All inclusive beverage card- worth it?

[gma rae]

We are trying to figure out if this card which covers all beverages is worth it. We enjoy wine with dinner, we like a cocktail or wine before dinner when on vacation, we do not drink soda, we drink a lot of water but have already ordered the water delivery, and we like real perked coffee every morning (I think we can get that at MDR), very rarely drink specialty coffee but we are on cruise so maybe 2-3 total entire cruise.

 

I have no idea what they charge for the occasional mixed drink, glass of wine or bottle at dinner.

 

I know we can bring on 2 bottles of wine per cabin so we will do that.

 

It looks like the card for 1 averages out to 6 $10.00 drinks a day. That is too many drinks for me or my husband per day. However if I shared the card with my husband it would cover coffee, wine, mixed drink, before, during and after dinner depending on what we chose. That would work great!

 

I am guessing this has already been tried and denied.

[Thrak]

D'Oh! Dual posts.

[Thrak]

It looks like the card for 1 averages out to 6 $10.00 drinks a day. That is too many drinks for me or my husband per day. However if I shared the card with my husband it would cover coffee, wine, mixed drink, before, during and after dinner depending on what we chose. That would work great!

 

Don't try it. If you try to share the card you will not only be busted but you will lose the drink package, have to pay for any drinks you have had, and will not be reimbursed the cost of the package. A very costly mistake.

 

Some pay for the package as it includes the water, juice, specialty coffee, wine by the glass, and almost every possible drink onboard. (On ships with the expanded whiskey offerings in Share there are a bunch of high end whiskey offerings that aren't included but, on most ships, there are only a couple of hard liquor offerings and maybe 5 wines that aren't included.)

 

My wife and I are happy to take it as a perk and did so under the Sip and Sail promo but will never actually pay for it.

[Colo Cruiser]

There is no all inclusive card. It's a sticker.

 

It's per person. You cannot share!! It is theft.

 

A quick search found a ton of threads on your question.

 

Here is one.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2213354&highlight=aibp

[NavyVeteran]

There are many threads on the AIBP, including some with lists of all the drinks and prices.

 

If you purchase the AIBP, then you should cancel your water delivery, since bottled water is included. Another option is to fill bottles from the tap - it's as good as most bottled water.

 

You cannot share with another person. If they catch you doing so, they may cancel the package (with no refund) and bill you for all of your drinks. Unlike some other lines, Princess does not require all passengers in the same stateroom to purchase the package. If they catch very many people sharing, they will change that - and the rest of us will suffer. Please don't try it.

 

However, you can share the bottles of wine that you can purchase at 40% off. If one of you drinks only wine and the other drinks more drinks, one can purchase the AIBP and purchase bottles of wine (at 40% off) for the other one. The one with the AIBP doesn't even have to drink from the purchased bottles - he or she can order wines by the glass under the AIBP and let the partner drink the bottle.

 

The MDR does not have real perked coffee. The only places to get real perked coffee are Sabatini's or Crown Grill for breakfast (which is only for those in full suites) and the International Café (which requires payment or a coffee card). The perked coffee from the International Café is included in the AIBP.

[kennicott]

"Browse Before You Post

Browse a topic first to see if your question has already been asked or answered by someone else. Browsing is your #1 best resource!"

[ar1950]

My answer from the other thread:

 

If you want fresh brewed coffee, get the coffee card. BTW, if you don't plan on buying enough coffees to justify the cost of the card don't buy it (There is not fresh brewed in the MDR. We saw the liquid coffee machines in the galley on the galley tour the last couple of times we did them). If the number of drinks you expect to have don't make sense cost-wise, skip the AIBP and buy the drinks as you want them.

 

Anyway, it is a vacation and if you drink a bit more than you thought you would, relax and enjoy yourselves irrespective of that. A bit more or less shouldn't make a big difference.

[gma rae]

WoW! Sorry for double post. Not intended! It seems lately whenever I post I get multiple posts and I do not find the HELP desk helpful! They will not let me delete when I find a duplicate post.

 

I am not an experienced poster give me some slack!

 

The opinions here are invaluable but we are not all expert posters.

 

Some of us want your knowledge but are not refined in our skills for this site or in our travel knowledge, that's why we are here! Have patience please!

[gma rae]

Thank you all,

We are only on our 2 cruise so there are a lot of things we are not familiar with. Thank you for all the input, we do not want to cheat the agency or affect others, just trying to figure out how things work.

 

Someone said we should have checked previous posts before posting our question. We did, but response depend on how you word the question, and some answers are really old. Sorry if you were annoyed by a question asked previously! I really do try to search forums for the information before I ask a question.

[ar1950]

WoW! Sorry for double post. Not intended! It seems lately whenever I post I get multiple posts and I do not find the HELP desk helpful! They will not let me delete when I find a duplicate post.

 

I am not an experienced poster give me some slack!

 

The opinions here are invaluable but we are not all expert posters.

 

Some of us want your knowledge but are not refined in our skills for this site or in our travel knowledge, that's why we are here! Have patience please!

 

Some folks are a little quick to chastise here. Not really a problem for most of us if you accidentally post twice. Hang around long enough and you will eventually find out a lot about cruising on the different cruise lines. Nothing is gospel, but, sometimes the information is spot on and other times opinion only. Enjoy. :D

[Mrs.Gosse]

Interesting to me how people are so quick to complain it's a "double post". JUST DON'T CLICK! !!! You ask whatever you need to OP!

 

I will say this, I have asked for decaf coffee in the main dining room on multiple occasions and most of the time I have to wait because I'm told they are Brewing it and it comes out scalding hot. Any coffee I have received in the main dining room has been delicious and extremely hot. Have to disagree that the coffee is not perked there. Maybe on some ships that may be true but it has not been my experience.

 

I would not risk sharing the card. And honestly it just isn't right. These are the kind of things that cause cost of drinks and cards to go up. My husband and I are big Drinkers and we don't even find the need for these cards. I think you would end up losing money.

 

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[OzKiwiJJ]

We've had the drinks package on three cruises. It's borderline for us but we do enjoy cocktails before dinner, wine with dinner, an after dinner liqueur, speciality coffees, fresh OJ at breakfast, and bottled water.

 

However we are seriously thinking about not getting the package for our next cruise for two reasons:

1. The wines by the glass have been very disappointing. Since I calculate the value of the package on an average of AU $8 per glass and we typically drink three glasses of wine with dinner, that's AU $48 in value of wines. We can get much better quality wines and a better selection buying by the bottle for that amount of money.

2. On our last cruise we had the worst dinner waiters ever. It was a struggle getting two glasses of wine, let alone our usual three, so we really didn't get value for money out of the package on that cruise. That one extra glass of wine made the difference, especially on sea days.

[ar1950]

.............................

I will say this, I have asked for decaf coffee in the main dining room on multiple occasions and most of the time I have to wait because I'm told they are Brewing it and it comes out scalding hot. Any coffee I have received in the main dining room has been delicious and extremely hot. Have to disagree that the coffee is not perked there. Maybe on some ships that may be true but it has not been my experience.

 

.................................................................

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I agree. The coffee is usually fresh and hot. We have mostly found that the "regular" (syrup) coffee is usually always fine and the "fresh brewed" has mostly been not any better, sometimes even worse. Prepared "correctly", another subjective issue, any of the coffee may or may not be to your liking. Just sayin'. ;)

 

YMMV

[Papa Yoda]

here's a tool you can use to see if the package is "worth it" to you

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=43468321&postcount=205

[TracyTracy1]

gma rae, I found the drinks package well worth it and I knew exactly what coast I was up for at the end of the cruise. Soft drinks, special coffees and alcoholic beverages to a certain cost made my decision easy. I didn't want the worry of a huge bill at the end or having to keep tabs on what I could afford. Overall, I found it worth it.

 

Sorry you were berated by some for your double post, that's shameful behaviour on their part. I know how hard it is to find exactly what your looking for on the boards to avoid duplicate posting. In fact I've just written a post about the rudeness of some people on these boards. Thankfully, the scales tip mostly the other way. Keep looking forward to your cruise and forget the grumpy bums [emoji39]

 

 

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[wishfulone]

I think you'll find it was Thrak who made the double post and his "D'Oh! Dual posts." comment was directed at himself. He'll be upset to think someone thought he was critising them.

[redhatsharon]

There is no all inclusive card. It's a sticker.

 

It's per person. You cannot share!! It is theft.

 

A quick search found a ton of threads on your question.

 

Here is one.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2213354&highlight=aibp

 

Does anyone know what kind of diet soft drinks are available?

[pablo222]

Don't try it. If you try to share the card you will not only be busted but you will lose the drink package, have to pay for any drinks you have had, and will not be reimbursed the cost of the package. A very costly mistake.

 

This may well be true -- are there any first hand posts

here by people who have been busted (on Princess)?

[roohound]

I've had the all inclusive on another line and loved it. The convenience is awesome. I'm not a huge drinker and am picky about the drinks I do drink. This gave me a chance to try a bunch of stuff. If I didn't like it, I didn't have to finish the drink and could order another. Plus it was great to have access to the bottled waters, coffees, etc.

 

This upcoming cruise we have the all inclusive package as part of our onboard perks so it makes it even easier to enjoy!

 

If all we did was search and/or refer to old posts, this board would get pretty old, pretty quickly :)

[floridalover5623]

This may well be true -- are there any first hand posts

here by people who have been busted (on Princess)?

 

None that I could quote, especially on CC.

You have to have some discretion if you're going to share.

[Mrs.Gosse]

I'm not good at clicking the reply button for individual post so here goes.

 

For the poster that says they like the package because they don't like having a big Bill at the end. That's a great point!

 

For the poster that talks about the coffee not being any better, I have to say that it has always been better than the syrup coffee. Most of the time the syrup coffee is fine with me. I've had a few bad cups but it's not like I won't drink it. But I have always had excellent coffee in the dining room or the casino.

 

My husband and I have gone back and forth about this beverage package so many times. Like I said, we are big drinkers, but we usually don't drink the same things. He will enjoy a wine with me if I get a bottle but he would rather have beer or liquor. I do think that we would save a lot of money with this package if he and I would sit down with a bottle of wine every night at dinner. The discount is very good. Our last two cruises we were able to get some bottles at a discount price and that was well worth it so we took advantage of it. We let it go to the Cellar and would get it the next night at dinner again. And I agree, every once in a while it is hard to get someone's attention to get another drink. I know that something that would annoy me much more if I was on the all-inclusive beverage package.

 

This cruise we have two Scenic cruising days and to sea days so we might take more advantage of it. I think I could definitely be enticed by one of the Sip & Sail promotions. I'm going to keep an eye out because it don't think we're on a very good promotion right now. On our last Cruise a Sip & Sail came in not long after we booked and my husband was so pissed! LOL the deal we had gotten was financially better but if we had never known that one was available this would have been a great deal. And it's a deal we could have gotten excited about!

 

 

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[simonmary]

This may well be true -- are there any first hand posts

 

here by people who have been busted (on Princess)?

 

 

Yes. I saw it first hand on the Star in September.

 

The couple in crooners. He got a drink from the waitress. He then went to the bar for another drink. Did that twice.

 

An officer went to their table and escorted them to passenger services.

 

You could hear him yelling all through the atrium about how he should only be on the hook for the drinks he bought his wife instead of all the drinks.

 

While it was somewhat entertaining to hear, I felt a bit bad for the wife who was trying to shut him up.

 

Don't know the final outcome of the drama.

 

Do know it wasn't pretty, judging from the shouting.

 

 

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[floridalover5623]

Yes. I saw it first hand on the Star in September.

 

The couple in crooners. He got a drink from the waitress. He then went to the bar for another drink. Did that twice.

 

An officer went to their table and escorted them to passenger services.

 

You could hear him yelling all through the atrium about how he should only be on the hook for the drinks he bought his wife instead of all the drinks.

 

While it was somewhat entertaining to hear, I felt a bit bad for the wife who was trying to shut him up.

 

Don't know the final outcome of the drama.

 

Do know it wasn't pretty, judging from the shouting.

 

 

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Lets face it the guy was a little to blatant about passing off drinks. If he had used just the smallest discretion no one would have even noticed.

You even saw that one coming. ;)

[gma rae]

Oh My, so many great response!. Thank you all. If I had hibernated after the first Dual post comment I would never have had the wealth of this post. Thank you everyone!!!!

 

I appreciate your input.. still not sure what to do but leaning toward no card purchase. It would work if we could share it but do not want to cheat.

 

So since this is only our 2nd cruise I think we will just buy as we go. Thanks everyone!!

 

Oh, if this shows up twice as a a duplicate post, look the other way!!

[Papa Yoda]

 

I appreciate your input.. still not sure what to do but leaning toward no card purchase. It would work if we could share it but do not want to cheat.

 

Take a shot using Kelly's spreadsheet to see if it makes sense or not to you:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=43468321&postcount=205

 

You never know - but an after dinner drink with a cappuccino . Not worrying about bottled water. Enjoying Vines to the (almost) fullest. Trying things just to see if you'd like them... these things go a long way to making a vacation a vacation.