It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of next year’s PowerShell Cruise and am excited for the folks who are organizing it. Tonight’s webinar (which they’ll post to their YouTube channel) will be a chance for you to learn more.

But.

If you’ve never cruised before, you may not be aware of how the majority of the cruise industry works:

• Your cruise price includes your room, and is based on two people staying in the room together.
• Your cruise price includes most food on the ship - certain specialty restaurants may charge a la carte like a normal restaurant, or may have a small ($25-ish) per-person charge to dine there. If they have the per-person charge, everything on the menu is  then included at no extra charge.
• Your drinks cost extra - everything but water, tea, and plain coffee in most cases. Even soda is an extra price.

That’s why I want you to think really really hard about what I’m going to write next.

If you **put a deposit down for the cruise before Friday July 31 2015, you can get all beverages included for just $68 extra per person. **That’s all your soda. All your drinks (including cocktails up to $15 each). If you plan to have one nice glass of wine per day, and then drink cola, this will pay for itself easily. 

The deposit is $250 per person, meaning $500 per stateroom. And it’s fully refundable - you can get the entire deposit back - until April 2016. **So you don’t need to make up your mind yet, **but if you don’t do the deposit now you can’t get the cheap drink package. Sure, you could buy it later, but it’ll run you another $350 or so per person, I believe. 

Even if you’re planning to take the kids, they can get the drink package too - it’ll cover their soft drinks for the entire cruise. 

So look - I don’t want anyone to miss this opportunity just because they… well, missed it. And keep in mind, this is the _first of a kind event, _and there will be swag to prove you were there. So there’s a lot of reasons to at least consider going - and if you’re considering it, get that deposit in right now so you can score the drink package, at the very least. Call the travel agency that’s handling the bookings (don’t e-mail, you want this done _now). _

Thank you. This ends the public service announcement. Resume shelling.