Removing "open bar" after booking?

[craig01020]

I'm assuming it would be a simple phone call, but I'm just wondering if anyone has removed the open bar gratuities after booking (but before final payment)?

 

Thanks.

[FLAHAM]

I have done that.  Took 30 seconds on the phone with my NCL Personal Cruise Consultant.  Bear in mind you are removing the entire drinks package, not just the service charge.

[debenson0723]

You can remove it or add it up to about 3 days prior to the cruise, not just prior to final payment. I have done it multiple times.

Enjoy your cruise.

[romalley99]

1 hour ago, debenson0723 said:

You can remove it or add it up to about 3 days prior to the cruise, not just prior to final payment. I have done it multiple times.

Enjoy your cruise.

 

This ^^ 

[clojacks]

I did this on a recent NCL cruise as it wasn't cost effective with my wife not drinking. I do have a question though. If I want to restore it to my FAS perks on a currently booked cruise that we again removed it from, will I be charged the cost of a beverage package or only the cost of the gratuities?

[CCJack]

good post, I was wondering the same thing.   We just booked a 7 day on Joy for 2 of us and they added $170x2 for gratuities.  My wife does not drink alcohol, and I do only moderately.   Trying to do the math to see if it makes sense for us with her ordering only non alcohol drinks.   Does anyone know if you can cancel for 1 person and not the other?   I can understand why the cruiseline may not want to do that as one person could just get drinks for their partner - but that is not my intent.    

[clojacks]

18 minutes ago, CCJack said:

good post, I was wondering the same thing.   We just booked a 7 day on Joy for 2 of us and they added $170x2 for gratuities.  My wife does not drink alcohol, and I do only moderately.   Trying to do the math to see if it makes sense for us with her ordering only non alcohol drinks.   Does anyone know if you can cancel for 1 person and not the other?   I can understand why the cruiseline may not want to do that as one person could just get drinks for their partner - but that is not my intent.    

You can not do only 1 in a room on the package. 1 consideration on the drink package, is that NCL's is ONLY for alcohol drinks. Other lines include, soft drinks, waters, coffees, etc, but NCL's is just "drinks" (beers, liquor drinks, wines, etc). That for us made a difference too, as the other lines we sail include EVERYTHING.

 

Before our recent cruise, I think I roughly figured I would need to drink between 3 and 4 drinks a day in order for the gratuities on the drinks to offset paying for an individual drink when I wanted it. By no means am I a teetotaler, but I also don't need to drink 3 drinks a day. It's just my personal viewpoint. I'll sail NCL again, but IMHO they have the worst beverage packages on the high seas.

Edited February 26, 2023 by clojacks

[JGmf]

22 minutes ago, CCJack said:

We just booked a 7 day on Joy for 2 of us and they added $170x2 for gratuities.  My wife does not drink alcohol, and I do only moderately.   Trying to do the math to see if it makes sense for us with her ordering only non alcohol drinks.

 

Basically, if between you and your wife, you order a total of 5 or more drinks a day (non-alcoholic, stiff cocktails, frozen stuff at the pool, beer, etc), you should buy the package.

[FLAHAM]

FAS drinks package does include soda.

[clojacks]

4 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

FAS drinks package does include soda.

Or bottled water, or specialty coffee's...

[palpieha]

6 minutes ago, clojacks said:

Or bottled water, or specialty coffee's...

The FAS drink package does not include bottled water or specialty coffee unless upgraded to the plus package.

 

It does include sodas, juices, as well as virgin drinks like smoothies, etc.

[CCJack]

2 hours ago, palpieha said:

The FAS drink package does not include bottled water or specialty coffee unless upgraded to the plus package.

 

It does include sodas, juices, as well as virgin drinks like smoothies, etc.

thank you all for the comments.  I think we will keep the package as long as it does include soda, juice and virgin drinks...   Since there was differing opinions, I looked up this link on NCL which hopefully is the latest.   It does specifically indicate juices, sodas, N/A beer, N/A wine are included.   It doesn't mention virgin drinks, but I can't imagine they would exclude virgin drinks if alcohol drinks are included, the optics would be really bad for the company to do that.

 

https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/790164-BEV_Package_Flyer_UOBP_PPBP_Update_FINAL_2_6_23_1.pdf

[mjkacmom]

40 minutes ago, CCJack said:

thank you all for the comments.  I think we will keep the package as long as it does include soda, juice and virgin drinks...   Since there was differing opinions, I looked up this link on NCL which hopefully is the latest.   It does specifically indicate juices, sodas, N/A beer, N/A wine are included.   It doesn't mention virgin drinks, but I can't imagine they would exclude virgin drinks if alcohol drinks are included, the optics would be really bad for the company to do that.

 

https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/790164-BEV_Package_Flyer_UOBP_PPBP_Update_FINAL_2_6_23_1.pdf

Virgin drinks are definitely included.

[palpieha]

1 hour ago, CCJack said:

thank you all for the comments.  I think we will keep the package as long as it does include soda, juice and virgin drinks...   Since there was differing opinions, I looked up this link on NCL which hopefully is the latest.   It does specifically indicate juices, sodas, N/A beer, N/A wine are included.   It doesn't mention virgin drinks, but I can't imagine they would exclude virgin drinks if alcohol drinks are included, the optics would be really bad for the company to do that.

 

https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/790164-BEV_Package_Flyer_UOBP_PPBP_Update_FINAL_2_6_23_1.pdf

 

They are included. Also as far as the cost, you mentioned $170 charged. Note that the part related to the alcohol package should be $152.60 per person (20% of $109/day x 7 days). The remainder would be gratuities for the specialty dining package. So you wouldn't save the whole $170 per person by removing the drinks package, you'd also have to remove the specialty dining.

[craig01020]

I called today and had the open bar gratuities removed from two of my booked cruises...the ones with the fewest sea days. If I'm in port all day, I won't be buying that many drinks on the ship.

[CCJack]

5 hours ago, palpieha said:

 

They are included. Also as far as the cost, you mentioned $170 charged. Note that the part related to the alcohol package should be $152.60 per person (20% of $109/day x 7 days). The remainder would be gratuities for the specialty dining package. So you wouldn't save the whole $170 per person by removing the drinks package, you'd also have to remove the specialty dining.

Thanks, that helps.  I didn't realize that.