Yes, you heard that right! Carnival Cruise Line is currently testing out an All-You-Can-Drink Alcohol Package on the Carnival Victory, as of August 5, 2012. The program is called: "My Awesome Bar Program."
"In an e-mail to Cruise Critic, Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen confirmed that the trial has been ongoing since Victory's August 5 departure.
The per-cruise cost for the My Awesome Bar Program is $42.95 per person per day, plus a 15 percent gratuity. Purchasers can partake of a wide variety of wine, beer and spirits, as well as sodas, bottled water and non-alcoholic frozen cocktails throughout their cruise. (Specialty coffee is not part of the program.) However, all included beverages, including wines by the glass, beers and individual cocktails, must be less than $10 to qualify for inclusion. Program participants who want to purchase bottles of wine and Champagne, as well as more expensive wines by the glass and cocktails will receive a 25 percent discount.
Gulliksen tells Cruise Critic that participants can order one drink at a time.
Passengers can sign up for My Awesome Bar Program at Carnival Victory's atrium and casino bars, as well as at the main pool bar.
There is a catch: if one passenger wants to purchase the beverage package, then all passengers ages 21 years and up in the same cabin must also purchase the package. Though Carnival would not comment on the reasons behind this requirement, it does make the possible issue of two people in one cabin “sharing” a plan moot.
Gulliksen touted convenience and value as reasons the line is exploring all-inclusive beverage options. At press time, the length of the test period had not yet been determined.
Other cruise lines that offer similar types of unlimited beverage packages are Celebrity, MSC and Oceania. Of these three, only MSC also requires all passengers in the same cabin to purchase the package, making the Carnival and MSC options the most expensive per cabin of all the programs (even if some individual packages are higher priced). Royal Caribbean also offers an unlimited beverage package, though only on three of its most international ships.
Royal Caribbean and Holland America both offer discounts on pre-purchased wine bundles."
www.cruisecritic.com
"Carnival's move comes a year after rival Royal Caribbean rolled out all-you-can-drink alcohol packages on three ships based overseas. Celebrity Cruises unveiled all-you-can-drink packages fleetwide in 2010.
A spokesperson for Carnival tells USA TODAY the line hasn't decided whether it will add the new alcohol package on its 23 other ships." www.usatoday.com/
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