Drink Package

Good Morning folks

i tried searching this but came up unconclusive.

My question's are ...............

1) is it better to pre purchase the drinks package or wait till you board.

2)If you pre purchase will your sail and sign be already be punched upon arrival and you dont have to do anything when you board except order your first drink.

3) I understand its a one of at time of purchase (unless you get to know your bartender) but does bottled water count? say could I order a beer and a water at the same time.

thanks in advance - looking forward to sailing the Grand in 16 days and FINALLY returning to Princess after a year and a half on Carnival.

Good Morning folks

 

i tried searching this but came up unconclusive.

 

My question's are ...............

1) is it better to pre purchase the drinks package or wait till you board.

2)If you pre purchase will your sail and sign be already be punched upon arrival and you dont have to do anything when you board except order your first drink.

3) I understand its a one of at time of purchase (unless you get to know your bartender) but does bottled water count? say could I order a beer and a water at the same time.

 

thanks in advance - looking forward to sailing the Grand in 16 days and FINALLY returning to Princess after a year and a half on Carnival.

If you deposit money into your account before the cruise, you still have to stop by the bar and purchase the drink package.

There is no punch. It is a small sticker that they add onto your card.

Yes, you can buy beer and bottled water at the same time. It also counts toward specialty coffees, milk shakes, 40% discount off wine bottles under $100.00.

"Any" drink under $10, sometimes when purchasing onboard it has been noted some have received the first day free. Not all the time though.

FYI you cannot purchase for part of the cruise, its not pro rate able.

It will literally take two minutes to purchase, and for the bar staff to put the sticker on your card.

Don't bother pre-paying...

My DH and I have used the AI Beverage package on our last 2 cruises. We pre-paid for the first cruise and the stickers were already on our cruise card when we checked in for the cruise. We bought the second drink package once on board for the 2nd cruise. Only took a few minutes.

We had no problem getting multiple bottles of water and or beer to take back to our cabin at night. We usually did this at Crooner's.

Someone on our roll call (CB in April) pre-purchased the package and had to go to passenger services to get his sticker. So I guess that means that the procedure varies from ship to ship. ;)

We wait until we on onboard to purchase our All Inclusive Beverage Stickers ... works for us! :D

LuLu

Just an FYI-- Princess will not mark drinks off if you purchase any before you purchase the package. In the past, Carnival cleared off previously charged drinks if we bought the package later in the day.

It has never taken me any longer to buy the package than to buy a drink.

Walk up to a bar ask for package and drink, they process the payment just like they would if you were paying for a drink or getting it on a package, slap a sticker on your card and hand you your drink.

Good Morning folks

 

i tried searching this but came up unconclusive.

 

My question's are ...............

1) is it better to pre purchase the drinks package or wait till you board.

2)If you pre purchase will your sail and sign be already be punched upon arrival and you dont have to do anything when you board except order your first drink.

3) I understand its a one of at time of purchase (unless you get to know your bartender) but does bottled water count? say could I order a beer and a water at the same time.

 

thanks in advance - looking forward to sailing the Grand in 16 days and FINALLY returning to Princess after a year and a half on Carnival.

One issue that has not been mentioned are the local State & city sales taxes. If you pre-purchase the beverage package there will be no local taxes.

I do know that in Fort Lauderdale that local sales taxes are added to purchases while the ship is in port. Maybe someone could comment on Whittier, Alaska. If Princess is required to add the local sales tax then it will be better to pre-purchase.

I hope you don't mind me asking in your thread but I have a related question and didn't want to clutter the boards with another thread.

Does the drink package charge through the debarkation day? If so I would think that swings the deal for some folks. I'm on the fence about getting the pacakge and if you are charged for that short day at the end it would probably cause me to not do it.

You can of course manage the embarkation side of things by not buying until day two.

Thanks

I hope you don't mind me asking in your thread but I have a related question and didn't want to clutter the boards with another thread.

 

Does the drink package charge through the debarkation day? If so I would think that swings the deal for some folks. I'm on the fence about getting the pacakge and if you are charged for that short day at the end it would probably cause me to not do it.

 

You can of course manage the embarkation side of things by not buying until day two.

 

Thanks

You are not counting correctly. The day at the end of the cruise isn't really short. On a 10 day cruise disembarkation day is really day 11. If the cruise is a 10 day cruise, for example, then you will be charged for $56.35 x 10 = $563.50. Think of it as ten nights and about 235 hour on board, just a few hours short of 10 full days. If you purchase on day two I believe you will still be charged for the full 10 days.

We have pre purchased and paid already for our cruise in August. Simply because the £/$ exchange is in our favour. We paid approx £36 a day each.

Just an FYI-- Princess will not mark drinks off if you purchase any before you purchase the package. In the past, Carnival cleared off previously charged drinks if we bought the package later in the day.

This varies as my SIL and I had the AI package on the Royal, but purchased it after buying some drinks. They were removed from our bill without question.

Does the drink package charge through the debarkation day? If so I would think that swings the deal for some folks. I'm on the fence about getting the pacakge and if you are charged for that short day at the end it would probably cause me to not do it.

No.

Thanks to those who answered my question.

Thanks folks!!!

its been a few years, question is the tax that is added on the package is there a port tax if you purchase on shop or can you saved s few dollars by pre purchasing before boarding. We were told it was a city tax and it was not princess but the city who charged. Anyone familiar with this?

its been a few years, question is the tax that is added on the package is there a port tax if you purchase on shop or can you saved s few dollars by pre purchasing before boarding. We were told it was a city tax and it was not princess but the city who charged. Anyone familiar with this?

In some ports there is a state or city tax charged to on board purchases until out of the jurisdiction's area.

The question is if you purchase on board before sailing, is the purchase actually charged to your account before or after leaving the jurisdiction?

In some ports there is a state or city tax charged to on board purchases until out of the jurisdiction's area.

 

The question is if you purchase on board before sailing, is the purchase actually charged to your account before or after leaving the jurisdiction?

New York had a State/City tax, anyone know if San Francisco does?

New York had a State/City tax, anyone know if San Francisco does?

In some locations the tax applies to sales on a ship while it is in port. In most locations it does not. It does not apply in NYC. Not sure about SF.

We have bought onboard in LA - no added Tax. You can buy on day 2, so for a

10 day cruise you'd only pay for the last 9, but any drinks you get on day 1 are paid for at regular prices (not free).

Some bartenders are known to honor the sticker on debarkation day "figuring 24 hours in a day" ;')

Covers wine 10 USD or less in Vines; wine. port, specialty coffee in DR; all Coffees / Teas in IC. Bottled water, canned or not sodas, beer, shakes, sundaes. Drinks over 10 USD list price (i.e. before tax/gratuity) are not included. plus the afrorementioned 40% off bottled wine that lists for under 100 USD

Kelly has put together a spreadsheet to help us out

Does the drink package charge through the debarkation day? If so I would think that swings the deal for some folks. I'm on the fence about getting the pacakge and if you are charged for that short day at the end it would probably cause me to not do it.

 

You can of course manage the embarkation side of things by not buying until day two.

Cruises are counted by NIGHTS, not days, and so are the packages. So let's say you're on a Sunday-through-Sunday cruise - that's 7 nights, not 8 days. Your beverage package on such cruise would be for 7 "days".

One issue that has not been mentioned are the local State & city sales taxes. If you pre-purchase the beverage package there will be no local taxes.

I do know that in Fort Lauderdale that local sales taxes are added to purchases while the ship is in port. Maybe someone could comment on Whittier, Alaska. If Princess is required to add the local sales tax then it will be better to pre-purchase.

No taxes when buying it in Whittier. I wait till I'm onboard to purchase because crew members that are selling those packages can potentially get a bonus for selling a certain number of them (so if I'm spending the money anyway, may as well help them out).

That spreadsheet is amazing! I was trying to figure out if a drink package would be worth it for our 10 day cruise to Alaska this summer. It's our honeymoon, so I love the idea of not having to worry about drinks and budgeting, but I just can't see how we would really go through 5-6 drinks a day to make the price worth it. Maybe on the sea days, but certainly not on port days. Am I way off?

I haven't cruised (except as a kid), so I want to make sure I'm thinking about this right. Maybe we'll go through drinks faster than I realize once we're on the ship? Do most people find the drink package is worth it? We both drink alcohol, juice, and coffee drinks, but not excessively. I still figure juice at breakfast + afternoon cocktail and/or coffee + wine at dinner won't add up enough. Am I thinking about this wrong? Will two people really go through $1000 worth of drinks in 10 days?

Thanks for the advice!

That spreadsheet is amazing! I was trying to figure out if a drink package would be worth it for our 10 day cruise to Alaska this summer. It's our honeymoon, so I love the idea of not having to worry about drinks and budgeting, but I just can't see how we would really go through 5-6 drinks a day to make the price worth it. Maybe on the sea days, but certainly not on port days. Am I way off?

 

I haven't cruised (except as a kid), so I want to make sure I'm thinking about this right. Maybe we'll go through drinks faster than I realize once we're on the ship? Do most people find the drink package is worth it? We both drink alcohol, juice, and coffee drinks, but not excessively. I still figure juice at breakfast + afternoon cocktail and/or coffee + wine at dinner won't add up enough. Am I thinking about this wrong? Will two people really go through $1000 worth of drinks in 10 days?

 

Thanks for the advice!

We figure we can't drink that much every day either, I am pretty much water logged and full after the 2nd or 3rd day.

We have it free on our Island cruise so we will see just how it works for us. Being a Med cruise and gone all port days it will be worse as far as getting your monies worth. Just don't think we would ever justify $1400 for a 12 day cruise. :eek: