Celebrity to home port Equinox in Port Canaveral

[cruise wizard]

5 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We are on the 1/4 cruise. Would have done the 1/11 one as well, but we are already booked for a B2B on Adventure over superbowl week in February. 

 

Looking forward to meeting you on the 1/4. We most always do B2B's and the second leg has Key West that we originally had on the Reflection in both June and September of 2024 but was changed to Beyond and a different itinerary.

[orville99]

4 minutes ago, cruise wizard said:

 

Looking forward to meeting you on the 1/4. We most always do B2B's and the second leg has Key West that we originally had on the Reflection in both June and September of 2024 but was changed to Beyond and a different itinerary.

We will be in Key West on Grandeur in two weeks.

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

We always book suites, and were surprised that Concierge for this sailing was quite a bit less than a GS for essentially the same itinerary on RCL.

Not surprising. Concierge Class is not a suite. I know JS is really just a large balcony but they are larger than Concierge Class cabins. 

Edited August 22, 2023 by Charles4515

[orville99]

2 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Not surprising. Concierge Class is not a suite. 

More like a JS IMO.

[Charles4515]

1 minute ago, orville99 said:

More like a JS IMO.

Yes could say JS is is more like a large balcony but they are larger than concierge class cabins. The concierge class cabins are different sizes so on some Celebrity ships. They are larger on Edge class than older ships but still smaller than JS. 

[orville99]

15 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Yes could say JS is is more like a large balcony but they are larger than concierge class cabins. The concierge class cabins are different sizes so on some Celebrity ships. They are larger on Edge class than older ships but still smaller than JS. 

We looked at doing a Sky Aqua suite in the retreat, but since this will be our first cruise on X, we thought we would just use the opportunity to kick the tires and try out the brand, and that week worked in our schedule.

Edited August 22, 2023 by orville99

[ISABELLA]

I just priced a few 7 days sailings from PC. For the same balcony category price for a cruise $3700 with AL and refundable deposit. We will be going on 10 days on Equinox in November for $2900 with AL and refundable deposit, booked about a year ago.  AQ now  - around $5000 for 7 days. We used sailed AQ primarily in the past, but now there is absolutely nothing X is offering that worth that price. 

No X cruises booked for next year. Will be sailing on new Sun Princess in Med and MSC YC in the Carib. I think X might be pricing themself out from competition. 

[Jeremiah1212]

6 minutes ago, ISABELLA said:

I just priced a few 7 days sailings from PC. For the same balcony category price for a cruise $3700 with AL and refundable deposit. We will be going on 10 days on Equinox in November for $2900 with AL and refundable deposit, booked about a year ago.  AQ now  - around $5000 for 7 days. We used sailed AQ primarily in the past, but now there is absolutely nothing X is offering that worth that price. 

No X cruises booked for next year. Will be sailing on new Sun Princess in Med and MSC YC in the Carib. I think X might be pricing themself out from competition. 

 

$3700 for two for a week with drinks included is a pretty average fare. Even if you look at Carnival out of PC by the time you add drinks and gratuities you are at that same price point. As you know you're paying significantly for the refundable deposit. I'd risk $200 to save ~$600. At $3200 in a veranda with All Included that's cheaper than you'll find on nearly anything from PC for that timeframe. COVID era prices are gone. 

[orville99]

52 minutes ago, ISABELLA said:

I just priced a few 7 days sailings from PC. For the same balcony category price for a cruise $3700 with AL and refundable deposit.

We booked Equinox yesterday in a C1 with AI and NRD for $3,600 (including insurance) and received $200 in OBC (which we will use for specialty dining). Glad we booked yesterday, because today the $200 OBC is no longer being offered.😇

[PTC DAWG]

21 hours ago, orville99 said:

Larger cabin, bath instead of a shower, better toiletries, larger balcony, robes. On Oasis or Quantum class ships, access to the suite restaurant for dinner

A bath is a big negative for my Wife and I.  We sailed a JS on Allure, very narrow tub, hard to shower in in the rough seas we encountered.  I’ll take a nice big walk in shower anyday. 

[PTC DAWG]

54 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

I'd risk $200 to save ~$600. At $3200 in a veranda with All Included that's cheaper than you'll find on nearly anything from PC for that timeframe. COVID era prices are gone. 

Agree, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze to me on the NRD. 

[orville99]

5 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

hard to shower in in the rough seas we encountered.

We always shower on port days😇

[Oceangoer2]

2 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We always shower on port days😇

EWWWW!  What if there are NO port days?? Oh...maybe the hot tub??  Reason why we don't use them....😉

[orville99]

4 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Agree, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze to me on the NRD. 

Never understood why anyone would drop any $$ more than the NRD deposit amount in order to avoid potentially losing the deposit. In over 100 cruises, we have had to cancel exactly once (DW blew out her knee, and since we always purchase insurance, we received 100% of what we paid back).

[orville99]

3 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

EWWWW!  What if there are NO port days?? Oh...maybe the hot tub??  Reason why we don't use them....😉

Have never been on a cruise where there are no port days, and also have never been on a cruise where the seas were so bad that we couldn't take a bath and then shower off whenever we wanted to. BTW, on most ships there are showers available for use in the spa for those so inclined.

Edited August 23, 2023 by orville99

[Jeremiah1212]

12 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Agree, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze to me on the NRD. 

 

Or you can book the refundable group rate for far cheaper and more OBC than Celebrity sells directly. 

[orville99]

6 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

Or you can book the refundable group rate for far cheaper and more OBC than Celebrity sells directly. 

We never use a TA. 

[Charles4515]

28 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We booked Equinox yesterday in a C1 with AI and NRD for $3,600 (including insurance) and received $200 in OBC (which we will use for specialty dining). Glad we booked yesterday, because today the $200 OBC is no longer being offered.😇

I get two emails every day from Celebrity. There are always new offers and similiar repeat offers. I don't worry about an offer going away. There will be a new offer that might be better when I am ready to book. After I book before final payment I watch the offers too as there sometimes is a better offer than the one I booked with. 

[orville99]

17 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

I get two emails every day from Celebrity. There are always new offers and similiar repeat offers. I don't worry about an offer going away. There will be a new offer that might be better when I am ready to book. After I book before final payment I watch the offers too as there sometimes is a better offer than the one I booked with. 

And if history is any predictor of future pricing, when you ultimately pull the trigger on that “better” offer, you will have paid substantially more for it.

 

We currently have 21 other cruises booked (all but two booked when itineraries were first released), and every one of them has significantly increased in price with several more than twice what we booked for, and two that have tripled.

[cruise wizard]

3 minutes ago, orville99 said:

And if history is any predictor of future pricing, when you ultimately pull the trigger on that “better” offer, you will have paid substantially more for it.

 

We currently have 21 other cruises booked (all but two booked when itineraries were first released), and every one of them has significantly increased in price with several more than twice what we booked for, and two that have tripled.

 

We try and book when the new itineraries open up (at least a year early) - that way we get the cabin category and location of choice............and have all of that time to find a better deal / sale / promotion.

[orville99]

13 minutes ago, cruise wizard said:

 

We try and book when the new itineraries open up (at least a year early) - that way we get the cabin category and location of choice............and have all of that time to find a better deal / sale / promotion.

We ball hawk all of our booked cruises right up to FPD, and can count on one hand (and have fingers left over) the number of times we have actually found a better deal. YMMV

Edited August 23, 2023 by orville99

[cruise wizard]

8 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We ball hawk all of our booked cruises right up to FPD, and can count on one hand (and have fingers left over) the number of times we have actually found a better deal. YMMV

 

Price reductions were fairly frequent prior to the shut down...........today...........like hen's teeth!!!! Oh, the good days!!!

[ISABELLA]

3 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

$3700 for two for a week with drinks included is a pretty average fare. Even if you look at Carnival out of PC by the time you add drinks and gratuities you are at that same price point. As you know you're paying significantly for the refundable deposit. I'd risk $200 to save ~$600. At $3200 in a veranda with All Included that's cheaper than you'll find on nearly anything from PC for that timeframe. COVID era prices are gone. 

The risk is $500. But, it gives me flexibility to make changes to the ship and date or cancel all together

since the cruise is 18 months away. Always can change to NRD. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

4 minutes ago, ISABELLA said:

The risk is $500. But, it gives me flexibility to make changes to the ship and date or cancel all together

since the cruise is 18 months away. Always can change to NRD. 

 

I never really looked at it that way --- if you change to NRD, say, 5 months from departure - would you get the old NRD rate, or the new/current one?

 

Tom

[Jeremiah1212]

6 minutes ago, ISABELLA said:

The risk is $500. But, it gives me flexibility to make changes to the ship and date or cancel all together

since the cruise is 18 months away. Always can change to NRD. 

 

It's only $500 if you cancel all together. Otherwise it's $200 plus $300 FCC to shift sail dates. And to shift to refundable you move to prevailing rates so there is risk there too.