Comparing celebrity and Royal drink pkgs, internet and shore excursion costs

[mom2mybugs]

So in trying to compare costs between the two cruise lines, I'm running into the fact that I don't know how much anything costs on celebrity.  What does the average shore excursion cost on celebrity?  And how much does the internet run?  In Booking, I can pay an extra $30/day for drink pkg and $ towards excursions or $60/day for drink pkg, internet and excursions and I'm trying to figure out what's a good deal!  Jane

[JLMoran]

Celebrity changed their model so that all sailings now include the classic beverage package, 2-device surf internet, and prepaid gratuities in the base booking price. So it’s not really possible any more to make an apples-to-apples comparison.

It’s branded as “Always Included”. They have some upgrade tiers you can choose at time of booking to get the premium drink package, excursion credit, and general OBC. Or you can just upgrade the drink package once you’re past final payment for I think $12 per night.

@monorailmedic wrote about it at length over on cruisehabit.com back when it was first announced. Not sure if anything has changed since then.

[mom2mybugs]

1. 3 hours ago, JLMoran said:

   Celebrity changed their model so that all sailings now include the classic beverage package, 2-device surf internet, and prepaid gratuities in the base booking price. So it’s not really possible any more to make an apples-to-apples comparison.

   It’s branded as “Always Included”. They have some upgrade tiers you can choose at time of booking to get the premium drink package, excursion credit, and general OBC. Or you can just upgrade the drink package once you’re past final payment for I think $12 per night.

   @monorailmedic wrote about it at length over on cruisehabit.com back when it was first announced. Not sure if anything has changed since then.

   This was hugely helpful.  I was reading and trying to figure out if the all included was just aqua class, and I was trying to figure out the difference between drink pkgs (classic and premium).  With the included, or actually with the +$30 a day upgrade, I think that actually the Edge comes out cheaper for me than Symphony at least on interior.  Heres what i've figured out:  Harmony cost:  virt. balcony (1069pp) + drink pkg (guessing 50/day and I think gratuities too) (350 or more) =1419pp  (plus probably wifi too at some point)          Edge cost:  interior 1346pp (includes wifi, classic drinks and tips) or if i got the upgraded (which the royal drink pkg includes) it would be 1556 per person, but that includes wifi surf (all i need) and 150 towards shore excursions (which i definitely would also get on royal especially if we were going to cococay).    So if my math is right, Edge is really not out of the realm of possible, though it doesn't get me any royal points.  But i could let my sister in law pick the ship and itinerary    I will have to look how the comparison goes on ocean view and balcony.  Jane

[KathyC]

We thought the excursions were priced comparably when we sailed Summit in October 2019.  We didn't book any so I didn't pay close attention but I scanned through and the prices seemed pretty much what I would have expected compared to Royal.

[cruisellama]

On 5/1/2021 at 10:49 PM, mom2mybugs said:

1. This was hugely helpful.  I was reading and trying to figure out if the all included was just aqua class, and I was trying to figure out the difference between drink pkgs (classic and premium).  With the included, or actually with the +$30 a day upgrade, I think that actually the Edge comes out cheaper for me than Symphony at least on interior.  Heres what i've figured out:  Harmony cost:  virt. balcony (1069pp) + drink pkg (guessing 50/day and I think gratuities too) (350 or more) =1419pp  (plus probably wifi too at some point)          Edge cost:  interior 1346pp (includes wifi, classic drinks and tips) or if i got the upgraded (which the royal drink pkg includes) it would be 1556 per person, but that includes wifi surf (all i need) and 150 towards shore excursions (which i definitely would also get on royal especially if we were going to cococay).    So if my math is right, Edge is really not out of the realm of possible, though it doesn't get me any royal points.  But i could let my sister in law pick the ship and itinerary    I will have to look how the comparison goes on ocean view and balcony.  Jane

You don't get Royal points, but if your Royal status is honored on Celebrity.  So if you're Diamond on Royal, you would be Elite on Celebrity.   Same with the other tiers.