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zgscl

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About Me

  • Location
    Seattle, WA
  • Interests
    Travel
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Celebrity, Holland America, NCL
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Panama Canal, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico

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zgscl's Achievements

  1. Future cruise deposits offer a minimal credit. If you know the cruise you want there is often much more obc offered depending on the length of the sailing and the cabin type. Pricing is usually the same though if I remember correctly I have once or twice saved a tiny bit booking onboard. If you know what you want to do there is no downside to booking onboard provided you book with a refundable deposit). And it does transfer to your travel agent if you use one (provided you transfer within 30 days and before final payment). Personally I do like to keep a few FCDs in my account to place things on hold. They are a lot easier to track than credit card deposits and refunds.
  2. What a cluster - another totally failed experiment by X management. Glad to see they are finally backtracking on this cut disguised as an “enhancement.” Fingers crossed that they backtrack on the solo pricing next. I wonder how much of a decline in sky suite bookings and service scores it took for them to change course on this. Of course it will take a long time for them to get all the butlers back in place even if no one left - lots of jobs to back fill. I totally understand that the pandemic was financially devastating to the travel industry, and costs increase over time, and the need to improve shareholder value, etc. X needs to figure out how to do this without alienating their customers. It’s just not sustainable to charge luxury prices far higher than any of the other premium cruise lines while cutting service levels back. There are way too many options out there (granted others made cuts too but at a fraction of the impact and price).
  3. It is and it isn't. I can totally understand charging 200%. Cruise lines have given prices as per person for a long time to make people think it is less ($1,500 per person sounds better than $3,000 for a cabin). Essentially I think of it like a hotel room. Hilton or Mariott don't care if I am one or two people, they charge $300 for a room for one night. Unless I add extra guests and now they have to service the sofa bed or provide an extra free breakfast. The incremental cost to the cruise line of 1 vs 2 people is miniscule. I have never complained about 200%, though I am grateful when there is the occasional sale offering a discount on the supplement. Where I take offense is paying more on top of that. If it is all about onboard spending then go back to including the onboard credit - as a solo I had to use $800 of OBC by myself vs 2 people using $400 each. If I didn't spend it, then they got to keep the difference.
  4. Totally agree. They say it is about onboard spending. I really doubt most guests are spending the amount they are charging solos extra. For retreat cabins/Royal Suite it is as much as $3K or $6K more on a 7-10 day sailing. It comes out to anywhere from $300-800 per day. As much as some retreat folks might spend I highly doubt that is actually the average OBS of guests in suites. If they really want everyone to spend, why would they get rid of the retreat always included promotion that had $800 or so of OBC. That literally forced you to pre-pay for onboard spending and include it in the price. And if you don't they keep whatever they baked into the price for it (just like they keep whatever you don't spend on your drink package). Just took a look at a last minute cruise 1 month out (10 day on Silhouette). One would think they would be happy to sell a cabin this close in, even if it is to a single traveler - currently 8 retreat cabins and 1 guarantee verandah left. Their pricing suggests they still wouldn't want a solo. Horizon Suite $17,207 for 2 $24,528 for 1 Celebrity Suite $16,090 for 2 $22,919 for 1 Sunset Sky Suite $11,856 for 2 $17,207 for 1 Verandah Guarantee $3,815 for 2 Not permitted for 1 I also notice that even though this is all about onboard spending not taking place, we don't get a penny of onboard credit for our extra $5-7 thousand dollars. IMO it is a money grab pure and simple. And they are counting on enough people not paying attention or knowing enough to ask what the price for 2 is. I know some people say book for 2 and have the other no show...I would not want to take that risk. Who knows what sort of policies they may enforce around this. They certainly have the right to charge whatever they want, and we have right to take take it or not. I am of the mind that if my $17K for a Horizon suite isn't good enough for them, then I wish them luck with getting the equivalent off of a move up bid or couple looking for a last minute 10 night cruise...given they still have 3 horizon suites, 2 celebrity suites and 3 sunset sky suites I doubt they will fill all with couples paying rack rate. But of course what do I know? Ok, rant over.
  5. I think the odds of anything other than a sky suite are very close to zero. I believe any cabin can bid on a higher suite also so most likely someone will pay for it. Celebrity is quite good at maximizing their revenue.
  6. If they booked a new reservation with a refundable deposit it should be OK, the only thing is if you cancel I would suspect you may lose the $700 so I would probably just change to another refundable deposit sailing if you need to make any changes.
  7. You can transfer as long as it is within 30 days of making the book later deposit (not when you book the reservation). I believe you should keep the benefits, but they keep changing the rules so rapidly it’s hard to say what they will do or if there is some other exclusion.
  8. The only option to save some of your funds is to pay the 200 change fee and rebook a new cruise at the time of cancellation. Otherwise you lose everything. Note that the new booking is also non-refundable and any further changes in sailing date or ship will result in additional $100 pp change fee. sounds like the future cruise consultants got it sorted for you which is great. Glad to see they have some power to fix things. Fun story. You can technically change to the refundable price but the reservation will remain non-refundable and subject to change fees. Once had a TA mess this up before I became a TA myself and it was a royal mess.
  9. Basically everything on X has doubled. The biggest sticker shock for me was seeing the price of X excursions compared to the exact same one on other brands. I guess good for them if they can get it.
  10. Well, after being unsure if I would ever sail with Celebrity again I am glad to say I snagged one of their discounted solo pricing on a November 24 & February 25 sailing. Glad to see they are changing course. The 75% or sailings is dubious to me. Sounds like it will be hit or miss - guess it is definitely buyer be ware when booking!
  11. I have split the bed on Solstice in the last year! The individual beds are small but comfortable!
  12. I posted on the other thread but for those that aren't on that one: Maybe positive sign - I did a few test bookings for Winter 2024 and it looks like solos are actually discounted slightly (looked at Eclipse and apex in November) and substantially discounted in retreat cabins with a 2K-3K savings. I thought maybe they backtracked but over the summer of 2024 and everything I found still has the extra surcharge for solos. Looking into 2025 summer months still have the surcharge, but winter 2025 looks to have the Also, when booking thorough the consumer website I waws not able to add a refundable deposit option to solo retreat bookings but could still do it on the TA side. Not sure if this is a glitch or an intentional change on their part, but any solos looking at winter sailings I would suggest trying to nab one ASAP. The winter sailings that have discounted solo pricing have a promo code "SINGLES" attached to it. Summer sailings have the "RET 2PK SGL" or "NOPERK SGL" promo.
  13. Maybe positive sign - I did a few test bookings for Winter 2024 and it looks like solos are actually discounted slightly (looked at Eclipse and apex in November) and substantially discounted in retreat cabins with a 2K-3K savings. I thought maybe they backtracked but over the summer of 2024 and everything I found still has the extra surcharge for solos. Looking into 2025 summer months still have the surcharge, but winter 2025 looks to have the Also, when booking thorough the consumer website I waws not able to add a refundable deposit option to solo retreat bookings but could still do it on the TA side. Not sure if this is a glitch or an intentional change on their part, but any solos looking at winter sailings I would suggest trying to nab one ASAP. The winter sailings that have discounted solo pricing have a promo code "SINGLES" attached to it. Summer sailings have the "RET 2PK SGL" or "NOPERK SGL" promo.
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