Also work in the industry and can only echo the above - to make a drinks package worthwhile you'd need to be drunk constantly. The drinks on P&O are fairly reasonably priced to be honest. Did a cruise as a passenger last year and had a few drinks each day, couple of beers by the pool and couple of cocktails at night - the usual holiday stuff. Total cost was absolutely no where near what a drinks package would've been.
Lets talk cruises
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Soldato
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I dont drink anymore so wouldnt see the benefit; I even looked at the refreshment and soft drinks packages and they are not even worth it..
£15 for soft drinks and £27 for soft drinks and costa PER DAY!!!!
£15 for soft drinks and £27 for soft drinks and costa PER DAY!!!!
Keep in mind, ala carte prices are grossly inflated, I think we charge $8 for a Stella!I dont drink anymore so wouldnt see the benefit; I even looked at the refreshment and soft drinks packages and they are not even worth it..
£15 for soft drinks and £27 for soft drinks and costa PER DAY!!!!
Just back from another P&O Cruise. Drinks are indeed still reasonable and cheaper than MSC
Pints and bottles of beer are £5.95, standard wine £6-£8, Cocktails £7-£10, Double Rum (decent rum) was £7.50. My wife and I spent £360 on board with included two evenings at the pay extra restaurants, and a sail away cocktail party in 7 days. So nowhere near making drinks package worth it.
Ventura is starting to look a little tired and worn down.
Drink packages can be very worth it.
I just got back from a Celebrity cruise, and prices were approx; bottle of beer £12, latte £6, bottled water £4, soda £5.50. All plus 20% gratuity. (might have been in $).
Start the morning with a couple of coffees, and sit in the sun in afternoon/evening with 4 beers and you've spent over £70 all ready. Add a spirit or two, sodas and waters and you'll easily do £100 a day!
I just got back from a Celebrity cruise, and prices were approx; bottle of beer £12, latte £6, bottled water £4, soda £5.50. All plus 20% gratuity. (might have been in $).
Start the morning with a couple of coffees, and sit in the sun in afternoon/evening with 4 beers and you've spent over £70 all ready. Add a spirit or two, sodas and waters and you'll easily do £100 a day!
Totally agree. The drinks packages include the gratuity so if your drink costs up to $20 (as Princess Premier Plus for example), you will pay $20 plus 18% gratuity automatically. If you do that 3 or 4 times in the entire day you will have already paid for your drinks package. Princess Premier Pl;us also includes all premium desserts, speciality dining, premium tea and coffee, etc, etc.
I'm looking at a December Marella cruise around canary Islands before staying in London for Xmas.
My aunt works for TUI but isn't paying out as much as I hoped
My wife is desperate to try a cruise so this one is only a week, relatively small and far as I know very British.
Which suits me.
Steerage class ofc.
Return flights from Gatwick and all mostly inclusive a brain-dead week is exactly what I need.
My aunt works for TUI but isn't paying out as much as I hoped
My wife is desperate to try a cruise so this one is only a week, relatively small and far as I know very British.
Which suits me.
Steerage class ofc.
Return flights from Gatwick and all mostly inclusive a brain-dead week is exactly what I need.
Caporegime
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Just booked 11 nights "Istanbul Delights & Santorini Dreams" with Virgin in an XL Sea Terrace, naturally will be bidding for a Rockstar suite closer to time, have 0 interest in paying 9k upfront but willing to throw a few k in a bid.
Had a fantastic experience last time, rubbish post voyage support aside, food is superb as is the entertainment and ship(s) + 0 kids.
Had a fantastic experience last time, rubbish post voyage support aside, food is superb as is the entertainment and ship(s) + 0 kids.
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I'm looking at a December Marella cruise around canary Islands before staying in London for Xmas.
My aunt works for TUI but isn't paying out as much as I hoped
My wife is desperate to try a cruise so this one is only a week, relatively small and far as I know very British.
Which suits me.
Steerage class ofc.
Return flights from Gatwick and all mostly inclusive a brain-dead week is exactly what I need.
Ye that what I like about it the ship itself whilst ive only looked at the explorer it seems abit dated but fine, ive been watching Youtube videos.
Good thing is that what you pay you get all inclusive aswell and its pretty decent with drinks, and the bonus of the flights and transportation is all sorted for you in with the cost.
Was looking at the 14 day Caribbean cruise from Malaga with them.
Also ship only has 2,000 on board so not overly huge.
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Soldato
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I saw something recently about a 9 month cruise that Royal Caribbean Cruises offered back in 2024. It was upwards of $60K for all inclusive as well as business class flights excursions etc. Still said silly money and i don't think i could stand being with the same people for that amount of time. Apparently they ended up offering people sections of the cruise for much lower price which caused some massive rifts onboard... And then they hit a storm and had some flooding..
www.standard.co.uk
All the drama on board the 9-month cruise going viral on TikTok
Nine months, 65 countries, up to £92,000 — Royal Caribbean's longest-ever cruise has become an overnight social media sensation. Emma Loffhagen dives into the on board drama
www.standard.co.uk
Just sounds like social media rubbish..I saw something recently about a 9 month cruise that Royal Caribbean Cruises offered back in 2024. It was upwards of $60K for all inclusive as well as business class flights excursions etc. Still said silly money and i don't think i could stand being with the same people for that amount of time. Apparently they ended up offering people sections of the cruise for much lower price which caused some massive rifts onboard... And then they hit a storm and had some flooding..
All the drama on board the 9-month cruise going viral on TikTok
Nine months, 65 countries, up to £92,000 — Royal Caribbean's longest-ever cruise has become an overnight social media sensation. Emma Loffhagen dives into the on board drama
Its not unusual for cruise lines to sell world cruises and also separate legs of the same cruise.
Got a cruise lined up with P&O on the Ventura doing between Spain & Portugal for 7 days at the start of August. Previous been on other cruises, last time I went on the Arvia for 14 days around the Meds which was good. 14 days felt a bit too long for me so going to try for 7 days this time.
TUI/Marella can be hot and cold. We did one in 2019 around the Adriatic in October half term. Because it wasn't a typical med/carribean cruise in peak season there weren't as many chobbers and we had a great time. The service and facilities were exactly what you'd expect for the price. Mostly more than adequate but overall not top drawer.
Soldato
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Anyone got any recommendations for the Norfolk Broads? We want to go for 5 days/4 nights but I'm not sure who to hire from. There's only the 2 of us.
Hey guys n gals, after some advice before we go on our first ever cruise in September. We are sailing on the MSC Splendida around the Med, paid for gratuities, some packages and upgrades etc. However we are really curious on tipping and etiquette. We don't want to come across as insensitive or flash or anything like that but genuinely have no experience. Looking for advice and previous experiences.
Appreciate not everyone will tip as they already pay gratuities and that is a whole separate debate.
Thanks
- Who would you tip (e.g. the people who look after your room, bar staff, restaurant staff) ?
- What is a reasonable amount to tip? Reason I ask is when we honeymooned in the Dominican Republic in the late 90s, I tipped the luggage guy $10. Every tome we saw him round the complex, he always made a beeline for us and at the time I thought **** I must have offended him, was it too little. Long story short the Bar Manager said that he was over the moon and that $10 would be approximate to two weeks of wages, so he felt obligated to help us when he could
- How often do you tip? (Every Day, first day of cruise, last day of cruise)
- What is the best currency to tip in e.g. Med Cruise EUR or is the USD the universal currency of tipping?
Appreciate not everyone will tip as they already pay gratuities and that is a whole separate debate.
Thanks
We have been cruising exclusively with RC for a few years.
We always visit the customer service desk 1 or 2 days into the cruise and request that they remove the gratuity from our room charge.
I used to feel 'cheap' doing this, and almost embarrassed to request this......not now.
We usually tip the person who looks after our room around USD 100 for the time we spend there at the end of our stay.
The restaurant staff? No......too many of them, so who to choose? The only continuity on RC ships tends to be the Windjammer 'washy washy' host for the restaurants.