Royal Caribbean Drink & Food Prices - Are these in US or AUD for Cruises Leaving Australia

[Matkai]

Hi, Looking at booking a 9 night cruise on Ovation of the Seas for 2023 - trying to budget and finding everything so confusing as we have never cruised before...  

 

From what I am hearing from other people who are also cruising on Royal Caribbean in 2023 from Australia the DDP is around $143 AUD per person per day - which is more than the cost of the cruise itself!

So would like to find out how much a basic cocktail, drink is on the ship?  Have heard that all the prices they show on menus are in USD, even if sailing within Australia?  So based on current exchange rate if a drink is priced at $14, it will be approx $21 AUD  do they then add gratuities onto this as well?

Also, how does the currency exchange rate work, do you get charged the rate at the time or at the end of the cruise?  I am assuming Aussie Cruisers would get a mighty shock at the end of the cruise if everything is in USD?

I hope my question makes sense 🙂

[windsor26]

Yes RCI always uses US$  which is why with their 18% add on things seem expensive

[OzKiwiJJ]

Your onboard account will be in USD and charged at the end of your cruise. Request that it is charged to your credit card in USD not AUD otherwise you will get a very, very bad exchange rate ( Google Dynamic Currency Conversion). If possible use a credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees.

[Matkai]

Are you charged 18% on top of the cost of drinks / food when they charge it to your credit card... Was thinking Royal Caribbean was good value, but now may rethink which ship we go on.. are there any that charge in AUD?

[Chiliburn]

10 minutes ago, Matkai said:

Are you charged 18% on top of the cost of drinks / food when they charge it to your credit card... Was thinking Royal Caribbean was good value, but now may rethink which ship we go on.. are there any that charge in AUD?

Unlimited drinks package is about $AU 120 a day.

These Prices are in $A

 beer about $10 ,wine about $15 ,cocktails about $15 to $20. That’s with gratuity.

Yep ,they are out to make up for there loses and apparently we can expect even higher prices in the future.
 

If you want better value and $A try P&O  but you get what you pay for.

[RosieCanberra]

10 hours ago, Matkai said:

Are you charged 18% on top of the cost of drinks / food when they charge it to your credit card... Was thinking Royal Caribbean was good value, but now may rethink which ship we go on.. are there any that charge in AUD?

 

Both Carnival and Princess have AUD on board when cruising out of Oz.

 

RCI have today announced an increase in gratuities to USD16 a day per person, converting to $23.09 per person per day.

[arxcards]

10 hours ago, Matkai said:

Are you charged 18% on top of the cost of drinks / food when they charge it to your credit card... Was thinking Royal Caribbean was good value, but now may rethink which ship we go on.. are there any that charge in AUD?

The drink menu price includes the 18% gratuity in the amount, not added on top. At least that is my experience on their Australian departures. It is more of an American thing, not just a Royal Caribbean thing.

 

11 hours ago, Matkai said:

Hi, Looking at booking a 9 night cruise on Ovation of the Seas for 2023 - trying to budget and finding everything so confusing as we have never cruised before...  

 

From what I am hearing from other people who are also cruising on Royal Caribbean in 2023 from Australia the DDP is around $143 AUD per person per day - which is more than the cost of the cruise itself!

So would like to find out how much a basic cocktail, drink is on the ship?  Have heard that all the prices they show on menus are in USD, even if sailing within Australia?  So based on current exchange rate if a drink is priced at $14, it will be approx $21 AUD  do they then add gratuities onto this as well?

Also, how does the currency exchange rate work, do you get charged the rate at the time or at the end of the cruise?  I am assuming Aussie Cruisers would get a mighty shock at the end of the cruise if everything is in USD?

I hope my question makes sense 🙂

Last time I cruised with them, your card is charged on the final night of your cruise, and whatever the $US/$AU conversion rate is for that day will apply. As mentioned earlier, your bank will usually have a better conversion rate than the ship, so best to ask for them not to convert your final account to $AU. Some travel featured travel cards do not have  a buy/sell margin on their conversion, so you get the actual "midrate" of the day.

 

I get my shock when I budget, not at the end of the cruise. If you don't do your homework, as you are doing now, it could be quite a shock. Not as bad as having global roaming on your phone while you are at sea and thinking you are making Australian calls though.

 

Chilly mentions comparing to P&O for value. Yes, they are $AU, but their drink packages are also OTT at $99pd, although the drink prices on the ship are not as expensive as Royal. When booking your package with your cruise, Princess is currently $50pd, and also includes internet as well.

 

Budgeting is one thing, but not much use if you don't get the holiday you want. Ovation has lots of things to do aboard, and the fun of the journey is as at least as important as a couple of drinks.

[MicCanberra]

Royal and X being in USD on board can make a cruise a lot more expensive 

[queenslander]

If you have loyalty on RCI I believe you are now given drink vouchers to use at any bar at anytime during the day. 4 for Diamond, 5 for Diamond Plus and 6 for Pinnacle. I will get 5 so I will be quite happy with that arrangement! 

[carolmacey]

2 hours ago, queenslander said:

If you have loyalty on RCI I believe you are now given drink vouchers to use at any bar at anytime during the day. 4 for Diamond, 5 for Diamond Plus and 6 for Pinnacle. I will get 5 so I will be quite happy with that arrangement! 

Joyce, it looks like you have several cruises coming up.  Our current email is jacamac1@gmail.com.

[queenslander]

Thanks Carole - I will be in touch! So pleased that you are on the November cruise! 

[Hammer61]

22 hours ago, Matkai said:

So would like to find out how much a basic cocktail, drink is on the ship?  Have heard that all the prices they show on menus are in USD, even if sailing within Australia?  So based on current exchange rate if a drink is priced at $14, it will be approx $21 AUD  do they then add gratuities onto this as well?

Yes they do 18% added to everything but if you buy the beverage package it’s included in the price, but as you have mentioned that’s a very high price anyway!!!! Don’t even look at dinning packages if the drinks prices scare you? Unlike other cruise lines RCL don’t just add a surcharge for the speciality dinning they charge full price that you would pay at a high end restaurant.........We are on the Ovation for the Transpacific, currently as of today (just had a look) Chops Grill is offered at a 15% discount and it’s $95pp which in my opinion is outrageous, be only 1 speciality dinning for us on the trip (wifes Birthday), not that we cant afford it, it’s the principle when they try to charge so much ON TOP of the cruise fare, Princess I think it’s around a $30pp cover charge for their steak house which we happily pay and maybe go 2 or 3 times.

 

 I did relent and buy the beverage package for this trip, figured we will being doing only 1 speciality dinning at Izumi rather than trying them all which is what we do on Princess, HAL and others that don’t try and rip you off and the PBP was on a big discount in May at A$85 a day including the gratuity and trust me without the package on RCL, a few drinks and couple of glasses of wine with dinner, a coffee or 2 and some bottles of water, getting to the equivalent of A$85 a day if you include the gratuity doesn’t take much doing!!!!!, it’s currently A$103 on a supposed 30% discount….LOL

 

FWIW, Royal Caribbean in our experience are very good overall when it comes to the included food options and State rooms, entertainment etc, just avoid as many add ons as you can, speciality dinning, photos, spa treatments, excursions and a whole host of other stuff they will offer, even Laundry is ridiculously expensive and unlike other cruise lines there are no self serve laundry facilities onboard either.

 

My tips for RCL are get on Google and arrange your own excursions (we tend to this with all cruise) bring some laundry detergent and wash what you can by hand, also plan what you are going to wear and just do a big wash when you get home, not too easy for us in this trip as its 19 days so some laundry will have to be done, but do have some OBC but anything not used we will buy duty free….

 

Shame really on all other cruise lines we usually run up a decent bill trying things etc, never on RCL though, just anything essential, but they are good in many ways the included stuff is amongst the best

Edited August 24, 2022 by Hammer61

[Matkai]

It must be a different charge depending on the cruise, for our 9 day cruise the drinks package for me and my husband cost a whopping $2,226.42 and that is with a 20% discount (2023 cruise).

 

[Chiliburn]

42 minutes ago, Matkai said:

It must be a different charge depending on the cruise, for our 9 day cruise the drinks package for me and my husband cost a whopping $2,226.42 and that is with a 20% discount (2023 cruise).

 

You don’t have to pay extra,there’s plenty of very good,free food and none alcoholic drinks.
 

Prices move around,I just checked one of my cruises and it has gone up.

Before the pandemic,the booze package was about $A80. Now it’s $A150

I have never bought the booze package and I like a drink. I think my biggest bill was about $A400 for a 12 night cruise.

 

Have a look at getting a suite, they have a private lounge with a happy hour that runs from 4 - 7 with unlimited drinks.
Also a private restaurant called coastal kitchen which is great.
 

 

Here’s a screenshot of a 7 night cruise.

 

[arxcards]

Wow, how good is that unlimited dining package. I though the term was just marketing, and surely limited to 7 bookings over 7 nights. Fantastic that you can each eat 5 steaks every night if you want to.

 

Savour the savings with the Unlimited Dining Package! For one low price, you can enjoy multiple mains and visit multiple speciality restaurants every night of your sailing. And as an added perk, this unlimited package also applies to lunch in speciality restaurants on sea days.

 

[arxcards]

Look our Mr. Creosote, here I come 😂

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Wow, how good is that unlimited dining package. I though the term was just marketing, and surely limited to 7 bookings over 7 nights. Fantastic that you can each eat 5 steaks every night if you want to.

 

Savour the savings with the Unlimited Dining Package! For one low price, you can enjoy multiple mains and visit multiple speciality restaurants every night of your sailing. And as an added perk, this unlimited package also applies to lunch in speciality restaurants on sea days.

 

You also get lunch on sea days.   That’s 11 meals!

Then there’s the buffet and room service if you’re peckish.

 

It would be like one of those ducks that they force feed with a funnel.

Edited August 24, 2022 by Chiliburn

[arxcards]

3 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

You also get lunch on sea days.   That’s 11 meals!

Then there’s the buffet and room service if you’re peckish.

 

It would be like one of those ducks that they force feed with a funnel.

Cruise Passenger Liver Pate 🤢

[Hammer61]

7 hours ago, Matkai said:

It must be a different charge depending on the cruise, for our 9 day cruise the drinks package for me and my husband cost a whopping $2,226.42 and that is with a 20% discount (2023 cruise).

Yes, it’s very frustrating; just about every other cruise line has pricing that pretty much stays the same so you know how you stand and what things will cost, same with what’s offered as well but not RCI!!! Prices chop and change and even the discount they advertise changes how the pricing works? A 20% discount will give a different figure to one the week before and so on, then on our cruise for example, all speciality dinning is offered at each location, but only 1 package is available a 5 night offer, no 3 night, no ultimate etc.

 

If you have booked and paid for your beverage package already it really is worth checking once a week as they may well have a substantial discount at some point (check around black friday, cyber monday the Americans are huge on discounts at that time) and you can cancel and re book at the lower price.

[MicCanberra]

I think most people would be better off buying their drinks as they go, they may not drink as much as they think they can. Some of the pricing for drinks is ridiculous.

I know some people  can drink numerous (5 or more) cocktails in a day but usually not everyday for the whole cruise especially with Port days included.

[Hogbay]

Ring up Royal and ask their exchange rate to buy OBC . It dose change and i have found soo much better than all other methods and dont forget the fees . Unless you kept some greenbacks when it was Au $1.19. 😁  The only similarities between P&O and Royal is they both have cruise ships .

[Chiliburn]

3 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

I think most people would be better off buying their drinks as they go, they may not drink as much as they think they can. Some of the pricing for drinks is ridiculous.

I know some people  can drink numerous (5 or more) cocktails in a day but usually not everyday for the whole cruise especially with Port days included.

That’s what usually happens,they wipe their self out on the first couple of days trying to get their value and then it tappers off to nothing.

 

It would be good if they bought back seperate drinks packages.

Wine, beer and all inclusive.

[Chiliburn]

3 hours ago, Hogbay said:

Ring up Royal and ask their exchange rate to buy OBC . It dose change and i have found soo much better than all other methods and dont forget the fees . Unless you kept some greenbacks when it was Au $1.19. 😁  The only similarities between P&O and Royal is they both have cruise ships .

I was quite impressed with P&O’s drinks, pints of draught for $10

I suppose if you drink heaps you don’t notice everything else.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

I think most people would be better off buying their drinks as they go, they may not drink as much as they think they can. Some of the pricing for drinks is ridiculous.

I know some people  can drink numerous (5 or more) cocktails in a day but usually not everyday for the whole cruise especially with Port days included.

Just do it like the old days, make do with your carry-on wine & soft drink, ship water at dinner - then off to the pub at each port.

[Chiliburn]

59 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Just do it like the old days, make do with your carry-on wine & soft drink, ship water at dinner - then off to the pub at each port.

I still do that ,plus sneaking in to the suite lounge. 
But it does get embarrassing when you get kicked out and your friends are laughing.