P&O launching drinks packages

[AFC04/03 156]

Are there any rumblings about P&O offering drinks packages? Princess have already launched their packages, Holland America have been offering them free of charge on selected promotions and even Cunard are offering free drinks in their Grills. With all of these Carnival branded (and UK based) companies offering them, not to mention Fred Olsen (also sterling onboard) having a very successful daily package will P&O follow suit?

[sinbad10 753]

40 minutes ago, AFC04/03 said:

Are there any rumblings about P&O offering drinks packages? Princess have already launched their packages, Holland America have been offering them free of charge on selected promotions and even Cunard are offering free drinks in their Grills. With all of these Carnival branded (and UK based) companies offering them, not to mention Fred Olsen (also sterling onboard) having a very successful daily package will P&O follow suit?

Cunard do not offer free drinks in their Grills as the normal they only very rarely offer it as a special offer in the UK but seem to offer it more for the US market which they are doing currently if you book balcony or above for 2018 cruise which is not being offered in UK.

Edited August 2, 2017 by sinbad10

[sammy sun 1084]

Surely P&O will follow suit soon. They must be considering it with so many rival brands already having them in place. Look at the success Royal Caribbean and Celebrity have had since they started offering packages on board. Not forgetting NCL too since they made the switch to all-inclusive. It's an expense that will always worry passengers so to have a drinks package in place takes that stress and concern over on board spend away. It alleviates the worry for people as they know they have a package and what that package entails.

The only thing I can think that is holding P&O back from it at the moment is their concern that some guests may abuse the packages. They may be considering how they could police it in a civilised way to prevent people from drinking too much. The drinking culture of us Brits is well-known around the world so that may be the issue on the minds of the P&O hierarchy.

[CJW 24]

I would love this. Come on P&O catch up!

[AFC04/03 156]

Thanks for the input Sammy. If you look at the bigger picture there have long been 'premium' all inclusive resorts which don't have any ongoing problems. I do believe I read another forum member paying around £500.00 per person to stay at a Riu resort, surely if price was the big incentive for those who wish to abuse inclusive alcohol these resorts would be facing constant aggravation.

I believe Holland America tend to offer a maximum number of their drinks when they have the promotions active, perhaps this would be a valid way to have the promotion, but without excessive abuse.

 

[Oldworldtraveller 2217]

2 hours ago, AFC04/03 said:

Thanks for the input Sammy. If you look at the bigger picture there have long been 'premium' all inclusive resorts which don't have any ongoing problems. I do believe I read another forum member paying around £500.00 per person to stay at a Riu resort, surely if price was the big incentive for those who wish to abuse inclusive alcohol these resorts would be facing constant aggravation.

I believe Holland America tend to offer a maximum number of their drinks when they have the promotions active, perhaps this would be a valid way to have the promotion, but without excessive abuse.

 

That was me AFCO4/03, £419 at one of the RIU's in Agadir.  Never experienced problems with 'all inclusive' not only at 4/5 star resorts but also on the 5 star cruise lines. It's like everything else, it's not the 'all inclusive' that is the problem but the people who take advantage of it. 

[Davybe 529]

We used the Wine package on P&O and would not bother again ,Fair choice of wine but will buy it by the glass next time ?

Will they have All inclusive drink packages ,that would be nice if they included soft drink's and Tea and Coffee in it ,but as there drink prices are reasonable compared to other lines I am happy if it stay's that way.....Davybe

[AFC04/03 156]

It's true you cannot pick your clients and price doesnt always impact who books, I cannot see why P&O wouldn't be keen on the idea its not as if they have a notorious reputation for passenger trouble.

As Davybe said above the prices are reasonable, perhaps its a fear of the bottom line that prevents P&O from making the jump.

[Furby 441]

personally I dont think they need it, i like that they offer on board credit which you can use to purchase drinks if you wish but if not you have the option to spend it on something else, no point having a drinks package if you dont drink. its all about personal choice, i like that on board credit can give you that

[towny44 229]

There is a saying that there's no such thing as a free lunch, or drinks package in this context.

However you spin this the customer always pays, yes it's nice if you manage to get a free drinks offer, but the cost will be in the price somewhere, maybe not your's but somebody will pay; and if the Celebrity experience is anything to go by then it's those passengers not getting a free package.  In the 3 years from them introducing drinks packages, the cost of their drinks increased by about 30/40%, and the reason is simple they want to encourage as many passengers as possible to buy the packages, because they are priced so that unless you drink yourself stupid they are just not good value; unless of course you are stupid enough not to notice how much more expensive the drinks are compared to home.

[Oldworldtraveller 2217]

I think if they introduce drinks packages they will stop people from taking their own drink on board as one would defeat the other.

[towny44 229]

1 hour ago, Oldworldtraveller said:

I think if they introduce drinks packages they will stop people from taking their own drink on board as one would defeat the other.

Quite the opposite, if you have to pay for a drinks package at super inflated prices it's only going to encourage passengers to bring more on board, and to try and sneak it out with them, and not just drink it in their cabin. 

[AFC04/03 156]

Fred olsen's drinks package is £20.00 per person per night, IMO hardly over the top. I would be interested to know if the Fred's cruises on this forum also were victim to such a price hike for drinks and overall cruise prices compared to the celebrity/Rci crowd.

[Oldworldtraveller 2217]

4 hours ago, towny44 said:

Quite the opposite, if you have to pay for a drinks package at super inflated prices it's only going to encourage passengers to bring more on board, and to try and sneak it out with them, and not just drink it in their cabin. 

If you read my post again towny44 you will see that what I have said fits in with your theory, hence my saying if they start a drinks package they will stop people bringing their own on board.

[Oldworldtraveller 2217]

1 hour ago, AFC04/03 said:

Fred olsen's drinks package is £20.00 per person per night, IMO hardly over the top. I would be interested to know if the Fred's cruises on this forum also were victim to such a price hike for drinks and overall cruise prices compared to the celebrity/Rci crowd.

I think you will find it is £15pp having just risen from £10pp.

[cruise chef 865]

The one thing that would happen if they decided to do this would be  huge price hike to recoup the costs - Fred Olsen's package is amazing value as most are worked on a daily basis and usually £20+. I can just see the headline now P&O add £140 price increase on a 7night voyage Ouch!!!!!!

[Oldworldtraveller 2217]

£140? and the rest I think.

 

[towny44 229]

19 hours ago, Oldworldtraveller said:

If you read my post again towny44 you will see that what I have said fits in with your theory, hence my saying if they start a drinks package they will stop people bringing their own on board.

That would only apply if drinks were part of an all inclusive cruise price, at present most cruise lines offer this as an extra charge add on, which gives passengers the choice of  buying one or not.  My point is that in these circumstances those who drink little would not buy one, however my Celebrity experience is that all drinks packages do is drive up the bar prices so that only those with a "free" drinks package benefit; and even then they have probably paid for it with a higher cruise fare.

I very much hope that P&O do not go down this route.

[Chrishook 0]

Whilst there are no free drinks per se in Cunard Grills you do have a free mini-bar in your suite

[Dozydo 18]

On our cruise on Azura, in March, someone did have a free drinks deal. Trouble was, it was not provided by P&O - they somehow found a way to put their drinks on our card. How do you prove that you've not bought something.   We had bar managers insisting we have "forgotten" going into various bars and buying drinks and it was only when we could prove we were in MDR at the time stated on the drinks bill that there was no hassle. Reception seemed to want to wash their hands of the problem - referring us to bar managers, despite us insisting that we had never used that venue.  This took up many hours of our holiday and caused much anxiety, especially when, on the final morning, someone managed to spend £117.50 in the perfume shop and put it on our card. In over 30 cruises this the first time this has happened and we were dismayed by the dismissive attitude of staff on Reception and wonder what would have happened had Azura not had an interactive TV so we could check our bill regularly. 

 On our next cruise we will insist on having a print-off of our bill every two days. 

[Crogers 2]

Good advice Dozydo. As a new cruiser I shall be undertaking your strategy and asking for my bill every two days the next cruise I go on. Thanks for the heads up.

[sinbad10 753]

29 minutes ago, Crogers said:

Good advice Dozydo. As a new cruiser I shall be undertaking your strategy and asking for my bill every two days the next cruise I go on. Thanks for the heads up.

I have always checked my onboard account on a regular basis either by viewing our account on interactive tv or by asking for print out on P&O. We have had a few issues on our account over the years of drinks we have not ordered and most major a wrong charge on our account for a handbag purchased in one of the shops. P&O tried to blame Harding Bros until after a few days of complaint sand hitting my head against a brick wall with reception asked to see Finance Manager. He tried to say wait until you get home and ring Southampton to sort out which I refused. I told him that on arrival in Southampton I would padlock myself to the stairs by reception if the amount had been charged on last night to my credit card and told him I would ring the credit card company and dispute the charge and also said I would ring the police stating that you knowingly charged my credit card an amount that you knew was wrong and that it was fraud. He panicked went away and after an hour phoned my cabin to see me and went to reception and he said he couldn't stop the charge going through on my credit card as it was too late but reimbursed the amount in cash at the time. He was sweating and very red faced.

[Spadger44 11]

We have been on several cruises with Celebrity where the price included a drinks package.

We didn't find any evidence of people abusing the system by drinking excessively, in fact, we have booked another cruise aboard the Celebrity Silhouette.

The drinks package played a big part in our choosing of the cruise line.

[mobilegb 8]

Couldn't agree more with Towny44 - you will pay for everything that you get somewhere, it is just a question of how the deal is structured to appeal to different travellers. Compare the Motor Trade which will offers deals with discounted prices paid up front or alternatives with low weekly payments which in total are far more.

Our last cruise was with NCL, just prior to 'all-inclusive' but with a drinks package included and on return I did an exercise to compare the cost of what we drank 'free' to the actual cost and also the uplift that NCL are employing to pay for 'all-inclusive' and, surprise, surprise, we would have been better off buying our own drinks (even at NCL inflated prices and service charges) than going 'all-inclusive'. I have two concerns; firstly that for moderate drinkers we will be paying over the top for cruises and secondly that it encourages passengers to drink more to get 'better value for money'. Another point is that for primarily wine drinkers, the deals only include by the glass and the options are quite limited.

I would prefer that the base cost of cruises be kept affordable and whatever extras passengers want can be purchased - hopefully at sensible prices (see P&O drinks prices versus the US lines)

[Crogers 2]

Well done Sinbad10 in handling it so well!

So if I go on a cruise and find on disembarkation a man shackled to Reception as I leave I know that it is you having a dispute 😂😂😂