Refreshment (Drink Package)

[HolyShip]

Hi Royals!

My significant other and I are soon to go on our first Royal cruise (I believe it's 7-nights). We are both aiming to abstain from alcohol (only except the chef's table dinner which has alcohol provided). We will mainly be drinking coffee, water, and mocktails. I don't know if there's sparkling / flavored water onboard? If there is, that'd be happy news.

So, we're looking at the Refreshment Package. We bought a ton of bottled water through RCL, so the only things we'd drink in the 8-item package are the: mocktails, sparkling water, premium coffees and teas, and I would at least be drinking fresh-squeezed juices every day. We would very likely not partake in the regular milkshakes, fountain sodas, and bottled water.

The package is currently discounted at $27.99/per day vs $36/on board, and the app says the deal is about to end. Question to you all is: based on what I've described, does it sound worth it or no? We did book the premium dining package, but I doubt that includes any beverage benefits.

Buy or save the money and just buy on board?

Thank you so much!

[Cactus527]

The cheapest I have seen it is $27.99 for several months now. The best deal I've seen was on Black Friday, but of course that's not going to be around for a while. Based on the way everything is going, I would recommend go ahead and book the price now and then cancel later if you decide that that's what you want to do. I would hate for you to wait longer and then end up having to pay even more. You're definitely going to get the better price now versus on board.

[Ticca]

If you get the refreshment package, you don't necessarily need the bottled water you purchased through RCCL because you get bottled water at any bar.  I just grabbed a couple at a time when I was getting a drink or passing by, then stockpiled them in the room cooler for later.  Never had trouble getting all the water we needed (and we drink a lot of water!).  Just a thought. 

[Ampurp85]

The flavored sparkling water will be available in the Freestyle machines. Fresh squeezed juice is hit or miss imho, I have only seen it being offered in the MDR, which is rarely a place people get breakfast/lunch. I would say factor in the worth, if you already have bottled water will you be drinking $30+ pp of sparkling water, specialty coffee/teas and mocktails?

I think it is a good deal if you will have at least 3 drinks in any direction. 

[HolyShip]

56 minutes ago, Cactus527 said:

The cheapest I have seen it is $27.99 for several months now. The best deal I've seen was on Black Friday, but of course that's not going to be around for a while. Based on the way everything is going, I would recommend go ahead and book the price now and then cancel later if you decide that that's what you want to do. I would hate for you to wait longer and then end up having to pay even more. You're definitely going to get the better price now versus on board.

50 minutes ago, Ticca said:

If you get the refreshment package, you don't necessarily need the bottled water you purchased through RCCL because you get bottled water at any bar.  I just grabbed a couple at a time when I was getting a drink or passing by, then stockpiled them in the room cooler for later.  Never had trouble getting all the water we needed (and we drink a lot of water!).  Just a thought. 

Thank you both for this response! I didn't realize we could cancel? When we booked the dining package, it made me pay for it and the same for the water. I can cancel and get a refund on it though if I book it?  

I know we definitely want some bottled water in the room and spent $27.98 for two packs of 24 bottles. 

I didn't know we could get bottled water at the bar through the refreshment package, so that's good to know! Though we may keep the packs for the room because that was on Black Friday.  Is there are a limit on how many mocktails and drinks we can get per day on the package?

38 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

The flavored sparkling water will be available in the Freestyle machines. Fresh squeezed juice is hit or miss imho, I have only seen it being offered in the MDR, which is rarely a place people get breakfast/lunch. I would say factor in the worth, if you already have bottled water will you be drinking $30+ pp of sparkling water, specialty coffee/teas and mocktails?

I think it is a good deal if you will have at least 3 drinks in any direction. 

I could definitely see, between coffee and a couple mocktails, hitting three per day. I guess coffee isn't included, so maybe worth it just for that.

[Cactus527]

41 minutes ago, HolyShip said:

Thank you both for this response! I didn't realize we could cancel? When we booked the dining package, it made me pay for it and the same for the water. I can cancel and get a refund on it though if I book it?  

I know we definitely want some bottled water in the room and spent $27.98 for two packs of 24 bottles. 

Yes! When you're in the cruise planner, just click on your initials in the upper right corner, then "Order History," then the "View Details" in blue, and then you can modify and/or cancel. It will then refund back to your original form of payment. This can only be done up to 48 hours before your cruise, but it's available 24/7 prior to that.

(side note - I only see the "modify" option available on shore excursions, just FYI)

 

[Cactus527]

Oh, and as @Ticcasaid, you don't necessarily need the bottled water if you have the refreshment package - bottled water is included with it. What I have done in the past is get a drink and a bottle of water every time I get a drink. Then, stockpile in your room. I'd sometimes end up with 8-10 bottles of water by the time I really needed to have one! Save your $$ on the bottled water separately and just get it via the refreshment package.

[HolyShip]

That is super helpful, @Cactus527! I just checked, and did verify we spent $30 on bottled waters. Not a horrible expense. I could see if I could reduce the quantity but would nice to at least have a pack available, but we’ll definitely hit the bar for them! 
 

For 7 days, including gratuities, I saw the beverage package is a whopping $460! My traveling partner said she’d absolutely take advantage of the sparkling water and coffee (if the coffee isn’t already included), and we’d enjoy a few mocktails. Is it enough to make it worth $460 vs buying out right, I’m not sure. Maybe it will be and that $460 will have been worth paying versus buying drinks individually and paying gratuity per drink (which I think is a thing?). 

[Cactus527]

It's hard to say. I did the math on my last cruise and needed to have 4 mocktails per day to make the beverage package worth it. I did it, but I can't say I enjoyed it on the last day - I was just drinking to get my money's worth. If you think you can do at least 4-5 drinks of any sort a day (soda, juice, mocktails, bottled water, etc.), then yes, totally worth it. If you're on the fence about 4-5 per day, you might consider just paying by the drink. 

$460 for 7 days = ~$67 per day. I'm assuming this must be for two people, which makes more sense with the refreshment package. So, roughly $33 per day per person for the drink package. Soda = $4, bottled water = $3.50, juice = $3.50?, mocktails = $7-12. See if it works out for you. 

[HolyShip]

Thank you!! I can’t math, so this helps. And yep, two people. I wish I would have locked in that Black Friday pricing like I did for the unlimited dining, but hey - I saved somewhere! I guess the other benefit is that the gratuities on the drinks are prepaid, because I read that each drink outside of the package a la carte has a 18% gratuity each? If that’s true, I guess that adds up quickly. 

[Cactus527]

12 hours ago, HolyShip said:

Thank you!! I can’t math, so this helps. And yep, two people. I wish I would have locked in that Black Friday pricing like I did for the unlimited dining, but hey - I saved somewhere! I guess the other benefit is that the gratuities on the drinks are prepaid, because I read that each drink outside of the package a la carte has a 18% gratuity each? If that’s true, I guess that adds up quickly. 

Yes, true - if you buy drinks outside the drink package, you pay 18% gratuity on each drink. Yikes!

[Atlantix2000]

12 hours ago, HolyShip said:

Thank you!! I can’t math, so this helps. And yep, two people. I wish I would have locked in that Black Friday pricing like I did for the unlimited dining, but hey - I saved somewhere! I guess the other benefit is that the gratuities on the drinks are prepaid, because I read that each drink outside of the package a la carte has a 18% gratuity each? If that’s true, I guess that adds up quickly. 

Yes, each drink gets 18% gratuity added when purchased outside a package.  But the package itself gets 18% gratuity added when you purchase it.  Does the $460 you've mentioned already include that?  If not, it'll really be $543 when you go to checkout.  I'm going to have to agree that paying for a pack of bottled water in addition to a package, is going to make it that much harder to break even on the package.  If the package makes sense for you, cancel that bottled water purchase!

Edited to add: Remember you can bring a limited amount of bottled water on board with you.  With that option, you'll always have a few in the cabin plus whatever you grab using the package.

Edited March 3, 2023 by Atlantix2000

[Ampurp85]

I would say if you know you will have at least 2 mocktails, a coffee/tea and maybe a few sparkling waters, just get the package and cancel your waters. Yes, it was a good black Friday deal, I got cases for my rooms on an upcoming sailing. But you can always stock your waters with the package, they will give you 2 waters a time at any place that serves beverages. 

[HolyShip]

53 minutes ago, Cactus527 said:

Yes, true - if you buy drinks outside the drink package, you pay 18% gratuity on each drink. Yikes!

32 minutes ago, Atlantix2000 said:

Yes, each drink gets 18% gratuity added when purchased outside a package.  But the package itself gets 18% gratuity added when you purchase it.  Does the $460 you've mentioned already include that?  If not, it'll really be $543 when you go to checkout.  I'm going to have to agree that paying for a pack of bottled water in addition to a package, is going to make it that much harder to break even on the package.  If the package makes sense for you, cancel that bottled water purchase!

Edited to add: Remember you can bring a limited amount of bottled water on board with you.  With that option, you'll always have a few in the cabin plus whatever you grab using the package.

Oh, you're right, I guess I'm paying gratuity after all either way on the drinks. @Atlantix2000, yep that $460 does include gratuity.

Sounds like the water bottles would definitely go if we got the beverage subscription.

We now have some money back after the company we booked our excursion through scammed us, so more money to devote to either the beverage package or back into another port excursion.

[HolyShip]

15 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I would say if you know you will have at least 2 mocktails, a coffee/tea and maybe a few sparkling waters, just get the package and cancel your waters. Yes, it was a good black Friday deal, I got cases for my rooms on an upcoming sailing. But you can always stock your waters with the package, they will give you 2 waters a time at any place that serves beverages. 

Thank you so much. Def seems like we're gonna proceed with the package. I can definitely say we will be having 2-3 sparkling waters per person each day, several water bottles, and coffee each morning.

[amanalo217]

I don't think I saw what ship you would be on but if it has a Vitality Spa Cafe the refreshment package would also include smoothies and vegetable juices. Protein powders are an additional charge.

[FireFishII]

On 3/2/2023 at 9:43 PM, Ampurp85 said:

Fresh squeezed juice is hit or miss imho, I have only seen it being offered in the MDR, which is rarely a place people get breakfast/lunch.

You can get fresh squeezed juice in the WindJammer.  You just need to flag down one of the stewards/staff that is walking around and ask for it.  I also think there is one area near the end of the stations that someone was making the fresh squeezed juice.  Love fresh squeezed OJ. 

[KDK]

On 3/3/2023 at 11:32 AM, Atlantix2000 said:

Yes, each drink gets 18% gratuity added when purchased outside a package.  But the package itself gets 18% gratuity added when you purchase it.  Does the $460 you've mentioned already include that?  If not, it'll really be $543 when you go to checkout.  I'm going to have to agree that paying for a pack of bottled water in addition to a package, is going to make it that much harder to break even on the package.  If the package makes sense for you, cancel that bottled water purchase!

Edited to add: Remember you can bring a limited amount of bottled water on board with you.  With that option, you'll always have a few in the cabin plus whatever you grab using the package.

How much bottled water are you allowed to bring to the ship on your own?

[Ampurp85]

2 hours ago, KDK said:

How much bottled water are you allowed to bring to the ship on your own?

You can bring up to 12 bottles in total per room of beverages up to 17oz. That mean 12 bottles of water and nothing else but 1 wine per guest. However ymmv as I have seen people with a 24pk go through security.

[Randon1234]

On 3/2/2023 at 9:22 PM, HolyShip said:

Hi Royals!

My significant other and I are soon to go on our first Royal cruise (I believe it's 7-nights). We are both aiming to abstain from alcohol (only except the chef's table dinner which has alcohol provided). We will mainly be drinking coffee, water, and mocktails. I don't know if there's sparkling / flavored water onboard? If there is, that'd be happy news.

So, we're looking at the Refreshment Package. We bought a ton of bottled water through RCL, so the only things we'd drink in the 8-item package are the: mocktails, sparkling water, premium coffees and teas, and I would at least be drinking fresh-squeezed juices every day. We would very likely not partake in the regular milkshakes, fountain sodas, and bottled water.

The package is currently discounted at $27.99/per day vs $36/on board, and the app says the deal is about to end. Question to you all is: based on what I've described, does it sound worth it or no? We did book the premium dining package, but I doubt that includes any beverage benefits.

Buy or save the money and just buy on board?

Thank you so much!

Cancel the water bottles and absolutely get the refreshment package at that price. You will easily get your money's worth! Coffee and juice in the am, couple mocks by the pool, drink at dinner, drink in the evening activities, and grab some h20 for the room. Oh yeah, no problem at all. And that's with a conservative approach. 

[jbrinkm]

2 hours ago, Randon1234 said:

Cancel the water bottles and absolutely get the refreshment package at that price. You will easily get your money's worth! Coffee and juice in the am, couple mocks by the pool, drink at dinner, drink in the evening activities, and grab some h20 for the room. Oh yeah, no problem at all. And that's with a conservative approach. 

We did that also, although it was hard to cancel that water bottle package that I got for the Black Friday price! But it didn't make sense when we were paying for the refreshment package that includes water - just slightly less convenient that we have to remember to get them, rather than having them all in our rooms.