RomanH

Sincere thanks for this: you definitely understand. However, in your example for first-time cruisers, I disagree because the guarantee should have mentioned exceptions. Plus this situation is significantly different: the deal is for "new bookings only," which clearly means "no price matching for old bookings" or "the guarantee doesn't apply to this."

If I wanted to work long hours for little reward I'd have children. 😉

No, I think the guarantee should mention exceptions. I'd never heard of Exciting Deals before I gave them a nonrefundable deposit because I believed the guarantee.

Interesting! Thank you for that. The cruise is over three months away so I think unpopularity & the holiday weekend prompted this Exciting Deal. From their email turning down my price adjustment: "Please be advised that the lower rate you have mentioned is with the Exciting Deals offer which is only applicable for new bookings and cannot be applied to your already created booking." Which, bluntly, means their guarantee is a lie.

Thanks for that. I did essentially the same thing. Unfortunately, the lower price that I found was dubbed an "Exciting Deal," which means the "Best Price Guarantee" goes out the window.

Thank you for this. I've already spent probably four hours on the phone, calling over & over with a one-hour hold time, hoping to get someone helpful on the line, finally getting a supervisor. (The first guy I spoke to said he could repeice is for $100 per person.) I'm done. I've moved on to the "spread the word" phase.

I'm focusing entirely on the guarantee. Yes, the "Exciting Deals" say they're only for new bookings. But read the guarantee: nowhere does it say "except for Exciting Deals." It says to get a price adjustment to these, your booking must meet "special conditions," but those seem to be either (1) you didn't actually book, or (2) you booked with a refundable deposit, cancel, & rebook. In either case, your original booking will not get a price adjustment. This is why I suspect these "special conditions" where you can price adjust to an "Exciting Deal" don't actually exist.

Thanks! I did not know that.

Exactly! "We guarantee you'll pay the lowest price ... except sometimes you won't."

I went to the website every few days & went through the steps to rebook the cruise. That tells you what the current price is, & then you can simply call & cite the Best Price Guarantee. Fingers crossed the cheaper offer isn't in their "Exciting Deal" category, because then they say tough luck.

I have a non-refundable deposit. The agent suggested refundable in the future but the extra cost would be about what I'd save now.

Nope! With "Special Deals" like the one offered now you do NOT get the lower price. Ever. It's in the fine print for the "Special Deals" -- "Offer applies to new individual bookings" -- but not mentioned in the guarantee. That's why I'm angry. I'm fine playing games but not when they make up new rules to cheat.

It's a significant amount of money so spent several hours calling (wait time was over an hour for a while). And I was told that with "Special Deals" like this one they don't give ANYONE a price adjustment.

No. You can call Celebrity as often as you want: the Best Price Guarantee does not apply to "Exciting Deals," and you will get no price adjustment. Which means it's not really a guarantee.

Wow! Congratulations. I really love the idea that Celebrity passes on lower prices. Which led to my complete disgust when they said, "Fine print! Not for you!"

Thank you for your reply but I still haven't made the final payment!

From the reply to my submitted Best Price Guarantee request form: "Please be advised that the lower rate you have mentioned is with the Exciting Deals offer which is only applicable for new bookings and cannot be applied to your already created booking."

This is the Best Price Guarantee, not the cabin guarantee. The BPG says "[Y]ou will enjoy the lowest advertised rate on your cruise fare...."

I didn't say the low price guarantee never applies: just not to "Exciting Deals." Which I'm guessing your price drops weren't.

"the key point for Exciting Deals is the price applies only to new bookings" That's absolutely right. But nowhere in the "guarantee" do they mention there's a whole category of prices it doesn't apply to. And what kind of guarantee is that when they can just call something an "Exciting Deal" & the guarantee goes out the window? Like I say elsewhere, the "certain requirements" my booking must meet is that I didn't actuslly make a booking.

"So does the best price guarantee only hold if you call and tell them you saw your cruise at a lower price?" No, all this was on the phone (with a wait time of 45 minutes to an hour). Celebrity's official position is that some sales simply aren't covered by the guarantee .. which is why I can call the "guarantee" a lie & be reasonably certain they won't sue me. I spoke to a SUPERVISOR for over half an hour and am still paying more than the currently advertised rate.

"I assume if you cancelled and made a new booking your NRD penalty would have eaten the $90 difference?" Right. The agent said to go with a refundable deposit next time & cancel. Except the extra cost I would have paid is more than I would have saved here. "I thought Exciting deals were always for sailings within the 90 day final payment window. Has that changed?" This cruise is something like 100 days away, and I still haven't made the final payment (because that means any further reductions in price would get me credit instead of cash).

Thank you for that. Yes, that's what I figured. But in this case, the "certain requirement" for your booking is that you didn't actually book. "We'll give you the new lower price provided you didn't actually book with the old higher price." Which, I don't know, isn't a great guarantee?

I booked my first cruise with Celebrity a few weeks ago, over the phone. The agent assured me there was a Best Price Guarantee, so if the price dropped before I made the final payment I'd get the lower price. On a sale starting yesterday, the price on my cruises dropped $90 per person. I called and after an hour on hold was told first by a regular agent and then by a supervisor that this new low price was an "Exciting Deal" -- a specific category of Celebrity offers -- only available to new bookings and the Best Price Guarantee doesn't apply to them. I said I don't care what you call it, you're advertising a lower price while your guarantee says "you will enjoy the lowest advertised rate on your cruise fare...." The agent repeated that the "guarantee" doesn't apply to "Exciting Deals." I asked why it's not more widely known that their "guarantee" is a lie and she said "Exciting Deals" don't come up very often so people just don't know. I was unlucky, I guess. I told her at the very least I'd spread the word. Buyer beware, this is a guarantee that doesn't guarantee anything.

Thank you for the reply. I don't think this is a GTY rate. (I'm new to this & don't really know what that is.) But after I repriced the room last Friday, my account lists a room number (inside stateroom #xxxx) & location (continental deck x forward). I emailed them a completed Best Price Guarantee form but will still call back tomorrow. Thanks again.