Travel Maven Blog ...... David Molyneaux posts from TheTravelMavens.com

Cruise lines offer more beverage packages in rising tide of bar tabs

For vacationers, the biggest surprise aboard their first cruise probably has nothing to do with the feel of rolling seas. More likely, the surprise will be their bar tab.

Trendy drink from the Alchemy Bar on Carnival Sunshine

The cost of alcohol, whether you buy by the drink or as part of the ship’s beverage packages, has become one of cruising’s more confusing, and more expensive, extras.

Partly, that’s because your normal routines at home tend to change with the partying lifestyle at sea, supported by an expanding array of well-hyped alcoholic concoctions.

Say once a week at home you go out for an evening of drinks, and maybe another day you sip a glass or two of wine with dinner. Multiply that times seven on a week’s cruise. Add the occasional morning bloody Mary, a beer at lunch, an afternoon piña colada, and you have a pretty good idea of the potential for consumption.

For an estimate of the size of the bill you might face on your last day of vacation, consider the cost of beverage packages (for soft drinks and/or beverages with alcohol) offered by the mainstream cruise lines.

Royal Caribbean hopes to lure new cruisers with Quantum of the Seas' flexible dining

Cruise lines have not come close to enticing all the potential cruisers in North America to try at least one vacation at sea, or so they say.

But cruising may already have exhausted the pool of people who want to sit each evening for a week, during long, three-course dinners in a big dining room. That would explain the trend away from huge dining areas and toward the growing numbers of alternative eating choices at sea, including such casual evening fare as pizzas, tapas, and pub grub.

Jamie's Italian restaurant on the Quantum of the Seas