Beverage Package Prices Just Keep Going Up And Up!

[roseoftx]

A slightly different perspective on this, when you exclude port days and attending shows (you can get 1 beforehand but harder during) and meals (maybe a cocktail or wine by the glass), I come up with about 50 hours.  So the break even point at $65 and $85 is one drink about every 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes. 

 

I do agree that if you think it is should justified for your usage than go for it.  For us, its better to not get the package as we typically drink a few per day - for us, the price would need to be done in the $40 range to even have a short at break even,.

[emdia43]

I just got an email from Princess cruises. For $60 on top of cruise fare per day , you can get drinks up to $15, WiFi, crew grats, 2 fitness classes, premium desserts and juice bar. 

[Engineroom Snipe]

1 hour ago, emdia43 said:

I just got an email from Princess cruises. For $60 on top of cruise fare per day , you can get drinks up to $15, WiFi, crew grats, 2 fitness classes, premium desserts and juice bar. 

 

This might be the next transition to get everyone aboard to the "next" level. They can offer a low initial cruise fare and then "bundle" the rest. A quiet way to advertise very low prices with a package to give you the "ultimate" bundle.

 

Smart, slick, and smooth transition from a minimum to a maximum package. I do not need all of the above but they are now competing with all inclusive resorts with this type of advertising. Interesting 🤔.

[sjinnj]

So, I have the drink package myself and my wife does not.  We have two rooms as we are traveling with 3 children. Now with the new one bottle of wine per room rule she won't be bringing enough wine.  Will I be able to get bottles of wine at the 40% discount?

[Biker19]

11 hours ago, sjinnj said:

Now with the new one bottle of wine per room rule she won't be bringing enough wine.

Policy and what happens at the port can be quite different.

[Dayman9966]

On 3/6/2023 at 7:18 PM, Miloomar said:

If 5-6 drinks a day is "drinking your face off" then... maybe the package isnt for you

42 drinks, or 155 beers for a 7 day cruise is drinking my face off.  To each their own I guess.  And that's just on the ship, not at any ports.  Yeah, my liver says no to that haha

[Dayman9966]

On 3/6/2023 at 12:53 PM, TravisP said:

In my calculations, I find that just 7 beers a day pay for the package at the current price of $83.99 a day for my upcoming cruise. It just became available to purchase recently. In my calculations, I used the price difference between the refreshment package and the deluxe beverage package. Because if I did not get the DBP, I would at least get the RP. 7 beers in a day are nothing for me. Plus one or two other adult beverages a day would be the norm for us also. 

 

They have yet to offer the DBP with Internet. That is what we plan to get when it becomes available. 

You need 9 beers a day to break even.  $7.99 + 1.44 (Tax) = $9.43 per beer.    But if that works for you, cheers!

[TravisP]

1 hour ago, Dayman9966 said:

You need 9 beers a day to break even.  $7.99 + 1.44 (Tax) = $9.43 per beer.    But if that works for you, cheers!

The price for a domestic beer from my research, and it could have changed since then was $7.49, $8.49 with tip. 7 a day comes out to $61.87 with tip. In my comparison, I also include the cost of the refreshment package since if I was not to get the deluxe beverage package, I would get the refreshment package. That package with tax at this time on my cruise is $33.99, $40.11 with tax. So the daily total on that comes out to $101.98 should I not get the DBP. The current cost for the deluxe beverage package on my cruise is $83.99, $99.11 with tip. So without the DBP and getting the RP, drinking 7 beers comes out to $2.87 per day more than getting the DBP. 

[Caps_Shield]

On 3/8/2023 at 4:23 PM, roseoftx said:

A slightly different perspective on this, when you exclude port days and attending shows (you can get 1 beforehand but harder during) and meals (maybe a cocktail or wine by the glass), I come up with about 50 hours.  So the break even point at $65 and $85 is one drink about every 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes. 

 

I do agree that if you think it is should justified for your usage than go for it.  For us, its better to not get the package as we typically drink a few per day - for us, the price would need to be done in the $40 range to even have a short at break even,.

Why in the world would you exclude all that?  Being in port you could be back on the ship at different times and can still enjoy a beverage.  I'm not sure why you would throw a whole day away.  The logic doesn't seem to follow.

[WarfRatWA]

$66.99 + Gratuity on my Anthem sailing in June out of Soutampton.  Seems a bit lower than what other folks are posting, perhaps due itinerary (Norwegian Fjords).

[ARandomTraveler]

3 hours ago, WarfRatWA said:

$66.99 + Gratuity on my Anthem sailing in June out of Soutampton.  Seems a bit lower than what other folks are posting, perhaps due itinerary (Norwegian Fjords).

Yes probably the itinerary. I have a non-Caribbean itinerary this summer too, and mine is priced at $54.99-$58.99 (depending on the day and which "sale" is running).

[mandyleighflies]

I typically book the refreshment package and pay a la cart for alcoholic beverages as I don’t drink enough to justify the daily cost. However, keep an eye out for random sales as you get closer to cruise date. I just “Upgraded” my refreshment package to the Deluxe package when RCCL had a “sale” on the Deluxe package. The sale brought the daily price difference down from $90 PPPD to $60 PPPD. I had already committed to spending $26 plus my 3-4 a la cart beverages. It was a no brainer for me to go up to the higher package as it would save me money or break even on my other package per day. Math worked out, 4 drinks at $12 plus 2.16 tip so $14.16 x 4 = $56.64 a la cart while the new beverage package cost would be $34 per day additional for the same amount of drinks. It really is one of those things you have to keep an eye on and then what works best for you and your situation. We also only have 1 day when we will be off the ship and not able to use our package so it was an easy decision for me. 

[ARandomTraveler]

11 minutes ago, mandyleighflies said:

I typically book the refreshment package and pay a la cart for alcoholic beverages as I don’t drink enough to justify the daily cost. However, keep an eye out for random sales as you get closer to cruise date. I just “Upgraded” my refreshment package to the Deluxe package when RCCL had a “sale” on the Deluxe package. The sale brought the daily price difference down from $90 PPPD to $60 PPPD. I had already committed to spending $26 plus my 3-4 a la cart beverages. It was a no brainer for me to go up to the higher package as it would save me money or break even on my other package per day. Math worked out, 4 drinks at $12 plus 2.16 tip so $14.16 x 4 = $56.64 a la cart while the new beverage package cost would be $34 per day additional for the same amount of drinks. It really is one of those things you have to keep an eye on and then what works best for you and your situation. We also only have 1 day when we will be off the ship and not able to use our package so it was an easy decision for me. 

This math is assuming you'd use up the whole cost of your refreshment package every day first. I'm one of those refreshment package people too. I don't drink enough alcohol on a cruise to justify the $73-$80 price tags I usually see. 
 

But I also don't get my money out of the refreshment package. I buy it for convenience, and some days I do use it to its full daily cost, and other days I don't. So for me, assuming that the upgrade to the deluxe package is simply the difference between the 2 packages doesn't work out, because I'm already under water on the refreshment package. 
 

 

[mandyleighflies]

1 minute ago, ARandomTraveler said:

This math is assuming you'd use up the whole cost of your refreshment package every day first. I'm one of those refreshment package people too. I don't drink enough alcohol on a cruise to justify the $73-$80 price tags I usually see. 
 

But I also don't get my money out of the refreshment package. I buy it for convenience, and some days I do use it to its full daily cost, and other days I don't. So for me, assuming that the upgrade to the deluxe package is simply the difference between the 2 packages doesn't work out, because I'm already under water on the refreshment package. 
 

 

 

Yes this as well! I use EVERY penny of the refreshment package. I drink at least 2-3 iced coffee’s during the morning/daytime on a regular basis (yes it’s not healthy lol). I am also a beverage human, I always have at least 2 beverages near me at all times, one is always water and the other is usually a coffee/tea/sparking water or the occasional cocktail or glass of wine. We go through so much water in our household, we all bring our own refillable water bottles everywhere we go and fill them constantly. 

[TravisP]

18 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

This math is assuming you'd use up the whole cost of your refreshment package every day first. I'm one of those refreshment package people too. I don't drink enough alcohol on a cruise to justify the $73-$80 price tags I usually see. 
 

But I also don't get my money out of the refreshment package. I buy it for convenience, and some days I do use it to its full daily cost, and other days I don't. So for me, assuming that the upgrade to the deluxe package is simply the difference between the 2 packages doesn't work out, because I'm already under water on the refreshment package. 
 

 

If you use up the whole cost of the refreshment package is not really relevant if you are going to purchase that at a minimum regardless. If you know for a fact you are going to get at minimum the refreshment package, you only need to compare the price difference between the refreshment package and DBP to see if you would spend that much on beverages not applicable to the refreshment package.

[ARandomTraveler]

2 hours ago, TravisP said:

If you use up the whole cost of the refreshment package is not really relevant if you are going to purchase that at a minimum regardless. If you know for a fact you are going to get at minimum the refreshment package, you only need to compare the price difference between the refreshment package and DBP to see if you would spend that much on beverages not applicable to the refreshment package.

Yeah that's what I was saying. But if you don't use up the whole refreshment package to begin with, or you're not going to drink more beverages, that math doesn't work.

 

For example, if you would normally use up the refreshment package by drinking some non-alcoholic frozen piña coladas, then you can't really factor that drink into the calculation of drinks used under the refreshment package anymore, because it would likely just be swapped out in the alcohol package as the same drink, it's just that now it has alcohol.

 

For example, let's say you need 5 non-alcoholic drinks to get your moneys worth out of the refreshment package. 1 coffee, 2 waters, 2 virgin piña coladas. If I upgrade to the alcohol package, those 2 Virgin piña coladas are now 2 regular piña coladas, so I'm still drinking the same 5 drinks. I'm not drinking 2 additional piña coladas (2 without alcohol and then 2 with alcohol).

 

So the math, for me anyway, doesn't work out, because I'm not drinking enough non-alcoholic beverages that would be converted into alcoholic beverages to make the math work. It's cheaper for me to just pay the up-charge for the shot of alcohol in my "free" refreshment package drink. If buying the alcohol package means that now you will suddenly be drinking more liquids, then that math might work. 

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by ARandomTraveler