Alcohol Package

Morning bloody Mary 12 bucks. Specialty coffee as you are checking out shops 6 bucks. Few beers at the pool 7 bucks each. Cocktail before dinner 12 bucks. Glass of wine with dinner 12 bucks. And a drink or 2 at the casino or during the show $$$. You easily surpassed what the drink package cost

Way back in our cruising history, I remember not getting it. ONCE! It was aggravating seeing those drinks piling up on our on our account, and those prices!!! It was like having some kind of drink monitor looking over my shoulder...we'd get back to the cabin and fire it up, and I'd get a snootful, in more ways than one..This is much more pleasant, and cheaper!

You can see a benefit. You don't have to finish those drinks. Maybe you taste one - don't like it - dump it. I'm not a big drinker, but if you want to experiment with wine pairing at dinner - you're covered (3-4 glasses to sample). Morning bloody Mary - you're covered. Oops - want expresso, latte, or carmel macchiato? You're covered. It takes care of not just alcoholic drinks but non. Want a heathy smoothie from the health bar - you're covered. Want a night cap or two - your covered. If you use it like that, you can make your 7 or 10 drink minimum to break even.

Depends on daily cost but - if $70/day - 7 drinks at $10 each - 7 is the breakeven. There are upper limits. Some drinks might be 15 or $20.. But most are less than $15.

We average around a drink an hour - at a minimum - and we're awake roughly 18 hours a day. Well worth it, IMO.

if you figure for an average drink price of $10 on RCI (almost $7 for beer, upwards of $12-13 for a glass of wine) $10 x 18 = $180/day x 7 Days = $1,260 x 2 People = $2,520

Normal(Full) Price of drink Package = $65/Day x 2 People = $130/Day x 7 Days = $910

Savings = $1,610

What We save is enough to take a 7-day(non-mega ship) cruise with RCI in a Oceanview room, minus the deposit.

The savings are compounded further by RCI having sales on the drink package. Aside from the "glitch" price from July($18/day!!!), the chepeast I have gotten the package was $45/day, which, Oddly enough, was a St Patrick's day random sale!

at the $45 dollar price:

$45/Day x 2 People = $90/Day x 7 Days = $630

Savings = $1,890 which would be enough to pay for our April 2020 cruise on Symphony, in a Balcony, minus the deposit!!

IMO, well worth it. Also, remember - at least on RCI, the Deluxe package includes just about anything on board - Soda, Bottled Water, Coffee, juice, mixed drinks, wine, beer, shots(if you can find a bartender to pour them), redbull, etc - but package deals for beer (6 pack and a cooler) Drink of the day in a specialty glass or pineapple, are not included.

The best answer I have ever seen on this topic is "Depends"

It is all about the math. Determine how many drinks you will drink for the entire duration of the cruise. Determine the average cost per drink. If the # of Drinks X Avg Cost is less than the cost of the package you will be ahead.

Also keep in mind that Carnival Cheers Package also includes, sodas, coffee, juices, gatorade, bottled water, energy drinks and milkshakes. You need to include those into your average cost per drink. With every alcoholic drink I had I either had a water or soda.

With me ~125 drinks X $6 would have cost about $750 and the package cost me about $400.

Depends on the cruise line. Princess does not make everyone in the cabin purchase the package. We did a sip and sail promotion for our next cruise, so it's included which is nice.

It depends entirely on the cruise line. We have used (alcoholic) drink packages on Norwegian (via Free at Sea promotion) and MSC (via "experience" upgrade and promotion), opted not to purchase the drink package on Royal Caribbean, and Disney doesn't offer drink packages.

I would never pay the list price for the drink package on Norwegian - though, I'm fairly certain that it is priced such that no sane person would ever pay the list price. On Royal Caribbean? Maybe, if I got it at a discount.

Of course, I could drink a little, a lot, or none at all. Alcohol is but a contributor to the overall experience, not a requirement, or sole purpose. Others may have different objectives when cruising.

One other thing I learned (they freely admitted) is that Norwegians “free drinks/food/excursions/3rd and 4th passenger free” are NOT free. We started with the price of $799 per guest. When we were all done my husband and I were $1400 each and guest 3 & 4 were about $399 (port taxes etc). I asked for an explanation and was told that nothing is actually free. I could keep my room rate at $799 but I would lose my drink packages, specialty dining and 3/4 free passengers. I guess I knew that...(in her words “Norwegian is a multi million dollar company-they don’t give anything away for free” but it was different when she actually explained it LOL

Just get it and enjoy your cruise. No more worries.

My wife doesn't drink either...not counting mocktails...its never presented a problem for me...at ships drink prices, I can blow away that 40 without any strain at all, all day long, dinner, then after dinner.....but then, we usually wind up at the same bar topside, so I always tip the steady bartenders...they appreciate it, and over the course of a week+ so do we....amazingly, once we had the same bartender more or less for the week ON ANOTHER SHIP!...He remembered us...its was an EXCELLENT cruise!!! hehehehe