drinks package

can you purchase an alchol drinks package at what price also is it true that if you get the 12 dollar daily tipping charge removed,i would rather tip individuals for good service,your cabin number is given to staff and your service is therefore poor ,thinking of going on the jade in september but have read mixed reviews and rip off prices now very confused

can you purchase an alchol drinks package at what price also is it true that if you get the 12 dollar daily tipping charge removed,i would rather tip individuals for good service,your cabin number is given to staff and your service is therefore poor ,thinking of going on the jade in september but have read mixed reviews and rip off prices now very confused

Alcohol drink packages are real, yes. You need to book at least 8 cabins and have 20 people over 21 years of age to be elgible. Everyone that is eligible MUST buy the package. The all-inclusive alcohol is $322, unless you are sailing between March 1- April 15. The cost in this date range is $355. There are various other packages as well, contact NCL Group Reservations for a complete list and rules. They can provide it for you.

You can get the daily service charge reduced/removed. I have never personally done this, so I can't comment on the process. I usually tip above that amount to certain people who make a positive impact on my cruise vacation.

I don't think your cabin number is given to anyone, that is just ridiculous.

Listen, bottom line is more people are likely to post a bad review then post a good review. That goes from anyone on amazon.com to here at cruise critic. Have an open mind, be informed, and relax! You are on vacation! Nothing can be "that bad"!

thankyou for your reply .concerning our cabin number what i was told by an ex employee is that a list is given to the deck supervisor of the cabin stewards which cabins how had the discretionary gratuity removed..... concerning the drinks package it would have been nice to have been able to purchase it befre my wife and i sailed but i'm afraid we are not a group just a couple of brits who enjoy cruising

thankyou for your reply .concerning our cabin number what i was told by an ex employee is that a list is given to the deck supervisor of the cabin stewards which cabins how had the discretionary gratuity removed..... concerning the drinks package it would have been nice to have been able to purchase it befre my wife and i sailed but i'm afraid we are not a group just a couple of brits who enjoy cruising

I think that there is such a list...but the use for it is to notify staff that if they get cash instead, they must turn it in to NCL.

Also, some have reported here that in order to remove the service charge, you have to make specific complaints about poor service and give NCL a chance to fix that. This may depend on the ship / crew at the time, but that is consistent with what NCL says on this subject.

We have a group of 26 and i am having my TA check on this right now!

Your entire group all 26 would have to purchase the drink package at the cost of $350 per person. That is a LOT of money in the grand scheme of things. Heck the average cost of a drink is $9 onboard including tip, are you really going to drink $350 worth per person?

I believe you have to be booked as an official group as well. It can't be just 26 (or however many) people cruising together.

beachchick

I believe you have to be booked as an official group as well. It can't be just 26 (or however many) people cruising together.

 

beachchick

This is correct. You must be an "official" group with a group number. Also, the alcohol package must be added no later then 60 days prior to sailing. You can add more cabins to the group and package up to two weeks prior to the sailing.

Most "official" groups through NCL have to be organized at least 90 days prior to sailing, as NCL has rules on how many groups are onboard. For instance, on the Epic 3/5/2011 sailing (my next cruise), no new group space is allowed already.

Nick

yes we are a group......and getting everyone to buy the package is for sure the hard part.

$350 per person for a 7 night cruise @ ~ $9(average) each drink is about 5 drinks a day including the tips. Keeping in mind its a vacation, that's not too bad. Martinis are $10.95 + tip, then there are the daily specials which are usually about $7.95 + tip.

I just got off the SUN yesterday and everytime I went to the bar and got myself a mixed drink(of the day) and my husband a draft beer, it was $15.99 including the tip(as I look at my statement).

thankyou for your reply .concerning our cabin number what i was told by an ex employee is that a list is given to the deck supervisor of the cabin stewards which cabins how had the discretionary gratuity removed..... concerning the drinks package it would have been nice to have been able to purchase it befre my wife and i sailed but i'm afraid we are not a group just a couple of brits who enjoy cruising

We usually get a bar set up for our room. You can order liquor of your choice by the liter for approximately $60, $80 or $100 per bottle depending on the liquor (plus a $3 fee per bottle). I think it might be for U.S. only though, but it is worth emailing , groupeventdawn@ncl.com Insert the name of your ship and take out Dawn.

I believe UK can order wine packages.

This might be a better option for the group too if you don't think everyone will go for the drink package.

yes we are a group......and getting everyone to buy the package is for sure the hard part.

As you're an official group, you should definitely see whether it can be added. But yeah, getting everyone to agree to buy the package can be tough. There's no way my DH and I would, partly because he doesn't drink alcohol and can't possibly go through $350 worth of Coke or club soda in 7 days. Even if they included smoothies (which I guess it probably does as "virgin" drinks) and milkshakes (which is my DH's daily vacation treat), he wouldn't spend anywhere near $50/day. And partly because, while I do like an extra drink on vacation, I pretty much only drink premium brands, which are not included. I'd rather have two or three drinks over the course of the day and have exactly what I want than have eight drinks that are included, but not what I prefer.

beachchick

Just want to mention that if you are thinking about taking off the $12 a day service charge (and they will want to know why), you will be stiffing a lot of the staff. Because of freestyle, traditional tipping just does not work.

Please leave the tip/service charge alone.

There are long, and very heated threads posted here every week or so about this.

Get the popcorn ready.

after reading all the forum posts.on ncl and the jade we have decided to book with another line. after doing much research and reading it appears that all ncl are after is to take as much money off the passenger in the shortest time possible with prices which are inflated in the exteme and they want the passenger to subsidise the crews salaries which appear to be below the norm ...To get people to book by having a very low lead price and then charging highly inflated prices for everything else is not the way to do it and to have only 2 restaurants that are available in the basic cruise price and up to 12 that there is a cover-charge seems o be topsy turvy...Ifind it very strange that no up to date bar tariff or restaurant menu is available till after you get aboard its as though ncl were trying to hide something!!!!!Ihave cruised many,many times and I realise you cant please everybody all the time but even some of ncl positive reviews there seems to be the underlying opinion that they are only after your money

after reading all the forum posts.on ncl and the jade we have decided to book with another line. after doing much research and reading it appears that all ncl are after is to take as much money off the passenger in the shortest time possible with prices which are inflated in the exteme and they want the passenger to subsidise the crews salaries which appear to be below the norm ...To get people to book by having a very low lead price and then charging highly inflated prices for everything else is not the way to do it and to have only 2 restaurants that are available in the basic cruise price and up to 12 that there is a cover-charge seems o be topsy turvy...Ifind it very strange that no up to date bar tariff or restaurant menu is available till after you get aboard its as though ncl were trying to hide something!!!!!Ihave cruised many,many times and I realise you cant please everybody all the time but even some of ncl positive reviews there seems to be the underlying opinion that they are only after your money

I've been on Carnival and Royal Caribbean which also have only two restaurants included in the cruise price. It's a shame that NCL offers many more restaurant options for a small extra charge. I can't wait to try NCL EPIC in March because of the many dining options available to me.

I'm completely SHOCKED that NCL are after my money!! I didn't realize they're a business, I thought they were a volunteer organization. Outside of the free restaurants all the cruise lines charge for specialty restaurants, photos, alcohol, excursions, etc. Please tell me what NCL charges for that others don't?

I think you should go on an all inclusive land vacation. :)

after reading all the forum posts.on ncl and the jade we have decided to book with another line. after doing much research and reading it appears that all ncl are after is to take as much money off the passenger in the shortest time possible with prices which are inflated in the exteme and they want the passenger to subsidise the crews salaries which appear to be below the norm ...To get people to book by having a very low lead price and then charging highly inflated prices for everything else is not the way to do it and to have only 2 restaurants that are available in the basic cruise price and up to 12 that there is a cover-charge seems o be topsy turvy...Ifind it very strange that no up to date bar tariff or restaurant menu is available till after you get aboard its as though ncl were trying to hide something!!!!!Ihave cruised many,many times and I realise you cant please everybody all the time but even some of ncl positive reviews there seems to be the underlying opinion that they are only after your money

there are bar prices and restaurant menus all over the internet. i have the ones from the Spirit..but it's a couple of years old. check webshots.com, usually can find many photos of NCL's menus. we don't do many of the speciality dining. if we can walk up and get seated, ok, but we have so many options in for "included" meals.

all the major mass-market cruise lines have some type of speciality dining or service charges...it's the norm for the past several years. service charges are included in the cost for most of the european market.

but if these things bother you, then cruising (at least on the mass market lines) is not for you. best to stick with the river cruises?

after reading all the forum posts.on ncl and the jade we have decided to book with another line. after doing much research and reading it appears that all ncl are after is to take as much money off the passenger in the shortest time possible with prices which are inflated in the exteme and they want the passenger to subsidise the crews salaries which appear to be below the norm ...To get people to book by having a very low lead price and then charging highly inflated prices for everything else is not the way to do it and to have only 2 restaurants that are available in the basic cruise price and up to 12 that there is a cover-charge seems o be topsy turvy...Ifind it very strange that no up to date bar tariff or restaurant menu is available till after you get aboard its as though ncl were trying to hide something!!!!!Ihave cruised many,many times and I realise you cant please everybody all the time but even some of ncl positive reviews there seems to be the underlying opinion that they are only after your money

Probably a good idea since there is not one cruise line that does not charge extra for anything. They all do it , and I like that I can get a great price on cruise and choose wha ti want to pay extra for. Other lines charge more initially and you can still pay extra. You may want to look into an all inclusive vacation, that way everything (mostly) is included.

my group has the "Drink Package" for a Spring Break cruise in March. There are dozens of college students that I know of that have that "Drink Package" on our boat.

We had it in 2007 and 2008 and it is a tremendous value if you are heavy drinkers. We would have to sign receipts every time, but all the drinkers were off our bill each night. Jager Bomb receipts were for $11.50, Litres of Evian Water for $6; everything you want whenever you want it; it's quite the value especially for spring breakers.