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Drink packages, worth it?


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4 minutes ago, billychick said:

Hi, I'm trying to decide wether to pay for the refreshment package on Liberty of the seas. Is it worth it? how much can you really drink? how does it work?

There are TONS of thread already about this...you can search "drink packages" up at the top in the "search..." area...upper right...

But the short answer would be...depends on how much and what you drink on a normal basis...and what YOU consider to be "worth it". 

Personally, I always get the Refreshment Package...then if I get any alcohol drinks, I just pay out of pocket or use my OBC.

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Interestingly I have been watching the Refreshment Drink Package for our 13 June cruise on the Grandeur that has been, since I began watching, $20 pp including this morning.

However, just checking now, the price has jumped to $26 pp. Just saying.

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@billychick, you can also get a good bit of useful information from this blog article: In-Depth Look at Royal Carribbean's Royal Refreshment Drink Package

EDIT - meant to also note that what makes it "worth it" is totally up to your personal beverage habits, as others have noted. If you regularly drink espresso based beverages like lattes, macchiatos, or frappuccinos / cappuccinos; if you think you'd enjoy a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice with breakfast each morning; if you like taking a couple of bottles of water with you on excursions; or if you don't drink alcohol but would still like to enjoy a virgin daquiri or colada a couple of times a day, then the refreshment package will most likely be a good value to you.

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I think the refreshment package is a great value IF you get it on sale. To me it seems silly to buy full price since it regularly is discounted to something around $18-20 depending on the ship. If you are getting virgin frozen drinks it can add up SUPER quickly but those are all covered by the package. 

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As everyone else has said:  it depends, both in how much you drink and what you paid.  Guesstimating prices here but say a morning latte ($6) , glass of fresh squeezed oj ($3) , and one virgin frozen pool drink ($9).  Roughly $18.   If you throw in 2-3 bottles of water a day, you're around $25-26 so you're at the break even point.    My wife did not break even on her refreshment package but since it was pre-paid,  she just ordered what she wanted and didn't overthink about the cost of anything.  I treated that as a convenience fee and, to me, it was worth it.

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1 hour ago, mbk999 said:

Guesstimating prices here but say a morning latte ($6) , glass of fresh squeezed oj ($3) , and one virgin frozen pool drink ($9).  Roughly $18.

And the refreshment package regularly goes on sale for $18 a day, making break-even that much easier. I actually managed to catch it on Black Friday for $17 a day for my October Anthem sailing, which I've never seen before or since.

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Ill give my PERSONAL experience on the refreshment package and any package. 

If you purchase a package your mind immediately starts to decide "How many drinks at X.XX amount per drink do i need to drink to make it worth it".  This seems to become a justification vs a situation where you really WANT another drink.  For example on some ships now there is only ONE size specialty coffee which means you cant buy the LARGE one anymore to get more of your money worth.  I personally found myself going back for a coffee / smoothie just to try to hit some magical number more than really WANTING or Craving another drink.  

People will say "Yes but waters are 3.00 each and you can collect waters for the ports".  Those 5 cent bottles of water are just pure profit for the cruise line and they know that we all feel like we are getting a deal if we drink 5 per day and calculate that to 15.00 worth of water when really its .25 cents worth.

The real question is, if you do not have the package will you spend 18 a day on non alcoholic drinks.  In my case i never took the soda cup out of its plastic and i can honestly say I would have saved considerably not buying the package because i would never have paid for the things I ended up getting just to "justify the purchase of the package"

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We just sailed for our first time last week. Here's my thoughts on the drink package: I'm not sure if we drank enough to at least break even on the drink packages or not. I didn't take the time to do the math and count all the drinks our family drank. And to me, that is the whole point of the package. It is paid for, including 18% gratuities. Sure, it is not a small cost, but I didn't have to stress out about how many sodas the kids were having, or have to say "no, you can't get another virgin pina colada because they are expensive". It gave me peace of mind knowing it was already paid for, and that people could enjoy whatever they wanted without having to ask. 

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1 hour ago, JerseyJoe said:

Sure, it is not a small cost, but I didn't have to stress out about how many sodas the kids were having, or have to say "no, you can't get another virgin pina colada because they are expensive"

That is my opinion too.  For me, even if I'm paying a little more than I would have ala carte, I'm okay with that if I don't have to think about it while I'm trying to relax.  I know everyone doesn't share that opinion but it works for me.

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6 minutes ago, mbk999 said:

That is my opinion too.  For me, even if I'm paying a little more than I would have ala carte, I'm okay with that if I don't have to think about it while I'm trying to relax.  I know everyone doesn't share that opinion but it works for me.

Yeah, you really need to know yourself to make the decision. I can understand marti314's opinion above, and think it is a valid point. But I don't think we ever felt we put pressure on ourselves to drink more to justify the package. But if someone feels that they would be doing that, maybe the drink packages aren't for them. For us, it was peace of mind knowing we didn't have to think about it, and wouldn't be thinking about how much our tab was going up throughout the cruise. 

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I just purchased the UDP for my wife and my self for our Oasis sailing next Dec.  I looked at the final price and just thought "challenge accepted".  I will be keeping an eye out on cruise planner sales and get it cheaper of course.  I like the idea of the package so I can avoid the thought of how much am I spending on drink during the cruise.  Its paid for well in advance, and provides peace of mind.  This is especially true for my wife.  We were in Las Vegas this past November.  We both loved it.  The issue was the cost of having a drink together.  I drink beer, she likes mixed drinks.  We were spending $20 with tip every time we ordered.  Two days into the trip, she was wanting to quit having drinks due to the cost.  She knew there was plenty of money saved and the cost was not an issue.  Just seeing the cost each round was bothering her.  I fully believe that the drink package option will remove that concern for her.

Everyone has to make their own decision and what is best for you and your family.  My thought's are I'm on vacation and I don't want to be bothered with watching the bill while trying to have a good time. 

 

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On our last cruise I got the refreshment pkg for $18, my wife did not. She doesn't drink a lot normally, so we couldn't  justify the cost for her. I on the other hand drink all day long normally. So for us the cost was justified.

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Slightly off topic but we are on Freedom this week and the ship’s water is skunky. This is only the second time in all of our cruises that the ship’s water was undrinkable (to me). The other time was on Liberty but after a couple of days Liberty's water got better.  Not so on Freedom. You can even smell the “moldy” smell in the shower.  Luckily we have the UDP so have been able to get bottled water for drinking. Is the ship’s water unsafe ?  Obviously not as many are drinking it but I think it stinks and I’m not going to drink it. If I did not have the UDP not sure what I would do but it’s not an issue since we do have the pkg. 

So, if you’re the least bit picky about your drinking water you might consider a pkg just to have the option to drink bottled water exclusively if you have a question about the ship’s drinking water.

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