4 people in a room, with only 2 Beverage packages

[ben.chan]

We are a family of four sharing a cabin, and chose the classic BP as one of the perks.

Does anyone know how the BP will work in a situation like this, especially when we dine at the MDR or specialty restaurants? (Great if anyone can share their experience of a similar situation, like cruising with a group of friends where not everyone had a BP)

 

I know the BPs are not to be shared, and it's mainly two of us who drinks, so this should not be a big problem on alcoholic drinks. (And if the mood calls, we will gladly pay for an extra pour by the glass.) How about bottles/cartons of water - sticking by the rule would mean 2 bottles/cartons and 2 on tap water?

 

Also is it possible to swap order of the names on my cruise reservation? (I am with a US online TA) To make sure I have the BP on the right persons.

 

Thanks so much in advance for any help. It's our first time choosing the BP perk...

[Luvcrusn]

The first 2 people on the reservation usually are the ones with the BP. If the order is wrong or you're not sure, check with your TA. The BP will be indicated on your seapass cards with the designation CALL. If it's wrong when you check in you can go to GS or ask the check in agent to correct it. You can't share as you already know, so yes it would be two bottled, two tap. Water, iced tea, lemonade, coffee, tea and milk are included with the regular cruise fare. If the non BP people order a beverage other than those it will be billed to their account.

[snyniew]

Yes, you can change the order on the reservation so the 2 that need/want the BP get it. I did that when I added my niece since she was 22 and her sister who was originally the 2nd person was only 18. As to the other 2 people, they will have to pay per drink or purchase their own beverage package.

[tomservo]

I can't speak to Celebrity specifically on this, but I know on a lot of cruise lines if you and your partner have a beverage package and you travel with your children, you can use it to order non-alcoholic drinks (sodas, etc) and usually don't get charged. 

[villauk]

2 minutes ago, tomservo said:

I can't speak to Celebrity specifically on this, but I know on a lot of cruise lines if you and your partner have a beverage package and you travel with your children, you can use it to order non-alcoholic drinks (sodas, etc) and usually don't get charged. 

 

Not the case on X, they have to have their own purchased package.

[cruisestitch]

Tomservo has given poor advice.  What he proposed is not the way it works on Celebrity, where sharing packages is not allowed.🙁

Edited February 21, 2019 by cruisestitch

[davekathy]

1 hour ago, tomservo said:

I can't speak to Celebrity specifically on this, but I know on a lot of cruise lines if you and your partner have a beverage package and you travel with your children, you can use it to order non-alcoholic drinks (sodas, etc) and usually don't get charged. 

Sharing is not allowed on Celebrity or RC. As it should be. 

[Caribbean Chris]

41 minutes ago, MaryNewton said:

Is not it better to order a full set. Then no one will need to pay extra and no one will be deprived.

 

If all four people are adults of alcohol-drinking age, and plan to drink a fair amount, maybe. ($59 per day per person, plus 18% I think.) But if two are kids or don’t drink much, you can buy a soda package or just purchase a few cokes as you go, with the rest available free such as milk or lemonade. As far as water, we often refill water bottles in our cabin with tap water which is safe and tastes fine.

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Caribbean Chris

[tomservo]

34 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Tomservo has given poor advice.  What he proposed is not the way it works on Celebrity, where sharing packages is not allowed.🙁

Which is why I prefaced it with "I can't speak to Celebrity specifically on this". Also no advice was given. I simply shared others experiences from another cruise line where they weren't charged.

Edited February 21, 2019 by tomservo

[tomservo]

20 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Sharing is not allowed on Celebrity or RC. As it should be. 

I think everyone has misunderstood my original post, so let me clarify. I never advised anyone to "share" or to secretly order a soda for yourself and sneak it to your kid. What I was trying to say was that on some other lines (specifically NCL), if you have a beverage package and your kid orders a soda, the staff will often not charge you for it. No one is advocating for anything duplicitous here.

[davekathy]

30 minutes ago, tomservo said:

I think everyone has misunderstood my original post, so let me clarify. I never advised anyone to "share" or to secretly order a soda for yourself and sneak it to your kid. What I was trying to say was that on some other lines (specifically NCL), if you have a beverage package and your kid orders a soda, the staff will often not charge you for it. No one is advocating for anything duplicitous here.

No, I understood your post as written. I didn't read sneaking anywhere it your post or even consider that's what your were implying. I understood completely from what you posted NCL allows sharing beverages from the BPs with others.  I was pointing out that Celebrity and RC does not allow sharing any beverage with anyone from the BPs and doesn't look the other way. No problem. 

Edited February 21, 2019 by davekathy

[Marelaine]

You may select any two passengers in your cabin to receive the beverage package perk. As soon as you board, though, make sure the correct credit cards are assigned to each account. 

My husband, adult son and I were sharing a cabin. Husband doesn't drink alcohol so we had the CAL assigned to my card and our son's card. Once on board, we went to passenger services to buy a premium non-alcohol package for my husband, using the OBC that we had received as perk, with the remainder going toward son's gratuities.  That's when we discovered that that my credit card had been added to my son's account and my son's credit card was added to my husband's account. They were able to straighten it all out before any charges were made.

 

 

 

[tomservo]

9 minutes ago, davekathy said:

No, I understood your post as written. I didn't read sneaking anywhere it your post or even consider that's what your were implying. I understood completely from what you posted NCL allows sharing beverages from the BPs with others.  I was pointing out that Celebrity and RC does not allow sharing any beverage with anyone from the BPs and doesn't look the other way. 

Ok thanks for clarifying. Your post seemed to imply that I was advocating sharing. Btw as far as NCL goes, I don't think that NCL "officially" allows sharing the drink package with your kids, but more like an unspoken understanding among the staff (like you said, look the other way). But good to know about X and RCI!

Edited February 21, 2019 by tomservo

[davekathy]

1 minute ago, tomservo said:

Ok thanks for clarifying. Your post seemed to imply that I was advocating sharing. Btw as far as NCL goes, I don't think that NCL "officially" allows sharing the drink package with your kids, but more like an unspoken understanding among the staff.

...✌️

[mfs2k]

There are a lot of things people do on cruises which are against "the rules" including "smuggling" alcohol on board in rum runners and surreptiously sharing beverage packages. Some people even try to bring surge protectors and extension cords onboard.  Shocker.  (pun intended)  There are even a few who sneak cigarettes on their balconies. 

 

These behaviors are rarely condoned on Cruise Critic and if you advocate breaking rules, you will, rightfully, get scornful criticism.  No one likes a cheater.

 

I know.  The OP didn't say he wanted to cheat the system.  But this thread inspired my comment.

[jcpc]

You can definitely ask your travel agent to change the order of the passengers so that Guest 1 and Guest 2 are the recipients of the complimentary beverage package.  This should not be a problem for him/her to do, as we've done it several times with our travel agent.  Regarding water in the MDR (which is what I believe you were asking about).  My experience has been this:  When we order a large bottle of water the assistant waiter (or sometimes the waiter - whomever we ordered the water through) only wants to see one person's card.  Once he has looked at the card and sees that there is a beverage package printed on the card, he records the folio number and goes ahead and pours the bottled water to all 4 or us.  He doesn't ask to see each person's card.  So, in my experience, we all get the bottled water (not 2 people having bottled water and 2 people having tap water).  The assistant waiter only needs to have a folio number to charge the water to.  One time we actually told him that only 2 of us had the beverage package and he said he didn't care!  We usually have the same wait team every night and never have to show the card again to get water.

Now, it's a bit different with alcoholic beverages that you order from either the bar server or sommelier in the dining room.  However your post seems to indicate that you are well aware of that and have no problem paying for the extra drink.  I got the impression you were questioning the water consumption not the alcohol consumption and were in no way implying that you wanted to "cheat" the system.

Edited February 21, 2019 by jcpc

[WestLakeGirl]

If you “can’t speak for Celebrity”perhaps you shouldnt be answering questions here?🤔

[sunseawinedine]

In my experience on Solstice I brought a bottle of wine in the MDR and I was able to share it with my sister who did not have a package. That was 2 years ago so check when dining. I would think if one person ordered a bottle on their package they could share the bottle. They’re not ordering separate drinks for all.

[justcrusn]

9 hours ago, sunseawinedine said:

In my experience on Solstice I brought a bottle of wine in the MDR and I was able to share it with my sister who did not have a package. That was 2 years ago so check when dining. I would think if one person ordered a bottle on their package they could share the bottle. They’re not ordering separate drinks for all.

Well....

You cannot order a bottle of wine with a package. It’s by the glass.

you CAN purchase a bottle several ways, just not with a drink package, but you are free to share a bottle any way you choose.

[cruisestitch]

If you received the bottle of wine from Celebrity, you can bring it to the dining room and not be charged corkage. But if you bought the bottle at home and carry it to the dining room, you will be charged corkage.

[ben.chan]

Thank you to all of you who has responded to my question.

 

 

On ‎2‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 12:16 AM, Luvcrusn said:

If it's wrong when you check in you can go to GS or ask the check in agent to correct it.

 

Can I still change the BP assignments at check-in? Of course, I will try my TA first...

 

 

On ‎2‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 2:27 AM, MaryNewton said:

Is not it better to order a full set. Then no one will need to pay extra and no one will be deprived.

 

Well, I have thought of, but since the other two don't drink much alcohol...

 

Last time, the two who drinks actually were happy with the $300 OBC, and didn't even spend the entire sum on alcohol. We were satisfied with the regular coffee, and were in fact disappointed with the latte we had in Murano the first night so we stopped ordering espresso drinks entirely for the whole cruise LOL

 

So, this time going with a BP is another experiment for us.

 

 

On ‎2‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 6:07 AM, jcpc said:

You can definitely ask your travel agent to change the order of the passengers so that Guest 1 and Guest 2 are the recipients of the complimentary beverage package.  This should not be a problem for him/her to do, as we've done it several times with our travel agent.  Regarding water in the MDR (which is what I believe you were asking about).  My experience has been this:  When we order a large bottle of water the assistant waiter (or sometimes the waiter - whomever we ordered the water through) only wants to see one person's card.  Once he has looked at the card and sees that there is a beverage package printed on the card, he records the folio number and goes ahead and pours the bottled water to all 4 or us.  He doesn't ask to see each person's card.  So, in my experience, we all get the bottled water (not 2 people having bottled water and 2 people having tap water).  The assistant waiter only needs to have a folio number to charge the water to.  One time we actually told him that only 2 of us had the beverage package and he said he didn't care!  We usually have the same wait team every night and never have to show the card again to get water.

Now, it's a bit different with alcoholic beverages that you order from either the bar server or sommelier in the dining room.  However your post seems to indicate that you are well aware of that and have no problem paying for the extra drink.  I got the impression you were questioning the water consumption not the alcohol consumption and were in no way implying that you wanted to "cheat" the system.

 

Thank you very much; you got most of my worries answered.

 

To be honest, I didn't find any issues with the tap water during my last cruise on the Eclipse, so I really just wanted to know what to expect at the MDR / buffet onboard...

 

I quite like the way how Celebrity try to assign the same guests to the same area for Select dining, especially when we try to either stick with the "early" time slots before it fills up, or "late" when a lot of tables are open. This allows us to get to know our waiters, and also saves us a lot of trouble explaining preferences (for example, I prefer my water at ambient temperature rather than chilled, as I suffer from sensitive teeth and easily get a cough after having cold drinks).

 

 

On ‎2‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 8:24 PM, justcrusn said:

Well....

You cannot order a bottle of wine with a package. It’s by the glass.

you CAN purchase a bottle several ways, just not with a drink package, but you are free to share a bottle any way you choose.

 

I think this is referring to the "discount" on bottles associated with the BPs...

I would also expect a "discounted" bottled purchased would be share-able

[johno1234]

On 2/24/2019 at 1:24 AM, justcrusn said:

Well....

You cannot order a bottle of wine with a package. It’s by the glass.

you CAN purchase a bottle several ways, just not with a drink package, but you are free to share a bottle any way you choose.

 

If you have a BP you get a discount (I think 20%) off wine bottle purchases. Once bought, you are entitled to share with others.

 

[cruiserchuck]

On 2/21/2019 at 8:09 AM, ben.chan said:

How about bottles/cartons of water - sticking by the rule would mean 2 bottles/cartons and 2 on tap water?

 

I recently traveled as part of a group of ten, eight of whom had a drink package.  We ate dinner together every night, and all ten of us were served bottled water.  I am not sure if they did it because it was easier, or did not realize that two of us did not have a drink package.

 

At bars, I was able to get two bottles of water, one for me, and one for my wife, if I had her card.  If I did not have her card, I simply would go to a different bar and get another bottle of water, and bring it to her.

[Redtravel]

 I am a tea drinker...hot and cold.  For me, a beverage plan would be a joke.  My spouse likes to drink and has bought beverage packages.  However, when you get a perk choice, both guests must choose the same perk.  For us, we choose the tips or OBC.  

[johno1234]

1 hour ago, Redtravel said:

 I am a tea drinker...hot and cold.  For me, a beverage plan would be a joke.  My spouse likes to drink and has bought beverage packages.  However, when you get a perk choice, both guests must choose the same perk.  For us, we choose the tips or OBC.  

Premium teas are $5 a cup so if you have a couple a day and a couple of bottles of water a non alcoholic BP would break even.