Jump to content

All inclusive drinks package


CCFC
 Share

Recommended Posts

I picked this snippet up from another forum:

 

"An all inclusive drinks package is expected to be available across the entire P&O fleet, there is a trial next month on one of the ships. Depending on the trials success, the all inclusive drinks package is debut very soon."

 

Good or bad idea, will it encourage more drinking?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I certainly hope this is true. We had this on Celebrity last year. I don't think I drank more than normal or even saved any money, but it meant that I could try new drinks and it didn't matter if I didn't like them, i could always have another.

I'm on Britannia in July 15 so hope it's on there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My experience on Thomson who have 'all inclusive' drinks packages on their fly cruises is that they don't seem to promote drunkeness, apart from the few individuals who will try and knock back as much as possible, these types will be refused service anyway if inebriated. This will also happen on P&O but my advice would be not to make the package too attractive on short cruises.

 

On 'T' the full package is about £200 per week but can be discounted as a booking incentive and even free if you book early.

 

As my alchohol intake has dropped over recent years I might give such a package a miss anyway

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We thought of taking the drinks package on Fred O as it was £10 pppn and that's about what we spend with a couple before dinner and then half a litre of wine or half a bottle. However, my husband was ill for 4 days so didn't want anything, so it wouldn't have been worth it. If you spend more than that most days, then it would be worth it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They may offer them free and use it as an incentive to sell cruises early at Select prices which is in effect what Celebrity do - full prices cruises with 'free' drinks packages.

This is good on Celebrity if you have one free but you have to drink quite a lot to break even if you have purchased a premium one at $55 per person per day. Also how many sea days you have is a consideration when purchasing one. I would also say that it undoubtedly makes you drink more.

Edited by bee-ess
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've had it on both Celebrity and Royal Caribbean and it was great. I probably wouldn't use it in January for a 105 night cruise :eek:, but I'd definitely use it on my 7 day cruise on Britannia next July.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They may offer them free and use it as an incentive to sell cruises early at Select prices which is in effect what Celebrity do - full prices cruises with 'free' drinks packages.

 

This is good on Celebrity if you have one free but you have to drink quite a lot to break even if you have purchased a premium one at $55 per person per day. Also how many sea days you have is a consideration when purchasing one. I would also say that it undoubtedly makes you drink more.

 

 

I agree. I dont think they are introducing this just for convenience sake, Im sure it is so they can offer promotions to sell cruises. I can definately see it being an added incentive to sell Select fares. Many new cruisers think of drinks onboard cruises being very expensive so adverts for 'All Inclusive Cruises' will have an impact. It will be interesting how much they charge if you were to pay for it given that P&O drink prices are generally lower than the US lines.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My experience on Thomson who have 'all inclusive' drinks packages on their fly cruises is that they don't seem to promote drunkeness, apart from the few individuals who will try and knock back as much as possible, these types will be refused service anyway if inebriated. This will also happen on P&O but my advice would be not to make the package too attractive on short cruises.

 

On 'T' the full package is about £200 per week but can be discounted as a booking incentive and even free if you book early.

 

As my alchohol intake has dropped over recent years I might give such a package a miss anyway

 

 

Agree fully about the short cruises. I would not like to see it on anything less than a week.

 

Of course it would not interest me at all as I am strictly TT.

 

 

 

 

;)

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Edited by daiB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agree fully about the short cruises. I would not like to see it on anything less than a week.

 

Of course it would not interest me at all as I am strictly TT.

 

 

 

 

;)

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

:eek::eek::eek: Pinocchio! I have been in your company on New Year's Eve...our bar bill said different lol

 

I think this would be brilliant, even if you pay for it, at least it means you don't get a huge bill at the end of your cruise, it also means you can spread the cost a bit if you choose to purchase it when booking.... I also don't think it promotes lots of drunken people but agree it should be on cruises of 7 days or more only...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On Princess its about £33 a day at current rates which gives you any drink under $10 or about £6, they did start off only offering it on cruises over 7 days but its on all of them now.

 

I did succumb and buy the package for our Canaries trip and it worked out about even, it was nice to have a glass or two of wine followed by a lush coffee that I wouldn't have normally ordered. I also bought some other drinks I wouldn't normally like a 007 Martini which I didn't like, gave it back and got a beer straight away.

 

Guess it all depends on price.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reading the FO forum last year before we sailed, there were complaints that there were restrictions and people weren't able to get favourite brands or special coffees etc. I 'm not sure but I think you could get 50% off certain branded drinks. However, others seemed in favour- especially the offer of £10 pppn.

I suppose you need to work out what you're likely to spend and likely to drink.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can I ask how long the cruise was for? £200 pp per week is £28 pp per day? That's quite a lot of booze depending on price. And if you saved £500 - how exhorbitant are the prices on Thomson?

 

Sorry I disagree. £28 per day isn't a lot of booze when you can pay £16-24 for a bottle of wine at dinner.

We booked an all incl deal on MSC and we saved over 500 euros in a week but don't forget all inclusive isn't just alcohol. We had lovely speciality coffees, smoothies, proper fruit juice at breakfast, ice creams etc. Soon adds up.:eek:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Thomson 'all inclusive' is not as inclusive as it was a few years ago :( On some premium drinks you pay a reduced price rather than free and wine is by the glass only.

 

Oh the happy memories. Waitress Rain following me around all day with replacement glasses of Merlot :):):)

 

Thomson prices are similar to P&O except, last time i cruised with them, the spirit measure was 40ml and the mixer was free.

 

The weekly cost of an AI would be possibly 50 times the average price of a drink.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Going back quite a few years this was tried as a one off on the Oceana in the Caribbean. We paid £199 each for the 2 week cruise which was fantastic at the time as we both liked a good drink. We must have saved at least £200 that cruise but it never got offered again so probably wasn't a good deal for P&O.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can I ask how long the cruise was for? £200 pp per week is £28 pp per day? That's quite a lot of booze depending on price. And if you saved £500 - how exhorbitant are the prices on Thomson?

 

It was a 14 night cruise so we paid just under £800 for the drinks package. Yes you do have pay extra for some drinks but the ones we drink were all,covered in the package so our end of cruise bill was very small. We usually spend between £1400-£1500 on board during a 14 night cruise so £800 was great value by comparison, it also obviously included all soft drinks. £28 pp per day may sound a lot but when you add up the cost of the drinks it's actually not that bad...cocktails can be a fiver and a large gin not far off that either...we had excellent bar waiters out on deck at night who assured our glasses were never empty in fact there was very little room for mixer in the glass as it was almost full with gin! I hasten to add the service and quality was not the same in other bars on board ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have had the drinks package with FO and found it superb value for money at £10 a day. It helped us to save on soft drinks throughout the day, alcohol and even meant the wine with our evening meal was free :)

 

FO state that everyone in the cabin must have all inclusive if it is taken up i suppose to save one person just getting everyone else in the party a drink; therefore, depending upon the price that P&O offer it at could be expensive or offer good value should they follow the same policy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have had the drinks package with FO and found it superb value for money at £10 a day. It helped us to save on soft drinks throughout the day, alcohol and even meant the wine with our evening meal was free :)

 

FO state that everyone in the cabin must have all inclusive if it is taken up i suppose to save one person just getting everyone else in the party a drink; therefore, depending upon the price that P&O offer it at could be expensive or offer good value should they follow the same policy.

 

 

£10 per day seems to me to be a No Brainer as they say, £28 is I would suggest over the top.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that something has to be done to prevent dishonest people from abusing the system by buying one package and using it to purchase the drinks for everyone in the cabin but the problem with Fred's rule is that in case of people like my husband and I where only one person in the cabin drinks alcohol it would be expensive for both of us to have to buy the package.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that something has to be done to prevent dishonest people from abusing the system by buying one package and using it to purchase the drinks for everyone in the cabin but the problem with Fred's rule is that in case of people like my husband and I where only one person in the cabin drinks alcohol it would be expensive for both of us to have to buy the package.

Thats easy to fix. if you want to buy 3 drinks the waiter needs to see 3 cruise cards, all marked with the drinks package. Once the waiters get to know you they only need one card.

 

You can only get the AI if ALL the people in your party get one. So 3 adults on one booking is either 3 AI's or none at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...