Regent Seven Seas Cruise Line goes liquor all-inclusive for 2007
by Tim Larison
Beginning in 2007 all sailings of the Regent Seven Seas cruise line will include all the liquor you can drink in the cruise price. In an interview with Travel Weekly Christian Sauleau, vice president of operations for Regent, said that the policy would cost the company somewhere between $12 and $16 per person per day, but that the increased cost per day to guests would be less than that. He estimated between $9 and $10 per day. Regent already has a “liquor inclusive” policy on its World Cruises and that has worked well. “Customers always say ‘include the beverage’ because we can meet in the bar and there is a better atmosphere. They don’t have to think about who’s paying and who’s not paying and worry about offering someone a drink,” said Sauleau.
Regent is a “premium” cruise line and this is a unique offering – other premium lines like Crystal do not seem to be following suit. Michael Von Wittenau of Crystal says “People are leading healthier lifestyles. Those who don’t drink that much are quite happy we don’t include the alcohol but are very excited that we decided to include bottled water and soda and cappuccinos in the cruise cost”.
I do not see including liquor in the cruise fare as something other cruise lines will do. If drinking alcohol is a big part of the vacation experience for you, I recommend trying an all inclusive resort where alcohol is almost always included in the price.
What do you think? Would you like to see liquor included in the cruise price? Add a comment below.
This topic drew a number of responses on our allcruisetalk email list – some are copied below:
SEPARATELY!!!!!!
1) We drink very little, and having the cost of alcoholic drinks built in to
the fare would increase our cost without increasing any benefit to us.
2) I shudder to think how the irresponsible would overindulge if alcohol was
available “free”.
—
I for one would NOT like to see alcoholic drinks included in the price since we
drink very little. When we went on our honeymoon cruise almost 19 years ago –
we had a bar bill of 40 some dollars. But – there were people in line with us
who had bills of $500, $700 and even $1000!!!!!! I don’t want that kind of cost
added to MY tab.
—
I don’t drink much either, but primarily because I’m cheap about it. Not
for any other reasons. If they included drinks in the cost of the cruise,
my alcohol consumption would probably increase as well.
Having said that, I’m all for the keeping them separate as well.
—
I would NOT Like to see it a part of the cruise. We don’t drink alcohol and
therefore would be absorbing additional cost of those that do. Alcohol can be
very expensive. Over the course of a 7 day cruise I’ve seen people pay
hundreds of dollars for their alchohol tab. I also believe that if alcohol is
provided for free then there will be those who drink excessively and that
concerns
me about safety issues arriving (theirs and others!)
—
I have seen to much excessive drinking in my life to think this would be a
good idea. I already believe drinking can be a problem for some people while
cruising, taking the price tag off of the alcohol and would just increase the
problems IMO.
So I have to say No, I would not like to see drinks included.
—
I think instead as offering the drinks as part of the cruise, theyshould have
drink cards that can be purchased, sort of like the soda card. Then passengers
would have a choice. If you don’t drink, don’t buy te card but if you do tend to
spend a lot on alcohol then buying a drink card would be beneficial.
—
I vote NO, also.
2 of the 3 people in my family do not drink alcoholic beverages and the 3rd
drinks very rarely. I do not want to subsidize the drinkers.
I would be OK if they offered all non-alcoholic beverages as included in the
price, but not alcohol.
—
I’m in favor of as much inclusiveness as possible. I feel that every time I
have to open my wallet, a little fun drains away. However, I do see the
points others have made about fairness to non-drinkers and overindulgence,
so I’d be fine with Suzanne’s suggestion of prepaid beverage cards for
alcoholic as well as non-alcoholic drinks. I also wish all cruise lines were
as lenient as Disney with their BYOB policies.
—
I believe that some of the more recent problems of crime and such on some of
these party boats is due to excessive drinking in the first place. So, no, I
hope that doesn’t ever go into effect for any more cruiselines.