Is anyone thirsty?

I had heard that Royal Caribbean re-vamped their drink packages a bit.  So I was doing a little research tonight. 

It does appear that the basic soft drink package has been changed and they now call it the "Replenish Package".  It include sodas, premium coffees, fresh squeezed orange juice (I noted that for Jordan and Eric's benefit.  Think Alaska cruise last year and the orange juice lady), specialty teas, and more.  It now costs $20 / day versus the flat rate that they used to charge.

Along with this package, there are a couple of other packages that include alcoholic drinks that you can purchase as a package.  Someone with more time on their hands than me has created a nice chart to kind of give you an idea of how the Premium package breaks down:

http://www.cruisewithgambee.com/royal-caribbean-drink-package/

With all of this talk of drinks, I wanted to mention what John and I have done in the past.  We usually bring 2 bottles of wine with us when we board.  That is allowed per the Royal Caribbean policies:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&faqId=260&faqSubjectId=333

We also have tagged a case of bottled water and a couple 12 packs of sodas with our room tags and they have successfully made it up to our rooms on the last couple of cruises.  Technically the rules say not to carry waters or sodas on board but we take our chances.  A 24-pack of waters is usually only about $3 and a 12-pack of sodas is not that much either.  So we would rather see if that makes it onboard before paying for the soda package.

And last but not least...  You will not be thirsty on the ship.  At breakfast there is milk and non-fresh-squeezed orange juice available (beware of the ship personnel peddling the fresh-squeezed orange juice as that does cost extra!).  At lunch there is usually tea (non premium), coffee (non premium), and some of the restaurants offer flavored waters!  I do not drink coffee or tea so I have no idea what the difference is between premium and non-premium, but there you have it.

So...  Bottom's up!