All Inclusive - is it worth it?

[Pee0305]

I know it's very difficult for anyone to speculate how much drink you will consume on holiday but I am considering buying the AI drinks package for the 3 week transatlantic cruise in April. We generally have wine with dinner and 3 or 4 drinks during the course of an evening and I'm wondering if it will be a good move to buy AI. We don't want to drink for the sake of it but neither do we want to throw money away. Does anyone with roughly the same alcohol consumption have experience of the AI package? I think it's almost £400 each for 3 weeks.

[geomagot]

the ai on thoms is expensive £199 pp per week if pre booked (more if purchased on board) with the added supplements on premium drinks (95p on cans of soft drinks, £2.10 on cider, £1.20 on branded spirits & liqueurs, 80p on bottles of water...yes bottles of water are considered to be a premium drink!) it is a bit steep imo

 

you do need to think carefully if you (personally) will find this to be good value or not...I personally think that you would have to be a 'fair' drinker and 'go for it' to get your moneys worth especially considering that mostly you will be enjoying cheaper drinks/bottles of water ashore most days which you are allowed to bring back on the ship to drink in your cabin

 

so, in the interest of 'know before you go' on the ai

 

.....I would say that if you drink only branded sprits/bottled beers/cider/cans of soft drinks and like a half decent bottle of (non house) wine? then the added supplements will make it difficult to get good value from the ai

 

if you are happy sticking to the daily planters punch style cocktails/soft drinks by the glass/local sprits/draught john smiths/heineken & house wine by the glass and you enjoy fair amount then yes its possible that you could make a good dent in the ai

[macren]

It is good value inasmuch as what you would pay for the drinks ,but the quality is just not worth it .

[Iain1873]

Take beer as an averaged priced drink = £3.70 per drink (Cocktails average £4.60 per drink)

 

5 drinks each per day = £37 x 21 days (3 week cruise you say) = £777

 

the real issue is will you have more than 5 drinks each per day or not ?? , you also have to consider the premium drinks range and would you be buying much of them as it will add to the £800 you have already paid.

 

There is a thread somewhere with current bar prices incl supplements for premium drinks , have a look at that and try to estimate what you would drink from it and base your calculation around that.

 

I have previously had free AI and AI for £69 (however the old AI system covered everything and if i recall only Malts and bottled beers had a supplement !!) , for my next cruise i'm just paying my own way as its only for a week and i'd need to pay £199 each for both my wife and i , rendering it not worth it.

[Tina.w12]

I'm a vodka drinker and occasional cocktail drinker, hubby is beer/ lager and whiskey drinker, break even point on these drinks is about 7 drinks per day. We tend to have 1 or 2 at Sailaway, 1 or 2 with dinner, 2 during the show and then go to the bars so maybe another 3 or 4. We don't drink anything with supplements, except water so works for us. If during the TA you would be drinking during the day it would probably be worth it. Have a look at the drinks and wine lists posted on here and be realistic with what you would drink, and then make the descison

 

 

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[Iain1873]

Here is a link to current bar prices , items with an asterix are supplements :

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1748329

 

you will see you still get branded drinks within the list eg Whisky has Teachers and JB available with no supplement / Vodka has Smirnoff with no supplement .....

[geomagot]

also, they do daily specials for payg

 

deals on wine packages, 2 for 1 on cocktails, cheaper daily cocktail/martini of the day (£3.95), iced bottled water by the glass is free from the bars & restaurants, free tea coffee (not lattes/cappuccinos) and fruit juice free with breakfast

 

also if you are on ai they will charge for any drinks purchased outside of bar opening hours (bars open 10am - 1am)

Edited February 18, 2014 by geomagot

[Iain1873]

and a final final comment from me - spirits are 40ml measures not 25ml :)

[geomagot]

I'm a vodka drinker and occasional cocktail drinker, hubby is beer/ lager and whiskey drinker, break even point on these drinks is about 7 drinks per day. We tend to have 1 or 2 at Sailaway, 1 or 2 with dinner, 2 during the show and then go to the bars so maybe another 3 or 4. We don't drink anything with supplements, except water so works for us. If during the TA you would be drinking during the day it would probably be worth it. Have a look at the drinks and wine lists posted on here and be realistic with what you would drink, and then make the descison

 

 

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tina...... 7 vodkas (3.30) + 7 lagers (3.70) = £49.00 per day £343 per week for both of you....ai £398 per week for 2

[Jim The Scot]

and a final final comment from me - spirits are 40ml measures not 25ml :)

 

At some bars more :D

 

I`d better not list how many drinks I go through a day ;).Always had the free AI and personally wouldn`t pay full whack for it.

[Tina.w12]

tina...... 7 vodkas (3.30) + 7 lagers (3.70) = £49.00 per day £343 per week for both of you....ai £398 per week for 2

 

 

I drink smifoff and hubby teachers so that's £3.90 each, hubby drinks lager during day and whiskey at night.

 

So our break even is 7 but most days we drink more.

 

A few years ago we did the Baltic 14 days, before they fetched ai for ex uk our bar bill was £1250!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Jim The Scot]

We`d get along fine :D:D

[gillhalfpint]

At some bars more :D

 

I`d better not list how many drinks I go through a day ;).Always had the free AI and personally wouldn`t pay full whack for it.

 

I wouldn't pay the full amount for it. Done two Caribbean cruises now and drank what we wanted, wine with the evening meals, whatever we wanted in the evening at the shows and bars, and didn't spend half the AI price.

 

We are off the ship on the islands most days, and when on the ship during the day are ok with the free tea / coffee / water as find it too hot to cope with alcohol round the pool. Wouldn't want to feel we were trying to play catch up with the AI price, and the added supplements on top of the £800 could be crippling if premium drinks were wanted

[Tina.w12]

We`d get along fine :D:D

 

 

Meet you at the bar, Jim!!!

 

 

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[Little Nell]

I have just spent ages replying to this thread and the site crashed and I lost it, so here is a quick synopsis...naw it isnae worth it and this is from someone who likes a drink or three.

[Tony1878]

I have our AI this year for £70 each, that's got to be worth it :)

Also, we like a speciality coffee or two during the day, without the AI we would be paying for those as well.

[grab1]

Tony we take capuchinos we us :)

 

 

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[grab1]

 

 

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[grab1]

We'll that was suppose to be a drink:)

 

 

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[infoqueen]

Just back 2 weeks in Caribbean. Had everything we wanted bulmers cider, cocktails, Pimms,lager,red wine, frothy coffees final bill £500 including a wine package so quids in for us that £300 towards the next holiday in June (Benidorm) drinks even cheaper here too.:):)

[WeeCountyMan]

I have just spent ages replying to this thread and the site crashed and I lost it, so here is a quick synopsis...naw it isnae worth it and this is from someone who likes a drink or three.

 

I'll second that.

 

The problem IMO with the more expensive booze packages is that people actively drink more that they normally would in order to "get their money's worth" from the deal.

 

A 3 week cruise on that basis is not good for you (financially and healthwise)- would you normally consume that amount of alcohol EVERY DAY at home over such a period ?

 

I've worked for three local brewers in my time and I like a swally - but the full price packages on Thomsons are not a good idea methinks.

 

However, everyone to their own - opinions differ.

Edited February 20, 2014 by WeeCountyMan
spelling

[Little Nell]

I'll second that.

 

The problem IMO with the more expensive booze packages is that people actively drink more that they normally would in order to "get their money's worth" from the deal.

 

A 3 week cruise on that basis is not good for you (financially and healthwise)- would you normally consume that amount of alcohol EVERY DAY at home over such a period ?

 

I've worked for three local brewers in my time and I like a swally - but the full price packages on Thomsons are not a good idea methinks.

 

However, everyone to their own - opinions differ.

 

Our thoughts exactly, WCM. It definitely encourages you to drink more (at least as far as DH is concerned ;) and he has alluded to that not being good).

 

We have the drinks package in the Caribbean for £10 a day next year and at that price we will enjoy the cocktails ashore (which are much better quality and flavour than Thoms) without feeling we need to get value from money from the drinks package. We wouldn't pay full price for it again.

[Deeside dave]

Have just worked out what our drinks bill would have been had we not been on AI on Celebration last week.It came to £320 for the 2 of us and we paid the full price of £398.That was a surprise as we are pretty good drinkers especially on holiday.The only slight unknown was with wine in the dining room as Benjamin the wine waiter with a fantastic singing voice(solo number in the crew show -brilliant) was very efficient at refilling our glasses.Consequently we quite possibly drank considerably less later to make sure we didn't get too pi..... as we always stay up till well past midnight.This is the first time we have paid more than £69 for the drinks package so in future the mantra will be that if the package is more than £99 per person we will not go AI .Hope this might help some of you fellow medium drinkers out there.

[Deeside dave]

Should have said had a brilliant cruise .Soon got used to the vibrations on Celebration.cabins are lovely and big too.MDH and food was great and as always excellent entertainment.Majesty in June can't wait but desperately hoping Venice sail in will not be cancelled

[geomagot]

and dont forget in caribbean when ai is always full price on dream, you wont be ariving at the ship untill at least 4pm and you will be leaving on the last day about 11am and the bars dont open untill 10am

 

guys...I like a drink, o/h likes a drink, our kids are fizzy freaks, we can be seen propping up the bars/casino every night....but even then we never rack up anywhere near to what thoms want for the ai

 

were are not cheapskates either

 

on payg you can avail yourself of the daily specials, you can drink a decent bottle of wine (not the housewine) you can drink the premium brands that you are used to at home

 

you are off the ship 6 days out of 7 and drinks are cheap (and good) ashore, you can keep duty free bottles/soft drinks/water/gallon bottles of rum punch in your fridge in cabin all are much cheaper to buy ashore

 

ice is freely available, tea/coffee/iced water/fruit juice is freely available and if you like premium coffee take a couple of boxes of cappuccinos with you (£2.99 for 40 sachets from b&m)

 

its not about just breaking even, you need to drink quite a bit more than that to make the cost worthwhile and the ai drinks are not the best quality drinks

 

you need to drink quite a bit of the cheap stuff...you wont be celebrating with a nice cava in the restaurant... that will cost you just as much as someone who isnt on ai...you wont be popping the moet or even the pinot grigio...you'll be drinking lashings of piat dor (the housewine)

 

you wont be treating yourself to a brandy or an after dinner liqueur or your usuall 10yo malt/southern comfort/bottle of premium beer...you'll be on the captain hooligan/glen-ouchy

 

I have met people on board who have said that they feel a certain cachet attached to being on the ai (i bought the ai as a treat....because we wanted to celebrate in style...because we're worth it) its easy to be lured in, its easy to believe it’s a quality bonus...added value...a good deal......wry smile

 

all I am saying is.....there are much cheaper ways than taking thoms up on their expensive and poor quality drinks package....even kids are charged £98 for their drinks package they would have to drink over 12 fizzys a day (even my kids would struggle to drink 12 glasses of flat coke a day)

 

sorry if all that sounded like a bit of a rant...honestly guys (my apologies) i'm just trying to illustrate how important it is to think carefully about whether it will work for you...before you part company with (what is in anyones book) a fair amount of cash…upfront