Our drinks & more experience!

[MR_T]

Currently on the infinity and we both have the drinks & more package, here is our experience so far... 

 

Straight away way we had a couple of issues/questions so asked the room steward... to be told he has nothing to do with the package or mini bar stock and told us to speak to GR! 

 

Wine in cabin - 

on arrival we found 2 bottles of wine only in our cabin, we had to go to GR to get the other 2 bottles, we asked about changing the bottles and was told no other options are available! The wine given isn’t very good so at this strange not sure what we will do with the rest! 

 

Wine by by the glass -

from reading a leaflet regarding this package I thought I had read that the wine had 161* options... I believed this to mean that we may be able to get any glass of wine served by the glass without any up-charges or maybe a higher per glass limit, However I could have been wrong as after speaking to several bars we were told by all that the by glass limit was the same as the premium package limit! 

 

Better grade spirits - 

to be honest this isn’t something that really bothers us as we tend to only drink these in martinis at the martini bar and they seem to always use grey goose vodka and for us that’s pretty fancy so no complaints there’s, plus I really don’t think we’d be able to tell the difference in our drink choices... 

 

Casino credit - 

as others has posted this was easy to get, a quick visit to the cashier at the casino and $50 was loaded to each of our cards 👍🏼 

 

Mini bar - 

on arrival we found only 1 bottle of water and only 2 normal cokes vs the listed inclusions of 2 waters & 2 normal + 2 diet cokes (we only drink Diet Coke) so after talking to GR this was fixed that evening, however it’s not been restocked since 😡, I guess another trip to GR will have to happen! 

 

Summary  - 

We chose this upgraded purely because we always spend money in the casino anyway and as our cruise is only a 5 night the cost was the same as the casino credit so the additional other items were a bonus so a good time to try it, 

 

With the experience on this cruise I don’t see us upgrading to this package again on longer cruises than 5 nights as there’s really no benefit to us, especially with the hassle of having to go to GR to get what you paid for! 

 

Obviously this was our experience and I know it’s worked out for others, I’m also sure going forward the system should improve should celebrity stick with this package option, but for us it wasn’t a great experience so it’s a  👎🏻 From us! 

[helen haywood]

I know there always seems to be an unfortunate learning curve when Celebrity rolls out a new policy.  I remember when they changed the Classic Package to you just paid the overage for a drink over your price point.  It seemed as though no one had bothered to tell the wait staff!!  Ditto Elite Plus getting free specialty coffees.  I hope the bugs will get ironed out and I’m sorry you had such difficulties.

[Luvcrusn]

Thanks for the review of the Bev + package. I agree that for longer cruises it makes little sense. We already had the premium package and when I looked into the upgrade for a 10 night package for 2 of us it came to $180 + gratuity to get 4 bottles of questionable quality wine, $100 in casino credit and access to the mini bar. We already get a wine tasting event from our Captains Club Status and a bottle of bubbly (we trade for Prosecco) from booking Aqua class. Besides, how much alcohol can our livers take?!

[Moby Jones]

Can I suggest that you go to GR ans insist on speaking to the hotel director. It sounds like the ship isn't up to speed with this package. The HD should be able to remedy all of your problems quite quickly and easily as well as insuring other cruisers are not negatively impacted like you have been.

I'd do it asap so that you don't face further annoyance on your cruise. Enjoy your sailing. 

 

[jjsnonna]

17 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

Thanks for the review of the Bev + package. I agree that for longer cruises it makes little sense. We already had the premium package and when I looked into the upgrade for a 10 night package for 2 of us it came to $180 + gratuity to get 4 bottles of questionable quality wine, $100 in casino credit and access to the mini bar. We already get a wine tasting event from our Captains Club Status and a bottle of bubbly (we trade for Prosecco) from booking Aqua class. Besides, how much alcohol can our livers take?!

Agree, we always get the Premium Beverage Package, so we have no need of a minibar or bottles of wine.  

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, Moby Jones said:

Can I suggest that you go to GR ans insist on speaking to the hotel director. It sounds like the ship isn't up to speed with this package. The HD should be able to remedy all of your problems quite quickly and easily as well as insuring other cruisers are not negatively impacted like you have been.

I'd do it asap so that you don't face further annoyance on your cruise. Enjoy your sailing. 

 

From what the OP posted they got exactly what the package includes with the exception of the mini bar not being restocked.  I think I would speak to the cabin steward to find out who is responsible to restock or contact the housekeeping supervisor.  Personally I wouldn’t escalate this to the HD without trying to resolve it at a lower level.  
 

 

[MR_T]

11 minutes ago, jelayne said:

From what the OP posted they got exactly what the package includes with the exception of the mini bar not being restocked.  I think I would speak to the cabin steward to find out who is responsible to restock or contact the housekeeping supervisor.  Personally I wouldn’t escalate this to the HD without trying to resolve it at a lower level.  
 

 

We asked the cabin dude as mentioned in the original post,  and his response was he didn’t look after the mini bar nor did he know who did? His words were someone else comes around later to deal with it, He said maybe go to GR as they would be able to sort it... hence my issue that I went to GR and it clearly wasn’t sorted,  so maybe HD should be the next step? 🤔

Edited January 16, 2020 by MR_T

[Miss SeaBee]

How are you liking Infinity in general?  Looking to book a 5 day in 2021 after the next dry dock.

[MR_T]

25 minutes ago, Greensuz said:

How are you liking Infinity in general?  Looking to book a 5 day in 2021 after the next dry dock.

We are enjoying it, but always our general thinking is any cruise is better vs no cruise... after reading a few reviews regarding the state of the ship I was expecting it to be more run down that it is but to be honest it’s still in pretty good shape considering, and as you are talking about after the refurb I’m sure you’d have a great cruise, this issue really doesn’t affect our cruise at all it’s just one of those things, I’ve been on enough celebrity cruises to know there is  always a chance of minor issues at some point, 

 

all the food we’ve eaten so far has been very good and especially the meal we had in Tuscan which was probably our best Tuscan experience of the dozen or more times we’ve eaten on the S/Class ships, 

 

For us there’s parts of this ship we prefer vs the S/Class ships and vice verser which is exactly what we we’re thinking would happen before boarding, 

[MR_T]

So another interesting update.... 

 

just got got back from GR who confirmed to me that the system should be the room steward should check the mini bar and he/she should then inform the bar person in charge of refilling the mini bar... obviously this didn’t happen for us! 

 

GR informed me he would send someone to refill the mini bar... great no problem 👍🏼, 

 

We get back to the cabin and the first guy comes to check what’s required to inform the other person to bring it... 

 

the other guy comes with a bag of stuff but informed us that they have run out of pringles and also the small bottles of white wine... with nothing offered as replacements 🙄 

 

Now, we have the drinks package & there’s more food onboard than we could ever need so my frustration isn’t we can’t eat pringles etc it’s that such a huge company like Celebrity Cruise offers these new packages etc without obviously doing their proper research/training to ensure these addition cost packages are able to be delivered without issue, 

 

a couple of things to note...

 

1 - this upgrade is only available before boarding to they would know exactly how much/many items they would potential need for each cruise, 

 

2 - Apparently they are running out of items halfway through the cruise... 

 

TBC.... 🙄😂 

 

 

[helen haywood]

In addition to the irritating issues you are having, I would wonder about how good some of the items would be.  Since people regularly ask the cabin steward to remove the contents of the minibar...and then they are fetched from under the bed to being put back in the fridge...possibly several times...  Personally I wouldn’t want to drink wine or eat snacks that had been refrigerated, warmed to room temperature, re-refrigerated...

[Newbury newbie]

2 hours ago, helen haywood said:

In addition to the irritating issues you are having, I would wonder about how good some of the items would be.  Since people regularly ask the cabin steward to remove the contents of the minibar...and then they are fetched from under the bed to being put back in the fridge...possibly several times...  Personally I wouldn’t want to drink wine or eat snacks that had been refrigerated, warmed to room temperature, re-refrigerated...

You’ve got a good point there, Helen!

[kevin1551]

Did you have to use all of your casino credit at once or can you use it over multiple days?

[Bo1953]

7 hours ago, kevin1551 said:

Did you have to use all of your casino credit at once or can you use it over multiple days?

Use it as you choose just deplete it before dis-embarking the ship... and going home if it is still on your sea pass.

 

bon voyage

 

[Princess Fi]

We had the “Drinks and More Package” on our October Summit sailing. We had a few hiccups too. Room steward didn’t seem to know we had the package so wouldn’t restock. We had to go to GR and speak to them. At that point they also reprinted our sea pass to indicate PALL PLUS. We are 10 girl friends on the March 23 Infinity in 5 Concierge cabins. I am at least more knowledgeable of how now to address having the package and issues. When they run out of items when they know how many have purchased the packages and fail to offer alternatives that just doesn’t feel right. 

[chemmo]

Mr T,

 

I do think the service is bad!

 

As you have the premium package anyway they could have offered some choice for your free wines!

 

Then no little white wines...they should have offered you a big one every two days...

 

As to no Pringles...Whilst I agree with you it is no big deal they could at least have sent you some chocolate strawberries as an apology.

 

I would ask to speak to Hotel Director, making it clear you are not complaining so much for yourselves but to enable them to recognise a training/service issue and respond...

[dutchclogs]

Is the OP's cruise now over?  Would be interesting to hear his final conclusions.

[hiccups]

1 hour ago, dutchclogs said:

Is the OP's cruise now over?  Would be interesting to hear his final conclusions.

There are a few other threads on the Drinks & More package where other passengers have shared their experience as well.

Edited February 10, 2020 by hiccups

[MR_T]

On 2/10/2020 at 10:17 AM, dutchclogs said:

Is the OP's cruise now over?  Would be interesting to hear his final conclusions.

Hi, 

 

yes our cruise is now over, my thoughts now it’s over is we’d only upgrade to the drinks & more package for cruises of 5 nights or under as the only real Benefit  to us was the casino obc... the rest when the system works is really just fluff, for us it was far too much trouble vs the benefits 

 

casino obc - ✅ not that we turned it into any winnings though... but worth a try! 

 

free 2 bottles of wine each - ❌ very poor quality 

 

mini bar - ❌ had to ask several times (on a five night cruise) for it to be restocked, plus was told they had run out of items half way through cruise 😡 

 

[Jim_Iain]

I don't think we would sign up for it but if you have a Premium Drink Package -  How do you upgrade to the Drink and More Package.   Just curious as to how it would work on a 7 day cruise.   The price difference between the two packages is approximately $52 (from cruise planner so not sure of the upgrade amount).   But would seem like a no brainer to get a $100 Casino credit for $52.   Am I missing something.

 

I'm sure we probably wouldn't wouldn't sign up for it as I'm not a drinker and Iain only drinks good wines.  We are also not big gamblers.   I haven't even hit Pearl level yet.

[hiccups]

16 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I don't think we would sign up for it but if you have a Premium Drink Package -  How do you upgrade to the Drink and More Package.   Just curious as to how it would work on a 7 day cruise.   The price difference between the two packages is approximately $52 (from cruise planner so not sure of the upgrade amount).   But would seem like a no brainer to get a $100 Casino credit for $52.   Am I missing something.

 

I'm sure we probably wouldn't wouldn't sign up for it as I'm not a drinker and Iain only drinks good wines.  We are also not big gamblers.   I haven't even hit Pearl level yet.

We upgraded through the cruise planner.  Seven night cruise was $63 PP.

[Jim_Iain]

8 minutes ago, hiccups said:

We upgraded through the cruise planner.  Seven night cruise was $63 PP.

 

Maybe I need to search more.   When I looked at the cruise planner I only saw the packages and not the upgrades.   Might be that I'm Zenith and it doesn't list that I have a package.

[VikingRob]

6 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Maybe I need to search more.   When I looked at the cruise planner I only saw the packages and not the upgrades.   Might be that I'm Zenith and it doesn't list that I have a package.

The upgrade option didn’t show up in our cruise planner until a few weeks before our cruise. Kim

[hiccups]

11 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Maybe I need to search more.   When I looked at the cruise planner I only saw the packages and not the upgrades.   Might be that I'm Zenith and it doesn't list that I have a package.

 

I can't remember if I had to call to have our premium package added, but if I did, then after that I was able to upgrade.  Price difference is $7.50 per day, plus the 20%, for $9 per day.

We had the $500 OBC from the Veteran's Day sale, so figured what the heck!  DH can use the casino credit and I'll eat the Pringles and Kind bars 🙂

Edited February 13, 2020 by hiccups

[MR_T]

When we did it, at the time had the included classic package and on the main page of my celebrity there was an upgrade link for both the premium & the drinks and more packages