Does anyone remember when Celebrity began offering drink packages (to buy)?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, PTC DAWG said:

we would gladly trade the WiFi perk for room gratuities..

We would also take gratuities over wifi all the time when we could pick the perks 

[hcat]

4 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

We would also take gratuities over wifi all the time when we could pick the perks 

us too, as we get  a bunch of minutes as a Cap Club Perk!

[chemmo]

When we first cruised Celebrity (2009/10?) we used to buy wine bottle packages. If I remember correctly you could buy a 3,5 or 7 bottle package and there were three levels of quality (named something like bronze, silver and gold selection).

 

They also sold beer in buckets at a discounted price. This was in the days when higher suites only got the 2 bottles of spirits included in their suite. No minibar set up, no included drinks package, no suite lounge. Our butler asked if we wanted any drinks in our enormous empty fridge and when we asked for some mixers and beers he suggested he didn’t get the beers until after 11am then he could get them cheaper for us at the pool bar where the offer was on!

 

I don’t remember us ever having considered drinks packages at this time. Either they didn’t exist or perhaps we dismissed them thinking we wouldn’t have got value for money or perhaps they weren’t well advertised in the UK. The wine packages we knew about from the leaflet in the MDR, we didn’t pre book them.

 

We loved it when suddenly higher suites had a lounge, restaurant, full bar set up and drinks package! We always felt let down by Luminae as the hype initially had indicated ‘luxury menu with fresh items from ports visited…’. I remember on our first cruise as this had been introduced discussing with the M’D ‘What happened to the fresh produce?’. He denied it had ever been promised. As these were the days of paper brochures we were able to show him the next night…Was this 2015? 
 

If I am perfectly honest I probably don’t get the value from the included premium package as I drown my spirits and I am not faddy with wine but I do love trying new things and leaving them if I don’t like them. If I didn’t have a package I would probably just stick with the drinks I knew I liked…

 

[laslomas]

I have sailed with Celebrity since 2013 and it was always the offer of a free drink package that closed the deal for me. I don't think I had to actually buy one until the Covid era. I have never seen it offered as a perk for a while, and the constant price rise for the purchase is putting me off now.

[CruisersTimesThree]

Our first Celebrity cruise was in 2012 on the Summit for our 30th anniversary. We were in a RS and my cousin was in a SS. We both had the higher end drink packages, but I don’t think at that time it was an amenity of booking a RS. I’m pretty sure we paid for it, know for a fact my cousin did. 
In fact, I don’t believe the upper tier suites had many perks back then. I remember the Maitre D’ in the dining room (no Luminae back then)  trying to sell us dining in the Normandie and finally offered it at half price and we went. Also positive we paid for dinner in the original Qsine. 

[chemmo]

13 minutes ago, CruisersTimesThree said:

Our first Celebrity cruise was in 2012 on the Summit for our 30th anniversary. We were in a RS and my cousin was in a SS. We both had the higher end drink packages, but I don’t think at that time it was an amenity of booking a RS. I’m pretty sure we paid for it, know for a fact my cousin did. 
In fact, I don’t believe the upper tier suites had many perks back then. I remember the Maitre D’ in the dining room (no Luminae back then)  trying to sell us dining in the Normandie and finally offered it at half price and we went. Also positive we paid for dinner in the original Qsine. 

No, drinks packages weren’t part of the RS package then nor was unlimited speciality dining. However, didn’t all suites then get one free speciality meal per cruise? I seem to remember lots of Sky Suites being annoyed that they lost this perk as Luminae opened.

[SeaWatch12]

Our first cruise was on the Solstice in December 2010. Booked a suite guarantee a month out. Assigned the port side aft corner deck six sky suite the next day. They included one dinner in Specialty and booked Murano. We also took advantage of suite passengers being able to eat in Blu, went 3 nights. Never turned away for it being too busy. This was well before the suite restaurant was created.  

Anyway, we purchased the premium drink package for that sailing, so it was available back then. Love the ease of using the package, and always have it whether it's included in the fare or not.
 

We still make sure we go to Murano whenever on a S class ship. 
Back then, they also gave suite guests unlimited use of Persian Gardens. 

[CruisersTimesThree]

1 hour ago, chemmo said:

No, drinks packages weren’t part of the RS package then nor was unlimited speciality dining. However, didn’t all suites then get one free speciality meal per cruise? I seem to remember lots of Sky Suites being annoyed that they lost this perk as Luminae opened.

I do remember that perk, not sure if we had it back then.