Royal Caribbean is currently testing two new drinks packages on its largest ship, Harmony of the Seas, in a bid to stop passengers “double dipping”.
The new policy, which started at the beginning of the month, says everyone over 21 in a stateroom must sign up for the Deluxe Beverage or Sip & Stream new drinks packages.
The move is designed to stop some passengers sharing a single drinks package among their roommates. Lines like Carnival and Norwegian already run similar policies, stating that every passenger must purchase a drinks package to prevent sharing.
Royal Caribbean’s deluxe package is $55 per passenger per day, and offers unlimited beers, wines by the glass, cocktails, nonalcoholic beverages, premium coffee, tea, fountain soda, fresh-squeezed juices, sparking and bottled still water. The Sip & Stream is a beverage package with Voom internet service included that costs $56 a day.
Royal has always said that packages cannot be transferred or shared so it’s a fair call so the lines don’t get ripped off.Â
A spokesperson for Royal Caribbean in Australia said: “At this time we do not have plans to roll it out to any other ships.”
Tell us what you think in the comments below! For more information about drinks packages across multiple lines, click here for our article about the best drinks package deals at sea
We have done 35+ cruises, none with this company. My husband and I barely drink and we purchase a soft drink package for him and a coffee card for me. I am physically unable to consume anything alcoholic or carbonated. I would never consider paying for an alcohol package and would choosea company that still offers choices. For those who would opt for “in the price” drinks as they do for river cruises, do the math. $500+perday against perhaps $ 250 -$350 per day on ocean cruises. Could even be much less in some cabins. That’s a lot of alcohol extra.
I imagine you will still be able to purchase drinks as normal and they are only saying that if one person in a cabin buys a drinks package then the other person must have one too. If neither want a drinks package and are happy to purchase drinks as they consume them there is no issue.
I dont drink , i have a total of 18 cruises over 43 years , the last one was with holland america last week …..
I won’t be cruising with you anymore …
We don’t purchase a drinks package when we cruise and do not see why we should be forced to pay for drinks we would not consume. If Royal Caribbean force passengers to pay for this deal, then we will not be considering any future cruises with them.
Everyone has said what I also believe…but having said that I do go on ONLY the cruise lines where drinks ARE included as otherwise your bill at the end of a cruise can be quite a shock if you don’t regulate it, especially if you have a cocktail or are on a very long hot cruise.
I’m assuming that those cruise lines get it in bulk so they are NOT losing out even if some people do double dip……think about their profits on excursions as well…. so they have no need to cry poor….also the wages they pay their room stewards is near slavery rates…..I have been on 15 cruises and all wait staff tell the same story about their long hours for low pay.
i get the drinks package its the only chance
I can have worry free drinks no driving etc.
as I dont drink at home
I take full advantage of drinking beautiful
cocktails every day I get my monies
worth plus coffee. loosen up people
My husband and i do not drink and there is no way we would continue to cruise with Royal Catibbean if they make the drinks passage compulsory. Why should we pay for something we do not use. will just have to cruise with a cruise line which does not charge for this. Why cant people just pay as they go for the drinks they drink.
My wife doesn’t drink alcohol and never has. Maybe a wrist band is given to people who do not drink is an idea
Well if this is what Royal Caribbean is going to introduce I and my wife will never travel with them. We do not drink and I will not be supporting those that do. If this cruise line cannot enforce a rule where only the person who purchases the drinks package is served why should we all be penalised. In other words Royal Carribbean get your act together and stop trying to rip off all passengers for the sake of a few who do the wrong thing
It is just another rip off by the cruise companies such as the so called Housekeeping Charge” on Princess ships. I don’t pay a housekeeping charge when I stay in a hotel why should I on a ship. Neither my wife nor I would drink anywhere near $55 each per day so it looks like we give RC a miss in future if it is introduced on any of the ships we might cruise on.
I traveled at Christmas time on one of your ships not interested any more yes I bought before hand drink package which I handled very well. Its not what others want nor make them pay for something.Why don’t you give a choice of gambling
maybe they like to do that.
I wrote to your company when i got back still no reply,maybe this feed back might work. Every day we went for lunch Buffet all the meat they server every day was Raw and Raw Chicken Lamb Beef I wasn’t very happy with the food.
For New Years Eve sold seats For $100 up for people that wanted to pay for the previllage to seat and watch the show call them VIP’S. I though we were all equal other that ones allowed in the VIP lounge noting from their sailing with the company gets them their.
I decided to go for dinner the last night not being able to eat all day as we paid for special dinner Mystery show night before $65 USA both of us were very unwell think we got food poising, I Stool at the dinning Room door for 15 Mins had 5 staff passed and ask me are you in for dinner and passed it on to next staff person to seat me.Then being seated for 10 mins. a drink waiter, approached and asked if I had being served yet. no
The service in the Dinning Room needs a lot of looking into,their was a lady sitting at Table all by herself,she was French and from Canada, by herself. I Know I could Run thing much better being in the public eye Hospitatily all my life.
Thank you Hope this might get read and noticed.
You only buy if you want a package its not compulsary so if i buy my husband has to or dont have it and just pay for your drinks. We always have it on royal 5 drinks a day is all it takes you can also include water and coffee. 3 drinks with dinner a show 1 at lunch 1 in afternoon then coffee a water during day then if were out dancing a few more drinks so we get value.
Just pay for your drinks and see how much your bill is
If alcohol is such a big problem to the cruise lines then just ban alcohol on all cruise ships.
I just had another idea, remove all alcohol from the cruise ships. Problem solved.
This is just so wrong !!!!!! Go back to the “PAY AS YOU GO” deal as hubby has about 3 beers & I “MIGHT” have 1 glass of wine with dinner & coffee or soft drink so this is unfair to those of us who aren’t big drinkers. I was planning on surprising my hubby with his 1st cruise next year for 14days by my maths that would add $1540 on the cruise price for us both. For that amount I think we may go to Europe instead as that equates to 1 return airfare easily. TIME TO RETHINK THESE PACKAGES !!!!!!!!
We recently did a 35 night cruise and yes we do drink but not every night our average spend on alcohol was $50.00 per day for both of us our friends bought the package on princess cruises and it was $69.00 per day each. After talking to them they said it made them drink more they felt it was a rip off and wouldn’t do it again .
Also I got sick on the last 10 days of the cruise and didn’t drink at all so that would have been a total waste of money
If you make this compulsory we will not cruise with your company
Chris and Lisa
All I drink is water. I won’t cruise RCL anymore no matter how good their ships or activities are.
I think at least, you know what your bill is before you cruise. My wife has a drink package organised for our next crruise, where I will be buying my soft drinks as required. The soft drinks in the package are the ones “on tap” which I don’t like. I find it more convenient to buy cans of soft drink and store them in my cabin fridge.
My husband and I don’t drink alcohol. We drink 1 coffee per day. If you don’t want to be ripped off by a few and by the comments here many people don’t want to be ripped off by your cruise line, then get rid of packages and let cruisers pay per dtink.
Will not cruise if that is the case. I don’t drink and my husband has one glass of wine with dinner. We never purchase coffee. $55 each. Forget it.
There is a far easier method of fixing this; link the bar systems to the security systems so that when the card is swiped or scanned the picture of the cardholder appears on screen. If the picture and the person are not the same, sorry, no service and you risk being thrown off at the next port. They could also have a system in place that you can’t purchase another drink before a certain time limit has expired.
My wife and I don’t drink so their is no way I would be travelling again with a cruise line that try’s to turn us into alcoholics.
I will always choose a cruise with the drink package included in the upfront price. We would never drink $56 each a day in drinks. I would not go on a cruise if the package was compulsory and expensive. It’s a shame some people spoil it for others.
Just, Australia
Just wish it was $55 a day & not $80something that is rumored to be the price when we cruise
I don’t believe people have misunderstood. It clearly says ALL passengers over 21 MUST sign up for the drink packages. I for one do not drink and neither doesn’t husband. We don’t drink $55 worth of coffee and soft drink in a week let alone a day. We will not travel on any ship enforcing this. I understand that people do the wrong thing but why make everyone suffer for it. What’s wrong with pay as you go????
It’s just another way to get more money out of the passengers.
I don’t think it has anything to do with drink package sharing because if they wanted to stop it, they could and do want Viking Cruises do and that is all drinks including alcohol, soft drink, teas and all types of coffee included at lunch and dinner times then all you need to do is buy from the bar outside of those times. why do we need a package system anyway. that $55 a day is quite expensive especially if you do a 14 day cruise for two people and they don’t say anything about the young passengers.
Really it doesn’t take rocket science to solve the issue but only if they really want to solve it.
the only passengers that will really benefit from the $55 a day drink package is the ones who are on board to drink, get drunk and possibly get thrown off the ship anyway through disorderly conduct so no wins only the cruise lines.
Ideas to solve the issue.
1. do what Viking do.
2. no drink a packages only pay for what you drink by showing your key card and charged to your account.
3. make the cruise all inclusive
see and I’m not a Rocket Scientist
problem solved now lets get back to Cruising.
My husband and I are regular cruises, if this is introduced we will never again travel with Royal Carribean, we are not heavy drinkers maybe a wine with dinner and an occasional cocktail.
What a rip off.
Most respondents have misunderstood I think! If you don’t drink you’re not forced to pay for a package. It means if one person in a cabin buys a package, everyone else in the same cabin has to buy one. Doesn’t fix their problem if you have 2 cabins with friends or family… This isn’t new, when drinks packages first came out this was common practise.
The comments show how unpopular this idea is, no need for further research!!!
Guess I won’t be travelling with Royal Caribbean in the future. My wife and I would drink this much in a day, get it individual bill at time of purchase!! how stupid is this ripoff!!!!
no way I will get on a boat that makes me buy a drinks package . maybe they should do as APT river cruises the drinks are included .
Why force people to pay for something that they don’t want. Drinks packages encourage people to drink more than they would usually drink just to get their moneys worth. Surely there should be the choise just to pay for a drink when and if you want one, particularly if one person of the partnership does not drink alcohol nor soft drinks and is happy to drink water! Not being an alcohol drinker I am not in favour of river cruises where I feel that I would be subsidizing other passenger’s alcohol intake.
I am 67 years old and my wife is 65 there is no way we would consume $110 of drinks every day of a cruise that is an additional $1100 for every 10 days. I will not be sailing with Royal Caribbean anytime soon.
This was the policy when drinks packages were introduced. It is only in the last twelve months or so that RCCL stopped making it compulsory for all adult pax in cabin to take the drinks package.
Thats a bit unfair when you don’t drink I have done approximately 25+ cruises and I have one hot chocolate a day and drink only water at meal times so for the cost of $55 a day that will be the end of my cruising days, If I drink I get depressed so it is easier not to drink.
Valerie
What a load of garbage! Many passengers are not alcoholics and shouldn’t be lumped in with those who are. Guess I won’t be travelling with Royal Caribbean in the future. Just straight out profiteering!
I would choose a different cruise. We don’t drink alcohol, so that is very expensive for tea, water and soda water for the day.
We have never purchased a drinks package and we have been cruising for years. We only have one pre dinner drink, we don’t, cruise to drink we are not heavy drinkers so certainly would not want to pay $55 per day for a package.
I hope I have read this incorrectly, I am sure there will be many passengers that will not want to have to purchase a drinks package.
We do not drink soft drinks either, and fruit juice is full of sugar as well.
I am a non drinker of anything alcoholic, therefore what options would I have on cruises where packages were compulsory. ? I think this policy is far too stringent and lumps all passengers into the one “box”, totally unfair.
Being forced to purchase a drinks package is unfair. I cruise with
my mum and neither of us drink alcohol or soft drinks. We do however purchase coffee cards if they are required for specialty coffees.
What an absolute ripoff this is!! What about those passengers (like my wife and I) who do not drink?
Are we going to be forced to pay $110 (US dollars I presume) for a service that we will not use. On a 10 day cruise, an USD $1100 charge for which we get nothing….
No wonder we prefer Disney for cruising….
My partner doesn’t drink and I’m very moderate a bottle of wine lasts me three nights with a few during the day. What is proposed is probably illegal in Australia and we hate being taken for suckers, so WARNING,RCI, Don’t try it.
I don’t agree with this drinks package being forced upon each passenger as I am not a big drinker and my wife doesn’t even drink. If on my next cruise I am required to purchase this rediculous deal then I will not reconsider cruising again.
What happens to the non drinking couples?
Terrible idea! What if you don’t drink alcohol? Are you expected to still purchase the package? I don’t want to add hundreds of dollars to the cost of my cruise just so others don’t share!
Ha, who’s being ripped off, it’s certainly not the cruise lines, recently had a cruise on a Celebrity ship, didn’t have a beverage package as part of the cruise, they were charging $10 US for a can of Guiness. As well as unbelievable rates for other drinks. Returned home to OZ, and purchased a carton of Guiness (24 Cans) for $49.90, will concede it was on special.. Cruise lines would buy all there alcohol in bulk which means they get it at a cheaper rate and then have the gall to inflate the price of drinks by extremely high percentages, hence the$10 a can for Guiness, even if they dropped the price down to $6 or $7 they are still making a huge profit. It’s legal piracy on the high seas. To get my monies worth with a paid beverage package at $55 a day pp, I would have to drink 6 cans of Guiness a day to get your value out of the package. So much for responsible drinking touted by the cruise lines.
What if one partner drinks and the other doesn’t?