UBP “free” question

[cruisewithbaby]

On our upcoming trip we have 4 cabins. Withou a doubt paying $140pp in grats for the 3 cabins makes sense. But cabin 4 we aren’t sure the $300 is a good deal. The wife spends most of her time in the casino and at most will have 1/2 drinks a day outside of casino. The husband spends his time on the pool deck or relaxing with us but he will probably have 3/4 drinks a day. Should they forgot the “free drinks” perk and just pay per drink? Advice please

[Ck37421]

Just do the math. Even drinks that run $12 plus 20% gratuity nets out to 3 drinks per day for break even point on $300 for a 7 day cruise. 

[smplybcause]

It's $20pppd. If you had two $10 drinks per day you're already ahead as it'd be $22 for those two drinks without the package. With the exception of beer and few glasses of wine everything is over $10 a drink. There are a couple liquors at $9, but two of those are still $19.60 and with the package you can order the better ones instead. 

[bonvoyagie]

Lets not forget that the UBP also includes sodas

[zqvol]

3 hours ago, cruisewithbaby said:

On our upcoming trip we have 4 cabins. Withou a doubt paying $140pp in grats for the 3 cabins makes sense. But cabin 4 we aren’t sure the $300 is a good deal. The wife spends most of her time in the casino and at most will have 1/2 drinks a day outside of casino. The husband spends his time on the pool deck or relaxing with us but he will probably have 3/4 drinks a day. Should they forgot the “free drinks” perk and just pay per drink? Advice please

 

Unfortunately only you can to the math to decide works best, but if you are hitting 3 drinks each day it probably makes sense to get the package. In your example the couple is drinking between 4 and 6 drinks a day thus making it less expensive to get the package than it is to pay as you go.

[ray98]

Simple math......if they average 6 drinks a day at a $10 average it would price out at $72 a day by the drink.  If they took the package the gratuity would work out to $39 per day.

[dbrown84]

for the wife that spends her time in the casino, if she qualifies for the casino drink card, then that would be the way to go.  I get the lowest level casino drink card (beer, wine, and house brand liquor), but it's good enough for me to skip the ship drink package.  I'm fine with getting all my drinks at the casino bar.  

[BirdTravels]

9 hours ago, cruisewithbaby said:

On our upcoming trip we have 4 cabins. Withou a doubt paying $140pp in grats for the 3 cabins makes sense. But cabin 4 we aren’t sure the $300 is a good deal. The wife spends most of her time in the casino and at most will have 1/2 drinks a day outside of casino. The husband spends his time on the pool deck or relaxing with us but he will probably have 3/4 drinks a day. Should they forgot the “free drinks” perk and just pay per drink? Advice please

They just have to determine if the cost of 42 ((2+4)x7 days) of their favorite drinks is less than the cost of the grats on the package. Pretty simple math, depending on the types of drinks they order. 

[wikoffclan]

So, please help me do the math - on a 14 day cruise with "free drinks" the gratuity is $303. At $21/day that's great for the wine/cocktail drinker in me, but is it true it doesn't include bottled water for my friend? What about specialty coffees or fresh orange juice. I'm hoping she sees some benefit from this "perk". Some insight would be appreciated.

[wikoffclan]

So, please help me do the math - on a 14 day cruise with "free drinks" the gratuity is $303. At $21/day that's great for the wine/cocktail drinker in me, but is it true it doesn't include bottled water for my friend? What about specialty coffees or fresh orange juice. I'm hoping she sees some benefit from this "perk". Some insight would be appreciated.

 

 

$303 per person.

[Chigirlcruzin]

7 hours ago, wikoffclan said:

So, please help me do the math - on a 14 day cruise with "free drinks" the gratuity is $303. At $21/day that's great for the wine/cocktail drinker in me, but is it true it doesn't include bottled water for my friend? What about specialty coffees or fresh orange juice. I'm hoping she sees some benefit from this "perk". Some insight would be appreciated.

 

 

$303 per person.

The perk does not include water, fresh squeezed juices, and specialty coffees. You have to upgrade the package (at $29 per person per day plus 20% gratuity) to get those (and I don’t know if coffee is included). 

 

If your friend doesn’t drink at all, it might be worth it for you to pay the cost of both packages as even at $606, you only need to drink about 4 drinks a day to break even, which is very easy to do unless you have a lot of 12+ hour port stops. If you friend drinks minimally, she only needs to average 2 drinks a day to break even. 

 

I got off the Getaway on Saturday - 9 night cruise with 6 port days (overnight in St. Petersburg and 8-5 in the other ports). We each had a minimum of 8 drinks a day so it was well worth it for us. Once they know you have the package at dinner, they keep whichever wine you ordered flowing. Somehow on cruises I don’t get drunk lol so keep them flowing. 

Edited July 16, 2019 by Chigirlcruzin

[BirdTravels]

8 hours ago, wikoffclan said:

So, please help me do the math - on a 14 day cruise with "free drinks" the gratuity is $303. At $21/day that's great for the wine/cocktail drinker in me, but is it true it doesn't include bottled water for my friend? What about specialty coffees or fresh orange juice. I'm hoping she sees some benefit from this "perk". Some insight would be appreciated.

 

 

$303 per person.

The benefits is not paying for any drinks on the ship. We also use it for sodas and virgin drinks (incl frozen drinks around the pool). 

 

Does not include: Wine and Spirit Experiences, tastings or Flights, Starbucks, Ice Bars, room service, package sales, bottled water, ship specific promotions or beer buckets, designated super premium brands (subject to change), bottled wine, mini bar purchases, fresh squeezed juices, Lavazza coffee beverages, wine dispenser, energy drinks or vending machines.

Edited July 16, 2019 by BirdTravels

[graphicguy]

 

And BTW, the water on board through the tap is probably 5X better than what you’d get in a bottle of water.  The filtration systems on cruise ships are state of the art.  The rest, range juice is not covered but tomato juice is (go figure, but I prefer tomato juice).  Sodas are covered, too.

 

In the Garden Cafe, the flavored waters (mango, strawberry, etc) are quite tasty.  Those are included, too.

[wikoffclan]

Thank you for your detailed replies. VERY helpful! Much appreciated. 😀