QM2 Drinks - advice needed

[starquake]

17 minutes ago, D&N said:

I think they were saying that being on the drinks package they wouldn't be paying Cunard for the extra cans/bottles they would take off the ship. 😀

 

That and you can trust the water hasn't been filled from local taps and resealed.   Been bitten by that in poorer places before (India) and had quite a nasty infection as a result.   Last trip included some Caribbean islands with poorer economies, and I believe the ship's own advice was to not buy water from street vendors in the program that day.

 

[lissie]

1 hour ago, D&N said:

I think they were saying that being on the drinks package they wouldn't be paying Cunard for the extra cans/bottles they would take off the ship. 😀

But in practice it depends where you shop. On our first full day in New York last summer, not having had the chance to stock up on small bottles at Wholefoods, we found ourselves at Battery Park and needing hydration. There was no time to waste as we were heading for the Statue and photos of QM2, who was in port that day. A 500ml bottle of Poland Springs water from one of the food trucks was at least $3. Disgusted at myself for falling into that trap I picked up a case of 24 on way back to hotel!

I saw that rip-off practice on Cunard. We did a 13 hour excursion in Egypt and they were heavily promoting glass water bottles - too heavy to carry around the sights.  We had water bottles with us and of course as soon as we got on the bus they started out handing cold water which was available on demand all day - for free. 

 

 

[tacticalbanjo]

On 3/21/2023 at 1:47 PM, exlondoner said:

It might be worth asking nicely about the packages when you get on board. I seem to remember reading about a case where leniency (or common sense) had been applied in this matter.

Going back to this point. I have personally experienced this on a September 2021 sailing around the British Isles. My husband had the full drinks package while I only had the soft drinks package. However, I was visibly pregnant so it was clear that I would not be drinking at any stage of the trip.

 

I asked bar staff as soon as we got on board but it had to be run by the one of the bar supervisors so we couldn't actually buy the package until the next day which wasn't a problem since we would have struggled to drink the $69/$29 package costs on embarkation day. In fact, a lot of the bar staff were advising people not to buy on the first day because of this.

[GeorgianGal100]

40 minutes ago, tacticalbanjo said:

Going back to this point. I have personally experienced this on a September 2021 sailing around the British Isles. My husband had the full drinks package while I only had the soft drinks package. However, I was visibly pregnant so it was clear that I would not be drinking at any stage of the trip.

 

I asked bar staff as soon as we got on board but it had to be run by the one of the bar supervisors so we couldn't actually buy the package until the next day which wasn't a problem since we would have struggled to drink the $69/$29 package costs on embarkation day. In fact, a lot of the bar staff were advising people not to buy on the first day because of this.

I'm sure you still had a marvellous time but I felt for you, at least you could enjoy all the other splendid things available to you. Thank you for letting me know and I quite agree that buying the package on the first day would require some serious effort to get your money's worth, well for me anyway and I'd then be recovering on day two so wouldn't get value there!  I also suspected that this might be the reasoning behind the package price increasing when buying on board.  For example, if I were to pre-buy the package for seven nights at $70 it would be $490 but if I bought it for 6 nights on board at $75 plus spending around $40 the first night it also comes to $490. Swings and roundabouts.

As @nadge said, everyone has to work out what works for them but if I could manage to get the different packages it would be worth it for me booking from the second day at the increased rate. 

Also @exlondoner, I was checking  'mycunard' and as you said, it didn't mention the increase in price as I assume they know you're there to buy beforehand. It's only on their website that they mention it.

Thanks again.

[TV Dad]

You are limited in choice, only by price, and not even then! On our QM2 cruise, in March 2023, I would order a double grey goose and soda. The bartenders would bill bill me for two singles and a separate mixer.  Same with wine pours, If a 6 oz pour was $10 and a 9 oz pour was $13, they would charge us for two 6 oz pours to keep us under the limit.

 

One tip, if you like martinis, order chilled vodka with olives (or a twist). Same drink, different class. It kept me under the $12 limit.

[Gretchendz]

3 hours ago, TV Dad said:

You are limited in choice, only by price, and not even then! On our QM2 cruise, in March 2023, I would order a double grey goose and soda. The bartenders would bill bill me for two singles and a separate mixer.  Same with wine pours, If a 6 oz pour was $10 and a 9 oz pour was $13, they would charge us for two 6 oz pours to keep us under the limit.

 

One tip, if you like martinis, order chilled vodka with olives (or a twist). Same drink, different class. It kept me under the $12 limit.

 

Yes this. On a recent crossing one of the very kind bar staff explained how he would chargea drink as two under $12 drinks.  Also, we drink wine with dinner so we simply ordered wine by the glass during meals.  We don't need to collect wine bottles 🙂

 

We liked feeling like we were not going to facing a big bill at the end. Would rather pay upfront 🙂