15 drinks and I wouldn’t remember a thing!
This morning I woke up thinking about cocktails, wine and Jack Daniels… before you worry that my breakfast coco-pops are swimming in a bowl of Baileys, I should add that my thoughts were related more to forecasting alcohol consumption on our upcoming cruise, rather than fancying a shot of brandy in my morning coffee.
As many of you know, we are travelling aboard Carnival Magic in October and I am in the throes of planning everything from pre-cruise hotels and sightseeing, to shore excursions, bucket list experiences, sea day activities, and of course the big question of whether or not to opt for a pre-paid drinks package.
Carnival, like many cruiselines, offer a pre-paid beverage package which can be bought prior to travel (& at a slightly higher rate once on board). At a cost of $51.95 per person per day (plus 18% gratuity) and with a limit of 15 drinks per day… but at first glance the ‘Carnival Cheers Beverage Program’ doesn’t seem to be my cup of tea – if you’ll pardon the pun.
In all honesty if I were to drink 15 drinks a day, I am pretty certain that I wouldn’t remember a thing about my holiday – resulting in zero precious holiday memories, likely a day or so lost to a raging hangover, and undoubtedly some dubious holiday snaps along the way!
Yet being somewhat of a money-saving-geek and unable to lay this issue to rest without whipping out my calculator, I felt the need to weigh up the potential costs versus savings on the package.
For the children, very little mathematical calculation is needed and I think it is safe to say we shall opt for the ‘Bottomless Bubbles’ package… at $5.95 per child (plus 18% gratuity); this offers unlimited sodas and juice throughout the cruise. Whilst I understand that iced tea, lemonade, water, hot drinks and milk can be obtained free of charge from the buffet restaurant throughout the voyage; the option of being able to order soft drinks from beside the pool, and from the various bars & eateries throughout the ship, has an appeal and ease of purchase which is well worth the approx $14 per day it will set us back for the kids.
However, gIven that we have 4 port days on our 8 day voyage and are highly unlikely to be partying into the small hours with two children in tow, I was convinced that my findings would almost certainly lean away from pre-purchasing the adult drinks package… yet I must admit, when looking at this from a scientific study standpoint, I am clearly more of a drinker than I thought!
When it comes to the evening, I have to say I do very much enjoy a glass or two of red wine with dinner… (in all honesty, usually 2 glasses of red wine as we tend to share a bottle). With my preferred red wine retailing aboard Carnival at £8.50 per glass / $32 per bottle, this gives me my first figure to plug into the daily spreadsheet.
Adding in a pre-dinner drink, which we tend to enjoy out on deck before making our way to the dining room, would set us back another $5.75 each.
& our traditional after-dinner-carajillo; coffee with brandy, would add an additional $8.75 per person to our dinner treats; more so if we opted for an added espresso to finish.
On the subject of coffee, we tend to use our cafetière at home, alongside those handy little coffee pods for cappuccino, americano, mocha & suchlike, so we like to indulge in a speciality coffee or two of a morning, which would set us back $2.95 – $3.50 per coffee dependent on size.
Without going into too much detail as to evening drinks, I think we would more than likely have at least one alcoholic beverage later on in the evening and a nightcap, so factored in around $12 – $15+; which would rise of course, dependant on the number of drinks we actually had that particular evening.
On sea days, we would likely have a small beer or light wine with lunch… $5.75 / $6.50, so I added that in to my ‘sea days column’…
… and even on port days, I must admit that I am rather partial to an afternoon cocktail once back on board… & hubby’s arm can be twisted quite easily to sampling a Long Island Iced Tea, so another $8.75 each is added to my spreadsheet.
Tallying up my columns, I was surprised to find that we would already be making good use of the package and showing savings on both sea days and port days across a variety of drinks… and this was without factoring in soft drinks, holiday mocktails and any further speciality hot drinks throughout the day.
It seems to be that with morning coffees at $6, dinner-related drinks at around $30, plus night time drinking of $12-$15+, plus hot & cold beverages and the odd cocktail/beer/wine during the day, we would actually be quite easily spending $51.95 per person per day.
For me, the fact that we would likely be spending around $50+ per person per day whether we bought the package or not, instantly made the pre-paid option more appealing… it would also make for a hassle-free option and as I am the type of person who tends to do mental gymnastics with holiday spending, pre paying for a drinks package would mean zero fear-factor when it comes to settling the on board account.
So as I close down my spreadsheet and open my cruise personaliser to add on the drinks package, I feel my research has been worthwhile and smile at the prospect of a holiday where I can relax knowing the costs of our drinks has been covered in advance and simply enjoy the journey… Cheers!
For more information on pre-paid drinks packages, excursions, pre & post cruise stays & all those little extras which make your cruise holiday extra-special… as well as a wide range of ocean and river cruise options; as always, make me your first port of call 🙂
Katrina And The Waves ?
22 Comments on “15 drinks and I wouldn’t remember a thing!”
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As an island-girl, originally from Guernsey, seeing the giant cruise ships alongside historic Castle Cornet sparked my passion for travel and fueled my hunger for exploring new destinations. Working in travel allows me to use my knowledge and experience to piece together the ideal holiday experience for you, and I…
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We are soon travelling with P&O Azura and have worked out if we bought the drinks package at £39.95 per day per person We would not be able to drink that amount especially on port days when we wouldnt be using it during the day We are disappointed P&O have introduced the drinks package as drinks prices are reasonable in sterling and no additional charge on the prices Perhaps this contributed to the problems on Britannia ship recently with passengers drunk and fighting Hope this won’t be the norm as we have 4 cruises booked
We have just come back from a P&O cruise and Iwas going to buy a full drinks package and my wife the soft drinks. We were told that we would have to buy two full packages at around £80. The same if she did not package at all. In other words if you only want one drinks package you have to be in a cabin by yourself. We didn’t buy either package and just bought as we went and saved a lot of money. Is this new on P&O?
We do nt cruise American lines because of the ridiculous add on of 15-18% and the high price of their alcoholic drinks no way are we going to pay £30 for a bottle of wine they probably bought in for £5 P snd O have reasonably priced drinks and no add on percentage I cruise to see the world not to pay over inflated prices for a glass of wine on a ship
Remembering also that the cruise companies buy this stuff at wholesale prices and duty free. So perhaps a £2 bottle of wine and beer costing something like 50p per can/bottle. We might have 2 cocktails on the entire cruise due to the obscene pricing, especially as its often in US$ which is a fortune in £££. On our last cruise with Caribean we drank nothing due to a major dispute over our cabin which they refused to even try to resolve. I think this article is more on par with a sales press release than a reasonable assessement of the reality of pre bought drinks. Lets face it, the vast majority of people who buy into this are alcoholics.
Looking at your daily drink habits you and your partner must spend well over $800 per week. Dare not think what your grocery bill must. Lucky people.
Wow! If we drank even that much/little, we’d be permanently sozzled. We typically have a glass of wine with dinner and free non alcoholic drinks through the day. About $16 each on your ship. No brainer!
Agree with your comments, however, as I have found to my cost, should you pick up a bug such as norovirus, you will X number of days out of the drinks circuit so, unless you are a heavy drinker you are unlikely to make up the cost of the days lost. Also many (not all) drinks packages offer a fairly basic quality level of beverages (I know some allow you upgrade for a charge). Do I take the drinks packages on offer? Yes normally I do but, don’t spoil your e.g. evening by not having something you particularly fancy just because it’s not available within your package, if your wallet allows it, cough up.
Personally i think Drinks package should be stopped .and lower the price. of cruise.But i do not condone the way the cruise company try to get drinkers on board.the more you drink the more money you spend .
I don’t think that “stopping drinks packages” would lower the price of a cruise. People who drink will pay individual checks or buy the package; the cost of the cruise would not be affected.
Hi Katrina. Your calculations are slightly misleading – you mentioned coffee and yet you don’t actually appear to have include any in your calcs ? ….and you probably know you shouldn’t include coffees in your calculations because all the cruises I’ve been on sell the coffee drinks as a completely separate Package. They’re not stupid these cruise lines – it’s all carefully worked out on algorithyms. You only gain if you are a regular medium – heavy drinker. Are you an influencer for the cruise lines by any chance ??????
What a strange question to ask. I think Katrina is simply going through her though process and what she has considered in reaching her decision whether a drinks package is financially viable for her personal circumstances. No hidden agenda!
Costa Cruises has a fantastic drinks package that includes coffee, non-alcoholic cocktails and the usual array of alcohol. It’s very reasonably priced and makes for a great cruise. We have never seen anyone “the worse for wear”; and no, I’m not a “Costa influencer”, just someone who enjoys the Italian way of cruising!
American boats are a expensive option either way if you drink at all , have given them a ‘wide berth’ lately which is a pity
Would you seriously spend £40 p.p. per day on drinks at home? Obviously paid a lot more in the holiday industry than when my wife was in it. I think this package is expensive considering the buying power of Carnival.
A drinks package for two weeks could easliy cost the same as say two weeks holdiay with food and flights to say a Greek Island for a second holiday. ITs what we do and it saves us from becoming reluctant alcoholics
Why do cruise lines charge so much. I would never pay the prices they want on P&O Cunard or any of the Americcan lines. On the other hand when I cruise with Fred or CMV I always book the all inclusive packages because they are worth the money.
I agree with the drinks package if you can afford and justify the price.We didn’t bother with them until a couple of years ago when we went on Regal Princess.It was expensive but we found we didn’t need to worry about what we would be spending if we wanted an extra cocktail or hot chocolate at night.You are on holiday and you do different things when you are away from home.If you don’t drink or have very little then obviously a drinks package is not for you.Please don’t condemn others that do.It is everybody’s choice.We are not all alcoholics or trouble makers either.When we go away we like to relax and have a nice time after working hard all year.Everyone should drink responsibly but unfortunately their are some that don’t and spoil things for everyone else.
This post has perfect timing, Katrina, and I really enjoyed it. I am doing the same as you this morning with my little calculator … it appears that we would spend about the same amount overall buying our drinks individually or paying for the package. I like the idea that my drinks are “free”, somehow it adds to every day’s enjoyment. It IS quite amazing to add up all the alcohol one consumes on a holiday, isn’t it?
I only take up the offer of so called ‘free’ drinks packages and only drink soft drinks anyway.
I was going to pre book a drinks package for November when we are sailing with royal Caribbean but I was a bit cheesed of when I was going to book it on line and slapped on a 18% service charge so out of principal I didn’t book it,never had this with other cruise lines I have sailed with.
Drinks packages great if they are a perk or included in price but.
We worked out that if we had drinks package on last P&O cruise we world have been £570 out of pocket. Deposit on next cruise.
Drinks packages have always created a problem for myself and my friend, I don’t drink a lot but she does. As you both have to purchase the drinks package I refuse as I wouldn’t spend half that on drinks but my friend wants it as she saves a fortune. We’ve agreed to take turns. On our P&O Azura Caribbean cruise we paid as we went along. My bar bill £196, my friend’s £921. We did chuckle! But next we are with Holland America and will book the drinks package at around $900 each. This makes me drink more than I would normally to feel like I’m getting the benefit. Best I take plenty headache tablets!