Drinks package Prices

[tinkr2]

I am a RCCL cruiser. I was looking at a heck of a deal for a sailaway rate on a celebrity cruise. I am trying to decide whether to add the perks or not. But as I have not cruised celebrity, I have no idea what the packages run. And there appear to be 3 levels from my search. any help would be appreciated.

[gerelmx]

2 minutes ago, tinkr2 said:

I am a RCCL cruiser. I was looking at a heck of a deal for a sailaway rate on a celebrity cruise. I am trying to decide whether to add the perks or not. But as I have not cruised celebrity, I have no idea what the packages run. And there appear to be 3 levels from my search. any help would be appreciated.

 

ONBOARD PACKAGES

[tinkr2]

Thanks so much. I could not see how to access that page without booking. Does it go on sale often like on Royal with their pricing games?

[gerelmx]

8 minutes ago, tinkr2 said:

Thanks so much. I could not see how to access that page without booking. Does it go on sale often like on Royal with their pricing games?

 

Yes X sometime does the weekend or flash sale,  I have seen only the Classic package on discount, also the perk upgrade from classic to premium.

Edited April 20, 2019 by gerelmx

[jelayne]

There are occasionally sales on the Beverage packages, shore excursions and/or Internet but they aren’t frequent.  When there is a sale it may not apply to all sailings.  I booked a cruise  5 months ago without a beverage package and so far there hasn’t been a sale that includes my cruise.  

[39august]

Classic drink package is $59 pp plus 20% gratuity per day. If you  have Diamond status with RCI, call Celebrity and get a captains club number. Then you will be Elite on X and entitled to the complimentary happy hour for Elite and above member of X Captain's Club. There is also free laundry, internet minutes,  dry cleaning and pressing. There is  a free continental breakfast for Elite and above with included mimosas and bloody marys. However, the happy hour is only from 5-7 PM and not offered on embarkation evening, not the night of the senior officers' party, to which you are entitled to attend. 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

You need to check the perks from Celebrity. The cruise is more expensive than others but in most cases the perks are excellent. You usually get to pick 3 out of 4 or 2 out of 4 depending when and who you book with. Here is a sample of them. Pre paid gratuities, standard drink package, (No top tier) That covers speciality coffee also. Free WiFi, $300  OBC plus $50-$100 offered by the booking agent. Those perks can add up fast. Norwegian is a rip off. The offer prepaid drinks then charge you hundreds of dollars for the gratuities to get it. So before you book, check the perks.

[NantahalaCruiser]

Celebrity recently changed their pricing to three levels for each cabin class: 

- non-refundable deposit with 0 perks

- refundable deposit with 2 perks

- refundable deposit with 4 perks

 

Thus the price difference between the first (NR 0 Perks) and second (R 2 perks) fares includes both the value of the refundable deposit and the value of the 2 perks.

 

Prior to this change it used to cost about 5% more to get the refundable deposit. So a good rule of thumb is to consider the difference between the R 2 perks fare minus 105% of the NR 0 Perks fare as a good estimate of your cost for the 2 perks.

 

Happy cruising.

 

Edited April 20, 2019 by NantahalaCruiser

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, twodaywonder said:

You need to check the perks from Celebrity. The cruise is more expensive than others but in most cases the perks are excellent. You usually get to pick 3 out of 4 or 2 out of 4 depending when and who you book with. Here is a sample of them. Pre paid gratuities, standard drink package, (No top tier) That covers speciality coffee also. Free WiFi, $300  OBC plus $50-$100 offered by the booking agent. Those perks can add up fast. Norwegian is a rip off. The offer prepaid drinks then charge you hundreds of dollars for the gratuities to get it. So before you book, check the perks.

 

A correction - the beverage package offered as a booking perk when you chose 2 perks is the Classic package.  There are 3 tiers of the of the beverage packages that include alcohol:

Standard Package - sells for $49 per day +20% gratutity 

Classic Package - sells for $59 per day +20%

Premium Package -sells for $69 per day + 20%

 

If you book and pay for the 4 perk option that would included the Premium Beverage Package rather than the Classic.

[jjb415]

On 4/20/2019 at 11:53 AM, 39august said:

Classic drink package is $59 pp plus 20% gratuity per day. If you  have Diamond status with RCI, call Celebrity and get a captains club number. Then you will be Elite on X and entitled to the complimentary happy hour for Elite and above member of X Captain's Club. There is also free laundry, internet minutes,  dry cleaning and pressing. There is  a free continental breakfast for Elite and above with included mimosas and bloody marys. However, the happy hour is only from 5-7 PM and not offered on embarkation evening, not the night of the senior officers' party, to which you are entitled to attend. 

 

Thanks so much for your reply.  I'm from Royal Caribbean also and will be on the Solstice on May 10.  Is there an Elite discount on the beverage packages onboard like on Royal Caribbean.  Can you even buy the package onboard.  Thanks again !!!  

[jelayne]

There is no discount on the beverage package at the Elite level. You can buy the package onboard or pre-cruise in the Cruise Planner.

[LucasLounger1]

OK - so I am confused - I just repriced my booking for next year's cruise on Silhouette to include 2 perks (incl bev pkg).  I thought the gratuity was covered -- but do I have to pay 20% gratuity each time I order a drink?? Or is that gratuity covered in the perk? (I might have to rethink this re-pricing...)

 

TIA.

[Tourist1292]

12 minutes ago, LucasLounger1 said:

OK - so I am confused - I just repriced my booking for next year's cruise on Silhouette to include 2 perks (incl bev pkg).  I thought the gratuity was covered -- but do I have to pay 20% gratuity each time I order a drink?? Or is that gratuity covered in the perk? (I might have to rethink this re-pricing...)

 

TIA.

If you purchase the drinking package or any drinks above the limit of the package, you need to pay the 20% gratuity on top of the cost or cost difference. Whereas the perk for drinking package has already covered the gratuity. It will be shown as $0 cost on your account, so adding 20% or not would not make difference.

[LucasLounger1]

Thanks Tourist. Why must they make it so complicated?  How do newbies cruise and not end up feeling like they were ripped off? So many things to consider when you price it out -- the real cost of cruising is so hidden!

 

I think we did well.  It is 16-nights. Had we purchased the bev package separately, I calculate it would have been $2265.60USD. With the perks, we paid $1620 CAD more than our original fare.  Take away the gratuity perk of $594 CAD, that means our beverage package cost us $1026 CAD. It is Transatlantic, so lots of sea days to drink up.

[Tourist1292]

4 hours ago, LucasLounger1 said:

Thanks Tourist. Why must they make it so complicated?  How do newbies cruise and not end up feeling like they were ripped off? So many things to consider when you price it out -- the real cost of cruising is so hidden!

 

I think we did well.  It is 16-nights. Had we purchased the bev package separately, I calculate it would have been $2265.60USD. With the perks, we paid $1620 CAD more than our original fare.  Take away the gratuity perk of $594 CAD, that means our beverage package cost us $1026 CAD. It is Transatlantic, so lots of sea days to drink up.

For a 16 night cruise, the per day cost for drinking package after discount should be much lower than $59/$69 per day cost, but it will not be cheaper than your perk cost.

[George C]

Premium package was 69 a day for our recent cruise , we had suite so we skipped it and just drank at micheals.

[neilrr]

Hi all!!!  We booked the cruise for Christmas onboard reflection -- just before they started the packages for the Inside Cabins. We are Elite and so we get many perks already. We got $100 for booking aboard. When we came back home - I saw the 2 perk deal before the TA did and called her... WELL... We ended up with the Classic Drink package, $300 SBC, Gratuities, the $100 from Celebrity and a $50 Loyalty Bonus.  The whole thing cost us $180 more PP... We are happy campers... We will also upgrade to Premium when we get on the ship with our favorite bartenders for $10PP + Gratuitiy per day...  Happy Sailing!!!😁    

[tinkr2]

Thanks everyone for all the great info.