The Drinks Are On Azura !!

Well she isn`t actually paying for them – you are –  but it is happening.

P&O are  one of the only remaining cruise lines not to give passengers the option of purchasing a drinks package. If I had a pound  for every time I am asked ” can I add a drinks package ” on a P&O cruise I`d be rich !, but until last week there was no option to add anything other thank wine packages or soft drinks packages to the booking.

Azura will trial the new drinks package for a period of a month starting with the cruise of 21st July. After this P&O will review the situation to see ” if the infrastructure on our ships is set up correctly to handle to demand of drinks packages” – or maybe to see how much people drink ? The package can only be booked on board and must be done by the second day of the cruise at the latest. This will only be available on cruises of 5 nights or more, not on mini cruises.

As with most cruise lines all adults in the same cabin must book the package and no sharing of drinks will be allowed. There also a few restrictions:

Maximum 15 drinks per person per day

Drinks to be ordered one at a time

Only drinks up to the value of £ 6.95 each are included

There must be a 15 minute interval between orders!

So how much will it cost? £ 39.95 per person per day which actually sounds quite a lot but equates to about 6 drinks worth £ 6.95 each, so if you drink 15 a day , every day, apart from probably not feeling too well, you will have  bagged yourself a bargain!

Now the detail does say that ” almost ” every drink on board is included but spirits are only single measures, soft drinks and mixers are draft ones, so none of your favourite Tonic Water to choose here. Anything over £ 6.95 ? you will get 20% discount as you will on bottles of wine and large bottles of water. Room service is excluded from the package as are mini bars.

I think it is going to be very interesting to talk to the people back off Azura at the end of the trial !