Recently cruised on Anthem of the Seas

[PJL1973]

On a related note, a few questions on the RCI drinks package I would like to see clarified please.

1. Is it all inclusive (VAT & gratuities)?

2. Is £48 per day a good price for the deluxe drinks package?

3. How much more expensive are RCI drinks prices compared to P&O? 

[ententecordiale]

9 hours ago, *Fudge* said:

Re My Time Dining.  I read somewhere that signs say it only starts at 6.45pm but people were about to turn up at 6ish.  Is this still the case please? 

We were able to book for 6:30 every day. 

[pdawson30]

4 hours ago, xxHadleyxx said:

Personally, we found the 5 vouchers per day to be enough.  We loved the freedom to order any cocktail we wanted, etc and found all the bar staff to be super friendly.  There was nothing stingy about drinks via the vouchers at all.

Agreed, we also get free drinks in the casino. We never use all the vouchers. To make the drinks package worthwhile you would have to consume a lot. Virtually all drinks are $13 or less so I'm guessing if you need any beyond the 5 then if the drinks package is roughly $83 a day you would need to consume a min of 12 drinks a day (5 +7) to justify the $83. As for volume. I'm a wine drinker so its mostly the same but my wife gets great measures for her mixed drinks, we do tip every drink and the bar staff really appreciate that (and remember it!).

PROTIP: have the tip money in your hand before you order. 

[xxHadleyxx]

4 minutes ago, pdawson30 said:

Agreed, we also get free drinks in the casino. We never use all the vouchers. To make the drinks package worthwhile you would have to consume a lot. Virtually all drinks are $13 or less so I'm guessing if you need any beyond the 5 then if the drinks package is roughly $83 a day you would need to consume a min of 12 drinks a day (5 +7) to justify the $83. As for volume. I'm a wine drinker so its mostly the same but my wife gets great measures for her mixed drinks, we do tip every drink and the bar staff really appreciate that (and remember it!).

PROTIP: have the tip money in your hand before you order. 

we just tipped the majority of bartenders a larger bill on the last day...still had excellent service all cruise.  I rarely have pockets for carrying tip money around throughout the cruise.  I think any way works, so long as we are taking care of these crew members one way or another.

[*Fudge*]

Can anyone help with this question please?    

“I’m just reading on the app about 20% Vat being charged on alcholic drinks when in U.K. ports or U.K. waters.  Does anyone that has recently been on these cruises and had a drinks package have any experience of this?  Isn’t the ship in U.K. waters for most of the time? #confused”

 

Thank you

Edited September 13, 2021 by *Fudge*

[MAGSMFC]

Thanks to everyone for your replies.  I have now decided not to bother with the drinks package.

[*Fudge*]

20 minutes ago, MAGSMFC said:

Thanks to everyone for your replies.  I have now decided not to bother with the drinks package.

We have the drinks package and certainly won’t be drinking 12 alcoholic drinks a day as someone above said would be needed.  We paid £47 for ours and given that we drink specialty coffees, premium sodas and fizzy bottles of water before we have even ordered a glass of wine or two with lunch/dinner and two or three drinks after dinner in the evening it is well worth it for us especially as gratuity is included, with 18% off comes to roughly £38 without gratuity. 
 

I was curious about added tax in port. 
 

have a great cruise Mags 👍🏻

Edited September 13, 2021 by *Fudge*

[PJL1973]

7 minutes ago, *Fudge* said:

We have the drinks package and certainly won’t be drinking 12 alcoholic drinks a day.  We paid £47 for ours and given that we drink specialty coffees, premium sodas and fizzy bottles of water before we have even ordered a glass of wine or two with lunch/dinner and two or three drinks after dinner in the evening it is well worth it for us especially as gratuity is included, with 18% off comes to roughly £38 without gratuity. 
 

I was curious about added tax in port. 

That's good to hear re the drinks package (I presume VAT is always included in the price as well, should be as this is the norm in the UK). Do you know if it's the same for individual drinks prices as well?

[*Fudge*]

6 minutes ago, PJL1973 said:

That's good to hear re the drinks package (I presume VAT is always included in the price as well, should be as this is the norm in the UK). Do you know if it's the same for individual drinks prices as well?

You’re probably right about VAT.  I’m not sure on individual drinks tho.  
 

I have just recalled that someone said the price on U.K. cruises might already include gratuity and they are a $ more to make up for that, I’m not sure tho. That would still make the package good for us.  We like the freedom of it also. 

[pdawson30]

48 minutes ago, MAGSMFC said:

Thanks to everyone for your replies.  I have now decided not to bother with the drinks package.

I think that's a good call. I have talked with many people (who are not even Diamond) and their biggest regret is often buying the drinks package.

What normally happens is they hit it hard the first day or two then they realize that normal people cant keep drinking at that rate! I actually think most of the drinks are way under $13 so you would have to drink a lot to make it worthwhile. I know this isn't popular but I love the new diamond system of drink vouchers at any time rather than the happy hour. IMHO its far superior and convenient. 

[pdawson30]

52 minutes ago, *Fudge* said:

We have the drinks package and certainly won’t be drinking 12 alcoholic drinks a day as someone above said would be needed.  We paid £47 for ours and given that we drink specialty coffees, premium sodas and fizzy bottles of water before we have even ordered a glass of wine or two with lunch/dinner and two or three drinks after dinner in the evening it is well worth it for us especially as gratuity is included, with 18% off comes to roughly £38 without gratuity. 
 

I was curious about added tax in port. 
 

have a great cruise Mags 👍🏻

That was me. 🙂

The point is a Diamond Plus gets 5 drinks each for free. So if you also bought a drinks package you would need to drink at least 12 drinks each per day to make it better than getting 5 free drinks and paying cash for the rest. If its sodas or cheaper drinks you would need even more than 12. I was basing that off $13 drinks which most are not that high. As an example if they charge $5 for a soda (I have no idea what they charge?) you would need 15 sodas to break even. (not including the 5 free drinks) I'm sure there are people who get value from a drinks package. IMHO I don't think most people do, from what they tell me.

[SarahT]

When we cruised in August, individual drinks did have 20% VAT added, so most of the cocktails on the menu were then just over $16. 

[pdawson30]

6 minutes ago, SarahT said:

When we cruised in August, individual drinks did have 20% VAT added, so most of the cocktails on the menu were then just over $16. 

OK, fair enough at $16 drinks the breakeven point for a Diamond plus is roughly 10 drinks per day (5 + 5)

But that is EVERY single day, including days when you go out on excursions!

If you did drink any cheaper drinks (coffee, soda ect) then clearly the breakeven point is higher.

Edited September 13, 2021 by pdawson30
spelling

[*Fudge*]

50 minutes ago, pdawson30 said:

That was me. 🙂

The point is a Diamond Plus gets 5 drinks each for free. So if you also bought a drinks package you would need to drink at least 12 drinks each per day to make it better than getting 5 free drinks and paying cash for the rest. If its sodas or cheaper drinks you would need even more than 12. I was basing that off $13 drinks which most are not that high. As an example if they charge $5 for a soda (I have no idea what they charge?) you would need 15 sodas to break even. (not including the 5 free drinks) I'm sure there are people who get value from a drinks package. IMHO I don't think most people do, from what they tell me.

Yes, I can see why you wouldn’t get the package. 

 

 

[*Fudge*]

36 minutes ago, SarahT said:

When we cruised in August, individual drinks did have 20% VAT added, so most of the cocktails on the menu were then just over $16. 

 

Blimey.  They don’t add that to drinks at the bar on a drinks package do they.  

Edited September 13, 2021 by *Fudge*

[SarahT]

21 hours ago, *Fudge* said:

 

Blimey.  They don’t add that to drinks at the bar on a drinks package do they.  

No they don’t add that if you have drinks package or loyalty daily vouchers