Please don't keep telling me.......

[wallie5446]

We have had bar service on our last 3 cruises just like we get at any upscale bar or restaurant in Dallas. No complaints.

[tweetylori]

I say do the math based on what your likes are and do what makes sense. For us, doing a 15-night TA on Silhouette with lots of sea days...well it made sense to get the premium drink package, especially because we got the sale price for it. We enjoyed freshly squeezed orange juice plus tons of bottled water, espressos and other specialty coffees, mixed drinks and wine. We never had to sign a slip. Just presented our sea pass cards a lot. :p We had fabulous bar service. If one bar was crowded we went to a different one. Special kudos to the servers in the Martini bar and the World Bar for their friendliness, efficiency and super talents!

[Duanerice1]

I don't know, it usually takes a lot more than that to annoy me. Heck, I'd be on a cruise so that's a good thing.

[oneputt18]

We had the premium package on our last three Equinox cruises. Never had a problem with bar service especially at the Martini Bar and Sunset Bar. After a few days we weren't even asked for our cards.

 

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[ChucktownSteve]

We had the premium package on our last three Equinox cruises. Never had a problem with bar service especially at the Martini Bar and Sunset Bar. After a few days we weren't even asked for our cards.

 

Did you meet Mr. Excellent Choice at the Equinox Martini Bar?

[eddiethekub]

We just got off Silhouette yesterday. We never had any problem getting drink service. Servers were constantly circulating the pool area. Same in the Oceanview. We had the regular package and we're only asked about upgrading once! We were offered a choice of a couple of different reds and whites at dinner. We found a couple of wines to our liking, so we never considered upgrading. Our sommelier was constantly refilling our glasses.....never went empty unless we asked her to stop.

Bottom line....I'm not seeing any decline in drinks service because of the packages......YMMV

[CrusieToy]

Every time that I ordered a drink, the wait staff responded, "but you don't have a drink package." Correct. Just bring me the drink and let me sign a slip. After a while, I was annoyed enough to stop ordering drinks. The hard sell of drink packages turns me off. It's my choice to buy or not buy a beverage package. Anyone else annoyed?

 

same thing on our last cruise - first 4 drinks = 4 sales pitches.

 

I liked one waiter and explained I didn't want the drink package and ordered the rest of my drinks from him

for the next 13 days.

[bigbenboys]

The best thing about the drink package is that you don't constantly feel as if "the meter is running." I don't even keep track whether I'm breaking even...it's all about convenience for us.

 

 

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Yes with us it is about convenience. I have had problems getting drinks on the Reflection and Silhouette. With the lose of the aft bar on the Lido deck 14 the Sunset bar on deck 15 was over crowded. We have been cruising more in suites now with all 4 perks. With getting drinks in Michael's Club and Luminae I rarely got a drink at any other places.

[CruisinNewb]

Agreed there was a lack of table servers at some bars but not others.

 

Martini bar was always well attended. That said I never waited for more

 

then a few minutes for service and we were there every day.

[wendychloecruiser]

Did you meet Mr. Excellent Choice at the Equinox Martini Bar?

 

"Adrian" was really a lot of fun. We got him one day and responded him in his language (?croatian)! Thank you google! He and his partner in crime, Catalin (?sp) made for some very interesting evenings. We really enjoyed Anthony, one of the servers as well. On several evenings he had my favourite martini and my DH's beer before we even sat down!

[jules815]

We get the bev pkg on every cruise and we rarely, if ever have bad or slow service either from the bartenders or the pool,lounge servers.

 

We love having the pkg and don't feel it has had any adverse effect at all, we still get smiles and great service, so very happy

 

Have only sailed once with X, but this was also our experience last year on Connie. We had the Premium Package as part of the Go Best promo. Service was good at all the bars, and thought pool side service was very good too (compared to our recent RC cruises).

[funship freddy]

We just got off Silhouette yesterday. We never had any problem getting drink service. Servers were constantly circulating the pool area. Same in the Oceanview. We had the regular package and we're only asked about upgrading once! We were offered a choice of a couple of different reds and whites at dinner. We found a couple of wines to our liking, so we never considered upgrading. Our sommelier was constantly refilling our glasses.....never went empty unless we asked her to stop.

 

Bottom line....I'm not seeing any decline in drinks service because of the packages......YMMV

 

 

Just off Silhouette 2/5. We agree. Service at the pool, Sunset Bar and MDR was without fault.. Very good. We were not shy about sprinkling $$$ to show our appreciation for service.

 

 

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[Oceangoer2]

We also enjoy the fresh orange juice in the morning (package includes), water anytime (and to take on beach excursions), special coffees, and not having to sign for every drink is a plus. Not concerned with the price of the pkg; I think the price of the pkg is inflated anyway. Would be good to do a study on 'no pkg' vs 'bev pkg' costs, perhaps someone already has done so. Not me, on my holiday! ;)

[bengaltiger1]

We also enjoy the fresh orange juice in the morning (package includes), water anytime (and to take on beach excursions), special coffees, and not having to sign for every drink is a plus. Not concerned with the price of the pkg; I think the price of the pkg is inflated anyway. Would be good to do a study on 'no pkg' vs 'bev pkg' costs, perhaps someone already has done so. Not me, on my holiday! ;)

 

 

We have done a comparison between no pkg and pkg. It came out to roughly the same cost. 2012 and 2013 cruises in the Med for 12 nights. On the 2013 cruise we were asked one time only if we wanted to buy the package. We declined politely and were not asked again. We had bought onboard credit as the exchange rate for the $25 units against the £ was much better than we could get elsewhere. We used that to pay for our drinks.

 

 

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[DYKWIA]

I don't understand why everyone is paying for their BP we got ours totally free AND some totally free OBC of $400 last year, all this and the cruise only cost us £1800 more than the previous year. As an added bonus we even saved money on both the Cat hotels bills and car parking at the port as the Cruise was 1 night shorter as well!

[oneputt18]

Did you meet Mr. Excellent Choice at the Equinox Martini Bar?

Yes, Caitlin was the best bartender we have met on a ship. After two days he knew what we drank and never asked for our SeaPass. He was on break one evening and the bartender that served us made my wife and I regular cosmos. Caitlin came back from break and noticed we were not served the White cosmos we prefer. He made two new drinks without asking and replaced the ones we were served. Needless to say we tipped him extra at the end of the cruise.

 

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[Swampduck]

For us....it's not just the alcohol drinks....it's all the bottled waters, fresh juice, smoothies, specialty coffees for $3-8ea that also add up. We always get the Premium pkg....just upgraded our perk to that actually for our April sailing. ....figuring for $11.80 a day to upgrade absolutely worth it for us. We enjoy bloody marys or mimosas in the morning, beers during the day at the pool, nice wine with dinner, and a martini or 2 at night after dinner to cap the night off. X loses money on us! Haa!! ;)

 

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Haha.. we are the same.. not that we count, but we do like a the fact that we can either take it or leave it.. They also loose when we are on board. Cheers !

[KyRoamer]

We got the premium package as a perk. Question -- must you tip per drink? Can you tip? How, if no tab to pay, cash?

[ChucktownSteve]

We got the premium package as a perk. Question -- must you tip per drink? Can you tip? How, if no tab to pay, cash?

No you are not required to tip since the gratuity is included. If you wish to tip a good bar tender, you may do so when you feel like it. I usually palm a $5 or $10 bill and shake the bar tender's hand as I leave thanking him. I do that a few times during the cruise as a reward, not as a bribe. The better he/she is, the more they get or the more often I tip. But I don't tip on each visit since that would set up an expectation.

[Presto2]

Every time that I ordered a drink, the wait staff responded, "but you don't have a drink package." Correct. Just bring me the drink and let me sign a slip. After a while, I was annoyed enough to stop ordering drinks. The hard sell of drink packages turns me off. It's my choice to buy or not buy a beverage package. Anyone else annoyed?

 

 

 

We do enjoy a drink on holiday but when we priced up how much we spent on the cruise compared to how much the package would cost there was no comparison. So, we ignored the package and saved money.. and still had all of the drinks we wanted. :)

[griffy116]

Just from a slightly different perspective, we are going on Celebrity for the first time in June. We are Elite through reciprocity with Royal. On the last few cruises with RC, we've either had to go to the bar or run down a bartender to get a drink on NUMEROUS occasions. This has been the case both with and without the drink package. We have the drink package as a perk on this cruise (premium). We did the math, both with and without it. While we don't do this every day when at home, when on vacation, we do tend to drink more, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. We love the fresh squeezed OJ and have paid for it if we didn't have a drink package, along with bottled water, diet cokes and specialty coffees. Believe me, those alone add up. I love having my frozen drinks out by the pool. I think it's part of my "vacation experience" to have a Bloody Mary or an oldie but goodie Salty Dog. I love trying out a new drink I see and sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't and end up watching it go to waste while I order something else. I also hate dragging the wine bottles onboard with me. We were on 2 Med cruises where I had no intention of buying the package, however, after a couple of days in Italy, I knew it would be foolish not to buy the package when we boarded. I was right. I love having my bottles of water as I leave the ship.I love being able to get a canned drink in case I want to sit on the balcony in the middle of the night and get thirsty. I chalk it up to convenience and the fact that it's my vacation and I indulge more then than I normally do. I think many of us do.

[QE2_Fan]

Funny how things change, just a few years back the issue was allegedly it was hard to get bar service if you HAD a drink package, now to seems the shoe is on the other foot!

 

We've had the package on each of our cruises and never had any issues getting great service. In fact on our last cruise I probably encountered a couple of the best bartenders ever. Spotted me in the crowd and acknowledged me with a wink or shake of head and often just presented me with my drink without even asking (I had a love affair with one bartenders rum mules!!).

 

On the other hand, yes we have also encountered ho hum service from bartender staff and I put it down a lot to individual personality rather than if you're on the package or not.

 

Some have it, some try to have it, and some just don't bother!

 

 

 

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[KyRoamer]

Package does not include drinks in the room, mini-bar or room service. Boo.

 

Can I get unopened water, soft drinks and beer at bar and bring them to room to keep in room fridge?

 

I plan on having mini-bar emptied on day one so that I will have room. Mainly I want bottled water in room but wife likes diet drinks, mostly Coke Zero. Does boat have Coke Zero? She is not fond of Diet Coke.

[macaroni]

Yes, can bring unopened items back to put in your fridge,did it all the time

[ChucktownSteve]

Yes, can bring unopened items back to put in your fridge,did it all the time

You can also bring back opened items to put in your cooler. :D