FRESH off the Indy and WE DID THE BOOZE PACK!

[gnocchi_mommy]

If you forced me to guess, I would speculate that it's stealing. Sharing the package with someone who hasn't paid.

 

No one believed me! :p I told you in my original post- the bar tenders told us this package would not last, at least as is- and not because of misbehavior... but because people were MORE than drinking their money worth, and RCI was losing money big time. The going joke was someone was going to be on the dole after that cruise and all the beer/wine we went through.

[gnocchi_mommy]

Can't wait to read the reviews when those currently on the Indy get back :eek:

 

Brits drinking the ship dry...nah dont think so :p:D

 

LOL see and I was so naive, we got on board and it was definitely a much older crowd than we are used to cruising- and we wondered if we'd have the late night bars to ourselves.HA! No offense to all you wonderful British folks, but man.... old English people can DRINK! My husband's a sailor by trade, and you folks drank him under the table. :-D

 

To reiterate though, never saw anyone out of control.... in fact, people were amazingly in control of their facilities after their 6th Guiness~ especially for being over 60 in many cases! lol!

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

I'll be on Grandeur next Sunday, April 17. I'll let you know how that package works on a cruise not sold to Americans, but mostly Latins.

 

And Merrion -- you were right -- no concierge lounge on Grandeur -- it was tested but they didn't continue.

 

It's funny how this package is not being tested on ships geared towards Americans for now.

 

Could someone tell me what the difference is between the $39 and $49 package?

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[ISLANDCRUSO]

MSC and Costa also have a system where All in a cabin have to purchase a Drink package or no one gets one! so RCI are not the First to do this although it is unfair because many people have partners who do not drink, why not just transfer the one they have from Celebrity.

 

Surely a better system would be a drinks card with a limit in £,$ or Euro that you stipulate and the drinks at a reduced rate at least that way it does not matter how many drinks you have because once the balance is at Zero or close to it you will have to either buy another card or top up the one you have! this also removes the need to sign bits of paper, could include the 15% gratuity and it cannot be abused unlike the pay per drinks package.

 

£29 each per day for beer/wine .... nah i don`t think so.

[CruisinGerman]

I think in the end it will be a money maker. For all of those people who drink their money's worth, there will be people who don't drink the limit that would make it profitable.

 

It's curious to see where they are marketing this right now.

 

It appears to be only in markets where RCCL competes against a local, all-inclusive product.

 

For example, in the UK you folks have several local and European lines that offer an all-inclusive product.

 

The Grandeur is doing Latin immersion cruises out of Panamá and Colombia right now. In this market RCCL is competing with Pullmantur (even though RCCL ultimately owns that company) and another Spanish/Brazilian company Happy Cruises (Quail). Both of these lines are all-inclusive.

 

Legend is in Asia where there are many, many other local products offered that are all inclusive.

 

It will be interesting to see if RCCL crosses the line over to the markets geared towards Americans where they do not compete with other mass market lines on a drinks-inclusive basis.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Fun how RCCL is losing money charging $39 a day for a wine & beer package when I can get a flight to Puerto Vallarta from Toronto with tranfers stay a Rui resort for a week with food and drink for $479 in January

 

When we were on the Amazra they sold brooze at under $9 a bottle in the duty free on the last day

[Bobal]

Dear friends:

 

I'll be on Grandeur next Sunday, April 17. I'll let you know how that package works on a cruise not sold to Americans, but mostly Latins.

 

 

Looking forward to your report. We'll be on the Grandeur in July when she's crossed over to Spain, I wonder if they'll change the rules again by then ;)

[louhun88]

Dear friends:

 

I'll be on Grandeur next Sunday, April 17. I'll let you know how that package works on a cruise not sold to Americans, but mostly Latins.

 

And Merrion -- you were right -- no concierge lounge on Grandeur -- it was tested but they didn't continue.

 

It's funny how this package is not being tested on ships geared towards Americans for now.

 

Could someone tell me what the difference is between the $39 and $49 package?

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

 

Hi

 

We are sailing our first cruise on the Granduer next month and thinking of taking these packages, if possible while your onboard could you find out exactly which spirits are included in the classic packages and how it works with cocktails? I know it says vodka gin and whisky but i hope there are other spirits maybe a couple of liquers?!

 

Have a great cruise!!

[Iloveholidays1]

May be an idea to photocopy your passport and then you won't have to carry it around all day and night. Hope this would be acceptable.

 

We sail on the Indy in October. We would of taken the $39 pp package but if they have changed it to $49 I am not so sure that we would gain anything.

[Bakincakes]

Did Royal actually think that if people bought the package they wouldn't be drinking like fish to get their $$ worth?:rolleyes:

 

They should know better given all the pax that eat like they are having their last meal because the food is "free".;)

[Alliea]

Being a non-drinker I hate to see this alcohol package be implemented. I just think that there will be more obnoxious drunks as people will want to ensure that they 'get their monies worth' and therefore drink more.

Don't flame me for my opinion. I simply have been around enough drunks to last me a lifetime would rather not be surrounded by them on my vacation.

As long as they become an angry drunk, I love to sit , and watch them. On a recent trip with my husband for business, there was one couple in our group who got plastered every night. They were very entertaining. I really don't mind. BTW., we enjoy a couple drinks every night while on trips.

[curley23]

Did Royal actually think that if people bought the package they wouldn't be drinking like fish to get their $$ worth?:rolleyes:

 

They should know better given all the pax that eat like they are having their last meal because the food is "free".;)

 

And also trying to cheat RC by trying the sharing thing as well.

 

We just came off X last Sat. Totally different crowd. Almost everyone I met, or saw at various bars was on one of thier packages. No guzzling, no bunch of drunks. Most were adults acting like adults.

The happy hour in Michaels club for Elite members was like a ghost town. We went twice. 6 people in thier the 1st time, and 7 the second time. Concierge running it said it because most were on liquor packages, and no need to come for the free drinks. Rendevous Lounge always had a good crowd before dinner.

I don't see RC doing this for US based cruises.

[besberry]

Right, an update!

 

The FAQ is back on the website. Says the package will be back on Indy next sailing. Looks like they have made some changes!

 

Packages 10 USD more per day

All guest's in a stateroom who are eligible have to buy it, even if only one wants it.

You have to show your photo ID with your Seapass card when you order!!!

 

I think it is still good value, I mean 10 bucks is like 2 beers extra a day. Not sure about all guest's having to buy it, I can certainly see this putting a lot of people off, but it will stop the abuse I guess. As will the photo ID, but I envisage a lot of lost ID's during the sailing! ;)

:eek:

 

Oh yeah, not available on their 2 short sailing's end of this month; guess they were worried about 'booze cruise' mentality.

;)

 

They don't seriously expect me to carry my passport with me when I order a drink, on this package, do they? I still have an old fashioned driving licence and I'd rather my passport was safely locked up in my cabin. Why can't they just put my picture on my seapass? Costco manage to do it! If the passes are pre-prepared, I'll just upload a photo for them!

[joandian]

No, not everyone in a cabin has to purchase on Celebrity. They control it by having you sign the $00 total slip each time you order and can see what you've been buying on their system.

 

This make more sense to me than having to show ID and make everyone buy it. I can see them loosing sales with the new policy because there are sure to be non-drinking passengers with a spouse/room mate who would like the pack.

[Gordo]

They don't seriously expect me to carry my passport with me when I order a drink, on this package, do they? I still have an old fashioned driving licence and I'd rather my passport was safely locked up in my cabin. Why can't they just put my picture on my seapass? Costco manage to do it! If the passes are pre-prepared, I'll just upload a photo for them!

 

The photo upload sounds like a great idea - or couldn't they just scan the sea pass card when you buy a drink and then the boarding picture appears on the register?

 

Also we were thinking since they increased the price on the package couldn't they offer other beverages - bottled water, juices, coffee, soda, etc - as a part of their packages?

[Merion_Mom]

Interesting suggestions from everyone.

 

You all seem to have lost sight of something.

 

Royal Caribbean is not in the business of making it easy for you to save money. They are not doing this to make life cheaper for you.

 

They are doing it to make money for Royal Caribbean.

[mzk90]

The FAQ says they are looking at some kind of system upgrade which will mean you do not need the photo ID. I can only assume that means they will try to find a way of bringing up the photo at the till so they can check you are the seapass holder??

 

The other point made by a friend of mine was that seemingly people were just ordering drinks and leaving them, so the tables were full of half full drinks and you never knew if they were someone's or just left there! I know it's not anywhere near as bad as wasting food, but still not nice to see such an attitude to wasting anything! Reminded me of some parties from my youth mind, lol!

[PAFC]

Has anyone just returned from Indy who has had the drinks package?

Are they still doing it and are people buying it now both people in the cabin have to purchase it?

[rialuk]

Dear Gnocci mommy,

 

Thank u for this information, I have been ummming and arrrring over this package for weeks... just one question you mentioned a $29 package but on Royal Caribbeans downloaded spreadsheet it states the cheapest option is $39. then $49 for the middle and then $59 for the top one.

 

Will be great news if it starts at $29..just hope it stays on long enough for Julys sailing!!!!!

 

Many thanks

[Merion_Mom]

Dear Gnocci mommy,

 

Thank u for this information, I have been ummming and arrrring over this package for weeks... just one question you mentioned a $29 package but on Royal Caribbeans downloaded spreadsheet it states the cheapest option is $39. then $49 for the middle and then $59 for the top one.

 

Will be great news if it starts at $29..just hope it stays on long enough for Julys sailing!!!!!

 

Many thanks

 

After just two weeks' trial, they raised the prices on Independence of the Seas, as you see on the website.

 

I posted more information here: http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1406403

[louhun88]

On the Grandeur the packages are the original prices of $29, $39, $49 and just one person in the cabin can take the package instead of everyone. At these prices we found it good value $313 for the classic package for 1 week and unlimited beer, house wine, most spirits and cocktails.

[Merion_Mom]

On the Grandeur the packages are the original prices of $29, $39, $49 and just one person in the cabin can take the package instead of everyone. At these prices we found it good value $313 for the classic package for 1 week and unlimited beer, house wine, most spirits and cocktails.

 

But rialuk is going on the Indy. :)

[peteukmcr]

Are the trials still taking place? Just not heard anything about them for a while, I know the RCI website still mentions them, just wondering.

[irb33785]

Peter, I haven't heard anything recently. I don't think I would purchase it simply because it isn't all-inclusive like X's.

[TOM CRUIZES]

We got off Indy on 28th May and there were quite a few passengers who had the AI package(both passengers in cabin had to take AI) and thought it good value, however they now appear to swipe each card every time you get a drink, so it appears as if there is a possible check on when and where the drinks where ordered,this may possibly be used to stop really excessive drinking or cheating on the AI package.