I read some interesting news this week that Royal Caribbean is going to be experimenting with different all-you-can-drink packages at various price points. At first I thought this was great, but after thinking about it, I realized it is only for those that like little hassle or surprises at the end of the cruise. It is a convenience, and people will gladly pay for it thinking they will get some value out of it. However, like most things, it really depends on your expectations of the trip on whether it is worth the investment.

The basic packages are as follows:
– $29 per person per day for all beers, house wine by the glass and a 25% discount on all other wines and liquors
– $39 per person per day and includes all beers, house wine by the glass, all liquor (except premium and specialty brands), cocktails and 25% discount on all other wines and premium and specialty liquors
– $49 per person per day offers all that is included in the Classic Package plus glasses of wine that normally sell for up to $10, cocktails, premium liquor brands and a 25% discount on all bottles of wine, glasses of wine over $10 and specialty liquors

At first, lets break down the quick economics of this program and assume that those fancy cocktails you order by the pool cost $10 each. If you drink more than 4 drinks each day, then maybe the $39 package will work for you and be of some benefit as it will be cheaper. However, even if you assume you have two drinks with lunch, two for dinner, and then another two drinks in the evening, your six drinks are costing $6.50 each, still no bargain by any means. On top of it, you would need to drink like that every night of the cruise.

I have only been on three cruises in my life, and only one of them was with my wife a couple years ago when I was old enough to drink. In general, both my wife and I are not big drinkers. Yes we like to enjoy a glass or two of wine with a nice meal, or the occasional cocktail drink. However, for all intensive purposes, we would not drink enough to benefit from this program, especially now that we have kids.

The all-you-can-drink option is geared more towards those that are blown away at the end of their cruise by the drink bill. It is for those that can drink a bucket or more of beers each day. Basically, I think this is a horrible decision for Royal Caribbean to introduce, and is going to cause more problems than value for them. As Americans, and maybe even as humans in general, we are all about over consumption. As soon as we see a buffet or endless supply of something, we use it to excess. There are going to be some people that are going to drink until they are excessively drunk just to try and get their money worth. As I said early, we are not big drinkers, but I would think if I signed up for this package, and knowing how I like to feel some value out of what I pay for, I would likely be drinking way more than I would normally.

At least prior to the implementation of this program, one could have some control of how much they were drinking because they knew in the back of their mind that the bill at the end of the trip would not be cheap.

I understand what Royal Caribbean is trying to do to drum up additional business in a tough economy, but I think this is a horrible idea and may ruin their credibility. I fully could see Carnival doing this type of program because they are geared towards a younger audience, but Royal Caribbean, in my mind, was always more upscale. It will be interesting to see how they handle the possible increase in drunkenness. I foresee this program not lasting to long after they start having issues beyond the norm. What will be surprising to see is if any of the other cruise lines follow suit and start offering their own all-you-can-drink packages.

Well I have been watching the rates for hotels in the Finger Lakes region of New York State since my original discussion on the topic. I am always surprised when searching for hotel rooms because the rates rarely, if ever fluctuate. As I previously mentioned, we had a strong preference to stay at an Intercontinental branded hotel because of a promotion I am currently in called Crack the Case with Priority Club.

Everyone’s promotion has completely different goals and had to be invited to participate. My Crack the Case promotion included the following tasks:

– Open a Priority Club VISA credit card for 60,000 points
– Take a Survey for 1,000 points
– Opt-in for Emails for 10,000 points
– Stay 10 room nights for 5,600 points
– Stay at 2 Brands for 4,400 points
– Stay 2 Saturdays for 3,300 points

Bold items above have already been completed.
Italicized items above will be unlocked after this trip.

As an added bonus, if I unlock 5 tasks above, I receive 125,000 bonus points. In all, if I complete all of the tasks, I will receive a grand total of 209,300 points from this promotion, and that does not include points from the stay and/or any other promotions along the way that we registered. Considering at a minimum, that is 13 free nights, it was well worth the effort.

Previous to this offer, we were loyal Hilton members, but free points made it worth the switch, and the hope is to get enough points to cover our future trip to Hawaii at some point in the future. Considering we already have enough United airline miles to make the Hawaii trip happen, it is just a matter of getting the perfect time to go with two young children under the age of two currently.

So of all the Intercontinental hotels in the Finger Lakes region, the one we were most interested in staying at was the Staybridge Suites in Corning, New York. Each room came with a small kitchen, perfect for making bottles, etc. for our new son. In addition, they have an indoor pool, which we will be sure to take advantage of with our oldest son. Free breakfast is an additional perk that made this hotel perfect for the choosing. Most importantly, we double checked the Bedbug Registry to make sure this hotel had the all clear.

The problem was no matter which avenue I pursued for the best rate, everything came back as a non-refundable rate. I have no problem paying in advance so long as I can cancel without stipulations, but I do not like being tied down for a commitment should something come up at the last minute. Since our house is back on the market again for sale, and we just had a new baby, we did not want to necessarily commit. So for a while we have been holding off on booking anything until we knew for sure we wanted to go.

Well in combination with my wife’s retired parents, who are coming along with us on this trip, we made a tentative itinerary for the trip to verify the number of days we wanted to stay in the region. We had already decided when we wanted to go due to various schedules. We decided 3 nights would be ideal to see the area, including Watkins Glen State Park, the Corning Glass Museum, and the wine trails (the main reason we are going).

Seeing as we are within the 60 day window of when the trip will occur, I decided we needed to take the plunge and make a decision whether we were going before the rates went up, or worse the hotels started to sell out considering it is still spring break season.

Rates via all the major consolidators like Expedia and Travelocity, as well all the Intercontinental/Holiday Inn/Staybridge Suites websites, were all coming up around $418 for the three nights after taxes and fees. After some research into the Crack the Case promotion via FlyerTalk, I learned that the Friends and Family rate did qualify for meeting the night requirements, although you do not receive actual points for the stays. I was completely fine with not receiving points for the stay because all I care about at this point is meeting my requirements to fully unlock my bonus points. My hope is that we are also registered for certain other promotions currently through Priority Club, so it will be interesting to see if we receive those points as well the Crack the Case points.

All in all, we booked two rooms, via separate confirmations, with the Friends and Family rate. Total cost for each room was around $314 after taxes and fees, a savings of $100 per room. We will receive a total of 6 night stays (3 for each room) including Saturday night. This means that we will unlock all but one of our locks for the Crack the Case promotion with this stay. Note: we already stayed 4 nights at the Disney Holiday Inn over Thanksgiving 2010. For the credit card lock I am trying to hold out until the very end in the hopes that we can sell our home first.