Always Included Pricing Question

[Pinboy]

3 hours ago, tfred said:

X has demographic in mind that they want to be on the ship.  

Yup--- sounds like they are targeting the same demographic " Community " ( ?? ) as some of the many high-end stores that went bankrupt this year.

Hopefully Celebrity comes to their senses before they lose more Customers than they gain.

Again -- Why should anyone be "forced " to pay for something they don't want just because they are on a cruise ship ??  Never mind the " I'm paying for the hot tub that I won't use ". 

 

 

[LGW59]

3 minutes ago, Pinboy said:

Yup--- sounds like they are targeting the same demographic " Community " ( ?? ) as some of the many high-end stores that went bankrupt this year.

Hopefully Celebrity comes to their senses before they lose more Customers than they gain.

Again -- Why should anyone be "forced " to pay for something they don't want just because they are on a cruise ship ??  Never mind the " I'm paying for the hot tub that I won't use ". 

 

 

May of these high-end stores that went bankrupt did so because the pandemic finally pushed them in that direction, probably sooner than they expected, no foot traffic in the cities, on-line ordering.  Folks that shopped in those stores, Nieman Marcus, Bloomingdales etc, did so because they could afford to do so.  I know and understand that AI is controversial to many, but Celebrity IMO, still offers an affordable cruise in veranda suites, interior, port hole.  Is it more now, sure it is, again IMO, understandably so.  I was looking at an S3 on APEX, for 15 day TA in April 2022,  $12k, Considering the battering they have taken in the past year, I really don't think it is unreasonable.  Many will disagree of course, and perhaps down the road when we have a new normal things will change.  Until then we have a choice, but the various room categories are looking to have been booked.

[4774Papa]

Interesting discussion about splitting the check, etc.

 

We live on coastal Georgia with many excellent restaurants, especially for fresh wild seafood.  Dining out for wife and self, with another couple, we never run into the problem of some one ordering over the top.   Also, we usually take turns when picking up the check.

 

One thing, we visited a local restaurant, highly rated, with good food, but the wine list was terrible.  Cheapest bottle of wine was $70 and that was five years ago.  We haven't gone back.  We have many excellent restaurants were you can buy very good wine for $35-40 a bottle, or even a bottle of house wine for $25.

[Italy52]

I will be exiting this thread now --- have decided to go with Royal Caribbean over Celebrity.  My TA was able to get us a balcony cabin, soda package, $50 OBC (per cabin) and a spa treatment (something I won't use) for less than what Celebrity's asking price was for an inside cabin.  As I said, we don't need all the extras that Celebrity was including in their price.  Maybe someday, if Celebrity restructures their pricing, we might look at them again.  Thanks all again for your input, I appreciated the help --- may we all sail again in the not too distant future.

[gold1953]

3 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

Interesting discussion about splitting the check, etc.

 

We live on coastal Georgia with many excellent restaurants, especially for fresh wild seafood.  Dining out for wife and self, with another couple, we never run into the problem of some one ordering over the top.   Also, we usually take turns when picking up the check.

 

One thing, we visited a local restaurant, highly rated, with good food, but the wine list was terrible.  Cheapest bottle of wine was $70 and that was five years ago.  We haven't gone back.  We have many excellent restaurants were you can buy very good wine for $35-40 a bottle, or even a bottle of house wine for $25.

Nice to have a compatible eating out couple. We don't .  

 Love where you live!!  we have stopped and stayed there on our drives south!!. Other than a large squirrel jumping out of a tree onto my pretty red toes and chasing me down the street while my husband laughed. The little fellow must have thought they were berries!

[gone2c]

37 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Always Included fans must not be solo cruisers .  We have to pay double gratuities, double internet, double drinks packages.

 

we have always had to pay double for the cost of the room, but not the other things in the “bundle”. 

I, too, as a solo cruiser had a fit with the new pricing announcement.  I have since learned they give solos a credit on the fare charged.  Granted it is not as much as they say the bundle is worth but at least it is something.  Since I always bought the gratuities, internet and drink package, it has greatly modified my opinion.  I have stopped cruising Royal for a while now as I dislike the huge ships and the many children on board.  I will continue to check prices on all cruise lines and pick the one I am most comfortable with to the location I want to go.   

[gone2c]

5 hours ago, Italy52 said:

I'm with you.  I researched Royal's itinerary yesterday and decided that we will be going with them.  I can get a balcony cabin for about the same price as I would pay for an inside with Celebrity.  We like Celebrity but not going to let them force me to take something I don't want or need.

That in a nutshell answers everything.  It reminds me of the homeowners in our location that complain royally about HOA fees that include golf course maintenance when they don't golf.  The answer has always been they need to move somewhere that does not have those fees.  

[gone2c]

6 hours ago, Italy52 said:

I'm with you.  I researched Royal's itinerary yesterday and decided that we will be going with them.  I can get a balcony cabin for about the same price as I would pay for an inside with Celebrity.  We like Celebrity but not going to let them force me to take something I don't want or need.

That in a nutshell answers everything.  It reminds me of the homeowners in our location that complain royally about HOA fees that include golf course maintenance when they don't golf.  The answer has always been they needed to move somewhere that does not have those fees.  

Edited March 21, 2021 by gone2c
duplicate post

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, gone2c said:

That in a nutshell answers everything.  It reminds me of the homeowners in our location that complain royally about HOA fees that include golf course maintenance when they don't golf.  The answer has always been they need to move somewhere that does not have those fees.  

Agreed as they knew prior to purchasing the fee was included, zero sympathy there for those folks.  In Italy52 situation, they did their research and decided what Celebrity is now offering is not for them, so made a sound decision best for them.  

[jelayne]

I get not wanting to pay for things you don't want.   We  no longer  use the kids club,  water slides, ice rinks, flow riders, climbing walls and the other toys.  We3 don't cruise with children so on Royal we are paying for things we don't use. 

 

It would take a huge savings for us to consider sailing with Royal again.   We tried Royal last in 2017 and the running,  screaming, misbehaving children and parents who choose to ignore their kids behavior made us say no more.  We will gladly pay more for a cruising experience that we find enjoyable.

[jagoffee]

5 hours ago, jelayne said:

I did some random checking for group rates on Fall/Winter 2022/23 Caribbean.

I did find some group rates  without AI on select cabin categories on some sailings.  The rates  I found varied around  $16-24 pd pp lower than the AI rate.  
Once you add the daily gratuity there isn’t much of a savings.  Like all cruise pricing this could change anytime.

Very interesting and not surprising to me.  Often people report/assume that that the AI has resulted in a significant increase in the price of a particular cruise.  I am convinced that the pent up demand, the  L&S impact, the reduced capacity (perhaps), the ever increasing cruise line losses due to the shutdown, and the large amount of FCC that people need to use have a much greater impact than the AI.  It is really undetermined as to how much the shift to AI will impact the pricing.  

I would guess that the percentage of cruisers with the Best Package or 123 inclusive have been steadily increasing for years.  Since the AI only includes the Classic Drink package, I expect this trend will continue.  
 

Although the Always Included (AI) is less confusing than the one perk, two perk, etc. option, it certainly takes away (or greatly reduces) the individual choice.  Like some others, I absolutely love the fact that it eliminates the option to remove gratuities.

 

It certainly seems likely that for those that normally  spend nothing above the cabin price on a cruise will pay something more, but at this point they have no idea how much more.  Jelayne’s research may give one an idea of that actual price increase.  

[cruisestitch]

I have seen no sign of any adjustment for single cruisers to make up for making us pay double for the AI package.  Wish it were so......

[4774Papa]

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

I get not wanting to pay for things you don't want.   We  no longer  use the kids club,  water slides, ice rinks, flow riders, climbing walls and the other toys.  We3 don't cruise with children so on Royal we are paying for things we don't use. 

 

It would take a huge savings for us to consider sailing with Royal again.   We tried Royal last in 2017 and the running,  screaming, misbehaving children and parents who choose to ignore their kids behavior made us say no more.  We will gladly pay more for a cruising experience that we find enjoyable.

We are in our 70s and never cruise with kids.   We don't cruise on Royal's huge ships.   Also, both Royal cruises we have done in past 3 years had few kids (they were long cruises).

 

I prices doing a TA cruise from Rome to Florida recently for OCT 2022.  All balcony prices.

There were three Celebrity cruises with of course all inclusive prices running more than two or three times the price of a Royal TA (I think the cruise I liked had four ports and ran about $1000 pp).  

 

We don't drink alcohol until 5pm and Diamond happy hour goes until 8:30 so we never spend a nickel on booze on Royal.  We find the MDR on Royal to be almost as good as Celebrity.  While Royal's buffet is not as good as Celebrity, they have a fantastic salad bar in the MDR during lunch.  Also, Royal's entertainment is about as good as it gets on a cruise.

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, 4774Papa said:

We are in our 70s and never cruise with kids.   We don't cruise on Royal's huge ships.   Also, both Royal cruises we have done in past 3 years had few kids (they were long cruises).

 

I prices doing a TA cruise from Rome to Florida recently for OCT 2022.  All balcony prices.

There were three Celebrity cruises with of course all inclusive prices running more than two or three times the price of a Royal TA (I think the cruise I liked had four ports and ran about $1000 pp).  

 

We don't drink alcohol until 5pm and Diamond happy hour goes until 8:30 so we never spend a nickel on booze on Royal.  We find the MDR on Royal to be almost as good as Celebrity.  While Royal's buffet is not as good as Celebrity, they have a fantastic salad bar in the MDR during lunch.  Also, Royal's entertainment is about as good as it gets on a cruise.

Sounds like Royal is a good fit for you.  

[Pinboy]

2 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Agreed as they knew prior to purchasing the fee was included, zero sympathy there for those folks. 

That's so true-- same with the AI--- 

I've said " soooo many times " that we don't like the AI --- blah, blah, blah --- 

However, ------ Because we really enjoy Celebrity , never had a bad cruise , most likely we will " bite the bullet ", pay the price and not complain about it because we knew ahead of time what we were paying for. 

LOL--- That's my story and I'm sticking to it !!

( Can't wait to enjoy dinner in Murano , The Lawn Club Grill and Tuscan Grill (for my 2nd breakfast ) , and, and,  --- )

 

 

[davekathy]

36 minutes ago, Pinboy said:

That's so true-- same with the AI--- 

I've said " soooo many times " that we don't like the AI --- blah, blah, blah --- 

However, ------ Because we really enjoy Celebrity , never had a bad cruise , most likely we will " bite the bullet ", pay the price and not complain about it because we knew ahead of time what we were paying for. 

LOL--- That's my story and I'm sticking to it !!

( Can't wait to enjoy dinner in Murano , The Lawn Club Grill and Tuscan Grill (for my 2nd breakfast ) , and, and,  --- )

 

 

We already have. 🥂

[Pinboy]

21 minutes ago, davekathy said:

We already have. 🥂

Be nice to meet you and so many others on a future cruise.

In the meantime, it's fun visualizing about various CCers  based on their posts .

 

[Nebr.cruiser]

I am glad when gratuities are included and can't be withdrawn.  Big fan.  We have never cancelled grats and I can't believe service would ever be so bad that we would.  Usually we add extra.  We would also use the Wifi and specialty dining, just not the very expensive perk of drinks.

[Denny01]

This is what is nice about having so many other Lines. If you aren’t happy about one Line, you have a lot of other choices. Some, as seen here, will quit X cruising and look elsewhere, and others will see the AI options as something they want and join X cruising. And None of us can tell if this will somehow adversely impact Celebrity.

 

My very unknowlegeable opinion is, the Line will do just fine.

 

It was and still is interesting seeing the posts insisting how much they hate the E-class ships and some are sure many will not be happy with it. I made two E-Class cruises in 2019 and they were all full, and the one I have booked for this Thanksgiving is over  70% booked 8 months prior and with the Pandemic hanging over us. 

 

Den

[gold1953]

9 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

I am glad when gratuities are included and can't be withdrawn.  Big fan.  We have never cancelled grats and I can't believe service would ever be so bad that we would.  Usually we add extra.  We would also use the Wifi and specialty dining, just not the very expensive perk of drinks.

I didn't think I would ever cancel diningroom grats but when the waiter is so rude that he has to be reprimanded ( more than once) and then when you decide to go to the buffet instead and the waiter leaves his table  and comes looking for you when he should be serving others to beg you to return.. 

We never went back and the table mates ate with us at the buffet after that . All because of an allergy!

[4774Papa]

9 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

I am glad when gratuities are included and can't be withdrawn.  Big fan.  We have never cancelled grats and I can't believe service would ever be so bad that we would.  Usually we add extra.  We would also use the Wifi and specialty dining, just not the very expensive perk of drinks.

Agree,

We always tip extra for the room stewards and some of our wait staff in the MDR.   During COVID 19, when we dine out at a restaurant, I tip 25% of the bill now.

[Denny01]

2 hours ago, gold1953 said:

I didn't think I would ever cancel diningroom grats but when the waiter is so rude that he has to be reprimanded ( more than once) and then when you decide to go to the buffet instead and the waiter leaves his table  and comes looking for you when he should be serving others to beg you to return.. 

We never went back and the table mates ate with us at the buffet after that . All because of an allergy!

Not sure what the post had to do with AI. If you have service issues, that’s what the Maitre de is for. They either ‘fix’ the service issue or you can be moved. Have moved due to unacceptable table mates and the Maitre de handled it well. And once had a service issue and the Maitre de again handled it well. Why go to the buffet when you are the customer? 

 

Den

[Fouremco]

3 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

Not sure what the post had to do with AI.

Pre-AI, someone faced with that situation had the option of removing the gratuities. With AI, that option is gone. In my mind, that's a good thing,

[Pinboy]

3 hours ago, gold1953 said:

I didn't think I would ever cancel diningroom grats but when the waiter is so rude that he has to be reprimanded ( more than once) and then when you decide to go to the buffet instead and the waiter leaves his table  and comes looking for you when he should be serving others to beg you to return.. 

We never went back and the table mates ate with us at the buffet after that . All because of an allergy!

Being from " Down East " , I don't doubt what you are saying is the truth. That's awful.

We learned long ago to request a table for two and most often enjoy chatting with folks seated beside us.  Never once had bad service. 

A few questions come to mind --- ( if they are not within the Guidelines, kindly ignore ) :  

How were you able to cancel the dining room portion of the gratuities ?

What was the waiter rude about, and, more than once ?  Who reprimanded him ?

Did you notice other tables nearby experience the same " difficulties " ? 

Why would you all go to the buffet instead of just changing tables the first time he was                          rude ? 

All because of an allergy ??  There's many people with allergies and I would assume the staff are trained to deal with them ? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jelayne]

gold1953, hopefully you and your table mates tipped the waiters who work in the buffet.