Alcohol package on transatlantic?

[ScarlettMLB]

I've seen a lot of threads about alcohol packages, but none geared specifically to Transatlantic cruises. (Sorry if I missed them.)

 

My fiance and I are booked on a TA in 6 months for our honeymoon. We've cruised together several times and, even though we enjoy our fancy drinks, have never booked a package and always felt we came out ahead buying by the drinks individually. Our thought, though, was to get a drink package for our honeymoon so we could just enjoy ourselves and not think about it.

 

I just looked at the price - it comes out to $77/night per person (which is over $1000/person for a 14 night cruise). That seems outrageous to me - that's 6 of the priciest drinks per day. I know fresh squeezed juices and bottled water and sodas and everything are included as well, but I'm having a hard time picturing using that much - especially since the 2nd week is fairly port intensive and we won't be drinking as much on ship. Plus you can usually come by free alcohol onboard without too much trouble randomly through the cruise (bottle of wine in stateroom first night, champagne at art auction, etc).

 

I've been of the impression that many people who get the alcohol packages got the basic package as part of 123 Go and then upgrade for a reasonable price (or stick with basic) - but 123 Go doesn't include TA's.

 

Are there ever drink package sales or offers that include TA's? Is there a way to get a drink package for just the sea days (I'm assuming no)? Does the price for the package go down at any point (ie: after final payment)? If not, is it really worth paying full price for a drink package on a TA? Has anyone here done so and are glad they did?

 

We'd definitely need the premium package and not the basic drink package, as my fiance loves his craft beer and I love my nice cocktails.

[Jim_Iain]

You are correct that purchasing the Classic or Premium are an expensive proposition. The price for a classic package on a 14 day cruise for 2 is $1,817.20 and the upgrade to Premium will set you back $2,147.60.

 

To date I have never seen a drink package offered for free on Transatlantic, Transpacific and Repositioning cruises. These cruises are generally priced lower than other cruises.

 

You can often buy a package or an upgrade after departure for the remaining numbers of days. The last day to purchase/upgrade are normally announced.

 

There us to be a couple calculator's on cruisecritic one is http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2038767&page=5

 

It is good to calculate what you might drink and make an informed decision.

 

Jim

[Jim_Iain]

Found this posted and thought might be helpful.

 

Classic package: $44 per person per day and includes all fountain soda and cans, juices including fresh squeezed juices, smoothies, specialty coffees, frozen drinks, bottled water, beers up to $5, spirits, liqueurs, all cocktails, and wine by the glass up to $8.

Frozen drinks: from $6

Cocktails: from $5.50

Wine: from $5.50

Red Bull: $5

Buy It: If you plan to drink two sodas, two cappuccinos, two bottles of water, two cocktails and two glasses of wine per day, this package would pay for itself.

Cannot be shared

 

Premium package: $54 per person per day and includes all fountain soda and cans, juices including fresh squeezed juices, smoothies, specialty coffees, frozen drinks, premium bottled water, Red Bull, Vitamin Water, beers, spirits, liqueurs, all cocktails and wine by the glass up to $12.

Buy It: If you plan to drink two sodas, two cappuccinos, two bottles of water, two cocktails and two glasses of wine per day, this package would more than pay for itself.

[ClaudiaB]

I think the best idea is to get on board and buy your drinks ala carte for a couple days. Buy your drinks and add up the cost. You can bring on as much water and soft drinks as you want, full cases if you want. Put a luggage tag on them and the porters will bring them to your cabin.

 

If you decide you want a package you can buy it up to 3 days till the end of your cruise.

 

We have never found a package to be cost-effective for us. We haven't ever received a package until our upcoming cruise. We usually have a beverage total of about $400 on a two week cruise so you can see that it definitely would never pay for us to purchase one. One thing for us is we don't drink coffee of any kind, and we don't drink anything alcohol until pre-dinner. And some days we just prefer water and iced tea.

 

You could figure out what you think you'd drink on an average day that isn't a free cruise-included beverage. The numbers are either going to work or not.

 

We've taken two TAs, both west bound. Being port-intensive on the front end it wouldn't have paid to have a package of any kind as we were off the ship all day long. I know there were many people who bought a package the first morning of the long sea days. However, your sea days will be at the beginning I presume.

[ShakeDaddy]

Celebrity does not have the complimentary Classic Beverage promo package on TA's, BUT, NCL does !! :D

 

Why buy when you might be able to get it through a promotion. And No ....... it's not necessarily built into the price. :cool:

Edited October 2, 2015 by ShakeDaddy

[az_tchr]

Have never seen a drink package deal on a TA cruise. If you drink wine then remember you can bring 2 bottles of wine in your carry on. If your DH or DW was not standing exactly with you in line they could do the same. No idea what you drink but I'm good with a beer at lunch and a glass or two of wine at dinner. Would never buy a package.

 

There are several threads about bringing wine on board. And the other poster is correct NCL does offer a "free" beverage package.

[Cruisercl]

Celebrity does not have the complimentary Classic Beverage promo package on TA's, BUT, NCL does !! :D

 

Why buy when you might be able to get it through a promotion. And No ....... it's not necessarily built into the price. :cool:

 

I just booked a Celebrity TA...I am relatively new to Celebrity.

I'll have to see how it goes without any perks that other cruise lines offer.

I certainly will vote about repeat Celebrity cruising with my dollars.

 

Happy cruising all!! :)

[jelayne]

Found this posted and thought might be helpful.

 

Classic package: $44 per person per day and includes all fountain soda and cans, juices including fresh squeezed juices, smoothies, specialty coffees, frozen drinks, bottled water, beers up to $5, spirits, liqueurs, all cocktails, and wine by the glass up to $8.

Frozen drinks: from $6

Cocktails: from $5.50

Wine: from $5.50

Red Bull: $5

Buy It: If you plan to drink two sodas, two cappuccinos, two bottles of water, two cocktails and two glasses of wine per day, this package would pay for itself.

Cannot be shared

 

Premium package: $54 per person per day and includes all fountain soda and cans, juices including fresh squeezed juices, smoothies, specialty coffees, frozen drinks, premium bottled water, Red Bull, Vitamin Water, beers, spirits, liqueurs, all cocktails and wine by the glass up to $12.

Buy It: If you plan to drink two sodas, two cappuccinos, two bottles of water, two cocktails and two glasses of wine per day, this package would more than pay for itself.

 

These prices and limits are no longer correct. Prices have increased as have the limits. OP had the correct pricing for the Premium package.

[ScarlettMLB]

Thanks for the input.

 

I never thought about the benefit that sailing West to East would have on drink packages. If we were doing ours in reverse, we'd totally wait and buy a package halfway through and then just have it for the sea days.

 

We usually say we'll go a day or 2 and see if we're buying enough to make it worth it (and never do). That really doesn't make sense here, since we have all our sea days front loaded, so if a few days in we realize we should do it, we've already missed a big chunk of what would have been worth it - and then most of what we have left are port days.

 

Neither one of us drink coffee or caffeinated soda (I will drink Sprite, but my fiance doesn't drink sodas at all). We usually do breakfast on our balcony and would just have whatever we can get with room service. So we wouldn't do much of the juices either. I don't think we'd drink enough tea or bottled water to make it worth it and if I drank 6 cocktails a day I'd never leave the room...or probably the bathroom.

 

I was hoping someone would be like "oh go buy it on Black Friday and you can get it for half price" or "keep an eye out - they occasionally have 1 day only slashed prices" or something crazy like that, but it doesn't sound like there's much hope of a reduced price for it. I really was hoping to do the package, just for the fun of not having to think about it at all, but I just can't justify $2k+ in alcohol when there's a lot of other stuff we could spend it on (especially after the big party we'll have thrown a few days BEFORE the honeymoon....)

[cle-guy]

On my TA's I did drink package first year (paid for it). Next 2 I paid as I go. I find that the first few days we go all out indulging then as time goes on, I find I do without so much extra stuff and actually come out somewhat ahead without a package by the end of the journey.

[upwarduk]

o date I have never seen a drink package offered for free on Transatlantic, Transpacific and Repositioning cruises. These cruises are generally priced lower than other cruises.

 

 

I had a drinks package on a TA October 2013, but it was booked via Celebrity UK, who have different offers.

[wallie5446]

We'd definitely need the premium package and not the basic drink package, as my fiance loves his craft beer and I love my nice cocktails.

 

My run down is based on the Classic:

 

Here is my "RUFF" run down of a day with a drink pkg on another thread

 

For us at least, the package was not just about drinks that would make us not remember the cruise! It was everything else that the pkg includes.

 

A speciality coffee each on the balcony while the wifester is putting on her face, $5 ea.

 

Evian or San Pellegrino with fresh squeezed juice with that second coffee at breakfast, $15 ea.

 

Grab a bottle water on the way to stake out a deck chair, $4 ea.

$24 each before any mind altering liquid is consumed.

 

A beer or the drink of the day by the pool, $6 ea

Then off to lunch, maybe a soda, or another San Pellegrino $5 ea

The sun is hot hot hot! A cold beer or drink of the day is in order, $6 ea

The burger at the Mast Grill is calling our names, it does not go down with out some liquid assistance, $5 ea, then it is time to meet friends to watch the sun set from the Sunset Bar, $6 ea. Afternoon total $28.

And the evening fun has yet to begin.

San Pellegrino and a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, and another speciality coffee with desert, $26 ea

Now it is time for some mind altering sampling to happen, or not A cocktail with friends at one of the watering holes on ship $7 ea, or 2 if we are letting our hair down!

One more bottle water on the way back to the cabin just in case we get thirsty during the night, $4. Evening total, $44.

Morning, $24, day, $28, evening $44, total $96.00 each useing the low end of the cost scale and not much mind altering substance.

Some evening's we will grab another coffee ( or worse) and go and sit on deck 5 to unwind, listen to the swoosh of the waves gently breaking down the side of the ship before heading to the cabin.

 

Depends on how you make use of the package. But with 5-6 days at sea on a TA :eek::D

 

ps: My wife had 2-3 $12-14.00 glasses of wine at dinner last cruise, and I really enjoyed working my way thru the craft beer selection at $10-15 a bottle. Even had the Rogue BB aged Stout at $35.00!!

Edited October 3, 2015 by wallie5446

[Gracie115]

I've seen a lot of threads about alcohol packages, but none geared specifically to Transatlantic cruises. (Sorry if I missed them.)

 

My fiance and I are booked on a TA in 6 months for our honeymoon. We've cruised together several times and, even though we enjoy our fancy drinks, have never booked a package and always felt we came out ahead buying by the drinks individually. Our thought, though, was to get a drink package for our honeymoon so we could just enjoy ourselves and not think about it.

 

I just looked at the price - it comes out to $77/night per person (which is over $1000/person for a 14 night cruise). That seems outrageous to me - that's 6 of the priciest drinks per day. I know fresh squeezed juices and bottled water and sodas and everything are included as well, but I'm having a hard time picturing using that much - especially since the 2nd week is fairly port intensive and we won't be drinking as much on ship. Plus you can usually come by free alcohol onboard without too much trouble randomly through the cruise (bottle of wine in stateroom first night, champagne at art auction, etc).

 

I've been of the impression that many people who get the alcohol packages got the basic package as part of 123 Go and then upgrade for a reasonable price (or stick with basic) - but 123 Go doesn't include TA's.

 

Are there ever drink package sales or offers that include TA's? Is there a way to get a drink package for just the sea days (I'm assuming no)? Does the price for the package go down at any point (ie: after final payment)? If not, is it really worth paying full price for a drink package on a TA? Has anyone here done so and are glad they did?

 

We'd definitely need the premium package and not the basic drink package, as my fiance loves his craft beer and I love my nice cocktails.

 

I gather that at one time X did offer the 123 special on TA's but that has not been the case for a couple of years.

 

We did the math before our TA this year and realized there was NO WAY we would drink enough to make it worthwhile, especially with so many port days at the end that have you rising quite early to enjoy/tour those ports. Drink what you want on the cruise and I bet you find you windup spending ALOT less than you would on the packages, unless you imbibe ALOT every SINGLE day.....

[Nanatravel]

Correct that a "Drink Package" is NOT offered free for the TA, TP or other repositioning cruises.

 

I've been of the impression that many people who get the alcohol packages got the basic package as part of 123 Go and then upgrade for a reasonable price (or stick with basic) - but 123 Go doesn't include TA's. Correct

 

Are there ever drink package sales or offers that include TA's? Is there a way to get a drink package for just the sea days (I'm assuming no)? Does the price for the package go down at any point (ie: after final payment)? If not, is it really worth paying full price for a drink package on a TA? Has anyone here done so and are glad they did? Individual sale offers of 10% off may occur before you sail to you directly via email. Even with that, you will still spend about $1500 per couple. I did this once. No you can't just buy for sea days. Package price is maintained throughout except as noted directly to you before sailing. I would say we broke even but I won't do it again. I will pay as we go and hope for the best. Hubby too likes better beers and wines. I am a Martini girl and like my Irish coffee.

 

We'd definitely need the premium package and not the basic drink package, as my fiance loves his craft beer and I love my nice cocktails.

 

Suggest you pay as you go. Only great thing about a package is not having to sign and not worrying about the bill at the end.

[cle-guy]

I gather that at one time X did offer the 123 special on TA's but that has not been the case for a couple of years.

 

 

If I remember correctly, the 123 was a new promo in 2012-2013... I suspect they realized after allowing it on TA's 1st year, they didn't need to on subsequent years.

[Blondie008]

Its not on for UK TA October 2016 - had a look for future booking.

[bhughey]

If I remember correctly, the 123 was a new promo in 2012-2013... I suspect they realized after allowing it on TA's 1st year, they didn't need to on subsequent years.

 

You are correct. The first time 1,2,3 was offered/rolled out was January 2013. We already had a TA booked for November of that year and were able to cancel and rebook to take advantage of the drink package. Our party of 4 jokes that we "broke" the drink package offer for future TA's (though, at that time, I don't think many people actually had it). I will say, it's hard to imagine a time cruising WITHOUT the package, but we've decided we'll go back to our old "pay as you go" ways on the Transatlantic we've booked for next year. I can hold my own, but I don't think I can drink $77 worth of drinks in a day for 14 days - without needing a liver transplant after!

[denatravels]

Check with travel agents. See if they can get the drink package-- I have one on my repo, which often is excluded. Doesn't hurt to ask.

[upwarduk]

Its not on for UK TA October 2016 - had a look for future booking.

 

Celebrity UK have 'occasional offers.'

Last November they had an offer, which I rang about. It meant I had to cancel and re- book at 'today's prices.' That meant the same cabin, but an extra £250+, which I left.

Two weeks later when the offer was due to expire, the price was £90+

This time I booked it.

Just a shame that circumstances meant that we have had to cancel the TA on Reflection, leaving Rome on 23rd October 2015.

[CathyCruises]

You are correct. The first time 1,2,3 was offered/rolled out was January 2013. We already had a TA booked for November of that year and were able to cancel and rebook to take advantage of the drink package. Our party of 4 jokes that we "broke" the drink package offer for future TA's (though, at that time, I don't think many people actually had it). I will say, it's hard to imagine a time cruising WITHOUT the package, but we've decided we'll go back to our old "pay as you go" ways on the Transatlantic we've booked for next year. I can hold my own, but I don't think I can drink $77 worth of drinks in a day for 14 days - without needing a liver transplant after!

 

Funny that you say this, I've NEVER had one and honestly don't feel like I'm missing anything. Except a lot of unneeded extra calories!

[Higgy64]

We were undecided as well on our 14 day this summer. So we paid as we went and watched the bill.

 

At the end of the cruise I calculated we had spent around $1000 less on drinks than we would had we bought two drinks packages. We brought a couple of bottles of wine on board with us for pre-dinner drinks on the Balcony, had wine with dinner, Flights of Martinis, cocktails, Craft Beers, Shorts and mixers etc

 

If we were thirsty a the pool we made use of the free soda at the Mast Grill and we drank the free Tea/Coffee at Oceanview - which was pretty good, and certainly not so bad as to justify the price of an Al Bacio coffee.

 

I'd play it by ear but, unless you're going to be drinking over 10 purchased drinks a day - EVERY day - then you might be financially better off without it.

[ScarlettMLB]

We were undecided as well on our 14 day this summer. So we paid as we went and watched the bill.

 

At the end of the cruise I calculated we had spent around $1000 less on drinks than we would had we bought two drinks packages. We brought a couple of bottles of wine on board with us for pre-dinner drinks on the Balcony, had wine with dinner, Flights of Martinis, cocktails, Craft Beers, Shorts and mixers etc

 

If we were thirsty a the pool we made use of the free soda at the Mast Grill and we drank the free Tea/Coffee at Oceanview - which was pretty good, and certainly not so bad as to justify the price of an Al Bacio coffee.

 

I'd play it by ear but, unless you're going to be drinking over 10 purchased drinks a day - EVERY day - then you might be financially better off without it.

 

Thanks! We've sailed Celebrity twice before, but this is the first I've heard of free soda at the Mast Grill - good to know!

 

I think we're going to do without it. I wish they priced it so that it was realistic at all - even if we lost a little money, the convenience would be worth it. I think they increased the price of the package, because when we first booked it I looked and it was under $1000. Now it's over $1000- I don't remember what it was before, but I think it was about $100 increase. That's a pretty sizable jump and the psychological barrier of going over $1000 is too much for us. We were seriously considering sucking it up (because - honeymoon!) at the $9xx, but we just can't justify it now.

 

I did the math and the premium alcohol package is $51/day more than the premium non-alcohol package. So Celebrity is saying that they expect you to average 4 of the most expensive alcoholic drinks a day with the package, which includes port days. That just seems excessive and from a pricing standpoint doesn't make sense - you'd think they'd want to set the price so that it seems like it'd be a good idea, but people just fall short, so that overall they come out ahead.

 

If we can make it work, we may try to hit a grocery store in Ft Lauderdale before we board and stock up on bottles of water and soda and a couple of bottles of wine. If it doesn't work, then we'll still come out ahead it looks like with pay as we go.

[CathyCruises]

FYI, I have never seen free soda at the mast grill. They have cans of soda that you can buy, and they have the normal free drinks like iced tea, lemonade, and fruit punch.

Edited October 5, 2015 by CathyCruises

[jagoffee]

We were undecided as well on our 14 day this summer. So we paid as we went and watched the bill.

 

At the end of the cruise I calculated we had spent around $1000 less on drinks than we would had we bought two drinks packages. We brought a couple of bottles of wine on board with us for pre-dinner drinks on the Balcony, had wine with dinner, Flights of Martinis, cocktails, Craft Beers, Shorts and mixers etc

 

If we were thirsty a the pool we made use of the free soda at the Mast Grill and we drank the free Tea/Coffee at Oceanview - which was pretty good, and certainly not so bad as to justify the price of an Al Bacio coffee.

 

I'd play it by ear but, unless you're going to be drinking over 10 purchased drinks a day - EVERY day - then you might be financially better off without it.

 

1/2 the cost sure makes sense for you.

Are you sure about the free soda at the Mast Bar? Was it can or fountain soda? I have never seen this on a Celebrity cruise. What ship?

 

What was you total drink bill for the 14 days? If you book your next cruise withe the BBB will you pick the drink package as your choice?

Edited October 5, 2015 by jagoffee

[Blondie008]

Celebrity UK have 'occasional offers.'

Last November they had an offer, which I rang about. It meant I had to cancel and re- book at 'today's prices.' That meant the same cabin, but an extra £250+, which I left.

Two weeks later when the offer was due to expire, the price was £90+

This time I booked it.

Just a shame that circumstances meant that we have had to cancel the TA on Reflection, leaving Rome on 23rd October 2015.

 

Thanks - will keep checking - we have it on our 2015 TA ..actually - might be worth a call to our TA just in case :)