How free is your drink package, really?

[adam_s_allen]

I think a lot of us understand it isn’t free. We still take it for many other reasons such as not having to worry about a bar bill at the end of the cruise, or we want to select our cabin anyways.

 

In my case I know the overall cost of the cruise will be less if I take the UBP as a perk versus paying for drinks serperately.

[Phaedrus78]

The amount you're actually charged for the UBP is gratuity.  

 

If you weren't charged that up front, would it be your intention to not tip at all for the drinks you're getting?  

[Tapi]

19 minutes ago, Phaedrus78 said:

The amount you're actually charged for the UBP is gratuity.  

 

If you weren't charged that up front, would it be your intention to not tip at all for the drinks you're getting?  

When you get the drink package, you’re being charged a lump amount for gratuities for x number of drinks even if you never order one during the entire week. 

 

The cruise that I priced showed a price increase of about $350 with the drink package, which is roughly how much money we normally spend on drinks when paying as we go. We normally get 5-6 drinks a day, mostly beer, which comes up to about that amount, gratuities included, so for us the included drink package isn’t a huge incentive. 

 

But for someone who drinks considerably more than that, then yes, the included drink package is indeed a great perk. 

Edited January 14, 2019 by Tapi

[cheersforbeers]

4 hours ago, Kmkub said:

If you don't think the drink package is a good value, you shouldn't buy it.

Why does anyone care what we pay for the drink package.  It’s my decision not yours!!!

[Phaedrus78]

3 minutes ago, Tapi said:

When you get the drink package, you’re being charged a lump amount for gratuities for x number of drinks even if you never order one. The cruise that I priced showed a price increase of about $350 with the drink package, which is roughly how much money we normally spend on drinks when paying as we go. so for us it’s not a very big incentive. For someone who drinks considerably more than that, then yes, the included drink package is indeed a great perk. 

 

To charge it up front, I guess they'd have to do it that way.  For us it was an increase of about $175 each for a 10 day cruise.  It's hard to charge gratuity on something like that without knowing how much each individual is going to use the program, so charging it as a standard 18% of the package cost seems fair to me.  Of course then you can get into the question of whether the standard package cost itself is reasonable (hint: it's not)...

 

I'm with a couple of the other posters here in that the price of a drink package is worth it to me just to have one less thing to worry about.  I pay for everything up front that I can, so that I'm not sitting on the boat having to stress our budget every day.  Less stress, more RELAX.  

 

And when you add it all up, if you want an unlimited drink package, NCL is a far better bargain than Carnival or RCI by virtue of including the UBP as a perk, even if you have to jump through a couple of hoops to get that perk.  

 

Yeah, it's not free.  But it is heavily discounted.  

[david_sobe]

1 hour ago, Phaedrus78 said:

The amount you're actually charged for the UBP is gratuity.  

 

If you weren't charged that up front, would it be your intention to not tip at all for the drinks you're getting?  

 

That's not correct.  The promos are endless so its hard to account for price. I had a Jade cruise on my mind and would constantly check prices.  There was a one or two week blip with no promos and the price went down $200.  As soon as the promos came back the price went back up $200.  Many don't realize but the cruise price is inflated for many of the perks most of the time.

[Peachypooh]

We cruised the Pearl to Alaska around 5 years ago and were lucky enough to sail in the Haven.

We were given a specialty restaurant package (I think it was almost for every night) and a drink package

TOTALLY free. It was automatic with our cabin.

Now with the options we think carefully if the gratuities will be more than what our regular bar

bill will be and if we really want to eat in the specialty restaurants. For our upcoming cruise we opted

out of both.(or rather didn't select either)

It is a totally optional and individual decision. And for some people even if paying the 20 percent on

the drink package is more than what their bar bill would have been maybe they like the fact they

don't have to think about it.

I am guessing that the real issue here is one that has been complained about a lot. The advertising

says free and then in tiny letters or at the time of booking they tell you about the gratuities.

I wish for the newbies sake they advertised it upfront as "only pay the gratuities but the drinks

are on us" or something to that effect.

[Tapi]

17 minutes ago, Peachypooh said:

We were given a specialty restaurant package (I think it was almost for every night) and a drink package

TOTALLY free. It was automatic with our cabin.

I think that’s how it should be if they are going to offer a “free” drink package. Our last cruise was on MSC and our stateroom came with a drink package as well. No separate charge for drink package gratuities. 

[phillyguy31]

The package itself is free, they ask you to cover the tip. Remember NCL is a US based company and our custom is that when you get you drink or food for free you cover the tip. Whether you do or not is another thing.

[PTC DAWG]

11 minutes ago, Tapi said:

I think that’s how it should be if they are going to offer a “free” drink package. Our last cruise was on MSC and our stateroom came with a drink package as well. No separate charge for drink package gratuities. 

Even MSC charges the cabins different for the Easy Drink Package, or not...I just booked one, almost missed it, price was about $200 cheaper, figured out I had gone about booking it wrong..not in the all inclusive portal...still, I’ll be looking at about a $350 for the week for 2 to upgrade to the more inclusive premium package, it will be worth it to me. 

 

Balcony cabin was too good of a price to turn down, April sailing, ready to go. 

[bostonfred]

We chose the drink package for our upcoming Dawn cruise....that being said, compared to other lines it comes up way short..no water bottles, speciality coffees...also price is inflated compared to other lines. This inflated price allows for larger service fee. You just have to do the math given how much you imbibe...not including coffee drinks is a major difference for many...anyway looking forward to my first Mohito...🍺🍺

[zqvol]

A couple of points. No one ever claimed that the perks were free. They are part of a package called free at sea, but it has terms attached.

 

Second point. The only way to compare prices is to pick exactly the same cruise with and without perks and determine after you get off the ship what you actually paid. Trying to guess ahead of time is an exercise in futility. The true cost of your cruise is what you are out of pocket after the entire event is over, not when you start planning.

[tallnthensome]

11 minutes ago, bostonfred said:

We chose the drink package for our upcoming Dawn cruise....that being said, compared to other lines it comes up way short..no water bottles, speciality coffees...also price is inflated compared to other lines. This inflated price allows for larger service fee. You just have to do the math given how much you imbibe...not including coffee drinks is a major difference for many...anyway looking forward to my first Mohito...🍺🍺

I can buy plenty of water and specialty coffees with the $1100 difference over Cheers on Carnival for 15 days. Our MSC Seaside trip with the premium drink package was the best we ever had at sea. Premium everything, unlimited gelato, specialty coffees, unlimited use of the room mini bar and all the drinks and food in it ..... we'd empty it twice a day. Nothing else has ever compared. 

[wilsonhold]

We are over 21, and light drinkers. I been wondering if you have the option to chose the soda package  instead of the beverage package as one of the free at sea promotions. There does not seem to be method to do it online, but instead if maybe it could be changed if you called ncl directly. The service charge on soft drinks currently is under 2 dollars a day. It seems to be an option if passengers are under 21.  Does anyone know? 

[PATRLR]

3 hours ago, Phaedrus78 said:

The amount you're actually charged for the UBP is gratuity.   

 

50 minutes ago, phillyguy31 said:

The package itself is free, they ask you to cover the tip. 

These statements are not correct if you are comfortable booking at guarantee category.   We're in the process of booking our next cruises right now and going through all this math.  We seldom care to choose our cabin so I am comfortable saying that to us, the drink package is rather expensive and seems to be coming out on the "not worth it" end of the scale.

 

Edited January 14, 2019 by PATRLR

[Lionkingrichard]

Also if you are getting 3 or more perks then you need to add the value of those also.

 

3 meals X 2 is worth $200!

[cheersforbeers]

A lot of the statements on this thread are total BS........

As a perk the Drink Package is F

[cheersforbeers]

A lot of the statements on this thread are total BS.........

As a PERK the Drink Package is free you pay a fee for administration of package.

If I won a car the ca

[PTC DAWG]

33 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

I can buy plenty of water and specialty coffees with the $1100 difference over Cheers on Carnival for 15 days. Our MSC Seaside trip with the premium drink package was the best we ever had at sea. Premium everything, unlimited gelato, specialty coffees, unlimited use of the room mini bar and all the drinks and food in it ..... we'd empty it twice a day. Nothing else has ever compared. 

I’ll report back after our April MSC Seaside Cruise....should be fun. 

[cheersforbeers]

 A lot of the comments on this thread are total BS.....

The drink package as a PERK You pay a fee for it’s administration.

If I won a car the CAR is free I have to pay TT&L to be able to drive it.

I win any gift but to collect I have to pay shipping and handling but GIFT was FREE.

I win the Publishers Clearing House or the MEGA lotto, same thing in order to collect I have to PAY TAXES before I can collect.

Seems pretty simple, AS A PERK IT IS FREE, PERIOD of course IMHO

 

[wdsted]

That booze perk makes me so angry that I want to pay the extra hundreds of dollars it saves us just to stick it to NCL!  OK, maybe not...

 

[PTC DAWG]

Bottoms Up!

Edited January 14, 2019 by PTC DAWG

[cheersforbeers]

37 minutes ago, wdsted said:That booze perk makes me so angry that I want to pay the extra hundreds of dollars it saves us just to stick it to NCL!  OK, maybe not...

 

Now that’s funny.  

Sorry for my earlier mistakes but I was exercising and couldn’t control my finger

 

[TFLG]

2 hours ago, cheersforbeers said:

 A lot of the comments on this thread are total BS.....

The drink package as a PERK You pay a fee for it’s administration.

If I won a car the CAR is free I have to pay TT&L to be able to drive it.

I win any gift but to collect I have to pay shipping and handling but GIFT was FREE.

I win the Publishers Clearing House or the MEGA lotto, same thing in order to collect I have to PAY TAXES before I can collect.

Seems pretty simple, AS A PERK IT IS FREE, PERIOD of course IMHO

 

 

Hardly free,  On Celebrity it's slightly more free. They don't charge any grats or fees.  But even then it's not really free.  They have increased the cost of the cabins (a lot). I did the same Hawaii cruise on Celebrity 3 years in a row, once before the "free perks" twice after.  The same cabin after the free perks promotion went from $1300pp to $1700pp and now it's north of $2k. So a $400pp increase to get "free booze" and gratuities when the promo started.  NCL has done a similar thing.  Cruises I used to pay $800pp for prior to the free at sea are now well north of $1100 (plus the 20% on the packages).  Still works out cheaper than when I paid my own bar bill. My bar tab for a 7 day was usually around $800 to $1k. So factoring in the free at sea it's a little less but certainly not much cheaper (although I do drink A LOT more with the package).  Not sure the price increase of other sailings after the free at sea started, mine were primarily West coast.  I also compared the cost of NCL vs Carnival on a similar Mex Riviera cruise.  Carnival is about $400pp less than sailing on the Star and about $600pp cheaper than the Bliss for a comparable balcony (price checked on new Carnival Panorama sailings). Adding in the Beverage package adds about $400 pp.  So again it's almost a wash.  All these cruise lines play games with these promotions.  Drop the price here - increase it somewhere else, Free perk - increase the cabin price.

[fshagan]

10 hours ago, ColeThornton said:

No big deal missing Second City.  They were probably the worst act I've seen on an NCL ship, every time.

 

Have to totally agree with you there. Not good at all.