Drink Package - purchase on board vs online

[tobymonster]

I'd love to hear different opinions on the pros and cons of purchasing a drink package ahead of time (online) or once you get on board.

 

Thanks!

[julia]

I'd love to hear different opinions on the pros and cons of purchasing a drink package ahead of time (online) or once you get on board.

 

Thanks!

 

 

There will be no price differential. If ordered ahead of cruise, I believe your Sign & Sail card will be ready to "roll" :). If purchased onboard, you will have a sticker applied. We will be purchasing onboard, in order to use our OBC to the best of it's ability! :p

[Bet & Peg]

I'm far from an expert, but we bought pacages for each of us when we got on board. From reading threads about packages from when they first came out, I gathered that, if ordered ahead of time, the package was pre-printed on the card and sometimes missed by the staff - I'm sure that's no more but thoguht something pasted on might stand out more. We never had a problem using the package - was never charged by mistake or had a wait for a drink or refill.

 

We often pre-book speciality restaurants or excursions but we didn't worry about them running out of beverage packages.

[AmyinVail]

what if you buy the package on the 3rd day of cruise...do you just pay for the remainder of the cruise.....or you pay the full 7 days.....???

[tjncanada]

The way I would look at it is that if you have it prepaid before your trip it reduces the total amount of the much dreaded final bill :eek: that makes its way to your door on the last night that tells you what's going on your CC - less feels better at that point!

[SeaBlu]

We like to pay for as many things as possible ahead of time. Anything we pay ahead of time we pay "cash" out of our "cruise money savings jar". We do not have any credit cards, only our Debit Card, so I guess we pay cash for everything. But we have a "jar" where we save for our cruises, after we have paid for the cruise, we then save for one 'extra' at a time and pay for as many of the extras as we want, the drink packages will certainly be something we are looking at.

 

We always pre-pay gratitudes, charges for specialty restaurants, shore excursions we are sure of, and drink packages. We have only done soda packages in the past but are considering a more complex package in the future.;)

[Jobeth66]

what if you buy the package on the 3rd day of cruise...do you just pay for the remainder of the cruise.....or you pay the full 7 days.....???

 

Just the remainder of the cruise.

[tobymonster]

... if ordered ahead of time, the package was pre-printed on the card and sometimes missed by the staff - I'm sure that's no more ...

 

This is what I am concerned about. I would prefer to buy it ahead of time so that it is paid for and less to worry about, but I'm hoping to hear from people who have done this recently to see if this is still an issue with it being overlooked by staff if it is printed on instead of a sticker.

 

 

 

Julia, I wish we had OBC to use! I'm new to cruising, so I don't really understand OBC and how so many people get it. Any tips?

[gavann16]

We bought the drink package on our March sailing on the Milli. It was fairly new then and the package price and what it includes has evolved since then. The premium package was around $80 a night and didn't include mixed drinks or beer so the changes they have made since are a huge improvement.

 

We also bought our packages onboard since we had many OBC we were given as Christmas gifts from family and that is the only way to apply them to the purchase of your package. When you purchase onboard you do get the sticker instead of the card being premarked, but even if your card is premarked, if it gets deactivated and you need a new card it will have a sticker.

 

All in all, I would recommend the drink packages especially if you plan on drinking alcohol.:D

 

We plan on purchasing a drink package again on our Aug. 8 Sailing

 

I would be happy to answer any questions about the drink package for anyone.

[kampinguru]

If you buy in advance and the price goes up, you are protected. Other than that, there is not much difference.

[urkidn]

If anyone paid in CDN $, check the conversion rate. For my date, the online price is only 3% higher which is less than market rates right now plus no extra 3% from your CDN credit card company. Also my CDN CC gives me airline points whereas my USD one I use onboard, doesn't. No way to predict what exchange rates will be once you're on board so at least this way you're assured a good rate.

 

On the downside, if you cancelled your cruise last minute (without insurance) would you lose out or would that portion be refunded?

[Alsmez]

I believe that if you wait until the ship is in international waters, there is no sales tax applied, which would save you around 8%. I'm not sure if that has been confirmed by people with experience either way, though.

[CaroleSP]

I believe that if you wait until the ship is in international waters, there is no sales tax applied, which would save you around 8%. I'm not sure if that has been confirmed by people with experience either way, though.

You are correct about the tax. For that reason, I purchased my soda card online before we sailed. I avoided giving NJ their 7% sales tax and was able to enjoy a coke with my lunch & dinner.

[Snorkel2Much]

I believe that if you wait until the ship is in international waters, there is no sales tax applied, which would save you around 8%. I'm not sure if that has been confirmed by people with experience either way, though.

In June on Solstice out of FLL I bought our packages onboard prior to sailaway, and no sales taxes were charged.