Deluxe Alcohol Package on Symphony?

[Sydney97]

Hi all!

My fiancé and I will be going on Symphony of the Seas for our honeymoon next June! We are debating whether or not to get the deluxe alcohol package. It's $57/night per person, and for a 7 night cruise, we'd be spending about $950.00 just on alcohol. I think that having unlimited drinks is a really great perk as you don't need to worry about paying for another drink and not being limited on your drink choices while we're on vacation; however, I'm not sure if cost wise if we'll break even or get our money's worth by purchasing it.

I'm in the process of making up a budget, but I can't find any prices online for any frozen alcoholic drinks on symphony. We are both HUGE fans of frozen drinks like pina coladas, blue Hawaiians, daiquiris, lava flows, etc., and if these are pricy, I think that getting the deluxe package would be worth it.

Does anybody know how much these drinks cost on Symphony? Was the Deluxe alcohol package worth it? 

Thanks!

Sydney

[Jicko]

Wait for "sale".... you should be able to get it for $40something a night. Pkg for 7 nights cruise should be under $400 (out the door).

Frozen drinks would be around $9 or $10.

Drink of the day is $8.

A lot of drinks are at $12 or $13 (depending on your ship), and thats also the general limit of your deluxe drink pkg.

If you ARE a drinker then I would say drink pkg all the way.....

 

[CruisinUpinLife]

To know if the deluxe package is worth it you will need to do the math.  My husband and I are in our early 30s and did not find benefits with the DBP on our 7N cruise.  We are getting ready to do another 7N cruise and opted not to purchase the DBP this time.  Also consider that it also includes all specialty coffees (but not Starbucks), bottled water, juices, etc.  When we did a 5N cruise with my family we found it to be more valuable.  We just were drink fatigued at the end of our 7N cruise.  I was also battling serious allergies since I forgot the good meds so that added to my lack of desire to drink.  No matter what your choose, it's really what you think you will drink.  Often people have commented on here that they purchase it, even if they do not get the full value of it each day, for the ease of having it and the lack of a huge bill at the end of their cruise from all their drinks.

I've seen the DBP be as low as $49 per day for my FOTS cruise in Jan 2020.  If you see it drop below $57, go ahead and purchase.  If it drops again, purchase the new reduced price and cancel the higher priced one.  You can do that for no penalty.  Whatever you do, try not to wait until you are on the ship as you will likely pay the highest possible price for it.  Also another note is that you can bring up to 2 bottles of wine per stateroom onto the ship.  You cannot bring liquor or beer...just wine.

Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials and enjoy your honeymoon!

[DandA]

Pina Coladas and Lava Flows are $12-$13; I base the daily cost I'm willing to pay on how much I will drink per day.  So at $57 you would need to drink 5 frozen drinks each day, more if you got like a Rum & Coke which are about $8.  Don't forget to take into count port days were you will be off the ship and the number of drinks required to break even would be consumed in a shorter time period.

[Skid]

@Sydney97 welcome to the forum and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

Good info above from @CruisinUpinLife and @DandA . Here is a great calculator that was developed and posted by @Grenadyr. 

Also know that, depending on how much alcohol you like, you may consider the refreshment package that can be gotten on sale for $20/pp/pd. It includes everything in the deluxe package except the alcohol. We would order a virgin frozen drink (covered in the package) and sometimes add a shot on the side that would run about $10.

Lastly, if you do purchase any package and then see it at a lower price. You can cancel your original order and rebuy at the lower price (refund will take about 3-4 days, unless you paid with on board credit which will show back in your account immediately).

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

@Sydney97 keep in mind that the deluxe package includes everything...alcoholic drinks, specialty coffee, fresh juice and smoothies (Symphony has a smoothie bar), bottled water, and soda.  I feel that is often overlooked whenever people wonder if it is worth it or not. 

A typical cocktail or frozen drink will be around $13.  Bottled water is $3.  Specialty coffee can up be up to $8.95.  

I am of the mindset to purchase and watch for sales like @Skid mentioned.  Re-pricing is no problem at all.  Also drink packages on the larger ships like Symphony tend not to drop below ($47/day), not from what I have tracked over the the last year and a half. Traditionally, Black Friday usually nets the best savings.

 

[Jicko]

I am a heavy DX pkg drinker..... at least 2  coffees a day (1 or 2 with liquor)..... at least 1 or 2 redbulls..... 1 or 2 wines per meal..... pellegrino everywhere..... powerades and bottled water off the ship.... cocktails at shows.... frozen drinks on deck..... 

I wouldn't be able to freely enjoy if I dont get the DX pkg..... but its just me.....

I clocked in like 15+ drinks a day on some days during my last LOS cruise.

[DDaley]

6 hours ago, Skid said:

Here is a great calculator that was developed and posted by @Grenadyr. 

Wow! What an awesome tool! Looks like I am easily set to break even if I don't perish from dehydration. 

How early do bars open on port days? Can you sneak in any breakfast cocktails before departing the ship? 

[CruisinUpinLife]

1 hour ago, DDaley said:

Wow! What an awesome tool! Looks like I am easily set to break even if I don't perish from dehydration. 

How open do bars open on port days? Can you sneak in any breakfast cocktails before departing the ship? 

I cannot recall how early bars open but yes, you can get drinks in the morning.  There are just a lot fewer bars open-try the pool area as it often has one bar open.  The cruise compass may provide you a few clues about how early they open.

[tiny260]

1 hour ago, DDaley said:

How early do bars open on port days? Can you sneak in any breakfast cocktails before departing the ship? 

Windjammer (The buffet on board) always has a bar open for drinks during breakfast times, mostly I see bloody Mary's and other morning alcoholic drinks.

[Sydney97]

Hi everybody! 

Thank you for everything and your replies. I will definitely use the calculator to estimate how much we need to drink in order to make it worth it. All of this information has been very helpful! I am looking forward to our cruise regardless of the DBP or not

Sydney

[WAAAYTOOO]

Congratulations !!

[WesKinetic]

Also keep in mind the "quality vs. quantity" aspect of having the drink package. If I'm paying by the drink, I generally tend to stick to drinks I've already had before and know I'll enjoy. But if I have the drink package, I will be more adventurous and try new things. If I find something I don't like, it's no big deal and I just order something else. But I've found a lot of great new drinks simply because I could try new things with the drink package. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

...and then there’s the whole “I don’t want to have to think about it” aspect, of which “quality vs quantity” is a subset. We bought the UDP b/c I wanted to know that anything I wanted to drink on the WHOLE ship, was already paid for and that I could have whatever I wanted at any time.  I guess this is part and parcel of the whole FOMO phobia.

Now that Dan has quit drinking any alcohol, the UDP really would a waste of money for us.  We didn’t have it on our last cruises ( B2B on NAV) and I am going to cancel it for our upcoming LIB cruise.  What little I would want to drink, I can get at the casino or in the Suites Lounge if I want to fight that scene (which I won’t want to do, trust me).  I get enough complimentary Cokes in my C&A booty that I don’t really need any more anyway !  I think I had 8 cans on the last cruise and Dan had more than a dozen bottles of water.  Plus we had a bottle of wine from Michelle and a bottle of Champagne that we brought home.

I still think the UDP is a great way to go if you’re going to drink a variety of different beverages but if I or both of you aren’t going to drink any alcohol at all...Nope.

[Marlena]

We originally were against it ( well my husband was). Mainly because the lump sum seemed outrageous. However when you calculate it at the present price of 49/ day that's right under 4 cocktails a day. Which seems very doable. 1 or 2 by the pool. 1 pre dinner. Wine with dinner. And thats without the fresh juice or specialty coffee and bottled water! Not to mention if we get the package I'm getting a mimosa every morning!

But something to also take into account is the number of sea days vs port days. It's not worth it on heavy port day cruises because you arent on the ship very much so you are trying to make up for it from 6 pm to midnight. And if you are going to a private islan like coco cay the package works there as well!

[delerium98]

20 hours ago, Marlena said:

We originally were against it ( well my husband was). Mainly because the lump sum seemed outrageous. However when you calculate it at the present price of 49/ day that's right under 4 cocktails a day. Which seems very doable. 1 or 2 by the pool. 1 pre dinner. Wine with dinner. And thats without the fresh juice or specialty coffee and bottled water! Not to mention if we get the package I'm getting a mimosa every morning!

But something to also take into account is the number of sea days vs port days. It's not worth it on heavy port day cruises because you arent on the ship very much so you are trying to make up for it from 6 pm to midnight. And if you are going to a private islan like coco cay the package works there as well!

Don't forget that there is an 18% gratuity added onto the $49 per day base charge.  Makes the total almost equal to 5 $13 cocktails.

[KristiZ]

4 minutes ago, delerium98 said:

Don't forget that there is an 18% gratuity added onto the $49 per day base charge.  Makes the total almost equal to 5 $13 cocktails.

Except you'd pay the 18% on those single-bought cocktails too. You have the either ignore the 18% or put it on both if you want to get to your "drinks-per-day" number.

[delerium98]

33 minutes ago, KristiZ said:

Except you'd pay the 18% on those single-bought cocktails too. You have the either ignore the 18% or put it on both if you want to get to your "drinks-per-day" number.

True, I was mentioning the 18% gratuity for the people who might think that the $49 per day was all they would have to pay when buying the Deluxe Drink Package.

So the actual math for one day would be $49 + 18% grat ($8.82) = $57.82

Divide that by the average cost of a cocktail ($13) and you would have to drink 4.5 cocktails to break even.

[KristiZ]

18 minutes ago, delerium98 said:

True, I was mentioning the 18% gratuity for the people who might think that the $49 per day was all they would have to pay when buying the Deluxe Drink Package.

So the actual math for one day would be $49 + 18% grat ($8.82) = $57.82

Divide that by the average cost of a cocktail ($13) and you would have to drink 4.5 cocktails to break even.

Except the average cost of a cocktail is $13 + 18% or $15.34

So you need to drink $57.82/$15.34 to break even, or 3.7 drinks (provided you always drink the expensive ones!)

Still, 4 drinks a day is a lot for a lot of people. I only think it's worth it if there are a lot of sea days, personally  

[delerium98]

10 minutes ago, KristiZ said:

Except the average cost of a cocktail is $13 + 18% or $15.34

So you need to drink $57.82/$15.34 to break even, or 3.7 drinks (provided you always drink the expensive ones!)

Still, 4 drinks a day is a lot for a lot of people. I only think it's worth it if there are a lot of sea days, personally  

Ah!  I see what you are saying now.  You are absolutely right!  I never really thought of it that way.  I'll be on the Liberty in august and I plan on crushing that drink package.  Between the foofoo coffee, smoothies, wine at dinner, cocktails throughout the day and bottles waters for the cabin they are gonna lose money on me.