Upgrading Free Classic Drinks to Premium

[colingu]

I know this has been discussed elsewhere, but I haven't seen a complete answer hence this post.

 

If you have the Classic drinks package included in your cruise, this will show on the Celebrity invoice under various different codes but more than likely not in the Cruise Planner. I emailed Celebrity about this, and they advised that the drinks package will be added to the Cruise Planner 1 month prior to the cruise by their staff in Miami. However, if you ask, it can be added to your Cruise Planner before one month out. Once added you will be able to print out confirmation from the Cruise Planner, and also upgrade your drinks package to Premium in advance of the cruise.

[helen haywood]

I'm not sure there is ever a good reason to upgrade prior to the cruise.  It will cost the same.  And if you upgrade onboard the bartender you buy it from will get the grats and will provide you with great service!  And sometimes it is a good idea just to make sure you want to upgrade versus just pay the difference as you go.  And if you have a port intensive cruise you can buy it later on in the cruise prorated.

[jimmieg]

9 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

I'm not sure there is ever a good reason to upgrade prior to the cruise.  It will cost the same.  And if you upgrade onboard the bartender you buy it from will get the grats and will provide you with great service!  And sometimes it is a good idea just to make sure you want to upgrade versus just pay the difference as you go.  And if you have a port intensive cruise you can buy it later on in the cruise prorated.

Occasionally they have sales prior to the cruise. We upgraded for $5/day on two recent sailings.

Keep your eyes open.😉

[jelayne]

We have also caught a sale a few times also and upgraded with 50% off once and 25% off another time.  

[ceba]

3 hours ago, jimmieg said:

Occasionally they have sales prior to the cruise. We upgraded for $5/day on two recent sailings.

Keep your eyes open.😉

So where do you go to find the sale?

[jimmieg]

15 minutes ago, ceba said:

So where do you go to find the sale?

 

15 minutes ago, ceba said:

So where do you go to find the sale?

In the cruise personalizer.  They sent email notifications that excursions, meals, beverage pkgs, etc were reduced for our "upcoming cruise." Usually promoted on the website, as well. Or you can just check periodically.

[smmountaingal]

14 minutes ago, jimmieg said:

 

In the cruise personalizer.  They sent email notifications that excursions, meals, beverage pkgs, etc were reduced for our "upcoming cruise." Usually promoted on the website, as well. Or you can just check periodically.

Thanks for the tip.  I went into my Cruise planner and it was easy to find.  I upgraded from classic to premium for $12 per person per day plus gratuity.  I would spend this just ordering the wine I want just through paying the difference.  Now I can have a larger selection of wine per glass!

 

 

[Reel Love]

1 hour ago, jimmieg said:

 

In the cruise personalizer.  They sent email notifications that excursions, meals, beverage pkgs, etc were reduced for our "upcoming cruise." Usually promoted on the website, as well. Or you can just check periodically.

jimmieg, do you recall approximately how far in advance of your cruise that you received email notification of price reductions?  TYIA

[jimmieg]

Reel Love- it was about 90-120 days, but it was not targeted to me personally. AFAIK, a widely advertised sale on excursions, bev's, etc.

 

I also spotted a previously booked excursion I was able to cancel and rebook at a lower price.

 

Sail on!

[jelayne]

21 minutes ago, Reel Love said:

jimmieg, do you recall approximately how far in advance of your cruise that you received email notification of price reductions?  TYIA

 

The sales are random.  Our last discount on beverage packages was a discount that included our cruise 11 months before our cruise.  Have also got a discount on beverage package about  3 months pre-cruise.  The  “flash sales” only last for a few days,(4-5)  in our experience they are over a week end or holiday.  We find out about them on Cruise Critic our Roll Call or by checking our Cruise Planer.  We usually get the email notification when the sale is about over.

[Reel Love]

Thank you so much jimmieg and jelayne!  Will certainly keep checking regularly.  I've never been fortunate to catch a sale on a beverage package upgrade but here's hoping! 🍸🍹

[RICCruisers]

If you are cruising Europe you may be charged a VAT to the upgrade purchased on board in addition to the 20% gratuity. The VAT is based on which countries are included on your itinerary. If all countries are part of the EU, X is required to charge the VAT. That is another reason to upgrade prior to your cruise even if there is not a discount/sale happening. 

[Bobal]

6 hours ago, RICCruisers said:

If you are cruising Europe you may be charged a VAT to the upgrade purchased on board in addition to the 20% gratuity. The VAT is based on which countries are included on your itinerary. If all countries are part of the EU, X is required to charge the VAT. That is another reason to upgrade prior to your cruise even if there is not a discount/sale happening. 

 

We've found that with upgrades and with dining packages they will apply the charge once the ship has left eg Spanish waters, so that the VAT is not applicable.

 

To the OP, if you have a few port intensive days first you may want to hold off and upgrade part way through the cruise, which could offset any savings made IF there is a promotion before the cruise - personally I've never seen one and we always like to find a bartender we like and upgrade through them so that they get the commission.

[snyniew]

I tried to upgrade for my April sailing when there was a sale going on the beverage package. However the upgrade price remained the same $10 + 18% on the cruise planner, even calling the Captain's Club they asked and it was not a discounted price to upgrade.

[ghstudio]

I've never seen a discount on the upgrade.....although on-board, I have upgraded and the 10% elite plus discount was applied to the upgrade price.  Maybe I should check the celebrity web site more often 🙂

[CardRock]

I found where you can see that they have applied your drink package perk to your account.  In the Cruise Planner click on Order History:

 

 

And the promo package will be listed as a purchase with $0.00:

 

[yorky]

20 hours ago, colingu said:

I know this has been discussed elsewhere, but I haven't seen a complete answer hence this post.

 

If you have the Classic drinks package included in your cruise, this will show on the Celebrity invoice under various different codes but more than likely not in the Cruise Planner. I emailed Celebrity about this, and they advised that the drinks package will be added to the Cruise Planner 1 month prior to the cruise by their staff in Miami. However, if you ask, it can be added to your Cruise Planner before one month out. Once added you will be able to print out confirmation from the Cruise Planner, and also upgrade your drinks package to Premium in advance of the cruise.

You can upgrade anytime regardless. We upgraded for our September cruise back in February. Just phoned up Celebrity, they were happy to take my money.

[helen haywood]

1 hour ago, ghstudio said:

I've never seen a discount on the upgrade.....

 

Look at post #2.  I haven't ever heard of a discount to upgrade....but obviously I was asking the wrong phone reps!

Edited June 4, 2019 by helen haywood

[neilrr]

As we cruise quite a bit on Celebrity, we went back and forth on whether to upgrade.  As we received the Classic package as part of the deal previously and on our next two cruises - we will upgrade to Premium, as we found that (even w/o a Discount) for $12PP a day it was worth it for us... We have a large SBC, so that will more than offset the cost.

 

Also, we try to do it with a bartender we know (it really is something when you know many of the bartenders on the ship 😁🍸). We always treat them well over and above their regular gratuities and they take care of us too...  

 

Happy Sailing!!!😊

 

Edited June 4, 2019 by neilrr