Asking UK Eclipse Baltic cruisers

[barneymag]

Hi all

 

Still relatively new to cruising , 2 on Ventura, 1 on Eclipse and 1 in 3 weeks on Anthem.

 

So far Eclipse (and Celebrity) has impressed me the most - beautiful ship, great food and really good ambiance and loved the Martini Bar and upscale drinks experience etc

 

Question is I am looking at next year and considering 14 night Eclipse Baltic cruise 19th June 2016 - looks a great itinerary but prices seem high ..... £4000 for Concierge Balcony cabin, current deal in UK inc classic drinks package and $300 OBC and TA is offering to pre pay the tips as well .... is this a good deal ???

 

This Sept 14 night Med cruise on Anthem inc select drinks and $100 OBC has cost us £3.3k for a D2 balcony and the Eclipse deal for next year at £700 more just seems high ??

 

Just wondered if any UK cruisers (or anyone sailing out of Southampton) has experience of this summers Eclipse pricing for a similar 2015 balcony to the Baltic ??? Maybe the Anthem pricing I have us good and the Celebrity Eclipse pricing next year is good for X ??

 

Thought I read somewhere on CC that X was lower pricing generally than RCI ??? But from my experience X is the more expensive/quality brand ??

 

Any input would help before I book

 

Thanks

[nmg85]

Quite often Baltic cruises are more expensive then med cruises due to demand etc. Personally I prefer the celebrity product to the RCL one.

[jelayne]

I have done a number of Med cruises and also done Baltic cruises. The prices for the Baltic have been higher every time I checked. I think there are more ships sailing the Med than there are sailing the Baltic so the demand drives the price up.

[Little Nell]

We have just returned from the Baltic on Eclipse. It was a fabulous cruise. We booked in the January sale and saved £400. We paid £250 less each for a B2 balcony cabin than you are being quoted. We thought it was excellent value for what we got. Of course, a concierge cabin would be more expensive but I am not sure by how much. The fact you have an additional perk sounds a good deal to me.

 

A fellow passenger on board, who is a travel consultant, advised us that January sale time is the best time to book Celebrity. We will book with her the next time as we booked direct with Celebrity and didn't receive any additional perks over and above the 1,2,3 Go package.

 

We enjoyed it so much we are considering doing it again next year!

Edited August 11, 2015 by Little Nell

[barneymag]

We have just returned from the Baltic on Eclipse. It was a fabulous cruise. We booked in the January sale and saved £400. We paid £250 less each for a B2 balcony cabin than you are being quoted. We thought it was excellent value for what we got. Of course, a concierge cabin would be more expensive but I am not sure by how much. The fact you have an additional perk sounds a good deal to me.

 

A fellow passenger on board, who is a travel consultant, advised us that January sale time is the best time to book Celebrity. We will book with her the next time as we booked direct with Celebrity and didn't receive any additional perks over and above the 1,2,3 Go package.

 

We enjoyed it so much we are considering doing it again next year!

 

Hi Little Nell

 

The 2B balconies are showing @ £3798 for 2 people inc Classic Drinks and $300 OBC atm for June 2016.

 

Are you saying you paid £3500 for the cruise booked in the Jan 2015 sale ? and did you still get the 123 go offer with this ?

 

Current X All Inclusive offer runs out at the end of this month - we go on Anthem of the Seas Sept 1st so may just gamble on X repeating the 123 Go offers in the future as not sure what RCI will offer onboard the Anthem

[Margo-escargo]

We have just done this cruise on Elipse June 2015, we paid £3598 with Classic Drinks, Tips paid & £300 on board credit.

[barneymag]

We have just done this cruise on Elipse June 2015, we paid £3598 with Classic Drinks, Tips paid & £300 on board credit.

 

Hi Margo

 

Could I ask what cabin type you were in and did you book through a TA ? Normally with 123 Go type deals you only get 2 out of 3 options booking through X direct. Also when did you book and did you see prices before and after your booking change much ?

 

The current price we are being offered for a C3 balcony is £3998 inc classic drinks and $300 OBC .... The tips are the extra perk being offered by the TA

 

Finally did you enjoy the ship and itinery ? :)

[Little Nell]

Hi Little Nell

 

The 2B balconies are showing @ £3798 for 2 people inc Classic Drinks and $300 OBC atm for June 2016.

 

Are you saying you paid £3500 for the cruise booked in the Jan 2015 sale ? and did you still get the 123 go offer with this ?

 

Current X All Inclusive offer runs out at the end of this month - we go on Anthem of the Seas Sept 1st so may just gamble on X repeating the 123 Go offers in the future as not sure what RCI will offer onboard the Anthem

 

Hi Barneymag.

 

Yes we paid 1749 each, with 123 GO included, in the sale in January.

 

I am not sure what will happen with the new package after 123 GO finishes. I read about the new package briefly before went our cruise and there seemed to be a fair amount of scepticism about it but I would need to read further into it. There is a thread on here about it. If 123 GO is finishing we will need to do that soon. Sorry I can't be of any more help.

[NewWestwardbound]

I try to target £100 pp per night including tips for a Balcony cabin for any peak period cruise out of Southampton. I struck lucky on timing and paid quite a bit less than this for a July Eclipse Baltic sailing this year. But no drinks package, OBC or parking included.

[barneymag]

I try to target £100 pp per night including tips for a Balcony cabin for any peak period cruise out of Southampton. I struck lucky on timing and paid quite a bit less than this for a July Eclipse Baltic sailing this year. But no drinks package, OBC or parking included.

 

That's interesting ! Do you mind sharing how much and how and when you booked ?? Ok the drinks package is useful to us, with the costs of drinks onboard these days so at £44 pp per night extra for the premium drinks package(£1232 for 14 nights per couple, which we upgrade to) or £38 pp per night for classic (£1064) and $300 OBC (approx £200) and prepaid tips (approx £260) all for 14 nights then the 14 night Baltic on Eclipse would be £3998 (offered price inc all the above/classic drinks) less approx £1524 of extras making it £2474 for base price !!!! That is £88 pp per night excluding drinks and gratuities, now that sounds pretty good to me

 

Guess if you don't drink a lot of the expensive drinks, Martinis, Cocktails or the more expensive wines then a good base price without the perks is probably the way to go ..... However I like a nice Martini or two ;) and enjoy a good NZ Sauvignon Blanc with dinner.

 

Think I may be booking this tomorrow :)

[Cakeyandbeano]

Hi. I'm looking at booking Eclipse for the Baltics cruise on 17th July next year, we've cruised before but not on X and to be honest I am totally confused by their pricing. When I get a quote it says the offer I will get is $300 OBC but no mention of the drinks package. Is this just included? I have spent hours on their website seen the Go Big promotion but it all just seems so confusing. Sorry if I sound really stupid but I really have looked & can't find an answer

[upwarduk]

We have just returned from Eclipse Baltic sailing (July 25-Aug 8th)

We paid £2016P.P. which included Classic drinks package and Car Parking.

We were in a 1A cabin.

Pre paid tips were £102 as we choose Select Dining and Port fees were £141.

All prices quoted were P.P.

Be aware that you won't get high summer temps. Our first week was cold (15-16c)and we had rain most afternoons.

The weather improved on our 2nd day in St Petersburg, but the guide told us that Summer is known as 'The Green Winter' or as the guides say ' Fifty shades of Grey.' The sun is only expected to shine on 50 days per year.

We had an excellent 2 day tour in St Petersburg, we did our own thing in the other ports.

I have written a review, which you can read here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2245421

Edited August 11, 2015 by upwarduk

[barneymag]

Hi. I'm looking at booking Eclipse for the Baltics cruise on 17th July next year, we've cruised before but not on X and to be honest I am totally confused by their pricing. When I get a quote it says the offer I will get is $300 OBC but no mention of the drinks package. Is this just included? I have spent hours on their website seen the Go Big promotion but it all just seems so confusing. Sorry if I sound really stupid but I really have looked & can't find an answer

 

Hi are you looking on the .com or .co.uk website ?

 

The UK website includes classic drinks package and $300 OBC on balcony and concierge when booked before 1st September

 

The U.S. Website (.com) only seems to offer the OBC ...... book through the UK website and you will get the classic drinks package ..... book through a specialist cruise TA and you may get free tips included as well

[NewWestwardbound]

That's interesting ! Do you mind sharing how much and how and when you booked ??

 

Just off to work so excuse the brief reply - I can amplify this evening if that helps.

 

I paid £1099 per person cruise price plus £102.81 per person prepaid tips = £1201.81 per person = £85.84 per person per night.

 

Booked 15 May for an 11 July departure; booked with a UK based travel agent.

 

On your comparison, my only quibble would be the use of the cost of drinks packages rather than their value to you (but that is a whole other level of complexity).

 

And to amuse anyone who thinks I sound smug, the cruise price dropped a further £50 per person the week after I booked .........

[upwarduk]

I try to target £100 pp per night including tips for a Balcony cabin for any peak period cruise out of Southampton. I struck lucky on timing and paid quite a bit less than this for a July Eclipse Baltic sailing this year. But no drinks package, OBC or parking included.

 

Still a bargain.

We keep saying we will wait until after final payment ( 8 weeks before sailing)

There were plenty of available cabins on both 11th 25th July at that stage, but certainly our sailing was full, so plenty of people picked up a bargain.

[Teresa Price]

We are on eclipse right now in the baltic. We booked in June and paid £2600 in a balcony consiege (sorry sp) for both of us!! It was a bargain. Seems to me if you book early you get a drink package but if you book late you get a good deal. Lovely ship and having a good time. Taking out a mortgage for the bottled water though. One litre is $6.50! Cheers Teresa.

[barneymag]

We are on eclipse right now in the baltic. We booked in June and paid £2600 in a balcony consiege (sorry sp) for both of us!! It was a bargain. Seems to me if you book early you get a drink package but if you book late you get a good deal. Lovely ship and having a good time. Taking out a mortgage for the bottled water though. One litre is $6.50! Cheers Teresa.

 

Hi Teresa

 

Thanks for replying from the ship and great that you're having a good time - like you say book early and I guess the benefit is the drink package and OBC. To us the drinks package is a must as we drink a lot of soft drinks, water and coffees on sea days and a cheeky glass of wine or two with lunch in the MDR. Then a couple of drinks at sailaway and take one to our balcony while getting ready for dinner, pre dinner Martini and a couple of nice glasses of wine with dinner ..... and then another Martini or cocktail or two ;) after dinner ...... without a drinks package I hate to think what my final bill would be :eek:

 

Out of interest were you offered a particular Concierge cabin or was it a guarantee and allocated on boarding ?

 

Hope you enjoy the rest of the cruise

Edited August 12, 2015 by barneymag

[Teresa Price]

Hi, we were allocated the cabin about a month ago. We are deck 10 pretty near the back. You take that chance but for us it seems to work. Bought unlimited Internet package on day 3 at $224 which to me is important. Must say Internet is so much better than in the past. Sitting on my bed writing this and checking stuff for tallin tomorrow. Booking late works well for us, hubby doesn't drink and we pick up soft drinks in port. Good luck with your plans. Cheers Teresa

[upwarduk]

Hope you get good weather for Tallinn, it was probably our worst day weather wise, but we did have an hour of sun before the rains came, when we were able to take plenty of photos.

[Bevp123]

Hi,

 

We have just booked our first cruise and did this directly through Celebrity. We sail 22nd May and have a C1 Aft which cost a total of £3872.88 including basic drinks package and gratuities (£242.88 which is slightly more for Concierge grades). We have the buy one get one half price offer which apparently ends 2nd November. We are considering upgrading the drinks packages which we have been advised is an additional £108 per person, purely because this is our first ever cruise and we don't want to deny ourselves anything on board or count pennies on our first trip. Hope this helps.

 

Bev & Matt

xx

[goody1]

Hi,

 

My Wife and I are on the Eclipse Baltic Cruise 17July - 31July. We are in a 1A Balcony Deck 8, Classic Drinks, pre-paid gratuities and 14 nights parking at Southampton for £1728 pp.

[upwarduk]

Here is a link to our July /Aug '15 cruise to the Baltic.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2245421

 

There is a link to pictures at the end.

Edited September 27, 2015 by upwarduk

[nekzaadvakil]

We just completed a Baltic cruise (on the Silhouette) in June and it was one of the best cruises we've been on (the link to the detailed review with lots of pictures is below in my signature)

 

We paid more for this cruise, than our Med cruises. We paid a total of USD 4050 for a 12N Baltic cruise in a category 1C Veranda stateroom (with USD 200 OBC) - Deck 8

 

My inlaws who joined us on this cruise, booked a couple of months later and got an even better deal (USD 3700 for a Veranda stateroom, deck 7) along with USD 200 OBC and the Classic Beverage package for 2.

 

I'd yet say this was good value for money. Our cruise was from Stockholm to Amsterdam.