Beverage Package Value

[mrs.cool]

Too bad the $10 drinks are not included :(

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - Jim

 

What???:confused: Somebody had the list posted here! Belvedere and Glenlivet aren't $10??? Well, I'm okay with that too I guess!! ;)

[time2cruise1]

What???:confused: Somebody had the list posted here! Belvedere and Glenlivet aren't $10??? Well, I'm okay with that too I guess!! ;)

 

 

The $10 cap is for wine. Liquor has moved around but last cruise it was $8.25 excluding the super premium brands. I could get Ketel One on the rocks but not a Ketel One Martini.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - Jim

[Out to sea!]

The draw of Cork & Caps is more for wine drinkers, I'd think, since that's even more than cocktails.

 

I can't imagine making either package work for someone who's primarily a beer drinker. You'd be much better off going without the package and purchasing your drinks one-by-one. It's remarkably hard, much harder than I would have thought before sailing, to drink even $49/day in cocktails/wine much less beer. You have to keep in mind that you're paying $49 for embarkation day and port days where you aren't even on the ship all day, which means you likely have to "catch up" for those on sea days.

 

Exactly! I'll just continue to buy the 1 or 2 beers that I drink a day individually.

[Out to sea!]

At $10/drink, that's only 5 drinks. Two glasses of wine with dinner, pre-dinner cocktail, after dinner drink, a couple at the show or nightclub afterwards, piece of cake. :D

 

Most beers are in the $5 range. Of course, after 2-3 beers, I would even remember to go to dinner or the show! ;)

[Cruzface]

Can you get a bucket of beers on the UBP?

[time2cruise1]

Can you get a bucket of beers on the UBP?

 

 

Sorry, nope One beer / drink at a time.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - Jim

[Cruzface]

Sorry, nope One beer / drink at a time.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - Jim

 

How soon can you go back for another?

[QuiGonJohn]

How soon can you go back for another?

Technically, you could go right back up. Probably would work for a while, but if you did that too often in the same place with the same bartenders you might be challenged or questioned about it. But to the best of my knowledge, there is nothing stated in the terms of the UBP about time between drinks.

[triptolemus]

How soon can you go back for another?

 

How long 'til you're finished with the one you're holding? :)

 

I never got ANY flack whatsoever from any bartender anywhere on the ship for ordering back-to-back beer & shots.

[sbrocket52]

At $10/drink, that's only 5 drinks. Two glasses of wine with dinner, pre-dinner cocktail, after dinner drink, a couple at the show or nightclub afterwards, piece of cake. :D

 

There's a number of problems with this line of thinking, based on my experience with the UBP last week.

 

• The only thing you're going to be drinking at $10 is glasses of wine.
  
• If I remember correctly, there are no glasses of wine right at $10. Highest I remember is $9.75.
  
• Many glasses of wine range from $7-9. If your goal is variety, you're likely to be spending significantly under $10 average per glass of wine. And that's only if you drink wine.
  
• The UBP includes cocktails and beer too, of course. The threshold for cocktails is $8.50 and under and beer is $5.50/5.95 and under. If you mix all of those, again, your average price per drink drops a lot again.
  
• Many cocktails, especially more common ones (piña colada, mai tai, whatever) are a good bit cheaper than $8.50, so there's something else lowering your average price per drink.
  
• Mixing beer in, of course, significantly drops the average price per drink.
  

 

All of these things contribute to a hard-to-estimate and lower-than-max-threshold average price per drink. Saying "5 $10 glasses of wine" or "6 $8.50 cocktails" to break even is great, but unless you're going to be drinking right at the price threshold, that math breaks down. Your average price per drink drops, your # of drinks to break even creeps up and up, and it gets harder to actually make the UBP worth it without making yourself sick every night.

Edited December 19, 2013 by sbrocket52

[sbrocket52]

Can you get a bucket of beers on the UBP?

 

No. Here's the full terms, you or anyone considering buying the UBP should read them.

 

http://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/Ultimate-Beverage-Package10242013.pdf

[austinhoops]

Yes. If one wants to get the alcohol package, then all adults need to get the alcohol package and all minors need to get soda package.

 

Interesting that the minors have to get the soda package. None of my kids like soda. And I'll have 3 of them with me. So this option definitely wouldn't make sense for us.

 

Even without kids, on a port-intensive cruise, I would find it challenging to drink at break-even levels during the few hours you're on the ship!

[samiams2]

I'm doing epic in February '14 and am going to try the UBP. IMHO the simple fact of not having to think about $ spent on drinks, even if I fall a tad below "break even" is worth it. My wife is a cheapo & the "just buy whatever you want" philosophy lasted till about day 4 on our last cruise. I will post how it turns Out.

 

Sam

[Carinthalas]

We have been on The NCL Spirit twice so far, once with the package and once without. The cost difference for us was almost zero and as such we have signed up for the UBP for our upcomming New Year cruise as I like to know what my holiday will actually cost and as I can fix the price would rather do that than have to "keep an eye" on the tab.

 

Maybe it is the Brit in me comming out, but I do like to know in advance what something will cost and therefore try to pay as much upfront as I can.

[bobg529]

Can you get a bucket of beers on the UBP?

 

 

The only time I tend to drink a lot is when I'm on a cruise. Since I drink primarily hard liquor I found the UBP worked well for me. I definitely saved money. One of the nice things about the plan is that if you don't care for a cocktail you're trying, you can just order a different one and not worry about wasting your money. The limits that are on there are to prevent someone from buying the plan just for themselves and then ordering for all their friends as well. On the other hand if you're just a beer drinker then this is a waste of money. If you want to save a couple of dollars on beer, buy a bucket poolside and bring a few bottles back to your cabin and stick them in the fridge. :)

[sparks1093]

There's a number of problems with this line of thinking, based on my experience with the UBP last week.

 

• The only thing you're going to be drinking at $10 is glasses of wine.
  
• If I remember correctly, there are no glasses of wine right at $10. Highest I remember is $9.75.
  
• Many glasses of wine range from $7-9. If your goal is variety, you're likely to be spending significantly under $10 average per glass of wine. And that's only if you drink wine.
  
• The UBP includes cocktails and beer too, of course. The threshold for cocktails is $8.50 and under and beer is $5.50/5.95 and under. If you mix all of those, again, your average price per drink drops a lot again.
  
• Many cocktails, especially more common ones (piña colada, mai tai, whatever) are a good bit cheaper than $8.50, so there's something else lowering your average price per drink.
  
• Mixing beer in, of course, significantly drops the average price per drink.
  

All of these things contribute to a hard-to-estimate and lower-than-max-threshold average price per drink. Saying "5 $10 glasses of wine" or "6 $8.50 cocktails" to break even is great, but unless you're going to be drinking right at the price threshold, that math breaks down. Your average price per drink drops, your # of drinks to break even creeps up and up, and it gets harder to actually make the UBP worth it without making yourself sick every night.

 

NCL is counting on the fuzzy math to make money:). So what is a more realistic analysis based on your experience?

[Out to sea!]

I'm doing epic in February '14 and am going to try the UBP. IMHO the simple fact of not having to think about $ spent on drinks, even if I fall a tad below "break even" is worth it. My wife is a cheapo & the "just buy whatever you want" philosophy lasted till about day 4 on our last cruise. I will post how it turns Out.

 

Sam

 

My only issue with this philosophy is that I would replace "watching the bar tab" with "counting the number of beers I drank each day to make sure I at least broke even". I could never get to 10 beers in a day anyway (even on a sea day) so that's why the program is completely useless to me at that price point. If the C&C were half of the UBP, then I might would consider it but at only $45 less, it's not even close to the realm of possibility.

[sbrocket52]

NCL is counting on the fuzzy math to make money:). So what is a more realistic analysis based on your experience?

 

I'm not sure, it depends on the individual person's mix too much, and it's not like NCL publishes drink prices anyway. I'm just cautioning people against assuming that you're going to be buying drinks all right at the price thresholds and being surprised when they don't break even. Heavy enough drinkers, particularly wine drinkers, can definitely benefit (for certain definitions of "benefit"...) from it.

 

Then again, I thought we were pretty serious drinkers and we didn't break even. The partial embarkation day + port days really does make it hard to do without trying, and I'm not sure that "trying to drink more to get my money's worth" falls under what I want to do on future cruises. :p

[sbrocket52]

My only issue with this philosophy is that I would replace "watching the bar tab" with "counting the number of beers I drank each day to make sure I at least broke even".

 

Yes, exactly. I thought the UBP would be nice because I could not worry about the onboard credit tab piling up and just drink whatever I wanted. Nuh uh, all it did was replace that with checking to make sure we were breaking even on drink purchases (we didn't).

[sparks1093]

I'm not sure that "trying to drink more to get my money's worth" falls under what I want to do on future cruises. :p

 

Exactly where I am in the process of deciding. Thanks for the thoughts!

[Big Chippy]

I purchased a drinks package on The Grandeur of the Seas a couple of years ago, the price was comparable with the UBP on NCL. Did I break even, lose or gain? I don't know I didn't count but guess it was close to break even. What I liked about the package was the variety of drinks we chose to drink, cocktails, Martinis etc, normally being conscious of cost I tend to drink beer! Must be the careful Scot in me:o

The decision has been taken out of my hands on our next cruise as we are cruising during the Spring Break. Given the option I would have gone for the package for the freedom of choice it gives me, if that makes sense :confused:

[sbrocket52]

I purchased a drinks package on The Grandeur of the Seas a couple of years ago, the price was comparable with the UBP on NCL. Did I break even, lose or gain? I don't know I didn't count but guess it was close to break even. What I liked about the package was the variety of drinks we chose to drink, cocktails, Martinis etc, normally being conscious of cost I tend to drink beer! Must be the careful Scot in me:o

The decision has been taken out of my hands on our next cruise as we are cruising during the Spring Break. Given the option I would have gone for the package for the freedom of choice it gives me, if that makes sense :confused:

 

This is partly why I am glad that I at least gave the UBP a try. I was also worried that I would penny-pinch and not try drinks that I wanted to. I think next time, even without the UBP, I'll be more likely to try the drinks I want to since I enjoyed the variety of drinks that I got to try this time. Plus, it'll be even better because I'll be able to try the many cocktails above $8.50 without wasting my UBP purchase.

[mjkacmom]

This is partly why I am glad that I at least gave the UBP a try. I was also worried that I would penny-pinch and not try drinks that I wanted to. I think next time, even without the UBP, I'll be more likely to try the drinks I want to since I enjoyed the variety of drinks that I got to try this time. Plus, it'll be even better because I'll be able to try the many cocktails above $8.50 without wasting my UBP purchase.

 

We came out ahead with the UBP. I know I wouldn't have drank nearly what I did with the UBP, because I'm cheap. Would I have had a glass of wine with lunch, a cocktail in the theater, a drink of the day at the pool without it? No way. I'm mostly a wine drinker, and loved the wine machines (usually $9.50 per pour). We also didn't visit the ice bar, or participate in any of the tastings we usually do, or bring wine onboard and pay corkage. We got more exercise (or at least DH did) not having a bottle of wine, or buckets of beer, in the cabin!

 

I did not find myself hungover, because the extra drinks were during the day, when, in the past, I'd just drink the free ones at the buffet.

[Babyeddiedog]

I love a nice G&T or a Cognac, and nice wine with my meal so maybe it would be worth it; however, on one cruise I was struck down with terrible flu and felt foul and on another many people onboard came down with Norovirus. If I'd paid upfront for a drinks package and couldn't use it, I'd be even more sick.

[danh78]

My only issue with this philosophy is that I would replace "watching the bar tab" with "counting the number of beers I drank each day to make sure I at least broke even". I could never get to 10 beers in a day anyway (even on a sea day) so that's why the program is completely useless to me at that price point. If the C&C were half of the UBP, then I might would consider it but at only $45 less, it's not even close to the realm of possibility.

 

I could easily hit 10 beers in a day, my wife however, no way. So in reality, I'd have to be up around 14-15 drinks a day. I'd have to be pretty much wasted every day, don't mind doing that once in a while, but 7 days of drunkeness? Not for me