Stay with Interior, or upgrade to Ocean View?

[Aralim]

I'm booked on the Aug 2, 2020 Iceland & Greenland sailing from NJ to Dublin on Summit, currently in a pair of OV cabins dead center on deck 7 (two of the new cabins put in place of the acupuncture clinic). But since booking, Celebrity has bucked the norm and started offering the selection of 2 perks with OV or higher cabins.

 

Part of why I booked the pair of interiors was simply to minimize the cost as much as possible and leave room in the budget for the number of excursions I know we'll want to do on this. But now that the perks are being offered, I'm really debating moving to a pair of OV cabins so we can get the internet and pre-paid gratuities for my kids' cabin, and probably the Classic Package and internet for my wife and me in our cabin (even though my wife can't drink alcohol, she can at least get all the non-alcoholic options).

 

Just going by the numbers, it should be a win for us -- bumping up to OV should set us back somewhere around $2,500 with my TA, but the above package choices work out to a total of $3,503.36:

• $1,148 for 4 single-device internet packages
• $1,949.36 for two drink packages
• $406 for the pre-paid gratuities.

 

So financially, it's a no-brainer. But I'm torn about moving from deck 7 mid-ship to deck 3 aft -- Cabins 3140 and 3142 are still available, and those are part of the starboard cabins with the largest windows; I feel like if I'm going OV, those are the ones I should go for so I have the best views possible. But I haven't stayed that low in a ship before, and I can't forget that YouTube video of Anthem caught in a really bad storm with the water going well above the deck 3 windows as the ship was tossed about. A rare situation, I know, but I'm paranoid that way. 😅

 

I'm also prone to motion sickness, as are my kids, and I have concerns that while the cabins aren't all the way aft, they are still somewhat aft and we might feel the "motion in the ocean" more than we would in our current dead-center-of-the-ship interiors.

 

Can anyone who's stayed in those cabins comment on the experience, mainly in terms of how much you felt the movement of the ship, if you felt at all isolated in that location, and if you agree it's worth the upgrade? Any real disadvantage if I ended up in an OV with one of the small portholes?

 

The perks offer ends today, so I'm hoping to get some feedback in the next couple of hours. Meanwhile, will be emailing my TA for a quote.

 

Thanks!

[wrk2cruise]

I was going to suggest that they are adding additional rooms on the Port side with similar windows.  I was surprised to see that they are almost all booked.  Although the rooms you identified are fairly far aft (by the aft elevators) being on the lower deck minimizes the movement in the event of rough seas.  I would think you would be fine.   Good luck with your deliberations.

[Tourist1292]

You still have plenty of time for upgrade and you should wait for better deals. The perks are factored in the price anyway. Don't look at them at the face value of individual packages. Some travel agent can book the room without the perks at a lower price. For my 7 night cruise in May, I can get all 4 perks for a net cost of around $1000 in many classes of cabins which has a total package value of $1673 for a 7 night cruise which is a deeper discount than your calculation. This does not take into account the potential price drop of the room before your cruise. Once you paid a higher price, you will have less options to upgrade and save money.

[Gonzo70]

I think you are inflating the true value of the "perks." The value is not the retail value, but the value you actually receive from them. For example, a family of four can purchase two internet packages for half the price you quoted and share the two packages; it just means that more than two of you cannot be logged on simultaneously. If your wife doesn't drink alcohol, unlikely the classic beverage package is really worth $1,000 to you; if you don't receive the package, was she really planning on spending $1,000 on non alcoholic drinks?

 

That said, while the perks are not as valuable as your figures, there is value in having a window. Some natural light is nice as well as the view. I actually prefer being on as low a deck as possible if in an Oceanview room as the waves look a lot cooler from that close than from a higher deck.

 

Northern crossings are more likely than southern crossings to encounter choppy seas, so that is also something to consider. The lower deck helps, but if you cannot be midship - that works against you if prone to seasickness.

 

Definitely pros and cons to staying put and saving $$$ and being midship versus upgrading. With your cruise still being far out, I personally would stay put for now, and see if I can upgrade later on for less $$$ than it is currently. It might not happen, but if you are content possibly staying put with your original rooms, I'd roll the dice and see if you can score a better deal.

[Tourist1292]

By the way, the perks offer comes all the time. It will be replaced by the new offer after one expires. I have seen a few rounds of that in the last few months and only thing changed was the room price itself.

[Aralim]

11 minutes ago, Tourist1292 said:

The perks are factored in the price anyway. Don't look at them at the face value of individual packages. Some travel agent can book the room without the perks at a lower price.

 

This is the big thing -- my TA gave us the inside cabins at a significantly reduced price over the Celebrity site. Just got the quote for OV upgrade with perks from him, and he's basically removing all discounts / charging the site price. Makes the bump about $1,000 higher than I was expecting.

 

9 minutes ago, Gonzo70 said:

I think you are inflating the true value of the "perks." The value is not the retail value, but the value you actually receive from them. For example, a family of four can purchase two internet packages for half the price you quoted and share the two packages; it just means that more than two of you cannot be logged on simultaneously. If your wife doesn't drink alcohol, unlikely the classic beverage package is really worth $1,000 to you; if you don't receive the package, was she really planning on spending $1,000 on non alcoholic drinks?

 

Yes, I do realize this (same point made by @Tourist1292). I was originally planning to wait on a Cruise Planner sale and pick up a 4-device internet package for us to use, plus the Premium non-alcoholic beverage package for all four of us, and then just bring my allowed 4 bottles of wine for the two cabins; any other alcoholic beverages would just be paid a la carte. I just don't have any experience yet with Celebrity vs. Royal to know what a "good discounted price" will be for those, so I was going to do like I do on Royal; wait for a price I'm OK with (definitely not the current prices, at least for Internet), buy it, and then cancel / re-buy if the price drops more. 😁

 

8 minutes ago, Tourist1292 said:

By the way, the perks offer comes all the time. It will be replaced by the new offer after one expires. I have seen a few rounds of that in the last few months and only thing changed was the room price itself.

 

This particular sailing is technically considered a transatlantic / repositioning cruise, at least up until the last month or two, and as such these perks haven't been offered before. Speculation is that the pricing is so darned high that the line is feeling they need to offer the perks to get more people to book at the current rates. But I won't be surprised if the perks to get offered again if the prices stay so elevated. I'm stunned by anyone who books a CC or higher cabin at this point, the prices on those are going through the roof! 🤑

 

In any event, I do think I'm going to hold off for now. With the larger-than-expected price bump, that really cuts into the value proposition.

[Tourist1292]

For your reference, I can add 2 perks for $500 on my 7 night cruise or 4 perks for around $1000 after all the incentives. I consider those to be the actual cost of the perks. I booked without perks originally as only one out of our group of 6 actually like to drink. I ended up with a room upgrade from 1A to C2 with 2 perks added and paid $240 more per room due to the price drop. Without adding the 2 perks, the current price for C2 is even lower than my original 1A booking. So for that $240 I paid, I got $350 OBC, $25 gift card from my TA, and two classic beverage packages besides the room upgrade. So that is a real money saving upgrade and that usually happens after final payment.

Edited March 6, 2019 by Tourist1292