Not Sure If This Bone Has Been Chewed

[CtheW0rld]

costa has been experimenting with this concept for several years - so it is within the CCL family now. maybe they will bring it to hal in the future. back in my 'drinking days' i had a package called the X1 (forget the price) which included unlimted beer and wine at mealtimes. it was house wine, but they would leave the bottle. seemed like a good deal.

 

now they have and unlimited package that includes alcohol, water and coffees all day. it is priced at $30/day iirc. it no longer makes sense for me, but seems pretty popular.

[LSEA]

I've done the Celebrity all-you-can-drink and lived to tell the tale. As Baychilla pointed out, that also covers bottled water, juice, soda, and specialty coffees. In my case I drank San Pellegrino at every meal and took it to my cabin as well. It was a Panama Canal cruise, and all the water we took off the ship for excursions in hot places with dodgy water was included. Fancy coffee in the morning whenever I felt like it. And I also drank alcohol, maybe a little more than usual, but not a lot. What I really liked was not having to think oh, do I really want an $11 martini, do I really want a $14 cognac after dinner? I liked having the sommelier give me small pours of wine paired to my courses, so that I could have several wines at dinner, something I never would have done if I'd been paying for a whole glass each course (plus I wouldn't have been able to drink full glasses). Instead I had what I wanted, whenever I wanted it, without having to cringe at the onboard liquor prices.

 

Did I drink as much as I spent? I don't actually know. But I know that if HAL offered that arrangement I'd definitely go for it, the ease and carefree factor were enough to convince me.

 

Interesting post. Thank you for sharing your experience with the Celebrity program. I too would enjoy the "small pour" option with dinner.

[msmayor]

Not sure what the per diem is these days on HAL for those who do drink. I'm guesing $800 for 7 days is pretty cheap.

 

I can tell you we drank alcoholic drinks every day of our Veendam cruise.

 

We went through $350 worth of drink cards (face value) and spent perhaps another $50 on top of that...so $400 for two.

 

Of that $400, it included two bottles of wine we consumed over four evenings at dinner. We never looked at prices of drinks, we ordered what we wanted when we wanted. (Granted, though, we do not normally drink the truly high-end stuff).

 

We would never drink twice as much to come close to the $800.

[Jade13]

It is a great option and makes the cruise vacation more all-inclusive.

 

They have many options, soda package, water package, non-alcoholic, premium non-alcoholic, standard drink (includes alcohol), premium drink (everything up until $12.00 drinks and then you just pay the difference. This includes bottled water you can take off the ship, take to your room etc. It is based on the number of days of the cruise and can be purchased up until the last two days on a per diem basis.

 

I wish HAL would do something like this but doubt they ever will. You don't have to sign for anything.

 

Someone posted the entire Celebrity wine list. Is HAL's wine list this extensive?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1566983

[LindaM]

I've done the Celebrity all-you-can-drink and lived to tell the tale. As Baychilla pointed out, that also covers bottled water, juice, soda, and specialty coffees. In my case I drank San Pellegrino at every meal and took it to my cabin as well. It was a Panama Canal cruise, and all the water we took off the ship for excursions in hot places with dodgy water was included. Fancy coffee in the morning whenever I felt like it. And I also drank alcohol, maybe a little more than usual, but not a lot. What I really liked was not having to think oh, do I really want an $11 martini, do I really want a $14 cognac after dinner? I liked having the sommelier give me small pours of wine paired to my courses, so that I could have several wines at dinner, something I never would have done if I'd been paying for a whole glass each course (plus I wouldn't have been able to drink full glasses). Instead I had what I wanted, whenever I wanted it, without having to cringe at the onboard liquor prices.

 

Did I drink as much as I spent? I don't actually know. But I know that if HAL offered that arrangement I'd definitely go for it, the ease and carefree factor were enough to convince me.

 

We just did the same thing on Regent. Of course we drank more than if we were paying each time. But, I don't think anyone would accuse us of being alcoholics. It was fun not having to avoid having a drink, because of facing the bar bill at the end. I will have to figure it out....maybe we will go back to Celebrity!

[peaches from georgia]

I've done the Celebrity all-you-can-drink and lived to tell the tale. As Baychilla pointed out, that also covers bottled water, juice, soda, and specialty coffees. In my case I drank San Pellegrino at every meal and took it to my cabin as well. It was a Panama Canal cruise, and all the water we took off the ship for excursions in hot places with dodgy water was included. Fancy coffee in the morning whenever I felt like it. And I also drank alcohol, maybe a little more than usual, but not a lot. What I really liked was not having to think oh, do I really want an $11 martini, do I really want a $14 cognac after dinner? I liked having the sommelier give me small pours of wine paired to my courses, so that I could have several wines at dinner, something I never would have done if I'd been paying for a whole glass each course (plus I wouldn't have been able to drink full glasses). Instead I had what I wanted, whenever I wanted it, without having to cringe at the onboard liquor prices.

 

Did I drink as much as I spent? I don't actually know. But I know that if HAL offered that arrangement I'd definitely go for it, the ease and carefree factor were enough to convince me.

It is a totally different and more carefree way to cruise and I completely agree with what you are saying. We haven't purchased this package on X, but have cruised on a line where everything is included in the price of the cruise, including alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. We loved the freedom of not having to think 'do I really want this' or whether the cost was worth it. Did we drink up the amount of $ in our cruise fare which was allotted to drinks? I have no idea, but we loved just being able to have what we wanted when we wanted it and being able to order premium brands and drinks wthout paying extra. And not once did we see any pax who obviously had had too much to drink.

[hypercafe]

I don't thing I would buy it as I would fall into the trap of trying to get my monies worth, that said I don't see why they don't offer it.

[jimmy2x]

But on HAL you have to pay separate for alcohol and that is an option on Celebrity too.

 

Quite true - but if you check their pricing, it is significantly higher especially for the fancier drinks. I'm not knocking it - to each his own. If you are in to high end craft beers, wines, or malts it may make sense. My wife doesn't drink at all, and fortunately my own tastes are far more plebeian.;)

[readytogo2]

With all the lawsuits out there, fast food making people obese and cigarette companies accused of giving people cancer etc...next will be lawsuits to cruise lines accused of making people alcoholics.:eek:

[serendipity1499]

We are not everyday drinkers, at home, but when we are with Friends & on Cruises we occassionally enjoy a drink before dinner, a glass of wine with dinner, & if I've have not had wine with dinner will instead have a joy a Bailley's in my coffee..

We've never had a bar bill close to $800 on any cruise..If we did we both would be like the animals when the "elephants threw a party"..LOL

Cheers....Betty

[DFD1]

It seems to me a nice option. I expect it would be profitable for HAL, in that most people would likely drink less than what HAL expected when pricing it.

 

Of course some would drink more.

 

It would be an easy option for HAL to test on one or two ships over a two or three month period.

[Northshorecruisers]

I love cruising but I also like to remember my vacation :D

$800 is typically our on board charges for a week and that includes drinks, wine, classes, photos, pop, specialty coffees, shopping in the on board stores.

[kazu]

I have to echo other posters - I don't think it would be worth our while.

 

The other thing is the 3 and 4* mariners - they can order their wine packages at a discount - so unless a discount could be applied it would probably not be worthwhile for a lot of them:)

[George C]

I would do this in a second if I could get the wine I wanted, we normally drink upscale wine that would go for about 80 a bottle in a decent resturant ( at least when we are on vacation), I am sure they limit what wines you could order.

[PirateShark]

Someone posted the entire Celebrity wine list. Is HAL's wine list this extensive?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1566983

 

IMHO, no - HAL's wine list pales in comparison. The mark ups appear to be approximately the same but the Celebrity list has some hidden gems at reasonable mark ups. I have found that the wines HAL has featured over the last two years at least are rather uninteresting, hence our tendancy to bring out wine aboard. I've been toying with the idea of taking Celebrity for a Panama Canal cruise in 2014 and since we'd fly cross country, we won't bring wine. May have to take a closer look now knowing that some of our favorites are on the list plus interesting new wines to try.

[ariawoman]

I would do this in a second if I could get the wine I wanted, we normally drink upscale wine that would go for about 80 a bottle in a decent resturant ( at least when we are on vacation), I am sure they limit what wines you could order.

 

I dont think they limit your choice, but i believe if the drink is over 12.00 a glass you have to pay the difference. So likely your 80 a bottle wine would cost you a few buck extra per glass.

[ANSalberg]

We just did the same thing on Regent. Of course we drank more than if we were paying each time. But, I don't think anyone would accuse us of being alcoholics. It was fun not having to avoid having a drink, because of facing the bar bill at the end. I will have to figure it out....maybe we will go back to Celebrity!

 

We have done two Regency cruises and enjoyed them both; one with a group from our town and another by ourselves [ our preferred way to travel] and I assumed -since I'm the Family tightwad -that I would enjoy "Wine included" but after the first day or so the proximity of HAVING our glasses REfilled too often reared its ugly head! I was VERY uncomfortable with "having too much wine" . I guess that is your decision- YOUR choices and I know in ours, price became a non-issue; it was simply "too" much.

That said -I can HONESTLY say that I NEVER saw anyone drunk on either cruise and We would happily cruise Regent again.....of course I never met a cruise I didn't LOVE; 700 days on our FAVORITE line of choice -HAL! ;)

Anne

[Taxguy77]

Sounds a little high for us. Ou bill is usually less that $100/day including the casino, bingo (sometimes) and a LOT of beer.

 

One cruise with Vantage, wine was included with dinner only (pay bar the rest of the day) and very few missed having any entertainment on the small ship at night. Boy did those Croatian waiter/crewmen like to pour wine!:D

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Way more than we would spend for alcohol, etc. on a 7 day cruise. We usually buy a 7-bottle wine package and perhaps have a couple of drinks and a couple of sodas in 7 days so spend way less than $800.

[mariner]

Want to point out a couple of things:

 

The price includes the service charge.

 

Your juice on HAL is not free. It's included in your fare.

 

We recently sailed Seabourn, where practically everything is included in the fare. It was so nice not having to sign for drinks or pay a service charge for a bottle of water. It was also nice having the lounges full of passengers. The martinis were also twice the size we got on HAL and no one got obnoxious drunk.

[496and706]

Out of the $800. there is $120. for the service fee.

 

Nothing on the Seabourn is free, unless you paid absolutely $0.00 for the entire trip from the time you left your door until you got back.

[mariner]

All food and beverages are included on Seabourn, save for very, very top-shelf alcohol. With onboard credits, you could walk off the ship without spending an extra dollar.

[cruisin'girl]

All food and beverages are included on Seabourn, save for very, very top-shelf alcohol. With onboard credits, you could walk off the ship without spending an extra dollar.

I understand the OBC system is interesting.

[mariner]

AMEX platinum, you get $400

[fatcat04]

A $50 bottle of wine for lunch and one for dinner = $100 (definately not top of the line wine on a cruise ship after you add in the service charge)

1 beer each in the afternoon = $ 10

1 evening cocktail each= $16

$126 a day x 7 days = $882

 

When you break it down into real numbers, it doesn't seem so inconceivable. But more than 2 port days.. I doubt I would get my $$ worth. But it is interesting. :)