123 go Classic package is incorectly adjusted for Australian Solstice departures

[cruisin-m]

Hi everyone :D

 

On Solstice cruise departing Australia unfortunately there was a very lacking wine selection for the classic package as they had adjusted the prices to accommodate the gratuities but they had not adjusted the wine limit correctly meaning that you could not get any wines off Celebrities standard wine list that are included everywhere else in the world and only a select few off the local selections that scraped under.

 

The wine included in classic package worldwide increased from $9 per glass to $10.50 to accommodate tip but wine limit on Solstice from Australia was made the same as spirits and cocktails at $9.50, meaning no wines off standard menu, only few locals.

 

When you questioned on board why it wasn't right you were told tough luck, better upgrade to premium if you want it by both bar staff and guest relations .:eek:

 

Other than this an exceptional cruise as always!

[LunaSeaRetreat]

I see you changed the title of your original post. It is much clearer now. I certainly hope Celebrity gets this straightened out. The adjustment is so obviously a mistake it seems like an easy fix.

 

Hope someone now sailing the Solstice will report back.

 

We sail in February on a B2B. We have the classic package and don't want to upgrade just to get wines that are on the classic package on all the other ships.

 

Thanks for letting us know.

 

Cynthia

[SFO-F/A]

Is there anyone at Celebrity monitoring these boards??? :confused:

 

Lets get this straightened out! :mad:

[jagoffee]

Hi everyone :D

 

On Solstice cruise departing Australia unfortunately there was a very lacking wine selection for the classic package as they had adjusted the prices to accommodate the gratuities but they had not adjusted the wine limit correctly meaning that you could not get any wines off Celebrities standard wine list that are included everywhere else in the world and only a select few off the local selections that scraped under.

 

The wine included in classic package worldwide increased from $9 per glass to $10.50 to accommodate tip but wine limit on Solstice from Australia was made the same as spirits and cocktails at $9.50, meaning no wines off standard menu, only few locals.

 

When you questioned on board why it wasn't right you were told tough luck, better upgrade to premium if you want it by both bar staff and guest relations .:eek:

 

Other than this an exceptional cruise as always!

 

Perhaps a misunderstanding? We often read comments considering the limited selection of wines on the Classic package. If in fact the wine prices were all increased by 15% then clearly the limit for wines needs to increase.

It might be worth the effort to make sure you have the correct facts and elevate the issue to a higher level.

Is this the first Solstice cruise out of Auatralia for this season?

Good luck

[jagoffee]

Is there anyone at Celebrity monitoring these boards??? :confused:

 

Lets get this straightened out! :mad:

 

Like I said I would think a manager or officer on board would be able to fix this quicker and easier. Training perhaps?

[cporses]

It sounds like a bracket creep. Much like an Income Tax bracket creep.

Increase the price of wines so there are fewer choices in Classic Pack.

More guests will hopefully upgrade to Premium to get their favourite wine.

Added advantage to X is simpler catering routines, providing further cost savings.

This happens everywhere these days. It is similar to food companies who deceptively reduce the package weight rather than apply an obvious price increase to the original.

 

Bob

 

 

Sent from my tablet thingy!

[SFO-F/A]

It sounds like a bracket creep. Much like an Income Tax bracket creep.

Increase the price of wines so there are fewer choices in Classic Pack.

More guests will hopefully upgrade to Premium to get their favourite wine.

Added advantage to X is simpler catering routines, providing further cost savings.

This happens everywhere these days. It is similar to food companies who deceptively reduce the package weight rather than apply an obvious price increase to the original.

 

Bob

 

 

Sent from my tablet thingy!

 

Why would it only be on the Australian/New Zealand cruises?

[The_Big_M]

Why would it only be on the Australian/New Zealand cruises?

 

It's not even the case. On my Century cruise last month, everything was correct, and you could get all the usual wines, plus more (the AU ones) in the classic package.

 

As posted previously, and especially as it was just the wine and not other drinks, and was not changed the same on the Century sailing here, a mistake was made somewhere.

[SFO-F/A]

It's not even the case. On my Century cruise last month, everything was correct, and you could get all the usual wines, plus more (the AU ones) in the classic package.

 

As posted previously, and especially as it was just the wine and not other drinks, and was not changed the same on the Century sailing here, a mistake was made somewhere.

 

Hope they correct it soon for those on board now and in the future....;)

[cruisin-m]

Perhaps a misunderstanding? We often read comments considering the limited selection of wines on the Classic package. If in fact the wine prices were all increased by 15% then clearly the limit for wines needs to increase.

It might be worth the effort to make sure you have the correct facts and elevate the issue to a higher level.

Is this the first Solstice cruise out of Auatralia for this season?

Good luck

 

Yep, it's obviously just an oversight and I'm sure it wasn't intentional (I hope anyway), especially when it has been confirmed that the other Celebrity ship sailing from Australia, the Century, has been correctly adjusted to $10.50.

 

Either that or perhaps the Solstice bar manager is just a bit ambitious to sell more premium packages but either way I hope it gets fixed for future Solstice passengers as the wine menu as it stands is very disappointing. I've heard people complain about the classic package in its usual state, personally I think it's fine, but this is complete stripped back what they offer at the moment on Solstice :rolleyes:

 

 

The cruise I went on was the second cruise of Solstice season sailing from Sydney, the first was only a 3 night sampler cruise to nowhere though, which I'm not sure if they have packages on these short cruises?

[Hammer61]

We are sailing soon so hoping this is either a misunderstanding or it gets adjusted :confused:

 

Hope we can get some more feedback from anyone recently off the Solstice in relation to this?

Edited November 15, 2014 by Hammer61

[SFO-F/A]

Bumping this up to see if there is any new information about the classic beverage package wine on board Solstice in Australia?

 

Anyone out there to answer this question?

Celebrity peeps? :confused:

[LunaSeaRetreat]

Bumping this up to see if there is any new information about the classic beverage package wine on board Solstice in Australia?

 

Anyone out there to answer this question?

Celebrity peeps? :confused:

 

I really wish someone just off the Solstice would let us know if Celebrity fixed the problem. It seems such an easy fix. Of course both of my reservations just disappeared from the website so who knows.

 

Cynthia

[emileg]

I am confused. If you have the classic package, you prepay the 15% gratuity based on the package price. Am I reading here that the price of $9.00 wines is increased to $10.50 to include gratuity? So, if I order a $10.50 wine without a package, there is no additional gratuity added to the bill? I know in New Zealand there is no tipping. Is this why Celebrity is including the tip in the price. Someone, please clarify. We are sailing on the Solstice out of Auckland on January 4 and have the Classic package. Thank you.

[The_Big_M]

I am confused. If you have the classic package, you prepay the 15% gratuity based on the package price. Am I reading here that the price of $9.00 wines is increased to $10.50 to include gratuity? So, if I order a $10.50 wine without a package, there is no additional gratuity added to the bill? I know in New Zealand there is no tipping. Is this why Celebrity is including the tip in the price. Someone, please clarify. We are sailing on the Solstice out of Auckland on January 4 and have the Classic package. Thank you.

 

As you have the package you won't be impacted anyway, as the price includes gratuities.

 

However, if without the package, the price for drinks on Australian sailings is adjusted to include gratuities in the advertised price. The gratuity is not added on top. As such, the package inclusions are also adjusted up to cater for the way drink prices are handled.

 

This thread indicates there was an issue with the package adjustment for wine on the first sailing of Solstice here. However, for reasons given above, I believe this was a one-off/accident of some form. We are just waiting for someone from a subsequent Solstice sailing to confirm.

[emileg]

As you have the package you won't be impacted anyway, as the price includes gratuities.

 

However, if without the package, the price for drinks on Australian sailings is adjusted to include gratuities in the advertised price. The gratuity is not added on top. As such, the package inclusions are also adjusted up to cater for the way drink prices are handled.

 

This thread indicates there was an issue with the package adjustment for wine on the first sailing of Solstice here. However, for reasons given above, I believe this was a one-off/accident of some form. We are just waiting for someone from a subsequent Solstice sailing to confirm.

Thank you for the explanation. I do believe the OP was concerned that, in fact, the classic package was impacted as wine is limited to $9.00 per glass, but $9.00 wine was repriced at $10.50. Thus to meet the $9.00 limit on wine imposed by the classic package, one would have to choose a wine originally priced $7.80 or lower.

 

Yes, we are all looking forward to whether this issue has been fixed. I guess it depends on the extent to which the hotel director wishes to stick his or her neck out to get corporate to listen.

[SFO-F/A]

Thank you for the explanation. I do believe the OP was concerned that, in fact, the classic package was impacted as wine is limited to $9.00 per glass, but $9.00 wine was repriced at $10.50. Thus to meet the $9.00 limit on wine imposed by the classic package, one would have to choose a wine originally priced $7.80 or lower.

 

Yes, we are all looking forward to whether this issue has been fixed. I guess it depends on the extent to which the hotel director wishes to stick his or her neck out to get corporate to listen.

 

I still don't understand why it's different on Solstice than on Century who cruises out of Australia also. No issues on that ship! Hope someone off Solstice responds soon.

[LunaSeaRetreat]

I am confused. If you have the classic package, you prepay the 15% gratuity based on the package price. Am I reading here that the price of $9.00 wines is increased to $10.50 to include gratuity? So, if I order a $10.50 wine without a package, there is no additional gratuity added to the bill? I know in New Zealand there is no tipping. Is this why Celebrity is including the tip in the price. Someone, please clarify. We are sailing on the Solstice out of Auckland on January 4 and have the Classic package. Thank you.

 

Actually according to the OP on the Solstice

The wine included in classic package worldwide increased from $9 per glass to $10.50 to accommodate tip but wine limit on Solstice from Australia was made the same as spirits and cocktails at $9.50, meaning no wines off standard menu, only few locals.

The Solstice forgot there were 3 price points when they added the gratuities and made the wine limit $9.50 not 10.50 like the rest of the ships adding in the gratuities.

Cynthia

[SWORRUB1]

The Solstice forgot there were 3 price points when they added the gratuities and made the wine limit $9.50 not 10.50 like the rest of the ships adding in the gratuities.

Cynthia

 

 

The question is 'Has it been corrected now?'

[CarolynAustralia]

I'm interested in hearing how this is worked out too. I understood there were "lots" of wines included in the classic alcoholic package. As a wine drinker I really don't want to have to upgrade to the higher package as I only really drink wine.

[brissie]

Most upsetting that very few wines available on classic package as we have three cruises booked on Solstice - the first one Nov. 27th Sydney/Auckland and were looking forward to enjoying wine with dinner..

Why do they appear to discriminate against Aussies at times with higher booking costs and less favourable booking conditions and now expecting us to buy premium package for drinks if we are wine drinkers. Australia produces excellent wines at very reasonable costs so there is no excuse for Celebrity charging more for wine on Aussie Cruises compared to other cruises.

Brissie

[SWORRUB1]

Most upsetting that very few wines available on classic package as we have three cruises booked on Solstice - the first one Nov. 27th Sydney/Auckland and were looking forward to enjoying wine with dinner..

Why do they appear to discriminate against Aussies at times with higher booking costs and less favourable booking conditions and now expecting us to buy premium package for drinks if we are wine drinkers......... there is no excuse for Celebrity charging more for wine on Aussie Cruises compared to other cruises.

Brissie

 

I wouldnt get too downhearted yet, I am sure that it will get sorted. This is exactly the sort of thing Official Celebrity that you should be making an official statement on. Specifically state that on sailings were the tip is included in the price means the limit for wine is $10.50 to be included and therefore wines up to that price are included in the classic package price.

In fact Celebrity have already sort have stated that in the Classic package:'We offer a large global assortment of red, white and sparkling wines by the glass' as the amount under $9 with tip included doesn't comply with that.

 

Also check this out

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2044916&page=2

Edited November 23, 2014 by SWORRUB1
More poor spelling!

[emileg]

Actually according to the OP on the Solstice

The wine included in classic package worldwide increased from $9 per glass to $10.50 to accommodate tip but wine limit on Solstice from Australia was made the same as spirits and cocktails at $9.50, meaning no wines off standard menu, only few locals.

The Solstice forgot there were 3 price points when they added the gratuities and made the wine limit $9.50 not 10.50 like the rest of the ships adding in the gratuities.

Cynthia

Cynthia, okay, so what I think you are saying is there are two separate wine lists. 1) a regular list of wines where $9.00 glasses were repriced to $10.50, for which you can use the classic package. 2) an Australian wine list from which with the classic package you can only purchase wines up to $9.50. Do I get it now? Thanks.

[The_Big_M]

Cynthia, okay, so what I think you are saying is there are two separate wine lists. 1) a regular list of wines where $9.00 glasses were repriced to $10.50, for which you can use the classic package. 2) an Australian wine list from which with the classic package you can only purchase wines up to $9.50. Do I get it now? Thanks.

 

We're still waiting on Solstice but I wouldn't expect that to be the case, based on past and Century experiences.

 

There are two lists, but the same limit should apply to both.

[CarolynAustralia]

My favourite NZ wine sells for less than $10 AUS. There are lots of Aussie and New Zealand wines under $20 AUS. Considering there are usually 5 glasses of wine per bottle Celebrity is making plenty of money from wine. I would have thought the cocktails would have been way more expensive to produce.