Premium drink package

[jhenry1]

Is it worth upgrading to the premium drink package?

We like cabs and I cannot see a big difference in what is offered other than the Starbucks drinks and that is a lot for a Starbucks coffee.

 

please give advice

[mcmomny]

My husband loved his MacCallan 12 Years Single Malt nightly and I really enjoyed my night cap of Grand Marnier.

 

He assures me that how much scotch he drank made the upgrade worth it 🙂

 

He also enjoyed hi Starbuck's several times a day including a nice Cappuccino each night with dessert!

[floridafish]

Not worth it at all. 

[dpepper64]

We enjoyed and thought it was worth it.  We enjoyed the extra dinning as well as free wifi.  Wistle pig was drink of the day before and after dinner

[olemissreb]

My boyfriend and I enjoy a glass or two of Blantons, so totally worth it for us. Plus I enjoy a cappucino or chai latte in the mornings and a bottle or 2 of water while laying at the pool or off on excursions. We also really enjoy fresh squeezed oj with breakfast. We'll get more than our money's worth without really even trying.

[BirdTravels]

Not worth it. It is a money grab. You can drink all you want from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep with the included package. 
 

The included package covers the first $15 of bar drinks. You only pay the difference if you absolutely must have a more expensive drink. 

[dbrown84]

17 minutes ago, dpepper64 said:

We enjoyed and thought it was worth it.  We enjoyed the extra dinning as well as free wifi.  Wistle pig was drink of the day before and after dinner

I believe you're talking about fas plus.  I'm not sure if the OP is referring to fas plus since they only mentioned premium drinks 

[dbrown84]

I can't answer from a wine perspective.  I personally would say not for the Starbucks, but I think Starbucks coffee taste terrible.  If you're a Scotch drinker..... absolutely worth it. 

[Maleficent's Dad]

DW and I make full use of the free at sea package. We do enjoy a variety of different drinks. There is plenty of water and coffee to be had around the ship at no charge. I have looked into upgrading to the free at sea plus, but cannot make the numbers work no matter how I twist it. The list of drinks that NCL includes in the regular package is more than sufficient!

YMMV.

[Menocchio]

The upgraded package might be worth it if you

1. Gotta have your Starbucks (or energy drinks), and a lot of it.

2. Insist on bottled water- filling a reusable bottle will not do. And you make keeping hydrated a priority.

3. Have very expensive tastes in liquor.

 

If only 1 is true, you want the Starbucks package (and still only then if you drink a few lattes a day). If only 2, then you want to buy a bottled water package. If only three, then you're probably still better off just paying the difference over $15. Most premium drinks are only a few bucks more. And let's face it, after a few you can switch back to something cheaper and not care about the difference.

 

I do find the price list to be pretty funny. Buffalo Trace is in with the cheap stuff? Someone please tell that to the bars and stores around me. 

[Trivan]

Worth is  a personal thing.  I upgraded and I felt it was worth it for me.  On my first NCL cruise on the Joy last year we had:

- Starbucks every day at least 2x's

- bottles of sparkling water probably at least 4 times

- John Walker Blue every night and other top shelf MacCallan's.  I think one person I met drank at least 2 bottles of JW Blue during the week himself. 

 

When we ordered cocktails, alway asked for the top shelf.  

As other said if your not into the higher end drinks, probably not worth the cost and just pay as you go. 

[macewank]

I think the FAS+ is worth it. Not sure about the PDP alone.

For FAS+, I like having always on Internet so I can stay in touch with folks shoreside during the cruise.  Also drink a lot of Aqua Panna bottled water.  And make sure to grab a Starbucks or two every day. I get my money's worth.

[dbrown84]

1 hour ago, Menocchio said:

The upgraded package might be worth it if you

1. Gotta have your Starbucks (or energy drinks), and a lot of it.

2. Insist on bottled water- filling a reusable bottle will not do. And you make keeping hydrated a priority.

3. Have very expensive tastes in liquor.

 

If only 1 is true, you want the Starbucks package (and still only then if you drink a few lattes a day). If only 2, then you want to buy a bottled water package. If only three, then you're probably still better off just paying the difference over $15. Most premium drinks are only a few bucks more. And let's face it, after a few you can switch back to something cheaper and not care about the difference.

 

I do find the price list to be pretty funny. Buffalo Trace is in with the cheap stuff? Someone please tell that to the bars and stores around me. 

You'd definitely have to look up what you're going to drink.  Drinks can be a lot more than $15.  A double of macallan is $100, and I definitely can't switch to JW black.  But you make a great point if what you drink is $20

[BenDover]

For me, it is definitely worth it. 
I typically have two classes of wine with dinner and with the plus package I can get a Silverado Cab, Duckhorn Merlot or a Brunello. Then I have a vintage Port with dessert. That would add up to about $35 per night if I had the regular package.

I always finish the evening with a Hennessy XO which would cost another $35 without the plus package. Throw in Starbucks in the morning and it’s a good bargain for me.

[KeithJenner]

I’m not going to embarrass myself by telling a stranger on the internet that something is worth it or not.

 

Completely depends on you. If you like coffee, bottled water and more expensive wines or spirits then it may be. Otherwise it probably isn’t.

 

for us, my wife enjoys champagne and also drinks sparkling water a lot. That is the main reason we upgrade but it means that I can grab a coffee whenever I want, hoping her with some sparkling water and also order wine like the duckhorn, which I prefer to the ones less than $15. I probably wouldn’t upgrade just for my preferences but I very much enjoy them.

Edited August 24 by KeithJenner

[asctony]

3 hours ago, Trivan said:

Worth is  a personal thing.  I upgraded and I felt it was worth it for me.  On my first NCL cruise on the Joy last year we had:

- Starbucks every day at least 2x's

- bottles of sparkling water probably at least 4 times

- John Walker Blue every night and other top shelf MacCallan's.  I think one person I met drank at least 2 bottles of JW Blue during the week himself. 

 

When we ordered cocktails, alway asked for the top shelf.  

As other said if your not into the higher end drinks, probably not worth the cost and just pay as you go. 

How do you know they are bringing you exactly what you ordered? 

Do you drink on the rocks or straight up?

 

Joke! It still comes out the same. LOL

[Menocchio]

1 hour ago, dbrown84 said:

You'd definitely have to look up what you're going to drink.  Drinks can be a lot more than $15.  A double of macallan is $100, and I definitely can't switch to JW black.  But you make a great point if what you drink is $20

Some of the menus I've seen online exclude the three digit pour whiskeys from all drink packages. The stuff included in premium plus tops out at around $38.

 

I think the bottom line is that if you want to have a beer or a cocktail in your hand while you enjoy the lido or the shows, FAS is perfectly sufficient. If you plan to park yourself at the premium wine or whiskey bars all evening every evening and enjoy only the best, then maybe an upgrade is for you. 

[MNcruisingcouple]

For us the answer is sometimes...

My husband enjoys good Scotch, I like the upgraded wine and we both like our Starbucks and sparkling water.  So, if we have OBC to use, we will use it to upgrade to the PremiumPlus beverage package.  Rarely would we choose to pay for the upgrade without using OBC. And if we don't upgrade, we know we can enjoy the cruise without having it.

 

As with many things, the selection has changed over the years.  If the selection continues to go down, we may decide it isn't worth it at all for us.

 

Whether it's worth it for you personally, you have to judge for yourself.

[dbrown84]

48 minutes ago, Menocchio said:

Some of the menus I've seen online exclude the three digit pour whiskeys from all drink packages. The stuff included in premium plus tops out at around $38.

 

I think the bottom line is that if you want to have a beer or a cocktail in your hand while you enjoy the lido or the shows, FAS is perfectly sufficient. If you plan to park yourself at the premium wine or whiskey bars all evening every evening and enjoy only the best, then maybe an upgrade is for you. 

well, it's $50 per shot (therefore $100 for a double).  so definitely included in the package

[Trivan]

54 minutes ago, asctony said:

How do you know they are bringing you exactly what you ordered? 

Do you drink on the rocks or straight up?

 

Joke! It still comes out the same. LOL

Haha.  We stay in the haven so you definitely see what they are pouring from the bar.   The good stuff straight up.  

[asctony]

50 minutes ago, Trivan said:

Haha.  We stay in the haven so you definitely see what they are pouring from the bar.   The good stuff straight up.  

Ok, I'm glad you can see it. Many times you never know. That's like when you ask for a mixed drink you get something totally different. For people who mix, I really don't understand ordering  other than bar stock.

Glad you laughed at the outcome.

Cheers!

[FLAHAM]

I like the Hennessy XO cognac in the bars and Veuve Cliquot champagne in Le Bistro.  I also order a bottle of San Pellegrino sparkling water with each lunch and dinner.

[macewank]

4 hours ago, Menocchio said:

Some of the menus I've seen online exclude the three digit pour whiskeys from all drink packages. The stuff included in premium plus tops out at around $38.

 

I think the bottom line is that if you want to have a beer or a cocktail in your hand while you enjoy the lido or the shows, FAS is perfectly sufficient. If you plan to park yourself at the premium wine or whiskey bars all evening every evening and enjoy only the best, then maybe an upgrade is for you. 

For the most part yes, but I drank quite a bit of Blue Label on the Escape last December.  They had a bottle @ Tobacco Road and seemed like they were only offering it up to the regulars who had P+ .. Not sure what that cost per drink but my guess is around $50/pour

[pkay1]

• So you know what you're ordering, the premium drink package is what's included with the Free at Sea package. I think you are referring to the premium plus drink package. You can also upgrade to the Free at Sea Plus package, which includes the premium plus drink package, two additional specialty dinners, unlimited wifi, and the $50 discount for the second passenger in your room. My DH and I upgrade to the FAS Plus every trip because we like getting all of the benefits I listed above. We like to drink wine and we were not happy with the wines that were included in the premium package, especially the reds. We are pretty happy with the wines included in the Plus package, and we also enjoy getting Starbucks a couple times a day, we drink San Pellegrino and Aqua Panna with our meals, and better liquor in our mixed drinks. We also like getting bottles of water whenever we want on board. It's up to you if it's worth it to upgrade your drink package. For us, we factor it in to the total cost of our cruise and are okay paying more.

[madams77]

I have been upgrading to the p+ package for a while now!  I like my Starbucks in the am and espresso after dinner!  I also like a few glasses of Veuve that I can still get in Le Bistro.  I did three wine tastings on the Encore in March and got a 40% discount on the total cost.  In the Vibe, the bartenders pour the upgraded liquors without even asking when you have the p+!  I find it a worthwhile upgrade.