Future booked cruises with All Included? Tips no longer included.

[hcat]

15 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Me thinks hcat was just sharing that they have confirmed that it’s true about no impact to existing bookings.  Glad hcat did this as sometimes you can’t believe everything you read

I actually called mainly because my Confirmation paperwork for APEX had a charge for grats for each person. 

 

The rep  said it would drop off within 2 wks of booking..We were way past 2  wks , so I requested an updated Conf e mail( #4) 

 

she said it was going out right away and wpuld refect a credit for the grats.

 

.It never arrived.  I called again..diff rep same story.. said it would be here in 5 min... never arrlved.  If not here by tom noon,  I will call again..

 

B/c it involves a credit for their  invoice error, maybe it has to pass through the chutes and  ladders dept first!

 

???????

[abbydancer2003]

So for grins, I just looked at an S1 sky suite for an Edge cruise in 2025.  The price is roughly what I paid when I moved my 2024 cruise several months ago.   I will check again around October 2nd, and then again on the 10th.  I'll report back.  I'll then know if they jack the price to reduce it, or if they truly reduce it.

[abbydancer2003]

2 minutes ago, hcat said:

I actually called mainly because my Confirmation paperwork for APEX had a charge for grats for each person. 

 

The rep  said it would drop off within 2 wks of booking..We were way past 2  wks , so I requested an updated Conf e mail( #4) 

 

she said it was going out right away and wpuld refect a credit for the grats.

 

.It never arrived.  I called again..diff rep same story.. said it would be here in 5 min... never arrlved.  If not here by tom noon,  I will call again..

 

B/c it involves a credit for their  invoice error, maybe it has to pass through the chutes and  ladders dept first!

 

???????

I've seen that charge hang around for a while.  Only was a problem when booking in the final payment window.

[wrk2cruise]

I never hang up until I receive the email with the new invoice.  They can send instantly.  If you haven't received it you probably won't.

[terrydtx]

We all know some CC members who are very adamant and volcal about not tipping and brag about haveing the daily gratuity charges taken off their accounts at the end of their cruise. With the old AI my understanding was you couldn't do this. I can see more doing it now and the hardworking crew getting less compensation.  This is just another shameless cash grab by Celebrity. 

[hcat]

31 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

I never hang up until I receive the email with the new invoice.  They can send instantly.  If you haven't received it you probably won't.

Thanks   

I will try that tom.. Waste of staff to have phone calls on the same issue!

[AtlantaCruiser72]

ever since the inception of bundled pricing for drink/tips/wifi in all it's various guises and forms the booking system has had a line item added 24-48hrs AFTER booking for tips that somewhere down the line gets adjusted with an offsetting credit for the same amount (or is supposed to).  Sometimes it falls through the cracks  Most consumers do not notice as it does not appear on the initial invoice and does not affect the final balance they pay.

[terrydtx]

Today in the mail we got our 2024-25 Oceania Grand Voyages catalog and found some interesting cruises at remarkable costs per night. One we are going to look at is the 23 day Amsterdam to London June 2024 cruise on the Marina. We can book a Penthouse Suite from $600pp per night or a Veranda from $452pp per night. This why so many Celebrity customers are jumping ship after all the recent changes to the product. We never book the air with Oceania as it is mostly a rip off but the non air prices includes the beer and wine beverage package, free Wi-Fi, all specialty restaurants and a $500pp shore excursion CREDIT.

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by terrydtx

[wrk2cruise]

45 minutes ago, hcat said:

Thanks   

I will try that tom.. Waste of staff to have phone calls on the same issue!

 

There is also an automated phone system for requesting a copy of your invoice.  Call the Existing Reservations number and follow the prompts 

 

• Existing Reservations 1-888-751-7804

 

Answer with the following at the prompts

 

2

1

1

Edited August 30, 2023 by wrk2cruise

[Ex-Airbalancer]

People were pissed off when they included grats in Always included , now people are pissed off they are excluding them 🙄

I would think 99% of the passengers will just pay the daily grats without even thinking about it 

[NMTraveller]

1 minute ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

People were pissed off when they included grats in Always included , now people are pissed off they are excluding them 🙄

I would think 99% of the passengers will just pay the daily grats without even thinking about it 

Well we were getting the grats for free in our All Included group rates.  So yes it is a $300 - $500 or better money grab by Celebrity.

[Cruise till you drop]

5 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Well we were getting the grats for free in our All Included group rates.  So yes it is a $300 - $500 or better money grab by Celebrity.

You might need to explain this as you could spin AI savings many different ways

[Ex-Airbalancer]

7 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Well we were getting the grats for free in our All Included group rates.  So yes it is a $300 - $500 or better money grab by Celebrity.

 

Maybe your wifi was free in the group booking 😁

wait until after Oct 4 to see how Celebrity is dividing up the pie 😉

[poeticlicensed]

12 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

People were pissed off when they included grats in Always included , now people are pissed off they are excluding them 🙄

I would think 99% of the passengers will just pay the daily grats without even thinking about it 

That's why they took grata off. People are gonna pay them. If they removed the bev pkg, you'd have a lot more people saying no to bundling. 

[NMTraveller]

3 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

You might need to explain this as you could spin AI savings many different ways

Well when we book the group rate we normally get AI and OBC for the same price that we would booking through Celebrity.  It is a bonus.

 

Do I think that Celebrity will reduce their rates because they eliminated grats in AI?  Based upon their recent fee increases.  Heck no.

[NMTraveller]

4 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Maybe your wifi was free in the group booking 😁

wait until after Oct 4 to see how Celebrity is dividing up the pie 😉

Yes our wifi,  drinks and everything in AI was for free along with added OBC.  This is when you compare it to the Celebrity rate at the time.  There are many benefits to booking through a TA.  We paid the Celebrity advertised rate and got a bunch of add ons for free by booking through the TA.

Edited August 30, 2023 by NMTraveller

[Cruise till you drop]

3 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Yes our wifi,  drinks and everything in AI was for free along with added OBC.  This is when you compare it to the Celebrity rate at the time.  There are many benefits to booking through a TA.  We paid the Celebrity advertised rate and got a bunch of add ons for free by booking through the TA.

Without showing actual numbers, I’m still not getting what you’re trying to say in terms of “free”

[NMTraveller]

5 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Without showing actual numbers, I’m still not getting what you’re trying to say in terms of “free”

I will round the numbers to make it easy but:

 

The Celebrity advertised rate for a cruise is $2000 pp.  This does not include AI or OBC.  You can book it on their website.

 

Book the group rate from a TA and it is $2000 pp and they throw in the AI package and $500 OBC.

 

This is just one example.  YMMV.

Edited August 30, 2023 by NMTraveller

[C4HCG]

16 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I will round the numbers to make it easy but:

 

The Celebrity advertised rate for a cruise is $2000 pp.  This does not include AI or OBC.  You can book it on their website.

 

Book the group rate from a TA and it is $2000 pp and they throw in the AI package and $500 OBC.

 

This is just one example.  YMMV.

My good friend NMT, it’s not free, nothing is in this life.

[tfred]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

Today in the mail we got our 2024-25 Oceania Grand Voyages catalog and found some interesting cruises at remarkable costs per night. One we are going to look at is the 23 day Amsterdam to London June 2024 cruise on the Marina. We can book a Penthouse Suite from $600pp per night or a Veranda from $452pp per night. This why so many Celebrity customers are jumping ship after all the recent changes to the product. We never book the air with Oceania as it is mostly a rip off but the non air prices includes the beer and wine beverage package, free Wi-Fi, all specialty restaurants and a $500pp shore excursion CREDIT.

 

Oceania Silversea and seaborne have attractive per day prices. Difficulty is not 7 days, sometimes unusual embarkation cities and midweek departures - difficult for many working people Also if you are not familiar with cruise industry it is a secondary name. 

[NMTraveller]

2 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

My good friend NMT, it’s not free, nothing is in this life.

True,  but it is an added bonus that you get for booking through some TAs with the group rate.

Not when you book with Celebrity.

[Cruise till you drop]

31 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I will round the numbers to make it easy but:

 

The Celebrity advertised rate for a cruise is $2000 pp.  This does not include AI or OBC.  You can book it on their website.

 

Book the group rate from a TA and it is $2000 pp and they throw in the AI package and $500 OBC.

 

This is just one example.  YMMV.

Sorry still not buying this.  I assume the numbers you showed are close to real and rounded to the nearest $100.  Otherwise you should have said “made up numbers” 

 

Agree with C4HCG, nothing in life is free

Edited August 30, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[MamaFej]

32 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I will round the numbers to make it easy but:

 

The Celebrity advertised rate for a cruise is $2000 pp.  This does not include AI or OBC.  You can book it on their website.

 

Book the group rate from a TA and it is $2000 pp and they throw in the AI package and $500 OBC.

 

This is just one example.  YMMV.

 

1 minute ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Sorry still not buying this.  I assume the numbers you showed are close to real and rounded to the nearest $100.  Otherwise you should have said “made up numbers” 

 

[NMTraveller]

13 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Sorry still not buying this.  I assume the numbers you showed are close to real and rounded to the nearest $100.  Otherwise you should have said “made up numbers” 

$1699.50 pp.  I looked at my invoice.  Down to the cent.  $1074pp of Added Value according to the invoice.  Nothing is made up.  And $186 pp for grats which are included.  It was obviously booked before the latest grat increase.

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by NMTraveller

[SkystheLimit]

3 hours ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

If you already had the bookings then there was never a question if they would be covered. This is only for new bookings starting Oct 4  '23

Well, Celebrity "management" is certainly working hard at eliminating any new bookings.