Drinks prices on the increase!!!!

This week I was chatting to my customers who have just returned from a cruise on board the Celebrity Eclipse, we got talking about the price of drinks on board. My customer chose to go with a deal when they booked that didn’t include the Classic drinks package for their balcony cabin, they decided the reduced price on the cabin without the drinks offer was the best option for them as they weren’t big drinkers. However they have since changed their minds and now wouldn’t cruise Celebrity again without a drinks package!

Why?….. well the price of drinks they believe are at an all-time high. Now these customers aren’t new to cruise, they have been cruising for many years and this cruise with Celebrity wasn’t their first but never have they noticed such high prices.

To give you an idea for two cappuccinos in the coffee bar….$12….$6 each! For a glass of wine, similar to what you would call house wine $11, a small bottle of water $5….the list goes on as you can imagine but this highlights the kind of prices they were talking about. Sounds very pricey don’t you agree, even if you’re not big drinker just a couple of coffees a day, maybe a glass or wine or two and a few bottles of water and you’ve spent $44 times by 2 people and it’s $88 per day and that’s if you don’t drink anymore!

The drinks package that Celebrity offer included in your cruise price is around $55 per person per night so as you can see although it initially sounds quite high, and many customers tell me they wouldn’t drink that much in a day, it’s easy for the drinks to mount up very quickly. This is why a lot of the cruise lines now offer drinks package as an added extra when booking, it’s a great booking incentive that attracts customers.

I guess the question is are these the kind of prices you expect to pay for your drinks on a 5 star cruise line? I know when I go out to a bar in the centre of Manchester I do often get a shock at just how high the drinks prices can be, and if I’m honest no matter how much I love the bar or restaurant if I feel like I’m paying too much for drinks I don’t really want to go back. This is the same for cruise passengers, as much as Celebrity are a fantastic cruise line to sail with, everyone likes to feel they are getting value for money and when drinks prices are so high it can only do one thing and that is to put people off!

When I first began selling cruises drinks packages weren’t available for the majority of cruise lines, today it seems that they all offer some type of All Inclusive package. In fact this is another point that puts customers off even booking with a cruise line to begin with and it’s a question I come across daily….”is there an all inclusive package included?”…..if they don’t have a drinks package included then it can be a no before they even consider it! It’s the fear of the huge bar bill at the end which I’m sure we have all experienced at some time or other.

So what do you think….are the cruise lines shooting themselves in the foot, should they lower the price of drinks on board.  Do you only book your cruise if there is a drinks package included? Do you always book a drinks package regardless? Should the cruise industry strive towards becoming All Inclusive??? Now that’s  another question in itself!!!

As always thanks for reading Abbi x