New Beverage Packages

[Phaedrus78]

7 minutes ago, DaCruiseBug said:

 

I certainly will enjoy my vacation and all the extra cash I saved from cruising on another cruise line. 

 

Btw: Cruise critic awards aren’t my opinion but perhaps a collection of the most widely accepted opinions. There’s a reason Equinox won and the Bliss (brand new) didn’t.

 

Green Book won Best Picture, Black Panther didn’t. I know which Blu-Ray I prefer to own. 

[DaCruiseBug]

24 minutes ago, Phaedrus78 said:

 

Green Book won Best Picture, Black Panther didn’t. I know which Blu-Ray I prefer to own. 

 

True, but Black Panther won 3 other Oscars...what CruiseCritic award did any NCL ship win in 2018?

[Phaedrus78]

17 minutes ago, DaCruiseBug said:

 

True, but Black Panther won 3 other Oscars...what CruiseCritic award did any NCL ship win in 2018?

 

Best Value for what Phaedrus78 Wants From His Vacation. It was awarded in the form of booking a January 2020 cruise on the Encore. 

 

I know it doesn’t get the hype of the Cruise Critic awards, but to me it was the only one that mattered. 

[Crazy4Camping]

On 3/1/2019 at 12:12 PM, Phaedrus78 said:

 

Hang in there, this will get a little weird to explain.  The difference is, nobody who wants the drink package on NCL actually pays a straight $118/pp.  It's a little more complicated than that.

 

Norwegian offers their drink package as one of their "perks" on booking, along with specialty dining, shore excursion credit, etc.  If you select that perk, you don't pay the base $99/day, but you do pay 20% gratuity, so call it $20/day.  That gets you any alcoholic beverage within a $15 limit.  For me personally, that's all I need.  

 

This new package being offered by NCL will allow you to add specialty coffees and bottled waters, and removes the $15 cap on alcohol.  For that, you add another $34.80/day ($29+20% gratuity), bringing your total per day to $54.80.

 

Carnival's drink package I'll assume is still $56/day, though in my research it seems to vary a bit.  They're going to add 20% gratuity as well, so the true cost is $67.20/day.  That gets you the same beverages as NCL, but with $20 and 15/day limits.

 

Now, what most people will argue is that NCL's fares are higher to make up for the cost of the perks they offer.  I find this to generally be true.  However, there's more that you're getting with those NCL perks than just a drink package.  In my situation for my next NCL cruise in January 2020, I'm not only getting the drink package, but I'm also getting 3 meals of specialty dining, $50 shorex credit per port, and wifi.  

 

Again, I don't need the premium drink package for NCL, so my cost for the drink package on a 7 day cruise is $140 ($20/day).  My cost for the only drink package available on Carnival would be $470 ($67.20/day).  Add in the value of $100 shorex credits (visiting 3 ports on my cruise and I will likely book excursions on 2 of the 3) and about $100 in specialty dining (rough estimate, that could vary depending on your restaurant), and the Carnival booking would need to be about $500/pp less than the NCL booking to be a better value.  

 

FOR ME.  Again, super-duper emphasis on FOR ME.  Not everyone has the same preferences I do.  The $15 limit on the NCL package matters to some.  Specialty coffees and bottled waters matter to some.  Shorex credits and specialty dining don't matter to some.  Everyone wants something different out of their vacation, and ultimately NCL seems to get closest to what I want at the most reasonable price.  

 

Oh, and as for why I avoid Carnival... again, that's a personal choice thing.  In my own personal experience, Carnival has been a lesser overall experience than NCL.  I'm not going to claim to be the absolute authority on these things, my own experience is limited so far.  But they say that Carnival is like the Wal-Mart of cruise lines, and I've found that to be a fair comparison.  NCL is more like the Target of cruise lines... yes, it's still mass market and everything, but it's a bit of a step up in my opinion.  And honestly, I WANT mass market.  I want the big, flashy ships, which is why Celebrity and MSC don't do anything for me.  

 

As with anything else in life, your mileage may vary.  

Thank you  very much for this overview.  I'm getting a better idea now.  And as always it depends on where you are sailing, how many days, etc. otherwise you really are comparing apples to oranges.  And which ship!  I guess there are some differences from ship to ship on all the cruise lines.  As you and others have said, it depends what you want out of a vacation.  I also truly believe it's what you make out of it.  I'm a simple person.  I was ecstatic on our cruise to have good weather and a hot shower whenever I wanted one.  

[bkrickles1]

On 3/1/2019 at 12:12 PM, Phaedrus78 said:

 

Hang in there, this will get a little weird to explain.  The difference is, nobody who wants the drink package on NCL actually pays a straight $118/pp.  It's a little more complicated than that.

 

Norwegian offers their drink package as one of their "perks" on booking, along with specialty dining, shore excursion credit, etc.  If you select that perk, you don't pay the base $99/day, but you do pay 20% gratuity, so call it $20/day.  That gets you any alcoholic beverage within a $15 limit.  For me personally, that's all I need.  

 

This new package being offered by NCL will allow you to add specialty coffees and bottled waters, and removes the $15 cap on alcohol.  For that, you add another $34.80/day ($29+20% gratuity), bringing your total per day to $54.80.

 

Carnival's drink package I'll assume is still $56/day, though in my research it seems to vary a bit.  They're going to add 20% gratuity as well, so the true cost is $67.20/day.  That gets you the same beverages as NCL, but with $20 and 15/day limits.

 

Now, what most people will argue is that NCL's fares are higher to make up for the cost of the perks they offer.  I find this to generally be true.  However, there's more that you're getting with those NCL perks than just a drink package.  In my situation for my next NCL cruise in January 2020, I'm not only getting the drink package, but I'm also getting 3 meals of specialty dining, $50 shorex credit per port, and wifi.  

 

Again, I don't need the premium drink package for NCL, so my cost for the drink package on a 7 day cruise is $140 ($20/day).  My cost for the only drink package available on Carnival would be $470 ($67.20/day).  Add in the value of $100 shorex credits (visiting 3 ports on my cruise and I will likely book excursions on 2 of the 3) and about $100 in specialty dining (rough estimate, that could vary depending on your restaurant), and the Carnival booking would need to be about $500/pp less than the NCL booking to be a better value.  

 

FOR ME.  Again, super-duper emphasis on FOR ME.  Not everyone has the same preferences I do.  The $15 limit on the NCL package matters to some.  Specialty coffees and bottled waters matter to some.  Shorex credits and specialty dining don't matter to some.  Everyone wants something different out of their vacation, and ultimately NCL seems to get closest to what I want at the most reasonable price.  

 

Oh, and as for why I avoid Carnival... again, that's a personal choice thing.  In my own personal experience, Carnival has been a lesser overall experience than NCL.  I'm not going to claim to be the absolute authority on these things, my own experience is limited so far.  But they say that Carnival is like the Wal-Mart of cruise lines, and I've found that to be a fair comparison.  NCL is more like the Target of cruise lines... yes, it's still mass market and everything, but it's a bit of a step up in my opinion.  And honestly, I WANT mass market.  I want the big, flashy ships, which is why Celebrity and MSC don't do anything for me.  

 

As with anything else in life, your mileage may vary.  

I pretty much agree with all your saying. 

I also have the Encore booked for Jan. 2020 and I took all the perks, including the free airfare.

Booked a balcony for my wife, daughter and myself and with all the perks, soup to nuts I'm paying $3600.

And like you, the standard drink package works just fine for me and my wife. I'll drink bloody mary's for a couple of hours in the morning with kettle one or even grey goose, if it's included. And does it really matter in a bloody mary?

And then, for the rest of the day, I'm mostly a beer drinker and all the beers that I've ever seen were included in drink package. My wife's go to drink at night is Tito's and lemonade (ewww, I know) and she drinks a lot of soda throughout the day.

We liked getting the bottled water included on rccl, but we did fine on the Escape last July, without it.

As you said, FOR ME is the key. Everyone likes to enjoy their vacations in different ways and with all the choices out there, there's bound to be a fit that makes everyone happy.

I love cruising. I don't pay for the haven or any other exclusive areas on NCL or any other cruise line and I find happiness on all of them. I do a lot of research before my sailings so I typically know the shortcomings of the various ships and plan accordingly. For example, I knew that the Escape had an awfully small pool area before we sailed and studied the forums so I found a very nice area outside of Vibe on deck 19 with a bar, whirlpools and a misting machine. It was a great place to hang out and was still only a 60 second walk to the pool area. Because I knew this ahead of time, I didn't have that "oh no" moment you see on peoples faces when they show up at the pool area at 11am and there's nowhere to sit. I saw that look a bunch on the Escape. LOL.

I also knew exactly what was and wasn't included in the very talked about drink package and my family suffered no surprises.

Years ago, when I first started cruising, extensive research wasn't necessary. Everything was much more fair and balanced.

Now, unfortunately, if you don't do any research you're bound to have a couple of disappointments.

[Pwrmaster7]

7 hours ago, bkrickles1 said:

I pretty much agree with all your saying. 

I also have the Encore booked for Jan. 2020 and I took all the perks, including the free airfare.

Booked a balcony for my wife, daughter and myself and with all the perks, soup to nuts I'm paying $3600.

And like you, the standard drink package works just fine for me and my wife. I'll drink bloody mary's for a couple of hours in the morning with kettle one or even grey goose, if it's included. And does it really matter in a bloody mary?

And then, for the rest of the day, I'm mostly a beer drinker and all the beers that I've ever seen were included in drink package. My wife's go to drink at night is Tito's and lemonade (ewww, I know) and she drinks a lot of soda throughout the day.

We liked getting the bottled water included on rccl, but we did fine on the Escape last July, without it.

As you said, FOR ME is the key. Everyone likes to enjoy their vacations in different ways and with all the choices out there, there's bound to be a fit that makes everyone happy.

I love cruising. I don't pay for the haven or any other exclusive areas on NCL or any other cruise line and I find happiness on all of them. I do a lot of research before my sailings so I typically know the shortcomings of the various ships and plan accordingly. For example, I knew that the Escape had an awfully small pool area before we sailed and studied the forums so I found a very nice area outside of Vibe on deck 19 with a bar, whirlpools and a misting machine. It was a great place to hang out and was still only a 60 second walk to the pool area. Because I knew this ahead of time, I didn't have that "oh no" moment you see on peoples faces when they show up at the pool area at 11am and there's nowhere to sit. I saw that look a bunch on the Escape. LOL.

I also knew exactly what was and wasn't included in the very talked about drink package and my family suffered no surprises.

Years ago, when I first started cruising, extensive research wasn't necessary. Everything was much more fair and balanced.

Now, unfortunately, if you don't do any research you're bound to have a couple of disappointments.

any tips on what I should be prepared for on the Epic? lol 

I have done tons of research, but still want to learn more. Appreciate it

[Phaedrus78]

33 minutes ago, Pwrmaster7 said:

any tips on what I should be prepared for on the Epic? lol 

I have done tons of research, but still want to learn more. Appreciate it

 

Dont want to derail this thread more than I already have, but I was just on the Epic and posted my thoughts here. 

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2632405-review-epic-10-day-western-caribbean-12319-2219/

 

If you have any other questions, post them over there and I’ll share anything I know.