Current Flash Sale question

[HardyVA]

The current flash sale is offering 3perks....gratuities for 2, Classic beverage package for 2 and $150pp OBC.  I priced the cruise only and the Flash sale for a veranda cabin on Summit to Bermuda/Charleston, 9 days.  The difference is about $700.  Ordinarily we never get the Beverage package because I don’t drink alcohol and my husband will only have maybe 2 drinks a day.  We usually get the water package and pay for his drinks and our specialty coffee.  

   I’ve read comments here about perks being a rip off, etc and also some that think the perks are great.

in the case I just described, what is your opinion....book cruise only or book with the Flash Sale and pay $700 more?

Edited July 18, 2020 by HardyVA

[DominicAUS]

I did a price comparison to my current held booking with 4 perks. With the 3 perks it’s $1470 cheaper. Even if I upgrade to the premium drinks package and add $300 it’s just under $500 cheaper. Always worth checking and redoing the costs. 

[jagoffee]

I am not familiar with the water package on Celebrity.  If you will normally spend the $300 OBC on items not included with the perks, the numbers would lead you to the right decision.  

[prish]

3 hours ago, DominicAUS said:

I did a price comparison to my current held booking with 4 perks. With the 3 perks it’s $1470 cheaper. Even if I upgrade to the premium drinks package and add $300 it’s just under $500 cheaper. Always worth checking and redoing the costs. 

Are you allowed to reprice an existing booking with the current flash sale? Will see if we can too...

[DominicAUS]

1 hour ago, prish said:

Are you allowed to reprice an existing booking with the current flash sale? Will see if we can too...

100% as long as you’re not after final payment, you can re-price as many times as you like. However you have to go with the new perks etc but in this case I’m ahead. 

[Blue Magic 1959]

Can you reprice if you have booked via a travel agent or is it just if you have booked direct with X ?


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[sanger727]

I disagree with the blanket statement that the perks are a ‘ripoff’. The perk price difference varies and it really depends on what it’s worth to you. If the $700 was for the cabin (not per person), I would do it. You’ll get $550 in value just from the gratuities and OBC. So are only paying $150 for the drink package. Not sure if that sounds like more or less to you than what you planned to spend on the water package and your husbands drinks. But at $17 a day it sounds like a good deal to me.

[DominicAUS]

11 minutes ago, Blue Magic 1959 said:

Can you reprice if you have booked via a travel agent or is it just if you have booked direct with X ?


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I’d certainly check and get them to reprice it and see. I’ve booked mine direct with X and they have said many times that they will reprice at anytime. 
 

good luck with the price adjustment 

[HardyVA]

1 hour ago, sanger727 said:

I disagree with the blanket statement that the perks are a ‘ripoff’. The perk price difference varies and it really depends on what it’s worth to you. If the $700 was for the cabin (not per person), I would do it. You’ll get $550 in value just from the gratuities and OBC. So are only paying $150 for the drink package. Not sure if that sounds like more or less to you than what you planned to spend on the water package and your husbands drinks. But at $17 a day it sounds like a good deal to me.

    That’s what I was thinking, but maybe I’m dense or my math skills are rusty...I’d have to pay gratuities either way...but when you go with the perks aren’t you actually paying for them when you book with the 3 perks?  Does what I’m thinking make sense? It seems like I’m actually paying for the OBC out of my pocket ahead of time?  

    In the past I’ve used the OBC credit for drinks, etc but if It includes the drink package then I guess I could use the OBC towards excursions, etc....

      So I’m  thinking the sale is a deal, not a rip off?

[terrydtx]

9 hours ago, DominicAUS said:

I did a price comparison to my current held booking with 4 perks. With the 3 perks it’s $1470 cheaper. Even if I upgrade to the premium drinks package and add $300 it’s just under $500 cheaper. Always worth checking and redoing the costs. 

I just did a reprice for our next year booked cruises. We booked in early May for our May 2021 Infinity cruise with the 4 perks package and this new 3 perk deal is $987pp more than what we booked for in May. This is no deal for us and we would be fools to rebook. 

[mikkelhansen]

1 hour ago, HardyVA said:

    That’s what I was thinking, but maybe I’m dense or my math skills are rusty...I’d have to pay gratuities either way...but when you go with the perks aren’t you actually paying for them when you book with the 3 perks?  Does what I’m thinking make sense? It seems like I’m actually paying for the OBC out of my pocket ahead of time?  

    In the past I’ve used the OBC credit for drinks, etc but if It includes the drink package then I guess I could use the OBC towards excursions, etc....

      So I’m  thinking the sale is a deal, not a rip off?

All my calculations are for two persons. The current flash sale gives all three perks to ALL guests 1-5 in the stateroom, so if you're travelling with kids or other persons in your stateroom, the savings may be even better!

Gratuities for your stateroom would be 279$ (IIRC 15.50$ per person per day), and you get 300$ OBC for the stateroom. At this point, you already get 579$ worth with the perks. So, for another ~120$ you get the classic beverage package for BOTH you and your wife. That's around 12-18 single drinks' worth, but instead you both get unlimited drinks up to 9$ per drink throughout the cruise. Furthermore, as you noted, you can use your OBC for excursions or onboard purchases instead of using them for beverage purchases and/or daily gratuities.

I'd take the three perks in your situation.

[kochleffel]

29 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I just did a reprice for our next year booked cruises. We booked in early May for our May 2021 Infinity cruise with the 4 perks package and this new 3 perk deal is $987pp more than what we booked for in May. This is no deal for us and we would be fools to rebook. 

 

For my 2022 booking, the flash sale price is $600 more than what I booked not very long ago. I didn't compare perks, because too few of them are of real value to me.

 

[prish]

5 hours ago, DominicAUS said:

100% as long as you’re not after final payment, you can re-price as many times as you like. However you have to go with the new perks etc but in this case I’m ahead. 

Thanks DominicAUS, will ask my TA to reprice the cruise. The price was higher when we tried with the promo which ended on 7/7, but a girl can alway hope...😉

[HardyVA]

I just changed my cruise only to the 3 perk flash sale. 

Thanks everyone for your advice.

[BEAV]

Two more points to consider....

 

1. If before final payment, a TA can reprice your fare. But if repricing lowers your fare, expect the amount of the TA’s perks to drop by a corresponding percentage. 

 

2. When comparing cruise-only rates against fares that include bundled perks, keep in mind the higher bundled fares can result in greater TA perks. Just another consideration to factor in your math calculation that seldom is mentioned in these never-ending discussions. 😉

[Redtravel]

Ripoff?  Stay home and drink. It’s safer, more convenient, and cheaper.  

[HardyVA]

I have never used a TA to book a cruise.

1 hour ago, Redtravel said:

Ripoff?  Stay home and drink. It’s safer, more convenient, and cheaper.  

   You’re right.  I guess I was hoping this would be over by then.  We miss Bermuda.  My husband thinks we should put the money towards a new boat for the lake.  No masks or social distancing needed. 😊

 

 

[DominicAUS]

8 hours ago, prish said:

Thanks DominicAUS, will ask my TA to reprice the cruise. The price was higher when we tried with the promo which ended on 7/7, but a girl can alway hope...😉

Hope it works out. I reprice mine all the time to check if it’s different. Sometimes it works out, sometimes not, but worth always checking. 

[yorky]

I would also agree the perks are not always a rip off, just a case of doing the maths and knowing what you would spend on drinks without the package which for us would be the biggest cost. Adding two perks works out best for us, drinks  and grats on a 14 night cruise would cost us somewhere around £1100 and we save less than that with no perks. Just doing a quick calculation for our next cruise at today’s prices and adding the drinks package as a perk add just over £400 to the price for the two of us, we would have a bill for drinks of around £800 without it so a saving of around £400.

Edited July 19, 2020 by yorky

[jagoffee]

21 hours ago, HardyVA said:

I just changed my cruise only to the 3 perk flash sale. 

Thanks everyone for your advice.

I am glad the numbers worked out for you.  Enjoy.

[Vagabond Knight]

16 hours ago, DominicAUS said:

Hope it works out. I reprice mine all the time to check if it’s different. Sometimes it works out, sometimes not, but worth always checking. 

 

We do as well.  Doesn't hurt to spend a few minutes on math now and then with a possible nice payback.  Of course, you need to figure out what each perk is worth to you.  If you don't drink alcohol and wouldn't have purchased an alcoholic drink plan anyhow, having that as a "perk" doesn't offer much value to you.  We always get the premium drink plan, so we factor that into whether a "sale" that offers perks will save us money or not.  We both work in IT and enjoy getting AWAY from the internet while cruising (we have T-Mobile, so we can do a quick email check in just about every port we visit without incurring data charges).  That means having internet as an included perk doesn't provide much value to us.  Celebrity is smart to offer different combinations of pricing and perks throughout the year, and we're smart to always be re-evaluating right up until that final payment.

[yorky]

17 minutes ago, SunsetPoint said:

 

We do as well.  Doesn't hurt to spend a few minutes on math now and then with a possible nice payback.  Of course, you need to figure out what each perk is worth to you.  If you don't drink alcohol and wouldn't have purchased an alcoholic drink plan anyhow, having that as a "perk" doesn't offer much value to you.  We always get the premium drink plan, so we factor that into whether a "sale" that offers perks will save us money or not.  We both work in IT and enjoy getting AWAY from the internet while cruising (we have T-Mobile, so we can do a quick email check in just about every port we visit without incurring data charges).  That means having internet as an included perk doesn't provide much value to us.  Celebrity is smart to offer different combinations of pricing and perks throughout the year, and we're smart to always be re-evaluating right up until that final payment.

We find the lower priced surf internet works for us and it’s cheaper to purchase that than pay the grats so we go for the two perks worth the most to us, drinks package and grats.