Really hard to tell what your bill would be. However, Thomson's and Island do all inclusive if that helps.

Hi Derek

How long is a piece of string? This is so subjective that it's impossible to give a figure. Much will depend on how many excursions you book, whether you have 2 drinks a night or a dozen, etc.

We were very concerned about this on our first cruise so I can fully understand where you are coming from. We opted to go on an all inclusive cruise the first time so there would be no nasty surprises from the drinks bill.

I think the drinks on some of the better cruise lines such a Princess, RCI, etc cost slightly more than the likes of Thomson and Island. Also be aware that some of them automatically add 15% gratuity to the bill.

Here is a bar list for this year from the Thomson Celebration:-

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A bottle of wine starts from around £12 and upwards. On AI with Thomsons for example, a glass of wine is included in the AI, but you would have to pay for a bottle with a small discount of £2.

If you let us know which ships you are looking at then members may be able to give you more specific advice.

luci

Derek B- It depends on what your spending is like..... obviously,but.......you know what your consumption of alcohol is- if you figure that on most cruiselines the price of a beer is $4-5 a mixed drink is $5-7. An all you can drink Coke card is $6 per day for adults and $4 for kids (they lose money on us). Apart from those costs,tea coffee lemonade are all free and available all day (on the cruises I have been on anyway). Excursions are the big expenses,if you book them through the ship. Activities on board such as Bingo/Spa/Specialty dining restaurants can be quite expensive,but otherwise huge selection of sports and entertainments and all other features are free,but you can avoid those extras. Like the ever present PHOTOS they take of you everywhere.....
There is no shortage of all styles of food, included in your cruise fare. If you get involved in one of the Cruise Enthusiast sites you can learn a lot of helpful hints as to how to reduce your costs for excursions..
Some cruiselines will allow you to take onboard your choice of wines and then just charge a corkage fee for serving you at meals.... others will not allow any,so if you enjoy wine with your meals it can get steep. Prices that I have observed have a considerable markup. I was just looking at a wine that I can buy for $11 the charge onboard was $35,that was 2 weeks ago. hmmm
Once you have cruised it's really hard to take any other form of holiday without comparing unfavorably.

My friend has just come back from a 2 week Celebration cruise but she got the AI package as it was booked a while ago.They met someone who got a shock at the end when faced with a bar bill of £800!I suppose all those tea and coffees during the day mount up.

Thanks for all the info, I know it is difficult. I am looking at the Mediterranean Adventurer cruise on the Sea Princess leaving in April 08. The latest review give it a good report.

I suppose all those tea and coffees during the day mount up.

Tea and coffee is free on all cruises so they can't blame that!

Derek

Have a look at my review of the Sea Princess from 2 years ago as I'm sure I listed the prices of drinks and it will give you an idea.

luci

Sea princess, if you don't drink a lot you can keep the bill well down just about everything you need is included and you can add a soda card at OK price or pick up in ports.

But don't forget to check the price you pay up front UK/US prices seem quite high at the moment on Princess and RCI for early 08.

What is suprising me is the low prices for NCL med this year, they leave plenty of money for a better cabin or some spending money.

NCL Jade May/June is down under £700pp on us sitesthts for 14nights.

I'm not 100% sure but I think I remember someone saying that on the Thomson's boats tea and coffee is free in the lido and maybe the restaurant but in bars it is chargeable. I seem to remember someone saying they went up to the lido to get a coffee and brought it back down to their cabin. Unless it was only charged for if ordered from room service (if you get room service on Thomson's - I don't know if you do).

I doubt they drank £800 in coffee! Methinks they like their booze a bit much!

Anybody got any info on drink prices with P&O? Booked the Ventura to Caribbean for next December, I know it's a new ship but am assuming prices will be same as on others. Husband is hoping they'll have a draught beer he can drink, or it's going to get pretty expensive for us cos he'll have to drink spirits!

Hello
Again in reply..
It does depend on which cruise line you use and how much you drink. The soft drinks can be taken care of with a Soda card easily purchased on board and i recommend one as a can of coke plus 15% service x 2 a couple of times a day can really mount up. The only experience i can comment on is NCL and again alcohol wise is that it is quite expensive. We are not big drinkers and even so the bar element of the bill came to £158 and that was just for Lager over a 10 day period. As a matter of interest i'd like to know of any options to buy alcohol on RCI and Princess as we are booked on both of these in 2008
annj

RCCL policy is that you're not allowed to bring your own alcohol onboard, they do screen your luggage for it.....they will confiscate it and return it to you at the end of the cruise if found- we managed to bring some onboard n a backpack while in Key West, in plastic bottles and that wasn't picked up..... the bottle I had in my shorts pocket beeped the alarm.... the lady who was scanning asked me to remove it,which I did- (she was Philippino) she saw the bottle and asked me "Is that Alcohol?" I said "It's Jim Beam"- so she looked puzzled, then said Oh, OK.. we walked on to the elevators ....
I have all the current RCCL prices if you want them. Beers such as Bass Ale, Stella, Beck's,Heineken all around $4.25 for 12oz cans- 16oz bottles of Bud are $4.50.

We are booked on Destiny in August and were given the upgrade to all inclusive as a deal-sweetener.

Do any recent Destiny (or Thomson) cruisers know if the drinks list has changed much since last year?

Ganners

It can also depend on other items bought on ship. Our end of cruise bill ususally includes something I have bought at the shop, perhapas a handbag or some little treat. Previous cruises we have had spa treatments, a few chips for the casino. Some cruise lines also include the service charges (tips)

Our last cruise we had to buy a shirt for hubby (his case never arrived) sun cream and some other bits and pieces. Hubby also got a treat this time as well with some nice unusual jewellery. We also paid for the speciality restaurant and wine which was quite expensive.

So we have left a few cruise ships with a good few hundred pound paid to our on board account!!

The only major expense I incured on the Destiny was a memory card for my camera.I think it was £40ish. You can buy double the memory they sold me for a tenner in yor local Lidl /Aldi

Of course, everyone is different.....but if it helps as a guide....we spent £600 pounds on our onboard account. This was for me, my husband and 14 year old son for one week
We are not what you would call BIG drinkers....but a beer or two before lunch on deck in the sunshine.....a drink or two before dinner......a drink with dinner......and then a couple of drinks watching the show.......plus soft drinks for our 14 yr old .....this also included a few items bought from the shop (toiletries etc) and a few photographs of formal night. You can see how it adds up!

We looked at purchasing the All Inc for our forthcoming trip on the Emerald this August....but as my husband likes Strongbow (which is not part of the AI) it would not be worth it, due to paying the supplement every time he has a can of Strongbow
Oh and forgot to add that the total did also include a couple of excursions......

Our end of cruise bill after 11 nights aboard Independence of the Seas was $1700 - about £850). Mainly drinks wine etc, but looking back at the print out, when you deduct gifts and duty free perfiumes and ciggies etc, the actual bar bill was around $1150.

I'm not 100% sure but I think I remember someone saying that on the Thomson's boats tea and coffee is free in the lido and maybe the restaurant but in bars it is chargeable. I seem to remember someone saying they went up to the lido to get a coffee and brought it back down to their cabin. Unless it was only charged for if ordered from room service (if you get room service on Thomson's - I don't know if you do).

Tea and coffee (and water) are indeed free on the Celebration and Spirit, and probably the other ships too. We regularly went to the Lido restaurant for a cuppa. It is chargeable if you order form the bars or via a waiter. You can get room service although that's something I've never used. Why would anyone pay to have the food brought to their rather small cabins?!

As for the bills, it's something I'm wondering about this year. We are away for 12 nights with no AI option. We don't drink a lot but if you allow for 6 drinks per person per day, that will be roughly £18 a day. For a family of 4 on a 12 day cruise I'm expecting a bar bill of around £800 - £900. !

If out in port most days that can reduce things a bit allthough a 6 drink evening is that hard

A wine box and other in the cabin you can cut the "bar bill" a bit with a pre dinner or even a pool side top up if needed, just buy a coke, rum in the tote bag.

When we fid the Topaz(AI) a 14+ drink sea days were not hard (10am-2am) less than 1 an hour.

1 morning beer
2 glasses wine lunch
3 afternoon beers
1 special coffee before changing
1 pre dinner cocktail after changing
2 glasses wine dinner
1 beer show
1 beer casino
2 beers disco

AI is not good for your health.

I'm not sure what Thomson's rules are regarding taking alcohol on board. Can't see as they can stop it as loads of people buy bottles of duty free and take that on with them. It might be an idea to take a couple of bottles with us and just order soft drinks, as you say. Mind you the cost of those add up as well.