea shall receive. First of all, when I am on vacation, I enjoy a few adult beverages and with the option of packages being available, I have enjoyed them on my last 10 cruises over the past 5 1/2 years going back to my January 2013 sailing on the Breeze. So, without further ado, here is the comparison I just found out using numbers from the NCL and Carnival websites.

One...Epic vs Breeze West Caribbean out of Port Canaveral on 2/2/19. Epic category IF 829 pp, plus 156 port and 125 gratuities on drinks package for a total of 2219, with 50 in OBC....2169 total. Breeze with summer fun rate category 4B 544, plus 124 port and 418 for Cheers.....2171 total. A wash

Two...Magic vs Getaway West Caribbean out of Miami on 2/17/19. Getaway category IB (larger inside cabin) 799 pp, plus 163 port and 125 grats.....2172 total. Magic 4B 589, plus 145 port and 418 for Cheers....2304. Carnival 132 more for two people.

If you don't drink, Carnival will be cheaper most of the time, but after factoring in the drinks package, I just provided you with a situation that was a wash as well as one where Carnival was more expensive. Both of these examples are far from NCL being almost 50% higher than Carnival as you stated.

[SNJCruisers]

By the way, I don't quite care if you find me credible, especially if it's based on a cruise history. If something is non-factual about my posts and you can point that out, I will happily admit a mistake and correct it.

Since you have admitted to have cruised on RCI, then I am sure you have been on their boards and have read some of the blowhards that bash Carnival without ever having cruised on a single Carnival ship. Credibility, IMHO does come into play when a person who is a veteran cruiser on multiple lines types something versus someone who has all of their eggs in 1 basket and just likes to wave the pom poms of their line of choice.