Premium NON alcohol beverage package

[Treacher1]

I know several years ago - there were lots of fruit/seltzer drinks among others. Anyone cruise recently have any special favorite drinks? Also, is all the premium coffee expresso - or are there milder flavored coffees not as strong? Thanks for any information you can provide!

[Lsimon]

I know several years ago - there were lots of fruit/seltzer drinks among others. Anyone cruise recently have any special favorite drinks? Also, is all the premium coffee expresso - or are there milder flavored coffees not as strong? Thanks for any information you can provide!

 

For "seltzer" they have Pellegrino and Perrier as well as cans of club soda.

 

All of the Premium and Specialty coffees are espresso based. If you don't like the strong espressos then try a latte (espresso and hot milk), cappuccino (espresso and milk steamed to a froth), or Americano (espresso diluted with water to approximate strength of regular drip/filter brewed coffee).

 

They do not have any "upscale" drip/filter brewed coffee. The only coffee of that type is the no-extra charge regular coffee served around the ship.

[Waihekean]

With the premium package you can have the "special" coffees that are listed on the last page of the Al Bacio menu like coffee with white chocolate etc.

You can of course also talk to the Barista about what you require and try a few drinks out. After all you are on the package and if you do not like the drink... just get another!:D

[amibelle]

With the premium drink packages you also can get the smoothies in the Aqua Spa Cafe. Restaurants also had a mint lemonade available, that was kind of a non alcoholic mojito. Plus don't forget you can ask for virgin cocktails i.e. non-alcoholic Pina Colada's. I agree with the other comments, The Cafe Al Bacio had great coffees and amazing teas. (Americana is the closest thing to regular coffee). don't forget at Cafe Al Bacio the sweets in the display are free. (Sit for table service or go to the counter for take out).

[Syrreal]

You can also get things like Shirley Temples

[Treacher1]

Thanks to all of you for the responses! Someone told me last year they had a non alcoholic peach sangria - sounds refreshing.

[20pluscruises]

FYI...soda/pop is now $2.50 (not incluing tip) per each can. Quite a jump in price from $1.90 6 months ago.

[evandbob]

FYI...soda/pop is now $2.50 (not incluing tip) per each can. Quite a jump in price from $1.90 6 months ago.

 

Along with everything mentioned, Red Bull (reg or sugar free) is available. I usually grabbed a can just before exiting the ship for an excursion. Vitamin water was covered too. A smoothie on return, mango was my fav, Pellagrino with dinner and a bottle of water for the cabin was my usual.

Edited January 26, 2014 by evandbob

[20pluscruises]

Along with everything mentioned, Red Bull (reg or sugar free) is available. I usually grabbed a can just before exiting the ship for an excursion. Vitamin water was covered too. A smoothie on return, mango was my fav, Pellagrino with dinner and a bottle of water for the cabin was my usual.

 

The only downside...I think the barstaff is losing in the tip department. No slips of paper with a tip line to sign has gotta hurt. :(

[drarill]

With the premium drink packages you also can get the smoothies in the Aqua Spa Cafe. Restaurants also had a mint lemonade available, that was kind of a non alcoholic mojito. Plus don't forget you can ask for virgin cocktails i.e. non-alcoholic Pina Colada's. I agree with the other comments, The Cafe Al Bacio had great coffees and amazing teas. (Americana is the closest thing to regular coffee). don't forget at Cafe Al Bacio the sweets in the display are free. (Sit for table service or go to the counter for take out).

I love the virgin mojitos…. I was going to ask if it is included on the premium non alcoholic package… looks like it is!! Thanks! Do you know if non alcoholic drinks from the Molecular Bar are included too?:):)

[Newbury newbie]

The only downside...I think the barstaff is losing in the tip department. No slips of paper with a tip line to sign has gotta hurt. :(

 

Tips are automatically included in free drinks on the packages. In fact bar staff are probably better off as those paying each time could limit their tips.

[amibelle]

I love the virgin mojitos…. I was going to ask if it is included on the premium non alcoholic package… looks like it is!! Thanks! Do you know if non alcoholic drinks from the Molecular Bar are included too?:):)

 

It wouldn`t work for Molecular bar because the drinks are pretty much all alcohol. But feel free to ask them to be sure.

 

(I loved Molecular Bar, DH and I practically lived there after dinner each night, we had the Premium Alcohol package).

[evandbob]

The only downside...I think the barstaff is losing in the tip department. No slips of paper with a tip line to sign has gotta hurt. :(

 

Tips were prepared and included in the cost of the package. Mine totaled about $144 for the week, so maybe $20 -25 in tips?.

 

The closing statement about your on board acct lists all your charges, next to the drinks inc. in this pkg.are the numbers $0.00. You can then determine if it was worth it for you. If you went way over, then I guess the wait staff did get stiffed.

[wpgcycler]

Thanks to all of you for the responses! Someone told me last year they had a non alcoholic peach sangria - sounds refreshing.

 

Peach Sangria is listed under the "Zero Proof" selections on the main bar menu kindly posted by MVPinBoynton.

 

http://www.thepreismans.com/ecarib_reflection_menus.htm

[DancerOT]

When we had drink packages on my last X cruise, we found ourselves walking around with five dollar bills and giving them to servers and bartenders whom we normally don't. I don't know how much in tips the bartenders and servers are getting from the package, but I definitely found myself giving out more cash than I have on prior cruises.

[20pluscruises]

Tips are automatically included in free drinks on the packages. In fact bar staff are probably better off as those paying each time could limit their tips.

 

Sorry...I meant extra tips over the included 15%...we seemed to be one of the very few giving out extra cash tips for each drink served and/or adding extra gratuity over and above the 15% added to our signed slips.

[Newbury newbie]

For all drinks served on the drink packages the bar staff automatically get 15% as their tip. I imagine this is worked out from the till roll and credited to them periodically rather than giving them the cash.

[Lsimon]

The only downside...I think the barstaff is losing in the tip department. No slips of paper with a tip line to sign has gotta hurt. :(

 

I'm just speculating here but:

I imagine that most people did not give tips beyond the added amount to bar staff and that the majority of those that did will continue to do so in cash or otherwise. I know in our case it was pretty infrequent that we added a tip to the slip as we signed them. We occasionally did but usually tipped extra in cash at the end of the cruise to the bar staff who waited on us regularly and provided special service.

 

I imagine that they would be losing some extra tip line charge tips but at the same time might be making up for it due to the increase in overall beverage sales through the packages. I'm sure that overall beverage sales have increased with the packages as I'm fairly certain that Celebrity would have discontinued the packages if the packages decreased revenues rather than increasing them.

 

BTW - for anyone who wishes to give an extra tip to the bar staff but doesn't have cash: You can ask them for a no charge slip to add a charged gratuity to.