Xmas cruise, Cheapest X cruise I have EVER booked, AND got NO promotions!!

[dodger1964]

I didn't even know it was possible to book a Celebrity cruise with out booking with the "big/better/best" promotions.

 

I booked, using a large TA, on Silhouette for Christmas this year.

 

When I inquired about the price they told me there are "two options", one was the basic, "opaque" rate, and the other was the typical rate that would have the promotions tied to it.

 

My question, does that mean I got some kind of a "group rate" using the TA, or is it possible to book that way directly with X. (not that I would ever do that)...I couldn't find any way to book that way on X's website.

 

This particular cruise we got guaranteed balcony for less than I have ever paid before for ANY X cruise we have taken in the past.

 

The TA gave us prepaid gratuities(for either rate we would have chosen), so if we would have booked the higher rate, we would have only been able to chose the free drinks and $300 OBC promotions (ignoring the internet option).

 

It would have cost us $556 more to book the "better" promotion (big was unavailable because current "promotion" gives you "better" for same price), so in essence we would have got back $300 of that in OBC and the remaining $256 was what the drink package would cost.

 

The way I figured, since we are elite plus (free coffee and happy hour), and don't spend much money on board to use up OBC, it was a real easy decision.

[perditax]

I noticed the box store is also offering promo-free low rates. The math didn't work for because I "need" the obc, but it was interesting.

[wallie5446]

On the web site we have always had a tab that says 'see if there are other options' or something like that. It would give us the Tx resident discount with no BBB option.

[eandj]

We did very well also without the BBB pricing. Depends on the agent and their availibility. We got a group rate. Always good to shop around and compare especially with this new pricing.

Edited October 13, 2015 by eandj

[The_Big_M]

It doesn't apply to all cruises, but there are a number of rates that are not BBB. Starting with the straightforward insides, TAs, then there are guarantees and a number of other discounted.

[dodger1964]

I guess it was just and FYI to anyone that didn't know there were other options besides just going to X's website and booking. I'm not sure if I would have called X if they would have offered the same "non promotion" price or if they would have just quoted the promotional rates they show on the website.

[bzv143]

We used a TA and were offered a Suite Guarantee on a Christmas cruise for a sweet price, way lower than what was on other sites or on X. No perks but $400 obc, so we are happy campers. 2 days after booking, the guarantee disappeared, as well as all the suite cabins. We got in while the getting was good! Also, even though it stated we would not know our cabin until boarding, X already gave us our suite number. HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!