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Cruise drinks packages are becoming increasingly popular. Most cruise lines offer them, and actively promote and encourage cruising passengers to buy one. However, is a drinks package right for you? I explore 8 reasons and times that a drinks package on a cruise ship is probably not worth buying. Cruise lines often have different levels and types of drinks packages, such as lines like Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and Celebrity, and what should you be thinking about if deciding between these. Discover if a drinks package is right for you, and the watch-outs and things to consider.
Watch my video about the unusual ways cruisers smuggle alcohol on a cruise: https://youtu.be/xTICZTwMYkY
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Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
you're about to discover eight reasons
0:02
not to buy a drinks package on a cruise
0:05
I'm Gary beverage and this is another of
0:07
my tips for travellers drinks packages
0:09
have become a huge thing so I'm gonna
0:12
take a look at eight reasons why you
0:14
should not buy drinks package first of
0:17
all drinks packages are pretty expensive
0:19
you could be spending up to $60 per
0:23
person per day now many cruise lines in
0:26
fact most cruise lines require all
0:28
adults in one cabin to buy a drinks
0:31
package if one of them buys it so assume
0:33
you're traveling with your partner or a
0:35
friend that means you're spending a
0:37
hundred and twenty dollars or more a day
0:39
on drinks that's eight hundred and forty
0:42
dollars for a week-long cruise in fact
0:45
some cruises cost less than the drinks
0:47
package could actually be costing you so
0:49
it can be pretty expensive so if you
0:52
really want to control your budget we'll
0:53
try and make sure that you spend much
0:56
less not having a drinks package is
0:59
probably a good idea because you can
1:00
keep an eye on what you're spending
1:02
every day either on the app or by
1:04
checking in with guest services and
1:07
you're probably gonna find you spend a
1:08
lot less so cost is definitely one thing
1:11
to think about the next key reason for
1:14
not getting of drinks package is if you
1:16
don't drink a lot you have to drink
1:17
surprisingly large amount to get value
1:20
from your drinks package so for example
1:22
you'll find with many drinks packages
1:24
you need to be drinking up to 12 beers a
1:27
day or perhaps 5 or 7 cocktails a day
1:30
before the drinks package ends up
1:32
costing you less than buying drinks
1:34
individually so you do have to drink a
1:36
large amount to really make many drinks
1:39
packages work so if you don't drink a
1:42
lot a drinks package could end up
1:43
causing you significantly more than just
1:46
buying drinks individually many drinks
1:48
packages also will limit your on the up
1:50
side of the number of drinks you can
1:52
have and that could be between 12 and 15
1:54
drinks a day before you buy a drink
1:56
package think really seriously about how
1:58
many drinks you're gonna have in any
2:00
single one day and work out if you're
2:03
actually going to really save yourself
2:04
money a very important watch out before
2:08
you get a drinks package is think about
2:10
the type of Cruiser on so if you're on a
2:12
cruise that
2:13
is ports every single day so every
2:16
single day you're in a port and you're
2:17
the sort of person that wants to get off
2:18
the ship go out and explore and discover
2:21
the ports your time onboard is going to
2:24
be relatively limited because you're
2:25
first thing in the morning perhaps back
2:27
later in the day so you're only going to
2:29
have those hours in the evening to drink
2:31
and you could find them that you're
2:33
trying to drink a huge amount of
2:34
drinking a very short space of time to
2:36
make your drinks package worthwhile or
2:38
in fact you're just gonna forfeit the
2:40
benefit of a drinks package so think
2:42
very carefully about the cruiser on if
2:45
you've got a cruise which perhaps has
2:46
lots of sea days and you're going to be
2:48
drinking during the day you might find a
2:50
drinks package does work out a little
2:52
bit better also very importantly if
2:54
you're on one of those cruises
2:55
particularly the Caribbean where the
2:57
cruise line goes to one of their own
2:58
islands check if the drinks package
3:02
applies when you're on the island that's
3:04
not always the case and you might find
3:07
that your drinks package when you're on
3:09
the island you can't use two consumed
3:11
drinks during that day so very
3:14
importantly think about the mixin think
3:16
realistically how many drinks are you
3:18
going to be having when you actually
3:20
onboard the ship every single day heavy
3:23
port intensive days may make it less
3:26
important or relevant to have a drinks
3:29
package another really good reason for
3:32
not getting at drinks packages if you
3:34
are a real connoisseur particularly of
3:35
wines whiskies any type of spirits or
3:39
actually you are very very specific
3:41
about the mix that you like with your
3:43
drinks by a drinks package could be a
3:45
really bad idea
3:46
now most drinks packages and again it
3:48
depends a little bit on the levels that
3:49
you get will restrict you to either
3:51
house brands or certain brands of
3:55
spirits or beers or wines so you'll find
3:59
if you absolutely have a very specific
4:01
type of whisky or very specific type of
4:04
wine or you're a real wine buff you're
4:06
going to find that you're paying extra
4:08
on top of the drinks package to get that
4:11
very importantly if you are the sort of
4:13
person who likes a very specific mixer
4:15
you'll find that most of the mixes that
4:18
are used within drinks packages are just
4:20
soda mixers so I you know those little
4:22
pump things that they're used to
4:24
basically pump out mixers
4:26
they're not branded so if you like
4:28
sweats or you like kind of dry or
4:30
whatever that may be if there's a very
4:32
specific brand you like you'll find that
4:35
having a drinks package could be a
4:36
really bad idea because you're going to
4:38
end up having to pay to have that very
4:40
specific mixer or that very specific
4:42
brand so if you're a real connoisseur or
4:44
you really fussy about the brand of
4:47
alcohol or mixer be very careful before
4:50
you get a drinks package now the
4:52
advantages you can check online what is
4:55
included so for example I was recently
4:57
on a celebrity cruise and each of the
4:59
different levels of drinks package
5:01
unlocked different brands and a wider
5:04
range of mixers beers and spirits so
5:07
again you might find that some of your
5:09
favorite brands are included within the
5:11
different levels but very important make
5:13
sure you check that another good reason
5:16
for not buying drinks package is if
5:18
you're actually cruising in a suite
5:20
you'll find in many of the Suites you
5:22
actually get alcohol included so on some
5:25
cruise lines you'll get to choose
5:27
full-size bottles of drink or they'll
5:29
keep replenishing in your minibar and so
5:32
you can have a lot of drink within your
5:34
cabin so actually if you've paid the
5:36
premium to be in a suite buy your drinks
5:38
package on top of that whilst it lets
5:39
you have drinks outside of your cabin
5:41
you do actually have pretty much
5:43
unlimited amount of drinks within your
5:45
cabin also some Suites also give you
5:48
access to either a bar or a lounge where
5:50
you can get drinks either all day or
5:52
certain times of the day so some of the
5:55
cruise lines which have sort of ships
5:57
within a ship you'll find that you can
5:59
often go and have drinks in that area
6:01
without having to pay extra so if you
6:03
are staying in a suite think very
6:04
carefully and understand what drink is
6:06
gonna be available before you buy a
6:09
drinks package the next key reason for
6:11
not getting drinks packages if the
6:13
person you're traveling with your
6:15
partner or your cabin mate doesn't drink
6:17
at all or drinks very little getting a
6:20
drinks package could be a really bad
6:21
idea
6:22
many cruise lines have a probably most
6:24
cruise lines require every adults of
6:27
drinking age to buy a drinks package if
6:30
one person in the cabin buys it so if
6:32
there's two of you traveling you both
6:33
have to buy it and if your partner
6:35
doesn't really drink you're spending a
6:37
lot of money for very little benefit
6:39
all of the adults in a room need to be
6:41
committed and looking to drink a lot
6:45
before you get a drinks package another
6:48
thought before you get drinks package is
6:51
think about where you're gonna want to
6:53
have drinks if you're the sort of person
6:54
that actually is going to be spending
6:56
all the time in your cabin and drinking
6:57
mostly in your cabin having a drinks
7:00
package is not a great idea because
7:01
drinks packages pretty much never ever
7:05
cover drinks in a minibar or drinks from
7:08
room service they're earning under cover
7:10
drinks that you get when you're out and
7:11
about around the ship at the bars or by
7:14
the pool so if you are the sort of
7:16
person that's going to want to drink in
7:17
your cabin pretty much exclusively
7:19
having a drinks package is a terrible
7:22
idea because it won't cover pretty much
7:23
all of the drinks that you consume in
7:25
there another reason for not getting a
7:28
drinks package is are you the sort of
7:30
person that actually has no fear or
7:33
qualms about smuggling booze onboard
7:35
cruise lines will normally let you bring
7:38
onboard a limited amount of drink to
7:41
consume ideally in your cabin so it's
7:44
normally say one or two bottles of wine
7:46
however there there are a whole group of
7:48
cruises and have a whole video about
7:50
this that actually are very comfortable
7:53
and have no qualms about smuggling booze
7:56
onboard to drink in their cavern or
7:58
decant into various drinking devices to
8:01
then drink when they're out and about
8:03
around the ship now I'm not saying
8:05
that's something that you should do and
8:06
not condoning it but if you're the sort
8:08
of person that is very happy to do that
8:11
then having a drinks package is probably
8:13
not such a good idea because you're
8:15
bringing it all on board anyway as I
8:18
said I have a whole separate video
8:19
around the bizarre and unusual ways that
8:21
people do smuggle alcohol on board there
8:25
is a whole bunch of reasons to have a
8:28
drinks package there's also a whole lot
8:29
of reasons not to have a drinks package
8:31
hopefully you found this helpful and
8:33
it's giving you something to think about
8:34
I have loads of videos about all types
8:37
of cruising and cruising tips so why
8:39
don't you watch another one of those
8:40
right now
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