Is The Beverage Package Worth It On A Cruise?

The husband and I like to enjoy ourselves while on vacation--especially on cruises. When we were planning our honeymoon cruise back in 2014, we really contemplated whether or not the beverage package would be worth it for us. In case you don't know, if you are wanting the beverage package on a cruise, everyone in the room has to pay for one. You can't just have one person get it and mooch drinks off of them. (That would be too good to be true)

You may be wondering if it would be the right choice for you. It can be confusing going through the many details of the different variations of packages.  You may be asking yourself The Classic Package? The Premium Package?  Shelling out all that money all at once may seem really expensive, especially considering you’ve already put out the money for the cruise itself. 

 You need to keep in mind that not all cruise companies offer the same packages, and some companies do not offer them at all if you are cruising less than 5 days. You also need to decide what drinks you normally will have on-board. Are you more of a wine drinker or do you like to mix it up and have some cocktails and mix in a glass of wine for dinner?  Some cruises offer beer and wine packages which are cheaper than the premium packages that offer both mixed drinks and beer and wine. Also keep in mind that most cruise ships allow 2 bottles of wine per guest to bring on board. (You can also be sneaky and put your favorite vodka in a wine bottle and sneak it on.)

Check the price lists and compare. Most cruise websites will show you the price list. A glass of wine could be $12, cocktails $12, Beer $6. Keep in mind that does not include gratuities if you are purchasing as you go. A lot of the time, the beverage package includes the gratuities. In fact, I do not know a cruise that does not include the gratuities in the beverage package price. Those $1 tips could add up fast (As we learned on our honeymoon).

Most of the drink packages include bottled water. This was the most requested item. I always had a bottle of water on hand when exiting the cruise for our excursions and the amount of water I drank alone would have costed well over the daily drink package price.
Obviously the drink package price differs per cruise, but it was worth it for us.  We would have paid a lot more at the end of the cruise if we were to have paid as we went. For us it was well worth it to not have to limit what we wanted. The drink package include the sodas and juices as well so we were able to enjoy fresh orange juice whenever we wanted.

Cruises also offer Non-Alchoholic packages that include juices, bottled water and sodas. This may be the best for you if you prefer to stay away from alcohol or if you have children who would take advantage of the soda, water and juice. (You can always get a soda and bring it off the ship to enjoy during the day so you don't need to purchase any off ship)

It may seem difficult to shell out the money before hand (Although they do offer to add on the drink package on board) but for us it was well worth it and we ended up saving a lot of money in the long run. We were also able to try new drinks without the worry of "wasting" money on them if we did not like them. It's also more relaxing knowing we didn't have to worry about budgeting for drinks. We just hand over the card and it was taken care of.

If we were to break it down, we would have spent $30 more dollars or so per day if we were to pay per drink without the drink package. 

Additional Thoughts (Thanks to Savored Journeys for pointing these out)

• Something to think about when deciding if a drink package is worth it is the gratuity that is added to each drink without the package. An 18% service charge will be added to waters, sodas, and wine when you purchase. Most package prices either include the 18% service charge when you buy-- not per drink

• It’s a good idea to consider how many sea days and port days you have. If you are having a lot of port days, you may be better off paying for drinks as you go. Unless you want to bring a few bottled waters or sodas off the ship every day.

What are your thoughts on the benefits of purchasing a drink package? Do you think buying the beverage package is worth it on a cruise? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Our Honeymoon {Part 3}

As we are still anxiously waiting for our touched up professional wedding photos, here is part 3 of our honeymoon recap! 

If you missed Part 1 of our Honeymoon Recap, you can catch up here. 
If you missed Part 2 of our Honeymoon Recap, you can catch up here. 

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On the second day of our cruise, we arrived in St. Marteen.  The island is divided between the French and the Dutch and has 37 beaches.  We started out our morning walking around near the port.  Most of the streets were very poor, but the beach was gorgeous.  

We walked around and looked at the shops for a few hours and decided we wanted to head to another beach.  It was between the largest beach called Orient (also contains a nude beach area) and a beach called Maho.  We decided on Maho beach, because it is famous for airplanes landing literally at the end of the landing strip right by the beach.

 We originally watched the planes from the little beach nearby, and one came by and blew people away!  It was neat to watch, but I bet that sand hurt!  We chose to walk over and watch a few planes from underneath!  It was such a  site to see and I would love to go back!
Here's me waiting for the planes:

It was such a beautiful day, and such a wonderful experience.  We took it easy and went to a "honeymooners event" on the cruise which basically introduces us to other honeymooners.  I'm usually not big on that type of thing, but I figured why not try it out!  

We ended up back at the club that night and partied the night away yet again!
Stay tuned for part 4 coming soon!

 

Our Honeymoon {Part 2}

{Wedding Wednesday: Recapping our Honeymoon Part 2}
If you missed Part 1 of our Honeymoon Recap, you can catch up here.

Part 2 of our recap starts day one of our fabulous 7 day cruise.  We were able to board the ship starting at 11am and we did just that.  Luckily we did, because the lines started to get really long!  The ship didn't depart until 8:30, but we wanted to start our adventure and get settled.  We decided to purchase the unlimited drink package which was probably the best choice we made as we exceeded in drinking what we would have spent. Big score for us! Plus I snuck getting some drinks for our fellow friends!     We went to our first dinner in the dining room and had a table for two.  However, we were next to a group of four and ending up talking with them the entire time. (Making friends every day!)

We met a few friends the first day on the cruise (Sorry for the 1st blur photo.. the hubby hates taking photos)

Went to the comedian the first night

 

Of course made it to the club on ship the first night.  So much freakin' fun!

Which is also where we met more friends.

The next morning we arrived in St. Croix.

We found about ten live sand dollars (I've only seen dried up ones), so obviously I had to take a photo with one!

In love with the crystal clear blue water and this man of course.

We walked the town a little bit, but there wasn't a whole lot to see in St. Croix. 
(At least on this side)

 Farewell St. Croix... Until next time

We had formal dinner night, and got dressed up for the occasion.. met with the friends whose table was right next to ours from the previous night, grabbed a cocktail before dinner and combined tables with each other for dinner.

 We attended a show which involved other cruisers.  So funny to watch!
We made it to the club again that evening, and apparently I danced my booty off and completely forgot!  I guess I met an older friend that I "twerked" on.  It was funny, the next morning B said hi to him and his wife and I had no memory of them. When he told me about me dancing I didn't believe him.  It was such a funny way of meeting someone. Being silly as usual.  To which we became great friends later on :)

Stay tuned for Part 3, coming soon!

Linking up for Wedding Wednesdays with Belle in Boots

 

My Bachelorette Party Weekend

I finally got it together to write about my Bachelorette Party Weekend (April 18-21, 2014)
My bridesmaids and myself decided we wanted to do something a little different for my Bachelorette party, so we opted to take a 3-night Cruise to Ensenada.

**Warning- viewer discretion is advised** 
& PIC HEAVY! 

Our cruise took off around 5pm on Friday evening, however, we got on board around 1pm so we could get our stuff situated, and explore the ship! (And of course get this party started!!)  We each wore our bridal party tanks that I made for everyone. We started drinking as soon as we arrived of course!  We also snuck on vodka (in Listerine bottles), sweet tea vodka (really good with lemonade) in a screw off wine bottle, and champagne in each carry on.  We meant business.

We went to dinner in the dining room that night, and then went to the club to get our party on!  There was a bachelor party that was also partying that weekend, and they ended up not being creepers, so we hung out with most of them a lot.  A few of them were married too, so it was great to hang out with people who weren't looking to hook up.  Score in my book.

 

Keeping it classy.. one day at a time

MY girl Marissa

Probably my fav photo!

First din din on the ship

Bad shot hahah! my face!

Saturday we arrived in Ensenada and the weather was gorgeous.  We decided not to get off the boat, and stayed lounging in the sun all day on board! We had a delicious breakfast outside, and sipped cocktails all day!  We toured the boat and had some photos taken by a hilarious man, who told us his wife was napping but she was looking for us!  We went to wake her up and took photos with her!  IT was hilarious! 
 
 We had dinner in the dining room, and it was formal night.  I had the delicious lobster!  After dinner, a few of the girls changed into some more casual clothes, and they had a great band in front of one of the bars.  We decided to listen to the music and take some shots at the bar.  My girlfriend was extremely drunk and was twerking and dancing on the old people.  It was so funny to watch, and  we noticed a few ladies that were sitting watching the band, were shaking their heads at my friend.  I died laughing.   She ended up taking a shot at the bar and let's just say it came right back up into the glass, and then spilled all over behind the bar. The bartender squealed and we got out of there as quickly as possible.  I couldn't stop laughing.  It was a shit-show, and I'm just glad it wasn't me! haha!

 

 

 

My twerking girlfriend

We went to the club shortly after and got our dance on.  This night was much busier in the club and man did we have fun!  My friend got me a blowjob shot, because she had never seen one before.  I showed her how it's done! haha.
Also, small world.  There was a guy there who knew an old friend of mine!  RAnDom!
It really is a small world.  Also we got a photo with Jordan Hill (Lakers player) I think my gf has the photo on her camera, will post that later!

My bestie and MOH!

 





 





 

This is the bar my gf barfed at...  shortly after this photo (also, she is not pictured.. shes the one twerking in above photo- haha)

Sunday was our day at sea, the weather was pretty overcast so we stayed in our casual dresses most of the day.  We had breakfast outside, bloody Mary's and they had some entertainment by the pool.  My girlfriend got on stage and danced!  We still stayed out near the pool bar, and took way too many shots.  My girlfriend had the worst blister on her foot, and one of the guys was nice enough to buy her some bandaids.  Ok so this is the funniest part, he also went to buy neosporin to put of her blister, but they didn't have any and the guy selling it said that Preparation H would work just fine.  When he came back with it, I died laughing thinking it was a joke.  I thought my girlfriend went to the bathroom so I ran in there with the Preparation H in hand, only to find out she wasn't in there.  Talk about embarrassing!  All the blank stares from the girls in the bathroom , and me holding Preparation H!   I about died right there! The bachelor party invited us to have dinner with them in the dining room, and we were planning on making it in time, but there was some minor drama with a few of the girls (when isn't there drama with girls), so we didn't make it to have dinner with them.  Instead, we just went to our own dinner in the dining room.   Went to the club again that night, but we were so over drinking we told ourselves we would just "act" drunk.  Plan worked perfectly.  





 

 

Cesspool spa (I didn't go in, but look how CROWDED)

  





Monday-We ended up only getting 3 hours of sleep(and a total of 6 hours of sleep the whole weekend), and accidentally woke up late.  Thankfully someone knocked on our door.  We had to hurry off the ship, because my girlfriend had work really early and had to drive back to my house to get her car.  With only 6 hours of sleep in 3.5 days, I was beat.  I lost my voice too.  MY best friend and I layed out and took a nap by my pool, until I had to take her to her Uncles so he could take her to the airport.  I then was able to rinse off, and nap a few hours until my cousins and aunt came over because they wanted to take us to dinner.   After dinner, I came home and crashed.  Work was very rough that following week.