Cruise ship drinks prices (Costa)

[Timja]

I'm going on my 1st 11 night Cruise in a few weeks with News favourite Costa. They do a drinks package which is something like £20 or maybe 20 euros a day.

Just trying to get an idea if this is worth doing (I realise it depends on how much I drink) but just trying to get an idea of drinks prices on board if I decided to pay as i went. e.g. how much is a coke, beer, cocktail etc?

Thanks

[eldar]

Roughly speaking UK prices, plus about 20 to 50 percent, plus compulsory tips.

Packages are usually better, unless you are some teetotal, non tea, coffee or soft drink person. They may charge for water - read the small print...

[megaphone]

Haven't been on Costa but past experience of other lines, you'll be looking at 5 Euros for a beer, more for other drinks, you'll also get hit with an auto-gratuity every time you buy, usually 10%, this pays the waiters and bar staff as they don't get much of a salary.

As said check the small print of any inclusive deals.

It's very easy to wack up a big bill as you use your room card to 'pay' for everything onboard, so be careful! If you're going with kids then make sure you cancel their card privileges. They often do an all you can drink soda deal for kids, that way they can drink as much of the fizzy stuff they like.

[Old Merc]

I think all cruise drinks deals are more or less the same.Make sure it includes ALL? drinks,like pool side non alcoholic during the day and ALL types of beers.You will be limited when choosing wine in the restaurants to "house" types.If your a typical pisston head like me these deals are worth thinking about,but check the deal and "do your sums".

[Robb F]

eldar said:

plus compulsory tips.

What's a compulsory tip? As in it's expected to tip, it it is actually a non-optional part of the price?

[MajorProblem]

Don't ask for it 'on the rocks'

[mike13]

My neighbour who cruises yearly refuses to travel with this company due to alcohol prices,4 or 5 years ago he paid in the region of fifteen euros for a pint of lager and a g and t for his wife,i presume prices have increased since then.

[eldar]

Robb F said:

What's a compulsory tip? As in it's expected to tip, it it is actually a non-optional part of the price?

Yup, part of the price, actually called a service charge. Non optional. Varies by cruise line.

Some do proper all inclusive, any branded alcohol, food, trips you require, no tips or extras, but the headline prices are high. Others have low headline prices but charge like a wounded rhino for everything.

Reading the very small print is vital.

[Old Merc]

What's a compulsory tip?

They all do it,this was the only part of our MSC cruise that pissed me off.15% "service charge" on everything,from a bottle of water by the pool to drinks in the restaurant.On top of this there was about 15euros a day "room service" or something like that? for your cabin steward.
I have to say though all the staff on OUR? ship were very good and genuinely appeared to enjoy their job.We have seen so much bad press about the working conditions of cruise ship staff,the hours they work and the pay they receive.
Mind you the bad press Costa ships have received I would not travel with them at any price.

[megaphone]

Old Merc said:

What's a compulsory tip?

They all do it,this was the only part of our MSC cruise that pissed me off.15% "service charge" on everything,from a bottle of water by the pool to drinks in the restaurant.On top of this there was about 15euros a day "room service" or something like that? for your cabin steward.
I have to say though all the staff on OUR? ship were very good and genuinely appeared to enjoy their job.We have seen so much bad press about the working conditions of cruise ship staff,the hours they work and the pay they receive.
Mind you the bad press Costa ships have received I would not travel with them at any price.

The 15% service charge is their wages, a bar waiter/waitress will get maybe $800 per month as a basic, they then make the rest up on the 15% charge, it's how they keep the base cost of the cruise down. Same with cabin stewards that 15 euros a day pays the wages, most of them are on subsistence pay. If cruise lines had to work on 'normal' employment rules they would not survive.

The crew are generally happy, they would not survive the 6-8 months onboard if they did not think positively. They also know you are feeding their families so the always smile!

[RosscoPCole]

Myself and SWMBO are going on a P&O cruise this summer. One of the reasons why was the flat daily rate for tips and that the bar prices were not ridiculous, £3.25 for a pint of lager and a bottle if wine from £13.
We looked at a lit of other cruise lines but were baffled by the packages and compulsory tips expected.

[Timja]

Thanks for the responses. I think it may be worth doing the package which is 20 euros a day (including service charges). It doesn't include all drinks but most that we would want. (e.g. excludes premium spirits like Bombay Sapphire, but you could get a Gordons, excludes champagne, redbull).

Never been on a cruise so will be interesting, got it for a good price i think (£450 for 11 nights) - Probably due to various news stories! so i think paying another £200 to not have to worry about constant tipping and be able to get a drink any time I like will be good. Probably only need to have 2 drinks at dinner and one or 2 throughout the day to be better off as they add 15% to the standard drink prices.

[rogerthefish]

£450 for 11 nights is cheap, think what sort of hotel you would have in the UK for that+all the food you can eat, entertainment and with Costa it's not like your miles out to sea either.

[LuS1fer]

Good luck with Costa. My sister ended up writing a diary of the catastrophes that befell her, starting with the ship being opened up along the side like a sardine can before they even boarded her, having to enter Hong Kong via the shipyard for repairs, shocking service, high drinks prices. She'll never use them again but made great friends through the sheer adversity of the trip. As she said, every day was hilarious just wondering what was going to go wrong.