Bev Package or No Bev Package

[NCHPcruiser]

In the past I have always chosen a Classic Beverage Package as a perk however on this cruise that "perk" was not available. On this cruise (my husbands first in a long time) I am debating whether to purchase packages or not. We would want to purchase the Premium package because I know my husband will be drinking premium liquor.

Our cruise is port intensive and we won't be on the ship much during the day for 7 of the 9 full days so I just don't think we will drink approximately $1500 worth of alcohol/soft drinks during that time. We will also be purchasing bottles of wine, not glasses at dinner. Is it a pain to pay for drinks in the bars without a package? Do the bartenders give preference if you have a specific package (which I noticed when I had the Premium package)? Thanks!

[FireEater]

Just due to the port intensive ports, I would hold off on paying the $1,500.

 

Am sure you would not be coming close to that figure by paying individually, especially buying bottles of wine. Figure 8-9 drinks a night to break even is my guess.

 

Never been on Celebrity, so I can not answer your specific questions.

Edited September 9, 2015 by FireEater

[wallie5446]

A Premium liquor drink will cost $13-15 ea, x say 3 an evening = $39-45 a day.

A better bottle of wine will cost $70-90. So that is $109-135 a day, with no bottle water, wonderful coffee n tea from the Cafe, or juice at breakfast.

 

The Premium for 2 is $153.40 per day and covers everything liquid served on the ship up to the $14 cap with no limits on how many and what kind you want to have.

 

The choice is close, but only you can weight the benefit or not to you.

 

We have not noticed any preference to pax with a pkg over one without, because the bartender does not know until you hand him your card after the drink is made which you fall into.

[flames9]

Our 14 night British Isle cruise was port intensive.....We had the class pkg thanks to the 1.2.3. go promotion....I would have been at a loss if I had bought the pkg out of my own pocket. And I was getting drinks to just get drinks (coffee, beer, etc), not that I really wanted one, but hey, I have the pkg! One just has to sit down and do the math. Sure its nice to not have a drink bill at thee end of the cruise, but if the pkg costs you $1000, and your only going to drink $600, why throw away $400? That can pay for the internet pkg and laundry,lol

[Rascal1]

We didn't have a package this time round, and didn't notice any difference in the service.

 

For the first few days, they did mention the package, I didn't get a sales pitch vibe, more of a service 'did you know' conversation. When we said it wasn't worth it for us, they just laughed and said ' not heavy drinkers then'. It was all in good humour.

[GranthamMommy]

Our only celebrity cruise so far, and we bought the premium NON alcohol package. This allowed us to have all our coffee drinkspremium waters etc and we made use of that each day. You could still add a drink or two to that a day and still save money.

[jarand]

Forgive me if this is a silly question, but having never been on Celebrity I need to ask: If you have no beverage package, do you still get complimentary coffee, tea, and lemonade? Thanks.

[pugdad1]

Forgive me if this is a silly question, but having never been on Celebrity I need to ask: If you have no beverage package, do you still get complimentary coffee, tea, and lemonade? Thanks.

 

I Believe only in the Buffet and in the MDR

[wallie5446]

Forgive me if this is a silly question, but having never been on Celebrity I need to ask: If you have no beverage package, do you still get complimentary coffee, tea, and lemonade? Thanks.

 

The only silly question is the one you don't ask :D

Or if the cabins in the back of the ship stop at the same ports as the ones in the front!:eek:

 

The coffee, tea, lemonade will be included as you have experienced on the other lines you have sailed on.

[ClaudiaB]

It isn't hard at all to order drinks and pay for them individually. In 13 cruises that's all we've ever done. We have never had a package and the only reason we have one on our upcoming cruise is we got all three perks. I've never understood the "hassle" that is spoken about, of signing a ticket.

 

I guess we're untypical. If we order a bottle of wine at dinner it will last us two nights. If we have a drink we may have one, maybe two - martinis or something like that. That would be a BIG drinking night for us:D We don't consume adult beverages during the day. At all.

 

We don't drink coffee, we get a few bottles of water a day.

 

The numbers would never work out for us, not even remotely close. Especially on a port-intensive cruise. I suggest you order a la carte. At least for a few days to see how it is.

 

We may upgrade to premium just to get one martini and it would pay for it. Or one glass of wine with dinner. Also because we have a crazy amount of OBC and would still have $1000 left after upgrading.

[bEwAbG]

The numbers would never work out for us, not even remotely close. Especially on a port-intensive cruise. I suggest you order a la carte. At least for a few days to see how it is.

 

I endorse this approach for anyone on the fence. I had a soda-only package on my last cruise and ordered the booze a la carte. You can hit the happy hour specials before dinner if you really want a cocktail in the early evening. We did that in addition to wine with dinner and even a few martinis at the martini bar, and we didn't approach anywhere near the cost of the classic alcohol package. YMMV, of course, but if you're not a heavy drinker, you can have a perfectly fine holiday without the package. If you find that you're drinking more than you thought you would, you can always add the package on board (up until a certain point toward the end of the cruise).

 

That said, I will be upgrading my free classic package to the premium but for the exact reason as ClaudiaB: need to use the OBC so I will probably have more Martini Bar martinis this time.

[grandgeezer]

Here's my two cents worth:

If you are normally a drinker, alcohol, soda water, specialty coffees, etc, a package would probably be the answer. By drinker, I mean at least 6-8 a day.

I would not buy a package, and make it work, by drinking things I usually don't. We can put the $50-65 per day, per person, for another cruise or something else.

I certainly wouldn't do it just to use up obc, why not take the money home? We always take most, or all our obc home, if it's from the TA, they credit it back to your credit card. If it's from the cruise line, pay the 5% and get cash through the casino.

Do what works for you, don't be influenced one way or the other by all the posts. This subject usually shows up every couple of weeks and get pretty ugly at times.