One of the appealing things about cruising, it seems to us, is that there are really no surprises. You sail somewhere for seven days. You spend seven nights in the same bed. You eat 21 or so meals, and you pretty well know what the quality will be, give or take a pork chop. Drinks are extra.
You don’t expect surprises. On our first cruise, paying for soft drinks was a surprise. It just never occurred to us that they wouldn’t be included on such an all-inclusive vacation. That has never changed, almost without exception.
Eventually, you could buy one-day all-you-can-drink soda passes.
Now, using an idea first floated on Celebrity ships, Royal Caribbean is introducing the same policy for alcohol drinks on three of its ships.
Here are the options:
• For $29 a day, unlimited beer and house wine, and 25% discount on other drinks
• For $39 a day, add “all liquor” and cocktails to the package, except premium and specialty brands
• For $49 a day, add all wine that sells for up to $10 a glass and premium liquor
Celebrity, which is owned by Royal Caribbean, received a positive response to the package. If Royal Caribbean customers feel the same way, it’s only a matter of time until every ship in the fleet follows suit. If that happens, it could become an industry trend.
It would seem customers will like the opportunity to be able to budget for booze, rather than find at the end of a cruise that you bill is bigger than you expected. Will it encourage passengers to drink more on a ship? Probably not. When people are on a vacation with no need for a designated driver, their consumption is not normally dictated by the dollar.