Thinking about Adventure of the Seas southern....

[sandi1967]

Good morning,

 

We are currently booked on the GOS for next January 16 but serioulst comtemplating switching to AOS for the southern route as we have only been to one of the ports.

 

My question is about the beverage package and those who may have bought it on a port intensive cruise. We are trying to figure out if it is worth it? On other cruises we have been happy getting our drinks in port......

 

Trying justify the airfare to San Juan and figured if we did not do beverage package that that alone would be our airfare.

 

Thanks

Sandi

[NemoCrownie]

We LOVE the Southern Caribbean itineraries and really love sailing out of San Juan - San Juan is like starting your cruise from a port of call with lots to do so plan on flying in at least a day early.

 

Regarding drink packages, it would not be worth it to us on such a port intensive itinerary but we are not heavy drinkers and do the majority of our drinking in port. We carry on our 2 bottles of wine and will usually buy at least one bottle for dinner and DH will drink one or two beers in the evening and I'll have a few umbrella drinks through the week. You would have to evaluate the value based on your personal habits and preferences.

 

Something else to take into consideration is that you will spend more on excursions and taxis on such a port intensive itinerary. The extra airfare, hotel and excursion costs are worth it to us because we only cruise once a year and really enjoy getting off the plane in the Caribbean.

[Clarea]

I agree, I don't think the drink packages would be as useful on a cruise that has only one or two sea days.

[danp]

I agree with Nemo,We sail out of San Juan every year as nemo you are in the Caribbean when you get off of the plane and hitting the heat and sun.We leave on Friday for SJ and will spend two day before the cruise just by the pool or on the beach,RELAXING.We are leaving on sunday on the Adventure doing a B2B.We love the ports and both weeks we hit Different ports.

What ever you deside,you are away to relax and enjoy.

[micmacmissy]

I don't think the drink package is "worth it" even with lots of sea days! ;)

[mtu_huskies]

I'd recommend skipping the beverage package and getting down to San Juan. It's a great place to sail out of and a good ship.

 

I agree with the other poster, keep in mind with the port intensive trips that with the activities you do on the islands, cost can add up quickly.

[JTBCruiser]

We LOVE the Southern Caribbean itineraries and really love sailing out of San Juan - San Juan is like starting your cruise from a port of call with lots to do so plan on flying in at least a day early.

 

Regarding drink packages, it would not be worth it to us on such a port intensive itinerary but we are not heavy drinkers and do the majority of our drinking in port. We carry on our 2 bottles of wine and will usually buy at least one bottle for dinner and DH will drink one or two beers in the evening and I'll have a few umbrella drinks through the week. You would have to evaluate the value based on your personal habits and preferences.

 

Something else to take into consideration is that you will spend more on excursions and taxis on such a port intensive itinerary. The extra airfare, hotel and excursion costs are worth it to us because we only cruise once a year and really enjoy getting off the plane in the Caribbean.

 

Ditto to everything said here.

[tserface]

We're doing a B2B on AOS this year and are looking forward to all of the smaller southern islands. I agree that a drink package is tough to justify even on a sea day intensive cruise and for one with so many ports it would be hard to get your money's worth.

 

You might want try writing down a list of the drinks you think you'd have on the ship. You could way over price them (like $10-$12 each). Add in bottles of water and a couple of coffees a day. Then add it up and see if it comes out to more than the cost of the package.

 

I've tried this and I always come out at least $10 shy of the daily cost. And, I never end up drinking as much as I estimated anyway. So, we've adopted the attitude of just getting what we want anyway and not worrying about it.

 

If you are a heavy drinker or want to try a lot of drinks you don't normally try then the package might be a fun way to do that. Someone recently wrote a review on the Adventure and they had a drink package and got all kinds of drinks I'd never heard of (likely didn't even drink them all) and that sounds like a fun thing to do sometime.

 

Tom

[rjrpar]

It's a great cruise but a pain to fly out of San Juan. Re. the drink package, you need to figure how much you will drink, everyone is different

[sandi1967]

Thank you to everyone who has replied:) As much as I love the idea of leaving from a port that is only about 45 minutes away............the idea of leaving from PR and visting all of those amazing islands is sooooo appealing!!

 

Sandi

[Lauralee1980]

I am booked on AOS for this July. We live about and hour and a half from NYC, but cruising out of San Juan seemed like such a fun thing to do, at least just once to try. We were able to afford the cruise, flights, excursions, and the drink packages by booking over a year out. We are also staying one night prior to the cruise, as well as one night after.

 

As far as the drink package goes, it really is a personal matter. I as well as many other people can post our own opinions on the matter, but unless you know your budget and how much you can drink personally, its all up to you.

 

With that being said, like I said above, I am getting the drink package. Even though we only have one full sea day I find it worth it. I will be bringing bottled waters with me to each port and will drink a couple sodas with dinner or afterwards. By the time I add all that together thats almost half of the package covered. I personally like hard alcohol and will sip on a couple martinis or cosmos each night. Based on my figures, to "break even" I would only need about 3 or 4 cosmos a night. We usually go to a bar before dinner and have 2 drinks, one more with dinner, and one or two at the casino or a show. So I believe I will profit from the package.

 

Hope this helps! :)