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Comments (34)
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Save/ShareRoyal Caribbean is selling unlimited alcoholic beverage packages starting at $29 a day.
Before you envision a crazy party-hearty Spring Break-like scene all over the Caribbean and North America, hold your horses. Royal Caribbean announced this week that it was introducing new "all you can drink" packages solely on three ships, none of which cater primarily to the U.S. market. The ships are:
Independence of the Seas (based in the UK)
Legend of the Seas (based in Asia)
Grandeur of the Seas (based in Panama and the Mediterranean)
As for the pricing and package particulars, there are three options. As reported by USA Today and ConsumerTraveler among others, the cruise line's least expensive option costs $29 per day. That price covers all the beers and house wines (by the glass) a passenger wants to drink. Additionally, anyone buying this Beer and Wine Package gets 25 percent off other wines and liquors.
One step up is the Classic Package, which costs $39 daily and includes all the beer, house wine, liquors and cocktails (excluding certain premium brands) you can imbibe. Finally, there's the $49 daily Premium Package, which gets you everything in the Classic Package, as well as premium liquor brands and glasses of wine up to $10 a pop.
In a statement announcing the new drink packages, Jo Rzymowska, a Royal Caribbean executive based in the UK, offered these words:
"Royal Caribbean International has developed these new packages to enable our guests to make their holiday more relaxing and enjoyable by paying one set price for a wide variety of drink choices"
Is this an option you would opt for? Do you hope this is a trend that catches on and spreads? Or do you think it could ruin the cruise experience, what with passengers trying to get their money's worth and going off the deep end, so to speak?
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Great idea! I am always worrying while on the cruise if I will have enough money to cover the drinks for the entire cruise. This "pass" will make this a non-issue. Thanks so much for sharing this information. I hope other cruise lines in the USA begin to have this feature.
Posted By Renee on March 20, 2011, 2:47 PM
I've already seen this offered on Louis Hellenic Cruises, based out of Greece. They are smaller, less luxurious cruise line. There weren't bars that you could walk up to anywhere on the ship so you had to wait for servers to get your drink order and return. This usually took some time and the drinks were watered down. I think the cost was around 30USD/day. With any unlimited drinks package when traveling you have to worry about drinks being diluted. The idea of all you can drink sounds great, but in reality it isn't always everything you wish for.
Posted By Chrissy on March 20, 2011, 9:24 PM
What a great idea - sign me up!!!
Posted By SafetyHarborSteph on March 21, 2011, 10:10 AM
I think this is a great idea and should be implemented by more cruise lines in more locations. It takes a lot of the worry out of cruising where you're a captive audience and they can charge whatever they'd like. My husband and I would cruise more often if we didn't have to worry about the bill at the end of the cruise.
Posted By Nancy on March 21, 2011, 1:35 PM
Great idea, was thinking about taking a cruise but when we heard the prices of alchol now we decided againts it. Our last cruise was in 1996 which prices were not to bad then. We might consider it now.
Posted By Marggie on March 21, 2011, 2:24 PM
I think it is an awful idea. It would encourage people who purchase the package to measure consumption by the price of the package in order not waste the money . . . similar to the non-alcohol beverage options. That is not a responsible way to consume either alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages.
With drinks at premium prices, I rarely see a passenger drunk or out of control I suspect I would see more of them with this option.
Posted By Mary Barhydt on March 21, 2011, 2:28 PM
Eww--how many drunk people would you see on a cruise if there is an "all you can drink" pass? Scary. But, as someone who doesn't drink alcohol at all, this would steer me AWAY from such a ship, so it might be handy after all.
Posted By CAS on March 21, 2011, 3:46 PM
GREAT IDEA- IT WOULD WORK FOR US.
Posted By ramona on March 21, 2011, 3:47 PM
The majority of all-inclusive resorts include unlimited alcohol as part of the package. This model works out fine for them. It seems like a reasonable idea.
Posted By JJ on March 21, 2011, 3:58 PM
I think this is a very reasonable idea. My parents just returned from a cruise on another line and had a package similar to this. There will always be someone who tests the limits, but overall, a nice convenience for passengers.
Posted By Colleen on March 21, 2011, 4:48 PM
This might get me to try cruising again. We typically look for all-inclusive resorts so that we don't have to worry about a bar bill.
Posted By CLV on March 21, 2011, 4:53 PM
Holland America already has drink packages very similar. Cruised with them a year and half ago. I purchased the wine package. There was a deal for beer in your cabin also, as I recall.
Posted By Czarina on March 21, 2011, 4:59 PM
At first glance, a good idea but the fine print says probably not for us. As we don't drink throughout the day, it comes down to just dinnertime. How much would it cost to buy an acceptable bottle of wine to share instead of paying $58 for two people to have unlimited house wine of lesser quality. We'd prefer quality to quantity.
Posted By Barbara DesChamps on March 21, 2011, 7:41 PM
We call in "Vacation", not "Holiday" Somebody should tell Royal Carribean....I'm tired of the "Europisation" of things in the United States.
Posted By Steve on March 21, 2011, 8:39 PM
We call in "Vacation", not "Holiday" Somebody should tell Royal Caribbean....I'm tired of the "Europisation" of things in the United States.
Posted By Steve on March 21, 2011, 8:39 PM
Why is this new? We were offered this package on celebrity (owned by royal carribean) on the solstice in December. We hardly saw many people drinking anyway.
Posted By Ali on March 21, 2011, 9:48 PM
We don't drink beer and the "house" wine on RCL is awful. We could easily buy a nice bottle to have with dinner for $58 a day.
Posted By Debra Haugen on March 21, 2011, 10:05 PM
We have found the drink prices very affordable on Princess and wouldn't need anything like this. Can't understand why some people can't budget or control themselves. What do they do at home?
Posted By EGZ on March 22, 2011, 5:12 PM
Great idea. I go on Royal Carribean cruises, but I have been thinking on doing an all inclusive island. Because it includes all you want to drink, eat & so forth for one price. I am tired of paying alot extra for the beer we drink. Hope it comes to ships that go out of Port Canaveral. I will be looking for it.
Posted By R. Erickson on March 23, 2011, 7:45 AM
Well, Now I know some ships on which I will never sail again.
So sad that liquor louts have apoiled various areas of Cyprus, Ibiza and Mexico,parts of Florida and Carnival cruise ships at spring break; now we get to avoid some RCCL ships as well!
Posted By David on March 23, 2011, 1:11 PM
I went on a Celebrity cruise and used this package last September. It was great. It allowed us to try a bunch of drinks that we normally wouldn't try otherwise. It also included bottled water and the premium coffee which was great since the buffet coffe was a little rough. I don't think I'll ever go on a cruise again where this isn't available.
Posted By Sean on March 23, 2011, 6:49 PM
Did this on a Celebrity crusie with a beer drinking friend - figured you need to have about 6 beers a day to break even. After 7 days I tallied around 110 and he around 150 - quite the savings! It helped that they had swing-top Grolsch: pick one up, close it, put it in the cooler, get another - we were able to bring a full cooler ashore at every POC!
Posted By Mayor on March 24, 2011, 1:43 PM
We just took one of the first cruises on the new Disney ship and to say that the beer was pricey would be a tremendous understatement. Try $124 a case for Bud Lite ($31 dollars for a bucket of 6--do the math). To get a package for beer only for less than $30 a day would normally be a steal. One other note, however, about the Disney Dream. They do allow you to take onboard as much as you can carry--you just run it through the x-ray machine no questions asked. That right there wipes out the benefit of a pay one price deal.
Posted By Forrest on March 24, 2011, 6:22 PM
I think it's a great idea. I purchased a frozen drink package on a Celebrity cruise, 12.09, & it was the very best thing about the entire crusie!!
Posted By Zia Donia on March 27, 2011, 12:20 PM
For Mayor's friend who drank around 150 beers over 7 days, that's over 20 beers a day. Wow - is there any part of a liver left?
Posted By David on March 28, 2011, 10:49 PM
We had free wine with dinner on our Viking River Cruise last year. It was perfect for us and so convenient.
Posted By Rosie on April 1, 2011, 7:33 PM
Just imagine what will happen now when seas get rough on a ship of over-indulged drunks. Fantastic...
Posted By Rich on April 6, 2011, 8:26 AM
Great article :)
Posted By test on April 8, 2011, 4:35 PM
I think its fantastic, the prices for drinks on the ship are outrageous, and there is always some drunk on the ship who actually pays full price anyway, so why not do a package they do it with soda?
Posted By lisa on April 11, 2011, 9:46 PM
So very convenient!! Finally bout dang time :D I am a travel agent and people always ask for this, when i tell them they don´t have it yet it´s kinda disappointing but ppl still take it cuz they know the cruise line is good.
Posted By Morris on April 13, 2011, 3:57 PM
Great idea! For most of us we just want to have a few drinks on vacation without having to worry about the bill in the end. As long as we get the same drinks as the people who are paying the regular price its totally worth it. (And not watered down) There are always going to be those that over do it no matter what the price so who cares?
Posted By Patty on April 21, 2011, 5:34 PM
Ich lese Blogs. Es ist sogar besser als Lesen von Zeitschriften oder Bücher.
Posted By kancelaria prawnicza on March 6, 2012, 8:42 AM
Ich lese Blogs. Es ist sogar besser als Lesen von Zeitschriften oder Bücher.
Posted By polski prawnik on March 6, 2012, 8:30 PM
Es ist fantastisch! Ich frage mich, ob ich ein paar Dinge schreiben wollte, würde ich, wie man weiß.
Posted By kancelaria prawnicza on March 7, 2012, 6:18 PM