Drink package vs Premium package upgrade

[dltvermont]

Hello all,

 

We are just off the Viva a couple weeks back which was our first cruise on NCL since they added the premium upgrade. We kept the "free" one. Does anyone know if they advise you when you are getting a premium drink that isnt included on the "free" package and will be charged? When we got our statement, there were a few little extra charges at the bars where we got drinks. I drank the same two drinks as did my wife. The charges werent the same so it wasnt tax or anything like that. It wasnt enough money that we bothered to ask the guest services for explanation for. Just curious what the charges may have been for.

[blackwing]

The regular bar package is supposed to include all drinks $15 or less.  If it's more than $15, you pay the difference.

 

If you and your wife got the same drinks and one of you got charged some extra amount over $15 and one of you didn't, that seems odd.

[IAcruising]

Were you in port when those charges were made? It may be local taxes applied.

 

[Liljo22]

If its a just a mixed drink that happens to be over the $15 limit, they don't normally let you know its over.  If you are asking for a premium liquor to replace a basic one, they will normally check the card and let you know.  

[9tee2Sea]

I have had bartenders tell me the drink i ordered is not covered under the beverage package and if I still want it, there will be an up charge.

[dltvermont]

Thanks all for the answers. Just looking at the invoice again, and it looks like all the ones I wasnt aware of, we were in port, San Juan, and there are 3 charges at the same bar, 2.53, 1.12 and 2.27. All we drank were daiquiris, pina coladas and SOTB. If it was a tax then Id think it would be the same for each drink? Nothing premium was ever asked for, unless they used something else without being asked.We had many more of the same types of drink throughout the cruise that never got anything tacked on so Id guess its something to do with being in San Juan.

 

Like I said, the total bill at the end was negligible, I was just asked more for my own info.

 

Thanks Again!

[IAcruising]

33 minutes ago, dltvermont said:

All we drank were daiquiris, pina coladas and SOTB. If it was a tax then Id think it would be the same for each drink?

 

How do you know all three drinks were the same price? Did you see them on a menu?

 

[dltvermont]

1 hour ago, IAcruising said:

 

How do you know all three drinks were the same price? Did you see them on a menu?

 

Daiquiris and Pina Coladas are pre made in a slushy machine. They are the basic drinks. Even if 50 cents difference that wouldnt account for that range of taxes. 

[IAcruising]

22 minutes ago, dltvermont said:

Daiquiris and Pina Coladas are pre made in a slushy machine. They are the basic drinks. Even if 50 cents difference that wouldnt account for that range of taxes.

 

Yet, you assume they are the same price (or within $.50). What do you base that on? And how many drinks did you order, how often each? Were there 2 drinks on one swipe? Three?

 

A lot of variables here. It was local tax, period.

 

Edited March 22 by IAcruising

[proton-excitement]

If they were all in San Juan, that does look about right. The sales tax is high there, 11.5% I think. It's possible that the $1.XX charges were tax on a single drink, and $2.XX were if they used one card to charge two drinks at once. For example, 2x $11 drinks would have a combined tax of $2.53. Maybe a varying combo of drinks charged at once explains the varying tax amount?

[JandC_Cruising]

Just now, IAcruising said:

 

Yet, you assume they are the same price (or within $.50). What do you base that on? And how many drinks did you order, how often each? Were there 2 drinks on one swipe? Three?

 

A lot of variables here. It was local tax, period.

 

This is exactly right.  I've seen a variance in the taxes often.  I don't know what the tax rate is in San Juan, but 9% tax on $15 is $1.35, so those charges are not out of the realm of reasonable, assuming either 1 drink or 2 drinks per swipe.

One of the bartenders in the Vibe last March on the Joy out of Miami told me that he held back the swipes once it was "sail-away" and would then put the drinks through once we were in International waters.  Sure enough my drinks in the Vibe after 4pm were not charged tax.