Celebrity Cruises Introduces Upgrade Program for Loyal Cruisers

[DWhit]

Free upgrades are wonderful, but paid upgrades may not be so great. It really depends on how much you have to pay to get the upgrade as to whether it is worth anything. If you have to pay last minute prices, it could be an extremely high cost.

 

I've been wait listed on another line for a small suite, and it eventually came through, right before the cruise. The only problem was the price offered was extremely high. It was three or four times what a person would have paid if they booked any reasonable time ahead. So I turned it down.

[Hlitner]

We see it as somewhat of a marketing con! :(. In the past, Celebrity has been pretty generous with upgrades which are generally offered at no additional cost. So now, Celebrity is offering a new "benefit" of giving Captain's Club members a chance to pay more for upgrades which may have been free in the past. It sounds like X is taking a page out of HAL's playbook since HAL has been actively offering "upsells" for years.

 

Hank

[casper106]

I got the email too. To me it's a lot of smoke and mirrors. I would imagine that now that the final payment for the winter cruises is upon us,there have been lots of cancellations. We had 2 bookings for this upcoming season but with the lower Canadian dollar we cancelled them before the final payment. We may book at a later date or even consider a different cruise line. The prices are better on both Princess and HAL so it may be a good opportunity to give them a try.

 

If it sounds to good to be true,then it probably is. A longtime professional travel agent pointed out to me that the rise in prices in the past 18 months reflects the so-called freebies. Nothing is really free. JMO

[FranD]

I guess in my old age my rose colored glasses are getting foggy but at first glance this seems to be a disguised death blow to the Upgrade Fairy. Along the lines of "have I got a deal for you...". Still love Celebrity tho! Cheers.

[cybx]

We see it as somewhat of a marketing con! :(. In the past, Celebrity has been pretty generous with upgrades which are generally offered at no additional cost. So now, Celebrity is offering a new "benefit" of giving Captain's Club members a chance to pay more for upgrades which may have been free in the past. It sounds like X is taking a page out of HAL's playbook since HAL has been actively offering "upsells" for years.

 

Hank

Who says they still won't offer a free upgrade if rooms are available? I can hardly blame them for trying to sell out their available inventory. If there is still space available at the time of sailing they could still do a free upgrade.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I imagine the email went to everyone on their mailing list, I doubt their systems have the ability to search passenger booking behaviors to remove those that already book suites - and of course, they have no crystal ball to predict whether or not you will book suites in the future.

 

Do you always book the highest category available? If not, perhaps you could upgrade from the RS to the Penthouse?

 

And regarding flights & first class upgrades - quite often, airlines offer upgrades at the gate for a nominal fee. The past two times I've flown first class it was by taking advantage of such offers before boarding. Same concept that X is rolling out.

 

Unless you always book the top suite on the ship (we don't), it sounds as though the email offer still applies to you and me and other suite-purchasers, assuming a higher suite category is open.

 

Holland America has been doing this kind of up-selling by email offer for years.

 

Next sailing (Connie) is an RS, the Equinox and Solstice are both PH.

 

I'm sure it will work out well for plenty of cruisers. :)

 

Tom

[excitedofharpenden]

We see it as somewhat of a marketing con! :(. In the past, Celebrity has been pretty generous with upgrades which are generally offered at no additional cost. So now, Celebrity is offering a new "benefit" of giving Captain's Club members a chance to pay more for upgrades which may have been free in the past. It sounds like X is taking a page out of HAL's playbook since HAL has been actively offering "upsells" for years.

 

Hank

 

I disagree. I don't think they are very generous. I've never been upgraded. I'd much rather have an opportunity of upgrading at a reduced price than hoping for one for free that never seems to happen.

 

Phil

Edited November 4, 2015 by excitedofharpenden

[purpletequila]

The upgrades are not a FREE upgrade - you have to pay - and the offer to do so will be emailed to you. I'm not sure how they will decided who gets an email.

 

I'm curious how they will select who gets the offer as well. Wonder if we'll ever find out.

[cybx]

Our next =X= cruise, in March 2016, was booked by our TA, but I received the email today. In fact, I received it twice, so I'm on the mailing list twice I guess. Hope that doubles my chances for an upgrade! :)

What was the offer?

[Fouremco]

I'm curious how they will select who gets the offer as well. Wonder if we'll ever find out.

I suspect that the invitation will be extended to everyone who is booked one category lower than the vacancy they are trying to fill. When people move up, creating vacancies at that lower level, then the passengers below will receive an offer, gradually shuffling people upwards. I doubt that they'll include multi-level jumps.

[Fouremco]

What was the offer?

Sorry, I meant the email talking about the program, not an actual upgrade offer. :o

[BEAV]

I don't think they are very generous. I've never been upgraded. I'd much rather have an opportunity of upgrading at a reduced price than hoping for one for free that never seems to happen.

 

Phil

 

Same here. I'm Elite Plus and have never been upgraded (not that I was expecting to be). I would welcome the opportunity to receive an upgrade offer that I can make the decision to accept or not.

 

Back in the 2003-2007 time frame (give or take a year or two), we frequently secured reduced-rate upgrades at embarkation on =X=. I see this new program as basically the same thing, only now they'll be doing it farther in advance, which IMO makes better business sense.

Edited November 4, 2015 by BEAV

[TommyD3]

I'm curious how they will select who gets the offer as well. Wonder if we'll ever find out.

 

Hopefully they will be offered to Zenith members first. Out of 110 Celebrity cruises I have only received 2 or three free upgrades.

Also 45 days out sounds WAY too long before the cruise. Most Exciting Deal offers are that far out!!! Seems like a week or two before would make more sense. That is when I had to wait till when negotiating for a paid upgrade with Lee a couple of years ago

[maggie.1008]

I agree. We are Elite Plus and have never received an upgrade. I would like the option to upgrade to a suite for a decent price.

[cle-guy]

Did =X= only offer your friend the upgrade to S2, or other, higher category suites as well? With Princess, I was given two upgrade offers into two different full suite categories.

 

He was offered upgrade to S2, was not given other options. As I said inventory was moving a lot that day, it's possible it was the only one available at the time of the call, but it was the lowest category available at the start of the day for sure.

[hcat]

Seems to be a "buy up" offer not a feebie.....not anything we'd go for... we like the cabins we choose early on... and only switch rarely if there's a defect.

 

Sounds like folks will be asked to pay for the upgraded cabin, at a discount, and then they will resell your original cabin at a higher last minute price to fill the ships. Each new idea makes Celebrity sound more and more like Royal Carib style.

 

We had one Royal cruise where the entire roll call discussion went on and on for months about whether or not someone did or would get the coveted upgrade call. This went on even during a pre cruise get together dinner the evening before the cruise...sure enough one of them had just gotten the call...so that dominated the conversation...nice folks but boring topic. Most of them were Diamond Plus so this was supposedly a common expectation....now it'll likely be on Celebrity as well if this catches on...

 

Improve the product not the PR!

[tangerinebunny]

We were offered a paid upsell last December on the Silhouette and again this July on Solstice. So they've been doing them.

 

But by offering them to Captain's Club members, they avoid the oft hear complaint that they're offered to first time cruisers and not loyal members.

 

btw, one offer came about a week out, the other a day before we sailed.

Edited November 4, 2015 by tangerinebunny

[bhughey]

Hopefully they will be offered to Zenith members first. Out of 110 Celebrity cruises I have only received 2 or three free upgrades.

Also 45 days out sounds WAY too long before the cruise. Most Exciting Deal offers are that far out!!! Seems like a week or two before would make more sense. That is when I had to wait till when negotiating for a paid upgrade with Lee a couple of years ago

 

Well, the info reads "within 45 days" so I imagine they are giving themselves a bit of a window. It also seems to me that upgrades for a "fee" will be about as random as upgrades from the "fairy". Who understands/knows the method to the madness?? Only the execs at X, I am sure.

Edited November 4, 2015 by bhughey

[Jane2357]

It will be interesting to see how the program operates. We could start a sticky where people can post after they receive the offer & compete the deal. They could let us know what cabin class they were in and what class they were offered, the price and their CC level (if they cared to divulge). We would quickly get an idea of how it was working.

 

I'm in the camp that will guess that it is not be based on CC level but on the open cabins a level above you. I'd doubt a person in a regular veranda cabin is offered a suite - more likely offer a suite to Aqua or Concierge and the balcony gets offered a move to the Aqua or Concierge. Just my humble guess. :D It will be fun to watch! :D

[hcat]

And I'm sure this will all work quite well with their current IT set up....can barely get cruisepass info entered let alone boarding passes .....bet dining assigments will also be easy to follow!

 

Guess the ships are not as full as we think....also seeing extra perks offered on certain sailings..you can book big but maybe do better!!

[cle-guy]

We see it as somewhat of a marketing con! :(. In the past, Celebrity has been pretty generous with upgrades which are generally offered at no additional cost. So now, Celebrity is offering a new "benefit" of giving Captain's Club members a chance to pay more for upgrades which may have been free in the past. It sounds like X is taking a page out of HAL's playbook since HAL has been actively offering "upsells" for years.

 

Hank

 

It's really following how many Airlines now work.

 

United used to upgrade folks way in advance based on status, nowadays, even when 1st class is open, they don't fill it with free upgrades (upgrading just a few but still leaving open seats for sale/upgrade by fee), instead selling upgrades right up until boarding, and then last minute moving people up to first when they have lost the ability to sell.

 

I can't blame a business for wanting to sell its product rather than give it away. On the flip side, I've been able to score some great 1st class airfares using the paid upgrade scheme rather than buying full fare tickets or losing out on a hoped for free upgrade since seats got full before upgrades applied. With heavy cruise luggage often it's nearly the same as if I flew coach and paid the $100 per bag overweight fees.

 

I do see it as a benefit in that now Captain's Club Members get first dibs, and it's no longer an open call to anyone cruising. With 60% of PAX being new and not Captains Club members, that has tightened up the pool of possible upgraders, if even for a fee. In my friend's case, his A2 was $3398 plus taxes for 2 when he booked last November and the S2 was selling for $7698 plus taxes for 2 when he got the upgrade offer for $500, so he saved $3800 versus paying for the next category, and kept his all-in 123 perks as well.

 

And now there are free upgraded opportunities for insides to get verandas, not so much verandas to get suites.

[dodger1964]

We were offered a paid upsell last December on the Silhouette and again this July on Solstice. So they've been doing them.

 

But by offering them to Captain's Club members, they avoid the oft hear complaint that they're offered to first time cruisers and not loyal members.

 

btw, one offer came about a week out, the other a day before we sailed.

 

How much did they want for the upgrade?

[richsea]

We see it as somewhat of a marketing con! :(. In the past, Celebrity has been pretty generous with upgrades which are generally offered at no additional cost. So now, Celebrity is offering a new "benefit" of giving Captain's Club members a chance to pay more for upgrades which may have been free in the past. It sounds like X is taking a page out of HAL's playbook since HAL has been actively offering "upsells" for years.

 

Hank

 

Celebrity has been generous with free upgrades??? We have booked 28 Celebrity cruises and have never been upgraded.

[wrk2cruise]

I think they are formalizing something they have been doing for the last 18 months or so. I was lucky to get an upsell call on the one booking I have ever made directly with Celebrity. I generally use a large on-line agency.

 

I had a balcony GTY which I booked with the Xciting deals and had been assigned a great 1A cabin. The upgrade upsell offer was for a sky suite, royal suite and penthouse suite at various (non-trivial) prices. We took the Royal Suite and were very happy with the upgrade even though the additional cost to upgrade was more than the original GTY booking.

[Jane2357]

I think they are formalizing something they have been doing for the last 18 months or so. I was lucky to get an upsell call on the one booking I have ever made directly with Celebrity. I generally use a large on-line agency.

 

I had a balcony GTY which I booked with the Xciting deals and had been assigned a great 1A cabin. The upgrade upsell offer was for a sky suite, royal suite and penthouse suite at various (non-trivial) prices. We took the Royal Suite and were very happy with the upgrade even though the additional cost to upgrade was more than the original GTY booking.

 

Very exciting and can you share your Captain Club level? No pressure - lol.