Buying Drink Package with Elite Happy Hour?

[cruisestitch]

3 hours ago, frteach said:

One more question about the Elite breakfast. Is there table service or a buffet style? Can I take out the coffee and the drink to enjoy on the balcony? My H will still want to go to the buffet, so I will probably be there too. Thanks for the menu, which suggests table service. Love the idea of bagels and salmon. 

They have different styles of service for different itineraries. Sometimes it is a Buffet, sometimes it is table service.  When sailing out of the US, the table service is more common. Other itineraries typically have the buffet.  Either way, they do not offer takeout service.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

2 hours ago, drakes2 said:

They don't encourage it but they won't stop you. I always take a mimosa to the MDR. I don't always have a big breakfast either, sometimes just toast and cereal. A mimosa at the MDR is $11 plus 20% maybe more since my cruise in November. 

That is why I wrote “ not suppose to take anything out” remembering you have written you had taken drinks out 😁

[StopTheWorld]

On 1/10/2024 at 6:01 PM, Rustyman said:

We’ve always had the Premium package but booked an “extra holiday in August last year on the Silhouette, are Elite and soon to be Elite + so decided to try the free drinks with no package.

On day one we had booked Murano so bought a bottle of wine with dinner, $40 after Elite discount. Every other night we hit the bars from 5-7 and drank beers, G and T’s and cocktails, me Manhattans and my wife Cosmopolitans. Just before 7 ordered glasses of Merlot for dinner, they were palatable. By the way we also took 2 bottles of wine each on board at embarkation in our carry on luggage with no problem, these were available as extra drinks when we fancied.

we left the ship after a 13 night cruise with a $40 bill. Now that sounds as if we were skimping but we really didn’t, what the front loading does though is send you to bed earlier than May be the case. A wee tip for anyone taking full advantage of the Elite drinks is to remember you can order drinks in the 2 hour window and take them to your room for later consumption.

We have upcoming cruises booked and have Premium Packages booked for them as of course there are no time restrictions but if you don’t want to splash the cash then Elite drinking is perfectly doable and to be honest was quite good fun.

This is my plan on an upcoming cruise. It’s a B2B and I booked cruise only for both.
I purchased a drinks package for the 2nd cruise in the sale, but checked that we can cancel it up to 48 hrs before sailing. We’ll drink as we normally do on the first cruise (with no package but taking advantage of the happy hour and carry on wine as you did) and we’ll see how much we spend, and if the drink package is needed for the 2nd cruise. 

[Rustyman]

21 minutes ago, StopTheWorld said:

This is my plan on an upcoming cruise. It’s a B2B and I booked cruise only for both.
I purchased a drinks package for the 2nd cruise in the sale, but checked that we can cancel it up to 48 hrs before sailing. We’ll drink as we normally do on the first cruise (with no package but taking advantage of the happy hour and carry on wine as you did) and we’ll see how much we spend, and if the drink package is needed for the 2nd cruise. 

It was actually quite good fun working the system to get the most of the Elite drinks but you have to organise your day around it😀. Wines to the room from bars is the bonus, a couple of times our waitress commented on how full our wine glasses were at dinner😂.

Best of luck if you go this way and enjoy it, it was the first cruise where I felt like I was winning!

Having said all that all of our cruises booked for the future have drinks packages included, purely for the comfort and flexibility that allows.

[drakes2]

14 minutes ago, Rustyman said:

It was actually quite good fun working the system to get the most of the Elite drinks but you have to organise your day around it😀. Wines to the room from bars is the bonus, a couple of times our waitress commented on how full our wine glasses were at dinner😂.

Best of luck if you go this way and enjoy it, it was the first cruise where I felt like I was winning!

Having said all that all of our cruises booked for the future have drinks packages included, purely for the comfort and flexibility that allows.

I'm curious, what wine can you buy for $40 with the discount? I also take advantage of HH with one or 2 Cosmopolitans  sometimes I get grey goose but most times its Absolut vodka which is perfectly fine.  Then I'll order a nice Cabernet if I don't already have a bottle waiting for me at the MDR. I don't do specialty dining so big savings there.  My day starts with a mimosa then on sea days I may have an Aspen coffee at Cafe El Bacio.  Apart from the Aspen which is 2x on a 10 night cruise all other drinks are covered by Elite plus. 

[Rustyman]

23 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

I'm curious, what wine can you buy for $40 with the discount? I also take advantage of HH with one or 2 Cosmopolitans  sometimes I get grey goose but most times its Absolut vodka which is perfectly fine.  Then I'll order a nice Cabernet if I don't already have a bottle waiting for me at the MDR. I don't do specialty dining so big savings there.  My day starts with a mimosa then on sea days I may have an Aspen coffee at Cafe El Bacio.  Apart from the Aspen which is 2x on a 10 night cruise all other drinks are covered by Elite plus. 

I can’t remember the exact wine other than it was red and if bought by the glass was $16 a glass. I looked at the lower priced bottles on the menu in Murano and chose this as it seemed the best value compared with its “by the glass” price. I think it was the Berlinger Cabernet Sauvignon but not 100% sure.

[drakes2]

19 minutes ago, Rustyman said:

I can’t remember the exact wine other than it was red and if bought by the glass was $16 a glass. I looked at the lower priced bottles on the menu in Murano and chose this as it seemed the best value compared with its “by the glass” price. I think it was the Berlinger Cabernet Sauvignon but not 100% sure.

I had a bottle of Beringer Knights Valley given to me on my November 2023 cruise but beverage manager said it was priced at $83 onboard so perhaps the one you had in Murano was the lower end one. In any case still a decent wine. 

 

Edited January 15 by drakes2
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[camella]

On 1/10/2024 at 10:15 AM, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Take a purse with you at HH and fill it up , and you can be happy for the next 22 hours 🤣🍷

I have one of those!  I use it when my friends go to sports bars that only serve crappy wine - I order a glass of crappy wine and go to the bathroom dump it out and fill it with mine 🙂

[sollan]

On 1/11/2024 at 12:26 PM, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Also with Elite + , you don’t even have need elite breakfast since you can get free cappuccinos at Bacio and other locations 

Drink Alcohol in the morning is not for me 

You don't have to drink alkohol even if you go to the Elite breakfast....😌

[sollan]

On 1/10/2024 at 7:46 PM, dleahy4444 said:

I thought that Elite comped drinks were only available between 5-7 in bars. Are they also available ( mimosas and Bloody Marys)at the Elite breakfast? Is there a separate venue for the Elite breakfast? Is that daily? Also someone mentioned buying a bottle of wine with the elite discount at dinner. Do you have to specify the discount when you order it or is it applied automatically. Thanks 

There is a 20% discount on bottles of wine at dinner. You can choose from the whole winelist which I think have better wines than the ones that are served by glass. If you don't finish the whole bottle you can save the rest for the next dinner (never happened us...😄).

They see that you are E+ when you show your seapass but be sure to check because sometime they miss it.

[dleahy4444]

4 hours ago, sollan said:

There is a 20% discount on bottles of wine at dinner. You can choose from the whole winelist which I think have better wines than the ones that are served by glass. If you don't finish the whole bottle you can save the rest for the next dinner (never happened us...😄).

They see that you are E+ when you show your seapass but be sure to check because sometime they miss it.

Thank you. We generally don’t have a problem finishing a bottle either lol! 

[twins_to_alaska]

Excited to stop by the breakfast for bellini or mimosa for my first Elite sailing end of April. On land I drink less than 1 alcoholic drink per week and water so don't buy beverage packages. One time I bought the non-alcoholic on super sale for $16.99/day and even that didn't break even for me adding in non-alcoholic daiquiris. Just better for me to buy one or two during the cruise if I decide to get.