Upgrading from classic non alcoholic to classic alcoholic beverage package?

[LauraAnneC]

Hi all,

 

I'm booked on Celebrity Equinox in September '15 with my parents. We booked the 123 deal and got the two classic alcoholic beverage packages and one non alcoholic beverage package with our booking.

 

I'm just wondering how much it costs to upgrade the non alcoholic package to the classic alcoholic package? I've looked around the Celebrity site but cannot see this info. We are sailing for 13 nights.

 

Another question - can you get a glass of Sauvignon Blanc on the classic package? I've seen different lists so I'm not sure what applies.

 

Really looking forward to the cruise! Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Laura

[Iamthesea]

Upgrade from non-alcoholic to alcoholic Classic Beverage Package available for an additional charge of $30 per person, per day, plus $1.50 beverage gratuity per person per day, and upgrade from Classic to Premium Beverage Package available for an additional charge of $10 per person, per day plus $1.50 beverage gratuity per person, per day by contacting Celebrity Cruises. Terms of Celebrity’s Alcohol Policy apply, including a minimum drinking age, which varies by itinerary. Guests that do not meet minimum age requirements will receive a non-alcoholic beverage package; no credits or refunds will be provided.

 

You would need to call Celebrity or your TA to arrange this. When I was onboard the Equinox recently, I asked about upgrading a future cruise Non-Alcohol package to the Classic Alcoholic package while onboard that future cruise. The beverage guy, selling the packages, said that he was not equipped to make that change. He could only upgrade passengers from one Alcoholic package to another, not the Non-alcoholic package.

 

Perhaps someone has had a different experience, but that was what I was told. I had wanted to use my OBC to make the change.

 

And the following from a 2012 list. As long as the price isn't over $9 a glass, it's included. I have no idea if the cost of this wine has gone up, however.

 

$ 8.50 – Clifford Bay, SAUVIGNON BLANC, Marlborough, New Zealand

[Lsimon]

While I don't have experience on this, it has been my understanding that you can upgrade from one package to another on board by paying the difference in price. The post above from Iamthesea makes me question if that is accurate. But if you can do it on board then the price would be the difference between the two packages plus the 18% gratuity.

 

Currently the per night prices BEFORE the 18% gratuity are:

 

Classic NA $16.00

Premium NA $20.00

Classic $49.00

Premium $59.00

Edited February 20, 2015 by Lsimon

[LauraAnneC]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the replies so far. I decided to phone Celebrity direct and ask them. I phoned Celebrity in the UK as I'm in Ireland and the cost to upgrade to the Classic Alcohol package is £460 !! Not at all worth my while. I'll see what the cost is when I'm on board but think I'll be sticking with pay as I go - I'm not a big drinker anyway.....

 

Thanks for the info about the price of the Sauvignon Blanc - that's what my Mom drinks and we were wondering if she would want to upgrade her package to premium as I hadn't seen any SB under the €9 ceiling, but I would guess she probably won't need to now.....

 

Kind regards,

 

Laura

[Iamthesea]

Remember that the SB price that I posted was from 2012. It has gone up, but hopefully not more than $9. And by September, they could go up again! :eek:

 

I am also a light drinker and why I am only planning to upgrade my NA Classic to NA Premium (about $25 for my 7 night cruise) for the NA frozen drinks. :D If I want something else, I will pay by the drink. ;)

 

Good luck!

Edited February 20, 2015 by Iamthesea

[tartantiara]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the replies so far. I decided to phone Celebrity direct and ask them. I phoned Celebrity in the UK as I'm in Ireland and the cost to upgrade to the Classic Alcohol package is £460 !! Not at all worth my while. I'll see what the cost is when I'm on board but think I'll be sticking with pay as I go - I'm not a big drinker anyway.....

 

Thanks for the info about the price of the Sauvignon Blanc - that's what my Mom drinks and we were wondering if she would want to upgrade her package to premium as I hadn't seen any SB under the €9 ceiling, but I would guess she probably won't need to now.....

 

Kind regards,

 

Laura

 

 

It seems like they have quoted you for the full price of the classic package and not an upgrade , maybe it is not possible to upgrade. As you will be getting all your non alcoholic drinks anyway you would be better just to pay as you go for alcohol

[Iamthesea]

That's a good point!

 

Can anyone tell me how much a non-alcoholic frozen drink - like a Pina Colado - would cost?

[ailetoile]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the replies so far. I decided to phone Celebrity direct and ask them. I phoned Celebrity in the UK as I'm in Ireland and the cost to upgrade to the Classic Alcohol package is £460 !! Not at all worth my while. I'll see what the cost is when I'm on board but think I'll be sticking with pay as I go - I'm not a big drinker anyway.....

 

Thanks for the info about the price of the Sauvignon Blanc - that's what my Mom drinks and we were wondering if she would want to upgrade her package to premium as I hadn't seen any SB under the €9 ceiling, but I would guess she probably won't need to now.....

 

Kind regards,

 

Laura

 

It appears that you were quoted the entire price of the Classic Alcohol package. If you were to upgrade (which you absolutely can do), the price would be more in the range of £330.

 

Here is the math:

 

$16.00 + 18% gratuity / day for the Classic Non-Alcohol package. You have paid for this.

 

$49.00 + 18% gratuity / day for Classic Alcohol package.

 

$33.00 + 18% gratuity / day is the difference -- we're going to call it $39 for the rest of this computation.

 

$39 * 13 days of the cruise is $507 USD. Converted to pounds, that would be just under £330.

 

NOW, with that being said, here are some things to note (and to correct some of the misinformation I've seen in here):

 

1. You can absolutely upgrade for the difference in price. You can do this either on board and bill the difference to your room or prior to sailing and bill the difference to a credit card. I have heard that there are many problems with the UK customer service for Celebrity, and this appears to be another example of that.

 

2. From everything I have read from you in this thread, you should probably not bother upgrading. The alcohol packages are expensive and if you are not a heavy drinker then the upgrade may not be for you.

 

3. Please don't take the price of the SB that has been quoted here with anything more than a grain of salt. It is likely that it has gone up and may no longer be covered under the Classic Alcohol package in the past three years. The best advice that can be offered in the case of your mom would be to see what the prices are like once you board the ship and to upgrade there if she finds the Classic package too restrictive.

 

4. (This is for iAmTheSea, but OP might find it of interest): A virgin drink like a Pina Colada theoretically runs around $8.26 USD on board once you factor in the 18% gratuity. It looks like these drinks are covered under the PREMIUM Non-Alcohol package, but not the Classic (my source). It seems that if you would like to drink a lot of frozen mocktails you may want to consider an upgrade to the Premium Non-Alcohol package for approximately £40 and then pay as you go for alcoholic treats.

 

I will be adding this information to the PDF in the thread that I am compiling with questions about drinks packages. Thank you all for all of the new views on this topic -- I am having a great time researching all of the small things! :cool:

Edited February 20, 2015 by ailetoile

[Iamthesea]

Gee! You can sure tell that I was half asleep when I answered the OP first thing this morning.

 

This...

 

I asked about upgrading a future cruise Non-Alcohol package to the Classic Alcoholic package while onboard that future cruise. The beverage guy, selling the packages, said that he was not equipped to make that change. He could only upgrade passengers from one Alcoholic package to another, not the Non-alcoholic package.

 

should have read this...

 

I asked about upgrading a Non-Alcohol Classic package to a Non-Alcoholic Premium package while onboard a future cruise. The beverage guy, selling the packages, said that he was not equipped to make that change. He could only upgrade passengers from one Alcoholic package to another, not the Non-alcoholic package.

 

Sorry if my post was confusing.

 

Again, the crew member selling the packages said that he could not upgrade my non-alcoholic package while onboard. ;)

 

I also wanted to point out, ailetoile, the PDF that I quoted from was a new (2015) release from Celebrity about their City Tours. Obviously, they have not updated their flyers with the new drink pricing. Not surprising. :rolleyes:

 

And I did point out two times to the OP that the price of the SB had already and will probably go up by the time they cruise. ;)

 

Thank you for quoting the price of the Virgin frozen drinks. It does make sense to go ahead and upgrade my NA Classic package to the NA Premium package. I just wish that it could be done onboard so that I could use my OBC, instead of having to pay ahead. I can drink at least one frozen drink in a day. Maybe not everyday, but surely there is something else in that NA Premium package that I might want that is not included in the NA Classic.:cool: Oh, and I so wish that Celebrity would bring back the Fresh Squeezed OJ. That was quite a disappointment on the cruise last week. :(

[ailetoile]

I asked about upgrading a Non-Alcohol Classic package to a Non-Alcoholic Premium package while onboard a future cruise. The beverage guy, selling the packages, said that he was not equipped to make that change. He could only upgrade passengers from one Alcoholic package to another, not the Non-alcoholic package.

 

It seems strange that they wouldn't be able to cancel the package outright, refund your money, and then let you purchase the upgraded package for the prorated amount if nothing else. Perhaps this was because you were speaking about a future cruise and not the current one? Has anyone else had this experience?

 

Iamthesea, I only really saw your original quoted price from the 2012 list. I wasn't trying to be mean to you or anything like that, certainly. :eek:

[Emeraldfish]

I upgraded the third persons free non-alcoholic Classic package to an alcoholic one a few days ago for £350 something with celebrity uk, so it can be done :)

[helen haywood]

Keep in mind you do not have to do the upgrade before the cruise or the minute you board. You can do so at any point up to like the last 3 days of the cruise. So it might behoove you to wait and see if you need to do so.

[LauraAnneC]

I'm going to wait until I get on board and see what the prices are like. It might just be cheaper to pay as I go..... Thanks for all the advice!