drinks packages pricing?

[spikemom]

We have reserved on the Reflection in March 2025 - light yers away but a family event so needs advance planning.  Anyway, have a question about timing on buying drinks packages.  Right now the packages are offered at 20% off for drinks and water packages, and 10% for various experiences which may or may not be of interest.  Will the discount prices remain? Will it get better, or disappear? and does the same thing happen later when excursions and dinners are available? Thanks for your advice!

 

Carolyn in New Orleans

[kiwichick62]

This far out from your cruise you are likely to get better discounts during an occasional sale.  If you buy now and see better prices later on you can cancel your original purchases then rebook. It pays to sign in to your account and check for good sales frequently as they are not always advertised.

 

i bought a few shore excursions at 10% discount.  Cancelled and rebooked during a 40% off sale.  Also got a better discount on my drinks package upgrade. 
 

edit to add - same applies to specialty dining and wifi.  Also if you change your mind about a shore excursion you purchased you can cancel them up to 48 hours before the day of the excursion.

Edited February 2 by kiwichick62

[Joanne G.]

Since booking my September 2024 cruise about a year ago, I have seen major sales (40%-50%) on excursions, including pre-and post-cruise tour-and-hotel packages (my cruise is in Europe), around Labor Day and again around Black Friday. Wi-Fi was also discounted significantly.  I don't buy drink or dining packages, so I didn't pay attention to sales for them.   The water package appears to be a new thing on Celebrity, and I purchased one a couple days ago at 20% discount. 

 

This is my first Celebrity cruise since 2012, so I have no idea what the pattern is with sales on these items.  The sales I took advantage of were both around holidays, which may or may not be significant.   I get a notification of the sales by an alert from the app.   So besides checking online regularly, get the app to improve the chances of hearing about what Celebrity calls a "flash sale."  They come and go quickly, and it seems random which items will be discounted by what percentage.

 

Like the poster above, I had excursions booked at 10% discount when the Labor Day sale went into effect.   I canceled all of them and re-booked for considerable savings.  It was a painless process, and the OBC I had used was immediately available for the re-booking at the lower price.   

 

Good luck catching the sales and have a great cruise.

 

 

Edited February 2 by Joanne G.

[rinshin]

We are cruising 5/24 and classic is showing $57.99 and premium at $69.99 with 20% off.  Are these good prices for Celebrity?  
 

We were considering going without packages since my husband drinks only beer and bringing two hard to find and pricy wines given to us by a friend, but after looking at the whole picture of our drinking habits we are thinking that drink packages make more sense.  
 

The difference between premium and classic is just over $10 a day on our cruise, and because none of the classic selection wines or other beverages are to my taste, I am thinking premium is a better choice for us.  My husband would have been ok with classic but he can certainly drink higher cost beer gladly. 

[cmaleblanc]

OP, I would wait. We book about a year or two and keep an eye on deals. We also have a cruise coming up in March 2025, I picked up the Classic to Premium upgrade for $6.99/pp CDN during the big sale they had around thanksgiving/Christmas. I would hold off to get a cheaper option. 

 

As others have said, if you're worried you can always buy now, and just cancel/repurchase later if it goes cheaper.

 

Around the holiday/big sale season I'll check, and leading up to the final payment I'll start checking weekly or at least bi-weekly. Celebrity has started targeting sales to specific users, sailing dates, and home country along side big sale periods. So you may find a great deal on your drink package that no one else is seeing. I picked up the same $6.99 deal for our cruise next week, but it showed up about a week before the March 2025 did, I only caught it because I went back in to check. 

[2Long2NxtCrz]

I booked our upcoming March cruise almost 2 years ago and it came with all the perks (grats, classic dp, wi-fi, and OBC). When checking, the pricing was never great to upgrade the drink package or anything, but I did book specialty dining as soon as I could. I finally booked a ship-based Panama Canal excursion last October because I learned that was the only way to do that excursion.

 

Then during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale I was able to upgrade to the Premium dp for $6.99/person/day (+gratuities) and my internet for $3.99/day (only mine). The excursions were also much cheaper and I canceled the Panama Canal excursion and rebooked it and bought a half cabana for a day and broke even.

 

But the specialty dining was not less expensive, so if you want specialty dining book it early to get what you want.

 

You have to keep checking, as you never know, but in my experience, the biggest sales are over Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

[dreamer321]

The Beverage package prices change all the time. I would wait for a flash sale.  I was able to get the premium beverage package for $47.99 per day plus 20% gratuity during the pre-Black Friday flash sale.  I have since canceled it because I decided that I don't drink enough to even justify that per diem.  Remember, if you book a package then find a better price later you can always cancel and re-buy the package at the cheaper sale price.

[molly361]

Is $58.99 for the Classic package a good deal?  New to Celebrity.  It says Flash sale but wondering if it's like Royal where the sales keep coming back.  I have a booking on hold but no deposit yet so I can't buy it yet.  Wondering if I need to ask my TA to deposit it today.  He just got back from vacation and is pretty swamped.  Thanks

[jelayne]

3 hours ago, molly361 said:

Is $58.99 for the Classic package a good deal?  New to Celebrity.  It says Flash sale but wondering if it's like Royal where the sales keep coming back.  I have a booking on hold but no deposit yet so I can't buy it yet.  Wondering if I need to ask my TA to deposit it today.  He just got back from vacation and is pretty swamped.  Thanks

I believe you started another thread with your question and have answers on that thread.

[molly361]

3 minutes ago, jelayne said:

I believe you started another thread with your question and have answers on that thread.

If you look at the time of my post on THIS thread you will see that no one answered so I started a new thread with my question.  Apparently that bothers you for some reason?  

Edited February 4 by molly361

[rinshin]

3 hours ago, molly361 said:

If you look at the time of my post on THIS thread you will see that no one answered so I started a new thread with my question.  Apparently that bothers you for some reason?  

Mine also shows the same price for May cruise so I am thinking this is a typical pricing.  I am going to wait. 

Edited February 4 by rinshin

[JaneSteve]

7 hours ago, molly361 said:

Is $58.99 for the Classic package a good deal?  New to Celebrity.  It says Flash sale but wondering if it's like Royal where the sales keep coming back.  I have a booking on hold but no deposit yet so I can't buy it yet.  Wondering if I need to ask my TA to deposit it today.  He just got back from vacation and is pretty swamped.  Thanks

[JaneSteve]

Hi, if you haven’t made the booking, look into the all inclusive option to see what is available. Usually costs less to have drinks/wifi paid as included vs buying separately. 

[molly361]

Just now, JaneSteve said:

Hi, if you haven’t made the booking, look into the all inclusive option to see what is available. Usually costs less to have drinks/wifi paid as included vs buying separately. 

Thanks  I sail solo so according to what I have read the all inclusive isn't cost effective for solo travellers