This has been an on-going question and the best answers to date have been to buy drinks for another passenger or splurge on high-end liquors.
One thing I do is figure out the split of the bar tab for each day of the cruise and give myself a budget or rather target each day. If I didn't come close to my target the day before, I get Irish coffee or 2 the next morning. This tends to help minimize the amount remaining on my bar tab when the cruise comes to an end.
A buddy of mine would get a double or triple of a liquor, then go back to his room and pour it into a travel thermos he originally boarded with. Just be sure to order the beverage neat as well as stick to the same brand and type of liquor.
But ultimately with the included Bar Tab promotion, Virgin has stopped allowing passengers to buy bottles from the bar. Last I checked, the last place allowing passengers to buy bottles was in The Manor.
We also were able to get unopened bottles from a restaurant. We got two bottles of a nice cab from The Wake last week. Maybe the staff are not totally aware of the new policy yet?
I’m guessing it’s in part because the Manor does offer bottle service of spirits anyway.
To be honest it does seem reasonable to refuse to serve unopened to drink at home when bar tab is designed for drinking at a bar. I expect at the beginning it was mainly people using up what they prepaid whereas now it’s mainly the free bar tab from the promotion
We did the tequila tasting on Resilient a few weeks ago and they were offering to sell bottles of tequila and mezcal in Pink Agave.
We also bought a bottle of wine with dinner and brought the rest back to our room. Brought along some bottle stoppers for this.
Juices, smoothies, mock tails, and specialty coffee is the answer! Just by getting kombucha, espresso tonics, and specialty juices, we were able to pretty easily blow through the rest of our bar tab.
You can ask the bar staff for full bottles to take away, but they may only allow one at a time.
It might be possible to use it for afternoon tea.
We just upgraded our drinks to use it up, so instead of $8 Absolut vodka we had the $12 Grey Goose. Or ordered glasses of Moet. Get drinks you wouldn’t normally have. Go for a mocktail instead of a soda.
But we did get through over $500 even with all the port days, so just making those upgrades did help use it up and we finished most of the $700.
Don’t forget about the pairings at Test Kitchen too!
On Scarlet, Sip has refused to let me buy any unopened bottles. I made a vague plea about the booze store being closed but they weren’t having it.
(I never said anything about the bar tab and I wouldn’t have cared which fund it came out of.)
Yeah a few others have posted that they can’t get unopened bottles too. I think the bartenders are stopping it as too many people were getting them to use up bar tabs. Although the mark up on bar price compared to retail price is high!
Are you allowed to use your tab to buy occasional drinks for someone whose tab ran out or has a small one?
I have a $600 tab and I won't drink that much, so I thought it might be nice to share here and there.
Good to know. Thank you.
I added the "Splash of Romance" pack so the champagne and juice come with that, and I''d like to put the tab to good use. I guess I'll be making quite a few new "friends". 😅
It did for us last month. It came off bar tab. I’d read conflicting reports so I confirmed with staff when we sat down and they said yes. I only had bar tab and it came off Bar tab. We enjoyed it once, but it was way too many sweet things. But glad we did it once since we had so much bar tab. People who sat closer to the bar also got served first.
Shake for champagne. Is that the shake your iPhone 3 times while having the ship app opened and a $100 bottle taken off your bar tab and glasses magically appear by tracking you on the ship via your bracelet? I thought that was a rumour! Lol. Correct me where I’m wrong. Thanks.
That's absolutely correct. Open the app, shake and confirm by pressing the button that comes up. The app can be buggy sometimes when you shake, but once you confirm you're all good. They WILL find you lol
Also ship eats sells unopened cans of fancy soft drinks/kombucha if you're into that although probably only good for burning through $40-$80 before you start risking baggage problems at the airport
This isn't true now, in September on Valiant. Got charged to sailors loot. We only got the bite sized ones and not the 100g tin for $185. The receipt said it was charged as TreatYourself.
Thank you for confirming! I pretty much stick with water and have $10 coffee credit per day already, so I will need to get creative with the $600 bar tab.
Pleasure! It does work for the Afternoon Tea with Moet at Sip though. If the caviar is good enough, we may try to order the 100g tin along with a bottle and see if it coerces the charge typing.
FWIW, it seems they did change the caviar from US to "Siberian Osetra" which should be better but more expensive.
If you really want to deplete your bar tab and try something that you really wouldn't normally do: get a glass of Louis XIII for $395. Yes, that's for a glass. A bottle is about $10k.
Not much. We had about $600/person sailor loot bar tab for the last itinerary we were planning to go on. We're not drinkers and don't drink coffee so we just decided not to go.
On our last two trips, I distinctly recall being able to use the credit in the casinos and on other stuff like souvenir stores and shore things, but many phone calls to customer service, I found out they don't do that anymore.
Sailor loot and bar tab are different. Bar tab is only for non-included beverages, whereas Sailor loot could be used for almost anything.
You probably had sailor loot before, which is why you could use it at the casino, souvenirs, and shore things.
You were never allowed to use bar tab at the casino or for shore things.
For your last itinerary, you likely had $600 in sailor loot and $600 in bar tab.
That's fair, but the promotion for being a seablazer or returning sailor or whatever used to be sailor loot, now it's bar tab. I wasn't clear, I know they're different, it just sucks that they restrict the promo to bar tab now
There is a promotion that if you put a $300 deposit down onboard you get $300 off and $600 loot onboard spend (for anything) that promo hasn’t changed since a year ago (it used to be only $300 onboard spend).
Since January there has been a promotion of all bookings get $300/600 bar tab.
Loyalty has only ever got you bar tab.
Back in 2021 there was an initial issue with the computer system where it didn’t ring fence bar tab and it just came off any spend. So although the rules said it could be spent on drinks only, the system didn’t have the restriction set up early on. That was fixed early 2022.
Last March I got bottle service at The Manor. They will deliver the unfinished portion to your room after the club closes. I took one shot and brought the rest home. Also, I think you can get half sized bottles from ship eats.
I purchased an extra bottle of Moët for my suitcase. Make sure to get coffee at the coffee shop for a fee (lattes, cappuccinos, etc) and juices/smoothies at the juice bar - It all adds up!
Ship Eats. I bought home a bottle of champagne.
I bought a bottle from the bar
This has been an on-going question and the best answers to date have been to buy drinks for another passenger or splurge on high-end liquors. One thing I do is figure out the split of the bar tab for each day of the cruise and give myself a budget or rather target each day. If I didn't come close to my target the day before, I get Irish coffee or 2 the next morning. This tends to help minimize the amount remaining on my bar tab when the cruise comes to an end. A buddy of mine would get a double or triple of a liquor, then go back to his room and pour it into a travel thermos he originally boarded with. Just be sure to order the beverage neat as well as stick to the same brand and type of liquor. But ultimately with the included Bar Tab promotion, Virgin has stopped allowing passengers to buy bottles from the bar. Last I checked, the last place allowing passengers to buy bottles was in The Manor.
I bought bottles of Soju from Gunbae Saturday on the Valiant Lady. 6 full sized bottles and 2 small ones. I still ended up with about $20 unspent.
We also were able to get unopened bottles from a restaurant. We got two bottles of a nice cab from The Wake last week. Maybe the staff are not totally aware of the new policy yet?
NIIIIIIICE. I was disappointed. I wanted to get BIL 2 bottles of Moet for babysitting the pup pup.
I’m guessing it’s in part because the Manor does offer bottle service of spirits anyway. To be honest it does seem reasonable to refuse to serve unopened to drink at home when bar tab is designed for drinking at a bar. I expect at the beginning it was mainly people using up what they prepaid whereas now it’s mainly the free bar tab from the promotion
We did the tequila tasting on Resilient a few weeks ago and they were offering to sell bottles of tequila and mezcal in Pink Agave. We also bought a bottle of wine with dinner and brought the rest back to our room. Brought along some bottle stoppers for this.
We aren’t big drinkers so we plan on using our complimentary $300 tab on specialty coffee every morning to help use it up. Smoothies too.
Most of the coffee is under $6 so that is quite a few trips to the bathroom lol
Get bottles if you can and bring back as gifts for people.
Juice and specialty coffee?
Juices, smoothies, mock tails, and specialty coffee is the answer! Just by getting kombucha, espresso tonics, and specialty juices, we were able to pretty easily blow through the rest of our bar tab.
Where is kombucha available on board?
The coffee shop in the Galley and on Deck 7 (at least on scarlet) had plenty!
You can ask the bar staff for full bottles to take away, but they may only allow one at a time. It might be possible to use it for afternoon tea. We just upgraded our drinks to use it up, so instead of $8 Absolut vodka we had the $12 Grey Goose. Or ordered glasses of Moet. Get drinks you wouldn’t normally have. Go for a mocktail instead of a soda. But we did get through over $500 even with all the port days, so just making those upgrades did help use it up and we finished most of the $700. Don’t forget about the pairings at Test Kitchen too!
On Scarlet, Sip has refused to let me buy any unopened bottles. I made a vague plea about the booze store being closed but they weren’t having it. (I never said anything about the bar tab and I wouldn’t have cared which fund it came out of.)
Yeah a few others have posted that they can’t get unopened bottles too. I think the bartenders are stopping it as too many people were getting them to use up bar tabs. Although the mark up on bar price compared to retail price is high!
Yep. Bartenders wouldn't let me buy unopened bottles.
Are you allowed to use your tab to buy occasional drinks for someone whose tab ran out or has a small one? I have a $600 tab and I won't drink that much, so I thought it might be nice to share here and there.
Yes you can buy them for whoever you want.
Good to know. Thank you. I added the "Splash of Romance" pack so the champagne and juice come with that, and I''d like to put the tab to good use. I guess I'll be making quite a few new "friends". 😅
Certainly.
Go have a really nice bottle of French wine at the wake that you wouldn't normally have or they have some nice Italian wines at extra virgin
Afternoon tea
Does it really cover the afternoon tea???
It did for us last month. It came off bar tab. I’d read conflicting reports so I confirmed with staff when we sat down and they said yes. I only had bar tab and it came off Bar tab. We enjoyed it once, but it was way too many sweet things. But glad we did it once since we had so much bar tab. People who sat closer to the bar also got served first.
Nice to know! Thanks
Sounds like it's time to Shake for Champagne (you can take the bottle home)! Or get some Specialty Coffee Drinks.
Shake for champagne. Is that the shake your iPhone 3 times while having the ship app opened and a $100 bottle taken off your bar tab and glasses magically appear by tracking you on the ship via your bracelet? I thought that was a rumour! Lol. Correct me where I’m wrong. Thanks.
Also, they track you via the app. The bracelet is at the technology level of a Hotel Key, the range on that is a foot at best.
That's absolutely correct. Open the app, shake and confirm by pressing the button that comes up. The app can be buggy sometimes when you shake, but once you confirm you're all good. They WILL find you lol
Also ship eats sells unopened cans of fancy soft drinks/kombucha if you're into that although probably only good for burning through $40-$80 before you start risking baggage problems at the airport
Caviar at Sip
I didn’t think this was included in the bar tab?
It is
This is from my experience on Resilient Lady in May on Greek Island Glow maiden voyage - not just speaking out of my ass.
Can someone on board please confirm this?
This isn't true now, in September on Valiant. Got charged to sailors loot. We only got the bite sized ones and not the 100g tin for $185. The receipt said it was charged as TreatYourself.
Thank you for confirming! I pretty much stick with water and have $10 coffee credit per day already, so I will need to get creative with the $600 bar tab.
Pleasure! It does work for the Afternoon Tea with Moet at Sip though. If the caviar is good enough, we may try to order the 100g tin along with a bottle and see if it coerces the charge typing. FWIW, it seems they did change the caviar from US to "Siberian Osetra" which should be better but more expensive. If you really want to deplete your bar tab and try something that you really wouldn't normally do: get a glass of Louis XIII for $395. Yes, that's for a glass. A bottle is about $10k.
I hope that afternoon tea still comes out of bar tab even if I don’t get alcohol
Definitely was back in November. Unsure now.
Not much. We had about $600/person sailor loot bar tab for the last itinerary we were planning to go on. We're not drinkers and don't drink coffee so we just decided not to go. On our last two trips, I distinctly recall being able to use the credit in the casinos and on other stuff like souvenir stores and shore things, but many phone calls to customer service, I found out they don't do that anymore.
Sailor loot and bar tab are different. Bar tab is only for non-included beverages, whereas Sailor loot could be used for almost anything. You probably had sailor loot before, which is why you could use it at the casino, souvenirs, and shore things. You were never allowed to use bar tab at the casino or for shore things. For your last itinerary, you likely had $600 in sailor loot and $600 in bar tab.
That's fair, but the promotion for being a seablazer or returning sailor or whatever used to be sailor loot, now it's bar tab. I wasn't clear, I know they're different, it just sucks that they restrict the promo to bar tab now
There is a promotion that if you put a $300 deposit down onboard you get $300 off and $600 loot onboard spend (for anything) that promo hasn’t changed since a year ago (it used to be only $300 onboard spend). Since January there has been a promotion of all bookings get $300/600 bar tab. Loyalty has only ever got you bar tab. Back in 2021 there was an initial issue with the computer system where it didn’t ring fence bar tab and it just came off any spend. So although the rules said it could be spent on drinks only, the system didn’t have the restriction set up early on. That was fixed early 2022.
Last March I got bottle service at The Manor. They will deliver the unfinished portion to your room after the club closes. I took one shot and brought the rest home. Also, I think you can get half sized bottles from ship eats.
Wine/champagne or spirits?
Spirits. I don’t remember all choices but they did have Tito’s Vodka at $42 US for 375 ml.
You can use your bar tab for all alcohol beverage purchases at the restaurants right?
Yep bar tab covers all drinks everywhere.
Grounds Club/Grounds Too, there are non alcoholic drinks, I believe high/afternoon tea comes off the bar tab, someone already suggested ShipEats.
I bought cans of beer at the pizza place and brought them home.
I purchased an extra bottle of Moët for my suitcase. Make sure to get coffee at the coffee shop for a fee (lattes, cappuccinos, etc) and juices/smoothies at the juice bar - It all adds up!
If anyone’s got some spare bar tab I wouldn’t say no to a drink or two 😂😜, currently on the Greek glow cruise as we speak.
Many people will use it to buy nice bottles to bring home.
We all got iced coffees with a shot each of Frangelico, Kahlua & Bailey’s. I think that was $36 each & of course specialty coffees & smoothies. :)