Are there ever special deals on the drinks packages?

[Dgtrainer99]

Just not sure where to buy the package or not. Using the calculator on cruise mummy, we’re in a borderline situation.

 

We’re travelling on Azura in January.

[wowzz]

48 minutes ago, Dgtrainer99 said:

Just not sure where to buy the package or not. Using the calculator on cruise mummy, we’re in a borderline situation.

 

We’re travelling on Azura in January.

Never heard of one.

Prices have increased since the cruise mummy calculator (unless that has been updated accordingly)so you may no longer be border line !

[Dgtrainer99]

What’s the typical cost of a glass of wine? Plus can you use the onboard credit to go towards the drink package?

Do most people buy the package?

 

we’re first time cruisers, so green as grass in cruising.

[free from work]

7 minutes ago, Dgtrainer99 said:

What’s the typical cost of a glass of wine? Plus can you use the onboard credit to go towards the drink package?

Do most people buy the package?

 

we’re first time cruisers, so green as grass in cruising.

Here's a link that's worth checking out. 

 

https://paulandcarolelovetotravel.com/po-cruises-bar-prices-drinks-packages/

 

We are on our first P&O cruise on Ventura in November. Do P&O do "happy hours" or cocktails of the day in any bars during the cruise? 

 

Jim 

[Cruisemeister2002]

26 minutes ago, free from work said:

Here's a link that's worth checking out. 

 

https://paulandcarolelovetotravel.com/po-cruises-bar-prices-drinks-packages/

 

We are on our first P&O cruise on Ventura in November. Do P&O do "happy hours" or cocktails of the day in any bars during the cruise? 

 

Jim 

Although I have posted a question myself on wine packages I do know P&O have a cocktail of the day. As for the Happy hour I've seen a few who have " Happy Days" but that's more down to them than P&O being generous. So sadly no happy hours unless they have introduced something I'm unaware of.

[Son of Anarchy]

Anyone seen the return of the "beer card"?  You used to be able to buy a card of 10 or 20 pints of draught beer.  I think they were for £40 and £80 respectively, so a bit of a saving on the likes of Peroni, Stella, Shipyard etc.

[JeanieC,Aston]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Never heard of one.

Prices have increased since the cruise mummy calculator (unless that has been updated accordingly)so you may no longer be border line !

Here’s a price list you can use whether £40 a day for a drink package can be made towork.

 

My wife drinks Prosecco,,,,£6 for a 125ml glass was daylight robbery,,especially as the Prosecco they serve called ‘Canti’ is £7.50 a bottle in Asda.

Edited October 31, 2021 by JeanieC,Aston

[wowzz]

So, about £8 for a large glass of house wine. If you both drink at least 6 glasses of wine every day of the cruise it is worth taking the package.

However, in many ports you can buy a bottle of wine to take back on board to drink on your cabin (naughty, but lots do it), which might influence your decision.

 

[Cruisemeister2002]

I suppose the bars have a sign saying " You can get Carona via us ?

[jaydee6969]

32 minutes ago, wowzz said:

So, about £8 for a large glass of house wine. If you both drink at least 6 glasses of wine every day of the cruise it is worth taking the package.

However, in many ports you can buy a bottle of wine to take back on board to drink on your cabin (naughty, but lots do it), which might influence your decision.

 

 

From memory, you can not have a large glass of wine in the package.  Plus capped at £6.95 per drink.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

From memory, you can not have a large glass of wine in the package.  Plus capped at £6.95 per drink.

Good point. But who drinks small glasses of wine !

 

[terrierjohn]

5 hours ago, wowzz said:

Good point. But who drinks small glasses of wine !

 

Presumably you can have 2 small ones though.

[jaydee6969]

8 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Presumably you can have 2 small ones though.

Technically yes, but within the package rules you would need to wait 15 minutes between drinks.

[jaydee6969]

16 hours ago, Dgtrainer99 said:

Plus can you use the onboard credit to go towards the drink package?

Do most people buy the package?

 

You can use your OBC towards the package, but you would need to buy it onboard on the 1st or 2nd day to use it.

 

As to if most people buy it, that's a hot potato question.  There seems to be a stigma surrounding the package, in some peoples eyes you must be a raging alcoholic to buy it whilst disregarding the fact you can have Costa coffees, soft drinks, bottled water and mocktails all included and unlimited(15 minute wait time).

 

We will be having the package when we do our 7 day Spain and France cruise next Easter, especially as the Spanish 10% IVA tax is deemed to be already paid for within the package.  But we won't be having it on our 14 night cruise to the Baltics.

 

Personally I would wait until actually on board, have a look at the menus and check out the prices for what you may like to drink and buy on board with your OBC if you want it.  There are a lot of drinks due to the recent price rises that are no longer within the package.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, jaydee6969 said:

Technically yes, but within the package rules you would need to wait 15 minutes between drinks.

That's OK I can usually make a small glass last 15 mins  if I am careful.

[Dgtrainer99]

17 hours ago, wowzz said:

So, about £8 for a large glass of house wine. If you both drink at least 6 glasses of wine every day of the cruise it is worth taking the package.

However, in many ports you can buy a bottle of wine to take back on board to drink on your cabin (naughty, but lots do it), which might influence your decision.

 

 

[Bazrat]

No special deals on Britannia, I like a drink or two but could not have made the package work for us

[Britboys]

Another factor to take into account is the number of sea days vs port days on your cruise. It could be harder to 'get your money's worth' on port days so the more of those you have, the less likely it is to prove cost-effective.

[smilesonfaces]

You may also want to consider buying the drinks package on the morning of your first full day. If you don’t board until late afternoon you won’t get full value of the drinks package on that day. If you buy in the morning you pay for one day less. You can buy it up until midnight of the first full day. 
 

on our staycation we saw no cocktails of the day or any bar offers of any kind. 
 

personally I didn’t think the package was worth it, there are just too many restrictions in what you can have especially if you like cocktails as  few are under the £6.95 limit. 

[Selbourne]

On 10/31/2021 at 2:26 PM, Dgtrainer99 said:

What’s the typical cost of a glass of wine? Plus can you use the onboard credit to go towards the drink package?

Do most people buy the package?

 

we’re first time cruisers, so green as grass in cruising.

I’m conscious that some of your questions haven’t been answered. The drinks package has been debated at considerable length on this forum many times since it was introduced and the vast majority of people deem that it is not worth the money so, on that basis, I suspect that the majority of people do not buy it.
 

There are many reasons for this. Firstly, P&O drinks prices are very reasonable, so you have to drink a fair bit each day to even come close to the cost. Secondly (as mentioned by Britboys), it would be particularly difficult for most people to get value from it on port days when you are off the ship for much of the day. Next there are the restrictions, of which there are quite a few (price caps, glass sizes, no doubles, only the budget mixers etc). This last point alone discounted it for us, as much of what we drink isn’t even covered by the package (we would generally have bottles or large glasses of wine, double measures and premium mixers - none of which is available on the drinks package). 
 

If you do decide to buy it, you can use your on board credit to pay for it. 

 

My sister and her family were in your position when they did their first cruise a few years ago. They drink considerably more than we do and before the cruise were absolutely convinced that they were going to buy it. They thought that it would save them money and also they would prefer “not to have a big bill at the end of the cruise”. As for the latter point, I explained that ships have on board accounts and you don’t ‘pay’ for drinks as you order them, you use your cruise card, so it’s no more inconvenient than if you use a drinks package. Also, a drinks package adds to your on board account, which is settled at the end of the cruise, so that is no different to if you pay as you go. So there is no added ‘convenience’ factor of buying the package. 
 

At the end of their 14 night cruise (which they thoroughly enjoyed and drank “plenty”), they totted up how much they had paid for all their drinks and worked out that they had saved quite a lot of money by not buying the drinks package. They had also been able to have what they wanted all the time and not have to restrict their choices to what was ‘allowed’ on the package. 
 

I think that the numbers work out a little bit better for those who use the on board Costa Coffee a lot and buy lots of water (we are more than happy with the tap water served in all the restaurants), but you are still stuck with all the restrictions. Only you can answer if it’s worth it for you, but for the majority of people it probably isn’t cost effective and is too restrictive. I suspect that it’s more popular with first time cruisers or those who are used to ‘all inclusive’ cruises or holidays, but I can’t help but wonder how many of those people actually work out after the cruise if they saved money by purchasing it. The bottom line for us would be that we would have to save a big enough sum of money to make all the restrictions worthwhile. For us we wouldn’t save any money in the first place and when on holiday we want to have what we want, not what we are ‘allowed’.

[Cruisemeister2002]

I personally can't see why cruise lines don't come up with more than one drinks package. Take for instance a husband and wife going on a 35 night cruise x £78 = £2730. Maybe it's just me, but that seems like a phenomenal amount of money. We are not big drinkers so therefore we will take a litre of spirits each with us, plus a few tonic waters, baggage allowing and then we normally have a tea or coffee when we arise and then down to the restaurant for breakie and again tea and coffee. Sometimes a mid morning Costa and depending on the weather a drink inside or out early afternoon. Sometimes afternoon tea and then back to the cabin. A drink in the cabin and catch up with the Horizon paper, footie results maybe. A shower and get dressed for dinner. To the bar for a pre-dinner drink and either take a drink through with us to the dining room or maybe a bottle of wine at the table which we sometimes have a glass each and then ask them to put the bottle away and have the other half the next night. Then it's on to the show or a venue where there's a singer/pianist. If it's the venue with the singer we will have another drink. If it's the Theatre we don't only on the rare occasion have a drink. Back to the cabin for a drinking chocolate which we take with us. 

[Bazrat]

Having done both paying for drinks as you go and all inclusive,to be honest I don’t really care, as long as they have good beer and football on the tv I’m happy