Celebrity cruise had no verandas open yesterday, now there are dozens

[Sigyn]

I'm cruising to Alaska on the Millennium in July. The ship has been booked up for a couple of months with very few veranda cabins open. In the past few weeks, there was one or two obstructed view cabins and then they were booked. This evening, I suddenly saw about 30-40 cabins open up in all veranda categories. What would be the reason for this? The cruise is still 144 days away, so final payment isn't due until 90 days out, on April 8, where people potentially bail. Some of the open cabins are in big blocks so it's not random ones here or there. I'm super curious why these are suddenly available. Do they hold some until close to final payment, then open them up? 

[jelayne]

Maybe a small group cancelled or a TA turned  ack some cabins.

[mom says]

It's probably the deadline for the large TAs to return their unsold blocks of cabins.

[George C]

I have seen that with suites 

[Northern Aurora]

2 hours ago, mom says said:

It's probably the deadline for the large TAs to return their unsold blocks of cabins.

 

Totally agree.

[Sigyn]

9 hours ago, mom says said:

It's probably the deadline for the large TAs to return their unsold blocks of cabins.

Ah, okay. I took advantage of it and changed my cabin. When I originally booked in October there weren't any good verandas left outside of AQ or concierge. I had been paying $6,000 for an AQ veranda, but I opted for a cabin with a double-sized veranda for just $3,200 instead. No drink or wi-fi package, but I really don't drink and my husband can just buy his drinks as he goes. I'll have to add on wi-fi. But much better price overall. I might miss Blu, but hey, for nearly $3,000, it's well worth it. As that April 8 final payment deadline draws near, the idea of paying the lower balance is much more appealing!!

Edited February 14, 2023 by njsmom

[Sigyn]

Wanted to edit to say: I don't drink MUCH. I do drink. lol 

[thebutlerdidit]

I see this all the time. I’ve seen huge numbers of Aqua class cabins disappear overnight only to be released in a slow trickle at ridiculously high prices. Right now my Reflection Nov 25 cruise is only offering V3 obstructed view veranda cabins. Are all of the unobstructed verandas sold out? No. The V3’s must have been a slow sell. 

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, njsmom said:

Ah, okay. I took advantage of it and changed my cabin. When I originally booked in October there weren't any good verandas left outside of AQ or concierge. I had been paying $6,000 for an AQ veranda, but I opted for a cabin with a double-sized veranda for just $3,200 instead. No drink or wi-fi package, but I really don't drink and my husband can just buy his drinks as he goes. I'll have to add on wi-fi. But much better price overall. I might miss Blu, but hey, for nearly $3,000, it's well worth it. As that April 8 final payment deadline draws near, the idea of paying the lower balance is much more appealing!!

Welcome to the future of Celebrity pricing, there is no reason why an Aqua class cabin should be $3000 more than a standard Verandah. At that much difference you could dine every night in a Specialty restaurant, have better food than Blu and still be way ahead. Pre Covid when we booked AQ cabins the price difference was maybe a couple of hundred dollars. 

[dacsmom]

14 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Welcome to the future of Celebrity pricing, there is no reason why an Aqua class cabin should be $3000 more than a standard Verandah. At that much difference you could dine every night in a Specialty restaurant, have better food than Blu and still be way ahead. Pre Covid when we booked AQ cabins the price difference was maybe a couple of hundred dollars. 

If they booked all included and changed cabins and booked cruise only that is a big chunk of the price difference.

[RichYak]

25 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Welcome to the future of Celebrity pricing, there is no reason why an Aqua class cabin should be $3000 more than a standard Verandah

Some of that $3000 is the bundled AI package but your point is still valid.

[Sigyn]

42 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Welcome to the future of Celebrity pricing, there is no reason why an Aqua class cabin should be $3000 more than a standard Verandah. At that much difference you could dine every night in a Specialty restaurant, have better food than Blu and still be way ahead. Pre Covid when we booked AQ cabins the price difference was maybe a couple of hundred dollars. 

it wasn't that much more when I booked it - it was $600 or 700 more and I decided the spa was worth it, plus Blu. Before I realized the thermal loungers are just a shared, curved bench on Millennium. That's not what I like in a thermal lounger. But that's comparing a veranda with All Included to AQ. The $3,000 difference is a  Deluxe Veranda Stateroom (#7178) without All Included compared to AQ. So no drink package, tips or Wi-Fi. But that's fine. I will get maybe one drink a day and my husband 2-3, maybe 4 max. Definitely not going to cost us $3,000 to do that. We are going to Alaska so it's port heavy and not much time to get drinks on board. And most lunches are off the ship. Premium Wi-Fi is going to cost us $400 total for 1 device each for the cruise. Oh, and they gave me an extra $150 in OBC when I changed cabins, so that covers part of the cost. Go figure. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by njsmom

[dilbertsdaddy]

12 hours ago, njsmom said:

I'm cruising to Alaska on the Millennium in July. The ship has been booked up for a couple of months with very few veranda cabins open. In the past few weeks, there was one or two obstructed view cabins and then they were booked. This evening, I suddenly saw about 30-40 cabins open up in all veranda categories. What would be the reason for this? The cruise is still 144 days away, so final payment isn't due until 90 days out, on April 8, where people potentially bail. Some of the open cabins are in big blocks so it's not random ones here or there. I'm super curious why these are suddenly available. Do they hold some until close to final payment, then open them up? 

I am on this exact route but two weeks later: I see about 25 verandas open now, it was sold out a month ago and has only had 1-2 available since then.

 

Hoping for a move up - the rest of our group has verandas but my wife and I are cost sensitive (cheap you might call it)......it is not worth the full load IMO.  

[Sigyn]

3 minutes ago, dilbertsdaddy said:

I am on this exact route but two weeks later: I see about 25 verandas open now, it was sold out a month ago and has only had 1-2 available since then.

 

Hoping for a move up - the rest of our group has verandas but my wife and I are cost sensitive (cheap you might call it)......it is not worth the full load IMO.  

it's nutty how many are open, right?! the partial view verandas on my cruise are starting at $1,048 pp, so not too bad. but yeah, the ocean views are like $600 pp, so much better deal. 

[terrydtx]

13 minutes ago, njsmom said:

Premium Wi-Fi is going to cost us $400 total for 1 device each for the cruise.

You may want to consider whether you will need the premium Wi-Fi. In ports you will be able to use your Cell account and most will be 4 or 5G. I found that we didn't need to upgrade to premium when we did Alaska in 2019. More time is in a port and less at sea.

Edited February 14, 2023 by terrydtx

[Sigyn]

I just used some of the savings from the cruise cabin switch to add an extra day in Vancouver at the start of our vacation. Always feel good to see exactly where the money goes. The hotels in Vancouver are NOT CHEAP. 

[Sigyn]

1 minute ago, terrydtx said:

You may want to consider whether you will need the premium Wi-Fi. In ports you will be able to use your Cell account and most will be 4 or 5G. I found that we didn't need to upgrade to premium when we did Alaska in 2019. More time is in a port and less at sea.

That's a good point. I haven't bought the Wi-Fi yet. I'll do some research. 

[terrydtx]

Just now, njsmom said:

That's a good point. I haven't bought the Wi-Fi yet. I'll do some research. 

You can always upgrade while on the cruise if needed. I found we had good cell service even while we cruised the inside passage in Canada and my ATT cell plan covers Canada and Mexico for everything.

[Sigyn]

4 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

You can always upgrade while on the cruise if needed. I found we had good cell service even while we cruised the inside passage in Canada and my ATT cell plan covers Canada and Mexico for everything.

Makes perfect sense. We did a holiday cruise on NCL in December and I didn't even buy my son's Wi-Fi until we were on the cruise. Not on purpose, but turned out he didn't have Wi-Fi so had to get it then. That was a story in itself. Imagine being on a cruise where the 50-something parents have Wi-Fi but the 15-year-old boy does not? That was rather funny. He nearly died from Snapchat withdrawal in that 2-hour period. 

[terrydtx]

32 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Some of that $3000 is the bundled AI package but your point is still valid.

Aqua Class costs are getting ridiculous. The current AQ cabin price on our Apex Cruise in September is only $600pp less than what we booked our Sky Suite.  For our New Zealand Edge cruise next January AQ is only $450pp less than what we booked our Sky Suite. And in both cases, we get Premium AI plus all the Retreat amenities, which AQ does not have.

Edited February 14, 2023 by terrydtx

[Jeremiah1212]

12 hours ago, mom says said:

It's probably the deadline for the large TAs to return their unsold blocks of cabins.

 

Correct. A little earlier than normal but they can do it at any time, especially if all available inventory is held by TA's. 

[terrydtx]

30 minutes ago, dilbertsdaddy said:

I am on this exact route but two weeks later: I see about 25 verandas open now, it was sold out a month ago and has only had 1-2 available since then.

 

Hoping for a move up - the rest of our group has verandas but my wife and I are cost sensitive (cheap you might call it)......it is not worth the full load IMO.  

I wouldn't put it past Celebrity to deliberately hold back cabins to make a cruise look online like it is close to selling out to spur more bookings. The Hurry up and book before they are gone messaging.

Edited February 14, 2023 by terrydtx

[TwoBeAtSea]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

Welcome to the future of Celebrity pricing, there is no reason why an Aqua class cabin should be $3000 more than a standard Verandah. At that much difference you could dine every night in a Specialty restaurant, have better food than Blu and still be way ahead. Pre Covid when we booked AQ cabins the price difference was maybe a couple of hundred dollars. 

I looked at "Aqua Class" when I was booking and the pricing made no sense to me so I went with a Premium Verandah, Drinks package, Primium WiFi, Two Specialty Restaurant nights, Glass Blowing, Ship tour and Blackjack tournament and still saved money over Aqua Class.  

[Jeremiah1212]

3 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I wouldn't put it past Celebrity to deliberately hold back cabins to make a cruise look online like it is close to selling out to spur more bookings. The Hurry up and book before they are gone messaging.

 

It's actually the opposite. TA's can hold unsold group allocated space until 150 or 120 days from sailing. If the situation occurs that TA's are holding all of the available inventory (such as this case) Celebrity will require the unsold cabin allocation to be given up so they have inventory to sell. 

[Vagabond Knight]

41 minutes ago, njsmom said:

Before I realized the thermal loungers are just a shared, curved bench on Millennium. That's not what I like in a thermal lounger.

 

A very hard curved bench... sort of like lying on a rock slab.  😄