Silver Spirits Beverage Package with Viking

[Travel 25]

 

 

 

We will be on Viking transatlantic cruise for 21 days and this package is $1050 for 2 people.  Do you feel this addition is worth the cost and how many of you usually buy it   You get wine and beer with your meals so you would have to drink at least 3 additional drinks per day to make it worth it, if my math is correct.  

 

Also, what specialty restaurants do you recommend?  This is our first Viking Ocean cruise so any tips and suggestions will be appreciated.

[FetaCheese]

2 minutes ago, Travel 25 said:

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We will be on Viking transatlantic cruise for 21 days and this package is $1050 for 2 people.  Do you feel this addition is worth the cost and how many of you usually buy it   You get wine and beer with your meals so you would have to drink at least 3 additional drinks per day to make it worth it, if my math is correct.  Are gratuities included on the drinks when you purchase this package?

 

Also, what specialty restaurants do you recommend?  This is our first Viking Ocean cruise so any tips and suggestions will be appreciated.

SSBP $25 pp cost includes grats.  Also, if you purchase by the drink, grat also included.  V prices seem very reasonable by the drink.  SSBP also includes most wine/spirits tasting events and you would receive a 20% discount on bottles/ drinks over $50.

 

We personally love Manfredis Italian.  A revised menu, some subtractions and additions, from prior cruises.  Not sure which ship you're on, but V is using 4 different Manfredis menus.  We were on Star, in Dec/Jan and it was menu #4.  Will be on Star again in March, so not sure which menu will be offered.

[Travel 25]

Thanks, FetaCheese.  We will be on Viking Jupiter

[CurlerRob]

44 minutes ago, Travel 25 said:

• 
   

 

 

 

We will be on Viking transatlantic cruise for 21 days and this package is $1050 for 2 people.  Do you feel this addition is worth the cost and how many of you usually buy it   You get wine and beer with your meals so you would have to drink at least 3 additional drinks per day to make it worth it, if my math is correct.  Are gratuities included on the drinks when you purchase this package?

 

Also, what specialty restaurants do you recommend?  This is our first Viking Ocean cruise so any tips and suggestions will be appreciated.

 

I suggest you do a search using "SSBP", as this topic has been discussed many times and you'll be able to see the variety of opinions that exist.

 

Long threads short: if you order 2-3 drinks per person per day (depending on your choices) outside of the included offerings the economics work; some pax simply like the feeling of convenience that comes with prepaying and don't worry about whether it's a $ win/loss; some pax like to experiment with new drinks and don't want to feel constrained. Lots of reasons and always unique to the person.

 

Note: the SSBP is only a way to prepay for drinks - all beverages on the ship are available to all pax, nothing is reserved.

 

There are two specialty restaurants. Both are included in your fare. Pax opinions appear split 50/50 as to favourites. Try them both and see how you like them. Bon Voyage. 🍺🥌

[PasadenaDave]

Also you can bring on a bottle or two or three or.....

[crusintwo]

We were recently on a Panama Canal cruise, and were very happy that we had the silver spirits package.  You can go to any bar, any time, any place, for any reason, and get what you want.  We did try some of the included wines, and thought there were just OK, but nowhere near what you could get with the package.  You're going on a wonderful vacation -- splurge a little and enjoy!

Edited February 20 by crusintwo

[duquephart]

"You can go to any bar, any time, any place, for any reason, and get what you want."

With or without the package. This has been pointed out dozens of times. The package is only a payment plan and has NOTHING TO DO with choices or availability.

[CDNPolar]

Agree with @duquephart

 

We used to always buy the Silver Spirits package, but now do not.  When we looked at an upcoming cruise and the cost was going to be just short of $1,000.00 we decided that even if there were no included wines with meals, we would not spend that much.

 

This all depends on how much you are going to drink.  It is a bargain if you are going to drink more than 3 drinks per day per person on top of the included wines and beers at meals.

 

Regarding the included wines with meals (and beer).  If you are happy with these then you are looking at needing to buy 3 more drinks to break even.  

 

You can pay for anything on the expanded menu (gratuities included) if you are not on the SSBP.

 

We are quite happy with the included wines now, and to then calculate if we would each drink an additional 3-4 drinks per day - we would not on most nights, in fact most nights we don't drink after the wine at dinner, so not worth the money.

 

There is not even any greater convenience with the SSBP as the server still has to come to your table, get your cabin number, enter your drink requested whether you are on the package or not.  The only difference is you will get an itemized list of what you drank if you are not on the package.  If on the package, you never see the amount that you drank.

[duquephart]

Should also (maybe) be mentioned that for most folks there is two beers and four drinks in your mini bar that are "free."

[CDNPolar]

9 hours ago, Travel 25 said:

 

 

 

We will be on Viking transatlantic cruise for 21 days and this package is $1050 for 2 people.  Do you feel this addition is worth the cost and how many of you usually buy it   You get wine and beer with your meals so you would have to drink at least 3 additional drinks per day to make it worth it, if my math is correct.  

 

Also, what specialty restaurants do you recommend?  This is our first Viking Ocean cruise so any tips and suggestions will be appreciated.

 

No offence, but this is currently being discussed on the Viking Ocean forum and has been discussed over and over and over.

 

In brief:

 

* House wine and beer included with lunch and dinner - unlimited.  Wines are good in general.  You can get a top up before leaving the dining room and carry that anywhere on the ship.

* You can bring your own liquor or wine on board and viking will open and pour for you, or you can pour in your cabin and carry that drink/wine anywhere on the ship.

* You can get anything on the expanded beverage menu by paying for it as an individual drink and nothing is off limits to you because you are not on the package.

* If you take the package, and you are drinking the included wines and beers, then you would have to drink a minimum of 3 drinks per person per night to break even.

* If you don't like the included wines, then you could drink the expanded list of wines at meals either way, but if not on the SSBP then you will pay for them.  If on the SSBP then you won't pay extra.

 

You basically just have to decide how much you intend to drink.

 

We used to always buy the package, and we don't any longer.  We don't personally find the value.

 

[Squawkman]

2 hours ago, duquephart said:

Should also (maybe) be mentioned that for most folks there is two beers and four drinks in your mini bar that are "free."

Wrong. Most folks are not in PV or above. 

[PRH]

14 hours ago, Travel 25 said:

Thanks, FetaCheese.  We will be on Viking Jupiter

We will also be on this Jupiter cruise.  We are buying wine in Buenos Aires and foregoing SS this time.  We’ve got lots of OBC but thought we’d test it out this time on a drink by drink basis as we’ve always gotten SS before.

[Travel 25]

We are on the Southern Atlantic Crossing that departs from Barcelona on October 18, 2024.

[PRH]

9 minutes ago, Travel 25 said:

We are on the Southern Atlantic Crossing that departs from Barcelona on October 18, 2024.

Opps. We leave from Buenos Aires in March.

[CDNPolar]

21 hours ago, Squawkman said:

Wrong. Most folks are not in PV or above. 

 

Yeah, we book only DV cabins by choice because we personally see no value in paying more for something that we don't use or need...

 

We have never had liquor of any kind - beer, wine, spirits - in our minibar, and often we find that even the soft drinks are not replenished daily.
 

We don't care about that anyway because we don't visit our cabin unless we are sleeping, changing, showering, etc., and there is always water there.

[OKCowboy]

While on a Panama Canal cruise with Silver Spirits, I developed a throat infection requiring antibiotics prescribed by the ship doctor. I had to stop drinking alcohol halfway through the cruise. Given the reasonable cost of drinks and wine/beer at meals, I don't recommend even though it's cheaper than many other cruise lines drink packages.

[duquephart]

42 minutes ago, OKCowboy said:

While on a Panama Canal cruise with Silver Spirits, I developed a throat infection requiring antibiotics prescribed by the ship doctor. I had to stop drinking alcohol halfway through the cruise. Given the reasonable cost of drinks and wine/beer at meals, I don't recommend even though it's cheaper than many other cruise lines drink packages.

 

It's cheaper because you have already paid for included wine/beer.

[Mich3554]

We have kept a running total of our drink tab over every single cruise we have taken….both river and ocean (courtesy of my engineer husband who adores spreadsheets).  This includes one river, 9 stand alone cruises and a world cruise (where they did keep track of what we drank, despite the cruise fare paying for the SS package).  

Our results…..we ordered what we wanted, when we wanted.  No restraints.  We wound up paying 1/4-1/2 of what the SS package cost in alcohol and other drinks.  On a back to back to back (Athens to Santiago) there were a lot of sea days.  The cruise was around 55 days.  I think we only drank 50% of what the package cost.  There were only 10 days out of 55 where our bar tab met or exceeded what the daily package cost.  
 

This is the way WE drink.  On our first cruise, DH suggested that we go a la carte and see where we wind up.  A lot of cruises later, the answer is still the same.

[duquephart]

A lot depends on whether or not you are OK with the included. We always have bee  and the package, given that, never pencils out.

[Peregrina651]

On 2/20/2024 at 5:50 AM, duquephart said:

Should also (maybe) be mentioned that for most folks there is two beers and four drinks in your mini bar that are "free."

 

Not for most people. 2/3 of the cabins are Veranda and Deluxe Veranda (314 cabins out of 465), which do not have alcoholic beverages stocked in the minibar. In those cabins, if you want alcohol in the minibar, you have to pay for it and the minibar is not covered by the drinks package.

 

Edited February 24 by Peregrina651

[duquephart]

5 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Not for most people. 2/3 of the cabins are Veranda and Deluxe Veranda (314 cabins out of 465), which do not have alcoholic beverages stocked in the minibar. In those cabins, if you want alcohol in the minibar, you have to pay for it and the minibar is not covered by the drinks package.

 

 

OK - "some" folks.

[Hobson1754]

It depends greatly on what & how much you drink. To my great dismay I no longer am able to drink wine because it doesn’t agree with me, however, cocktails, G&T’s, Mocktails etc. I’m ok with so the package for me is ideal.

[dlh015]

In my younger days I would not even consider not buying the package. I was shocked at how reasonable the cost for the package was...especially compared to most any other cruise line. 

 

Nowadays, well, I just go a la carte...not to mention that my DW doesn't hardly drink at all. She'll be more than happy with wine served during lunch or dinner. And I find that the price of drinks is also quite reasonable...again, compared to most any other line. 

 

So, the package has no value for me now...sadly  😂

[duquephart]

As has been pointed out many times, it's all a matter of consumption level and whether it pencils out. The reasonableness of the package is due, in part, to the fact that you have already paid for a given level of consumption. Lines that aren't already providing "free" wine and beer need to charge more for it.

[DaveA]

On 2/20/2024 at 10:37 AM, CDNPolar said:

 

There is not even any greater convenience with the SSBP as the server still has to come to your table, get your cabin number, enter your drink requested whether you are on the package or not.

How does it work in restaurants? Do they top up house wine glasses without being asked? Does the same happen if I order a different wine on the SSBP list?