Dimension

Great the one time I do not want win a contest and what happens I win.
For some reason all my cruises are right around the same $84 mark no matter how close or how far out the cruise is booked. 

Well so far my my luck of having the highest package continues. Gee, what great luck I have. 🙄

With the price of the drink packages going up I wanted to see who has the highest price. Here is mine for a 4 night on Allure for November next year
 

 
Can anyone beat this? It seems that I am always the lucky one and have to always pay top dollar for the drink package no matter how far out my sailing is.

With the price of the drink packages going up I wanted to see who has the highest price. Here is mine for a 4 night on Allure for November next year
 

 
Can anyone beat this? It seems that I am always the lucky one and have to always pay top dollar for the drink package no matter how far out my sailing is.

Well so far my my luck of having the highest package continues. Gee, what great luck I have. 🙄

For our sailing in 5 days. We don't purchase this package, but figured I would add mine.  Ship: Allure

12 night Cruise to the Canaries from Southampton is currently $82.60pppd. The lowest I saw it for was $61.65pppd.

Ours fluctuates between $73 & $78 before gratuities.  That would put our 8 day 3 person total at over $2000. Too much for us.  If the summer sales don’t get a lot better, we will pay as we go.

I was just on Mariner of the Seas last week and the Internet connection was very slow. It make even checking email a painful task but with that being said I have sailed on other ships where I was able to stream without any real problems. Sure every now and then the stream would buffer for a few seconds but for the most part I was able to stream the content in 720. The TV on Mariner I do not believe was a smart TV or nor were any of the other TVs I have seen in the cabins. Since I bring laptop I just use it as my streaming device.
As for streaming from your phone you would need an AV adaptor for your phone depending on if it was a iPhone or Android.
Something like the following would accomplish your task:
iPhone: https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Lightning-Digital-AV-Adapter/dp/B009WHV3BM/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Hdmi+Cable+for+Phone+To+Tv&qid=1651663510&sr=8-3
Android: https://www.amazon.com/Android-Mirroring-Charging-Smartphones-Projector/dp/B08LN8Z6QX/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1DIN9PBNFOO5F&keywords=android+to+hdmi+adapter+for+tv&qid=1651663768&sprefix=android+%2Caps%2C62&sr=8-3

You can do like I am doing and only purchase the package when it is around the $60 mark. If it is not around that range I am now going to just buy the Refreshment package which can be easily found around the $23 range.

You can do like I am doing and only purchase the package when it is around the $60 mark. If it is not around that range I am now going to just buy the Refreshment package which can be easily found around the $23 range.

You can do like I am doing and only purchase the package when it is around the $60 mark. If it is not around that range I am now going to just buy the Refreshment package which can be easily found around the $23 range.

I am normally good for about 8-10 drinks a day but my wife is only good for maybe 4 or 5 tops and some days she does not even drink. With that being said in order for me to get my money back I have to drink 15-20 drinks a day. I do my best right out of the gate by ordering spiked coffee from Cafe Promenade but after about 8 or so drinks I am normally full and getting tired of running to the bar every so many minutes. Overall it is not really about trying to get my monies worth out of packages but more about getting some value out of it. Do you know how much liquor I can buy at home for $870? My god I could get my entire neighborhood drunk on one Saturday night for $870 and still most likely have money left over.

I agree 100% with you and as I stated before I am no longer willing to bear the cost of the package. I am taking a stand and telling Royal that they are over charging for their drink packages. I can only hope that other people are reaching that point as well otherwise it might be awhile until I start to drink again on their ships.

You can get Coco Locos on the ships.

Not according to this but this does not reflect what I actually have. I have one of each package.

I've run the numbers for the various options for drink packages and internet access to determine price-point that I'm comfortable with.  Even with my low number of daily alcoholic drinks, when I compare the options to purchase the Combo Deluxe Beverage Package and Voom (One Device) vs. purchasing the Refreshment Beverage Package + separate Voom Internet Surf & Stream (One Device); and then separately paying for a few alcohol drinks daily (including gratuities), it comes out less expensive for me to purchase the Deluxe Beverage Package and Voom option.   The cost for the Deluxe Package with Voom has been averaging around $80.00-$85.00/day for sailings I've been looking at. Refreshment package is usually around $23.00/day; separate Voom Internet Surf & Stream around $16.00/day; then add in separate alcoholic drinks + gratuities.  On my next cruise, the difference worked out to be about $60.00 more expensive to purchase separately vs. just buying the Combo package with Voom Internet Surf & Stream.  Seems to be a moving target with pricing (just like Coco Cay Beach Club has ranged from about $90.00 - $180.00).  I've noticed quite a bit of price variation depending on sailing and when you purchase the packages in Cruise Planner. 

When it comes to the Alcohol package, we tried with and without a package. Without, we found it to be stressful (Always counting, or looking at the bill every evening) we lost $ every time paying a la carte. Our daily routine: We found that with a fresh squeezed OJ in the morning, a water or two for excursions, a coffee or two that is not pee pee water, a Gatorade, and then 2 or 3 drinks a day each was way more then the drink package. So the package pays off for us big time. You have to have at least 5 drinks or a combination of about 5 of anything on this list per day to make it work. What I usually do, is when I book my cruise I purchase for whatever the price is at the time. Then since my face is always buried in my computer or phone most of the day. I will try to look once a day to cancel and rebook when the price drops. So here is how I break it down. For argument sake, lets go with $80 a day per person. Minus out the cost of the zoom, lets say $15 a day. Now you are at $65 per day for drinks. Lets use the number someone said of $10 per drink. It is more like $13 when you add in the gratuities for each drink. So @$10, that is roughly 5-6 drinks right? So like I said earlier (2) Specialty Coffee, (1)Fresh OJ I enjoy in the morning, (2) waters we take on board, keep in our room, and we also take then when on excursions especially when in Mexico, (that is a story for another day) we also stop by the little cafe outside the GYM where you can get Gatorade/Powerade then...about 3 alcohol drinks per day. Well....you do the math. But, many times If I am persistent and patient I find the package for about $66 a day. Depending on the itinerary.
Your thoughts?

100% agree.  Whether or not it makes since, financially, is irrelevant to us.  We do it for the convenience and for the ability to get whatever we want, whenever we want it without having to think about it.

We've been on the lookout for acceptable DBP prices since lifting & shifting our Odyssey cruise to 2022. Unfortunately the lowest we have ever seen was 68 € per person per day (77 $). We bought the refreshment package in the Black Friday sales for a good price, but the DBP stayed on 68 €. Last week I checked the cruise  price in a different browser and by total chance saw a promotion for the DBP for 44 € per person per day (50 $). This was not advertised in the cruise planner and only available by calling Royal. While booking the DBP for us, they kindly cancelled the refreshment package at the same time. In contrast to cruise planner purchases this deal wasn't paid instantly but will be paid on final pay day together with the remaining cruise fee. Very strange new tactic - I'm happy with the result but I'm not used to not seeing my DBP in the cruise planner.
Would love to know if this approach makes more money for Royal compared to cruise planner discounts. Personally, I check the CP every day for new prices but I really despise caling anyone on the phone. I prefer the old approach.

We are D+ and had to factor in our 5 “free” C&A drinks on our current 5 night cruise. Price for DX was $66. Do we normally drink more than 5 when cruising? Yes, but not more than would exceed $66 each. We are in port two days and both will be at an all-inclusive resort. No chance that we will exceed the 5 C&A drinks those two evenings. We carried on 2 bottles of wine and a case of water as well.
Going into this 02/09 sailing the decision was already made to skip the DX package.(first time since offered)
A few months after booking the price dropped significantly on Grand Suites. We upgraded and now alcohol is complimentary in the suite lounge between 5-8pm. We did not exceed our 5 free drinks yesterday, so $0 alcohol on invoice.
It’s a sea day so we will see how it works out today  😂 

 

My up coming March cruise I am also going to try and keep some sort of record to see if the package is still worth it for we have another cruise in April as well.

I logged on last night to go ahead and grab the DBP but once I got to the end to pay, it was over $1000.
I'm having a lot of heartache trying to justify that kind of money for drinking, although I love to 
imbibe and don't want to have to regulate myself for a week.
I'm waiting for my MEI TA to get back with me regarding OBC, then I'll probably pull the trigger.

I really like this thread because it reminds me of paging someone in a grocery or department store before cell phones. "Matt, can you please come to the customer service booth, your party is waiting for you."
 

Nice score!