Bars running out of premium liquor ....whats up with that???

[bajathree]

I just returned from my 3rd sailing on Reflection and had a wonderful time. BUT something that i have now noticed for the second time....bars running out of premium liquor choices by day 5 or 6. I am a Patron drinker and purchase the premium package just for that purpose....however for the second time now by day 5 bars started to tell me we are out of it:confused: Well thats funny cause the liquor shop onboard has dozen of bottles of it sitting on the shelves. They will tell me we will have to bring up more but they never do...when returning to the same bar later or the next day i am told they never got anymore. Whats funny about this is that another bartender at a frequented bar will mysteriously disappear when asked and return with a bottle in minutes no problem. So whats up with this....are the bars stocked and allotted only a certain amount of premium liquor and when they run out not restocked till the next sailing??? I don't like to think so but makes me wonder if this may be a Celebrity cost savings practice.

 

Has anyone else had similar experience?

Edited December 18, 2014 by bajathree

[Christine Frances]

We had that happen and when they said they were out I pleasantly said " no problem, I have time. I'll just wait here until you have a moment to go get one! I have found that when they say they are "out" they mean that specific bar, not the whole ship.

 

 

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[SuiteCruising]

Same here. The Martini bar was out of Christiana vodka, but they brought a bottle up from the MDR bar.

[patty1955]

They did run out of my husbands favorite beers on our last cruise. They also had a problem one night when someone from Bistro on 5 lost the keys and they couldn't get more beer.

[K.T.B.]

They did run out of my husbands favorite beers on our last cruise. They also had a problem one night when someone from Bistro on 5 lost the keys and they couldn't get more beer.

 

They only had one set of keys??? :confused:

[stratixman]

Question: When is premium beverage package not a premium beverage package?

 

Answer: When they run out of (allegedly) premium spirits and beers that the premium package covers.

 

Observation: Given the increasing number of premium package buyers (and classic packages for that matter) would it be all that surprising if Celebrity figured ways to surreptitiously reduce their outlays for booze. My own opinion is that they have noticeably reduced/cut back waitron drink service as the popularity of beverage packages has soared. Used to be before the beverage package came on strong that servers were always omnipresent to ask for and take beverage orders. I don't think so much any more. Last cruise I would say that 80% of what we consumed we had to go to the bar to order because there wasn't a server to be found. Was especially true on the pool deck. A far cry from past experiences when servers were quite abundant, even over abundant. Just maybe this could also be a technique to reduce the consumption levels on cruises with high beverage package participation? I too have been on Celebrity cruises where they "ran out of" many of the craft beer selections.

[cle-guy]

There are plenty of people without packages sailing.

 

Anyone in in inside, anyone in an ocean view. Even some in suites who buy them on sale pricing (as I did last sailing). Anyone who books within 2-3 months of sailing. Anyone who chose another of the 123 perks since they don't drink.

 

I don't buy into the conspiracy theory they are throttling back the offerings. Sometimes they run out of things, have supply issues, mis-deliveries (our cruise, they didn't get their eggs in quantity ordered so no creme brûlée for example). Some cruises everyone wants to drink Grey goose and it runs out others preferred is Belvedere. They can't stock for the maximum coverage of every beer wine and spirit. It's an educated guess based on many historical factors.

 

As to lack of roaming servers, at least around the pool, I like that i;m not being bothered all day to see if i want a drink. Frankly, I think its one of the things that makes Celebrity stand out.

 

I've only been cursing for 2 years now, but always notice there have always been 3 servers at martini bar, never more, and 1 or 2 roaming waiters depending on M class or S class. On my last sille sailing, they even installed a temporary bar in martini lounge to serve beers and drinks without having to wait at the bar itself I've only seen 2 bartenders at Molecular bar, never more, other than a busier or delivery person. SO I haven't observed cutbacks myself i number of bar staff.

[Christine Frances]

Question: When is premium beverage package not a premium beverage package?

 

 

 

Answer: When they run out of (allegedly) premium spirits and beers that the premium package covers.

 

 

 

Observation: Given the increasing number of premium package buyers (and classic packages for that matter) would it be all that surprising if Celebrity figured ways to surreptitiously reduce their outlays for booze. My own opinion is that they have noticeably reduced/cut back waitron drink service as the popularity of beverage packages has soared. Used to be before the beverage package came on strong that servers were always omnipresent to ask for and take beverage orders. I don't think so much any more. Last cruise I would say that 80% of what we consumed we had to go to the bar to order because there wasn't a server to be found. Was especially true on the pool deck. A far cry from past experiences when servers were quite abundant, even over abundant. Just maybe this could also be a technique to reduce the consumption levels on cruises with high beverage package participation? I too have been on Celebrity cruises where they "ran out of" many of the craft beer selections.

 

Sounds like Celebrity read my comment card on over selling drinks on the pool deck:). It is annoying having someone come by every 10 min. I am perfectly capable of going to the bar and getting a drink if I want one!

 

 

 

 

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Edited December 18, 2014 by Christine Frances

[bajathree]

There are plenty of people without packages sailing.

 

Anyone in in inside, anyone in an ocean view. Even some in suites who buy them on sale pricing (as I did last sailing). Anyone who books within 2-3 months of sailing. Anyone who chose another of the 123 perks since they don't drink.

 

I don't buy into the conspiracy theory they are throttling back the offerings. Sometimes they run out of things, have supply issues, mis-deliveries (our cruise, they didn't get their eggs in quantity ordered so no creme brûlée for example). Some cruises everyone wants to drink Grey goose and it runs out others preferred is Belvedere. They can't stock for the maximum coverage of every beer wine and spirit. It's an educated guess based on many historical factors.

As to lack of roaming servers, at least around the pool, I like that i;m not being bothered all day to see if i want a drink. Frankly, I think its one of the things that makes Celebrity stand out.

 

I've only been cursing for 2 years now, but always notice there have always been 3 servers at martini bar, never more, and 1 or 2 roaming waiters depending on M class or S class. On my last sille sailing, they even installed a temporary bar in martini lounge to serve beers and drinks without having to wait at the bar itself I've only seen 2 bartenders at Molecular bar, never more, other than a busier or delivery person. SO I haven't observed cutbacks myself i number of bar staff.

 

Yea but what goes a bit against your theory... is like I said....bars will systematically run out of the same product yet when that one bartender that likes you goes find a bottle in no time. Also how can you run out of an item that the liquor store has plenty of....isn't it all supplied from the same place:confused:

[bajathree]

question: When is premium beverage package not a premium beverage package?

 

Answer: When they run out of (allegedly) premium spirits and beers that the premium package covers.

 

 

Like!!!

[Host Anne]

We experienced this very same problem on Reflection last year at this time. We're sailing again soon and will let everyone know how it goes.

[jelayne]

Yea but what goes a bit against your theory... is like I said....bars will systematically run out of the same product yet when that one bartender that likes you goes find a bottle in no time. Also how can you run out of an item that the liquor store has plenty of....isn't it all supplied from the same place:confused:

 

I may be mistaken but I think that like the Canyon Ranch Spa, the Art Sales & Photo Dept, the shops are leased by the operators and are not operated by Celebrity.

[cle-guy]

Yea but what goes a bit against your theory... is like I said....bars will systematically run out of the same product yet when that one bartender that likes you goes find a bottle in no time. Also how can you run out of an item that the liquor store has plenty of....isn't it all supplied from the same place:confused:

 

Duty free store isn't the liquor store. It's duty free, can be purchased but not consumed on board. Separate entity, I assume run by third party as are the rest of the shops on the ship, though I am not positive the Duty Free liquor store is run by the third party.

 

If they ran out of every single premium liquor perhaps theres some credence that there is a conspiracy, but if they run out of a single brand, and had similar brands left in the premium range, there's nothing but supply issues at play.

 

Ships have a dedicated position to provisioning stock, sometimes the person may not be available to open the liquor storage room to restock mid shift. It may be done overnight, some staff members are more adept at finding solutions than others. Some staff may not have authorization to remove stock from one location and bring it to another location on ship, they may have to be a supervisor or have one sign off on the stock transfer to keep it all in order. This would explain why sometimes its handled quickly, other times not so quickly.

 

Sillouhette had 65 brands of beer to choose from, how many of each should they keep on hand....They can't keep 100 cases of all 65, when perhaps some often see but 1 or 2 bottles drank on a sailing. Then next week maybe a bunch of people prefer that particular brand, but they may only have a few bottles around, since the last several sailings, only 1 or 2 bottles were consumed, why waste storage space on 100 cases for the one time there is huge demand for it. Or perhaps see the beer spoil after sitting past its prime date.

[ORV]

I've only been cursing for 2 years now, but always notice there have always been 3 servers at martini bar, never more, and 1 or 2 roaming waiters depending on M class or S class.

 

Hmm, I've been cursing since I was 13 or 14.

[MizDemeanor]

This sounds like laziness to me although I have noticed over time that certain bars only carry certain items. Take Absolute Peppar for example. I know where to expect to locate that.

 

On the other hand, when a bartender knows what I like and they tell me they will find it if its on board….

 

Truth is the hotel staff on board might be not paying attention :eek: to get the orders right for fairly standard Tequila items like Patron that the OP suggested.

[richstowe]

There are plenty of people without packages sailing.

 

I don't buy into the conspiracy theory they are throttling back the offerings. Sometimes they run out of things, have supply issues, mis-deliveries (our cruise, they didn't get their eggs in quantity ordered so no creme brûlée for example). Some cruises everyone wants to drink Grey goose and it runs out others preferred is Belvedere. They can't stock for the maximum coverage of every beer wine and spirit. It's an educated guess based on many historical factors.

 

I've only been cursing for 2 years now(stop cursing. It's rude :D), but always notice there have always been 3 servers at martini bar, never more, and 1 or 2 roaming waiters depending on M class or S class. On my last sille sailing, they even installed a temporary bar in martini lounge to serve beers and drinks without having to wait at the bar itself I've only seen 2 bartenders at Molecular bar, never more, other than a busier or delivery person. SO I haven't observed cutbacks myself i number of bar staff.

I don't buy the conspiracy theory either and your explanations make sense . I believe Celebrity

is making a good profit on getting people to upgrade their drink package .

Fraudulently running out of premium products which don't cost them that much more

doesn't make sense financially if it pushes people away from upgrading.

[patty1955]

They only had one set of keys??? :confused:

I know, right? We had two different bar tenders tell us that at Cellar Masters.

[dwhe]

I never bother upgrading the Classic package now.

 

When we were on the Reflection last year they ran out of most of the beers I wanted to try in Michaels on the first night.

 

Bit of a theme gathering through this thread..... COUGH Reflection :D.

[ohiorob63]

Last year on Eclipse they ran out of some premium liquors and Evian water. If its not a deliberate thing with Celebrity, how come they didn't run out of cheap water?

[bouhunter]

We love to drink and use the package. That said I find this thread way too funny, never occured to us they would "run out" of certain liquors to "rip us off..." Anyway, we've never had an issue with any drink on any RCCL ship. We'll see how it goes onour first Celebrity sailing soon.

Edited December 19, 2014 by bouhunter

[cle-guy]

Last year on Eclipse they ran out of some premium liquors and Evian water. If its not a deliberate thing with Celebrity, how come they didn't run out of cheap water?

 

I was on a classic beverage package on Eclipse a year ago, and they did run out of the low end water, and substituted Evian for the duration, no charge. Eventually ran out of the small Evian bottles and gave out the large bottles.

 

If it WERE a deliberate thing, we'd have thread after thread of people telling about how every single sailing runs out of all premium offerings. Instead, it's hit and miss, clearly more about varying tastes and supply and demand.

 

There clearly try to stock a a whole lot more quantity of the cheaper products, because they have a lot more people who have the classic versus premium package, or who don't care to pay more for evian, mathematically speaking.

[Murray's Pop]

I tend to think it is more of a lazyness issue. Had that problem on Century last year, but only in one bar. I asked for a stormy and dark and the bartender said they had no ginger beer or Goslings Dark rum. The bar manager (a Jamacian man) happened to be standing near and heard him. He said "of course we have ginger beer and Goslings rum" and told the bar tender to go get some. The bar tender was not happy but went off and got some. For the remaining 15 days they alway had it available at that bar.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Murray's Pop

[chamima]

Last year on Eclipse they ran out of some premium liquors and Evian water. If its not a deliberate thing with Celebrity, how come they didn't run out of cheap water?

 

We had that happen and when they said they were out I pleasantly said " no problem, I have time. I'll just wait here until you have a moment to go get one! I have found that when they say they are "out" they mean that specific bar, not the whole ship.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

 

Christine

I wish I had thought of that.

We sailed on the Eclipse last year (and will be on her again shortly so thanks for the idea) and I drink vodka and grapefruit juice during the day. (I forget the official "name" of that drink)

I found that they not only ran out of the premium vodkas at the pool bar by day 8 or 9 but that if I ordered from an attendant, rather than going to the bar myself, they usually used flavored vodkas. I kept saying I was glad I had the package because I could throw the drink out after one sip. (After a couple of days of that I just went to the bar myself and got my own drinks).

I tried tipping extra cash to servers in hopes that might change things but it didn't so I just got my drinks but they DID run out of premium vodkas and I never thought to ask them to get more.

[kenevenpar]

We sailed on the Eclipse last year (and will be on her again shortly so thanks for the idea) and I drink vodka and grapefruit juice during the day. (I forget the official "name" of that drink)

 

Greyhound, unless you salt the rim, then it is a Salty Dog:cool:

[ghstudio]

Christine

I wish I had thought of that.

We sailed on the Eclipse last year (and will be on her again shortly so thanks for the idea) and I drink vodka and grapefruit juice during the day. (I forget the official "name" of that drink)

I found that they not only ran out of the premium vodkas at the pool bar by day 8 or 9 but that if I ordered from an attendant, rather than going to the bar myself, they usually used flavored vodkas. I kept saying I was glad I had the package because I could throw the drink out after one sip. (After a couple of days of that I just went to the bar myself and got my own drinks).

I tried tipping extra cash to servers in hopes that might change things but it didn't so I just got my drinks but they DID run out of premium vodkas and I never thought to ask them to get more.

 

I do understand the sentiment of using premium vodka in the grapefruit juice, but I am a vodka drinker. While I can tell the difference when I drink it straight up (my usual choice), I can not tell the difference if my bloody mary or screwdriver was made with absolut or stoli elit. (yes, if flavored vodka was used, I might be able to taste it..depends on which one, of course). I know some have reactions to the base of the vodka..potato, grapes, etc and that's an important issue...but demanding a premium vodka when mixed with grapefruit juice or other juices just doesn't seem worth fretting over.

Edited December 22, 2014 by ghstudio