Celebrity drinks package - can it be prorated

[yogini82]

Hello,

I apologise in advance but couldn't find a conclusive answer anywhere from someone who may have recently cruised on Celebrity.

 

We are booked on a 10 night Cruise on Infinity, and were looking to buy a drinks package on Day2 of the cruise, once we have had a change to look around & do a cost/benefit analysis. I phoned Celebrity earlier today (direct), and their consultant said - it does not matter when you book - you will have to pay for the entire 10 nights, hence stating that prorating is NOT allowed.

 

I have read previous threads leading upto end 2012 stating that Celebrity did allow them to pro-rate... however, nothing more recently.

 

If you can share your recent experience, I would be grateful.

On a side not, we are due to receive an on-board saving booklet for $350 savings.. is that any good.

I thank you for your patience with us first time cruisers.

[Lovemychoos]

You can purchase a drinks package at ANY stage on your cruise, and you will pay the the remaining days ONLY.

 

It can be purchased at any bar, and it seems a shame that you were not given the correct information from Celebrity.

 

Happy cruising

 

Lou

[helpthejuggler]

Hello,

I apologise in advance but couldn't find a conclusive answer anywhere from someone who may have recently cruised on Celebrity.

 

We are booked on a 10 night Cruise on Infinity, and were looking to buy a drinks package on Day2 of the cruise, once we have had a change to look around & do a cost/benefit analysis. I phoned Celebrity earlier today (direct), and their consultant said - it does not matter when you book - you will have to pay for the entire 10 nights, hence stating that prorating is NOT allowed.

 

I have read previous threads leading upto end 2012 stating that Celebrity did allow them to pro-rate... however, nothing more recently.

 

If you can share your recent experience, I would be grateful.

On a side not, we are due to receive an on-board saving booklet for $350 savings.. is that any good.

I thank you for your patience with us first time cruisers.

 

The 'consultant' was wrong but may have misunderstood your intent. If you buy in advance (up to a minimum of four days before your sail date) of the cruise you can only buy for the whole cruise.

 

However during your cruise you will be able to buy pro-rated from that day forward to the end of the cruise. There is no way to buy for a group of days in the middle of the 10 days. There is a cut off point (the last 2 or 3) days after which you cannot buy packages. There will be a reminder of the last day for purchases in the daily schedule for this last chance to buy.

 

I would not hold out much hope for a full $350 savings. These offers are normally $x off spa treatment costing more than $y. You may find that you can only use some of the vouchers in reality.

 

We were all 1st timers once...

 

Mark

[SNJCruisers]

I would recommend that you peruse the bar menus and prices once you get on board and then make an educated decision based on your own drinking needs whether any of the various drinking packages would be worthwhile to you. There are the Premium (54) and Classic (44) Alcoholic, the Premium (18) and Classic (14) Non-Alcoholic, the Premium (12) Water and the Soda (7) Packages. All of the cost in parentheses are on a per day basis and a 15% gratuity is added.

 

Since the pick your perk promotion is now in effect till 6/19, you may be able to get the Classic Alcoholic package added to your booking for free and you can then upgrade to the Premium package for the additional 10 dollars plus 15% per day if so desired. Contact Celebrity directly or your TA if you used one to inquire about this fantastic option.

[rubydoobydoo]

I would wait and see once you have been onboard for a couple of days if you feel you want to take a package

 

We were going to buy a package on the 4th day but as it was late in the evening by then we decided to wait until the next day to get it, I am glad we waited because the following day ' Happy Hour' was introduced from 4 to 5 pm in the sunset bar and from to 7 to 8 pm in the sky bar, this was on Equinox

 

As we are not big drinkers but enjoy a few before and after dinner this was great for us, we were also able to get a drink at 8 pm to take to dinner and have one behind the bar for later.

 

For us this worked out much better than a package, it was not greatly advertised, there was a small mention on the sheet left in the cabin each night, this 2 for 1 lasted until the last night of the cruise

[helpthejuggler]

I would recommend that you peruse the bar menus and prices once you get on board and then make an educated decision based on your own drinking needs whether any of the various drinking packages would be worthwhile to you. There are the Premium (54) and Classic (44) Alcoholic, the Premium (18) and Classic (14) Non-Alcoholic, the Premium (12) Water and the Soda (7) Packages. All of the cost in parentheses are on a per day basis and a 15% gratuity is added.

 

Since the pick your perk promotion is now in effect till 6/19, you may be able to get the Classic Alcoholic package added to your booking for free and you can then upgrade to the Premium package for the additional 10 dollars plus 15% per day if so desired. Contact Celebrity directly or your TA if you used one to inquire about this fantastic option.

 

I have not checked the fine print for Pick your Perk.... Is this available to all countries?

[SNJCruisers]

I have not checked the fine print for Pick your Perk.... Is this available to all countries?

From what I can infer from reading the comments on the boards, it's only available when you book through a US or Canada based agency or through the US based division of Celebrity.

[yogini82]

Thank you all -I really must be speaking to Celebrity and not explaining myself well, spoke okay as well and the same reply that you pay for the entire journey.

I will probably go with the opinion & see once I am on-board.

I will speak to my TA re. The pick your perk promotion.

[julia]

Hello,

I apologise in advance but couldn't find a conclusive answer anywhere from someone who may have recently cruised on Celebrity.

 

We are booked on a 10 night Cruise on Infinity, and were looking to buy a drinks package on Day2 of the cruise, once we have had a change to look around & do a cost/benefit analysis. I phoned Celebrity earlier today (direct), and their consultant said - it does not matter when you book - you will have to pay for the entire 10 nights, hence stating that prorating is NOT allowed.

 

 

 

Hello and welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

If you explained in the same manner as above to the cruise consultant, then your question was quite clear, and the consultant should have provided you with the CORRECT answer (which is YES, you may purchase the beverage package while onboard for the remaining days of your cruise....). It is just sad that Celebrity's customer service gets it wrong more often than right! :eek::(

[miched]

This is what we experienced with having the 123 bev pack on 2 cruises. We drank more the first two days because it was the first day and just celebrating being on a cruise and the second because it was a sea day and still trying all of the bars.

 

The next few days tapered off because they were port days and were gone most of the day but had drinks in the evening because we had the package.

 

The last two days our consumption dropped off because we were tired of drinking. But we still forced ourselves to because we had the package. :D

Also on the last few days you may be under the weather and it could be from drinking too much or the motion of the ship, or a combination of both and that will also affect on how much you will drink.

 

The bottle water and non alcoholic drinks don't interest us as the ship's water is ok and we don't drink soda. Even at dinner the server wanted us to use bottle water and we told him that regular was fine.

 

It is hard to judge what you drink based on the first day because you probably won't continue doing that and that is one of the best days to have it.

 

With the package you will be more liberal and drink more of everything and it may seem worth the cost. Without it you will be more conservative and be more selective on what you drink and probably not spend what the cost of the package is. It is a catch 22 to figure out.

 

To answer your question about when to buy it from what I understand you can get it until the last few days and you pay per day for those days only, 3 days left you pay for 3 days. The person may have misunderstood what you meant by prorated. They may have though that you were asking if you bought it at noon you would only have to pay for a half day instead of a full day.

 

 

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[yogini82]

Thank you all for your detailed and informative responses !

I am going with the general opinion that its worth waiting and trying out once you are on-board and will do that !

We were leaning towards a premium & classic watch accounting to about £64 per day + 15%. Even per today's exchange we are looking at circa $120. So I agree that it's worth seeing once you are on board & seeing if we can indeed drink as much!

[Lsimon]

You can definitely purchase on board after the cruise has begun - I have done this. I bought the package at the Cafe al Bacio early in the morning around the 5th day of a 15 night cruise and the price was definitely prorated for the remaining nights. The waiter I purchased the package from even had a sheet showing the price for each package to be charged on each day of the cruise.

 

Unfortunately, the phone staff at Celebrity have a bad reputation for having incorrect details on many subjects.

[vermonter16]

DH and I are the same way. The first and second days are usually big days for us! When we get on board, we stop at a bar and have a celebration drink or two. Then we hit the buffet, walk around for a bit, find another bar and continue celebrating the fact that we are FINALLY onboard our long awaited for cruise!

[Algebralovr]

Depending on what you drink, please also keep in mind that the list of package covered wines is very limited. Many passengers have had the premium package, and found that the wines they preferred were not available by the glass.

 

On the plus side, if you do have a premium alcohol package, you do receive a discount for any bottles of wine you may wish to purchase. Just remember to ask for your discount as they will often forget it. Based on our last cruise, if we don't get a drink package for free as a perk, we are likely to purchase a non-alcohol package (we love our Cafe al Bacio drinks) and then purchase bottles of wine to go with dinner.

[alexspepa]

 

The last two days our consumption dropped off because we were tired of drinking. But we still forced ourselves to because we had the package. :D

 

 

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that is why it is important to start visiting your favorite bar on a more frequent schedule as cruise time approaches...you have to get into drinking shape!!!

[SNJCruisers]

that is why it is important to start visiting your favorite bar on a more frequent schedule as cruise time approaches...you have to get into drinking shape!!!

So...curious minds want to know if you did more damage at the Molecular Bar, Martini Bar, the craft beers at Michael's, or somewhere else?

[alexspepa]

So...curious minds want to know if you did more damage at the Molecular Bar, Martini Bar, the craft beers at Michael's, or somewhere else?

 

I pretty much put a dent in all their margins...but mostly the Martini Bar and at the Poker Table in the casino. AlsoI kept the sommelier extremely busy at dinner.

[miched]

So...curious minds want to know if you did more damage at the Molecular Bar, Martini Bar, the craft beers at Michael's, or somewhere else?

 

We hit the molecular bar and tried their drinks. For us they looked and sounded nice but we never finished any of them. We would take the drink and walk away and leave it on a table. If you didn't have a drink package and followed us around you would have been able to drink free by having the drinks that we left.

 

Same for the Martini bar. They sound nice but didn't taste that good. That is the great part of the drink package, try them and it doesn't doesn't matter. I would have hated to pay the cost for most of the drinks as they didn't appeal to us. I brew my own beer and belong to many brew clubs and even found many of the craft beers in Michael's Club not appealing.

 

It all depends on your taste.

 

 

 

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