Bad Business - Drink To It.

[sunlover12]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

I could never see the value of the  House Select package   @ $39.95 pd pp

How much wine/beer do people actually drink at lunch??

Dinner maybe you would drink enough to break even

 

We are  big drinkers so  packages  do not enter our  thoughts  when planning a cruise 

JMO

 

I wouldn't pay $39.95 for it, however, if you purchase the O Life beverage package it calculates to $30/day and includes gratuities. For me, that is a good value.  I drink wine with meals. I don't go to happy hours, to the bar after dinner, before dinner, etc. I'll have one glass of wine at lunch and 2 at dinner when I'm on a cruise. For $30/day, I'm getting my money's worth.  

Everyone has to do their own math on it.

[Robjame]

3 hours ago, sunlover12 said:

I wouldn't pay $39.95 for it, however, if you purchase the O Life beverage package it calculates to $30/day and includes gratuities. For me, that is a good value.

Not quite sure how you do the math but for this 12 day leg, the House Select would cost you in dollars 12x40x2 = $960. By choosing the OLife House Select we save this amount. We don’t do O excursions and the OBC OLife is worth nothing.

But more than that, it is the gate to the House Prestige which allows us to drink cocktails, enjoy Aperetivo at Baristas, choose when we want to drink, drink at any bar and save the gratuity.

For the same 12 day cruise Prestige would have cost us 12x20x2 = $480. For us it is worth it. We don’t mind paying that. 
You cannot get to Prestige without passing through House Select.

 

BTW Our problem has been solved to our satisfaction.

[Flatbush Flyer]

22 minutes ago, Robjame said:

Not quite sure how you do the math but for this 12 day leg, the House Select would cost you in dollars 12x40x2 = $960. By choosing the OLife House Select we save this amount. We don’t do O excursions and the OBC OLife is worth nothing.

But more than that, it is the gate to the House Prestige which allows us to drink cocktails, enjoy Aperetivo at Baristas, choose when we want to drink, drink at any bar and save the gratuity.

For the same 12 day cruise Prestige would have cost us 12x20x2 = $480. For us it is worth it. We don’t mind paying that. 
You cannot get to Prestige without passing through House Select.

 

BTW Our problem has been solved to our satisfaction.

What was the O Life SBC option amount? I ask because you paid that extra amount to O before picking which optional perk you want.

[Robjame]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

What was the O Life SBC option amount? I ask

Yes you are right on FF. I wish I remember. I am guessing $600

 

[ORV]

4 hours ago, LHT28 said:

 

 

We are  big drinkers so  packages  do not enter our  thoughts  when planning a cruise 

JMO

 

I never noticed you being a big drinker Lyn.😄

[sunlover12]

40 minutes ago, Robjame said:

Not quite sure how you do the math but for this 12 day leg, the House Select would cost you in dollars 12x40x2 = $960. By choosing the OLife House Select we save this amount. We don’t do O excursions and the OBC OLife is worth nothing.

But more than that, it is the gate to the House Prestige which allows us to drink cocktails, enjoy Aperetivo at Baristas, choose when we want to drink, drink at any bar and save the gratuity.

For the same 12 day cruise Prestige would have cost us 12x20x2 = $480. For us it is worth it. We don’t mind paying that. 
You cannot get to Prestige without passing through House Select.

 

BTW Our problem has been solved to our satisfaction.

The $30/day is the price if you choose the OLife beverage package.  For example, on a 10-day cruise, OLife is $300.    Don't confuse that with purchasing it separately (outside of OLife) where House Select will cost you $39.95.  

 

 

[ORV]

4 minutes ago, Robjame said:

Yes you are right on FF. I wish I remember. I am guessing $600

 

Yep, I just looked up a 12 night in Feb and the OBC is $600, so it's a $360 discount off the cost of it. 

 

The odd thing they now list the cost of the House Select at $29.95, and the Prestige at $59.95, which still is a $30 difference, but would make the Prestige more attractive if you were going to just straight up buy it without going through the House with Olife. They seem to be all over the place right now with pricing that I have seen on this while they are changing. I think the bottom line is is that they are going to make it a $30 per day upgrade, no matter what the prices shake out to be. 

[Robjame]

1 hour ago, sunlover12 said:

The $30/day is the price if you choose the OLife beverage package.  For example, on a 10-day cruise, OLife is $300.

Sorry I am being thick. Where do you get the $30 a day from? The differential between OLife OBC and OLife Beverage House Select is not a constant. It varies between cruises

 

[LHT28]

35 minutes ago, ORV said:

I never noticed you being a big drinker Lyn.😄

yeah that should  have  been NOT A BIG Drinker

You probably noticed at dinner  I had 1 glass of wine  & left most of the 2nd one  they poured  LOL

[LHT28]

25 minutes ago, ORV said:

Yep, I just looked up a 12 night in Feb and the OBC is $600, so it's a $360 discount off the cost of it. 

 

The odd thing they now list the cost of the House Select at $29.95, and the Prestige at $59.95, which still is a $30 difference, but would make the Prestige more attractive if you were going to just straight up buy it without going through the House with Olife. They seem to be all over the place right now with pricing that I have seen on this while they are changing. I think the bottom line is is that they are going to make it a $30 per day upgrade, no matter what the prices shake out to be. 

Maybe  they will up the Prestige if you buy it to $70  ??

 

I noticed on other lines they are  jacking up the  beverage & dining packages

[ORV]

12 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Maybe  they will up the Prestige if you buy it to $70  ??

 

I noticed on other lines they are  jacking up the  beverage & dining packages

One of the posts I saw on FB where they had a shot of Currents did show it at $69.95 a day. 

[pinotlover]

41 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Maybe  they will up the Prestige if you buy it to $70  ??

 

I noticed on other lines they are  jacking up the  beverage & dining packages

My TA has made the same comment. They’re all doing it in unison.

[vslparis]

Yes , many cruise lines are raised the pricing on drink packages, gratuities , wi-fi etc. 

Viking just raised their Silver Spirts add on for ocean cruises from $20 to $25 per day without any notification at all 😒.  

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

One of the posts I saw on FB where they had a shot of Currents did show it at $69.95 a day. 

would not surprise me

It is probably still a good deal for those that can handle their drinks 

I am not one of them LOL

[Jancruz]

4 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

would not surprise me

It is probably still a good deal for those that can handle their drinks 

I am not one of them LOL

I was going to ask the same thing as Orv, Lyn..I noticed you are nit a big drinker..

Jancruz1

[LHT28]

new on the  website

The pricing above is valid for advance purchase prior to embarkation day. For onboard purchases, the charge per guest, per day for the House Select package will be $39.95 and for the Prestige Select package $69.95.

 

scroll down to Beverage Packages for  further info

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/value

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

I was going to ask the same thing as Orv, Lyn..I noticed you are nit a big drinker..

Jancruz1

Yes 

I enjoy  the dinner companions  though 😉

 

Happy New Year  to you & Stu

[emd138]

7 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

new on the  website

The pricing above is valid for advance purchase prior to embarkation day. For onboard purchases, the charge per guest, per day for the House Select package will be $39.95 and for the Prestige Select package $69.95.

 

scroll down to Beverage Packages for  further info

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/value

Very good to know, I just looked in my booked cruise, and it didn't have any notes that the price was only for advance purchase.  Thanks for sharing!

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, emd138 said:

Very good to know, I just looked in my booked cruise, and it didn't have any notes that the price was only for advance purchase.  Thanks for sharing!

Did you take the O Life Beverage package??

or planning to buy a package onboard ?  it does make a difference

 

[emd138]

8 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Did you take the O Life Beverage package??

or planning to buy a package onboard ?  it does make a difference

 

 I have 2 booked, one with it, and 1 without.  Both are showing the same thing.  I might switch the one with it to excursions, at least I can still get some value from using OLife.  That is assuming, of course, that they haven't changed anything with the excursion option.  I will have to check with my TA. 

[sunlover12]

2 hours ago, Robjame said:

Sorry I am being thick. Where do you get the $30 a day from? The differential between OLife OBC and OLife Beverage House Select is not a constant. It varies between cruises

 

I used a 10-day cruise as an example because that's what my last couple of cruises have been. There are 12-day cruises with a $300 O Life which calculates to $25/day. 14-day cruises for $400 which is less than $30/day.  

 

Purchasing OLife beverage package is a good value if you drink wine or beer with lunch and dinner, IMO. It's certainly a much better value than purchasing the House Select beverage package separately. I don't upgrade to the Prestige package.

Do the math for your particular cruise to see what works best for you.

[pinotlover]

1 hour ago, sunlover12 said:

I used a 10-day cruise as an example because that's what my last couple of cruises have been. There are 12-day cruises with a $300 O Life which calculates to $25/day. 14-day cruises for $400 which is less than $30/day.  

 

Purchasing OLife beverage package is a good value if you drink wine or beer with lunch and dinner, IMO. It's certainly a much better value than purchasing the House Select beverage package separately. I don't upgrade to the Prestige package.

Do the math for your particular cruise to see what works best for you.

The number of sea days matters to us a lot. If we are on a port extensive cruise, we are always off the ship at lunch. Always. Therefore, the beverage package at lunch has zero value for us. Only on sea days does the lunch inclusion have value. Then the value of the standard package is based solely on dinner consumption. All part of the calculation.

[osandomir]

7 hours ago, Robjame said:

 

 

BTW Our problem has been solved to our satisfaction.

Hopefully, the gratuities will remain intact.

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, osandomir said:

Hopefully, the gratuities will remain intact.

Gratuities have already been increased.

[osandomir]

21 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Gratuities have already been increased.

I already know that - just like the prices for almost everything else nowadays. What I referred to was particular one person’s gratuities. If you read this topic from the beginning, you will understand.

Edited January 4, 2023 by osandomir
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