# Royal Caribbean Cruise



## divadsnilloc (26 Mar 2013)

Does anybody know if it's better value to buy in advance "a drinks package" or just to pay for your drink on board. They currently have an offer of €35 per person per day for beer, wine, soft drinks etc


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## britvic55 (26 Mar 2013)

from personal experience I would advise have the inclusive drinks package included. especially if there are two or more involved, I failed to do so and it cost 1'400 Euros just for two on soft drinks and two on minerals, and the inclusive drinks package will be specified alcohol drinks....


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## jhegarty (26 Mar 2013)

Depends how much you drink !


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## divadsnilloc (26 Mar 2013)

Think I'll be in credit by day 3 of the cruise!


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## ericsson (26 Mar 2013)

Can't help but would be very interested to see what you go for. Also did you book the cruise direct or through an agency. I'm looking to go on a cruise next Easter and don't know where to start


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## DesignA (26 Mar 2013)

i used www.vivavoyage.co.uk and www.seascanner.com before and found them very good and a great saving towards the cruise line prices.


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## markpb (26 Mar 2013)

jhegarty said:


> Depends how much you drink !



This is the only useful answer. We got on board, bought a few drinks to see the price and decided the prepaid package was good value. Others may not. The advertised price (for both drinks and the drinks package) may exclude a 15% gratuity and, depending on your cruise, VAT.


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## divadsnilloc (26 Mar 2013)

Booked through Tour America, eventually, after getting numerous quotes off their competitors and e-mailing them all until I got the best price. Can't see anywhere on the Internet the prices on board the ship for drinks etc but from what has been said here and elsewhere, pre booking your drinks package seems to be a better option. Also, the pre booked drinks package includes wine in some of the restaurants which seems good value compared to buying seperately, a bottle over dinner for a mere snip of $30 to $40


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## Petermack (27 Mar 2013)

jhegarty said:


> Depends how much you drink ![/QUOTE
> 
> Totally Agree with this
> 
> We were on a Royal Caribbean cruise last year and met an English couple who have bought the all inclusive drinks package. The husband had calculated that he needed to drink 9 pints of beer per day just to make it worth the money. It may be worth your while buying one of the wine packages instead of the all inclusive drinks package.


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## Mongola (27 Mar 2013)

jhegarty said:


> Depends how much you drink !



I agree, this is the answer! We have been on 2 cruises over the last 3 years and due to take our 3rd one this summer. On each cruise, we decided not to go with the drinks package as I am not a big drinker at all and could not justify the cost of the package. Our bill came to about 200$ for the week on our 1st cruise, which was less than what the package would have cost us. 

On the second cruise, our bill was a bit more but again, it suited us better. We are now booked on the Celebrity Infinity for a Norwegian cruise and although we had planned not to buy the packages, this was an offer that Celebrity was running, meaning we got the Classic drink package (Classic Non-Alcoholic package as well as all Beers up to $5 per serving, and spirits, cocktails, frozen drinks, and wines by the glass up to $8 per serving )for nothing! Happy days! The usual prepaid price is 35.64 euro p.p per night so 712.80 euro for 10 nights cruise for 2 people...not bad! It just means we will not have to think/worry about this!

One thing to keep in mind is the automatically added gratuities when purchasing drinks!


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## Dexysgirl (25 Apr 2013)

Just back from a Norwegian Cruise Line  Eastern Med cruise from Rome on the Jade. This was our 3rd cruise and the only drinks package we have bought is the  soft drinks package for our children (Soda package). It worked out at $93 for the 2 children for 10 days. They also got a NCL insulated souvenir cup that they just bring up to any of the bars. Also you get a sticker that placed on your "credit card" like room key. There is usually a reduced price for children even though they drink more soda than I could ever think of drinking. For 2 adults you are looking at €150 for a 10 day cruise.
 NCL also allows you to bring your own wine on board if you pay a $15 corkage per bottle fee on boarding. We did this and brought aboard 2 very large bottles of red wine for our cabin. It was lovely to sit on the balcony and have a glass or two before dinner. Once aboard I rang room service and they brought us a corkscrew and glasses. The 2 bottles of Chianti were €24 and the corkage €20 approx so the total was €45 for 4 normal bottles...much better value than on board and because we paid the corkage we could bring them anywhere on the ship if we wanted to. 
The Tankards bar on board also had a happy 'hour' from 4pm to 6pm which was great fun with all beers and cocktails 2 for 1 and their vodka measures are huge!!!. We had some great fun on the evenings we went there.
Our 1st cruise was on Royal Caribbean and I remember looking at the wine package but thought it a bit steep. 
There are wonderful threads covering all questions like this for every cruise line on the website cruisecritic dot com . 
Happy cruising.


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## Slim (25 Apr 2013)

I think the issue here would be feeling obliged to drink my value worth of alcohol on ship. We would usually buy the wine package, 7 bottles of medium wine, say $230 plus we would each have a cocktail of the day, say 14 over a week at about 8$=$112 and say another few drinks each night say 6 @ $10 = $420 for the week. That all adds up to about $760 which is still less than the Ultimate Beverage Package on Norwegian.(I am also estimating upwards for drinks consumed).

My best plan is to bring on 10-12 bottles purchased in Spain pre-cruise, pay the corkage at $15 each and then drink an ocasional cocktail/beer utilising the offers mentioned by Dexysgirl.

First world problems to be sure!


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## jhegarty (25 Apr 2013)

Slim,

Are you sailing from Barcelona ?


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## Slim (25 Apr 2013)

jhegarty said:


> Slim,
> 
> Are you sailing from Barcelona ?


 
Yah! On Norwegian Epic! Are you sailing this year?


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## jhegarty (25 Apr 2013)

I was on the Epic and the Spirit was last year, but nothing booked at the moment.

Here is a top tip for NCL cruises our of Barcelona. There is two wine shops after you complete check-in in the Barcelona terminal. 

There usually isn't another check before getting on the ship.


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## Slim (25 Apr 2013)

jhegarty said:


> I was on the Epic and the Spirit was last year, but nothing booked at the moment.
> 
> Here is a top tip for NCL cruises our of Barcelona. There is two wine shops after you complete check-in in the Barcelona terminal.
> 
> There usually isn't another check before getting on the ship.



I heard that! I assumed they would be very dear...and I want to pay the corkage (no, seriously) so I can use the wine at dinner. How did you enjoy the Epic?


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