Celebrity is woefully lacking in their website pre-booking info

[nanook21]

Why in the world would anyone want to book on Celebrity for the first time, based on the lack of detailed info on their website?  As regular Regent cruisers, we thought we might want to give Celebrity a try, but it’s impossible to get more precise details like category pricing (specific to each class within the categories), cost of all beverage packages, cost of all WiFi packages, etc?  The only way I can see to get that without bothering my TA is to actually book, as every page I went to wanted my booking number.  I’ve tried searching these forums, to no avail, so I’m starting a new topic on this.  I tried to do a “chat” online with a Celebrity Agent, but was told it wasn’t available.  I’m so put off by the wasted time and effort, that I don’t believe Celebrity will ever be in our future travel plans.   Perhaps someone at Celebrity would care to respond to this oversight.

[cruisestitch]

We feel your pain.  Celebrity’s website is dreadful.  

 

It it does take some getting used to, but all the information you are seeking is actually there without needing to make a booking.  

 

Still, since you have a TA, it is hs or her job to get those answers for you if the website is too frustrating.

 

if you will share what ship and itinerary you are looking at, perhaps some of us can help too.

[jelayne]

Sorry you are having difficulty finding what you are looking for.  I have the same frustration when I look at the websites of cruise lines I’m not familiar with.

 

Information on the beverage packages can be found by going to  Onboard Experiences from the drop down menu.  From there select Eat & Drink and scroll to Explore Bars & Lounges near the bottom of that section you will find the beverage packages with pricing and what is covered.

 

On the web site if you do a mock booking you will see pricing for the 6 major  categories: Suites, Aqua Class, Concierge  Class, Veranda, Oceanview & Inside.  If you select Suites you will see pricing for the different levels of Suites (Penthouse, Royal ,etc). For the remaining categories pricing varies by the location of the cabin, what you see for pricing on the page with the major categories is the lowest price in that category.  Hope that helps and isn’t more confusing🤞.

 

 

[mnocket]

Coming from Regent, I'm guessing that you are interested in a suite?  In many cases suite passengers get certain perks included (beverage package, gratuities, etc.).  It's probably best to work with your TA once you've narrowed it down to a few itineraries.  I'm not a suite traveler, but I'm sure others here can expand on the suite experience.  Do make sure to adjust your expectations as Celebrity will be different than Regent.

Edited August 14, 2019 by mnocket

[nanook21]

Thank you both for this info.  I’ve been quite spoiled with Regent, and their pricing is shown clearly without booking (and is all inclusive). But Regent is getting very very pricey, so I thought I’d look around at alternatives.  We shouldnt have to do a mock booking to get basic information, but I’ll try that.  I did go through the menu to onboard experiences, but the packages only showed minimum pricing with no details.  It’s kind of hard to do a proper comparison with everything all in without the details!  I’ll look a bit harder under that category.  Again, it should be more accessible, if anyone at Celebrity is paying attention.  But thanks for these tips. 🙂

Edited August 14, 2019 by nanook21
To

[nanook21]

add a PS:  we were looking at joining friends on the May 16/20  Silhouette Baltic London round trip.  Not sure it will happen though, so didn’t want to get my TA involved until I had more indo.

[Mum81]

I think the reason that Celebrity don't show the prices for beverage packages, specialty dining, WiFi packages etc, is that they have "dynamic pricing" for these add-ons. Meaning that the price can fluctuate according to the particular cruise.

[nanook21]

11 minutes ago, mnocket said:

Coming from Regent, I'm guessing that you are interested in a suite?  In many cases suite passengers get certain perks included (beverage package, gratuities, etc.).  It's probably best to work with your TA once you've narrowed it down to a few itineraries.  I'm not a suite traveler, but I'm sure others here can expand on the suite experience.  Do make sure to adjust your expectations as Celebrity will be different than Regent.

 

Yep, I’m already figuring that out!  LOL.  Regent has spoiled me for anything else. Oh well. We are actually just looking at a Concierge. 

[nanook21]

2 minutes ago, Mum81 said:

I think the reason that Celebrity don't show the prices for beverage packages, specialty dining, WiFi packages etc, is that they have "dynamic pricing" for these add-ons. Meaning that the price can fluctuate according to the particular cruise.

 

OK, that makes sense.  I’ll try a dummy booking to see what I can find out.

[jelayne]

7 minutes ago, Mum81 said:

I think the reason that Celebrity don't show the prices for beverage packages, specialty dining, WiFi packages etc, is that they have "dynamic pricing" for these add-ons. Meaning that the price can fluctuate according to the particular cruise.

 

That is incorrect.  Royal Caribbean has dynamic pricing not Celebrity.  The price of the  Premium Alcohol Beverage package is $69 per person per day plus 20% gratuity regardless of the ship or itinerary. The Classic Alcohol is $59 pp per day plus the 20% gratuity.  There are occasion sales but no dynamic pricing. Same for specialty restaurants and wi-fi

Edited August 14, 2019 by jelayne

[jelayne]

Nanook, if you are looking at booking a Suite then most times booking a suite includes the Premium beverage package, Prepaid Gratuity, Unlimited W-iFi and $300 On board credit.  Your TA can tell you if these are included in the fare for the cruise you are considering.

[nanook21]

My friend’s TA gave me pricing for a Veranda (but we would upgrade), and her “amenities” included those items, but she priced out the difference from no amenities at all to all 3 as an extra $2000. I thought that was rather excessive, so I was trying to determine what it would cost on our own.  My own TA would give us OBC gratis usually, so I assume that having it in an amenities package means we are paying for it, so not free at all.  I’m trying to get a handle on how Celebrity works so we can make a decision.

[hcat]

 

It can be confusing but we are used to it..... it will never be perfect.

 

We booked  a suite  for the first time and  were happy to learn  our offer came with Premium Alc, On Bd Credit, wifi and  grats..,..and a Refundable deposit..which is  something for which  Regent may  not offer a price differential ( refundable vs unrefundable)  Having it all together in one pruce made it easy...

 

The Cruise Planner reps are fairly patient if you give them a call with some idea of what you are looking for...

[nanook21]

I’m going to try a mock booking for a suite just to see what comes with it.  Thanks for all the info, people.  BTW,  all of Regent bookings are fully refundable, including air, up to date of final payment except for a small fee of $100pp and any air deviation charges ($200), if applicable.

[Tracyi]

Hi nanook21

We are booked on the May 16/20 Baltic cruise, but we booked on board and are in the Uk, so I think the deals differ.

Looking at the celebrity website from the Uk, this is what they currently offer if booked before 28/8 in an Ocean View and above, this would include Concierge: They quote the gratuities at $15 per person per day in Concierge. 

Hope this helps in some way to give you an idea.

Tracy

• A free Classic Drinks Package (worth up to £750pp)* which includes a large selection of beer, wine and cocktails as well as spirits such as Absolut, Gordon's, Bomaby Dry, Captain Morgan's and Monkey Shoulder
• Gratuities included for the 1st/2nd guest in your stateroom or suite*
• Up to $200 to spend onboard per stateroom*
• Plus, 50% off the cruise fare for 3rd/4th guests in the same stateroom or suite*

[jelayne]

I checked and see a Norwegian Fjords sailing on May 9, 2020 on the Silhouette

the price for a Sky Suite is $9327 for 2.  That price includes taxes, port fees, the Premium Beverage Package, Unlimited Wi-Fi, Prepaid Gratuities and $300 OBC. 

A Celebrity Suite is $11,307 with the inclusions.

Hope this give you a good idea  of pricing.

Our TA gives us OBC and on this cruise it would be in the range of  $800-900 an is refundable

 

Edited August 14, 2019 by jelayne

[PTC DAWG]

Really unrealistic to compare an all inclusive luxury line to Celebrity...there are differences in prices and other things for a reason.

 

I encourage you to give Celebrity a shot, with realistic expectations. 

Edited August 14, 2019 by PTC DAWG

[nanook21]

9 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Really unrealistic to compare an all inclusive luxury line to Celebrity...there are differences in prices and other things for a reason.

 

I encourage you to give Celebrity a shot, with realistic expectations. 

 

You don’t say.  Of course I know that!  But I want to know what the value per $ is, thanks very much. 

[Mum81]

3 hours ago, jelayne said:

 

That is incorrect.  Royal Caribbean has dynamic pricing not Celebrity.  The price of the  Premium Alcohol Beverage package is $69 per person per day plus 20% gratuity regardless of the ship or itinerary. The Classic Alcohol is $59 pp per day plus the 20% gratuity.  There are occasion sales but no dynamic pricing. Same for specialty restaurants and wi-fi

That's interesting, because the specialty dining prices are inflated for our upcoming cruise on the Solstice. 

[jelayne]

15 minutes ago, Mum81 said:

That's interesting, because the specialty dining prices are inflated for our upcoming cruise on the Solstice. 

That interesting, in our 27 cruises the prices have been consistent with of course the exception of prices out of Southampton or Australia where currency conversion and fees and mandatory gratuities on drinks, Spa etc  must be included in the published price.  

 

Out if curiosity what is the price of dinner in Murano or Tuscan?    My cruise planners thru 2021 all show $50 pp for Murano & $45 for Tuscan.  Sailing are out if US, Asia and Europe.

[PTC DAWG]

3 hours ago, nanook21 said:

 

You don’t say.  Of course I know that!  But I want to know what the value per $ is, thanks very much. 

Good luck going forward...

[Glendakayself]

Celebrity also changes prices and amenities with each promotion they offer. We re-check our pricing daily, and often find price drops. However, sometimes the perks change with the drops.

 

We recently found a nice price drop on our 2020 cruise which had originally included two perks, but no perks were included in the new price. However, it had a two-perk and four-perk package. The two-perk package was cheaper than the cost of the perks we had selected, so we left the perks in place for now and received a $400 price reduction. On our October cruise, they offered one perk with a non-refundable deposit for a few days. The non-refundable option was $1200 less than the refundable, and we were a month from final payment. We have insurance, so it was a no-brainier to change to the non-refundable and drop one perk.

 

It sometimes feels like we are playing a game.

 

PS, if you do cancel with a non-refundable deposit, you can transfer the deposit to another cruise and only lose $100.  The airfare can be booked on a buy-now, pay-later basis, meaning you do not have to pay for the air fare until final payment and can change to a lower price or better flight until that date.

[nanook21]

Thanks for all the info, appreciate all posters good tips. I discovered that I can do a partial mock booking to get the actual price quote without having to put our info into the system, and on a Concierge we had perk options of 2 or 4.  Or I could do the 2 with an add-on of pre-paid gratuities ($406).  I believe, from what I’ve read, that the beverage packages and Unlimited Internet are the most expensive of all the options, so those would be the ones I’d choose. On the 4-perk package, the beverage pkge is Premium rather than Classic so that may be a good choice.  I don’t really care about the $150 OBC extra, but it’s part of the 4-pack.  It’s correct that the suites have the perks included, but I found even the Sky suite pricing way too high - over double that of the highest Veranda and almost double over a Concierge.   That’s getting up into Regent territory!  😉 LOL

[Glendakayself]

28 minutes ago, nanook21 said:

Thanks for all the info, appreciate all posters good tips. I discovered that I can do a partial mock booking to get the actual price quote without having to put our info into the system, and on a Concierge we had perk options of 2 or 4.  Or I could do the 2 with an add-on of pre-paid gratuities ($406).  I believe, from what I’ve read, that the beverage packages and Unlimited Internet are the most expensive of all the options, so those would be the ones I’d choose. On the 4-perk package, the beverage pkge is Premium rather than Classic so that may be a good choice.  I don’t really care about the $150 OBC extra, but it’s part of the 4-pack.  It’s correct that the suites have the perks included, but I found even the Sky suite pricing way too high - over double that of the highest Veranda and almost double over a Concierge.   That’s getting up into Regent territory!  😉 LOL

 

Price it without the perks. You might find it is less expensive to pay for the perks yourself. You have to do the math to know which is the best deal. And then keep re-pricing to see if you can get a better deal after you book. You can change the pricing/perks up until final payment date. Happy cruising!

[nanook21]

Agreed, I tried to do just that, but couldn’t get a definitive answer on the Internet packages.  Is it per person or per room, and what is the difference between Surf package and unlimited. Anyone know how to find that.?