Can't believe the drink package is $110/day (5-nt Caribbean this fall)! Do they ever drop in price or offer more discount?

[w@ntonsoup]

Fall cruise.  The alcohol package is $110/day per person, and they're offering it for 25% off right now ($82/day/person).  That's still outrageous and more than Carnival, Princess, etc.

 

Should I wait?  Will it possibly get a better discount before the cruise?  Not sure what the normal promos are for this. 

 

Thanks!

[not-enough-cruising]

It may go down a few dollars, however shorter cruises are generally higher per day than longer ones

[Sunshine3601]

Prices vary based on ship and length of the sailing.    short cruises always seem to have higher priced drink packages.    "Sales" may happen again around Easter, just never know if it will be better or higher.   Figure out how much you will drink a day based on your port stops, etc at the current price for your sailing you may be better off paying per drink.   

[Cruising89143]

Agree that prices vary by ship and itinerary. The drink package on our TA is $55.99 per day. 

[scubaslayer]

My experience is it is never the full price. There is always a "sale". I am not sure the current rate for drinks but a couple of years ago it was about $15 for a cocktail. At that price, you would need to drink 5.6 drinks per day to break even. Is that worth it to you? I am well aware you can get more than alcohol with the package but that is generally the most expensive item. If you don't drink more than 1 a day, the refreshment package might be a better deal and just buy shots to add to your drink. I am in no way saying the drink package isn't worth it for some people but it is worth looking at the overall value of the drink package (including convenience). If this seems like an ok value, I would purchase and then cancel and reorder if the price drops before sailing. I have never seen it be lower once onboard.

[cj_one2000]

3 hours ago, scubaslayer said:

My experience is it is never the full price. There is always a "sale". I am not sure the current rate for drinks but a couple of years ago it was about $15 for a cocktail. At that price, you would need to drink 5.6 drinks per day to break even. Is that worth it to you? I am well aware you can get more than alcohol with the package but that is generally the most expensive item. If you don't drink more than 1 a day, the refreshment package might be a better deal and just buy shots to add to your drink. I am in no way saying the drink package isn't worth it for some people but it is worth looking at the overall value of the drink package (including convenience). If this seems like an ok value, I would purchase and then cancel and reorder if the price drops before sailing. I have never seen it be lower once onboard.

So the sale price in reality is that you’re just paying full price 🫠

[taglovestocruise]

4 hours ago, w@ntonsoup said:

Fall cruise.  The alcohol package is $110/day per person, and they're offering it for 25% off right now ($82/day/person).  That's still outrageous and more than Carnival, Princess, etc.

 

Should I wait?  Will it possibly get a better discount before the cruise?  Not sure what the normal promos are for this. 

 

Thanks!

Reserve it now, if you see a better price. just cancel and rebook.  Just like keeping a eye out for cabin price drops, better price just a quick call for the new price as long as you are before final payment. 

[scubaslayer]

1 hour ago, cj_one2000 said:

So the sale price in reality is that you’re just paying full price 🫠

Royal loves having a sale. The price does fluctuate but I have never seen anything in my planner saying it was full price. I could be wrong and just never noticed but every time I login Royal has a deal and yet checking the prices they are almost always the same. I'm currently trying to decide between 3 dates and the prices have been consistent for weeks. I wish I had been able to plan around Black Friday sales though.

[smokeybandit]

You don't need a drink package to buy a drink.

[F27TW]

$110 per day is absolutely insane.   We were on Mariner 5-day this past April and watched for a bit before buying.. when it came down to $74 per day, we grabbed it .. that was as low the price got for our sailing. 

 

[95south]

Keep an eye out for the 35% off offers. If one comes around, get it. Welcome to the worst economy ever! 

 

[livetravelcruise07]

I literally check my app every day for the beverage package price to drop. 🤣 We are on an 11 night sailing, May of this year and we actually just purchased our drink package for $66 per person/per day. That is the lowest I have seen it with our sailing! I recommend just checking every day and it seems they have a new sale every few weeks! Since your sailing is in Fall they will likely have more sales over the summertime as well!

[wayne_trisha]

On 1/29/2024 at 12:56 PM, 95south said:

Keep an eye out for the 35% off offers. If one comes around, get it. Welcome to the worst economy ever! 

 

Percentages don't matter. The only thing that matters is the cost per person. They constantly have gimmick sales but just focus on the bottom line price.

[bundtkate]

As another data point, I tracked the drink package price on our 7-day Harmony sailing from when we booked (nearly a year ago) to today (about 5 days away from sailing). For most of that time period (including Black Friday), it fluctuated between $83pppd and $78pppd. About a month ago, it dipped down to $74pppd and I bought it. It bounced between that and $78pppd for a while and seems to have settled at $78 for the past week or so. I expect it will stay that price until the cruise planner shuts down.

As they say, things cost whatever the market will bear and sometimes that means they cost far more than they're worth to many. If it reaches a price you'd be slightly unhappy with, probably best to buy it. You can always refund and repurchase if it drops and there's never a guarantee the current price will come back around. $74pppd was my slightly unhappy point and I'm still waffling on keeping it, but at least I got it at the lowest price it hit in case I do decide to stick with it.

Edited January 31 by bundtkate

[Twenty2020]

Are these prices mentioned before 18% grats?

[PhillyFan33579]

3 hours ago, Twenty2020 said:

Are these prices mentioned before 18% grats?

Yes. 18% is added to whatever the current “sale” price is when it is purchased.  

[PhillyFan33579]

On 1/28/2024 at 3:58 PM, w@ntonsoup said:

Fall cruise.  The alcohol package is $110/day per person, and they're offering it for 25% off right now ($82/day/person).  That's still outrageous and more than Carnival, Princess, etc.

 

Should I wait?  Will it possibly get a better discount before the cruise?  Not sure what the normal promos are for this. 

 

Thanks!

Don’t pay attention to the latest sale offered. The only thing that matters is the price per day. Every cruise is different but my guess based on experience is it will likely drop at some point to the mid to upper 70s per day. This may or may not matter to you, but the deluxe drink package is unlimited on RCI. In my younger days I hit 15 drinks per day frequently when cruising on Carnival. 

[CruisingWalter]

On 1/28/2024 at 3:58 PM, w@ntonsoup said:

Should I wait?  Will it possibly get a better discount before the cruise?  Not sure what the normal promos are for this.

 

That's pretty much in line with the pricing on Royal. We recommend the Refreshment Package to all our friends. That covers soft drinks, mocktails and specialty coffees, then just pay ala-carte for the alcohol. We always come out way ahead doing that vs. purchasing the full drinks package. 

[Engineroom Snipe]

On each I have in my planner, the "suggested original retail price (without the discounts) is different from about $95 to $105.

 

From there, throughout a year of tracking, the best deal I have seen is 30% off the per-person original retail price with one exception: We have been offered 35% off certain cruises at certain times of the year under a "Senior Discount" which requires, as best I can figure it out, all of the occupants of one cabin are over 65 years of age. I do not know if it applies to anyone else booked in the cabin or suite.

 

I realize the the price per day is the ultimate hard dollar calculation but after years of tracking, the percentage rarely exceeds 30% off the original retail 100% price per person.

[robmtx]

We bought the $18/day drink package when they had that website error. We had it purchased for three cruises.. Then the pandemic hit.. We never got to use any of our $18/day packages 😞

[not-enough-cruising]

Just now, robmtx said:

We bought the $18/day drink package when they had that website error. We had it purchased for three cruises.. Then the pandemic hit.. We never got to use any of our $18/day packages 😞

We had purchased that week for 4 trips; got to use one (Oasis Feb 2020) the rest we lost to the shutdown!

[robmtx]

1 minute ago, not-enough-cruising said:

We had purchased that week for 4 trips; got to use one (Oasis Feb 2020) the rest we lost to the shutdown!

Oh yeah we had a 4th one, Anthem in Feb 2020 but that cruise was modified from an 8 to 5 night due to suspected covid onboard prev sailing (when they had to send test kits to CDC and wait 2 days for results!). So I guess we did get 5 nights of $18 boozing 🙂

[ChollaChick]

1 hour ago, robmtx said:

We bought the $18/day drink package when they had that website error. We had it purchased for three cruises.. Then the pandemic hit.. We never got to use any of our $18/day packages 😞

We got the $18 error for the Allure TA that was taking it to Spain for the dry dock that never happened due to covid.  We are now diamond and won't be doing drink packages again unless they drop to $18 again.

Edited January 31 by ChollaChick

[The Scurvy Pirate]

It's normally 20% off; BOGO50 (25% off) and sometimes 30% off (only started seeing that recently).  I don't know that I have seen 35% off before, so if you see that discount grab it.  Also, pay attention to the "list" or "on board" price as usually in March/April each year they bump it up $5 or more.  I had one last year that got bumped $5 in April 2023 and $5 more in Sept 2023.  So, 30% off at todays price may be less thant 30% off this summer's price.  As someone mentioned before, if you like the price, buy it.  If it goes down, you can always cancel and repurchase.  Before you canel make sure to double check the final amount of the new purchase.  Have seen many times on here where someone canceled their 20% off to buy a BOGO50 and only then found out that the final price was actually higher (because the on board price had changed and they hadn't noticed).  18% gratuities added at check out.