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Drinks Packages


GrumpyNormanG
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This will be first ever cruise and first time to Canada and Alaska so be gentle with me. I have been trying to make sense of whether it is worth purchasing a drinks package or not. We do like a few drinks during day, including nice coffee and a bottle or two of wine with dinner so is it worth a package or just pay as we go using cruise card credit that we have prepaid and pay excess at end? We will likely take on board our bottle each and perhaps a couple more to pay corkage on. We are on HA Nieuw Amsterdam, 7 day Alaska cruise from Vancouver on May 6th [emoji3]

 

 

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If you expect to buy wine by the bottle at dinner, you probably don't want the beverage package. It gives you a large number of individual purchased drinks (soda, specialty coffee, cocktails, wine by the glass) but you can't "trade" any number of individual drinks for a bottle of wine. And the wines by the glass that are included aren't great.

 

If your main drink purchase is going to be bottles of wine, HAL does offer some wine packages. You can find the list of wines included in these packages on HAL's website. I do not recommend pre-purchasing a wine package. If they're out of some of the wines on the list, they offer substitutes. Wait until you board and see what's available for each package before you decide.

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If you expect to buy wine by the bottle at dinner, you probably don't want the beverage package. It gives you a large number of individual purchased drinks (soda, specialty coffee, cocktails, wine by the glass) but you can't "trade" any number of individual drinks for a bottle of wine. And the wines by the glass that are included aren't great.

 

If your main drink purchase is going to be bottles of wine, HAL does offer some wine packages. You can find the list of wines included in these packages on HAL's website. I do not recommend pre-purchasing a wine package. If they're out of some of the wines on the list, they offer substitutes. Wait until you board and see what's available for each package before you decide.

 

Thanks very helpful. May just stick to buy as we go

 

 

 

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You can also buy a wine package that includes so many bottles. I have found, however, that I do not usually like the ones in the packages. You may wish to look at what is available on the HAL site. Perhaps you will like what is in the packages, which may save you some money.

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We don't drink enough mixed drinks to make the package worthwhile.

As to wine - our favorite wasn't included in any of the wine packages so we just ordered it by the bottle in the dining room. What you don't drink the servers will save for you for the next night. We average about 3/4 a bottle a night so when it looks like we'll run out the next night we "warn" :D the wine steward we'll want another the next night and they normally have one handy for us to purchase when our bottle empties. It was only $2-3 difference buying singly as opposed to buying a wine package for what we wanted.:champagne-toast::bottle-pop::champagne-toast:

Have a great cruise !! Alaska is awesome

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We don't drink enough mixed drinks to make the package worthwhile.

As to wine - our favorite wasn't included in any of the wine packages so we just ordered it by the bottle in the dining room. What you don't drink the servers will save for you for the next night. We average about 3/4 a bottle a night so when it looks like we'll run out the next night we "warn" :D the wine steward we'll want another the next night and they normally have one handy for us to purchase when our bottle empties. It was only $2-3 difference buying singly as opposed to buying a wine package for what we wanted.:champagne-toast::bottle-pop::champagne-toast:

Have a great cruise !! Alaska is awesome

 

We never bought a wine package until we got our third star. IIRC, the Admiral package is about $40 per bottle. But now we're down to $30 per bottle. After our next cruise, it will be $20 per bottle. :D Of course, if I bought the wine at home, it would be around $10 per bottle...

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If you want convenience of accounting for consumption, consider a prepaid drink card, good for coffees, drinks of all types. When you order a drink, the receipt will give you your balance. Then at the end of your cruise, the balance is refunded to your on board account.

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We don't drink enough mixed drinks to make the package worthwhile.

 

As to wine - our favorite wasn't included in any of the wine packages so we just ordered it by the bottle in the dining room. What you don't drink the servers will save for you for the next night. We average about 3/4 a bottle a night so when it looks like we'll run out the next night we "warn" :D the wine steward we'll want another the next night and they normally have one handy for us to purchase when our bottle empties. It was only $2-3 difference buying singly as opposed to buying a wine package for what we wanted.:champagne-toast::bottle-pop::champagne-toast:

 

Have a great cruise !! Alaska is awesome

 

 

I don't understand what you mean by "What you don't drink?" [emoji12] I suspect if we don't finish a bottle at dinner we will do so on our balcony [emoji3]

 

 

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Not sure if you can actually take the bottle to the cabin...

If you buy a bottle of wine at dinner, you can take it to the room. If you take on a bottle of wine and pay corkage, you can drink it wherever you want.

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If you buy a bottle of wine at dinner, you can take it to the room. If you take on a bottle of wine and pay corkage, you can drink it wherever you want.

 

 

That sounds good [emoji3] we probably won't take that much on board, more for balcony consumption at the end of the night watching the sea, sunset and scenery with a blethering about our day [emoji3]

 

 

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We don't drink that much and the one time that we did get a Signature Beverage Package that was included in the Explore4 program. I kept track of what we drank each day. Not worth it for us to buy the package.

Many years ago I pre-ordered the Navigator Wine Package. When we got to the ship, our wine steward told us that a couple of wines listed for the package were not available. We did manage to find a couple we liked.

After that we just bought bottles of wine that we liked.

You certainly can order a bottle of your own choosing and if you do not finish it at dinner, you can take it back to your cabin or to any other bar/lounge.

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I seem to be getting a general opinion that drinks packages are really not worth the money?

 

 

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For some people the package is worth it. The package is $50 per day. It gives you something like 15 drinks per day. The cap on the price of each drink is $8 or $9 (it seems to vary or maybe it's changing--there's a thread about that). It would take 7 alcoholic drinks at $8 each to be "worth" the price of the package. But the package isn't just about alcoholic beverages--it also includes bottled water, sodas, specialty coffees. If you know you'll want a couple of cappuccinos, drink bottled water or soda instead of tap water, that can add up.

 

The drinks packages aren't worth it to us. We drink ordinary coffee and tap water, rarely drink soda. A morning mimosa by the pool and a beer or drink of the day at lunch isn't enough to justify the package because we buy wine by the bottle at dinner and that isn't included.

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For some people the package is worth it. The package is $50 per day. It gives you something like 15 drinks per day. The cap on the price of each drink is $8 or $9 (it seems to vary or maybe it's changing--there's a thread about that). It would take 7 alcoholic drinks at $8 each to be "worth" the price of the package. But the package isn't just about alcoholic beverages--it also includes bottled water, sodas, specialty coffees. If you know you'll want a couple of cappuccinos, drink bottled water or soda instead of tap water, that can add up.

 

 

 

The drinks packages aren't worth it to us. We drink ordinary coffee and tap water, rarely drink soda. A morning mimosa by the pool and a beer or drink of the day at lunch isn't enough to justify the package because we buy wine by the bottle at dinner and that isn't included.

 

 

Sounds like us. Thanks for that [emoji3]

 

 

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