Drinks Package Questions

[e&mcruise]

On 8/15/2024 at 3:28 PM, maggielou362 said:

Sadly it's now $US16 per glass, and the upper limit for the Drinks Package is $13.50. Not happy!

Very unhappy about this and it will probably mean we don't bother with a drinks package on our May 25 TA as there is now NO sparkling wine, other than Prosecco which we are not generally fans of (and weren't fans of when we tried on our last Cunard trip on QE in march 24) and this is our preferred tipple.

 

Gusborne was the perfect compromise to a champagne, particularly being English, but having NO sparkling wine included in the drinks package at all is disgraceful. 😞

 

Gusborne (now $16) is only $1.50 less per glass than French Champagne from Laurent Perrier ($17) where as it used to be $4 difference and thus fitted neatly into the drinks package at the top at $13.50 a glass.

 

Really hope someone in Cunard F&B pays attention to this oversight quickly. 

[david63]

7 minutes ago, e&mcruise said:

Really hope someone in Cunard F&B pays attention to this oversight quickly.

I doubt it.

 

Drinks packages are there for one reason only - to benefit the cruise line and make them more profit. By excluding more items that works in the cruise line's favour.

 

This is not something unique to Cunard but applies to all cruise lines - even those that are "all inclusive"

[e&mcruise]

2 minutes ago, david63 said:

 By excluding more items that works in the cruise line's favour.

 

 

Yes but not an entire category of wine......

 

That's just laziness.

[Pushpit]

7 minutes ago, david63 said:

Drinks packages are there for one reason only - to benefit the cruise line and make them more profit. By excluding more items that works in the cruise line's favour.

 

This is not something unique to Cunard but applies to all cruise lines - even those that are "all inclusive"

 

Yes, totally agree, and it is not just drink packages, alcohol is a huge money maker for Cunard / Carnival, to the extent that I think some stateroom rates are loss-leaders to get drinkers onboard. The lowest rate is £80 a night per person, which is Premier Inn style pricing plus as much food as you can possibly eat.  So both the drink package rate and the per drink price is totally down to protecting margins on a company which remains deeply leveraged in debt.

 

4 minutes ago, e&mcruise said:

Yes but not an entire category of wine......

 

That's just laziness.

I very much doubt it, these packages are intended to be nice to Carnival's bank balance, ideally such that they are taken up by the target market, and it may now not include you, but I don't think Carnival will worry about that.

[Victoria2]

5 minutes ago, e&mcruise said:

Yes but not an entire category of wine......

 

That's just laziness.

I doubt laziness enters into it.

Economics perhaps, yes.

[exlondoner]

I’m amazed Cunard allows me to travel. Admittedly I pay for an expensive cabin. But, after that, no drinks packages, no spa, no fitness classes, no casino, very few drinks in the bar, very few of their excursions. We do usually have a bottle of wine at dinner, and send stuff to the laundry, which is strangely good value. But otherwise, from the revenue point of view, we must be catastrophes. 

[e&mcruise]

10 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

 

I very much doubt it, these packages are intended to be nice to Carnival's bank balance, ideally such that they are taken up by the target market, and it may now not include you, but I don't think Carnival will worry about that.

 

Hardly think on a cruise that we are the only people that like a bubbly tipple.

 

Love to see what would happen if they abolished all beer or vodka from fitting into the drinks packages. 🙂

[Victoria2]

Ha, Cunard sisters  exlondoner as I have mentioned before although I do like a glass of 'Tea' occasionally.

 

We have had some excellent bin end packages in the past but not come across any recently.

 

We payg fro our drinks. Gives us more choice.

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, e&mcruise said:

 

Hardly think on a cruise that we are the only people that like a bubbly tipple.

 

Love to see what would happen if they abolished all beer or vodka from fitting into the drinks packages. 🙂

Don’t know anything about vodka, but I’m not sure all beer is an accurate analogy for one comparatively rare (though lucrative) type of wine.

[Pushpit]

12 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I’m amazed Cunard allows me to travel. Admittedly I pay for an expensive cabin. But, after that, no drinks packages, no spa, no fitness classes, no casino, very few drinks in the bar, very few of their excursions. We do usually have a bottle of wine at dinner, and send stuff to the laundry, which is strangely good value. But otherwise, from the revenue point of view, we must be catastrophes. 

I suspect your cabin costs a little more than £80 a night, so as a shareholder I'm grateful that you continue to keep me in the style to which I have sadly become accustomed.  But the mark-up on your drinks is way north of 50%, so I tend you my further gratitude. But more seriously, you can see the differential marketing here: had you gone for an £80 a night cabin you may be tempted to drown your sorrows, so Cunard has a drinks package for you, but in QG they frankly don't need to bother.

[Pushpit]

14 minutes ago, e&mcruise said:

 

Hardly think on a cruise that we are the only people that like a bubbly tipple.

 

Love to see what would happen if they abolished all beer or vodka from fitting into the drinks packages. 🙂

I'm sure there are other guests who like sparkling wine, but they would presumably be happy with Prosecco, which is where you get cut adrift here.

 

They won't take out all beer and spirits from the packages, more likely they will simply increase the package, as they have done twice in 2 years. They've also increased the cut off from $12 to $13.50, and will doubtless shift it to $15 with the next price hike. 

[exlondoner]

8 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

I suspect your cabin costs a little more than £80 a night, so as a shareholder I'm grateful that you continue to keep me in the style to which I have sadly become accustomed.  But the mark-up on your drinks is way north of 50%, so I tend you my further gratitude. But more seriously, you can see the differential marketing here: had you gone for an £80 a night cabin you may be tempted to drown your sorrows, so Cunard has a drinks package for you, but in QG they frankly don't need to bother.

But they do give me a lot (by my standards) of free drinks in the cabin, the opportunity cost of which must be a bit.

[Pushpit]

4 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

But they do give me a lot (by my standards) of free drinks in the cabin, the opportunity cost of which must be a bit.

Yes, it probably is. I've ended up with 8 bottles of fizzy water in my QG suite once I asked them to remove alcohol, so it's indeed an opportunity cost there, perhaps overdone. On the other hand I'm of the impression that QG are particularly repeat bookers, and once in QG it is very, very difficult to go back to steerage. So maybe they know what they are doing.

[david63]

5 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

So maybe they know what they are doing.

They certainly know what they are doing - bean counting in Carnival is a well practised art😉

[exlondoner]

5 minutes ago, david63 said:

They certainly know what they are doing - bean counting in Carnival is a well practised art😉

I certainly hope so. Yet bean counting sounds strangely pejorative, I don’t know why. In fact, making good profits for its shareholders is what a company is supposed to do.

[exlondoner]

12 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

Yes, it probably is. I've ended up with 8 bottles of fizzy water in my QG suite once I asked them to remove alcohol, so it's indeed an opportunity cost there, perhaps overdone. On the other hand I'm of the impression that QG are particularly repeat bookers, and once in QG it is very, very difficult to go back to steerage. So maybe they know what they are doing.

We get that much even with the booze. And lots of tonic bottles, of mixed manufacture.

[alc13]

1 hour ago, david63 said:

I doubt it.

 

Drinks packages are there for one reason only - to benefit the cruise line and make them more profit. By excluding more items that works in the cruise line's favour.

 

This is not something unique to Cunard but applies to all cruise lines - even those that are "all inclusive"

The included wines on those all-inclusive lines are squarely in the supermarket category.  And the prices for bottles were exorbitant on a recent "luxury line" cruise.  So yes, the profits from alcohol are carefully calibrated.

[maggielou362]

33 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I certainly hope so. Yet bean counting sounds strangely pejorative, I don’t know why. In fact, making good profits for its shareholders is what a company is supposed to do.

Happy for Carnival to make good profits for shareholders (one of which I am not). I am NOT happy as a passenger however to be relegated to the cheapest, least imaginative drinks if I choose to use a drinks package. As I mentioned previously, I will willingly pay an increased and appropriate price in order to enjoy a wide variety of quality beverages, both alcoholic and soft. Perhaps the best approach is to budget ahead of time for drinks and accept that we will be paying the rather steep gratuity charge for every beverage. Still would prefer a pay-ahead quality drinks package at the appropriate (higher) price than the current package. That's just my preference and holiday mentality!

Edited August 18 by maggielou362
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[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, maggielou362 said:

Happy for Carnival to make good profits for shareholders (one of which I am not). I am NOT happy as a passenger however to be relegated to the cheapest, least imaginative drinks if I choose to use a drinks package. As I mentioned previously, I will willingly pay an increased and appropriate price in order to enjoy a wide variety of quality beverages, both alcoholic and soft. Perhaps the best approach is to budget ahead of time for drinks and accept that we will be paying the rather steep gratuity charge for every beverage. Still would prefer a pay-ahead quality drinks package at the appropriate (higher) price than the current package. That's just my preference and holiday mentality!

I can’t really see any downsides to PAYG. Cunard may do so.

[maggielou362]

5 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I can’t really see any downsides to PAYG. Cunard may do so.

Actually, I suspect you are right, exlondonder. I will have to open a new special bank account for my beverages on Cunard voyages!

[david63]

10 minutes ago, maggielou362 said:

Perhaps the best approach is to budget ahead of time for drinks and accept that we will be paying the rather steep gratuity charge for every beverage.

For many that will work out cheaper than buying a drinks package.

[maggielou362]

Speaking of which, is it necessary to provide CREDIT card details for onboard accounts, or can one provide a debit card? Would that avoid the credit card surcharge on each transaction?

Edited August 18 by maggielou362
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[david63]

Just now, maggielou362 said:

Speaking of which, is it necessary to provide CREDIT card details for onboard accounts, or can one provide a debit card? 

You can, I believe, use a debit card but it is not always a good idea. With any type of card you have to factor in the daily pre-authorisations which can, and does, result in twice the amount of spend being ring-fenced on your account. I have heard stories about passengers using debit cards and because of the pre-authorisations not being able to buy petrol to get back home after thye cruise.

[david63]

5 minutes ago, maggielou362 said:

Would that avoid the credit card surcharge on each transaction?

Normally there should only be one transaction.

[WantedOnVoyage]

Depending on the length of the cruise.  I think Cunard clears accounts every fortnight or did on our last three-week plus cruise so two bills went through on my card.  They certainly are not processing individual charges per bill. 

 

QV the last few times has been very efficient with all this especially with the confusing US grills drink package... what a difference from QM2 in 2022. At times I felt like I was back working in the purser's office trying to get it sorted out repeatedly. 

Edited August 18 by WantedOnVoyage