When it comes to controversial subjects, drink packages are right up there with chair hogs and gratuity rates. For me personally, they have, in the past, been a deal breaker… meaning if a drink package wasn’t available, I wasn’t interested. But from the moment Virgin Voyages tossed its proverbial hat into the ring, I was intrigued. So much so that eventually, I got past the whole “no drink package” thing to give them a go. What happened next was something of a revelation.
Why I Love a Drink Package
Many people spend a lot of time trying to figure out if purchasing a drink package is worth it for them. They’ll seek out pages listing the price of every cocktail available on the ship they’re planning to sail. They’ll work out how many drink they plan to consume by day, broken down by port day versus sea day. They’ll pay very specific attention to what’s included and what’s not.
Me? I look at the price and pay it, no questions asked. Why? Because I don’t want to think about anything once I board. From daily gratuities to specialty meals, if it can be paid for in advance, sign me up. The last thing I want is to spend my hard-earned vacation with a constantly-running calculator going “cha-ching” every time I make a purchase.
Call me crazy, but I’d rather overpay in advance than nervously anticipate the arrival of that final bill on disembarkation day.
Virgin Voyages Bar Tab: A Game Changer?
Last year, I finally jumped on a Virgin Voyages ship — the Brilliant Lady, sailing out of New York City, to be exact. I’d already heard enough to know that instead of a traditional drinks package, this line offered “bar tabs” which basically equates to pre-purchasing drinks. In some ways, bar tabs proved more complicated than your traditional drink package. It involved researching the price of drinks, adding them up and then buying the amount which most closely suited my needs. It sounded way too much like math, so I wasn’t particularly thrilled. (That said, the Bar Tab options and “extras” received if one purchases before boarding are broken down nicely below.)
Ultimately, my travel companion and I wound up going way overboard (pun intended), purchase a $1,000 bar tab for a five-night sailing. Additionally, on most sailings, Virgin Voyages offers a “bonus” for those who pre-purchase a bar tab, with the amount varying depending on the initial bar tab purchase price. In our case, we received a $250 bonus. For those keeping track, that means we had a $1,250 bar tab… to spend in five days.
Challenge: Accepted
To say we could have gotten a much smaller bar tab would be a very big understatement. This is especially true as unspent bar tabs are not refunded, they’re simply — poof! — gone. Fortunately, we had friends on board who were happy to help. (Another plus with a bar tab as opposed to a conventional drink package? You can purchase drinks for anyone, whether they’re friends or complete strangers tagging along for the fun.)
We wound up spending an afternoon ordering bottles of champagne in the Sip Lounge. A good time was had by all, and darned if we didn’t manage to kill off the remainder of our massive bar tab. It may not have been a cheap (let alone cost-effective) afternoon, but it was one we won’t soon forget.
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Had we done a bit more research, we’d likely have bought Sailor Loot (Virgin’s version of onboard credit) as opposed to a bar tab. Why? While bar tabs can generally only be used toward purchases of alcoholic beverages, Sailor Loot can be used practically anywhere on the ship. Got a few hundred bucks left? Hit the shops… or the casino!
Bar Tab Vs. Drink Package
So given that I still had to do math and wound up overspending, in what way did Virgin Voyages change my mind regarding drink packages. In part it was the flexibility. Underestimate how much you would need? Once a bar tab has run out, drinks can simply be charged to the room. Want to purchase drinks for friends, a distinct no-no on most drink packages? No worries.
But here’s where the real difference comes in, at least in my mind: Price your package correctly (or skip the bar tab entirely), and there’s no pressure. Take, for example, the very popular Carnival Cruise Line drink package known as Cheers! The program covers 15 alcoholic beverages a day. Now, how often have you heard someone say they were determined to “get their money’s worth” by hitting that 15-drink wall?
On both Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean, the drink packages are sold as “unlimited” with nothing but you and a bartender’s judgement to prevent one from overindulging.
While I have absolutely no doubt that alcohol-fueled fights occur on Virgin Voyages, they seem few and far between when compared to lines which offer drink packages featuring unlimited cocktails. Is there, perhaps, a deep-down level on which the word “unlimited” triggers a drink-til-you-drop mentality?
Personally, I’ll likely continue to overpay for drink packages I’ll underuse due to my feelings about that final-day bill. But whereas I wouldn’t even consider lines which didn’t offer drink packages in the past, I’m actually looking forward to my quickly-approaching second sailing on Virgin Voyages, and more to come.
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