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krwillia

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48 minutes ago, Michael Vitale said:

My advice: if you’re “not a big drinker”, you don’t need to be committing $47/day to an alcohol package. #alacarte ?

This. 

I know drink packages get a lot of attention, but if you aren't going to drink 5-6 drinks a day, every day of the cruise, then forgo the drink package and pay as you go for drinks.

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11 minutes ago, Matt said:

This. 

I know drink packages get a lot of attention, but if you aren't going to drink 5-6 drinks a day, every day of the cruise, then forgo the drink package and pay as you go for drinks.

I would think if you got it for $42-46 you could be fine with 3-4 drinks, 2 bottles of water, a latte, soda or juice, & a milkshake of course from Johnny Rockets.

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25 minutes ago, BTE said:

I would think if you got it for $42-46 you could be fine with 3-4 drinks, 2 bottles of water, a latte, soda or juice, & a milkshake of course from Johnny Rockets.

This is the way I look at it, too. Yes, I drink my fair share of alcoholic drinks, but, I also drink quite a bit of bottled water and and enjoy a well crafted morning latte or two. So it all adds up to being worth it for me.

BTW,  @krwillia, that $44/PD is a pretty good deal.

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I drink quite a few alcoholic drinks too, and everytime I order a drink I order a bottle of water too.  So for me,  even if I only drink 2 mixed drinks, add in the water bottles and I am at 30 bucks.  I get iced coffee, at least 2 per day in the a.m.  That puts me at 40.  I get a cappuccino after dinner with an amaretto shot.  I am 50+ per day, and that is only 2 alcohol beverages.  The Johnny Rockets milkshakes are new, and I intend to take full use of it instead of waiting in line for an ice cream cone.

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Just now, BTE said:

True   I have to factor in 2 @ $42 & 2 @ $20 to make sure my room get's what I spent in total

Then you have to really look at it to see if everyone is going to drink up to the cost. It is a cost vs. reward analysis to see if it is really "worth" it.

For my wife and I just 1 refreshment package will do it, and then ala cart for the alcohol.

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It’s funny, whenever this topic comes up, those who swear by the package will rationalize it by adding up all the drinks they anticipate having, and how it will surely rise to the $47 or $50 daily cost. That may well be true in some cases, but why on earth would you commit to it by giving them say, $400 pp IN ADVANCE, and then playing catch up all week ?  IMO, this is like calculating how much gas you use each week, and paying for 3 months worth up front, and then not paying each time you fill up. 

#teamNOdlxe

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We get the drinks package for a completely different reason.  We get it so that it IS paid in advance (no surprise at the end of the cruise) and so that I feel free to order any drink at any time anywhere, even though we could get "free" drinks in the evenings in the lounges and we drink for free in the casino (which is where we spend most of our time).

I blame Star Class cruising for this compulsion.  LOL  Once you travel in Star Class and never have to worry about anything you eat or drink you realize what a pleasure it is not to have to even think about it.  There is NO WAY that it makes financial sense for me to have a deluxe drink package.  There are many days when I don't drink any alcohol at all.  I always drink sodas, water and cappuccino's though.  I do it for the convenience and not for financial reasons.

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I calculate using what I drink daily at home and than adding in a couple of cocktails because I am on vacation.  Everyday before work I get my Iced coffee, which runs me @3.50.    This is of course after having a coffee at home, I am a coffee snob....French roast, which means no for me at the WJ or MDR.  Now I am 2 specialty coffees.  7 bucks at least.  During the day I will drink at least 3 18 oz  water bottles, and go to bed with a 12 oz water bottle.  So now I am at least 30 bucks.  ( I try to drink 64 oz of water a day).  I will drink at least 1 soda per day.  I am at 33.  On a cruise or any time I go on vacation or out to dinner I will splurge and I will drink a glass of wine and have an amaretto side with my cappuccino at dinner.  Those 3 items will now tally another 20+ bucks.  Thus, I am at 53 without rationalizing, or playing catch up.  Yes, I could get water from the tap for free, and make my own iced coffee, but I am on a vacation and want to relax.  I would rather pay it up front.

My hubby as a different view and why he always buys the package.  This is a guy that rarely drinks.  I mean that....he drinks red wine and I now have many bottles that are expensive vinegars since he never finishes a bottle, weeks left open.  His view is he likes to play the catch up game.  He sees it as the time to order drinks he would never try....don't like it, than toss it.  Lava Flow is his favorite.  

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I'm much the same as @Pima1988 -- Also a coffee snob, so I'm always having at least one specialty coffee a day. Plus I like to get fresh-sqeezed OJ with breakfast when I'm on the ship; so far I'm around $7. At home I always have at least one beer or glass of wine with dinner when I'm at home, and from experience I now know that on a cruise that always translates into one or two glasses of wine; if I only have one glass with dinner, I'll have another glass to sip after. So that's $31 total. I also enjoy some kind of drink before dinner, usually at sail-away. Now I'm at $43 for the day. So as long as I can get a package for $42 or $43 a day, I'll pull the trigger and buy it.

That said, I'm already 99% sure that for the transatlantic sailing I'm doing in 2020 I will not get an alcohol package. I'll be bringing the 4 bottles of wine I'm allowed for two cabins, which will cover my dinner wine for about 8 nights. With 8 port days, I'll be off the ship so much that I'll probably be skipping sail-away beverages most days. So that leaves just 6 nights buying wine with dinner, plus daily breakfast juice and specialty coffee, which isn't worth a package at that point.

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@JLMoran , I don't drink so I don't get the ultimate, but here as of late I have been getting the refreshment package if for no other reason to be able to get as much bottle water as I need, If I pass a bar, I get 2 bottles, they are the small bottles so I go though 6-10 a day. Just a thought, that way you still get you coffee and OJ.

I wouldn't do it at the $26 PD that is offered but at the $17 I got it for on Black Friday seemed reasonable.

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2 minutes ago, tiny260 said:

@JLMoran , I don't drink so I don't get the ultimate, but here as of late I have been getting the refreshment package if for no other reason to be able to get as much bottle water as I need, If I pass a bar, I get 2 bottles, they are the small bottles so I go though 6-10 a day. Just a thought, that way you still get you coffee and OJ.

I wouldn't do it at the $26 PD that is offered but at the $17 I got it for on Black Friday seemed reasonable.

Yes, in my experience, it was quite easy to get my money's worth out of the refreshment package for $17, but full price starts to put it on the cusp of value vs convenience. I also found getting the water bottles every time I ordered something at the bar made me drink more water than if I had to go find a water station to get the free stuff. So really, if I squint and turn my head juuuuuust right, I can argue that a refreshment package is better for your health! ?

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@tiny260, @spiralqueen, thanks for the feedback on that. I was debating getting whatever Celebrity calls their version of the Refreshment package. Will have to see what they charge. I know their deluxe package equivalent costs more than Royal's, but also covers up to $15 per drink (basically a wash, in the end). I have to get feedback from some of the folks here who've sailed Celebrity before to see if the MDR coffee is any better than the stuff Royal's MDR serves; if it is, I'll get by on that and further reduce my out of pocket expenses.

I'm also going to be having a decent amount of OBC thank to the promo on the Royal Caribbean / Celebrity / Azamara visa card that was noted in another post here, combined with the costs I'll charge to it for paying off that T/A trip, all excursions, and return flight. So there's even less incentive to get a package of some sort unless it's at a really good rate (and then I'd redeem the OBC first to pay for it using that).

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It hasn't dropped below $52pp for March 3, Oasis. I'd jump on that price if I were you. It works for us. Hubby and I both get latte in morning, then he'll get 1 or 2 more. We drink bottled water all day (at least 5 each). Sometimes he'll have a beer by  the pool. But we'll both have 2-3 glasses of wine at dinner. It's nice to have it all paid for in advance. 

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No price drop on our Liberty August sailing  ?

I have packages for all the other cruises (that aren't Star Class); only this one remains.  Hoping for a drop bu if not, I will probably wait until we get onboard and use our D+ discount.  I don't normally like doing that as I don't want the price of the pkgs in my final bill but sometimes you have to do what you have to do !

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1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

We get the drinks package for a completely different reason.  We get it so that it IS paid in advance (no surprise at the end of the cruise) and so that I feel free to order any drink at any time anywhere, even though we could get "free" drinks in the evenings in the lounges and we drink for free in the casino (which is where we spend most of our time).

This is very true. Sometimes I don't want to think on vacation. ?

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I just did all my spreadsheet figuring to see if I thought I would hit the $42 per day based on the prices I've seen posted here before I pulled the trigger & purchased. Since I figured I would I bought & now I don't have to think about it on the ship & I can just go & enjoy being on vacation! 17 days to go

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12 hours ago, tiny260 said:

@JLMoran , I don't drink so I don't get the ultimate, but here as of late I have been getting the refreshment package if for no other reason to be able to get as much bottle water as I need, If I pass a bar, I get 2 bottles, they are the small bottles so I go though 6-10 a day. Just a thought, that way you still get you coffee and OJ.

I wouldn't do it at the $26 PD that is offered but at the $17 I got it for on Black Friday seemed reasonable.

That’s what we did! We were going to pay as we go for specialty coffees and bottled water, etc. then saw the Black Friday Sale. $17 for the Refreshment Package seemed like a no-brainer. We’ll use that much in bottled water alone! And if we must have an alcoholic drink, we’ll order the non-alcoholic version and just pay out-of-pocket for the shot to go in it! Happy Sailing everyone!

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I look at the Deluxe package now more or less value over the Refreshment.

I'll sit and figure out (spreadsheet time!) how many "enhanced" drinks are needed to take full advantage between the two. Also factor in preferences versus the stock happy hour list for DL/CL/SL. At the same time I'll view it as an insurance policy. If I make more claims against it win, if not oh well.

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On 1/9/2019 at 8:29 AM, Michael Vitale said:

My advice: if you’re “not a big drinker”, you don’t need to be committing $47/day to an alcohol package. #alacarte ?

This. At most we would drink 2 alcoholic drinks a day and 2 sodas. It would be truly insane for us to pay for a drink package (so we don’t). ?

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4 minutes ago, SolariumSnoozer said:

I have not ever heard of anyone doing this.  Is this common and does anyone know the dollar breakdown between the alcoholic and  nonalcoholic portions of drinks? 

I have done this several times.  Let's take @Matt's lava flow for example.  You have the refreshment package and order the non-alcoholic version along with a shot of Kraken.  The Kraken will cost you $9.38 ($7.95+18%grats).  The regular alcoholic version is $15.34 ($13+18%grats assuming OA class).  Not a huge difference.  However, if it's a drink involving multiple shots, like a margarita, it's not worth it. 

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Hubby is a big drinker so deluxe beverage package always works for him.  For me, not so much.  Things I consider is 1) how many port verses sea days 2) who I'm traveling with 3) sale on beverage package & 4) if the ship has the freestyle soda machines so I can actually get a soda I like.  In December I was traveling with hubby, my brother, adult daughter, her friend, and my two younger kids.  I did the package as much for the stress factor of keeping all these people organized and the fact that we only had one day in port, Nassau, that we didn't get drinks because Labadee was included in package.  In May doing B2B with just hubby on first cruise so I got the drink package. Second cruise the kids are joining us for a port heavy trip so no drink package for me.  In October just me and the littles are going so no drink package for me.  I intake a lot of fluids per day so I may do the refreshment package but more likely I will take on a 12 pack of Pepsi and drink the free beverages.  The pay as I go that I'm guessing I will spend is a morning latte, 1 mixed drink when with kids only ( 2 or 3 when with hubby and kids).  That doesn't add up to drink package for me.  I can always grab some water or Pepsi in port and walk on with a bottle or two.

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