If Princess had more Drink Packages?

[dmwnc1959]

Poll as suggested by CPA92

 

If you pick a package, say for instance the $44 package it would include all of the other beverages listed above it in the other less expensive packages.

 

If Princess Cruises had a Drink Package similar to what Celebrity Cruises offers would you buy it? And if so, do you think every adult in the cabin should have to buy at least the same alcohol package (or higher) like Carnival Cruise Line does? Which one of these types of packages would you be interested in?

 

 

 

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Edited March 31, 2013 by dmwnc1959

[Astro Flyer]

Any drink package would not be cost effective for me & I'd be happy if Princess would consistently offer their wine package. I feel that each adult in the same cabin needs to purchase an alcoholic drink package.

[IECalCruiser]

From my post on another thread:

 

Looking at Celebrity prices, it appears that the cheapest drink package is $44/person/night. Assuming there is a 15% gratuity, the cost for the two of us would be about $100/day. Ignoring the two bottles of wine we can bring on board without corkage and the 10 beers that we trade the alcoholic portion of the mini-bar set-up for, together we drink no more than two mixed drinks and a bottle of wine a day. I am fine with "free" hot/iced tea and water but add a coffee card for DW. For a seven day cruise, that total cost is less that $60/day and we don't need to buy any extra cost bottles of wine if we want some in our cabin. If we are on a 10 day cruise, the Silver wine package would decrease the per bottle cost by $8 and there would still be only one coffee card so our cost would be reduced to $50/day. Under either scenario, why would we want to by a drink package?

[icat2000]

I prefer the coffee card seperated from the fizzy type drinks. That the one thing I don't like about Celebrity package that they have lumped the speciality coffess in with those types of drinks.

[capriccio]

Any drink package would not be cost effective for me & I'd be happy if Princess would consistently offer their wine package. I feel that each adult in the same cabin needs to purchase an alcoholic drink package.

 

Agree - a wine package (bottles not glasses:p) is all we need. DH will sometimes buy the coffee card but we don't order enough mixed drinks and never order sodas or bottled water to make the packages cost effective.

[MustangGT]

While I don't and won't buy a package, I believe any alcohol package should require every adult in a cabin to buy the package. We know people share soda and coffee cards, even though they shouldn't. Sharing an alcohol package would be a nightmare! :D

[Happy2cruise]

My husband will order a bottle of wine at the International Cafe bar or any other bar and they will keep it there. When we want a glass we just ask for it from our bottle. It's cheaper this way. In fact it was suggested to us by a bartender on one of our cruises.

 

Drink packages are way to much as we don't drink that much to even come out even. Prefer to pay as we go.

[Cruise Junky]

While I don't and won't buy a package, I believe any alcohol package should require every adult in a cabin to buy the package. We know people share soda and coffee cards, even though they shouldn't. Sharing an alcohol package would be a nightmare! :D

 

There is nothing wrong with sharing a coffee card. They're not unlimited, they're a limited amount of punches.

 

We'd be interested in drink packages. Seeing as we pay around $40 each night for a bottle of wine in the dining room and I buy a coffee card, it wouldn't be hard to spend the rest.

 

Cappucino upon waking. $4

Fresh orange juice with breakfast $4

Bottled water x 2. $6

Glass of wine with lunch. $8

Two beer by the pool or a margarita. $ 10

Pre dinner martini $10

2 glasses of wine with dinner $ 15

After dinner Cappucino $4

 

That's over $60 and I haven't hit a show yet

Edited March 31, 2013 by Cruise Junky

[IECalCruiser]

From my post on another thread:

 

Looking at Celebrity prices, it appears that the cheapest drink package is $44/person/night. Assuming there is a 15% gratuity, the cost for the two of us would be about $100/day. Ignoring the two bottles of wine we can bring on board without corkage and the 10 beers that we trade the alcoholic portion of the mini-bar set-up for, together we drink no more than two mixed drinks and a bottle of wine a day. I am fine with "free" hot/iced tea and water but add a coffee card for DW. For a seven day cruise, that total cost is less that $60/day and we don't need to buy any extra cost bottles of wine if we want some in our cabin. If we are on a 10 day cruise, the Silver wine package would decrease the per bottle cost by $8 and there would still be only one coffee card so our cost would be reduced to $50/day. Under either scenario, why would we want to by a drink package?

I checked our folio from our recent 14 day Panama Canal cruise. If you add the cost of the wine we brought on board, corkage for wine over one bottle per person and cost for items in our mini-bar if we had bought it, we would have spent $40/day for the two of us. Much less than the $100 for the cheapest package and we would still need to buy wine bottles to drink in our cabin.

[Tee706]

While I don't and won't buy a package, I believe any alcohol package should require every adult in a cabin to buy the package. We know people share soda and coffee cards, even though they shouldn't. Sharing an alcohol package would be a nightmare! :D

 

That definitely wouldn't work. When I'm on a cruise, I drink wine every day. My husband may have two or three beers over the course of a seven day cruise.

 

The only way a "drink package" will work fairly is to do it like the coffee card -- It's not unlimited, but you get "X" number of punches and then you're out. That would also help with Princess' liability in serving an unlimited amount of alcohol for idiots that feel like they have to overindulge in order to get their money's worth! That way, sharing wouldn't even matter.

[beg3yrs]

In our younger days the $44 package would be OK as the best case break even is 5.5 drinks. However these days it is a big drinking day if we have 4 drinks over the whole day.

[MGnut]

No on any of the listed packages. Yes on the wine packages now offered.

[Pam in CA]

HAL has a drink card that's essentially a pre-paid debit card. You pay $45 for $50's worth of any beverage, whether it's a soda, mocktail, beer, wine or martini. The server debits the card for the cost of the drink. It's sharable and, I think, it's fair.

[cherylandtk]

I would like to see Princess return to selling a full bottle of spirits for enjoying on our balcony. We used to buy that on every voyage. The half bottle is so small; we buy it only half the time.

[BettyCruiser]

We always buy the premium alcohol pkg on celebrity, it works well for both of us. Also for us the same drink pkg works well, but I know plenty of couples who purchase different pkgs so, it's nice for them to be able to purchase different pkgs. We will be trying the drink pkgs on Carnival and NCL next time we sail with them.

 

If Princess follows through on the enforcement of bringing alcohol on the ship and doesn't offer comparable drink pkgs, they will quickly fall to the bottom of my preferred list rather holding second to Celebrity.

[happy cruzer]

I liked the UKP that I bought on my Princess cruise. Good value. Had wine with corkage fee each night in the dining room. Another good value.

 

Those alcohol packages are too expensive per day for the quality of drink that is supplied. Most wines by the glass are not very good and the individual pricing make them an incredibly bad value in my opinion. We stick to wine with dinner on a cruise. And do alcohol at home where we guarantee a good beverage/pour.

[caribill]

Poll does not ask if one would still like an option if all adults in a cabin had to buy it even if only one person wanted it.

[tequilasunrise]

The main reason I voted "other" is because these suggestions built on each other, suggesting that you had to start out purchasing some basics. Although it might be too much of a bookkeeping nightmare, it might be nice if there were individual card types (wine, soda, bottled water, other mocktails, coffee, spirits) so you can mix and match. For example, I never drink mocktails, soda or coffee. But I would like a wine by the glass package, then I can drink different kinds. I currently buy a bottle and drink from it all week. DH doesn't drink alcohol for health reasons but he enjoys his diet coke. I might also buy a spirit package for martinis and pool drinks (hey, I'm on vacation!)

 

Unlimited packages should probably go away in favor of set numbers like the coffee cards are. That would eliminate cheating, and allow people to share so might drive sales. JMHO

[sherryf]

None of these work for me. I'd prefer a wine (bottle) package.

 

In 4 Princess cruises (so far) I've bought maybe 2-3 sodas, never bottled water, never juice outside of breakfast. Each 7-day cruise I drink maybe 2-3 mixed drinks and 3-4 beers, and those only because they have Alaskan Amber and Alaskan Summer. What I do drink is wine, and we drink about a bottle a day. In the past we've taken our own to drink in our cabin or occasionally bring into the dining room and pay corkage. I maybe buy a few glasses of wine outside of what I bring on. This year, with the new wine policy enforcement, I'm debating bringing on my own (wine that I know I like and pay $5 - $10 per bottle at Trader Joe's) and paying the $15, or just buying bottles from Princess. If they had a package that would allow me to buy 7 bottles over the course of the week at a discounted price, that might affect my decision. From what I understand, the current wine packages are not offered on 7-day cruises, so not an option for me.

 

I do buy a coffee card. I've bought 3 over the course of 4 cruises, one of those for my daughter that she only used 4-5 punches on. I still have one partial card that I'll take with me this time. If I didn't plan to continue cruising Princess so that I'd be able to use up my old cards, it wouldn't be worth it.

[tequilasunrise]

HAL has a drink card that's essentially a pre-paid debit card. You pay $45 for $50's worth of any beverage, whether it's a soda, mocktail, beer, wine or martini. The server debits the card for the cost of the drink. It's sharable and, I think, it's fair.

 

Does that give you a discount then?

[tequilasunrise]

Poll as suggested by CPA92

 

If you pick a package, say for instance the $44 package it would include all of the other beverages listed above it in the other less expensive packages.

 

If Princess Cruises had a Drink Package similar to what Celebrity Cruises offers would you buy it? And if so, do you think every adult in the cabin should have to buy at least the same alcohol package (or higher) like Carnival Cruise Line does? Which one of these types of packages would you be interested in?

 

 

 

.

 

I definitely wouldn't buy anything that every adult in the cabin had to purchase. DH and I consume very different beverages so whatever we bought would then be double the intended price.

 

My favorite idea is a set pre-purchased amount, credited to your account. Then there is a beverage discount, and every drink you charge is subject to that discount (say 10%) and taken off that total until it is zero. That money is considered spent even if you don't use it. Don't use it=lose it. With modern computers, it's easy to do, and it encourages spending so it's good for the line.

[notentirelynormal]

It wouldn't work for me either. Even if buying premium drinks I wouldn't spend that much a day. My DH wouldn't drink even close. I don't think both should be required. What if one is a drinker and the other doesn't. One way or the other you are penalizing the second person. Just because wife drinks doesn't mean husband or mother or grown child does.

 

I usually end up buying bottles of wine at dinner every night and my husband buys one every few nights. Unless that brand was in the plan it would be worthless to me.

[mafig]

On Celebrity, unless it is part of the 1,2,3Go promotion, not everyone has to purchase the package.

 

They also allow you to purchase the package for a partial cruise (I think the minimum is 3 days). This would work well for a cruise that might be, say, port intensive at the beginning, and then having all sea days at the end.

 

You may also upgrade from the standard to the premium package while onboard.

 

It also covers everything. Soda, specialty coffee, water, cocktails and wine (only by the glass, however).

[mafig]

On Celebrity, unless it is part of the 1,2,3Go promotion, not everyone has to purchase the package.

 

They also allow you to purchase the package for a partial cruise (I think the minimum is 3 days). This would work well for a cruise that might be, say, port intensive at the beginning, and then having all sea days at the end.

 

You may also upgrade from the standard to the premium package while onboard.

 

It also covers everything. Soda, specialty coffee, water, cocktails and wine (only by the glass, however).

 

 

sorry, I went back and re-read and it's too late for me to edit but I want to add it also includes beer and juices....

[Christine Frances]

HAL has a drink card that's essentially a pre-paid debit card. You pay $45 for $50's worth of any beverage, whether it's a soda, mocktail, beer, wine or martini. The server debits the card for the cost of the drink. It's sharable and, I think, it's fair.

 

No longer any discounts on the Beverage Card http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=36534971&postcount=3

 

HAL is now rolling out a Beverage Pkg http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1814886&highlight=beverage+card