New "fee" of $14/day on Perks Drink Package to be added?

[villauk]

7 minutes ago, govanguy said:

So, here we around again....those not taking a drinks package in the UK would pay the increased price too?

Dangerous strategy.

 

 

 

Either that or they’ll promote the new offer as a ‘reduced beverage package price - instead of $60 a day, get it for $14’ (obviously converting it to pounds sterling). That way, pax will think they are getting another fantastic offer 🙄. One way or another, you’ll be paying it.

[hcat]

6 hours ago, chamima said:

 

 

Your post reminded me of something.

We are Elite Plus - so get all of the coffees included already.

We also sail in Aqua so when they took away the daily water I didn't care that much because we always had the drink package. Now - if we decide to keep sailing with Celebrity (and right now that's a big IF) we would probably do so without that particular perk so the elimination of the daily water affects us.

(We still get fresh orange juice in Blu in the morning - until they take that away, too)

 

I'll repeat what many of you have said - it isn't just this - it's death by a thousand cuts.

But we can get the water at the  pm Happy Hour...we'll just stock up all we can.

If it's in the metal btls like they have on Edge,  we don"'t drink that anyhow!

[yorky]

53 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

The same for us. As I pointed out above, if you want to continually sail the Caribbean, X are probably more reasonable, but other itineraries are nowhere near a reasonable deal (I’m not taking about last-minute deals here). Presently, we’ve been comparing Greenland itineraries and the difference in price for less days on X is staggering. Last year, we sailed for 14 nights on Princess in the same time period for less than 7 on X. 

 

Regarding the drinks package, I’m quite sure there will be many who in the recent past have taken the beverage package as a perk, in doing so not using their Elite and above loyalty perks, but will not now and just stick with using the HH for alcoholic drinks and the coffee perk (if Elite plus).  They can also bring along their 2 bottles of wine too.

I bet the HH consumption will increase over the coming year. Let’s wait for the, “ We’re reverting back to 3 free drinks during the HH” rather than the present unlimited during the given hours.

 

And Princess is by no means a poor option. The cruise I mentioned is on Sea Princess which we have sailed on in the past along with the sister ship the Dawn Princess. Nice size ships in our view.

[hcat]

57 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

The same for us. As I pointed out above, if you want to continually sail the Caribbean, X are probably more reasonable, but other itineraries are nowhere near a reasonable deal (I’m not taking about last-minute deals here). Presently, we’ve been comparing Greenland itineraries and the difference in price for less days on X is staggering. Last year, we sailed for 14 nights on Princess in the same time period for less than 7 on X. 

 

Regarding the drinks package, I’m quite sure there will be many who in the recent past have taken the beverage package as a perk, in doing so not using their Elite and above loyalty perks, but will not now and just stick with using the HH for alcoholic drinks and the coffee perk (if Elite plus).  They can also bring along their 2 bottles of wine too.

I bet the HH consumption will increase over the coming year. Let’s wait for the, “ We’re reverting back to 3 free drinks during the HH” rather than the present unlimited during the given hours.

Definitely count us in on using the HH as well for water and drinks, soda.

We'll use it til we lose it!

[prish]

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We agree about MSC's YC but have also found many other better options/value then Celebrity.  In the past couple of years we have not only been doing MSC (Yacht Club) but found a fantastic bargain on Seabourn, booked several longer Princess cruises (a much better deal and better itineraries then X) and some HAL cruises.  We are also looking at some Oceania, more Seabourn and perhaps Viking Ocean (tricky to find a good deal on this line).  Currently we will only consider X when we find a fantastic last minute bargain (this happened a few months ago when we booked the Summit).  If LLP thinks we would even consider the more regular pricing for her line, she is going to need to lure us back with quality.  And quality has done nothing but decline under her leadership.  On the other hand, we used to cruise a lot on RCI (our DD was Diamond by age 15) but completely gave up that line (while LLP was a key executive) because it morphed into many things...none of which we liked.  I fear the same thing is now happening with Celebrity.  But the great news is that there is lots of competition in the cruise industry and many other lines worthy of consideration.

 

We have met many cruisers who become "cheerleaders" for a particular cruise line and then tend to stick with that favorite line...even when it undergoes a major decline or other negative changes.  For these folks, they will be happily singing "Nearer my God to Thee" as their favorite line sinks.  But for lots of other folks, they understand that there are many other options and choose to pursue other lines.  Over the years we have seen many lines rise and fall (in terms of quality) and also go bankrupt (or be snatched up because of financial difficulties).  We have also watched the rise of quite a few lines (including the early days of Celebrity when they took over the Chandris brand).  For us, part of the fun is discovering the lines that are on the way up (improving in quality) or at their peak.  Lines on their way down are still OK if we find a bargain or a fantastic itinerary...but otherwise they simply remain part of our past.  And that is where X now fits in our planning.

 

Hank

 

 

 

So Hank, which lines do you think are on the way up, MSC and their YC one of them? I should look at them, also Princess...

[ebtrip]

I agree with all of the above posts. We leave in 3 weeks on the Eclipse.. also have a Caribbean cruise booked for January on the Equinox.  We will be elite plus after these cruises.  Was going to book a June cruise while onboard, but price has gone up almost 2k with no perks since June.  We will wAit to see what other cruises are available..even though we usually only book X, I have done HAl, Azamara, Viking Ocean and Regent in the past few years and if I’m not getting my perks,  I will look for other cruise lines with better price and service.

[Hlitner]

Just now, prish said:

 

So Hank, which lines do you think are on the way up, MSC and their YC one of them? I should look at them, also Princess...

It is a small list if you want to stick to mass market or premium mass market:(.  I will rely on some close family members and put Viking Ocean Cruises on the list.  Other close friends have told us that Oceania has improved.  Princess, a line we have cruised quite often over the past 30 years, went through what I thought was somewhat of a slump in terms or service and quality and we had actually stopped cruising on them for a few years.  But when we again tried them about 6 years ago we were happily surprised and have again put them on our favored list.  But Princess does have a big problem with the too small size of their main theaters...and that is always a big negative.   DW and I enjoy Princess enough that we have been doing quite a few voyages (the most recent last month when we took the Caribbean Princess to Greenland).   There are some things that Princess does better than X....and there are things that X does better then Princess.  But in terms of value, we now rate Princess ahead of X..primarily because of all the price increases on X.

 

MSC is the most interesting cruise line we have used in several decades.  At one time they only marketed to Europeans and primarily used some older tired ships.  But then around 2001 they started building new ships and really made improvements.  Then a few years ago they decided to base a ship (during some months) in Miami and now they are up to 4 ships in Florida/Caribbean.   We have only completely 1 cruise on MSC (21 days on the Divina) and there were pros and cons.  But for us, the pros of the Yacht Club vastly outweighed any negatives and we are looking forward to returning in a couple of months.  MSC does some things their own way.  For example, they have a Production show every night using a relatively large cast of dancers, singers, and acrobats.  This gives them the ability to rotate these entertainers in and out of shows (so they get a night off).  MSC currently does not have any comedy shows since their passengers have various first languages.  So all the shows are about music, dancing, and Cirque de Soleil kind of things.  On our Divina cruise we befriended passengers from Germany, England, Finland, Italy, and Mauritius :).    Will this line continue to make improvements or will they sink into the abyss of mediocrity?  I have no clue but we shall have fun finding out :).  A friend of ours who was a senior officer on HAL (and now works on MSC) is very optimistic.....which is one reason he changed employers to MSC.

 

For those that prefer short (7 day or less) Caribbean cruises we will soon have the addition of Virgin Voyages.  Given the history of the owner, we would expect a quality product and it will be interesting to see how they compete in the busy Caribbean.  It is unlikely we would ever cruise on that line....or at least not until they decide to start longer cruises.  But they are creating their own niche (before they even have sailed one cruise) of higher quality (or so we think)  short cruises.   Anyone who has flown Upper Class on Virgin Air understands that the brand knows how to provide quality.

 

The situation on X really makes me sad, because prior to LLP's reign it had become our favorite cruise line.  We love most of their ship designs (we have yet to go on the Edge), think that Murano is one of the best food venues on the 7 seas, and have always enjoyed the crew.  But the various cut-backs coupled with price increases just do not work for us.  Celebrity is now driving us to book more luxury lines to find the kind of quality we used to have on Celebrity.  I sometimes get the feeling that Celebrity is trying to substitute more booze for just about everything else that should be good on a ship.  We will not give-up on X...but have sure reduced our bookings on that line.

 

Hank

[prish]

Thanks a ton Hank, I always value your opinion and input. We’re not interested in the Caribbean cruises nor the 7 day sailings, except for a couple in Alaska. We mostly do Europe and I will most certainly explore the itineraries offered by Princess and MSC. 

 

We have been happy with Celebrity and sailed almost exclusively with them over the last ten odd years. But now it’s time to look elsewhere...

Edited October 6, 2019 by prish

[blueboro]

There is not much middle ground on MSC...people either love it (typically those in Yacht Club) or they absolutely HATE it.

[Georgeny]

Ah, remember when cruising was a vacation, slow and easy, basically all but drinks, excursions and gratuities included in one simple price? Now the nickel and dime club!

 

Celebrity was once our favorite line, The Zenith our favorite ship. Owned by the Greek Chandris family, X is the Greek letter for C, hence the big X. That was in the 80's, NCL was the Kloster family. Then they all became CORPORATE entities, NCL run by venture capitol or whatever Appollo private equity group for STAR the Chinese Cruise company. Celebrity was bought by RCL, etc etc etc all became PUBLIC companies, making profit for shareholders top priority.

 

This is cruising now. It's business, short and simple. To get a " deal " is meant to be complicated so the they get top dollar. Nothing will sadly change in the future. They all have liabilities in form of loans for new ships etc and must consistently increase margin. This is why packages ( high margin since often under utilized ) and multiple rate scenarios for confusion will exist more and more. 

 

We will be sailing the Anthem for Christmas Holiday sailing as we did last year. This will be second cruise for 2019. In comparison in 2018 was our third cruise. In 2017 Holiday cruise was our 4th cruise of the year. Sadly we were increasing cruises fully intending to spend much of winters at sea in Caribbean. We have met several through the years who were doing that. Now we are looking to rent a winter home in Florida in place of cruising. I believe many other, what we used to describe as " cruiseaholics " are also now curtailing their number of cruises. We don't dine in extra pay restaurants, we buy our drinks as feel we would like a drink. We pay out mandatory gratuity but not a dime more, often cheaper for us than once was. But certainly he server is nowhere near what once was. Not staff fault, the lowering of staff numbers and increasing work load is.

 

So Celebrity and ALL THE OTHER LINES AS WELL, got cha with another up pay, matters not because enough of the people will pay it! 

 

George in NY - still cruising but no longer a cruiseaholic, corporate cured me.

[TeeRick]

18 hours ago, prish said:

 

So Hank, which lines do you think are on the way up, MSC and their YC one of them? I should look at them, also Princess...

There are so many varied opinions on this.  Hank is an experienced cruiser and will have his valid thoughts.  But just look at other cruise line boards here on CC.  All of the same issues as the one's with Celebrity's come up. The cruise industry is very competitive and everybody is following everybody else.  Some will say to the bottom!  In general I think people will put cruise lines they have often sailed with on the "going down list" and cruise lines they have yet to try on the "going up list".  The latter based on comments from cruisers here and rarely personal experience.  There is no magic cruise line that meets everybody's individual needs.  But I agree with Hank that it is fun to try and find one!

[Nymich]

This was a quite thread to read.  I did not see one person say that they are a big drinker or a boozer while on cruises.  If this is true it makes no sense to raise the price.

[bEwAbG]

Even if you were a big booze-hound, the margins they make on these packages are so large that it would not have much of an effect.  This is a cash grab.

[davekathy]

20 minutes ago, Nymich said:

This was a quite thread to read.  I did not see one person say that they are a big drinker or a boozer while on cruises.  If this is true it makes no sense to raise the price.

I'll bet the bean counters will disagree with you. 

[Nymich]

8 minutes ago, davekathy said:

I'll bet the bean counters will disagree with you. 

Good point obviously those counters have spoken.

[Iamcruzin]

On 10/4/2019 at 9:15 AM, Georgia_Peaches said:

NCL is quite nice, actually.  My last three cruises have been with them in their Haven and I dare say their suite product is pretty hard to beat.  Will be on Celebrity in a RS next month and though I'm looking forward to it, part of me will miss some of the things NCL has to offer:

• fantastic thermal suite
• dynamite evening entertainment options
• Outdoor waterfront restaurants and bars on deck 8 (not all ships)

In fact, one of my main goals with our next Celebrity cruise is to determine if I've missed them while I've been gone.

The pp charge that Celebrity is introducing on their BP was just a matter of time.

Haven, being the key word here. The  majority of passengers won’t share the same experience. While Celebrity is bridging the gap more and more towards the NCL and Carnival experience  I feel that I can still have a more upscale experience in a basic room on Celebrity.

Edited October 7, 2019 by Iamcruzin

[Nymich]

28 minutes ago, bEwAbG said:

Even if you were a big booze-hound, the margins they make on these packages are so large that it would not have much of an effect.  This is a cash grab.

"A big booze-hound" I got a good laugh out of that one!"

[mickey89]

21 hours ago, govanguy said:

Am I correct in thinking that this daily charge only applies to US bookings and not bookings made in the UK?

Correct me if I`m misguided

 

 

Celebrity UK confirmed today that the charge will apply to the UK as well.

Their literature will need to change as this side of the pond FREE means free.

 

[hubofhockey]

1 hour ago, Nymich said:

This was a quite thread to read.  I did not see one person say that they are a big drinker or a boozer while on cruises.  If this is true it makes no sense to raise the price.

 

There are people on Celebrity who spend a good amount of times at bars and have a few drinks during the day.  Are you denying that this is a reality?  Also, using a Cruise Critic thread as representative of a typical cruiser may miss the mark as well.

[Wine-O]

1 hour ago, bEwAbG said:

Even if you were a big booze-hound, the margins they make on these packages are so large that it would not have much of an effect.  This is a cash grab.

I certainly agree with that.  🍷

[Nymich]

5 minutes ago, hubofhockey said:

 

There are people on Celebrity who spend a good amount of times at bars and have a few drinks during the day.  Are you denying that this is a reality?  .

Please paste where I denied that people spend a good amount of time in bars and have a few drinks during the day.

[Alushar]

1 hour ago, Nymich said:

This was a quite thread to read.  I did not see one person say that they are a big drinker or a boozer while on cruises.  If this is true it makes no sense to raise the price.

Ok I'll bite lol! i have intended to contribute to this thread several times but have always edited as there a lot of comparisons on prices between a retail onshore price and what Celebrity charge. I do know the 2 mojito's we had in the Lobster Grille & Bar Miami were dearer than Celebrity's.

 

So our first cruise was on NCL Breakway 7 days NY to Bahamas. We didn't have a clue what we were doing. We had an inside room and bought the beverage package which cost more than the cruise as my DW prefers to pay as much as possible up front. We had a great time. I am a bean counter of sorts so I kept tally and we generally passed the daily bp cost late afternoon at their prices!

 

We repeated this on our second cruise, our first on Celebrity, 14 days on eclipse to Canary islands etc. On Celebrity with Cafe Bacio we passed the daily break even mid afternoon due to Cafe Bacio etc! We learnt on this cruise about "perks" and have since always had Classic included and upgraded i still count though! 

 

Woof I'm a booze hound!

[Nymich]

Just now, Alushar said:

 We learnt on this cruise about "perks" and have since always had Classic included and upgraded i still count though! 

 

Woof I'm a booze hound!

LMAO!!!!  The FIRST honest post!

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, Alushar said:

 

Woof I'm a booze hound!

I guess I'm a member of your pack as well.  Now, if I can only find copies of current bar menus from the Edge besides the ones from Eden.

[bengaltiger1]

5 hours ago, mickey89 said:

Celebrity UK confirmed today that the charge will apply to the UK as well.

Their literature will need to change as this side of the pond FREE means free.

 

That’s interesting, because on other social media,  people have posted that Celebrity has confirmed that it does not apply to the UK. As we have no choice in what’s bundled in to the cruise package, the only way I can see this happening is if they have decided to change to the US model of business. The current offer ends on 18/11.