Discount drinks, not on plan

What are our options? Do they have happy hour? When will they sell discount cards? Can you get a beer bucket with any kind of beer, or just the basic domestics?

Cruising on Gem to NE/Canada.

Thanks!

Beer bucket buy 5 sixth is free. You can mix and match. I don't think they do happy hours anymore.

Every day of the week there's a drink of the day which is discounted.

Have you looked at their beer and wine only plan.

Honestly, their drinks seem more expensive then other lines, probably to discourage individual purchase.

Always kind of perplexed me that people save a few dollars on a sail away fare without perks, then spend many times the difference on bar bills and specialty dining bills.

No happy hours

There are ‘tastings’ offered throughout the cruise. Martinis, margaritas, etc. we did one a few years ago before the free at sea perks and felt it was a good value.

There are buckets of beer and a daily drink of the day special

Other option is you can bring on as much wine as you like and pay a $15 per bottle fee

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Always kind of perplexed me that people save a few dollars on a sail away fare without perks, then spend many times the difference on bar bills and specialty dining bills.

 

My DH and I both enjoy a beverage or 2, but this is a family vacation so we won't be drinking a ton.

Honestly I hope we spend less on drinks than even the gratuities on the "free" drinking plan would have been. I don't see that "free" plan being a great deal unless they let me pay only the amount of gratuities for my consumed drinks (definitely never 10 per day each)!!

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Anyone know how much just generic a rum and coke, vodka soda, gin and tonic, etc. is? Just the kind that uses regular old bar rail, non premium alcohol? I'm curious about that now.

^yes, I was wondering that also. I imagine my DH may like an Old Fashioned, but $13.95 is extreme!

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We got 3rd and 4th free as our perk. And since we booked an inside we only got one perk.

 

My DH and I both enjoy a beverage or 2, but this is a family vacation so we won't be drinking a ton.

 

Honestly I hope we spend less on drinks than even the gratuities on the "free" drinking plan would have been. I don't see that "free" plan being a great deal unless they let me pay only the amount of gratuities for my consumed drinks (definitely never 10 per day each)!!

 

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I think the call is the cheapest it gets. Trying to remember because I always ordered the best I could get except for frozen drinks...but I think they used what's listed under call.

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Fyi you don't need to drink 10 a day for it to be worth it! It's $17.80/day per person. Less than the cost of just about any two drinks.

 

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We mainly drink beers, so if I had 2 beers a day, I would get spend $14, and I'd rather pay gratuities on THAT. I'm just saying, it'd be cooler if I got charged actual gratuities instead of on an assumed $89 per day (which I could never personally drink that much).

Anyways I was just asking what discounts were available. I do not have UBP perk, and I don't plan on buying the UBP.

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I just meant they charge you gratuities on the "daily value", which is $89 a day. Which for beers, would be over 10 drinks to equal that.

 

We mainly drink beers, so if I had 2 beers a day, I would get spend $14, and I'd rather pay gratuities on THAT. I'm just saying, it'd be cooler if I got charged actual gratuities instead of on an assumed $89 per day (which I could never personally drink that much).

 

Anyways I was just asking what discounts were available. I do not have UBP perk, and I don't plan on buying the UBP.

 

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$14 for two beers plus 20% is $16.80. If you only drink two beers a day it's cheaper, if you buy a third you just spent more than you would have for the gratuities on the free package. Which, hey, if you feel better paying $8.40 a beer more power to you.

 

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Getting 3rd and 4th free probably saved me $600-700. I assure you I will not spend that much on drinks.

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I could never justify getting UBP even as perk our bill is under 100$ for both as we have kids with us. We usually dink wine or beer so usually bring 2 bottle and pay 15$ fee plus get the beer bucket. I might get one or two frozen drinks that are a drink of a day. We also did tastings not sure if it would be covered by UDP. If we were to go with a group of other adults it would probably worth it but not as a family vacation.

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smplybcause,

I was talking about paying gratuities on $14 vs $89. I don't think you followed what I was saying.

I can't get the free package, so why are we talking about this?

 

Getting 3rd and 4th free probably saved me $600-700. I assure you I will not spend that much on drinks.

 

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Shrug. I was just responding to you post about the package and how you're not wanting to spend that much in gratuities. Math wise, that thinking is wrong. But if you don't have the package then not sure why you brought it up? Oh well.

 

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There's a chance we may not drink on the ship at all on port days.

"There's a chance we may not drink on the ship at all on port days."

What are our options? Do they have happy hour?

When will they sell discount cards?

And you get a beer bucket with any kind of beer, or just the basic domestics?

I can't get the free package,

so why are we talking about this?/quote]

 

Your mind seems to be made.

Just go for the free tea and lemonade?:)

I'm sorry to have bothered some of you by asking a simple question. Guess I should have gone to the money saving board.

smplybcause,

I was talking about paying gratuities on $14 vs $89. I don't think you followed what I was saying.

Of course, you need the ability to choose the perk.

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Yep, I gotcha. Agreed. I picked my savings elsewhere - a cheap room and getting our kids free. I think that will be the better deal for us. For the bar tab, "it is what it is". ☺

For the posters claiming that you only need to drink $17.80 per day to break even, that's simply not true. You aren't taking into account that the sailaway rate is often hundreds of dollars less than the rates that include perk(s). If you can save let's say $175 per person on a 7-night cruise with sailaway and save the $17.80 per day gratuity, that's $300. So $300 per person worth of drinks and tips over 7 days in order to breakeven with the beverage package.

So it really does depend. In the Caribbean with a few sea days thrown in, you would easily get your moneys worth from the UBP. On a port intensive European itinerary, not so much.

Also, our recent cruise on the Spirit had a wine promotion. Your choice of 4, 6, or 8 bottles from a list of about 15 different regional choices. I think it was either $175 or $179 for 8 bottles. Good option if you like wine with dinner and don't have a UBP.

For the posters claiming that you only need to drink $17.80 per day to break even, that's simply not true. You aren't taking into account that the sailaway rate is often hundreds of dollars less than the rates that include perk(s). If you can save let's say $175 per person on a 7-night cruise with sailaway and save the $17.80 per day gratuity, that's $300. So $300 per person worth of drinks and tips over 7 days in order to breakeven with the beverage package.

 

So it really does depend. In the Caribbean with a few sea days thrown in, you would easily get your moneys worth from the UBP. On a port intensive European itinerary, not so much.

 

Also, our recent cruise on the Spirit had a wine promotion. Your choice of 4, 6, or 8 bottles from a list of about 15 different regional choices. I think it was either $175 or $179 for 8 bottles. Good option if you like wine with dinner and don't have a UBP.

This. It would cost us $600 more a couple to get a room that qualified for the "free" UDP. We take Canadian at Par instead. Will be sailing for $799 pp Canadian to Bermuda on the Dawn this summer. So we'd have to drink $600 worth to make it worthwhile to get the UDP. It's not worth it at that price. It's not "just" the cost of the grats, it's the cost of the qualifying room. NCL gets you. They attract you with cheap base fares and then bait and switch. I'll stick with the cheap base fare and buy a couple drinks a day, I'll still be way ahead.

For the posters claiming that you only need to drink $17.80 per day to break even, that's simply not true. You aren't taking into account that the sailaway rate is often hundreds of dollars less than the rates that include perk(s). If you can save let's say $175 per person on a 7-night cruise with sailaway and save the $17.80 per day gratuity, that's $300. So $300 per person worth of drinks and tips over 7 days in order to breakeven with the beverage package.

 

So it really does depend. In the Caribbean with a few sea days thrown in, you would easily get your moneys worth from the UBP. On a port intensive European itinerary, not so much.

 

Also, our recent cruise on the Spirit had a wine promotion. Your choice of 4, 6, or 8 bottles from a list of about 15 different regional choices. I think it was either $175 or $179 for 8 bottles. Good option if you like wine with dinner and don't have a UBP.

But you also need to put a value on choosing your cabin location and account for that as well.