Where did the upgrade your drink package discounts go?

[Cruisegoer]

It seems as though Celebrity has stopped intermittently running the 10% off discount for upgrading your drink package.  I wonder if this is because they've ingrained the classic drink package as one of the perks in the regular promotional rates and now rely on this upgrade revenue more heavily.

[Bo1953]

All promotions are scheduled, generally, around US holidays with no fixed guarantee at that (can be targeted in other markets as well). Yet, the best bet is to know that they run the sales when they run them and not before.

 

Discounts can range up to 20% off, again without guarantee.

 

Discounts can be targeted to specific ships and specific time(s) of year, again without guarantee.

 

In other words, there is no real 'schedule' for the sales a/k/a discounts.

 

What you 'wonder' can be true, yet what I know as being true is that one needs to be signed up for X's mailings and/or check their CP regularly for the sales/discounts or wait until posted here on CC, when someone notices them.

 

Do you know if there is a 'standard' time frame and/or projection for the sales/discounts? If so, what has been your experience in this?

 

cheers and bon voyage

 

[Cruisegoer]

7 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Do you know if there is a 'standard' time frame and/or projection for the sales/discounts? If so, what has been your experience in this?

Throughout most of last summer you could find the 10% discount to upgrade on your cruise planner. It was discussed here for quite a long period and was available for my sailing last July 29th.

[Bo1953]

3 hours ago, Cruisegoer said:

Throughout most of last summer you could find the 10% discount to upgrade on your cruise planner. It was discussed here for quite a long period and was available for my sailing last July 29th.

I did a search here on CC and only found three (3) instances where there were 'discounts' posted about, July, Aug and Nov... in each instance they were approximately three to four (3-4) days each and discounts were as high as 20% (I know as I was able to get that one for my sailing) with the others 10%.

 

Posts before July are not currently available, to me at least as such I cannot find out how many times the discounts were talked about here.

 

Cheers and bon voyage

[Steve H]

We got 20% last winter for our March cruise this year.  I’m also waiting,  we have two cruises in September that I want to upgrade on!

Edited June 11, 2019 by Steve H

[GoHoward]

11 hours ago, Cruisegoer said:

It seems as though Celebrity has stopped intermittently running the 10% off discount for upgrading your drink package.  I wonder if this is because they've ingrained the classic drink package as one of the perks in the regular promotional rates and now rely on this upgrade revenue more heavily.

 

I received a 10% discount off of upgrading drink packages this week - the promotion ran for four days. It may be targeted to specific guests, however -- others on my roll call did not receive the discount when they logged into their cruise planner.

And oddly enough, I had already upgraded my drink package, so I promptly canceled and rebooked with the discount...happy to let Celebrity refund me a bit of OBC, even if it was only $12 or so.

Edited June 11, 2019 by GoHoward

[Hlitner]

So here is our recent story.  We normally book with the Classic as a promo and upgrade to Premium (I like single malt scotch and cognac).  But a few weeks ago we snagged a terrific last minute deal for a 10 night Summit cruise.  We are talking about approximately $100 per person/day for a nice balcony cabin...with no perks.  So we decided to take advantage of our Elite Plus perks (this would also work for Elite).  We went to the Elite breakfasts and usually had our free Mimosas and Bloody Marys.  In the evening (5-7) we took liberal advantage of the Elite cocktail party and the ability to order similar drinks anywhere on the ship.  We purchased the Classic wine package (5 bottles) and had a half bottle at each dinner.  And we had a few after dinner drinks (not many because we were not in the mood).  After 10 days our entire bar bill totaled about $400 (for 2 adults).   If we had purchased the Classic Package (which was really pushed during the first two days) it would have cost us $1416.  Our favorite Premium Package would have cost $1656.  I guess as Elite Plus we might have received a small 15% discount off those packages but we saved over $1000 by NOT buying the package.  And our last minute booking deal was at a significant discount when compared to what many folks paid by booking early.

 

So what did we sacrifice?  We would normally have ordered Pelligrino at dinner but our service was so bad that heaven knows if we would have had the chance on most nights.  During our sea days we might have had some Pelligrino or a Diet Coke...but instead we settled for iced water (from the bar), ice tea or lemonade (all free).  Today we booked another cruise (on Princess) for August and that $1000 we saved on the Summit helped pay the tab :).

 

DW and I do love having a drink package, but we now think they are becoming price prohibitive.  Keep in mind that when you book with a promotion that includes perks, the price of the cruise is increased!  There are some cruises where we decide it will be a "booze" cruise and we pay the price.  But we are aware that the "price" is a rip off and makes little sense.  There is just no way that DW and I are going to spend over $140 a day on drinks so why on earth would we buy a package.

 

Hank

 

[ipeeinthepool]

6 hours ago, Hlitner said:

So here is our recent story.  We normally book with the Classic as a promo and upgrade to Premium (I like single malt scotch and cognac).  But a few weeks ago we snagged a terrific last minute deal for a 10 night Summit cruise.  We are talking about approximately $100 per person/day for a nice balcony cabin...with no perks.  So we decided to take advantage of our Elite Plus perks (this would also work for Elite).  We went to the Elite breakfasts and usually had our free Mimosas and Bloody Marys.  In the evening (5-7) we took liberal advantage of the Elite cocktail party and the ability to order similar drinks anywhere on the ship.  We purchased the Classic wine package (5 bottles) and had a half bottle at each dinner.  And we had a few after dinner drinks (not many because we were not in the mood).  After 10 days our entire bar bill totaled about $400 (for 2 adults).   If we had purchased the Classic Package (which was really pushed during the first two days) it would have cost us $1416.  Our favorite Premium Package would have cost $1656.  I guess as Elite Plus we might have received a small 15% discount off those packages but we saved over $1000 by NOT buying the package.  And our last minute booking deal was at a significant discount when compared to what many folks paid by booking early.

 

So what did we sacrifice?  We would normally have ordered Pelligrino at dinner but our service was so bad that heaven knows if we would have had the chance on most nights.  During our sea days we might have had some Pelligrino or a Diet Coke...but instead we settled for iced water (from the bar), ice tea or lemonade (all free).  Today we booked another cruise (on Princess) for August and that $1000 we saved on the Summit helped pay the tab :).

 

DW and I do love having a drink package, but we now think they are becoming price prohibitive.  Keep in mind that when you book with a promotion that includes perks, the price of the cruise is increased!  There are some cruises where we decide it will be a "booze" cruise and we pay the price.  But we are aware that the "price" is a rip off and makes little sense.  There is just no way that DW and I are going to spend over $140 a day on drinks so why on earth would we buy a package.

 

Hank

 

 

I understand and agree with your logic and that sounds great for a last minute cruise but don’t you also need to accept the non- refundable deposit to get the cheaper price?  If I remember correctly after you select your cabin you need to make the choice between the cheap price and the package with two perks and the refundable deposit.  Perhaps I need to examine the details on the deposit and you only lose $100 pp and the rest is a credit.

[medtech71]

I believe i got 30% off for me and my wife last Black Friday?  It was sometime late last year.

 

 

[happy cruzer]

We look at the itinerary and decide if we might want to upgrade later in the sailing.  That results in savings better than a 10 or 20 % discount.  Just another way to do the math to get the value you are comfortable with.

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I understand and agree with your logic and that sounds great for a last minute cruise but don’t you also need to accept the non- refundable deposit to get the cheaper price?  If I remember correctly after you select your cabin you need to make the choice between the cheap price and the package with two perks and the refundable deposit.  Perhaps I need to examine the details on the deposit and you only lose $100 pp and the rest is a credit.

When we talk about last minute bookings it means (by definition) that it is booking within the final payment window.  So this means you make full payment at the time you book and it would be non-refundable.  There are sometimes when I might book outside the final payment window and then one does sometimes need to analyze various price options including refundable vs non-refundable reservations.   It can even more complicated (with some cruise lines) if you happen to have a Future Cruise Credit (booked while aboard a past cruise) on file.  One of our oft used cruise lines, Princess, actually has a very good deal with their Future Cruise Bookings.  Not only are they refunded if not used, but you can buy as many credits as you please without actually choosing a cruise.  We usually keep two of those credits on the system (they are tied to your own cruise account) and it saves us money on every booking.  Unlike the RCI products, Princess allows you to "stack" credits which can means having hundreds or even thousands of dollars of OBCs on a cruise.  

 

I mentioned the Future Cruise Credits because it becomes interesting how that works if you book a non-refundable deposit.  If the cruise line is willing to accept the Future Cruise credit as the deposit (this normally is allowed by Princess) you would get a reduced deposit equal to the Future Cruise Credit ($100 per person).  This deposit can often be a lot less then the normal non-refundable deposit...but still get you the non-refundable price.   Each cruise line has their own policy about how they deal with Future Cruise credits so this means doing a little homework and understanding the terms.

 

Hank

[oneputt18]

Can't believe all this discussion about a 10% discount on something that only cost $10 a day. That's a tremendous saving of a $1.20 a day (including grats)

[Cruisegoer]

38 minutes ago, oneputt18 said:

Can't believe all this discussion about a 10% discount on something that only cost $10 a day. That's a tremendous saving of a $1.20 a day (including grats)

Thank you for your useful input and non-judgemental tone. Have a great summer being miserable.

[Bo1953]

43 minutes ago, oneputt18 said:

Can't believe all this discussion about a 10% discount on something that only cost $10 a day. That's a tremendous saving of a $1.20 a day (including grats)

o - this can turn out to be some real money were one on a 10+ day sailing... and/or have no beverage package at all...

 

cheers and bon voyage

[CulverCityCruisers]

Late last year we took advantage of a discount on our 15 day cruise to Hawaii in Oct of this year and got 50% off upgrade to premium!!!  Not sure we will ever see that again so I jumped on that one. $88.50 total up charge for 15 days.

[PTC DAWG]

Re the upgrade from Classic to Premium...I currently have a cruise booked that included the Classic package...when will it show in the cruise planner that this is included....all I see now is the TOTAL cost of the Classic package in the cruise planner...no upgrade option...

 

We just passed final payment, cruise is 9/23/2019.

 

 

[CulverCityCruisers]

2 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Re the upgrade from Classic to Premium...I currently have a cruise booked that included the Classic package...when will it show in the cruise planner that this is included....all I see now is the TOTAL cost of the Classic package in the cruise planner...no upgrade option...

 

We just passed final payment, cruise is 9/23/2019.

 

 

If you go to your cruise planner and click on beverage packages, you will see Upgrade available.  It is $12 a day plus 20% grat.  You can add 1 person or 2.

[PTC DAWG]

2 hours ago, CulverCityCruisers said:

If you go to your cruise planner and click on beverage packages, you will see Upgrade available.  It is $12 a day plus 20% grat.  You can add 1 person or 2.

No upgrade yet available for me....$1,8xx.xx for an 11 day  cruise for the Premium...I guess the Classic Drink Package perk isn’t in the system yet. I’m going to  pass on that for now. 🙂

Edited June 11, 2019 by PTC DAWG

[CardRock]

There was just a 10%offer that ended... but i thought it was $10 per day +20% = $12,  With the 10% sale, that made it $1.20 less or $10.80 per day.  That saves you $8.40 per 7 day cruise.  If I am going to upgrade, I will wait till I am on board...

[PTC DAWG]

4 minutes ago, CardRock said:

There was just a 10%offer that ended... but i thought it was $10 per day +20% = $12,  With the 10% sale, that made it $1.20 less or $10.80 per day.  That saves you $8.40 per 7 day cruise.  If I am going to upgrade, I will wait till I am on board...

I think that’s the best policy...make a bartender happy. 

[OT-Miami]

28 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

No upgrade yet available for me....$1,8xx.xx for an 11 day  cruise for the Premium...I guess the Classic Drink Package perk isn’t in the system yet. I’m going to  pass on that for now. 🙂

I had a similar situation: the option to upgrade from the classing to premium wasn't showing up in my cruise planner.  I called X and had them "activate" the perk so that it can be upgraded.  Now it shows up as an available upgrade for $12 per day - so no discount.  But if a discount becomes available I'll have the option to upgrade.  I recommned calling X - good luck 🍹

[oneputt18]

11 hours ago, Cruisegoer said:

Thank you for your useful input and non-judgemental tone. Have a great summer being miserable.

1 won't be miserable because I don't have to be worried about saving $12 on my next 10 day cruise. I thought it was very useful to point out it was only a saving of a$1.20 per day. 

I had the decency not to make it a personal attack.