C&A Confirmed New Drink Packages!

[cerving]

Spartyfan87,

We are sailing on the Liberty in Feb and trying to figure out if purchasing the package would be worth it to us.

Do you know how much a bottle of water costs? And how large was the bottle of water? Also can you get more then one bottle of water at a time?

We buy a lot of buckets of beer and previously we had noticed they would not give those that had purchased the package a bucket. They had to get one beer at a time. Has this changed?

 

Thanks......

Edited November 30, 2013 by cerving

[DandDM]

Reading though 'most' of the thread I've come to one conclusion... no more smuggling for me... That is if I was a smuggler... That is if Royal really DOES babysit the threads... ;););)...

 

Doing the math from the last cruise (10 night), it would've been a break even for me. The following is what I may or may not have brought on with me.

 

4 bottle wine bag would've been anywhere between $200 and $300 depending on selection if bought separately onboard.

750 Rum would've equaled about 10 drinks at $6.95 (rough guess) $70.

750 JohnnyWalkerRed would be 12 2oz drinks on the rocks at $8.95 (rough guess) $100.

 

That puts me just shy of $500 worth of drinks that I would have purchased... And yes, there wasn't much to bring home. I did have some help on the Rum. This list does not include two bottles of wine purchased at dinner for the Mrs. to enjoy. She really likes the Selbac'Oster Riesling. Nor does it include the bloody mary's, the wife's soda package, the bottles of water, the specialty coffees, the miscellaneous mixed drinks pool side, the Labadoozles while in Labadee and other ones here and there I may have missed. Add it all up and it will be a no brainer for me going forward.

 

Making the decision to smuggle, that is not saying that I do smuggle, is now a non issue. No more trying to figure out where the bladder of wine goes. No more re-stacking my carry on to make sure the RumRunners that may or may not be in there are under my bathroom kit. No more extra 30lbs off liquid in my carry on to haul around the ship till I can get to the room. No more walk of shame to the bar with a bathroom glass.

 

Overall, Kudos to RCCL for listening to their customers on making the changes and adjusting the packages to make it work for all that may want it. Yes, even the $20 package is worth it for us. Soda, water, and coffee is the big three for the wife. Not having to think twice when grabbing the bottle of water off the desk is great. We are not huge fans of the desalinated water out of the tap. More like, my ankles aren't fans of it.

 

...And now my back will be a fan of it since there may or may not be smuggled booze in my carry on...:D

I enjoyed this post. I'm sure there were others (not me, of course) that may or may not have done the same math.

[Clarea]

Yes, it has been reported that the soda only package is still available. Unfortunately, the Freestyle machines are still limited to those ships that are 100% situated in North America, since the cartridges for them can not be obtained easily overseas.

With the exception of Grandeur.

[Anthony63]

Reading though 'most' of the thread I've come to one conclusion... no more smuggling for me... That is if I was a smuggler... That is if Royal really DOES babysit the threads... ;););)...

 

 

...And now my back will be a fan of it since there may or may not be smuggled booze in my carry on...:D

 

Loved your post. Not saying that I ever did or didn't if I was or wasn't a smuggler.:D

 

Eat more BACON

[kjhighball]

I was on the Navigator out of Galveston on 11/24, and the onboard staff was pretty much clueless to the new packages. My wife and father-in-law tried to purchase the $20 package multiple times from the booths and even Guest Relations. No one had heard about them, and the staff said since they had just completed a transatlantic, they had not been trained. Finally, a Guest Relations person called someone (Miami?) and determined they would have them on the 12/1 sailing.

 

In the chat with the officer, we actually met the Hotel Director, and even he had not been informed about the packages! If the head of the of hotel department doesn't know, it seems that Royal didn't communicate this down to all ships!

 

Thus, we only had the old, standard packages.

[cruisinpips]

Just off Freedom yesterday, all packages were for sale immediately upon boarding and all around the ship. The servers are not very informed about what is included, but if you insist and ask them to check, you will get what is included. We found it to be VERY worth the $$. I am sure we got our money's worth. It can be purchased at a prorated rate with up to 4 days left to go.

 

 

Cruisinpips

"Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional"

[joekatie]

Just logged in to my reservation for Allure in April. It still has the details of the old packages listed, but did give me the option to only book for myself and not my wife...FYI.

Sent from my XT897 using Forums mobile app

[CruiseAddict1982]

I'm so glad they have that because my wife doesn't drink alcohol at all. We've been together for 15 years (we're both 31) and she's never drank at all. Me on the other hand like to try any and every drink!

[SydSailor]

Just off Freedom yesterday, all packages were for sale immediately upon boarding and all around the ship. The servers are not very informed about what is included, but if you insist and ask them to check, you will get what is included. We found it to be VERY worth the $$. I am sure we got our money's worth. It can be purchased at a prorated rate with up to 4 days left to go.

 

 

Cruisinpips

 

Hi Cruisinpips. Great to hear from someone who has experienced the new packages live. I'm sure we would all be interested in any observations good or bad eg, were there many wines by the glass included in the $12 limit? Could you get say a sparkling water with a glass of wine or did you have to order drinks 10 mins apart? How was the drinks service with the package in the MDR? We're there many drinks (spirits or beers) excluded? Thanks in advance

[Jsauerwald]

Just off Freedom yesterday, all packages were for sale immediately upon boarding and all around the ship. The servers are not very informed about what is included, but if you insist and ask them to check, you will get what is included. We found it to be VERY worth the $$. I am sure we got our money's worth. It can be purchased at a prorated rate with up to 4 days left to go.

 

 

Cruisinpips

 

Hi Cruisinpips. Great to hear from someone who has experienced the new packages live. I'm sure we would all be interested in any observations good or bad eg, were there many wines by the glass included in the $12 limit? Could you get say a sparkling water with a glass of wine or did you have to order drinks 10 mins apart? How was the drinks service with the package in the MDR? We're there many drinks (spirits or beers) excluded? Thanks in advance

 

I just got off Independence two days ago and had pretty much the same experience as Cruisinpips. Apparently it was the first sailing where they were implemented. It was very rough for the first few days and I had to educate the staff as to what the packages included. I ended up just carrying around the printout with the new packages and their inclusions and showing it to the bartenders every time something was denied. It got better though with every passing day.

 

Now to your questions.

Wine - most wines were under the limit, there were very few which were over (this refers to the "normal" bars, now at Vintages, the wine bar, I would say about half of their wines fell within the package limits, but you could always find at least one type of wine that would work, Pinot, chianti, etc.).

Water- I ordered bottled water at the same time as drinks in the beginning, however I later found out (from a very well informed bartender) that they actually couldn't process the two simultaneously and just didn't charge for the water as a courtesy to the guest. So out of consideration to them I would just try and wait about 5 mins to order the water. Or if I was taking a drink to go I would just pop into the bar next door for the water, literally 1 minute later and they had no problem processing it.

MDR - it was nearly impossible to get a bar waiter to the table, it wasn't because of having the package though as others without the package at my table would order drinks as well. After the first couple of days, and begging the waiter and assistant waiter to send over the bar server often, I would just grab a wine at the bar outside of the dining room to pass the time until the bar server would arrive.

Inclusions/exclusions - There are A LOT of things included....I never had a problem. Grey goose martinis 9.50 included. I'm not really a beer drinker, had one Stella and one Heineken the whole time, the beers not included are prominently defined, however there weren't many not included that you wouldn't expect (chimay not included but obvious as to why). Noticed that Guinness was included. Also a lot of cordials/after dinner drinks. Very high end scotches, not included. Out of the cocktail menu, there was only one martini which was 10.50 and thus not included.

General - WELL WORTH IT! I asked at Vintages whether I could get a wine which was 16 and pay the difference but they said no.....however as I said no one really knew what was going on, and if I cared more I would have inquired further with the higher ups. Was a bit disappointed on labadee, the bars there were very bare bones. Only 1 type of vodka (Finlandia), one type of gin, etc....so I just had a Heineken can and called it a day.

[TheInnocentAge]

Great to hear from someone who has experienced the new packages live. I'm sure we would all be interested in any observations good or bad eg, were there many wines by the glass included in the $12 limit? Could you get say a sparkling water with a glass of wine or did you have to order drinks 10 mins apart? How was the drinks service with the package in the MDR? We're there many drinks (spirits or beers) excluded? Thanks in advance

 

We just got off the Allure on Sunday 12/1, and agree with recent posters that the drink package was well worth it. We had the Platinum Package, and the only time one of the servers did not have the details correct was in the MDR ($12 glass of wine), and that was only on one evening. We didn't experience any slowness or lack of service just because we had bought the package, in fact most servers were very prompt. We got to know a couple of the bartenders pretty well, so those areas were our "go to" places. We never had any issues getting what we wanted, whether it was a few doubles (or triples), rum floaters on top of the drinks, etc. A little extra tipping helps this along, of course.

 

Bottom line, if you're planning on having five or more drinks a day, I would suggest this package. That seems to be about the break-even number, depending on what you drink of course.

 

I actually tried not to have the same drink twice, but that became difficult the deeper into the crusie I got. Lots of fun keeping track though!

 

Cheers!

[TheInnocentAge]

Spartyfan87,

We are sailing on the Liberty in Feb and trying to figure out if purchasing the package would be worth it to us. Do you know how much a bottle of water costs? And how large was the bottle of water? Also can you get more then one bottle of water at a time? We buy a lot of buckets of beer and previously we had noticed they would not give those that had purchased the package a bucket. They had to get one beer at a time. Has this changed?

 

Thanks......

 

Cerving,

 

I noticed a lot of people trying to get a bucket of beer with the package, but they were denied. This was just last week on the Allure. The water bottles were the 20-ounce size if I recall, and you could only get one at a time. Still, I thought the package was a great deal and would definitely do it again.

[ULCajunCruiser]

Can one of the recent cruisers give us a better idea of how the packages worked ay Vintages???

[TheInnocentAge]

Can one of the recent cruisers give us a better idea of how the packages worked ay Vintages???

 

We only used it in Vintages a few times and had no issues whatsoever, but then again we didn't try to get anything over $12 a glass. I did see one person in there who was told they couldn't choose anything over $12, yet ran into another cruiser that was told they could just pay the difference for anything over $12. I do know that if you have the package and want a bottle, they give you a 20% discount. For us (not big wine drinkers) it made more sense to just buy it by the glass.

[BDL]

I cannot find the new packages listed anywhere on the RCL US website. Anyone find it? We purchased the $55 package a while ago for our January cruise and would like to bring a printout from the website.

[SydSailor]

 

I just got off Independence two days ago and had pretty much the same experience as Cruisinpips. Apparently it was the first sailing where they were implemented. It was very rough for the first few days and I had to educate the staff as to what the packages included. I ended up just carrying around the printout with the new packages and their inclusions and showing it to the bartenders every time something was denied. It got better though with every passing day.

 

Now to your questions.

Wine - most wines were under the limit, there were very few which were over (this refers to the "normal" bars, now at Vintages, the wine bar, I would say about half of their wines fell within the package limits, but you could always find at least one type of wine that would work, Pinot, chianti, etc.).

Water- I ordered bottled water at the same time as drinks in the beginning, however I later found out (from a very well informed bartender) that they actually couldn't process the two simultaneously and just didn't charge for the water as a courtesy to the guest. So out of consideration to them I would just try and wait about 5 mins to order the water. Or if I was taking a drink to go I would just pop into the bar next door for the water, literally 1 minute later and they had no problem processing it.

MDR - it was nearly impossible to get a bar waiter to the table, it wasn't because of having the package though as others without the package at my table would order drinks as well. After the first couple of days, and begging the waiter and assistant waiter to send over the bar server often, I would just grab a wine at the bar outside of the dining room to pass the time until the bar server would arrive.

Inclusions/exclusions - There are A LOT of things included....I never had a problem. Grey goose martinis 9.50 included. I'm not really a beer drinker, had one Stella and one Heineken the whole time, the beers not included are prominently defined, however there weren't many not included that you wouldn't expect (chimay not included but obvious as to why). Noticed that Guinness was included. Also a lot of cordials/after dinner drinks. Very high end scotches, not included. Out of the cocktail menu, there was only one martini which was 10.50 and thus not included.

General - WELL WORTH IT! I asked at Vintages whether I could get a wine which was 16 and pay the difference but they said no.....however as I said no one really knew what was going on, and if I cared more I would have inquired further with the higher ups. Was a bit disappointed on labadee, the bars there were very bare bones. Only 1 type of vodka (Finlandia), one type of gin, etc....so I just had a Heineken can and called it a day.

 

Many thanks Jsauerwald. This is very helpful.

[SydSailor]

Thanks very much for your response TIA.

Edited December 4, 2013 by SydSailor

[Clarea]

I cannot find the new packages listed anywhere on the RCL US website. Anyone find it? We purchased the $55 package a while ago for our January cruise and would like to bring a printout from the website.

I've not seen the packages listed on the US site either. All I have is a link to the list on the UK site:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/_images/Royal%20Alcohol%20Beverage%20FAQ%20All%20Ships%20Web%20Nov%2013_tcm16-27947.pdf

Edited December 4, 2013 by clarea

[TheInnocentAge]

I cannot find the new packages listed anywhere on the RCL US website. Anyone find it? We purchased the $55 package a while ago for our January cruise and would like to bring a printout from the website.

 

Even though you bought it in January, you will still get the "new" version of the package, which IMO is better than the previous version.

 

Though the website is not yet updated, here is the link to an article explaining the changes...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5619

Edited December 4, 2013 by TheInnocentAge

[BDL]

Thanks for the links. I've printed the info on the new packages and put it in my trip folder :)

 

Totally agree that the new Premium package is a great improvement. This will be the first time we've done a package other than the wine and dine.

[UNV-IT!!!]

Just off oasis today. They had the new packages and signage everywhere. All the servers were very well informed.

[JasonV1]

Amazed that not everyone in the room has to buy the package, or even a package. I guess we will find out if people are more trustworthy than I think.

 

I just wish they would update the website (to purchase in advance) to include all the new packages. I see where you don't need to buy in advance for everyone, but it still lists just the Premium/Wine and Dine/Classic (at least for Indy).

[Clarea]

Amazed that not everyone in the room has to buy the package, or even a package. I guess we will find out if people are more trustworthy than I think.

 

I just wish they would update the website (to purchase in advance) to include all the new packages. I see where you don't need to buy in advance for everyone, but it still lists just the Premium/Wine and Dine/Classic (at least for Indy).

I believe I read that their intention was to have the website updated by mid December.

[critterchick]

We are on Jewel now. We that abut buying the package, but decided against it for a few reasons.

 

1. We can get a mixed drink or three in the CL at the cocktail hour, no need to drink the house wine.

 

2. We don't want to feel as if we have to get our money's worth and therefore overindulge in calories and/or alcohol.

 

3. The cappuccino maker in the CL is broken, so we are getting the non-alcoholic specialty coffees for free at Lattetudes.

 

My spot check of the wine orices shows that they are the same as they were in early 2013. All of the wines in the Schooner Bar are under the $12 limit (most are in the $9 range). Most of the Vintages wines are over.

[Newbcruiser1]

I believe I read that their intention was to have the website updated by mid December.

 

I called C&A last week for something else and inquired about the online availability of the packages - he said it's taking them a while to get things up and running online and it might not be bookable online until the new year. It's too bad because RCI's CAD-US exchange rate right now is WAY better than the banks'... I would have rather pre-purchased it.

 

Has anyone had any experience with the $20 package and frozen drinks yet? Any trouble? What about the frozen blended coffee drinks? I'm assuming they count as specialty coffees?