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what is the cost of the liquor package? Is wine included?


SeaBands
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I believe I read on CC that windstar allows you to bring on additional bottles of wine at each port. I have heard this about Viking but has anyone else heard about this on Windstar ?
I'm pretty sure I read that on the Windstar website around a year ago, but when I looked more recently it wasn't there. The website now says you can only bring on 2 bottles (or 3 for cruises 8 or more days) when you first board and anything you bring on later the will hold until the end of cruise:

 

https://www.windstarcruises.com/voyage-plan/faqs/#Alcohol

 

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Most drinks $8.50 or $9 plus 15%. Most beer $7 on our last cruise. We never buy package as we don't drink on board during the days in port. Have run into people who buy the package and feel like they have to get their money's worth so they are regularly tipsy. Depends on personal alcohol capacity. Mine has diminished with age!

 

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Not worth it at all for you to buy a pacakge. There is a mini bar in the cabin that is stocked with liquor, beer, wine and soft drinks. You can ask to have it all removed or just take out some cans and put yours in. The beer prices are not bad at all and you are only charged for what you drink. We sometimes buy 2 to 4 bottles of local craft beer and bring back from excursions just to try them but find beer on board well priced and decent selection.

 

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Can you bring beer on board, and are there fridges in the cabins? What is the minimum package and is the savings enough to be worth it? We typically each drink 1 beer per day, usually with dinner, so that would be 26 for our two-week cruise.
The only thing Windstar's official policy says you can bring on board is the bottles of wine at the start of the cruise. My earlier post has the link to the policy. In my experience, they haven't been fanatical about the policy. In Portugal, I brought a bottle of port on board instead of bottles of wine.

 

The link to the package descriptions including prices is in one of the first responses to this thread. It would take 5 beers a day per person to break even so definitely not worth it for 1 a day.

 

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Only time in many cruises we were told that liquor needed to be checked was distillery tours in Scotland where passengers had bottles of scotch. We have discreetly returned with local rum, local beer, wine, etc. without a problem. I imagine if it was a case or large quantities of any of the above story would be different.

 

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Most drinks $8.50 or $9 plus 15%. Most beer $7 on our last cruise. We never buy package as we don't drink on board during the days in port. Have run into people who buy the package and feel like they have to get their money's worth so they are regularly tipsy. Depends on personal alcohol capacity. Mine has diminished with age!

 

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Agree with your observation that alcohol capacity diminishes with age. Saves on the bar bill, a little.

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We are on WindSurf for 13 days Transatlantic and no ports soon and might find it worthwhile.

 

I wish they would make Windstar all inclusive. Drinks and Gratuities like SeaDream

 

And, as one captain quipped:

 

If the seas are calm and you're weaving - you're drunk.

If the seas are rough and you're not weaving - you're still drunk.

 

I actually think the WS approach makes sense. If they added drinks and gratuities into the basic cost they'd raise the prices to accommodate that. The way it is if you don't drink you aren't paying for it. If you do buy the package and since the tips are already automatically included you're essentially getting an all inclusive trip.

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I agree with Milepig . We drink very little, I would certainly be annoyed if I had to pay for other’s alcohol. Plus, from what I have heard, never experienced, those cruise lines that do offer all inclusive there is far more alcohole issues on board and truly there is not much worse than a loud, sloppy, inebriated person. We enjoy the quiet civility of WS with our two glasses of wine a day. Happy Sailing

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Actually, having been on 2 cruise ships that offer all inclusive drinks included in cost was a pleasure. The bars were filled with people socializing and there was more interaction between guests!!! The Cruise Director on one line advised that they had not found to have alcohol issues. I think the type of guests these ships have accounts for the behavior good or bad.

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And, as one captain quipped:

 

If the seas are calm and you're weaving - you're drunk.

If the seas are rough and you're not weaving - you're still drunk.

 

I actually think the WS approach makes sense. If they added drinks and gratuities into the basic cost they'd raise the prices to accommodate that. The way it is if you don't drink you aren't paying for it. If you do buy the package and since the tips are already automatically included you're essentially getting an all inclusive trip.

 

I would say that if you do away with charges for drinks then there is a lot less accounting to handle, and less crew needed to deal with it

 

Also the booze doesn't really cost much for them to buy

 

And we have been on lines like NCL with drinks included and we never did see any drunks, and that is a bit of a party cruiseline.

Carnival short cruises, spring break cruises and any ships sailing in Australia may well be different of course, I read reports of 2 big drinkfuelled problems in that area recently.

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I agree with Milepig . We drink very little, I would certainly be annoyed if I had to pay for other’s alcohol. Plus, from what I have heard, never experienced, those cruise lines that do offer all inclusive there is far more alcohole issues on board and truly there is not much worse than a loud, sloppy, inebriated person. We enjoy the quiet civility of WS with our two glasses of wine a day. Happy Sailing

 

if I don't eat lobster and you do then should I be annoyed about paying a cruise cost which includes your lobster?

 

Just saying...………….

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I truly think alcohol is different. Your lobster analogy is different it is food and you could apply any food to your comparison: meat, bread, fish, sugar etc. WS does a good job of accompdating peoples’ allergies and dislikes. Restaurants are not inclusive you pay for your drinks normally they do not include drinks unless it is a speciality dinner. Why should a person pay for alcohol if there is a drinking issue, a medical condition, food issue you find something you can eat or make a request. Can’t compare alcohol and food. Happy Sailing

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  • 3 weeks later...

We did an UnCruise Wilderness Explorer cruise in Alaska that included alcohol (+ all excursions, which were led by their staff of Adventure Guides, with choices of kayaking, on shore hikes or skiff tours each day).  Really didn't notice anyone overindulging.  They used premium liquor brands and had a bartender's special each day of some creative drinks that were fun to try, but since we are moderate beer and occasional wine drinkers, we didn't get our money's worth and given a choice I'd have preferred to pay for our drinks rather than being expected to pay a $500 gratuity per cabin, for the 7 day cruise.  Of course those were shared not only by the ship's cabin stewards, dining and drink servers and other crew (except for officers and hotel and adventure managers), but also the Adventure guides, which would be separately employed tippable excursion guides on other ships. But I would have rather had the gratuity included in the cruise price than alcohol, or had those gratuities (except perhaps for ship's crew) more discretionary and paid to each guide individually.

Edited by lastmate
typos
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