Captain's club happy hour question

[Oneluckywoman]

I am elite on celebrity and taking a friend on a 3 night cruise on the Equinox.  Since they don't usually have the happy hour the first night of a cruise, and have a 45 minute welcome party in lieu of the regular happy hour one night, does that mean we only get one night of the full 2 hour captain's club event?  I don't usually do 3 night cruises. 

[Phxazzcruisers]

Also depending on the number of Elite and higher Captains Club members aboard you may get 3 drinks per night loaded on your card instead of the social event.

[leaveitallbehind]

I believe that would be correct.  And it is now limited to 3 drinks pp in the event lounge or 3 drinks pp via pre-loaded coupons on your SeaPass card in other venues.  That at least was the case on Summit 2 weeks ago. 

[leaveitallbehind]

9 minutes ago, Phxazzcruisers said:

Also depending on the number of Elite and higher Captains Club members aboard you may get 3 drinks per night loaded on your card instead of the social event.

Actually the new format (per my prior post) is a limit of 3 drinks pp in the lounge as well as 3 coupons for drinks on your card each night of the event for use in other venues.  And the 3 drink limit is total pp during the cocktail hours regardless of venue.  (You cannot have 3 in the event lounge and then use the coupons elsewhere - 3 total).

 

Kind of following the RCI format with the exception that RCI allows unlimited drinks in the Diamond Club v Celebrity limiting it now to 3.

Edited December 1, 2018 by leaveitallbehind

[Oneluckywoman]

Wow. Thank you,  that's good to know about the 3 drink limit.  

[Wine-O]

15 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

Kind of following the RCI format with the exception that RCI allows unlimited drinks in the Diamond Club v Celebrity limiting it now to 3.

Yeah, but  RCI has a 3 1/2 hour cocktail hour.

[Phxazzcruisers]

27 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Actually the new format (per my prior post) is a limit of 3 drinks pp in the lounge as well as 3 coupons for drinks on your card each night of the event for use in other venues.  And the 3 drink limit is total pp during the cocktail hours regardless of venue.  (You cannot have 3 in the event lounge and then use the coupons elsewhere - 3 total).

 

Kind of following the RCI format with the exception that RCI allows unlimited drinks in the Diamond Club v Celebrity limiting it now to 3.

Interesting, not our experience at all....  I wonder if it is fleet wide and something completely new.  How would they ever know how many drinks each person had in the lounge for the event?  They do not ask for your card each time.  With so many servers it would be impossible to keep tract of each person......  

 

[leaveitallbehind]

39 minutes ago, Phxazzcruisers said:

Interesting, not our experience at all....  I wonder if it is fleet wide and something completely new.  How would they ever know how many drinks each person had in the lounge for the event?  They do not ask for your card each time.  With so many servers it would be impossible to keep tract of each person......  

 

 

This was on our 11/17 sailing on Summit and the first night in the Elite lounge the bartender took our card to scan it into the system and then basically counted the drinks served from then on.  But if my wife only had two, for example, I could then have her third.  But they did keep track.  One night we had our "limit" and on our way to dinner stopped at the Wine Cellar while waiting for our table at Blu and our cards were tapped out with no coupons available.  

 

It was new to them as well and on one night when the Captain's Club Concierge was sitting with us at our table they ignored the count - likely at his OK.   Fleet wide I cannot say but would suspect it will be if it already isn't.  But that was our recent Summit experience.

Edited December 1, 2018 by leaveitallbehind

[leaveitallbehind]

52 minutes ago, Wine-O said:

Yeah, but  RCI has a 3 1/2 hour cocktail hour.

Which is definitely a plus with their loyalty program, which IMO is better overall than Celebrity.  They have had the 3 drink coupons for outside the Diamond Club for a couple of years now in addition to the unlimited in the Club. But I would also keep an eye on that to see if they don't begin to impose a limit as well. 

 

The other "rumor" is that the with the overcrowding in the Diamond Club on RCI that the 3 drink coupons will eventually be for Diamonds for use around the ship with no access to the Diamond Club as a way to thin the herd, leaving the DC for D+ and Pinnacles only.  But I digress......

[Phxazzcruisers]

4 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

This was on our 11/17 sailing on Summit and the first night in the Elite lounge the bartender took our card to scan it into the system and then basically counted the drinks served from then on.  But if my wife only had two, for example, I could then have her third.  But they did keep track.  One night we had our "limit" and on our way to dinner stopped at the Wine Cellar while waiting for our table at Blu and our cards were tapped out with no coupons available.  

 

It was new to them as well and on one night when the Captain's Club Concierge was sitting with us at our table they ignored the count - likely at his OK.   Fleet wide I cannot say but would suspect it will be if it already isn't.  But that was our recent Summit experience.

Sorry, I don't mean to be stubborn, but I do not understand.  When we are at the Elite + parties, we do not get drinks from the bartender, we get them from waiters that roam the room.  We get drinks from several different servers and dont know how they could possibly know how many we have had.  I do understand how the 3 drinks per night per person on your card works at other lounges around the ship, but do not understand how they can count drinks at the celebrations. We eat in Luminae and have the premium wine packages so it really does not matter much to us, but I would like to understand for times we cruise with friends that are not also Zenith.  Thanks.

[2chiefs]

Seems kind of silly. It's not like they would lose money on drinks as most people (I'm guessing) would probably have 3 drinks or less in the short time the event is held. With the way Celebrity does promotions, I would think a lot of people have drink packages on Celebrity which again would reduce the effect of losing money on a drink limit in the Elite event.

T

[Sam.Seattle]

7 minutes ago, 2chiefs said:

Seems kind of silly. It's not like they would lose money on drinks as most people (I'm guessing) would probably have 3 drinks or less in the short time the event is held. With the way Celebrity does promotions, I would think a lot of people have drink packages on Celebrity which again would reduce the effect of losing money on a drink limit in the Elite event.

T

I agree with you generally... I am guessing that they are trying to stop passengers from sharing drinks.  I have seen sharing happen in the past.  

[leaveitallbehind]

27 minutes ago, Phxazzcruisers said:

Sorry, I don't mean to be stubborn, but I do not understand.  When we are at the Elite + parties, we do not get drinks from the bartender, we get them from waiters that roam the room.  We get drinks from several different servers and dont know how they could possibly know how many we have had.  I do understand how the 3 drinks per night per person on your card works at other lounges around the ship, but do not understand how they can count drinks at the celebrations. We eat in Luminae and have the premium wine packages so it really does not matter much to us, but I would like to understand for times we cruise with friends that are not also Zenith.  Thanks.

 

OK semantics - the waiters (those of which who serve the drinks are part of the bartending staff - at least ours was) took our card on the first night and knew how many we drank. (Maybe it is through our pictures from our card which remain accessible at the register terminals).  In our case there were only about 20 or so in the lounge so maybe it was easier - they do get to know you and typically (at least in our experience) the same one or two wait on us.  Perhaps that may be because we provide a tip with each service.

 

You can question as you wish - and maybe with Zenith it does not apply.  I can only tell you our experience on Summit two weeks ago. It happened exactly as I describe for us as Elite.

Edited December 1, 2018 by leaveitallbehind

[davekathy]

37 minutes ago, Phxazzcruisers said:

Sorry, I don't mean to be stubborn, but I do not understand.  When we are at the Elite + parties, we do not get drinks from the bartender, we get them from waiters that roam the room.  We get drinks from several different servers and dont know how they could possibly know how many we have had.  I do understand how the 3 drinks per night per person on your card works at other lounges around the ship, but do not understand how they can count drinks at the celebrations. We eat in Luminae and have the premium wine packages so it really does not matter much to us, but I would like to understand for times we cruise with friends that are not also Zenith.  Thanks.

The severs take your Seapass cards now when you order a drink and they swipe the card. 

Edited December 1, 2018 by davekathy

[Phxazzcruisers]

8 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

OK semantics - the waiters (those of which who serve the drinks are part of the bartending staff - at least ours was) took our card on the first night and knew how many we drank. (Maybe it is through our pictures from our card which remain accessible at the register terminals).  In our case there were only about 20 or so in the lounge so maybe it was easier - they do get to know you and typically (at least in our experience) the same one or two wait on us.  Perhaps that may be because we provide a tip with each service.

 

You can question as you wish - and maybe with Zenith it does not apply.  I can only tell you our experience on Summit two weeks ago. It happened exactly as I describe for us as Elite.

OK Thanks. That is indeed a big change.  Now I understand.  They never took our cards in the past at these celebrations.  I believe you, not questioning your experience, just did not understand.  Thanks

[lisiamc]

I think there’s two scenarios here.  There’s the nightly Captain’s Club Happy Hour, and there are one-offs like the Captain’s Welcome Cocktail Party.  At the Cocktail Party, waiters circulate with trays of sparkling wine, Mimosas, and a few different cocktails.  No one takes your seapass for the drinks.  You can have more than three if you can find a waiter that many times.  At the Happy Hour, they use pre-loaded coupons on your seapass now, whether you’re in the Sky Lounge or another bar.  I’ve been told that’s going fleet-wide.

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, lisiamc said:

I think there’s two scenarios here.  There’s the nightly Captain’s Club Happy Hour, and there are one-offs like the Captain’s Welcome Cocktail Party.  At the Cocktail Party, waiters circulate with trays of sparkling wine, Mimosas, and a few different cocktails.  No one takes your seapass for the drinks.  You can have more than three if you can find a waiter that many times.  At the Happy Hour, they use pre-loaded coupons on your seapass now, whether you’re in the Sky Lounge or another bar.  I’ve been told that’s going fleet-wide.

 

Correct in the entirety of your response!