RCI Drinks packages 2015

[miss lumpy]

Apologies if this question has been asked before

Been looking at the drinks packages for our first ever cruise in sept on the rhapsody of the seas for 9 nights 4 adults 2 separate bookings


Sorry can't remember the exact prices so these are just rough quotes

Coke soda package roughly £5 pppd just coke nothing else

Then royal replenish tea, coffee fruit juice water soda and non alc cocktails roughly£15 pppd

My question is (finally I hear you say) don't fancy sticking to coke all day everyday but is the £15 one really worth it ?
Can one of us have the soda one and one have the royal replenish one I want to be able to have a drink of whatever I fancy when I want

What do you get to drink in the buffet areas and can you bring drinks out of there ?
Do you get tea/coffee facilities in your cabins?

don't plan on getting the drinks package which includes alcohol it's too expensive, we want to try a new cocktail every evening so will be paying out of pocket for those

We only have 2 sea days also so feel we won't get value for money with the higher priced packages

We have pre paid our gratuities and noticed a 15% charge will be added to bar drinks/waiter service on every order so is that another good reason for getting a drinks package?

One last question
If we bring a bottle or two of the local apperatiif home will we be allowed on the ship with it( don't mind if they keep it till the end of the cruise has long has it gets returned to us?)
Please feel free to pass on any others ideas/ tips that may come in handy for us
Thank you :

[Guest]

You get tea and coffee making facilities in your cabin and yes you can take your drinks out of the buffet area. I would say the drink packagez are a rip off, plus you are allowed to take cases of soft drinks aboard, loads do it. Just not alcohol it will be confiscated. Take your ownand save your money.

[Guest]

have done 3 rci now Yes one can buy the drinks package and the other can have a soda package. MY wife likes the tipple but i love coffee so i upgraded mine to include the speciality coffees on board i think it was about 5 or 10 $ more.You do get basic drinks but with the cards the waiter brings it to your table even in the buffet area.You can take 2 bottle of wine onto the boat and all the sodas and water you want.i preferred what we have done as it gave us both the options with our dinner and lunch and also we are on holiday so spoil yourself and do not forget to buy the duty free in Nassau as it is very very cheap we had 2 bottles of vodka the large ones for $20.00 apple and blackcurrant, they will take it off you and pop it in your room on your last night around 9.00pm.

[cheekydeeky]

we have done two RCI cruises and loved both .

First year OH had the soda package and I didnt. Last year we both took it. It isn't just coke, there's loads in the freestyle machine. In the restaurants you can ask for soda and the waiters will bring it to you free of charge.

The coffee, in my opinion, is rank . However, I treated myself to a Starbucks every day which was about $3 a pop but gave us an excuse to have some free cakes .

Neither of us are big drinkers but we did have a few cocktails every night and they average $7 each which I think is quite reasonable.

Unless you're massive drinkers I wouldn't bother with an alcohol package as you'd really need to go for it to get your money worth.

You also get free diluting juice (albeit not to my taste) in the buffet restaurant.

[miss lumpy]

Thanks everyone for your replies I have taken them all on board( on board get it! ) sorry
We are also not big drinkers but do fancy the cocktails
I think we will both go with the soda packages then and get alcohol has we go

Really looking forward to cruising , chosen a smallish ship to begin with scared we will like it too much and want to choose a cruise every time instead of Florida

[Cyclospora]

When we went on our first cruise, we were a bit naughty and smuggled 2 boxes of wine on board with the intention of having a glass before dinner and one or 2 on the balcony when we came back after a meal and show.

That didn't happen! We ended up joining the others on our table in a bar which became our "local" and had a great time with them with DH having a drink and me just having one and then diet coke for the rest of the evening. This ended up fairly pricy as we hadn't thought that this might happen! We ended up taking one of the boxes home!

The last cruise that we went on had an offer of $300 on board spending per cabin so we used the money to go towards buying 2 drinks packages. I went for the alcohol one as even though I usually stick to soft drinks (and a glass of wine with a meal) I fancied trying a few cocktails too... And we had the money off!

Well we certainly had our money's worth! We had a printout at the end of the cruise of everything we had ordered on our cards which was a bit of an eye opener! We would have fresh juice and speciality coffees at breakfast time and then pick up a bottle of water and a can of coke each to take off the ship if we were in port. That would be about $9 for a start.
When we went back on the ship we would meet up with our new friends in a bar at the back of the ship (by the croquet lawn!) and I would have a cocktail with our table mates as we sailed away from the port that we had been in that day. Then we would go back to our rooms or do activities and then met in another bar for a drink (handshaken Daquiri for me!) before we went into dinner together. I usually had 2 glasses of wine with the meal and then either diet cokes or possibly another cocktail when watching the show.

There were also days on board the ship where I would have a few more lattes in the coffee shop and also a few more diet cokes.

Before we went, I would never have thought that I would have had as many alcoholic drinks as I did - but for us - compared with the cruise where we didn't have the package, we found that this was far easier and I wasn't thinking about prices all the time. As the printout showed that it was value for money for us, I would definitely look for a drinks package again.

I've just booked with RCI and DH will have the one with beer and wine but I will have to have the one up from that as it includes the coffees.

It is a difficult decision before you have been on your first cruise.

[Melanie R]

We've booked a 6 night cruise in December which has a free beer & wine package included - does anyone know if we will be able to pay to upgrade this to include cocktails? We've cruised with them before, but never used an of the drinks packages

[Cyclospora]

I read somewhere that you can upgrade on the ship.

[smedley]

As per above I'm also fairly sure you can upgrade on the ship.

No freestyle machines on the Rhapsody, so it is whatever soda they have behind the bar.

We were debating ourselves and have decided to go for the replenish package, I love a decent coffee, and this package includes the ones served in lattitudes, which are basically starbucks. As well as the bottled water etc, and to be honest although I like a drink given I am planning on bringing 2 bottles of wine with me as per allowance I think the non alcoholic frozen drinks will keep me happy the rest of the time

[DIBBadmin]

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