Disney cruise open bar experience

[lizabu]

if you did the open bar with your cruise group can you tell me what it was like? What types of drinks did you order? If you don’t finish your drink during the hour can you take it back to your room? I signed up for the open bar with my cruise group and I was only waitlisted for mixology but my name moved up the mixology list and it’s looking like both will be on the same afternoon so I’m trying to figure out if I can actually do both or not.

Added details. Mixology time isn’t confirmed yet but they’re saying 2pm. Open bar is confirmed for 4pm.

 

[professorandmom]

Wow, I certainly couldn't handle more than the 5 drinks we made during mixology...the "boat" sways pretty well after the fun class!

 

[tigerchic89]

I wasn't aware that DCL offered an open bar private function. I've been in groups where we reserved bar/club space for a meet and greet (like the Tube).. and we always had the option to pay for a bartender to serve drinks (but as a cash bar). How does the open bar work?

 

[lizabu]

I wasn't aware that DCL offered an open bar private function. I've been in groups where we reserved bar/club space for a meet and greet (like the Tube).. and we always had the option to pay for a bartender to serve drinks (but as a cash bar). How does the open bar work?

It lasts one hour and we went with the premium option. You need at least 25 people

 

[lizabu]

Wow, I certainly couldn't handle more than the 5 drinks we made during mixology...the "boat" sways pretty well after the fun class!

That’s what I’m worried about. I’m wondering what I got myself into lol

 

[m3owbox]

I've been to two and they have both been great! Got to meet a lot of really cool people and you could order pretty much anything. The bartenders usually have some stuff premade, like wines ready to go, mojitos and other fun things. But they were open to making you drinks on the spot as well. It was well worth it. And yes if you had a drink that you didn't finish you can take it to the room with you.

 

[lizabu]

I've been to two and they have both been great! Got to meet a lot of really cool people and you could order pretty much anything. The bartenders usually have some stuff premade, like wines ready to go, mojitos and other fun things. But they were open to making you drinks on the spot as well. It was well worth it. And yes if you had a drink that you didn't finish you can take it to the room with you.

That’s great. Thank you. I haven’t heard from someone who’s done it before.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

I did it last week on the Fantasy in the Tube right before the muster drill. It was great. Bartenders were working their butts off! I had at least 3 drinks, maybe 4 - I was fitting in as many as I could! Met some people that I ended up playing trivia with for the rest of the cruise.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Do you receive only one drink during "open bar"? Or is there a maximum? Not that I can (or should) drink more than one drink per hour, just curious...

Opps, sorry, was posting the same time as GatorMominNC. So I guess the answer is not one drink per hour but as many as you wish.

 

[mmouse37]

Learn something new everyday!!! I didn't know DCL offered this.

MJ

 

[xQuizx]

Wow this is cool, I will have to tell my group about this.

Cheers!

 

[DMMarla07860]

We had a few back in 2015 on the Magic one the first day and then the last sea day, it was awesome.

 

[xQuizx]

If you don't drink alcohol can you still order non-alcoholic smoothies? I'm asking for a friend...

Cheers!

 

[tigerchic89]

I have some follow up questions for those who have done this in the past. Does each individual who participates gets billed to their room (the same way private mixology classes are billed), or does the organizer reserve and pay for the whole party at once? If you wanted to include kids, say for a family meet and greet before the muster drill, could you have an open bar for the adults and a smoothie bar for those under 21? Also, if you did this for a private meet and greet and had a person who did not want to partake in the open bar or smoothies, could they still attend? are there wrist bands or something for those who are paid drinkers?

 

[lizabu]

We had a few back in 2015 on the Magic one the first day and then the last sea day, it was awesome.

That looks so fun

 

[lizabu]

I have some follow up questions for those who have done this in the past. Does each individual who participates gets billed to their room (the same way private mixology classes are billed), or does the organizer reserve and pay for the whole party at once? If you wanted to include kids, say for a family meet and greet before the muster drill, could you have an open bar for the adults and a smoothie bar for those under 21? Also, if you did this for a private meet and greet and had a person who did not want to partake in the open bar or smoothies, could they still attend? are there wrist bands or something for those who are paid drinkers?

I can’t answer all your questions as I didn’t organize it but our cruise is in February and the lady organizing it has started collecting payments and said everyone has to have their payment in 30 days before the cruise at the latest. As far as I know we’re all doing the same choice...the premium bar. I don’t know if everyone has to have the same or if we just did it that way.

 

[littleaussie]

I just organized an open bar event for our cruise in a few weeks.

You must collect the payments beforehand because Disney requires you to pay for the entire amount with a credit card around 30 days or whenever they confirm the date/time/venue with you and number of people.

So I had people paypal me the $13.25 per person and I used my credit card to pay for the event.

Everyone has to be on the same package but you can have a kids package of smoothies and an adult package of alcohol at the same event. They must have 25 people in each group package to do it though.

 

[daedelus]

We did this on our EB Panama Canal cruise 2 years ago - the drinks were full strength and they were skillfully made. Our only issue was that the folks that signed up for that session were terribly cliquey, so we didn't really socialize with anyone else. But after 3 drinks, I was done... Those mojitos sneak up on you...

 

[GatorMomInNC]

If you don't drink alcohol can you still order non-alcoholic smoothies? I'm asking for a friend...

Cheers!

My kids got smoothies. I suspect adults will be charged for the alcohol package regardless, but can just order smoothies.

 

[WestFamily]

We did this on our EB Panama Canal cruise 2 years ago - the drinks were full strength and they were skillfully made. Our only issue was that the folks that signed up for that session were terribly cliquey, so we didn't really socialize with anyone else. But after 3 drinks, I was done... Those mojitos sneak up on you...

Yeah, I admit on our cruise we were clickey at first since we were a group from home. At least I feel we started that way then really tried to get others involved. We just needed that first celebratory “we have no kids” drink, then we totally tried to open up to others only to find them more cliquish than us (imho). There were a few couples that started to enjoy our antics (I think) but it never became a true meet and greet.

It’s an odd time but it’s fun and I recommend the groups and their drink times. You never know what you’ll find, we’ve found life long friends from our first cruise when we did a meet and greet.