"Always included" - false advertising?

[LGW59]

16 minutes ago, misterkevin said:

@wrk2cruiseI wouldn't call it inadvertent. There was something called NRD discount on my booking which I thought was another discount due to the current promotion. I thought the NRD meant "non refundable deposit" which isn't related to the Always Included benefits in my mind. At no point in my booking was I warned that this fare didn't include the Indulge perks. I assumed because the "add tips" option was greyed out, that they were included. Because I read that Royal Suites and above always included Indulge perks, I still can't fathom that this fare which is still twice the price of a sky suite wouldn't include them. The more I think about it, the more I feel deceived. 

Sounds like you made assumptions without confirmation 

[misterkevin]

@LGW59 Yes, I assumed that Always Included meant Always Included. I also assumed that Retreat Guests included Indulge Perks. These benefits are advertised all over the Celebrity site and communications materials. The fact that this current promotion negated these benefits never even occurred to me. I find the idea that cruisers have to be warned to beware of deceptive Celebrity sales practices detrimental to the brand image. 

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

The more we all talk about it, the more popular it becomes...

[4774Papa]

You definitely need to read the fine print before you book X.

[misterkevin]

@NutsAboutGolfIn my case, there was no fine print that stated the fares excluded standard perks. In fact, my original booking confirmation from Celebrity didn't even include an invoice. It's just poor promotional execution on Celebrity's part which has caused confusion and dissatisfaction.

[wrk2cruise]

Just now, misterkevin said:

@NutsAboutGolfIn my case, there was no fine print that stated the fares excluded standard perks. In fact, my original booking confirmation from Celebrity didn't even include an invoice. It's just poor promotional execution on Celebrity's part which has caused confusion and dissatisfaction.

 

I wasn't trying to imply any fault of your own if you had been misled by the Loyalty NRD discount.   I have posted on a couple of threads that I had been duped by this one as well.  In my case the cruise summary at the "Lock it in" page explicitly stated that Always Included and the 3 perks were included but this turned out to be a "website issue" and was corrected the day after the promotion was started.

 

I think we are all in agreement that they have to have a way to clearly state during booking what part of "Always Included" is not included to prevent confusion and disappointment. 

[Morecruises1]

1 hour ago, 4774Papa said:

You definitely need to read the fine print before you book X.

There is no fine print when you book about it that I could see.  Celebrity really got me.  I still see it wants me to pay my gratuities, etc on the manage my trip.  After that the loyalty discount will cost more than the standard online fare.  What a joke.  First time sailing with Celebrity and I'm already so upset it's crazy.

[ChucktownSteve]

25 minutes ago, Morecruises1 said:

There is no fine print when you book about it that I could see.  Celebrity really got me.  I still see it wants me to pay my gratuities, etc on the manage my trip.  After that the loyalty discount will cost more than the standard online fare.  What a joke.  First time sailing with Celebrity and I'm already so upset it's crazy.

Have you called Celebrity to fix the situation?

[davekathy]

26 minutes ago, Morecruises1 said:

There is no fine print when you book about it that I could see.  Celebrity really got me.  I still see it wants me to pay my gratuities, etc on the manage my trip.  After that the loyalty discount will cost more than the standard online fare.  What a joke.  First time sailing with Celebrity and I'm already so upset it's crazy.

Now I'm confused (nothing new). How do you get a loyalty NRD discount if you've never cruised with Celebrity? 

[Bo1953]

1 minute ago, davekathy said:

Now I'm confused (nothing new). How do you get a loyalty NRD discount if you've never cruised with Celebrity? 

Maybe a "special" that we are not privy too???  LOL

 

bon voyage

[cruising sister]

7 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Now I'm confused (nothing new). How do you get a loyalty NRD discount if you've never cruised with Celebrity? 

You can have status with Royal Caribbean that gives you Celebrity status. 

[davekathy]

5 minutes ago, cruising sister said:

You can have status with Royal Caribbean that gives you Celebrity status. 

Now why didn't I think of that! 😵

[ChucktownSteve]

3 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Now why didn't I think of that! 😵

That's why @cruising sistergets paid the big bucks.

[davekathy]

1 minute ago, ChucktownSteve said:

That's why @cruising sistergets paid the big bucks.

Occasionally you do get what you paid for. 

[graphicguy]

Trying to understand what’s going on (but, maybe Celebrity already corrected it).  I went to do a mock book for a 12/21 cruise.

 

There are the Always Included fares once I chose my category (which was an S3) and they also showed a “Simply Sail” fare.  Is the “Simply Sail” fare not identified at booking and automatically applied?  Or, is the AI fare booked and the “perks” stripped out after booking?

[Bo1953]

38 minutes ago, cruising sister said:

You can have status with Royal Caribbean that gives you Celebrity status. 

BINGO - it is something which many of us are not privy to...

 

Thank you and bon voyage

[wrk2cruise]

30 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Trying to understand what’s going on (but, maybe Celebrity already corrected it).  I went to do a mock book for a 12/21 cruise.

 

There are the Always Included fares once I chose my category (which was an S3) and they also showed a “Simply Sail” fare.  Is the “Simply Sail” fare not identified at booking and automatically applied?  Or, is the AI fare booked and the “perks” stripped out after booking?

 

The issue comes into play when you enter your captains club number on "See if you qualify for offers".   This causes the Loyalty NRD promo to kick in on eligible cruises and will change the fares offered.

[zitsky]

I just did a test booking

 

Norwegian fjords

Jul 31, 2023

Apex

 

Entered Captains Club #

Got Always Included

 

[jg51]

45 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I just did a test booking

 

Norwegian fjords

Jul 31, 2023

Apex

 

Entered Captains Club #

Got Always Included

 

.

Hi, "zitsky."

When you say, "Got Always Included," what do you mean by that?  Where did you see a confirmation that the three AI features were not stripped out?

 

If you entered your Captain's Club number ...

and if you did a full mock booking, all the way to the last screen -- where you got a final summary (just before payment) ...

and if that final summary specifically showed you that the AI features were still part of the package ...

THEN one of the following must be true:

 

(1) The "Loyalty NRD" discount has ceased to exist fleetwide (causing everything to be OK now) ... OR ...

(2) The "Loyalty NRD" discount does not apply to Apex sailings (meaning that it is probably still a problem for other ships' sailings) ... OR ...

(3) The "Loyalty NRD" discount does not apply to the specific sailing that you mock-booked ... OR ...

(4) The "Loyalty NRD" discount does not apply to 2023 [nor perhaps to 2022] cruises, like the one you mock-booked.

 

If you wouldn't mind, please do another mock-booking, but this time on a November, 2021, Summit cruise -- and on a non-suite stateroom.  That should reveal whether or not the problem still exists.  Thanks.

.

Edited October 27, 2021 by jg51

[Jeremiah1212]

2 hours ago, davekathy said:

Now I'm confused (nothing new). How do you get a loyalty NRD discount if you've never cruised with Celebrity? 

 

The Loyalty rate is open to anyone with a CC# including Preview members. 

[Jeremiah1212]

48 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I just did a test booking

 

Norwegian fjords

Jul 31, 2023

Apex

 

Entered Captains Club #

Got Always Included

 

 

Loyalty rate only applies to Caribbean routes through April 30, 2022

Edited October 27, 2021 by Jeremiah1212

[Froufie]

As a newbie to Celebrity I too was confused - booked a cruise for next January online - assumed it had the 'always included 'perks - but that was not the case?  (the only options I had to pick from was choose cabin or guarantee cabin)....  When I got the confirmation page I saw 'simply sail' indicated which was not what I wanted.

 

So I called and had that sorted out - I did have to pay extra for the perks package but still well worth it in my opinion.  But not sure why this option was not available to me when booking online for this particular cruise.

 

Now when it comes for price drops how would I check?  I can't do a mock booking because the cruise with the AI perks does not exist online for this cruise - so can't compare the pricing?  Would I have to call each time I notice the 'base fare' has dropped?

 

Also if before final payment I presume the final invoice would be adjusted?  If after final payment would that result in OBC?

 

Any details greatly appreciated.

[Jeremiah1212]

59 minutes ago, Froufie said:

As a newbie to Celebrity I too was confused - booked a cruise for next January online - assumed it had the 'always included 'perks - but that was not the case?  (the only options I had to pick from was choose cabin or guarantee cabin)....  When I got the confirmation page I saw 'simply sail' indicated which was not what I wanted.

 

So I called and had that sorted out - I did have to pay extra for the perks package but still well worth it in my opinion.  But not sure why this option was not available to me when booking online for this particular cruise.

 

Now when it comes for price drops how would I check?  I can't do a mock booking because the cruise with the AI perks does not exist online for this cruise - so can't compare the pricing?  Would I have to call each time I notice the 'base fare' has dropped?

 

Also if before final payment I presume the final invoice would be adjusted?  If after final payment would that result in OBC?

 

Any details greatly appreciated.

 

I'm not sure I understand what you are looking at or where you are seeing no AI rate is available. Did you put a CC# in the booking? If so, that's the issue. Remove it and AI rates are available. 

 

 

[wrk2cruise]

I'm not sure but it might be the case that if you are logged in to the Celebrity site it may know your CC# and take that into account as well.   Best bet is to use an incognito browser window (private mode) and just select the sailing.   When you get to the pricing summary make sure there is something that says "Always Included" and the 3 associated perks listed.

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, Froufie said:

As a newbie to Celebrity I too was confused - booked a cruise for next January online - assumed it had the 'always included 'perks - but that was not the case?  (the only options I had to pick from was choose cabin or guarantee cabin)....  When I got the confirmation page I saw 'simply sail' indicated which was not what I wanted.

 

So I called and had that sorted out - I did have to pay extra for the perks package but still well worth it in my opinion.  But not sure why this option was not available to me when booking online for this particular cruise.

 

Now when it comes for price drops how would I check?  I can't do a mock booking because the cruise with the AI perks does not exist online for this cruise - so can't compare the pricing?  Would I have to call each time I notice the 'base fare' has dropped?

 

Also if before final payment I presume the final invoice would be adjusted?  If after final payment would that result in OBC?

 

Any details greatly appreciated.

 

Could you tell us what sailing that is, so we can compare?