Premium Plus Beverage Package

[katzz35]

My husband and I recently returned from our first NCL cruise.  We were on the Dawn, and got the dining and beverage packages with our booking.  We decided to upgrade the to PPBP because my husband prefers the higher end bourbons.  We paid the $348 upgrade (I was told on the phone I could use my onboard room credit for that, but I couldn't. Not a big deal in the end), and we were pleased with it.  After paying the gratuities on the package perk and the upgrade, it was about $350/pp to drink unlimited for the 5 days and that's a pretty good deal.
Being able to get the bottles of water is a big plus for us, we would store them in our mini fridge so they stayed cold.  Add that to the specialty coffees in the morning, and we really enjoyed being able to order without worry.
A lot of bartenders and baristas would tell us "I'm sorry, thats not included in your package" because its such a new package.  Only 3 cabins on our ship had upgraded. But because of that, they became quite familiar with us.  There is, however, a price cap on the PPBP.  You have a $30 limit, which only puts a handful of liquors and glasses of wine outside of your budget.
And having a bottle of wine with dinner is a nice option to have, since service can be slow at times.

[ZsaZsa2019]

Is there a limit on the bottles of wine (price)?  Can you only have a bottle at dinner, or can you order one in a lounge, for example?  Are you allowed to take it back to your room?  Seems a bit pricey for us to upgrade, but I love my wine, so I just want to weigh my options.

 

 

[kboltwkreations]

Just wanted to clarify, it was a $30 limit for you?? Another thread stated the cutoff was $35 per drink with PPBP. Trying to decide for our Breakaway cruise in 2 weeks. Thanks!

[katzz35]

34 minutes ago, kboltwkreations said:

Just wanted to clarify, it was a $30 limit for you?? Another thread stated the cutoff was $35 per drink with PPBP. Trying to decide for our Breakaway cruise in 2 weeks. Thanks!

Interesting. We were told $30. 

 

In regards to the wine, it was only in the dining rooms.  The included bottles have stars next to them on the wine list. We were told we could each get one bottle per meal. And if it was opened and we didn’t finish it we could take it back to the room. But we never did that so I can’t say for sure that’s the case. It’s just what the wine sommelier told us at dinner one night. 

[YankeesFan4Life]

4 hours ago, katzz35 said:

 After paying the gratuities on the package perk and the upgrade, it was about $350/pp to drink unlimited for the 5 days and that's a pretty good deal.
 

 

Now I'm a heavy wine drinker, and love my great bourbons (as I'm sipping a Bulleit and Ginger right now), but you're saying that you paid $70pp per day?  PLUS the $22 (I think) pp per day gratuities on the Free at Sea promo?  Something doesn't add up.  That's $92 (give or take) to drink.  That seems awfully high.  I thought I saw it was something like $30-$35pp per day for the PPBP.  We're debating doing it IF it was under $500 total for the both of us

@kboltwkreations we're going on BA in August, if you could please report back after your trip, I would definitely appreciate it!

[katzz35]

2 hours ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

 

Now I'm a heavy wine drinker, and love my great bourbons (as I'm sipping a Bulleit and Ginger right now), but you're saying that you paid $70pp per day?  PLUS the $22 (I think) pp per day gratuities on the Free at Sea promo?  Something doesn't add up.  That's $92 (give or take) to drink.  That seems awfully high.  I thought I saw it was something like $30-$35pp per day for the PPBP.  We're debating doing it IF it was under $500 total for the both of us

@kboltwkreations we're going on BA in August, if you could please report back after your trip, I would definitely appreciate it!

Approx $60/day including the gratuities. To not have to worry about whether what we wanted was covered. $200 for the free at sea gratuities, and $348 for the upgrade is $548. And divided by 2 is $274. Divided by 5 days is $55. 

[kboltwkreations]

3 hours ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

 

Now I'm a heavy wine drinker, and love my great bourbons (as I'm sipping a Bulleit and Ginger right now), but you're saying that you paid $70pp per day?  PLUS the $22 (I think) pp per day gratuities on the Free at Sea promo?  Something doesn't add up.  That's $92 (give or take) to drink.  That seems awfully high.  I thought I saw it was something like $30-$35pp per day for the PPBP.  We're debating doing it IF it was under $500 total for the both of us

@kboltwkreations we're going on BA in August, if you could please report back after your trip, I would definitely appreciate it!

Will let you know for sure! We are BIG wine drinkers so this seems like a no brainer for us to add on.  Not much to pick from under the $15/glass mark 

[YankeesFan4Life]

9 hours ago, katzz35 said:

Approx $60/day including the gratuities. To not have to worry about whether what we wanted was covered. $200 for the free at sea gratuities, and $348 for the upgrade is $548. And divided by 2 is $274. Divided by 5 days is $55. 

 

So your number was total, thank goodness!!!!! HAHA

 

I sell fine wine and spirits for a living, so for that, I can keep up with my everyday drinking pleasures!!! 🙂 #firstworldproblems

 

Thanks for the clarification

[katzz35]

12 hours ago, kboltwkreations said:

 Will let you know for sure! We are BIG wine drinkers so this seems like a no brainer for us to add on.  Not much to pick from under the $15/glass mark 

This was a big reason we upgraded as well.  A lot of the wines that we would enjoy were over the limit.  And now we've found a new favorite, Oberon Cabernet.  I'm going after work today to buy a few bottles (almost $10 less than the cost per glass on the ship! haha)

[katzz35]

3 hours ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

  

So your number was total, thank goodness!!!!! HAHA

 

I sell fine wine and spirits for a living, so for that, I can keep up with my everyday drinking pleasures!!! 🙂 #firstworldproblems

  

Thanks for the clarification

Not a problem. 

Plus add in liter sized bottles of water, specialty coffees, energy drinks if you drink them.  It's so much more than just the alcohol that made it worth it for us.

[kfnesq]

17 hours ago, kboltwkreations said:

Just wanted to clarify, it was a $30 limit for you?? Another thread stated the cutoff was $35 per drink with PPBP. Trying to decide for our Breakaway cruise in 2 weeks. Thanks! 

That was me.  We were on the Jade and were told $35, which I believe is correct specifically because the Veuve Clocquot Yellow Label champagne was included at $34.95 a glass.  How do I know?  I drank it every day.

 

Re: the bottles of wine for dinner, they are noted on the wine lists in all the restaurants, so you can see which ones are included. 

[mdsgu]

Just now, kfnesq said:

That was me.  We were on the Jade and were told $35, which I believe is correct specifically because the Veuve Clocquot Yellow Label champagne was included at $34.95 a glass.  How do I know?  I drank it every day.

 

Re: the bottles of wine for dinner, they are noted on the wine lists in all the restaurants, so you can see which ones are included. 

I hope it's $35 and that Veuve is included.  My wife is SO looking forward to that in Europe!

[kfnesq]

4 minutes ago, mdsgu said:

I hope it's $35 and that Veuve is included.  My wife is SO looking forward to that in Europe!

Fingers crossed!  I mean, it was for me, so hopefully that is correct.  It IS a new package so there was a learning curve at the bars, but the supervisors/hotel manager/beverage manager seemed to know what was going on and how the package works.

 

If your experience differs please report back!

[katzz35]

12 minutes ago, kfnesq said:

Fingers crossed!  I mean, it was for me, so hopefully that is correct.  It IS a new package so there was a learning curve at the bars, but the supervisors/hotel manager/beverage manager seemed to know what was going on and how the package works.

  

If your experience differs please report back!

I remember being told at the Java Cafe it was a $30 cap, but in the wine cellar they said the Veuve was included. But it's not something I drink, so I didn't pay attention to the price.  It wouldn't have changed much for us with it being a $35 limit, maybe my husband would have tried the top priced bourbon, but I still found it worth it.

[purpleally]

1 hour ago, kfnesq said:

That was me.  We were on the Jade and were told $35, which I believe is correct specifically because the Veuve Clocquot Yellow Label champagne was included at $34.95 a glass.  How do I know?  I drank it every day.

 

Re: the bottles of wine for dinner, they are noted on the wine lists in all the restaurants, so you can see which ones are included. 

I’m counting on Veuve being included. Game changer if it’s only $30. That also kicks Whistle Pig out of the mix

[Georgia_Peaches]

Did they tell you why you couldn't use your OBC to upgrade to the PPBP?

[katzz35]

14 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Did they tell you why you couldn't use your OBC to upgrade to the PPBP?

They didn't.  I did tell them I had called in and asked if I could when the news of the new package dropped, and was told I could use it.  But when they said I couldn't on board, I didn't press it.  We had other things on the account that totaled our OBC, and then got small gifts for our kids with the remaining balance.

[Georgia_Peaches]

13 minutes ago, katzz35 said:

They didn't.  I did tell them I had called in and asked if I could when the news of the new package dropped, and was told I could use it.  But when they said I couldn't on board, I didn't press it.  We had other things on the account that totaled our OBC, and then got small gifts for our kids with the remaining balance.

Thank you.  Strange that you can use OBC for everything else...wonder how consistent they are with this??

[rjm11]

bottles of wine make this interesting... I'm see conflicting info on NCLs site though (shocker!).... on the description for the Premium Plus upgrade for the NCL Sky it talks about bottles of wine at dinner- for the Premium Plus description OUTSIDE of the Sky it says 40% off bottles.  Anyone have current info on this outside of the Sky?

[katzz35]

25 minutes ago, rjm11 said:

bottles of wine make this interesting... I'm see conflicting info on NCLs site though (shocker!).... on the description for the Premium Plus upgrade for the NCL Sky it talks about bottles of wine at dinner- for the Premium Plus description OUTSIDE of the Sky it says 40% off bottles.  Anyone have current info on this outside of the Sky?

I was on the Dawn and I had bottles

of wine at dinner included in the package. Anything not included In the package (I’d say there’s about 10/15 bottles to choose from) are 40% off

[kfnesq]

3 minutes ago, katzz35 said:

I was on the Dawn and I had bottles

of wine at dinner included in the package. Anything not included In the package (I’d say there’s about 10/15 bottles to choose from) are 40% off

This was my experience on Jade as well.  There were maybe 15 bottles that were included in the package at dinners, any other bottle was 40% off (which is really 20% off because there's always that pesky 20% gratuity).

[Ck37421]

Here’s the new link from NCL’s page on what’s included in the PPBP

 

https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/premium-plus-beverage-package.pdf

 

Pricing is difference between $99/pp pd and $128 plus 20% gratuity = $34.80/pp per day—$69.60 per couple.  I think we paid $59 for a bottle of Oberon on the Bliss last year. Only decent Cab on the list is Simi so all depends on how many bottles you drink with dinner every night. 

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Ck37421
Added pricing

[roxette]

Any news on this? Anyone else tried it? 

Still not possible to upgrade before boarding? Still can not use obc? 

 

Thanks in advance for Any info at all. I am reeeeeally tempted to try this. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

I appreciate the OP's thoughts on this but have been watching this thread hoping that others might chime in with their experiences as well.  I'm sailing on Breakaway in 18 days and I am trying to figure out if we are going to go for it.  The jury's still out.

Edited June 4, 2019 by Georgia_Peaches

[pixiedust777]

I am toying back and forth with this for our cruise on the Breakaway in October.

i would love to be able to drink Veuve Clicquot during dinners while my Husband enjoyed a bottle of Red. He would also enjoy the better selection of scotch.