Celebrity gotten expensive.

[Lastdance]

I am also very happy that I booked cruises very early through Spring of 2024.  No one has a magic ball to predict the future, but cruising + land stay for me is still very much an ideal vacation for my DH too.  

Edited May 24, 2022 by Lastdance

[Whinenowine]

9 minutes ago, jelayne said:

That’s great if you enjoy Viking.  It’s a different experience and not for everyone.  

Yup--fully agree--to each their own; Viking's not my cup of tea either.  My point isn't about you or me, it's a generic comment about the risks X are running.  Suites have the fattest margins by far of all cabins on X ships--they need these rooms filled to return to profitability.  Which is why on my Edge cruise last month the overall ship was at 40% capacity while the Retreat was at 100% (many others have made similar comments this year).  So if only a small number, say, 10-15% of X Retreat cruisers move to other lines the effects will be significant on Celebrity's bottom line (when RCL can least afford it).  So either they don't make money, they raise prices for all cabins or they cut back on quality/services. 

[Orator]

36 minutes ago, jelayne said:

That’s great if you enjoy Viking.  It’s a different experience and not for everyone.  

Haven’t cruised on Viking before, so I’ll see. My point is that the price combined with reduction in benefits prompted me to try other lines. I just loved my Crystal cruises even to the end. Celebrity is a fine product.

[C4HCG]

Isn’t it the same old question, if you think it’s value for money book it, if not don’t. I don’t understand why that warrants debate.

[Denny01]

whenever you get into a discussion on pricing, there is always someone who says they found some ‘better’ cruise at a lower price, or is on your cruise and got a much better price. That’s why I don’t ask or want to know. 

 

But since the OP was actually asking about was X pricing higher now, I went back and looked at pricings, but it’s very hard to compare apples to apples since we’ve done very different itineraries and SR types,. A TA with a Veranda in Oct ‘22 is $288/day for a couple, we did a TA in ‘16 for ~$210/day for the two of us. For a comparable Alaska, our upcoming is ~$500/day and the similar one in ‘18 was $450/day. Gone up? Yup. A lot, not to me. My definition of pricing, acceptable or too much is: ‘It’s a good price if Im willing to pay it for that cruise’.

 

But to the “it’s cheaper to go to hotels” and so on, I’ll strongly disagree. If you are just comparing pricing, it isn’t cheaper. Even at the more expensive $500/day for two cruise, ignoring my $250/day cruises, that is Much cheaper than the $400/n hotel without listing food and all the other costs. 

 

So for a $400 hotel night or even a $200 night charge, adding food, drink, ignoring entertainment, and all the other incidentals I don’t see how that is even close, unless we stay at a Motel 6, eat at McDonalds morning / noon / night and so on.

 

 And don’t even mention RV’s….my wife explained taking the unmade bed, dirty BR, washing machine to use, and a kitchen to cook in IS NOT her idea of a vacation. 

 

And I’d rather be at sea anyway!

 

Den

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, Denny01 said:

whenever you get into a discussion on pricing, there is always someone who says they found some ‘better’ cruise at a lower price, or is on your cruise and got a much better price. That’s why I don’t ask or want to know. 

 

But since the OP was actually asking about was X pricing higher now, I went back and looked at pricings, but it’s very hard to compare apples to apples since we’ve done very different itineraries and SR types,. A TA with a Veranda in Oct ‘22 is $288/day for a couple, we did a TA in ‘16 for ~$210/day for the two of us. For a comparable Alaska, our upcoming is ~$500/day and the similar one in ‘18 was $450/day. Gone up? Yup. A lot, not to me. My definition of pricing, acceptable or too much is: ‘It’s a good price if Im willing to pay it for that cruise’.

 

But to the “it’s cheaper to go to hotels” and so on, I’ll strongly disagree. If you are just comparing pricing, it isn’t cheaper. Even at the more expensive $500/day for two cruise, ignoring my $250/day cruises, that is Much cheaper than the $400/n hotel without listing food and all the other costs. 

 

So for a $400 hotel night or even a $200 night charge, adding food, drink, ignoring entertainment, and all the other incidentals I don’t see how that is even close, unless we stay at a Motel 6, eat at McDonalds morning / noon / night and so on.

 

 And don’t even mention RV’s….my wife explained taking the unmade bed, dirty BR, washing machine to use, and a kitchen to cook in IS NOT her idea of a vacation. 

 

And I’d rather be at sea anyway!

 

Den

If you are going to compare cruising with land packages at least make it comparing apples with apples. First, the average size of a balcony room is 195 sq.ft. The hotel room should be about the same size. We usually stay at the Crowne Plaza in Ft. Lauderdale and that room is 269 sq.ft. The last time we stayed there, in 2019, we paid $155 tax included, for the room.

We only drink a couple of drinks a day so that’s not a big number, figure $40 p.d. for two.. We only eat two meals a day, breakfast and dinner, not at the hotel so figure $80p.d. for two.

Seven days: $1,085 hotel, $280 for drinks, $560 for food totals $1,925 by 7 equals $275 per day. That leaves $125 per day for incidentals. If you find a hotel with rooms around the size of the balcony, the land vacation cost would probably been a couple hundred dollars cheaper.

We have to fly every cruise so that adds another $1,250 for air, hotel, food, and transportation, going in a day early.

Staycations here we come.

 

[Denny01]

I don’t give a diddly squat about the size of my SR and certainly don’t care well beyond a squat of  the size of a hotel room.

 

And when I step out on a balcony on a cruise ship, there is the ocean all the way to the horizon, a sight I just don’t get use to..ever. When I step out onto the balcony, yeah right, of my hotel room, unless I paid a lot of big buck, there is a very very interesting parking lot or the Airconditioning units of the building next to us. 

 

Yes, I’ve actually done land tours, when I want to go to Yellowstone, or into the interior of Ireland, so many places that I don’t see on a cruise, but pricing?? That’s not the point, or the comparison. 

 

Den

Edited May 25, 2022 by Denny01

[Denny01]

@grandgeezer, your numbers are interesting, but aren’t Apple-Apple by any measure. you picked an airport hotel, not a hotel at a vacation location near a beach or wherever. You picked dining at a ridiculously low price of $40pp/pday. I won’t go into the drinks cost because that is too personal of a decision. But your numbers, I guess, are good for you, and that’s your apples-apples, but nobody is going to find a nice vacation hotel at $155 or dine at $40 per day…….even if we ate one meal a day.

 

99.98% of the rest of us need to double your ‘apples’. A ‘staycation’ is probably best since that cost will be closer to what you presented.

 

When I pay to go on a cruise vacation, it’s because That’s the type of vacation I want to take; when I pick a land tour, its because That’s the type of vacation venue I want to take. I don’t go, Gee, I think I’ll do the 4N cruise with a stop in Cancun instead of a 14N TA because the day average is lower, or Gee, I think I’ll take a vacation to Oop Alabama (been there, nice little town) because their hotels are $150/night and they have a nice Waffle House and Chick-fil-A! 

 

You got your Apples-Apples, I’ll stick with my Kumquats!

 

den 

 

[chemmo]

5 hours ago, Denny01 said:

@grandgeezer, your numbers are interesting, but aren’t Apple-Apple by any measure. you picked an airport hotel, not a hotel at a vacation location near a beach or wherever. You picked dining at a ridiculously low price of $40pp/pday. I won’t go into the drinks cost because that is too personal of a decision. But your numbers, I guess, are good for you, and that’s your apples-apples, but nobody is going to find a nice vacation hotel at $155 or dine at $40 per day…….even if we ate one meal a day.

 

99.98% of the rest of us need to double your ‘apples’. A ‘staycation’ is probably best since that cost will be closer to what you presented.

 

When I pay to go on a cruise vacation, it’s because That’s the type of vacation I want to take; when I pick a land tour, its because That’s the type of vacation venue I want to take. I don’t go, Gee, I think I’ll do the 4N cruise with a stop in Cancun instead of a 14N TA because the day average is lower, or Gee, I think I’ll take a vacation to Oop Alabama (been there, nice little town) because their hotels are $150/night and they have a nice Waffle House and Chick-fil-A! 

 

You got your Apples-Apples, I’ll stick with my Kumquats!

 

den 

 

Den,

 

It never fails to amaze me how different people look differently at things…One classic comment we have got when we have (reluctantly) been pushed on the price of cruising by none cruising acquaintances has been “How much! We could get 6 weeks in Benidorm for that!”. Pointing out we don’t want to go to Benidorm for 6 weeks seems irrelevant to their viewpoint….

 

Like you, if we want a cruise that is what we will book if we want a land tour that is what we will book. However, with all costs seeming to increase like many people we may book cruises slightly less often.

 

 

[JeanieC,Aston]

Hi 

The comments re Suites at 100% occupancy and the rest of the ship at 40% presents a problem for me (I book a hump veranda), I have noticed over the last few years that Suite guests stay in their suite or populate the Retreat.

That leaves the rest of the ship of an evening akin to the Marie Celeste.
 

On my recent cruise on Silhouette,I don’t know if it was the poor quality of the wandering minstrels but the bars where deserts after 23:00.

If that is what people like fair enough,I just like it a little bit more lively.

For the ludicrous increase in prices in Europe there is better than X out there.

 

I have only done 9 X cruises,just into Elite but it seems to be losing its Whumf!!

Every day every cruise it’s the same shows,the same menus,the same jugglers in the Martini Bar,it’s the same old same old nothing changes.

 

I hope they freshen things up because I like Celebrity,,,but at Celebrity prices I can get better entertainment with professional acts around the ship not buskers.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

What I noticed is the cost difference between inside and balconies have increased 

on the website with fast deals it shows it is $1000 CAD between inside and balcony, before it was usually $400-$500 difference , this is for the Conny November 2023 TA

This site shows both cruise only price and AL pricing, first picture is cruise only 

Edited May 25, 2022 by Ex-Airbalancer

[grandgeezer]

14 hours ago, Denny01 said:

@grandgeezer, your numbers are interesting, but aren’t Apple-Apple by any measure. you picked an airport hotel, not a hotel at a vacation location near a beach or wherever. You picked dining at a ridiculously low price of $40pp/pday. I won’t go into the drinks cost because that is too personal of a decision. But your numbers, I guess, are good for you, and that’s your apples-apples, but nobody is going to find a nice vacation hotel at $155 or dine at $40 per day…….even if we ate one meal a day.

 

99.98% of the rest of us need to double your ‘apples’. A ‘staycation’ is probably best since that cost will be closer to what you presented.

 

When I pay to go on a cruise vacation, it’s because That’s the type of vacation I want to take; when I pick a land tour, its because That’s the type of vacation venue I want to take. I don’t go, Gee, I think I’ll do the 4N cruise with a stop in Cancun instead of a 14N TA because the day average is lower, or Gee, I think I’ll take a vacation to Oop Alabama (been there, nice little town) because their hotels are $150/night and they have a nice Waffle House and Chick-fil-A! 

 

You got your Apples-Apples, I’ll stick with my Kumquats!

 

den 

 

You are allowed your opinion and I should be allowed mine. Where we stay and what’s important, in where we stay on vacation is our business. Food cost estimate is accurate, we eat what we want and choose where we get it, no five star restaurants and no lobster. We live in the Phoenix area and have 0 problems meeting that number, most of the time.

Drinks? We don’t buy drinks because of the cost, a total money grab.

We also don’t need any education on cruising as we have done 47 with 494 days at sea, using six different cruise lines.

Pricing: You mention a couple of TAs, we happen to have take one on the Silhouette in April of 2016. It was 13 days and we booked a last minute balcony guarantee and ended up with a 1A, for $600 plus taxes, fees, and tips. After a refundable obc from our travel agent, it came to about $65 p.p. per day.

Keep on sailing, while you can, they certainly need the money.

 

Enjoy your kumquats….. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

Pricing: You mention a couple of TAs, we happen to have take one on the Silhouette in April of 2016. It was 13 days and we booked a last minute balcony guarantee and ended up with a 1A, for $600 plus taxes, fees, and tips. After a refundable obc from our travel agent, it came to about $65 p.p. per day.

Keep on sailing, while you can, they certainly need the money.

 

No one knows about last minute deals yet , 

Celebrity is all over the placing , on the Apex TA , no one got a move up bid , yet 2 person got move up to a balcony for free at FLL 

[4774Papa]

On 5/23/2022 at 4:43 PM, FeelingCruisy said:

Is it just me or does anyone else here think celebrity cruises prices have gone up substantially recently? We booked a repositioning cruise and paid about $2,000

with all inclusive and refundable deposit only about a month and a half ago. I notice now that is almost the price before all inclusive added in.  This is true for most other cruises that we have been tracking. It seems like the price remain the same but now you have to pay a lot more to get the all-inclusive. Or is this all in my head?   

Prices are up for a number of reasons.

1) Inflation

2) COVID19 shutdown severely affected profits for many months.

3) Celebrity's price bundling forcing many bookings with drink packages.

 

[TeeRick]

On 5/24/2022 at 4:50 PM, C4HCG said:

Isn’t it the same old question, if you think it’s value for money book it, if not don’t. I don’t understand why that warrants debate.

You must be a new member and welcome!  But you are being far too logical for Cruise Critic.😀

[Moby Jones]

On 5/23/2022 at 9:43 PM, FeelingCruisy said:

Is it just me or does anyone else here think celebrity cruises prices have gone up substantially recently? We booked a repositioning cruise and paid about $2,000

with all inclusive and refundable deposit only about a month and a half ago. I notice now that is almost the price before all inclusive added in.  This is true for most other cruises that we have been tracking. It seems like the price remain the same but now you have to pay a lot more to get the all-inclusive. Or is this all in my head?   

I've been cruising Celebrity for a long time now and used to think I had my head around Celebrity pricing in both the US and UK. But right now it's hard to see how they are pricing their cruises. 

Smart Alec's will tell you it's all about supply and demand... Obviously! 

But last year we booked a 10 night sky suite cruise at £2800 per person with the all inclusive package in the Med. I don't personally value it at much more than that but was comfortable with that price. Just before we set sail I checked prices out of interest. The exact same deal had increased to £9367 per person. 

Each to their own and people should pay what they are happy with, But I seriously doubt many will see a sky suite as being worth £937 per person per night! I assumed they had one or two rooms left and were trying their luck. Long story short, we had some issues with our suite and were immediately offered a new room. We had many sky suites to choose from.... 

So I'd love to know why Celebrity chose to hike pricing up by over 300% with multiple suites left! 

I have been surprised with some of the pricing on M class ships recently. It's been as  high as comparable cabins on S and E class on some of the cruises I've looked at and as I said to friends very recently I expect that to soften in coming months as they appear far too high IMHO. Time will tell.... 
 

[DarrenM]

On 5/25/2022 at 2:17 AM, Denny01 said:

I don’t give a diddly squat about the size of my SR and certainly don’t care well beyond a squat of  the size of a hotel room.

 

And when I step out on a balcony on a cruise ship, there is the ocean all the way to the horizon, a sight I just don’t get use to..ever. When I step out onto the balcony, yeah right, of my hotel room, unless I paid a lot of big buck, there is a very very interesting parking lot or the Airconditioning units of the building next to us. 

 

Yes, I’ve actually done land tours, when I want to go to Yellowstone, or into the interior of Ireland, so many places that I don’t see on a cruise, but pricing?? That’s not the point, or the comparison. 

 

Den

Agree 100% here.

 

You cant put a price on that night time balcony experience of sitting there enjoying the ocean. the peacefullness of it is worth a fortune.

 

I am only 2 cruises in, with a third booked, all with Celebrity. They are not cheap, but they tick all of my boxes.

 

I certainly cant afford a retreat standard room though. Thats way out of my price range.

 

Booked to go Beyond next year 11 nights in the Med, deck 8. 

 

The room is plenty big enough for the 2 of us, as other than that sea gazing, I wont be spending that long in the room.

 

Far too much to enjoy for sitting in a room too big for its purpose. 

[DarrenM]

1 hour ago, Moby Jones said:

I've been cruising Celebrity for a long time now and used to think I had my head around Celebrity pricing in both the US and UK. But right now it's hard to see how they are pricing their cruises. 

Smart Alec's will tell you it's all about supply and demand... Obviously! 

But last year we booked a 10 night sky suite cruise at £2800 per person with the all inclusive package in the Med. I don't personally value it at much more than that but was comfortable with that price. Just before we set sail I checked prices out of interest. The exact same deal had increased to £9367 per person. 

Each to their own and people should pay what they are happy with, But I seriously doubt many will see a sky suite as being worth £937 per person per night! I assumed they had one or two rooms left and were trying their luck. Long story short, we had some issues with our suite and were immediately offered a new room. We had many sky suites to choose from.... 

So I'd love to know why Celebrity chose to hike pricing up by over 300% with multiple suites left! 

I have been surprised with some of the pricing on M class ships recently. It's been as  high as comparable cabins on S and E class on some of the cruises I've looked at and as I said to friends very recently I expect that to soften in coming months as they appear far too high IMHO. Time will tell.... 
 

£900 per night per person? Wow.

 

With the best will in the world that surely isnt worth it? £18grand  for a 10 night cruise for 2?

 

I will stick to a stateroom with veranda.

[Moby Jones]

1 hour ago, DarrenM said:

£900 per night per person? Wow.

 

With the best will in the world that surely isnt worth it? £18grand  for a 10 night cruise for 2?

 

I will stick to a stateroom with veranda.

It's not worth it to me. I think we paid about as much as I value the sky suite experience. It's not worth much more to me. But Celebrity can ask what they like. We take as many land vacations as we do cruises and are not married to their loyalty program so more than happy to cruise with AZ and O etc which can and do offer much better value for money in many instances so it's all good. 🙂 

[DarrenM]

59 minutes ago, Moby Jones said:

It's not worth it to me. I think we paid about as much as I value the sky suite experience. It's not worth much more to me. But Celebrity can ask what they like. We take as many land vacations as we do cruises and are not married to their loyalty program so more than happy to cruise with AZ and O etc which can and do offer much better value for money in many instances so it's all good. 🙂 

I am not in any loyalty program either, but I do love Celebrity.

 

But for that price I could get 3-4 cruises a year. 

 

I am happy to have a standard stateroom forever.

[4774Papa]

I love Celebrity and we recently did the Galapagos with them.   X had a 20% off sale that made such an expensive cruise a bit less expensive.

 

Still,   I always compare cruises from other cruise lines as well.

 

With the COVID19 problem still out there, cruises have less appeal to me than they did prior to COVID19.

We are looking more at land tours instead of cruises.  Yes, COVID19 is still an issue for that, but perhaps a bit less so.  ALso, I am finding great prices for land tours that compare more favorably to taking a cruise.  Further, we have taken 21 cruises in the past 12 years (as well as four river cruises) and generally don't repeat the same cruises, expect transatlantics.     Transatlantics are more an issue, since if we fly to Italy and do two weeks there, plan to cruise home to the USA, if we get COVID19 and can't cruise home, that would be a very expensive trip home via air.

[Moby Jones]

53 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

I am not in any loyalty program either, but I do love Celebrity.

 

But for that price I could get 3-4 cruises a year. 

 

I am happy to have a standard stateroom forever.

We're Elite+ but to me personally chasing the next status level makes no sense because it would mean missing out on other lines. 

 

M and S class ship balconies probably do make a lot more sense than suites on port intensive cruises at some of the prices I've seen. :) 

[DarrenM]

45 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

I love Celebrity and we recently did the Galapagos with them.   X had a 20% off sale that made such an expensive cruise a bit less expensive.

 

Still,   I always compare cruises from other cruise lines as well.

 

With the COVID19 problem still out there, cruises have less appeal to me than they did prior to COVID19.

We are looking more at land tours instead of cruises.  Yes, COVID19 is still an issue for that, but perhaps a bit less so.  ALso, I am finding great prices for land tours that compare more favorably to taking a cruise.  Further, we have taken 21 cruises in the past 12 years (as well as four river cruises) and generally don't repeat the same cruises, expect transatlantics.     Transatlantics are more an issue, since if we fly to Italy and do two weeks there, plan to cruise home to the USA, if we get COVID19 and can't cruise home, that would be a very expensive trip home via air.

Maybe we were lucky, but Covid was not an issue on ,my cruise that finished on the 23rd May this year. It was an issue at the start having to have a negative test 24 hours prior to travelling, which made any pre-cruise excitement redundant. But once we got the green light covid was no longer an issue.

 

Didnt need masks, and all the places we visited didnt bother with masks either.

 

Was a pleasure to be cruising again.

[DarrenM]

30 minutes ago, Moby Jones said:

We're Elite+ but to me personally chasing the next status level makes no sense because it would mean missing out on other lines. 

 

M and S class ship balconies probably do make a lot more sense than suites on port intensive cruises at some of the prices I've seen. 🙂

I dont even know what these status's mean, or how you get them.

 

I just love cruising, and I love the celebrity ships I have been on so far Edge and Reflection.

 

Hoping to love Beyond even more next year.

[ScottC4746]

On 5/23/2022 at 1:43 PM, FeelingCruisy said:

Is it just me or does anyone else here think celebrity cruises prices have gone up substantially recently? We booked a repositioning cruise and paid about $2,000

with all inclusive and refundable deposit only about a month and a half ago. I notice now that is almost the price before all inclusive added in.  This is true for most other cruises that we have been tracking. It seems like the price remain the same but now you have to pay a lot more to get the all-inclusive. Or is this all in my head?   

All cruises are expensive along with the fuel.  Cruises are also like hotels, demand driven.  With everyone returning to cruises again the price of course goes up.