Century 2005 Prices!!

[richsea]

The prices for Century's new 9/9/10 night itineraries are up on X's site! :D VERY competitve! I think these new itineraries are great, especially the 9 nighter that includes Aruba and Curacao. I see a Cat. 5 in November for $1000/pp. I think we'll have to book soon! We haven't been on Century since 1998. It'll be good to see her again. I think that the old 7 day east/west routes were getting a little old. Glad they came up with something new.

[Andy]

The prices for Century's new 9/9/10 night itineraries are up on X's site! :D VERY competitve! I think these new itineraries are great, especially the 9 nighter that includes Aruba and Curacao. I see a Cat. 5 in November for $1000/pp. I think we'll have to book soon! We haven't been on Century since 1998. It'll be good to see her again. I think that the old 7 day east/west routes were getting a little old. Glad they came up with something new.

 

Hi Richsea !

 

I agree with you, that it is nice to see Century doing something new in 2005. The 9 night Eastern & Western are very nice itineraries. I dont know what dates you looked at, but the few I looked at (for Concierge Class) seemed quite high, as compared to the 7 night Century prices currently out there.

 

Oh well, thats just the way things are going with Celebrity now. They do offer a great product, so I guess we will just have to pay more for a great cruise vacation.

 

The only problem I see, is that Celebrity wont have a 7 night itinerary out of Ft Lauderdale for the April - November part of 2005. I think alot of business will go to their competitors during this timeframe. Not a wise business decision IMHO.

 

I do plan to try one of the 9 night itineraries later in 2005. I was on Century a few weeks ago, and she is still a wondeful ship!

 

Regards,

Andy

[FlorenceItaly]

The SOLO rates are NOT competitive.

 

Marie

[cfk2439]

Thanks for the heads up! Just returned from my TA. Booked the 6/11/05 nine-day cruise (the first one following Century's refurbishing). How exciting - the new schedule looks great - there is a full day in each of the four ports, with two sea days on either end. The prices were higher - about $1,00 more per person for the nine days compared to seven (for a sky suite), but the Century is worth it.

[teedee]

While I like the ports on the 9 and 10 nt cruises I am going to have to turn to Princess for my cruise next fall. My daughter works in the school system and can't have that long off. We're cruising during her fall break. I'm surprised, and disappointed that Celebrity doesn't have any ships doing a 7 nt Caribbean during that time. It's Caribbean Princess for us.

 

Terri

[thomasale]

We are going to book Caribbean Princess also during next summer but will do so on a short range deal cruise. I am going to book Century for my wife and myself in the fall of 2005...now I just have to decide which itenerary sounds better.

[Andy]

While I like the ports on the 9 and 10 nt cruises I am going to have to turn to Princess for my cruise next fall. My daughter works in the school system and can't have that long off. We're cruising during her fall break. I'm surprised, and disappointed that Celebrity doesn't have any ships doing a 7 nt Caribbean during that time. It's Caribbean Princess for us.

 

Terri

 

Hi Terri!

 

I totally hear you. I feel that same way. While I like Century's New Itineraries VERY much, I feel that Celebrity has made a HUGE mistake with their new schedules. I have been pretty vocal about it. Postings like yours, are exactly what I feared would happen. On previous posts, I have said that I worried that many cruisers will have to turn to other lines next year, as Celebrity has dropped the ball with this schedule.

 

As most of us know, Celebrity decided to pull Summit out of the Caribbean next season (Winter 2005). These changes made it necessary to let another Celebrity Ship (Century) do longer sailings, to replace the loss of Summit. That part, on the surface, is not so bad.

 

What makes this very bad, is that there will be no Celebrity ship out of Ft Lauderdale, to replace Century on the 7 night sailings during May-November 2005, unless something changes. IMHO, this was a VERY poor decision by Celebrity.

 

Celebrity broke a very important rule in business. To use an old saying... "If it aint broke, dont fix it". The Summit Caribbean sailings were always packed. Why would they do this ?

 

I also feel that they have made their schedule too heavy on the West Coast, and many of their sailings are much longer than this current season. Not all of us can take 14 day cruises!

 

I have always believed that you never give your loyal customers the opportunity to make them look elsewhere, and sadly, Celebrity has done just that.

 

This might turn out to be a great opportunity for Princess, NCL, and perhaps, even MSC, which plans to sail many sailings out of Ft Lauderdale next season. Time will tell.

 

I truly wish I knew what Celebrity was thinking. To me, It just makes no sense at all.

 

It makes me sad, to think that I may have to look elsewhere next season too, as Celebrity is by far, my favorite cruise line. While I wish to sail with Celebrity only, they have forced me to look at other Cruise options for next year.

 

At least there is a little good news..... I will be on Summit 2 more times, before she leaves the Ft Lauderdale, Caribbean Itinerary, after the end of April 2005.

 

Let's hope Celebrity comes to their senses, and does something about this.

 

Regards,

Andy

[ElaineB2]

I will probably look at a different cruise line next summer for a 7-night Caribean cruise. Cannot afford to do a 9 night when we are taking my son AND his friend. I'm really disappointed - we took our first Celebrity cruise this summer (Infinity) and decided we would stay with Celebrity. I'm just not sure that we will be happy cruising on another cruise line. May have to look at a land vacation. Not sure what to do now.

[Lois R]

Marie:) Hi...when are they ever competitive for us solo travelers? Oh wait, don't get me started...

I will get flamed for my opinions.......

 

I sail them because I love their product...but only when I have saved up enough for the sailing.....you know I am trying HAL...their price was too good to pass up.

[teedee]

Andy - While I do sail on other lines if I find a really good bargain, Celebrity is by far my favorite and I would like to sail with them if at all possible. Unfortunately that's not going to happen next year. The Century is my favorite ship, but any Celebrity ship would have worked if only they were offering the 7 nt Caribbean. This really surprised me, even though I had been hearing rumors about Century going to longer cruises next Fall/Winter, but I thought they would have another ship take over the 7 night cruises, maybe out of San Juan. OH well, wrong about that. I'm just glad there are some other good options for us.

Terri

[FlorenceItaly]

Hello friend! I am going to have to hopelessly fall in love with Celebrity to pay their solo fares. On the Celebrity site it was over $2000 for the solo rate, lowest inside cabin. In all fairness, I didn't look at any of the other on-line sites. My guess is we won't see the Century on the "Happy Hour Sales" anymore....I am thrilled to have the opportunity to sail Celebrity Mercury with my sis next Spring. Lois, I do not think you will find the same level of service on HAL as Celebrity...only going by what I have read, but I do think you will enjoy the cruise very much. I am so anxious to hear what you think. They talk up service on the HAL board, but that was NOT my experience in June...service was very adequate, nothing more... we'll see what the Veendam holds this month.

 

Marie