I'm Stunned by the Price of an Upper Suite on a Three Night Cruise on Ascent...

[NMTraveller]

9 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

That site is more disingenuous than Celebrity's sales. When is the last time someone paid a brochure rate? The late 80's? I will say that sailings Xmas Eve departure and NYE arrival were a miss but with the holidays being on a Monday this year complicated scheduling. 

The pricing is less than half of what I paid for a 2019 Edge cruise and it is a Christmas cruise.  They should have been sold out by now with it being their latest and greatest.

Edited October 25, 2023 by NMTraveller

[binro01]

1 hour ago, paulh84 said:

There is also a huge effort in nearly every industry out there, especially travel, to better understand the major shift we see in people buying experiences versus goods. Millennials tend to be the focus of that conversation but the shift is not at all exclusive to that age group. 

Very true, The pandemic caused people to buy things and upgrades for their homes. Now that disposable income has shifted to experiences. This is across multiple generations including the very monied ones.

[Dolebludger]

Yes, NM, you are correct. All cruise prices are shown on web sites with brochure rates crossed out and the REAL rate shown. And when I say that Retreat prices are too high across the board, I speak of REAL prices only. Back late in the last decade I compared REAL prices for the Retreat with REAL prices for lux lines, and the Retreat was the winner. Very lately, I did the same comparison and the Retreat was a real looser (especially due to recent cuts). Competition — I love it!

[NMTraveller]

6 hours ago, zitsky said:

Are we taking about Xmas 2023?  What’s a 90 day ticker?

Yes Christmas 2023.  A 90 day ticker is for cruises that have gone past final payment and have a fair amount of cabins to sell at a discount.  If there were only a few,  the cabins would not be highly discounted.  Google is your friend.

Edited October 25, 2023 by NMTraveller

[zitsky]

I haven’t done enough cruising to have much data.  I will compare with past cruises.  What got me into SS was a move up from Aqua then a future SS that was only a few thousand more than Aqua on the Millie.  I recall enough numbers that I know for us there hasn’t been a huge jump in price.

[hcat]

9 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Yes Christmas 2023.  A 90 day ticker is for cruises that have gone past final payment and have a fair amount of cabins to sell at a discount.  If there were only a few,  the cabins would not be highly discounted.  Google is your friend.

i think someone mentioned the dates were awkward,?  Well  hope someone catches a bargain.!

[NMTraveller]

45 minutes ago, hcat said:

i think someone mentioned the dates were awkward,?  Well  hope someone catches a bargain.!

My recollection is that it started on Dec. 24.  

[NMTraveller]

58 minutes ago, hcat said:

i think someone mentioned the dates were awkward,?  Well  hope someone catches a bargain.!

And you could do a B2B as the next one is even less.  Starts on Dec. 31.

[Jeremiah1212]

12 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Yes Christmas 2023.  A 90 day ticker is for cruises that have gone past final payment and have a fair amount of cabins to sell at a discount.  If there were only a few,  the cabins would not be highly discounted.  Google is your friend.

 

That site isn't offering highly discounted prices. It's the exact same price you pay booking directly through Celebrity. They are taking the brochure rate (which you can't even book direct), adding in Celebrity's current offer and calling it a 70+% discount. 

[NMTraveller]

11 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

That site isn't offering highly discounted prices. It's the exact same price you pay booking directly through Celebrity. They are taking the brochure rate (which you can't even book direct), adding in Celebrity's current offer and calling it a 70+% discount. 

Do I care if they put the brochure rate on the web site.  No.  Do I care if they use it in their savings calculations.  No.  I know what the going rate is.  Most of these deals are discounted.  Some better than others.  Do I like the fact that they show the most heavily discounted cruises?  Yes.

 

So where else are you going to find a listing of the most highly discounted cruises on a web page?  You can book these cruises anywhere,  but you have to find them first.

 

Sure you can go to Celebrity, Princess, and all of the other sites but it will take quite a while to do it this way.  There are 20 or more cruise sites to go to.  Then you have to navigate to the last minute discount page, on each site a different way.  Why would anyone do this?

 

No back to the issue of the Ascent,  Celebrity's newest ship being highly discounted for a Christmas cruise...

 

The Millenium is not on the 90 day ticker as it is sold out or very very close to it.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by NMTraveller

[RD64]

At the end of the day, nobody is forcing anybody to book / pay for suite accommodations. If the price is more than you are able / willing to pay then you can book an interior or go to another cruise line. Celebrity is a business - not a charity - and their goal is to maximize profits - not to offer suites at discount prices. And no, I am not a Celebrity Cheerleader - just a Business / Economics teacher.

[Dolebludger]

Well, as a retired business executive, I do know how competition works. And in this case, Celebrity is charging more for its lux experience than the real lux lines are charging for the real thing. And it has a right to do so. And, on the other hand, we have the right to book a suite on a true lux line for less if we do our homework. In the end, it is up to us to find the best price on what we want.

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, RD64 said:

At the end of the day, nobody is forcing anybody to book / pay for suite accommodations. If the price is more than you are able / willing to pay then you can book an interior or go to another cruise line. Celebrity is a business - not a charity - and their goal is to maximize profits - not to offer suites at discount prices. And no, I am not a Celebrity Cheerleader - just a Business / Economics teacher.

I hate it when people say “contract says Celebrity can make you stand on your head”.  Annoying even though I enjoyed contract law in grad school.

[Dolebludger]

Well, if you want a cruise that meets your specs, just shop around for the best deal on what you want. If Celebrity has the best deal for what you want, go for it. If not, keep shopping. My research shows Celebrity has competitive prices well below Retreat level. But at Retreat level, just book on a real lux line and save money. What bothers me (as a retired exec/attorney) is that Celebrity booked people in SS with advertised butler service, and then took away the butler on those previously booked. I smell a class action in the future.

[Stem to Stern]

7 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

So where else are you going to find a listing of the most highly discounted cruises on a web page?  You can book these cruises anywhere,  but you have to find them first.

I could not agree more.  That is the easiest, least cantankerous site I have found to start the first phase of my deal searches.  Scroll, save, print if I choose to, compare itineraries, compare ships, etc.  Easy peasy.  Although I will say I have not booked with them since 2017.  Second phase sometimes involves finding the best deal by letting the TAs “compete” for my cruise dollar.

[RichYak]

13 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Do I like the fact that they show the most heavily discounted cruises?  Yes.

Maybe I'm missing something. If the quoted "discount" is a discount to "brochure rate", which is meaningless, what is the relevance of "most heavily discounted"?

[bnurick]

[Jeremiah1212]

11 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Maybe I'm missing something. If the quoted "discount" is a discount to "brochure rate", which is meaningless, what is the relevance of "most heavily discounted"?

 

I'm pretty good at math but my math isn't saying heavily discounted. 

 

Site in question starting from (p/p):

Inside: $1208

Balcony: $1679 

Suite: $6531 

 

Celebrity:

Inside: $1208

Balcony: $1679 

Suite: $6531 

 

🤔

 

[RichYak]

21 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

I'm pretty good at math but my math isn't saying heavily discounted. 

 

Site in question starting from (p/p):

Inside: $1208

Balcony: $1679 

Suite: $6531 

 

Celebrity:

Inside: $1208

Balcony: $1679 

Suite: $6531 

 

🤔

 

So you think "discount" should be defined as TA fare vs the cruise line's published fare? I'm not questioning that, just asking for sake of clarity because that's clearly not how the TA site is using the term.

[Jeremiah1212]

30 minutes ago, RichYak said:

So you think "discount" should be defined as TA fare vs the cruise line's published fare? I'm not questioning that, just asking for sake of clarity because that's clearly not how the TA site is using the term.

 

If it's being positioned as a last minute fire sale rate, yes. But what you see is the brochure or launch rate that absolutely no one pays paired with the line's current prevailing rate and presented as a 70/80/90% discount. They are all slightly different but if you are able to find Celebrity's full list of rates the accurate place to start would be listed as the Standard rate if your preferred site shows it. 

[mac_tlc]

4 hours ago, bnurick said:

I love their search engine. Great way to compare quickly. Wish they had more cruise lines. 

 

I'm on that 1/21/24 Ascent in an SS for about $735 per night for 2 as are a bunch of other folks who jumped on the deal last October. 

 

mac_tlc

[neverlaysup]

There is no difference between the price of these suites and the cost of first/business class airfare. Most of us would find it absurd to pay $10-$15K roundtrip from the US to Europe/Asia/Australia but people will pay for the space and exclusivity of the experience. The same holds true for cruise cabins across all of the major lines. When people stop paying rack rates....the prices may start to come down...but I doubt it.

[Dolebludger]

Yep, what we did was to take all of our "long flight" cruises back when economy air wasn't painful.

[neverlaysup]

8 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

Yep, what we did was to take all of our "long flight" cruises back when economy air wasn't painful.

Now I stack and save miles because I can no longer fly coach longer than 4 hours (unless they let me buy the middle seat so the two of us can have our own row). It's not that we don't fit in the seats comfortably but I hate rubbing shoulders for 12 hours with ANYONE!

[Georgia_Peaches]

2 hours ago, neverlaysup said:

Most of us would find it absurd to pay $10-$15K roundtrip from the US to Europe/Asia/Australia but people will pay for the space and exclusivity of the experience.

This is such a good point.  I prefer the front of the plane myself and priced out business class airfare for a Med cruise only to find it at around 10-12K pp/rt.  Last time we flew to Italy in Business class we paid $4500 pp/rt and that was tough for me to swallow...but we did it.  Looking back, it seems like a bargain now.  Included Business class airfare for over seas travel was a big factor in booking with Regent over other lines.

Edited October 26, 2023 by Georgia_Peaches