Might be done with Celebrity/ beware the upgrade

[the penguins]

14 hours ago, HMR74 said:

There is still a benefit, I think. When we go on family cruises on Royal, we get free drink coupons. I have not checked to see if there are  any changes on that. That BTw at around $10 a drink is worth 700 in saved $ on a 7 day holiday cruise,

On Royal yes, on X now no which is the point. AI pricing on X has destroyed most of the CC  benefits. X has acknowledged this but so far has done almost nothing to correct it. 

[davekathy]

13 hours ago, HMR74 said:

by carryover, do you mean you get your daily allotment and it does not carry over to the next day?

Correct. Use or lose them. 

[davekathy]

6 hours ago, the penguins said:

On Royal yes, on X now no which is the point. AI pricing on X has destroyed most of the CC  benefits. X has acknowledged this but so far has done almost nothing to correct it. 

Not all cruises offer AI. So on those cruises the CC perks/benefits are still good. Currently the only perk/benefit not being offered is the nightly CC HH in the Sky Lounge. That may return. 

[Bo1953]

On 12/14/2021 at 5:16 PM, LGW59 said:

He is a travel agent, always TCB

Does that mean 'discounted' sailings, which most of us do not have access too?

 

bon voyage

[HMR74]

7 hours ago, the penguins said:

On Royal yes, on X now no which is the point. AI pricing on X has destroyed most of the CC  benefits. X has acknowledged this but so far has done almost nothing to correct it. 

You know what? We can only do so much with what's been given to us viz a viz policies.

 

in other words, it is what it is. Sometimes we have to remember that.

 

Although it is fun to try to get things changed.

 

We all have our own points where we will say no to something, just because. My points are rather inconsistent and I know it.

 

For the most part, just give me the rules, so I can have the fun of gaming the rules.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by HMR74

[Denny01]

18 hours ago, zitsky said:

You folks might want to look at Viking.  Not sure if they have status but there is good customer service.

Just as in the case of X, Viking has issues.

 

Booked two cruises on their new Expedition ship crossing the Great Lakes, starting from Thunder Bay , ON to Milwaukee, then the 2nd cruise from Milwaukee to Toronto. Many months later, I saw on the Viking Forum that a person was contacted by Viking that this type of cruise was considered going from a Canadian port and ending in another and told her she couldn’t do that. They hadn’t contacted me on this, so I had my TA contact them and yup, they said even though I’d booked two cruises, it was defined as one, and we couldn’t do that. Two months later, another poster on Viking forum said she’d just been contacted by Viking with the same issue. 

 

So Viking wasn’t proactive on this at all, and it was a mess losing one of the cruises because how Viking set it up, And they didn’t contact any of us for a long time….heck, I was the one who contacted them.

 

So we all get upset whenever things aren’t done we think are basic, and it appears Each Cruise Line has issues. 

 

Den

[HMR74]

Keep this in mind-if you have noticed, inflation is running high on a global basis.Italy has a 20% annual run rate based on last 3 months-yes energy costs which trickle down all over.

 

Our Fed Govt Tuesday reported inflation at producers level has a 15% annual run rate.

 

My point is all businesses are concerned with maintaining margins  especially after the  lockdowns. and many sectors are cash strapped.

Viking is privately owned so thay can make a decision to take a temporary hit to Cash flow and P&L which ends up in stock price.

RCL , Carnival, and the others are mostly publically traded and they need to avoid seeing stock prices decline-lifeblood of financing.

 

They have a lot of balls up in the air and some will fall. Their ultimate goal is to get back to capacity and  operating margins pre covid. THis double digit inflation issue is another big issue for cruise lines.

 

Just for food, oil and labor.

 

Fain before he announced his retirement looked like he had taken a beating.

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by HMR74

[LGW59]

2 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Does that mean 'discounted' sailings, which most of us do not have access too?

 

bon voyage

Not discounted for me, I made the bookings myself with Celebrity, then transferred to the TA.  The difference was the amount of refundable OBC he is providing in addition to the non-refundable I get from Celebrity.

[HMR74]

6 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Not discounted for me, I made the bookings myself with Celebrity, then transferred to the TA.  The difference was the amount of refundable OBC he is providing in addition to the non-refundable I get from Celebrity.

thats generally what I see and get.

I could get a bit more from smaller TA's, however I am concerned about service level.

Everything  in life is a trade off.

[zitsky]

For my last cruise I just booked, the TA is matching what Celebrity is giving for OBC.

[HMR74]

2 minutes ago, zitsky said:

For my last cruise I just booked, the TA is matching what Celebrity is giving for OBC.

Last year my TA, in error, sent me their commission statemnet, perhaps it was intentional. There were two parts, one general commission and the second was tied to incentivizeg them for class of service.

What I have not seen is price discounts when a TA buys a number of cabins.

 

All I can say is what the TA gives me was fair all things considered.

 

With prior TA's where I received out of this world discounts and refundable OBC, I could not get the responsiveness to questions or even calls. Not worth it.

 

[HMR74]

I am looking right now to compare a 2022 spring transatlantic  vs the last one we took in 2019 spring.

Aqua class

 

we paid 3250 or so in 2019, plus drinks and internet,  and now its 5500, plus 450 gratuities, and I think but not sure classic  drinks and basic internet is included.

 

It looks like X just changed its methods. This is a 4/18 transatlantic on Reflection.  vs 2019 was infinity both in Aqua 1.

It has become  confusing, especially  now they are going to refundable there is a 3200 upcharge for the cabin above the 5500 above.

 

Going to go look at myexistng cruises not to see how they are changing if at all.

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by HMR74

[cdn_tbird]

59 minutes ago, HMR74 said:

I am looking right now to compare a 2022 spring transatlantic  vs the last one we took in 2019 spring.

Aqua class

 

we paid 3250 or so in 2019, plus drinks and internet,  and now its 5500, plus 450 gratuities, and I think but not sure classic  drinks and basic internet is included.

 

It looks like X just changed its methods. This is a 4/18 transatlantic on Reflection.  vs 2019 was infinity both in Aqua 1.

It has become  confusing, especially  now they are going to refundable there is a 3200 upcharge for the cabin above the 5500 above.

 

Going to go look at myexistng cruises not to see how they are changing if at all.

 

 

 

I noticed the same insane amount to go refundable, and that has me convinced there are errors that will be cleaned up over the next few days. 

[HMR74]

x needs to work on improvng its systems.

when I get a drink at one of the stations, I take note that somewhere its put in my permanent record and they know  how much more they make on me with a drinks package, or not.

[Bo1953]

5 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Not discounted for me, I made the bookings myself with Celebrity, then transferred to the TA.  The difference was the amount of refundable OBC he is providing in addition to the non-refundable I get from Celebrity.

L - the comment was not about your bookings, only towards the response where you indicated that poster  was a TA...

 

bon voyage

[LGW59]

6 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

L - the comment was not about your bookings, only towards the response where you indicated that poster  was a TA...

 

bon voyage

What????  It is always (or should be) about ME, Bo!

[zitsky]

4 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

What????  It is always (or should be) about ME, Bo!

 

Wait just a minute......

[HMR74]

I am just confused about the usage of TA-Transatlantic, Travel Agent, Teachers Asst. Tough Apples.

 

 

[Denny01]

10 minutes ago, HMR74 said:

I am just confused about the usage of TA-Transatlantic, Travel Agent, Teachers Asst. Tough Apples.

 

 

Travel Advisor, Trans Am, Tantalum (an element!), and somebody told me the Brits use ‘Ta’ as ‘Thanks’. 
 

den

[sasset]

4 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

Travel Advisor, Trans Am, Tantalum (an element!), and somebody told me the Brits use ‘Ta’ as ‘Thanks’. 
 

den

That is why I hate abbreviations.

[HMR74]

Trans Am should have been obvious, I missed it. 'Ta'

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, sasset said:

That is why I hate abbreviations.

Me 2

[Denny01]

I hate them too, but I Lv TA’s on X E-Class in an IV SR dining in all of the 4 MDRs….or a nice SS!

 

den

Edited December 16, 2021 by Denny01

[HMR74]

I had a '63 SS 427CI dual quad carb.

 

I'm gonna go listen to the  Beach boys and Jan and Dean.

[markeb]

1 hour ago, Denny01 said:

I hate them too, but I Lv TA’s on X E-Class in an IV SR dining in all of the 4 MDRs….or a nice SS!

 

den

Need acronyms. Nothing says succes like putting together a complete sentence of acronyms. Bonus points for embedded acronyms!