Alcohol budget? Any suggestions from recent travelers!?

[TurnLeftKasey]

Heading out on the Epic for 7 days - leaving this Sunday - WHOOOOO!

 

I'm a solo cruiser that enjoys a couple of cocktails a day (I don't want a souvenir glass) and a glass of wine or two at dinner.

 

Any ideas from recent cruisers? Trying to figure up what I would most-likely spend. Thanks

[sykimball1498]

We got off a 15 day cruise in January and most drinks/glasses of wine were between $8-10 with gratuity. It just depends on what you drink. I would plan on $10 per drink so if you have 4 a day that would be $40 per day or $280 for the week.

 

I know some drink prices and gratuity just went up so maybe a little more at about $300-$325 for the week.

 

You can always buy bottles of wine for dinner and ahve them save it for you for the next night to save some money.

Edited March 13, 2015 by sykimball1498

[Ilovesailing]

Don't buy wine by the glass as it's too expensive. Buy a bottle and either take it back to your room or they will store it in their wine cellar and call it up for you at any restaurant the next day, even the main dining rooms.

[TurnLeftKasey]

I think I will def buy the wine by the bottle - can you do this anytime? Anywhere? Or only available in the dining room establishments?

[gcdogwalker]

You can also bring your own wine onboard. They will charge you 15.00 for each bottle when you board the ship and depending on which wine you drink this may be less expensive for you and you can bring as many bottles as you wish.

[LaCal]

Or bring your own wine and pay the corkage fee and it'll save you even more money 😃

[Guindalf]

Why not just go ahead and order the UBP? For $54 per day in advance or $59 on board (+18% gratuity), you can drink as much as you want without worrying about budget, and that includes soda and juice as well as non-alcoholic drinks and wine by the glass. The maximum per serving is $11 pre gratuity, so pretty much everything is covered including premium spirits. Some ultra-premium drinks like Hennessey X.O. and some wines are not covered, but you'll find most drinks are included.

[AndyCapn]

Why not just go ahead and order the UBP? For $54 per day in advance or $59 on board (+18% gratuity), you can drink as much as you want without worrying about budget, and that includes soda and juice as well as non-alcoholic drinks and wine by the glass.

 

That "+18% gratuity" pushes the price to $64 / $70. That's a minimum of 6-7 drinks every day to make it cost effective. As the OP said, he only wants a couple of cocktails and a couple glasses of wine a day. In his particular case, it would be more expensive to buy the UBP.

[TurnLeftKasey]

I'm flying in so I didn't want to pack several bottles of white zin and then pay $15 each - I looked it up and they only charge $24 which is fair. About the same if I bought them here and then paid their $15 fee.

I don't think I'll do the UBP - it would be close to $500 and I'm a young single female traveler and I would never get my money's worth for several reasons. I don't want to get s***faced alone and I can't justify spending more on booze than my cruise fare.

 

Thank you for all your answers :)

[roger001]

I'm flying in so I didn't want to pack several bottles of white zin and then pay $15 each - I looked it up and they only charge $24 which is fair. About the same if I bought them here and then paid their $15 fee.

I don't think I'll do the UBP - it would be close to $500 and I'm a young single female traveler and I would never get my money's worth for several reasons. I don't want to get s***faced alone and I can't justify spending more on booze than my cruise fare.

 

Thank you for all your answers :)

 

On the first day there will be a wine package offered. You can buy 4 bottles of different levels of wine for a discount price. Otherwise, only you know how much to budget because only you know how much you will drink. It's number of drinks times price per drink per day times days on cruise that you will be drinking. Just do the math. What will you drink? Someone on here can give you he per drink price.

[KeithJenner]

I was just going to mention the wine package (Viva Vino). At $88 for 4 bottles at the lowest level , unless the prices increased last week, it is worth considering.

 

The restaurants will hold you unfinished bottles for you, so that gives you half a bottle each night, with a bonus half bottle left over for less than the cost of two glasses a night.

[Canuker]

Any other NCL on-board beverage specials that folk found useful, please?

Edited March 14, 2015 by Canuker

[Sauer-kraut]

Any other NCL on-board beverage specials that folk found useful, please?

 

Martini tastings/Beer Tastings/Whiskey Tastings.... usually about $15 and you try 5-6 different ones. Check the Daily for information.