All inclusive Cruise

[voyagerclassfan]

How many people would like an all inclusive cruise? Seems like they keep sticking in little charges here and there now. Like Ben and Jerrys and Johnny Rockets. I think that I would prefer to pay a little more and go on an all inclusive cruise that included all including alcohol, tips, etc. I cant believe no line has come up with that yet. We arent big drinkers so I am not sure if I think I would pay that much more but these little charges are getting to me. Especially when you sailed them before and it is all new. We sailed the Explorer and Navigator and Johnny Rockets was free. Now they are charging. I know its only a small amout but when you rebook a cruise for amenities you enjoyed and now they are charging for them, its frustrating. And Royal is wonderful but their prices lately sure havent been very competitive.

[Tatka]

Considering that alcohol sales is a big part of profit including it in the price would make cruise fare much higher.

 

I also think amount of tip should depend on quality of service provided ...

 

I like how Celebrity and RCCL do it ...

[voyagerclassfan]

Good point. I honestly dont think I would even pay if it was that much more because I know all inclusives base it on alcohol and we arent big drinkers. I know its such a small petty thing but it really irks me that they are now charging for Johnny Rockets and Ben and Jerrys and such. I know that it is our own choice to go or not but we really enjoyed it the past 2 times and now we probabaly wont do it because of the fee. I know its only a small $3.75 per person but its just the point. We booked this cruise for those small things we enjoy. I really do know its silly to complain about it but it just gets me going. :)

[jwlane]

but these little charges are getting to me.

 

What kind of gun will they put to your head to force you to buy ice cream and eat burgers? You nailed the problem when you stated "We arent big drinkers". You're not going to be willing to subsidize those that are.

[Nano]

I have to agree with the other posters...I'd rather just pay for what I want, and not what I don't. Try not to think of it as having to pay "a lot of little charges", but a much more affordable way to enjoy a quality cruise line. We just sailed on the Mariner 2/20, and had to pay for Johnny Rockets for the first time. It didn't bother me at all because there was no line, and we definitely ate our $3.95 worth of food!! :-)

 

Enjoy!!!

[voyagerclassfan]

Interesting replies. I was curious as to what others thought of it. And as far as "putting a gun to my head", I am pretty sure I specified that I am fully aware that its my choice as to wheter or not I want those other things. I have been on about 14 cruises so I think I am entitled to at least my own opinion...as I allow others to have theirs.

[DMage]

I tend to think of this more in the way that the cruise prices have come down by them not including all these into the cost of my trip. If I want to drink and eat at JR then I bump the cost up to where it would be if it was all inclusive.

 

Plus, JR when it was free was always packed. I am looking forward to paying the $3 and getting a seat immediately on my next trip.

[dc-snoopy]

Personally, I cannot imagine that a truly all-inclusive cruise would be cost-effective for any cruiseline. The only people likely to pay for such a cruise are heavy drinkers and they will lose. Those who are not heavy drinkers tend to opt for the lower base costs.

 

And for those of us who don't eat ice cream and burgers, why should we have to pay more to subsidize those of you who don't? You get one visit to JR with your C&A book...that should be enough. If not, you pay the premium for wanting it. I don't expect you to subsidize for my drinks, my shore excursions, my spa treatments, my casino bets, and I don't expect to subsidize those people who want to eat in specialty restaurants (including Chops, Portofino's, JR's and B*J). You know, there is so much food that is free and good, we don't have any reason to want to go to those places. Those who do, pay the premium.

 

I for one like the style that is coming around. They are adding premiums to the various cruises, but unlike in the past where they would just raise the cruise prices to cover these, they charge premiums. Those who want to pay the premiums can enjoy the extra services, those who don't don't pay the higher cruise fare. If those premium services were not available, would you still cruise? Sure you would. I cannot imagine anyone cruising or not cruising because a B*J or JR wasn't on-board the ship. If it wasn't there, you wouldn't miss it would you?

[wallie5446]

Never gone to B&J or J/R's, but our bar tab runs $2-300 for the week. We have seen others that had a bar tab of over $700 for the 2 of them. Liked wine and such with dinner.

 

I would not want to pay an increased cost to cover what they drink, or thoes that cant wait for a double cone or a burger at home. If you want extra nuts on your banna split at home you pay extra.

Besides B&J don't come close to Blue Bell!

[voyagerclassfan]

These are all good points.....my hubby and I did an all inclusive for 1 day while on an island and were bored to death too. I guess you all make alot of sense. I do enjoy JR and will end up paying the fee.....I just may have to limit it to a couple times a week instead of everyday now.....my waist line will thank me....

[Nliedel]

They have come up with all inclusive cruises.. Seabourn, very expensive.

[pinkrosesdeb]

I enjoy cocktails when cruising because I don't have them at home since dh doesn't drink any more. But we have many friends like dh who don't drink at all. I don't think they would be happy paying for alcohol they won't consume. As for me, I can take it or leave it but would rather make up my own mind as to what is important to me each cruise. We do go to JR's at least once per cruise because it is fun and we love the malts but if money were tight we could skip it and still have a GREAT cruise. As the previous poster said there are several "ultra premium" cruise lines who do include all drinks etc. but most of us can't afford them.

[dc-snoopy]

Another thing, RCI experimented last year with a "drink card" much like the "soda card" and it wasn't very popular. It was only purchased by people who were likely to drink more than the $50/day. If you think about it, $50/day can be a lot for one person to drink. But there were people who purchased it. Those are people who routinely drink on average $100/day. The cruise line didn't find it cost effective. So, if they were to add something like that in an all inclusive you would be looking at somewhere in the $150-$200 range pp added on to all cabins. Do you drink enough or eat enough at JR's or B&J to want to pay that? Or would you rather buy cones and pay $3.95 per visit to JR's and buy drinks?

 

And would it be worth it to you for them to raise the cost of the cruise $50pp to have B&J's and JR's free? Think about how much ice cream and $3.95 visits to JR you'd have to make to get your money's worth out of that!

[midnightsun]

Hi voyagerclassfan,

 

I understand your viewpoint.

Before I considered cruising, My husband and I would do all-inclusives in Jamaica etc.

Cruising is relatively new to us.

 

When I initially booked our cruise, My husband felt the same way you did - He felt that when we book a cruise, it sort of was an all-inclusive, and we shouldn't have to pay for Chops Grille or Portofino's - it was defeting the purpose of paying for a cruise and having everything paid for.

 

But in thinking about it, having to pay extra for the additional services on board help to keep up the quality of these services.

If the service or product isn't good, no one will buy it, so it is in their best interest to provide the best service and product they can.

 

Also, as some of the nice folks here on the message board pointed out, you don't have to pay for services / products you don't want and you don't end up subsidizing someone else's vices (Ha!).

 

Take what you want - leave the rest - how decadent is that? :)

[msraye]

When I bought the Drink Card on the Enchanted Tiara cruise it wasn't $50 per day! Was there one in between? The card lasted the entire 7 days. I really liked having it. When I was on the Mexican Riviera last March they had a card for Non-alcoholic drinks (not the soda card). I enjoyed that a lot! It was fun to have a "special" drink but without the alcohol--didn't have to go to bed so early!! Is that one still available?

[Epp]

I wouldn't want to see alcohol included but I do think that all non-alcoholic beverages and food should be included in the price and that you shouldn't be nickle and dimed for soft drinks, water, specialty restaurants, etc.

[voyagerclassfan]

Thanks Epp..that was actually my point to begin with...You just said it better :)

[Erie Dave]

I tend to agree that soda, regular food coffe etc should be included. On the flip side I like the idea that there is a fee for the "specialty" items on a cruise. These items and areas are relatively new. There wasn't a charge for them years ago because they didn't have them years ago. I don't like Johny Rockets, so why should it be included in my cruise. I love chops and Portofino, and am willing to pay to go. Ben and Jerry's--you want' the lbs. you can pay for 'em.

The specialty items are just that, extras, specialties, something exclusive. It isn't nickle and diming. (The soda is, but not the restaurants).

[dc-snoopy]

However, those extras are things that not everyone uses. We haven't been to the specialty restaurants, don't drink sodas (well, DW does, but she only drinks sugar-free, caffeine-free sodas of which there are none on board, so that's out), don't eat ice cream and don't eat burgers (not on vacation at least) and shakes. So if they offered a 2-tier system, where you paid $200 more pp to get all of the above (assuming that they would want to cover up-to $140 for 7 nights in the specialty restaurants, etc) or $200 less to get none of the above and had, say, color-coded Seapasses. Would you pay the extra and happily not complain about paying more than I did for the cruise? Or would you expect me to subsidize your getting extra perks that I didn't want?

[wallie5446]

I think that I would prefer to pay a little more and go on an all inclusive cruise that included all including alcohol, tips, etc. .

 

Epp-- I wouldn't want to see alcohol included but I do think that all non-alcoholic beverages and food should be included in the price and that you shouldn't be nickle and dimed for soft drinks, water, specialty restaurants, etc.

______________________-

 

voyagerclassfan--Thanks Epp..that was actually my point to begin with...You just said it better :)

________________________________

You did say alcohol, tips, etc, in your orginal post

[yogimax]

On our Voyager cruise in January, we were each given a coupon for free admission to JR's (we are C&A members). We still had to wait about 20 minues to get in. Depends on the time you go.

[Erie Dave]

I really don't see how you can say the specialty restaurants are nickle and diming.........they are way above and beyond the main dining and should comand an extra fee!

[ineedacruise]

We are not big drinkers and I sure dont go hungry just eating and drinking what is still free. I am fine with it just the way it is.

[madforcruising]

Good point. I honestly dont think I would even pay if it was that much more because I know all inclusives base it on alcohol and we arent big drinkers.

 

You gave a pretty good answer why I like it the way it is. I wouldn´t pay a whole lot more because of free alcohol, as I´m not a big drinker. To me the surcharge for JR is OK because I´m not into junk food, so I don´t want to pay more for it, so just let the people pay for it that use it. No need for free soft drinks for me. There is free stuff to drink on the ship in the windjammer. Perfectly fine for me, why should I pay more for something I´ll rarely use. Regarding water, I never saw them charge for water unless it´s bottled water.

JMHO

[Leejnd4]

Uh...well, there ARE a number of all- or mostly-inclusive lines. All of the luxury lines are inclusive to some degree -- Radisson, Crystal, Silversea, Seabourn. Some are completely inclusive (Silversea and Seabourn), others mostly so, such as Radisson, which includes all tips, soft drinks, bottled water, coffee, specialty restaurants, etc, but only serves complimentary alchohol at dinner.

 

Someone mentioned that they are very expensive...for the most part, yes. But Radisson is probably the best value of them all, and when you do an apples-to-apples comparison, their cruises often turn out to be very close in price to RCI or Celebrity. Meaning, when you compare equivalent cabins. Radisson's cabins tend to be much larger than the mass-market ship -- on the RSSC Voyager, for instance, the smallest cabin is a 356 sq. ft suite with a balcony, walk-in closet, double-sink bathroom. On the RCI Voyager, you'd have to book a Jr. Suite to even come close. Of course, if you typically book inside cabins, then this wouldn't be an attractive option for you.

But, if you are already traveling in suites on RCI, often you can get a similar cruise on a luxury line for not much more money. And when you factor in the inclusives that would ordinarily cost you hundreds on an RCI ship, the price gets even closer.

 

I'm taking my first Radisson cruise to the Mediterranean in 6 weeks, so I'm really looking forward to see the differences myself. I'm also looking forward to not having to sign a chit every time I turn around...not having to pay for ice cream, decent drinking water, sodas, or good coffee, and especially not having to deal with tips. And I don't feel I've paid too high a premium for this, either -- when I was doing my comparisons, the closest itinerary to what I was interested in was on Celeb, and a similar-sized cabin was only a couple hundred dollars cheaper. Given that I DO love wine with dinner, and do enjoy capoccino, etc, I expect that I will actually come out ahead!

 

I know many people who cruise exclusively on the luxury lines, and from what they tell me, they really don't have a problem with heavy drinkers. I've heard that you do see the occasional drunkard who takes a little too much advantage of the free-flowing booze, but apparently you see these more on the fully-inclusive lines, which are the most expensive anyway. And you'll find boorish drunkards on pretty much any line.

 

If you want to get more opinions on what people think about cruising on all-inclusive lines, check out the boards of those lines in here and ask them what they think, and what their experiences are.

 

LeeAnne