MSC Divina drink packages

This will be our first MSC cruise and while it's nice to have a variety of drink packages to choose from, I'm not sure what is included. Does anyone know what is included in the 2 below? I like rum runners, frozen margaritas etc. Husband likes the same and 7 & 7s. Are these type of drinks included in both?

COCKTAIL PACKAGE

12 cocktails of your choice selected from our Bar List (premium cocktails are excluded), for consumption at the bars. $72

MORE-FOR-LESS ESCAPE PASS

Beverage card for 18 consumptions valid for an extensive range of spirit brands, cocktails, beers, wines, non-alcoholic drinks and takeaway ice cream. The drinks included in your package can be enjoyed in total leisure throughout the cruise, exploring our onboard drinks offering or sharing the experience in freedom with your family or friends $84

Any info would be great!

Thanks

We are looking at the same packages. My understanding is that the 12 drink pkg is an average of $6.00/drink, while the 18 drink pkg is $4.66/drink. We will go with the 18 :D!

Seems like a no brainer right?? Just want to be sure of what type of drinks are included before i commit. Hopefully a recent cruiser can tell us.

We are looking at the same packages. My understanding is that the 12 drink pkg is an average of $6.00/drink' date=' while the 18 drink pkg is $4.66/drink. We will go with the 18 :D![/quote']

 

From what I understand, no need to pay drink gratuities either. Great deal.

Hope you get an answer. I like Pina Coladas.

Leaving in a few days.....wondering can you share a drink package? That is 9 drinks apiece on an 18 drink voucher?

We got the 18 drink tickets and pretty much drank whatever we wanted. Pina Coladas included. Also were able to do shots with them. They allowed you to get anything that was priced at $8 or less. The drink prices are fairly reasonable anyway, so I never had to pay (until I ran out of tickets :p). And at $4.66 per drink it was very economical. You can give tickets to others that you are traveling with to use also, unlike the all inclusive package (if they offer it on your cruise- they did not on mine).

Kinda off topic.....going with a friend.Neither of us are 20- something.. More like 50-something lol,but neither of us are suit and tie people.We do enjoy good meals though.Do we have to wear trousers,tie? Suit? The Carnival cruise I went on was alot more casual from what I am reading.

Dress code and adherence is pretty similar to Carnival. I guess I've never seen anyone in shorts in the dining room on MSC, but I don't pay all that much attention. Note, I've only been on 7 or 8-day Carnival cruises over the past number of years. If you've been on 3/4/5 day cruises, it's possible they are more casual.

If you go into the booking process, there is a bit more detail:

MORE-FOR-LESS ESCAPE PASS

Beverage card for 18 consumptions, valid for all drinks from the Bar and Wine including

wines by the glass with the price up to US$7.50,

draft beer, bottled or canned beer with the price up to US$5,

canned sodas, fruit juices, mineral water, wide selection of coffee-based drinks, premium teas, hot chocolate delights, selection of call-brand spirits,

all cocktails from the Bar list with the price up to US$8,

as well as take away ice cream in a cone or cup.

Curious how this applies to gelato... can you get a large enough size to make this a value? Certainly a great deal for bar drinks though.

Does anybody know if the staff somehow gets a tip with this, or do they get stiffed?

Does anybody know if the staff somehow gets a tip with this, or do they get stiffed?

From what I have read on other threads on this forum, the staff don't like it much, because they do get stiffed.

I'm planning to have plenty of $1 bills for tips for bar staff.

Just my two cents. I always give a$1.00 per drink tip. That goes right in the server's pocket, and he or she doesn't have to put it in a pool.

Ok, we'll try to hit the same bar before dinner each night so the staff gets to know that we'll tip. If they don't know and we wind up getting crap service, makes it tougher to tip.

Excellent deals, we would be purchasing a package for sure.

We were thinking of purchasing the More-for-Less 18 Drink Pkg for $84 (Not Premium), but at an Avg of just $4.67/drink it's not a bad deal. I'll just place what few premium drinks I may desire on my S&S Acct.

Does anyone know if you have any unused punches/tickets leftover at the end of the cruise, it could happen :), if you can use them on a subsequent MSC cruise, or are they somehow restricted to the cruise they were purchased on ? We're doing a B2B on MSC Divina this spring.

Thank you.

Last year I sailed on the Divina in March and then latter in April (not B2B). I had no problem using the drink coupons that I had purchased on the first cruise. You can also give them to people who are boarding if you won't be cruising MSC for a while. Greg the winemaker (blends specialty wines during winemaking class at the wine bar) always appreciates your unused coupons as he spends many weeks on the ship at one time.

Seems to be up for debate based on this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2287033&highlight=voucher

Probably best not left to chance. ;)

I hope they aren't associated to one cruiser/card, because means I'll always be making the drink runs. That is typically the case anyway, but through the week there will certainly be some occasion where my wife if free to go while I wrangle the kiddies...

Really debating this one.....I don't like the idea of servers not getting any gratuity with these "coupons". I know that you can tip individual servers, but have read stories about bartenders not being able to accept these without a server (don't know why that is....but it's been on these boards). Just wondering if it's better to pay the extra per drink....because if you have a couple left over you blow your discount anyways.....so maybe this post will sway me.

Really debating this one.....I don't like the idea of servers not getting any gratuity with these "coupons". I know that you can tip individual servers, but have read stories about bartenders not being able to accept these without a server (don't know why that is....but it's been on these boards). Just wondering if it's better to pay the extra per drink....because if you have a couple left over you blow your discount anyways.....so maybe this post will sway me.

It is my understanding that if you purchase onboard 15% gratuity is added to cover tips. If you pre-purchase you stiff the crew? Can anyone confirm/deny?

It is my understanding that if you purchase onboard 15% gratuity is added to cover tips. If you pre-purchase you stiff the crew? Can anyone confirm/deny?

I doubt the crew are getting stiffed; consider it as MSC offering a 15% discount in order to encourage pre-sailing purchases. This gives them an influx of cash months before they need to shell out the alcohol, and means Onboard Credit needs to be spent on something else.

I had the all-inclusive package on my sailing and nobody ever treated me like I had stiffed them. Smiles and fast service (way faster and attentive than Celebrity) for the whole cruise.

If the tips are pooled, then I guess the waitstaff isn't getting stiffed. They are getting the same amount of income as they would if you had not walked up with the voucher. At least until such time as these coupons become a meaningful percentage of drink 'purchases' anyway.

What happens with the AI packages (Aurea, or purchased packages, or YC)? There is no tip explicitly including in those either, right? I would suspect that those are a substantial portion of bar traffic. It is a minority of cabins that have AI, but I'd assume those who drinking for 'free' tend to get more drinks on average.

Just wondering if it's better to pay the extra per drink....because if you have a couple left over you blow your discount anyways....

This is a huge discount at $4.67 per drink. It does depend on what you're drinking, but let's assume an average $7 drink. With a 15% gratuity that is $8.05 total, so the package is a 42% discount. Alternately: as soon as you use the 11th coupon you're in the black. You could waste the other 7 and not be losing money.

Add $1 tip per voucher, and you're still at a 30% discount on our theoretical $7 drink. That's just good money management! :D

Where do we purchase this? Call Msc to prepurchase? Purchase when we get on-board.

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I have prepurchased the 18 voucher pack. Where do I pick up the vouchers¿¿

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We are going to purchase online before our trip and we will tip 😀

Where do we purchase this? Call Msc to prepurchase? Purchase when we get on-board.

 

 

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On the MSC USA site, it's under Already Booked --> Enhancing Your Cruise Drinks --> Alcohol Packages.

Or this should work: https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Already-Booked/Cruise-Upgrade/Alcohol-Packages.aspx

I suspect you could also call MSC, though maybe only if you've booked through MSC directly. I have heard you can book it on board but with the addition of a 15% gratuity. Like others, I'd prefer to tip the actual bartender directly.