Upgrade Classic beverage to Premium beverage?

[Citymom92]

We have the classic beverage package for our upcoming cruise, but my husband likes to try different kinds of higher end bourbons, no mixers. Should I watch for sales and upgrade to premium when I can? If I upgrade for husband, do I need to upgrade as well? I mostly drink mixed cocktails, so usually various rail liquors are fine by me. Or is it worth it to do pay as we go, and see how it works out on board? Thanks in advance!

[m8zenblue]

In my experience if you wait till embarkation they are always trying to sell you an upgrade to your package.

 

[jelayne]

Watch to see if they have a sale before you go.  If not you can upgrade on the ship any bartender can take care of it.  It is rare for the upgrade to be discounted on the ship.  Some have reported being on a cruise where the upgrade was discounted but on our 24 Celebrity cruises we have never gotten a discount on the ship.

 

You don’t have to upgrade if your husband does.  

[sanger727]

The question will come down to how many high end bourbons per day he will drink and what the upcharge for each is. We decided to wait till the cruise and upgrade it we were spending more than the $10 a day difference and we didn’t even came close. We were happy with a majority of the standard choices and paid the upcharge for the specialty martinis a handful of times.

[Jim_Iain]

Definitely look for a sale but if not easy to do once on-board.    On  your second question,  you can upgrade only one passenger without having to upgrade both.   I do it often as I don't drink and the upgrade would have no value to me.

 

 

[teamflames]

we just got off the Eclipse, first time on X in 2 years. No discounts on upgrade once onboard. We upgraded and later downgraded, no premium water or beer in most of the outdoor bars (really only in passport bar). Regularly cheated and used cheaper versions, especially on wines and spirits so if you do upgrade make sure you watch the pour. I drank 2 Woodford Reserves and at another bar it was clearly an inferior product. Watched them use cheap wine and spirits on multiple occasions and then just lie to my face. They refunded me and downgraded back to classic. It was much better in the restaurants and indoor bars. We found bar service to be very mixed and overall a bit disappointing.

[whatyouknowsays]

28 minutes ago, teamflames said:

we just got off the Eclipse, first time on X in 2 years. No discounts on upgrade once onboard. We upgraded and later downgraded, no premium water or beer in most of the outdoor bars (really only in passport bar). Regularly cheated and used cheaper versions, especially on wines and spirits so if you do upgrade make sure you watch the pour. I drank 2 Woodford Reserves and at another bar it was clearly an inferior product. Watched them use cheap wine and spirits on multiple occasions and then just lie to my face. They refunded me and downgraded back to classic. It was much better in the restaurants and indoor bars. We found bar service to be very mixed and overall a bit disappointing.

 

[whatyouknowsays]

We had the same thing happen on our last cruise in November.  They were always "out" of premium wines until we went to guest services.  

[Luvcrusn]

I would suggest trying out the Classic once on board and seeing what your up-charges were on day 1. Since you can pay the difference between the Classic allowance and the drink cost +18% I'd want to see if my overages amounted to more than $11.80 per day. If it did, I'd upgrade on board with the added benefit of the staff member you do the upgrade with will benefit from the sale and likely remember you for doing it. We've never found it beneficial to upgrade in all of our many cruises.

[helen haywood]

I’m not saying this is what happened to Teamflames, but I will say if you have the Premium Package you still must specify the call brand you want in your drink.  They will not automatically make your drink with the call brand unless you ask for it.

[keesar]

On Equinox, staff talked about an upcoming increase to $13 plus tips for an upgrade.  Keep an eye on that.

 

It was $10 plus tips before the cruise.  

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Piggybacking if I may... I have the Classic as one of the perks for my upcoming Equinox cruise (next February). At some point closer in will the planner recognize that and charge me for just the upgrade to do it in advance or will I need to wait until I get onboard to upgrade if I decide I want to do that?

[yorky]

I wonder what percentage of cruisers upgrade to the premium package.

[Luvcrusn]

1 hour ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Piggybacking if I may... I have the Classic as one of the perks for my upcoming Equinox cruise (next February). At some point closer in will the planner recognize that and charge me for just the upgrade to do it in advance or will I need to wait until I get onboard to upgrade if I decide I want to do that?

I'd suggest if you want to upgrade pre-cruise (sale or not) call to do it.

[yorky]

1 hour ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Piggybacking if I may... I have the Classic as one of the perks for my upcoming Equinox cruise (next February). At some point closer in will the planner recognize that and charge me for just the upgrade to do it in advance or will I need to wait until I get onboard to upgrade if I decide I want to do that?

We cruise on the Equinox September and we can’t upgrade online. I think everyone has had to phone.

[mfs2k]

1 hour ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Piggybacking if I may... I have the Classic as one of the perks for my upcoming Equinox cruise (next February). At some point closer in will the planner recognize that and charge me for just the upgrade to do it in advance or will I need to wait until I get onboard to upgrade if I decide I want to do that?

 

My equinox cruise is in 3 weeks. Cruise planner started offering me the upgrade option from classic to premium for $11.80 a day a few weeks ago. I upgraded online. It was simple. Printed out a receipt and got an email confrontation. 

 

Im going to guess they don’t offer the upgrade option until close to sailing date because the cost may change. 

Edited March 3, 2019 by mfs2k

[Pier290]

We have always upgraded to Premium prior to cruising....it takes the hassle out of doing it after we board.....I don't want to wait in long lines etc....once we board we go straight to the bar for a beverage and don't have to worry about it 😉

We prefer premium because of the vodkas, craft beer and bottled waters, Pellegrino, smoothies etc....

[yorky]

43 minutes ago, Pier290 said:

We have always upgraded to Premium prior to cruising....it takes the hassle out of doing it after we board.....I don't want to wait in long lines etc....once we board we go straight to the bar for a beverage and don't have to worry about it 😉

We prefer premium because of the vodkas, craft beer and bottled waters, Pellegrino, smoothies etc....

I’m not really a spirit drinker but do drink cocktails. We always have the premium drinks package while onboard and given that what are the premium vodkas we should be asking for in our drinks ? A like a particular martini at home that I believe includes Absolute vanilla vodka.

[johno1234]

7 hours ago, yorky said:

I’m not really a spirit drinker but do drink cocktails. We always have the premium drinks package while onboard and given that what are the premium vodkas we should be asking for in our drinks ? A like a particular martini at home that I believe includes Absolute vanilla vodka.

 

Absolut and flavoured Absolut are included in the Classic package so need to upgrade to get those. I'm not sure I can tell the difference between a quality vodka like Absolute and a premium vodka like Grey Goose once it's been shaken up in a cocktail mix.

 

If you are going to have one or two drinks a day off the premium list it will only cost you a few bucks upcharge each on your Classic package - cheaper than $11.80/day to upgrade the package.

 

[hrt4girls]

I have only been on one Celebrity cruise.  I upgraded my beverage package on board.  I knew that I would probably end up at the martini bar, so I bought my upgrade there and the bartender got the commission on that upgrade.  They remembered me and I got excellent service at the martini bar each and every time I showed up for a martini.   So there were no lines and I feel it worked out very well for me.

 

[ShonaTay56]

On 3/3/2019 at 12:49 PM, yorky said:

We cruise on the Equinox September and we can’t upgrade online. I think everyone has had to phone.

I have always upgraded to premium prior to boarding as it is paid and out of the way and I can get on board and hit any bar that we want. In my experience the upgrade on-line is not available until after the final payment has gone through.

We are also on the Equinox in September and I don't expect the upgrade offer to be available until mid July or early August.

Alan

[wendyam76]

53 minutes ago, ShonaTay56 said:

I have always upgraded to premium prior to boarding as it is paid and out of the way and I can get on board and hit any bar that we want. In my experience the upgrade on-line is not available until after the final payment has gone through.

We are also on the Equinox in September and I don't expect the upgrade offer to be available until mid July or early August.

Alan

Hi fellow Aberdonian! You can call and ask them to add the perk drinks package any time - I often do when I see a good offer on the upgrade. They have to manually add the perk. I’ve done this several times before final payment. 

Wendy 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Another question if I may...

 

What brand is the "non-premium" bottled water as a rule? 

[teamflames]

14 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Another question if I may...

 

What brand is the "non-premium" bottled water as a rule? 

I think it varies depending on sailing. We had an America and Argentina still and a Brazil sparkling but there was great debate whether the basic sparkling was included in the classic package. Some bars gave it to you and others would only give you soda water, it was so frustrating. Who would drink the cheap Brazil sparkling when San Pellegrino and Perrier are available for premium? It made no sense and just added to our aggravation. To be honest these bar problems were one of the main reasons we stopped sailing X despite loving their ships. We have found sailings on premium lines to be better value when we find a deal, otherwise the drinks on HAL heaps better or we sail with ncl and just put up with no water (which after this X experience is the same).

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

3 hours ago, teamflames said:

I think it varies depending on sailing. We had an America and Argentina still and a Brazil sparkling but there was great debate whether the basic sparkling was included in the classic package. Some bars gave it to you and others would only give you soda water, it was so frustrating. Who would drink the cheap Brazil sparkling when San Pellegrino and Perrier are available for premium? It made no sense and just added to our aggravation. To be honest these bar problems were one of the main reasons we stopped sailing X despite loving their ships. We have found sailings on premium lines to be better value when we find a deal, otherwise the drinks on HAL heaps better or we sail with ncl and just put up with no water (which after this X experience is the same).

 

Thanks. I may just stick with the Classic and bring a water bottle to refill from my cabin sink. I’m picky about bottled water - a couple of brands taste like the asthma meds I had to take as a kid (that we now know did nothing for asthma).