How To Get Cheap Booze Delivered To Your Cabin On The Final Night
At some point during your cruise, go to the duty-free liquor store onboard and buy a bottle. This tax-free liquor is well-priced and you may even catch an additional sale on alcohol from time to time. Unfortunately, the duty-free shop will not allow you to take those bottles back to your cabin that is, until the last night. On the final afternoon of your cruise, any bottles that you purchased will be delivered directly to your stateroom.
Also on the final evening of the cruise, the duty-free store will, in fact, allow you to walk out of the shop with any liquor you purchase. On one cruise, we noticed that an entire liter bottle of vodka at the duty-free shop was actually priced less than two shots of the exact same vodka if you were to purchase it at the bar.
Additionally, any alcohol purchased while in port will also be delivered to your stateroom on the finalday of your cruise. So dont hesitate to buy that delicious Jamaican rum or snag that bottle of tequila while docked in Cozumel. When you return to the cruise ship, you can easily check the bottle with security. Then once the last night of your cruise rolls around, any bottles that youve purchased ashore will be delivered to your room.
So on your last night of a cruise, have a party in your stateroom and enjoy! Just be sure to schedule a late disembarkation time the next day.
Pro Tip: Go On Inexpensive Shore Excursions That Include All Your Alcohol
Instead of necking a bottle of beer in the streets, book a tasting tour, a booze cruise, or an all-inclusive beach pass while in port. Use a tour agency independent from the cruise line save money on shore excursions.
We always use and recommend Viator shore excursions since they tend to be nearly half the cost of the cruise lines excursions. Their ports of call tours include a worry-free guarantee promise to get you back to the ship. And if your cruise has to cancel a port for any reason, its nice to know that they automatically provide a full refund.
Where are you cruising to? Here are just a few booze-filled shore excursions in some of the most popular Caribbean cruise ports:
Cozumel, Mexico Drinking Excursions:
- Mr. Sanchos Beach Club is the hottest drink ticket in Cozumel and is such incredible value! For the price of about five drinks on a cruise ship, this ticket gets you an all-day pass to this white-sand beach resort that includes a full open bar with unlimited drinks! The day pass also includes a complete lunch menu, beach loungers, and even ocean kayaking along Cozumels coastline! But best of all, theres a swim-up bar, so you dont even have to leave the pool to get your next margarita. Drink up! Beware: this one regularly sells out in advance. Check availability now for your travel dates.
- Catamaran Sail & Snorkel: After snorkeling on Cozumels reef, youll be treated to cervezas, rum punch, and even tequila shots as you sail around the island.
Tipping Starts Before You Board The Ship
Seasoned cruisers know one of the most nervous times is waiting for your luggage to appear in your stateroom. The worst thing that can happen is that just your luggage tags turn up!
So when you are pierside consider giving your luggage handler a $2- $5 tip per item, depending upon the size, weight and amount of your luggage. If youre travelling alone and with only one large piece of luggage, a $5 tip is appropriate. Consider the gratuity as a kind of insurance that your bags will make it safely onto the ship.
Some of the Luxury and Ultra Luxury All-Inclusive cruise lines will often have baggage handlers of their own from the ship, and they do not expect tips as these are all included in the cruise fare.
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House Select Package Us$3995 Per Person Per Day
The House Select beverage package is the least expensive. It offers champagne, wine and beer by-the-glass, but only during lunch and dinner at dining venues .
The price of the House Select package includes gratuities.
It is important to note that only your drinks are covered by this drinks package. In other words, you cant order drinks for a friend using this package.
Exploit Cruise Ship Happy Hours
Many cruise lines offer a happy hour at certain bars, at certain times, with reduced priced drinks. Sometimes these happy hours are planned and stated in the daily newsletter. Other instances theyll be listed on the bar menus themselves.
Often such drink deals are only subtly advertised. So passengers must be observant and seek out these drink deals. Keep your eyes peeled for happy hour promotions on table-top signs at cruise bars. And do know that cruise happy hours vary by cruise line, ship, and even each sailing. Cruise happy hours change constantly.
Cruise happy hours even change from from bar to bar on the same ship. On some Celebrity cruise sailings, weve found $3 draft beers and $4 wine pours at most bars during their happy hour. But this Celebrity happy hour does not extend to every bar on the ship. Meanwhile, their martini bar can have an entirely different happy hour with select martinis at half price. Yet the martini bar doesnt honor the beer & wine happy hour. So be sure to check around all the bars and find a happy hour that is best for you!
Also, some cruises will have two happy hour periods: one before dinner and another into the late night. Princess happy hour had formally done this. Although in recent years happy hour has seemed to disappear from Princess ships.
Pro tip: Stock Up During the Best Drink Promos
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Oceania Cruises Alcohol Policy
- Your actual drinks will vary in price, but this gives you a ballpark idea of what you might spend. Compare the amount youll spend each day above with the cost of each drink package per day. Carnival: $61.30 per day, including gratuity ($64.84 for cruises of 3-4 days
- View Prices on Cruises on Oceania. Why not lower drink prices for everyone? JLT August 14, 2018 at 5:16 am. Cruising is a luxury, not a necessity. You sound like a socialist
- Expect to pay big-city prices for drinks. Photo by Celebrity Cruises. If youre a drinker, beer, cocktails, and wine can quickly increase the cost of your cruise. Expect to pay $5 to $12 per drink, depending on your beverage of choice. A can of soda or a small bottle of water costs approximately $2 to $4
Norwegian Cruise Line Alcohol Policy
Norwegian Cruise Line does not allow passengers to bring on most forms of alcohol, including beer and liquor. That rule goes for non-alcoholic drinks too.
NCL does allow passengers to bring on wine or champagne as long as it is in a fully sealed bottle. Whats nice is that Norwegian simply says that Guests may bring bottles of wine and champagne on board. There is no limit mentioned to the number of bottles listed per stateroom or per passenger.
Whats not so nice is that the cruise line says a corkage fee is charged for each bottle, no matter if it is consumed in public areas of the ship or in your stateroom. The charge is $15 for a 750 ml bottle and $30 for a 1,500 ml bottle. Even at those prices, however, bringing your own bottle would be cheaper than drinking wine/champagne from the bar.
Alcohol Allowed: Wine and/or champagne are allowed . A corkage fee applies even if drinking in the stateroom.
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Were Not Against Tipping*
*Post-publishing update: May would like to make it clear that she isnt against tipping. In an email just now she explained:
We left the cash tip in our room on the desk before we went to breakfast. When we got back from breakfast, we found the undated invoice on the door. We had already left the money and did not take it back. And we believed the cruise line gave us the invoice in error and we could correct it later. We were not against tipping and tipped our guides as well on land tours.
How Do You Disguise Alcohol
It is important to talk to your teen about alcohol use and listen without judgement.
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A Credit Card Dispute Over The Forced Cruise Tips
The response from Oceania only served to frustrate May further. Her next move was to file a credit card dispute over the gratuities.
Unfortunately, Mays credit card dispute of the $320 in cruise tips was doomed from the beginning.
The Fair Credit Billing Act allows credit card using consumers to dispute billing errors. But although this act provides much-needed protection to consumers, credit card chargebacks are often misused. And as weve seen time and again when a consumer uses the dispute mechanism in a way it wasnt intended, it only leads to more significant problems:
In Mays case, she found that her attempt to dispute the automatically added cruise gratuities was just a waste of time.
I filed a complaint with Chase Card Services. I provided extensive documentation. After a month of going back and forth, Chase came back and said it wasnt possible to dispute the tips. So I wasted a total of two months.
I would like for Oceania to be outed for deceptive practices. They provided only UNDATED invoices and claimed they APPLIED the gratuity charge to our account, four days before disembarkation. But they never shared the invoice or charge with us until we disembarked. It is impossible to dispute a charge of which you have no knowledge. How can a large travel company like this get away with this lack of transparency in their billing?
Celebrity Cruises Alcohol Policy
Like most cruise lines, things like beer and liquor are not allowed to be brought with you on embarkation day. Celebrity says plainly that Guests are not permitted to bring alcoholic beverages onboard.
There is an exception for wine . Celebrity allows passengers to bring two bottles of wine for each stateroom, but there is a corkage fee if they are consumed in a public area. There is no size limit on the bottles mentioned, but its safe to assume the limit is a standard 750 ml size.
Alcohol Allowed: Two bottles of wine per stateroom on embarkation day.
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Bring Your Own Drinks To Stock Your Minibar
Most cruise lines permit you to bring your own sodas and other non-alcoholic beverages. Beverage policies vary by cruise line on what drinks are permitted onboard. The chart below summarizes the onboard beverage allowances of the major cruise lines, as of Feb 2020.
| Cruise | |
|---|---|
| Non-alcoholic drinks allowed, no limit. | |
| Royal Caribbean | 12 cans or bottles per person. |
So bring aboard some sodas or whatever you prefer. Then just ask your friendly stateroom attendant to empty out all of those expensive minibar drinks so that you can make use of the fridge. Once the fridge is clear, youre free to chill down all of the beverages that youve brought onboard. And if your cruise cabin isnt equipped with a mini-fridge, just ask your stateroom attendant for an ice bucket to chill your drinks.
Can I Pay Extra
Absolutely. In fact, the staff will love that you want to give them more money. If you want to pay extra, we suggest simply handing cash directly to the people you want to recognize for their service. This happens regularly for passengers feeling generous or thankful for the staffs work during their trip.
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How Much To Tip On Cruises
Part of the issue is that information about gratuities on cruise ships is often buried in the small print of the fare or the websites frequently asked questions.
Some cruise lines coyly refer to tips as service charges.
Search for gratuity information on the cruise lines website, and you find tips are voluntary and at your discretion, but dig further and you discover there are automatic onboard service charges.
You may not really know what gratuities are expected until you see theyve been added to your bill at the end of the cruise.
May I Bring Alcohol On My Cruise
One of the most popular questions weve encountered about cruising is may I bring alcohol on my cruise? Since each cruise line has a different alcohol policy, the answer isnt as simple as yes or no. To alleviate confusion, weve decided to break down the alcohol policies for each cruise line.
Yes. Liquor, beer and wine are allowed for private consumption in suites or staterooms . Consuming alcohol in any shipboard restaurant, bar or dining venue, is subject to a corkage fee of $10 per bottle. Note: Wine is served during lunch and dinner, and is included in your cruise fare.
Yes. One bottle of wine or champagne per person is allowed on embarkation. No beer or hard liquor may be brought on board for consumption. A $10 corkage fee per bottle applies for consuming in the main dining room, $14 at the steakhouse.
Yes. Guests may bring aboard beer and liquor at embarkation , but are not encouraged. Beer and liquor brought aboard must be consumed in the staterooms only. Guests are allowed to bring up to three bottles of wine or champagne on board. A corkage fee of $20 per bottle applies for consuming wine in public areas.
P& O Cruises
Yes. Champagne and wine are allowed, with a £10 corkage fee applied when consumed in the restaurants. The number of bottles you may bring will be at the port authoritys discretion. The liquor and beer restrictions are not specified.
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Are Drink Packages Really Worth It
Are you toying with the idea of adding a drinks package to your upcoming cruise? Were here to tell you: it depends because there are several aspects youll need to consider. Fortunately, our parent company, Dreamlines have done the hard work for you, and have calculated whether a drinks package would really make economic sense on the specific cruise youre travelling on.
Before we kick things off, there are a couple of questions youll need to consider:
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Royal Caribbean Alcohol Policy
Along with Carnival, Royal Caribbean is among the most popular cruise lines in North America.
The mega-line does allow passengers to bring up to two bottles of wine or champagne per cabin. There is no corkage fee on the wine if you drink it in your stateroom. Otherwise, Royal Caribbean says a corkage fee applies, but doesnt specify an amount.
Other alcohol like beer and liquor are not allowed to be brought with you on embarkation day.
Alcohol Allowed: Two bottles of wine or champagne per stateroom.
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Attend Cruise Drink Tasting Events
Wine tastings, cocktail tastings, martini tastings, and even beer tastings can be some of the best drink deals at sea. Personally, its our favorite tip to partake in for cheap drinks on a cruise.
Specialty drinks, like fine martinis, typically cost $10-$15 , plus gratuity. Five fancy cocktails could easily cost a cruiser $75. But when you attend a tasting event, you often get five full-sized drinks for $25 per person. These tasting events can be incredible drinks bargains on a cruise. Plus you get to try a variety of different cocktails you may have never thought to try before.
During some cruise tasting events that weve attended, the drinks are smaller portions coming in at about 4-6 ounces. Yet other tasting events, weve been pleasantly surprised by full-sized drinks!
Weve found that drinks tastings on NCL to be of particularly good value, as theyve poured some large and strong drinks during their tastings. Norwegian usually does a martini tasting, margarita tasting, a beer tasting, and a wine tasting during their regular cruises. If you dont want to drink all five drinks, consider attending with a partner/friend and sharing the experience.
Tip: If you ever happen to cruise on the Norwegian Bliss, be sure to go the show Happy Hour Prohibition The Musical. It costs $25, but that fee includes five prohibition-era cocktails throughout the entire performance. Its great fun and great value!
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What Does The Silver Spirits Package Cover
Any drinks up to $15.00, including premium wines by the glass, cocktails and aperitifs
The Chefs Table premium wine pairing
A selection of wines, which change twice per cruise
15% discount on premium beverages above $50
Soft drinks and juices
Note: For premium wines, only those wines that are available by the glass are included in the package . Wines that are only available by the bottle are not included in the package.
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Azamara Club Cruises Alcohol Policy
Azamara is a higher-end cruise line that provides a more all-inclusive experience than youll find on most cruises. In fact, they actually include a limited of selection of alcohol for guests. However, for many brands youll need to upgrade to a beverage package.
Whats especially unique is that it is one of the few lines that will let you bring on beer, liquor, or wine/champagne with you as you board. Keep in mind that you will have to pay a corkage fee if you want to drink your beverage in public areas of the ship.
According to the website: Azamara Club Cruises offers a wide selection of international liquors, beer and fine wines onboard. You may bring your own favorite liquor, beer or wine for private consumption in your suite or stateroom. If you wish to consume your liquor, beer or wine in any shipboard restaurant, bar or dining venue, each bottle is subject to a corkage fee of $10.
No specific quantity limits were mentioned about how many bottles you could bring.
Alcohol Allowed: Liquor, Beer, Wine, Champagne. No limits mentioned.