Buying the Deluxe Beverage Package (DBP) on a Royal Caribbean cruise — at least if you want the best price — requires diligence. The cruise line has no set price for its all-inclusive, all-you-can-drink beverage package.
Instead, the cruise line uses variable pricing based on a formula that's not shared with passengers. It's based on demand, so in a broad sense, the per-day, per-person price tends to be higher on shorter sailings.
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Week-long cruises tend to be in the middle of the pricing structure while anything 8 days and over tends to have the lowest per-day, per-person price. That makes sense as people tend to pack more in on short cruises, while longer sailings are full of passengers who have high loyalty and casino status who get some free drinks because of that.
Before your cruise, Royal Caribbean often offers the DBP at a "sale" price based on selling it at a percentage off. The problem is that because there's no set base price, a 50% discount for one sailing might not be a lower price than a 30% discount on another.
It's a confusing system, and you are allowed to cancel your purchase and buy it back at a better price if you see one (although that will leave the original purchase tied up on your credit card for about a week).
Buying before you get on the ship, however, is always better than buying it onboard. That was not always true, but it has been since Royal Caribbean made one key change.
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Royal Caribbean dropped the BOGO offer
While most people buy the DBP before their cruise, Royal Caribbean used to have a consolation offer for people who did not. It offered the package onboard its ships on the first day on a buy-one-get-one 50% off deal.
That was still a variable price as the cruise line used different base prices on different sailings. Still, it was a better deal than paying full price even though it was generally much higher than what most people paid before their sailing.
Those BOGO offers, however, quietly disappeared last July. The cruise line made no announcement, but they simply stopped offering the deal on the first day of sailing.
It was anecdotal, but widely reported that the BOGO DBP deals were no more.
Royal Caribbean requires all passengers sailing in the same cabin who are 21 and over to buy the DBP if they buy it onboard. Passengers who book it before their cruise can request an exemption and will have to buy a Refreshment package, which does not include alcoholic beverages.
Sharing drinks with anyone who does not have a DBP is strictly forbidden.
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Royal Caribbean brings BOGO back with a catch
The BOGO offer has quietly made its way back to select sailings. It was offered on the Sept. 30-Oct. 4 sailing of Utopia of the Seas, a four-day weekday sailing, but it was not offered on the previous 3-day sailing.
Some crew members, who are not authorized to comment, say it has been offered on some sailings of some ships in recent weeks.
Royal Caribbean never officially ended the BOGO offers and does not comment on drink package pricing.
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On the sailings where it has reappeared, however, there are two major catches. First, the cruise line is using $110 per-person, per-day as the base price. That's generally the highest per-day price it sells the DBP at (although it has been higher in very select cases).
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Second — and this is the key one — the BOGO offer ends at sailaway whereas it was previously offered for the entire first day. As soon as the ship left the dock, the signs were pulled and a request to honor the BOGO was denied.
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