Puzzler925

I am taking my first cruise with the whole fam damily for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary and have been told that the cruise ship makes available, to purchase, a wrist band that allows the wearer to have unlimited soda/bottled water for the duration of the trip. It is a 5 day cruise to Nova Scotia. Anyone know what I can expect to pay for this?

gail

Round numbers $50-100. In my experience it does not allow for bottled water, only fountain sodas (not cans or bottles). Some cruise lines do wrist bands, but more are now putting sticker on your cabin charge card. Good deal for kids/teenagers who consume vast quantities of soda. Often there is something free available to drink all day - usually iced tea and/or lemonade, but not soda.

gail

Another thing, unrelated, to obsess about - do you all have passports?

howefortunate

I just returned from a 10 day cruise to Alaska on Princess. The fee for soft drinks was less than $50 for a ten day cruise. Water, coffee, hot tea, and ice tea were free. They charged $1.50 for each soft drink ordered and more for liquor.

Have a good trip.
howefortunate

Puzzler925

LOL, yes Gail. And thank you. I was just reading about Emd's nightmare!

chasechow

We did a cruise on NCL and they charged us $39.00 for the week. They did not provide wrist bands, but these 10 oz "Tumblers" with lids that you could get refilled that you had to carry around with you. This price did not include bottled water.

If you wanted a full can of soda or even if you ordered soda with room service, the room service items were free but you paid an additional $1.50 per 12oz can.

TxTravelPro

This is one of the things that just baffles me about cruises.
You would think WATER would be included in the cost of the cruise.
So, you pay for the cruise, then you pay for WATER, then you pay mandatory tips. Is there a cruise line that does not take this approach?
What other extra charges are there that you really can't avoid?
I totally agree about charging for alcohol. We do not drink and would not want to pay for alcohol but WATER?
What do you drink if you do not want to pay for water or soda?

gail

OP asked about bottled water. Though I am no cruise expert, having only been on 2, both had self-serve water from a dispensing fountain (like a soda fountain) all the time. The free coffee/tea/iced tea/lemonade was also self-serve.

tinamidon

It is usually $34-40 for a 7 day Royal Carribbean...we did it a couple times, but unless you are guzzeling (sp?) soda, I really don't think its worth it. We let our kids buy a can of soda a day ($1.50) and the rest of the time they drank the free stuff (lemonade, water). Only bottled water costs extra (just like on land), you can still get water with a meal or from a dispenser at the restaurant any time at no charge. They often leave a couple free bottles of water in the stateroom because you should not drink from the tap.

LoriNY1

We paid $70 for a drink card for a 12 day cruise on Carnival. It was a card, like a credit card that you showed the bartender. They checked nothing, so DH and I both used it. It got us juices (cranberry, grapefruit, orange, etc which we used as mixers for the illegal booty in our rooms) and sodas. It did not include bottled water, which was a complete rip off on the ship. I usually bought mine from stores in port. Much cheaper.

xrae

I've been on only one big ship cruise, so keep that in mind. I hated the fact that soda was an extra charge and thought I would die having to drink only tea / lemonade / coffee / water. But I didn't even miss the sodas at all. I don't think I even had one on my cruise.

There are some all-inclusive cruise lines that include sodas and even wine adn alcohol in the fare, but they are the high-end cruise lines and you'll pay a lot more for the entire crusie. One day I'd like to try one of those cruises for the food and pampering.