Drinks packages coming to P&O

[ozzysdad]

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

PS Can we take bottles of decaf diet Coke on with us at Southampton as well as our spirits?

You can take as much soft drinks and mixers on board as you like.

[ozzysdad]

Looking at the bill for our week long cruise last year we spent £350 for the week for three of us, that included a drink most nights, dinner in a speciality restaurant and my other halves odd game of bingo, taking the drinks package would add £560 to that.

 

Surely some who purchase this package will automatically feel the need to get their 'monies worth' which will create problems in itself particularly on cruises that encourage families? It's not for me but will appeal to some, I much prefer just a couple in the evening and drinking to excess normally spoils the next day or two for me so the package offers very little appeal.

Edited January 31, 2019 by ozzysdad

[Presto2]

4 minutes ago, ozzysdad said:

You can take as much soft drinks and mixers on board as you like.

 

Many thanks for that … really appreciated

 

:-)

 

 

[Nellie100]

We have just booked the TA on Azura - now I like a drink but not sure I could drink enough every day for it to be worth a bill of over 1k anyway not sure I wil have to make that decision because my email says it doesn't strt until after we dock in Southampton. 

So will carry on with the usual 2 L on board for tipple before and after dinner if I need anymore will buy on board or try and bring on board in St Maarten. 

I don't usually drink in the day anyway but it's a shame it's not more realistically priced as I would enjoy trying drinks I would not usually buy as stick to what I like as don't want to waste money 

[Selbourne]

We don’t drink anything like as much as some people, but most of what we do drink isn’t even included in the package!

 

On boarding we celebrate with a bottle of Peller Ice Cuvée in the Glasshouse. Not included. We don’t use the Costa coffee establishments. We are very happy with the free chilled tap water in all the restaurants. We generally don’t drink alcohol during the daytime, unless it’s a sea day and we are lunching in the Glasshouse. From memory, I think that some of the 250ml glasses of wine we order are above the price cap and any bottle we might fancy is excluded. Before dinner we have one or two drinks. My beers or non alcoholic cocktails would be included (hallelujah) but my wife likes the ‘Perfect Serve’ gins which are excluded due to price and being doubles. She also doesn’t like Schweppes or draught tonics (included) and has Fever Tree (not included unless it counts as a drink, but you can’t order two together). At dinner we have a bottle of wine, which usually lasts 2 nights. Not included. After dinner we sometimes have a double of something. Not included as they are doubles. Perhaps we have very odd drinking habits, but I don’t think so. 

 

When this was last debated, one or two people seemed to think that even though they would be ‘unlikely’ to get full value from the package, they liked the fact that they had certainty of their expenditure. I’m afraid that ‘logic’ completely fails me. The only certainty is that they will pay far more than they need to by paying as they go. The other justification is that it saves having to pay for each drink. Again, there’s no logic to that either as nobody pays for drinks. You sign a receipt regardless of whether you are on a package or not and just pay one bill (automatically) at the end of the cruise. 

 

My final thought is the potential increase in drunkenly behaviour. We have only witnessed this twice in 16 Cruises with P&O but on both occasions it was quite frightening. I’m all for freedom of choice, but if these packages cause regular incidents of this nature I’m afraid our cruising days will rapidly come to an end. 

 

[GolferT]

Well I think it’s great that there giving people the option. For me it would save us a fortune to do a drinks package. At least it’s an optional extra so if you don’t drink a lot then great, just pay as you go. Win win In my eyes, everyone is happy.........actually no sorry this is a cruise forum so no doubt someone won’t be 

[Guest ccpm]

I am very happy about it being in place for my next cruise would be even more pleased if I could buy it before I go so it isn't part of my final on board account. 

[Rupert2251]

Well it's a no brainer for me.... it's a big fat "No thank you"!!

[jeanlyon]

I would love someone to tell me how they would expect to spend £39.95 per day, every day.  It's a huge amount.  Fair enough if you do, but what would the breakdown be?  I just can't get my head around it.

 

 

[P-L-B]

44 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I would love someone to tell me how they would expect to spend £39.95 per day, every day.  It's a huge amount.  Fair enough if you do, but what would the breakdown be?  I just can't get my head around it.

 

 

No, we can’t either Jean.

Also, the assumption by some that people who prefer not to take a drinks package do not drink much.!!

We do 🍻🥂🥃, but it is still cheaper for us to pay as you go.

Sticking my neck out on this one but my feeling is that due to the cost, these drinks packages will be welcomed by a minority of regular P&O passengers.

Thankfully they are optional so people do have a choice.

Edited February 1, 2019 by P-L-B

[jeanlyon]

Yes agree.  On a normal day, I have a large glass of wine before dinner, so that's £5.95 or so.  then we have a bottle of wine with dinner - OK so we could have glasses, because bottles aren't incuded, but then that would be 2 more glasses, so far I'm up to £18.  even if I had a coffee each day, another £2.65 err I think.  That's £20  I don't do soft drinks other than juice at breakfast which is included.  So even if I had 2 drinks at lunchtime, which I dont, we would still be nowhere near it?

[Selbourne]

As everyone in the cabin must take the package, it sounds even worse when you realise that it’s £80 per day per couple. Even without the high number of ‘exclusions’ from the drinks package (which, even if it was a lot cheaper, would render it completely useless to us) I suspect that quite a few first time cruisers (of which there are an increasing number on P&O) will take up the package. They will be assuming that drinks are expensive (which they aren’t) and thinking that they will drink more than they actually do, not factoring in time off the ship etc.

 

I know a couple who were going on their first cruise (Azura) last year and were dead set on buying the package (they drink a lot more than us). I talked them out of it by explaining the reality of port days etc. They were very grateful to me afterwards as they said that they felt they drank plenty throughout the cruise but would have been severely out of pocket had they bought the package. It will be interesting to see how many people start posting how much they saved by buying the package. I don’t recall anyone being able to do so during the trial but a good few saying that they wouldn’t repeat it. Clearly P&O only made the trial permanent because they profited from it, rather than the passengers! If they had lost money on it rest assured that it would not have been rolled out!

[Slugsta]

Our average on-board spend works out at about £50 per day between us. That is not trying to economise, just drinking as we want to. We would have to drink a lot more to even break even on the package! 

 

As Selbourne said, PandO would not be doing this if it didn't make them money.

[Tom Baker]

This is the start of the P&O marketing strategy for future cruise promotions.

They are adopting the Carnival Corp. US marketing strategy.

Most P&O stalwarts won't be paying £80 per day (2 in a cabin)

Newcomers may well fall for the package.

 

Soon prices will be going up by £500 per person with a "FREE" Ultimate Drinks Package

Or book a Balcony to receive the package "Free" with balcony prices up by £1k per week

Or We'll throw in the package when you book early and pay in full.

[GolferT]

I understand to a lot of people it won’t be cost effective to buy the package, but for myself it saves me a fortune. I’ve been on numerous cruises and on average both myself and partner spend on average £100 - £110 per day, so that’s over £200 where as on the drinks package it’s £80 a day, save’s me £120 a day, times that by 14 (normally do 2 week cruises = a massive saving)........we usually have 4-5 large cocktails during the day whilst sunbathing or participating in the day time activities, then 2 drinks before we go in for dinner, a glass of wine or 2 at dinner, then normally 2 or 3 watching a show or doing a quiz and then maybe the cheeky night cap. The price soon adds up. I am by no means the minority in this either, I’ve spent many late nights in the late night venues on ships talking to fellow passengers who do the same, many who I am good friends with still to this day. We all go on holiday to enjoy ourselves and whilst some like a odd tipple here and there, some also like to have a few more. I actually stopped looking at future p&o cruises as the total holiday price was actually getting to High so I started to cruise other cruise liners who did AI packages. Now with this introduction it’s down to the travel agents to get booked up with p&o again. 

[mercury7289]

Does it include crisps?

 

Just asking John!

[jeanlyon]

LOL!!

 

Actually reading the posts in here the majority of us don't drink in the daytime.  Now we are not a representative sample and I notice on ships that folk are drinking as early as 10.30 in the morning and in the middle of the afternoon large glasses of wine are being supped.  It's not a criticism, just an observation.  Also, people spend hours in tiffanys on Oriana drinking loads of coffee, so I suppose for them maybe it would work out to be a good deal.

[P-L-B]

1 hour ago, GolferT said:

I understand to a lot of people it won’t be cost effective to buy the package, but for myself it saves me a fortune. I’ve been on numerous cruises and on average both myself and partner spend on average £100 - £110 per day, so that’s over £200 where as on the drinks package it’s £80 a day, save’s me £120 a day, times that by 14 (normally do 2 week cruises = a massive saving)........we usually have 4-5 large cocktails during the day whilst sunbathing or participating in the day time activities, then 2 drinks before we go in for dinner, a glass of wine or 2 at dinner, then normally 2 or 3 watching a show or doing a quiz and then maybe the cheeky night cap. The price soon adds up. I am by no means the minority in this either, I’ve spent many late nights in the late night venues on ships talking to fellow passengers who do the same, many who I am good friends with still to this day. We all go on holiday to enjoy ourselves and whilst some like a odd tipple here and there, some also like to have a few more. I actually stopped looking at future p&o cruises as the total holiday price was actually getting to High so I started to cruise other cruise liners who did AI packages. Now with this introduction it’s down to the travel agents to get booked up with p&o again. 

You say you have been on numerous cruises but just to be clear are you basing you calculations and savings taking account of the current low prices that P&O charger for their drinks compared to other cruise lines.

[Tom Baker]

Golfer T, Why is your night cap "cheeky"?

 

[Scriv]

Well, this package is a total no - brainer to avoid for us as lovers of a nice bottle of wine at dinner, G&T's with Fevertree tonic, large glass of Peroni, the odd bottle of Crabbies and a nice cocktail or Prosecco or two.... Not all at once I hasten to add and not covered by this package, so no point.

Edited February 1, 2019 by Scriv

[Slugsta]

1 minute ago, Scriv said:

Well, this package is a total non - brainer to avoid for us as lovers of a nice bottle of wine at dinner, G&T's with Fevertree tonic, large glass of Peroni, the odd bottle of Crabbies and a nice cocktail.... Not covered by this package, so no point.

 

Hi Scriv - how are you?

[Scriv]

3 minutes ago, Slugsta said:

 

Hi Scriv - how are you?

 Hi Slugsta - doing well thank you. How about you? Next cruise is June. .. how about you?

 

[MickD]

Think it depends where you are cruising.

If in the Caribbean a couple of frozen cocktails around the pool late afternoon after a day on the beach £12

2 pre dinner drinks £10 

2 glasses of wine over a lenghty dinner £10

2 drinks after dinner £10

Thats over £40 not including bottled water soft drinks and costa coffees

 

[GolferT]

1 hour ago, P-L-B said:

You say you have been on numerous cruises but just to be clear are you basing you calculations and savings taking account of the current low prices that P&O charger for their drinks compared to other cruise lines.

Yes I have only ever cruised p&o in the past, changed this year but will be back with p&o now

[GolferT]

1 hour ago, Tom Baker said:

Golfer T, Why is your night cap "cheeky"?

 

It’s just what we say where I’m from, not a clue why haha