Is NCL's Premium Plus Drink Package worth it?
KBdesigned • February 22, 2020
Is the NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) premium plus drink package really worth it?
We all love NCL Free at Sea promotions and often it’s easier to opt into the free adult beverage package to avoid a costly bar bill at the end of the cruise as long as the per items price was below $15.00 per drink. Currently for a 7 day cruise NCL will add about $139.00 USD to your bill to cover staff gratuities. On an eleven day cruise it is about $219.00 USD. Seems fair, we all want to see the service staff compensated for their hard work.
But wait, NCL has a premium plus package that started this year. Guests can choose to upgrade their basic adult beverage package for an additional $29.00 USD PP/PD to include top shelve spirits, liquors and wines including bottles of wine during dinner.
Sounds fabulous right? We went out to see if this new package was worth it considering the value is now $128.00 USD/daily plus gratuity.
This is raising some questions rather than raising a glass.
The Premium Drink Package (formerly the Ultimate Drink Package)
The Premium Drink package is $99.00 USD/day plus gratuity if you purchased it. Most cruisers add it in as a ‘free at sea offer’. In my opinion, the prices are generally built into the listed price depending on the promo and the taxes are always extra and added in before your grand total. In short, there is no such thing as free drinks. Let’s do the math. If the average price of a drink is $15.00 (The cap on drinks with NCL’s drink package) plus 20% gratuity is $18.00 per drink. There is no limit to the daily quantity of drinks your package allows for whereas other cruise lines such as Carnival have a daily max of 15 drinks. NCL allows you to pay the difference if you want to purchase a more expensive drink. The total package with gratuity is $118.80 per day. That’s almost 7 drinks a day if you want to break even.
The package includes:
New The Premium Plus Drink Package
The premium plus drink package is $128.00 USD/daily plus gratuity which is $153.60 USD/daily. You can upgrade to this even if you have purchased the premium drink package. The difference can be added on even if you have selected the ‘free drinks at sea’ promotion. Let’s do the math again. If the average price of a drink is $15.00 (The cap on drinks with NCL’s drink package) plus 20% gratuity is $18.00 per drink. The total package with gratuity is $153.60 per day. That’s 8.5 drinks a day if you want to break even.
The different is you have the follow labels available:
Pros and Cons
Wine drinkers unite! Now, you don’t cruise with NCL for the wine, let’s be honest. They have a great selection of mix drinks and cocktails. The wine has always been very basic unless you purchased a bottle. Now the NCL’s branded wine East & West has always been palatable and priced at $9.00 per glass. Since the new premium drink package has been launched its now $17.00. This mean without the premium drink package you will be paying a difference of $2.00 plus gratuity with each glass. There are not a lot of wines red or white that are under $15.00 unless you don’t mind basic table wine
and everyone’s palate is different. For me, I found it extremely hard to find any wine, red or white that was priced under $15.00 that I liked. So, I thought, if I had the premium drink package, I would have access to more wine? Not really. The wine selection has not changed just the prices which is very unfortunate. The spirits were also tiered up. If you enjoy a single malt scotch, cognac or a grappa you will be paying more or upgrading to the premium package. Grey goose was not tiered up but CÎROC was along with some tequila. Hmm?
Finally,
I struggle with the thought that NCL is trying to capitalize on a specific customer. It’s not the cruiser who is enjoying a refreshing Sauvignon Blanc in the afternoon or pairing a Cabernet Sauvignon with the meal. It’s also not the fun group by the pool drinking mix drinks who are singing and dancing, but someone who sees value doing 10 shots of Hennessy and only mix with CÎROC.
Although the premium plus drink package seems like you’re getting a higher quality of drinks, NCL has not expanded the brands and priced a good portion of their drinks out of the basic drink package. Not really fair if you ask me.
If you don’t drink more than 7 drinks per day, neither of these packages are for you – save your money.
Updated: 2/22/20 - correction on gratuities and corrected program name
Original: 2/21/20
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