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Drink package...yes or no?


hmk012
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I typically don't purchase the package.  I don't drink soda and don't want all the sugar in the frozen drinks, milkshakes, smoothies, juice drinks, calorie bomb coffee drinks, etc.  I'm not a fruity cosmo type drinker and I don't drink wine.  On our last cruise (Oasis), we brought water and soda (for DH, in a carry on) and I brought all the Starbucks gift cards we had accumulated over the year.  On sea days I indulged in one or two light beers by the pool and an occasional vodka tonic with dinner.  I'm a light weight - if I drank enough "to break even", I would miss the entire cruise sleeping it off in my cabin 😂

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I bring drinks into dinner all the time. The key I guess for wine would be to save a glass from one of the venues and refill it. The glasses are different in the cabins. (Or at least they used to be) How would they know then if the wine came from the room or you bought it?

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7 minutes ago, momofmab said:

I typically don't purchase the package.  I don't drink soda and don't want all the sugar in the frozen drinks, milkshakes, smoothies, juice drinks, calorie bomb coffee drinks, etc.  I'm not a fruity cosmo type drinker and I don't drink wine.  On our last cruise (Oasis), we brought water and soda (for DH, in a carry on) and I brought all the Starbucks gift cards we had accumulated over the year.  On sea days I indulged in one or two light beers by the pool and an occasional vodka tonic with dinner.  I'm a light weight - if I drank enough "to break even", I would miss the entire cruise sleeping it off in my cabin 😂

I did not realize you could bring water and soda onboard. I thought that was a no-no?

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1 minute ago, Choozin Croozin said:

I bring drinks into dinner all the time. The key I guess for wine would be to save a glass from one of the venues and refill it. The glasses are different in the cabins. (Or at least they used to be) How would they know then if the wine came from the room or you bought it?

 

They don’t. We pick up glasses at the nearest bar on our way back to the cabin, and my husband pours himself one, occasionally takes it with him to dinner. No one has ever questioned us. 

 

To the OP, we don’t buy the drink package. We bring on wine and the allowed bottled water. We are Diamond, so free drinks in the evening, which we don’t always use.  Our bar bill has never exceeded $350 total, and that was before Diamond. Only you can decide if it is right for you. 🙂

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5 minutes ago, Choozin Croozin said:

I did not realize you could bring water and soda onboard. I thought that was a no-no?

 

Two 8 packs per cabin, a certain size (19 oz I think). That’s fairly new. 

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12 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

 

Two 8 packs per cabin, a certain size (19 oz I think). That’s fairly new. 

 

We had no problem bringing it in a checked bag.  This was last April - I don’t believe there were size or quantity restrictions then.  I brought 3 8-packs (I think) of the mini cans of soda for DH to have In the room and  4-5 larger bottles of water.  I also threw a couple boxes of KIND bars in for good measure.  I had no idea whether it would get flagged or not, but we had no issues.

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22 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

 

Two 8 packs per cabin, a certain size (19 oz I think). That’s fairly new. 

It is 12 bottles of soda, water or juice each bottle no larger than 500ml or 17oz.

 

On boarding day, each stateroom may bring up to two 750 ml bottles of wine or champagne, as long as one guest is of legal drinking age. Corkscrews will be provided for guests to enjoy their drinks in their stateroom. If guests wish to enjoy their wine or champagne in our dining or bar venues, there will be a corkage fee applied.

Guests may also bring non-alcoholic beverages as carry-on items on boarding day. Non-alcoholic beverages may not exceed 12 standard (17 oz.) cans, bottles or cartons per stateroom. Milk and distilled water brought on for infant, medical, or dietary use are permitted. 

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It is 12 bottles of soda, water or juice each bottle no larger than 500ml or 17oz.
 

On boarding day, each stateroom may bring up to two 750 ml bottles of wine or champagne, as long as one guest is of legal drinking age. Corkscrews will be provided for guests to enjoy their drinks in their stateroom. If guests wish to enjoy their wine or champagne in our dining or bar venues, there will be a corkage fee applied.

Guests may also bring non-alcoholic beverages as carry-on items on boarding day. Non-alcoholic beverages may not exceed 12 standard (17 oz.) cans, bottles or cartons per stateroom. Milk and distilled water brought on for infant, medical, or dietary use are permitted. 



Thanks. I was typing as I walked out the door to work with no glasses on. [emoji23] I meant to say 2 - 6 packs. Appreciate the clarification on the oz. I never remember and have to check every time we sail. We really like this option ourselves.


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2 hours ago, Sylvia999 said:

Can you take a glass of  the wine you bring on board up to dinner with you.i thought you were only allowed to drink it in your cabin.

 

Sure, you can take a glass of wine almost anywhere on the ship, no corkage fee.  However, if you bring one of the bottles you brought onboard to a public venue, you may get charged a corkage fee.

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1 hour ago, Choozin Croozin said:

I did not realize you could bring water and soda onboard. I thought that was a no-no?

Always check before you sail since cruise lines continually change policies but currently you're allowed 12 cans, bottles or cartons (up to 17oz) per stateroom.  

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Consider this - the cruise itinerary could help you decide on the value of a drink package. Giving the MED itinerary as a clear example, where most port visits you aren't on board much during days and nights - is that drink package worth it? We didn't think so. What we do is build up enough OBC and just enjoy that occasional drink. We're not big alcohol drinkers as it is.

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Did the math for my May cruise and purchased. I'm 99% sure we'll break even, but even so I'm much happier knowing its paid for. If I hadn't I'd be doing mental math each day trying to keep under a certain limit and honestly on vacation I just don't want to have to think about it, moneys paid so it doesn't matter now.

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18 minutes ago, maranelloboy05 said:

Did the math for my May cruise and purchased. I'm 99% sure we'll break even, but even so I'm much happier knowing its paid for. If I hadn't I'd be doing mental math each day trying to keep under a certain limit and honestly on vacation I just don't want to have to think about it, moneys paid so it doesn't matter now.

This is exactly why we do it - we've found it just helps us relax to know it's already paid for and we don't have to think about it.  I found this was very valuable for my husband and for that alone we'll always do it and rarely worry if we broke even or not.  We tend to with all the available options but regardless it enhances our vacation so for us it has value in more ways.

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On ‎2‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 3:23 PM, grapau27 said:

It's a no from me.

1 Both people have to buy it.

2 It only covers drinks up to $12- $13.

Drinks priced more than this you pay the difference plus 18% gratuity.

3 it doesn't cover bottles of wine.

You get 30 or 40% discount off the price of bottles of wine.

Might want to double check with customer service..I've heard that if you call customer service and explain the other person in the cabin doesn't drink, then the second person doesn't have to buy the alcoholic drink packages.  Can't do this online, but have to do an actual phone call with customer service.  I haven't tried it yet, but will when we make the final decision on drink packages.  Hope this helps...

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After reading this thread I think I am going to go ahead and buy the Deluxe package the next time it drops in price. I understand I will probably start suffering from alcohol fatigue towards the end of the cruise, but I could easily get enough out of all the bottled water and premium coffee I will be drinking.

 

I am frugal as hell all year so that I can have a good vacation....not worrying about a big alcohol bill at the end of my trip will help with that

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6 hours ago, Sylvia999 said:

Can you take a glass of  the wine you bring on board up to dinner with you.i thought you were only allowed to drink it in your cabin.

We had no issues taking a glass of wine from our room to dinner, a show, or the pool in the evening.  Our cabin attendant even kept clean wine glasses in the room for us.  

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22 minutes ago, nanowerx said:

After reading this thread I think I am going to go ahead and buy the Deluxe package the next time it drops in price. I understand I will probably start suffering from alcohol fatigue towards the end of the cruise, but I could easily get enough out of all the bottled water and premium coffee I will be drinking.

 

I am frugal as hell all year so that I can have a good vacation....not worrying about a big alcohol bill at the end of my trip will help with that

This, enjoy!!  

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5 hours ago, nanowerx said:

After reading this thread I think I am going to go ahead and buy the Deluxe package the next time it drops in price. I understand I will probably start suffering from alcohol fatigue towards the end of the cruise, but I could easily get enough out of all the bottled water and premium coffee I will be drinking.

 

I am frugal as hell all year so that I can have a good vacation....not worrying about a big alcohol bill at the end of my trip will help with that

One thing you can do... buy at current price, then cancel/rebook if the price goes down. If it gets too close to the cruise (like 48 hours, I think), you can just cancel if you don’t like your price.

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6 hours ago, busterfla said:

Any chance Fireball is included in the package? Didn't see it listed, but hoping it is included.

I am pretty sure I read a post sometime that stated they had Fireball. I read it was their #1 ordered shot. 

 

The one my wife wishes they had but does not look like they do is Kinky Vodka. 

Edited by TravisP
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