Drinks packages coming to P&O

[PrincessPete]

It was interesting to see Selbourne's comment about a trial with the waiters serving wine, as opposed to formal wine waiters. Unless it has changed in recent years since we last went on a Princess cruise, that has been the case for many years on that line. We always found it worked so much better as the waiter was always there near you - as opposed to a wine waiter covering numerous tables who it can be difficult to find. However, I take the point about them having enough to do.

It would be interesting to hear if others on this Forum have experienced the Princess method and their views on how it worked.

Edited February 5, 2019 by PrincessPete
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[kruzseeka]

2 hours ago, davecttr said:

Marella/Thomson have been offering their drinks packages as an early booking incentive for years. A major change is from this summer the drinks packages are included in the fare. I expect P&O will follow this route. When the drinks package was chargeable it was about £200 per week. now there will be a premium upgrade for £50 per week which gives you everything except champagne and wine by the bottle. It seems these are similar prices to P&O

Yes, they are similar but the difference is that it's optional at the moment on P&O.  I would be disappointed if it did become rolled up in the price of the  cruise. 

I recently costed a Marella Caribbean cruise which included the AI. As far as possible, comparing like for like I found it was approx £500 pp more than the P&O cruise we have booked.  Granted Marella have two more ports of call over the 14 days and I think for anyone who likes shows it provides a far superior offering (11 different shows in 14 days) but to my mind the higher price is, in effect, down to he included drinks package on Marella.  As moderate drinkers I feel this premium is too high a price to pay and we would be subsidising those who drink a great deal more than we do.  So not a move we would welcome were P&O to go down that route.

[jeanlyon]

Yes I would agree.  We are pretty moderate drinkers.  Nothing during the day and that includes soft drinks.  Just don't like them.  One large glass of wine before dinner and wine with the meal.  Don't drink after dinner either.  Don't want alcohol after dinner.  So if the price goes up to take into account the heavy drinkers, it's us who lose.  Hey ho.  We will see!

[galeforce9]

2 hours ago, PrincessPete said:

It was interesting to see Selbourne's comment about a trial with the waiters serving wine, as opposed to formal wine waiters. Unless it has changed in recent years since we last went on a Princess cruise, that has been the case for many years on that line. We always found it worked so much better as the waiter was always there near you - as opposed to a wine waiter covering numerous tables who it can be difficult to find. However, I take the point about them having enough to do.

It would be interesting to hear if others on this Forum have experienced the Princess method and their views on how it worked.

This was adopted by Seabourn in the last year (same group).  It isn’t a roaring success. 

[majortom10]

My experience is that you get a far better service of your waiters taking your drinks order on Princess because they are always available. P&O is very hit or miss depending on how good your wine waiter is, on our last P&O cruise on one formal evening we had ordered  a bottle of wine and he bought it as we came to the end of eating our main course and we told him it was too late and we didnt want it. This is a down side to the drinks package for those that think they will be able to order 2-3 glasses of wine and perhaps port or brandy for after. The chance of your wine waiter visiting your table 3+ times during your meal is very slim on some nights we have never seen one at all.

[Tom Baker]

It's interesting to see folks refer to themselves as "moderate" drinkers. There seems to be a huge gulf between peoples views on what moderate is. I would call myself a moderate drinker, yet reading the posts on here I would consider the majority to be somewhere between seasoned and extremely heavy drinkers.

 

If you are getting through a litre of spirits a week I suspect that is on the high side of the "moderate" spectrum

[kruzseeka]

3 minutes ago, Tom Baker said:

It's interesting to see folks refer to themselves as "moderate" drinkers. There seems to be a huge gulf between peoples views on what moderate is. I would call myself a moderate drinker, yet reading the posts on here I would consider the majority to be somewhere between seasoned and extremely heavy drinkers.

 

If you are getting through a litre of spirits a week I suspect that is on the high side of the "moderate" spectrum

 

We'll in our case perhaps I should change 'moderate' to 'modest'.  In £sd, I'd not be drinking more than about 30% of the drinks package cost per day.  We don't

take anything on board with us either so clearly we'd be big losers in terms of a drinks package subsumed into the cruise cost.  Personal choices - everyone decides what level of drinking suits them and that's fine - I'd just like to be sure I can make my own decision about choosing not to buy into a package as it certainly wouldn't be cost effective in respect of our drinking habits.

[terrierjohn]

11 hours ago, kruzseeka said:

 

We'll in our case perhaps I should change 'moderate' to 'modest'.  In £sd, I'd not be drinking more than about 30% of the drinks package cost per day.  We don't

take anything on board with us either so clearly we'd be big losers in terms of a drinks package subsumed into the cruise cost.  Personal choices - everyone decides what level of drinking suits them and that's fine - I'd just like to be sure I can make my own decision about choosing not to buy into a package as it certainly wouldn't be cost effective in respect of our drinking habits.

I think that is the worry of all modest drinkers, the possibility that cruise prices or drinks prices increase as a result of introducing a drinks package, it certainly did when Celebrity introduced their's, in the space of 2 years drink prices rocketed up by 40%.

[Slugsta]

We certainly drink more than some of you, from what has been said. Even then, and taking into account my 'dependence' on soft drinks, we would have to more than double our joint intake to make a package worthwhile. Even the non-alcoholic package would leave us out of pocket as my OH hardly ever drinks soft drinks (is happy with tap water or tea) and would have to take the package too. 

 

I will be interested to hear feedback from the people who want to buy the 'childrens' package for themselves as this would work for me too. I know the T+Cs say that this is possible but I still wonder what will happen when they are actually onboard.

 

 

[P-L-B]

7 minutes ago, Slugsta said:

We certainly drink more than some of you, from what has been said. Even then, and taking into account my 'dependence' on soft drinks, we would have to more than double our joint intake to make a package worthwhile. Even the non-alcoholic package would leave us out of pocket as my OH hardly ever drinks soft drinks (is happy with tap water or tea) and would have to take the package too. 

 

I will be interested to hear feedback from the people who want to buy the 'childrens' package for themselves as this would work for me too. I know the T+Cs say that this is possible but I still wonder what will happen when they are actually onboard.

 

 

Logically, I presume the 'children's drink package' will not be available on P&O adult only ships.

[Slugsta]

1 minute ago, P-L-B said:

Logically, I presume the 'children's drink package' will not be available on P&O adult only ships.

 

That is a good point and possibly will scupper our plans as we will be on Arcadia!  I am hoping that things will have had chance to shake down by the time we sail in September.

[terrierjohn]

Whilst not teetotal my wife drinks very little on holiday, although on our last one she did have fairly frequent mocktails, so there would be no point in us ever considering a drinks package which both have to buy. 

[jeanlyon]

Well I said earlier that we were moderate drinkers, so I think maybe I should change that to modest?  One large glass of wine in the bar before dinner and then a couple of glasses out of our bottle.   

[tjwa]

moderate - modest - booze hag

[majortom10]

Lot of parrots on here who just repeating the same statements time and time again its getting very boring. Everybody is different if you drink a lot and you think the package would save you money if you dont then it is not worth buying end of story........simples really.

[Rupert2251]

Yes agree it's getting very boring!!

[tjwa]

21 hours ago, Rupert2251 said:

Yes agree it's getting very boring!!

Stop reading the posts.

[Rupert2251]

💤

[daiB]

1 hour ago, Rupert2251 said:

💤

 

Sorry but saying it’s boring and trying to prevent further discussion is bordering on censorship.

 

You can not stop discussion just because it does not keep you awake.

 

 

[Dinglebert]

7 hours ago, daiB said:

 

Sorry but saying it’s boring and trying to prevent further discussion is bordering on censorship.

 

You can not stop discussion just because it does not keep you awake.

 

 

True but there isn't any discussion on this thread for the past umpteen posts.  There are lots of statements about how people don't think this is a value package but no discussion.  Saying that I don't think its a value package either and I have been known to drink a lot.  Can easily make a RCI package work in my favour without being drunk at any point.  The P&O package seems very overpriced given the relatively cheap prices onboard.   Not too sure if its just the company producing a package just so they can say they have one but don't really want people to take it or if they intend to move forward with it either by giving it for "free" on harder to sell cruises, offering discounts as RCI do at times or as others have said using it to increase single drink prices in order to make the package price more attractive.

[Rupert2251]

8 hours ago, daiB said:

 

Sorry but saying it’s boring and trying to prevent further discussion is bordering on censorship.

 

You can not stop discussion just because it does not keep you awake.

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry but it is just my opinion. I am entitled to that am I not?

Edited February 8, 2019 by Rupert2251
Unquote

[terrierjohn]

10 minutes ago, Rupert2251 said:

Sorry but it is just my opinion. I am entitled to that am I not?

You are indeed but my concern about the introduction of a drinks package, as a moderate drinker with a wife who drinks far less, is that P&O will now start to increase drink prices to make the drinks package look more attractive. This then leads to the drinks package price rising and becomes a vicious upward spiral until this particular profit centre reaches its plateau and drinks on board become luxury items.

[CaptainZander]

I’m a rare voice who likes the idea of the drinks packages. 

 

We are a family of four travelling in July. The cost of the package for us would be £1118.60. If we take off our onboard credit and peninsular discount to total cost goes down to £609 which when divided by four of us is £10.88 per day. The kids will get the free kids package if we buy the Ultimate Package for the two adults. So it does work out to be really good value for us. It will allow us to have more Costa coffee in the morning and a few extra drinks after dinner without counting the pennies. Even on a Port day we will each drink more than £10.88. I simply want to outline how for even moderate drinkers, particularly families, this can be a good deal. 

 

I do wonder how the wine by the glass will work at dinner but we can take a glass in with us from the bar and order another one or two during the meal and I’m sure it will be fine. And I wish we could have bottled mixers. But life is never perfect!

 

It is nice to have an option. Personally I find the spa really expensive and don’t often use the services but I’m glad it is there for others who enjoy it. I guess it is the same with the drinks package. 

[kruzseeka]

23 minutes ago, CaptainZander said:

I’m a rare voice who likes the idea of the drinks packages. 

 

We are a family of four travelling in July. The cost of the package for us would be £1118.60. If we take off our onboard credit and peninsular discount to total cost goes down to £609 which when divided by four of us is £10.88 per day. The kids will get the free kids package if we buy the Ultimate Package for the two adults. So it does work out to be really good value for us. It will allow us to have more Costa coffee in the morning and a few extra drinks after dinner without counting the pennies. Even on a Port day we will each drink more than £10.88. I simply want to outline how for even moderate drinkers, particularly families, this can be a good deal. 

 

I do wonder how the wine by the glass will work at dinner but we can take a glass in with us from the bar and order another one or two during the meal and I’m sure it will be fine. And I wish we could have bottled mixers. But life is never perfect!

 

It is nice to have an option. Personally I find the spa really expensive and don’t often use the services but I’m glad it is there for others who enjoy it. I guess it is the same with the drinks package. 

 

I do agree - I think most of us would be happy if it is to remain optional.  Those who would find it worthwhile can purchase it and for those for whom it's not cost effective, can adopt a-pay-as-you-go approach.

You raise an interesting point for me though, it never occurred to me that you could use obc to purchase it.  Of course I should have realised that since you can wait until on board to buy it!!!!😞 

But your breakdown of cost to you once you factor in obc makes a lot of sense and I can fully understand why you would feel it a good deal for your family.  Everyone prioritises what they want to use their obc for and this is a good use of obc for you.

So for me, at least, still something to be learned and worth discussing on this thread!

Edited February 8, 2019 by kruzseeka

[daiB]

2 hours ago, Dinglebert said:

True but there isn't any discussion on this thread for the past umpteen posts.  There are lots of statements about how people don't think this is a value package but no discussion.  Saying that I don't think its a value package either and I have been known to drink a lot.  Can easily make a RCI package work in my favour without being drunk at any point.  The P&O package seems very overpriced given the relatively cheap prices onboard.   Not too sure if its just the company producing a package just so they can say they have one but don't really want people to take it or if they intend to move forward with it either by giving it for "free" on harder to sell cruises, offering discounts as RCI do at times or as others have said using it to increase single drink prices in order to make the package price more attractive.

 

That may have been true but now there is, and I tend to agree with you. The package is priced high so that they can say they have one. They clearly know how much people spend per night so have set the package on the high side. Clearly wanting to avoid overindulgence, hence the non availability on short cruises.

 

Giving it as an incentive on cruises which are not selling well, after of course putting he cruise price up to cover the cost, is not a practice I would like to see.