Amenities

[C-Dragons]

1 hour ago, RICCruisers said:

I find it interesting that the limited time discount being offered to CC members is for new cruises that are booked by 1/31/21 but are only valid on cruises from 7/1/21 through 12/31/21. Does anyone see the July 1st date as an indication about when X feels cruising will either be somewhat back to normal or possibly a new start date. We already know that March 1st is their current start date. Could April, May and June also likely be cancelled soon?

 

Imo, X is trying to fill available inventory. That's why they are offering the discounted airfare from May through October 2021 on specific sailings.

[p18750]

It appears the Always included drinks and free internet greatly reduces the value of Elite and Elite Plus tiers. Is that the case or am I misreading the Always Included fares?

[p18750]

My wife and I have debated Celebrity vs Viking Ocean cruises for the past few years and stayed with Celebrity because as E+ we got the benefits of Viking with the price of Celebrity. We are not drinkers but make great use of the Internet minutes and laundry. So we will take a much harder look at Viking Ocean cruises since the price is more comparable and we get approx the same benefits on both even with no status on Viking. 

For cruisers like us I think Celebrity has made a mistake as they are likely to lose us to Viking but every business has to make their own decisions just like every consumer must make their own decisions. 

[cantstopingcruising]

So many Celebrity cruisers are  opting  for Viking.

 

I am wondering why they choose Viking over Oceania????

 

 

[Lastdance]

1 hour ago, cantstopingcruising said:

So many Celebrity cruisers are  opting  for Viking.

 

I am wondering why they choose Viking over Oceania????

 

 

 

For me, I  have wanted to do a Viking Ocean cruise for quite sometime, so It just made sense to at least check them out and do a shorter Alaskan cruise to see how I like it.  I have quite a few Celebrity cruises and just booked two addition Refundable cruises in Europe.  One earlier booked cruise is a TP from Sydney to Honolulu that I booked a long time ago and am very happy with the price for 18 nights.

Edited January 1, 2021 by Lastdance

[Arizona Wildcat]

2 hours ago, p18750 said:

My wife and I have debated Celebrity vs Viking Ocean cruises for the past few years and stayed with Celebrity because as E+ we got the benefits of Viking with the price of Celebrity. We are not drinkers but make great use of the Internet minutes and laundry. So we will take a much harder look at Viking Ocean cruises since the price is more comparable and we get approx the same benefits on both even with no status on Viking. 

For cruisers like us I think Celebrity has made a mistake as they are likely to lose us to Viking but every business has to make their own decisions just like every consumer must make their own decisions. 

The "list" prices today on Celebrity have little meaning as if from the US you can cancell at no cost on most reservations.  Even a NRD only incurrs a $100 charge.

Many book placeholder cruises and then simply call and have the price reduced or cancell up until final payment date.

[capsplace]

WEB_HRTS Loyalty Benefits_111820_FINAL (zmags.com)

 

Here's the chart of benefits off the Celebrity site.

[jg51]

On 1/1/2021 at 11:09 AM, p18750 said:

It appears the Always included drinks and free internet greatly reduces the value of Elite and Elite Plus tiers. Is that the case or am I misreading the Always Included fares?

.

You are absolutely correct, "p18750."  Many CruiseCritic members (who are Elite or Elite Plus) -- including us -- have been shocked about this and have been complaining here, for the last few months, trying to persuade Celebrity to see the error of its ways. 

 

On the other hand, several CrCr members (also claiming to be Elite or Elite Plus) have posted many replies -- including lots of unkind put-downs of the rest of us -- claiming that they are not in the least bothered by the fact that (partiallly quoting you), "the Always-Included [Classic] drinks [package] and [the unlimited] Internet greatly reduces" the benefits of being in the E/E+ tiers. 

 

We think that these unsympathetic "non-complainers" consist of two groups of people:

(1)  Celebrity employees, who are trying to "drown out" our complaints and persuade us to "shut up" or to go and cruise with another line, and ...

(2)  genuine "X" passengers who are extremely wealthy folks -- folks who have always purchased beverage packages and unlimited Internet anyway -- so they never really cared about the two E/E+ benefits that have been so important to the rest of us.

.

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by jg51

[ChucktownSteve]

19 minutes ago, jg51 said:

We think that these unsympathetic "non-complainers" consist of two groups of people:

(1)  Celebrity employees, who are trying to "drown out" our complaints and persuade us to "shut up" or to go and cruise with another line, and ...

(2)  genuine "X" passengers who are extremely wealthy folks -- folks who have always purchased beverage packages and unlimited Internet anyway -- so they never really cared about the two E/E+ benefits that have been so important to the rest of us.

 May I suggest a (3)?  Loyalists who still like the Celebrity product regardless of the increased costs or the diminished perks of E & E+ because they hadn't gotten there yet.

[jelayne]

11 minutes ago, jg51 said:

.

You are absolutely correct, "p18750."  Many CruiseCritic members (who are Elite or Elite Plus) -- including us -- have been shocked about this and have been complaining here, for the last few months, trying to persuade Celebrity to see the error of its ways. 

 

On the other hand, several CrCr members (also claiming to be Elite or Elite Plus) have posted many replies -- including lots of unkind put-downs of the rest of us -- claiming that they are not in the least bothered by the fact that (partiallly quoting you), "the Always-Included [Classic] drinks [package] and [the unlimited] Internet greatly reduces" the benefits of being in the E/E+ tiers. 

 

We think that these unsympathetic "non-complainers" consist of two groups of people:

(1)  Celebrity employees, who are trying to "drown out" our complaints and persuade us to "shut up" or to go and cruise with another line, and ...

(2)  genuine "X" passengers who are extremely wealthy folks -- folks who have always purchased beverage packages and unlimited Internet anyway -- so they never really cared about the two E/E+ benefits that have been so important to the rest of us.

.

 

This genuine  E+  “non-complainer” isn’t wealthy, far from it.  
We appreciate the  laundry benefits, internet discount ( which we use)  and the priority tendering.  We book and select the beverage package as a perk.  DH  & I enjoy  the juice and drink a lot of bottled water and we normally don’t start drinking alcohol until after 7 so the “free drinks” between 5-7 aren’t a benefits to us.  

[LGW59]

23 minutes ago, jg51 said:

.

You are absolutely correct, "p18750."  Many CruiseCritic members (who are Elite or Elite Plus) -- including us -- have been shocked about this and have been complaining here, for the last few months, trying to persuade Celebrity to see the error of its ways. 

 

On the other hand, several CrCr members (also claiming to be Elite or Elite Plus) have posted many replies -- including lots of unkind put-downs of the rest of us -- claiming that they are not in the least bothered by the fact that (partiallly quoting you), "the Always-Included [Classic] drinks [package] and [the unlimited] Internet greatly reduces" the benefits of being in the E/E+ tiers. 

 

We think that these unsympathetic "non-complainers" consist of two groups of people:

(1)  Celebrity employees, who are trying to "drown out" our complaints and persuade us to "shut up" or to go and cruise with another line, and ...

(2)  genuine "X" passengers who are extremely wealthy folks -- folks who have always purchased beverage packages and unlimited Internet anyway -- so they never really cared about the two E/E+ benefits that have been so important to the rest of us.

.

 

Oh dear, she's back but no more kool-aid, please

[budmeister]

Celebrity will lose me as a customer, but I cannot fault them for coming up with a business model that works for them. We do not drink much- 1 or 2 drinks some days and do not use our phones ect. on vacation. So, I will not pay the prices for these things. If Celebrity wants to restrict its market niche to those that pay for these things, they have every right to do so. I will miss cruising if they all do it, but the cost is just too high for me. It is possible that restricting sales to high profit clients is what needs to be done to make up for recent loses., especially if they need to cut down on the number of passengers. And it is not a big deal for those clients that buy these things anyway. Luckily, I have 2 Celebrity cruises booked before the All Inclusive pricing. I am Elite, but I care more about the increased prices than the loss of perks.

[sanger727]

50 minutes ago, jg51 said:

.

We think that these unsympathetic "non-complainers" consist of two groups of people:

(1)  Celebrity employees, who are trying to "drown out" our complaints and persuade us to "shut up" or to go and cruise with another line, and ...

(2)  genuine "X" passengers who are extremely wealthy folks -- folks who have always purchased beverage packages and unlimited Internet anyway -- so they never really cared about the two E/E+ benefits that have been so important to the rest of us.

 

I find it interesting how pre-always included there were tons and tons of threads about the good, better, and best promos that were always around and the number of people who commented about always upgrading their drinks package to premium or getting the better/best. The number of people who did not get drinks and internet included in their bookings before and will now is likely negligible. Especially if they do offer the simply sail rates after final payment. 

 

These aren't "extremely wealthy" folks or celebrity employees. Simply people who were already taking advantage of the good, better, best promos that have been running for years so were already aware they were getting drinks and perhaps wifi included. Or people who disconnect on vacation and don't really even use wifi. Believe it or not, many of the people who enjoy going to a happy hour also enjoy drinking at other hours of the days so a drink package is still a benefit. 

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, jg51 said:

.

You are absolutely correct, "p18750."  Many CruiseCritic members (who are Elite or Elite Plus) -- including us -- have been shocked about this and have been complaining here, for the last few months, trying to persuade Celebrity to see the error of its ways. 

 

On the other hand, several CrCr members (also claiming to be Elite or Elite Plus) have posted many replies -- including lots of unkind put-downs of the rest of us -- claiming that they are not in the least bothered by the fact that (partiallly quoting you), "the Always-Included [Classic] drinks [package] and [the unlimited] Internet greatly reduces" the benefits of being in the E/E+ tiers. 

 

We think that these unsympathetic "non-complainers" consist of two groups of people:

(1)  Celebrity employees, who are trying to "drown out" our complaints and persuade us to "shut up" or to go and cruise with another line, and ...

(2)  genuine "X" passengers who are extremely wealthy folks -- folks who have always purchased beverage packages and unlimited Internet anyway -- so they never really cared about the two E/E+ benefits that have been so important to the rest of us.

.

 

You expect sympathy over a darn cruise, very sad!  It is a luxury, they took away a few glasses of wine, a lunch, a meet and greet with the captain, perhaps a gelato or specialty coffee, they did NOT take away your life or ability to make an informed decision!!!  Less than 1% of the world population cruises, for many reasons.  Be thankful you are able to go on a cruise, and "genuine X passengers who are extremely wealthy folks"  get a grip already.

[ChucktownSteve]

EVERYONE still gets the free gelato if they're Captain's Club level above preview.  What they took away was the value of the free WiFi and the promotions that included the choice to add or not add the perks but is forcing everyone to BUY the WiFi, Drinks and prepay the gratuities.

 

Some people buy the liquor package; some don't.  If they buy the liquor package anyway then it's no difference. But the people that got the classics drink package or gratuities as an included promotional perk will no longer get to chose the perk because of the forced buy. What about the people who don't drink liquor and don't want the package cost forced on them?

 

They should be thankful they are able to go to other cruise lines that offer what they want or don't want in a cruise.

[davekathy]

56 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

 

Or people who disconnect on vacation and don't really even use wifi. Believe it or not, many of the people who enjoy going to a happy hour also enjoy drinking at other hours of the days so a drink package is still a benefit. 

That's how we roll. Once the BPs were offered we always selected the CBP as one of our bundled perks when booking. Also you cant use the unlimited CC HH (5 to 7PM) drinks loaded on your sea pass card in the dining venues.  I use to leave the MDR and get our CC HH drinks at one of the nearest bars and bring them back into the MDR to enjoy.

Edited January 3, 2021 by davekathy

[sanger727]

1 hour ago, LGW59 said:

You expect sympathy over a darn cruise, very sad!  It is a luxury, they took away a few glasses of wine, a lunch, a meet and greet with the captain, perhaps a gelato or specialty coffee, they did NOT take away your life or ability to make an informed decision!!!  Less than 1% of the world population cruises, for many reasons.  Be thankful you are able to go on a cruise, and "genuine X passengers who are extremely wealthy folks"  get a grip already.

 

I don't think they actually took any of these things away. The people who just get them are simply mad that they are having free drinks and wifi bundled into their package rate. So nothing is gone. They just have additional benefits and feel the pricing is too high. Such is life, sometimes Celebrity offers competitive prices and sometimes they don't. I don't really see anything new here. I'm still seeing Celebrity cruises in 2021 for around $100 a night. Given that that includes free meals, drinks, wifi, and gratuities; really doesn't sound like a bad deal to me. 

[GUT2407]

Look at it this way, you can now look at other lines if you aren’t losing anything.

 

personally I’ve always been happy to sail around, never seen much benefit in any loyalty program.

[LGW59]

55 minutes ago, ChucktownSteve said:

EVERYONE still gets the free gelato if they're Captain's Club level above preview.  What they took away was the value of the free WiFi and the promotions that included the choice to add or not add the perks but is forcing everyone to BUY the WiFi, Drinks and prepay the gratuities.

 

Some people buy the liquor package; some don't.  If they buy the liquor package anyway then it's no difference. But the people that got the classics drink package or gratuities as an included promotional perk will no longer get to chose the perk because of the forced buy. What about the people who don't drink liquor and don't want the package cost forced on them?

 

They should be thankful they are able to go to other cruise lines that offer what they want or don't want in a cruise.

Agreed and I just like to throw in the gelato thing because it is fun...

[p18750]

48 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

 

I don't think they actually took any of these things away. The people who just get them are simply mad that they are having free drinks and wifi bundled into their package rate. So nothing is gone. They just have additional benefits and feel the pricing is too high. Such is life, sometimes Celebrity offers competitive prices and sometimes they don't. I don't really see anything new here. I'm still seeing Celebrity cruises in 2021 for around $100 a night. Given that that includes free meals, drinks, wifi, and gratuities; really doesn't sound like a bad deal to me. 

Well, for us we never purchased a drink package but we did appreciate the ability to get soft drinks during happy hour as E+ and we also appreciated the free wifi minutes and the special cont breakfast. We had been looking at a Med cruise which two weeks ago was about $4k for a balcony cabin or about $200 pp/day. That cruise is now over $6k for the same cabin or about $300 pp/day. So the change has added about $100 pp/day to the cost of the cruise in exchange for benefits we will not use or previously got as E+ customers. So for us they really did take E+ benefits away and it will likely push us away from Celebrity to Viking where we get included benefits we would actually use on smaller ships with better customer service for approx the same price. 

[sanger727]

50 minutes ago, p18750 said:

Well, for us we never purchased a drink package but we did appreciate the ability to get soft drinks during happy hour as E+ and we also appreciated the free wifi minutes and the special cont breakfast. We had been looking at a Med cruise which two weeks ago was about $4k for a balcony cabin or about $200 pp/day. That cruise is now over $6k for the same cabin or about $300 pp/day. So the change has added about $100 pp/day to the cost of the cruise in exchange for benefits we will not use or previously got as E+ customers. So for us they really did take E+ benefits away and it will likely push us away from Celebrity to Viking where we get included benefits we would actually use on smaller ships with better customer service for approx the same price. 

prices fluctuate. Always have and always will.  I remember seeing always included complaints/posts back in November. So not sure why a price increase in the last two weeks would be attributed to that. There are still plenty of Med cruises for 2021 that are running $4k for a balcony cabin. Maybe that one is just selling particularly well. 

 

"prices are too high" or "prices skyrocketing on this cruise I"m looking at" have been around long before the "always included" fares. We are in an environment where cruise lines have been hemorrhaging money for months and are doing what they can to get profitable as quickly as they can. I'm just not sure that "always included" is the one and only source of everyone's pricing woes but it's certainly getting blamed like it is. 

Edited January 3, 2021 by sanger727

[C-Dragons]

9 hours ago, sanger727 said:

prices fluctuate. Always have and always will.  I remember seeing always included complaints/posts back in November. So not sure why a price increase in the last two weeks would be attributed to that. There are still plenty of Med cruises for 2021 that are running $4k for a balcony cabin. Maybe that one is just selling particularly well. 

 

"prices are too high" or "prices skyrocketing on this cruise I"m looking at" have been around long before the "always included" fares. We are in an environment where cruise lines have been hemorrhaging money for months and are doing what they can to get profitable as quickly as they can. I'm just not sure that "always included" is the one and only source of everyone's pricing woes but it's certainly getting blamed like it is. 

Agreed.

And what many tend to forget is the algorithm X has in place for pricing. The more cabins in a specific category are sold, the higher the prices go on the remaining inventory. That's not new.

We converted an existing booking made before AI pricing was introduced and our fare was exactly the same.

[plstark1]

When we booked our cruise AI was not available.  With so many people getting free drinks will we even get served?

[LGW59]

7 minutes ago, plstark1 said:

When we booked our cruise AI was not available.  With so many people getting free drinks will we even get served?

You can add it, I don't think Celebrity will have any problem taking your $$$

[jelayne]

We have been on many cruises where the beverage package was included as a booking perk and we never had a problem getting a drink.  There are times when bars are busier than other times and there could be a wait.   Just before the  show starts and again when the show lets out the bars get busier.