Drinks packages for the under-age

[darstamp]

We will be sailing next fall and bringing my grandchildren who will be 20, 17, 15, and 10.  It seems the only drinks packages available to them are the soda packages and that's not that appealing.  The older ones especially like to try virgin cocktails and fancy (non alcoholic) coffees, milk shakes, that kind of thing.  I'm trying to get a sense of what that will cost per day if they had, say, 5 drinks each.  I'm guessing these things would probably be around $5 each but wondering if anyone knows.  Thanks.

[1025cruise]

Correct, the only NA package is the soda package, which only includes soda.

[ggTexasGal]

29 minutes ago, darstamp said:

We will be sailing next fall and bringing my grandchildren who will be 20, 17, 15, and 10.  It seems the only drinks packages available to them are the soda packages and that's not that appealing.  The older ones especially like to try virgin cocktails and fancy (non alcoholic) coffees, milk shakes, that kind of thing.  I'm trying to get a sense of what that will cost per day if they had, say, 5 drinks each.  I'm guessing these things would probably be around $5 each but wondering if anyone knows.  Thanks.

I believe you are in for "sticker-shock" on the price of virgin drinks on NCL!  If I remember correctly, they are more like $7.  Coffees at Starbucks are price approximately $2 more than our local Starbucks.  Milkshakes are definitely NOT $5.00!!!  (Think more like pricing at airports!!!)

Edited December 21, 2022 by ggTexasGal
added note

[MNcruisingcouple]

I believe there is a Starbucks package.  That may be of interest in your situation.

[cruiseny4life]

26 minutes ago, MNcruisingcouple said:

I believe there is a Starbucks package.  That may be of interest in your situation.

There is. But it's only for those 19, and over. One happy grandkid!

 

https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/content/all-terms-and-conditions-starbucks-package

[cruiseny4life]

35 minutes ago, ggTexasGal said:

I believe you are in for "sticker-shock" on the price of virgin drinks on NCL!  If I remember correctly, they are more like $7.  Coffees at Starbucks are price approximately $2 more than our local Starbucks.  Milkshakes are definitely NOT $5.00!!!  (Think more like pricing at airports!!!)

Agreed on the $6 - $8 price range for mocktails.

 

But, milkshakes are $5 at American Diner. Coco's might be more, though their milkshakes are way over the top. The really pathetic part is that milkshakes are not a part of any beverage package.

[asmit4]

Ok, so I'm sure this feed is going to blow up and I'm going to be told that I'm going to H E double hockey sticks for saying this...that I'm scum of the earth....but here goes...

You get your kids the soda package and you get the drink package...on occasion you can get a mocktail on your plan and give it to 1 of the kids. 

IMO- they should do it like RC and have a refreshment package with all this stuff included but they don't...so in the absence of that I'm not going to feel bad getting a few drinks for my kid. 

[cruiseny4life]

1 minute ago, asmit4 said:

Ok, so I'm sure this feed is going to blow up and I'm going to be told that I'm going to H E double hockey sticks for saying this...that I'm scum of the earth....but here goes...

You get your kids the soda package and you get the drink package...on occasion you can get a mocktail on your plan and give it to 1 of the kids. 

IMO- they should do it like RC and have a refreshment package with all this stuff included but they don't...so in the absence of that I'm not going to feel bad getting a few drinks for my kid. 

lord have mercy...have you seen previous posts where this was contemplated? 😒

[asmit4]

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

lord have mercy...have you seen previous posts where this was contemplated? 😒

Yup! Read them all...and I said what I said. Most of the time when you order 1 alcoholic and 1 mocktail they don't charge you anyway. Most of the bartenders don't care- even when I'm honest and say it's for my kid and bill me. 

[njhorseman]

19 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

There is. But it's only for those 19, and over. One happy grandkid!

 

https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/content/all-terms-and-conditions-starbucks-package

You're linking to and quoting the UK site (which says 18 and over, not 19 and over). Here's the US site and I don't see any mention of a minimum age .

 

https://www.ncl.com/onboard-packages/beverage-packages

 

Unlimited Starbucks® Package

$12.95 USDper person per day

 

ITEM #: STBXP

Whether you need to kick-start your morning or you’re looking for a post-dinner nightcap, you’ve got the perfect brew.

Includes everything from classic coffees and teas to the delicious Frappuccino® favorites and other specialty beverages you love.

Prepaid @ $12.95 USD per person per day x Cruise Days plus 20% gratuity and beverage service charge.

A 20% gratuity and beverage service charge will be added at checkout.

[cruiseny4life]

59 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

You're linking to and quoting the UK site (which says 18 and over, not 19 and over). Here's the US site and I don't see any mention of a minimum age .

 

https://www.ncl.com/onboard-packages/beverage-packages

 

Unlimited Starbucks® Package

$12.95 USDper person per day

 

ITEM #: STBXP

Whether you need to kick-start your morning or you’re looking for a post-dinner nightcap, you’ve got the perfect brew.

Includes everything from classic coffees and teas to the delicious Frappuccino® favorites and other specialty beverages you love.

Prepaid @ $12.95 USD per person per day x Cruise Days plus 20% gratuity and beverage service charge.

A 20% gratuity and beverage service charge will be added at checkout.

Thank you.... ugh, every time I search for T and C's I get the UK or AUS version. Thanks for correcting me! 

[European_CruiseGirl]

The Starbucks package is definitely not available for under 18 year olds. Tried to get it for DD just 2 weeks ago as she would have loved her Creme based Frappucinos, Chai Latte and lemonades but no, NCL considers the Starbucks package to be only for adults. In my NCL vacation planner I could have bought it only for DH or myself but well we have the premium package plus so we don’t need it. There wasn’t any way to add the Starbucks package for our DD. Chatted with an NCL agent during a weekend (well two agents as I didn’t believe the first one 😁) and then during the week with my PCC (who is absolutely fantastic) and they all agree that the Starbucks package is not available for under 18 year olds 😶 Will ask about the package still from the concierge when we board. I guess NCL strongly feels that coffee is an adult stuff. I tend to agree on that one. However Starbucks is so much more than coffee based drinks too. 

Edited December 21, 2022 by European_CruiseGirl

[darstamp]

 Thank you all for your responses.  I will definitely have to raise my estimates upwards.  Ouch.

 

[njhorseman]

15 hours ago, European_CruiseGirl said:

The Starbucks package is definitely not available for under 18 year olds. Tried to get it for DD just 2 weeks ago as she would have loved her Creme based Frappucinos, Chai Latte and lemonades but no, NCL considers the Starbucks package to be only for adults. In my NCL vacation planner I could have bought it only for DH or myself but well we have the premium package plus so we don’t need it. There wasn’t any way to add the Starbucks package for our DD. Chatted with an NCL agent during a weekend (well two agents as I didn’t believe the first one 😁) and then during the week with my PCC (who is absolutely fantastic) and they all agree that the Starbucks package is not available for under 18 year olds 😶 Will ask about the package still from the concierge when we board. I guess NCL strongly feels that coffee is an adult stuff. I tend to agree on that one. However Starbucks is so much more than coffee based drinks too. 

Since you're in Europe you're subject to different terms and conditions than someone who books in the US or Canada. Hence why I pointed out to @cruiseny4lifethat the terms and conditions they cited were from from the UK website rather than from the US or Canada. The OP is Canadian.

[SunshineGal2022]

The 20 year old can add the Starbucks.  You can also authorize on board that the 20 year old can drink alcohol.

 

You can order 2 drinks at a time at both the bars and Starbucks….

 

I think it’s silly that they don’t have a teenager/young adult drink package too.  From what I have read some of the ships have a non-alcoholic bar in the teen lounge where they can order mocktails etc.  I have only seen that this exists, but I am not sure which ships have it and if the drinks are extra for the teens etc.  That doesn’t help your 20 year old grandchild of course.

 

MSC has a non-alcoholic drink package available to buy for all ages.  NCL should do the same.

[WexIrl]

23 hours ago, darstamp said:

We will be sailing next fall and bringing my grandchildren who will be 20, 17, 15, and 10.  It seems the only drinks packages available to them are the soda packages and that's not that appealing.  The older ones especially like to try virgin cocktails and fancy (non alcoholic) coffees, milk shakes, that kind of thing.  I'm trying to get a sense of what that will cost per day if they had, say, 5 drinks each.  I'm guessing these things would probably be around $5 each but wondering if anyone knows.  Thanks.

The soda package is the only option we had this summer for our 2 teenagers on our Europe cruise.

However, once we got to know the bar tenders over a few days... (and tips) the kids were  well looked after with milk shakes, slushies and random mock tails etc by the bar tenders, often with out the kids even asking for them!

They were very rarely asked for their cards when they went to any of the bars for a drink.

Edited December 21, 2022 by WexIrl
Include location