Prices Too High

[Bo1953]

Ha...DI is in almost every port...pushed heavily by Cruiselines...esp Cekeb and Royal C..The port guides handouts used to have much better maps, info about the ports...history, culture, geography, etc. Now all about shopping in their "preferred"stores...

 

 

hc - Thank you for the info, I, apparently, have been oblivious to these shops being pushed.

 

In most cases I have tours or other places to go upon docking or tendering, so looking around at the stores in port just pass me by until I have to board the ship and there is time, I might look around.

 

I go to the 'tourist traps' outside the dock area where there are more interesting things to look at...

 

I will be on the lookout for DI on our next cruise in the Caribbean, for sure, not enter but look through the windows.. LOL

 

bon voyage

[hvbaskey]

I am looking forward to October 2 when this promo ENDS!

 

Me too! I did an internet search of price fluctuations of Celebrity Cruise pre-promotion and promotion. The prices were 25% less pre-promotion for most sailings.

 

Now, after this promotion ends, there will be a "sale" when the prices come back down by 25%.

 

Google is a wonderful tool during so called "sales".

 

Heather

[richsea]

Why on these threads are there posters who feel the need to state the obvious - that Celebrity is a business and they are in the business to make money. Do we not all know that??? That isn't the point. No one really needs to be educated about what a business is.

 

The point is that many believe that what they are charging these days is out of line with the product being offered. I am one of them, although I search for good deals and also sometimes will book anyway just because I prefer Celebrity to other non-luxury lines. We all know full well that if they can fill ships at those price points they will continue. That doesn't mean we have to like it, or that we haven't noticed that the 'sales' aren't really sales - just more creative and obtuse ways of pricing. Like all businesses they will suck as much money out of their customers as they can. Make other vacation choices? Of course we can, and often do. But if you want to cruise, and cannot afford a luxury line, then you pick the best of what you can afford. For us that remains Celebrity, but the price increases are significant and noticeable - especially the last couple of years.

 

Well stated, & oh so true.

 

Are there still good deals to be found?...absolutely; & if you don't mind inside cabins, the deals are ultra cheap. But the vast majority of cruisers would rather sail in a balcony room, that is why they are the most prevalent rooms.

 

The point is that the normal cost of a room has been much higher than in the past, particularly since the advent of convoluted "sales" & included perks, that are not really sales & will continue to be so until people decide that the value is no longer there, & seek alternatives.

 

We have always preferred booking well in advance, but now are waiting until the last minute before deciding, if only to keep costs to what they used to be.

[ISABELLA]

For some Holiday sailings there are good deals, but cost of airfare is just a much as cost of the cruise.

I think I will try in the future to pick a few cruises, watch pricing, buy air first and then book after final payment - majority of cruises will have some sort of deals, if cabin location is not an issue.

Edited September 22, 2016 by ISABELLA

[Wine-O]

For some Holiday sailings there are good deals, but cost of airfare is just a much as cost of the cruise.

I think I will try in the future to pick a few cruises, watch pricing, buy air first and then book after final payment - majority of cruises will have some sort of deals, if cabin location is not an issue.

 

Choice Air has some very reasonable deals. For example, I checked on a TA leaving out of Barcelona this October. Flights from JFK and Newark were as low as $313.

[Gishua_]

Head over to Princess cruises. We love them as well. Especially the Regal and Royal. They are having a good sale right now.

[villauk]

If you can do inside: $229 FL resident and Senior rate for October 23rd 4 day Bahama cruise. There are bargains out there if you are willing to compromise.

 

Willing to compromise and could do the inside. Unfortunately, I'm not a FL resident, not a senior and to fly for 4 days across the pond would be pointless :D. I'm sure my time will come ;).

[ChucktownSteve]

What category of AQ were you in? Was it a newer AQ! on the top deck?

 

CruisingChick - What about you? What category staterooms had all the problems?

 

We cruise out on the Summit in a little over a week. :(

 

rkaratsu - Sounds like you did get a good deal! For this same cruise, (we booked back in March of 2015), we booked an A1 for $3099pp before taxes and port. Includes Beverage, Gratuity and $300 OBC.

 

We were on the Summit in August in an A1 facing aft deck 11. We lost all power to our cabin. Then just the bathroom. Then the bathroom light would flicker about 16 times before it would come on. The electrician said that was normal. So I suppose that is the new normal.

 

Also twice the toilet would not flush but they shortly thereafter fixed the system.

 

Here's a picture of our balcony.

 

We did still have a very good cruise. But you'll have to decide for yourself after your cruise.

Edited September 22, 2016 by ChucktownSteve

[AuntMom]

Deals can still be had, you just have to continue to check for price reductions right up until final payment. Here is our story....Please note: All in CDN dollars, therefore 30% exchange rate :-(

 

14 Night Exotic Southern Caribbean Cruise (Nov 27-Dec 11, 2016)

 

Feb 2016 - Initial Booking: $5,736.00 CDN (2 people, not pp) (GTY Balcony, 2 perks, $300 OBC)

July 2016 - 1st Price Reduction $5,164.00 CDN (same perks)

Aug 2016 - 2nd and final Price Reduction $4,226.34 CDN (Assigned 1B Deluxe Veranda, 2 Perks AND $715.00 USD OBC).

 

(The comparison in USD would be approximately $3,251 for two people or $1,625 pp)

 

In addition to our cruise savings, I checked on a daily basis for reasonable airfare through Choice Air. We were able to snag roundtrip airfare from Toronto to Miami, direct flights, for $411 CDN per person. At one point airfare alone was going to cost us almost $600.00 per person.

 

So the moral of the story.....there are still great deals to be had, you just have to put some work into finding the deals. Continue to look online for price reductions, extra perks and airfare sales.

 

Our total price, including airfare is $5,048.34 CDN. Due to the $715 OBC no additional money will be spent on excursions, specialty dining, etc., everything is covered.

 

We have always enjoyed our time on a Celebrity ship. Lucky, maybe.

[Mynki]

I think this is why it's good to have a few favorite cruise lines. When one doesn't have the itinerary we want, we go to the other cruise line. When one is too expensive, we go to the other cruise line.

 

Sensible advice indeed. The marketing people at X know all too well that there are many people who are slaves to their loyalty programme. We introduced six different friends and family members to Celebrity this year. Four of them are booked on all three sailings in my sig as they've caught the cruising bug.

 

That's great, but sadly they don't want to sail with another line until they reach Elite status. that just seems crazy to me. Three of their two week sailings will be in AQ and one in an SS suite, so they'll have spent around £9,000 ($11,700) just to get a few free drinks when they could have saved thousands if they were open to using other lines!

[Mynki]

B2B2B on Celebrity Millennium... 4 nights on 5 October $179pp... 7 nights on 9 October $309pp... 14 nights on 16 October $824pp... a total of 25 nights for $1312pp :cool:

 

B2B on Celebrity Infinity... 12 nights on 25 September $719pp... 16 nights on October 7 $799pp... a total of 28 nights for $1518pp

 

Celebrity Equinox... 13 nights on October 25th... for $695pp :)

 

Celebrity Eclipse... 15 nights on October 29th... for $905pp

 

Celebrity Constellation... 14 nights on November 14th... for $705pp

 

Celebrity Infinity... 14 nights on December 9th... for $689pp. :D

 

I almost NEVER seem to have any trouble finding PLENTY of great deals... it took less than three minutes to find ALL of these.

 

There are LOTS more on Princess and RCCL as well. ;)

 

Anyone can find them easily enough online. But the thing is "great deals" are subjective. An inside cabin is not attractive to us. In fact I'd liken an inside cabin on a long TA or TP to a prison cell and in those instances Celebrity would have to pay me to use up my vacation time spending lots of days at sea in a tiny room with no window. So yes, I appreciate the value in the costs for food and accommodation etc, but to me cruising should be a fun, luxury experience and the prices you've quoted don't equate to that for me personally so to other that feel the same as me your point is a little moot. Don't take that the wrong way. :)

[Mynki]

hc - Thank you for the info, I, apparently, have been oblivious to these shops being pushed.

 

 

Diamonds International, Tanzanite International and Emeralds International...

 

All to be avoided like the plague. The prices are inflated artificially for the dumb tourists who believe the BS spouted by the sales people on the ship who work for the shops and not actually Celebrity!

 

Another thing that I dislike about these places is that if you just pop in for a look the staff are on you before you've even peered into the first case.

 

You're lucky if you've never seen them! :D

[lysolqn]

I noticed X's prices inching up with the introduction of drink packages and later with the introduction of perk options and perk bundling - 1-2-3-Go, Pick One, Pick Two, Pick Three Perks, etc.. There is no such thing as a free perk - if they're giving it to you, you and your fellow pax (many of whom are not opting for any perks and/or packages) are paying for it in increased cruise fares. That said, there are still good deals to be had but you may have to search harder to find them and be a bit more flexible to take advantage of them. Even with higher fares, IMHO cruising remains a great vacation at a reasonable price - some cruises being a bit more or less reasonable than others.

[rockdoctor]

We have not traveled on Celebrity for several years now. Their cruises are in such demand that they seem to be able to charge whatever they want. It is a shame. They are our favorite cruise line.

[Iamthesea]

We do mostly Insides or Oceanviews Cabins. On this past cruise there were at least 2 staterooms on deck 3 (both Oceanview Cabins) that had such bad leaks they had to remove the carpets and use dehumidifers and turn the water off for a few hours to fix the problem. Luckily our cabin wasn't affected but we walked by the cabins that were.

 

I kept waiting for our toilet to stop flushing on this trip, but luckily we did not have that problem this time around.

 

ChucktownSteve

We were on the Summit in August in an A1 facing aft deck 11. We lost all power to our cabin. Then just the bathroom. Then the bathroom light would flicker about 16 times before it would come on. The electrician said that was normal. So I suppose that is the new normal.

 

Also twice the toilet would not flush but they shortly thereafter fixed the system.

 

We did still have a very good cruise. But you'll have to decide for yourself after your cruise.

 

I guess it doesn't matter which part of the ship on is on. It is not unusual to have a toilet problem on any ship. We had trouble in a Suite.

[ChucktownSteve]

I guess it doesn't matter which part of the ship on is on. It is not unusual to have a toilet problem on any ship. We had trouble in a Suite.

 

Actually I believe it was either the whole system or a large section of the ship. Not just our area.

[4774Papa]

We love Celebrity, but now seem only to go with unbundled transatlantics coupled with a land trip on one end.

 

We recently booked two RCI cruises out of Sydney that were less than half the Celebrity prices for one and the other about 25 percent lower. The Celebrity include the beverage packages that we don't find that beneficial, since we are elite and enjoy the happy hour and don't drink that much more on a cruise. One was to NZ the other a transpacific.

[buggins0402]

I have circled South America for Febraury 2018. February is a great travel month for us. The "Rio Carnival" Infinity cruise is particularly interesting, but the pricing is really steep. Granted being in Rio for Carnival does carry a premium, I'm just wondering how much. For a lot less I could book an around the horn on Princess in a Mini suite, with free perks. Or, I could book a Neptune a bit later on HAL (which would cause some grief at work though because it really runs over a month end.)

 

Or, if we could suffer the winter until mid March, I could book a low cabin on Oceania and hope my wonderful Oceania specialist TA could do her usual tricks and get us the upgrade offers...and I'd have enough money left over for a quickie trip earlier in the winter for another short get away.

 

I really thought I found it with that Rio Carnival Infinity cruise when I saw it yesterday, because the dates were so good. But, I'm really having second thoughts. After reading some Celebrity threads about how the product has deteriorated since we last sailed it, we'd probably have to book an Aqua to get the cruise experience up to even close to the standard we've become accustomed on Oceania.

[ptrpanpens]

Not to push Azamara but they have some great deals right now. I just booked a single occupancy veranda midship on next year's 16 night TA in April on Quest for $1,000 less than a concierge cabin on a 14 night TA on Silhouette around the same time.

 

And it includes the beverage package as well as free gratuities, plus double points earned on both Azamara and Celebrity, some free internet and laundry. Free upgrade from Inside to Veranda. I just hope I don't get too spoiled! Lol

 

This is a very interesting itinerary sailing from Miami to Barcelona, not the same old, same old Celebrity TA itinerary.

[deliver42]

I agree the prices are high, but not compared to other lines. I'm booked on a 7 night on the Equinox for march, 2018 that was less than RCCL, Princess, and NCL. I was also looking at a 11 night on the Reflection that was about $700.00 less than Princess, and X had a better itinerary. Unfortunately, still too much for my blood.

[ladylemondrop]

I thought it was just me, we have done a handful of Celebrity cruises, and I was looking at next year, but I could not believe how expensive it is, and have come to the conclusion we cannot justify or afford it at the moment. Shame.

[oneputt18]

Prices have crept up, but they had also dropped because of the economy. Some look online for prices and don't know how to bypass the perks.

Found a 7 night caribbean in December on the Refection for $2,073.04.

Thats for two people in a Verandah all taxes and port fees included. I don't think that is expensive.

[ChucktownSteve]

I consider anything in the $50-$100/pp/night range not expensive.

Edited September 23, 2016 by ChucktownSteve

[CruisingChick]

I consider anything in the $50-$100/pp/night range not expensive.

 

That would be a great price. Our last cruise was $130 pp per night for an Inside Gurantee Cabin - NO PERKS. It was higher than we wanted to pay but we paid. At least we were assigned an Oceanview Cabin Category 6.

 

Still would rather have paid $100 pp per night and gotten an inside but what can you do. And for those of you who say $30 is not that big a deal..... x 2 x 14 is $840. It adds up.

[Iamcruzin]

Diamonds International, Tanzanite International and Emeralds International...

 

All to be avoided like the plague. The prices are inflated artificially for the dumb tourists who believe the BS spouted by the sales people on the ship who work for the shops and not actually Celebrity!

 

Another thing that I dislike about these places is that if you just pop in for a look the staff are on you before you've even peered into the first case.

 

You're lucky if you've never seen them! :D

 

I will also add that they raise the prices when cruise ships are in port. They know that you are there for just a few hours and will no doubt make a hasty uneducated purchase. I will never forget what our tour guide said on one of our tours. He said," You don't have to worry about sharks in the water when there is a cruise ship in port. We take them out of the water and put them in the jewelry stores".