ailetoile

Thanks. Another comment on another thread said the 3 x $18 drinks at the new World Bar are not included in ANY package so even with the premium package you still have to pay the full $18 to try them...ho hum.....just have to wait till July to find out!

 

That comment was SOMEWHAT misleading :) With the Classic package, you'll pay the full $18 since it is above the limit of the package. With the Premium package, you'll only pay the difference between the package's limit and the price of the drink.

Hi - I'm curious to know the choices of wines by the glass that are offered on the "Classic" versus "Premium" package. Does anyone have a list? I am currently signed up for the Classic package, but am thinking of upgrading to the Premium package if there is a better selection.

 

As Jenna (who is SUPER AWESOME) already said, there is unfortunately not a good source of information for which wines are covered under which package. It changes frequently, and in some cases it seems to be at the discretion of the sommelier on the ship.

 

The selection under the Premium package is wider, but I am not a good person to judge whether it is BETTER.

 

I have a question - apologies if this has been covered elsewhere. I know I can only buy one drink at a time on a package; that's fine and makes sense. I'm disabled though so my husband "parks" me at a table, and if there is no drinks waiter, he goes to the bar to order drinks for all three of us.

 

With a drinks package, can he do this by taking my card as well as his own, and ordering one drink on each card? Or will I have to physically go to the bar and get my own drink. :confused:

 

Again, I know this was already answered by another awesome person, but to confirm: If your husband has two cards he can get two drinks :)

 

I will add this question to the next round of the PDF because it is a good one!

[quote name='texasgirl29']I'm one of the positive people, and I'd say we're out here, mostly reading and sometimes it's just like watching a soap opera or the two curmudgeonly guys on the Muppets. I'm one of the people who is grateful for the opportunity to cruise every other year or so. We haven't sailed on Celebrity yet so I've been reading the Celebrity boards over the past year or so almost daily to get a sense of the ship and the passengers.

Most recently we've sailed with Disney and the folks on the Disney DISBoard are the happiest, most thrilled to be taking a vacation people on the planet. Quite a contrast to most of the posts on the Celebrity CC board. It does not feel inviting (although the roll call is an entirely different experience) to join in.

As an outsider looking in, I have to agree with Susan. There's frugal (that's me) and there's cheapskates.

I don't anticipate paying $10 for lunch at Bistro on Five. Call me crazy, but on my past cruises (Disney and Princess) I love the excitement you feel when you get on the ship and the vibe you get off of the other passengers. It's vacation! Long awaited vacation! Lots of choices for food-- grab a seat outside. Let the fun begin.

JoAnn[/QUOTE]

I think you will have a blast on Celebrity :)

[QUOTE=Cruisen'Susan;46570265]What you say is very true. I am not questioning whether it happened to you or suggesting you are making it up. This has just never, ever been my experience on Celebrity. Actually NCL and RCI either. The customer gets what the customer requests...this has been my only experience.

And my rant was not directed to you either, it's just been my observation of all the negativity on CC over the last few days. Most people on this planet will never even see cruise ship, let alone have a holiday on one. It just boggles my mind.[/QUOTE]

To be fair, I don't frequent CC very often between cruises simply because of the negativity and the entitlement that runs rampant on these boards. It took a profoundly bad experience for me to say something negative about Bistro on Five.

I recognize that my financial situation may permit me to spend more than some and less than others, so I don't blame people for budgeting and penny pinching (I've definitely been in the camp of cruising on a strict budget myself), but the complaining for the sake of complaining... that happens on here a lot.

My experience with Bistro on Five may not have been a very positive one, but that certainly didn't stop me from enjoying the other parts of my cruise. I certainly believe that Celebrity delivers a good product, one that I enjoy very much on the whole and will continue to enjoy in the future.

[QUOTE=Cruisen'Susan;46570052]Never has that been our experience in ANY Celebrity restaurant. One gentleman at our table requested 4 lobster dinners and received 4!!! (personally I thought that was quite over-doing it)..

Geesh, and this is not directed at you, but in general, these threads are full of people who do not have a sense of humor, who "pinch their pennies," constantly check and re-check their ledger to make sure Celebrity is not "ripping them off" and whine and complain.

I've had extra time to play on here the last couple days, but I see that I haven't been missing much!

I hope to see some of you sailing, and hope to not see some of you. What is supposed to be a lovely, fun experience becomes a bitching fest for many![/QUOTE]

Just because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Please try to keep in mind that my experience and yours are not the same :)

[QUOTE=Cruisen'Susan;46557320]Not a dumb question!! For your $10, you may choose a lovely salad, a bowl of clam chowder in a bread bowl, an appetizer, a wonderful crepe, a full entree if desired, AND a dessert crepe. Or 2 of everything if you like. ALL for $10. I forget if they have shakes and floats at Bistro, but if so, sure they are included in the classic bev package!![/QUOTE]

Only if the waiter will let you order that quantity of food. He would not let my father order a soup and salad, nor would he let my husband order a crepe and a hamburger.

This was just one of the many small things that made our experience with the new menu and the service in Bistro horrible. After paying $40 for the privilege of rude service, a 3-hour meal with entrees that arrived at wildly staggered times, and cold food... We will not be back.

• Classic Non-Alcoholic Package ($16.00 / $18.88 per night): Unlimited espresso-based coffees and Tea Forte from Café al Bacio,
  
• Premium Non-Alcoholic Package ($20.00 / $23.60 per night): Unlimited Café al Bacio menu items,
  

What is the difference between these two coffee items in the difference packages?

 

I believe the classic doesn't allow the specialty coffee drinks that have alcohol and/or gelato in them where the premium allows it.

 

This seems to be the most correct although I've read that the interpretation of which coffee drinks go with which package is often inconsistent between ships.

Does anyone know what package we can get Peroni on?

 

I actually had to look up what Peroni is. :o I think someone who drinks it will have to chime in to get you an accurate answer.

Since your FAQ includes the wine packages you might want to clarify that the full bottles of wine purchased with the wine package, as well as full bottles of wine purchased with a discount on the beverage package, can be shared with whomever you like. This is because these purchases are priced by the bottle as opposed to the other beverage packages which are priced per person and for an unlimited quantity.

 

That's a good idea. I will definitely do that in my next update. I've been kind of holding back to see if anything came off the sticky thread, but since nothing has as of yet I think I'll make another update soon to address some of the new points of clarification that have been raised.

Can you still get canned soda on the Classic & Premium Alcohol packages? The current info on Celebrity's website (see link below) only lists fountain soda with these two packages. We've had the Premium package twice and were always able to get cans of soda. Have they downgraded that to fountain soda as the PDF list suggests?

 

https://secure.celebritycruises.com/celebrity/media/celebrity/shared_assets/pdf/Classic-Premium-Bev-Pckgs.pdf

 

As of two weeks ago you could still get canned soda with both Classic and Premium alcohol packages. The PDF is just oddly vague.

Sushi is still there but it's forgettable. You can order dinner items to your room, for free. There are charged room service items but they're only at breakfast (or drinks).

 

No chocolates as of 3/22. You did get one chocolate-covered Oreo randomly during the cruise, though.

 

I've read reports that the pillow chocolates were back on the next cruise (3/29 sailing). They were supposed to be back in April, so the timing makes sense.

 

For my part regarding the original question:

 

The biggest cutbacks that I noticed were the activities staff and the room service menu. Room service is still free, but the menu is drastically reduced and all of the things that I loved from a few years ago are now gone.

 

For something positive, I am part of the camp that actually enjoys the MDR food. I've read so much about people thinking the food there has gone downhill, but on our most recent cruise I found that it was still very good overall and had a great time eating there every night!

I believe this is the report you're referring to. Posts 12-14 contain photos of some of the new menu items at Bistro on 5.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2186271

 

Once again, the menu that is posted in #12 of the thread that you linked is NOT the new $10/pp menu. The $10/pp menu that was being served during the last couple of days of a Silhouette cruise was very different and MUCH more restricted/less "special" than the one in that picture.

It is definitely NOT only crepes for the Bistro on 5 menu. They have specials each day, everything from Duck Confit, to Bouillabaisse, etc. See post number 12 on this thread for the menu:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2186271&highlight=bistro+on+5

 

It still seems crazy that it doubled in price over the period of a little more than a year or so. I also think it's crazy that it costs the same whether you order a crepe for lunch or a whole meal for dinner.

 

Just FYI: I ate at Bistro on Five with the "new" $10/pp menu (this was on Silhouette on the 3/22/15 sailing) and the menu pictured in post #12 of the thread you linked definitely was NOT the same. There are just six crepe offerings now (three sweet and three savory). The daily specials were different and much less "special." There were fewer appetizers offered, and NONE of the non-crepe entrees on that menu were still there.

 

What was actually on the $10/pp menu were things like a cheeseburger, a Ceasar salad, a Cobb salad, French onion soup, etc. The food offerings were not special at all aside from the gelato (which we did not eat as we were antsy after sitting there for two hours waiting on our two courses with a VERY rude waiter), and the ice cream shakes.

 

To say that the new Bistro on Five was disappointing is an understatement.

We did visit Bistro at the new price and new menu a few weeks ago on Silhouette. It was not worth it. The food was nothing special aside from the vastly reduced selection of crepes and the milkshakes. The server was rude and the whole experience was excruciatingly slow (two hours for two courses).

If your original departure port is from North America, the minimum drinking age is 21.

 

If your original departure port is from any other continent, the minimum drinking age is 18.

 

Note that if you have a birthday while on the cruise that will put you over the legal drinking age, you may get a new Sea Pass issued at Guest Services as long as you provide a government-issued ID such as a driver’s license.

 

This does not change even if your ship docks somewhere where the minimum drinking age is different during the cruise.

Can a beverage package be upgraded on line....I see no availability. If so, has anyone done it successfully?

 

Marc

 

I believe that you have to call in to upgrade a beverage package that was given to you as a perk. I could be mistaken, though and I don't have a great way to test this. :eek: Does anyone else have any insight here? I'll gladly update the FAQ to include the response.

There are complimentary coffee, tea, hot chocolate, milk, non-bottled water, and juice. All of these beverages may not be available in all dining locations, but you should be able to request them.

Thanks for saying this - even in jest - because I was terrified this thread was going to die out. My husband is worried about how I'll spend my days if there are no new posts to this thread to investigate.

 

I suppose I could wander over to the fresh squeezed OJ thread ...

 

There's always a new drama waiting just around the corner for this board. I'm sure you'll find some way to spend your days ;)

Correct.... and here is a link to the post from Celebrity contained in the thread they started on this topic of raising the price of all-inclusive packages. Click here.

 

Not that I necessarily trust that answer as far as I can throw it since it is the second "official" answer in that thread alone, but I do appreciate having it linked here for reference :)

I'm 5'6" and my husband is 6'0". We are both annoyed by the curved beds (I'm a starfish sleeper and he's just tall). We are certainly able to sleep in the bed, but we NOTICE the curve and would much rather that it wasn't there.

 

I don't like the Celebrity pillows, either. I'm much happier bringing my own :)

The Celebrity rep has been adamant that it is $10 + 18% gratuity. So far, the report is that this is indeed the case (the guy who was saying he was charged $16 + 18% came back and said that Celebrity admitted they were wrong).

I'm incredibly curious how you go about getting onto a Celebrity ship as a guest speaker. I would love to look into putting my Geography PhD to use in that manner at some point in the future. :D

rob12782, I just wanted to follow up and let you know that I posted the pictures you requested over in our Roll Call thread.

I've added the following question to the FAQ:

 

Is my beverage package valid on the first and last day of the cruise?

Yes. You may use your beverage package on both embarkation day and before departing the ship on your disembarkation day.

 

I have also updated the document to include the increased prices, as well as to make a note about the date of the increase.

Bev Package FAQ.pdf

WOW! That would be great! Lets do it!!!! Thanks.

 

I would do it if I could. I can offer a website dedicated to those questions and perhaps other Celebrity Cruises questions that I can keep updated. I'm not a mod, though, so I can't make a sticky.