Beverage Packages-Are they worth it?

[TwinMomTori]

Trying to decide if I should get a package. I thought I read that they include drinks up to $10, but now I can't find it. I'm from the DC area so going out, the average drink price is right around $10 if not more. So I'm thinking we would need to order 5-6 alcoholic beverages a day to make the package worth it. Is this right? How much does the average wine or beer cost and how much does the average cocktail cost, providing you request top shelf liquor. We are only going for 3 days to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, so I can easily see us drinking 5-6 a day, but no more than 8 a day. Also, can you bring the bottles of water off the boat with you?

Just in case I want to get the ultimate package for my husband, how much is the coffee and juice? Is it worth an extra ten dollars a day if he would only have one cup of each?

 

[LSUfan4444]

Beer, $5 - $7. Wine $8 - $12 +. Frozen, mixed, martini etc. about $10 and from my understanding, the only thing you can bring on is two bottles of wine or champagne per stateroom. I don't think any non alcoholic drinks are allowed.

 

[bumbershoot]

The juice that's covered by Replenish and ULtimate is the fresh squeezed OJ in Windjammer (and maybe MDR) in the *mornings*. It's a solid $4 at least, for a glass of it.

The espresso drinks (aka "specialty coffee) is an average Starbucks-type of price. Not NYC Starbucks, but a middle of the road cost.

Yes you can take the included still water (that's the normal spring water in a bottle) off the ship. Doubt sparkling can be taken off.


http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/pdf/menus/beverage_packages.pdf


The still water is going to be something like Crystal Geyser with the packages that include water, and it's 500ml bottles. If you get a WATER package, then THAT is Evian and it's either 750ml bottles or 1L bottles (we got 1L, but we were told on the ship that we should have gotten 750ml, so who knows?). With the water-only package, they deliver the boxes to you first day and they are yours to do with what you will.

 

[Laz]

My wife and I never by a package. We MAYBE have one alcoholic drink a day, We get all the lemonade, juice, ice tea, water & coffee we want from the windjamer. We do not dink any fancy coffees, etc. We will buy one bottle of water each and reuse the bottle with tap water for the duration of the tip. My point is that we would in no way get our monies worth on a package. You must figure out if it is worth the money to you.

 

[sam_gordon]

It's really going to depend on how much you drink. You do have the math right. Some people will get the package even if they don't "break even" because they want the fixed cost, or they want the ability to try different drinks and not worry about the cost if they don't like it.

For me it's got to be financially beneficial, and we don't drink enough.

I will get the Royal Replenish (soda, specialty coffee, non-alcoholic cocktails) for DW & the kids.

 

[dashofsunshine]

We did a 7 day cruise with RC for our honeymoon and we got the alcohol package. At the time, we were BIG drinkers - everything was fine for the first two days with our 6 alcoholic beverages a day to break even...but by day 3, we were dehydrated and thought we were dying by day 5/6 I never wanted to see alcohol again. We no longer drink heavily at all, and I didn't touch an alcoholic beverage for 2 months after the cruise.

Moral of the story: you might be ok with just 3 days of it. But we found ourselves forced to drink more than we really wanted in order to "make it worth it" with the cost. The bartenders were heavy handed and 6 drinks a day for many days straight can get tiring quickly, lol.

 

[ksucats]

We are going to do it on our March cruise. When we did Disney, we usually had a couple drinks in our stateroom each day and then one or two with dinner and one or two after dinner. We also did a tasting about every other day. There were times when we wanted to stay out and have a few more, but decided to go back to the room for a night cap instead because every round meant another $20. We will probably be in the break even or come out slightly ahead crowd, but it is going to allow us to enjoy our trip that much more not thinking about the cost of having one more round and staying at the bar or getting a drink by the pool in the afternoon.

 

[jtdl]

We are getting drink packages this time. Usually when we pay by the drink, I drink beer and maybe 2 or 3 drink of days/slushy drinks during the week. My reasoning for getting the package is that I can try all the frozen/fancy drinks that I wish to try, if I really don't like it, I can leave it and get something else. I don't care if I break even or not, it is the flexibility of it that I like.

 

[Laz]

We are getting drink packages this time. Usually when we pay by the drink, I drink beer and maybe 2 or 3 drink of days/slushy drinks during the week. My reasoning for getting the package is that I can try all the frozen/fancy drinks that I wish to try, if I really don't like it, I can leave it and get something else. I don't care if I break even or not, it is the flexibility of it that I like.

Good for you! Everyone has to remember that it is YOUR cruise!! Enjoy yourself !

 

[shoney]

For us it was worth it. We travel to lots of allinclusive resorts, and are used to not paying for drinks.

We drink a lot of bottled water and soda, too, so that added to the value. It is really up to the individual.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

It all depends on what (and how much) you normally drink each day when you're not on vacation. Probably the only one we'd consider is the basic package ($42/day). We're not big cocktail drinkers (3-4 beers, maybe a glass of wine or two, and an occasional Mai Tai in the afternoon), so we'd barely break even on that package. The more expensive packages just don't do anything for us.

 

[MickeySP]

We get one but just for me, he is not a big drinker or really at all. We do get the Replenish for him. If you do 5-6 alcoholic drinks plus tonic& bottled water it is well worth it. I think it is up to $10 a drink but if you Premium if you go over they just charge the difference.

 

[CesD]

Where can u get the bottled water included in the package? Do you just ask in the MDR and buffet?
Also, since service charge is included, do people normally tip additional at the bars?

 

[shoney]

We only got bottled water from the bars. On our Royal cruise, no one was ever taking drink orders at the buffet. Don't know if that is the norm or not. We had wine/cocktails in the MDR.

We tip. It is up to you.

 

[bumbershoot]

Bottled water from any bar. They often let us have two per person at a time. If we wanted a bunch of waters for the room, we would stop at a few bars along the way, picking them up as we went.

Tip extra or don't tip extra! You've already tipped, so keep that in mind. Some say that extra tipping gets them better service; I say...prove it. We have gotten terrific service without tipping extra or *much* extra. Or the bigbig tippers are tipping far more than they need to, LOL. This isn't a beverage package thing, but a Ben&Jerry's ice cream thing...DS went there every day on our 7 night Freedom cruise. We tipped a little extra, nothing extravagant. By the 4th night they made him a milkshake with SEVEN hefty scoops of ice cream in it. Wow! Anyway, I think that politeness and seeing you more than once makes a really big difference, even without over the top tipping.

OH, first night on Freedom DH and I went into the British pub to get waters for both of us on Replenish, and then I was paying OOP for a beer. After that I didn't need to go b/c DH could just bring my seapass card to get my water for me (when he was getting my latte for me again with my seapass card) (yes I'm lazy and he brings me food and drink). We *maybe* tipped another dollar, maybe. Not going to swear to that "much". The LAST night I went into the pub to get a beer and a water (just for me, with just my seapass card), and without even running my card he brought out four bottles of water (two for me, two for DH) and then got me the beer I asked for. He recognized me after 6 full nights even without DH (very memorable guy) with me. How COOL was that?


We never asked for normal bottled water at the MDRs; with Replenish you get sparkling water as well, and we would order that at the MDR. If we wanted bottled water there or in the buffet we just got it ahead of time and brought it in. Same with our espresso drinks. Fresh squeezed OJ, only available with Replenish and, I believe, Ultimate, is ONLY available in the Windjammer (buffet) in the *mornings*.

 

[mickeygirl78]

Can you buy the beverage package for only one person in the room or do you have to buy it for all?

 

[msjprincess]

Can you buy the beverage package for only one person in the room or do you have to buy it for all?

Yes you can.

 

[ldo]

we might have 2 fruity drinks and a glass of wine prior to dinner in the room (from one of our 2 bottles that we can bring onboard for free). not worth it for us.

 

[starvenger]

Trying to decide if I should get a package. I thought I read that they include drinks up to $10, but now I can't find it. I'm from the DC area so going out, the average drink price is right around $10 if not more. So I'm thinking we would need to order 5-6 alcoholic beverages a day to make the package worth it. Is this right? How much does the average wine or beer cost and how much does the average cocktail cost, providing you request top shelf liquor. We are only going for 3 days to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, so I can easily see us drinking 5-6 a day, but no more than 8 a day. Also, can you bring the bottles of water off the boat with you?

Just in case I want to get the ultimate package for my husband, how much is the coffee and juice? Is it worth an extra ten dollars a day if he would only have one cup of each?

Based on your estimates I think the drink package is right for you. But I don't think the ultimate package is worth it if you're just having 1 specialty coffee a day.

 

[Puffy2]

If you don't have a package, can you get free bottled water from the bars? Are these the smaller water bottles that would be convenient to take back to the room or carry off the ship?