Is Cruise Only plus WiFi and drink sale the best way now?

[RLM77]

Looking at a possible booking later in 2025.  We haven’t been on X since shortly after the restart, before the return of cruise-only pricing.  We are also Elite+ which provides discounts on beverage and WiFi packages.  With that in mind, should I even wait for a flash sale on packages or is the Elite+ discount a better deal?  Or are the two discounts combinable?  
 

Also, are you notified of these flash sales via Celebrity’s promotional emails or is it necessary to check your specific cruise each day to see if a sale has started?

 

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Rich

[GMIAC]

How often are there "flash sales" on WiFi, Specialty Dining, and upgraded beverage packages, and what's considered a good discount?

[zitsky]

52 minutes ago, GMIAC said:

How often are there "flash sales" on WiFi, Specialty Dining, and upgraded beverage packages, and what's considered a good discount?

All the time and hard to say.  Because they sometimes raise the price THEN go on sale.

[RichYak]

On 5/22/2024 at 2:57 AM, the penguins said:

Do you really need the Wifi? Our free Elite + Captains Club minutes are more than enough

Personally, I prefer to be reachable by phone/text/email at all times. My free minutes are worthless to me.

[the penguins]

3 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Personally, I prefer to be reachable by phone/text/email at all times. My free minutes are worthless to me.

Choice is a great thing. 

[indy406]

I think yes. All-in is becoming prohibitively expensive. Next time we'll do cruise only and watch for beverage package sales. No good BP sales? We'll hit Elite happy hour, pay for the occasional drink otherwise and be way ahead.

[ohiolovescrusing]

Celebrity seems to have settled in with $70 pp/pd for Drinks/wifi AI over cruise only rates. Not always, but seeing that lots.  They also appear to have increased the Drink package pricing for later 2025 (prediscount price).  We did find Black Fri to have best prices last year (50%), who knows if will repeat.  We did just recently add at 50% off drinks for cruise just completed. Did b2b and that offer was just on one.  They also had gifts and gear wine (and water) on good sale on BF so might be another option for your room.  And of course can bring some wine on board.  So..  🤷‍♀️

[debfed65]

On 5/23/2024 at 4:22 PM, ljk76 said:

Recently did a cruise only for an Ascent transatlantic. We later booked greatly discounted basic drink package and found us really easy to share one internet package. Came out way ahead in this case.  We were going to be really frugal and try to do without beverage packages but…for us that’s just silly…

We are looking at the Ascent TA for April.  Do you recall what the discounted daily rate that you paid for the basic drink package?  I know the pricing varies, but I am curious to do the calculation for the 15 night cruise and get a ballpark on pricing it out separately.  

[GMIAC]

Are gratuities included in the specialty dining add-on prices? 

[ljk76]

8 minutes ago, debfed65 said:

We are looking at the Ascent TA for April.  Do you recall what the discounted daily rate that you paid for the basic drink package?  I know the pricing varies, but I am curious to do the calculation for the 15 night cruise and get a ballpark on pricing it out separately.  

 

9 minutes ago, debfed65 said:

We are looking at the Ascent TA for April.  Do you recall what the discounted daily rate that you paid for the basic drink package?  I know the pricing varies, but I am curious to do the calculation for the 15 night cruise and get a ballpark on pricing it out separately.  

 

3 minutes ago, GMIAC said:

Are gratuities included in the specialty dining add-on prices? 

 

[ljk76]

Just now, ljk76 said:

We spent $41 per person per day including gratuities for the classic package. I actually found the invoice in my flagged emails 

 

 

 

[debfed65]

3 minutes ago, ljk76 said:

 

How much for the internet for one device?  Sorry, I should have asked you this in my original post. 

[ljk76]

31 minutes ago, debfed65 said:

How much for the internet for one device?  Sorry, I should have asked you this in my original post. 

49 minutes ago, debfed65 said:

We are looking at the Ascent TA for April.  Do you recall what the discounted daily rate that you paid for the basic drink package?  I know the pricing varies, but I am curious to do the calculation for the 15 night cruise and get a ballpark on pricing it out separately.  

 

49 minutes ago, debfed65 said:

We are looking at the Ascent TA for April.  Do you recall what the discounted daily rate that you paid for the basic drink package?  I know the pricing varies, but I am curious to do the calculation for the 15 night cruise and get a ballpark on pricing it out separately.  

 

43 minutes ago, GMIAC said:

Are gratuities included in the specialty dining add-on prices? 

 

[ljk76]

That was $13 a day. Sharing one package was easy, simple to switch between devices. We also booked a well priced tour. Probably a Black Friday sale, the invoice was the third week of November.  

[dreamer321]

3 hours ago, GMIAC said:

Are gratuities included in the specialty dining add-on prices? 

No, Celebrity adds 20% gratuity to the advertised price during the checkout process (except cruises originating in the UK, Australia and New Zealand with includes the 20% gratuity in the advertised price because of local regulations.)

[GMIAC]

3 hours ago, dreamer321 said:

No, Celebrity adds 20% gratuity to the advertised price during the checkout process (except cruises originating in the UK, Australia and New Zealand with includes the 20% gratuity in the advertised price because of local regulations.)

Is a gratuity added to drinks if purchased with the drink package?

[dreamer321]

Just now, GMIAC said:

Is a gratuity added to drinks if purchased with the drink package?

Yes, if you buy a drink package via the planner or on board 20% gratuity will be added to the advertised price when you initially purchase the package.  For instance, if Celebrity is advertising the Classic Beverage Package for $49.99 per day for a 7 night cruise they will charge you ($49.99 + $9.99 gratuity) x 7 days = $419.86