No one likes price increases.
Even if the purchase is still worth the money, no one wants to pay more, and it’s even worse when you’re asked to pay more.
Cruise passengers are also very price-conscious, as in many cases the extra they pay can be close to (or even more than) what they originally paid for their cabin.
Price increases can be immediate, with cruise lines actually increasing bottom line prices. In other cases, they may be hidden in package pricing or come in the form of offering passengers less services for the same money.
Carnival, MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line have all recently raised prices, but in different forms.
Ilana from LifeWellCruished.com shares the details in her latest YouTube video and breaks down what these changes mean for passengers.
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Carnival, MSC and Norwegian Cruise Line change beverage packages
Some cruise lines have made some significant and even costly changes recently, and even if they don’t particularly affect you, these are things you’ll want to know about because other cruise lines may implement them in the future, and there are some lessons to be learned.
hello. I’m Ilana from lifewellcruising.com. Welcome or welcome back to my channel. Well, I’ll tell you that I’ve been tracking some of these changes lately. I think we really need to talk about them because there are now three different cruise lines that have made this change. I see a pattern that I think we as cruise ship passengers really need to be aware of.
Now, I’m going to jump right into these changes, but before I do, I do want to mention that if you enjoyed this video, if you found it helpful, informative, or enjoyable in any way, then please be sure to give this video a thumbs up Thumbs up. I’m really grateful. If you haven’t subscribed to the channel yet, please do so.
Let’s get started.
Well, let’s talk about the one that gets the most attention, but I do have a few other examples, and again, there are some lessons to be learned and some things that we as cruise ship passengers should be doing.
So the first thing is that Carnival has recently made some changes to their packages, specifically their drink packages and another package which has to do with a price increase on their Cheers drink packages. Carnival’s Cheers beverage package now includes up to 15 alcoholic drinks per person per day.
Now, the package has increased to over $10 per person per day. Now, the price of Carnival’s beverage packages does depend on whether you’re on a short or long cruise, but if you go online you’ll find that the package is about $82 per person per day, including tip, if you purchase the package before the cruise. If you buy it on the cruise, it’s 10% more.
Now, the biggest change itself isn’t the addition of drink packages. Of course, no one wants to see costs go up, but many cruisers say the biggest change is that they don’t receive warnings from cruise lines about price increases, whereas in the past, cruise passengers sometimes got some warnings, specifically from Carnival Cruise Lines. Now, I do have some thoughts on this, but first I also want to mention that Carnival did increase the price of its WiFi plans shortly thereafter.
Now, their WiFi packages have increased by 12% to 22% per person per day. So those are some pretty significant growth that will make the cruiser cost a lot more money. In fact, premium WiFi on Carnival is now $20 per person per day if you purchase it on board the cruise.
Now, on this Carnival cruise, passengers received no warning, and many said it didn’t really allow us to budget for what we might want to buy.
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MSC and Norwegian have also made changes
Now I have two more cruise lines to talk about, and then I’ll share what they have in common, lessons we can learn as cruise passengers so we don’t get stuck like this again. I do want to hear your thoughts on some things too.
So the second thing is, MSC Cruises has made changes to their drink packages, MSC Cruises used to have unlimited drink packages in terms of alcohol which is a little different than Carnival, but now they’re going to have the same type of drinks. system, they capped beverage packaging at 15 alcoholic beverages per day.
Now, as of now, we’re not seeing any changes in terms of pricing, and I have to say, to be fair, MSC is giving a little bit of warning, which I personally really like. Now, the MSC does say they are making this change so that people can drink alcohol both indulgently and responsibly.
However, MSC allows people to purchase additional drinks above the 15 alcohol content limit for the price of that drink.
Now, I do want to talk about the 15 alcoholic drink limit on MSC and Carnival Cruise Lines before moving on to the next cruise line. So I do have some thoughts and questions about this, and in this case, I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this. I know a lot of people are like, well, who can have 15 drinks? Other cruise lines, such as Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean, do not have this restriction.
So is it better to have restrictions? Wouldn’t it be better to have a limit? So I’ve heard that sometimes, when there’s a 15-drink limit, sometimes people actually almost consider it a challenge to drink that much a day to make it worth it. On other cruise lines, they don’t necessarily do that. I don’t have any evidence to know if this is true.
Some people say 15 drinks a day is too much, and some people say, you know, I just want the freedom to drink as much as I want. I was on vacation after all. So please let me know what you think about this. But I did have a third thought, and my thought was that if the limit was 15, it would actually prevent people from sharing the kit.
So I’m wondering if that’s part of the reason, but I don’t know anything about it. Okay, let’s talk about the third cruise line that made a big change, not this month, but they did make a change recently, and that’s Norwegian Cruise Line, which has changed Free at Sea to More at Sea. Overall, I think people really enjoyed this.
The More at Sea benefit package is very similar to the Free at Sea benefit package, which includes beverage packages, meals, and a few other benefits. However, More at Sea does cost a bit more. A seven-day cruise costs about $200 more per couple.
I have a video about this bag. If you want to know more details you can check out my channel and you will find it. However, this package is a little more expensive as it does include the premium drink package, so it does include drinks that are actually higher on the shelf, so that’s pretty good. It also includes a little more specialty dining, and the specialty dining is stepped up a little bit, so that’s nice, but the price does go up.
But one thing it has in common with Carnival is that this change happens day by day. Essentially, it doesn’t give cruise ship passengers any warning if they might want to book before the changes are made. Now, whether this is a mistake or the right thing to do, I’m not sure I really have a problem with this. After all, I don’t know how other industries do it.
I definitely think it’s a good thing to issue a warning to cruise ship passengers, but I also understand why they do it. But I do know that for me, I was actually booking a cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line when they changed to “More at Sea”, which did mean that I lost the ability to still be able to book “Free at Sea”, As it goes from day to day, I guess I just don’t move fast enough. Now, if I book Free at Sea before Free at Sea changes to More at Sea, the benefit is that I will pay a little less, but I will still benefit from the upgraded More At Sea beverage package.
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Now, speaking of Carnival, this is more of a lesson and this could happen with any different cruise line. They can raise prices at any time, so I think the lesson here for us cruisers is that if you want to book something, whether it’s a shore excursion or a package that you want to add on, don’t assume that the price is from the time you book the cruise , this information will remain unchanged until you set sail or until you are ready to view your package.
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Instead, I think when you book a cruise – and I definitely do this when I book a cruise – is you book all the different packages, the different things that you might want to add, I think you’d probably do that okay, right now Book it in and in most cases if I remember correctly these are usually things that if you add them on you can also take them off and I believe they are usually refundable.
Obviously, check your own specific cruise line, but that’s what I’d do next. Now I would love to hear your opinion please let me know if the cruise line will warn cruise passengers before making changes also please let me know what you think of the drink packages if the limit is higher or lower than 15 Cup, of course let me know if you plan on making any changes to how you book your cruise. Now, I hope you enjoyed this video and found it helpful, if you did please give it a big thumbs up, I really appreciate it and subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already.
Goodbye now and happy sailing!
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