They select vs I select stateroom

[Fishkillbill]

I'm looking at a Summit, 11 day cruise, on June 5, 2019. A Concierge room is $2,649 if I select the room. It's $1,549 if I let them select the room. That is quite a difference. How bad is it if they select?

[rjgdjg]

If you're not picky on room location, then it could work for you. But if you have an issue with noise or motion sickness, you might want to select your own room. - Musing About Cruising

 

[Tourist1292]

Note that the price will drop when it is approaching the departure day. Having them assign a room to you is like booking very late.

[TeaBag]

I have always been happy with what they have selected for me on a guarantee.  If you don't like the selection, you may ask for a change to another cabin, if available and in the same category.  Your savings in this case are significant.

[wrk2cruise]

It's not really that they are giving you a discount for letting them select a room.  In concierge class there are 3 sub categories C3, C2, C1 in increasing order of price generally.  When they select they are selecting the lowest cost stateroom probably a C3.  When you select a "better" room which is probably in the C2 or C1 categories it will show the cost of that sub category.

 

Many other booking sites allow you to select the sub category by price then give you a list of available cabins in that sub catory.

 

What I'm describing is how their website works.  Selecting a GTY Concierge (XC category) is a different story where they will assign you an available cabin, it could be the worst one in the category.

Edited February 19, 2019 by wrk2cruise

[bkbarrym]

 For the price difference grab it! Unless you are really picky. You will likely wind up with a decent cabin deck 7 or higher.

[Pushkin]

I would go back in and do a dummy booking using the $2,649 pp fare (can choose Sail Beyond (3 perks) or 20-20 (2 perks)}.  Total using Sail Beyond is $5,825.

 

NOW, it you do a dummy booking using the $1,549 guarantee rate, you will see that in order to get 2 perks it will cost you $550 pp extra for a total of $4,725.  Still cheaper, but if you want/need the perks, not as good a deal as it first appears.

 

I noticed this when I was looking into a cruise with a "teaser" guarantee rate.  I called Celebrity and they said they are incorporating their "exciting deals" prices into their general website.  No longer can you assume the cabin category prices that appear in a search contain the same perks for oceanview and above.

[mfs2k]

That’s a huge price difference. Usually it’s much less. Let them choose. 

[upwarduk]

You will have to decide if you would be effected by movement if your cabin is in the bow.

As I understand it, you cannot change your cabin if you live in the UK, due to T& C.

[wrk2cruise]

Sorry I added to the confusion here.  OP is talking about GTY categories, recently their had not been enough of a difference for me to take the risk.  But I was also looking at the 5/25 sailing and the X and XC GTY prices are exactly the same and hundreds of dollars less then the standard fare.  But yes they are Exciting Deals and come with no perks.  Their website is very bad with regards to perks.   I wish they would display the fare with some sort of indication of the number of perks provided with the fare.

 

One of the major online TA's new website has a button the the sub category and it gives you a list of all the fare combinations.

 

 

[dkjretired]

1 hour ago, Fishkillbill said:

I'm looking at a Summit, 11 day cruise, on June 5, 2019. A Concierge room is $2,649 if I select the room. It's $1,549 if I let them select the room. That is quite a difference. How bad is it if they select?

 

Sorry but $1100 for an upgrade to Concierge is not worth  it, perks just don’t justify that difference.

Edited February 19, 2019 by dkjretired

[Loracpin2]

24 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Sorry I added to the confusion here.  OP is talking about GTY categories, recently their had not been enough of a difference for me to take the risk.  But I was also looking at the 5/25 sailing and the X and XC GTY prices are exactly the same and hundreds of dollars less then the standard fare.  But yes they are Exciting Deals and come with no perks.  Their website is very bad with regards to perks.   I wish they would display the fare with some sort of indication of the number of perks provided with the fare.

 

One of the major online TA's new website has a button the the sub category and it gives you a list of all the fare combinations.

 

 

 

We have used this same TA since 1999 and can honestly say.... I hate their new site with all these options.   

[Fishkillbill]

Is it better going through an agent?

[Fishkillbill]

Also, we don't need the concierge feature. Just thought there wouldn't be any bad rooms in that category. 

[Fishkillbill]

1 hour ago, Loracpin2 said:

We have used this same TA since 1999 and can honestly say.... I hate their new site with all these options.   

How do you know what TA it is?

[NantahalaCruiser]

20 minutes ago, Fishkillbill said:

How do you know what TA it is?

From the screen shot format

[mfs2k]

36 minutes ago, Fishkillbill said:

How do you know what TA it is?

 

I tried to figure it out looking at various online travel agencies, and couldn't.  I didn't check the biggest ones though.

[Fishkillbill]

20 minutes ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

From the screen shot format

I kinda figured that. Now I have to go try to find what that would be.

Edited February 19, 2019 by Fishkillbill

[NantahalaCruiser]

4 hours ago, Fishkillbill said:

I'm looking at a Summit, 11 day cruise, on June 5, 2019. A Concierge room is $2,649 if I select the room. It's $1,549 if I let them select the room. That is quite a difference. How bad is it if they select?

Currently the worst C3 would be on deck 7 aft - no obstructed views other than looking directly down at the extended balconies of either a C1 or suite cabin on deck 6

 

Hopefully, nothing significantly different after the completion of the edgification ongoing in the current dry dock. Unfortunately, the dry dock will not be completed until after the final payment date for the June 5th cruise. However, the post-edification of the sister ship Millenium made no detrimental changes to the C3s; so that gives some guidance.

 

So I would say go for it. Happy cruising.

Edited February 19, 2019 by NantahalaCruiser

[hiccups]

48 minutes ago, Fishkillbill said:

Is it better going through an agent?

We always use an agent to get some OBC or cash back on our cruise fare.

[hiccups]

2 hours ago, dkjretired said:

 

Sorry but $1100 for an upgrade to Concierge is not worth  it, perks just don’t justify that difference.

Both prices are concierge--the difference is whether OP selects a cabin or lets X select it.

Edited February 19, 2019 by hiccups

[Loracpin2]

1 hour ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

From the screen shot format

Guess you use them too!!!!

 

[wrk2cruise]

Many on here use them,  they are one of the largest online agency and based in NH.  I no longer use them due to fees but used them many times in the past.  I used to use their site to quickly compare prices on many sailings and quickly get category pricing.  New format is harder to dig through.  This is one place where I can find the included port fees (not Taxes and Fees) which my current TA deducts from total cruise price when calculating my 10% OBC perk from him.

 

I just thought it was a great demonstration on how confusing Celebrity's pricing is and how the Celebrity site is horrible given you can't even get a list of cabins in a specific sub category.

[justcrusn]

If you are getting a “guarantee” cabin, take a Concierge. Why? There are no obstructed view concierge or Aqua cabins. We HAVE booked concierge guarantee and got assigned an aqua cabin by the way.

[drakes2]

31 minutes ago, justcrusn said:

If you are getting a “guarantee” cabin, take a Concierge. Why? There are no obstructed view concierge or Aqua cabins. We HAVE booked concierge guarantee and got assigned an aqua cabin by the way.

I always choose a GTY balcony if available as several hundred dollars lower than if X chooses it. Once assigned and in my case it was within 2 hours of booking then changed cabin within the category. Yesterday afternoon noticed they were offering concierge C3 and C2 for less than what I paid for my GTY so was able to get a C2 hump cabin with huge balcony on deck 10.  The price dropped $700 from the previous day.  On Silhouette in March.

Edited February 20, 2019 by drakes2