Will Celebrity ever move away from Suite Life All Inclusive Fares?

[jagoffee]

14 hours ago, TX-Cruiser said:

We sailed in a suite on Celebrity Apex and loved it. With that said, we are having a harder time stomaching the cost now that both of us are no longer drinking. Any thoughts on if Celebrity will ever move away from the all inclusive nature of their suite fares?

I doubt it.  IMO there is no way they would even considering removing the inclusive drinks in the retreat lounge.  
 

Most suite bookings in the 123/BBB days included the four perks.  
 

 

[jelayne]

10 hours ago, jelayne said:

And where is the $4 martini? We have lived in the Dallas for years, let us in on the secret.

Thanks George!  We don’t get to Addison very often anymore but will check it out next time we do.

[Jeremiah1212]

From a selling perspective, adding the upgraded drinks, upgraded WiFi and OBC is a  powerful sales tool - and even more so if the customer is pricing suites on RCL or NCL. Suite bookings are strong overall. People like the perceived value. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

Speculation based on a coincidence, someone posted on here something like “told no drinks in the retreat, thought it was All included?” The thread got hot and magically cruise only fares disappeared.  They eventually reappeared for the lower categories only.  In part thanks to move up, most sailings are nearly-completely selling out their suites.

[canderson]

30 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

In part thanks to move up, most sailings are nearly-completely selling out their suites.

I'm finding a lot of 2023 itineraries where suites are scarce or even unavailable ... long before any MoveUps could impact bookings, especially longer cruises where they're typically already fully booked.

[Tulsacoker]

15 hours ago, George C said:

We love it hope they continue, I find it a bargain compared to a rccl suite that you pay everything extra for , even better high end suites with free specialty restaurants etc etc.

I agree, just booked our first Celebrity cruise and except for the room size having the drink package, grats made it cheaper per night   

[Tulsacoker]

[Tulsacoker]

5 minutes ago, Tulsacoker said:

 

 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Tulsacoker
duplicate

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, jagoffee said:

I doubt it.  IMO there is no way they would even considering removing the inclusive drinks in the retreat lounge.  
 

Most suite bookings in the 123/BBB days included the four perks.  
 

 

The two are really not related.   In the last year there were some guest in retreat without drink packages and I thought some of their policies are kinda stupid.   If in retreat with or without a drink package you get free drinks as part of Retreat Class.   Now if they went up onto the Retreat Sun Deck they had to either have a package or pay for the drink.  

 

On Edge it was especially stupid as you could get a drink inside and walk out the doors and brink your drink with you.    Many without packages would stop in nightly an grab a glass wine to bring to dinner with them.

 

I personally enjoy the AI but as A Zenith that get Free Premium Wifi and Drink Packages have lost the benefit we once had and are paying for it in our fare while we use to get it for free if we booked without a package.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

All of the suites on the 2 Beyond Panama canal sailings in early 2024 are sold out and have been for a few months now.

[wineoclock]

We are sailing in about 10 days Apex Med cruise. Still quite a few suites available. 

[SusieAV8R]

8 hours ago, wineoclock said:

We are sailing in about 10 days Apex Med cruise. Still quite a few suites available. 

I think as pax have have noted in prior posts, whether suites are available or sold out depends on itinerary and dates.

[George C]

I think we got a bargain on next month beyond cruise I compared it to allure grand suite and way cheaper considering perks, same week next year I got a much cheaper deal on rccl grand suite on harmony and save lots of money on airfare since it leaves from Texas. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

On 10/6/2022 at 4:49 PM, Jim_Iain said:

I would say that you will see some promos pop up over time.   Celebrity has a tendency of changing things as required to boost reservations.    We've seen them come and go and come again. 

 

Celebrity is known to be consistently inconsistent.

Great comment.

 

Agree the if (when) bookings fall for Aqua and suites that AI will.be dropped and replaced with something else.  Supply and demand is the force that drives policy and prices.

[TX-Cruiser]

On 10/6/2022 at 8:35 PM, Guindalf said:

It always makes me laugh when people say ‘we’re no longer drinking’. So, you don’t drink at all? No bottled water? No coffee? No mocktails? No soda?

 

Personally, I love the drinks package and I’m not a big drinker and my DW doesn’t drink coffee or even like alcohol at all. Still, we find value in having the package.

 

I would very much doubt there will be any plans to discontinue the ‘Always Included’ options, but as others have said, who knows? The decision will be a financial one as well as related to bookings. If people are going to shell out for a suite, then the extra cost is not going to deter them. 

Hate to be a buzz kill but we just drink water. No coffee, no tea, no alcohol and certainly zero soda. We used to…made some major changes for health reasons and haven’t looked back. Ship water is fine and if we want bottled water we have our selection though Elite Tier perks. 

[TX-Cruiser]

Thank you everyone. We booked our sailing for the Apex-British Isles in May today. Leaving the suite life behind for this sailing and we’ll see if we mourn the Retreat perks. I suspect for this sailing we will be on the move so much it won’t matter much. Time will tell.