Clarification needed about All-Inclusive Beverage Package (AIBP)

[jg51]

Thanks, JG51 for taking the time to post those photos which confirm what you thought. Having looked all through them, my appetite for a drink has been well and truly whetted!

You're welcome, "ingatestonian."

 

Just now, in looking back at the links to those photos, we noticed that the second of two links to the Vines Bar menu was missing (the one for the red wines). Therefore, we are no going to provide both links here:

 

For Vines Bar sparkling, white, and rose/blush wines by the glass (early 2014):

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-JcR9_ZpK5p8/Uyov-GIBgSI/AAAAAAAABTw/kAij1KITJUk/w261-h715-no/Wines+by+the+Glass+-+Vines+page+1.jpg

 

For Vines Bar red wines by the glass (early 2014):

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qRYGepbCt64/Uyov-JIF5nI/AAAAAAAABTs/KSEEHMnuxi8/w264-h715-no/Wines+by+the+Glass+-+Vines+page+2.jpg

[raider23]

OK I'm sure this may sound like a goofy question but I want to be sure before we board. My wife and I have the AIBP for our upcoming Alaska cruise next May. My question is, we enjoy a glass of champagne on our balcony before dinner. Since the Korbel comes in 187 ml bottles, will I be charged for a bottle of wine (40% off) if we bring the bottles to our room or do I have to have it served in a glass to be part of my free drinks? It would be easier to carry two small bottles in my pocket than trying to carry two champagne glasses on an elevator.

Thanks in advance for help. :)

[Whimsy]

Does anyone know if you are able to get Malibu Rum and Pineapple juice on board and with the sticker?

[SharkieRools]

OK I'm sure this may sound like a goofy question but I want to be sure before we board. My wife and I have the AIBP for our upcoming Alaska cruise next May. My question is, we enjoy a glass of champagne on our balcony before dinner. Since the Korbel comes in 187 ml bottles, will I be charged for a bottle of wine (40% off) if we bring the bottles to our room or do I have to have it served in a glass to be part of my free drinks? It would be easier to carry two small bottles in my pocket than trying to carry two champagne glasses on an elevator.

Thanks in advance for help. :)

 

These are included in the package, at least they were when we ordered them. Should be able to ask for them to be unopened from the bartender

[Calvin]

If I get the AIBP, does that mean my wife has to get one too?

Edited November 3, 2015 by Calvin

[IECalCruiser]

If I get the AIBP, does that mean my wife has to get one too?

No.

[sanchari]

If I get the AIBP, does that mean my wife has to get one too?

 

 

Yes if she wants to drink and don't want to pay on a per drink basis

 

Can't share the package

[Calvin]

Yes if she wants to drink and don't want to pay on a per drink basis

 

Can't share the package

 

I'm sorry. I should have asked: Is it required for both adults sharing a cabin to buy the AIBP? My wife only drinks 1 or 2 drinks per day so it wouldn't be worth it to buy a second package.

[notentirelynormal]

I'm sorry. I should have asked: Is it required for both adults sharing a cabin to buy the AIBP? My wife only drinks 1 or 2 drinks per day so it wouldn't be worth it to buy a second package.

 

The answer is NO. Princess has figured out that not everyone drinks the same. You make more money selling the package to one person in a cabin than none because they don't both drink. At the beginning I think they talked about "all" the people. Sure, my 5 YO needs the drink package.

 

Drink away. Just no sharing. If she wants a drink, she has to buy her own.

[Calvin]

The answer is NO. Princess has figured out that not everyone drinks the same. You make more money selling the package to one person in a cabin than none because they don't both drink. At the beginning I think they talked about "all" the people. Sure, my 5 YO needs the drink package.

 

Drink away. Just no sharing. If she wants a drink, she has to buy her own.

 

Notentirelynormal,

 

Thanks so much for the info! It never occurred to me that making all adults purchase the package was even considered until I read it on an old page. That is great news.

 

My wife is the kind of person who enjoys a drink or two but not very much at all. Knowing her, she will try to taste my drinks from time to time, but not actually share it. After all, for her, nothing tastes as good, or looks as good as what is on MY plate or in MY hands, lol.

 

Buying her a second drink will be an easy money-saver.

[WISH84]

Notentirelynormal, Thanks so much for the info! It never occurred to me that making all adults purchase the package was even considered until I read it on an old page. That is great news.

 

Some of this is also "carry over" from Carnival boards where if one person in the cabin wants the Cheers Package, everyone in the cabin 21 and over must purchase the package. Which is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. But, it's the demographics I presume because they also have limits on the package that Princess does not.

[Calvin]

Some of this is also "carry over" from Carnival boards where if one person in the cabin wants the Cheers Package, everyone in the cabin 21 and over must purchase the package. Which is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. But, it's the demographics I presume because they also have limits on the package that Princess does not.

 

That's interesting. I didn't realize, until recently, that other cruiselines had picked up on this "all you can drink" card concept. I can understand why the cruiselines would have wanted all adults in a cabin to purchase it because they probably wanted to discourage sharing and figured they could turn an additional profit on those who normally wouldn't be a candidate for a drink card. I'm glad they don't do this though. I'm more than happy to not try to cheat the system.

 

I recall one time on Princess standing in line for shakes, and this guy walks up and orders 3 shakes - 1 for him and 2 for these other people that were with him in line. The staff informed him that he couldn't order 3 shakes at the same time when he was the only one with a sticker. He then became infuriated and screamed "This is stupid!!! Well, fine, I'm just going to stand on this line until you give me 2 more shakes!"

 

I was so tempted to ask this guy if he thought it was okay for him to buy 1 sticker for $8 per day and then treat the entire rest of the ship to a shake, but I thought better of it. Who wants to get in an argument while on a cruise...

 

In any event, though I have never tried the AIBP, and was originally indecisive about it, I am all excited and ready get mine for our upcoming cruise!

[WISH84]

In any event, though I have never tried the AIBP, and was originally indecisive about it, I am all excited and ready get mine for our upcoming cruise!

 

There have been many a thread about the AIBP and in some, the focus seems to be "how can I get my money's worth out of this".

 

We on the other hand, knowing we will get our money's worth really look forward to knowing that the bar tab has already been paid for and the freedom to try things we probably otherwise would not. I've never had a Strongbow and would probably not purchase one but with this package, I certainly will.

Edited November 3, 2015 by WISH84

[raider23]

These are included in the package, at least they were when we ordered them. Should be able to ask for them to be unopened from the bartender

 

 

SharkieRools,

Thank you for your response. Maybe the wife and I can enjoy some Mimosa's on the balcony as well!

[partybarbie]

We are just off the Emerald, B2B, 10/3 through 10/24/15. As soon as we dropped off our carry-on bags in the cabin, we proceeded to the the MUTS pool where DH purchased the AIBP and I purchased a coffee card.

 

BTW, we weren't charged sales tax or VAT because Princess doesn't put the charges through until the ship sails. We wait until we board the ship to purchase the sticker/card because we can use our shipboard credit ($1500.00) on this cruise.

 

It's important for the person that doesn't have the AIBP to put their drink purchases on their own card. This will making tracking any billing errors so much easier, as DH was incorrectly charged for drinks on two different occasions. Once was in the dining room where the waiter forgot to deduct the 40% off the bottle of wine, and the other time was also in the dining room where DH was charged for two beers, even though the sticker was on the card.

 

We cruise Princess a lot, and we didn't want to become known as "the couple that shares their drink sticker". It was no problem though for me to have a taste of DH's drink. If I liked it, I would order one. If I didn't like it, I would order something else. We also ordered six bottles of wine in the dining room to take advantage of the 40% on the bottles. It's no problem to share the bottles with the table.

 

I also did a cost breakdown for us (one person buying the package, and one person not buying the package) to see if this was saving us any money. On the first 14-day portion of the B2B, DH paid $788.90 for his drink sticker. If I add up my coffee card, drinks, and the wine that we purchased at the 40% off, my total was around $385.00. About half the cost of his drink sticker.

 

On the second 7-day portion of our B2B, we drank the three free bottles of wine that our TA had sent us, the two-mini bars from the B2B, three bottles of wine that we had picked up in Spain and Portugal, and went to a lot of BOGO and Elite happy hours. Neither of us bought an AIBP package and our bar tab was about $300.00 for the week.

[reedprincess]

That's interesting. I didn't realize, until recently, that other cruiselines had picked up on this "all you can drink" card concept. I can understand why the cruiselines would have wanted all adults in a cabin to purchase it because they probably wanted to discourage sharing and figured they could turn an additional profit on those who normally wouldn't be a candidate for a drink card. I'm glad they don't do this though. I'm more than happy to not try to cheat the system.

 

Actually, Princess is something of the late-comer to the all-inclusive beverage package option. Celebrity has had then for more than 5 years. RCI for more than 3, Carnival for several years, NCL for a few years. and so in...Princess is the one catching up to the other lines in this case.

And most lines, the package does nor have to be purchased by everyone in the cabin. Carnival is one of the last hold outs in that category.

Fortunately, drink packages of any kind are optional, which works for everyone.

[jim_in_nyc]

Very interesting analysis, thank you. We are a party of 6 sailing on the Regal Jan 3. I'm planning on purchasing the AIBP and averaging 2 bottles of wine for our group each dinner. At any average price of $50/bottle I can justify the cost of the package on the 40% discount alone.

[Colo Cruiser]

Very interesting analysis, thank you. We are a party of 6 sailing on the Regal Jan 3. I'm planning on purchasing the AIBP and averaging 2 bottles of wine for our group each dinner. At any average price of $50/bottle I can justify the cost of the package on the 40% discount alone.

 

 

Thats great! :)

 

We had it on our Med cruise last month from a promo.

It was a great way to see if we could ever justify buying it.

We decided that we could not drink anywhere near enough to make it worthwhile. :(

[UpcountryTravelers]

Thats great! :)

 

......

We decided that we could not drink anywhere near enough to make it worthwhile. :(

 

That was our conclusion as well. (Although, in the sake of full disclosure, we do have the package on our upcoming New England cruise. It's OK if free, but we simply don't drink enough to make it cost-effective to purchase.)

[brt49]

Same price regardless.....

None of the drink packages are pro rated so it does not help to wait and purchase a couple of days later.

 

This was not the case on our 15 day Panama Canal cruise on the Coral Princess over thanksgiving. I bought it on the second day and it was cheaper.

[AlibearNS]

Question. I notice people talking of purchasing bottles of wine at discount in the MDR. Surely we can order wine by the glass in the MDR on the AIBP?

 

The way it worked for us both times on Celebrity, the waiter would keep our preferred wine in an ice bucket near our table and fill our glasses as many times as we liked. It was wonderful :) Does the AIBP on Princess to work the same way? Can someone confirm?

[Colo Cruiser]

Question. I notice people talking of purchasing bottles of wine at discount in the MDR. Surely we can order wine by the glass in the MDR on the AIBP?

 

The way it worked for us both times on Celebrity, the waiter would keep our preferred wine in an ice bucket near our table and fill our glasses as many times as we liked. It was wonderful :) Does the AIBP on Princess to work the same way? Can someone confirm?

 

 

Yes wine by the glass and a 40% discount on bottles of wine.

 

If you buy wine by the glass in the DR they will write a ticket for each one and go get it. They will not have the bottle nearby.

[Papa Yoda]

Also note that wine by the glass in bars and in the dining room is from a limited selection versus what is available by the bottle. For example, only Woodbridge and Clos du Bois Chard by the glass.

 

The AIBP costs one day less when bought on Day 2 so make sure it is written up that way - that can be hit or miss - and it won't cover any day 1 drinks. You can't buy it after day 2.

[sanchari]

Question. I notice people talking of purchasing bottles of wine at discount in the MDR. Surely we can order wine by the glass in the MDR on the AIBP?

 

 

 

The way it worked for us both times on Celebrity, the waiter would keep our preferred wine in an ice bucket near our table and fill our glasses as many times as we liked. It was wonderful :) Does the AIBP on Princess to work the same way? Can someone confirm?

 

 

Earlier poster is buying one AIBP and then using that package's bottle discount to buy a bottle that can be shared within their party of 6.

 

Buying a glass at a time means no sharing with others

[AlibearNS]

If you buy wine by the glass in the DR they will write a ticket for each one and go get it. They will not have the bottle nearby.

 

So when we finish a glass of wine, we'll have to get someone's attention to "buy" another? And sign each time. On Celebrity we only signed once, and it kept coming. We don't drink a lot of cocktails/spirits but we do like 2 or 3 glasses of wine at dinner. Thanks for the response. We wouldn't buy the package, but it comes with our Hawaii cruise on the Star next year so trying to understand how the Princess version works.

 

Earlier poster is buying one AIBP and then using that package's bottle discount to buy a bottle that can be shared within their party of 6.

 

Buying a glass at a time means no sharing with others

 

Ah, thanks, that makes sense :)