New Promo $25.00 deposits

[Cruise Junky]

1 hour ago, wrk2cruise said:

What I was saying is I don't think their system is setup to automatically give you the reduced deposit.  You have to override the system by selecting "Other" and entering $25 x number of passengers.  This is what I received for booking in the US so you may need to call your local office.

 

If it were me booking here, I would put what I wanted on 24hr hold then call and complete the booking on the phone.

I was prepared to do that but when the final page came up it said $50 deposit. 

[Lastdance]

Okay...I had a cruise already booked and sent it to my big box TA.  If I change to a non-refundable booking, under this new promo, which does not change my booking date, I receive all four perks.  I am in a SV and on Edge for a May cruise in Europe/2020.  Since I booked insurance for only my deposit of 900(usually I add to my policy as time proceeds) I would be able to recoup my deposit for a covered reason or 75% if for any reason.  Right now I have the Classic Bev package and 450 OBC, but do think receiving all four perks sounds quite enticing.  So, just wondering what I should do, but l am really giving this a lot of thought... Any opinions to share?  A 25 fee would make me have to rebook altogether and not help at all, so that is useless...conundrum or not?

Edited January 18, 2019 by Lastdance

[GottaKnowWhen]

I booked a non-refundable cruise today. I was confused so I called my Celebrity Vacation Planner. I could do $25 deposit. Fewer perks. I could do non- refundable , get more perks. Including$150 OBC. The non-refundable $900 deposit actually is reusable with a $100/pp change fee. So, I gain $150 OBC, lose potentially $200 if I need to change. Seems a fair risk to me.

[MisterBill99]

10 hours ago, Baron Barracuda said:

First they offer 3 percs, and now $25 deposits for the next 7 days even on Edge?  Sounds like parent Royal is desperate to fix a soft future bookings number ahead of next week's earnings release.    

 

Edge is currently offering all 4 perks on all categories except insides. Fine print says "Cruise must be booked 01/17/19 – 01/23/19. Offer applies to select Celebrity Edge cruises departing 05/01/19 – 12/31/19." 

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/cruise-deals/special-event-cruise-offer

 

The $25 deposit also applies.

 

My TA currently has a promo with 3 perks with a refundable deposit and the $25 deposit was combinable with that. The really big 6 letter online TA has a promo with 3 perks and a non-refundable deposit (their prices did seem to be lower since I guess they had groups and I don't want to do NR). I do not see the $25 deposit offer on their site.

 

Someone in another thread reported booking onboard today and was not offered the $25 deposit. So it seems like it was not planned far in advance.

 

Agree it seems like a desperation move. But I'm not complaining.

[ghstudio]

Celebrity/RCL knows that with low refundable deposits, many (including us) will double book and overbook....but a) they can talk about strong advance bookings at stockholder meetings and b) cabins disappear from inventory allowing them to (hopefully) raise prices after the "sale" because when folks go to book, they only find few cabins still available.

 

The winners are those who book cruises they may want to take....the losers are those who wait, unless they wait until just before final payment when all the duplicate/just in case bookings get cancelled or buy after final payment is due.

[cruiserchuck]

I just received an email offer from a big online TA for a $1 deposit deal on Celebrity.  However, the pricing is higher than when I looked at the same cruise yesterday.

[NemoCrownie]

An FYI about the $100 MLK OBC; I have a B2B cruise booked for 2021 and repriced it a couple weeks ago as the fare had gone down a little and the 2nd perk is being offered for refundable deposits.  I called today for a status update on errors to one of the bookings and asked about the $100 MLK OBC offer and it was added to both bookings without having to cancel and rebook.  Note: the price has not changed for either of my cruises but I was told that to receive the additional OBC the cruise would be repriced at current fare so this may only be beneficial to those that have recently booked and bookings for late 2020 and 2021 bookings.

[CEOofVacation]

6 hours ago, NemoCrownie said:

An FYI about the $100 MLK OBC; I have a B2B cruise booked for 2021 and repriced it a couple weeks ago as the fare had gone down a little and the 2nd perk is being offered for refundable deposits.  I called today for a status update on errors to one of the bookings and asked about the $100 MLK OBC offer and it was added to both bookings without having to cancel and rebook.  Note: the price has not changed for either of my cruises but I was told that to receive the additional OBC the cruise would be repriced at current fare so this may only be beneficial to those that have recently booked and bookings for late 2020 and 2021 bookings.

Do you know if the $100 OBC is stackable with FCC OBC?  

[wrk2cruise]

Here is a link to the promo including the terms and conditions.  Generally Celebrity doesn't allow more than 2 promos on a reservation.  If you have GoXXX and Onboard booking OBC I'm not sure if they would allow this one as well.

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Special_Offers/CEL_2019_MLK_Holiday_25Deposits_100OBC_Sail_Event.pdf

[KarlGermany]

Well, all these offers LOOK good, however, from my experience with such „future cruise“ bookings: you may end up paying some of these additional perks on your own, as the basic price for the cruise within the offer period is substantially higher than outside the offer period.

we bought onboard vouchers for a future cruise, with a low downpayment and the promise to get additional perks and onboard credit, as long as we book for 2020/21before year end 2018. LOOKED like an unbeatable offer, so we let them talk us into bookings even for 2021. it took them only up to the first week in January to reduce the price for those future cruise by a couple of hundred dollars per person.

so basically, we paid for a substantial part of the perks and onboard credit on our own by a higher price for the stateroom.

when we complaint about this, all what Celebrity said was: well, prices do change regularly.

 

dont get me wrong, we still got a good rate taking all perks into account, however the real offer was not as good as promised compared to the „real“ price and with that reduction we would most likely not have booked so early. Ok, we are allowed to cancel and seems we will get everything refunded. So no real harm, however still a sad feeling of being ripped over the table just to increase number of future bookings (May be in order to make the figures for the stockholders more shiny)

all together some lessons learned:

- not all offers are really good, a better offer may come just next week

- onboard sales are mainly good for the salesperson and the cruiseline

- celebrity seems to care (as. any companies) mainly for their shareholders not so much for their customers

[nursemommy7578]

On 1/17/2019 at 3:17 PM, Sascol said:

I never really understood the draw of a low deposit - all it really means is more to pay later.  Personally, I prefer to get as much out of the way up front as I can.  One way or another, you're going to have to shell it out.

  

for us we hate shelling out $2000 up front!!  so $100 is a steal!  yes, we know we are still paying the entire amount...but we like having the extra time to do so.  We got the perks and OBC with our booking...Im a very happy lady!!

[bermadu22]

On ‎1‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 5:38 PM, Jim_Iain said:

Can come in very handy if you have a huge price drop after early final payment (89-57 Days period) when the cancellation penalty is only the Deposit.   I did it once and gave up the $25pp deposit and gained a $1,000 discount by rebooking.

We actually called and upgraded from a S1 to another more desirable S1 with a larger balcony and huge bathroom that wasn't available when we initially booked. The second cabin was also $400 more pp, but there was no charge to upgrade, and we kept our original 4 perks. So we're pretty happy right now😁

[gkbiiii]

Here is what i was able to do, with a possible booking on the Celebrity website.  Note that Transatlantics, don't get any benefits or the $25 pp refundable deposit.  This refundable $50 cabin deposit, is so much better than the $900 non-refundable, which is now the norm. 

This is the Edge 9 night cruise, to the Southern Caribbean: 

Deluxe Ocean View

First Guest

$1,869.00

Second Guest

$1,869.00

Discount

-$200.00

Packages

2-Perks Package

Complimentary

• $150 per Person to Spend Onboard
• Classic Beverage Package for 2

Dining

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner (Excludes specialty dining)

Complimentary

Main Dining Time - Anytime Dining

Taxes & Fees

Taxes, Fees, and Port Expenses

$273.58

---

Trip Total

$3,811.58 USD

Edited January 19, 2019 by gkbiiii

[LucasLounger1]

We booked a Transatlantic yesterday with $25 deposit and got $100 onboard credit.  

 

Glad to get the cabin we wanted without being out $960CAD at this time.

[gkbiiii]

Congrats, I could not get that to work.

[LucasLounger1]

My sister did as well for same itinerary.

[Marelaine]

On 1/17/2019 at 6:02 PM, Muffinz said:

I am confused - I got the e-mail about the $25 deposits and clicked on 'view sailings' I scrolled down to find a cruise I liked and went to make a mock booking and got to the end and it said deposit payable $800... This was just for a standard verandah stateroom and I tried this with 3 different itineraries and all said $800 deposit.... I don't get it

 

They had the same offer last year when I booked my upcoming cruise. I couldn't make it work by booking on line. I called my vacation planner at Celebrity and he was able to book with the $25/pp deposit. I was glad I called because he found a few other little discounts.

 

[Fouremco]

DW and I have been contemplating a 10-day 2020 Hawaiian cruise for the last little while, and the $25 deposit decided it. We get the classic beverage package, paid gratuities, $100 OBC plus the Big Box TA's $425 cash card. We're happy.

[Marelaine]

3 hours ago, Marelaine said:

They had the same offer last year when I booked my upcoming cruise. I couldn't make it work by booking on line. I called my vacation planner at Celebrity and he was able to book with the $25/pp deposit. I was glad I called because he found a few other little discounts.

 

 

@Muffinz  I should have done my booking before I responded. 

I just booked on line at a $25/each person deposit. The $25 works with the refundable deposit and 2 perks, which is what I chose.

The other choice was a non-refundable deposit with 3 perks and you pay the regular deposit at booking.  I'm sorry for any confusion. 
 

[MisterBill99]

4 hours ago, Marelaine said:

I just booked on line at a $25/each person deposit. The $25 works with the refundable deposit and 2 perks, which is what I chose.

The other choice was a non-refundable deposit with 3 perks and you pay the regular deposit at booking.  I'm sorry for any confusion. 
 

 

I'm not sure how she did it, but my TA ended up booking the 3 perks non-refundable fare with $25 deposit. I'm not thrilled since her agency had the 3 perks refundable fare and that's what I wanted, but it ended up $50 less per person than the posted fare AND I got the extra $100 OBC (did not show on the confirmation but it says I have $400 OBC when I open the Cruise Planner), so it seems like a good deal. I wasn't doing non-refundable with the full deposit.

 

The confirmation also says a $900 deposit is required but she said that because it says "Booked" on the top, it is good.

Edited January 20, 2019 by MisterBill99

[Marelaine]

1 hour ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

I'm not sure how she did it, but my TA ended up booking the 3 perks non-refundable fare with $25 deposit. I'm not thrilled since her agency had the 3 perks refundable fare and that's what I wanted, but it ended up $50 less per person than the posted fare AND I got the extra $100 OBC (did not show on the confirmation but it says I have $400 OBC when I open the Cruise Planner), so it seems like a good deal. I wasn't doing non-refundable with the full deposit.

 

The confirmation also says a $900 deposit is required but she said that because it says "Booked" on the top, it is good.

Interesting. Perhaps the TA threw in a third perk.  I may try transferring the booking tomorrow. 

When I booked the last cruise with  $25 deposit, I had that message about the $900 deposit being due, but my Celebrity Vacation Planner never asked for it. I paid the full amount (-the $50) a week before final payment was due.

[MisterBill99]

1 hour ago, Marelaine said:

Interesting. Perhaps the TA threw in a third perk.  I may try transferring the booking tomorrow. 

When I booked the last cruise with  $25 deposit, I had that message about the $900 deposit being due, but my Celebrity Vacation Planner never asked for it. I paid the full amount (-the $50) a week before final payment was due.

 

No, it was the non-refundable deposit 3 perks feature. This line is in my confirmation: "BEVOBCGRATS NRD". I was SUPPOSED to get the refundable 3 perks feature that her agency was offering. Sadly, that offer is now gone from their website so I can't tell her to fix it. I did end up with a fare $50 less per person than I expected and a extra $50 OBC per person, so I guess I am OK, but I am confused how she got the $25 deposit to work with the NR perks.

Edited January 20, 2019 by MisterBill99