Worth it to upgrade to Premium beverage plan?

[KKB]

I have on Celebrity as it gets me Sauvignon Blanc from NZ that I prefer. 

But it is less than $100 for a 7 day cruise.

We were content with the regular beverage plan on NCL in 2019.

$250 more on NCL--is it worth it?

[BirdTravels]

The Premium plan is the regular plan. 

 

You can upgrade from the Premium Plan to the Premium Plus plan if you intend to consistently exceed $15 per drink on every drink and can make up the difference in price. 

[complawyer]

depends on the degree of total alcohol consumption of you and your traveling companion. for my wife and i its not worth the  upgrade costs. the regular package is sufficient

[don't-use-real-name]

You would not need either Premium or P Plus beverage packages if drinking only

wine - may not find or get that bottle of  - Sauvignon Blanc from NZ - but something 

comparable - The Premium package has less of a selection of wines and note may be

by the glass whereas the P Plus plan/program may include the whole bottle at each

and every dining - - -

 

Drinking in moderation the programs are of questionable value -

consider the number of drinks & cost against the total plan/program

divided by the number of days of the cruise - do you win draw or lose ?

 

 

[Tatertotslady]

Do you mean Premium Plus? My husband and I tried the upgrade on the Bliss in March.  We would start the day at Starbucks to get coffee.  We’d come back to Starbucks after breakfast for herbal iced tea or other drinks like bottled water to sip on during trivia.  
 

Then we enjoyed trying the higher priced wines (me) and high end spirits (my husband) while staying hydrated with San Pelegríno at lunch, dinner and after dinner. I know the ship water is safe to drink but I’d rather drink San Pelegríno or still mineral water as it tastes better.  We did try the fresh squeezed grapefruit juice one day which was really good but it took a long time to make it. We’d sometimes get another Starbucks herbal tea (me) or Pink drink (my husband)  midday. We do not drink Starbucks on a routine basis - maybe once or twice a year as we see it as a waste of money. I’d rather brew my own coffee or drink hotel/restaurant coffee but coffee on any cruise ship is not good. We say we have $ to cruise because we don’t typically spend $ on Starbucks or other coffee places. 
 

I personally loved the NCL East and West Red Blend which was considered Premium Plus. We also liked trying all kinds of other wines we normally would have considered too expensive to try. The one thing we wish we would have figured out earlier was the bottle of wine you could choose at dinner.  It may be a high end wine not available by the glass. My husband thought it was too expensive and reluctantly agreed for the Bliss cruise. We will be on the Jewel in a few weeks and my frugal husband is looking forward to this splurge as he wants to try some more high end whiskies, cognacs and bourbons. 
 

Each person is so different but it enhanced our vacation to add this perk. We will do it again and previously thought it was a waste of money. 

[phillygwm]

5 hours ago, KKB said:

I have on Celebrity as it gets me Sauvignon Blanc from NZ that I prefer. 

But it is less than $100 for a 7 day cruise.

We were content with the regular beverage plan on NCL in 2019.

$250 more on NCL--is it worth it?

It depends what (and how much) you drink.  

 

For me, I like a few glasses of Champagne through the day so I immediately break even.  If I didn't, I'd still come close with my Starbucks bill (a couple Ventis per day) or my bottled water (2-3 bottles of Pellegrino.)

 

It isn't for everyone:  If you're not a big drinker, you don't care for Starbucks or Pellegrino, or the stuff you like is only a dollar or two over the limit it probably makes sense paying the difference ala carte.  But I got my money's worth and I wasn't walking around drunk all the time.

Edited May 19, 2022 by phillygwm
typo

[KeithJenner]

People tend to focus on the up charge on “top shelf” drinks when evaluating this package. That is a mistake.

 

We upgraded last time to see how it worked for us. This was our experience:

 

I drink quite a bit of coffee, and on a cruise will grab a latte or something, but mainly rely on the stuff at the buffet. On this cruise I would grab an espresso a couple of times a day. We has a Nespresso machine in the room so had less use for the cafe but in a normal room I would probably get 3-4 coffees a day.

 

My wife drinks sparking water and I don’t particularly like coke. During the day if we wanted to grab a drink we could get a bottle of sparking water to share rather than me sip on a coke or iced water. We also always had a bottle of two of sparking water with meals.

 

My wife usually drinks Prosecco, so really enjoyed the upgrade to Champagne. I joined her with the champagne a few nights and we got through a few bottles across the week. For some meals I ordered a bottle of red for the meal whilst my wife carried on with champagne. It was nice to get better wine, but I’m no wine expert, and am usually happy with the wines available in the normal package so that wasn’t a big upgrade for me.

 

I did intend to use the package to try a couple of more expensive whiskeys (I’m not a big whiskey drinker, but like one every now and then), but never got round to it. No matter, we more than got our value elsewhere.

 

We enjoyed the package so much that we have decided that we will upgrade on most, if not all, future cruises. We also upgraded to a suite on the last cruise and the upgraded beverage package added to our holiday much more than the suite did.

 

The bit that we really appreciated most was the water and coffee. If we had purchased those things a la carte then we wouldn’t have spent quite as much as the package cost, but it did mean that we got unlimited champagne for the cruise for a few dollars a day.

Edited May 19, 2022 by KeithJenner