Surcharges for drinks in Retreat Lounge

[TrueCruiseaholic]

Saw a report about surcharges for drinks in Retreat Lounge above Premium package limit. In the past, I have seen countless guests get more expensive drinks in Retreat Lounge for no surcharge.

 

Certainly different ships will apply policies differently, but the official Celebrity policy is to surcharge in Retreat Lounge now. 

 

Anyone else experiencing this?

Edited December 19, 2023 by TrueCruiseaholic

[cruisestitch]

Details please.  Where did you see the report? What did the passengers order?  Which ship?

[goofysmom99]

Report is coming from Summit, now.  Anything that's over $17.

Edited December 19, 2023 by goofysmom99

[RichYak]

I’ve never even seen a sea pass card reader in any Retreat Lounge. 

[jelayne]

25 minutes ago, RichYak said:

I’ve never even seen a sea pass card reader in any Retreat Lounge. 

Apparently this goes with moving some of the popular wines above the package limit.  Sea Pass card readers would be easy to put in the Lounge.

[jagoffee]

Does not make sense to me, since you do not need any kind of drink package to Ken’s drinks in the Retreat lounge.

 

Perhaps some one order a bottle of wine?

[RichYak]

11 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Apparently this goes with moving some of the popular wines above the package limit.  Sea Pass card readers would be easy to put in the Lounge.

Wow. Imagine spending $2k per night for a suite then being upcharged $3 for a glass of pedestrian wine in the Retreat Lounge. 

 

Relaxed Luxury™

#ThanksLaura

[mrgabriel]

I'm becoming such a sceptic in my old age ... not completely discounting but on forums it's easy to start a game of telephone.

 

They're charging $2K a day for a lot of these suites and suite fares are like business class air fares, they make up a large percentage of income. You don't want to lose those people. If this is true then X needs to hire some people who understand economics. 

 

 

[wrk2cruise]

The official policy in the lounge is that the premium drinks are complementary, at least I've heard at least one concierge say this.   Of course we have all seen/heard of higher end drinks being obtained by the Retreat bartender.

 

I was on one sailing several years ago where a friend asked for Blue Moon beer which was available in the Sky Lounge.  The beverage manager would not allow it.  That was really stupid.

[DaKahuna]

We have received drinks above the premium limit in the Retreat Lounge/Michael's Club and have never been charged.  Must be he new bosses trying to get additional revenue.  It would be a shame if this is really happening.  Yet another of the cuts in 'death by 1000 cuts.' 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

Currently on Edge and never seen anyone being charged for a drink in Retreat.    Usually it is more of a situation where someone asks for something and the bartenders says we don't have that.

 

The Retreat Sundeck is a different story.    Some passengers who received upgrades do not have a drink package or have only a classic package.   They will be charged for drinks and up-charges.     I have not seen anyone with a Premium Drink Package either order or be charged an up-charge.

 

I have heard many complaints about the new wine prices  and the availability of wines by the glass

 

[CruisersTimesThree]

The post was on FB and I think the OP interpreted incorrectly. The retreat passenger apparently questioned the retreat concierge about certain wines  that have now been overpriced out of the premium package and was told that retreat guests would be charged the extra + gratuity if they ordered them. The poster apparently went as far as asking the F&B manager to  confirm this.  
Drinks in the retreat lounge are complimentary and no one asks for your seapass card when you order something.  But who knows with this new CEO if one day she takes that privilege away from people paying 10’s of thousands of dollars to cruise! 

[BOB999]

Up until now this really hasn't been an issue as the drinks in the Retreat Lounge/Michaels Club have been included in the Premium Package which >95% of Retreat guests have.  That being said with the new price increases this may become more of an issue.

 

On M/S class ships that have had a better selection of super-premium wines, I have been charged periodically in Luminae, which is fine.  If the Retreat/Michaels Club actually had those (heck on Solstice it took 3 days for MC to get the Premium Package Champagne, even then it was a single bottle), I would imagine I might have been charged too.   My guess is that they will simply not offer super-premium wines in the Retreat/MC so no upcharge required.

Edited December 19, 2023 by BOB999

[Cap_D]

Hopefully they are not adding a sea pass card reader or, even noting room number, when placing an order for bar service in the Retreat Lounge.  The time from ordering to service is already lengthy on E-class ships due to the lounge design, and even worse on the Edge with no bar.   All have limited space and paths for the server(s) or require a guest to stand in a walkway area while waiting for a drink.   

 

Btw, on the Retreat Sundeck my experience has been the bartenders will often take down room numbers and name to avoid having to run the cards, and then manually enter later on similar to how service is done on carts or in OVC at the temp drink stands.  

 

Somehow the pool bar always seems faster. 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Cap_D

[groryjm]

The poster on the other place is a frequent suites cruiser and Zenith and his post does give the impresion that the upcharge relates to Michaels/retreat lounge. Hoping he will confirm if this is fact true or false. If true this is a very worrying change and as others have said does this mean they will get a card reader or till for Michaels and reciepts to sign?

Edited December 19, 2023 by groryjm

[TrueCruiseaholic]

It is probably a ship piloting the idea. I don't think they're going to implement card readers.

 

In Retreat Lounge, the bar servers and the concierges know who you are and can add or subtract charges from your seapass account in the computer system. 

 

I have had specialty restaurant visits that were supposed to be one price (discounted) and I have been charged a different price (full price) by the restaurant without receiving a receipt to approve the charged price.

 

The main question is for guests on other ships, whether a $19 glass is still complimentary.

 

I think it would be no extra charge for a top suite guest but perhaps an extra charge for a sky suite guest or a Zenith guest. "Rules" affecting guests differently.

[Cruise a holic]

Never had any surcharge and we order premium alcohol.  However, if you order expensive champagne or wine- I assume you should pay.  Especially for a bottle.

[asnaleah]

@BOB999, our experience has been as you surmised. There are wines available at the World Class bar that are not on offer in Luminae. 

[Lena11033]

For those that never saw the original post on the other site I just had it come up for me

 

"Onboard Summit. Was told just now in the Retreat lounge by the bar server, confirmed by the Suite Manager and the F&B that they will upcharge for wines priced above the premium package. This is a big issue since ALL of the wines we used to drink are now above the premium package. Apparently has always been Celebrity policy but previously not an issue because the popular wines used to be within the premium package."

 

 

[groryjm]

To Clarifiy the poster added this to a question I asked to confir it was in the Retreat Lounge

 

"Yes since the recent HUGE price increase in by the glass wine prices the Retreat lounge is now upcharging for the many many popular wines that are above the premium package cap now."

[groryjm]

13 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Currently on Edge and never seen anyone being charged for a drink in Retreat.    Usually it is more of a situation where someone asks for something and the bartenders says we don't have that.

 In light of Tom's experiences on Summit this week @Jim_Iain can you confirm there are no upcharges in the retreat on Edge at the moment?

 

Is this just another badly thought out cookie gate or is this going to go fleet wide?

[tfred]

This is a problem for me in a suite. The wine list isn't that all interesting to me, even the premium list. When we were on Apex last summer in the Baltic there were some interesting Italian and French offerings in Luminae. I don't see that now.  Commensta here are more "That one is pretty good" - hardly a ringing endorsement 

 

I dont' think that anything in the back should be poured but after dropping $10k on a suite I think that the selection of available wines should be inclusive of the Elevated list. 

[jelayne]

2 hours ago, groryjm said:

 In light of Tom's experiences on Summit this week @Jim_Iain can you confirm there are no upcharges in the retreat on Edge at the moment?

 

Is this just another badly thought out cookie gate or is this going to go fleet wide?

I think Jim is on the last 2 days of a long sailing so it is possible that the change in pricing, upcharging will begin on the Edge at the beginning of the next sailing.  Often changes are implement across the fleet at the beginning of the next sailing.  So it could take a week or more for a change to go into effect on all ships.

[asctony]

18 hours ago, TrueCruiseaholic said:

Certainly different ships will apply policies differently, but the official Celebrity policy is to surcharge in Retreat Lounge now. 

 

Anyone else experiencing this?

Why is this based on ships rather than being an X line policy applicable to all ships.? 

[sanger727]

4 minutes ago, asctony said:

Why is this based on ships rather than being an X line policy applicable to all ships.? 

 

There is usually a celebrity policy. And then some ships where the staff don't follow the policy to make their customers happy (and probably to get bigger tips).