Deluxe beverage package $59/day

[Judyrem]

I just checked for my cruise next week and 65$ DBP, 79$ for DBP and Vroom.

Hideous!

[Balsam12]

7 minutes ago, reaton said:

 

I completely agree. We just got back from a b2b, so 14 days. I was skeptical of the price of the deluxe package so we decided to try this time without it (and it never got below $48 per person per day). We spent $400 in total for both weeks (including $137 in liquor to bring home and $40 in bow ties and a new purse). We brought on water/soda/wine. We bought a couple bottles of wine while dining in specialty restaurants and had a day where we drank whatever by the pool. We drank in port. We don’t normally drink much soda or any specialty coffees. I also brought my Britta water bottle that I use at work. So glad we didn’t buy the package. For us the fact that you have to drink that much every day was a sticking point. After having the beverage package on other lines, I know I run into drink fatigue especially on a port intense cruise. I also don’t drink a ton at home regularly, so there’s that also.

So you've spent $177 + 2 bottles of wine, which would be a minimum of $50 each + 18%, so $118. That's $295 so far. That leaves $105 out of the $400 you spent over 14 days. You had a day where you "drank whatever by the pool"... let's say you cut loose and had 2 cocktails each. Not knowing which ship you were on, I'll go with $12 per cocktail + 18%, so about $55. Now you have $50 left for 13 days between 2 people.

 

If that's what you call normal, then the beverage package is definitely not for you, and I don't know why you're even looking at this thread.

 

Each to their own, which is why people need to make their own decision on the value of the package. I've posted many times, but to recap, with 3 or 4 alcoholic beverages per day, I come out in front... you don't have to be rolling drunk for the whole cruise to get you money's worth.

[Iamcruzin]

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I thought Royal's website showed the final charge before you had to click "Purchase".

It did when I purchased it.

[reaton]

Just now, Balsam12 said:

So you've spent $177 + 2 bottles of wine, which would be a minimum of $50 each + 18%, so $118. That's $295 so far. That leaves $105 out of the $400 you spent over 14 days. You had a day where you "drank whatever by the pool"... let's say you cut loose and had 2 cocktails each. Not knowing which ship you were on, I'll go with $12 per cocktail + 18%, so about $55. Now you have $50 left for 13 days between 2 people.

 

If that's what you call normal, then the beverage package is definitely not for you, and I don't know why you're even looking at this thread.

 

Each to their own, which is why people need to make their own decision on the value of the package. I've posted many times, but to recap, with 3 or 4 alcoholic beverages per day, I come out in front... you don't have to be rolling drunk for the whole cruise to get you money's worth.

 

Wow. We brought 4 bottles of wine on board with us. 2 additional bottles were purchased in specialty restaurants. If you have a dining package they come at a discount. I had 5 daiquiris and the husband had 4 beers one day by the pool. There was also a drink of the day here or there.  I’m sorry I didn’t realize you needed an organized list for my experience to be valid.

 

My point was that many people assumes you should have the beverage package and that is not always the case. Just a different point of view. 

 

I was reading the thread because we plan to book another RCCL cruise and want to stay on top of the current prices (since you cannot see those until you have access to the cruise planner). 

[Balsam12]

2 minutes ago, reaton said:

 

Wow. We brought 4 bottles of wine on board with us. 2 additional bottles were purchased in specialty restaurants. If you have a dining package they come at a discount. I had 5 daiquiris and the husband had 4 beers one day by the pool. There was also a drink of the day here or there.  I’m sorry I didn’t realize you needed an organized list for my experience to be valid.

 

My point was that many people assumes you should have the beverage package and that is not always the case. Just a different point of view. 

 

I was reading the thread because we plan to book another RCCL cruise and want to stay on top of the current prices (since you cannot see those until you have access to the cruise planner). 

So basically, you used Royal Caribbean fuzzy maths and came up with $400. 

 

Even with discount, two bottles of wine will be  $100 or more. 5 daiquiris would be $70 with gratuity, and 4 beers at least $42.

 

That leaves $11 to cover the "drink of the day here and there".

 

I'm not disagreeing about the package not being good value for some people... I'm saying I don't believe your story about $400.

[reaton]

Just now, Balsam12 said:

So basically, you used Royal Caribbean fuzzy maths and came up with $400. 

 

Even with discount, two bottles of wine will be  $100 or more. 5 daiquiris would be $70 with gratuity, and 4 beers at least $42.

 

That leaves $11 to cover the "drink of the day here and there".

 

I'm not disagreeing about the package not being good value for some people... I'm saying I don't believe your story about $400.

 

I’m sorry your disbelief is not the point of this thread. Perhaps we can move on now?

[Angelfsh131]

1 hour ago, LuCruise said:

Maybe that's why they jacked up the prices....so on Labor Day, they offer the "previous" going rate.

 

I bet that is what they are doing. Feel like you are getting a good deal. My Oasis in March has gone up to $65. I was hesitant at $55!  Hopefully I can catch a big sale. Otherwise I guess I will just have to watch my budget on the boat☹️

[Balsam12]

12 minutes ago, reaton said:

 

I’m sorry your disbelief is not the point of this thread. Perhaps we can move on now?

And you remove the gratuities?

 

There's no drinks of the day here and there on that statement.

[kidless]

2 hours ago, CruisingNole said:

. When you have a group of people on a budget, the little things matter and after they are all tallied up, they aren’t so little. One sailing charges $45 for drink package, another charges $65. The discrepancy is ridiculous.

I agree 100%. DH & I have big cruise planned next April, we are pulling out all the stops from fancy suite, Specialty dining to awesome shore tours. We really want to squeeze a cruise in before then but DH put me on a tight budget. So been searching for trip and Royal Caribbean is hardest to price out because other then tips I can’t be sure of other incidentals so I’ve been going with higher numbers like $65 for drink package. It’s making other cruise lines look tempting especially ones that we’ve never tried. We have been loyal to Royal for 15 years but honestly their standards have lowered and there is a lot more competition out there now! Gotta get best bang for our buck! 

[kidless]

2 hours ago, reaton said:

 

I completely agree. We just got back from a b2b, so 14 days. I was skeptical of the price of the deluxe package so we decided to try this time without it (and it never got below $48 per person per day). 

Exactly what we are going to try in April. We have DL/CL for evenings. Bringing on wine and we are good with tap water & ice tea. So if we want a beer or cocktail during day we will just pay. DH is big drinker but after couple days he will cut back as we do not drink alcohol daily in real life! 😆 it’s an 11 day cruise, drink package adds almost $1150 so we will see how we actually end up! 

[MississippiMom]

20 hours ago, flamingos said:

Wow, $65??  I can't drink that much, even with coffees and sodas.  I'd be out.

 

18 hours ago, FPP777 said:

Today is a big day for testing.. 65 for my Oct 2020 as well... Ill wait it out.

 

Wait a minute!  How do you know the beverage price for your October 2020 cruise?  We have a June 2020 booked and RCCL told me I would have to wait from 6 to 9 months before the cruise to see beverage package and shore excursion options.

 

I also won’t be purchasing at $65 per day.  That’s too high for how much I might consume.

[FPP777]

3 minutes ago, MississippiMom said:

 

 

Wait a minute!  How do you know the beverage price for your October 2020 cruise?  We have a June 2020 booked and RCCL told me I would have to wait from 6 to 9 months before the cruise to see beverage package and shore excursion options.

 

I also won’t be purchasing at $65 per day.  That’s too high for how much I might consume.

My cruise planner has everything up. Drinks. Dinner. Etc

[MississippiMom]

3 hours ago, BND said:

I just don't see how this is worth it for most people, even at less than $50/day.  We have never spent enough to justify it.  As an example, we just got back from a week on Carnival Pride.  Their drink package is comparable in price, but you can't use it on their private island which was our longest port day (although it rained/t--stormed and we got back onboard early) and after 1 week, buying what we wanted when we wanted including specialty coffee, wine, cocktails and soda, we spent a whopping $ 236 for both of us.  So, that's about $33/day for two people, or $16.50/day per person.  I drink more than DH so my daily was closer to $20, but still.  The package is such a huge moneymaker for the cruise lines.  For every person who is convinced they drink more than the package value, there are probably 25 others who don't get anywhere near it so of course RCI is going to push it to what the market will bear.  

 

I also don't get the mentality of not wanting the bill at the end.  If it's less, why wouldn't you?

 

I have absolutely no idea how you spent so little on your bar tab.

 

We took a Carnival Spring Break cruise and purchased their beverage package for the first time, and we, definitely, got our money worth.  The majority of our drinks came from the Alchemy Bar (PRICEY) and the coffee bars.  Our waiter would even offer to get Alchemy Bar drinks for us with dinner.  No beer, no wine, very little sodas, but lots & lots of bottled waters and bottled teas.  We learned very quickly to NOT order drinks from any pool bars, as they rarely had premium liquor options available, but the sports bar ALWAYS had what we wanted, if we didn’t want to wait in the Alchemy Bar line.

 

I am hoping that Boleros will have a creative cocktail menu when we cruise on RCCL for the first time.

[MississippiMom]

9 minutes ago, FPP777 said:

My cruise planner has everything up. Drinks. Dinner. Etc

I’m super jealous!

[flamingos]

18 minutes ago, MississippiMom said:

 

 

Wait a minute!  How do you know the beverage price for your October 2020 cruise?  We have a June 2020 booked and RCCL told me I would have to wait from 6 to 9 months before the cruise to see beverage package and shore excursion options.

 

I also won’t be purchasing at $65 per day.  That’s too high for how much I might consume.

 

Did I say 2020? Sorry, 2019!

 

[BND]

1 hour ago, MississippiMom said:

 

I have absolutely no idea how you spent so little on your bar tab.

 

We took a Carnival Spring Break cruise and purchased their beverage package for the first time, and we, definitely, got our money worth.  The majority of our drinks came from the Alchemy Bar (PRICEY) and the coffee bars.  Our waiter would even offer to get Alchemy Bar drinks for us with dinner.  No beer, no wine, very little sodas, but lots & lots of bottled waters and bottled teas.  We learned very quickly to NOT order drinks from any pool bars, as they rarely had premium liquor options available, but the sports bar ALWAYS had what we wanted, if we didn’t want to wait in the Alchemy Bar line.

 

I am hoping that Boleros will have a creative cocktail menu when we cruise on RCCL for the first time.

Easy. We didn't do Alchemy bar (really doesn't appeal to me) and we only drank when we felt like it.  And, with no package we never felt like we had to drink to make it worth our while.  I actually heard people complain that they could only get 15 drinks per day on Carnival's pkg.  I'm a moderate drinker and DH is a lightweight, but we have never spent more than a couple of hundred for alcohol on any cruise, even 12 night ones.  No way am I going to force myself to drink just because it's there.  We did a Celebrity cruise 3 years ago and had the drink package included and in no way did we ever approach what it would have cost outside the cruise package.  We're hardly alone.

[cjc729]

$65 per person per day is beyond reasonable.  Unless they offer a good sale price we’ll be passing on this.  

[Bases5]

3 hours ago, Balsam12 said:

And you remove the gratuities?

 

There's no drinks of the day here and there on that statement.

Why  are you fighting with this person.   DW and I cruise couple times a year and our avg beverage purchases  on a 7 day cruise including tips is about $450 - $ 500 

Our last 10 day cruise on MSC Sinfonia our total ship board spending was $680 euro and MSC dose not let you carry anything onboard.

I think the package is great for many people but it's not great for everybody.

On our next Oasis cruise I thought I would pull the plug at $48. after reading these boards.  

Booking day 2 months ago it was $52 then $54 now $59 so no pulling the plug for us.

[CruisingNole]

3 minutes ago, Bases5 said:

 

On our next Oasis cruise I thought I would pull the plug at $48. after reading these boards.  

Booking day 2 months ago it was $52 then $54 now $59 so no pulling the plug for us.

 

I haven't heard of Oasis class sailings going for under $50 anymore. I fear those days are over.

 

My December Indy is at $65 and next December's Oasis is at $59 as I type this. They both have the 20% off on board price banner. I will be very curious to see if they are actually selling the drink package at $82pp + 18% on board this December.

[Angelfsh131]

My problem with buying it is I only have a few drinks and might not get my moneys worth. My husband however would make up for that. He can put some beer away. Wish I could get it for him only. 

[CTCruiser76]

1 hour ago, Angelfsh131 said:

My problem with buying it is I only have a few drinks and might not get my moneys worth. My husband however would make up for that. He can put some beer away. Wish I could get it for him only. 

Call RCCL and let them know that you do not drink - your husband can purchase the Drink Package and you will have to get the Royal Refreshment package about half the price of the Drink package. They may give you a little pushback, but explain that you do not drink and they will give you a wavier. 

[Bases5]

12 hours ago, Balsam12 said:

Coffee and juice with breakfast

Soft drink in the morning

Two bottles water to take ashore

Beer or other pre dinner drink

Two glasses of wine with dinner

Cocktail with your evening show

Bottle of water to take back to your cabin

Just asking  Haven't sail RCI in a while.  You still can bring wine water & sodas on during embarkation correct.

[Clarea]

Just now, Bases5 said:

Just asking  Haven't sail RCI in a while.  You still can bring wine water & sodas on during embarkation correct.

Yes

[dswallow]

I'm amused by "arguments" over drink packages and pricing at times. I guess I'm in that mood now after reading this. 🙂

 

First, from a cost perspective, the easiest thing to do is to actually add things up and compare. It's not like the price of everything is identical, but generally someone who's bought a drink or two in their life and considers buying another probably has some sense about what they like, prefer, and can settle for. It doesn't have to be anything about "drinking as much as you can." It's usually simply a matter of trying to figure out if it makes economic sense. And that's just simple math.

 

But it's not just about alcohol.

 

There are 3 beverage packages. The Classic Soda Package, the Refreshment Package and the Deluxe Beverage Package. The Refreshment Package adds benefits to the Classic Soda Package, and the Deluxe Beverage Package adds benefits to the Refreshment Package... each a superset of the lesser-cost packages.

 

Someone who enjoys soda will probably readily see the economic benefit of the Classic Soda Package. When a glass or can of soda is $3.00-$3.50 each, it makes economic sense to consider the Classic Soda Package if you think, on average, you would have 3 or more sodas per day. That's before considering the additional flavor selection available when the Coke Freestyle machines are available to you only with a drink package.

 

Someone who enjoys coffees, teas, juices, bottled water, mocktails, and other non-alcoholic beverages, as well as soda, would find economic sense in buying the Refreshment Package. And there's two ways to consider this: (1) solely as a Refreshment Package purchase, or (2) as an incremental upgrade to a Classic Soda Package. For example, if you can expect your regular purchases of these items to average at least the cost-per-day of the Refreshment Package, it makes economic sense to buy the Refreshment Package. But if you already have decided to purchase the Classic Soda Package, then you can look at the benefits of the incremental additional cost to determine if the Refreshment Package might be more appropriate. For example, if the Refreshment Package on your sailing is priced at $20.00/day, then it's only an additional $11.01/day over the cost of the Classic Soda Package. At $2.00 or more for a bottle of water, or $5.00-$8.00 for a mocktail, or $3.50-$5.00 for a specialty coffee or tea, it's a relatively low bar to pass for it to make economic sense to get the Refreshment Package.

 

When it comes to alcoholic beverages then, the Deluxe Beverage Package can be evaluated in the same way. But it will matter what you like to drink. If you're a wine connoisseur, you might be more interested in bottle of wine as the wines available by the glass may not appeal to you. If you're a beer drinker, the cost of a beer is usually much less than the cost of other alcoholic beverages, making the economic benefit of the Deluxe Beverage Package less likely for you. If you like mixed drinks and frozen drinks, you're looking at a $10.00-$13.00 cost per drink. When the Deluxe Beverage Package can cost as little as $44.00/day, this makes it easy to judge when the package is economically beneficial... potentially at just an average of 4 alcoholic beverages per day. Even at the onboard pricing which can go as high as $72.00/day, that can be as few as just 6 alcoholic beverages per day, on average, to still have the Deluxe Beverage Package make economic sense.

 

Similarly if you've already decided the Refreshment Package makes economic sense for you, then you can look at the incremental cost of the Deluxe Beverage Package to make your decision on the Deluxe Beverage Package. So on a sailing where you can get the Refreshment Package at $20.00/day the incremental extra cost of a Deluxe Beverage Package might be as little as $24.00/day. That's now represented by about 2 alcoholic cocktails or 3 cans of beer.

 

And that's just trying to consider the economic sense of buying any of the drink packages.

 

There is something to be said for simply having the freedom to not be concerned much about it. Think about how you may enjoy an evening around the ship. You've met a couple of people you're enjoying time with and maybe if you didn't have the drink package you'll find yourself agonizing a bit over whether to have a drink or not. You'd like one, but you're doing the math and worried about your final bill. Or you want to just try things out and not worry that if you decide you don't like it that you're potentially throwing away something you paid $13.00 for. You are on vacation after all, and maybe it's something you think you'd enjoy being able to do -- try new cocktails.

 

Obviously the economic evaluation changes when you are a Diamond or higher-level Crown & Anchor member due to the Diamond Lounge Happy Hour and Happy Hour 3-free-drinks on your SeaPass card you are entitled to. Though this is a very limited menu of specific brands of liquors/beers. Personally, I just ignore that; I'm not interested in the brands they offer or in being a sardine in the Diamond Lounge. And you should remember that you should be leaving a tip with each of those drinks, whereas when we're talking about packages and drink pricing, the gratuity is implicit in that it'll be added to your purchase (hence why I'm just ignoring adding that 18% amount to the prices I mention), so it's not quite a "free drink". Almost, but not quite.

 

What hurts of course, is seeing that Deluxe Beverage Package price multiplied out for the entire sailing and gratuities added on, and that total appearing on your credit card statement, perhaps x2 for both travelers in the cabin! But if you did the math and you found it making economic sense, it is what it is!

 

I will let you in on a little secret though -- no matter how many beverages you have, you are not going to exceed the actual cost the cruise line has on providing those beverages to you. Even those who got the $18/day Deluxe Beverage Package deal probably cannot drink enough to make the cruise line go into the red in providing the beverages to you for your package.

 

Edited August 11, 2019 by dswallow

[belmontcrew]

For $59/day, Royal can keep their drink package.  I will make sure that I get my drinking in while at port so that my booze purchases back on board will be at a minimum.