Do you think people are NOT sharing their drink package ?

[ownedbypets]

If you mean buying a drink package, getting a drink and taking a few sips and giving the rest to your husband who doesn't have a drink package, yes you'd be cheating.

 

Absolutely you would be cheating! Many people did that and a few sips easily leads to half a drink! You could have bought a package that included virgin cocktails and smoothies for yourself.

 

Many people believe that's why you both now have to buy a package, so you can no longer purchase one package any way.

 

 

I won't buy a drink package if it's considered sharing only to take a few sips and either throw it away or give it to my husband. I just wanted to be able to try new drinks and not have to be wasteful. Obviously he would be buying the refreshment package because he likes coffee, soda and juice.

I just can't drink an entire drink because of health reasons. I wish they could offer small samples, but I know there are reasons why they don't.

[gerelmx]

In the MDR we share the table with a couple from Argentina, one has the basic non alcoholic pkg and the other the basic alcoholic pkg, they always was served a glass of wine an premium water at dinner time. the waiter was turning a blind eye.

[Featfan22]

:confused: Confused...

Going on RCCL GOS next month out of Baltimore. My wife got a coffee card and I got the Refreshment package, both for $225 approx. She did not have to get a Refreshment package just because I did. My package was $190 and its a 9 day cruise, ;pthat's like $21 a day for everything except alcohol. I'll definitely get my moneys worth! I'll drink 6 bottles of water, 2 juices, 1-2 sodas, 2 frozen drinks, and about 4-5 cups of coffee. How can you beat that. All that individually would be over $60, $60 x 9 days equals over $500 bucks, I paid $190!! :D No brainer, if I want an alcoholic drink every now and then...I'll just buy one. My wife gets by on Tea and Lemonade. Oh, plus the 2 bottles of wine we bring on board with us. :cool:

[Clarea]

They must have settled the law suit? It may be a ship born myth, but I thought they had to allow only one to buy the package because they were sued by spouses with medical conditions or alcoholism that could not drink.

I don't recall any lawsuits reported.

 

If my memory is correct, they initially tested the drink packages on cruises out of the UK. When they first came out, there was no requirement for the stateroom mate to purchase. That lasted a week or two after which they changed the rules to make all stateroom guests purchase a package. After some time (weeks/months, not sure, and I think at the same time they introduced the packages to the rest of the fleet), they went back to not requiring all stateroom guests to purchase. That lasted for years, until just recently.

[Laurin612]

I had inquired in another related thread because we were considering getting the Deluxe package for my husband and when I tried to buy it it said both my 19 year old daughter and I also had to buy the package (it's a British Isles cruise, so a drinking age of 18). Anyway, DD and I both take a medication that has contraindications for alcohol. Per the excellent advice I received here, I called and explained to RCI. I offered to provide doctor's notes, but they did not require it. They DID, however, require me to purchase the Refreshment package for everyone else in our room (DD, DS and me) if I was getting the Deluxe package for my husband. No problem, since I was getting everyone a package, anyway (although I had only planned to get the soda package for my son initially).

[ARandomTraveler]

We have never bought a drink package because we don't drink enough but I do love my Lava Flows. I would like to buy it just once so I could try all of the delicious sounding drinks that everyone talks about but for health reasons I can only drink about 2-3 sips. My choice then is to either throw the rest away, which is wasteful, or give it to my husband, and he really doesn't want it. Nothing else included in the package would be of use because I only drink water. Would we be cheating if I bought drinks knowing that most of them are going to my husband?

 

 

If you’re only taking a few sips of the lava flow, then you may as well have the refreshment package where you can get the lava flow without alcohol in it. It’s a lot cheaper.

 

 

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[mcatmcat]

As far as I have seen, they are swiping each person's SeaPass card.

 

 

 

Not always , in 3 occasions I saw him pretending to scan it but they never did and in 2 occasion he just saw the seapass and gave me the drinks

 

 

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[gerif]

If you’re only taking a few sips of the lava flow, then you may as well have the refreshment package where you can get the lava flow without alcohol in it. It’s a lot cheaper.

 

 

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Or maybe no package at all - just pay for the occasional drink as you want it. Then it doesn’t matter who finishes it.

[Grandma Dazzles]

If you’re only taking a few sips of the lava flow, then you may as well have the refreshment package where you can get the lava flow without alcohol in it. It’s a lot cheaper.

 

 

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Pointed that out to OP already! She didn't like that response! That's the problem when you try to define cheating - how big are the sips!

[VaTech8912]

Probably still sharing, but I bet significantly less sharing and significantly more money spent on the package.

 

 

Exactly.

[VaTech8912]

:confused: Confused...

Going on RCCL GOS next month out of Baltimore. My wife got a coffee card and I got the Refreshment package, both for $225 approx. She did not have to get a Refreshment package just because I did. :cool:

 

 

Requirement is for Alcohol packages.

[Toofarfromthesea]

I don't think that's cynical, bartenders do little things all the time to increase tips.

 

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Stealing from your employer by handing out free drinks, which is what was described, isn't one of the acceptable 'little things'.

[GermericanDream]

I haven't been on a RC cruise in a long time, what drinks are available for people who do not buy a package? My husband and I got the ultimate drink package included with our fare, but we will have our four year old daughter with us. I'm not going to buy a drink package for her. Do they have apple juice or something for kids? Milk? I've been on a few cruises and have never bought a drink package, we've always just paid for the few cocktails we had and otherwise drank water.

[Clarea]

I haven't been on a RC cruise in a long time, what drinks are available for people who do not buy a package? ...

Tap water, coffee, hot tea, iced tea, lemonade, milk, juices with breakfast. Some ships also have flavored waters.

[ownedbypets]

Pointed that out to OP already! She didn't like that response! That's the problem when you try to define cheating - how big are the sips!

It's not that I didn't like your response. I don't feel like I need to be treated like a child for a simple question. I wanted to try new drinks knowing that I can't drink more than a few sips and I don't like to waste things, so my husband would have been my only option. But like I said I'm not going to buy a package if it's cheating.

[Grandma Dazzles]

I haven't been on a RC cruise in a long time, what drinks are available for people who do not buy a package? My husband and I got the ultimate drink package included with our fare, but we will have our four year old daughter with us. I'm not going to buy a drink package for her. Do they have apple juice or something for kids? Milk? I've been on a few cruises and have never bought a drink package, we've always just paid for the few cocktails we had and otherwise drank water.

 

Included with your fare: tap water, hot and iced tea, coffee (not specialty), hot chocolate, white and chocolate milk, lemonade/punch/flavored water usually in Windjammer, orange juice with breakfast (not fresh squeezed) also sometimes Apple/tomato/cranberry). My granddaughter loves apple juice and never had a problem getting in the MDR at any meal. No need to buy a package for your daughter.

[Grandma Dazzles]

It's not that I didn't like your response. I don't feel like I need to be treated like a child for a simple question. I wanted to try new drinks knowing that I can't drink more than a few sips and I don't like to waste things, so my husband would have been my only option. But like I said I'm not going to buy a package if it's cheating.

 

What I and others were trying to point out to you is that to just have a few sips of any frozen drink you could purchase a refreshment package and try any number of virgin cocktails. You really don't taste the booze in most of the blended frozen drinks - especially if you just have a few sips. If you purchased the refreshment package you would be better off and not cheating.

 

So sorry if you were offended by honest answers.

[ARandomTraveler]

What I and others were trying to point out to you is that to just have a few sips of any frozen drink you could purchase a refreshment package and try any number of virgin cocktails. You really don't taste the booze in most of the blended frozen drinks - especially if you just have a few sips. If you purchased the refreshment package you would be better off and not cheating.

 

 

 

So sorry if you were offended by honest answers.

 

 

Exactly. It wouldn’t be a waste of money if you buy the refreshment instead of the deluxe, and there’s no need to take just a few sips of alcohol, because that does nothing, so you may as well buy the non-alcohol package and then you won’t be wasting the money.

 

If you have any on board credit from Royal Caribbean, you should be able to use it online to make purchases before you go on your cruise, and if you wait until the package goes on sale for $18, then apply your on board credit, the cost could be around $100. You would still get your money’s worth out of the refreshment package even if you only took a couple sips of a drink and threw it out. Not so much with the deluxe.

 

 

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[legaljen1969]

Hi [emoji3]

 

Now both people in the same stateroom [emoji127]need to purchase a drink package if one of them bought the [emoji483]premium package. You can’t share the package with anyone but do you honestly believe passengers are not sharing the package ? [emoji1294][emoji1291][emoji1293]

 

 

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Just wondering if Royal should consider offering some sort of discount or incentive for this. My husband only drinks beer. He doesn't drink wine or any sort of liquor drinks. So to make him get a premium package is a waste. What if you had a couple where one of them could not drink for some health reason but the other person maybe enjoyed nice wine or a nicer scotch or something and the premium package would pay off for them? Should the drinker have to pay by the drink? Or not drink at all just so the other party wouldn't have to pay a high price for a service they had no intention of using?

[legaljen1969]

What you just described abover is the Replenish pacakge. Which as a cost of $293 for the cruise. The Deluxe pkg is about $550 more. That's per person. Double that due to the new ruling. Again, my body can't take that much liquor. I'm not used to drinking 15 days in a row, especially that much per day. Seven day cruise, I'm probably all over it, meaning the deluxe package(s).

 

Am I understanding you correctly that the Deluxe package is now approximately $850 dollars per person for the week? That's $1700 just for drinks, almost as much as the cabin for the week if you are doing a balcony. WOW!! Seems like this would just encourage people who were so inclined to try to smuggle alcohol aboard.

 

I am very much a play by the rules person, but I liked it so much when they had the drink package that was pretty much just beer and wine and then the other one that included liquor drinks.

[SkiTeton]

I would gladly pay for a beer-only package if the price was less than the "everything" package. Has one ever been offered on any cruise line?

[grandgeezer]

Am I understanding you correctly that the Deluxe package is now approximately $850 dollars per person for the week? That's $1700 just for drinks, almost as much as the cabin for the week if you are doing a balcony. WOW!! Seems like this would just encourage people who were so inclined to try to smuggle alcohol aboard.

 

I am very much a play by the rules person, but I liked it so much when they had the drink package that was pretty much just beer and wine and then the other one that included liquor drinks.

 

He's talking about a 15 day cruise. That's still a lot of money.

[Big_G]

I was actually commenting on mom2tcdx2 post where she mentioned the bartender swiping one card for two drinks.

 

 

The only time I've seen a bartender swipe one card for two drinks other than for purchasing is when they're covered by the Diamond voucher. We pretty much get the drink package on every cruise now so it's been a while since we've used the vouchers.

[Big_G]

I would gladly pay for a beer-only package if the price was less than the "everything" package. Has one ever been offered on any cruise line?

 

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I think Royal had three packages at one time: beer and wine, Classic, and Premium. Celebrity still offers a Classic and Premium.

[Clarea]

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I think Royal had three packages at one time: beer and wine, Classic, and Premium. Celebrity still offers a Classic and Premium.

Here is an old flyer:

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/pdf/menus/beverage_packages.pdf