Drinks package advice

[Jade13]

I noticed that the soda package may not include club soda. Is that correct? It used to or has been available on other lines.

[cherylroslyn]

If you are evaluating the drinks package for a 12 night cruise and you don't classify yourself as a bit of a "drinker". I would immediately rule out an alcohol package, but I would highly recommend the premium non-alcohol plan.

 

It provides basically anything that is liquid and without alcohol on the ship...so virgin frozen drinks, blended frozen coffee drinks, warm fancy coffees, large bottles of still and carbonated premium waters, vitamin waters, sodas, juices....energy drinks.......you name it.

 

I always take the premium alcohol package and believe me I have never regreted it. The only time I thought it may not have been the greatest idea was on a ten day late season Alaska cruise last year.......for me there were a few days where I was sick with a bronchitis type illness and obviously not into drinking, however on those days I probably consumed fifty dollars worth of teas and waters.....maybe even more.

 

I realized when I returned that I definitely got my money's worth, but I thought in the future for a trip over eight days I would carefully consider it because even I can't keep that type of pace for 10 days......

 

The bottom line is some days I will drink 100$ worth of drinks....and on a light day without alcohol I will still probably consume 50$ worth of non-alcoholic drinks......so for me it basically will always make sense.

 

My other family members get the premium non-alcohol and believe me the package had paid for itself by about 11:00am............

[Lsimon]

Let's be honest folks, the decision on whether you should take the beverage package or not has a lot to do with how much vacation money you are willing to part with. ...

 

I disagree with that entirely. We drink a lot on a cruise and don't hold back from buying anything we'd like as any amount of beverages, or a Beverage package, would be within our budget on a given cruise. However the packages have not been worth it to use for a few reasons:

 

First, while we've had what I always thought were huge bar bills they have always been far less than the $54/pp/day cost of the premium package throughout an entire cruise.

 

Second, we enjoy wine with dinner and occasionally at other times. The by-the-glass wine list has one or two wines we'd enjoy but by and large most of the wines on it don't appeal to us. On the other hand, the wine by the bottle list is huge and has a great variety of wines at all price points and there are quite a few we enjoy. I wouldn't want the same wines night after night from the by-the-glass list so we order from the much larger by the bottle list which is not available on the packages.

 

We have been considering the non-alcoholic package. On most cruises we've run lower on consumption than the cost of these but on a couple recent ones have come close and our next cruise has a few more sea days than in the past so we're considering trying it because of the sale. But the alcoholic package definitely doesn't work for us and even our thoughts on the NA package are after careful consideration of our on-board consumption. The biggest concern for us is that we'll need to be buying our own items for in-cabin consumption one or two at a time from the bars to bring back to our stateroom rather than having the cabin steward keep them stocked, ordering from room service, or the mini bar, as we usually do.

 

In general, my recommendation is that if you are at all unsure of whether a package is right for you then take a pass on pre-purchasing a package. Instead wait until you are on board and have a day or two to check out the on board prices, and your own consumption, and if you feel a package would be best you can always buy one a day or two into the cruise at a price adjusted pro-rata for the remainder of the cruise. I know the current 10% off sale throws a twist into this, but despite the 10% discount I still think this is good advice given the very high cost of the packages.

 

The bottom line is that the packages are best only for those that consume above average quantities of the included beverages and/or those who are willing to pay extra for an all inclusive experience.

 

Included beverages: Don't forget your cruise fare includes a good assortment of no-extra-charge beverages (click here for a Cruise Critic thread with more info). Also, there are often many beverage specials during most cruises such as happy hour, bucket of beer, drink of the day and other specials which bring the price of some items down for those purchasing drinks without a prepaid package.

[boards]

Thank you Lsimon for your information and thoughts, it will a long way to helping us make our decision about cruising on the Infinity next year.

[iheartpoco]

The existence of the Premium Alcohol package is what made us choose Celebrity over HAL or Princess for our next cruise. Can't wait! I looove a mimosa for breakfast!

[MicCanberra]

Many thanks. Cancelled first booking and rebooked with 10% discount. Sadly the Sydney office new nothing about this nor did they try. Cheers to all. Roll on November :)

 

Yes, I tried the office first as well. Useless, they said if it isn't advertised we do not get it, Wrong again.:D

[Bobby Dee]

I disagree with that entirely. We drink a lot on a cruise and don't hold back from buying anything we'd like as any amount of beverages, or a Beverage package, would be within our budget on a given cruise. However the packages have not been worth it to use for a few reasons:

 

First, while we've had what I always thought were huge bar bills they have always been far less than the $54/pp/day cost of the premium package throughout an entire cruise.

 

Second, we enjoy wine with dinner and occasionally at other times. The by-the-glass wine list has one or two wines we'd enjoy but by and large most of the wines on it don't appeal to us. On the other hand, the wine by the bottle list is huge and has a great variety of wines at all price points and there are quite a few we enjoy. I wouldn't want the same wines night after night from the by-the-glass list so we order from the much larger by the bottle list which is not available on the packages.

 

We have been considering the non-alcoholic package. On most cruises we've run lower on consumption than the cost of these but on a couple recent ones have come close and our next cruise has a few more sea days than in the past so we're considering trying it because of the sale. But the alcoholic package definitely doesn't work for us and even our thoughts on the NA package are after careful consideration of our on-board consumption. The biggest concern for us is that we'll need to be buying our own items for in-cabin consumption one or two at a time from the bars to bring back to our stateroom rather than having the cabin steward keep them stocked, ordering from room service, or the mini bar, as we usually do.

 

In general, my recommendation is that if you are at all unsure of whether a package is right for you then take a pass on pre-purchasing a package. Instead wait until you are on board and have a day or two to check out the on board prices, and your own consumption, and if you feel a package would be best you can always buy one a day or two into the cruise at a price adjusted pro-rata for the remainder of the cruise. I know the current 10% off sale throws a twist into this, but despite the 10% discount I still think this is good advice given the very high cost of the packages.

 

The bottom line is that the packages are best only for those that consume above average quantities of the included beverages and/or those who are willing to pay extra for an all inclusive experience.

 

Included beverages: Don't forget your cruise fare includes a good assortment of no-extra-charge beverages (click here for a Cruise Critic thread with more info). Also, there are often many beverage specials during most cruises such as happy hour, bucket of beer, drink of the day and other specials which bring the price of some items down for those purchasing drinks without a prepaid package.

 

Well, Larry, I've read many of your posts and I truly respect your opinion. However, in this case, I'm going to stay with the original idea, that the choice of buying or not buying a package most often has to do with the cruiser's personality and as you said " those who are willing to pay extra for an all inclusive experience."

I accept your opinion that the wines that are available "by the glass" are not satisfactory for some. You see, I don't have a cultured palate. But, I enjoy a tasty glass of wine, or two, or three. With the package on the last sailing, I was able to tell the wine steward that I wanted him to select the wine for me. Of course there was a small exchange of cash with the request, but on only one case, was there a glass poured that I wasn't thrilled with, and that one glass was quickly exchanged. I would never have been able to experience pairing wines with different courses of the same meal without the package, and that is the kind of experience that I was talking about in my earlier post.

I have seen so many posts on these boards from wine experts who criticize the available wines offered by the glass, that I have to believe that to some it really makes a difference. But tell me, doesn't a fine wine have to lay quietly? Isn't motion the worst thing that can happen to a fine vintage, other than heat? And doesn't the ship move? Is a ship the right place to be looking for the really fine wines?

[Lsimon]

Well, Larry, I've read many of your posts and I truly respect your opinion. However, in this case, I'm going to stay with the original idea, that the choice of buying or not buying a package most often has to do with the cruiser's personality and as you said " those who are willing to pay extra for an all inclusive experience."...

 

 

.... But tell me, doesn't a fine wine have to lay quietly? Isn't motion the worst thing that can happen to a fine vintage, other than heat? And doesn't the ship move? Is a ship the right place to be looking for the really fine wines?

 

Point one - I didn't say that the packages aren't right for anyone, I said they were not right for everyone. Your prior post seemed to indicate that the only reason one wouldn't go for the package was their cruise budget and I was just indicating there were other reasons as well and cited a couple. There are many people for whom the packages are a great option and the inclusion of wines by the glass is ideal for many, but that attraction is not universal.

 

Second point: This might apply to extremely old and rare vintage wines but not to the common wines that make up 98% of Celebrity's bottled wine list. I think for a wine where the motion and similar issues at sea to be a problem we're probably talking about longer term storage on the types of wines costing many hundreds of dollars per bottle. They do have a selection of those on the ships but most of them are not listed on any wine list but rather are offered verbally by one of the sommeliers if someone inquires about them. I've seen (but never tried) wines on the ship that cost thousands per bottle. My personal price range is more in the mid double digit range rather than the triple and quad digit range!

 

Let me give you a good example. We really like Savignon Blanc wines. The wine by the glass list has one or two while the bottled wine list has at least a dozen or so, more if you extend to similar varieties, and most are in the $40 to $60 price range with some lower and some higher.

[Big_G]

If only one of us buys the package and I want drinks for both of us will they just charge the additional drink to my sea pass?

 

I can't see the pricing on the Celebrity website. Is this a problem with the site or because I haven't put my on-board credit card number in my reservation yet?

 

Thanks

[sussanahrose]

I am assuming you will be a cruise in Europe. You will have very few sea days for drinks around the pool etc. I got the NA preminum beverage package for our Med cruise last fall. It was great. I drink diet coke and lots of bubble water, and specialty coffee. Always got bottled water when we got off the ship on the port days.

 

Right now all beverage packages are on sale for 10% off until June15. I got NA preminum package for $18.00 per day plus 15% gratuity.

I plan to bring my two bottles of wine on board and will try all the drinks specials and buy a couple of martinis on my next curise in DEC.

 

Only you can decide if it makes sense for you which package you take.

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

 

 

Hi Azulann!

 

Where do I find the info on the 10% off sale? I can't see anything on the Celebrity website, so I rang the Australian contact - and a not very helpful person told me they know nothing about any sales and that Cruise Critic is not to be trusted for any info!!!! :eek:

 

Anyway, would appreciate finding out if the sale is available for Aussies, if you can help!

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

Sorry - I hadn't read all the posts before but now seevothers are having the same issues also!

 

So if we go ahead and book the drink package does the 10% come off at "checkout"? (Still confused!)

[MicCanberra]

Hi Azulann!

 

Where do I find the info on the 10% off sale? I can't see anything on the Celebrity website, so I rang the Australian contact - and a not very helpful person told me they know nothing about any sales and that Cruise Critic is not to be trusted for any info!!!! :eek:

 

Anyway, would appreciate finding out if the sale is available for Aussies, if you can help!

 

Thanks!

 

The Australian X people in the Sydney office told me that it was not available, as it was not on our website. I have received the discount so they are wrong, yet again.

 

Firstly, the sale is only advertised on the US and Canadian websites.

Secondly, the 10% sale is for everyone, but only if purchased before the 22nd and for cruises up to certain dates.

Thirdly, when you pruchase through your reservation page the discount is already off so you will not see it taken down.(you need to work it out manually as it doesn't show it in the system).:D

http://www.celebritycruises.com/genericHtmlTemplate.do?pagename=beverage_promotion&ICID=CEL_12Q2_HPAB1_Beverage_PkgSale

 

I hope this helps. cheers mic:D

[sussanahrose]

Thanks Mic! Still can't decide whether to pay up front or not tho or wait till later. Decisions, decisions..... :rolleyes:

 

Celebrity office - not a very nice attitude I must say! :(

[sussanahrose]

Well, have decided to book the premium package, as it actually worked out to more than 10% off ($54/ day + 15% service fees, down to $52/ day inc the service fees.)

 

But I was wondering... do you have to pay for it immediately or can you leave it til later? And (for the Aussies) will my credit card be charged in AUD$ or US$ - if US I will then be charged a foreign exchange fee, so more charges involved!!

 

Thanks!

[mum and son]

Well, have decided to book the premium package, as it actually worked out to more than 10% off ($54/ day + 15% service fees, down to $52/ day inc the service fees.)

 

But I was wondering... do you have to pay for it immediately or can you leave it til later? And (for the Aussies) will my credit card be charged in AUD$ or US$ - if US I will then be charged a foreign exchange fee, so more charges involved!!

 

Thanks!

 

 

Yes, you need to pay immediately. It's basically on online purchase. How did you manage to get the $52 per day figure?? With the discount mine calculated out to about $56 inc service fees. With 8 travelling in my party for a 14 night cruise, that $4 per day saving equates to $448... not so shabby!

 

The card will be charged in US$ - we recently pre-booked at the Olympic Restaurant and it was charged in US$. Often on ships (I haven't seen Celebrity often this option though) you can elect whether they convert for you or whether they charge in US$ and your credit card company does the conversion. I usually find it is much cheaper to let the credit card company do the conversion, but I use Amex and find their exchange rates/costs to be very fair.

 

By the way, I was at the Gabba the other week to see my Brisbane Lions beat your boys by 2 points. What a cracker of a match!

[Codidy]

Well, have decided to book the premium package, as it actually worked out to more than 10% off ($54/ day + 15% service fees, down to $52/ day inc the service fees.)

 

But I was wondering... do you have to pay for it immediately or can you leave it til later? And (for the Aussies) will my credit card be charged in AUD$ or US$ - if US I will then be charged a foreign exchange fee, so more charges involved!!

 

Thanks!

 

Our bookings for both Drinks Package & Restaurants for Celebrity Solstice were all charged direct to our AMEX in AUD, no conversion. I believe the link to Celebrity and payment screen are all in AUD.

Cheers Di

[isdoo]

Ours are charged in UKP - so guess yours all should be in your currency as Codidy says.

 

For us, we are taking the premium alcoholic package, despite the fact that normally we would never spend $54 a day. So why buy it? Well simply to add to the enjoyment of our cruise - if we can try new drinks and get as much bottled water as we like, we feel it will add to the overall experience and enjoyment.

 

The reason we would never normally spend that $54 is because I am tight! And so by paying in advance my family can drink to their hearts content without wondering if they are running up a large bill for me LOL

[mum and son]

Our bookings for both Drinks Package & Restaurants for Celebrity Solstice were all charged direct to our AMEX in AUD, no conversion. I believe the link to Celebrity and payment screen are all in AUD.

Cheers Di

 

Yes, you are so right... ignore my previous message :eek:. If you use the Aussie version of the site that is the case. I booked via the US...

[mum and son]

Ok... I just logged into the Celebrity site to purchase my grog package and it is charging me in US$... :confused:... I hate the Celebrity website !!!!!!

[Lsimon]

If only one of us buys the package and I want drinks for both of us will they just charge the additional drink to my sea pass?...

 

Yes, you will be charged for the second drink. The drink packages are just for one person each - no sharing allowed.

[pkw]

We bought the package via the Australian Celebrity website and it was quoted in Australian Dollars and charged my Amex in Australian Dollars too so no conversion rates.

 

Go Eagles - lets hope they thrash Carlton tonight

[The Snoozy Cruiser]

I can also confirm that you get the discount on the Australian website, although there is no mention of the sale to be found anywhere except on the Cruise Critic boards.

The 10% discount was the deciding factor in choosing to go with the premium package for me and the premium non-alcohol package for my wife. It's still not exactly cheap, but I am pretty sure that we'll both get our money's worth, and even if we don't I think the convenience will be worth it.

[mum and son]

We bought the package via the Australian Celebrity website and it was quoted in Australian Dollars and charged my Amex in Australian Dollars too so no conversion rates.

 

Go Eagles - lets hope they thrash Carlton tonight

 

What price did you pay per day? Was it $54p/d + gratuity less 10%? Or did it work out less for you? On the Aussie site (which I can't see for some reason) are the prices pre-converted at the current exchange rate? I switched the thing at the bottom of the site to say "Australia" and still everything is listed in US$. I give up :cool:.

[sussanahrose]

Thanks everyone for the help!

 

Yes, you need to pay immediately. It's basically on online purchase. How did you manage to get the $52 per day figure?? With the discount mine calculated out to about $56 inc service fees. With 8 travelling in my party for a 14 night cruise, that $4 per day saving equates to $448... not so shabby!

 

The card will be charged in US$ - we recently pre-booked at the Olympic Restaurant and it was charged in US$. Often on ships (I haven't seen Celebrity often this option though) you can elect whether they convert for you or whether they charge in US$ and your credit card company does the conversion. I usually find it is much cheaper to let the credit card company do the conversion, but I use Amex and find their exchange rates/costs to be very fair.

 

By the way, I was at the Gabba the other week to see my Brisbane Lions beat your boys by 2 points. What a cracker of a match!

 

Thanks Libby. Actually I made a slight mistake with the daily charge - we're on the Century on 3rd Jan for what is titled "15 days" but I guess it will only be 14 days - nothing on day of disembarkation I presume (maybe a coffee)? 15 days would be $52/ day but 14 days is $55.89.

 

 

 

We bought the package via the Australian Celebrity website and it was quoted in Australian Dollars and charged my Amex in Australian Dollars too so no conversion rates.

 

Go Eagles - lets hope they thrash Carlton tonight

 

Thanks pkw - have gone ahead and bought the packages now, regardless.

 

Yes, Go Eagles!!!

 

Thanks for the reminder of that game, Libby - we're travelling by caravan thru the Centre at present and didn't get to see that one, we're in Darwin tonight and watching the game against Carlton - thought they were going OK (again!!) up till half time - now not so sure!!! :eek:

[sussanahrose]

...

 

Yes, Go Eagles!!!

 

Thanks for the reminder of that game, Libby - we're travelling by caravan thru the Centre at present and didn't get to see that one, we're in Darwin tonight and watching the game against Carlton - thought they were going OK (again!!) up till half time - now not so sure!!! :eek:

 

 

Go The Mighty Eagles, they win again - well, I can say this now!!! :D

[Big_G]

Yes, you will be charged for the second drink. The drink packages are just for one person each - no sharing allowed.

 

Thanks...I was aware there was no sharing but I wasn't sure if I had to use her sea pass to buy the second drink. I can see the pricing now so it must have been the website last night.