Are P&O considering "All Inclusive"?

Unread post by **CaroleF** » 18 Jul 2014, 09:02

According to a posting on Cruise Critic - though it doesn't say where the report came from and it may not be true - P&O are considering doing a trial with an All Inclusive drinks offer on one of the ships - doesn't say which one. I seem to think they have tried this before, was it on Oceana? They didn't, however, continue with it. What do people think? I'm not sure I'm in favour of it. I know Fred Olsen have introduced it recently and it seems to have impacted on seatings in Club Dining - people who are on the All Inclusive are sat together in the Restaurant, presumably to make things easier for the waiters.

I don't know how it works on other ships perhaps someone will comment.

Carole

Unread post by **david63** » 18 Jul 2014, 09:18

I could be interested but it would depend on how much it would cost and what was included - also would you get Peninsular discount and could you pay for it with OBC?

I don't see any reason why they should not trial something like this but it will probably take some time to "fine tune" it

Unread post by **towny44** » 18 Jul 2014, 09:39

Not sure that AI drinks package would ever appeal to us, first I don't think I would drink enough to make it worthwhile, and second my DW rarely drinks anymore and quite often these AI deals have to be taken by both passengers.
Celebrity on their 123go offers have drinks, OBC or free grats and you can choose 1 or 2 items, we took extra OBC when we had the offer.

Unread post by **Meg 50** » 18 Jul 2014, 09:41

we've all inclusive'd on a river cruise - it was surprisingly civilised...

If the small print restricts it to the dining room, it should be fairly easy to watch out for those becoming 'rat-arsed' (and it's less likely when eating anyway).

Unread post by **Meg 50** » 18 Jul 2014, 09:42

just re read the OP...
I'd read it as the entire ship being AI - an offer would be much harder to administer

Unread post by **Quizzical Bob** » 18 Jul 2014, 10:35

Not for me. I just have the odd glass of wine with dinner and perhaps an eensy-weeny litre of gin with tonics if we have a balcony.

Unread post by **Dark Knight** » 18 Jul 2014, 14:08

aside for the urban myth that AI must mean everyone is nissed as a pewt and all the other tired cliché's that come with the mere mention of AI

we were AI on our Caribbean cruise and it worked well, one drink per person per card, so no buying rounds , no stocking up etc, on Thomson, you usually get iot included if you book early enough and the cost steadily increase up to departure to around £27 per person per day, for a wide selection of beers, spirits and cocktails plus coffee's and soft drinks
you can also upgrade once on board for around the same cost, we found it worked well for us, as it is surprising the number of drinks you have on a sea day in a hot climate and no not beer , beer , beer

on our next one to a colder clime, we opted not to go with the AI, to compare the 2 and see if it is wrth paying for, on our cruise next year , it was included at the time of booking
As far as Pando go, if the comments form the people on the facebook pages and asscosiated groups are anything to go by, you would think they were suggesting a compulsory swingers cruise , rather than an AI package, as the posters seem to be obsessed with the outmoded idea that AI equates to Butlins and its only for chavs
which only reinforces my view that many of the people who cruise on PandO are outdated snobs

Unread post by **barney** » 18 Jul 2014, 14:33

I've had lots of AI land based holidays and I've never drank more than I normally do.

Mind you, I do drink a lot normally.

Mrs Barney rarely drinks so it probably wouldn't be worthwhile for us

Unread post by **oldbluefox** » 18 Jul 2014, 14:55

Nice to see somebody is sober enough to see you home Barney, after you've done too much wine-taking!!!

Unread post by **barney** » 18 Jul 2014, 15:32

Ironically Foxy, that's one of the times when I never overindulge.

Usually because something like a toast or response is 'dumped' on you last minute. You know where I'm coming from.

If I had a quid for every 'can you just', I'd be sitting on a beach somewhere

Unread post by **Mervyn and Trish** » 18 Jul 2014, 17:32

I don't go for the stereotype that it means everyone getting p*ss*d. My sole reservation is whether it would be value for money for us.

Let's face it, cruise lines are not charities. Yes, I know that is a surprise to some.

Therefore any AI deal, unless it is a freebie incentive to book early or whatever, will be priced to make a profit overall, and that sum has to be based on average consumption. The lighter drinkers, who include us, will surely therefore subsidise those who consume more, even if no-one is drinking to excess.

Unread post by **Dancing Queen** » 18 Jul 2014, 17:56

We purchased the premium drinks package with Celebrity and it worked very well for us so we would certainly consider it again depending on where we were going and number of sea days.

I'm not really sure how I'm reading this, is it being suggested AI for all and it will be included in the price, if so I don't think it is a good idea as non drinkers and those that drink very little would be paying for those that do, if it is a package that you have the option to purchase then why not it works on Celebrity, Fred O etc

Unread post by **Meg 50** » 18 Jul 2014, 18:10

the river boats are everyone all in -house wine and soft drinks on tap each meal time

Unread post by **david63** » 18 Jul 2014, 18:57

To some extent DQ that is happening now - there will be an "average" on board spend per pax and those who spend more than the average will be subsidising those who spend little, or in some alleged cases - nothing.

Unread post by **Dancing Queen** » 18 Jul 2014, 20:53

Very true David but I was thinking more along the lines of if xxx was added to the fare of every passenger then those who drink very little would be the losers and that doesn't seem very fair to me, if it's an AI that people have the option of purchasing or declining then everyone has the choice of what will suit them.

I think the exception being River Cruises where you know in advance what is and ( as far as I'm aware ) is not included in the price.

Unread post by **Mervyn and Trish** » 19 Jul 2014, 17:20

The difference with the river boats (the one we've been on and others we've looked at anyway) is it is strictly drinks with meals, not anytime AI drinking.

Unread post by **Gill W** » 20 Jul 2014, 10:45

Meg 50 wrote:
the river boats are everyone all in -house wine and soft drinks on tap each meal time

Yes, and I very much appreciated this on my recent holiday.

I had Diet Coke at lunch and a couple of glasses of wine at dinner. I suppose I could have glugged more to 'get my money's worth' but I was happy with what I had.

If inclusive drinks at meal times were introduced by the sea cruises, I'd be very happy. I'd expect to pay a little more, but I'd prefer to pay up front, rather than have a bill at the end of the cruise

Unread post by **Meg 50** » 20 Jul 2014, 11:00

Gill W wrote:

If inclusive drinks at meal times were introduced by the sea cruises, I'd be very happy. I'd expect to pay a little more, but I'd prefer to pay up front, rather than have a bill at the end of the cruise

mmm - but what would we spend our OBC on?

Unread post by **Manoverboard** » 20 Jul 2014, 11:24

Mervyn and Trish wrote:
The difference with the river boats (the one we've been on and others we've looked at anyway) is it is strictly drinks with meals, not anytime AI drinking.

I am 91.27% sure that I recently read that ' Avalon ' were about to introduce wine etc with meals plus free to consume wine / beer at the bar during opening times.

: Hic :

Unread post by **Mervyn and Trish** » 20 Jul 2014, 11:26

Manoverboard wrote:
Mervyn and Trish wrote:
The difference with the river boats (the one we've been on and others we've looked at anyway) is it is strictly drinks with meals, not anytime AI drinking.
I am 91.27% sure that I recently read that ' Avalon ' were about to introduce wine etc with meals plus free to consume wine / beer at the bar during opening times.

: Hic :

May have to consider another river cruise then! However probably won't be Avalon next time. We very much enjoyed our last trip with them but they don't do the itinerary we fancy next, so more likely to be Viking (though Emerald still looks rather good too).

Unread post by **Andrea S** » 20 Jul 2014, 11:41

There would be winners and losers if it was enforced.

I would prefer to pay for what we have as we don't really drink enough to fit in to any package deal.

We choose a cruise for the itinerary, one which has very few days at sea so our daytime drinking is mostly ashore. On sea days we will have a beer or Pepsi during the day , water with our meal and OH will later on have a Martini and lemon whilst I would have a liqueur coffee.

With P&O I would think any coffee from the Costa brand would still be chargeable with it being a franchise but it is already 'free' at anytime in the cabin or Buffett.

It certainly wouldn't stop me booking a cruise if they did include drinks in the price.

Unread post by **Gill W** » 20 Jul 2014, 12:19

Meg 50 wrote:
Gill W wrote:

If inclusive drinks at meal times were introduced by the sea cruises, I'd be very happy. I'd expect to pay a little more, but I'd prefer to pay up front, rather than have a bill at the end of the cruise
mmm - but what would we spend our OBC on?

There's always Radley bags - you can never have enough Radley !

Andrea S wrote:
With P&O I would think any coffee from the Costa brand would still be chargeable with it being a franchise but it is already 'free' at anytime in the cabin or Buffett.

.

On Viking, they had a couple of coffee stations in the lounge area, so you could get decent coffee, and hot chocolate at any time of the day or night, completely free. You could have it in a cup, to drink there, or 'to go'. Cookies were also available for free. The coffee was much better than what's available in the P&O buffet, and better than the onboard Costas.

If they had decent free coffee and hot chocolate on P&O I'd welcome that even more than AI alcohol and soft drinks

Unread post by **Dancing Queen** » 20 Jul 2014, 12:30

I've just read a thread on cruise.co which was started by their admin about this and it appears it will be something like the Celebrity package .. if you want it, you buy it

No doubt if it trials successfully we can expect to see it as an incentive to book early along with OBC, free parking etc.

Unread post by **Dark Knight** » 21 Jul 2014, 15:31

Thomson offer it "free"

if you book early and then it rises to an eye watering £189 per week at full price or £27 a day each, for those who failed o level maths

great as a "freebie" not so great when you pay as there may be some incentive to get your monies worth out of it hic hic

Unread post by **david63** » 21 Jul 2014, 16:09

Dark Knight wrote:
Thomson offer it "free" if you book early ...

Is it actually a "freebie" or is more a marketing ploy where it is built into the price that you are paying?

As we all know there is no such thing as a free lunch - or in this case a free drink

Cruise Community Forum