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Buying drinks on the cruise without the drink package


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This blog post has the price range for drinks:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/09/15/should-you-buy-royal-caribbeans-unlimited-alcohol-package

Mixed drinks/cocktails, martinis, frozens: $12.00

Beers: $6.25 - $6.95

House wines (by the glass): $8.00 - $12.00

Soda: $1.95

Juices: $3.95

Fresh squeezed juice: $4.95

Premium coffee: $3.95 - $4.95

18% gratuity is automatically added to all drink orders.

Also consider this blog post:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/08/18/5-ways-save-money-drinks-if-you-are-not-buying-royal-caribbean-drink-package

Here is a first timers guide to Oasis:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/01/31/first-time-cruisers-guide-royal-caribbeans-oasis-of-the-seas

 

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1 minute ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Wow. I'd love to know where you found a can of Coke for $1.95.  The total tab for any can of coke I've purchased recently was north of $4.

I'm guessing that's the price for fountain soda from one of the bars, not canned soda.

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1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I didn't even know you could buy a fountain soda directly.  LOL.  I guess I'm such a Coke snob that I never even asked.  It's a can or nuttin' for me !

Just now, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I was never aware of that either.  You're not the only one ?

I seem to remember @twangster mentioning it a while back, could have been another member of the site. I mean, you can get rum & Coke or a Seven & 7 at the bar, so can't see why they wouldn't just serve the Coke or 7-Up part by itself. ?

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Just now, JLMoran said:

I seem to remember @twangster mentioning it a while back, could have been another member of the site. I mean, you can get rum & Coke or a Seven & 7 at the bar, so can't see why they wouldn't just serve the Coke or 7-Up part by itself. ?

Makes sense.  Guess I never pay attention since I don't drink soda and hubby is too frugal to get something that isn't already included lol.

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1 minute ago, JLMoran said:

I seem to remember @twangster mentioning it a while back, could have been another member of the site. I mean, you can get rum & Coke or a Seven & 7 at the bar, so can't see why they wouldn't just serve the Coke or 7-Up part by itself. ?

I don't drink soda.  I just copied the numbers from the blog linked above.  There has possibly been price increases since then. 

Smaller ships may not have the dispensing systems that newer ships like Oasis has so it may vary by ship.

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For those ships that don't have freestyle machines you can order coke fountain drinks at any of the bars. My wife is a Coke Zero fan and that is not always available with the fountain dispensers.  So she orders half Coke and half Diet Coke in her drink glass. She says the taste is close enough.  

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  • 1 month later...

I was on the Navigator last month and no drink machines on board, I missed my root beer and highc drinks got so sick of the same hand full of flavours available at the bars felt sorry for the kids having to go into adult bars for a soda or go up to the windjammer if open or over crowded, so why are they charging full price on the soda package and not giving a full selection of drinks?

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5 minutes ago, Petegl said:

I was on the Navigator last month and no drink machines on board, I missed my root beer and highc drinks got so sick of the same hand full of flavours available at the bars felt sorry for the kids having to go into adult bars for a soda or go up to the windjammer if open or over crowded, so why are they charging full price on the soda package and not giving a full selection of drinks?

For the same reason they charge the same for Voom across the fleet yet it's different experience depending on the ship.  However to be fair, they don't claim Voom is O3b on all ships and they don't claim all have ships have Freestyle dispensers.  

Just be glad they don't charge for a 'premium' soda package (*available on select ships) versus a 'standard' soda package.

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On 8/13/2018 at 8:29 AM, Petegl said:

I was on the Navigator last month and no drink machines on board, I missed my root beer and highc drinks got so sick of the same hand full of flavours available at the bars felt sorry for the kids having to go into adult bars for a soda or go up to the windjammer if open or over crowded, so why are they charging full price on the soda package and not giving a full selection of drinks?

when my then 11 year old son was on our cruise in 2002 with the soda package, going to the Carousel Lounge for his sodas was the highlight of his day!!  All the bartenders knew him and treated him like a bigshot.  He loved it!!  I dropped a few tips there for their wonderful service.

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I noticed the price list is also from 2016 have they gone up since then?

Also If you prepay gratuities does that not count toward al la cart drinks?

I know if you prepay gratuities it does not count toward the deluxe package. 

We are trying to decide if we want the package or not on our 4 day cruise in November we have already prepaid the gratuities. My wife and I can go to a bar and spend a 100-120 easily a evening. We only go on special occasions because of the cost. As this is our first cruise we are still learning. On Enchantment if we buy the deluxe package when they are having a sale comes out to about 475  but that also gives us other drinks besides just alcoholic drinks.

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2 hours ago, ZOKUEL said:

I noticed the price list is also from 2016 have they gone up since then?

Also If you prepay gratuities does that not count toward al la cart drinks?

I know if you prepay gratuities it does not count toward the deluxe package. 

We are trying to decide if we want the package or not on our 4 day cruise in November we have already prepaid the gratuities. My wife and I can go to a bar and spend a 100-120 easily a evening. We only go on special occasions because of the cost. As this is our first cruise we are still learning. On Enchantment if we buy the deluxe package when they are having a sale comes out to about 475  but that also gives us other drinks besides just alcoholic drinks.

Y'all would definitely benefit from the drink pkg!! 

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3 hours ago, ZOKUEL said:

I noticed the price list is also from 2016 have they gone up since then?

Also If you prepay gratuities does that not count toward al la cart drinks?

I know if you prepay gratuities it does not count toward the deluxe package. 

We are trying to decide if we want the package or not on our 4 day cruise in November we have already prepaid the gratuities. My wife and I can go to a bar and spend a 100-120 easily a evening. We only go on special occasions because of the cost. As this is our first cruise we are still learning. On Enchantment if we buy the deluxe package when they are having a sale comes out to about 475  but that also gives us other drinks besides just alcoholic drinks.

Get the drink package on sale for your 4 day cruise...well worth it in the long run for sure!......and yes you pay the 18% grats on top of the package price..rule of thumb is  if you question will you  pay a grat on Royal....go with chances are you will. Not much you don't that I can think of..

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1 hour ago, yaya luvs to cruz said:

Other than diet Coke, are there any other diet options available at bars, e.g., vodka and diet tonic/diet sprite?

Diet Sprite (canned). Don't recall seeing diet tonic. I've done vodka and Coke Zero (canned) with the Deluxe package. Sprite Zero is normally available at any bar, Coke Zero can be hard to find.

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