If you buy an unlimited alcoholic beverage package from your cruise line, can it change the terms later? That’s what Joan Barret wants to know.
Joan says Princess Cruises lured her onto this cruise with the promise of an unlimited alcoholic beverage package. But later, the cruise line changed the terms to “just” 15 cocktails per day. And those changes are unacceptable to Joan.
This tale begs the question: Should anyone on a cruise ship be under the influence of 15 or more alcoholic drinks per day? Probably not (JMO).
But Joan says that Princess Cruises should give her what it offered. She was promised unlimited alcoholic beverages on her cruise, and that’s what she and her traveling companions are demanding.
*Editor’s note: This article comes from our advocacy archives and was originally published in 2017.
The Princess Cruises unlimited alcoholic beverages package
Here’s the complaint that landed in my email box:
“One year after paying for an unlimited alcoholic beverages package, we found out that Princess has changed its policy and has limited alcoholic beverages to 15 per day!” Joan lamented. “I have always thought Princess Cruise Line to be a reputable company and didn’t think we’d have to worry that they would alter the promotion one year later.”
After Joan discovered this change in the promotion, she began a robust crusade to force Princess to uphold its promise of unlimited alcoholic beverages.
Myself and four friends decided to book this cruise based on the Sip ‘n Sail Promotion. Upon receiving our booking confirmation, I noticed it says all-inclusive beverage package but it doesn’t state unlimited. I called my travel agent to clarify. She told me that Princess Cruises changed their policy and now there is a daily alcohol limit.
As this issue has been very upsetting to me and my friends I am reaching out to you to get a positive resolution to our problem. I am anxious to have this resolved as soon as possible so I may then concentrate on booking excursions and be able to look forward to an exciting trip of a lifetime. I would like Princess Cruise Line to do the right thing and honor the unlimited terms as advertised
Joan
Princess Responds: No unlimited alcoholic beverages package on this cruise
The answer from Princess Cruises about the unlimited booze? No.
The daily 15-alcoholic beverages limit is firm — there is no unlimited alcoholic beverages package.
Joan then threatened to never use Princess Cruises again. (You can probably guess how that turned out.)
“I told [the executive] that I would never take another Princess cruise and would advise all of my friends and family not to do so either,” Joan recalled. “That executive just said that was my choice. But Princess would not be honoring the unlimited alcoholic beverages portion of this promotion for our cruise.”
Reaching the top Princess executives, Joan says she found nobody sympathetic to her plight. And that is when she turned to our advocacy team and hoped that we could reach out to Princess on her behalf.
“It is that unlimited alcoholic beverages promotion that made our decision to go on a Princess Cruise rather than another cruise line,” she complained. “I am requesting your help in getting this promotion for us.”
Although we love to reach successful resolutions for the consumers who contact us, this case had our advocacy team a bit astonished.
Does anyone really need more than fifteen adult beverages per day?
Fifteen adult beverages per day is a tremendous amount of alcohol for one person. And depending on the rate at which those drinks are ingested, a person could easily end up in a state of alcohol poisoning.
I found it hard to imagine how anyone would object to such a copious daily limit.
And with the frequency of news reports of drunken passengers behaving badly on cruise ships, injuring themselves and others and even falling (or jumping) off the ship altogether, it’s easy to see why Princess would put a cap on the cocktails in this package.
But putting all that aside, Dwayne and I did take a look at the Sip ‘n Sail package as listed on the Princess website.
While it does indicate that the package is “all-inclusive,” it doesn’t say “unlimited.”
Our advocacy team can’t advocate for your unlimited alcoholic beverages package
Unfortunately, in the fine print of this promotion, it says “A daily alcoholic drink limit will apply.”
Princess Cruise does not specifically define the term “unlimited.” But when Joan asked, she found that on her cruise it would be 15 drinks per day.
Joan believes that Princess Cruises changed the terms of the unlimited alcoholic beverages package after she and her friends signed up for the promotion.
But for this passenger, it doesn’t matter. The terms and conditions of the beverage packages highlight that: “Princess Cruises may modify, amend or update the terms and conditions at any time with or without notice to guests.”
In the end, our consumer advocacy couldn’t get on board with this plea for help. But we hope that this group can still enjoy their “trip of a lifetime” even within these confines. (Michelle Couch-Friedman, Consumer Rescue)
*Before you go: What if a cruise operator owes you a big refund but won’t give it to you?
I wonder if the LW’s entire group bought the package, or just one of the group. If the latter, it’s a pretty clear indication that they intended to share an entire drink package…. I can’t imagine the the four friends were there as sober sailing companions to someone for whom more than 15+ drinks a day was necessary to cruise.
They do require that every adult in a cabin purchase a package (some will grant an exception if you can medically prove someone cannot drink alcohol, ie they are pregnant) but if it was a group travelling yeah the scheme could have been to have 1 cabin provide drinks for everyone. Though they can (and will) track to see if someone seems to be sharing and cut them off without refund so it’s still a bad idea.
One of two things were happening here:
1. This person needs to go to AA if they need more than 15 drinks per day.
2. This person was going to illegally share her drinks with her friends.
On the other hand…. I’m not sure about Princess’ rules, but sometimes the drink packages cover custom coffee beverages, fresh squeezed orange juice, and other non-alcoholic beverages that are extra charge.
Princess does include a number of “premium” non-alcoholic drinks in their package, but last I checked non-alcoholic beverages are exempt from the 15-drink limit as people would then rightfully be mad that they “burned through” their allocation on a few soda refills.
From what I found after 60 seconds of googling, I think the LW is correct saying that the “All Inclusive Beverage Package” was indeed unlimited.
It’s not a robust source but it’s in this article: https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/princess-cruises-increases-the-price-of-its-alcohol-package/
I would have to agree that more than 15 drinks/days is too much alcohol for one person, but I also have to agree that the LW is right to be upset that she got bait-and-switched. She paid for one thing and Princess delivered something else. No amount of small print in the contract should make that OK. A company should honor the terms they themselves came up with when they were paid for a product or service.
Note that LW was going on a cruise with port stops so that she reported she was going to book excursions. That meant she had even less time each day to drink on board making 15+ drinks even more impossible.
This story seems like some kind of fraternity prank … 40 years ago. I grew up in Minnesota, where the state sport is drinking. So I’ve been happily doing so since the age of 15. A glass of champagne, a cocktail, maybe wine with dinner … I don’t think a human being could possibly consume 15 drinks in 24 hours. She must wake up every hour to have another drink. Excessive might be 7 drinks a day …maybe. Princess should cancel the booking and refund her money in the name of common sense. And ban her for life. Denying her a steady stream of alcohol 24/7 will no doubt give her justification for making everyone’s life miserable during the cruise. Who wants a person with such mental issues on a ship anyway?
Sounds like the group probably planned to have one person buy that package then hand the drink off to others in the party. No one can drink 15 drinks in a day and remain sober and bartenders are taught to refuse to provide drinks to anyone who is clearly intoxicated
It’s very possible for some people, I haven’t drank in over 13 years, but at one point I could easily down a 12 pack of beer and a half a bottle of Jager every night. Plus smoke two or three joints. I remember or kind of remember a trip to Cabo San Lucas, when I was on vacation I would start drinking at 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning drink till about noon take a 3 or 4 hour nap get up at five or six and then drink till midnight there’s no way 15 would be enough for me, just saying! Not that I would recommend that to anyone. But I knew what the response would be. They say that on every cruise that they can change their rules at any time. That’s why you can’t complain when they may change destinations, even the length of the cruise sometimes. And tours. That leaves a big opening for them to be able to change whatever they want.
The article is from 2022. Princess put the 15 drink limit on in 2017 or 2018. If this cruise was in 2022, it couldn’t have been booked before the 15 drink limit was added, since at most you can book about 2.5 to 3 years out.
Hi Abby. Yes this was a case from 2017. Michelle is republishing many of her older articles that were not originally published on this site.