Best "Value" in Celebrity Cruising

[Andy_P]

I did a bit of a search to see if this has been posed before and didn't see anything, so here it is.  A lot of this is subjective, but essentially my question if: "For a given level of stateroom, which cruises tend to be the least expensive per night?"  I looked at several ships, itineraries and times of year and know that price is a moving target as prices fluctuate quite a bit from two years out to the time leading up to sail date.  I was surprised to see that older ships are not notably less expensive than the Edge Class, nor are "odd" length cruises, e.g. 4, 5 or 6 night.  The more sea days, the less expensive it would be I assume because there are fewer docking fees, less fuel consumed, etc., but this seems to be only significant on Transatlantic cruises.  Far East seems to be less expensive than Caribbean and Europe.  Spring and Fall, less than Winter and Summer.

 

What am I missing?

[Hawkstar33]

Currently running at $200 per nt, per person on Celebrity..That's the older ships..Newer ships are quite higher..Doesn't matter how many nights, or time of year.  As far as your question, all cruise lines are recouping from pandemic. Better deals, lower prices, are extremely hard to find.  I book as far ahead as possible, as soon as they post the new sailings. Well over a year ago. 2 BTBS, and a 7nt, this year.  The difference between when I booked, and now, is substantially higher. If I were to try to book now, I may not be able to swing the cost for the trips I booked.  

[NMTraveller]

I would take a look at the Asia cruises...  They can be a good value depending upon the time of the year.  Also take a look at cruises first or 2nd week of December...

[Cruise Junky]

Transatlantics are usually a decent “value” 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

36 minutes ago, Andy_P said:

I did a bit of a search to see if this has been posed before and didn't see anything, so here it is.  A lot of this is subjective, but essentially my question if: "For a given level of stateroom, which cruises tend to be the least expensive per night?"  I looked at several ships, itineraries and times of year and know that price is a moving target as prices fluctuate quite a bit from two years out to the time leading up to sail date.  I was surprised to see that older ships are not notably less expensive than the Edge Class, nor are "odd" length cruises, e.g. 4, 5 or 6 night.  The more sea days, the less expensive it would be I assume because there are fewer docking fees, less fuel consumed, etc., but this seems to be only significant on Transatlantic cruises.  Far East seems to be less expensive than Caribbean and Europe.  Spring and Fall, less than Winter and Summer.

 

What am I missing?

What you are also missing is airfare and hotels pre and post cruises . 
Far east airfare is much more than EU and hotel rates in Florida are crazy 

Find a travel that has group rates or gives back on board credit on cruise 

We like to spend about a week in Europe than take a transatlantic to Florida and hop on a plane and go home the same day 

Here an example of group pricing from our Travel agent , of a 12 day TA on the Equinox this November, in CAD and in Canada taxes and ports are included in the price ,

“Hi my cruise friends...just wanted to say I have only 4 cabins left in group space...my group has 3 perks, so wifi, classic beverage package and pre paid gratuities for $ 2071.00 per person Canadian!!
The going rate is $ 2642.50 a person with only two perks if you call Celebrity.
Both of those are refundable deposit..
Basic rate is NO perks and NON refundable deposit is $ 1462.50 CAD a person...for my Elite and Elite plus people that want it.
If you have any friends interested, have them message me or email me, Group rate will have an extra $ 100 per person cabin credit if booked by Jan 20,2024...all rates are for a V2 veranda.”

 

 

[jayoldschool]

I make a spreadsheet when looking. Break it down for cruise, total cost, grats, insurance, cost per day, perks, OBC, etc. The numbers never lie. I only lie to myself to convince myself its a good deal...

[Rustyman]

I’ve found that the best value is to book in the first few days of the cruise being made available. We almost always do this and find that the price increases by a good 5%+ as the sail date approaches. 
Other “value” can be found on the older ships especially on transatlantic crossings. Again though early booking is advisable. An example of this is that October 2025 Eclipse transatlantic sold out all sky suites within a few days of coming on sale, their cost was way less than Ascent suite prices, over £2200/person cheaper.

Other value tips are:

1. Buy your drinks package as AI at booking.

2. Wait for a Black Friday sale to upgrade the drinks package to Premium.

3. Wait for Black Friday sale to buy Speciality dining/dining packages.

4. Sometimes there are pre cruise offers to purchase casino credit at a 10% discount to value.

5. Often have decent discount on Speciality restaurants for 1st night of a cruise. This is usually well worth it as you avoid the 1st night bunfight and queuing at the MDR.

 

There must be lots of tips to save a few dollars out there.

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

10 minutes ago, Rustyman said:

Other “value” can be found on the older ships especially on transatlantic crossings. Again though early booking is advisable. An example of this is that October 2025 Eclipse transatlantic sold out all sky suites within a few days of coming on sale, their cost was way less than Ascent suite prices, over £2200/person cheaper.

 

 

I didn’t think value and Celebrity suite were allowed in the same sentence 🤔🤣

Now GTY inside cabin and value does work 😁

[mahasamatman]

We have an Asia cruise in 2025 that's significantly more expensive than other locations. In my experience, Caribbean tends to be the cheapest (other than transatlantic) because of the glut of ships.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, mahasamatman said:

We have an Asia cruise in 2025 that's significantly more expensive than other locations. In my experience, Caribbean tends to be the cheapest (other than transatlantic) because of the glut of ships.

I guess that would also applies to Alaska for cheap cruises in the early and late part of the season 

[ccqueenanne]

52 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I guess that would also applies to Alaska for cheap cruises in the early and late part of the season 

The problem with cheap Alaska cruises is the high port fees/taxes. 

[Edinburghgirl1]

We have a Sky Suite booked on the Solstice in   Asia for November 2025 and it was only $2863pp for 12 nights! Same cabin in 2024 is $6873pp!

[NutsAboutGolf]

6 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

I would take a look at the Asia cruises...  They can be a good value depending upon the time of the year.  Also take a look at cruises first or 2nd week of December...

You have a great point, I’m just mentioning that often, if one is willing to consider a land based location in Asia, they can have superior food and accommodation at a cheaper price.  Of course do your research vs blindly booking something.  Bangkok has some cheap eats including street food, restaurant food for $3 USD for a bottle of water and a thai food dish like pad Thai and Michelin star restaurants that are cheaper than most 

 

ill also mention that Cancun/playa del Carmen all inclusives are usually the cheapest “Caribbean” land based option 

[Pear33]

6 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

What you are also missing is airfare and hotels pre and post cruises . 
Far east airfare is much more than EU and hotel rates in Florida are crazy 

Find a travel that has group rates or gives back on board credit on cruise 

We like to spend about a week in Europe than take a transatlantic to Florida and hop on a plane and go home the same day 

Here an example of group pricing from our Travel agent , of a 12 day TA on the Equinox this November, in CAD and in Canada taxes and ports are included in the price ,

“Hi my cruise friends...just wanted to say I have only 4 cabins left in group space...my group has 3 perks, so wifi, classic beverage package and pre paid gratuities for $ 2071.00 per person Canadian!!
The going rate is $ 2642.50 a person with only two perks if you call Celebrity.
Both of those are refundable deposit..
Basic rate is NO perks and NON refundable deposit is $ 1462.50 CAD a person...for my Elite and Elite plus people that want it.
If you have any friends interested, have them message me or email me, Group rate will have an extra $ 100 per person cabin credit if booked by Jan 20,2024...all rates are for a V2 veranda.”

 

 

would love to know who you use as a TA . I'm in Canada  as well and prices can get so high in CAD.

[NutsAboutGolf]

22 minutes ago, Pear33 said:

would love to know who you use as a TA . I'm in Canada  as well and prices can get so high in CAD.

Email them as their email is in their signature; you’re not allowed to recommend TAs on this site

[paulh84]

7 hours ago, Hawkstar33 said:

Currently running at $200 per nt, per person on Celebrity..That's the older ships..Newer ships are quite higher..Doesn't matter how many nights, or time of year.  As far as your question, all cruise lines are recouping from pandemic. Better deals, lower prices, are extremely hard to find.  I book as far ahead as possible, as soon as they post the new sailings. Well over a year ago. 2 BTBS, and a 7nt, this year.  The difference between when I booked, and now, is substantially higher. If I were to try to book now, I may not be able to swing the cost for the trips I booked.  

 

Average price per night is actually mostly cheaper on S class than M class using today's rates.

 

[LB_NJ]

8 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

Transatlantics are usually a decent “value” 

That is because they are repositioning cruises.

[NutsAboutGolf]

Like most of travel, they used occupancy based dynamic pricing.  This is why often a SV is more than AQ.  Some of the cheaper sailings as repos including TAs/PTs, the Mexican west coast and sailings that include Puerto Rico