Downgrading a Classic Beverage Pkg Perk

[Arzeena]

We booked a cruise when on board the Equinox in September. They were running a special on board to pick any one perk (out of the 4) for a fully refundable booking. We picked the Classic Beverage Package. Hubby wanted this, I wanted some other perk, but both have to get the same perk, hence we decided on this one.
My question is I would like to "downgrade" it to the Premium Non Alcoholic Package, since that is what I enjoy more than alcoholic drinks. Someone had mentioned that for upgrading a beverage package both do not have to do it. One can do it. Does the same apply to "downgrading" it? Can I downgrade to the Premium Non Alcoholic Package it? I don't want any money back / refund for downgrading, I just prefer the PNAP.  Shall I wait to get on board t do this?
Cruise is in August 2020, 12 nights.

[hulamoon]

What are the items you would not receive that are in the classic?

[Arzeena]

18 minutes ago, hulamoon said:

What are the items you would not receive that are in the classic?

I enjoy Evian, perrier etc. I understand they are not included in classic Bev pk?

I know it sounds strange but I do not like the alcoholic drinks.😏

[hulamoon]

You are right, those are not in classic, they used to have other substitutes. I wonder since you can now upgrade Bailey’s for a buck if you can do that with waters?

 

I would call Captains Club and see what they say. Usually you can get multiple answers for the same question. 😉

[bikerunner]

I tried that.  But many have said once you get onboard go to desk and have them do it. Online res captains club won’t do it.  

[mikkelhansen]

You cannot officially downgrade the beverage package received as a perk, it's "take it or leave it". Not via Cruise Planner, not by phone or by any other contact form.

However, give it a shot with Guest Services as the first thing after embarking. Make sure that you DO NOT use the perk package in any way before enquiring about the Classic Alcoholic->Premium Non-alcoholic change.

Reports have been mixed, but in general people seem to have been successful in downgrading immediately after embarkation.

[jelayne]

Agree that the only place you may be able to downgrade is at Guest Services.  A few have reported being successful in downgrading to the Premium non-Alcohol pkg but others have only been able to downgrade to the Classic Non-alcohol and pay the difference to upgrade to the Premium .

[gordiej]

Hmm, this is interesting. My husband doesn't drink much alcohol, certainly not enough to make a beverage package worth it. But I chose the classic package as a perk because it was still good value. But I didn't realize there were some limits on the non-alcoholic stuff. Seems like the key difference is the premium waters (I assume the classic package gets you a bottle of basic still water, but what is the sparkling option), no Red Bull, no Vitamin Water. The Celebrity website also seems to differentiate "premium coffee & teas" on the classic packages, from "specialty coffee & teas" on the premium packages. What does this mean exactly?

I think he can live without Evian/Perrier, but not without iced lattes. So depending on the details, we may also try to swap him from classic alcohol to premium non-alcohol on board. And I may upgrade to premium alcohol, although frankly I prefer to order bottles of wine at dinner since they never serve the by-the-glass reds at the proper temperature (always room temp, which is WARM on a caribbean cruise!).

[villauk]

4 hours ago, jelayne said:

Agree that the only place you may be able to downgrade is at Guest Services.  A few have reported being successful in downgrading to the Premium non-Alcohol pkg but others have only been able to downgrade to the Classic Non-alcohol and pay the difference to upgrade to the Premium .

 

 

Yes, there doesn’t appear to be any consistency and it all depends on the ship/crew at a particular time. I do wonder if they will stop it totally with the new $14pp per day charge, especially if you’ve been ‘grandfathered’ in?

[sanger727]

9 hours ago, gordiej said:

Hmm, this is interesting. My husband doesn't drink much alcohol, certainly not enough to make a beverage package worth it. But I chose the classic package as a perk because it was still good value. But I didn't realize there were some limits on the non-alcoholic stuff. Seems like the key difference is the premium waters (I assume the classic package gets you a bottle of basic still water, but what is the sparkling option), no Red Bull, no Vitamin Water. The Celebrity website also seems to differentiate "premium coffee & teas" on the classic packages, from "specialty coffee & teas" on the premium packages. What does this mean exactly?

I think he can live without Evian/Perrier, but not without iced lattes. So depending on the details, we may also try to swap him from classic alcohol to premium non-alcohol on board. And I may upgrade to premium alcohol, although frankly I prefer to order bottles of wine at dinner since they never serve the by-the-glass reds at the proper temperature (always room temp, which is WARM on a caribbean cruise!).

 

You can get iced lattes on the classic package. We had the classic package on our last cruise and while I never got the alcohol added coffees I did get a variety of specialty coffees and teas and they were all included. I think the premium is for the alcohol included ones.

 

We did try to downgrade my BF from the classic alcohol to premium non alcohol. We talked to the beverage manager and the best they would do was downgrade him from class alcohol to classic non alcohol. And then we could pay the upgrade fee to upgrade him to premium non-alcohol. We ended up deciding that that wasn't worth it.

[angelhelly]

8 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

Yes, there doesn’t appear to be any consistency and it all depends on the ship/crew at a particular time. I do wonder if they will stop it totally with the new $14pp per day charge, especially if you’ve been ‘grandfathered’ in?

 

I am allergic to alcohol. My husband love fancy booze...

 

Honestly, I have been in 2 situations. 

 

First, you have to go to customer service before you use your package, otherwise they wont be able to do it for you.

 

One time, they downgraded me to premium non-alcoholic and we paid to get my husband premium alcoholic. No problem.

 

Another time, what they could do for me was to downgrade me to classic non-alcoholic, then I would to pay the premium to upgrade to premium non-alcoholic ($4 +gratuities pp/pd) which is cheaper than the upgrade for the alcoholic one...). I decided not too, as flat water is fine with me and frozen drinks (including virgin) comes in the classic alcoholic. I just wanted the downgrade to make sure I would not be served alcohol by accident.

 

 

[angelhelly]

8 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

 

You can get iced lattes on the classic package. We had the classic package on our last cruise and while I never got the alcohol added coffees I did get a variety of specialty coffees and teas and they were all included. I think the premium is for the alcohol included ones.

 

We did try to downgrade my BF from the classic alcohol to premium non alcohol. We talked to the beverage manager and the best they would do was downgrade him from class alcohol to classic non alcohol. And then we could pay the upgrade fee to upgrade him to premium non-alcohol. We ended up deciding that that wasn't worth it.

Funny how 2 people can write the same thing at the same time 🙂 gmta

[gordiej]

Thanks both for your comments. I guess we’ll probably just decide on-board and hope for the best. Not sure paying the $4+/day makes all that much sense, he might as well just pay the $10+ for the premium alcoholic, or frankly, just pay the extra over $9 when wants a nicer glass of wine or fancy martini. 

 

On the coffees, I’m pretty certain that they differentiate between “premium coffees” and “specialty coffees” in the descriptions of the classic vs. premium NON-ALCOHOLIC packages. Obviously I wouldn’t expect Coffee & Bailey’s to be included on the non-alc! 🙂 But perhaps it’s just marketers gone wild... lol

[srdancer]

On Silhouette last summer was able to downgrade classic alcohol perk to premium non-alcohol with no charge. On Summit in May they would have charged $4 plus gratuities per day. Not worth it to me. Did not even try on Summit cruise in Sept.