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Drinks Package Calculator for Drinkers..(With excel attachment)


Reedweaver
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The trouble with drinks calculators imo is that they don’t always reflect what you actually do. You don’t drink exactly the same each day, and normally people don’t get drunk for 14x days in a row. (Not usually anyway)

 

I have had a very quick go at what I have found useful for working out if a drinks package is for me.

 

You basically type in the yellow boxes how many drinks you have on boozy days, less boozy days and alcohol free days.

 

I have found it much more useful and easy to use than the calculators on here. See what you think?

Princess Beverage Package Evaluator for Drinkers V1.1.xls

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Nicely done. I stopped buying the drink packages because it seems to have a direct correlation with the number of bartenders on duty. More drink packages sold = fewer bartenders on duty.

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Nice thing part of Princess is one can buy the package. If you don't abuse it. Your partner can share in a drink or two. Bartenders are great, but don't expect to have a cocktail hour and only buy "one" drink. But for the pool area, great.

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Nice thing part of Princess is one can buy the package. If you don't abuse it. Your partner can share in a drink or two.

 

'Sharing' with your partner is abusing it. :confused:

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The trouble with drinks calculators imo is that they don’t always reflect what you actually do. You don’t drink exactly the same each day, and normally people don’t get drunk for 14x days in a row. (Not usually anyway)

 

I have had a very quick go at what I have found useful for working out if a drinks package is for me.

 

You basically type in the yellow boxes how many drinks you have on boozy days, less boozy days and alcohol free days.

 

I have found it much more useful and easy to use than the calculators on here. See what you think?

 

The wines you can buy with the AIBP are not very good. We bring wine by the case. That way we will always have wines we like. I have gotten several wine packages only to find out the wines I try to order are "out of Stock".

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If the red wines on the drinks package are not good we are going to have a mutiny onboard..The wife will not be happy....lol

 

You do get a 40% discount on a bottle of wine. Or, bring your own. If you are sailing from the west coast, Bevmo has some good wines BOGO.

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I always buy the virgin drink package which is for sodas, non-alcoholic drinks, water, etc. That always works out for me but I'm a very big drinker. So it really depends on the individual. That drink table will help you determine if a drink package is for you.

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I think I will purchase the AIBP for myself, then get the 40% off bottles of wine for my wife. (and also myself at dinner)

 

This is ok I presume?

This is completely legal. You can share the 40%-off bottles with anyone - just not the drinks included with the AIBP. In fact, you don't have to drink any of the wine from the bottle if you don't want to - you can give it all to your wife and drink wine by the glass (included in the AIBP) yourself.

 

If you decide to drink wine by the glass, the selection at Vines is much better than the selection in the MDR and you can carry a full glass from Vines into the MDR with you.

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Nice thing part of Princess is one can buy the package. If you don't abuse it. Your partner can share in a drink or two. Bartenders are great, but don't expect to have a cocktail hour and only buy "one" drink. But for the pool area, great.

This is not great. Sharing a drink or two is not only abuse of the policy - it is theft.

Many other cruise lines require every adult in the cabin to purchase the package if one does. Princess used to have that restriction but doesn't any more. DW doesn't drink enough to justify the package, but I do, and I appreciate being able to buy it for myself. If people continue stealing from Princess (by "sharing" drinks), then Princess will change the policy back - punishing us honest people because of the thieves who steal from them by abusing the package.

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If the red wines on the drinks package are not good we are going to have a mutiny onboard..The wife will not be happy....lol

 

Get wine at Vines. Much better than the "by the glass" wines in MDR. You can also buy better wine in MDR with the AIBP. Any wine under $100 can be purchased with a 40% discount. That bottle can be shared with anybody you like and if you don't finish the bottle the staff will store it for you and bring it out the next time you want wine.

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Reedweaver -- Extremely interesting. I drink moderately at most and it more or less confirms (for me personally) that it would be more ideal and a better value to purchase drinks one at a time w/out purchasing the AIBP. Nevertheless, thank you for that great effort and chart. Well-done and helpful to many I'm sure!

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We are deciding whether or not to purchase the drink package. On another cruise, don't know if it was Princess, however, we paid for each drink. However, we ordered a double which came up to a few dollars more than the single drink. We would rather sit and enjoy a nice drink rather than ordering two drinks. Anyone ordered doubles on Princess if you are not on a package?

Edited by Momma Rene
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  • 8 months later...

Thanks for all your hard work. Now that princess have put a 15 drink limit per day would they call a double spirit one or 2 drinks? What are the spirit measures please? Is the wine by the glass standard measure or can you order a 250 mil glass? Regards

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Nice job on the calculator!

 

There were times on our cruise in December when I was questioning if I should have bought the package... When we got the bar bill at the end of the week we saved more than $400 by not buying the package. For each of us to have the package for 7 days it would have been upwards of $950. Our bill was just over $500. We have a bit of a system we use... see below.

 

Tips for cheap drinkin':

  • Bring a bottle of wine each on board at embarkation
  • Pre-order a bottle or two (375ml) from Princess Cellars (this equals 8-10 drinks... BYO mixers) price varies but ~$23/bottle (roughly the cost of 2 drinks on board)
  • Buy buckets of beer if you want beer (beer is a better deal by the bucket than it is with the BOGO) They did not open all bottles if you didn't ask them to on Regal in December.
  • Only buy wine or cocktails at BOGOs (never beer... better deal by the bucket)
  • With that being said....go to all BOGOs
  • Bring more wine on board later in the week from a port stop (this does technically go against the rules but we've never had it taken or charged corkage - we do strictly enjoy it in our stateroom)
  • Go to the captain's campaign waterfall... it helps to make friends with a server in that area before hand for quick refills ;) ***Yay! free booze!:tropical-drink:***
  • Go to welcome back parties ***Yay! free booze!:tropical-drink:***(Platinum and Elite).... ask for wine or beer (you know they actually contain alcohol... I always find the mixed drinks a little suspect )
  • Order the boozy "soups" at dinner... ***Yay! more free booze!:tropical-drink:*** (I've never personally done this but it has been suggested)
  • Have a few in port.... check out the options, you may find a real bucket (6 beers) for under $20 :beer-mug:

Now obviously at some point you can certainly go over what the package would cost you but for us... ( and we like alcoholic beverages moderately to regularly :evilsmile: ) .... There is no way we could have consumed $400 more during the 7 days without being completely inebriated, all day, every day...

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Hi,

I was reading on the Princess website (2017 terms & conditions) that

  • The package must be purchased by each guest for the whole cruise. Partial or prorated packages or segments will not be accepted. The full amount due for the complete voyage will be charged at the time of purchase.

Does anyone know if this has changed? We were on Carnival last year and we both had to purchase the AIBP. Also - FYI, for anyone not sure yes, there is a 15 drink per day limit.

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Tips for cheap drinkin':

  • Buy buckets of beer if you want beer (beer is a better deal by the bucket than it is with the BOGO) They did not open all bottles if you didn't ask them to on Regal in December.
  • Only buy wine or cocktails at BOGOs (never beer... better deal by the bucket)

I'm curious about the math on that. A bucket of 5 Budweiser is $23 (4 * $5.75).

BOGO 6 (buy 3 get 3 for $1) is $20.25.

 

When would the bucket work out to be a better deal? I'm asking because I like beer and want the best deal when I sail in April.

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