New Drinks Menus and Prices

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

2 hours ago, sammyh25 said:

You misunderstood me I think. I'm not asking anyone if it's a good idea whether we buy the package or not, that as you said is a personal decision, I'm trying to ascertain just what is now included in the Ultimate Drinks Package.

The P&O website is saying, "With our generous Ultimate drinks package you can enjoy anything you fancy. Nearly every drink we serve is included for a fixed price per person, per day, and you can pay with on-board spending money." 

The implication is that almost all drinks are included in the package, if people are now saying cocktails aren't included and other drinks are above the £6.95 limit then there is an issue.  The website is misleading and maybe miss-selling the product. 

Sorry... this should help 🙂 

https://www.pocruises.com/onboard-activities/bars-and-lounges/ultimate-drinks-package

 

Althought I was right... drinks over £6.95 are excluded... you do get a 20% discount.

 

Mis-selling? Possibly IMO.

Edited July 7, 2021 by Snaxmuppet

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

Just spotted this beauty in the restrictions...

 

• Alcoholic drinks are limited to 15 beverages per 24-hour period (6am to 6am)

Really...!

 

Not so much the "Ultimate" drinks package then eh...

[Britboys]

The other thing to take into account regarding the drinks package is the number of sea days vs port days. If you are off the ship a big chunk of the day, it will be harder to justify £40 for drinks/beverages.

[AndyMichelle]

3 hours ago, LifeonMars said:

Can anyone remember what draught Larger was available please with P&O 

Peroni in some bars, Fosters in others... 

Annoyingly, you get the taste for one, move venues and cannot get the same drink. 

There may have been others, but these were my choices. 

Andy 

[Mad4WDW]

16 hours ago, Snaxmuppet said:

Just spotted this beauty in the restrictions...

 

• Alcoholic drinks are limited to 15 beverages per 24-hour period (6am to 6am)

Really...!

 

Not so much the "Ultimate" drinks package then eh...

We found the 15 drinks limit wasn’t enforced at all. Our last cruise pre pandemic there was 6 of us and very often in the glasshouse the waiter swiped all 6 drinks through on a single card, I had 3 or 4 rounds swiped on my card within a couple hours in the glasshouse on more that 1 night, that’s over the limit straight away. The waiter told us there’s no way for them to see what you’ve had. They basically don’t care and just charged every order to 1 card to save time

[Guest]

21 hours ago, sammyh25 said:

Think these are Apple files, but managed to find a website to convert them so I could see them on the PC, thank you.

Coming from Celebrity and Royal Caribbean the selection of drinks seems quite poor/restricted.  Does each bar onboard have different choices or is this quite typical?

I found this after doing those lines first. 
Cocktail choice and quality is poor in comparison, and I found the bartenders were not willing to go off piste and make any special requests. 
 

Wine selection is ok, but not as good as Celebrity. 
 

The prices are certainly better though! And the gin/tonic selection. 

[sandancer]

We are thinking of buying the wine package. The Captains is £120 for 6 bottles. They charge £20 corkage if you take your own wine into the MDR and in any case we would only be able to take 2 bottles onboard. Anyone got any advice/experience of this package. If we take a bottle of spirits can we take mixers? 

[Son of Anarchy]

5 minutes ago, sandancer said:

We are thinking of buying the wine package. The Captains is £120 for 6 bottles. They charge £20 corkage if you take your own wine into the MDR and in any case we would only be able to take 2 bottles onboard. Anyone got any advice/experience of this package. If we take a bottle of spirits can we take mixers? 

We've certainly taken mixers on board in the past.

[wowzz]

6 minutes ago, sandancer said:

We are thinking of buying the wine package. The Captains is £120 for 6 bottles. They charge £20 corkage if you take your own wine into the MDR and in any case we would only be able to take 2 bottles onboard. Anyone got any advice/experience of this package. If we take a bottle of spirits can we take mixers? 

No problem taking mixers on board.

Personally I've never thought the wine package was worth it. We tend to drink the cheaper wines, with an odd splurge on something a little more classy.

[zap99]

On 7/7/2021 at 4:46 PM, Son of Anarchy said:

Previously: Stella, Peroni and I think Carling. Might have had Fosters as well.  This varies between the bars though, so not all are available in all bars.

I guess they won't sell much Corona at the moment.🤣

[sandancer]

27 minutes ago, wowzz said:

No problem taking mixers on board.

Personally I've never thought the wine package was worth it. We tend to drink the cheaper wines, with an odd splurge on something a little more classy.

So if we forget the wine package and buy as we go what would you consider to be a cheaper one? 

[wowzz]

5 hours ago, sandancer said:

So if we forget the wine package and buy as we go what would you consider to be a cheaper one? 

First of all, I am not a wine expert,  but in the MDR the Olly Smith house red is perfectly acceptable.

I'm trying to phrase this nicely, but MDR meals are not really worthy of good wine.

I would splash out on a good bottle when you eat out in the Epicurean or similar.  

[terrierjohn]

5 hours ago, wowzz said:

No problem taking mixers on board.

Personally I've never thought the wine package was worth it. We tend to drink the cheaper wines, with an odd splurge on something a little more classy.

I can never tell classy in P&Os wine lists, my Yorkshire thrift won't allow me to move away from the cheaper end of the list.

[wowzz]

Just now, terrierjohn said:

I can never tell classy in P&Os wine lists, my Yorkshire thrift won't allow me to move away from the cheaper end of the list.

You and me both ! 

I do think that occasionally I should splash out on a £25  bottle of wine, (is that expensive ?) and having drunk it, I wonder if the extra £6 or so was worth it.

[sandancer]

It would be good to know how much a bottle of house wine would be so I can estimate whether or not the package is worth it. Supermarket wine at £10 is top of my wine budget so I would expect to pay double that on a cruise, if not more. I should also  mention that a “good wine” to me is something that I personally enjoy whether that’s a £5 bottle from Asda or the £10 one. 

Edited July 8, 2021 by sandancer

[wowzz]

15 minutes ago, sandancer said:

It would be good to know how much a bottle of house wine would be so I can estimate whether or not the package is worth it. Supermarket wine at £10 is top of my wine budget so I would expect to pay double that on a cruise, if not more. I should also  mention that a “good wine” to me is something that I personally enjoy whether that’s a £5 bottle from Asda or the £10 one. 

We normally spend about £6 on a bottle of supermarket plonk (normally Australian), and I reckon the £18 P&O house red is comparable. If you spend £25, you will, of course,  get better wine, and as I said previously,  I would pay that for a special occasion.  

I enjoy the MDR meals, but don't think they warrant a £25 bottle of wine.  

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

7 hours ago, wowzz said:

I enjoy the MDR meals, but don't think they warrant a £25 bottle of wine.  

I approach wine a little differently.

 

If I am buying wine at all with a meal it is generally because I feel wine would improve the overall experience. For example, I probably wouldn't have wine with a pizza. I am not saying you can't nor am I saying you shouldn't. IMHO you can have wine with anything you like or on its own. That is personal choice. But for me I feel that a cold beer goes better with a pizza so I wouldn't have even the cheapest of wines with a pizza. But if it is any kind of meal such as what I would likely have in MDR, then I feel that a wine generally goes well. So it isn't the quality of the food for me that determines whether I have wine but the type of food.

 

So, once I have decided to have wine and not beer I would then go for the best wine I am prepared to buy. If I have decided that wine is the best accompaniment for the food then for me a better wine will always work even better and so, much more important than whether I spend £20 or £40 on a bottle of wine is the type and varietal. For example, a cheap bottle of Rioja or a dry Riesling with a curry will always work for me much better than the best bottle of Syrah/Shiraz... but a better bottle of Rioja or Reisling would work even better!

 

The good thing about wine, or indeed any food drink choices, is that there really aren't any rules... have what works for you. I do hate food and drink snobs that say thing like "you just can't have white wine with red meat" or "you must have white wine with chicken or fish". It is your food... have whatever works for you and enjoy!

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Snaxmuppet said:

I do hate food and drink snobs that say thing like "you just can't have white wine with red meat" or "you must have white wine with chicken or fish". It is your food... have whatever works for you and enjoy

Indeed - in fact I dispense with the food altogether,  and just drink the wine! Makes life much simpler! 

[sandancer]

I am with you both there except I would never drink wine with a curry!  I think I’m going to leave DH to make the decision about the wine package. I am so happy to even be thinking about wine on a ship. 

[smilesonfaces]

I too was thinking of buying the wine package, I didn’t think £120 for 6 was too bad. Having looked at various menus posted from people on Britannia cruises I haven’t seen any bottles of wine under £22. Not sure how much the bottles in the package are priced at separately. 

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

I have not seen any mention of a wine package on the P&O web site. Could someone post a link please...

 

Ta 🙂 

[sandancer]

We are going to go for it. It’s been so long now that we are going to treat ourselves. May even go mad and get the Commodore package. 

[sandancer]

Go to your cruise summary and just above to the right you will see BOOK DRINKS PACKAGES. Scroll down and you’ll see WINE PACKAGES. Sorry, not clever enough to post a link. 

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

Got it! Thanks. No details of what wines are included though. Does anyone know where I can find that out?

[sandancer]

Under wine packages click on DISCOVER. Gives the details of both packages. Either £120 or £145. Lists all the bottles with their bin numbers.