Bringing non-alcoholic drinks on board

I just called Celebrity's Captain's Club to get answers to my many questions prior to a 14-night cruise from Hong Kong to Singapore in January. On the phone for 50 minutes and got the following info from a very nice lady named Jade.

1. We were thinking of buying the $18/day non-alcoholic package but have now decided against it. Free coffee, tea, fruit punch, some juices, lemonade, iced tea, etc. is free in the buffet area and the MDR for all meals. Coffee & tea is free 24/7 in the buffet area.

2. If we decide to buy it on let's say Day 4 we would still be charged the package for 14 days but any charges for drinks purchased prior to that would be removed. :o This was a bit of a surprise but Jade said they all only have one code to use for each package.

3. The Celebrity Policy is "that you can bring on as much non-alcoholic beverages (water, pop, juice, iced tea, etc.) as you can carry in your carry-in; NOT in checked bags. Jade said that they use to not allow Coke products as that is what they sell on board but that is no longer the case".

4. If you run out and want to buy more when on shore, you can. As much as you can carry again but it "must be in sealed, original packaging. Any open drinks with straws will have to be thrown out at the gang plank."

This is great news as I was reading all sorts of stuff like "only 12 cans of soda per person", "cans only" "no bottled water" (plastic or glass)

This will save us almost $600 USD. ($297.36/person)(more since we are Canadian). If hubby wants a nice cappuccino everyday or I wan't a frozen non-alcoholic drink once in awhile then we can pay the price and still be ahead. :D

I hope this helps anyone else who doesn't drink.

Thanks for the heads up. I hope there is consistency in the interpretation of the policy by the inspection crew.

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Your CSR is reading the script, but that doesn't always match reality.

You can buy the package on day 4 and only pay for the remaining days, and they don't go back to the beginning as the SCR described,

I just called Celebrity's Captain's Club to get answers to my many questions prior to a 14-night cruise from Hong Kong to Singapore in January. On the phone for 50 minutes and got the following info from a very nice lady named Jade.

 

1. We were thinking of buying the $18/day non-alcoholic package but have now decided against it. Free coffee, tea, fruit punch, some juices, lemonade, iced tea, etc. is free in the buffet area and the MDR for all meals. Coffee & tea is free 24/7 in the buffet area.

.....................................

 

This will save us almost $600 USD. ($297.36/person)(more since we are Canadian). If hubby wants a nice cappuccino everyday or I wan't a frozen non-alcoholic drink once in awhile then we can pay the price and still be ahead. :D

 

I hope this helps anyone else who doesn't drink.

Thanks for passing this info along, Betty. But, its been our experience that all the "free" beverages leave much to be desired. The coffee isn't much better than sludge, the teas are very low grade, and the fruit punch and juices aren't much more than powdered concoctions, heavy on sugar or artificial sweeteners. :confused:

Just thought you should be aware.

Thanks for passing this info along, Betty. But, its been our experience that all the "free" beverages leave much to be desired. The coffee isn't much better than sludge, the teas are very low grade, and the fruit punch and juices aren't much more than powdered concoctions, heavy on sugar or artificial sweeteners. :confused:

Just thought you should be aware.

Thanks Sammy1. I heard the new coffee is pretty good. I guess it will be all a wait and see.

Betty

Ex-Toronto area resident

Thanks Sammy1. I heard the new coffee is pretty good. I guess it will be all a wait and see.

 

Betty

Ex-Toronto area resident

I do hope you are right. I wasn't aware that they've changed the coffee. We've sailed Celebrity many times over the past few years, and our experience with the "free" beverages has been very disappointing. We're on two Celebrity sailings next year, including the same as your HK to Singapore cruise, but later sailing. We were lucky enough to get the Classic Beverage Package thrown in for both sailings by our online TA. We don't drink much more alcohol than a glass or two of wine at dinner, but will enjoy the brewed coffee, cappuccino's and fresh juices. :p

Thanks for passing this info along, Betty. But, its been our experience that all the "free" beverages leave much to be desired. The coffee isn't much better than sludge, the teas are very low grade, and the fruit punch and juices aren't much more than powdered concoctions, heavy on sugar or artificial sweeteners. :confused:

Just thought you should be aware.

Agree. The juice dispensers in the buffet have fruit flavored Kool Aid and orange flavored Hi C. The standard drink package gets you bottled juice and premium gets you fresh squeezed.

The buffet coffee is standard gas station fare, but the standard drink package will get you a latte or capucino from Cafe al Bacio.

Agree. The juice dispensers in the buffet have fruit flavored Kool Aid and orange flavored Hi C. The standard drink package gets you bottled juice and premium gets you fresh squeezed.

 

The buffet coffee is standard gas station fare, but the standard drink package will get you a latte or capucino from Cafe al Bacio.

Hi Sammigar....great CC name by the way!

Actually, I understand the "Classic" beverage package now includes fresh squeezed juice. We're really looking forward to that! :D

Many people bring a case of cokes and a case of water (or more) to the port and slap a luggage tag on it, and along with the checked baggage, it's all delivered to your room.

It's been my experience, and that of many others, that if you buy a beverage package (or upgrade one) after the first day, that it's pro-rated. You can do the upgrade until the 4th to the last day of the cruise. They don't charge you the days past. Your customer service rep was mistaken.

We have also purchased additional cokes (my generic word for soda) in port and brought them back on board. This was before the beverage package days.

Many people bring a case of cokes and a case of water (or more) to the port and slap a luggage tag on it, and along with the checked baggage, it's all delivered to your room.

 

It's been my experience, and that of many others, that if you buy a beverage package (or upgrade one) after the first day, that it's pro-rated. You can do the upgrade until the 4th to the last day of the cruise. They don't charge you the days past. Your customer service rep was mistaken.

 

We have also purchased additional cokes (my generic word for soda) in port and brought them back on board. This was before the beverage package days.

This is great news. Thank you

Betty

UPDATE:

Just called Celebrity's Captain's Club to ask a question about my husband's account but while I was there I thought I'd ask her about the drink package not being pro-rated as per my previous call and as so many have said on CC was wrong. She agreed with CC and said Jade who I spoke to before was incorrect. What??? Alia said if we choose to buy a drink package midway through the cruise, we only pay for the remaining days. Yeah. Not buying it the first two days we are in Hong Kong and off ship is a $85 USD saving alone. (That's over $107 CDN for just 2 days!!!) Almost the cost of a shore excursion!

I also asked about the carrying on of non-alcoholic beverages (like water, juice, soda, etc) and she agree with Jade on this one. Totally unlimited and doesn't matter if it is in cans or plastic. She did comment when I asked if it was carry-on only by saying that "it says unlimited for what each person can carry on" so she doesn't know about people putting luggage tags on their cases of water and/or soda and having it delivered to your room right along with your suitcase. So I then asked "what about putting it in your suitcase? Would it get confiscated?" She said she had never heard of that but there could be a one of case out there.

Having to carry (even in a pully) heavy water and soda until our cabin is ready on the Sunday sucks. But just then the light bulb went on!!!! I think we may just buy it on Monday when we can then carry it on straight into our cabin.

Betty

I'm sure I could get the answer if the website worked but it just locked me out. It really is a terrible website. I was logged in and went to another screen and it wanted me to log in again.

With the classic package, can you get seltzer or soda water? I prefer it to flat. On my recent Disney cruise I could get it in a glass from any bar (free) but would like to be able to get bottles or cans.

 

With the classic package, can you get seltzer or soda water? I prefer it to flat. On my recent Disney cruise I could get it in a glass from any bar (free) but would like to be able to get bottles or cans.

I'm afraid you may not be able to get a straight answer on this. I just finished reading a long thread on recent changes to the Classic Beverage Package, and how the new policies are implemented seems to vary ship to ship, and venue to venue. Some do provide soda in cans, some don't. Check this out....

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2559185

Good luck!

I just received an e-mail from Celebrity to fill out a survey on Aaliya's performance on yesterday's call to the Captain's Club. I pointed out about the wrong answer from Jade on the Nov 6th call. They must be reading from different scripts. LOL

Have taken cases of water on as checked luggage many times. Just throws tag on it.This has always been allowed and many have reported they have done it on this board.

Just found this on a Celebrity site:

"Packages are sold on a per cruise basis, and not on a per day or any other basis"

I sure hope not.

It's very awkward wording but what they mean is you cannot buy a package for just one day. Or just for two days. Whatever day you buy your package it is then in force for the remainder of the cruise. So if you wait until the third day of the seventh day cruise you will only be charged for the remaining days, not for days one and two.. But you cannot buy Day three and day five and Day seven.

Quick, someone get my Lawyer....LOL

I always take my own Teabags [emoji51]

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