Cruising

The Ultimate Guide to NCL’s Premium Beverage Package (Formerly the Ultimate Beverage Package)

In my previous life as a college professor, showing up to teach a class “three sheets to the wind” (in sticking with a ship theme) or suffering the wrath of grapes was generally frowned upon. Although having taught at a Catholic university at least they served wine at faculty socials. Because, trust me, there’s no group worse to socialize with than a bunch of academics intent on flexing their intellectual muscles – we once debated a piece of punctuation on an internal document for 45 minutes during a department meeting before I finally blurted out (stone cold sober, I might add): “I’m going to stab myself in the eye with a hot poker if we don’t move on!”

Trust me, it’s my job

But when you’re a Prof. Cruise, rolling out the barrels is considered an essential job function. So today, in honor of Martini Monday, our lecture will cover my experience with NCL’s Ultimate Beverage Package promotion (now called the Premium Beverage Package).

Is the Premium Beverage Package promotion worth it?

If you’re seeking out information about the PBP (formerly the UBP), it’s probably because you’ve selected it as a promotion for an upcoming cruise or you’re contemplating selecting it. Or perhaps you’ve partaken of it before and are just here for the booze porn. Either way, here’s the lowdown on the package followed by some “material” to get through a long week (no judgment here).

We selected the UBP (now called the PBP) as one of two sort of free promotional packages on our cruise aboard the Breakaway. I say “sort of” free because there was a mandatory service fee of $19.80 each for the first two people on the reservation per day. We also paid tax on all drinks while in NY and Florida and paid the difference of any drink priced over $15. Go here to see the full terms and conditions of the package. We were determined to get our money’s worth though – I’ll let you be the judge (stay tuned). “UBP” was printed right on our ship cards and we were doing this within minutes of boarding…

My T.A., “H” is a bit of a lush.

We experienced excellent drink service – we never waited longer than 5 minutes to be served at any bar. We also enjoyed ordering drinks with our meals and during evening shows. There was a small bit of confusion over whether Irish Coffee was covered under the plan (we were never charged when we ordered it with breakfast, but when Eric tried to order it with dessert at Ocean Blue they told him it wasn’t included), otherwise we never had any problems anywhere.

Before I get to my “best of” list, go here for a comprehensive table of all standard drinks served on NCL with corresponding photo and recipe. A huge thank you to CardFanDubG on Cruise Critic for creating this list and granting me permission to link to it here.

Favorite drinks:

Lavender Martini

Cucumber and Basil Martini

Rum Cake Martini

Toasted Almond

Bushwacker

Least favorite:

Blood and Sand

AKA Eric’s gym socks mixed with jet fuel

Favorite with breakfast:

Greyhound, Irish Coffee (not pictured), and Bailey’s and coffee (not pictured)

Don’t judge. Extra Credit: order drip coffee and a shot of Bailey’s and combine for a spiked coffee drink covered under the UBP

Favorite bar:

Shakers Martini Bar

Favorite bartender:

Typical, Prof. Cruise making her T.A. do all the work

Prettiest drink:

Aviation

How Prof. Cruise usually orders a drink: “oh, that’s pretty – I’ll have that!”

Best drink to keep you awake for the late show:

Espresso Martini

Or one to avoid if you want to sleep at all that night – learned that one the hard way right before a long day of travel

Best drink for complaining about men with your girlfriends:

Cosmo

Best drink to order when you’re pretending to know French:

Le Fizz

Best drink for morning breath:

Mojito

Best drink to enjoy on your balcony:

Seabreeze

Or on the waterfront if you’re too cheap for a balcony like Prof. Cruise

Worst drink to attempt to carry up 4 flights of stairs:

Apple Blossom Martini

Extra credit: ask for a “to go” glass at the martini bar if you plan on traveling more than 2 inches with this

Mystery drink:

I was too drunk and just started pointing. Bonus points for anyone who knows what it is.

Worst adaptation:

Signature Mai Tai

Mai Tai’s are supposed to taste like citrus and sugar, not cinnamon and alcohol. Trust me, order a “regular” Mai Tai

I was tired of my lady (or gent), we’d been together too long.

Like a worn out recording of a favorite song.

So if you like these:

Pina Colada

Then I’m the love that you’ve looked for, write to me and escape. On a round-the-world cruise that you’re paying for. Otherwise, don’t bother with a stamp.

I challenged myself to order a drink starting with each letter of the alphabet (strictly for educational purposes – my T.A. “H” was learning his ABC’s). I couldn’t decide between these two for the letter ‘P,’ so I ordered them both:

Paloma

Pisco Punch

Bonus points for the double “P”

What’s the difference between an American raspberry and a French raspberry? No, this isn’t the setup to another bad joke. I really want to know, because this martini was called:

French Raspberry

Don’t tell Eric I ordered one of these (regardless of nationality, raspberry = Eric’s kryptonite)

When you’re both cheap (inside cabin) and lazy (our only aim was to wake up before the restaurants closed for breakfast), this is the only sunrise you’ll see on the Breakaway:

Tequila Sunrise

When it comes to power couples, Brad and Angelina, Bert and Ernie, and George and Amal (I like Amal so much I have a dart board with her face on it), have nothing on chocolate and martini.

Chocolate Martini

Speaking of things that go well together…

There’s a bathroom strategically located right next to the kiddie pool. I never saw anyone using it though.

Rebellious Fish

And finally, to get you through a long week of work…

Daydream (daiquiri)

of this little…

(Citrus) Gem

Extra Credit: Order a “Lemon Drop” if they don’t have this.

And if that doesn’t work, melt some mint chocolate chip ice cream and drink it out of a champagne flute.

Grasshopper

Pictured at the back right

Cheers!

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And don’t forget to snag this “Warning, I Bought The Drink Package” shirt before your cruise:

Prof. Cruise