Upgrading to premium package is one thing, but buying it outright on a long cruise??!

I love the convenience and selections of the premium alcohol package and found upgrading to it not too painful, when starting with a basic package. But on a 15-day transatlantic cruise, can anyone justify buying it from scratch? For two I calculated like $2300?? Yikes! Assuming there are still some Captains Club drink tickets coming (elite level)...Has anyone been in this dilemma? I guess drink pkgs were never part of the transpositioning cruises...

We did a few transatlantic cruise with the drink package, believe it was 2012 & 2013.

We did a 15 day TA last October and we purchased the drink package paid the $2300 less the Elite+ discount. About 3 months before the cruise there was a 30% discount offered on "select" sailing and it was only available for a short time. The TA was included so I cancelled the original order and repurchased it at the discounted price. I couldn't use the Elite discount against the sale price but still it saved a ton of money.

I didn't get a email & there was nothing about the discount under specials; someone on the roll call saw it when looking at the cruise planner. So keep checking your cruise planner.

Your right about repos never including any perks, but if you're Elite Plus you get a 10% discount. On the Silhouette 14 day transatlantic last April/May I waited to buy Premium until about three weeks before sailing and there was a 30% discount offered for four days only, so we got Premium for about $1500 for the 14 days. Another thing to consider. Liters of Evian water and all drinks in Baccio are also included. We figure even at full price we come out slightly ahead figuring the water, lattes Martinis and wine. I can't remember if I saw the 30% deal here or on the Celebrity site so watch them both daily.

Thank you both!! Not quite elite-plus yet, but will definitely watch for a 30% off sale. Hope it occurs!

I can justify what I drink with the package when it is given as a perk or upgrade because I drink more than I would because it is so convenient.

When I don't have it I cannot justify the cost. I can get by with the beverages offered with the cruise fare and be satisfied with the free alcohol drinks that you get thru the parties, tastings, and etc. occasionally they will have happy hour prices such as BOGO or a bucket of beer sale. Ships water is ok and I can survive on their standard coffee, tea and etc.

Without the package I also buy many drinks in the ports instead of on the ship. With the package I rarely purchase drinks in a port because I already paid for them on board.

I also feel better when I wake up without the drink pack, 🤔 but it sure seemed as if I was having a great time while indulging. 🤗

Drink up 🍺🍷🍸🍹

we did the transatlantic, did not purchase the drink package and at the end of the cruise, our beverage bill was under $100. my husband would order a glass of wine every other night, or get a diet coke. I had lemonde or water. When we get the drink package we still do not drink enough alcohol to cover the $55 each. We can only manage two glass of wine and then we get diet cokes. If the cruise is long enough, it pays for us to get the prepaid gratuities then the drink package.

We just did the transpacific on the Millenium. All drink packages were buy one get one the first three night of the cruise. Sometimes it pays to wait.....

If you feel your bar tab will be MORE than the cost of the package...by all means, buy it! That's a HUGE price tho....not sure, even with the inflated costs of booze, that we would spend that kind of money!

I feel your pain. Now add on 35% for being Canadian. I'm really going to miss the martini bar on our Connie cruise but I'm not spending $3,000 on drinks

On our first Celebrity cruise (our first cruise too), before I was aware of cruise critic, we were able to choose 2 "perks". Knowing that my husband would not be happy with anything less than the Premium package, I did not choose the Classic package since I was not aware that you could upgrade once on board. I found out about upgrading a few weeks prior to sailing but too late to change the perks we had selected. It just about killed me to pay $1600 in our first few minutes aboard for the Premium package! We have never made that mistake again.

We just did the transpacific on the Millenium. All drink packages were buy one get one the first three night of the cruise. Sometimes it pays to wait.....

That's a fantastic deal. For the Premium package that's $65 per day for two. Between specialty coffees, waters, sodas, wines by the glass and cocktails it doesn't take much to ring up a daily total of $32.50 per person per day.

Thank you both!! Not quite elite-plus yet, but will definitely watch for a 30% off sale. Hope it occurs!

Sign up on Celebrity's website to receive promo emails. We, too, got the 30% off promo on the April Silhouette Transatlantic thanks to an email I received. And it was only a 72 hour sale. Good luck!

Great info about the beverage package on long cruises. That is a lot of money if there is not a promo.

Would you be happy buying a few days or week into the cruise? You might start no package and purchase later. Or have they changed that option?

Thank you both!! Not quite elite-plus yet, but will definitely watch for a 30% off sale. Hope it occurs!

Hi Jayander,

Looks like they are having a 20% off sale this coming weekend on most pre-cruise packages. Not the 30% you were hoping for, but its still better than Full Price.

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Special_Offers/17057128_CEL_72hour_Sale.pdf

Hi Jayander,

 

Looks like they are having a 20% off sale this coming weekend on most pre-cruise packages. Not the 30% you were hoping for, but its still better than Full Price.

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Special_Offers/17057128_CEL_72hour_Sale.pdf

Thanks so much for posting that.

Hi Jayander,

 

Looks like they are having a 20% off sale this coming weekend on most pre-cruise packages. Not the 30% you were hoping for, but its still better than Full Price.

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Special_Offers/17057128_CEL_72hour_Sale.pdf

Can we use this online, or do we need to go through our travel agent for this?

Thanks in advance. Heading out on the Summit this weekend.

Also this is my first post. Hey everyone

Can we use this online, or do we need to go through our travel agent for this?

 

Thanks in advance. Heading out on the Summit this weekend.

 

Also this is my first post. Hey everyone

You should be able to do it online through your cruise planner but if you're going to be away you could ask your TA

Recently back from a 16 day TA. I reluctantly splurged on the PBP. Got it repriced during a 72-hour sale, so that took a little of the sting away. At the end of the day, I'm not sure if I saved money or not - probably pretty close. However, it was nice to order whatever I wanted and not to have to deal with signing receipts. Would I do it again on a TA? Not so sure. Maybe if there was another 30% off sale.

My Nov 4 trans has 5 ports the first 7 days .My plan is to buy the pbp day 8 and have 7 days to enjoy

Thanks all. Eby, that's my cruise. Interesting plan. I would love to hold out for a 30% off sale but don't know if it'll happen.

Thanks all. Eby, that's my cruise. Interesting plan. I would love to hold out for a 30% off sale but don't know if it'll happen.

Buy it at 20% if it goes to 30% cancel and rebuy it.

This weekend there's a big sale....found the package at 50%! Anyone interested should check their cruise planner this weekend! Not sure of the cruise date parameters for the sale.

This weekend there's a big sale....found the package at 50%! Anyone interested should check their cruise planner this weekend! Not sure of the cruise date parameters for the sale.

Great idea, but here's my problem. I got the email this morning. I clicked the link in the email. It takes me to a page that no longer exists. Okay, not a biggie I think. I decide to try clicking on X website, signing into my account. I go to My Reservations. I click on the reservation I want to book, and Manage My Reservation. The page loads.....partially, then freezes, it says X not responding. I click Recover webpage and am locked out for 20 minutes "for my protection!" I wait. I try again after clearing cookies and cache. Same thing. Okay, I wait again and try a different browser. Same thing. I've tried Chrome, IE, Edge and Firefox. I've cleared cookies and cache on each. Sorry for the rant, but as you can tell, I'm a bit frustrated! I know I can call Captains Club or Cruise Enhancements desk, but I'd like to view what I'm buying and use OBC and any applicable Captains Club discounts (if combinable with the sale).