Here's something I haven't seen or heard before: you can buy a bottle of alcohol on the boat anytime you want!! it's pricey, as they charge per shot ... example, if you want 1 liter of Absolute Vodka, the bar would charge $5.25 per shot. There are 22 shots in a bottle so it comes to $115.50 plus the 15%, making it $132/bottle. There's no mark up from paying for 22 drinks - and you get free (ahem) mixers with it. The same 1 liter bottle is $12.00 in the duty free shop, but you can't drink it on the boat... so it's the price of convenience. We bought a bottle and carried it around (shows, dinner, etc) and everyone waited on you hand-and-foot to get you whatever mixer you wanted. Even extra ice in your room. Not a bad deal if you drink slow and steady ;-)

So let me get this straight... It costs you the same per shot as if you just ordered one from the bar. Then you drag this bottle around with you whereever you go in case you want a drink. Then you have to get a bar server to fetch you a mixer, a glass of ice etc.. to make a drink.
Not sure which mixers you are getting for free, but you should at least be tipping the waiter for doing the leg work.. And this is a better deal why?

I am also wondering what the allure of wandering a ship with a bottle of liquor is, and for several reasons. One, it costs the same as buying by-the-drink from a bar, so why is that good? Two, you still have to wait for the mixers to arrive so why is that convenient? And lastly, I'm not sure I'd want to be known as the guy who carries a liter of booze around with him.

HUmmmm....I am happy and thankful to say that this person was NOT seen on the cruise I was just on.

Well, it isn't as though a person carrying a bottle around is smashed all the time. It just doesn't sound very convenient to me. I guess I can see paying the price if I had to have a bottle in my cabin, but it would stay there.

Years ago when we sailed on the Golden Princess were able to buy duty free liquor in Fort Lauderdale and it was delivered to our hotel room on the first day of our cruise. We bought 7 bottles of wine - one for every night of the cruise to enjoy on the balcony and a few bottles of Absolute. It made the trip much more affordable. Too bad you can't do that anymore! We still bought plenty of alcohol at the pool, but the wine on the balcony was great!