Drinks package/policy changes?

[yorkshirephil]

2 hours ago, S1971 said:

 

What beggars belief is that P&O are using a policy for the alleged wellbeing of their passengers to reduce their alcohol content, yet they'll allow you to buy the same alcohol from room service, so makes no sense.

 

This is purely P&O profiteering.

Agree on the profiteering, but that is the general aim of most companies.

Using HSEE as an excuse is weak. If they had any concerns about peoples alcohol intake they could have a lower tier drink package where you were not encouraged to drink more than your usual intake to get your monies worth, say 10 drinks at a reduced price.

Plus not let you have alcohol through room service. I wonder how many people pour a 25 ml measure when making their own drinks or cocktails? I

f they were just honest and say that they wanted to increase profits for shareholders benefit or to reduce their debt mountain or even pay their staff more then I think people may find that more palatable. 

[Megabear2]

5 hours ago, CountryStyleMe said:

14 nights total is £847.00

That's more than I've just paid Cunard and their price includes a gratuity of 15%.

[Selbourne]

8 hours ago, CountryStyleMe said:

well expect your bottles to be confiscated and given back to you on the last night of your cruise as its happened to people putting bottles in their luggage when boarding P&O Cruise ship Iona recently within the last week or so 

The comments about Iona last week aren’t 100% clear whether they are just referring to booze being confiscated from hand luggage (which we can assume is a given, as the checking is done with the passenger present, so very easy to police) or also from hold luggage (suitcases etc).
 

It would be good to have first hand feedback from someone who has been called by reception to open one of their checked in suitcases in order to establish specifically what is in the bottle that has been detected.

[Snow Hill]

2 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

Agree on the profiteering, but that is the general aim of most companies.

Using HSEE as an excuse is weak. If they had any concerns about peoples alcohol intake they could have a lower tier drink package where you were not encouraged to drink more than your usual intake to get your monies worth, say 10 drinks at a reduced price.

Plus not let you have alcohol through room service. I wonder how many people pour a 25 ml measure when making their own drinks or cocktails? I

f they were just honest and say that they wanted to increase profits for shareholders benefit or to reduce their debt mountain or even pay their staff more then I think people may find that more palatable. 

They would also consider an option of a per cabin drinks package, as it stands we would never purchase a drinks package on any cruise line, although we note that Virgin Voyages don’t offer a drinks package, but their Bar Tab can be shared.

[S1971]

1 hour ago, Snow Hill said:

They would also consider an option of a per cabin drinks package, as it stands we would never purchase a drinks package on any cruise line, although we note that Virgin Voyages don’t offer a drinks package, but their Bar Tab can be shared.

 

A shared cabin drink package is a good idea, my thinking is that they would sell a lot more packages if that was the case.

 

 

[JeanieC,Aston]

3 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

That's more than I've just paid Cunard and their price includes a gratuity of 15%.

Hi

With the current 10% discount on Classic DP,a package for 14 nights is £1230 per cabin,,,less than £44pppd.

Ive just this minute priced up a Ventura cruise for October.

Edited May 19 by JeanieC,Aston

[daz1107]

15 hours ago, sweep2907 said:

Just got off Iona and they were confiscating bottles from luggage and had to go collect on last night. It is certainly being enforced for those thinking nothing would change. What is the point in smuggling a bottle on board to save £3-4? The mindset of some beggars belief.

Unless P&O have suddenly started stocking other options than the boring, standard whiskies, then there is a point to taking your own. 

I would happily pay £4 extra for a bottle of something I actually enjoy drinking. I'm even happy to book said beverage 3 months in advance to ensure they have it, but it isn't happening, so I'll be taking my favourite tipple. Cheers. 

[Megabear2]

31 minutes ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Hi

With the current 10% discount on Classic DP,a package for 14 nights is £1230 per cabin,,,less than £44pppd.

Ive just this minute priced up a Ventura cruise for October.

Thanks for the info.  I was referring to the price quoted by CountryStyleMe for the Deluxe package.  I have this booked on Britannia in December as P&O very kindly gave me all my remaining OBC from when I was I'll on my cruise earlier this year.  At that time it was a 20% discount on the classic plus a top up of £252 for the upgrade.

 

I have another P&O booking in October as a single. The offer was £615 for the classic with 10% off plus £126 for the upgrade, total £741.  These are the current prices before sailing I believe and the one quoted was for buy onboard?  My Cunard package is a gift from my husband and at tye exchange rate last week was £808, hence my comment.  I hope that explains.

[AndyMichelle]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

The comments about Iona last week aren’t 100% clear whether they are just referring to booze being confiscated from hand luggage (which we can assume is a given, as the checking is done with the passenger present, so very easy to police) or also from hold luggage (suitcases etc).
 

It would be good to have first hand feedback from someone who has been called by reception to open one of their checked in suitcases in order to establish specifically what is in the bottle that has been detected.

My understanding is that is what was happening, bottles removed from checked in luggage, but as you say, it would be nice if someone this happened to could confirm. 

True or not, there is just as many stories out there of passengers who have ignored the instructions and got away with it. 

The fact that a lot of people who would have taken their own now dont, means it is a success for P&O already, unless we all 'jump ship'... 

Andy 

[Selbourne]

51 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

My understanding is that is what was happening, bottles removed from checked in luggage, but as you say, it would be nice if someone this happened to could confirm. 

True or not, there is just as many stories out there of passengers who have ignored the instructions and got away with it. 

The fact that a lot of people who would have taken their own now dont, means it is a success for P&O already, unless we all 'jump ship'... 

Andy 

That’s exactly my point Andy. The threat alone is enough to stop the vast majority of people from taking their own bottle of spirits and clearly bottles found in hand luggage as people board will be confiscated. Thats probably all that P&O need to do to sort out over 90% of the issue.
 

I will, however, be fascinated to know whether anyone feeds back that they have personally been called to reception when on the ship regarding a bottle in their suitcase, especially as some bottles are permitted. I’d be surprised if the cost and effort of doing this, plus the irritation caused to those whose bottle is actually allowed, is worth it, hence my scepticism!

[AndyMichelle]

48 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

That’s exactly my point Andy. The threat alone is enough to stop the vast majority of people from taking their own bottle of spirits and clearly bottles found in hand luggage as people board will be confiscated. Thats probably all that P&O need to do to sort out over 90% of the issue.
 

I will, however, be fascinated to know whether anyone feeds back that they have personally been called to reception when on the ship regarding a bottle in their suitcase, especially as some bottles are permitted. I’d be surprised if the cost and effort of doing this, plus the irritation caused to those whose bottle is actually allowed, is worth it, hence my scepticism!

I feel there might be a few to begin with, so word spreads that you 'can' get caught. 

That would be enough to stop most of us, not that we bothered anyway. 

Andy 

[Andy24v]

On 5/18/2024 at 4:38 PM, CountryStyleMe said:

its not just P&O Cruises who this will effect it will eventually be rolled out to all Cruise Ships no matter which port in which country you depart from as its the HSEE making these rules and giving them to cruise ships

I doubt it. The "HSEE" is a Carnaval Group creation to give credence to the policy changes being "for the greater good" 

In effect IMO they are jumping on a minor issue to increase profits.

[terrierjohn]

15 hours ago, Selbourne said:

The comments about Iona last week aren’t 100% clear whether they are just referring to booze being confiscated from hand luggage (which we can assume is a given, as the checking is done with the passenger present, so very easy to police) or also from hold luggage (suitcases etc).
 

It would be good to have first hand feedback from someone who has been called by reception to open one of their checked in suitcases in order to establish specifically what is in the bottle that has been detected.

I remember their being a tightening of the take on board liquor allowance a few years ago. I think it  lasted a couple of years before petering out as staff members found it just as difficult to police, as they do the  sunlounger booking.

[Selbourne]

9 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I remember their being a tightening of the take on board liquor allowance a few years ago. I think it  lasted a couple of years before petering out as staff members found it just as difficult to police, as they do the  sunlounger booking.

I strongly suspect that the reports of booze being confiscated refer to hand luggage, as that’s fairly easy to police. With the long term drive on reducing costs and driving up on board spend, I wouldn’t be surprised if this continues long term. 
 

As for checked in suitcases, we have yet to hear any first hand reports of people who have  ‘smuggled’ a bottle on board being caught. This is far more problematic and costly to police, especially as a scan cannot differentiate between bottles that are permitted and bottles that aren’t. Passengers will understandably be very irritated being called to reception to open a suitcase that contains a bottle of something that is actually permitted. So, even if a few examples do emerge, I tend to agree that this will not last. On a cost versus return basis, along with the irritation caused to passengers who have not done anything wrong, it just wouldn’t make sense.

[david63]

3 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

So, even if a few examples do emerge, I tend to agree that this will not last. On a cost versus return basis

I suspect that a lot will depend on how widespread it becomes and how determined the cruise line is in stopping it - short term cost for long term gain.

[Megabear2]

At the moment there seems to be a lot of bravado by those who successfully get an "illegal" bottle on.  It seems very naive to post it all over social media like some badge of success as I would have thought that would strengthen P&O's resolve to be seen making the policy work.

[terrierjohn]

9 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

At the moment there seems to be a lot of bravado by those who successfully get an "illegal" bottle on.  It seems very naive to post it all over social media like some badge of success as I would have thought that would strengthen P&O's resolve to be seen making the policy work.

That assumes that P&O read   cruising social media sites, I know that the Royal Caribbean group do, and Princess also encourage CC meet and mingle get togethers, but I have never noticed any P&O interest.

[david63]

22 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

That assumes that P&O read   cruising social media sites

Well Moley does.

 

I'd be very surprised if the media team did not read social media sites, even if they don't respond.

[Angel57]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

At the moment there seems to be a lot of bravado by those who successfully get an "illegal" bottle on.  It seems very naive to post it all over social media like some badge of success as I would have thought that would strengthen P&O's resolve to be seen making the policy work.

Yes, I’ve just been reading about this too. 

[MellyMoo1989]

Regarding the ability to (at the moment) order a bottle of spirits via room service, My friend and I will be sharing a cabin but enjoy different spirits. Could we for example order a bottle of Pink gin and a bottle of Jack Daniels or is there a rule of only one litre of spirit per cabin for the duration? 
 

TIA 🙂 

[Lady Meer]

On 5/10/2024 at 5:15 PM, GSPG said:

On board Britannia just about to leave.

We made the decision to buy bottles on spirits on board. There’s not much in it with buying outside, and thought P&O would be happy us buying it from them.

 

Just rang reception at 5.05pm to order a bottle of Bacardi. Response, we haven’t got that. Asked when are you going to get some. Response, we are not.

 

Not very happy. Have they not got any because they want us to buy this drink from the bar?

 

Not a good start with this change in policy!

Only just discovered this thread. Was it just Bacardi that wasn’t available or did they have other bottles of white rum? 

[david63]

54 minutes ago, MellyMoo1989 said:

Could we for example order a bottle of Pink gin and a bottle of Jack Daniels or is there a rule of only one litre of spirit per cabin for the duration? 

As far as I am aware you can order whatever you want, within reason, just as long as they have it.

[Derek5001]

57 minutes ago, Lady Meer said:

Only just discovered this thread. Was it just Bacardi that wasn’t available or did they have other bottles of white rum? 

Looking at the room service menu they offer:-

 

The Tidal Rum 70cl, £35 or Bacardi Carta Blanca 1L, £26.

[Gettingwarmer]

12 minutes ago, david63 said:

As far as I am aware you can order whatever you want, within reason, just as long as they have it.

No. There only certain spirits on the Room Service menu. I don’t think you can just ask for anything. 

[david63]

2 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

No. There only certain spirits on the Room Service menu. I don’t think you can just ask for anything. 

I probably phrased it badly - I was meaning that you can order quantity wise whatever you want, not product wise - although it may be possible to have anything that is onboard but is not something that I have, or will, try.