Drink Package Cost

[ravenjls]

On 6/24/2022 at 9:25 AM, Sancho_proudfoot said:

Firstly,  I believe the price paid for UK purchases includes the 18% gratuity,  so no extra needed.

 

Secondly  when we booked our upcoming cruise (anthem) back in February  the offer (via our TA) included the drinks package at £40pppd ( about US$50), which seemed a good deal.

 

 

On our Anthem cruise in Aug, I have to pay 64 pp + tip (that was a sale price its now up to 69) while those on the same cruise from UK can call and get it for the $42.324 (40 euros)total.  That is where I think RCI is totally unfair. 

 

[exm]

2 hours ago, AtlThunderDan said:

I can't. You can't have 2 minors in the same room. There are 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids. 

 

Anyhow, you guys missed the point. I understand that you should have both of us on our own package. That's not the point. We aren't new to cruising. 

I wanted more thoughts on if this would work, and what the detractors are. 

We may do two, we may not. We've been on different lines, so no Diamond for us yet. 

 

I also always book 2 cabins, splitting up my 3 kids with my wife and I. I always get the drink package, my wife is not a heavy drinker at all so she doesn't. She usually drinks 1-2 glasses of wine a day and that's it. It has happened more than once that she literally took my glass away and started zipping on it. So am I supposed to yell at her? Anyway, common sense rules here.

[rudeney]

24 minutes ago, exm said:

 

I also always book 2 cabins, splitting up my 3 kids with my wife and I. I always get the drink package, my wife is not a heavy drinker at all so she doesn't. She usually drinks 1-2 glasses of wine a day and that's it. It has happened more than once that she literally took my glass away and started zipping on it. So am I supposed to yell at her? 

 

No, don't yell at her!  Find the nearest crew member and report the theft!  Have her thrown in the brig!   🤣🤣🤣

[vjmatty]

24 minutes ago, exm said:

 

I also always book 2 cabins, splitting up my 3 kids with my wife and I. I always get the drink package, my wife is not a heavy drinker at all so she doesn't. She usually drinks 1-2 glasses of wine a day and that's it. It has happened more than once that she literally took my glass away and started zipping on it. So am I supposed to yell at her? Anyway, common sense rules here.

 

Taking some sips from an individual drink is not what they mean by "sharing" the package.... it is when you get someone else their own drink using your package.

[BekkaW]

3 hours ago, AtlThunderDan said:

I can't. You can't have 2 minors in the same room. There are 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids. 

 

Anyhow, you guys missed the point. I understand that you should have both of us on our own package. That's not the point. We aren't new to cruising. 

I wanted more thoughts on if this would work, and what the detractors are. 

 

Yes you can - next door to or directly across the hall from the adults. 
 

I have seen people cut off for the night for sharing, and when they continued to try and share the next day their package was then cancelled. So yes they will notice and will do something 

[AtlThunderDan]

14 minutes ago, BekkaW said:

Yes you can - next door to or directly across the hall from the adults. 
 

I have seen people cut off for the night for sharing, and when they continued to try and share the next day their package was then cancelled. So yes they will notice and will do something 

Hmmm. We did it on Carnival and they didn't let us. I prefer to do whichever works best but thanks, try it. 

 

Oh, and I just wanted opinions on the package, not the nth degree. I've spent more than my fair share on alcohol over the years! 😂

I'm not sure the cost yet, but we will see. We are waffling between this RCCL and an NCL (never done it) 

 

[ARandomTraveler]

4 hours ago, AtlThunderDan said:

I can't. You can't have 2 minors in the same room. There are 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids. 

 

Anyhow, you guys missed the point. I understand that you should have both of us on our own package. That's not the point. We aren't new to cruising. 

I wanted more thoughts on if this would work, and what the detractors are. 

We may do two, we may not. We've been on different lines, so no Diamond for us yet. 

My thought off the bat regarding what the "detractors" are as far as the inconvenience to you goes... you can't sit at the bar and relax with your drinks, enjoying the band or conversation with your neighbors or whatever else you'd be doing at the time. You'd have to keep excusing yourself, going to another bar, getting a drink and bringing it back to the bar you were originally hanging out in. This just seems like way more hassle than it's worth to save the $30 cost of 2 glasses of wine. 
 

On top of that, the bartender at the bar you're hanging out in is going to notice what you're doing because you'll keep leaving to get a drink from a different bar and bringing it back, and handing it to your wife. 
 

It seems like a lot less hassle to just bring on your 2 free bottles of wine (or in your case, since you're in different rooms, you can bring 4 bottles of wine) and let her fill up her own wine glass and drink that.

 

Or, since she drinks so little, just pay out of pocket. Otherwise you're gonna be doing this secret-bar-shuffle game everyday just to save $200. 

Edited June 27, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, ravenjls said:

That is where I think RCI is totally unfair. 

You might not think so if you see what Brits pay for their cabins.

[BekkaW]

46 minutes ago, AtlThunderDan said:

Hmmm. We did it on Carnival and they didn't let us. I prefer to do whichever works best but thanks, try it. 

 

Oh, and I just wanted opinions on the package, not the nth degree. I've spent more than my fair share on alcohol over the years! 😂

I'm not sure the cost yet, but we will see. We are waffling between this RCCL and an NCL (never done it) 

 

You asked if it would work and what the detractors were, so I told you. No it won’t work and your package will get cancelled with no refund. 

[AtlThunderDan]

55 minutes ago, ARandomTraveler said:

My thought off the bat regarding what the "detractors" are as far as the inconvenience to you goes... you can't sit at the bar and relax with your drinks, enjoying the band or conversation with your neighbors or whatever else you'd be doing at the time. You'd have to keep excusing yourself, going to another bar, getting a drink and bringing it back to the bar you were originally hanging out in. This just seems like way more hassle than it's worth to save the $30 cost of 2 glasses of wine. 
 

On top of that, the bartender at the bar you're hanging out in is going to notice what you're doing because you'll keep leaving to get a drink from a different bar and bringing it back, and handing it to your wife. 
 

It seems like a lot less hassle to just bring on your 2 free bottles of wine (or in your case, since you're in different rooms, you can bring 4 bottles of wine) and let her fill up her own wine glass and drink that.

 

Or, since she drinks so little, just pay out of pocket. Otherwise you're gonna be doing this secret-bar-shuffle game everyday just to save $200. 

 

Yeah, it's most likely an all or nothing as my wife and I discussed. It just depends on the cost. 

[vjmatty]

8 minutes ago, AtlThunderDan said:

 

Yeah, it's most likely an all or nothing as my wife and I discussed. It just depends on the cost. 

 

Assuming you are not going to share the package, as you are not supposed to, the bigger issue here is that you should still book one adult with one minor in each cabin, because then your wife will not be committed to get any kind of package if you do decide to get the alcohol one for yourself.  That economy of control seems to have been lost in all the discussion about sharing packages.

[ARandomTraveler]

35 minutes ago, AtlThunderDan said:

 

Yeah, it's most likely an all or nothing as my wife and I discussed. It just depends on the cost. 

The cost is way too high for a lightweight drinker. Even with low alcohol content as some people reference, the amount of liquid a non-drinker would have to force feed themselves just to make it worth it...isn't worth it. 
 

Decide what price per day would make it worth it, and then divide that price by $13. If the resulting number of drinks ends up being way beyond what she'd drink 7 days in a row, just pay out of pocket. If it's within a drink or three, maybe go ahead and buy it.

 

At $73/day divided by $13, that's 5.6 alcoholic drinks. If you assume that she'll drink 2 non-alcoholic drinks a day at say, $9/drink, then the math comes out to 4.2 alcoholic drinks per day ($73-$18=$55. $55/$13=4.2 alcoholic drinks per day). 
 

4 alcoholic drinks a day isn't that much for a "non-drinker" on vacation, but 4 alcoholic drinks 7 days in a row is a ton for a non-drinker (speaking as a minimal drinker myself). The package price would have to be $50 or less to be "worth it." And at that, I personally would still not be breaking even, but I'd consider buying it for the convenience and the price cap anyway. 
 

If you're waiting for the price to go down to a "worth it" level, it's not gonna ever go that low.

Edited June 27, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[S.A.M.J.R.]

49 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

 

Assuming you are not going to share the package, as you are not supposed to, the bigger issue here is that you should still book one adult with one minor in each cabin, because then your wife will not be committed to get any kind of package if you do decide to get the alcohol one for yourself.  That economy of control seems to have been lost in all the discussion about sharing packages.

Sigh.  No. Book husband and wife in one cabin, kids in the other.  After the room is booked, CALL RCI, tell them the husband wants the alcohol package, the wife doesn't drink but would like the refreshment or soda package instead.  Then they each have a package, and don't have to worry about getting different keys made. 

[vjmatty]

Just now, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Sigh.  No. Book husband and wife in one cabin, kids in the other.  After the room is booked, CALL RCI, tell them the husband wants the alcohol package, the wife doesn't drink but would like the refreshment or soda package instead.  Then they each have a package, and don't have to worry about getting different keys made. 

 

I don't think you can get just the soda package, and the refreshment package is up tp $20 per day more than the soda package.  Maybe she doesn't want the refreshment package and they'd rather not spend a few hundred more for it.  As for the keys, the purser's desk can make a "Mr. Key" extra that opens doors and is not connected to an account.  It's really not that big of a deal.  Not really worth sighing about, just because someone has a different opinion than you.

 

[AtlThunderDan]

1 hour ago, vjmatty said:

 

Assuming you are not going to share the package, as you are not supposed to, the bigger issue here is that you should still book one adult with one minor in each cabin, because then your wife will not be committed to get any kind of package if you do decide to get the alcohol one for yourself.  That economy of control seems to have been lost in all the discussion about sharing packages.

That was my plan just in case. Not for the drink package, but in general. We usually don't do the package (outside soft drinks) and I'm happy with water, tea, etc.... The alcohol aspect is a plus. 

Also, we got addicted to the good Jura (or similar machine) coffee in the Viking club on a few cruises.... so good coffee is a plus. 😂

[S.A.M.J.R.]

6 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

 

I don't think you can get just the soda package, and the refreshment package is up tp $20 per day more than the soda package.  Maybe she doesn't want the refreshment package and they'd rather not spend a few hundred more for it.  As for the keys, the purser's desk can make a "Mr. Key" extra that opens doors and is not connected to an account.  It's really not that big of a deal.  Not really worth sighing about, just because someone has a different opinion than you.

 

I got the refreshment package FOR $20/day for our upcoming cruise.  I won't even get into the hassle of needing to spend time at GS on day 1, but I don't want to have to mess with multiple cards.  I need a card for my seapass, then a separate card for the kids door.  Oh wait, maybe DW will need to get into the kids room and I'm not around.  Now she's carrying two cards.  Make sure you get out the right one.

 

People keep saying you need to book an adult with minor kids and that's just factually wrong.  

People keep saying if someone in a cabin wants the alcohol package, everyone (over 21) needs to get one.  That's factually wrong also. 

[baelor]

7 hours ago, exm said:

 

I'm not promoting sharing, but the package prices have absolutely skyrocketed this year: it's becoming borderline unaffordable.

If it is unaffordable to someone, they should just...not get it.  

[vjmatty]

49 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

I got the refreshment package FOR $20/day for our upcoming cruise.  I won't even get into the hassle of needing to spend time at GS on day 1, but I don't want to have to mess with multiple cards.  I need a card for my seapass, then a separate card for the kids door.  Oh wait, maybe DW will need to get into the kids room and I'm not around.  Now she's carrying two cards.  Make sure you get out the right one.

 

People keep saying you need to book an adult with minor kids and that's just factually wrong.  

People keep saying if someone in a cabin wants the alcohol package, everyone (over 21) needs to get one.  That's factually wrong also. 

Refreshment package for our upcoming cruise is $325. For that unnecessary expense, given I’d never use it, I’d deal with carrying an extra card. But it’s not up to you or me, the OP can decide for himself if he’d rather pay for the convenience of carrying only one card. I was just clarifying that he could legally save the cost of the refreshment package by booking a minor and an adult. You do you. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[rudeney]

1 minute ago, baelor said:

If it is unaffordable to someone, they should just...not get it.  

 

I agree.  Drink prices on the ships are about what they are in restaurants and bars on land, so people just need to budget accordingly.  The big difference between being on land vs. on a ship is that if you want a cocktail in your home (or office or resort hotel room), you have the option of buying a ~$35 bottle that will make 10-12 drinks.  On RCCL, you can't BYOB except for two bottles of wine.  So those 10-12 cocktails will cost you over $100 plus tips.

 

I think where most people get aggravated with drink prices is when they see that the DBP costs more per-person than the cruise fare.  Sometimes the DBP costs more for one person that the entire cruise fare for all passengers in a discounted cabin.  But that's just he way it is.  If you don't like it, either don't drink or don't cruise.

[orla56]

On 6/22/2022 at 11:25 AM, little britain said:

Little Britain told me about this great  deal that hasn't finished yet maybe till end of month.I phoned and got it yesterday.

 

All European cruises have a £40 offer on for deluxe drinks package - you have to call. It’s not in the Planner. Meant to have ended in March but it didn’t 

 

[exm]

3 hours ago, rudeney said:

 

I agree.  Drink prices on the ships are about what they are in restaurants and bars on land, so people just need to budget accordingly.  The big difference between being on land vs. on a ship is that if you want a cocktail in your home (or office or resort hotel room), you have the option of buying a ~$35 bottle that will make 10-12 drinks.  On RCCL, you can't BYOB except for two bottles of wine.  So those 10-12 cocktails will cost you over $100 plus tips.

 

I think where most people get aggravated with drink prices is when they see that the DBP costs more per-person than the cruise fare.  Sometimes the DBP costs more for one person that the entire cruise fare for all passengers in a discounted cabin.  But that's just he way it is.  If you don't like it, either don't drink or don't cruise.

 

The argument is that 'sharing' will make RC raise their pricing. My counter-argument is that they're raising their prices anyway, outpacing inflation.

[rudeney]

2 hours ago, exm said:

 

The argument is that 'sharing' will make RC raise their pricing. My counter-argument is that they're raising their prices anyway, outpacing inflation.

 

Oh I agree - sharing a few drinks on a single DBP isn't going to make price go up.  But I still don't think RCCL's drink prices are all that high.  Of course they charge more than I'd like  to see, but $10 for Chivas on the rocks is less expensive than our local Outback Steakhouse charges.  

 

[baelor]

20 hours ago, exm said:

 

The argument is that 'sharing' will make RC raise their pricing. My counter-argument is that they're raising their prices anyway, outpacing inflation.

They are not mutually exclusive.  The question is what would happen if no sharing occurred.  Even if they would raise prices regardless, they may raise them more because of concerns about sharing than they would if they thought no sharing occurred.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

9 minutes ago, baelor said:

They are not mutually exclusive.  The question is what would happen if no sharing occurred.  Even if they would raise prices regardless, they may raise them more because of concerns about sharing than they would if they thought no sharing occurred.

There was a time (2016?) where individuals could purchase packages on their own (didn't have to purchase one for everyone in the cabin).  I think that experiment lasted about a year.  I don't know if they changed it because of sharing, but the fact it didn't last very long is telling. 

[Roybthered]

On 6/27/2022 at 6:09 PM, Biker19 said:

You might not think so if you see what Brits pay for their cabins.

Totally agree! We Brits normally do seem to get the thick end of the wedge in prices!