Is it worth it to buy a beverage package?

I would like to know if it's woth it to buy a beverage package, how much does a beer cost at the bar? or a Wine glass while having diner? I only drink Tequila, so I think I need to buy the Premium package to get a decent shot of Tequila. Can you share your experiences?

I would like to know if it's woth it to buy a beverage package, how much does a beer cost at the bar? or a Wine glass while having diner? I only drink Tequila, so I think I need to buy the Premium package to get a decent shot of Tequila. Can you share your experiences?

Welcome to Cruise Critic. If you drink brand specific and not bottom shelf, the you'll need the premium package if you're a drinker. Not just the liquor, but also bottled water, specialty coffee, "freshly squeezed" pre-frozen OJ etc... Oh and now canned soft drinks instead of fountain.

You'll need to do the math to see if you hit the daily cost vs. quantity/quality of consumption. Keep in mind, IMO, that Celebrity overcharges on drink prices to force the purchase. There are lots of threads talking about drink costs. Just use the CC search function to find lots of threads about drink/package costs and opinions.

I've usually received the classic package and only had to pay the upgrade. It may be harder for me to justify the full cost of Premium with the math being mind boggling.

Prices for drinks have gone up...if you drink more than 4-5 drinks all day, then the package will pay for itself. If you only have 1 drink a day, buy it as you go.

Included in your fare is Ice water, coffee, tea, (iced or hot), lemonade, milk and juice during breakfast. You don't need a package to get those things.

Which cruise are you looking at? Most celebrity cruises have a fare option that includes the drink package for free.

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Yes! Welcome to Cruise Critic!! A great place to "hang out"!

The beverage package works for us. It is our opportunity to try different drinks. If we do not like the drink...we get something else. If the beer gets warm...order a nice cold one! Bottled water is also included s when we go ashore...we can get the water without additional charges. We do not have to worry about getting to the Elite Lounge..and if we do go there..we have a better selection based on the package.

Is it a good deal??? It all depends on you and how much you think you will purchase during the cruise.

Prices for drinks have gone up...if you drink more than 4-5 drinks all day, then the package will pay for itself.

It depends on what you drink. If it's beer or lower end wine it takes about a dozen drinks to cover the cost of the package. Premium is $70 a day, it takes a fair bit of drinking to cover that. Its easier on sea days but on Port days that's hard to do unless you are a "pro";p. I like the World Class bar so it only takes about 6 cocktails to cover the cost of the premium package (although I generally have it included as a perk). You have to do the math and see for yourself what makes more sense.

Which cruise are you looking at? Most celebrity cruises have a fare option that includes the drink package for free.

It's not free, it's included in the increased price you pay for that option.

Do the math. You really need to drink a lot to cover the cost of a beverage package.

It's not free, it's included in the increased price you pay for that option.

Do the math. You really need to drink a lot to cover the cost of a beverage package.

Really depends on the cruise and particular fares. Feb this year I booked a 2B cabin on an 11 night cruise at a 2C rate (loyalty upgrade) where the difference between the resident rate with zero perks and the rate with two perks was only $450 per person. It worked out that the effective cost of the Classic Package was only $300 or $27.27 per person per day which was a great price, and two lattes, a cocktail and two wines with dinner cost more than that.

However, in April I stumbled onto the deal of a lifetime and transferred my 2B cabin to an A1 cabin at an A2 senior zero perk rate of only $949 (price of an inside cabin!) At that same time the two perk rate was about $700 per person higher - which made the effective cost of the Classic Package $550 or $50 per person per day - no longer justified based on my drinking pattern.

We had never had a drinks package until it was included with our suite, we just didn't think we would get value from it.

However, we love it! Before I would order cocktails and wines I knew I liked now I will experiment! If I don't like something I will order something else!

If we were to add up our drinks during the day including the nice coffees and water I am not sure we would break even, especially on a port intensive cruise, but it is so convenient and it is nice to know there is no big bar bill to pay at the end!

We are not keen on the coffee that Celebrity offer for free, so we always have one from Cafe al Bacio and we love some of the speciality teas there as well. These are priced at $6 (or were the last time we were aboard). So here is our breakdown of a possible day:

B’fast

Coffee/Tea - $6

Orange juice - $6

Midmorning

Beer/coffee - $6

Lunch

Wine - $9

Afternoon

Tea - $6

Aperos/dinner

Martini - $15

Wine (x2 glass) - $30

Digestif - $15

Total = $93

Plus 18% gratuities= $109.74

This might help the decision...

For us the drinks packages are not a good deal. I very much dislike the price bundling that Celebrity does to push up baseline prices. This is why we now only book transatlantics.

Do you ever add up your alcohol costs from your bill. I have done that on all our cruises.

DW and I drink more wine than anything else. For a 14 day cruise we normally spend about $250 on alcohol. We are elite and always enjoy the happy hour. Prior to elite, we would spend about $450 total for a 14 day cruise. I usually buy a seven bottle wine package for a 14 day cruise.

Also, we don't drink bottled water, expensive coffee or soda.

Any drinks package is going to cost pp $7-800 for a 14 day cruise. We are no where near justifying the packages. We don't drink until happy hour, unlike some that seem to start at breakfast.

The answer to that is "it depends on your definition of 'worth it'"!!

I am not a big drinker, but always do the premium package. I like the freedom that the package provides to me. I swipe my card and off I go. I know my cost in advance and don't need to keep track of my charges or reconcile my bill.

I can try new things without worrying about 'wasting my money' if I don't like it. I like a glass of wine or two with dinner and ask the sommelier for pairings. If I don't like what (s)he picks, I ask for one of my choosing. DH likes the martini bar, so he can have a martini or two. We've also recently going to the World Class Bar and tried things that we wouldn't have done without the package.

I'm sure that we would pay less if we purchased drinks by the glass......but the 'freedom' I receive makes it 'worth it' for me.

I didn't think we were big drinkers -- until we got a bill at the end of the cruise of over $1000. Yikes!!!

Learned not to order the specialty drinks with the glass all the time.

Since then, we get the classic package. It is worth it for Café Bacchio alone. We love the coffee drinks and will have 2-3/day. (At home I don't drink Starbucks or Caribou but on the ship - yum).

DH doesn't like to experiment with wine, but this next cruise I will since I will only have to pay the difference

in price.

I'm sure we get more than our money's worth with the classic package.

Next cruise < 60 days away.

Melissa

Here is my "RUFF" run down of a day with a drink pkg on another thread

For us at least, the package was not just about bar drinks. It was everything else that the pkg includes.

A speciality coffee each on the balcony while the wifester is putting on her face, $5 ea.

Evian or San Pellegrino with fresh squeezed juice with that second coffee at breakfast, $15 ea.

Grab a bottle water on the way to stake out a deck chair, $4 ea.

$24 each before any mind altering liquid is consumed.A beer or the drink of the day by the pool, $6 ea

Then off to lunch, maybe a soda, or another San Pellegrino $5 eaThe sun is hot hot hot! A cold beer or drink of the day is in order, $6 ea

The burger at the Mast Grill is calling our names, it does not go down with out some liquid assistance, $5 ea, then it is time to meet friends to watch the sun set from the Sunset Bar, $6 ea. Afternoon total $28.

And the evening fun has yet to begin.

San Pellegrino and a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, and another speciality coffee with desert, $26 ea

Now it is time for some mind altering sampling to happen, or not A cocktail with friends at one of the watering holes on ship $7 ea, or 2 if we are letting our hair down!

One more bottle water on the way back to the cabin just in case we get thirsty during the night, $4. Evening total, $44.Morning, $24, day, $28, evening $44, total $96.00 each using the low end of the cost scale and not much mind altering substance.

Some evening's we will grab another coffee ( or worse) and go and sit on deck 5 to unwind, listen to the swoosh of the waves gently breaking down the side of the ship before heading to the cabin.

Depends on how you make use of the package.

We have upgraded to the Premium on our last 2 cruises. Our friends stayed with the Classic and were fine. I like the Craft beer selection, the wine the wifester drank last yr was $14.00 a glass x 3 @ dinner = $42.00 without a pkg every dinner.

EW

When we have a lot of days at sea, we love having the premium package. It makes for a better vacation.

I would like to know if it's woth it to buy a beverage package, how much does a beer cost at the bar? or a Wine glass while having diner? I only drink Tequila, so I think I need to buy the Premium package to get a decent shot of Tequila. Can you share your experiences?

On our last cruise Celebrity listed and supplied the following brands on the CLASSIC PACKAGE:

• Absolut

• Absolut Flavors

• New Amsterdam

• Russian Standard

• Smirnoff

• Stolichnaya

• Stoli Flavors

• Beefeater

• Bombay Original

• Gordon’s

• Cazadores Blanco

• Cuervo Silver

• Don Julio Blanco

• Canadian Club

• Dewar’s White Label

• Famous Grouse

• Jameson

• Jim Beam

• Johnnie Walker Red

• Monkey Shoulder

• Seagram’s 7

• Seagram’s VO

• Bacardi & Flavors

• Bacardi Oakheart Spiced

• Captain Morgan

• Kraken Black Spiced

• Malibu Coconut

• Myer’s Dark

• Wray & Nephew

• Campari

• Cointreau

• Galliano

• Goldschlager

• Hennessy VS

• Kirsch

• Kahlua

• Licor 43

• Martell VS

• Novo Fogo

• Ouzo

• Pimms 1

• Sambuca Romana

• Southern Comfort

• Tia Maria

• Alaska Brewing (Alaska Sailngs)

• Amstel Light

• Boddington’s

• Bud & Light

• Coors Light

• Corona & Light

• Dos Equis

• Franziskaner

• Heineken & Light

• Kirin & Light

• Miller Lite

• Moretti

• Newcastle Ale

• Pabst Blue Ribbon

• Red Stripe

• Sam Adams

• Strongbow Cider

This includes drinks made with these brands of course.

We had no trouble with the selection.

As for wines, although not the greatest selection, we always managed to find something that was fairly decent.

Hope this helps.

bosco

This is really helpful, thank you. We have just booked our first Celebrity cruise (although not our first cruise) and were wondering whether to buy a beverage package. I think the 'soda' package will probably be all I need :)

This is really helpful, thank you. We have just booked our first Celebrity cruise (although not our first cruise) and were wondering whether to buy a beverage package. I think the 'soda' package will probably be all I need :)

Just a quick point on the SODA package.

It does not include bottled waters, premium coffees and juices.

bosco

No! we had a package previous cruise, but this time decided to try without. Watched our daily charges and were amazed how much we saved!! [emoji3]. We still drank whatever we wanted. Won't buy a package again.

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I did the math and the package just doesn't work for us as it wasn't saving money. For me, my spend was:

Morning:

Latte $6.00

Vitamin Water $4.50 (estimate - can't remember real cost)

Afternoon:

Vitamin Water $4.50 (estimate - can't remember real cost)

Dinner:

Cocktail: $9.00

Wine with dinner: $10.00

Total: $38.00 a day maybe - often skip the cocktail.

I did the math and the package just doesn't work for us as it wasn't saving money. For me, my spend was:

 

Morning:

Latte $6.00

Vitamin Water $4.50 (estimate - can't remember real cost)

 

Afternoon:

Vitamin Water $4.50 (estimate - can't remember real cost)

 

Dinner:

Cocktail: $9.00

Wine with dinner: $10.00

 

Total: $38.00 a day maybe - often skip the cocktail.

Obviously a direct purchase of a beverage package would not be justified. However, getting the Classic Package as a perk might be cost effective. Just price out the cost of the beverage perk by comparing the cost with one or more perks (backing out the value of any OBC or Gratuity perk) with a zero perk fare and see if the difference is less than your beverage budget.

And even if it is slightly greater than your budget, it might be justified since 1) you would probably have a few more drinks when there is no additional cost for another drink and 2) it is more convenient - no need to sign slips.

For us the drinks packages are not a good deal. I very much dislike the price bundling that Celebrity does to push up baseline prices. This is why we now only book transatlantics.

 

You do not necessarily have to take only transatlantics to avoid a bundled price. Many non-TA cruises also have un-bundled prices; look for the senior or resident rate with zero perks.

 

Do you ever add up your alcohol costs from your bill. I have done that on all our cruises.

 

DW and I drink more wine than anything else. For a 14 day cruise we normally spend about $250 on alcohol. We are elite and always enjoy the happy hour. Prior to elite, we would spend about $450 total for a 14 day cruise. I usually buy a seven bottle wine package for a 14 day cruise.

 

Also, we don't drink bottled water, expensive coffee or soda.

 

Any drinks package is going to cost pp $7-800 for a 14 day cruise. We are no where near justifying the packages. We don't drink until happy hour, unlike some that seem to start at breakfast.

Happy Cruising

Happy Cruising

Is that like, bless his heart? :)

Happy Cruising

When I check for special rates like Senior or others, it NEVER changes.

What I resent is that the bundled prices with the drink package as the highlight minimizes our already earned benefit of Elite Happy Hour.

Therefore, I will be checking Royal Caribbean and NCL prior to booking Celebrity in the future.

I don't understand. How does the fact that you get deal A because you've gone on past cruises get minimized because someone else gets deal B because they paid extra money?