First Time Cruiser--wondering about beverage packages worth it or not?

New to cruising. My first cruise is an inside passage cruise to AK 8/11 - 8/18 aboard Princess. I am wondering if the beverage package is worth the price or wait and pay for the beverages on the ship. The beverage package options I am considering are Premier Beverage Package $68.99 per person per day or New Grounds Coffee Card $35.65 per person per punch card *(15 beverages) or bottled Water Package $6.90 for 12 bottles of water. Is it worth paying for any of the packages? Any and all advice is welcome please.

It really depends on how much you drink on a normal vacation, and how much time you will be on the ship vs on shore. Most cruise lines average $9-$10 for wine and $12-$17 per mixed drink. The water package sounds like a good deal if you will drink it all. I read that NCL charges over $4 for a bottle of water including tip/tax.

New to cruising. My first cruise is an inside passage cruise to AK 8/11 - 8/18 aboard Princess. I am wondering if the beverage package is worth the price or wait and pay for the beverages on the ship. The beverage package options I am considering are Premier Beverage Package $68.99 per person per day or New Grounds Coffee Card $35.65 per person per punch card *(15 beverages) or bottled Water Package $6.90 for 12 bottles of water. Is it worth paying for any of the packages? Any and all advice is welcome please.

Coffee card is worth it if you drink a lot of coffee or tea.

A very general rule of thumb regarding alcohol consumption and most beverage packages is the typical break even is about 6-7 drinks per day every day of the cruise. Go from there.

Save money and forget the water package, ship's water is absolutely fine to drink from any tap and the dispensers in the buffet. Also your room steward will fill the ice bucket twice a day and if you like cold water just drink the melted ice. Bring a tumbler or refillable water bottle with you and keep that filled if you need to carry water around with you in ports.

The value of the packages are entirely based on your lifestyle, but remember shipping companies only look after their best interests, not the customer.

Beverage package at almost $140 per couple, per day. Yes, some days you could probably consume enough to make it worth while, but how many drinks will you consume when ashore. With the new increased rates, I just can't imagine breaking even.

Bottled water - purchase 1 or 2 bottles aboard, at their grossly inflated prices and when empty refill on-board. Just don't fill directly from the buffet dispensers. Even better, bring your own water bottles.

Tea/coffee cards - tea and coffee is available 24/7 from the buffet. Why pay extra for something you can get for free. Yes, they say it is premium tea/coffee, but while they may use premium tea bags, they still don't know how to make proper tea.

You can get ANY drink without a package...just so you know! You simply pay "per drink".

Ice water, coffee, tea, lemonade or fruit punch, milk and juice during breakfast are included in your fare.

The only drink package that can make sense is for alcohol. Even then you need to drink a lot and a Alaska cruise is not exactly a part cruise to being drinking all the time. Each day is also a day in port too. So on port days you'll need to drink even more in a shorter amount of time.

If bottle water is a must that seems like a decent price. But you can always just get the ships tap water (perfectly fine) from the bar or buffet area.

As for coffee, unless you need multiple coffees a day I don't see the point. Coffee usually is available in some form for free at breakfast and lunch. Usually dinner too and certainly tea. You just need to pay for something like a cappuccino.

For Alcohol its a lot of drinking. I would never use my money, because even if I did have 8-drinks on a sea-day I know I won't have 8-drinks on a day in port.

It's all based on you. What would you spend without the package?

$70 for a day of drinking can be deceiving. That sounds pretty easy to do. Then you have to remember that your parter has to hit that too. Then you both have to do that every day. This is nearly $980, and I don't know if gratuity is included in your numbers. If not, add to that. Then you also have to remember that these will not include your drinks at port.

For us the alcohol package does not make sense. The coffee card is great as I drink at least one latte and one mocha a day in Alaska. For water - we bring our own refillable for any travel situation and that works great.

New to cruising. My first cruise is an inside passage cruise to AK 8/11 - 8/18 aboard Princess. I am wondering if the beverage package is worth the price or wait and pay for the beverages on the ship. The beverage package options I am considering are Premier Beverage Package $68.99 per person per day or New Grounds Coffee Card $35.65 per person per punch card *(15 beverages) or bottled Water Package $6.90 for 12 bottles of water. Is it worth paying for any of the packages? Any and all advice is welcome please.

As you see, everyone has an opinion because there is no definitive answer. It comes down to what YOU would do...and that's tough to know since you haven't cruised before. Our first couple of cruises, I did not buy the alcohol package, but have since made it a mainstay of our cruising. If I were paying for drinks one at a time, at an average of $11 per...I get my money's worth at about 6 or 7 drinks. That is NO problem on sea days. Usually, there will be one day when there's a good dance party or something at night, and I get way more than my value!! On the other hand, when you're on shore doing an excursion, you will have to pay for your drinks. By the time you're back on board (say, 5pm, you'd need to get started with some heavy drinking right away). So for me, shore days are maybe 4 drink days...and I "lose" money, but on sea days, I "make" money. (This is all so funny to write about, because when not cruising, I am a VERY modest drinker.)

So, none of this really helps you because you don't know how YOU will behave. Think about past vacations you've done...have you indulged more than usual or wished you could? Maybe it's worth it. But if a glass of wine with dinner, a drink later in the bar and maybe a drink or two on deck while sunbathing is more your speed, then shell out for individual drinks.

One thing to bear in mind: these drink packages do not include bottle wine. There are SOME wines by the glass included, but if you're a big wine lover, that package may not be a good choice for you.

Your Mileage May Vary...

I'm not a alcohol drinker, but I do like to try some different drinks, and there are some non-alcoholic drinks (ginger ale, smoothies) which, as long as your don't look too closely, can pass off as a alcoholic drink. So, yes, I do purchase a premium non-alcoholic package just to avoid any surprise charges at the end.

For me it’s the soda or soft drink package, I usually hit “Break Even” 1/3 of the way into the cruise.

If it was pay as you go it may take me to half way.

But that’s just me.

Sometimes ships will have a "happy hour" when drinks are discounted. We have sailed on Princess and Carnival (only to the Caribbean) and one of them had a happy hour where drinks were buy one get one for $1. They only did it a couple times during the cruise. That's the only time we actually drank alcohol on the cruise ship. We aren't heavy drinkers so those packages are a waste of money for us. Bring your own water bottle and save the $$. Like others said water is readily available and safe to drink. We always fill ours up before getting off the ship so we don't have to buy water in port.

It REALLY depends on how much/what you like to drink. AND how many days in port--the more days in port, the less value you will get.

Since drink packages have come around we always do them. We enjoy our drinks & have QUITE a few each day (probably more than your average passenger...) and we feel it is a break even proposition. But we like the convenience & just not having to worry about it. If you like a couple drinks at the pool, a couple at dinner & a couple in the evening, that alone would be about a break even (except for most domestic beer)

I did get a coffee card on Princess that I didn't use up...I THINK it is still wandering around our home somewhere...I thought their regular coffee (buffet, dining room) was HORRID. And I am no coffee snob--I buy Aldi coffee pods for my Keurig! If 2 of you use the card it is totally worth it (DH doesn't drink coffee)

In order to make the package worthwhile you'd have to drink about 4 frozen drinks a day @ $15 per drink, plus maybe a beer.

Many of the cruise lines used to feature a "Drink of the Day" which was discounted. Some of them still do but, you need to ask the bartender now, they don't publicize it so much anymore.

If you get hooked on cruising as you pick up loyalty points with each line you can earn on board credit, which is always great to help defray the bar bill.

Jonathan

Depending on your drinking habits, I might also recommend buying a bottle. As someone who will drink a Jack and Coke 75% of the time, I get a good value out of a 1 liter bottle for $110. Plus, I get to make it as strong as I want.

As to how much people drink, realize Carnival drink packages limit the person to 15 drinks per day on the package. And people complain about hitting the limit a LOT. :D

But up to you.

To me, there is also the convenience of not having to wait and sign a receipt for every drink. They just swipe my card and I go.

But RCI drink packages are more like $45 per person, per day.

New to cruising. My first cruise is an inside passage cruise to AK 8/11 - 8/18 aboard Princess. I am wondering if the beverage package is worth the price or wait and pay for the beverages on the ship. The beverage package options I am considering are Premier Beverage Package $68.99 per person per day or New Grounds Coffee Card $35.65 per person per punch card *(15 beverages) or bottled Water Package $6.90 for 12 bottles of water. Is it worth paying for any of the packages? Any and all advice is welcome please. :):hearteyes::hearteyes::hearteyes:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2038576&page=4

If you goto post #670 in this thread - there is a link to a spreadsheet - it calculates the on board cost of drinks you indicate you would buy each day and compares it to the Premiere package prices.

It also shows onboard pricing. I'm not sure if it has been updated - alcoholic drink prices went up about $1 per, but even if not, it gives you a way to calculate if it makes sense for you and you can see what drinks cost.

We do buy packages if we intend to be on board most days. If it is a port intensive cruise with a lot of long days off the ship then we do not buy them.

Primcess is in process if changing the coffee package to 15 per cruise use it or lose it - no longer able to carry over unused punches to next trip so keep that in mind too. Many recent posts are before this came out.