All inclusive

[miched]

On 11/11/2020 at 7:02 PM, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

If Zenith's are kicked out of Michael's/Retreat, then what would be the point of becoming Zenith?  Oh sure, you get a free cruise in some lower level balcony cabin (if that's your thing) and laundry, but that's all that's left.

 
In  the last 20 years I have been in a few  loyalty programs and learned not to chase after the points or status.   It is basically a pyramid and always results in the same outcome.   Those that are there first benefit the most and then eventually the bubble bursts because there are too many at the top.  

 

Like many  that are sailing on X we are Elite Plus.   With the promos of perks being offered for a cruise or booking a suite with all the perks the benefits are almost useless except for the laundry or internet minutes if you don’t  have that perk.   
 

Being Zenith isn’t in our range and not chasing after it, by the time we reach it 30 to 50% of the passengers will also be there.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[miched]

On 11/11/2020 at 9:28 PM, finchy1950 said:

Totally agree - can you imagine trying to get a reservation in a Specialty Restaurant if everyone on board had a free dinner included

  
25 years ago we stayed in our first all inclusive resort.   They had a specialty restaurant that we could dine in once for our stay.   We were there for a week.  You had to make reservations.   We tried to book a reservation when we arrived and they were booked up for the week we were there and the earliest was. 4 days after our stay.   

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, miched said:

  
25 years ago we stayed in our first all inclusive resort.   They had a specialty restaurant that we could dine in once for our stay.   We were there for a week.  You had to make reservations.   We tried to book a reservation when we arrived and they were booked up for the week we were there and the earliest was. 4 days after our stay.   

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Exactly why I plan ahead.  Just like I do for my retirement.

[Iamcruzin]

49 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

 

Well, that is different, and a change then.

I guess you can say it's the same program with an upgrade to serve the current excursion situation

[ipeeinthepool]

16 hours ago, ChucktownSteve said:

Because Celebrity's prices have gone through the roof, other premium lines are beginning to look more appealing for the money.

 

I am confident that market forces will bring Celebrity prices down to be in-line with Princess for the non-suite guests.  The travel agents will be offering both Princess and Celebrity at much different prices with very little difference in itineraries or on-board experience.  Most people are going to select princess at the much lower price.  We just need to give this a little time to sort itself out.  Until then we likely will need to book after final payment is due.

 

I'm not exactly sure where the suite prices will end up.  They are trying to sell the ship within a ship concept, but I don't think it will work.  I think the person that really wants the luxury experience will feel that the Celebrity ships are too large and will prefer the smaller ship atmosphere of the true luxury lines.  

[ORV]

10 hours ago, miched said:

  
25 years ago we stayed in our first all inclusive resort.   They had a specialty restaurant that we could dine in once for our stay.   We were there for a week.  You had to make reservations.   We tried to book a reservation when we arrived and they were booked up for the week we were there and the earliest was. 4 days after our stay.   

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

That's just poor management, and not a place I'd go back to. They should not have more customers than capacity for the specialty, or they need more specialty restaurants. 

[TeeRick]

10 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Exactly why I plan ahead.  Just like I do for my retirement.

Funny I spent years planning everything for my retirement.  But I did not plan for a pandemic.😟

[ChucktownSteve]

On 11/11/2020 at 9:28 PM, finchy1950 said:

Totally agree - can you imagine trying to get a reservation in a Specialty Restaurant if everyone on board had a free dinner included

 

Oceania does it with their specialty restaurants.  They don't seem to have problems. Each cabin category is given their own number of reservations with more for the concierge and higher cats.  Lower categories can request additional reservations based upon availability.  Of course Oceania ships are smaller then the edge class.  They are the O and R class.

[emmas gran]

18 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Funny I spent years planning everything for my retirement.  But I did not plan for a pandemic.😟

Funnily enough we didn’t plan, my husband had seen so many colleagues have a plan/plans that didn’t work. We are very comfortable and live as we want

 

Liz

[ChucktownSteve]

11 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Exactly why I plan ahead.  Just like I do for my retirement.

 

Many people die before they can implement their retirement plan.  But you already knew that I'm sure.

[Orator]

14 minutes ago, ChucktownSteve said:

 

Many people die before they can implement their retirement plan.  But you already knew that I'm sure.

"Man plans; God laughs."

[kathynorth]

14 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

Yes that's what I was saying.  People of that age group are busy spending their money on other things.  In my opinion the people mid 50's and older will always have the most disposable income for travel.

 

I see your point. Disposable income in general and disposable income for travel are quite different. I know people in their 30's and 40's who are single and travel quite a bit, but those I know with families not so much. Once we hit our 50's and our kids were out of the house we found travel to be a priority for our extra dollars. 

[TeaBag]

We were doing wonderfully here in BC and they eased things up.  Now the number of cases is doubling every 13 days.

[LGW59]

7 hours ago, ChucktownSteve said:

 

Many people die before they can implement their retirement plan.  But you already knew that I'm sure.

Hmmmm, wishful thinking on your part????

[miched]

20 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Exactly why I plan ahead.  Just like I do for my retirement.

 The problem was you had to do it in person while at the resort and we tried to make it the day we arrived.   We were put on a waiting list and are still waiting.

 

Sometimes benefits are offered that cannot ever be useful on purpose.   
 

 

[LGW59]

21 minutes ago, miched said:

 The problem was you had to do it in person while at the resort and we tried to make it the day we arrived.   We were put on a waiting list and are still waiting.

 

Sometimes benefits are offered that cannot ever be useful on purpose.   
 

 

Well that is true, I call it smoke and mirrors!

[villauk]

On 11/13/2020 at 4:51 PM, kathynorth said:

 

I see your point. Disposable income in general and disposable income for travel are quite different. I know people in their 30's and 40's who are single and travel quite a bit, but those I know with families not so much. Once we hit our 50's and our kids were out of the house we found travel to be a priority for our extra dollars. 

 

Luckily, we did cruise with our family too because as we hit our 50s, became empty-nesters ready to do more cruising, a pandemic hit - best made plans and all that.

[gerelmx]

New Zealand and Australia have the new price scheme online, only NRD  😞

[Velvetwater]

The UK has it now too maybe?Or they are changing the site as I type?

 

We are 30 mins away from November the 17th here.

 

When I went to do a price check for a few cruises it gave me the original no perk price but as soon as I clicked book the 'cheapest price' (No Perks) or best value (choose 2) they were the same price. Whichever one I clicked lead me to the same page of choosing 2 of the 3 perks. The only price I could pay was the perks price.

 

Price hasn't changed from the original with 2 perks price from before.

 

Edit: You can now click on add 3 perks on a different part of the form and all are included and the same price as before.

 

So if I booked now I would get a better deal due to the internet being added free

 

Edited November 16, 2020 by Velvetwater

[ECCruise]

On 11/13/2020 at 10:30 AM, ChucktownSteve said:

 

Many people die before they can implement their retirement plan.  But you already knew that I'm sure.

Yep.

That is why we lived far below our means, retired at the age of 44, 26 years ago and have been able to fully enjoy that retirement. 

[Velvetwater]

1 hour ago, Velvetwater said:

The UK has it now too maybe?Or they are changing the site as I type?

 

We are 30 mins away from November the 17th here.

 

When I went to do a price check for a few cruises it gave me the original no perk price but as soon as I clicked book the 'cheapest price' (No Perks) or best value (choose 2) they were the same price. Whichever one I clicked lead me to the same page of choosing 2 of the 3 perks. The only price I could pay was the perks price.

 

Price hasn't changed from the original with 2 perks price from before.

 

Edit: You can now click on add 3 perks on a different part of the form and all are included and the same price as before.

 

So if I booked now I would get a better deal due to the internet being added free

 

 

No clue whats going on now as the price is the same but all perks have gone and its charging me gratuities.

 

Eh well, we weren't going to book yet anyway due to the cdc thing.

[rachiem]

Just priced my Jan 2022 cruise. We paid £3400 when we booked in May with 1 perk (drinks) and now the price is £5538. At the booking stage you can pay more to have upgraded perks, ie premium drinks and streaming wifi. 

I can't see an option to remove the drinks, so I can't see people who don't drink alcohol being attracted to this pricing strategy?

Edited November 17, 2020 by rachiem

[jojo1966]

ive been watching pricing on a panama canal cruise for 2022 - kicking myself as the price a month or so ago was down at £5,700 for 2 - including drinks - after the free drinks promotion ended it went up to £7,000 with 2 perks and this weekend it was showing at £7,500 with 2 perks -  today with the new pricing its still £7,500 but with the standard always included 3 perks so hasnt actually gone up with the addition of that extra perk - still nearly 2 grand more than it was with just drinks though...grrrrr

 

[mikkelhansen]

Always Included is now live on the US website.

The booking flow has been changed a bit as well:

-Chose ship and date, number of stateroom and passengers (like before)

-Choose stateroom category and stateroom # (like before)

-Choose any upgrade packages; Elevate/Indulge (like choosing 2/4 perks before)

-Choose Refundable Deposit as an add-on option (our 7-day night cruise is 90$pp, so a very uneven per-day amount of 12.86$pp), ie. NRD is now default!. Also choose travel insurance and dining time (like before)

-Summary page

 

A very quick comparison on our April 2, 2022 Apex sailing; yesterday for a 1B stateroom with four perks was ~5100USD as NRD, today with Always Included (in other words just without the 300$ OBC) it's 4450USD as NRD. Gross savings of 350$ (taking the 300$ OBC out of the calculation). Doesn't seem like an awful deal to me, given the terms and bookable options. Admitted, some would have preferred to pay even less and go without perks at all, but as I said; given the terms of the new pricing scheme, it's an overall saving for a new booking on our specific sailing.

"Your results may vary".

 

Our price after L&S'ing from a 2021 Apex sailing is MUCH lower than the above, but this is just a day-to-day comparison under the two different price schemes.

[mikkelhansen]

Group rates with travel agents, with or without perks, still seem to be available, but perhaps only for existing groups?

Edited November 17, 2020 by mikkelhansen