stratixman

You have to pay full price for any drink over $8.

Who's on first?

I have been following this thread and shaking my head. (LOL. I'm a poet and don't know it). Can there be any more confusion regarding a relatively simple issue?

How difficult can it be for Celebrity to post an explicitly clear statement regarding their new policy and attendant costs for upgrading beverage packages? Reading numerous posts of cruisers here who have gotten differing answers, as well as reading what is purported to be a post by an actual Celebrity employee that seems to contradict stated Celebrity policy reported by posters who actually called Celebrity direct, I have to say the issue is as muddled as it has been since the very first post of this thread. I don't think that customers should be given contradictory answers by Celebrity, nor should they be expected to rely upon a random post by a company employee on an independent cruise forum to ascertain what the new company policy is regarding package upgrades, particularly when a not insignificant financial cost can accrue to the customer for acting on incorrect information. Come on Celebrity! Post a clear statement regarding your beverage package upgrade policies and prices on your website. You probably will find your phones ringing a lot less and most likely will also significantly reduce the number of future complaints from your paying clientele.

Greetings

 

We were on Equinox last spring and she did use terminal 18. It is a very nice terminal, but when debarking you still get funneled through customs. Last spring there were only 2 customs agents to handle the traffic. Doesn't matter how nice the terminal is, there is still a bottleneck trying to get through customs. We were some the first in line for self-debarkation and still it was past 9:15 before we were at the curb outside the terminal. Maybe customs has been able to better budget where they can have more agents but that has yet to be seen.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

Well I think Tom you have settled our decision. Clearing customs at 9:15 would be unlikely to work. So rather than run that risk we will be booking the next available flight (3:30pm). . If we hadn't already been to Fort Lauderdale/Miami numerous times then a day excursion, as suggested, would have appeal. But alas, been there, done that before so it looks like we will just have a bit longer to do some people watching at the airport. LOL. So many valuable observations, suggestions, and experiences have been offered up. I do want thank again all who contributed to helping us cement our choice.

Thanks so much for the useful replies. I really appreciate the feedback. We will have to give the matter some serious thought. The decision on flights would be a bit easier if the next possible flight out wasn't until 3:30pm and more expensive to boot. Roll the dice? Guess I will find out how much of a gambler the wife is. As if I don't already know. LOL. She's not. Probably just have to suck it up and plan on a long day at the airport - perhaps after waiting to get off the ship at the very latest time possible.

We are booked on Equinox for the 1/20 cruise that gets back to Fort Lauderdale on 1/31 at 7:00am, which is a Friday. My understanding is that the Equinox docks at the pier 18, which is the dock used by the big ships (Allure, et al) on weekends. Docking at pier 18 on Friday supposedly expedites getting through customs due to less passenger volume at that pier, which in turn gets one on the way to the airport faster. Can someone confirm this? And, if this is correct, would this make it feasible to catch a departing flight at 10:35am in this particular circumstance? Normally I would not book a flight that early, but I am thinking in this case it may be workable.

If you sail an S class ship then 1 drink a day at the molecular bar is enough to justify the the upgrade price to the premium package.

Look like a couple of other great minds have alreaqdy beat me to the punch. Enjoy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/jul/03/african-land-snails-video

Shortage??? Source from Indonesia??? What the... Huge supply in Florida. Just read about the giant African land snail infestation down there. Check it out.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/15/us/florida-giant-snails/index.html

All Celebrity needs to do is send out their crews on a snail hunt when they're in port to bag as many as they need. Win.. Win.. Cruisers get their Escargots and Florida solves their infestation problem.

We got the free package and upgraded to the premium for an additional $10 per day + 15 percent gratuity - total $80.50 per person or $161 for a couple. I am an agent and I have been told repeatedly by Celebrity that you must purchase prior to getting on the ship.

Seems to me that Celebrity has clearly answered this question in the sticky they posted at the top of this forum covering thew 123 Go promotion. The classic package absolutely can be upgraded once on board. You can not upgrade just for certain days but for the entire remaining duration of the cruise from the day you upgrade. Just be aware that if you have two drink packages they both have to be upgraded. Why? Obviously because Celebrity doesn't want to deal with one cruiser getting the premium package and supplying premium drinks to the other cruiser who only has the classic package. The upgrade cost is $11.50 per day per package. Is it worth it? I say yes if you enjoy better quality drinks and especially if you are on a ship with the molecular bar. Also when thinking about the upgrade keep in mind that if you stick with the classic package and order a drink over the stated maximum prices ($5 for beer and $8 for wine and cocktails) you will get charged the total real cost and gratuity, meaning that a $10 martini not covered by the classic package will get charged at $10 + $1.50 gratuity. That alone may makes upgrading to the premium worth while for anyone who wants to try one or two drinks not covered by the classic package. Note also that with the premium package if you order more than a $12 drink they will only charge the difference between $12 and the drink price with 15% gratuity calculated on the difference.

Great selection! Fifty beers available.

I think you are an optimist. I have never been on cruise where the actual availability matched the published bar list. I think the selection will be far less; not bad mind you but probably not close to the diversity implied by the list. I think what's on board in the beer selection largely depends on what they can source in port when they restock. If per chance they actually truly stock 50 different beers then i suspect it would be limited qty of each ..... so they would probably run out of some very early in the cruise.