Princess Beverage Package Evaluator

You never pay an extra gratuity on the drink pkg. Ít's included in the "'per day "" cost.

When I got it for my Mexican cruise there was a sticker on my card so all the staff knew I had bought it.

I thought it was very convenient for that cruise. On a port intensive cruise it wouldn't be practical.

So you do not have to pay gratuity on that bottle of wine you bought at 40% off, correct? Wine before gratuity $50, your cost, $30 correct"

So you do not have to pay gratuity on that bottle of wine you bought at 40% off, correct? Wine before gratuity $50, your cost, $30 correct"

not sure Larry, I didn't purchase any bottles. we just ordered by the glass at dinner.

Evaluating a cruise in a similar way would be an interesting exercise.

Huge effort here and very much appreciated.

This spreadsheet is excellent. Thankyou!

This spreadsheet is excellent. Thankyou!

I agree, and a lot of work to put together. :)

Here is my initial rev of a beverage package evaluator - if you see items that are incorrect/missing, please let me know so I can improve this spreadsheet. All of the soda/water/juice prices are estimates for now, I can't seem to find current actual prices. Hope this is useful!

With regard to the wines by the glass, are the selections the same in the bars/lounges as in the MDR and specialty restaurants? Or is there a more extensive by the glass selection in the restaurants?

Also, with the beverage package, do you still sign a receipt or have they streamlined the process to make it no longer necessary?

not all bars carry the same wine.

Depends on the receipts. I've found if the waiter gets to know you then you usually don't have to sign.

Not a big deal either way.

With regard to the wines by the glass, are the selections the same in the bars/lounges as in the MDR and specialty restaurants? Or is there a more extensive by the glass selection in the restaurants?

Up until now we have opted out of the beverage package but with the BTB voyages next year in the Baltic and TA back to New York it is included in the price. Should work to our advantage with all the sea days sailing back to the US unless they change the drink prices to $10.01 each.

When I sail in November 2016, I'd be happy to get the details of the Australian prices from all the bars and the International Café in Australian $$$. If this is acceptable, when it's closer to the cruise date, I'll ask for contact details, so I can send a Word Document with the details. I do know how to do an Excel spreadsheet so far as data entry, it's the formulas that tend to get me muddled-don't use Excel as often as I need to keep my skills up :D

Quite comfortable about sitting with a notepad and pen, and writing everything down line by line-more time to enjoy a soda, Mocktail or planned Cocktail. Not a coffee drinker, but more than capable of copying information from a board or menu for others to have the information for their benefit. I

did think about taking photographs, but not real confident my photography skills would be good enough-still at the point the camera, press the button and hope for something you recognise in the photo stage :eek:

Limited vision isn't much of a help but I do have a good magnifying monocular lens which always travels with me, which brings my normal sight of 10% vision up to 100% vision and 2 rows further down the testing chart!

Very interesting. But I could not drink $300.00 plus in drinks on our normal 7 day cruises. The DW only drinks tea/water and I only drink fresh brewed/ some specialty coffee with maybe one/two other bar drink per day. That's why we only purchase coffee cards which covers our daily drinks. Neither one of us drink very many soft drinks since we don"t like Coke products (maybe if they had Mr. Pibb we would drink more soft drinks). Thanks for doing this spreadsheet.

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Island Princess 2008 Alaska, Island Princess 2009 (B2B) Alaska, Royal Princess (Old) 2010 Alaska, Golden Princess 2011 Alaska, Coral Princess 2012 Panama Canal, Star Princess 2012 Alaska, Island Princess 2013 Alaska, Crown Princess 2013 Western Caribbean, Caribbean Princess 2013 Western Caribbean, Royal Princess 2014 Eastern Caribbean, Royal Princess 2014 New England, Emerald Princess 2014 Western Caribbean, Ruby Princess 2015 Alaska

Let me start this way: We just came off a 7 day Celebrity cruise which included all beverages- not the premium stuff but good enough for us. I had maybe 4 fruity drinks, my dh mabe 5 harder stuff, the entire cruise. The rest of the time, just water and decaf diet coke or sprite zero, which Celebrity carries. I only brought on board with me one 12 pack of diet gingerale, and Crystal Light packets, and 1 12 pack of small can low sodium v8 juice. We used this cruise as a "trial run" for our upcoming Princess cruise. In the past I got the soda and more package and coffee card. So we figured that since Princess doesn't have decaf diet soda onboard and based on past cruise which I never really used the "and more" part. We are cheapest off: coffee card, soda card for at lunch time- just no caffeine after 3:00--and just paying for any alcoholic beverage.

Passengers really need to do the math---On Princess, we bring about 24 bottles of arrowhead water, 12 cans diet gingerale, and 12 cans of sprite zero, the low sodium v8 juice and crystal light packets.

When I sail in November 2016, I'd be happy to get the details of the Australian prices from all the bars and the International Café in Australian $$$. If this is acceptable, when it's closer to the cruise date, I'll ask for contact details, so I can send a Word Document with the details. I do know how to do an Excel spreadsheet so far as data entry, it's the formulas that tend to get me muddled-don't use Excel as often as I need to keep my skills up :D

 

Quite comfortable about sitting with a notepad and pen, and writing everything down line by line-more time to enjoy a soda, Mocktail or planned Cocktail. Not a coffee drinker, but more than capable of copying information from a board or menu for others to have the information for their benefit. I

 

did think about taking photographs, but not real confident my photography skills would be good enough-still at the point the camera, press the button and hope for something you recognise in the photo stage :eek:

 

Limited vision isn't much of a help but I do have a good magnifying monocular lens which always travels with me, which brings my normal sight of 10% vision up to 100% vision and 2 rows further down the testing chart!

Absolutely, I'd be happy to do an Australian version as well. I would be surprised if the math came out much different (need ~6 drinks a day to break even with the package), but it may help some folks to have the Australian prices! :)

Comparing the individual drink prices from the spread sheet with the prices of the cocktails on celebrity I would have to say that I probably wouldn't purchase a drink package on Princess. The prices are reasonable and it would probably be more cost effective if I just purchased the soft drink package and purchased alcohol as we go like I have done in the past. I did purchase the drink package on Celebrity. This was before they were running the promotions. With the high prices for individual drinks including soft drinks, water, and specialty coffee it wasn't difficult to spend $50 a day just on beverages. My wife and I probably drank an entire bottle of Prosecco every night at dinner.

Do they make you pay for the last day even though its almost impossible drink on the last day? The Spreadsheet should take into consideration that you are not drinking anywhere near the predicted amount on the last day.

Also, I can't figure out why the "qty per sea day" field reduces the price so much?

Kyle

Do they make you pay for the last day even though its almost impossible drink on the last day? The Spreadsheet should take into consideration that you are not drinking anywhere near the predicted amount on the last day.

 

Also, I can't figure out why the "qty per sea day" field reduces the price so much?

 

Kyle

Disembarkation day, no.

Do they make you pay for the last day even though its almost impossible drink on the last day? The Spreadsheet should take into consideration that you are not drinking anywhere near the predicted amount on the last day.

 

Also, I can't figure out why the "qty per sea day" field reduces the price so much?

 

Kyle

On the last day, you can still get fresh squeezed orange juice or a specialty coffee with your card. Remember, on a 7-night cruise you are paying for seven days but the card is valid on parts of eight different calendar days.

Here is my initial rev of a beverage package evaluator - if you see items that are incorrect/missing, please let me know so I can improve this spreadsheet. All of the soda/water/juice prices are estimates for now, I can't seem to find current actual prices. Hope this is useful!

Very, very impressive....wow!

Here is my initial rev of a beverage package evaluator - if you see items that are incorrect/missing, please let me know so I can improve this spreadsheet. All of the soda/water/juice prices are estimates for now, I can't seem to find current actual prices. Hope this is useful!

Thank you. We are doing a 3 day from Vancouver to LA and this is very helpful.

Thank you. This is very helpful.

hi,ive read somewhere that you now have to pay fullprice on any drink over 10 dollars instead of just the difference.if this is true it makes this package a waste of space.also does the 10 dollars include gratuity,cheers,brian.

hi,ive read somewhere that you now have to pay fullprice on any drink over 10 dollars instead of just the difference.if this is true it makes this package a waste of space.also does the 10 dollars include gratuity,cheers,brian.

I called Princess and they said you just pay the difference.

hi,ive read somewhere that you now have to pay fullprice on any drink over 10 dollars instead of just the difference.if this is true it makes this package a waste of space.also does the 10 dollars include gratuity,cheers,brian.