First Time on Celebrity... Beverage Question

[NMAL]

Hello everyone! My DH and I are planning to go on our first Celebrity cruise. The only other cruise we went on was a Disney cruise with our DD (which we loved!)

 

My question is regarding purchasing a beverage package or not.

 

Are beverages not included with your daily meals? Like regular coffee/juice at breakfast, soda/ice water at lunch and dinner? On the Disney cruise, coffee/milk/juice/soda/and water were all "free" with your meals. Beer and cocktails were extra.

 

I do not drink alcohol or coffee at all. I basically drink juice, soda, or good ol' tap water. But are those beverages not included when you sit down to eat?

 

As for DH, he will have a couple beers or drinks with his dinner. On the Disney cruise, he only had drinks like 1 night. BUT we did have DD with us. This time it'll be just us, and we'll be relaxing much more.

 

We're just trying to determine if drink packages were worth the price.

 

Any advice and input is much appreciated :)

[redjetz]

Hi. If you do a search in the search box above you will find a couple threads with lots of info and a spreadsheet for estimating if it is worth it or not, but briefly it depends!

 

Coffee and juice, lemonade and ice water are available at meals on Celebrity, but sodas are extras. Non-alcohol beverage packages are available to purchase if you want a lot of soda, bottle waters, and cappuccino-type drinks.

 

For the little you say your spouse drinks, it doesn't sound like the alcohol packages are for you, but look into the non-alcohol ones.

 

Welcome to the Celebrity boards!

[Zoey1]

Hello everyone! My DH and I are planning to go on our first Celebrity cruise. The only other cruise we went on was a Disney cruise with our DD (which we loved!)

 

My question is regarding purchasing a beverage package or not.

 

Are beverages not included with your daily meals? Like regular coffee/juice at breakfast, soda/ice water at lunch and dinner? On the Disney cruise, coffee/milk/juice/soda/and water were all "free" with your meals. Beer and cocktails were extra.

 

I do not drink alcohol or coffee at all. I basically drink juice, soda, or good ol' tap water. But are those beverages not included when you sit down to eat?

 

As for DH, he will have a couple beers or drinks with his dinner. On the Disney cruise, he only had drinks like 1 night. BUT we did have DD with us. This time it'll be just us, and we'll be relaxing much more.

 

We're just trying to determine if drink packages were worth the price.

 

Any advice and input is much appreciated :)

 

Coffee, tea, ice tea, glasses of tap water are included, at breakfast they have juices ( not fresh squeezed but good, soda, beer, cocktails and bottled water all not included.hope this helps.

[MIA2CHI]

On Celebrity Coffee/tea/juice (w/breakfast,not fresh squuezed) /iced tea lemonade. Is inculded with your meals. You will pay additional for soda, bottled water, sparkling water and alcoholic beverages.

 

I am curious as to when you booked your cruise. Celebrity has been running a promotion for a while now that includes the classic beverage package with almost every reservation. Are you in an interior cabin?

 

Also, if all you expect to have is the occasional beer or glass of wine with dinner than the paying for the beverage package is probably not for you. If you do some searches on this board there are some great threads that breakdown the breakeven point for how much you would have to consume to make a beverage package worth while.

[drinkspackageexpert]

They have drunks areas in the Ocean view and also in the aqua spa cafe and outside by the mast grill. You can get basic tea and coffee and milk and water and there are some juices available, like lemonade and fruit lunch for instance. But soda, hot chocolate or anything else (including better quality teas and coffees) are all charged for as well as all other alcoholic drinks and cocktails and orange juice and apple juice etc. So yes, there are free drinks but they don't get served with your meals. In the ocean view you help yourself and in the MDR there is always water available.

[kenevenpar]

You can also bring bottled water on board (even a whole case), soda, and up to two bottles of wine per cabin.

[ClaudiaB]

They have drunks areas in the Ocean view and also in the aqua spa cafe and outside by the mast grill.

 

 

Thanks for the laugh this afternoon!

 

I always wondered why soft drinks were extra.

You can bring on board as much bottled water and soft drinks as you want. Some people slap a luggage tag on it at the pier and it's delivered to your room.

[CathyCruises]

There are tea bags and packets of hot chocolate mix available at the ocean view cafe. Iced tea, lemonade, fruit punch, orange juice are available from dispensers there and at the Mast Grill. Milk is readily available.

 

It doesn't sound like you would need a beverage package, however, you can buy one on the ship after a few days if you decide you want to go that way.

[drinkspackageexpert]

They have drunks areas in the Ocean view and also in the aqua spa cafe and outside by the mast grill.

 

 

Thanks for the laugh this afternoon!

 

I always wondered why soft drinks were extra.

You can bring on board as much bottled water and soft drinks as you want. Some people slap a luggage tag on it at the pier and it's delivered to your room.

 

I am so embarrassed..lol. What a spelling mistake!! ha ha ha ha. :p

[Scar Face]

I am so embarrassed..lol. What a spelling mistake!! ha ha ha ha. :p

 

Enjoyed the typo! Keep making more of such :)

[Mr. Click]

When we don't have a bev package we often buy a case of water and a case of soda and just slap a luggage tag on and it shows up in our cabin with the luggage..

[perditax]

Tagging on a question, I don't suppose the ice tea is freshly brewed?

[boscobeans]

Tagging on a question, I don't suppose the ice tea is freshly brewed?

 

From the dispensers no it is not, but there are always tea bags, hot water and ice available. The iced tea in the MDR is sometimes pretty decent.

 

OMO

 

bosco

[rockdoctor]

It is my understanding that you can substitute gratuities for the drink package. The drink package looks like a great deal, unless you don't drink. Before they became popular, we never spent more on drinks than the gratuities charge. You need to compare apples and apples.

[NMAL]

On Celebrity Coffee/tea/juice (w/breakfast,not fresh squuezed) /iced tea lemonade. Is inculded with your meals. You will pay additional for soda, bottled water, sparkling water and alcoholic beverages.

 

I am curious as to when you booked your cruise. Celebrity has been running a promotion for a while now that includes the classic beverage package with almost every reservation. Are you in an interior cabin?

 

Also, if all you expect to have is the occasional beer or glass of wine with dinner than the paying for the beverage package is probably not for you. If you do some searches on this board there are some great threads that breakdown the breakeven point for how much you would have to consume to make a beverage package worth while.

 

We haven't booked yet. We are doing some research trying to decide between different cruise lines and different cruises etc. We've only been on a Disney Cruise... so getting to choose a big person cruise is taking a little bit of research :)

[NMAL]

They have drunks areas in the Ocean view and also in the aqua spa cafe and outside by the mast grill. You can get basic tea and coffee and milk and water and there are some juices available, like lemonade and fruit lunch for instance. But soda, hot chocolate or anything else (including better quality teas and coffees) are all charged for as well as all other alcoholic drinks and cocktails and orange juice and apple juice etc. So yes, there are free drinks but they don't get served with your meals. In the ocean view you help yourself and in the MDR there is always water available.

 

Hey... first vacay without my two kiddos... the DRUNKS area might be a nice place ;) lol

[NMAL]

I appreciate all the replies from everyone!! We're 99.9% sure we want to go on Celebrity. Sounds like we really won't need to buy a beverage package! Thanks again for everything guys. Now time to think of more pre-cruise questions ;)

[GranthamMommy]

We haven't booked yet. We are doing some research trying to decide between different cruise lines and different cruises etc. We've only been on a Disney Cruise... so getting to choose a big person cruise is taking a little bit of research :)

 

My husband and i don't drink alcohol very much and found the premium non alcohol package suited our style. We spent alot of time at Cafe al Bacio having specialty coffees and teas, love having San Pelligrino with my dinner. If I had a glass of wine or cocktail during the day, it was still cheaper than buying the alcohol package.

 

Enjoy your next cruise, wherever it may be. I have to say, my son loved Royal Caribbean and their children's programs. We never saw him on the cruise and he had the time of his life. We made sure we saw each other for meals and shore excursions.

[NMAL]

When we don't have a bev package we often buy a case of water and a case of soda and just slap a luggage tag on and it shows up in our cabin with the luggage..

 

Is there a limit on how much you can take? Also, do you know if glass bottles are allowed?

[upwarduk]

You don't say which ship you are expecting to sail on. If it's the Eclipse from Southampton, you will have a kettle in your cabin. I find I buy a lot of bottled water to use in the kettle, it's bad enough managing the cases, never mind a case of bottled water. We were fortunate enough to have the Classic package with our booking, so I used it to buy my water, it's expensive if you sign for it in your cabin- now $6.