Princess Cruises cracks down on beverage package abuse
No matter how inclusive a cruise drink package may be or how much value it offers, there will always be passengers who try to beat the system to get even more for their money.
Some cruise drink packages, like Princess Cruises' Plus and Premier packages, limit passengers to 15 alcoholic beverages per 24-hour period. This limitation leads some cruisers to view that number as a challenge to meet during a vacation day at sea to get the most bang for their buck.
Related: Cruise excursion leads to illness; Princess Cruises limits drinks
Surprisingly, some cruise passengers even try to find ways to order additional drinks beyond the 15-drink limit. And less surprisingly, some passengers try to get away with sharing a drink package among two or more passengers.
To avoid this, Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean both require that if one passenger purchases an alcoholic drink package, all passengers of legal drinking age booked in the same stateroom must purchase it, too.
Princess Cruises, however, only requires that if a passenger chooses to purchase one of its popular Plus or Premier packages for their cruise, the second passenger in the same stateroom must purchase it, too. In staterooms with three or four passengers, the third and fourth passengers are not required to purchase the package.
This could potentially lead Princess cruisers with three or four passengers in a stateroom to try to share two drink packages among three or four people.
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To deter efforts to share drink packages among passengers booked in the same or separate staterooms, and other misuse, Princess Cruises is now stepping up drink package rule enforcement.
Crew members recently received instructions on a fleetwide initiative to strengthen and reinforce the terms of its beverage packages, according to Crew Center, a website that shares news and insights about life and work on cruise ships.
Princess Cruises says the goal of the initiative is to "maintain consistency in guest service while preserving the value and integrity of the beverage packages."
Related: Princess Cruises raises key onboard fees
A cruise line memo instructed onboard food and beverage teams to enforce the following beverage rules beginning May 9:
Passengers are only permitted to order one drink per transaction, regardless of whether they have the Princess Plus or Princess Premier beverage package.Sharing beverage packages is strictly prohibited. Passengers are not permitted to use their package allowance to buy drinks for other passengers. If a passenger wants to buy a round for others, each additional drink must be charged at full price.Double pours of spirits are no longer permitted. However, crew can still serve passengers double pours of wines by the glass.
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Passengers should also keep in mind that Princess Cruises beverage package terms state that:
"Shipboard management reserves the right to add additional restrictions and revoke or cancel the Plus (or Premier) Beverage Package at any point during a guest's voyage for any reason with or without a prorated refund." Additional actions may be taken if guests:
Become intoxicatedProvide beverages to other guests or do not comply with the terms, conditions and limitations of the packageExhibit behavior that is inappropriate, a safety risk to themselves or others, or become offensive or disruptive to other cruise guests or staffExceed, or attempt to circumvent, the daily limits and service limitations outlined
Related: Princess Cruises passengers angry over key drink package change
Nonalcoholic drinks are not limited with the Plus or Premier packages, nor do they count toward the 15-drink daily maximum on alcoholic beverages. Princess Cruises did, however, recently began enforcing a limitation on soda included with the packages.
After including cans of soda in the packages for some time, the cruise line has reverted back to a previous policy that excludes cans of soda from the packages.
Now, passengers receive a 25% discount on cans of soda with the Plus and Premier packages, while fountain sodas are still included.
(The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.)
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