"Always included" - false advertising?

[bikerunner]

11 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Yes, 'the challenge survives' and YOU win, as there is no one here, yet, willing to do the research for you.

 

For you, this pricing does not exist, clearly. For others the pricing exists, clearly.

 

Good luck and bon voyage

Some people just cannot see both sides. I agree it’s very clear for me. If I just read the headlines of every article, advertisement etc I would have a different view of things and then agree it’s fake.   So with this headline we all should have bought this car then   No research ooo it’s the best 

[TeeRick]

The beat goes on.  I feel badly for the dead horse.

AI is a marketing campaign.  Whether we like it or not, every commercial and advertisement of every marketing campaign has an asterisk or two.  We all know that and live with that and accept it. Most people are smart enough not to believe every word and phrase at face value. And they look into the details for themselves and make a decision.  Look at a car ad with a price "guaranteed" and a set of options.  The asterisk fills up half the page with exceptions.  There are thousands of non-cruise examples.  So why so much angst and debate about Celebrity's latest AI marketing campaign?  Who of us really thinks there is absolute truth in advertising?  Honestly there have been so many threads and posts on AI.  And all with the same arguments.  You either like it or if you do not go to another cruise line and see if you like their latest marketing campaign with their asterisks.

[RichYak]

1 minute ago, TeeRick said:

AI is a marketing campaign.

I would categorize it more as a heavily promoted fare class. To me, that's exactly what it is. I agree with the rest of your comments.

[Swampbabe]

This thread has been most entertaining and it reaffirms my decision not to sail on Oceania. 

[TeeRick]

12 minutes ago, RichYak said:

I would categorize it more as a heavily promoted fare class. To me, that's exactly what it is. I agree with the rest of your comments.

Rich forgive me if I don't get into the semantics of this with you here.😀

[LGW59]

30 minutes ago, Swampbabe said:

This thread has been most entertaining and it reaffirms my decision not to sail on Oceania. 

Indeed it has and I look forward to ak1004 returning 

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

Rich forgive me if I don't get into the semantics of this with you here.😀

But we've barely scratched the surface... 🤣

[C-Dragons]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

The beat goes on.  I feel badly for the dead horse.

AI is a marketing campaign.  Whether we like it or not, every commercial and advertisement of every marketing campaign has an asterisk or two.  We all know that and live with that and accept it. Most people are smart enough not to believe every word and phrase at face value. And they look into the details for themselves and make a decision.  Look at a car ad with a price "guaranteed" and a set of options.  The asterisk fills up half the page with exceptions.  There are thousands of non-cruise examples.  So why so much angst and debate about Celebrity's latest AI marketing campaign?  Who of us really thinks there is absolute truth in advertising?  Honestly there have been so many threads and posts on AI.  And all with the same arguments.  You either like it or if you do not go to another cruise line and see if you like their latest marketing campaign with their asterisks.

I agree about the horse. 😉

However, I'm not so sure about all the angst. IMO, some prefer to debate just for sport.

[prish]

Some like to argue just for the sake of arguing, lol 😂 

Edited October 3, 2021 by prish

[Spif Barwunkel]

3 minutes ago, prish said:

G

You say G, I say O, GO Dartmouth.

 

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Because I did not check, are there non-Gty cabins in the same category available?

 

bon voyage

None, which is what you won't accept. That is the new Celebrity pricing structure. Oh sorry you know otherwise but aren't prepared to help fellow CC members by even giving a catagoric example of a specific non AI cabin. 

[LGW59]

4 minutes ago, the penguins said:

None, which is what you won't accept. That is the new Celebrity pricing structure. Oh sorry you know otherwise but aren't prepared to help fellow CC members by even giving a catagoric example of a specific non AI cabin. 

See post #174, hope it is helpful 

[jagoffee]

2 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Because I did not check, are there non-Gty cabins in the same category available?

 

bon voyage

Yes, it shows on the left in the picture, but they include AI.

[C-Dragons]

9 hours ago, the penguins said:

The challenge survives. Celebrity says no agent any longer has the deal you claim yours has. You refuse to post the proof ( I didn't ask for the Agent just simple figures against a specific cruise and cabin number for any cruise in Celebrity's

published program.) Anyone else able to produce the evidence?

Just a thought…You are not a client of Bo's TA. It would not be of any use to provide you with a specific cabin number and associated price if his TA has blocked cabins under a group booking.

Perhaps you need to shop around for a TA who can give you what you have been told does exist.

[the penguins]

1 minute ago, C-Dragons said:

Just a thought…You are not a client of Bo's TA. It would not be of any use to provide you with a specific cabin number and associated price if his TA has blocked cabins under a group booking.

Perhaps you need to shop around for a TA who can give you what you have been told does exist.

The problem is Celebrity say no travel agents still has this deal. It's AI with a confirmed  cabin or no AI with a guarantee. Various contributors have claimed their agents still have such deals but ask for an example and none have substantiated the claim. Also I can't find a single travel agent that advertises such a deal and nor can numerous friends in the UK, USA and Canada find such deals either. 

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, the penguins said:

The problem is Celebrity say no travel agents still has this deal. It's AI with a confirmed  cabin or no AI with a guarantee. Various contributors have claimed their agents still have such deals but ask for an example and none have substantiated the claim. Also I can't find a single travel agent that advertises such a deal and nor can numerous friends in the UK, USA and Canada find such deals either. 

If this is what you want, why not just book directly with Celebrity, pretty much solves the “problem “.

 

[Stockjock]

4 hours ago, bikerunner said:

Some people just cannot see both sides. I agree it’s very clear for me. If I just read the headlines of every article, advertisement etc I would have a different view of things and then agree it’s fake.   So with this headline we all should have bought this car then   No research ooo it’s the best 

Here's an old joke:

Q. Why does the Yugo have seatbelts?

A. So you can wear it as a backpack.
 

[Bo1953]

1 hour ago, C-Dragons said:

Just a thought…You are not a client of Bo's TA. It would not be of any use to provide you with a specific cabin number and associated price if his TA has blocked cabins under a group booking.

Perhaps you need to shop around for a TA who can give you what you have been told does exist.

Thank you C - early on I could see that this would be like Alice In Wonderland with this poster, down the rabbit hole... next demand would be 'prove it', then give the TA's name etc...

 

They still fail to realize just because they could not find it, no one else may have found it. Like X is going to give out negotiated pricing info and associated TA's??? LOL

 

I Am not doing the research for the poster, most of us have done our own research and found rates and TA's (big box, agencies, X, etc.) we are happy with. The poster has not and may not, soon.

 

bon voyage

[davekathy]

16 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Thank you C - early on I could see that this would be like Alice In Wonderland with this poster, down the rabbit hole... next demand would be 'prove it', then give the TA's name etc...

 

They still fail to realize just because they could not find it, no one else may have found it. Like X is going to give out negotiated pricing info and associated TA's??? LOL

 

I Am not doing the research for the poster, most of us have done our own research and found rates and TA's (big box, agencies, X, etc.) we are happy with. The poster has not and may not, soon.

 

bon voyage

Bo, I agree and it's just that simple. 

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, LGW59 said:

If this is what you want, why not just book directly with Celebrity, pretty much solves the “problem “.

 

It doesn't. Book direct and you have 2 choices;

1) a specific cabin with AI

2) a guaranteed cabin with no AI.

Celebrity say these are the only to choices available.

Several contributors on this and other threads say they have agents through which they can book a specific cabin without AI.

When challenged not one of those contributors has been able to give one example on any Celebrity cruise where this is possible. Also no travel agent that I or any of my friends can find advertises such a deal because if such deals were available they would be promoted heavily.

[the penguins]

3 hours ago, LGW59 said:

See post #174, hope it is helpful 

Thank you. Post 174 is for a guarantee cabin which indeed doesn't have AI. We are looking for a specific bookable cabin with no AI.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

It really costs down to if think the price you paid is good value for your money 

advertising makes very little difference if you book or not 

I think the OP was bored and just want to post something silly , because this topic has been beat to death 

 

 

[C-Dragons]

1 hour ago, Bo1953 said:

Thank you C - early on I could see that this would be like Alice In Wonderland with this poster, down the rabbit hole... next demand would be 'prove it', then give the TA's name etc...

 

They still fail to realize just because they could not find it, no one else may have found it. Like X is going to give out negotiated pricing info and associated TA's??? LOL

 

I Am not doing the research for the poster, most of us have done our own research and found rates and TA's (big box, agencies, X, etc.) we are happy with. The poster has not and may not, soon.

 

bon voyage

Bo, I was also going to tell him that X agents have no idea what rates individual TA's have negotiated and contracted with X, so they couldn’t direct him to anyone in particular.

But I realized he would just repeat his grievance, so there was no point in continuing the conversation.

Edited October 3, 2021 by C-Dragons

[ak1004]

6 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Indeed it has and I look forward to ak1004 returning 

 

ak1004 is not returning because ak1004 has nothing to add to the subject.

 

That said, ak1004 wants to remind all responders what the original post was about (as usual on cruisecritic, the last 8 pages have nothing to do with the original post).

1. What is Always Included (AI)?
2. Is AI a good value?
3. How AI prices compare to Cruise Only (CO) prices?
4. Can you book cabins with CO prices?
5. Is Celebrity a good line?
6. How Celebrity compare to Oceania, Crystal, Princess, Carnival or Air Canada?
7. How to find a good TA?
8. Can a good TA get you CO prices for a cabin you want?
9. How other cruise lines advertise and how does it compare to Celebrity advertising?
10. Why advertising in North America sucks?
11. Who has a bigger d**k - a Wall Street insider, a lawyer for a large international law firm or an employee of the largest real estate company in the world?
12. Who killed JFK?

The original post had nothing to do with any of those questions/issues.

 

My only goal was to show that in some cases, for certain sailings and certain categories, Celebrity advertised prices are different from the actual prices.

 

Clarification: 

Advertised prices = prices you see in the cruise summary, below the slogan "Always included" (which gibes an impression that all shown prices always include those 3 perks).

Actual prices: prices you see during the booking process when you want to book AI.

 

I showed a specific example with screenshots where advertised prices are different from the actual prices.

 

This specific example is a fact, not an opinion. I believe this is false and misleading advertising. Some people believe it's not. It's pretty simple. Has nothing to do with any of the issues/questions listed above.

 

On a related note, I would like to congratulate Celebrity for building such a loyal customer base of real believers and fanboys/fangirls who will say anything to defend their favorite cruise line, no matter what this line does.

[AndyCapn]

5 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

ak1004 is not returning because ak1004 has nothing to add to the subject.

Proceeds to write 400 more words on a subject ak1004 has nothing to add to.