Following P&O’s recent announcement regarding scrapped gratuities they have now announced their new beverage package range. Rolling out between March – May 2019 guests taking a 5 night or more cruise with P&O can now consider booking an all inclusive drinks package. A range of 4 different drinks packages will soon be offered to passengers starting from £7.95 Per Person Per Day. The great thing about the packages is that they will be available to use in all restaurants and bars on the ships including the paid restaurants like The Limelight Lounge.
We have always found P&O drinks to be some of the cheapest in the cruising world but we did hope that one day they would consider offering package options. But I am still unsure if I would benefit from them as personally I am not a heavy drinker. Each passenger in the cabin will have to purchase the same drinks package (not including children). So for me I believe that is unfair because there are some families and couples who have different tastes/needs.
Image – P&O
The Ultimate Drinks Package £39.95 per person per day: Will include any drink up to the cost of £6.95 up to 15 alcoholic drinks per day. These includes beer, wine, cocktails, coffees and soft drinks. This drinks package also gives you a 20% discount on drinks over the cost of £6.95.
The Non Alcoholic Drinks Package £19.95 per person per day: Will include Mocktails, Speciality Coffees/hot chocolates, Soft drinks and Selected juices.
The Hot Drinks Package £10.95 per person per day: Will include small Costa coffees, teas and hot chocolates. Also a 20% discount on medium/large hot drinks.
The Children’s Drink Package £7.95 per person per day: Will include just Soft drinks, Selected Juices and Hot Chocolate. A children’s drinks package will be provided complimentary if there is an adult purchasing a full ultimate drinks package in the same cabin.
P&O Cruises president Paul Ludlow said: “We have introduced these drinks packages following direct feedback from our guests. They add even more value for guests on our cruises and can help with the all important holiday budgeting too. With a vast range of drinks included, our guests will be spoilt for choice and can try new wines, artisan gins or cocktails, for example, which they would not normally have at home.”
The Roll out dates are as follows:
Azura: 26 March 2019
Britannia: 7 April 2019
Aurora: 8 April 2019
Oceana: 18 April 2019
Ventura: 23 April 2019
Arcadia: 5 May 2019
All drinks packages can be purchased within the first two days of your cruise. To find out more about the packages please visit the P&O website here.
Are Drinks Packages Good Value?
In my opinion no.. but that is only because hubby and I are not big drinkers.. I find packages are better value on other cruise lines where the base price of drinks are more expensive anyway. But as I mentioned before we have always found P&O’s drinks to be very reasonable anyway! There is no way I could guzzle £39.95 worth of drink a day! I would be on the floor…
A few years ago we spent a week on a RCI ship with a free drinks package. We made note of every single drink we had and added everything up at the end. We just about broke even but we were forcing ourselves to have drinks we didn’t even want.
However if you are a big drinker and can easily get through 6 – 8 glasses of wine/bottles of beer a day along with some coffee and soft drinks you could benefit from the package. Often guests prefer to have the packages just to have a laid back holiday without having to sign receipts all of the time.. But I will leave that decision with you guys!
