New Offer

[Patsy Flower]

I am a UK cruiser who has booked a cruise for next year through a travel agent.

 

I received the classic drinks package plus 300 USD OBS.

 

Todays offer appears to be drinks package plus second guest goes half price which financially would be much cheaper even without the OBS.

 

It is widely known that US cruisers would be able to take advantage of this price drop but as I am in the UK and have gone through an agent would I?

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Many thanks.

[chemmo]

Nothing to loose, have a chat with your agent. Work out approximately how much better off you would be with the new deal and use that as your conversation starting point. I doubt if they will just reduce your fare but they may up your OBC or consider an upgrade.

[yorkyred]

I am a UK cruiser who has booked a cruise for next year through a travel agent.

 

I received the classic drinks package plus 300 USD OBS.

 

Todays offer appears to be drinks package plus second guest goes half price which financially would be much cheaper even without the OBS.

 

It is widely known that US cruisers would be able to take advantage of this price drop but as I am in the UK and have gone through an agent would I?

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Many thanks.

You can try but it's very doubtful.

[Patsy Flower]

Could I cancel and re-book? If I could do that I would still be better off financially.

[Wiltonian]

From the Ts and Cs:

 

"Existing Bookings that wish to access the new benefits for the Buy One Get One Half Off + Free Classic Drinks Package promotion will have to cancel existing bookings and make a new booking.

(Please note cancelling existing bookings will incur cancellation charges)"

 

As we paid only £50 deposit, still worth it!

 

Stuart

[drinkspackageexpert]

From the Ts and Cs:

 

"Existing Bookings that wish to access the new benefits for the Buy One Get One Half Off + Free Classic Drinks Package promotion will have to cancel existing bookings and make a new booking.

(Please note cancelling existing bookings will incur cancellation charges)"

 

As we paid only £50 deposit, still worth it!

 

Stuart

 

With a deposit that low, i would say go for it. Lose £100 for a half price fare?? SO WORTH IT LOL

[gordylad]

just did a comparison with the latest offer:

 

Booking a European cruise leaving 19th June [Russia etc] in a SV cabin cost if booked in US converts to 4582 pounds

 

Cost if booking in UK with offer 3503 pounds [including paying grats]

 

That's a big difference.

[Gordoncruickshank]

From the Ts and Cs:

 

"Existing Bookings that wish to access the new benefits for the Buy One Get One Half Off + Free Classic Drinks Package promotion will have to cancel existing bookings and make a new booking.

(Please note cancelling existing bookings will incur cancellation charges)"

 

As we paid only £50 deposit, still worth it!

 

Stuart

I think you will find that you will be liable for the full deposit, all of which you would lose if you cancelled and rebooked.

[Patsy Flower]

Thanks to everyone for their help and advice.

 

Yes, I expect that I would lose a full deposit but even doing that I would be much better off.

 

I have spoken to my TA who is contacting Celebrity. Can't say that I am expecting a very positive outcome but I suppose the worst case senario is to re-book and lose the deposit but still be quids in.

 

I do know that prices change constantly and if it were only a small amount I would live with it but the difference is substantial.

 

Once again many thanks. It is appreciated.

[vadell]

I have telephoned and been told basically that the only way to get the new offer is to cancel and re-book, this still makes it £500 cheaper but as I only booked at the weekend losing the £300 deposit makes for an expensive charge for the sake of a few days. I agree I would expect difference in prices but over £800 cheaper is a lot when booking a year in advance.

[Wiltonian]

I think you will find that you will be liable for the full deposit, all of which you would lose if you cancelled and rebooked.

 

Yes - but I only paid £50 pp deposit direct to Celebrity. So that's all I lose.

[vadell]

I also booked direct but got charge £150 per person deposit, you lucky

[Kamlee]

We decided to re-book. After losing our original £300 deposit and $300 OBC we still saved £500.

[Wiltonian]

This afternoon, I cancelled our Ocean View booking (losing the £50pp deposit) and booked a Balcony Cabin for pretty well the same price, even allowing for the loss of the previous 'free Grats" offer.

 

This time the deposit was £150pp, so it's unlikely to be economic to do this a second time!

 

Stuart

Edited September 3, 2015 by Wiltonian

[lydnsyd]

I was also thinking of rebooking to take advantage of the new offer but it would mean giving up our chosen cabin (Hump) and also we prefer fixed Late Seating in the MDR and now only Select is available so after a lot of debating we decided to stay as we are for the time being.

[LabGuy64]

Why wouldn't you just ask your TA?....they are the only ones that would know for certain.....odd question

 

 

I am a UK cruiser who has booked a cruise for next year through a travel agent.

 

I received the classic drinks package plus 300 USD OBS.

 

Todays offer appears to be drinks package plus second guest goes half price which financially would be much cheaper even without the OBS.

 

It is widely known that US cruisers would be able to take advantage of this price drop but as I am in the UK and have gone through an agent would I?

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Many thanks.

[Wiltonian]

Why wouldn't you just ask your TA?....they are the only ones that would know for certain.....odd question

 

Because few TA's can keep up with Celebrity's policy changes and the variability of responses from different agents at Celebrity. Crowd-sourcing others' experiences can be more accurate.

[dutchclogs]

I was also thinking of rebooking to take advantage of the new offer but it would mean giving up our chosen cabin (Hump) and also we prefer fixed Late Seating in the MDR and now only Select is available so after a lot of debating we decided to stay as we are for the time being.

 

We had a similar situation back in 2012 -- cruise dropped over £400pp, RCI would not reprice. We had two connecting cabins. To rebook meant losing deposit of £150pp and next cruise obc.

 

We were warned no guarantee could get same cabins but could use strategy to request wait list cabin(s) then cancel and rebook. We went for this and retained same cabins. DH took pragmatic view that we ended paying over £700 less for the cruise but I must admit the process did not sit well with me. Can understand you may decide not to go this route. We would not buy a UK next cruise certificate again however.

[dutchclogs]

Just realised that OP booked Celebrity whereas I was taking about Royal Caribbean. Not sure if same booking criteria applies? :o

[Wiltonian]

Just realised that OP booked Celebrity whereas I was taking about Royal Caribbean. Not sure if same booking criteria applies? :o

 

Celebrity UK used to let you re-book under the terms of a new offer, transferring your deposit, as long as you were paying them more money. In 2014 I did just that, upgrading from normal balcony to Aqua for very little when prices dropped.

 

Now, they generally say that new offers only apply to new bookings, and the offers change so often, that prices don't usually change by much during the lifetime of the offer.

 

Stuart

[terrierjohn]

Just saved £600 on our June Baltic cruise, and that's even after losing the old deposit and the free gratuities; and we kept the same cabin.

Edited September 4, 2015 by terrierjohn