ailetoile

Could I ask how you KNOW it was fresh-squeezed? I'm not trying to be argumentative or difficult at all, but I have some very specific wording in the beverage packages FAQ about the juice being frozen fresh-squeezed or something to that effect. I'd like to update it to be 100% accurate, but before I do that I would like a little bit more information about how the OP knew that his wife's juice was "fresh" as opposed to "fresh frozen" :)

Personally, juice is juice and it's delicious. I'm just happy to have a glass no matter where it came from :cool:

One more question - does the classic package include the specialty juices at the Aqua Spa Cafe? Or would I need the premium package for those?

From what I can see online (and I'm happy to ask to confirm this when we sail in two weeks since this thread is all about pulling together the most correct information possible), you can get the specialty juices at Aqua Spa Cafe with the Classic Package. I saw conversation to that effect about both the Non-Alcoholic (2012 most recent) and Alcoholic (2014 most recent) packages.

If anyone can confirm that this is NOT correct could you please chime in? :o

Just to elaborate on the answer from A Sixth?...

The chocolate martini probably won't be covered even if it's in a smaller glass. There are usually only very limited martinis that are covered by the Classic Package, and that is not one I have heard before. It never hurts to ask, though.

You cannot go over your price point ($8.00) and pay the difference. If you want a drink above that price point, you will pay the full cost of the drink.

...And I see that DinaS just linked to the post that I was about to link to as well, so I would recommend checking that out if you have any other questions. I wrote that PDF and I maintain it regularly. If you have questions that aren't answered in that post, please post them there. I'll not only answer them for you if I can, but also I will add them to future updates of the PDF. :)

Ailetoile - the beverage package was offered in the Alcoves. The server will just ask for your card(s) when they bring the drinks. You also can get a fruit and cheese plate, which is included. We went to the Oceanview to grab some things for breakfast as additional food is not included.

 

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the answer. Much appreciated! :D

Thanks so much for the review! We board Silhouette in just over two weeks... Can't wait! :D

One question: Was your drink package honored while you were in the Alcoves? Or were beverages a la carte if they were served to you in the Alcoves? I'd like to add this information to my FAQ thread :)

Wow! Those are some compelling reasons to transfer onboard booking to a TA. It's a shame there isn't some way CC could set up an area where members are allowed to disclose their TAs. I've always booked directly with Celebrity, but would convert to your TA in a heartbeat.

:)

Same here. It's a bummer that we can't share info since I've had no success looking on my own. :eek:

It doesn't look like the warehouse club I use offers much in the way of travel in Canada. Maybe some of your top web searches will have incentives. Airlines may offer miles if you book through them. If nothing else, a travel rewards credit card may offer a kickback and TA partnership, though in my experience that leaves you locked into the cabin and ship/sail date you first booked.

If we had chosen the warehouse we would have used a US credit card and address, but I think we're locked out of it now that we committed to Canadian pricing. I love the other ideas, though. Thanks!

We are booked on the Celebrity Equinox next month. I checked on beverage packages, specifically wine packages. The Classic Wine Package is $109 per person per day. This seems outrageous. I don't believe I would want to cruise with folks drinking $109 of wine every day. Holland America has 3 or 5 bottle packages at reasonable prices. Why can't Celebrity come up with something similar. As for me, I will use my OBC to have a glass of wine with dinner every evening. I'm sure it will cost a lot less than $109.

That price is for three bottles of wine selected from a set list over the course of the cruise. It is neither per person nor per day...

Okay. This seems to be the place to ask my questions. I've Googled and I've spent hours on the phone and I've talked to some very slimy people, but I have yet to find a TA who will do much of anything for me. I ended up once again booking directly with Celebrity.

How do you guys find these TAs with so much room credit or other perks? I know you can't name them, but it's like they don't exist as far as I can find on my own.

We booked yesterday, so if I were to find one that I like, even if it's the warehouse one (long story but after we did the math it was cheaper for us to book in CAD) are you guys saying they'd still give us the perks if we transfer our reservation in the next 59 days?

I appreciate the help... I've been so confused and I just don't know where it's okay to ask on this forum.

Thank you so much as always to everyone who has contributed information or questions that I overlooked! I have made the following changes and clarifications in the PDF (attached):

*(Before You Cruise) Can I bring alcoholic beverages aboard with me?

Yes, but it is restricted and it may depend on the part of the world on which you are cruising. The stated policy from Celebrity is that you may bring up to two standard-sized (750 ml) bottles of wine per stateroom on board at embarkation. Other alcoholic beverages (beer or spirits) that is brought on board at embarkation will be confiscated and will not be returned.

If you purchase alcohol on board the ship or at a port of call, it is subject to temporary confiscation. It will be returned to you on the last night of the cruise.

In some parts of the world, particularly the Caribbean, the alcohol policy is strictly enforced. In other parts of the world, such as the Mediterranean, there are many reports of individuals who are able to bring more than the allotted amount of alcohol aboard to keep in their room both at embarkation and at various ports of call.

*I updated the suite perks to include the complimentary bottle of sparkling wine, and to be more specific that the RS setup includes two bottles of spirits and unlimited beer and soda.

*(A La Carte Drinking) If I don’t like the complimentary beverage included with my stateroom, can I exchange it for something of equal or lesser value?

Yes. If you would like to exchange the bottle of sparkling wine that is included with many staterooms for another bottled beverage of approximately equal or lesser value, just talk to your room steward or butler. They can and generally will make the change for you.

For Royal Suites and above, the complimentary bar setup does vary. You can typically exchange the included bottles of spirits by contacting your butler or the Michael’s Club concierge.

*Added a few words about needing to request the pitcher of water in the stateroom now.

*Updated the wording in the Classic Non-Alcohol package to specify that the Cafe Al Bacio drinks do include cappuccino and lattes. Hopefully that gets the point across for the Classic Package, since it states that includes everything in the Classic Non-Alcohol package!

---

Also of note is that I spent some time speaking with a Celebrity rep this morning (booking a cruise) and the topic of upgrading the packages on board the ship came up. According to the rep, it is theoretically possible to upgrade your beverage package on the ship up until the third day and NOT pay a prorated fee. If you choose this option, your drinks that would have been included in the beverage package you choose will be taken off of your tab. When I pointed out that many people on Cruise Critic have mentioned the prorated upgrade but that no one has mentioned this, he said that he had never heard of the prorated upgrade.

Prorated upgrades aside, has anyone actually tried and successfully upgraded in this other way? Is this something that should be included in this document?

Bev Package FAQ.pdf

It's both the view and the location. Higher numbers and letters (1a) are supposedly better. This is a good rule of thumb but not always strictly true. You'll often find exceptions for the better and for the worse.

Was this offered on Silhouette? I've never heard of it and it sounds really nice!

Can you tell me if the Classic Alcohol Beverage Package includes cappuccinos? Many thanks and thanks for the great job you have done,.

It does! I think I'll update the inclusions list to be a touch more specific. Thanks!

Are frozen drinks like pina coladas included in the classic alcohol packages? How about smoothies?

I'm going to gently redirect you to a more recent thread on this topic. You can find the answers to your questions in this thread, most specifically the pdf attached to this post.

I know that the NA frozen drinks like Pina Colada, etc. are not included on NA Classic package, but was hoping that the coffee drinks would not fall into that category. Sounds like it does. :(

 

I think the best thing for me is to see if Celebrity will let me upgrade my free package to the NA Premium.

In this case since there seems to be very little rhyme or reason to whether the baristas enforce the rules or not, maybe you might want to wait until you are on board to see if on that particular sailing you can get the IGLU included in the package?

Although, the $4/day difference between the two NA packages isn't so bad if it means you're sure to get exactly what you want (especially if what you want includes NA frozen drinks). :)

WOW, WOW, WOW, amazing job!

 

Just a small note, in the additional complimentary drink section, under suites:

 

Suites: The new suite perks use beverages as an incentive. The complimentary beverages for suite passengers can range from complimentary in-suite espresso and cappuccino from Café al Bacio (Sky Suite) to a complimentary Premium beverage package and bar setup in the stateroom (Royal Suite and above). Suite guests who have access to Michael's Club can also enjoy their drinks for free in that venue.

 

Since you're so through and precise, all suites, sky and above get a bottle of sparkling wine.

 

You may also want to add something like:

 

Sparkling wine may be exchanged for something else, is available at the request of your butler. For Royal Suite an above, the premium bar set-up (2 bottles of spirits) does vary and can often be exchanged by requesting your preferred spirits through the butler or Michael's Club concierge.

 

I hope you get some type of a gift from Celebrity or Cruise Critic, this content is valuable to both. You earned it!

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

I actually did not know this about the suites getting a complimentary bottle of wine, but I suppose that it makes sense. I think I will add the bottle into that specific paragraph and then add a new question about exchanging complimentary alcohol for something else since that's not a topic that is limited to suites.

Thank you so much for your input and for your kind words. It's much appreciated :)

Great job!

 

A couple of points:

 

1. The pitcher of water in the cabin is now by request only on some (all?) ships, even in suites.

 

2. The initial RS and above premium bar setup can also be exchanged for beer and/or soda (not just spirits).

Ah, the last time I cruised (two years ago, we'll be fixing that problem in less than a month!) it was still just THERE all the time. I will update that answer. As I said above, I think I will make an entire new question about exchanging complimentary beverages. This is another piece of that to address, so thank you for pointing it out.

I think I might have enough new or updated material to justify another update to the PDF in the next day or so here. I refer back to this thread when I'm making updates to make sure I've caught everything that you guys have pointed out, so this is very helpful! Thanks! :D

Drink package question again…!!! Is anybody know if the ``zero proof cocktails`` are included in the Premium non-alcoholic package?? It does mention non-alcoholic frozen drinks and smoothies but nothing about the cocktails.

Thank you for your response.

There's a thread here that indicates that zero-proof cocktails were included, but it is from 2011. I'm not terribly familiar with what a zero-proof cocktail is, but since the Premium Non-Alcoholic package is supposed to include nearly everything on the ship without booze in it I can only imagine that these drinks are still included.

Is there anyone else out there who can comment about a more recent experience?

Is the Igloo included in the Non-Alcoholic Classic? I loved that drink when having the Regular Classic.

If it was included in the Classic Package (alcoholic), then it should be included in the Classic Non-Alcoholic. My only hesitation to say that it will absolutely be included is that there have been a lot of reported inconsistencies about drinks from the Cafe.

Theoretically, the Classic Non-Alcoholic package only includes drinks from the first few pages of the menu, excluding the ones found under the Other Favorites and More Favorites headers. IGLU is under "More Favorites." Keeping that in mind, although it may be covered under the Classic Alcohol/Non-Alcohol packages on some cruises because the baristas allow it, this one seems to be a situation where it should NOT be included and it's up to the discretion of whoever's in charge.

I know that it's confusing and possibly not the answer that you want to hear, but it's the most honest answer that I can give you.

I have also been successful in bringing bottles of wine on from ports in the Mediterranean. Not a hundred percent of the time but definitely more than 50% of the time. Maybe you could change the section to say that bottles are SUBJECT to confiscation rather than making it an absolute that they WILL be confiscated! Just a thought. . .

That is my thought exactly. It really helps to have others weigh in about this since it's outside my realm of experience!

On our upcoming Summit cruise in Concierge, we have a hefty OBC which I hope to use to pay for 1 upgrade to Premium drink package, internet and for 1 or 2 excursions for both of us. I know what I want to book for St. Lucia. if I book that excursion BEFORE we board, do I have to pay with credit card, OR can Celebrity take it now from our OBC? OR should I just wait to day 1 to book that excursion? (Generally I book private tours, so I cannot remember what Celebs policy is for pre-cruise bookings.)

If you book before the cruise it's credit card only. If you book on board it'll apply your room credit to the charge. I wish you could book early on your room credit, but Celebrity isn't set up that way :(

Can we upgrade Non Booze Premium to Premium Booze package? I already bouth my Non Booze package and am having second thoughts.

You should be able to. If you are doing it beforehand then you can call Celebrity to either upgrade or to cancel the non-alcohol package and add the alcohol package (I'm not sure how they'd do it exactly). This will work 100% of the time.

I am about 95% sure you can also do this upgrade once you board, but I'd actually really like to get some confirmation from someone who has successfully done it after reading in a recent thread here that someone had a problem upgrading from non-alcoholic to alcoholic onboard. :eek:

I would think if you were trying to hide/smuggle on wine or alcohol they might take it & not return it, but I would say the majority of Europe cruisers are doing some sort of pre trip on land, & are probably bringing on wine, oil, spices etc., so, no, they don't take it all & not return it to you.

 

On port days they do a half hearted check & may direct you to a table to check in your wine/alcohol souvenirs.

 

The one time that they are really checking & are strict is the last port before a TA crossing... & I can understand why...

You probably have a very good point. There's also definitely something of a culture difference, I would imagine, between the passengers getting on a European sailing and those getting on a Caribbean sailing. I really do dream of having the chance to do a few European or Asian sailings in my lifetime... :)

I will definitely update the FAQ to reflect this. Thanks again :D

Not exactly accurate, we regularly cruise out of Rome, & purchase various wines, & absinthe to take home as gifts or souvenirs, which we embark with. We've experienced them holding it for us for the length of the cruise, & more often than not, us just storing it in our room for the length of the cruise.... By the end of one of our cruises I had at least 12 wine bottles stored in the closet :) Didn't try to hide any of them, just carried them on :)

 

I would not have a problem if they stored them for me, along with my bottles of olive oil & all the soap I buy.

 

Maybe it's different on the Caribbean or Bahama type cruises, but I have no experience with that.

Now that is interesting and the first I've heard of it. They are quite strict about this on the Caribbean sailings, which are the vast majority of my Celebrity experience.

I'll do some research on this and reword that question to be more accurate in the PDF update (not tonight, I don't like to spam them until I have a few new or updated questions).

Thank you for pointing that out. Much appreciated!

One more question please, about beer. If you want a beer listed on the premium list, can you just pay the difference?

Not with the Classic Package, no. You will pay the full cost of the beer (plus the 18% gratuity if it's applicable on your sailing).

I'm sure others can think of other perks that they would appreciate more instead of, or in addition to some of these.

I'm several cruises away from even being Elite, but I just wanted to compliment you on some of those ideas. I don't imagine that all of them can work since a few are a bit of a reach, but some of the others are really nice thoughts. :)

It's okay!! I AM CHEAP!! I would prefer to get the lowest price possible in my desired cabin category and then add on anything I think is necessary. In our case, that is not the drinks package. . .

 

A classic package would be $686/pp for 14 nights. We only paid $800 for our balcony cabin. There is no way I can financially justify paying almost as much for beverages as I am for the entire cruise. . .frankly, I don't see how anyone can, but apparently lots of people do!!

I like having it as a perk since we're sailing Concierge Class anyway as we try to get to Elite (the price difference between CC with the perks and a Veranda without all three of them has been justified on the cruises that we have booked), but I certainly wouldn't pay for one on my own. I'm just so happy to go on a cruise no matter what I'm drinking or not drinking! :cool: