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Beverage package price going up


crash1965

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I am with you dandi799, we are on Adventure July 2019, I am really on the fence right now.  We booked a Chill Island Cabana for 449 only a month ago and now it is at 649.  Thrill Waterpark is at 899.  My fear is by black Friday I will see no savings and may pay even more.  My hope is they are playing a marketing game...up the price and the % for promotions, making the consumer they believe they got a steal. IE now it will be 40% discount instead of 30.

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I've seen the original post about it, but I'm sort of baffled.  Generally speaking, sure prices are going up but then again, prices always trend up over time.  RC has no fleetwide pricing for its unlimited alcohol package, so that's why it's hard to really draw any fleet wide conclusions.

Moreover, I have yet to ascertain what the source is for this information. Not saying they're wrong, I'm just not prepared to put my name on something that leads to that conclusion.

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My Allure sailing in March 2019 has an "Onboard price" of 68.00 a day for the deluxe package.  15% off is showing 59.  Even still this is 980.00 dollars for two people for a week after the gratuities.  At 59.00 a day thats about 11.00 a day in gratuities which if you were to typically tip a buck a drink on land this is 11 drinks a day in gratuities.  

Seems like 1000 dollars in alcohol becomes a harder pill to swallow and as many people know you are drinking just to drink your money worth by day 4-7).

 

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42 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

You can bet that if the package prices are going up then the by-the-drink prices are going up too.  There's no getting around it....unless you plan to drink only what is provided for "free".

True, it's hard to do the "is it worth it" calculus if you don't know what the normal pricing will be.

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5 hours ago, Matt said:

An update, I now know what the source is of this info.  It's RC's site: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/beverage-drink-package-products

Wow!  That says a base price of $63-$70 for the deluxe sailing.  I guess my sailing in March on Adventure is a "bargain" at only $56, which for 2 with the service charge comes to $925.  Now that RC required both parties to purchase the beverage package plus this increase, I probably won't buy the deluxe package anymore.  I've only had the beverage package once and while I enjoyed it and could justify it at $42, I can't really justify it at these prices.  

The beverage package is worth it for my husband and he really like the convenience.  For me, I am good with the wine I bring onboard and then pay for a drink ala carte.  If Black Friday has a good sale then I will rethink it but if not then I won't worry about it.

 

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There's a few reasons why this is not as big a deal as some headlines would lead you to believe....

1. The percentage increase is incredibly misleading figure. It makes it sound way worse than it is.  In the case of all drink packages, we are talking about one extra drink per day to break even. 

2. You don't have to get a drink package! Seriously.  If it does not make financial sense, skip it.  You can have a great cruise without one.  As my mother used to remind me in college, you don't need to drink to have a good time.

3. The prices listed for this increase are onboard prices.  If you are going to buy a drink package, get a discount online via a Cruise Planner sale.  There's no excuse to pay the onboard price!

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Just now, Matt said:

There's a few reasons why this is not as big a deal as some headlines would lead you to believe....

1. The percentage increase is incredibly misleading figure. It makes it sound way worse than it is.  In the case of all drink packages, we are talking about one extra drink per day to break even. 

2. You don't have to get a drink package! Seriously.  If it does not make financial sense, skip it.  You can have a great cruise without one.  As my mother used to remind me in college, you don't need to drink to have a good time.

3. The prices listed for this increase are onboard prices.  If you are going to buy a drink package, get a discount online via a Cruise Planner sale.  There's no excuse to pay the onboard price!

Item 3 is the one that interests me.  I wonder how many people actually pay the onboard price and what is the average price paid for the packages. 

 

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20 minutes ago, Matt said:

1. The percentage increase is incredibly misleading figure. It makes it sound way worse than it is.  In the case of all drink packages, we are talking about one extra drink per day to break even. 

One extra drink a day to break even is exactly how I look at it.  I’m not going to worry about this, Black Friday sales always work out for me since I do a annual group cruise every early each year.

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Speaking of drink packages, has anyone ever heard of a person being able to buy the package, while their spouse, in the same cabin does not.   One couple traveling with us is a wife who enjoys the full package, while the husband simply does not drink alcohol at all.  Is there ever any exception, perhaps if the non drinking spouse obtains some sort of medical note or something.   A doctors note due to health reasons??????   I highly doubt it, but I told them I would ask here.   THANKS!

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2 minutes ago, chicagokris said:

Speaking of drink packages, has anyone ever heard of a person being able to buy the package, while their spouse, in the same cabin does not.   One couple traveling with us is a wife who enjoys the full package, while the husband simply does not drink alcohol at all.  Is there ever any exception, perhaps if the non drinking spouse obtains some sort of medical note or something.   A doctors note due to health reasons??????   I highly doubt it, but I told them I would ask here.   THANKS!

You will need to call RCCL to opt out the other passenger from the Deluxe Beverage Package.  They may require the other passenger to purchase the Refreshment Beverage Package. 

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For me I think I might possibly end up breaking even at at $59 per day but I also drink mixed drinks, wine, coffee, soda, juice etc (my doctor loves reminding me that its all bad for me). My friend sailing with me sticks mostly to beer, no soda, no coffee and I think it would be very difficult for her to break even on bottled water and beer alone factoring in two port days. I feel strange asking my friend to pay for a refreshment package while I buy a deluxe knowing that it wouldn't be worth it for her. Also we would be breaking even on consumer prices, knowing that there is usually around a 40% markup (I'm not complaining about it, just acknowledging that it costs me a bit more for that drink than it takes royal to store it and make it, they have lights to keep on and employees to pay). While I appreciate everyone's suggestions to buy now in case it goes up and you can always repurchase later if the price goes down, it really isn't at a price that I'm comfortable with at the moment. If it gets to a place where I feel like I'm actually saving a bit AND allowing Royal to make a profit I'll happily purchase the deluxe, if not I'll just purchase drinks individually and be a little more conscious about the cost of the beverages I'm ordering and skip lattes and go with free coffee. I'm sure if Royal finds that they have over priced and not selling as many packages as they would like they will adjust pricing but I doubt that they will have a problem (I'm probably a little to frugal for my own good).

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I think its worth talking about this Breaking Even.  We all try to say "If each drink is 12.00 then all i need is 5 - 6 a day to break even".  In reality those 12.00 drinks are between 30% and 150% marked up over land based bars, especially during happy hours etc.  I wonder how many people who do not get the drink package really come close to having a bar bill of 1000 for a week long cruise for two people (maybe a few).  I think its a mentality that "if i paid for all i can eat/drink  then i will prove that i can get my monies worth".  I believe people look very  closely at the drink prices when they do not have the package before they buy one (or 5).

I think Matt made a good point yesterday, Will spending 1000 more dollars on top of my cruise fare /specialty restaurants make this cruise more fun?

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I am still sitting on the fence with my Adventure cruise regarding pulling it now, it is still at 52.  I have stated it before the DPP is not just the alcohol it is the specialty coffee and bottled waters whenever I want.  I am reluctant to do it because our cruise is 8 nights.  I think by day 6 it just wouldn't be worth it from an alcohol aspect.  I can't see spending that much in beverages every single day or the total cost of almost 1K when I spent only 2800 (taxes/ports inc) for an Outside Balcony for the two of us.  Let's be real that would be @1/3 of my bill for drinks only!  

Matt made a comment the other day, paraphrasing, this is not a fleetwide thing.  I am wondering if the increase will really be seen more on those 4 night trips compared to longer cruises?  250 pp for a short cruise is a lot easier to bite off than 500 pp for a longer cruise?  Flip side of the coin, many shorter cruises are port intensive so maybe they will keep it cheaper for fear the consumer will not buy it since they will not be on the ship as long.

I get they have a bottom line dollar and have a duty to their shareholders regarding profits, but at a certain time there will be a tipping point.  It maybe loyal to Royal customer will go to NCL because they feel they are getting nickel and dimed more.  It maybe they only buy it on a "GOOD" sale, thus the price point has yet to go up.  As someone that works for a national retailer and have watched this happen multiple times, my bet is for lack of better terms, they are testing the waters.  If consumers don't bite at the increase, and they lose customers to a competitor, such as NCL or Carnival, they will pull back.  Trust me I have done many permanent mark ups on products to only do permanent markdowns to the original price 6 months later bc sales slumped, even when they increased the discount on sales.  

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I'm new to Royal,  I have mainly been on Celebrity (still in the family ? ) and I have always had a drink package as a "perk"  so it's a new concept for me to buy a package.   My first Royal cruise isn't till March 2020.  So I'm guessing the prices will go up again before then?    I like an alcoholic drink but keeping it up for 10 days is always a challenge but if I have a cappuccino and fresh juice at breakfast,  a few sodas during the day, a few bottles of water during the day,  an alcoholic drink in the afternoon,  alcoholic drink or 2 with dinner and maybe  a few more in the evening/night.  (That's over estimating)  I'm guessing the package would be worth it for me????     Also I think I read/saw somewhere that Mystery Island in the South Pacific is like Labadee and you can get drinks on shore.  Is that correct?   Thanks heaps for your help ?⚓?️⚓

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On ‎10‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 4:41 PM, marti314 said:

The real question is where is the line before this all backfires on the cruise lines?   1000 bucks to force myself (and girlfriend) to drink enough to make it worth it now seems like a challenge I dont want to wake up with each morning. ?

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Its a good point...the same is true with cruise fares and all these mega ships they are building.....I only started cruising back in 2013 and there has been a big increase in pricing and discount rules and ship capacity since there.....its all fine as long as ppl are willing to pay.....but at some point, things have to change. They always do with economies and markets.....

 

 

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We are doing a Norwegian cruise Nov 2019 and their unlimited drink package is $89/day before gratuities AND it does not include ANY bottled water or specialty coffees.  Needless to say, we are not getting the drink package as there is no way to even get close with the bottle water taken out of the equation!  

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57 minutes ago, monctonguy said:

Its a good point...the same is true with cruise fares and all these mega ships they are building.....I only started cruising back in 2013 and there has been a big increase in pricing and discount rules and ship capacity since there.....its all fine as long as ppl are willing to pay.....but at some point, things have to change. They always do with economies and markets.....

 

 

As long as they keep filling ships and getting the onboard revenue we can expect more of the same.  A few years back I found my invoice from my first cruise on the Majesty in 1999.  In adjusted dollars it was about the same as we had been paying and it was for an OV not a balcony.  

The absolute best deal I ever had was when the Mariner was on the west coast and they had a hard time filling it.  I had three price drops and paid less than $2000 for three of us in the Deck 10 corner aft in August.

16 minutes ago, whitsmom said:

We are doing a Norwegian cruise Nov 2019 and their unlimited drink package is $89/day before gratuities AND it does not include ANY bottled water or specialty coffees.  Needless to say, we are not getting the drink package as there is no way to even get close with the bottle water taken out of the equation!  

Yikes!!  I've never bothered doing the math on the drink package because I know that I've never had my total onboard account exceed the cost of the drink package alone for 2 of us.  Of course it helps when you're a diamond member.  I'm curious to see what my drink bill is at the end of the group cruise.  I'm sure I'll drink more than usual and I'm sure it'll still be less than springing for the drink package for me and the wife.

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Even more reason to book cruises when they release itineraries to offset the increasing cost of the packages.  I think most people won't go through this detailed cost-benefit analysis in their decision to purchase the Deluxe Drink package or not.  It's either an impulse buy or they have accepted it as a cost to a cruise vacation.  At least Royal now keeps the alcoholic package simple.  Other cruise lines have several tiers of alcoholic packages to choose from.  For first-time cruisers, that could be confusing.

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